Our Journey to an Earth Made New

Isa 11:6  The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

Isa 11:7  And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

Isa 11:8  And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.

Isa 11:9  They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

We are strangers and pilgrims here upon the Earth. We may have been born upon the Earth, but our home is heavenly. The Earth upon which we all have been born, all except Adam and Eve, is a corrupt Earth. This world is twisted and stained by sin.

Most of all we see was NOT how God intended things to be. The workings of man, plant, animal, minerals etc are all touched by the sin that entered the world. There was a ripple of change through all the earth when sin was first committed. The light of God's righteousness that clothed the first human pair was removed but that wasn't the only change.   Just as instantaneously the world and all that in it was called into being over the course of six days, things were instantaneously altered to accommodate the corrupt world.

We have to realize that we went from beings formed to live eternally, to beings given a life span- a beginning and an end. The world around the first sinners was completely changed.  The lion we read about in the above verse was not created to eat flesh, but was changed.  While it's extremely hard for us to imagine a world where a lion was never a predator, we have to realize the truth that the lion was NOT created a predator but changed as a result of man's sinning. The lion will again one day not be a predator, just as every single creature that is known to be deadly or pain inducing by any means will have that changed about them and they will once again be changed to the creatures they were intended to be.

Sin's evidence is all around us in many ways. In every instance of selfishness whether it is being expressed through anger, tears, joy, ecstasy  and the entire spectrum between the two-is evidence of sin. Every single pain we feel whether the pain of childbirth, or the pain of torture, or the tiny prick of a pin- they are all a result of sin. We were not meant to feel pain.  Every anxious thought, every worry, every bit of confusion we experience is a result of sin's entrance into our world. Sin is the origin of all the evil on Earth.

When we fail to recognize that this world is sin sickened and we live among all the sin sickness we fail to comprehend that there is something MUCH better promised to us! We are promised a sin-free world, a NEW EARTH!

In science fiction movies we've seen people set out on a mission to find a better planet to live upon as earth dies and all its people are in jeopardy- there quite a few of these types of movies.  The truth is we are all on a JOURNEY- not out into outer space on a space ship, but on this sin sick earth. We are journeying towards an earth made new! We aren't searching the dark depths of outer space for a worthy planet, but rather we are searching this dark earth for a Savior and the good news is- He's been found! We are now awaiting His return, trusting that the many, many years we have been here waiting for His return have been for a perfect reason, in His perfect plan, and one day we will comprehend it all.  So while we are stuck on this ship orbiting the perfect planet, awaiting the command to descend, we must live our lives as the Savior has instructed us to do so.

There are those who would have us give up all hope. There are those who call us fools for our beliefs. There are those who believe they have a better plan to follow.  There are well intentioned, very wonderful, very kind-hearted people who would have us believe that good is evil and evil is good. We must hold fast to the truth found in the Creator, the Redeemer- the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit's- word to us.  The truth revealed to us as God's laws are written upon our hearts!

Heb 8:10  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people

People will hardened their hearts and God will allow this as their right to choose. People will desire blindness and God will allow this as well. People will not want to hear and God will allow them to be deaf.  Choosing self over God we choose to allow ourselves to be led astray by any means necessary to that end. 

Please Father in heaven, please write Your laws upon my heart. Please, let me forever and always choose You over myself. Please Father, I would inherit the new earth promised all through the hope I have in Your Son, Jesus Christ who died so I could live and have that hope.  Please Father, know me and let me know You as You will. Forgive me and help me to forgive others as You would have be forgive them- as You forgive. Guide me every day, Father, please, let Your will be done in our lives. And tonight Father, I ask a special blessing upon Kurt and His family as they mourn the loss of their beloved father, Sal. Please Father, lead them to You and help them to be held by You. Please Father, a special, special blessing for Norma during all of this as she suffers her own torments on top of this tragedy.

Thank you, Father!   In the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord!

Amen!

The ministration of righteousness

2Co 3:9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.

Truly when the moral ten commandments were given they were given as a blessing to God's people. God who rescued His people from SLAVERY through miraculous means, truly miraculous means. God who revealed His love for those who would be His, revealed His glory to them.  The ten moral laws meant to be a standard, meant to be a revelation of God's love to be kept out of love for Him, to reveal OUR willingness to understand His love, were truly a part of the ministration of condemnation.   The moral ten commandments reveal the truth of our inability to obey perfectly.  We might go through our entire lives never murdering anyone, never committing adultery, never stealing, never putting another before God, etc, but we will never go through our entire lives without breaking at least one of those commandments whichever it may be. Some of us will go through life breaking many of the commandments unfortunately.   The fact is the law was kept only perfectly and completely by one human being and that human being was Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, God in the flesh, God who divested Himself of His divinity to become fully and wholly human. When the law was kept perfectly by Jesus Christ, God with us, His grace became fully and wholly available to all who choose to believe in His grace, His ability to save us.  It is Christ's righteousness and the ministration of Christ's righteousness that exceeds in glory.  The revelation of the love of God given in the ten moral laws reveal the glory of God, the revelation of the love of God given in the sacrifice of our Savior reveals the exceeding glory in the love of the law.  God is love, and if we love God we keep His commandments because we realize they too are the revelation of love. When we fail to see the love in the law we fail to see the glory of God. All too often we truly fail to see the love in the law and instead we just see restrictions, we just see our own failures. And we need to see our failures to see His glory. He is our GOD, He is our EVERYTHING, He is  all we need.

Too many would have us believe that the law - the moral ten commandments were done away with as if they were no longer important- they fail to see the love in that law, the law our Savior kept.

Logic tells us that to sin or be a sinner we must be doing something. If there is no defining sin then no one sins and we know that isn't true. We know there is a great wrongness in our world and that wrongness comes from somewhere. We know that the word of God defines sin the transgression of the law.  The law was defined clearly for us in the ten moral commandments given by God to His people so they'd know what they were doing, how they were transgressing by not keeping that law.

When the Savior came- He came and kept the law perfectly and He did so while showing His love.  If you believe in Christ then you must believe in the laws He kept perfectly. You must believe He revealed their LOVE perfectly.

1Jn_3:4  Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Joh_14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Mat_5:17  Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Jesus came to prove the law was GOOD, not to DESTROY the law. Clearly He would have told us if He was abolishing or changing the moral law of God. He told those who were keeping the law that they were doing good!  He told people to go and sin no more and what is sinning? Transgressing the law. If Jesus were doing away with the law then there would be no sin to do no more.

The glory of the law of condemnation was amazing but our Savior KEEPING that law perfectly was exceedingly glorious!

May God bless us, and keep us IN HIM in the love of HIM who kept the LAW perfectly.  All in His glorious love!

Amen.

The letter kills, the Spirit gives life

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God

2Co 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life

The letter kills.  Truly the commandments without grace offer only death to us.  The grace of God is found in sacrifice- in the old testament an animal sacrifice was made, in the new testament our Savior's sacrifice was made.  Christ is the true sacrifice the ultimate sacrifice that ALL the former sacrifices pointed towards.

The LETTER of the law reveals our sin.  The LETTER of the law reveals God's love.  These are TRUTHS.

Without the revelation of our sin we cannot seek forgiveness.  The law reveals the reasons we are separated from God- the sins that separate us from God. The law reveals our inability to reunite ourselves to God. The law reveals we need a SAVIOR to reunite us. The law reveals perfection, a perfection we cannot attain in our sinful selves.

The Spirit gives us life.  Our Savior gives us life through the Spirit! Our hope is in the Spirit.  We cannot have eternal life without the Spirit. We can put on some façade of being able to keep all the commandments and pat ourselves on the back each day we have a 'good' day and do everything we believe God would have us do. We can pretend all we want that it is US who saves us, but it's living a LIE.

If we believe that keeping the commandments saves us then we are LOST. If we believe the our Savior's sacrifice saves us, then we have life.  We will keep the commandments out of LOVE for our Savior, not because we believe the commandments will save us, they won't.  We do for love what we know love desires.  Will we be able to keep the law? No, but if our spirit is willing even though our flesh is weak we must with our mind desire to keep the law of love in the spirit that it was given and revealed to us by our SAVIOR.

Please Father, please keep us in YOU, in the love of our SAVIOR! 

By Your GRACE and MERCY, YOUR LOVE!

Amen.

Our days have evil in them

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Our days have evil in them. 

This word evil from Matt. 6:34- definition-

G2549

kakia

kak-ee'-ah

From G2556; badness, that is, (subjectively) depravity, or (actively) malignity, or (passively) trouble: - evil, malice (-iousness), naughtiness, wickedness.

Badness.

Depravity.

Malignity.

Trouble.

Malice.

Naughtiness.

Wickedness.

Mat 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Each day has its own evils.  We don't like to think about the day having evils but it does and lots of them. While we worry about the future we forget we are in a war surrounded by evils that would take from us our Savior.  Those evils chips away at our faith, and when we lose faith we have no hope and without hope we have no life with our Savior.

We have to submit to our Savior, to the Holy Spirit who will give us all we need to be faithful to our God.

Each day has enough evils without borrowing them from the future, seriously every day has its troubles. We can't know that today's troubles will not be resolved. While we're busy worrying about the future we are worrying about unknown troubles, unknown evils.  There is truly enough to worry about in each day. We don't even know if we'll have life tomorrow, none of us knows. 

Do we believe there is enough evil in one day? 

We should.

And should we take one day at a time? 

Yes, we should.

But… there are things in life that need planning, I know I can't live without planning. There are dr. appts already schedule in June and it's only May. There are deadlines for things that are months away.  Taking one day at a time doesn't mean you stop making plans and having deadlines, it means each day is going to have it's evils, and we shouldn't borrow on the evils of tomorrow because they may or may not exist then and worrying about them will not change things.

My husband has this sort of living down pat, he's been this way all his life and as a worrier I find it strange and incomprehensible.  But God would have us comprehend and by our LORD'S grace and through Him I hope this will be possible.

All in HIS love!

Amen. 

Cares of this life...

Mat 6:34  Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Do we live in the moment? Or are we constantly trying to live in the future? Seriously. Do we spend entirely too much time thinking about what's next in our day to day living so much so that they become 'cares of this life'?  Are we caught up in 'cares of this life?' I fear we are and it's become our way of living, acceptable and unthinkable to change.

Luk_21:34  And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares

Luk 8:14  And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection.

Luk 10:41  And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things

There is a danger in the cares of this life, an eternal danger. 

Where does the harm from being a worrier come into play? Why does worrying endanger our eternal life?

I'm a life-long worrier so this truly concerns me more than I'd like to admit.

Php 4:6  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

When we worry we are being careful for everything, not in prayer about everything. We might pray but our prayers do not ascend. Seriously. They stop right around us and go no further because we hold fast to the cares we are praying about.  It's so strange for a worrier not to worry. To stop worrying when everything tells us we should keep on worrying, seems almost like a betrayal of sorts. As if our worrying goes hand in hand with our ability to care.  And if we don't worry we don't really care. We equate worry with caring. I care whether I live or die so I have to worry horrifically if I'm in any danger of dying- such as surgery or having to do something dangerous. I care about being loved so I worry that I might not be loved. The CARES of this life, the WORRIES of this life overwhelm us and keep us from TRUSTING God.

Mat 6:11  Give us this day our daily bread.

We are to PRAY daily for our needs and know that they will be fulfilled - ONLY according to our eternal life.  I have to say that because the truth is, people in need pray all the time for those needs to be met but they aren't and some of these people even die horrible deaths. It's not that their NEEDS aren't being met, it's that their suffering now is truly temporary and the greatest need any of us has is the need of our Savior and the HOPE of life with our Savior, united to Him forever.

Lam 3:21  This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.

Lam 3:22  It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

Lam 3:23  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Lam 3:24  The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

Lam 3:25  The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

Lam 3:26  It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

These are truths.

Now back to one of the questions asked above- do we live in the moment? Are we constantly striving for the future happenings?  I think we need to stop. Not so we can live in the now in a way that is detrimental to our eternal lives. Too many advocate living in the now so they don't have to think about responsibilities, so they don't have to answer to anyone for anything. We need to live in the here and now knowing we are doing so for our God.  We need to NOT get caught up in the worries, the cares of this life that try to steal God from us.

We will go through much tribulation here and now, but our hope is entering the kingdom of God. Jesus died to give us this hope.  Our hope is founded in HIM and it's to Him we must look always.

In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, may we find our hope in Him and not get caught up in the cares of this life.

Amen.

He who loves God, loves his fellow man

Joh_14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Joh_15:10  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

1Jn 5:2  By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.

1Jn 5:3  For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Joh_14:21  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Joh 15:17  These things I command you, that ye love one another.

The commandments are love.

When we fail to realize this, we fail to keep the commandments of God.

Love God.

Love One Another.

Failing to love this is what we do when we do not keep the commandments. We can only keep the commandments through the love of God, through the Spirit.

We must live through the Spirit and to do this we must be born again in the Spirit and do this daily. Choose daily to live in the Spirit, to the Spirit, not to the flesh, not to our carnal natures. Daily recognition of our need to love! Wake up knowing that this day we need to love!  We need to love. And we must believe God can give us all we need to love as He would have us love, because HE loves us.

1Jn 4:16  And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

1Jn 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.

1Jn 4:20  If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

1Jn 4:21  And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

Please, Father in heaven, we would love one another, we would love You. All by Your grace and mercy, Your LOVE, all through the SPIRIT.

Amen.

Commandments and Death

We don't live in a time when we are killed for not keeping the Sabbath holy, but there was a time this happened--

Exo_31:14  Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

Exo_35:2  Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.

Num 15:32  And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.

Num 15:33  And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.

Num 15:34  And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.

Num 15:35  And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.

Num 15:36  And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.

Neh_13:15  In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals.

Neh_13:16  There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.

Neh_13:17  Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?

Neh_13:18  Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.

Neh_13:19  And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.

Neh_13:21  Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath.

Why? Why was death warranted for the breaking of the Sabbath commandment?  What other commandments warranted death?

Lev_24:16  And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.

Lev_20:10  And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Deu 17:2  If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

Deu 17:3  And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded;

Deu 17:4  And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel:

Deu 17:5  Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.

Deu 21:18  If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:

Deu 21:19  Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;

Deu 21:20  And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.

Deu 21:21  And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Reading this we know that the commandments given that warranted death if broken   were more than just the Sabbath commandment. 

Murder, Adultery, Disobedience to Parents, Blasphemy of God,  Serving other gods… when these commandments were broken and there were witnesses to the truth of this then death was required.  It sounds so incredibly severe and wrong. Today some religions in countries other than America still uphold death for blasphemy, death for adultery, death for disobedience to parents, and even in America we uphold death for murder in a lot of our states.

'Federal law provides the death penalty for many homicide-related crimes, espionage, terrorism, treason, and drug trafficking. 32 of the 50 states currently have the death penalty. Of the non-state territories, American Samoa still has capital punishment as a local statute, and the others have abolished it.

Pasted from <https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+states+uphold+the+death+penalty&rlz=1C1VSNC_enUS578US579&oq=how+many+states+uphold+the+death+penalty&aqs=chrome..69i57.9888j1j8&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8> '

Thirty-two states have the death penalty in America- murder for murder.

Is it too extreme to put people to death for their crimes?  As the law was written by God's finger, and to be upheld He had His reasons for that exactness of the law.

However, when our Savior came He did NOT do away with the laws but magnified them- expounding on the reason for their existence. He did NOT tell a single person to stop keeping any one of the moral ten commandments, not one!  He did however do this--

Joh 8:4  They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

Joh 8:5  Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

Joh 8:6  This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

Joh 8:7  So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

Joh 8:8  And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

Joh 8:9  And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

Joh 8:10  When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

Joh 8:11  She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Joh 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

The woman was caught in the act of adultery which was punishable by death and Jesus convinced those who wanted her stoned NOT to stone her because He revealed to them their OWN sins punishable by death, sins they weren't convicted of by others but their own conscience made them know they were GUILTY, all of them!  They couldn't stone this woman when they were guilty too.  Jesus was revealing just how many people would have to die under the punishments given prior to HIS ministry, prior to the LIGHT He was bringing to the world!

The light HE was bringing to the world said this--

Mat 5:38  Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:

Mat 5:39  But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Mat 5:40  And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.

Mat 5:41  And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

Mat 5:42  Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.

Mat 5:43  Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you

LOVE OUR ENEMIES!

BLESS THEM THAT CURSE YOU!

DO GOOD TO THEM THAT HATE YOU!
PRAY FOR THEM WHICH DISPITEFULLY USE YOU AND PERSECUTE YOU!

Jesus was a LIGHT!

Jesus wants us to GO AND SIN NO MORE!

And to sin means we break the moral law given, you can't sin without breaking that moral law.  You sin when you do not LOVE GOD and you do not LOVE YOUR FELLOW MAN- this is what the MORAL LAW IS!

More on this tomorrow, by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

AMEN.