Faith, Hope, Love.

Faith.

Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 

Hope.

Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 

Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. 

Love.

1Jn_4:8  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Faith, hope and love.

1Co 13:13 And now faith, hope, and love, these three things remain; but the greatest of these is love.

We are saved by hope, faith is hope, our hope is in God who is love.

All glory, honor, praise and thanksgiving to our GOD.  All love to our God who gives us the love to love with. All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, God with us- Emmanuel, God in the flesh, God who reveals the Father God, God who give us God the Holy Spirit.   All worship unto our LORD, now and forever!!!!!!!  Amen.

Hope Will Overcome.

Gripped by terror. No? Paralyzed by fear.  No? Haunted by horrors. No? Filled with anxiety. No? Just a little bit worried. No? Laughable situation. No?

The truth is that many people just don't know how to feel, or what to think. I, like most of you, have probably seen/heard so much that is fear worthy on the news, and yet also seen the debunkers of what the news is spewing. We don't know what to believe.

Personally, I believe the virus is real. I believe that like most viruses it will affect some much harder than others. I believe people will die from the virus just as they've died from viruses in the past. I believe that taking precautions is a good thing.

Another thing I believe is the word of God and the word of God tells us that before Jesus Christ returns to redeem His people from the earth- all those that love Him and believe in His truth, all those that He knows as His- that MEN'S HEARTS WILL FAIL THEM FOR FEAR FOR LOOKING AFTER THOSE THINGS WHICH ARE COMING ON THE EARTH.

The grip of fear that is overwhelming for some people isn't something made up, it's not fake and it doesn't matter whether or not the news media has caused it, or politicians have had their hand in things, what matters is that it exists.  Mass hysteria is what they call it, and it is happening on a world-wide level, not just a national level or few states level. This isn't weather related, or volcanic, or even earthquake related to local specific area levels. This IS WORLD-WIDE fear that we are all experiencing. If you just told yourself that you aren't afraid, that you're not a part of the fearful then that's great, but that doesn't negate the many millions who are.  I know I've said the words- this is scary, even though I don't feel an overwhelming sense of terror or anything. This is unique for the world because of social media, something that never existed in past world-wide pandemics, I'm talking about the ones in the days before modern medicine that wiped out millions.  I can see pictures, get news instantly, something that years ago was impossible. We live in different times. For thousands of years the world did not have the technology we have today, this is factual. We are caught up in this world-wide situation and we know the word of God tells us that fear will be a huge thing right before our Lord returns.

This may be just the tip of an iceberg, and the rest of that iceberg something unseen at the moment yet to be revealed.  This could be a shaking, God taking mankind by the shoulders and shaking them telling them to wake up before it is too late!

There will not be a single person who is alive when the Lord returns who will be able to say they weren't given the chance to repent, to seek forgiveness, to accept the Lord as their Savior, to know Him and be known by Him. Not one person. All of us will have a chance and by the grace of God may we take that chance and choose to believe, to seek forgiveness, to repent, to seek the knowledge of God, and to be known by Him!

The fear is real. And fear can induce a lot of situations that will cause mankind to give into that fear. Stress from fear will increase unhealthy situations- physically, mentally and spiritually. 

May we LOOK forward to the joyous return of our SAVIOR! May this be our constant HOPE. As fear seeks to destroy may we let hope overcome that fear. 

All through Jesus Christ our LORD and SAVIOR NOW and FOREVER!!!!!!!

Luk 21:25  And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 

Luk 21:26  Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 

Luk 21:27  And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 

Luk 21:28  And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. 

Secure, Because There Is Hope.

Job 11:18  And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope…

Secure- because there is hope.

Who doesn't want to be secure? Insecurities cause us discomfort. We worry when we aren't secure. What may make one person secure however, might not make another secure. Some people are secure in themselves and their own abilities to provide for whatever they might need. Others are very insecure about themselves and their own abilities to provide for themselves. Sometimes due to illness, infirmities, age and the like we are left to feel extremely insecure about our lives and our ability to provide for ourselves. When we think in terms of our temporary life is it any wonder people are insecure? Even the most secure person can be thrown for a loop by the unexpected. This temporary life leaves us with a feeling of insecurity because there are so many unknowns. We do NOT know what tomorrow may bring to us. We plan our lives, we imagine how our lives are meant to be, but all too often they don't turn out anything like what we had in mind.

We can be secure in hope. When we place our hope in Christ, we are planning on a life eternal. We aren't guaranteeing ourselves anything in this temporary life when we make Christ our hope, not a single thing. With Christ our hope Christ is our guarantee in eternity.  I may have a temporary life filled with all manner of insecurities- legitimate insecurities. I may have no money, no food and no way to get either. I may go one, two, three, four days without any food, I may actually starve to death, but I can still have my security in Christ. In this temporary life anything can happen and has happened to people who love God with all their hearts, horrific things. We need to understand that it is life eternal where we find our truest hope, not the life we live now.

While we live in very uncertain times the tendency to feel insecure, to feel fear will be very, very great. We need to find our security in hope, and that hope is in Jesus Christ our LORD and SAVIOR who died for us, so we may have the hope of Him eternally. No matter what comes our way, let us never lose our faith in our eternal Savior.

Psa 43:5  Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. 

Judgment Is Coming, Ready or Not.

The place called Mar's Hill exists, it is a part of our reality, part of our past and existing in our present.

'The Areopagus or Mars Hill is a bare marble hill next to the Acropolis in Athens. It is especially popular with travelers for its connections with a speech made by Paul the Apostle.' (Wiki)

Yesterday I mentioned Mar's Hill in connection with the altar with the inscription- TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Today I want to read that passage more in-depth.

Act 17:22  Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars' hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. 

Act 17:23  For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. 

Act 17:24  God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; 

Act 17:25  Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 

Act 17:26  And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 

Act 17:27  That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 

Act 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 

Act 17:29  Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. 

Act 17:30  And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 

Act 17:31  Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

God MADE THE WORLD AND ALL THINGS THEREIN.

GOD IS LORD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. 

God does not dwell in any temple made by man.

God does not need man to worship Him- God existed before man existed and would continue to exist without man.

God gives life and breath to ALL things. Nothing has life or breath without God. All mankind shares the same life giving blood, not a single person exists without this blood.

God arranged things for us so that all mankind are capable of seeking the Lord should they choose. God is NOT far from any of us.

God can't be far from us, we live because of Him, we move, we have our form, we are the children of God.

Because we are God's children we have to realize that God is NOT gold, NOT silver, NOT stone, and can NOT be captured in such likenesses. No man can depict God in any tangible object.

God will overlook our ignorance when we do not comprehend His truths. God however, expects us to REPENT as soon as we realize the truth of our place and God's place as Creator, as Redeemer. We owe our very lives to GOD and God will not be worshiped falsely, He is above all! We need to repent of our audacity to presume that we are above God in any way, that we can bring God down to our level, that God needs us. 

Act 17:31  Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

God has APPOINTED A DAY to JUDGE the world in righteousness through Jesus Christ our LORD. God gave us ASSURANCE of this truth to ALL MANKIND when He raised our Savior, Jesus Christ, from the dead!

You cannot believe in the Savior Jesus Christ without knowing there is a Day of JUDGMENT.

Act 10:42  And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. 

JUDGMENT.

Mat 25:31  When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 

Mat 25:32  And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 

Mat 25:33  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 

Mat 25:34  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 

Mat 25:35  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 

Mat 25:36  Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 

Mat 25:37  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 

Mat 25:38  When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 

Mat 25:39  Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 

Mat 25:41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 

Mat 25:42  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 

Mat 25:43  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 

Mat 25:44  Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 

Mat 25:45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 

Mat 25:46  And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. 

This is truth! Judgment! We will be blessed of the Father and inherit the kingdom or we will be punished with a punishment whose results are everlasting, never to be undone.

We cannot believe in our Savior without believing in our own judgment.

Rom 2:16  In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. 

Our secrets will be judged, there are no secrets from God, none.

Rom 14:9  For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. 

Rom 14:10  But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

We shall ALL stand before the judgment seat of Christ!

1Co 4:5  Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. 

The Lord will come in judgment!

2Co 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 

ALL of us will appear before the judgment seat of Christ!

2Ti 4:1  I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom

The LORD JESUS CHRIST will judge us!

Jud 1:14  And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 

Jud 1:15  To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 

TRUTH!

Judgment is coming, ready or not.

Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Rev_22:20  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

A Known Hope.

I choose to believe. Why do I choose to believe? I choose because logic tells me that to not believe would mean hopelessness. There is no hope for those who have no belief. And if they say they hope without having to believe, what is their hope based upon.  There were people in Athens that had this--

Act 17:23  For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. 

TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

To have hope in the UNKNOWN, hope you keep nameless, could in truth be hope in GOD. If you're unwilling to admit to a hope in God, in giving your hope the name of God, may the Holy Spirit impress the truth of Him upon you so your hope is KNOWN. We don't have to worship ignorantly.

My Jesus tells me this--

He will never leave me.

He will never forsake me.

The Lord is my helper.
I will not fear what man shall do to me.

He is with me always, even to the end of the world.

The LORD my God.

He will be with me.

He will not fail me.

He will not forsake me.

I will not be dismayed.

Fear not.

God is with me.

Be not dismayed.

He is my God.

He will strengthen me.

He will help me.

He will hold me with his righteousness.

Heb 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. 

Heb 13:6  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. 

Mat_28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Deu 31:6  Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 

Deu 31:8  And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed. 

Isa 41:10  Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Life may throw me a lot of curve balls, in fact it can throw all of us many curveballs. And we could believe God forsakes us when we go through horrible things, but He doesn't. He is keeping us in Him, our painless lives are only promised in eternity, not in the temporary to eternity.

God help us always! Keep us in Him always! He is our HOPE now and ever! All through Jesus Christ our LORD, our SAVIOR.

Hope Beyond Horror.

Preach Heaven- Eternal in Time.

Eternal life.  None of us would want eternal life if it were to be a life filled with pain, would we? At what point does quality of life supersede quantity of life?

I came face to face with my mother's mortality when the announcement was made that she had a cancer in her body and it wasn't curable, that any attempt to arrest the disease would be devastating to her physically and only give her a few extra months of life at most. The cancer doctor actually told us that in a person of my mother's age and health- late seventies, that to treat this particular cancer with chemo and radiation would be cruel. However, he said, if it were found in a person of our ages (fifties) then he would recommend an extreme course of very aggressive chemo/radiation, but such a course for my mother might in fact be what kills her.

While we knew my mother's cancer was bad and instinctively wanted her to be treated- to have that hope- she also had the mitigating circumstances of  having incurable Alzheimer's disease. At this point we all determined, my mother included, that no treatment for the cancer would be taken. She would continue on as normal and let the disease run its course while treating symptoms as they appeared with pain relieving medication.

It was all so surreal. I'd sit there in the evening and watch her watching television programs with us, smiling, laughing, enjoying herself and I'd know that inside her she was being destroyed by cancer. It didn't seem very real not until the last few months of her life when everything went downhill very, very fast.  During the blessed lull of her illness when we lived in the delusional state of her seeming okay- we filled her life with her favorite foods, her favorite past times- her grandkids and jigsaw puzzles. We offered her things knowing they'd possibly be the last time she experienced them. We let her eat what she wanted, and encouraged her to enjoy the things she'd deny herself to watch her weight. We tried to give her a good ending to her life those last few years after her diagnoses with Alzheimer's and then the cancer. We tried to give her quality of life knowing we weren't pushing for quantity, and she wanted quality over quantity as well.

Back to the statement I made at the start of this-  None of us would want eternal life if it were to be a life filled with pain, would we? Of course we wouldn't. Or maybe right now you're trying to determine the pain threshold you'd be willing to endure to live forever. Let's take over all quality of life as being horrific, would you then want to live forever in the horrific state of existence?  Would you want to live forever if you had to live your life in advanced old age where you could barely do anything at all? It's inevitable, yes? The longer we live the more we become less able to do the things we once could do. Even the healthiest of the aged will slow down. Very few of the very advanced in age - into their hundreds- are living a great quality of life that would be acceptable to endure forever.  We see pictures, watch videos of the hundred year old's birthday celebrations, and only occasionally are they vibrant with seeming youthful exuberance.  Why do even those who seem healthy and are able to get around fine, and are enjoying their lives, end up dying if they don't have any problems that are life threatening? What takes them from life? It could be any number of things- things that take younger people much earlier in their lives. Not every aged person who dies is suffering debilitating illnesses that make their lives awful, but a lot are.

For the sake of the statement made- None of us would want eternal life if it were to be a life filled with pain, would we?  We are going to add that the life filled with pain was one of constant agony with very little relief, and the relief mainly in the form of being unconscious in drug induced sleep. No one would want that kind of eternal existence. The life they lived would be unlivable if the pain kept them from doing everything that made life worth living.

Eternal life, the eternal life preached to us by our Savior, promised to us by the Father, God, is one without pain in any form whatsoever, a distress-free existence. 

Recently a few shows/movies and such I've seen have the concept that no one would be happy or want to live in a world without any conflict. They promoted the idea that it's the conflicts in our life that give them meaning. To know the good we have to know the evil. To feel true happiness we must know true pain. We need something to compare happiness to in order for us to realize we are happy. People will point out the lives of people who can buy anything they want, and then say they can't buy happiness and maybe only those truly in that position can attest to the validity of it. To believe that we must always and forever have to have bad in order to have good is a very flawed belief, one we cling to because to do otherwise is to have to comprehend truth.

The truth is existing as created beings, created out of love, meant to return love as well as receive love. Eternal life, this most precious of offered truths, allows us to comprehend hope beyond the horror.

Hope beyond the horror.  Most of us have horrors that have occurred in our lives, and if by chance you've happened to somehow live a horror free existence, you most certainly know others who haven't. You know of the horror even if it's not your personal horror.

The horror of life comes in many, many forms.  Horror - otherwise known as - intense fear, intense dislike, shock, disgust, unpleasant, unsightly, hopelessness, anxiety, terror, revulsion, repulsion, awfulness, distress, dread, alarm, panic-  you get the picture, yes?  The level of horror varies and can be subjective. I might find surgery on a person absolutely horrifying if I were required to be the surgeon, while another would find it exhilarating. Some might enjoy jumping out of an airplane while I would most likely die from the sheer terror of being in that position. There are horrors that everyone would find the same- torture, extreme torture being one of those horrors.  That this world is filled with horrors we hate to even imagine exist and often sob broken heartedly upon hearing of some of the horrors being enacted, is without a doubt.  And as long as even the tiniest horror exists we need hope beyond that horror. Hope beyond the worst of the worst and the least of the worst.

Hope beyond horror, the truth of eternal existence with no horror at all whatsoever. No horror for you, no horror for me, no horror for anyone at all.

Eternal life is offered to us, this hope beyond the horrors is given to us, and we must grasp hold of the hope and never let it go. We must live our lives filled with this hope. As one tragedy after another is personally dealt with, or whether you face tragedy within yourself we need to grasp the hope eternal offered to us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Eternal life - preaching heaven- giving hope in eternal time.

We All Live In Holy Time, Every Seventh Day.

Living in holy time. Hallelujah!

As the unseen door opens, a door from our world existing in unholy time to a door existing in our world in holy time, we are beckoned…realize and enter.

"Remember," God said. Did God know that man would choose to forget? He did, He knew. "Remember the Sabbath day," God commanded.

Not only did man choose to forget, man chose to misremember the truth of the Sabbath when he did remember its existence.

The holy. What does it mean to be holy?

Set apart for religious purpose, devoted to the service of God, belonging to or coming from a divine power, something sanctified, consecrated, hallowed, blessed, divine, sacred, righteous, devout, Godly.

During creation God did not make every day holy, this is truth. God did make one day during creation holy, the seventh day, the day He stopped creating beyond creating the Sabbath itself. God reiterated the holiness of the seventh day in a week consisting for seven days when He freed the Egyptians from slavery. God listed the sanctity of Sabbath among the ten royal, moral laws written by His own hand. God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, also reiterated the Sabbath when He said not a single jot (the dot of an i) or a single tittle (the cross of a t) would be removed from the royal law. Jesus commanded us to keep the royal law. We are told in the new world to come the Sabbath would remain.

Before sin entered the newly created world of mankind the Sabbath existed.

Time made holy.

Time set aside as holy.

This period of holy time would be endless, it would be eternal.

This one day in seven, this twenty-four hour period of holy time will never end, never.

Forever we will be creatures. Though we will be changed from mortal to immortal, from corruptible to incorruptible, we will never cease to be creatures, never.  As creatures we needed, and will always need, holy time. Whether we are old creatures or new creatures, we are creatures. Unfortunately as corrupted creatures we have a tendency to forget our creature status. God guaranteed the opportunity for us to never forget our creature status. God created the holiness of the seventh day, the Sabbath.

On the Sabbath, the door to holy time is opened to us. No one can escape living in the time of holiness, but they can choose to desecrate the holy time they are living in.

More on this tomorrow, by the will of our God, by the grace and mercy of our loving Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord now and forever!