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Feast Of Trumpets This Week

23 Sep

I was going to post something somewhat similar to lasts years post, but after reading it, I’m just going to repost it.

Rosh Hashanah is coming up again for the year at the end of the week. It is the Feast of Trumpets. So why do I get excited at this time?

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 – 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 – 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Revelation 4:1- 1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

In the last one the voice that was first speaking to John was Jesus.

One thing I have learned over time is God doesn’t do anything that’s not calculated, especially on things as big as this. The Lord rode into Jerusalem the first time on the very day it was prophesied.

Don’t get me wrong, we don’t know the day or hour. No idea of the year. No date setting here. I wouldn’t ever attempt it. He can come at anytime. Immanency is heavily taught in the Word so we are not to let our guard down and to always be living as Jesus is coming back today.

One thing about Rosh Hashanah is that it covers two days. There are trumpets that are blown and it is one of God’s seven Jewish feasts. I repeat God’s…..feast that He appointed to the people which He has ran the Messiah line down through. And He is coming back (Jesus) to rule and reign on His throne over them. God doesn’t break promises.

Some of those promises are to meet His own (church) in the air like the verses above. Come down and judge the nations who have rejected Him at the end of the Tribulation. Then rule and reign for the millennium over the Jews who remain as their Messiah.

So when the Feast of Trumpets come around every year, it’s hard for me not to get excited and hope that the Blessed Hope could happen. If not, it’s safe to say were closer than before. Do you long for His appearing? There is a Crown of Righteousness for those who do.

2 Timothy 4:8 – 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

 

Whose Feasts Or Festivals Are They?

17 Sep

Leviticus 23:1-2 – 1And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts. NKJV

To many Christian’s, many who are guilty of replacement theology have written off things because they believe it was from the Jews who blew it. Replacement theology wants to take all the blessings of Israel and give them to the church and let all the bad and curses remain with the Jews. Crazy? Yes. Yet popular amongst those who don’t take the Bible literally.

The Lords Feasts are very important. Jesus fulfilled the Spring Feasts when He came the first time. The Bible indicates He will fulfill the fall ones when he comes back the second time.

Where are we at on God’s timetable? Our biggest indicator is based on Israel. The Jewish people are back in the land. That started the end time clock ticking. Do you know why people have been looking for the Lord’s returns for years now? That’s the biggest reason for those who take the Bible literally. I encourage you to learn about the Feasts. Why? One, they are the Lords and He intends to fulfill them all. Two, it pulls together Bible Prophecy and gives you even more understanding.

 

Who Is Your King?

08 Sep

Do you serve somebody?

Whom?

Nobody?

Something?

Yourself?

The one who tries to convince you that you can serve yourself and you’ll be just fine, is this person:

Revelation 12:9 – 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. ……………

I quote the first part of that verse because it clarifies who the serpent is below.

Genesis 3:1-4 – 1Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

The lie is that you can be like God. Satan calls God a liar and tells Eve she won’t die. Satan is telling Eve that once you know good and evil you can now independently make those decisions for yourself.

The truth is God has no use for any other gods. That starts with Satan and then any else trying to take his advice.

Isaiah 45:22 –  22 “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.

God wants us to choose Him to worship and serve. He sent His only Son to die in our place if we are willing to ask for that forgiveness and call Him Savior and be our King.

Almost all opinion conversations have the words, “ I think….”. Somebody who wants God to be in charge should refer to, “God’s Word says ……. regarding that”

We have bad tendency in this country in thinking God thinks exactly the way we do. I promise you He doesn’t. The best we can do is study His Word, pray to Him for guidance, and do our best to serve and follow Him.

 

Is The Gog and Magog War and Armageddon The Same Time Period?

30 Aug

In studying Bible Prophecy for over 20 years I used to believe that the war of Gog and Magog was a war that preceded Armageddon. Many of the teachers I read taught that. I still very much love to learn under those teachers. Even the Left Behind series refers to the War of Gog and Magog that took place a short time prior to the rapture in that book. Love the series by the way. However about six years ago I noticed that two teachers I like also very much saw it differently. Both Dave Hunt and Hal Lindsay, which are very close to the other teacher’s I like, were saying that the Gog and Magog war had to be at the end.

Why?

Well, if you don’t pay close enough to the literal wordage it’s easy to want to move the war as a precursor that will set up the final stage. Here’s where the problem lies with that.

Ezekiel 39:21-22 – 21 “I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay on them. 22 From that day forward the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God.

This is at the end of the Gog and Magog war. Israel cannot make a 7 year peace treaty with the antichrist (thinking he’s their Messiah) after this war, if they know the Lord their God. It has to be at the end before his return.

Now to share the simple thing I have overlooked for many years. This is the way it usually works. Simple and right in front our face.

Because Israel has not seen peace since they have been back in the land (and now is as a good a reminder than ever of that) this verse popped out to me today. The first part of Ezekiel 38 explains those who will gather to make war. Chuck Missler does a good study and breakdown on that. Starting in verse seven we read this:

Ezekiel 38:7-10-   7 “‘Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. 8 After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. 9 You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land. 10 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme.

And then here comes the easy verse I read over a hundred plus times.

Ezekiel 38:11 – 11 You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars.

When has Israel since they became a nation again felt like they have been at peace or unsuspecting of an attack? ????

Then because I realized six years ago this had to be around the time of Armageddon it finally dawned on me. When will Israel feel safe? When they sign a peace treaty with who they think is the Messiah. Unfortunately it is really the antichrist. We know he breaks the treaty half way into it (Daniel 9:27).

For some who read this, they’re thinking way to go Einstein. If you’re like me though, some the most elementary things are the ones that come to life. I never seem to miss it because it’s harder to understand. No I usually miss it when it was literally easier.

Now that I don’t see a warning precursor war, I believe we are closer than ever to our Lord snatching away His Church. Live for Him daily. Make Him Lord. If you don’t know how to, I have put a page on the front of my website to the right. As always shoot me a line if you have made that commitment. I’d love to hear about it.

 

Is It About You Or Is It About God?

02 May

For some reason people in America think that God wants for us exactly what they want for themselves.  However, when I read the next scriptures, I read that God wants us to want we He wants from our lives.

Matthew 10:39 – 39 Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

Matthew 16:25 – 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

Mark 8:35 – 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.

Luke 9:24 – 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.

Luke 17:23 – 33 Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.

I read that and I see a God and Lord that is warning me I don’t have good ideas, unless their His ideas.  Who’s trying to convince me that God gave me a brain and by golly I am capable of knowing what is right and wrong and what’s good and evil?

Genesis 3:1-5 – 1Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Serpent indicates that by knowing good and evil like God, opens your eyes and you can be like God.  Have people today embraced that idea?  I sure see it.  Most people could care less what God thinks.  They are the god of their own domain.  Well, that’s what the devil was selling Eve.  She bought into it and the wide path of people are doing the same.

So I believe we should be narrow minded.  I believe narrow minded leads to the narrow path.  It also gets us to the place of wanting to believe what’s right in our Creator’s Mind and not chasing after our own fallen sinful desires and ideas.

Matthew 7:13-14 –  13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

It’s His way or the wide way.  Most choose their own way which is the wide way.

Proverbs 14:12 –  12 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

We need to choose God’s way.  What way is that?  Since Eve fell because she bought the lie of Satan, we all inherited that sinful gene that has been passed down.  If anyone is honest with themselves, it isn’t hard to identify that gene.  The penalty of sin is death.  Someone has to die for our sins.  There’s two choices.  It’s either one yourself, or two, God in the flesh.

Romans 6:23 – 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

The Lord’s sacrifice is sufficient for us to spend eternity with the Lord.  Dying in our own sins leads to separation from God forever.

God wants to be God.  He wants us to freely choose to ask for forgives and then choose to walk the way he wants us to live and walk.  God doesn’t want you to be God.

Choose to make Jesus Lord.  Ask for Him to forgive your sins and accept His sacrifice in the place of your own.  Choose to die to your own life and find it by walking with Him.  For those who have not accepted Jesus as Lord, I have a page over to the right in the column you can click on to help you get started in your new life.

Pride help cause the devil to fall.  Pride is what will keep many people from choosing God to be their God, instead of them being their own God.  Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord.

 

He Never Wants You To Give Up

23 Apr

There’s somebody that never wants you to give up on striving to know Him better.  He never wants you to become discouraged or not try anymore.  This Individual loves you, made you, and even died for you, so you could spend an eternity with Him as your Lord.

Matthew 18:12-14 – 12 “What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.

The name of this individual:

JESUS

 

There is another that tells you what your itching ears want to hear.  He sold the goods that you can be like God in the garden.  He’s been selling it to everyone since.  Was he telling the truth?

John 8:44 – 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

John 10:10 – 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; …..

The whole goal of selling you that you can be like God, was to play on your ego and separate you from Him.  As stated above there is no truth in him and there is no love for God in him.  He teaches people to be lover’s of themselves.

Who is this individual?

The serpent, Lucifer, the devil….Satan.

 

God wants you to worship Him and serve Him as God and Lord.  Life isn’t about scales, you can never be good enough.  Accept Jesus as Lord and Savior and never get discouraged and fall away or quit seeking Him.  The only voice that is trying to convince you to do that is Satan.

 

Many Parts Of The Body

16 Apr

Last post I emphasized that everyone has a ministry of some sort in us.  We have gifts from our Lord that we can use to help out the Body of Christ.  We are all different individuals and we are all uniquely made.  Together though, we combine to make up the Church.

1 Corinthians 12:12-26 – 12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

We are not all mouths, we are not all eyes, but together we can use these wonderful gifts He has blessed us with to reach others.

You have a gift.  Pray and seek to have that gift used by the Lord for His Kingdom.

 

Action Speaks Louder Than Words

09 Apr

Matthew 21:28-32 – 28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

29 “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

The Parable is directed at the main body of the Jewish leaders at the time, but the thing I key into is the action.  Talk is not as important as actions.

If the Body of Christ and Church sits around and doesn’t get involved in the ministry, there is no ministry.  If the early Church followers and apostles don’t commit their life to the Gospel, we have no written Word or account of how they went about spreading the Good News.

We all have a ministry.  The Body is made up of many parts.  I’ll continue with those familiar verses in the next post.  Serve your Lord.  Listen to his voice.  To tell Him you love Him is great.  To show Him that you love Him speaks louder.  Both are so important, but we can’t forget the action.

 

If They Persecuted Me, They Will Persecute You Also

26 Mar

John 15:18-25 – 18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. 24 If I had not done among them the works no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. 25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’

Living true to the Word is becoming increasingly unpopular in the American culture.  The world today is geared up for the new world religion, which endorses all roads that lead to Rome.  The only intolerance is to state there is only one way.  What did Jesus say?

John 14:6- 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Man has a choice to choose the Lord and Creator’s way, or to believe whatever he wants and choose his own.  Only one leads to the Father and Heaven from our fallen sinful state we are all in.

There a many absolutes in this world, but when it comes to God, they want Him to be whatever it is they want Him to be.  That’s not reality.

Choose to serve the Lord who gave you His Word which happens to also be the number one best seller of all time.  He is the One which created you and paid the penalty for you so you don’t have to.  Times are going to continue to reflect what’s written in John 15:28-25 more and more every day.  The world has nothing to offer you.  Your loving Lord and God has everything to offer to you.  But one has to choose Him.

 

What Should We Believe?

11 Mar

People more than ever are living their lives by their own beliefs.  That’s why I believe the Holy Spirit has me writing on this again.

To take the Bible and choose what you like about it and then discard what you don’t is a form of creating your own Gospel.

In fact, like I mentioned it before it’s like having a spiritual buffet.  I’ll have a little of that, and that, oh I like that.  Wait a minute, I don’t like that at all.  I don’t even understand why that item over there is even in the buffet, it’s not appealing at all.  Who likes that?

By the time 100 people choose to go through the spiritual buffet route, we have 100 different spiritual beliefs.

Is that a problem?  Yeah, it is when we are supposed to serve a perfect God who gave a perfect Word to a fallen corrupted human race.

Proverbs 14:12 –There is a way that appears to be right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

God wants us to serve Him.  He wants us with a free will choose to obey Him.  How can we do that?

Without a guide book how could we ever blindly follow and please Him?  We can’t.  We have to follow His commands and words to please and serve Him.  Where can we find this Word?  In the biggest most sold book of all time.

Not exactly a needle in a haystack is it?  The most sold BOOK of all time.

So why do an abundance of people dislike the Bible.  Cause it points out our faults.  The Word of God warns of coming judgment for those who don’t want to ask for forgiveness and serve Him.  It points out our faults.  Its audience pertains to 100 percent of those who have lived on earth.  The One who doesn’t need the forgiveness part is the One it’s completely about.

In America, for many years now, we have taught how to be a self serving, self seeking bunch.  We have a very unsatisfied society.  God didn’t make us to be self seeking beings.

Romans 2:8 – 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

God really wants us to seek Truth and not our own beliefs.

Here’s a great domino effect that needs to happen.  We seek God and what He wants for our lives and in return we will love and serve others in His name.  Not in our name, in His name.

God wants to be God of our lives.  That means we can’t be.  If you haven’t ask for forgiveness of your sins and accepted God’s perfect sacrifice, don’t wait any longer.  Jesus needs to be your Lord and Savior.  He was involved in creating us and was willing to die for us.  He is worthy.