Bible Prophecy and Inspiration

Matthew 7:7-8 – ⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Why is no one going to be able to plead ignorance that has reached a point of accountability?

Matthew mentions it above.  If you seek the Lord and truth He will reveal it to you.  It’s my favorite scripture.  The reason it is, is because I used to be one of the lazy Christians who ask to be forgiven and then never sought the Truth.

The Lord doesn’t want anyone to perish, but He doesn’t want a bunch of blind followers who don’t want to seek Him or His Truth.  It’s not about getting the get out of free jail card and then living anyway you want.

Matthew 6:33 – ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

The Lord makes it clear.  Put Him first.   No, really, make Him first.

Matthew 6:24 – ²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

There is a serious problem in the world and especially in America when it comes to serving finances.  How many put their time in their finances more than in the Lord?

Our relationship grows by seeking God and His Son.  Our faith grows by reading His Word and discovering the truth of it when we look around.

We need to earnestly seek God is what He asks.  What happens for those who do?  They find.  What do they find?  The Truth!  Why is the Truth important?

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.

John 8:31-32 – ³¹ To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. ³² Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

If we don’t make it a point to seek the Truth then we are jeopardy of being swept away by the untruths or lies.

In the last days there is great falling away and I believe it’s because people don’t care about truth.  They are happy with just making the truth whatever they want it to be. 

Seek truth.  Ask, seek, knock.  He will open the door.  I’ll vouch for that personally.

Galatians 2:20 – ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This one scripture would put an end to our continuous problem of being selfish if we could just grasp it.

Do we chase after greed if we no longer live in our self centered state?  Do we get so upset we choose not to forgive if we no longer live, but Christ lives in us?

It’s a verse that asks us to be totally contrary to who we naturally are in the current body.  Why is that?  Product Malfunction!

Yet we have a God that loves us so much, that even as haywire and sinful we are, He died for us and took on the penalty that sin requires.

Jesus asks us to pick up our cross and follow Him.

Matthew 10:38-39 – ³⁸ Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

That’s not an easy scripture for today’s church to accept.  However it reads very clear.

In the areas we all struggle in, Galatians 2:20 explains that if we died to our selfish wants or vices, we wouldn’t continue to struggle in these areas.

For many it’s not just a struggling in the flesh thing.  The real problem comes in their faith.

Many say they believe in Heaven, yet they live on this earth like there’s no tomorrow.  Faith issue?  Absolutely. 

If you don’t believe Heaven’s tons better than this earth, you’re not going to invest into it or live like were supposed to here. 

Faith is strengthened by studying the Word.  Then it’s about looking around you and seeing it all being Truth.  The good, the bad, the history, the sinful nature, the persecution, selfishness, greed, addictions, unforgiveness, murder, hatred, etc.

So are we supposed to live gung ho for the world today and then hope for the best regarding Heaven tomorrow?

Not from what I read.

It’s supposed to be exactly the opposite for us.  Don’t chase the world.  The Lord knows you have needs.  Trust in the Lord and chase after Him.  He who is the least will be the greatest.  He who humbles himself will be exalted.

Did our Lord come as a rich king on this earth when He was here?  Who was peddling the riches and power?  That was Satan tempting Him in the desert.

Matthew 13:44 –  ⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

What does God want from you?  Your heart. 

What can you give a God that has made everything?  Your heart.

As a free will being He can’t make you love Him.  That’s what He wants you to give Him your heart.  Your love and obedience while a being a freewill individual.  The easiest way to surrender is to die to your sinful nature and self.

Here it is again –

Galatians 2:20 – ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Jesus isn’t a theory, Jesus is person, Jesus is the Son and God in the flesh that died for those who will make Him Lord and ask for that forgiveness.

If you don’t know Him as a person, as your best friend, the One you can trust, please make every effort to do so.

The Jews? 

No, it was God who made the rules.  God made the law.  God had His people conduct ceremonies, feasts, rituals, sacrifices, routines, etc.

The church today acts like if it comes from the Old Testament then that’s out.  That was back when the Jews did things.

Wait a minute, the Jews didn’t make a bunch of laws and rules and then attach God to them.  So when the church wants to ignore Israel and the Jews, what are they doing?  They just threw out all of God’s thinking in the Old Testament.

Problem?

Here is what the Bible says about God and Jesus.

Numbers 23:19 – ¹⁹ God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind.  Does he speak and then not act?  Does he promise and not fulfill?

Psalm 145:13 – ¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.  The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.

Hebrews 13:8 – ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

So we know the Lord doesn’t lie, change His mind, speak and not act and He keeps His promises.

So why don’t we live exactly as the Jews?  We have had fulfillments for one.  We also can read that hypocritical man can put burdens on others that they can’t fulfill themselves.  The Lord made rules for the betterment not be burdensome or unrealistic.  The foods the Lord didn’t want eaten saved many lives at the time.  Later on Jesus explained that the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).  You could heal or save your animals or livestock, it wasn’t crime (Matthew 12:11-12). 

The Lord has fulfilled the Spring Feasts.  He came the first time and fulfilled certain items. 

The law is still there for our benefit.  He still wants us to obey it.  He just died for our salvation that we may be saved when it’s broken.

Which one of the commandments does our Lord want us to break?  Even in the case of the Sabbath, I believe he still wants us to stop, rest, pray, and reflect on Him as often as we can.  The Sabbath made people do that.  Without it, it’s amazing how proclaimed Christians give no time to the Lord.

I’m not saying the church is to become Jewish, that’s what the replacement church is trying to do to an extent.  Except they want to take all the blessings for themselves and let the curses stay with the Jewish people.  No, the church is the church and Israel is Israel.  Each have their own promises.

We need to pay attention and understand all the things that the Lord has to say and understand them.  Not pass them off as Old Testament and sweep them under the rug.  Because the commands on how to live didn’t come from man, but God.

Deuteronomy 12:4 – ⁴ You must not worship the Lord your God in their way.

In the Old Testament God was telling the Jews that there was a right way to worship Him.

What?

I know that shouldn’t shock someone, but in the world we live in today and it’s getting to be so more every day, people think however I believe pleases God.  Whatever, I think, or my personal preference is, God respects that and you should too.

So are God and Jesus into the respect of Man’s thinking?

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

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.

I would say that if one reads the Bible, God has a lot of expectations and absolutes.  No wonder this generation doesn’t want to study or read it.

I’ve been preaching it for the last 3 years and it’s stronger today that yesterday.  The only intolerance in the world today is intolerance.

The world says we must include and tolerate all ideas when it comes to spirituality.

Sounds like the major priming of a one world religion to me?

Revelation 17:4-6 – ⁴ The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. ⁵ The name written on her forehead was a mystery:

babylon the great

the mother of prostitutes

and of the abominations of the earth.

⁶ I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.

It would appear that the Woman, which seems to represent something priestly by the description doesn’t have a liking for God’s holy people who will be giving testimony of Jesus.

The tolerant crowd today is not the tolerant crowd of God’s truth or His ways.  We need to stand firm and continue to seek His truth.

Remember the majority does not make the right decision or God’s Word wouldn’t be correct.

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.

God’s not looking for an elite crowd, just those who love Him, seek Him, repent, accept His death in the place of theirs, and want to make Him Lord of their lives.  By His Word only a few choose that.  Be one of those few and try to reach others to be also, before our time runs out.

Today’s post is inspired by a part of the sermon I received from church by Pastor Josh.

The message was on the Holy Spirit.

One of the pieces of the message was about a guy going out and purchasing a refrigerator.  It had all the bells, whistles, and was state of the art.  However, it didn’t work.  As it turns out, it didn’t work because it wasn’t plugged in.

So here’s the question.  Are we plugged in?

If we are not plugged in, we don’t have power from God.  The power is from the Holy Spirit.

In John we see Jesus speak of Him.

John 14:25-26 – ²⁵ “All this I have spoken while still with you. ²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Jesus also said in the beginning of Acts:

Acts 1:8-  ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Today many proclaimed Christian’s are not plugged into God.  So how does one act that is a proclaimed Christian that is not plugged into the Holy Spirit?  The same as someone who isn’t saved at all.  You have a hard time differentiating between the two because the only difference on their actions is one says they are a Christian and another doesn’t.  However their actions are exactly the same.

The reason this is getting worse every day is because many Christians don’t know the Word of God.
Then they improvise to make God an individual that just so happens to think like they do.  That way anything they like to do is okay by God.

If we’re not plugged in we’re doomed to be those that try to use the wide road.

What happens when we have the Holy Spirit?

Acts:11:24 –  ²⁴ He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

Romans 14:17- ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,

Ephesians 4:30 – ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

So He is our strength in reaching others.  He teaches us that the kingdom is not of this world but of heavenly things and God seals us with the Holy Spirit for our day of redemption.

Stay in the Word and remember that our bodies are the temple for the Holy Spirit.

Acts 5:27-29 – ²⁷ The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. ²⁸ “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

²⁹ Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!

Everyday new laws are popping up that are contrary to God and His Word.  Now it is more important than ever to remember that “We must obey God rather than human beings!”

Many of our Christian brothers and sisters have perished for what would seem like some of the simplest things they could have gone along with.  However, most of those simple things are an abomination to God.

Stay strong!  This world is on a slippery pace to the One World Order and start of the Tribulation.  Unfortunately those who don’t know God’s Word are doomed to go against It and Him.

Satan has only a few packages he’s been selling for six thousand years.  Almost all of them have to do with wealth, power, sex, drugs, alcohol, etc.  Even the ones not listed still fit in the category of ME.  SELF.  The devil is in the selfish business.  You can pretty much use the test of anything and if it comes up about me and not for the Kingdom and the Lord it’s self.

I saw these verses reading through the One Year Bible the other day.

Psalm 119:36-37 – ³⁶ Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain.
³⁷ Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word.

Picture this:  Bam!  Your heart stops ticking.  What do you have?  Memories for the eternal old folks home?

No.  You have your testimony of how you lived.  How did you do?  Was it all for you?  Was it for others but not based on the Lord?  What do you have to present to the Lord?

People want to live by a scale of good and bad.  Without an ultimate authority one wouldn’t even know what that is.  But we do have an Ultimate Authority.  His Son died on the cross and the acceptance of that death in the place of your own and making Him Lord is the only thing that counts for salvation.

Then there is the authority of accountability.  Whoops.  We’re back to who did you serve?

The good news is there is some time left to finish the race strong.  Don’t stand around on the track though, all the signs are pointing to a very soon return.

I am grateful that Paul did not have the attitude of many Christians today.

1 Corinthians 9:19- ¹⁹ Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.

Today many believe faith is a personal choice to be kept to oneself.  Others believe it’s the job of the clergy to spread the news.

Is that what the Bible and Word of God teaches?

Matthew 5:13-15 –  ¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.  ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

No, we are to shout it from the mountain tops.

Are we ashamed?  If we are not then we need to allow the Spirit to be bold in us.

Persecution is coming quickly in this country.  It’s already started.  Stand up for your Lord, so the day you stand in front of Him, He will acknowledge you and say well done.

On the other hand, you do not want to stand in front of Him with nothing to present Him.