Bible Prophecy and Inspiration

Luke 6:43-45 – ⁴³ “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴ Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. ⁴⁵ The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

Let’s each be honest with ourselves.  What is each of our fruit?

Are we trying to be fruitful or are we just not trying to be a thorn?

I have no doubt that each and every one of us is to try and do his best to bear fruit.  Can we bear fruit on our own?  No.

John 15:1-8 – ¹ “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸ This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

To bear fruit we have to be in obedience to the Lord.  To be in obedience to the Lord we need to deny ourselves.

When we standing in front of the Lord not one thing that keeps us from bearing good fruit will matter, except we’ll realize what a bad idea those things were.

I left off yesterday on earnestly seeking God.

Many people today are seeking, but are they seeking earnestly?

Today the people in the world seem to want what they want.  It’s like going through a buffet line and grabbing what works for them and leaving the stuff off their plate that doesn’t appeal to them.

It is part of our fallen nature to want to do this.  We have a void to fill spiritually and yet our sinful nature doesn’t match up to how we are really supposed to be, act, or believe.

God promises us that those who earnestly seek Him will find Him.

Proverbs 8:17 – ¹⁷ I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.

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; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

I see many different religions out there and their doctrine is easily flawed.  What I mean by that is it has nothing to do with taste or preference, but things don’t add up.  When you put these questions out there to the people who believe, they aren’t interested in rather it adds up or not.  That fact of the matter is they are comfortable where they are at.

I don’t know about you, but my normal sinful self doesn’t fit how Go’s Word wants me to act or believe at all.  I’ve had to come to the realization that it makes complete sense and now I have to conform to it.  It’s not naturally who I am.

In the last days we get a warning on this.

2 Timothy 4:2-5-    ² Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. ³ For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. ⁴ They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. ⁵ But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.  

If you want to get your truth from the Buffet line, you better be in the line with the Bible and be ready to eat it all up.  Otherwise picking and choosing while going over to other buffets will eventually lead to untruth.  As someone who has as interest in God, we don’t want it to lead to a lie.

Galatians 3:26-29 – ²⁶ You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Anyone who makes Jesus Lord is now born in the Spirit of our Lord.

Were we born to him when we came out of the womb?  No.  Adam and Eve were Sons and they fell away with their sin.  From that time forward we have been born into sin.  At the age of accountability we are responsible for a choice.  That choice is will we die in our sins, or accept Jesus death in the place of our own and make Him Lord?

What is that age of accountability?  God knows what it is.

Who is accountable considering some have lived and never received the message?  God will judge correctly.

What I do know is if those who have heard the Word and reject the Lord, their fate is not a good one.  We are expected to try and spread the Word of our Lord and we will be accountable on rather we tried to do that.

If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are a Son of God.  Male or Female you are considered a son.  White, Black, Yellow, Brown, Pink or Orange skin color we are all considered Sons if we have been born again in our Spirit.

We don’t take it serious enough.  It’s a big reason why many of us lose focus.  It’s not real enough to us.  There is no bigger deal and we would do good to remember that and live it.

Psalm 27:1-3 – ¹ The LORD is my light and my salvation—
   whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
   of whom shall I be afraid?
² When evil men advance against me
   to devour my flesh,
when my enemies and my foes attack me,
   they will stumble and fall.
³ Though an army besiege me,
   my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
   even then will I be confident.

We need to be confident.  It’s easy to look at this scripture and say, well that’s David and he’s in a time of war.  Also he was really good in his faith in this area.

No, we need to understand we are in a war every day.  The war is for your heart.  God wants you back and strong.  The devil wants you to rebel and join the darkness team.

Does that sound wild?  Only because we have become so attached to believing what we can see.  What we can’t see is very obvious.  We do things that we know are wrong.  Others do things we know are wrong.  We do things that we know is right.  We see others doing things we know are right.  How do we know this?

God has built that in as part of the creation in man.  Now we can slip so far into darkness and away from the Lord that we can fool ourselves.  People can get numb to their selfish living, but it’s still very apparent to everyone else that doesn’t go that far off the deep end. 

David is confident, because he knows the One who has his back is the only One we need to be concentrating on.

I’m reminded of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  They were going to stay true to God’s command of not bowing down to idols.  King Nebuchadnezzar was furious and throw them into a fire that was heated 7 times hotter than normal.  What was their response?

Daniel 3:16-18 –   ¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. ¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”

Don’t be afraid.  As it turns out they were spared by God for His witness, but I love their attitude.  But even if He does not, we want you to know we won’t go against God or His decree.

We need to be ready to take this stand for our Lord and have no fear.

Titus 3:3-8 – ³ At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. ⁸ This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.

Repentance is turning away from our old sinful nature.  If we don’t head into a new direction and focus on it, we’re heading back to the familiar digs.

We called to be a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

We need to devote ourselves to our loving God and Savior.  When we are serving Him, some come closer in their relationship with Him and others find God for the first time.  This is profitable for everyone.

It’s even profitable for the atheist.

What’s amazing is the godless atheist enjoys living under the moral law, but doesn’t want God as a part of it.  When God is completely taken out, the moral society goes with Him and chaos and evil erupts.  Evil selfish men aren’t concerned about atheists who want to live by good moral standards without God.  When the Christian wants rules put on society of morality, we point to God as why.  If an atheist tries to do that, they would get the backlash we are receiving now, but have nothing to point to as a foundation.

When we devote ourselves to God, everyone profits from that.  Plus that’s what God has called us to do.

Romans 13:11 – ¹¹ And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

This is a fact for each believer.  We are one day closer to our salvation than yesterday.

Did we do the most with that day?  Paul reminds us that another day is gone so let’s remember to love our neighbor and quit doing things that are self centered or contrary to that.  We must quit living for the darkness as our day of salvation is one more day closer than yesterday.