Bible Prophecy and Inspiration

As a Christian the term religion is so generic and impersonal.

Any belief system can be a religion.  You can make your own up.  Get a following and you are religious.

Religion.

You’ll hear people say, I grew up in religious household, or went to a religious school.  Trust me they didn’t get anything out of either the house or the school if that’s how they refer to it.

Here is a little analogy, I love analogies.  Let’s say you’re into favorite football team.  Let’s say it’s the Seattle Seahawks.  You live, you breathe the Seahawks.  It’s what you live for.  Nothing else matters.  No other football team, certainly no other sport.

Someone comes up to you and says, I understand you like sports.  You look at them and say not really, just one.  I really only like one team.  Then they look at you and say, what’s the difference?  Sports is sports isn’t it?  Do people play?  Do you keep score?  You like sports.

No.

Christianity is supposed to be a relationship with the Son of God!

It’s not supposed to be a ritual or a set of rules made by men.

Isaiah 29:13 – ¹³ The Lord says:
   “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.

It’s supposed to be a relationship.  People have those with the Lord.  It’s best when it grows and becomes stronger.  In any relationship that exists, how does it become strong?

Dedication, devotion, sacrifice, and love.  In any relationship and that includes friends.

So without it can you have a relationship with Jesus without those things?  Oh you can be saved.  It says whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved.  One has to believe more than He just existed.  They have to believe He is the Son of God and ask for forgiveness. 

The relationship though doesn’t grow automatically because of that.  I’ve met a lot of people.  I don’t have even the slightest relationship with them. 

Do you have religion?  Because if you refer to it as religion, you’re missing out on a relationship with the One who loves you, created you, and died for you.  It takes effort and devotion.  When you sincerely do that, He’s right there with the love and He made the sacrifice.

Have you noticed that when someone touted as a pastor or minister fails, it brings joy to the world?

I’m not saying that when people are unjust they don’t deserve justice.  God has a way of dealing with His own or with those impersonating someone who is one of his own.  I’m talking when a believer slips and is down.  The world absolutely loves it. 

Why?

The world loves its own.  The world wants to set the rules.  It doesn’t have any standards right now for anything, except for intolerance.  To be successful in bringing a one world order together it must have everyone respecting everyone else’s ideas or beliefs.  Are we to participate in this?

John 15:18-21 – 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 the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is 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.

The world hated Jesus.  If the church wants to be loved by the world, and there are many out there trying to be loved by it, they aren’t following in the footsteps of our Lord.  Jesus wasn’t spewing hate like the media today is trying to accuse (narrow-mindedness).  He was spreading truth and the Word of God.  He wasn’t going to walk on eggshells and tell people that He was the Son of God, but you go ahead and believe however you want, I wouldn’t want to offend you.  No He was direct.

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.

On one side you got the world.  On the other you have Jesus.  In the middle you have the third group.  Who are they?

Let’s start with the third group in the parable of the sower.

Matthew 13:22- 22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

Then there is the Church of Laodicea.

Revelation 3:15-18 – ¹⁵ I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

The world loves its own.  Christ wants us to follow Him, which is the way to eternal life.  You can’t be part of both.  Choose the One who loves you and was willing to die for you.  Choose Christ.

Jeremiah 29:11 –¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

My Pastor’s favorite verse.  God Bless you Skip and Gale.  You continue to preach God’s Word right on track, while at the same time the church as a whole in this country is not.

As humans we seem to have our eyes on the present.  The future is as long as I am alive on this earth.  God sees you as an eternal being.  Your future is continuous.  If you’re one of His children that are seeking Him, you have a promise above.  The plan the Lord has for us started before we even knew of our own existence and goes on forever.

That’s powerful.  That means He is looking over us right now and if we choose his sacrifice and salvation, forever and ever. 

We can’t get hung up on our wants.  Why?  As sinful creatures, our wants our more than likely not the same as the plan God has for us.

I can tell you the more I concentrate on the Lord and His Word, the more I know He has plans for me.  I know by reading the Word that this life isn’t about me, it’s about the Lord and what we can do to be servants.

Challenging?  Difficult?  It sure is for me in some areas more than others.  The more I study the word of God the more lacking I realize I am.  However, the strength comes from the Lord.  Any strength we can muster needs to be put into Him and then allow Him to work through us.

Worldly prosperity has proven to be a hindrance for most people in their life with the Lord.  Let’s focus on our relationship with the Lord and let the prosperity stem from that.  No one will harm us even on this earth unless the Lord has a plan and says it’s okay.  If He says it’s okay and you’re living for Him, then He has you taken care of ultimately.  One will be rewarded for suffering in His name on this earth.  One example is the martyr’s crown.  Paul also speaks on being rewarded for his suffering in the Lord.

I can tell you that our own selfish ambitions are not part of God’s plan.   I don’t think Paul, the disciples, and the early church had selfish ambitions and if they did, we’d all be in trouble. 

We have a hope and a future thanks to our Lord.

Galatians 6:7-8 – ⁷ Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸ Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

We need to keep our eyes on the only prize that matters.  That would be the Lord who loves us, gives us life, died for us, and knows what’s best for us. 

All earthly things pass away.  Just knowing that for a fact, what are they worth?