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Archive for September, 2010

How Arrogant Is Man?

17 Sep

So how arrogant is man when he questions the existence of God?  Pretty Arrogant, but the longer I think about longer my anger turns to sadness.  You see Satan plays the best way he can on all of our weaknesses.  Many people have many different agendas why they don’t want there to be a God.

However, most of the reasons are tied to Pride, the very same thing that drug Satan down.  They want to be the God of their own selves.

Isaiah 14:11-15 –  11 All your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you.

 12 How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn!  You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

 13 You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.

 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”

 15 But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit.

Others want to be worshipped.  There have been rulers of countries that wanted to be worshipped and if you didn’t they killed the people.  Daniel even had this happen in his day.

Daniel 6:7 – 7 The royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers and governors have all agreed that the king should issue an edict and enforce the decree that anyone who prays to any god or man during the next thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be thrown into the lions’ den.

Now in this case the groups of guys in the scripture above were trying to get rid of Daniel.  The only way they knew they could get him to do something against the law was to have something created in which they knew he wasn’t going against God.  Darius the Mede however, didn’t object to the decree.

Satan is going to do the same thing as we read in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 13:15 – 15He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 

Same old sins, different day.

The fact is; the evidence of God is in everything, because God made everything.

Psalm 14:1 –  The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

God is clearly not impressed with the atheist or lazy agnostic.

Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord.  Arrogance will only land someone in an eternity without God and that of torment.

 
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Posted in Inspiration, Reflections

 

When This Life Is Over It’s About What You Did, Or Didn’t Do For Jesus

16 Sep

The title pretty much says it in a nutshell, but I’ve never been lost for words, so let’s continue.

IDLE!  Hey that looks a lot like Idol.  Both are not good unless your Idol is Jesus.  It’s safe to say that not enough people idolize our Savior.

Both idle and idol is a big problem on why we don’t act or do enough for our King.

Why don’t we do more for Jesus?  Are we busy?  Are we planning on getting around to it?  It really isn’t my thing to speak up? 

All of these are keeping our service for the Lord out of gear.  We’re in idle……idling…..puh puh puh puh puh puh puh.

Another day goes by.  Did you do something that will live forever?  If it was for Him, it lives forever.  If it was for you, or done by you for someone else that wasn’t in the name Jesus, it’s gone forever. 

It’s like that $50 meal we just ate.  All gone.  Bye, Bye.

Then there is the other Idol.  Idol Worship.  Sure there are a few people out there that still worship actual idols, but in today’s world it goes further than that.

I am going to have a whole series on 2 Timothy Chapter 3 so I won’t get into detail here.  It speaks of our generation and their love for many things but not God.  Verse 4 says:

2 Timothy 3:4 – 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God

Oh this section hits our generation right on the head and I will be writing on it in the months ahead.

We idolize pleasure in this generation more than any other.  When those things we partake in dwarf the time you’re giving to God and Jesus, it’s considered an idol.  If you’re putting 20 more times into golf, television, sports, camping, etc, than you are to the Lord, what does that say?

I’ve been there.  I know what it says.  It says I matter.  I matter much more than the Lord does. 

Now we all make excuses on how to justify it, but they are just that and will carry no weight in front of the Lord.

God made you a wonderful person.  He wants you to rest at times and he wants you to enjoy the wonderful creation He has provided.

He doesn’t want you to pay more attention to it than Him.  Understatement.  God first, other things second.

Here’s the good news.  You were made for the very purpose of having a constant ongoing relationship with Him.  You were made to serve Him.  If you quit choking yourself out on all the other things and the sins of this world, it will begin to be natural and you will realize that’s why we were created.

 
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Posted in Inspiration, Motivation

 

God Looks At The Heart

15 Sep

The Lord was grieved that he made Saul King over Israel.  He sent Samuel to go see Jesse of Bethlehem because He had chosen one of his sons. 

1 Samuel 16:6-7 –6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.”

 7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

This is very important scripture here.  The Lord does not look at the outward appearance like man does.  The Lord looks at one’s heart.  Clearly he’s not looking at the pumping mechanism in your chest. 

What is the heart?  I’m going to do my best to describe it.

The heart is your spirit.

The soul is the eternal vessel in which we are, but the spirit in essence is the character of your soul.  The spirit can be many things.  It can be good, bad, evil, gentle, loving, selfish, etc.

So God looks at the heart.  In David what did he see?  Was He impressed by the fact David would give the shirt off his back to someone?  Was God impressed because David was a kind gentle spirited person?

Not from what I read.

The David I read about was a little firecracker who had faith of a Lion for God.  He trusted God and loved Him so much he wasn’t going to listen to some arrogant Giant bad mouth his greatest Love.  When David loved the Lord he lived for the Lord.

Now here is just one of many reasons why the Bible is so great.  A man after God’s heart and is revered as such was a mess at times.  Why is this important?  No one is perfect and God wants you even in your imperfection, to love Him with the faith of a warrior.  As you get closer He begins to reveal the areas of your life that need to change and draw nearer to Him.  

First Love!  How do we do this?  Surround yourself with God.  When you sit down to relax, read about Him.  When you sit down to watch television, watch shows about Him.  When you listen to music, worship Him with the words of the song.

If you’re thinking about God constantly throughout your whole day, your heart is in the right place.  God looks at the heart.  He wants to be your best friend.  Can you think of a better Best Friend?

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Inspiration

 

How Big Is God?

14 Sep

Have you ever pondered the idea of how big God is?

We’re not even ants.  This is a God that is so big he created the universe.  Millions of light years away are planets and stars that are huge.  Yet he cares for you.  He loves you more than you can comprehend.

He cares about the 6 Billion plus that all live on this planet currently. 

Do you know how many people who have been born since Adam and Eve?  He does.

Do you know how many hairs are on your head?  He does.

Matthew 10:30 – 30And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  

When you stop to think how incredible God is; it’s beyond our comprehension.  Why, because as a creation we have a certain capacity.  That capacity got smaller after the fall.

He is huge and yet he loves you a thousand more times than you love anything or anybody.

How can we turn our back on that? 

Sin!  SELF-ishness!

How cool to be able to see God’s creation after we die.  An eternity and as many stars as see in sky….I’m sure that’s only a minor exploration of what we’ll get to experience.

1 Corinthians 2:9 – However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”

For who?  All of us human beings?

No, it says for those who love Him!  Your focus as a creation smaller than an ant is to acknowledge God, tell Him, and show Him how much you love Him!

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Inspiration

 

Came To Save What Was Lost

13 Sep

Who came?

Jesus came.

What’s lost?

The whole human race, starting from Adam on down to the present, except One.  Jesus avoided this sinful gene because of virgin birth. 

Luke 19:10 – 10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

We’re lost.  The first thing every human being has to be able to do is look around them and realize something is drastically wrong with me and the creation around me.  If can’t see that, one is not going to seek truth or redemption.

Look at people.  They lie when they don’t even have to.  Why?  Look at ourselves.  We get upset and treat people, usually the ones we love most terribly at times.  Why?  Others are so evil that even if we want to fool ourselves, we can’t ignore the obvious.

Alright you say, but what’s this about creation being drastically wrong.  When Adam fell along with Eve they turned things over to Satan.  He hates…everything.  No love in him.  The curse has not only man, but also the creation. 

Tornados, Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Tsunamis, Hail Storms, etc.  All of these things that wreak havoc on this earth.

Gracefully, most animals still have instincts to fear humans.  Not so sure that will be the case in the Tribulation.

Revelation 6:8 –  I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

These beasts could clearly be that kind we may not see in the form of viruses, but if the animals did turn on humans it would be a nightmare and very deadly.  In any event we don’t want to be here to find out first hand.

Jesus came to earth to die for our transgressions.  We’re lost.  He came to seek what was lost.  We’re like a bunch of sheep roaming out in a dark pasture.

Many of the sheep are coming across things in the creation and saying, “Look at this.  I will make this my God.”  It can be in the form of almost anything.

The real Shepherd has come back and is calling out in His voice.

John 10:27 – 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

His sheep hear His voice.  They follow him.  Those that are not His sheep follow after other things and not Him.

Follow Jesus, not everything else that is preoccupying our busy lives.  You can’t invent another way back to God, no matter how sincere one wants to be towards that way.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Salvation

 

Quote – Charles Stanley

12 Sep

An unschooled man who knows how to meditate upon the Lord has learned far more than the man with the highest education who does not know how to meditate.
Charles Stanley

Why is that?

Because man is not more intelligent than God.  However, this world is full of men who think they are.

Question:  How smart is man to observe everything around him and still declare there is not a Creator?

This is not an intellectual thing, it’s a spiritual thing.  The same people who have high intellectual ability are not missing the obvious based on intellect.  Satan will play on anyone’s weakness.  If intellectual pride exists, he will play on that.

We’re God’s creation.  If you had two children and one was humble, loving, obedient, giving, and the other selfish, arrogant, and too smart for you, who are you going to be pleased with?

God has given us many of these scenarios in the structures of our own lives.  Some humans are just too smart to observe them.

 
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Posted in Quotes, Reflections

 

Rid Yourselves- Of Your Old Sinful Nature

10 Sep

1 Peter 2:1-3 –1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

In order for us to grow spiritually, we have to die to our sinful nature.  It’s tough to do and impossible without God.

What is the idea of a chiropractor?  He tries to get your muscles next to your spine to get used to being in a certain position.  If it has been awhile since your spine has been in alignment, it can take a few times to train those muscles to be back in alignment.  At that time you are to ice your back and get the swelling down and then exercise those muscles making them stronger in the new CORRECT position.

What happens when you get sloppy or neglect your back?  Your back out of alignment, in pain and not functioning correctly.

This analogy is the same for your spirit.  We need to stay in line with the Spirit of God.  Doing all the evil things of your fallen nature tweaks your spirit and keeps you out of alignment with God.

What is spiritual milk?  It’s the Word of God.  We need to crave it and want it. 

We need to train ourselves to practice good habits.  If you rid yourself of an old habit, you will replace it with something.  If it isn’t a good habit, it will be with another bad one, or you will just fall into the old one you got rid of temporarily.

You won’t grow in God unless you continue to walk towards Him.  You’re not walking towards Him, unless you’re trying to rid yourself of the old and filling yourself with the new.

Let’s rid ourselves of the old sinful nature and do our best everyday to start new habits in Him, now that we know the Lord is good.

 
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Posted in Motivation

 

How Old Were They? Noah – Part 2

09 Sep

Once again the inspiration for this post is to remind you you’re never too far along in life to get started in your ministry for the Lord.

Noah was also a man that wasn’t influenced by ridicule.  He was building a boat for a flood and rain.  It hadn’t rained yet on earth as far as we know.

Genesis 2:4-6 – 4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.         When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens- 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground-

 So a guy is building a humungous boat with no water nearby.  Must have been quite a site?  Who were his mockers?  Men that we’re so evil that God came to the conclusion they needed to be wiped off the face of the earth.

Chuck Missler does a great study on the Nephilim talked about in Genesis 6:4.

Genesis 6:4 – 4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown.

Son’s of God, Fallen Angels?  Whatever they were, they were creating a super evil, super fallen race. 

Noah stuck to his guns and built an Ark.

Genesis 6:15 – 15 This is how you are to build it: The ark is to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high.

 Did he have any other help other than his sons?  I suppose they could have paid some of them and they may have help, but they didn’t get a ride when the waters came.  I have a feeling had anyone volunteered to help build it for free; God would have rewarded that kind of faith.  So I’m going to say Noah and his family were the ones who built on it without being paid, if they had help at all.

We know the rest of the story.  The floodwaters came and only Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark survived.

At 500 years old Noah began the peak of his ministry.  If you’re not 500 yet, you’re starting before Noah. 

All kidding aside, Noah walked with God a long time before this and on a violent and evil man covered earth.  His obedience allowed mankind to continue on from that point till now.  Pretty important ministry?

You have a ministry to serve God!  Everyone has a ministry to serve God!  It won’t fail if you earnestly seek God and it’s 100 percent for the Kingdom of God.  All you have to do is continue to prepare and say, “Here I am Lord, use me.”

Would you rather stand in front of Him knowing you did what you could, or do you want to continue to spend time on yourself?

If you doing it all for yourself then you will have wood, stubble, and hay to present to the Lord.  Nothing left of that when it gets tested by fire.

1 Corinthians 3:12-15 – 12If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Inspiration, Motivation

 

How Old Were They? Noah – Part 1

08 Sep

We’re going to do a series called, “How Old Were They?”

What’s the reason for this post?  To remind you, that you are never too far along in life to be a great worker for the Kingdom of God.  For those who are younger it’s time for preparation and to do what the Lord has planned for you.

For our first example we will start with Noah.  Let’s look at Genesis 6:8.

Genesis 6:8 – 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

In the scriptures before this one it says that man was so evil all the time that they grieved God.

I won’t examine those scriptures today as I will do separate posts on them.  One man found favor on earth, just one.  How old was he?  Well we know that he was stated to be 500 in the scriptures right before the ones that state God was sorry He made man.  We also read Noah was 600 before the flood came.  I can do some math and figure Shem was born when Noah was about 503, the others weren’t probably born too many years right behind him, so Noah would probably have been in his early 500s when instructed to build the boat.

Understanding that we don’t live that long today, still 500 years is a long time before the major portion of his ministry took place.

Genesis 6:3 – 3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.”

So Noah was a man who found favor in God’s eyes.  I can imagine he must have been a man that was pretty tuned into God.  Why, because I draw a lot of my strength from the encouragement and teaching of others.  He didn’t have any of that.  It says man was evil and only Noah found favor at the time.

Genesis 6:9 – 9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.

Tomorrow we will continue with this post.

 
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Man of Lawlessness – Pre-Trib Rapture Support

07 Sep

2 Thessalonians 2:1-8 –  1Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. 3Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for (that day will not come) until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

 5Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.

The man of lawless is the antichrist or beast out of the sea.

He makes a covenant with God’s people for one seven year period.  This is also known has Daniel’s 70th week.

Daniel 9:27 – 27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.

So we know that the antichrist is the man of lawlessness.  The next question is who is the one who is holding him back?

Whoever it is, He has to be taken out of the way before the lawless one can even be revealed.  I don’t know anyone else this could be except the Holy Spirit through the church.  The individual has to be present now to be taken out of the way.  Also it has to be a character that is strong enough that the antichrist can’t even be revealed until He is removed.

Since the antichrist will easily be revealed when he makes a peace treaty for seven years with Israel, the Holy Spirit and church should be taken out of the way. 

Does this mean that since the Holy Spirit is gone no one else will be saved?  Not at all.  As a matter of fact I believe one of the biggest harvests for the Lord is during the tribulation.  However, the Holy Spirit is part of the Trinity and has been around.  During Pentecost He was presented as a gift that indwelled those in the church age. 

Those rejecting Christ as this time who even may become saved after the rapture are missing out on a special time known the Church age.  It’s a chance to belong to His Church and be part of His Bride.  In writing I can’t even explain how big of an honor or blessing that is.

The lawless one can’t be revealed until He is taken out of the way.  More support for the pre-trib position.

 
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Posted in Bible Prophecy, Rapture

 
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