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Archive for January, 2011

Do Not Worry About Tomorrow

31 Jan

What do worldly responsible people do?  They worry about tomorrow.  I have always been a responsible person.  Take care of yourself so others don’t have the burden of taking care of you.  Put away enough so in the future you have it taken care of. 

I have seen enough people squander all they have on nothing and are broke until the next paycheck.  I was in the military for 4 years, I saw this a lot.  I see others declaring bankruptcy for reckless, I have to have it now spending.  So responsible is good, right?  In a worldly sense, it’s top notch.  In a spiritual sense?  Let’s read further.

Matthew 6:25-34 –  25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

   28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Are these verses telling us to be reckless or irresponsible.  No.  These verses are telling us to Trust in God.  Don’t mistake the casual words of eat, drink, or wear.  These are just the things 100% of us have to do in society.  Many put a lot into all three.  I used to put a lot into the first one.  I was well known for that.  The funny thing is; I knew that.  Many that knew that about me didn’t realize they struggled with one of the other two, or possibly more than one.

This isn’t just don’t worry about eating, drinking, and clothes.  This is about trusting God first.  Seek first the Kingdom of God, then you won’t have to worry about the rest of these things.  Seek first the Kingdom of God, don’t be worrying about building bigger barns.  Verse 27- “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

Were supposed to live for God today and tomorrow will take care of itself, but that’s not how we have been taught by our advisor’s is it?  No we’ve taught to plan for tomorrow.  Work today for that and put God on the back burner for later.  Pretty good scheming by the devil, huh.  I’ve bought into for many years in the name of responsibility. 

Here is the reality after all that worldly advice we got.  Our Country is broke.  It’s leaders are pushing us towards a one world socialism.  It’s trying to get rid of all the have and have nots, while pushing us towards a bunch of we needs.  It’s easy for government to lead those kinds of people.

If were seeking God first, not worrying about tomorrow, and have been for the last 10, 20, 30+ years, then retirement is looking pretty fulfilling.  You have been doing what the Lord has commanded.  If you have been putting the right amount in your 401k and it all collapses like it has and is in jeopardy of doing it again, you’ve responsibly in a worldly way have banked yourself into an empty plan.

Truth is, even if it works out correctly and you sought the world first instead of the Kingdom of God, we’ll find out that the Word of God warned us against that kind of investment.

Don’t worry about tomorrow, God has that covered as long as you’re seeking the Kingdom first today.

 
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Quote – Charles Stanley

30 Jan

We are either in the process of resisting God’s truth or in the process of being shaped and molded by his truth.
Charles Stanley

It’s the old adage of if you’re not walking forward you’re walking backwards.

1 John 2:4 – 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.

I picture an analogy of two people standing outside and one has rain hitting that person and it soaks in.  The other stands and has small hail stones bouncing off of them and they hit the ground and melt. 

We have to let the Lord in.  Many hear the voice and tune it in for better reception, others tune it out.  It won’t be just a choice we made when it’s time to stand in front of the Lord, but a decision that will affect your eternity.

 
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Wisdom Will Protect You And Change Your Life

28 Jan

Proverbs 2:10-20 – 10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.   12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, 13 who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, 14 who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, 15 whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.

 16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, 17 who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God.  18 Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead.  19 None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.  20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. 

People are so quick to rush into evil or to chase after it.  We see it all around us and it can be mind blowing at times.  It makes sense though, when you realize that wisdom comes from the Lord and without out it we becomes easy pickens for the evil one.

Proverbs 2:6 – 6 For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

We have always heard the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  It is repeatedly in the bible.
Job 28:8, Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 9:10, Proverbs 15:33, Isaiah 11:2, Isaiah 33:6, & Micah 6:9.

What I have found amazing is the more you seek God and His wisdom, the less you fear.  Obviously we are to have a reverent respectable fear.  Not an impersonal scary or else fear.  God wants you to love, obey and respect Him like a Father, not fear Him like prison guard. 

The more you seek Him, the more wisdom you get.  The more wisdom you get, the more you understand Him.  The more you understand Him, the more you understand you and all the fallen problems that surround you.

Seeking God finds wisdom. 

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

I always looked at this verse as make God first and all the things that humans chase after and worry about will be there anyway.  Make no mistake the verses leading up to 33 indicate that very well, but it now means even more to me.  Seeking the wisdom and Kingdom first not only pleases God and He provides our needs, Glory be to God as I vouch He always does, but it brings with it the comfort of knowing what’s important and what’s not also.

I don’t have the desire to completely chase after the world anymore, because of the wisdom God has shared with me, not just because it exists on the don’t list.  Seeking the wisdom of Truth, led me to Jesus.  Finding Jesus and God, has led me from seeking me to seeking Him.  Wow.  When we seek ourselves is does some serious spiritual blindness, I will vouch for that.  Seeking God first and not yourself is the only eye salve that works on that blindness.

 
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Faith Without Works Is Dead

27 Jan

James 2:26 – 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

How do we indicate or show that we believe Jesus is the Son of God and that he died for us on the cross?  By our actions, that is how we show that we really believe.  It is our faith that he died on the cross for our sins and that He is the Son of God that redeems us, not works, but we do need to have that faith.

Here is an example.  You say to everyone I love to mushrooms brains, love them.  Someone looks to you and says, okay, I just happen to have some right here.  You say, no I’m not hungry right now.  So the person leaves you alone.  Later on your hungry and that same person over hears you.  They present it in front of you again.  You make another excuse.

My point of the paragraph is: “talk is cheap.”

James 2:18-19 – 18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”  Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. 19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.

This has always been one of my favorite versus.  Probably because in this time period we live in, we hear all the time something such as, I believe there is a higher power of some sort.  They may also say I believe God exists.  Well that’s fine and dandy and those people may really feel like accomplished believers since evolution is being rammed down our throats.  However, even demons believe God exist and where are they heading?  Hell.

We need to have faith that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died for our sins.  We need to make Him Lord.  How do we show our faith?  By our works.  How much works?  That’s God’s call, but the Word of God states actions speak louder than words.

Matthew 21:28-31 – 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. …………

Now Jesus was telling this parable to the Chief Priests and Elders in these verses and His point was that tax collectors and sinners were entering ahead of them.  However, the Lord is making it clear that actions speak louder than words.

If someone is always making promises to you and never acts on them, what’s the character of that individual?

Acts of kindness or love is a true affection shared.  Words are nice, but if never backed up with acts, well that starts become empty and insincere over a long period of time.

Show the Lord you love Him!

Your actions, good or bad, make a statement on how much you care and love Him.

 
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One World Government and One World Banking System

26 Jan

That’s no small task.  Bringing a world together with as many countries we have out there and having them agree to lay down their sovereignty.  It’s taken about 90 years of hard work of those with the money and the status to get us where were at today.

As I mentioned earlier God isn’t fan of a one world order when He’s not the head of it.  Man back in Genesis chapter 11 tried to build an empire as one people.

Genesis 11:1-9 –  1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

 3 They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

 5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. 6 The LORD said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

 8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

You see God is what the Bible states He is.  He doesn’t like man trying to run the show without Him.

I know many people in the world are confused by this, but that’s because they don’t know God.  God wants to be worshipped.  God wants to be served and have a relationship with us.  He’s not interested in creating humans and then having them running off doing things their own way.

Here’s another problem with man.  He’s a sinner and malfunctioned machine which has gotten away from the perfect Creator.  Without God man is a mess and is easily influenced by evil.

So there have been men influenced, and not by God to try and bring this world together.  Satan is up for it.  He wants to be the ruler of this earth.  Last three and half years of the Tribulation Mr. Destructo becomes just that.  At the end of the Tribulation, you have all the nations coming to take on the Antichrist.  If Jesus with His armies don’t come down from heaven no flesh would be saved.

Let’s just take a closer look at the one world coming together.  Even to this day America and China don’t see eye to eye.  Indonesia and Australia don’t have that much in common.  What do Christians, Hindus, and Muslims, have in common?  Nothing, accept by the world they are all called religions.  What do Atheists have in common with any of them?  Yet man thinks he can bring everyone together for the sole purpose of a one world peace.  Once again no small task, but because of the determination of others, most in the name of peace, economics, population control, etc., it’s coming together.

Now think about a one world currency.  Most people take it for granted.  For the world to have the ability for a one world currency, we needed a lot of new technology.  This new technology really has just come out in the last hundred years.  Daniel who wrote on end time events 2500 to 2600 years ago was given prophecy by God and it was mind blowing, as he was seeing a world that was difficult to describe.

Daniel 12:4 – 4 But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”

Daniel was told that in the end times, travel and knowledge would vastly increase.  For 5900 years man rode horses, carts, made some incredible construction out of mortar and bricks.  But really the explosion of radio, film, TV, computers, weaponry, has vastly increased.  You couldn’t have a one world economic system without super computers to run it.  You couldn’t keep people in line without being able to keep an eye on them they way it can be done now.

The will and the technology are present for both a new world order and a one world currency.  These are two very important things that the Tribulation has in it. 

So far we have hit hard on:

Israel becoming a nation again (most important on God’s time clock)
A One World Government establishing
A One World Currency coming together
The antichrist which will be the One World Ruler

These are four very important events in the end times.  I will continue to write on some others in the future.

 
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R-E-L-A-T-I-O-N-S-H-I-P

25 Jan

God and Jesus want a relationship with you.

If you’re going to serve your God, how are you going to do that if you know nothing about Him?  What does it say about your relationship you have with Him if you never seek Him?

Jesus wants a relationship with you.

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.

The Lord wants you to seek His face.  To have a relationship with the Lord we need to seek Him.

Psalm 119:2 – 2 Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart—

He wants to bless those who seek Him and have relationship with Him. 

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

To choose to love God…..hard to believe but many choose not to do so.  Many choose to worship things, mainly because there is a void there to fill.  We’re made to worship.  However, what does the rest of the verse say….”Those who seek me find me.”

Many can’t accept that someone who sincerely follows their faith could end up in hell.  God makes it clear that anyone who seeks the one true God will find Him.  Our God is an established Being.  He isn’t just whatever someone wants to create in their own mind, that’s why sincere people will end up dying without knowing God.

The Lord desires a relationship with us.  

However, if someone doesn’t want a relationship with Jesus, there is scripture for that also.

Matthew 10:33 – 33But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.  KJV

Luke 9:26 –  26 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Serve your Lord and have a wonderful relationship with Him.

 
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Last Day Scoffers

24 Jan

2 Peter 3:3-4 – 3 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”

As someone who loves Bible Prophecy and realizes the signs are quickly approaching of Christ’s second coming, I come across this quite a bit.  Sadly in many churches they aren’t even aware of what the rapture is or looking for His second coming.

Why is this the case?  I believe it’s because people are too busy building their kingdom here on earth to see or want to see the signs of His coming.  I’ve had a few people say it’s coming soon but not in our lifetime.  Is that a want of theirs?

I can tell you if you’re looking for Christ and living everyday for Him instead of your own specific wants, you’ll be ready to meet Him in the air.  Is it important that we look for the Lord to come back?

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.

For 1,970+ years, if someone has been looking and longing for Christ to come back, they will receive a crown of righteousness.  It doesn’t matter if happens when there still here on earth.  You see God knows if you are anticipating His Son’s return.  He knows that if you’re excited about it, you’re trying to live for Him.

Scoffers are on both sides of the fence of course, but to belong to the church and state that the Bible is the guide you follow while scoffing, well, that’s not good.

 
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Quote – Abraham Lincoln

22 Jan

No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.
Abraham Lincoln

 

Little white lies?  Harmless lies?  Lying is not a good habit. 

Do you think God or Jesus would lie to you?  Would you want them to?  Of course not.

Who is Jesus?

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.

Who is the devil?

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.

Lying is of the devil.  Jesus and God hate lying.  We need to always try and be on the right side of the Lord.

 
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You Accepted Him; Now Walk With Him

21 Jan

Colossians 2:6 – 6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

The church in America really hasn’t been focusing on this one since the fifties as a whole.  Understandably some do and I am very blessed to belong to one of those churches.  Thank you Pastor Skip and Gale.

Jesus let’s everyone know that He is the Son of God and that He and the Father are One.  It is by Him and Him only that we may have our sins forgiven.  How do we do that?  By accepting His death in the place of ours and acknowledge that He has risen in victory.

When we do that, we are supposed to now live for Him.  Repent, of our old sinful nature and now seek the new life in the Spirit that God wants for us.

Luke 9:23-26 – 23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? 26 Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Jesus is saying if you want to be with me and serve me, you need a change of plans from your old sinful nature.  He is saying you now need to serve Me and do things My way.

“Just As I Am” is a great song.  That is exactly how He accepts us and we shouldn’t be waiting another second to accept Him as Lord if we have not.  After we have done this, however, we need to start seeking Him more and making the transformation that the new spirit inside you is trying to make.

 
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This Is My Life, Leave Me Alone?

20 Jan

I’ve heard a lot of this in my lifetime.

This is my life, leave me alone.  Nobody else walks in my shoes.  The good Lord gave me a brain and I intend to use it the way I see fit.

Where these may seem like real strong popular ideas on the earth and in the good ole day and age we live in, they’re not the words we’re told to live by according to the Lord.

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

Isaiah 55:8 –   8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.

We know by these passages that in our fallen state we don’t think as the Lord thinks.  Now are we going to get closer to the Lord by having the above attitude that I am the only one who knows what’s best for me?

I would say Proverbs 14:12 and Proverbs 16:25, which says the exact same thing, say that humans don’t know what’s best for them.  We don’t have the thoughts of God, because we have fallen into sin.

The Lord wants us in that brain he gave us, to choose Him and His ways by our own freewill.  How do we do that?  By dying to our wants and wishes and saying yes to His.

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

I think Peter says it best when talking about what our lives should be when living for God.

1 Peter 4:1-6 – 1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2 As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

God didn’t give us a life to live selfishly for ourselves.  Our attitude isn’t to say this is my life leave me alone.  The attitude we need to have is, “Lord, my life without You or when I’m not living for You, is a mess.  Not only that but it’s not how I’m supposed to live.”

Submit your life to the Lord and come time to sit in front of the Judge of all, you’ll be glad you did.  Reflect on this, I really believe the time is coming to a close concerning the church age.  I believe the rapture is near.  How near?  I don’t know.  The signs of His Second Coming are everywhere and we need to all live like its tomorrow.

 
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