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Archive for September, 2013

>Jesus<

24 Sep

Where is Jesus found in the Bible?  New Testament?

Unfortunately it took me quite awhile and study, to figure out where Jesus was really found in the Bible.  The reason?  It kept expanding until I realized Genesis 1:1 has Him in it and Revelation 22:21 has Him in it, which are the first and last verses in the Bible.

Well Revelation 22:21 is pretty easy.

Revelation 22:21 – 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

The last verse in the Bible has Jesus written all over it.  By the way the second to last verse says that He is coming soon.  As a lover of Bible Prophecy I couldn’t let that one pass.

So how is He in verse 1 of Geneses?

Genesis 1:1 –1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Wait a minute that says God?  Where is Jesus in that?

In Genesis 1:26 when man was being created by God we have company.

Genesis 1:26 – 26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

Us.  It appears God has a helper.  Let’s look further.

John 1:1-3 – 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

The Word is Jesus.  We know He was with God in the beginning.  That’ where Genesis 1:1 starts and we know that without Him nothing was made that has been made.

As many of you know there is plenty of scripture linking the Father and Son as One.  We won’t concentrate on that in this post.  The point of this post was to indicate that >Jesus< is from the beginning of the Bible to the end.

Only three chapters into Genesis we have a plan for redemption and He is obviously very involved in that.  He is Lord of the church and everyone who asks for forgiveness, accepts His sacrifice, and makes Him Lord will be saved.  He also has a promise that He will rule on the Throne of David over the Jewish people that remain for one thousand years when He comes back in the last days.

Front to back, beginning to end, the Word of God is Jesus, through and through.

 
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Posted in Inspiration, Reflections

 

Proverbs 19:3

20 Sep

Proverbs 19:3 – 3 A person’s own folly leads to their ruin,
yet their heart rages against the Lord.

It’s hard to believe that some people want nothing to do with God and when something goes wrong they want to blame Him for the issues that are troubling them.

There are those who believe God gave them life and a brain, so they should be able to act and do whatever they see as fit.  They think ultimately He doesn’t care, He’s too busy.  Yet when something goes tragically wrong and they realize they can’t do it on their own, they want help.  If the help comes, they are back to not needing God again.  If the problem doesn’t get cleared up, they blame God.

Why is this?  Well it starts with SELF-ish behavior.  I…don’t need you right now, I….got it.  Whoops, things are bad….help ME.  Whew, things are better now…I… don’t need you again.  Oh no…things have gotten bad….God don’t You care about ME.

The person that lives for themselves and only cares about God when things are bad doesn’t care about God.  They care about….themselves.

What do we have a tendency to do when things go bad?   We blame others.  So why not just go straight to the top?  Right?  Blame God.

Not seeking God leads to this folly.

God is not too busy.  God didn’t make you to be your own little god.  He created us for fellowship, for us to worship Him, and with our own free will follow and love Him.

So who wants us to be our own little decision making gods?  Who wants us to get mad at God when we finally dig ourselves in a whole so large we can’t get out on our own?  He is a pretty evil persuasive salesman.  He sold Eve on the idea becoming like God and Adam followed.  He convinced a third of the angels to rebel.  He’s an enemy of the Great, Incredible, Powerful and Loving God who created all. Yes, Satan himself.

The bible says the road is wide to destruction and narrow to eternal life.  Not because the test is hard, but because man’s heart is hard.  He says WE choose it.

Don’t be an enemy of God.  There is no middle ground.  You either choose Him (see how to be saved page in the right side of my home page) or choose anything else but Him.

For those who have a whole lifetime to choose Him and don’t, would they be happy in Heaven?  The answer simply is no, they would not.  Because Heaven is not a wonderful place that the SELFISH go to be happy and live strictly for their own selfish cares and desires.  It’s centered around our loving Lord Who created the whole universe and everything in it.  Will it be great for those who do love Him?  Yes!  He longs to take care of those who have chosen to love Him and love them back.  We can’t even fathom how wonderful.

Seek Him, study His Word, and do everything possible out of your love for Him.  We’re in the home stretch and time is running out.  Even if He tarries, one more day passes that we can show Him our love.  The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few.  Why, because they choose to not participate.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, Inspiration

 

We Are Saved By Christ; The Son, Not The Idea

12 Sep

John 5:37-40 – 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

The scriptures speak about the Savior.  The scriptures are not the savior.

Jesus is not an idea.  Jesus is not a concept.  You’re not saved by a reading a book, a line, a phrase.

Jesus is the Lord!  He’s the living King that died in the place for us and is God in the flesh.  If we acknowledge our sin, ask for forgiveness and accept Him as Lord, we are saved.

I hear people say this person or that person believes in a higher power.  ?????

Is there salvation in that answer?  If that were all one needed, then Satan would be saved because he believes that God exists.  No, the accomplishment of believing that there is a creator, means you’re not buying into the cosmic accident theory of evolution.  The scriptures indicate the Lord is looking for quite a bit more than that.

Lord!  What does that word mean?  It means it controls and consumes your life.  For some, its activities and for others it’s themselves.  Where you spend most of your time thinking and putting your resources and time towards, that’s where your heart is.   You can’t serve two lords.  In the case of these next two scriptures it is money, but it can be anything.

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.

Luke 16:13 – 13 “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.”

It was so important it had to be written twice.

We are saved by Christ, the Savior, God’s Son, the Living Risen Son and God in the flesh!  We are not saved by a phrase.  When the Good News is heard, one must receive it and accept the Savior as Lord.

Make Him number one.  Because if He is any lower on your place of importance, are you really making Him your Lord?

 
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Posted in Inspiration, Motivation, Reflections

 

Feast Of Trumpets This Week

04 Sep

Rosh Hashanah is coming up again for the year at the end of the week.  It is the Feast of Trumpets.  So why do I get excited at this time?

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 – 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 – 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Revelation 4:1- 1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”

In the last one the voice that was first speaking to John was Jesus.

One thing I have learned over time is God doesn’t do anything that’s not calculated, especially on things as big as this.  The Lord rode into Jerusalem the first time on the very day it was prophesied.

Don’t get me wrong, we don’t know the day or hour.  No idea of the year.  No date setting here.  I wouldn’t ever attempt it.  He can come at anytime.  Immanency is heavily taught in the Word so we are not to let our guard down and to always be living as Jesus is coming back today.

One thing about Rosh Hashanah is that it covers two days.  There are trumpets that are blown and it is one of God’s seven Jewish feasts.  I repeat God’s…..feast that He appointed to the people which He has ran the Messiah line down through.  And He is coming back (Jesus) to rule and reign on His throne over them.  God doesn’t break promises.

Some of those promises are to meet His own (church) in the air like the verses above.  Come down and judge the nations who have rejected Him at the end of the Tribulation.  Then rule and reign for the millennium over the Jews who remain as their Messiah.

So when the Feast of Trumpets come around every year, it’s hard for me not to get excited and hope that the Blessed Hope could happen.  If not, it’s safe to say were closer than before.  Do you long for His appearing?  There is a Crown of Righteousness for those who do.

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.

 
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Posted in Encouragement, End Time Prophecies, Inspiration, Rapture, Reflections