Jesus was confronted by His own disciples wanting to know, which of them would be the Greatest or most important when they got to Heaven. In Matthew 18:1-10 we see how Jesus answers that question. In the culture of that day one of the most useless individuals was a child. They could not provide for themselves, they took up your time and effort to care for them, everything from food to clothing to shelter must be provided for them. These things made them one of the most useless individuals around.The only redeeming thing about them was that they would eventually grow up and help take care of things when we got to old to do so ourselves.
As usual, there was a crowd of people following Jesus, so it was from this crowd of strangers Jesus beckoned to a child to come to him. When the child came up Jesus put the child in the middle of them. Now, many preachers will say how we should take the example of the child and be inquisitive, and trusting, and leaving control of our lives up to God. But that was not the only reasons Jesus used this child as an example.
Jesus also wanted his disciples to see themselves as a child, completely worthless and unable to do anything for itself. If left to it’s own devices, it would not last long. It might survive for a time out of luck, but eventually it would be swallowed up by the world around it. He wanted them to realize that their entire existence was dependent on God’s good will for us, and that if God did not have a purpose for them they would be left to die. We must realize the same thing. God has a plan for each of us and it is only by His will and His Plan that we are even alive.
We are to humble ourselves, understand just how worthless and unable to save ourselves we are, and put ourselves under God’s complete control. Only then can we become great in The Lord’s Kingdom. When we get as low a self esteem as possible and think as little of ourselves as possible, get upset with the world and how it treats us, only then can we become the greatest in the Kingdom of God.
Not only are we to be as debased as this but we are to care for anyone we may meet who is as worthless to themselves as this and help them so that they may grow and become a disciple of God. We are not only supposed to help provide for them, but also to protect them from the world around them.
Jesus told them that it would be better for them if they found themselves with a large stone being tied around their necks and being cast into the sea than for them to allow one of these younger disciples, or children, to come to harm in any way. If they have a way to prevent the child from being harmed and do not take it, they are guilty by omission.
If we look at verse 8 of chapter 18 we see Jesus is saying the world itself is in danger because Adam and Eve have allowed sin to enter the perfect world that God had made. Jesus warns that troubles must come, offenses must happen to believers. Even more in danger is the person from whom these offenses, or troubles, come. God will make them to stop hurting His people. He promises to protect the children He is protecting.Only when the trouble you are experiencing is in His will can it continue to happen without reproof. God promises to protect His children and will do so. Jesus says in verse 9, for us to completely do away with something that is causing us to sin. It doesn’t matter what it is do away with it or have very little to do with it. Jesus uses the extreme example of plucking out your eye or cutting off your hand, not saying we should do so, but saying we should act the same way with whatever is causing us to sin. If it is a person, cut them off from you. If it is smoking get the cigarettes away from you. whatever it is have no more to do with it. If you can’t help but be around it then ask the Lord to give you the strength to face up to it and overcome.
Jesus warns us not to look down on anyone who is still learning as they are protected by God’s angels and these angels are great enough to look directly at the Lord, who is to great for any mortal man to look at. Even when Moses looked at the retreating back of the Lord, his face shone so bright that he had to wear a veil.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Casting Pearls- Are you paying attention?
The more and more I look at the social sites of today the more I see the example of what growing up in a modern society has done for the people of today. They are caught up with little bits and bites of cute little sayings that seem to express their feelings, but never actually put across any important points. Their minds are even stretched by reading a blog like mine. I have found that the books I was brought up reading, are totally inappropriate to todays mindset. We are conditioned by TV and being able to receive an entire message about whatever we need to think about something in a 30 second spot. If it takes more than 30 seconds, it must be very important or it must be entertaining.
Our attention span has been shortened by the instant and throw away lives we live. We spend our moments in front of a TV or a computer screen and are conditioned ny these things to be inspired by small sound bites and bits of information we receive. When we get only a small part of the information about something, we are left to assume the rest of the information regarding it.No one gives us all the information because we no longer can keep the attention span required to read through all the information about something. As Christians, we are left with the situation of attempting to reach people trapped in this lifestyle with only a few short words to catch their attention. If we can catch their attention, we can then go on to tell them in more detail about Jesus’ plan for their lives.
Once we get someone’s attention we can begin teaching them in more detail about the plan God has for their lives and how Jesus plans to use them to spread His message of salvation to the world.The world is lost, not because it is evil, but because we are as mankind inherently evil. It has been passed on to us from Adam and Eve, who brought sin into this perfect world God made for us. If it were not for this we would not need a sacrifice or intercessor to make us worthy in God’s sight. With Jesus as our advocate, when God looks at us He sees Jesus kiving in us instead of our sinful selves. It is Only through Jesus that we are made worthy to be in God’s presence. We have an eternal home in Heaven because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
Without some way of reaching people to bring them into the group listening to our teaching about Jesus, we cannot get them to hear the Gospel. God has given us the quotes we need and the interesting quips we need to reach out to the lost world. All that is left is for us to bring to them the Gospel message.
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Casting Pearls- Are you being calledto do something?
If we look at the tale of the calling of Simon-Peter, Andrew,James and John in Matthew Chapter 4:18-22 we see that first Jesus was supposedly just walking by the Sea of Galilee and saw Simon and Andrew fishing with their nets and said to them, ‘Follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men‘ , then later on saw James and John in another boat with their father Zebedee and called to them to follow him, so they left the boat and their father and followed Jesus.
However we must remember that this was written by a man who was originally a tax collector for the Romans, and knew very little about fishing. Almost all preachers who have taught on these verses, taught that James and John left the entire family fishing business, including their father, and followed Jesus just because Jesus asked them to. We should all be willing to leave the old things in our lives behind and Follow Jesus, Just because He called us too. We can find the same tale in a slightly different fashion of telling in Luke. Luke was a learned man, a doctor, who was very learned in the ways of man. Luke was not one of the original twelve disciples and was more than likely a close friend of the apostle Paul. Even though the tale seems very different, they are really the same story from two different perspectives.
In Luke 5:1 Jesus was not just walking beside the Sea of Galilee as Matthew told it, but teaching to a crowd of people beside the Sea of Galilee and was pressed by the crowd until to keep from being pushed into the water he climbed aboard a ship by the seashore in which Simon-Peter had been fishing and was now on the shore cleaning out his nets. All the little things like sticks and seaweed and other debris that had become caught up in his nets over the night of fishing he had just done was being cleaned out of the nets in anticipation of putting them away for the day.
Jesus climbed aboard one of the ships, Simon-Peter’s, and asked Simon to pull a little way out from the shore so He could continue to teach without fear of being pushed into the water by the crowd. The whole time Simon-Peter and the others had been drying and cleaning their nets, they had been listening to Jesus teach the people, so they could tell he was a respected teacher. then we come to verse 4 where Jesus finished His teaching the crowd and He turned to Simon-Peter and Jesus asked Simon-Peter to do something that seemed normal for a fisherman, but not so as it was the wrong time of day for Simon-Peter to do it, Jesus asked him to row out into the deep water and throw the nets back out. Normally the fish could not be easily caught except at night because they only came up close to the surface at night when the water was cooler and went back down when the sun came up and the surface water became warmer.
Now even though it was normal for Simon-Peter to do, it was hard for him to do as Simon-Peter had already cleaned his nets and rolled them up to store away for the day, on top of the time of day being wrong by the common knowledge of fishermen. However, having heard Jesus’ teaching and having gotten nowhere with his complaints to Jesus, he finally agreed. he did not let down the nets as asked, because thinking it a fools errand The Bible says he let down the NET, only one of the many he normally would have fished with.
Even though Simon-Peter did not believe the fishing would catch anything, when he began to pull up the net it began to break from the great multitude of fish in it. We limit the blessings God may bestow on us through our disbelief of the actions Jesus leads us to do because we are focused on what the world thinks is right and not what Jesus is telling us to do. Simon-Peter immediately called over his partners James and John in the other Ship and had them help with the great catch of fish.
When Simon-Peter first agreed to do as Jesus asked he called Jesus, Master, because he was showing his respect for Jesus being a teacher. After Simon-Peter caught the great catch of fish he fell down at knees, as there were to many fish in the bottom of the ship for him to fall down at Jesus’ feet, and said, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man O Lord”. Notice Simon was now calling Jesus Lord because he now realized the true presence of the man in front of him. We do the same as well, we give Jesus only passing reverence in our lives and after he works a great miracle in our lives we suddenly see His reverence and that He is the one in control of all the things around us. In fact, He was the creator of all the things around us.
It wasn’t until later that Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter - (the rock). It is important that it be pointed out that it was not Peter, (the rock) that Jesus’ church would be built upon, but Jesus Himself (the Rock that Our Faith is built upon) that the church would be built upon.
However we must remember that this was written by a man who was originally a tax collector for the Romans, and knew very little about fishing. Almost all preachers who have taught on these verses, taught that James and John left the entire family fishing business, including their father, and followed Jesus just because Jesus asked them to. We should all be willing to leave the old things in our lives behind and Follow Jesus, Just because He called us too. We can find the same tale in a slightly different fashion of telling in Luke. Luke was a learned man, a doctor, who was very learned in the ways of man. Luke was not one of the original twelve disciples and was more than likely a close friend of the apostle Paul. Even though the tale seems very different, they are really the same story from two different perspectives.
In Luke 5:1 Jesus was not just walking beside the Sea of Galilee as Matthew told it, but teaching to a crowd of people beside the Sea of Galilee and was pressed by the crowd until to keep from being pushed into the water he climbed aboard a ship by the seashore in which Simon-Peter had been fishing and was now on the shore cleaning out his nets. All the little things like sticks and seaweed and other debris that had become caught up in his nets over the night of fishing he had just done was being cleaned out of the nets in anticipation of putting them away for the day.
Jesus climbed aboard one of the ships, Simon-Peter’s, and asked Simon to pull a little way out from the shore so He could continue to teach without fear of being pushed into the water by the crowd. The whole time Simon-Peter and the others had been drying and cleaning their nets, they had been listening to Jesus teach the people, so they could tell he was a respected teacher. then we come to verse 4 where Jesus finished His teaching the crowd and He turned to Simon-Peter and Jesus asked Simon-Peter to do something that seemed normal for a fisherman, but not so as it was the wrong time of day for Simon-Peter to do it, Jesus asked him to row out into the deep water and throw the nets back out. Normally the fish could not be easily caught except at night because they only came up close to the surface at night when the water was cooler and went back down when the sun came up and the surface water became warmer.
Now even though it was normal for Simon-Peter to do, it was hard for him to do as Simon-Peter had already cleaned his nets and rolled them up to store away for the day, on top of the time of day being wrong by the common knowledge of fishermen. However, having heard Jesus’ teaching and having gotten nowhere with his complaints to Jesus, he finally agreed. he did not let down the nets as asked, because thinking it a fools errand The Bible says he let down the NET, only one of the many he normally would have fished with.
Even though Simon-Peter did not believe the fishing would catch anything, when he began to pull up the net it began to break from the great multitude of fish in it. We limit the blessings God may bestow on us through our disbelief of the actions Jesus leads us to do because we are focused on what the world thinks is right and not what Jesus is telling us to do. Simon-Peter immediately called over his partners James and John in the other Ship and had them help with the great catch of fish.
When Simon-Peter first agreed to do as Jesus asked he called Jesus, Master, because he was showing his respect for Jesus being a teacher. After Simon-Peter caught the great catch of fish he fell down at knees, as there were to many fish in the bottom of the ship for him to fall down at Jesus’ feet, and said, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man O Lord”. Notice Simon was now calling Jesus Lord because he now realized the true presence of the man in front of him. We do the same as well, we give Jesus only passing reverence in our lives and after he works a great miracle in our lives we suddenly see His reverence and that He is the one in control of all the things around us. In fact, He was the creator of all the things around us.
It wasn’t until later that Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter - (the rock). It is important that it be pointed out that it was not Peter, (the rock) that Jesus’ church would be built upon, but Jesus Himself (the Rock that Our Faith is built upon) that the church would be built upon.
Monday, March 3, 2014
Casting Pearls- Are we telling the world?
Today it was announced that Carrie Underwood, the writer and singer of the song ‘Jesus take the wheel’ announced that she was not against homosexuality because God was about love and God loved even the Homosexuals. To believe this is to say the word of God is wrong and God has ‘changed’ His mind. It is plainly spelled out in the Bible that Homosexuality is an abomination to God. However, Satan has again twisted the Bible to mean what he wanted instead of what God means.
Along with many other ‘Celebrities’ Carrie Underwood has been led astray from the truth by a half truth of Satan. God ‘is’ love, and God does love homosexuals. However to say that because God is love that we should be like unto God and love homosexuals just the way they are is short sighted and foolish. It is possible to love someone without loving how they act. I for one am glad that God loved me enough to save me through His Son Jesus, even though I have done things just as bad as the things the homosexuals have done. That is not to say I have been involved in Homosexuality, but I have sinned against God in bad enough ways that If God was not a God of love, he would have seen fit to kill me already. The Lord God has kept me alive despite my sins. Just like me, He has kept the Homosexuals alive, for the most part, despite their sins. Their risky lifestyles have caused many of them to die anyway.
We should not condemn Mrs. Underwood either as she has mearly been led astray to promote the falsehoods Satan wants us to believe. Satan has used the notoriety of Mrs. Underwood to give his lie credence. Instead of condemning Mrs. Underwood, we should pray for her to understand the truth and be willing to face the public derision for standing up for what is right instead of giving in to the world to keep her from being hated by the public. I have found, if you are loved by man, more than likely you are agreeing with sin.
Most of those in the limelight of celebrity and thereby influential to the public are working against God’s truths. If you were to ask who was most notorious to people across the world you would find that about 40% of people have heard of Jesus Christ. The same group were found to have a group of about 85% who have heard of Michael Jackson. How sad! More people have heard of Michael Jackson than of Jesus Christ. This is why it is so important that we fulfill the Great Commission and tell the entire world about Jesus while there is still time.
Along with many other ‘Celebrities’ Carrie Underwood has been led astray from the truth by a half truth of Satan. God ‘is’ love, and God does love homosexuals. However to say that because God is love that we should be like unto God and love homosexuals just the way they are is short sighted and foolish. It is possible to love someone without loving how they act. I for one am glad that God loved me enough to save me through His Son Jesus, even though I have done things just as bad as the things the homosexuals have done. That is not to say I have been involved in Homosexuality, but I have sinned against God in bad enough ways that If God was not a God of love, he would have seen fit to kill me already. The Lord God has kept me alive despite my sins. Just like me, He has kept the Homosexuals alive, for the most part, despite their sins. Their risky lifestyles have caused many of them to die anyway.
We should not condemn Mrs. Underwood either as she has mearly been led astray to promote the falsehoods Satan wants us to believe. Satan has used the notoriety of Mrs. Underwood to give his lie credence. Instead of condemning Mrs. Underwood, we should pray for her to understand the truth and be willing to face the public derision for standing up for what is right instead of giving in to the world to keep her from being hated by the public. I have found, if you are loved by man, more than likely you are agreeing with sin.
Most of those in the limelight of celebrity and thereby influential to the public are working against God’s truths. If you were to ask who was most notorious to people across the world you would find that about 40% of people have heard of Jesus Christ. The same group were found to have a group of about 85% who have heard of Michael Jackson. How sad! More people have heard of Michael Jackson than of Jesus Christ. This is why it is so important that we fulfill the Great Commission and tell the entire world about Jesus while there is still time.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Casting Pearls- Who do we listen too?
There are many different viewpoints in this world and many different directions we may go, but to sift through the multitude of opinions and viewpoints we must face each day we have a helper, The Holy Spirit, to guide us and make sense of the many voices we hear. As is stated in The Bible in Jude 18, in the last days there will be mockers, who lead others astray in their ungodly lusts. They want to use the tests and troubles of this life to lead us astray from the true leading of The Lord Jesus in our lives. We can be led astray by things we know to be wrong, like drugs or pornography, or we can be led astray by the things we think are right, like The Bible on our Phone, or suddenly being extremely interested in something as simple as a preacher on TV.
Needless to say, there will be even more subtle distractions the closer to the truth we come. We are in a battle with the master of lies, the only one who knows how to use even those you love to lead you astray. I could be working on this article and be interrupted by my son and it may seem at the time to be important, but in retrospect, not as important as the subject in which I am writing.
Even as I write this I can feel the Devil attempting to lead me from continuing on to the point I wish to make and that is to rely on The Holy Spirit of God to not only keep you from being led astray, but also to not be confused by the many voices we might hear from the world around us. As I write this, I am receiving messages and requests and other ideas that are all attempts to lead me from the focus of my topic. The closer I get the more numerous they get. Now that I have typed out the main point of my article, the messages have stopped and the requests have quit.
We must fight a battle with satan every day and the best way to do that is to keep in touch with the one who can make the outside disturbances stop. Even if your only connection is to say, ‘Thank You for Waking me up today, and giving me this beautiful day to use for You’, then that is a good place to start. We must keep up the connection between our Creator and ourselves. It is essential to our well-being and our mental health.
Remember to thank God for all the things you go through and learn from them. God does not make bad things happen, but He does use them to teach us something. Some times it is something as small as to lean more on God than our own understanding.
Needless to say, there will be even more subtle distractions the closer to the truth we come. We are in a battle with the master of lies, the only one who knows how to use even those you love to lead you astray. I could be working on this article and be interrupted by my son and it may seem at the time to be important, but in retrospect, not as important as the subject in which I am writing.
Even as I write this I can feel the Devil attempting to lead me from continuing on to the point I wish to make and that is to rely on The Holy Spirit of God to not only keep you from being led astray, but also to not be confused by the many voices we might hear from the world around us. As I write this, I am receiving messages and requests and other ideas that are all attempts to lead me from the focus of my topic. The closer I get the more numerous they get. Now that I have typed out the main point of my article, the messages have stopped and the requests have quit.
We must fight a battle with satan every day and the best way to do that is to keep in touch with the one who can make the outside disturbances stop. Even if your only connection is to say, ‘Thank You for Waking me up today, and giving me this beautiful day to use for You’, then that is a good place to start. We must keep up the connection between our Creator and ourselves. It is essential to our well-being and our mental health.
Remember to thank God for all the things you go through and learn from them. God does not make bad things happen, but He does use them to teach us something. Some times it is something as small as to lean more on God than our own understanding.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Casting Pearls- Which way do we go, which way do we go?
One of the biggest misconceptions of the body of Christ, The Church, today is the thought that when Jesus came He did away with the law and kept all people from breaking the Law of God through Him. In Matthew 5:17-18 Jesus Himself said that He came not to condemn the Law Of God but that through Him the Law of God might be fulfilled. People think that they can do whatever they want and Jesus has redeemed or saved them from the Sin they may commit.
My understanding of God The Father’s Scriptures is that if you are saved by Jesus, you will be filled with the Holy Spirit and be influenced by the Holy Spirit, not to break the Laws of God. Many people have quenched the Holy Spirit in their lives by repeatedly pouring water of this world on the Fire of the Holy Spirit within you. First we must understand a few things.
First is that it is written in the book of Romans 4:10 ‘There is NONE righteous, no not one.’ The world may tell us that we are okay, we can be fine as long as our conscience is clean. Man’s conscience is the influence point of Satan. However, there is a way for all men to be cleansed of the sin stains of their souls. Second, it is written out in Romans 5:8, that states ‘God commanded His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ God The Father who cannot allow any sinful thing to enter His presence, gave His own Son to be the Sacrifice for us.
Our sin keeps us totally unworthy of God’s presence, but The Father made a way for us to make it to Him and worship Him forever. It is His Son, Jesus The Christ. The Jewish people had made, through legends and fables, a Messiah who would come and lead the Israelites to a great place of leadership, ‘in this world.’ This is why, in spite of the fulfillment of the Old Testament and the Prophets writings of Him, they would not believe in Jesus being the Messiah. It did not fit with the ideas in their own minds. We, as Christians, are doing the same thing today. We ignore the signs all around us because it doesn't fit with the mindset we have of Jesus return. We ignore things at our own peril.
Third, we must realize that to receive this “free gift” that The Lord has for us, we must be willing to accept it. That is all, just accept it and the indwelling of The Holy Spirit that comes with it. To do so we must do as written in Romans 10:9-10, and ;confess with our mouth The Lord Jesus and believe in our hearts and souls that The Father God raised Jesus from the dead to forever stand in intercession for us with God The Father, then we will be saved.
You see as in the parable of the prodigal son, the father of the son, who is like unto God The Father, accepted the son back with no strings attached. The son did nothing to deserve this love from his father, in fact the father had every reason, in our way of thinking, to punish the son for his bad behavior. Yet the father brought the son back in with celebration and praise. You see the same lesson in the two previous parables in Juke 15:1-32.
The lost sheep did nothing to be found and the lost coin did nothing to be found, but in both cases, great rejoicing followed their return. Only in the Prodigal son parable do we see any remorse for their previous actions involved. Just as with these cases, great rejoicing will accompany our decision to be “found” by the Lord our God. The Lord God only asks that we be willing to, in spite of the trials put up by the world around us, openly profess to the world that we are now His and they too can be.
You can be sure that you are safe in the Master’s arms, in 1st John 5:13, the author John, writes that ‘These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of The Son of God, Jesus Christ; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of The Son of God, Jesus Christ.” So in this we can be assured of our salvation.
Many will also say that these things were written by men and are not the writings of God. All I have to say to that is, When you write a letter, does the pen do the writing, or do you? As you used the pen to write, so God used men to write His words, because even though God could have created the Bible without the help of Man, God wanted man to accept the Bible without it being openly revealed that God had written it. Just as Jesus did not fit what man had in his mind The Messiah was supposed to be, so The Word of God does not fit what man’s mind. Jesus fit all the prophecies written of the Messiah in the Old Testament, the Torah, and the Prophets. Just to have someone to fit eight of these prophecies would be of greater odds than to win the Lottery. Still people disbelieve that He was the Son of God, to their own detriment. Man cannot write a letter without a pen or pencil being involved, just so God would not write the Bible without man being involved.
In the Bible it states in Isaiah 55:8, ‘The thoughts of God are not as our thoughts, and the ways of God are not as our ways’ , so what we think will work, is only what we think, not the Thoughts or Plans of God The Father. As believers in Jesus, we must be willing to stand up before the torments and hatefulness of the evil world around us and not lose or renounce our faith even though it will be dangerous to us. The Lord God will bless greatly all those who stand strong, in the hurricane of the world that is to come.
This leads us to another point, that some people believe to be ignorant of a thing being wrong, makes it okay to be involved with it. If you were ignorant of God’s law against killing another human, would it be alright for you to kill someone?In the law of God The Father, we see in Leviticus 4:1-6 the Word of God says that if the priest of God, who is a representative of the people of God, is ignorant of his sin, he is to do several different things to exonerate himself from being guilty of sin, before he represents the people. If we are truly saved, we should at least feel the influence of the Holy Spirit telling us that something is wrong if we be ignorant to it being wrong at first.
The Lord Jesus, covers us from all sin we have done and any we might do. The only thing we are to do is Profess Him before other men. When we do the Holy Spirit will come to live inside and help guide us down the path that leads to righteousness.
My understanding of God The Father’s Scriptures is that if you are saved by Jesus, you will be filled with the Holy Spirit and be influenced by the Holy Spirit, not to break the Laws of God. Many people have quenched the Holy Spirit in their lives by repeatedly pouring water of this world on the Fire of the Holy Spirit within you. First we must understand a few things.
First is that it is written in the book of Romans 4:10 ‘There is NONE righteous, no not one.’ The world may tell us that we are okay, we can be fine as long as our conscience is clean. Man’s conscience is the influence point of Satan. However, there is a way for all men to be cleansed of the sin stains of their souls. Second, it is written out in Romans 5:8, that states ‘God commanded His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’ God The Father who cannot allow any sinful thing to enter His presence, gave His own Son to be the Sacrifice for us.
Our sin keeps us totally unworthy of God’s presence, but The Father made a way for us to make it to Him and worship Him forever. It is His Son, Jesus The Christ. The Jewish people had made, through legends and fables, a Messiah who would come and lead the Israelites to a great place of leadership, ‘in this world.’ This is why, in spite of the fulfillment of the Old Testament and the Prophets writings of Him, they would not believe in Jesus being the Messiah. It did not fit with the ideas in their own minds. We, as Christians, are doing the same thing today. We ignore the signs all around us because it doesn't fit with the mindset we have of Jesus return. We ignore things at our own peril.
Third, we must realize that to receive this “free gift” that The Lord has for us, we must be willing to accept it. That is all, just accept it and the indwelling of The Holy Spirit that comes with it. To do so we must do as written in Romans 10:9-10, and ;confess with our mouth The Lord Jesus and believe in our hearts and souls that The Father God raised Jesus from the dead to forever stand in intercession for us with God The Father, then we will be saved.
You see as in the parable of the prodigal son, the father of the son, who is like unto God The Father, accepted the son back with no strings attached. The son did nothing to deserve this love from his father, in fact the father had every reason, in our way of thinking, to punish the son for his bad behavior. Yet the father brought the son back in with celebration and praise. You see the same lesson in the two previous parables in Juke 15:1-32.
The lost sheep did nothing to be found and the lost coin did nothing to be found, but in both cases, great rejoicing followed their return. Only in the Prodigal son parable do we see any remorse for their previous actions involved. Just as with these cases, great rejoicing will accompany our decision to be “found” by the Lord our God. The Lord God only asks that we be willing to, in spite of the trials put up by the world around us, openly profess to the world that we are now His and they too can be.
You can be sure that you are safe in the Master’s arms, in 1st John 5:13, the author John, writes that ‘These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of The Son of God, Jesus Christ; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of The Son of God, Jesus Christ.” So in this we can be assured of our salvation.
Many will also say that these things were written by men and are not the writings of God. All I have to say to that is, When you write a letter, does the pen do the writing, or do you? As you used the pen to write, so God used men to write His words, because even though God could have created the Bible without the help of Man, God wanted man to accept the Bible without it being openly revealed that God had written it. Just as Jesus did not fit what man had in his mind The Messiah was supposed to be, so The Word of God does not fit what man’s mind. Jesus fit all the prophecies written of the Messiah in the Old Testament, the Torah, and the Prophets. Just to have someone to fit eight of these prophecies would be of greater odds than to win the Lottery. Still people disbelieve that He was the Son of God, to their own detriment. Man cannot write a letter without a pen or pencil being involved, just so God would not write the Bible without man being involved.
In the Bible it states in Isaiah 55:8, ‘The thoughts of God are not as our thoughts, and the ways of God are not as our ways’ , so what we think will work, is only what we think, not the Thoughts or Plans of God The Father. As believers in Jesus, we must be willing to stand up before the torments and hatefulness of the evil world around us and not lose or renounce our faith even though it will be dangerous to us. The Lord God will bless greatly all those who stand strong, in the hurricane of the world that is to come.
This leads us to another point, that some people believe to be ignorant of a thing being wrong, makes it okay to be involved with it. If you were ignorant of God’s law against killing another human, would it be alright for you to kill someone?In the law of God The Father, we see in Leviticus 4:1-6 the Word of God says that if the priest of God, who is a representative of the people of God, is ignorant of his sin, he is to do several different things to exonerate himself from being guilty of sin, before he represents the people. If we are truly saved, we should at least feel the influence of the Holy Spirit telling us that something is wrong if we be ignorant to it being wrong at first.
The Lord Jesus, covers us from all sin we have done and any we might do. The only thing we are to do is Profess Him before other men. When we do the Holy Spirit will come to live inside and help guide us down the path that leads to righteousness.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Casting Pearls- The Saints will judge WHO?
What shall we do after Jesus returns? The scriptures are pretty much clear on that point, that we will spend eternity praising and worshipping our Lord Jesus and the Father God. Some people might find that somewhat tedious spending day in and day out for eternity just praising and worshiping The Lord. I’m here to tell you that if you feel wonderful and lifted up over one of our simple little worship services here, when we feel the anointing of the Spirit on us. Just wait for the way our souls will be lifted up when in The Lord’s presence. We will feel that way for eternity!
There is more that we will do though. If we look in 1st Corinthians 6:2-3, we are told that as Christian saints we will Judge not only the world but even Judge angels. Now, how can we be able to Judge angels? How can they be left for us to Judge? The only way that I can see is that the angels we will Judge are the ones cast out of Heaven with Lucifer and are now his demons doing the devil’s bidding. These angels were on the side of Lucifer when he rebelled against The Lord.
It is our responsibility as Saints of Jesus Christ to hold them accountable before The Lord. So yes, we will Judge angels. Just, they will be the fallen angels who were cast out of Heaven with Lucifer. In a way it will be like a jury trial with the saints as the Jury. All the suffering and death that has happened in the world has happened because like a jury trial, the accused has the right to access to the jury, to attempt to convince us that he is worth saving. So Lucifer has cajoled and twisted our beliefs into something that he believes will sympathize with him. Only problem is that as those who are Saints of The Lord, we will have little mercy on those who are against The Lord.
What this all comes down to is that though we are not supposed to Judge weither someone is saved or not, we are supposed to Judge if something in this world is sinful or not. It is like this, if someone is living in a sinful manner, such as in homosexuality, we should show that person love through Jesus for their soul but not any confirmation of agreement with their lifestyle choice. If the world says we are being judgmental, we should ignore their sinful beliefs. The person is not the problem with them either.
Ultimately, the Devil and his demons, or fallen angels, know that they have lost but are doing all they can to take as many ‘Saints’ with them. The ‘GOOD’ angels could be judged by us too, but no greater award can be given them than that they are already going to receive from God, eternity praising God.
The ‘Saints of God’ are just one step above the angels they will be Judging, mainly due to our having free will to either worship The Lord or not. If we don’t then we won’t have to worry about Judging anyone. We will be the ones being judged.
There is more that we will do though. If we look in 1st Corinthians 6:2-3, we are told that as Christian saints we will Judge not only the world but even Judge angels. Now, how can we be able to Judge angels? How can they be left for us to Judge? The only way that I can see is that the angels we will Judge are the ones cast out of Heaven with Lucifer and are now his demons doing the devil’s bidding. These angels were on the side of Lucifer when he rebelled against The Lord.
It is our responsibility as Saints of Jesus Christ to hold them accountable before The Lord. So yes, we will Judge angels. Just, they will be the fallen angels who were cast out of Heaven with Lucifer. In a way it will be like a jury trial with the saints as the Jury. All the suffering and death that has happened in the world has happened because like a jury trial, the accused has the right to access to the jury, to attempt to convince us that he is worth saving. So Lucifer has cajoled and twisted our beliefs into something that he believes will sympathize with him. Only problem is that as those who are Saints of The Lord, we will have little mercy on those who are against The Lord.
What this all comes down to is that though we are not supposed to Judge weither someone is saved or not, we are supposed to Judge if something in this world is sinful or not. It is like this, if someone is living in a sinful manner, such as in homosexuality, we should show that person love through Jesus for their soul but not any confirmation of agreement with their lifestyle choice. If the world says we are being judgmental, we should ignore their sinful beliefs. The person is not the problem with them either.
Ultimately, the Devil and his demons, or fallen angels, know that they have lost but are doing all they can to take as many ‘Saints’ with them. The ‘GOOD’ angels could be judged by us too, but no greater award can be given them than that they are already going to receive from God, eternity praising God.
The ‘Saints of God’ are just one step above the angels they will be Judging, mainly due to our having free will to either worship The Lord or not. If we don’t then we won’t have to worry about Judging anyone. We will be the ones being judged.
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