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May 31 THE POWERS OF THE HEAVENS WILL BE SHAKEN[Luke 21:25-28] "And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near." In the gospel of Matthew, Matthew gives us more details of the end time events Jesus described than did Dr. Luke in his gospel. [Matthew 24-29-31] "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." In these Scriptures Jesus tells us of certain things that are going to happen in the heavens and on the earth just prior to His return at the end of the Great Tribulation Period. He begins by telling us there will be heavenly signs that will be readily observable by the human eye. The first signs men will observe will be very unusual activity taking place in the sun, moon, and stars. Jesus isn't talking about a lunar eclipse when He described these events. He is talking about things that will create such fear in man that multitudes of men will die from heart attacks. Men will see the awesomeness of God when they see these things taking place. And they will very quickly understand that they do not have any control over anything that is happening. Jesus described what men will see as; "the powers of heaven being shaken." And not one person inhabiting the earth at the time will miss anything that is going to take place. Everyone will have a first hand account because everyone will be an eyewitness to these events. Jesus is telling us beforehand that those people who have ignored Him their whole life, will not be able to ignore these events when they start to take place. The eyes of all mankind will be riveted on the heavens and when He splits the eastern sky and His great glory is revealed, every eye shall behold Him. Then Jesus describes for us the next sign He called distress among the nations. The distress among the nations will be so great that all nations on earth will forget about fighting with one another and try to focus their attention on what they are seeing taking place in the heavens. Needless to say, "They will not have answers to give to the people when the people start asking, "What do these signs mean?" The next sign Jesus gave takes place in the oceans of the world. Jesus described these events as the 'sea and the waves roaring'. This can only mean world wide disaster on a scale so great the world cannot begin to imagine the worldwide destruction that will result from what Jesus described as the roaring waves of the seas. I can guarantee you there will not be any surfers out 'catching a wave' when these events take place. We have seen devastation caused by the waves of the sea in recent years, but what we have seen so far on the earth will be nothing in comparison to what Jesus is talking about taking place at that time. The next sign is perplexity of people. The people of earth will be gravely concerned about the events that are unfolding, so much so, that Jesus said many will die because their 'hearts are failing them from fear' of the events they see taking place in the heavens and on the earth. There will be so many heart attack victims flooding the hospital emergency rooms around the world that doctors will forget about cancer and all the other forms of diseases men die from. Then Jesus tells us after these things we, "will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory." He concludes this portion of His dissertation on the period that will immediately precede His return to earth with these words, "Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near." And in [Luke 21:34-36] Jesus issues a warning to all people; "But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come upon you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." After telling His disciples the parable of the fig tree, He issues a warning to all, "But take heed to yourselves;" or in otherwords, "Be prepared to meet your maker" when He comes. In the preceding verses Jesus told us what is going to take place in the heavens and on the earth just prior to His return. Now He is giving everyone fair warning to make sure they are prepared to meet Him when this day arrives. This time He will not be coming as a little baby in a manger who would grow up to die for the sins of the whole world. This time He is coming as the GOD OF CREATION: THE KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS [Revelation chapter 19] prepared to take control of His kingdom by force and remove every single enemy from the face of the earth. His pruning hook will be in His hand and He will not overlook a single rebellious person. Every single enemy of His Kingdom will be killed and their spirits cast into hell where they will be confined forever to serve as a reminder that when they had the opportunity to serve Him; they rejected His love and cursed Him instead. Immediately after the angels gather together the elect, or those who have accepted Jesus as their Savior, all hell is going to break loose on the sinners and they are going to reap their just reward for the unforgiven crimes they have committed against the kingdom of God and His Christ. Jesus then lists several things that will prevent a person from being prepared to meet Him. He gives all of us a fair warning that this day will come unexpectedly upon man. Those who are prepared to meet Him will go into eternal life, but those who love to carouse or commit spiritual adultery with God's enemy, get drunk, and are more concerned with the affairs of this life than they are about their eternal future will be cast into the fires of hell to suffer with the devil and all of his cohorts. Our eternal destination is decided by our acceptance or the rejection of the Lord as our Redeemer Savior while we live here on earth. And just as soon as we die we are ushered into the place we decided would be our eternal future. Heaven as you know was created for man, and hell for the devil and his angels; but when man rejects the Love of his Creator; and he does so by choice; hell becomes his eternal prison from which there is no hope of release. I read on the Internet a few days ago a comment made by a very famous Jew, and I thought, "Of all the people on the earth these people above all others should be more knowledgeable and more aware of the presence of the God of Creation than anyone else," But, Albert Einstein, a German born, Jew, said, just a year or so before his death, "That the stories in the bible were nothing more than children's stories." (My paraphrase) And I thought to myself, "Here is a man that God blessed well beyond other men; and in return for his great blessings he denied the very one who blessed him with such great intelligence." Dear God, for the sake of his eternal soul; I hope he had a change of heart before he died. But whether he did, or whether he didn't; He knows the whole truth now. OTBP May 30 THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HANDIs it possible to see but not see, and to hear but not hear? I believe it is. The magician for example has been given the ability to make a mockery of our sense realm. He proves to us over and over again that his hands are quicker than our eyes, and what we see isn't really what we see all, but what we saw is what he wanted us to see. If we believe what he wants us to see, he has accomplished his purpose. Take for instance when the magician puts a young lady in a long rectangle box with her arms, legs, and head exposed; then takes a saw and cuts the box in half and turns both ends to one side so we can see into the interior of the box. The magician has made it appear that he sawed the young lady into two pieces, but in our mind we know that never happened. Our eyes record what they see and from there the mind rationalizes the information the eyes sent to it. If the magician can fool both the eyes and the mind of a person, that person has been completely deceived.
Another example of a person who can fool the eyes is the Illusionist who appears to make very large objects disappear. For example, David Copperfield did a performance at the Statue of Liberty on live television a few years ago and appeared to have made the Statue of Liberty disappear right before the viewers eyes. After the illusion had been completed he had helicopters flying around the location with spot lights shining down on the spot to verify that he had indeed made the Statue of Liberty disappear. He is called an Illusionists for a reason. He has a gift that can fool the eyes of the viewer. But, logical thinking tells us the Statue of Liberty did not really disappear, it just appeared to have disappeared because he was able to fool the viewers eyes. We appreciate their efforts to bring entertainment into the lives of men, but there is a Master Magician and Illusionist roaming this world today feeding false information into both the eyes, ears, and mind of mankind. He is called Satan. He is an angelic being who possesses power to deceive completely and totally all people that have a closed mind to the things God desires to do, and will not believe anything that varies in the least from their natural thinking. Satan is not an entertainer. He is a murderer and his intent is to take our life. He doesn't care how he accomplishes his mission just as long as we are gone from the face of the earth. Man is a threat to him and therefore man has to be removed. The sad thing about all of this is that Satan, the murderer, recruits men to carry out his murderous plan by attacking other men. He hasn't changed his modus operandi since time began and he will not change it because he can't. He is what he is. He is completely evil and hates everything about us. After Adam sinned the world was forced to operate under Satan's system from the fall of Adam to the death of Jesus Christ.
Man doesn't have a clue as to just how dangerous sin is to the human being. After Adam fell, mankind suffered under the tutelage of Satan until the coming of Jesus Christ. In the gospel of Mark - [Mark writes in 1:14b & 15] "...Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." (NKJV) Jesus is telling the people the kingdom of God arrived on earth when He set foot on it; and He began His ministry among the Jews by saying to them, "The time (you have been waiting for) is fulfilled." Your Savior is with you, repent; and believe the things I am going to show and teach you. (My paraphrase) The end of Satan's reign over the lives of all men was about to end. But, the majority of the people Jesus spoke to did not believe Him because they could not see their invisible God in the natural realm with their natural eyes; and many more did not hear what Jesus said to them because they were spiritually deaf. Their mind was fixed on the Law of Moses, (the Ten Commandments) therefore anything that varied from the Law Moses gave them could not possibly be from God. Another reason they could not receive what Jesus said to them was that He was making it too easy for them to get to into God's kingdom. God isn't about keeping us out of His kingdom, He is about getting us into the kingdom. Just like back then, when men learned they didn't have to work their way into God's grace, and all they had to do was simply walk through the supernatural door into the kingdom of God He was going to open for them. They stumbled or stop listening and refused to follow Him. People still have a hard time understanding this truth today. They simply cannot believe that God was so kind to man that He forfeited the life of His Son so we could have eternal life. This kind of love does not compute in the mind of the natural man. And because this kind of love doesn't compute in their little finite minds; the earth is filled with people still trying to make themselves good enough to earn God's favor and reserve a spot for themselves in heaven when they die. God tells us the people who think this way are spiritually deaf, and even though people hear the words Jesus spoke to the Jews, they do not hear the part where He tells us, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me." [John 14:6] In other words He is saying to us. "You don't have to try and earn your way into the kingdom; just follow me, and I will lead you into it." The people of that day who didn't hear Him, killed Him; and the people who are not listening today are still trying to remove the memory of Him from the earth. But, it's too late for that kind of thinking. He has been on the earth and fulfilled His mission; and one day soon He will be returning to the earth to receive all those who believe in Him and fulfill our purpose. Prasie God.
Jesus has told us the kingdom of God is now on earth. We have to believe Him and accept the fact that He told us the way into that kingdom is to "Repent" and believe the Gospel." The Gospel is that God sent His only Begotten Son to earth to die for the sins of man that we might be redeemed from the curse of the law under which every man was found guilty of sinning against God and received a just punishment. [Ephesians 2:5-10] tells us, "Even when we were dead in trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He (our heavenly Father) might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." This is not a gospel of work, it is a gospel of God's grace because He wants us in heaven with Him, not in hell with the devil. But, if we want to go to heaven and live in the presence of God; we have to do it His way. Jesus told us how, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel." If we will repent and believe the gospel, God will fulfill His part and open the supernatural door that allows us to enter His kingdom. You can do it right now. Just ask Jesus, the Son of God to forgive you of your wickedness, and grant you salvation and entrance into His kingdom. If you meant it, accept it by faith because Jesus said if you would do that for Him, He will do for you what He promised in [John 3:16] "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." If you just ask Jesus into your heart and repented of your sins; welcome to the family of God. OTBP
May 28 THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGSThe heart is the organ in the body that pumps the blood throughout the blood vascular system and is considered to be the most important organ in the body. The bible tells us in [Leviticus 17:11],"Life is in the blood" that is circulated through the arterial system bringing oxygen and nutrients to each and every cell within the body. But when the bible talks about the heart; it is most always talking about the 'spirit' within man unless it specifically talks about the heart as an organ. God has this to say about the heart or spirit within man; "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: Who can know it? I the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways. According to the fruit of his doings." [Jeremiah 17:9-10]
This scripture is talking about the spirit that lives in the body which is the house of the fleshly man that does not have a consciousness of the Living God. He is not talking about the Spirit of God that takes up residence in man after that person is 'born again' or has been made aware that they were created a spiritual being to serve the Living God. This is referred to in scripture as the new birth experience. The fleshly person or the unsaved person only hears the voice of their fleshly body, therefore they serve the house the spirit lives in rather than letting the spirit inside the house direct their lives. And because the flesh does not have a consciousness of God; the person who serves their flesh will do everything within their power to please their body. Their body is their first priority; and because man serves his flesh instead of their spirit person; many multi billion dollar industries from plastic surgery to designer fashions, etc, have come into existence to help us appease our flesh. These multi billion dollar companies spend millions upon millions of dollars a year on advertising that speaks directly to our flesh; but the person who serves their flesh does not understand they can never make their flesh happy. The only thing our flesh wants is to feel good and look good; and when it doesn't feel or look good it let's us know about it. There are people who spend literal fortunes on their fleshly body to keep it happy; but underneath those designer clothes and expensive jewelry is still a cry baby that can never be satisfied. This is why God has told us in the above scripture the heart or spirit of man is deceitful above all things. If it has not been born again or made aware that it was created to fellowship with the Living God and is suppose to rule in life, it is living way below the standard it was created to live by and has become a slave to our flesh.
A deceived person is anyone who lives according the the dictates of their flesh and does not have an intimate personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. A deceived person does not understand the importance of what God did for man when He allowed men who served the flesh to kill His Son so that we might have a personal relationship with Him. I am using the name 'deceived person' or a person who lives according to the 'dictates of their flesh' because the majority of people who go to church fall into this category right along with the unsaved person. Most people who attend church do so for purely social reasons not because their heart is on serving the Lord. They consider the church a place to make business contacts, or they attend a particular church because that is where their friends go. These same people are able to attain positions of authority in the church as deacons, elders, board members etc, but they know nothing of why God established the church in the beginning. They are there to serve the church house and to make the church house look good and to take away all they can from the church instead of adding to the true church which is the body of Christ on earth. They know how to make the building look good, but they don't have a clue how to get the real church to fulfill its mission on earth. And because fleshly people don't know how to get the real church to fulfill its mission; after a short time in the church those who attend regularly are taught how to serve their denominational demands, not the Lord. They are taught to establish more church programs and organize more church sales events in hopes of drawing more people into the church, but programs and sales events will never meet the spiritual needs of the people who attend the church, nor will programs and sales events draw unsaved people into the church. These things look good on paper and appear to be spiritual at least in thought, but they are fleshly. If the Lord was the first priority of the Church we wouldn't have to establish programs to get people into the church, the Lord Himself would be sending them to the door. Where there is a roaring fire; people come if for no other reason than just to be near the fire. But where there is no fire, why should we expect people to come in from the cold? It ain't gonna happen! To help us understand this last statement let me use this example; If we build a bonfire on the beach, it won't be long until a multitude of people are gathered around it even though it's a warm night. People love to be near a fire. It isn't any different when the Spirit of God is moving. People have to be near it, that is why there was always a multitude of people with Jesus everywhere He went. He had the fire, and people wanted to be warmed (healed, delivered, set free) by it. But today, most churches are only pretend churches because the people who attend them do not truly worship the Lord with their whole spirit, soul, and body. The majority of people are not there to learn why God did what He did and why it's important to Him that we learn to live by the spirit instead of our flesh. They are not taught that our fleshly body is dying and will one day be put in the grave, or that our spirit will live forever and therefore the one we are to feed, make strong, and give control of our life. These are the things professing Christians are supposed to know, therefore they have no excuse for living under the dominion of their fleshly bodies. But the unsaved man doesn't know these things and the number one responsibility of the Church is to inform the unknowing there is a higher standard of life available to them if they choose to partake of it.
God tells us throughout the bible to be more concerned about the one that will live forever (our spirit man) than the one who is dying daily. (our flesh) A person's spirit must be 'born again' or 'regenerated by God' and serving the Lord with all of its might if we expect to go to heaven. Going to church on Sunday and Wednesday does not qualify a person for heaven. But, developing a intimate personal relationship with the Almighty God through His Son Jesus Christ and letting the Word of God on the pages of our bible change our life to the point it projects God into a dying world; will. Our having a personal relationship with the Lord is very similar to our having a personal relationship with our spouse. That means we spend enough time with each other to know what is in the heart of the other person without having to to ask them. We rejoice when they rejoice, we are sad when they are sad, and we listen to what they have to say when they are speaking to us. And we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that that person loves us with all of their heart - as we do them. Their desire is to see that we are happy, and our desire is to see that they are happy. This is the kind of a relationship the child of God is to have with their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If a person does not have this kind of relationship with Him we need to ask Him what it is we need to do to form this kind of intimacy. He will not send us away empty handed. He will tell us exactly what we need to do to have that kind of relationship with Him. His desire is for every person living on the earth to have that kind of personal relationship with Him. He has done everything He can do to make it become a reality. Now it is up to man to put his ambitions behind him, take up his cross, and follow after the Lord. There is no other way under the sun for the kind of relationship the Lord wants to have with us to be developed on such an intimate personal level to the intent the Lord desires of us, unless we willing to throw our whole being into it. He demanded the same level of commitment from His first disciples even though they were married, had children, businesses to run and all the things associated with a busy life that we have to deal with today; and He expects no less from us. Everyone who is saved should be striving to reach this level of intimacy with Him. If we are not, we need to let Him examine our heart and reveal unto us where we are falling short. If we are not willing to establish this kind of relationship with Him, the bible has just told us our spirit has deceived us into thinking everything is alright, when in fact it isn't. OTBP
May 26 I AM THE DOOR[John 10:9]"I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture." If we are to understand what Jesus means by "I am the door" we will have to understand who Jesus is - and we will find the answer to our inquiry of who Jesus is at the very beginning of the Gospel of John. [John 1:1-5 & 14] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was in the beginning with God. (3) And all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (4) In Him (The Word of God) was life, and the life was the light of men. (5) And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (14) And the Word became flesh (Jesus) and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
The door that Jesus is talking about is the door that separates the natural world from the kingdom of God. Those who find the door will be saved, or as Jesus put it in [John 10:9] they can go in and out of God's kingdom and find "pasture". The pasture Jesus is referring to is 'Life saving nutrition' for the spirit and soul of man who has accepted the finished work of Christ Jesus and has been approved by God Himself. The physical body of man cannot enter into the kingdom of God at this time because of the sin that is in it. And it will not be allowed into the kingdom of God until after it has been changed by the resurrection unto life, or by the immediate transformation of it when the Rapture of the Church occurs. The Holy Spirit is the One who stands guard over the entrance of the kingdom of God and no one can enter into the kingdom unless they are admitted by the Spirit of God. Jesus makes this very plain in [John 10:3] "To Him the Gatekeeper (who is the Holy Spirit) opens." And in verse (7) Jesus said, "I am the door of the sheep." So we see three persons working in union. (1) The Holy Spirit guarding the way into the kingdom, (2) Jesus is the door of the kingdom. And (3) the Word of God is the life saving nutrition or the pasture of the kingdom.
In this natural world there is only natural food to meet the needs of the natural body of man; and for the spirit and soul of natural man there is only the perverted spiritual sewage Satan provides from which the spirit and soul of natural man draws its nourishment. Not only is the sewage provided by Satan disgusting to ingest, it is the cause of sickness, disease and death in the body of man, as well as every other malady known to mankind. The spiritual part of natural man is considered to be dead because it is separated from God by sin and is not aware of who God is; and until that separated spirit becomes knowledgeable of the presence of God, it has no interest in the things of God. Therefore God commands those who know the truth to share His truth with those who don't.
Now we see in the opening stanza of the Gospel of John in verse fourteen that Jesus is the physical human body that God put on His Word to reveal the nature and life of God to lost man. His people could not see the LIFE in the Law Moses gave them, so God sent His Word clothed in a fleshly body to present Himself to them. Those who accept this truth and make it (Jesus/Word of God) the Lord of their life will be allowed to enter into and out of the kingdom of God at their pleasure. When God began to implement His plan for the salvation of lost man, God put a fleshly body (He named Jesus) on His Word and sacrificed that perfectly sinless physical human body as a sin offering unto Himself for the sins of man that separated him (man) from his Creator. So we see that God Himself paid the ultimate price for our redemption. We can make this statement with complete confidence because the fleshly body of Jesus was completely submitted to the Word of God that lived in Him, and the Word of God was totally committed to its fleshly body that God the Father had clothed Him with. Therefore when speaking of The Word of God which is 'Spirit and Truth' [John 17:17] and Jesus 'the man' [John 1:14] we are speaking of the same person. They are one and were in complete agreement with one another on everything they did on this earth. So when we talk about Jesus, we are talking about the physical body of the Word of God, and when we talk about the Word of God, we are talking about the Spirit of the Word of God that lived inside the physical body of Jesus that was sacrificed unto God for the sins of man. We cannot separate the one from the other. When Jesus was born into the earth the Word of God took up residence in His body, and for all time the Word of God will dwell in that Body. However there was one time when the physical body of Jesus and the Word of God were separated for three days. That was when the fleshly body of Jesus went into the grave, and the Word of God spent those three day in hell paying the ultimate spiritual sacrifice for the sins of the unregenerated spirits of lost man. Flesh could not pay for our spiritual sins, and spirit cannot pay the penalty for the sins of the flesh. The Flesh of Jesus had to die for the sins of the flesh of earthly man, and the Word of God had to pay the penalty for the sin of the unregenerated spirits of man, therefore the body of Jesus went to the grave, and the Spirit within Him went into hell. And when the sin penalty was met; the Word of God arose from that place; victorious over death, hell, and the grave; returned to the earthly grave of His physical body; and once again took upon Himself the fleshly body of Jesus; walked among man to prove to His followers that He was alive; ascended into heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father until earth would be made His footstool. Never again will the physical body of Jesus and the Word of God be separated from one another. The body of Jesus will forever clothe the Word of God, however when the Word of God returns to earth and closes out the ages; He will return as,"The Word of God." He will not be returning as the man - Jesus. He is the Almighty Word of God, the very Son of God, He is the Alpha and the Omega of God, as John tells us in chapter one of his gospel, "He was in the beginning with God, and all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." In other words the Word of God is the ingredient that holds all things together in all of creation. And on His blood stained vesture will be written the words, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." [Revelation chapter 19] Praise God. Those blood stains on His vesture are from His fleshly body (Jesus) that was killed and whose blood was shed for the redemption of the physical bodies of the children of God that they will wear throughout eternity. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord.
So we see the Holy Spirit is the Gatekeeper who guards the entrance into the kingdom of God, and it is the Word of God that is the luscious pasture we partake of when we get there. But before we can enter in through the door into the kingdom and partake of that luscious pasture; our filthy unregenerated spirit person has to be washed clean of its filth. That is the job of the blood that was shed by the physical body of the Word of God that was sacrificed unto God for the remission of our sins. The blood of Jesus is the cleansing agent the Holy Spirit uses to "Wash those old unregenerated human spirits whiter than snow." And the Holy Spirit will examine every one who tries to enter the kingdom of God, and if our old unregenerated spirit is not washed in the blood of Jesus, He will not let us pass through the door into the kingdom of God to partake of the lush green pastures therein.
Now this message is kind of deep, but it is going to get deeper. Stay with me; put your scuba gear on - because Jesus said to His disciples in [Luke 17:21b], "The kingdom of God (we have been talking about) is within you." Although there is a literal kingdom of God where the throne of God is located, and from which He rules over all of creation, there is also a place inside each born again believer in which The Holy Spirit of God takes up residence and Jesus called this place the 'Kingdom of God' also. How God is able to take a little bit of His kingdom and put it on the inside of each person that is born again, I do not know, but that is exactly what Jesus, the Word of God, told us God does in the born again person. So for the present time the throne of God the Father and the Word of God are in the literal heaven, but the Holy Spirit sits on His Throne within the believers that make up the body of Christ on earth from which He rules and reigns.
Jesus said, '"I am the door" and from that we learned that the Holy Spirit who is on the earth is the guardian of the entrance into the kingdom of God. Jesus is the door into the kingdom, and the Word of God is the lush pasture of God of which every believer is free to eat. Now, if the child of God has accepted the finished work of Jesus upon the cross he is alive in his spirit because the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in him, and we are to nourish our newly regenerated human spirit with the Word of God. As we take in the Word of God our soul is renewed to the things of God, and our flesh is purified or made holy by that same Word. As we take in more and more of the Word of God, the Holy Spirit begins to manifest Himself in each part of our life, first in the spirit, then in the soul, and lastly in our body. We cannot be holy unless our flesh is dying daily to its old habits, and those old habits will not die unless our flesh is submitted to the Word of God and we let the Holy Spirit use that Word to do His work in us from the inside out. Satan works from the outside in, but God works from the inside out, first in our spirit, then the soul, and lastly in the flesh. God's desire is to anoint every one of us or immerse us in the Holy Spirit so we can do the works that Jesus did when He was on the earth. If we do not submit ourselves to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, He is trapped inside of us by the sin in our flesh. But when we submit to Him He is released and is free to work through us so He can accomplish the Father's will in the earth. But if we will not submit to His leadership, we are preventing Him from doing His work, thus we are resisting God and helping Satan. This is shown to us in the scriptures where Jesus cleansed the temple of God and threw out the money changers and their wares, saying to them, "My Fathers house is a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves." The sin in the outer courtyard of the temple (which represents the sin in our fleshly body) was preventing the Spirit of God inside the physical temple from working in behalf of God's people outside the temple. But after Jesus threw the money changers out of the courtyard along with their wares, (which was Jesus physically throwing the sin and the sinner out of God's house) the Spirit of God ripped the temple vail in to from top to bottom, and God left the physical temple (or was freed from the sin that held Him captive inside His own temple) on the day Jesus died upon that cross for the sins of man. Some fifty days later, the Holy Spirit took up residence inside man who is the present day temple of the living God. God never wanted to live among His people in a physical temple, but He had no choice after Adam sinned. In the beginning He lived inside Adam, but after Adam sinned, God left Him and was without a home on earth for generations until Moses built Him a house made of goatskins, and finally Solomon built Him a house of stone. God's desire has always been to live in His people that His glory might be reflected through them for all the world to see. This was only made possible when Jesus opened the door for man to enter into the kingdom of God, (or by Jesus overcoming the sin in the earth) and at that same time Jesus also made a way for God to legitimately enter into the world through that open door anytime He chooses. Since Jesus opened the door for man to enter in and out of the kingdom of Heaven, God will never again be resigned to living in a brick and mortar temple. Praise God. OTBP May 25 IF ANYONE THIRSTS[John 7:37-44] (37) On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. (38) "He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." (39) But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, (Holy Spirit) whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (40) Therefore many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, "Truly this is the Prophet." (41) Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee? (42) "Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?" (43) So there was a division among the people because of Him. (44) Now some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him."Jesus made a public statement about Himself and immediately people started questioning what He said. That shouldn't have come as a surprise as every thing Jesus said and did created controversy and started people talking. That is what God's Word is designed to do. This is His way of prodding people into searching for life's answers; and He hasn't changed His methodology. Everything He said either made people happy, or as mad as can be. He always got a response out of people. If we are a minister of the Word, and we all are if we are a Christian; if what we say doesn't get some kind of a response out of the people we are speaking to; what we had to say wasn't worth the time and effort we put into it. Everything about Jesus was controversial. He was different. So the people didn't know whether to side with Him or run away from Him. And especially so after He had said such things as; "I am the bread of life." [John 6:48] and "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." [John 6:54] And as He had just said to them "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink." And later He would say to them, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one goes to the Father except through me." [John 14:6] When the people heard these saying they didn't quite know what to make of them. They wanted to believe in Him; they wanted a Savior to appear, the problem they encountered was they just weren't sure if He was the One despite the mighty works He did among them. They liked what He did for the people, many of them enjoyed hearing Him speak, but they had a hard time getting pass the fact that He was Jesus from Galilee, the son of Joseph the Nazarene carpenter. I don't know what they thought God would look like when He came, but apparently most of them did not think He would look like Jesus. Their struggle with the identity of the personage of Jesus isn't any different than our struggle with the idea that the words on the pages of our Bible is actually the Word of God that He had recorded for our benefit.
The things Jesus was teaching that was so controversial had never been heard by the ears of mortal man. His teaching were so revolutionary and controversial His own people killed Him to try and stop them. But try as they might His controversial teachings wouldn't go away and these same teachings are still being taught to the body of Christ today. For those people who don't realize this - God's Word never quits working and it will never quit working until He brings all things to a conclusion. God's Word is alive and active and will never die. (Hebrews 4:12) Because His Word is alive; His controversial teachings from back then are still being preached around the world via television, Internet, in books, magazines, newspapers, etc, and His teachings will keep on being taught throughout the world forcing people to decide for themselves if He is who He says He is until the last person that will be saved is saved. And there is not one single solitary thing anyone can do to stop His Word from going forth. It's the same Word that created every thing we see, and it is the same Word that will cast the devil and his followers into the pits of hell. The devil has tried and tried to stop God's Word from being circulated since Jesus came to the earth. He began by killing Christ, then His followers, and down through the ages other Christians. He has tried passing laws in an attempt to prevent God's Word from spreading, and many other such things; but the harder the devil tries to stop God's Word from going forth, the more it spreads. God's Word is kind of like poison ivy; scratch the infection in one place, and it appears in another. And just as there was on this day long ago, there are still many differing opinions concerning Him being circulated today; and some of them have a little truth in them, but none of them have enough truth to make an accurate determination if He really is the Christ. Jesus wanted the people of that day to search for the truth concerning Him with their whole heart. Thus He said to them, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." Folks, thirsty people go in search of water. And if we want to know the truth about Jesus, we will have to go in search of the truth. Truth will not come searching for us anymore than water goes in search of a thirsty person.
Because Jesus made the above statement concerning Himself, some people said, "Truly this is the Prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Will the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?" Thus indicating they were interested in knowing the truth, but did they search for the truth? We don't know. We hope so for the sake of their soul. We understand the times have changed, but people are still pretty much the same in their understanding as they were back then. Therefore without a real thirst, a person never quite comes to a clear realization of who Christ Jesus really was, is, and will always be. People who don't have a real thirst cannot satisfy their thirst. And as a result of a lack of thirst, their knowledge of the things of God is limited to what they have heard other people say. If a person does not search the Scriptures for themselves to come to their own understanding; what they know about Him is limited and the reality of who Christ Jesus was, is, and will always be, never blossoms into revelation knowledge for them.
Jesus did not try to hide anything from the people when He visited them. But on the otherhand it was their responsibility to hear what He said, and examine the Scriptures for themselves to verify what He said before accepting or rejecting Him. He has given us that same responsibility. He will not force us to accept Him as Lord, but we are expected to examine the Scriptures and the records for ourselves so we can make a qualified decision about Him. No one can make a qualified decision without having all the necessary information in hand to make such a decision. A person gets into a lot of trouble when they try to make a determination without having all the information they need to make that determination. Therefore when we don't do our research, we are left with nothing but questions. This is like trying to put the cart before the horse so to speak. We want answers without the difficulty of solving the problem. And when we do things in this manner there are plenty of people who will tell us what we want to hear whether it is the truth or not.
Jesus sent the Holy Spirit into the world after His departure to give us understanding of who He is, and what He wants to do in our lives. But if we do not do our homework, the Holy Spirit cannot reveal unto us the answers we are seeking. He said, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." This statement is just as true for us today as it was two thousand years ago. There is only one fountain of life providing life saving water in this world, and that fountain is Jesus the Christ. Ponce de Leon never found the 'fountain of life' he was searching for because he was looking in the wrong place. If he had searched the scriptures as Jesus instructed us to do - he would never have left the shores of his homeland. But he did, and the results of his failure is recorded history. OTBP May 23 DISTRACTIONSA distraction is anything that draws our attention away from our intended objective. According to Webster's Dictionary; a distraction is defined as: (n) derangement, frenzy or diversion. And derangement is defined as: putting out of order, disorder, insanity. These are some strong words for something people accept as common place. The world is designed to distract man by creating a diversion from what we know to do - to doing something that is against our better judgment. Since we live in a world that belongs to God; He has a set of rules by which everything in His creation must play or suffer the consequences for disobeying His rules. There is also an instigator in our midst that God calls Satan or the devil who creates distractions or diversions that are particularly attractive to the sense realm of the human being and draws our attention away from the one to whom we must give account.
For the Christian or Christ-like child of God, it is the distractions in life that we have to ignore while overcoming the temptation to succumb to them. Jesus said of Satan in [Matthew 16:23] "You (Satan) are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." In other words, Satan is in disobedience; an offensive odor in the nostrils of God; does not know what God is doing; and spends his time working on man to deceive him into becoming like himself - disobedient. Since Satan is a spiritual being who is mindful only of the things of man - he uses the things of this world to distract man that he might prevent him from finding his Creator and becoming all that he can be. Satan knows man is a sensual being, therefore he uses sights, sounds, smells, things that feel good, and tastes good, to attack man through his physical senses and keep him in a state of distraction. God on the other hand works from the inside (regenerating our spirit man) outward, instead of from the outside (through the flesh) in to capture the spirit within as Satan does. A person who lives by his senses is a distracted, faithless, person who is easily swayed between two objectives and never able to come to a definite conclusion about either. [James 1:6-8] describes this person in this way, "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts (the distracted individual) is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." What James has just described for us is the hope of Satan. If Satan can keep a person distracted, he has won another soul for hell, but if a person looks past Satan's distractions and searches for the meaning of life, God promises us, that person will find Him.
As time has passed, the sights and sounds of this world has increased exponentially becoming ever more beautiful and evil at the same time. Even the unbelieving man knows that some of the most beautiful things in this world are the most deadly. So Satan knowing that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, packages sin in a beautiful wrapping while hiding inside the beautiful package a deadly poison. Because man is so used to living by his senses he never takes notice that everything that Satan does through his distractions is designed to take something of value away from him. As a result Satan has stolen from man so often that man has grown accustomed to being stolen from and hardly takes notice of his loss until the end results of the distraction has taken ahold of him and his suffering sets in.
As much suffering as there is in this world, it looks like man would finally take notice and understand someone is behind the suffering. And if we understood someone is behind the suffering then maybe we could understand that there are opposing forces at work in this world, and that one of them is for us and the other is against us. Then maybe we could understand that Satan's desire is to make everyone's life as miserable as he possibly can before we die. He does so because we are made in the image and likeness of our God. Satan hates you and I as much as he hates our Father and Creator. If he can make us suffer, happy is he. But if we refuse to become distracted and stay on course with our Lord, then we can make him suffer and cause his forces a lot of damage. That is also why he tries as hard as he can to keep the gifts of God out of our understanding. If the church ever comes to realize God has empowered us to break down every stronghold Satan has installed in this world, we can do his cause so much damage it would take him centuries to rebuild it. But as long as we remain ignorant of his devices and remain in a state of distraction, we make his work easy for him.
God, in the beginning gave man good health, plenty of wealth, and a sound mind. [3 John 2] And it is still His desire for man to have such things. He went to a lot of trouble to give the life of His only Begotten Son so we could have these things in our life, and even had His desire recorded in His Word so we would know where to look, and what to believe - so we could get more if we ran low on these things. But the distracted man does not hear wisdom calling to him over the television, Internet, radio, etc, and so when sickness comes he runs to the doctor and buys pills because that is where his faith is at, and when he runs low of money he runs to the bank to borrow more and pays them for the privilege of going into debt, and when he becomes confused he runs to the counselor and buys advice; not understanding that these natural businesses are not designed to bless a person or to cure a persons Ill's; they are designed to take away their blessings without providing a permanent solution to their problems. The world has no permanent answers to our problems, but that is where distracted people have been taught to go. God has answers, and He provides a cure free of charge. The only things He asks of us in return for His help is for us to be faithful to Him - nothing more. I know God must be awfully disappointed when He looks at His children giving away what He has blessed them with to worldly people who hold a worldly degree from a worldly university, but have no answers for our problems. God's children have made the people of this world rich. They enjoy our blessings and live in mansions upon the hill top and around the lake shores, while God's children reside on the outskirts of town living from hand to mouth on borrowed bread. OTBP HE WHO HAS PITY ON THE POOR LENDS TO THE LORD.[Provers 19:17] "He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord. And He will pay back what he has given." Most people in the church don't have a clue this scripture is in the bible. If they understood this scripture they would be more free with their money. But man thinks because we worked for the money we have, it all belongs to us. Fact is; nothing on this earth belongs to us. [Psalms 24:1] "The earth is the Lord's, and all its fulness. The world and those who dwell therein." Everything that has come into our possession came as a result of God blessing us. But, because we are a selfish people, we do not seek to understand where our blessings come from. We just assume they came from the person who gave us a job. When in reality the money we earned came to our employer from someone else, who got it from someone else, who got it from someone else, and the cycle continued until many people had passed the money along until it came into our hands. And if we take a portion of what we have earned and share it with someone who has nothing without expecting anything in return; the above scripture tells us, we have lent that money to the Lord, and He will pay back what we gave. But because man is selfish he does not understand that everything the Lord put on this earth is to be passed around and passed around until every living person has had a chance to partake of it. Neither does he understand that when someone holds back more than their fair share of the blessing, someone else is being cheated out of what God intended to give them.
God expects people to be givers, not takers. And it is a shame that He has had to command His children to pay tithes and give offerings to help the poor, but that is what He has had to do. We normally do not think in these terms, but the only way some people have of receiving anything in this world is if someone gives it to them. We do not realize that God is just as concerned about the heathen and the person that has nothing, as He is with the person He has saved and blessed. That is why He commanded us to be givers. When we do not give, the poor person God wants to bless won't receive what the Lord wanted to give him; and someone is going to be held accountable for not doing as they have been instructed. When people who have will not share with the those who have nothing, this upsets God and He calls that greed. Greedy people are cheats, murderers and robbers by nature because they think of no one but themselves and the needs of other people never enters their minds. By mans law it is okay to be greedy, but God's laws states ten percent of everything He gives us belongs to Him to meet the needs of those who don't have enough. God's ten percent is to be given to the local church to meet the needs of the church and God's people around the world. When God's needs are not met, there only remains judgment. And when Judgment Day comes; and it will for every human being that has ever graced the face of this earth, every person will be judged by God's law, and not mans law. Offenders will be severely penalized and the faithful will be rewarded.
Let me give an example of how God looks at the actions of man and what the results are when we don't follow God's Laws. What I am about to illustrate man calls tough luck; but God calls it something else. Let's say, I don't have even a morsel of bread in my house, and God has told another person to give me bread that I might live; and he does not do as instructed. If I die as a result of hunger; "Do you think God would hold that person accountable for my death?" The truth is He murdered me just as surely as if he had put a gun to my head and pulled the trigger. God does not ask us to do things we are not capable of doing. But when He asks us to do something that is within our power and we chose not to do it because we considered what we possess to be of more importance than the other persons need; God frowns on this attitude.
By the grace of God we are what we are in this life. But when we exceed God's grace we get into trouble, and when we allow ourselves to get into a difficult situation because of our excessiveness, the lives of other people are adversely affected. How? You might ask. If I get into debt and am struggling to pay my bills, I have exceeded the money I have been blessed with, and as a result of my greed for more; someone who is dependent upon my giving is not going to receive their blessing. I cannot give what I do not have, therefore my excessiveness has created a problem for me that I am going to have to overcome, and while I am busy overcoming my situation, someone else's problem is being prolonged. God's plan is for each of us to stay within the limitation of His grace for our life, and when we do we are in a position to alleviate the problems of another person so they can become a blessing. When God blesses us it is because He has other people in mind that need to be a recipient of part of our blessing, and vice versa. When other people get blessed, we, too, will be a recipient of a portion of that blessing if everyone follows God's plan.
It is sad that we do not hear these types of messages in our church because the speakers fear they will offend their congregations if they tell it the way God sees it. People need to know that when they don't tithe or give offerings, they are thieves and robbers who are robbing God and stealing from the people God wanted to help with the money they were supposed to give. If that person that was in need should die because another person didn't give their tithes as they should, the person that didn't give has the dead person's blood on their hands. This is a hard and strong teaching, but the truth is always hard to take and people don't want to hear it. But, be that as it may, God is anything but compassionate with thieves and murderers who do not repent of their crimes. Jesus tells us in [John 10:10] "The thief, (Satan) comes to steal, kill and to destroy, but I have have come that you may have life, and life more abundantly." And in [Malachi 3:8-12] we are given God's perspective on the giving of tithes and offerings, "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me! But you say, in what way have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and try me now in this, says the Lord of hosts. If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field, says the Lord of hosts. And all nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land, says the Lord of hosts." The point of this lesson is that people who give to the Lord will be repaid by the Lord, but those who don't do as instructed will be judged by the same Lord. Malachi tells us what God will do when we are faithful to follow His prescription for helping others, but, he also tells us the person who doesn't obey; lives under a curse, and in the end he will judged as a thief. OTBP May 22 THE FIG TREEFrom the first reading of this chapter one would have to start asking questions. For instance, "Why would Jesus curse the fig tree?" And, "Why did Jesus go to the fig tree expecting to find figs on it if it wasn't the season for figs?" Since I am a curious person and when I see a story that doesn't appear to make sense, I start asking questions. Howbeit, through my study of the scriptures I have come to understand that everything Jesus did in the natural realm during His three years of ministry on earth, He used to teach a life lesson through which His disciples were expected to learn a spiritual principle; and if they didn't understand something, they were to ask questions. There were times He demonstrated the same lesson more than once, for example the feeding the four thousand and the five thousand men, not counting women and children; and the two different sea crossings. Both of these stories are found in the Gospel of John. Since there were spiritual principles involved in these demonstrations that was so important for the disciples to understand; Jesus demonstrated them until His disciples got the understanding He wanted them to obtain. When we understand Jesus never did anything without a reason, and when we search for the reason, we will find the truth behind His reason for a particular teaching. Jesus was dealing with natural man; so He used natural things that were familiar to His disciples to teach them a spiritual principle that would help them through their most trying of times after He was gone from the earth.
The lack of food in the story of the feeding of the five and four thousand, the storm at sea, and the barren fig tree all represent difficulties the Christian will have to learn to overcome in this life to live in victory. Now let's go the story of the fig tree in [John 11:12-14] "Now the next day, when they had come from Bethany, He (Jesus) was hungry. And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He could find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again." and His disciples heard it... Now let us skip down to [John 11:20-26] and read the conclusion to this story, "Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered away." So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God, "For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive them; that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven, forgive your trespasses."
Jesus informs us in [John 16:33b], "In this world you shall have tribulation, (unexpected problems that will arise) but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Or, in other words, I have left you with the answer. As surely as God made little green apples, we will have problems in this life, and if Jesus had left us hanging without providing an answer for them, we would have no hope and be forced to live defeated lives. But in the above scriptures we see that Jesus begins His teaching by telling us first and foremost; We begin solving our problems by "Having faith in God," and we get the victory over them by maintaining our 'Faith in God'. If we do not have 'Faith in God', there can be no victory for man. Paul tells us why in [Ephesians 6:10-14a] "Finally, my brethren, (my fellow Christian's) be strong in the Lord (full of Faith in God) and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles (evil desires) of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts (forces) of wickedness in the heavenly places. (the spiritual realm) therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, (this present time) and having done all to stand. Stand therefore..." (My parenthesis.) In these verses of scripture Paul is telling us someone is behind the problems we encounter in life, and if we are to defeat those problems; we will have to understand where our problems originate, and we will have to deal with the source of the problem.
Next we see that for us to defeat our problems we begin by speaking words to the problem. Jesus spoke to the wind and the waves to calm the sea and the fear of His disciples in the sea crossings. And after He received the bread and fish, He gave thanks to God, blessed them, (spoke to the bread and fish) broke them, and then distributed them to His disciples to be redistributed to the hungry people. Notice Jesus told His disciples in the story above that after they spoke to the problem, they were not to, "doubt in their heart, but believe that those things they said would be done, they would have whatever they say." This confidence comes from knowing that God is always for us, and that He hears all of our prayers. If we do not understand (fully believe) these two things, doubt will creep into our hearts and minds and we will not win over our problems. Jesus continues, "believe that you receive them, and you will have them." Now Jesus continues with perhaps the most important part of gaining the victory over our problems. "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive them; that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses." Here is the key element in gaining victory over our problems. We have to forgive if we have anything against anyone. Jesus made it very clear that we will not receive victory over our problems if we cannot forgive our neighbors of their sins against us with His last statement in the lesson. "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven, forgive your trespasses." Here is another tidbit of information: "Faith (Having Faith in God) works by love." And "Love operates through forgiveness." If we do not forgive a person of their sins against us, we do not love them, and the unforgiveness in our heart (spirit) will turn to bitterness and steal from us not only our victory, but our joy as well.
Next let us take a look at the fig tree and why Jesus cursed it. Very simply, the fig tree was not fulfilling its role in creation - which was to bear figs. Everything in God's kingdom was created to fulfill a specific role in life, and if a person is not fulfilling the role we were created to fulfill, we become like the barren fig tree that was robbing nutrients in the soil from other fruit producing trees. The non fig bearing tree was a taker, a user, stealing life supporting nutrients from the other trees, thus the amount of fruit the bearing fig trees should be producing would be reduced. Therefore in all actuality, because the barren fig tree was not doing its job of producing figs, it was good for nothing; and the owner should have removed it and replaced it with a producing fig tree. To other people this barren fig tree might not have been a problem, but in the Kingdom of God which Jesus brought to earth, it was not fulfilling what it was created to do. This story also helps us to understand why Jesus stressed in [John 4:35b-36] "Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white (ripe) for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gather fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together." The Christian's purpose is to sow and to reap that they might receive wages. When we do no fulfill our role in God's kingdom of sowing and reaping souls; do we really think God will be anymore pleased with us than He was with the barren fig tree? Our eternal future is hanging on our belief.
Next the barren fig tree represented something in the life of a Christian that is not producing as it should. It could be your business, your income, whatever it might be, it represents a problem that needs to be dealt with. Notice what Jesus did: He spoke to the tree, and went on His way. He didn't hang around to see if what He said to the tree was going to work. And He didn't run back to the tree an hour or so later to see if the tree was dying. But while He was away doing other things, the words He had spoken to the tree was working on the tree. Since the barren fig tree represents our problems which come in two parts; the part we can see, and the part we can't see that is feeding the problem. Notice the roots of a tree is the part of the tree that is hidden from sight and from which the tree above ground draws its sustenance; the words Jesus spoke began working on the root system that couldn't be seen, and continued working its way up to the upper most leaves at the very top of the tree. When we attack our problems the way the words of Jesus attacked this tree, we will see a significant difference in the results we have been getting. Remember Paul told us in Ephesians chapter six that someone is behind our problems, and that someone isn't God, but it is spiritual and is the source that feeds the part we can see. Satan is the author of our problems, and it is with Satan (the root) that we must begin. Since Satan is an angel spirit, and God's Word is Spirit, we have to use God's Word to defeat Satan. (if we want to remove the one behind the problem) We cannot defeat Satan with our flesh. He has to be dealt with on a spiritual basis. That is why Jesus spoke to the barren fig tree and cursed it in front of His disciples. They had to learn the power of words and see the effectiveness of our words on our problems. [Proverbs 18:21] "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit." Upon their return and Peter noticing the dead fig tree; Jesus then explained to them how His Words had killed the tree, and how they would deal with their own problems after He was gone. OTBP May 21 I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.I once heard a man preach a sermon on the Christian walk being a lot like climbing a mountain. The farther along the trail we go, the steeper and rougher the terrain becomes. After reading John chapter fourteen and thinking about this mans statements; I got a picture in my mind of God sitting above a high mountain speaking to the multitudes of people standing around the base of the mountain looking for a way to the top. And I heard the Lord saying to them, "There is only one path that leads up to the mountain top and there is a guide at the beginning of the trail to assist you on your journey through the rugged terrain. If you will follow the directions of the guide, you can reach the top safely; but, if you do not follow my instructions and attempt to reach the top some other way, failure awaits you." I also saw many other people around the base of the big mountain yelling back and forth to one another, "I see a way that leads to the top. "Come follow me, and I will show you the way" - completely ignoring the advice of the One who sat above the mountain. I also saw only a few of the people around the base of the mountain listening to His instructions and go in search of the right path. Even though there was what seemed like a multitude of people who found the entrance to the narrow trail; many of them gave up after only a short while. They complained to one another that the terrain was too steep and rugged and the climb too strenuous. They became feint of heart, returned to the base of the mountain and told others, "The way to the mountain top is just too hard, and too dangerous to climb." Thus, many others who had not yet begin their ascent heard their discouraging words, turned away, and went to look for an another way to the top.
Many people who call themselves Christian do not understand that God is above all, sees all, and is in the position to direct our steps up the steep trail of the mountain before us. He never promised it would be easy. In fact, Jesus told us in [John 16:33b] "In this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (Or made a path for you to follow.) The way is certainly hard, rugged, and dangerous, but He has not only provided a way to heaven, He has also provided the Holy Spirit to act as our guide to keep us on the right path all the way to the Pearly Gates. God has promised us the Holy Spirit will never leave us nor forsake us during our journey. [Hebrews 13:5] He will be there with us every step of the way. Not only will He assist us, He will encourage us to continue our journey. We may even experience times when He has to literally pick us up and carry us part of the way, but if we do not give up; the Holy Spirit will see to it that we make the trip with the least amount of difficulty as possible. We have God's Word on it.
Thomas said to Jesus in [John 14:5] "You are going (away), and how can we (the disciples) know the way (to eternal life)?" To which Jesus responded, [John 14:6-7] "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." These statements coupled with a teaching He had given to His disciples a short time before. [John 6:51] "I am the Living Bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." And in [John 6:54] "Whoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." Jesus hinted very strongly in this first teaching that to get to heaven people would have to realize He was the way there. If they wanted eternal life they would have to understand that He was the Living Bread (the Word of God) which came down from heaven; and that the earthly body He was in (Jesus) would have to die and His blood be spilled; and in turn, His pure (untainted by sin) blood would then cleanse them of all their sins.
When the time came for the fulfillment of this teaching, Thomas was the only one bold enough to ask Him, "Where He was going?" In response to Thomas, Jesus said, clarifying once and for all - for all people, "I am THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE." NO ONE comes to the Father except through me." He could say this because He is the WORD OF GOD that took on an earthly body that God the Father named Jesus, the flesh and bone body that would be sacrificed for the sins of the whole world, raised from the dead, once again take up (reside in) His earthly body with the nail holes in its hands and feet, and the spear wound in its side, establish a church following, ascend to heaven, and promise to return for His followers on a given date, rid the world of all sin, make a new heavens and a new earth that would be sin free and fit for the habitation of the children of God, and who would rule and reign with the KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS forever and ever.
No other person who has ever lived promised their followers they were going away to prepare a place for them, and when that place was completed they would return for them and take them to be where they are. None of the deceivers has been raised from the dead. Their dead bodies are still in the grave awaiting judgment; and all they left behind was their ideas on how to live a life good enough to qualify them for heaven. For the followers of Christ, our God is alive. He isn't some statue, or beast, or bird, rat, or any other thing. He is above all, but yet He can live in our very being and make His home among men. He isn't angry at us, and we don't have to sacrifice animals, or our children to apease His anger. He has made it as simple as possible for a person to find Him, but we have to do it His way. He gave His life that we might live. How much easier could it be than accepting the finished work He did in our behalf. We cannot work our way into heaven, God tells us in [Ephesians 2:4-10] "But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you have been saved), and raised up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." What this is telling us is that all we have to do is repent, turn away from our wickedness, ask His forgiveness and follow after Him. We call Him daddy; not out of disrespect, but out of a loving heart that is fully attached to His heart.
My dad was the mayor of the small town I grew up in. I didn't call him mayor because I knew him intimately and personally. Those who didn't know him as well or wanted to do business with him, called him Mr. Mayor. Of a truth, that was his title, and out of respect for the office he held, they called him Mr. Mayor, but to me and the rest of my brothers and sisters, he was dad. God is worthy of the office He holds, and He demands respect for His office, and to all those that don't know Him as anything other than The Almighty, address Him as God, but to those who are born again into His family know that He is indeed God, the Creator of all, but to us He is daddy. Like most heads of households, He holds a dual office as God Almighty, and as Father of a multitude of children who adore Him. This is the way it should be in every household. The husband is the provider and deserves to be respected for that position, but the provider is also a father who loves his children. So he also holds a dual role in life - that of provider and that of father to his children. Is one role more important than the other. To some people it is, especially to those who only know him professionally, but to his children the roles are equal in that they respect him for what he does for the family, but they also enjoy his love, fellowship, and guidance. OTBP May 17 MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE[Luke 4:1-4] Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit (of God) into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread." But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."
Shortly after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for forty days in preparation for the ministry He had to fulfill on earth. The scriptures do not tell us what Jesus had been tempted with during the forty days, it just tells us He was tempted by the devil. However, at the end of the forty days of temptation during which time Jesus had eaten nothing, the bible tells us He was hungry, and it was at this point that the devil began tempting Him. It would suffice us to say that this was His weakest moment. We know this to be true because He had just went forty days without food, therefore his physical body was weak from hunger, and shortly after His temptation ended the angels of God came and ministered to Him. In other words they fed Him and strengthened His physical body to make the return trip home. Friends, as you well know, the devil does not come and tempt us when we are at our strongest. He waits until we are weak and vulnerable to attack and then he tempts us in that weak area. However, Jesus shows us how we are to deal with the devil during His temptations.
Let me depart from my message for just a second and let me digress on who Jesus is so that we might understand that Jesus and the Word of God are the same person. [John 1:1-4 & 14] Now let us understand that Jesus was the perfectly sinless human body that The Word of God took up residence in so that God the Father could show the nation of Israel that He was among them and loved them. This was demonstrated to the Israelites through the Works Jesus did among them for three years. Let us also understand that Jesus, the human body of the Word of God, was the sacrificial Lamb of God that would bear the sins of the people outside the gates of Jerusalem, just as under the Old Testament Law, the scapegoat that had the sins of Israel laid on him was released into the wilderness to die or be killed by some wild animal while the perfect sacrificial lamb was slain on the Altar as a sacrifice unto the Great God Jehovah. After the anointing of God (the Holy Spirit) left the Word of God when Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" the Word of God was cast into hell because the sins of the whole world was laid upon Him because of our sins. At the appointed time when the punishment for our sins had been paid for in full, the anointing or the Holy Spirit of God once again came upon the Word of God in the pits of hell, giving it LIFE, and it arose, defeated the devil and all the demons of Satan before the inhabitants of hell, released the spirits of those men who believed His preaching in hell and who had preceded Him in death, returned to the grave of Jesus, took upon Himself the physical body of Jesus as evidence that He had lived among them in this world, walked the streets of Jerusalem, instituted a church, ascended into heaven, sat down at the right hand of the Father, and sent the Holy Spirit to indwell and empower men to do the works Christ Jesus did upon the earth.
Dear brothers and sisters; the very words of the bible we read and ingest is God, and He still lives among us. He lives in those of us who live in Him, [John 15:7] the Word of God is alive and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, [Heb 4:12a] and He is still performing miracles today. He has never stopped performing miracles, and He will not stop doing so until the last person that will be saved is saved. He will return for His followers on an appointed day, His name will be "THE WORD OF GOD", and upon His thigh and His vesture will be written, "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" [Revelation 19:11-16] and He will defeat for the last time all the forces of evil forever ridding God's creation of any presence of it, make all things new, and we will live in the presence of Almighty God, His Word, and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
The devil said to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread." The devil knew the Son of God who is the Word of God indwelt the physical body of Jesus. [John 1:1-4 & 14] Just because the Word of God who is God was living inside a physical body, He was not hidden from the devil who is also a spirit. Satan tempted the Word of God by feigning an attack on His physical body God had named Jesus. Without a doubt we know Jesus, the physical body of the Word of God was hungry because He had just gone forty days without food. Satan knowing full well that the physical body of Jesus was in a weakened condition tempted the Word of God to overpower the will of Jesus by turning the stones to bread circumventing the will of Jesus who had to rebuke Satan and put an end to the temptations thus releasing the Word of God to then work in His behalf. Jesus had to overcome Satan's temptations just like we do. If the Word of God who is God that indwelt Jesus had of done the work; the devil would have had grounds to accuse God of wrong doing and abusing His power. Everything in God's creation works according to laws - God's Laws. Since God is just and fair and abides by His Laws, He could do nothing to assist Jesus in this situation except encourage Him. Adam broke God's law and gave away his right of ownership to the earth to Satan in the Garden of Eden, thus making Satan the rightful owner of the earth and the god of man. If God was to reclaim it for lost man, a man would have to fulfill God's Laws and regain it legally. Thus, Jesus had to defeat Satan, not the anointed Spirit of the Word of God that lived in Him. Man gave away his authority over the earth and submitted himself to an angel, and a man had to regain that lost authority, break the sovereignty of the devil over the life of man, and give back to man everything God had given him on the day he was created. If the Word of God in Jesus had of turned the stones to bread to feed His human body, He would have been just as guilty as the devil was when he deceived Adam's flesh into relinquishing his control over the earth. The fleshly part of Adam lost his dominion over God's property and died as a result of it, and the perfectly sinless flesh of the man God had taken upon Himself and named Jesus would have to die to reclaim it. Praise God.
Dear God, help us to understand; "You do not fight our fleshly battles. You have given mankind the privilege of overcoming those fleshly desires just as Jesus had to deal with His hunger." Friends, if I have a fleshly desire, it is my responsibility to overcome that fleshly desire. If I have a spiritual problem, God will assist me, or empower me to deal with the spiritual problem. I deal with the fleshly realm, and God deals with the spiritual realm. My faith in the Word of God will overcome both the flesh and the spirit. My part in this relationship with God is to exercise my faith, and God's part is to fulfill His Word. I can't fulfill God's Word, and He can't exercise my faith. It takes both of us working together in harmony to win my battles. If the Son of God inside the fleshly body of Jesus would have overpowered the will of Jesus, the Word of God would have overstepped His boundary, committed a sin, and we would still be under the authority of the devil. But that didn't happen and we are free to serve the Lord with our whole spirit, soul, and physical body. Thank You, Jesus.
Now there are other points in this scripture we need to examine concerning the answer Jesus gave to Satan. (1) "Man shall not live by bread alone, (2) but by every word of God." Jesus is telling us that food is for the body, but the Word of God is for the spirit and soul of man. Man is a three part being, and each part needs to be fed. We are spirit and soul, (first and foremost) that lives in a body. God the Father possesses a body, His Word indwells the physical body of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit lives in man, so, He, too, has a body. Jesus tells us food is important to the human body because it fuels the flesh and keeps it strong, but the spirit and soul within man requires spiritual food that is provided only by the Word of God. Thus making the Word of God the more important of the two food groups. Man, because he lives in physical or natural world, in his zest to fulfill the needs of his physical body falls for the temptation the devil first presented to Adam in the Garden of Eden, and later to Jesus in this story. In man's zeal to satisfy the desires of the flesh, he spends most of his time gathering food and other associated things we deem important to our physical life, while neglecting the most important thing of studying the Word of God. Jesus clearly tells us food is important, and we know it takes time to plant, harvest and to prepare the food for the stomach, but it is soon dispatched out into the draught. The Word of God on the other hand is essential for spiritual growth and receiving eternal life. Jesus said (to His disciples), "What profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or, what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" [Matthew 16:26] In other words nothing in this world profits a man's soul except the Word of God. That is why it is so important for us to understand that to live by every Word of God requires time just as it does to plant, harvest and prepare food for the table. We cannot neglect our body or it will become diseased and die, and we cannot neglect our spirit and soul. However, our first priority should always be on meeting the needs of our spirit and soul rather than our physical body which is destined to die. If we do not invest our time in the Word of God; and we lose both our body and soul to hell, we have lost everything. But, if we understand that life is built upon knowing the Word of God, we not only will save our soul from hell, but our body will be resurrected unto everlasting life. Praise God. OTBP May 15 THIS IS MY BELOVED SON[Matthew 17:5b-7] "This is my beloved Son, (Jesus, The Word of God) in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid."
God the Father personally invaded the space of the disciples Peter, James and John in this story and makes a declaration to them concerning Jesus. "This is my beloved Son, (Jesus, The Word of God) in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" He points out to the disciples that, Jesus, who is the Word of God in the flesh, (John 1:1-4 & 14) is the Beloved Son of God, and that He is well pleased with Him and all that He has done, and will do. Jesus is the only One present that God the Father, says, He is well pleased with. This identification of who Jesus is by God the Father makes a clear distinction between that which is God, and that which is made in His image. Jesus who is the 'Incarnate Word of God' is fully God, and fully man, while Moses and Elijah are fully men, who are made in the image of God. But in the eyes of the disciples, Moses and Elijah who appeared on the mountain to talk to Jesus are held in high esteem as so declared by the statement Peter made to Jesus that led God to intervene in this event. After Moses and Elijah appeared in shining array to talk with Jesus, Peter said to Him (Jesus), "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, let us make here three tabernacles: (three places of worship) one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." But God quickly intervened and pointed out to them, that Jesus, the Incarnate Word of God, is God, and the One they are to worship, listen to, hear, and follow, because He alone has the words of Eternal Life.
Let us also note as soon as God spoke to the disciples in this story, they fell on their faces and became very afraid. To me, this description of the reactions of the disciples is an example of how we as Christians are to respond to the Word of God today when it is revealed unto us by the Holy Spirit. The disciples by falling on their faces before the voice that spoke to them shows us the reverence they had toward the One speaking to them. The fact that they were afraid when they heard the voice from heaven shows the respect they had for the power of the Word they heard. We, today, do not have that same reverence for the revelation we receive from the Holy Spirit who is just as much God, as the Father is who revealed unto the disciples who Jesus was in this story. When we come to the point in our relationship with Him that our reverence for the things of God equals that of the disciples who followed Jesus in that day and time, we will become the church God intended for us to become when He brought it into existence on the day Jesus ascended into heaven.
Another note of interest is that people today are still just as confused as to who Jesus is as was His disciples on this day. To get a full understanding of what all has taken place in this story, begin reading in verse one and continue through to verse seven. Besides Jesus, there were two other shining people who appeared on the mountain top. Because each of them were shiny, Peter thought they were all worthy of having a tabernacle (a place of worship) built for them. We still see this lack of knowledge of the Holy in operation today. Men build temples to every shiny character that appears to them. They think because a shiny thing appears to them that shiny thing or person is worthy of their worship. Do not be deceived! Take notice; in these scriptures God the Father, quickly points out to Peter, James and John, that there is only One Person He is fully pleased with; and that person is Christ Jesus, the Anointed Word of God, who came to earth, took on a fleshly body named Jesus, sacrificed His life for our sins, arose from the dead, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father to rule and reign with Him over all of creation forever and ever. He alone is worthy of our worship. No angel, no man, not anyone else in creation, shiny or not, is worthy of this honor, but God alone.
Dear brothers and sisters, it has never entered into the mind of natural man the value God has placed on our life. There is not enough money in all of the universe to buy the soul of even one person. That is how valuable we are to God. Because we cannot see how valued we are by God, we fail to understand that God loves us more than He loved His own life. Because we cannot see these eternal qualities of God, man belittles man and makes himself of no value in the eyes of other men. This is why God Himself personally delivered His salvation message to man in the manner He did. If we can believe He loved us enough to forgive us of our sins and save us from the eternal punishment that was to come, we can believe He saved us to manifest Himself in us so that we might understand how valuable we are to Him, and that we might relay that message to other men that they too might be saved.
If we can understand this simple precept; that God Himself lived inside the fleshly body of Jesus, and this event that unfolded on the world's stage was so important to Him that He personally delivered the Good News to man. He did not entrust His salvation message to angels, nor man because of the significance of the event. God delivered the message, suffered the rejection, and paid our penalty. No angel was worthy, no man was worthy, only God Himself could complete such a task. And that is why He pointed out to Peter, James and John the error of their thinking. Let us understand why this is so important. We are natural men born into a natural world and most of us only understand things that happen in the natural. If we can understand how man deals with some situations we can understand how God deals with other situations. For example, when our government deems something to be of the utmost importance to the welfare of our nation that could affect the well being of it citizenry, the President of the United States does not entrust his message to an emissary, an ambassador, or a statesman; he personally delivers the message to the intended hearer. He doesn't make a phone call, and he doesn't send an email. He climbs aboard Air Force One and goes personally. That way there is no room for misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the news he bears.
It was so important to God that the people of Israel saw Him, and witnessed His works, and that they had an opportunity to personally accept or reject His message, that He did not entrust His message to a subordinate. This is why a popular religion in our country is treading on dangerous ground. They have believed a message they call a new gospel that they themselves admit was delivered by an angel. No angel could purchase the redemption of man because they are not on the same level as man and God, therefore God did not then, and does not now empower angels to deliver information of this magnitude to His children, and especially when that message not only has to be preached, but demonstrated through the shedding of His own blood to make atonement for the sins of man. When God completed His work on Calvary and in hell, there was no need for another gospel to be delivered. The demonstration of the gospel God preached was more than enough to atone for the sins of man. When Jesus said, "It is finished." It was finished forever, and no one or no thing would ever again have to suffer as God did on that day, and the three days following. When God concluded His work, it was completed forever. Now all man has to do is believe it, accept it, and live it, to join Him in eternity forever enjoying their rightful inheritance as children of the Most High God. OTBP
May 14 BE ANXIOUS FOR NOTHINGFor the past fifty years the world has been suffering a pandemic outbreak of epic proportion called "Instantitis"; and because it came into the world so silently the world hasn't realized the seriousness or the deadliness of the outbreak despite the broken lives and homes it has left behind. The symptoms of this dreaded disease is "I want it, and I want it now!" Those people that are infected with this deadly disease do not understand that its effects are deadlier than cancer, heart disease, and strokes combined, and ruins the lives of more people and tears apart more families each day than all the other diseases kill in a year or even a hundred years. Each person that is infected with "Instantitis" came into contact with this deadly disease the same way. They all looked upon their neighbors property and desired to have the same whether they could afford it or not. When the infected carrier shouted to the unsuspecting, "Buy today, pay tomorrow" the outbreak began to spread. Today with the invention of the radio, television, newspaper, magazines, computer and Internet, the gospel of this dreaded disease is being beamed or sent into the home of every family in the majority of the world. The financial institutions of the world soon realized the infected person would go to great lengths to satisfy the cravings of this disease and began to propagate that they had the answer to this disease, but instead of providing a cure they became the infected ones feeding the deadly symptoms that ruin so many lives each day.
I know it is hard to believe, but this dreaded disease began in the country God blessed some two hundred and thirty-two years ago and has been spreading around the world at the speed of travel ever since, and it grows in intensity with each passing day until half of the world is now infected with it. We see the effects of this disease in our schools where calculators have replaced long hand, the Internet has replaced the library, and plastic has almost replaced the paper money we once held so dearly, the drive up window has replace in house service, texting has replaced the once personal phone call, email has replaced snail mail, and the electric light has replaced candle light. Not only are people infected with this deadly disease, but governments are infected with it as well. Our own government advocates to the business man if you overspend, just raise your prices and we will raise the taxes to cover the extra expense. Every life has been affected by "Instantitis" in some form or the other if that life has come into contact with the world in which we live.
Now let's look at what this dreaded disease has done to our once calm life. Our "Instantitis" infection began when fast food restaurants came into being about fifty years or so ago and began offering drive up window service. The drive up window went over so well with the people they are now a big hit around the world simply because infected people don't believe they have time to fix a meal at home. To shorten our waiting period, fast food establishments have added drive up windows so a person can drive into their lot, speak into a microphone installed in an outdoor weatherproof menu board, place their order, drive around the building to a drive up window, pay the cashier, and pick up their order all from the comfort of their car. As a result of the popularity of the drive up window many other types of businesses have now adapted the concept ranging from dry cleaners to pharmacies and every kind of business in between. But the one business that have began installing drive up windows that in my opinion puts the cherry on the icing of the cake are funeral homes that have the body of the deceased on display in a drive by window and the guests drive by, take a look, sign the guest book, and go on their busy way. Now that is taking personal service to a whole other level, don't you think? If we are so busy that we can't take a few minutes out of our busy day to stop in and pay our respects to the family of the deceased before we rush home and flop down in front of the television set to feed the cravings of our "Instantitis", what does that really say about us as a society?
I have also noticed some businesses have began installing a little digital timer on the check out register to tell the customer how long it took for the employee to take the customers order. A certain pizza business advertises they have a thirty minute guarantee that the pizza will be baked and at your door within thirty minutes from the time they take your call. Delivery services advertise next day delivery by 10:00 am in most parts of the world. Dry cleaners advertise one hour cleaning etc. We have become a society built upon the premise that "If it takes longer than a few minutes to get something done, your business is too slow." The sad thing about all of this is that people don't realize they are sacrificing quality for speed. And when quality is sacrificed, you are buying an inferior product or service that is put together cheaply while being charged a premium price for that inferior product or service. These types of services are based on speed to realize maximum profits for the owners. These businesses come into a community and take all they can from that community while paying reduced taxes, promising the world to the hometown folks, providing a few low paying jobs without benefits, all in the name of a greedy rich man who lives somewhere other than your city; and if the business doesn't make as much profit as the rich man likes, they move on to the next unsuspecting city to take all they can from that city while leaving behind unemployed workers to deal with the results of their false promises. Because our present generation is infected with 'Instantitis" they know nothing about commitment, quality of service, and product superiority. They are easy prey for the gimmicks of these businesses based on speed; and they have come to think this is the way everything in life operates. They have been taught "If you want it, you should be able to get it right now." This teaching is a false presumption on the part of the hearer because anything worth doing is worth putting the time and effort into it to turn out a superior product. The old timers pride in their work is what made this country strong and preserved it against every enemy that has exalted itself against it. But, today, people don't seem to realize that they are not only sacrificing their hard earned money for inferior products and services, they are teaching their children this is the best they can expect out of life, thereby setting a poor example for their children to follow.
As a result of our attitude of "I want it, and I want it now!" Our instant society has carried their cravings over into our relationship with our Lord. Unfortunately, for mankind, God doesn't operate on our fast paced schedule and He doesn't have drive up windows in His Houses of worship where the Christian can drive by, place an order, and get instant service. If we aren't satisfied with operating at His speed; there are no complaint boxes or 1-800 numbers available to register a complaint with the head office. If we want to receive from Him, we have to learn to do things His way. As a result of the instant society we live in when we do not receive an answer to our prayer within a couple of minute's, we figure God must have been busy doing something else and didn't hear us and therefore we can't expect an answer from Him. This comes from our being trained by the world that everything has to happen right now. God has a plan and a time table for our lives and that plan develops, or is carried out at His leisure, not ours. God also hears all of the prayers of the righteous and His rate of speed in answering those prayers is faster than the speed of light, but the believer has to follow His prescribed method for dealing with our problems. While the world is working at breakneck speed to speed our lives up even more, the Lord is trying to get us to slow down and enjoy life.
I know most people have realized that the busier our life gets, the more money it takes to live. I am amazed that people lived for centuries with the father providing for the family and the mother raising the children, I was raised with my father working, and my mother running the home. This arrangement worked out very well for us. They were married for over fifty years and raised nine children on one wage earners income. But the world today tells us a family cannot live off what one wage earner brings home. So both the father and the mother are out of the home working one and sometimes two jobs trying to keep up with the Jones' next door while the kids are left at home with the computer and television set where the kids insatiable desire for more is force fed into their minds, eyes, and ears, a continual infectious stream of the dreaded disease "Instantitis" while the baby sitter with an ipod growing out of one ear and a cell phone out of the other chats online to only God knows who.
God presents His side of life to us in [Philippians 4:6] where he tells us to, "Be anxious for nothing." This concept of being 'anxious for nothing' is completely contrary to the fast paced society in which we live. It is almost impossible for a person who is infected with "Instantitis" to slow down and enjoy life at the pace God sets for us. As a matter of fact most people believe it is impossible because they have so much to do before they go to bed at night. They do not realize that most of what they do really amounts to nothing but wasting time which is at a premium for the human being. How do we gauge whether the things we do throughout the day are really beneficial? Well, to begin with, we need to ask ourselves, "Why we do the things we do?" "What purpose do they serve, and do they add life to our life, or is it something that will require time to be looked after, stored and maintained." If the things we do and pursue falls into the last category of a thing that will have to be 'looked after' and maintained; some of our premium time has been stolen from us. Every moment we spend doing things that add nothing to our life is robbing time from our family. Family adds life to our life, and every moment we devote to something else, robs time from our family that can never be made up. If we do not use the things we pursue so hard in life at least several times a week and its purpose does not support our life, we don't need it. It's nothing more than a time thief and I don't care how much you paid for it. It is still a thief. I have noticed that people gather things to them because their neighbor has one of them, and the neighbor has them because it draws people's attention to them. Do we not realize, the more we have, the more we have to look after. And if the only reason we have them is for people to see them, we are being robbed from, and our family is being cheated out of time that could be better put to use spending it with them. The aforementioned things are all symptoms of the dreaded disease, "Instantitis" and the effect it has upon our life.
Because we live in a society that feeds on instant gratification we have come to believe the Lord we serve operates the same way. But, dear brothers and sisters, nothing could be further from the truth. God's desire is to remove the symptoms of "Instantitis" from our very being and replace it with patience that builds endurance and strength to fight the battles that are not won in a days time. Our warfare with Satan is an ongoing affair and will continue for as long as we are in this body. God's plan is for us to overcome the enemy of our soul, and that is impossible if we do not understand that the spiritual world that controls this world does not operate on our time table, but on theirs. Time means nothing to them and neither do the goods we possess. Peter tells us, "A day with the Lord is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day." So that should help us to understand that time has no meaning for them because there is no such thing as 'time' in the spiritual realm. There is only the present and everything is now. Sure there is a past and a future, but everything in that realm is taking place now. The end of time as we know it was known before the foundation of the world was laid, or time began, but we are dealing with the present, learning from the past, and planning for our future. And if we get caught up in the "Instantitis" craze that has laid siege to the world, we cannot be used by God who does not operate in that arena of life. God's solution to the disease of "Instantitis" is to, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus." (The Word of God) OTBP May 10 REJECTION AT NAZARETH[Luke 4:16-30] "So He (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day, and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." The He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." So all born witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, "Is this not Joseph's son?" He said to them, "You will surely say this proverb to me, 'Physician heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your country." Then he said, "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff. Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way."
In this story Jesus comes to His hometown of Nazareth, enters the synagogue and gives a teaching to his friends and neighbors telling them of His ministry and what would happen to Him at the end of His earthly ministry. As He tells them what is going to take place, we see His Words being fulfilled in their actions. Let us understand at this point that every action Jesus made and every word He spoke had significant meaning for the modern day believer. And when the believer understands that everything thing He said and everything He did when He was on the earth had a spiritual singificance, then we will begin to understand the scriptures. When Jesus was on the earth He was dealing with natural man; so the things He did at the time had to be done in such a way natural man could understand them. The Holy Spirit or the ministry of the Holy Spirit had not yet come to earth to take up residence inside man, so Jesus acted out and spoke words that natural man could understand of which the Holy Spirit would later reveal the spiritual significance of that teaching to His disciples. The story of His rejection at Nazareth and their attempt to kill Him is a microcosm of His overall earthly ministry to Israel and His rejection and crucifixion by the nation of Israel at the end of His ministry.
You may be thinking,"Brother, I don't see all of that in this story." Well then, let's dig in and break down the different verses and we will find the relevance." In the first three verses Jesus describes His reason for coming to Israel and what God had sent Him to do while He was on the earth. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." The description Jesus is giving of His eartly ministry is being quoted from the book of Isaiah the prophet who had written these lines many centuries before Jesus arrived on earth. Jesus ended that part of His teaching with, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." At this point the hometown folks are fine with what He has had to say. They made the statement, "Is this not Joseph's son?" To me this sounds like the hometown folks were in awe of Him as the people of Israel were by the works He did among them at the beginning of His ministry. I don't think His friends and neighbors expected to hear the quality of the teaching they had just witnessed when He arose to speak to them. Much like we are when a local boy gets up to speak to the congregation in our own churches. We don't expect a whole lot from them, but we give them polite applause when they are finished whether they did good or bad.
Jesus begins to describe the reaction of the Israelites to His ministry by saying, "You will surely say this proverb to me, 'Physician heal yourself!" Let it be noted that this is precisely what the Jewish chief priest stood before His cross on the day He was crucified and said to Him, [Matthew 27:42a] "He saved others; Himself he cannot save. And Jesus continued with [Luke 4:23] "Whatever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your country." And the chief priest said to Him, [Matthew 27:42b] "If He is the King of Israel, let Him come down from the cross, and we will believe Him." With this next statement in [Luke 4:24] "Assuredly, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country." Jesus is describing for the people of Nazareth that His ministry would be rejected in Nazareth by His friends and neighbors just as all of God's prophets had been rejected by the Israelites.
But I (Jesus) tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." As a result of the kings of Israel rejecting the ministry of the prophets Elijah and Elisha no one in Israel was helped except for a widow in Zarephath, and a leper from Syria named Naaman. Let us note that Jesus used these two examples of the widow and the Syrian who were gentiles or unbelievers to foretell what would happen after His death. If you have read the Book of Acts which is also known as the Acts of the Apostles; you will soon learn that after Jesus was crucified, the Jews who rejected Christ also rejected His disciples by killing some, imprisoning others, and driving many of them out of Israel to the uttermost parts of the world where His gospel of Good News was more readily accepted. And just as the Israelites rejected all of God's prophets, God rejected and judged the nation of Israel in AD 70 because they rejected His Christ and His disciples. The Apostles left Israel and went to the gentile nations (the widow and the Syrian) with the news of the finished work of Christ, and all of them died in foreign lands in the service of their Lord.
The next line says His friends and neighbors in Nazareth were "Filled with wrath, rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down the cliff." The earlier words Jesus spoke that had been received with joy soon turned to anger and thoughts of murder. The people who should have been the most open to the Words of one of their own, were the most closed to the words they heard. The nation of Israel whose Messiah came to them in person to deliver them from the powers of darkness, rejected, took Him outside the city of Jerusalem, the city of peace, and crucified Him on Calvary's Hill. They killed the Lord of Glory who had come to save them. The hatred and the murderous thoughts and actions of the Israelite people are clearly seen in the actions of the friends and neighbors of Jesus who led Him out of the city to the brow of the cliff with intentions of killing Him.
And lastly, "Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way." How exactly Jesus did this I do not know, but I do know that He had complete control over all spiritual powers operating on the earth. So I am assuming He used His authority to bind the murderous spirits that wanted to cast Him off the cliff. However, I do understand that, "Then passing through the midst of them, He went His way." is the same as after He was risen from the dead and the Holy Spirit had come to live in man, that His teachings were preached throughout the land of Israel (passed through the midst of them) and on into the utter most parts of the world. (went His way.) And the gospel that was being preached at that time is still (on its way) being preached around the world even as I write these notes. OTBP
May 08 I KNOW WHO YOU ARE-THE HOLY ONE OF GOD![Mark 1:21-28] "Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He (Jesus) entered the synagogue and taught. And they (the attendees) were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean (evil) spirit. And he (the unclean evil spirit) cried out, (through the mouth of the man) saying, "Let us alone! What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!" But Jesus rebuked him, (the unclean evil spirit) saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. Then they (the attendees) were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean (evil) spirits, and they obey Him." And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee."
Jesus entered the synagogue in Capernaum and taught the people. Their conclusion was that when He finished His teaching that it was with authority (anointed) that He taught them, and not as the scribes. Which tells us there is a difference between anointed preaching and religious teaching. Jesus taught them the Word of God and the scribes taught Jewish tradition as God's Law. We see this taking place in a lot of churches in America today and that is why they are drying up and dying off. Then the story tells us there was a man in their presence who was possessed with an evil spirit. This sentence tells us three things about evil spirits: One, evil spirits or demons are in churches. They can't be in churches unless they go to church, and in many cases they have gained control of the churches they attend; two, they can and do live inside some people; and three, the actions of the possessed person takes on the characteristics and attributes of the demon in them.
The next thing the story tells us is that evil spirits or demons can speak through the mouth of the people they indwell. This evil spirit said to Jesus, "Let us alone! What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are-the Holy One of God!" The evil spirit recognized the Son of God as being the Spirit of God inside Jesus, "I know who you are-the Holy One of God!" The demon also knew they had already been judged and sentenced to destruction in the fires of hell and acknowledged this when the demon said, "Did you come to destroy us?" The spirit also said to Jesus, "Let us alone! What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? This demon knew who had the authority to do what, and it wasn't him. Had the demon not said anything to Jesus, Jesus would not have cast him out. But since the demon pointed out to everyone present that Jesus was the Holy One of God, Jesus told him to, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" It is not the responsibility of demons to reveal unto people who Jesus is. The revelation of Christ Jesus is the job of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, not demons.
Let us depart from this story for just a second that we might understand that everything in the spiritual realm responds to who has the authority to do what. Satan and his demons are at the very bottom of the power structure because they rebelled against God and God stripped them of any kingdom rights, declared them unfit for living in His kingdom, exiled them to this present space, and sentenced them to hell. The power structure in the kingdom of God is as follows: The ultimate Authority is God the Father, The Word of God, who is The Son of God that took upon itself an earthly body named Jesus, and The Holy Spirit, these three are in perfect harmony, next in line is man, then comes the angels of God who are the servants for God and man, and lastly is Satan and his horde of demons. Satan has no authority in God's kingdom, and can only operate through the ignorance of mankind. Once man understands who God is and that He is for man, Satan has to move on to people who lack understanding to get his evil accomplished in this earth. He can do nothing in this earth without the assistance of man. If man didn't help him, he wouldn't be able to do anything other than just hang around in the atmosphere surrounding earth. He has no authority on earth or over man since Jesus stripped him of this power when he took the keys of death, hell, and the grave from him when He (Christ Jesus) arose from the dead. At that time The Son of God transferred ownership of the earth back to man in whose hands it was originally before Adam gave the deed to it to Satan when he sinned in the Garden of Eden. Earth belongs to man. It is the home of man, and one day after God has done away with Satan forever, He is going to bring heaven down to earth and make His home with us.
Now back to the story; next, "when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him." What did the demon do? He threw the man down in the floor in the midst of the people, began kicking and screaming, throwing a tantrum before leaving the body of the man. Simply, the demon did not want to leave. He wanted to stay. Does this last statement sound familiar to you parents. Maybe we can now understand why we need to spank the little bottoms of our children when they throw a tantrum in the middle of a group of people embarrassing us because they want their way after they have been told to stop doing something. This demon didn't want to obey Jesus, he wanted to stay. He wanted his way. He didn't want to give up his human habitation. And parents, our children don't want to obey us all the time either. That's why they throw the tantrum. And that is precisely why we have to show our children we are the boss from time to time. Otherwise, if we let them get away with what they want to do when they want to do it, they will embarrass us time and time again. And despite what child psychologist say, children that aren't made to mind when they are younger don't grow up to become better citizens. They grow up lacking self control, are argumentative, rebellious, and have a desire to control the lives of other people. These are the very same attributes that were exposed by Jesus in the actions of the evil spirit in this story.
Lastly, the people present saw the kingdom of God and the presence of evil locked in battle, and the greater authority won. Their eyes had been opened even though they didn't understand it, and they went around spreading the Good News of the conflict to the whole area surrounding Galilee spreading the fame of Jesus as they went. OTBP
May 07 HEAR AND UNDERSTAND[Matthew 15:10-20] "When He had called the multitude to Himself. He said to them, "Hear and understand: Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man." Then His disciples came and said to Him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. "Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch."
Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Explain this parable to us." So Jesus said, "Are you also still without understanding?" "Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication's, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defiles a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man."
The thoughts and intents of sin comes from the heart or spirit of man. As Jesus explained to His disciples what we eat, drink, smoke etc, after it has been ingested into the body will pass back out of the body, but the thoughts and intents of sin come from the heart or spirit of man and is introduced into the world through our mouth. Jesus then tells us what those sins are that come from the heart of man; evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication's, thefts, false witness, (lying) and all blasphemies proceed or come from the heart or spirit of man. If a person thinks evil thoughts, he speaks evil thoughts; a murderer doesn't commit murder unless he has first given thought to committing a murder in his heart/spirit; a person doesn't commit adultery unless he has first thought about committing adultery in his heart/spirit etc. This is why sinners have a hard time understanding why God has to punish them for their sins. They think they are born the way they act. That is not true. They do not realize their sin comes forth from their spirit person and defiles them; and that defiled spirit is an abomination to God. God didn't create Adam a defiled person. Adam became a defiled person when he chose to become a partaker of a sinful action. Men still become defiled the same way. A person is not born defiled, he has to choose to become defiled before he is defiled. That is what Jesus was alluding to when He gave His disciples the list of things proceeding out of the mouth of man. These things are not physical actions until after they have been incubated in the spirit and mind of man. But, truthfully, one sin is not greater than another and one sinner is no worse than another. A sin is a sin, and that sin whether it is one or many separates us from our Creator. A person that is not forgiven of their sins by their Creator is lost, without hope, and will be cast into hell's fire. God speaks to the heart of every man and pleads with him to seek His forgiveness through the finished work of Jesus Christ His Son; some do, but most don't. And those that don't seek His forgiveness will perish. Not because God wants them to perish, but because they choose to perish because they won't seek His forgiveness.
Every person born on this earth is born a sinner because Adam sinned and his sin has tainted the blood of every man born after him. We did not elect to be sinners at birth. We became sinners by the actions of one man. As a result of Adam's broken relationship with his Creator, we are born into this world without a consciousness of who God is, and because we don't know who God is, we inadvertently break His Laws. In the kingdom of God, a sinner is the same as an earthly criminal who is worthy of receiving a death sentence for the crimes he committed. We have all broken God's Laws, and the penalty for breaking God's Law is eternal death. But God has made a way for the sinner to be a forgiven sinner or pardoned criminal. I like using the word criminal because it is a stronger word than sinner in the eyes of man, but a criminal is a sinner, and a sinner really is a criminal in the eyes of justice. A sinner is a law breaker and a law breaker is a criminal. Since we live in God's realm every sin man commits is against God. Even though we may have harmed another person - that person is the property of God. Thereby, when we harm another person either spiritually, emotionally, or physically; we are guilty of committing criminal damage to God's property. God is not only the property owner of all He has created; He is also the judge who imposes the penalty upon the lawbreaker. Now maybe we can understand why He has told us in His Word how we are to treat His property, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." When we loan or rent a thing to another person and they break it, damage it, or destroy it; do we not demand they pay retribution for the damage they did. We do, and God does. If it upsets us that another person does not have the same love for our property as we do. How much more do you think it upsets God when we destroy or damage the life of another person who is made in His image and likeness? So in a nutshell, God is telling us, If we don't want to do the time, don't commit the crime." Because as surely as we break His law, the penalty for the breaking His Law is not far behind. He also has warned us not to take things into our own hands. We are not the judge of the other person's actions, He is. [Romans 12:19] "Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. Therefore "If your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head." When forgiveness is sought we are to forgive just as God does.
All of us can be pardoned for our sins or crimes against God if we will ask Him to forgive us or pardon us for those sins/crimes. If we never ask God to forgive us or pardon us for our crimes, we are unforgiven sinners, and the lawbreaker who has never been pardoned for his crimes will suffer eternal punishment for those unpardoned crimes. We live in God's realm, that makes all of us subject to Him. Though He is present in our realm, He does not live here in this sin infested place. He lives in a sin free place He calls heaven, but because He does not live here does not mean He doesn't exercise His rights of Law over all of creation and demands that everything in His creation conform to His standard. Since we live in His creation, all of us, saint and sinner alike, are subject to Him. He has only one standard to which everything in His kingdom must conform. That which conforms lives, that which doesn't conform will be destroyed. That which conforms will reside in His kingdom for all of eternity. That which did not have a choice, God will remove the sin from it and make it brand new. For example, the earth was tainted by sin through the actions of man who lived on it, but at the end of days God will cleanse the heavens and the earth of sin by fire, and in the purifying process a new heavens and a new earth will be formed and made fit to be the habitation of God's holy children who have sought His forgiveness and have conformed to His standard which governs life in His Kingdom. OTBP May 06 FATHER, FORGIVE THEMThe Christian has never fully comprehended the power of forgiveness. If they had you wouldn't hear remarks like, "I'll forgive them, but I won't forget it." Folks, that isn't forgiveness, that is bitterness. And bitterness does not come from God, but from Satan and is the root of unforgiveness. The scriptures teach us in [Matthew 6:14] "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." That is pretty plain English. If you want to be forgiven, forgive and forget. If you don't forgive and forget, you will not be forgiven. We have all suffered hardship caused by another person, but that does not entitle us to hold unforgiveness in our hearts against them. Jesus exemplified this on the cross when He said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." [Luke 23:34] The "them" in this scripture is all inclusive. It not only included the Roman soldier who drove the nails through His hands and feet, but the Jews who persecuted Him, the chief priest who cried out for His crucifixion, the Roman governor who gave the order for His crucifixion, the Roman soldier who stripped the hide from His back, placed the crown of thorns upon His brow, and made Him carry His own cross to Calvary. The "them" included everyone that ever did Him wrong. He set the precedence on forgiveness for His followers. If He could forgive "them" from the cross just minutes before His death; we can forgive our fellowman for the little things they do to us.
Jesus said in [Matthew 5:43-48] "You have heard it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless them who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Here again Jesus instructs the Christian on how to live a life that reflects the glory of our heavenly Father. God forgives and forgets, He doesn't harbor unforgiveness in His heart. If He did no one would be saved because each one of us deserves to die for our transgressions against Him.
What were the four things Jesus instructed us to do in this life? (1) Love your enemies. (2) Bless them who curse you. (3) Do good to those who hate you. (4) Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Why? So that we may be sons of our Father in heaven. And then Jesus gives us the reason for His four directives, "Because He (God) makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." He continues, "If you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others?" (the unbeliever) "Do not even the tax collector do so?" (The tax collectors were the most hated of all Jews because they worked for the Roman government and collected more taxes than they were supposed to.)"Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." God has a perfect will for His children and His will for us reflects His glory into this earth. If we do as He has instructed us, His glory will be seen by the unbeliever and lives will be drawn to Him.
If we do contrary to His Word and hate our enemies, curse them who curse us, do evil to those who hate us, speak evil of those who persecute us, God receives no glory from this life, but Satan does because Satan is the author of these evil works. God demands His children live according to His principles so that His glory will be seen and lives will be changed. This is the Christian's purpose for being, and His will for our lives. As God is, we are to become. Jesus said it was possible when He said, "Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect." If it were not possible for us to do these things, Jesus would not have given us such a directive. OTBP May 05 TROUBLE COMETHTrouble cometh to everyone. Jesus said in [John 16:33] "In the world you shall have tribulation; (trouble) but be of good cheer, I have overcome the the world." Trouble should not be foreign to a Christian. If it is I would question my relationship with the Lord. Every Christian can expect trouble to come in some form. It's a guarantee. Trouble is coming. When? When you least expect it to show up. Trouble never comes at an appropriate time, he (trouble) only comes when he is least expected. If we could head off every problem that comes our way we wouldn't need a savior, but since we can't prevent trouble from coming, and we don't have the answers to life's problems, we need the help of the One who does. As a young man, I thought I was bullet proof, but as I grew older I realized I didn't have all the answers to life's problems and how dumb I was to think I did. A poet once said, "No man is a island." That poet was a smart man. In life we don't have to go looking for trouble; trouble comes and finds us. And because he does we oftentimes find ourselves caught up in a situation created by someone other than ourselves, and there's a good chance we don't know the person who started the problem. How is this possible you ask? All people are interconnected in some way just because we are human and what one person does affects the lives of other people. And depending upon the size of the problem the number of people that will be affected by that problem can be a very large number.
No where is this more clear than when one business owes another business a debt. In most cases the business who owes the debt does so because people owe them, and when those people don't pay, that business can't pay their debt, and when they can't pay their debt, the businesses they owe could very possibly have a hard time meeting their obligations. In almost every situation, if it were possible to trace the problem back to its roots, we would find the problem started because some business or some person or group of people in the line of buying and spending did one of two things. They got greedy and kept the money for personal reasons, or they over spent expecting money to come in that doesn't come in. In almost every business problem it will come back to one of those two areas. And when a business gets greedy and holds back more than they should, or they overspend counting on money to come in that doesn't, they create a cycle of pressure that is felt through a large portion of the business world. When this happens the businesses who are owed puts pressure on the businesses who owe them, and that business in turn puts pressure on the people who owe them, and up and down the line the pressure goes like a wave of the sea affecting the lives of countless businesses and people. What this tells us is that if this problem is to be solved someone in that affected line has to change the way they conduct business. And more than likely they will have to eat their loss; and move on under a new game plan. If they keep using the cycle of with holding more than they should, or spending what they don't have, they will never escape the pressure put on them by the people in line ahead of them.
Our own government is a prime example of keeping too much back for themselves, and spending money they do not have, then raising taxes or creating new taxes to take away yet more of the taxpayers dollars in an attempt to make their ends meet. Government doesn't seem to understand that when they take away more of my money, it affects my buying power, and if I have less to spend, then my inability to spend and buy affects the lives of many other people, so the end result is government continues to create a bigger problem for themselves. If I don't have money to spend and buy, but government keeps taking more of the little I have, the less and less I have at my disposal; and at some point I will run out of money and become a person dependent upon them to assist me in living. That should not be the aim or purpose of government. Raising taxes and tax rebates will not remove their debt problem. The answer lies in accountability and to stop spending what they do not have. If government is the example for the people and the government continually overspends and raises taxes in an attempt to offset the difference, are they not teaching the businessman and the common man that spending what you don't have is a good practice? What the government is saying to the businessman by example is: If a business needs more money to meet their financial obligations all they have to do is raise their prices and increase the interest rate on what is owed them and they will have more money at their disposal. That approach may work for a while, but eventually the higher prices and increased interest rate will catch up to the business, and in the end we end up with an economy like we have in our country today.
We are a country that is so blessed in so many ways, but our government leaders have created a massive debt problem they don't know how to solve. Our debt problem arose out of greed and overspending. Now we are borrowing money from our enemies to finance the interest on our debt. It's insane, and the interest on our debt continues to grow by the day; and we are in danger of placing the future of our children in the hands of our enemies. Do they not realize that overspending started the problem and cutting back will solve the problem? The problem didn't arise overnight and it will not be resolved overnight, but cutting back will eventually allow it to run its course and die. Did our own government not adapt laws that tell us, if a person owes money to another and that person cannot repay it, the person that is owed has the right to take possession of the person's property to compensate them for the money that is owed them? Does our government not think that at some point in time our enemies are not going to hold us accountable for our debt? And if we can't pay what they demand, and according to our own laws they have the right to take possession of the future of our children. I am not an educated man, but I understand enough to know that we cannot keep doing things the way we have and expect to continue in the lifestyle we presently enjoy. At some point in time we are going to have to stop and consider what we are doing to our children. If we truly love them, we will show them by stopping the madness before it is too late. It's fine for me to spend what I have if I want in whatever manner I want, but it is not alright for me to mortgage the future of my children to finance my greed. And in a nutshell that is what our country is doing to our children's future. At this point in time our government leaders are doing nothing more than exponentially increasing an ongoing problem that the shock waves from it will be felt for generations to come if we don't realize we have a problem and do something about it before it swallows us up.
Yes, trouble cometh to everyone, but what we do when trouble comes determines the outcome. The example I used concerning the spending habits of our government is a prime example in what not to do to solve a problem. Problems are like bombs in that if they are not taken care of and handled properly they become so large they explode and the fall out from the explosion affects the lives of many people. Problems like bombs cannot be ignored. They have to be handled carefully, thought through, and a rational decision made on how to best deal with the situation if we want to see an end to the problem. Problems come to affect change in a person's life, a business, a state, or a country. If we, the state, or country, refuse to change, that problem will grow exponentially and create so many other problems for us our life will be ruined, and our chance of recovery is very slim. That is unless we go to the One who has the answers to our problems, and the answer always begins with repenting, turning away from our old way of doing things, and adapting His plan as our modus operandi. If we will do the right thing, our life and our country will turn around. If a person, state, or country doesn't take into consideration the impending results of their troubles and continues down the road they are presently on, destruction awaits and more trouble than we can get out of cometh. OTBP |
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