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7月27日 Zeke Shortly after my family moved from next door to Mr. and Mrs. Rolley to another small town in southern Illinois; I met a person who would be my best friend for many years. His name was "Zeke." Zeke wasn't his real name of course. He didn't like his real name because his dad had the same name and Zeke and his dad got along like hot grease and water. One day out of the blue someone called him 'Zeke'. He liked the name so much it stuck. Zeke and I hit it off right away and were like two peas in a pod. We liked the same things, chased the same women when we got older, and even fought with each other over the least little thing, but we never stayed angry with each other for very long and it wouldn't be long before we would be best buddies again. We were wild and carefree kids by nature and didn't care who knew it or liked it. It seemed like most of the young people liked us well enough because we were never without company for very long. I can't say the same for the older generation because they never knew what we would do next. My parents generation called us "rebels" and "hell on wheels" an "accident waiting to happen". When things became mundane in our little town which was most of the time, Zeke would go to great pains to create some excitement. This often resulted in his dad receiving a late night phone call telling him, "Zeke did this", or "Zeke did that", "you need to come down here and get him before he gets into real trouble." His dad would crawl out of bed and go get Zeke, take him home, whip his butt, and tell him not to do whatever it was that Zeke did that time. The older generation couldn't see it, but the only problem Zeke had was he believed life was his castle, and he lived every waking moment of his life filling every room with laughter and joy. This sometimes irritated my parents generation because they had forgotten they had once did the same kinds of things. Now that they were older and past the fun stage of their life, they had become critics of his antics instead of enjoying the pranks he would do. Zeke may have been funny to our generation, a headache to my parents generation, but to me he was a great teacher in his own right. He may not have known he was teaching those of us who were observers of people and studied why people do the things they do. I learned from Zeke that you don't have to settle for the better off forgotten mundane things life throws your way. With a little creativity on your part you can grab the bulls in life by the horns so to speak and change any situation into a meaningful experience that will be long remembered by your family and friends. OTBP 7月26日 Mr. and Mrs. Rolley As a youth I lived in many of the small towns that dot the map of southern Illinois and in one of those small towns our next door neighbors were Mr. and Mrs. Rolley. I was about seven years of age when we first moved in next door to them. Mr. and Mrs. Rolley didn't have any children of their own, but they loved children very much. I would spend almost as much time at their house during the warm summer days as I would at our home. Mrs. Rolley loved to bake and she did so quite frequently. I was a little blond haired, brown eyed, rascal of a boy, but Mrs. Rolley loved me dearly and on 'baking day' I could smell the sweet aroma of her freshly baked pies gently wafting on the light breeze of those lazy summer days. She would sit them on the window sill to cool and after a short while I would hear her calling my name to come over. When Mrs. Rolley baked pies she always baked a little cinnamon pie crust coated with sugar just for me. I loved those cinnamon and sugar pie crust and still do today. As I sit here writing this short story about Mr. and Mrs. Rolley - in the deep recesses of my mind I can still hear Mrs. Rolley sweet voice calling me to come over to her house on baking day and the aroma of her freshly baked pies and that little cinnamon and sugar pie crust that she made with loving hands for a little blond haired rascal infiltrate my memory senses. It was while living next door to Mr. and Mrs. Rolley that I first learned to ride a bicycle. It was also there that I lost my two front teeth to a big tree in our front yard because I didn't know how to stop the bicycle using the brakes and slammed into the tree to stop it before I ran through the fence that surrounded Mr. and Mrs. Rolley's pig pen. It was also there that I learned pigs will eat coal. This didn't set too well with my father after he learned I was throwing the coal he used to heat our home with in the winter time over into the pig pen for Mr. Rolley's pigs to eat. It was also there that my older brother and I scared the crap out of my little brother so badly by imitating bull sounds and thrashing noises in the woods that he two and one half years younger than I took off at a dead run for home to get away from the bull that wasn't there and dove head first through two strands of a barbed wire gate without touching either strand of barbed wire. My brother and I laughed so hard we could have cried, but crying wouldn't have been manly even to us boys. It was also there that I learned just how strong and hard my daddy's hand of correction was after he learned what my older brother and I did to the younger one. It was there next door to the Rolley's that I learned how to make a sling shot and shoot a bow and arrow, make our own kites to fly, bait my own hook and hog fish down in the creek just below their house. It was also there that I learned you could catch a black snake by the tail and twirl it around your head in bull whip fashion - snap it sharply - and the snake's head would fly off. It was there that I learned you cannot catch a pitch before the batter hits the ball. I still have a scar on the crown of my head from the piece of wood we were using for a bat to prove it. I also learned I bleed pretty easy and my mother didn't appreciate having to take me to the doctor to be stitched up and leave the other children at home while doing so. It was there I experienced a death in the family when my brother eight years older than I lost his wife and baby in childbirth. She was diabetic and knew she could possibly die if she got pregnant, but she chose to try and bring a baby into the world anyway. I don't think my brother ever completely got over losing her and the baby at such a young age. He joined the Army a short time thereafter "to help him focus on other things", he said. But I really think he joined the Army to get away from the memories and the home they shared together. The three years we lived beside Mr. and Mrs. Rolley were filled with many wonderful experiences and I wouldn't change any of them even for a million dollars. I don't have to tell you I was greatly saddened the day mom and dad told us we were moving to yet another small town. But, I have since learned that kids are resilient and rebound quickly from bad news. After the move I didn't get to see Mr. and Mrs. Rolley much, but my world was expanding even though I didn't realize it at the time and a whole new group of people and experiences were waiting for me - just three miles down the road. OTBP 7月24日 Growing up in America I grew up in America during a time when families were large and most every family had four or more children. That was in a bygone age before abortion became legal and the family shrunk to less then two children per family. According to present day national statistics there are now 1.11 children per family in America not counting the illegal immigrants that are swamping our country and keeping that magic number of children at 2.1 per household that is needed for a country to survive another fifty years. In my particular family there were nine children and I was eighth in the birth order. Back then every mother I knew with the exception of a few who were teachers or secretaries worked in her home caring for her family. I was fortunate that my mother worked in the home. I called our home, "Mom's University" because that is where each of her nine children received their education in manners, responsibility, and how to treat others. It was during the evening meal and around our supper table that most of mom's teaching took place because that was the time of day when every family member was present. No one in our family missed supper and the time mom spent teaching her children right from wrong. My mother didn't have a teaching degree or a PhD in Education like most people must have today to prove they are qualified to teach in their field of expertise, but she was the smartest person I knew. Where did my mother get her unique teaching abilities? At her mother's knee, just like her mother had before her. Back then family values were passed down from one generation to the next. Mother's didn't depend upon public television to teach their children how to read, count, or share. They took that responsibility upon themselves and the older children assisted them. I took my daughter on a trip back through time last Father's Day and visited all the houses I lived in during my childhood that were still standing. After visiting the last one, I asked her, "Did you find any one thing all of these houses had in common?" She was quick to tell me, "They were all very small." Which was true. I never lived in a big house during my childhood. Most houses were small and families were close back then. No one I knew had their own room to escape to if we didn't like what was on the radio or television. We went outside and invented a game to play to keep ourselves amused. We didn't have air conditioning to cool the house in the summer, or a thermostat to turn up the heat in the winter if the house was too cold. Most people didn't have indoor plumbing, they had a number three wash tub to bathe in and when nature called we used an outdoor privy some fifty feet from the house. Somehow we all managed to survive our meager surrounding and grow up to become responsible adults. In the summer we went barefoot and wore shorts and took our baths in the local swimming hole and no one thought we were strange. And on those long winter nights we slept three to a bed to stay warm - and on the really cold nights we added another blanket or two on the bed to ward off the cold wind that blew through the cracks between the weather boarding. The next day we added an extra layer of clothing before we went outdoors to play or do our chores. We were tough kids and patriotic to the bone. We loved to fight, baseball, and mom's apple pie. We were taught to be respectful and on parade days when the American flag went by we stood up straight and watched it until it turned the corner out of sight. We respected our teachers and recited the Pledge of Allegiance everyday before classes began in classrooms where we were taught how to think for ourselves. Every boy owned a GI Joe toy soldier, a cap pistol and holster, and a BB gun. We didn't shoot out too many of our friends eyes with them and the whippings we received on our little behinds with those willow branches off the tree in the yard did nothing to harm our little egos. We were America's youth and damm proud of it! OTBP 7月23日 SelfishnessDuring the last two weeks I have witnessed one of the saddest events I have encountered in my sixty-two years of life. I have been going to watch my daughter coach our local travel ball softball team in nearby towns involving 13 and 14 year old girls. Travel ball is a new thing in our community for girls of any age - so it has been fun to watch them progress from playing in a state of confusion on the field to what could become a very good girls softball team if they had more games on the schedule to play. Her team lost its first four games, but has won three of the last four with four games to go. All the other towns around have travel ball for girls beginning as young as 8 years of age and they all have good high school girls softball teams. As you would expect our little community does not do as well and usually finishes near the bottom of the conference at the end of the high school season. I have noticed at each of these contest just before the first game begins a particular scene unfolds. I see a father arrive in a car by himself, unload his lawn chair out of the trunk, and make his way around the ball field to a spot along the fence where he can see every move his daughter makes. He cheers loudly for her whether she does good or bad. It doesn't make any difference to him how she plays - he just wants to assure her he is there supporting her. When the games are finished for the evening she will make her way over to where he is sitting and give him a big hug. During the short time they have to share that evening - they only have eyes for one another. When it is time for the father or daughter to leave, he always whispers, "I love you" and she does the same in return. I am an observer of people and situations and have given this event much thought in the past week as I watch this same scene unfold at the conclusion of each night's contest. I see the sadness in the eyes of the father and daughter and I wonder what in the world was going through the minds of her mother and father when they allowed this situation to escalate to the point where they were willing to sacrifice their family so one or the other of them could control the other or for that person to have their way. I have come to the conclusion following my observations of this terribly sad situation that 'SELFISHNESS' not the 'LACK OF LOVE' for one another is the real culprit that created the scene that plays before my eyes following each ball game. SELFISHNESS is nothing more than one person feebly trying to exert control over the will of another person, and if selfishness is allowed to get out of control in a marriage for very long it will destroy the love that brought them together - and usually results in separation and divorce. Have you thought of this? SELFISHNESS couldn't get a foothold in a marriage if the parents really thought about its destructive nature and what their selfish actions were going to do to their family. If parents truly understood how much emotional pain, suffering, and financial hardship their selfishness was going to bring them in the near future - they would slam the door in its face the first time it came calling. But selfish people do not understand they are selfish - they call themselves strong willed. In reality, selfish people are controlling people and it takes divine intervention to change the spiritual makeup of a selfish person. I am also reminded of a particular scripture as I watch their display of affection for one another block everything else out for the short time they are together, "Let not man tear asunder what God has joined together." When we receive a warning such as this from God - He is telling us if we ignore His warning and do what He has told us not to do - it will have a devastating effect upon our life and we are going to enter into a time of suffering from which we may never recover. When a man and woman are married they become one in spirit - and when children are born to that man and woman they are partakers of both of those natures - and when we allow that 'one in spirit' to be separated, divorced, or divided by selfishness - terrible inner pain results. We may never have thought of this in this way, "external injuries heal with time" but the healing process for wounds to our "inner person/spirit/soul begins when we become willing to forgive the other person for the wrong they have done to us". When we see a person weeping and wailing over something that has happened to them that doesn't require immediate medical attention to their physical body - we are witnessing that person's soul letting us know through their external outlets that there is something very wrong on the inside that can't be seen with the physical eye. To see people in such a bad situation is sad, very sad, but we see it all too often, even among our friends - and maybe it has happened to us. If we are a victim of such wounding, or maybe the person who did the wounding - I want to let you know there is help for you. Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30 "Come unto me, all you who are heavily burdened (suffering from inner wounds) and I will give you rest (healing for your spirit person).Take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." A wounded soul or spirit has no rest. The pain the wounded soul or spirit feels controls our thought life causing us to lose sleep at night, and the majority of people who do not understand what has happened to them will do whatever it takes to stop the hurting. Some people turn to alcohol, others turn to drugs and fornication to try and stop the pain. But all of these are nothing more than a persons attempt to apply a temporary fix to a problem that resides deep within them where no external application can reach. Just as soon as the alcohol, drugs, or sexual euphoria wears off - the pain is still there just as potent as ever. Take the advice of our Lord and become a soul at rest. If your spirit has been ripped from its other half through divorce or separation regardless of whose fault it was - forgive them, turn to the one who is the great Physician and allow Him to heal your inner person spiritually. Medicines can relieve the pain of the natural body, but forgiveness is the healing balm of our inner person. OTBP 6月23日 CRITICAL THINKINGI have noticed over the last forty years that people; especially the younger generation are not taught how to think for themselves. Some readers will view this as a slam on young people, but I want to say, "It is not." Young people do as they have been taught. My point is; most of the school systems in America no longer teach critical thinking as part of their curriculum, therefore there is a short list of deep thinkers in this generation. Our country began getting into serious trouble when the focus of our educational facilities changed from creating critical thinkers to teaching our children how to input information into an electronic apparatus that does the thinking for them. As a result of this teaching method we have seen the children's test achievement scores sink so low school systems have had to lower their graduation requirements or they would have very few people graduating from their institutions. Since most of today's teachers were taught by this new methodology; they themselves don't have a clue how to fix the system they were trained in; so a few years ago the masterminds behind public school education came up with a brilliant plan; instead of refocusing on teaching the students how to think for themselves; they lowered the standards of achievement required to pass from one grade to the next so it would appear the children graduating from our present day schools are doing so in greater numbers and are smarter than people were a few years ago. This is a false impression that is having a devastating effect upon our society. While today's students know how to push buttons on a electronic device to get an answer to appear on a digital readout; when they have to use their mind without the aid of an electronic device they become confused because that kind of thinking is outside their normal thought patterns. Colleges and universities have been hit hard by this system transformation as well. As a result of the poor education the college bound student receives at the lower levels, they, too, have had to lower the college entrance requirements accordingly; and university officials tell us it is hard to find qualified students to fill their classrooms. I can believe that. And what was once the greatest land of educational opportunity in the world has been reduced to mediocrity and is losing ground in quality of education to what was once considered third world countries.
As a result of lower education requirements just about everything this country manufactures today should be classified as slip shod at best. The old timers who took pride in the quality of their products would be ashamed of the quality of products lining store shelves today. I myself have thought many times, "This is nothing but junk and not worth the powder and lead it would take to blow it to hell." The sad truth is, a few years ago these kinds of slip shod products would not have been allowed on store shelves. The store owner would have been embarassed to display them, but today they are common place and in almost every store. This level of mediocrity our country has fallen to has been accepted by the present generation as the best we can do. And the country that once produced the best of everything is now scorned by the very same countries we once laughed at and called their products 'cheap junk'. Sad as it may be; as a result of this shift in educational requirements this country is now living on yesterday's dreams of what made it great; and the world knows it. That's why they no longer fear the nation that was once revered by all as the greatest nation on earth. Where has our respect gone? We've put a price tag on it and exported it overseas along with the technology that is being used to break our economy. We the people are at fault because we keep electing people to public office who have or will sell themselves and their power to the highest bidder. And why does the general populace keep allowing this to happen? Because people have pretty much quit thinking for themselves and when a person or a country no longer knows how to think things through; the every day pressures of life beats them down. History is full of names of great countries that have slipped into oblivion because they stopped doing the things that made them great. Are we on a collision course with destiny? I believe we are if we don't get things turned around and once again begin to teach our young people how to think, and how to solve problems instead of dodging issues hoping they will go away. When a person or a country becomes more interested in numbers than they are in quality; they are in trouble. Mediocrity can never replace quality and when it does we have what we have today. When people are not taught how to think and solve problems, they cheat everyone by lowering the standards of quality to make it appear we are gaining instead of losing ground. When people are not taught how to think; they learn how to blame the system, or those who oppose them in an effort to cover their lack of abilities. If this type of thing is allowed to go on for very long it becomes accepted as the norm; and what was once normal becomes abnormal; and what is not normal loses touch with reality and passes away into the abyss of history.
[Psalms 33:12] says, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." Some sixty years ago this country began to get away from the One who made it great, and who sustained it by His power. He not only set the standard for our living, but He set the standard for our educational facilities, our work ethics, and our ability to respond in emergency situations. Instead of making excuses we learned to make do with what we had at hand. But, as we began to withdraw from Him; our way of life began a downward course of travel. And we have now reached the point on the slippery slope of our downhill descent that there is no chance for us to get off of it if we do not "Repent and turn away from our slothfulness and our wickedness; and once again make God the Lord of our nation and our lives." What once was the light of the world has become the nation of darkness that sets the standard for wickedness around the world. And whether we realize it or not; the eyes of the whole world are upon the great whore who abandoned her master to follow her lover Deceit. While she commits fornication with lust and greed; the world waits for the darling of the world to be brought to her knees where she can be bound and her life taken from her. Our God tells us, "Pride goes before a great fall." And this nations pride in its wickedness has replaced our once great humility that gladdened the heart of our God who now like an earthly father must sit by and watch helplessly as his rebellious daughter who has abandoned His love and instruction learns the harsh realities of life's lessons He once protected her from. OTBP
6月18日 WHY YOU NEED COMPUTER ANTISPYWARE?I realize there are a lot of people who know a great deal more about computers than I do, but I also know there are a lot more who don't. Anyway I just experienced a problem no one should have to experience, therefore I am writing this blog to say, "Beware" there are a lot of people in this world who get their enjoyment out of making the life of other people miserable.
I found out the hard way you need antispyware installed on your computer to prevent adware and malware infections from infecting your computer. If you own a computer you have adware that has been installed on it without your knowledge by websites you have visited. And chances are you also have spyware on your computer that can pass along any personal information you might have stored on your computer to the hosts of the websites you have visited. If you are using a free program such as Windows Defender to protect your computer, I can almost guarantee you - you have malicious spyware on your computer. Free spyware programs will not prevent your computer from becoming infected. I was depending upon Microsoft's free version of Window's Defender to protect My computer. It didn't, but for about thirty dollars I could have been protected and would not have went through all the trouble I just experienced.
It's amazing how quickly you can become educated about certain things when you are experiencing a problem in that area. For example, a few day ago I googled my blog name and found a couple of pages of listings of the articles I had previously written under that name. I looked down page one at names of the articles, then opened page two where I found three listings. The very last listing on the page had my blog name on it, but I didn't recognize the title. Stupid me, I clicked on it to see what it was and up came some material that I don't have words to describe. Within just a matter of seconds pop ups galore began popping up on my computer screen telling me my computer had been infected by malicious malware and adware viruses; and it supposedly began automatically scanning my computer hard drive. The scan lasted for about five seconds and another pop up appeared telling me I had about two million things threatening my computer that I needed to have removed. At that point a antivirus software companies homepage popped up telling me I could purchase their software and they would take care of my computer spyware problems. I tried to exit out of it; couldn't. Rebooted; same thing happened again. After about two hours of messing with this thing and getting hotter under the collar with each passing moment; I decided to purchase their product. When I downloaded their program I had unknowingly opened the door of my computer to every kind of pop up telling me I needed to purchase this, that, and the other to fix my computer. My computer had been hijacked by a fly by night software company out of the Ukraine. I had noticed a couple of weeks before this event happened that my automatic updates had been turn off, and I could not turn them back on again. And strange little symbols were showing up in the menu bar at the bottom of my screen. Things had been installed on my computer unknowingly by this fly by night software company that would take me two days to find the root to them. I had lost control of my computer. And worse yet, at the time I didn't have a clue as to what I needed to do to get started getting rid of this problem, much less fixing it.
After about forty attempts to open my hotmail account, it finally opened and I was able to fire off an email to MSN explaining my problem only to find out it was a dead end when I received a computer generated response directing me to another MSN FAQ support place that wasn't any help either. I messed with this thing for a day; rebooting, and trying again, rebooting and trying again, this went on for hours at a time. Finally, Sunday night about 9 PM I got my homepage to come up and googled the name of the spyware software I had purchased to get rid of my problem - only to learn they were the one that had infected my computer in the first place; and I thought great; what now?
I found an article on Google supposedly written by a computer expert about spyware and viruses. He recommended another antivirus software program for thirty bucks that would remove the virus that I had paid the other company to infect my computer. This new company advertised they are a member of the Internet Better Business Bureau; and I thought they can surely fix my problem. So I purchased their software to remove the software I had previously purchased from the company that infected my computer. My new software company guaranteed it would remove 100% of the viruses and malware from my computer. No problem I thought. However, I soon discovered I had another problem. The only way I could communicate with them was via email and I couldn't get to my email to tell them about my problem, nor receive an answer from them. So I wasted another day with them and when I finally did get to my email account I found I had received one email response from them which told me they got my order and my purchase was confirmed. As of this writing I still haven't heard anything else from them.
Yesterday, which was Tuesday, the 16th, of June 08, I was able to get onto my computer long enough to find a page on Google posted by a computer magazine I recognized from the store shelves at the local Walmart that graded what they defined as the top ten antispyware software programs. So I figured what the heck, I may as well try the only one they gave an "A" grade and maybe I could remove the software I had purchased to remove the software that had infected my computer. Along with the purchase of their product they provided a chat line where I could talk to a live technician about my problem. After I explained my problem to him, "He told me my computer was severely infected." Upon which I told him, "I know I have a problem, that's why I bought your product. Now help me get rid of this stuff." To make a long story short it took a few hours of scanning and deleting things, but now I have my computer back and it's functioning normally again.
If you want information regarding this subject; Google "Antivirus Pro 2008" and you will learn a great deal more about how fragile your computer is than you want to know. OTBP
6月6日 ARE YOU HUNGRY?Most people in America don't know what it means to be hungry. I mean really hungry. The kind of hungry where your stomach is gnawing at your backbone. We know there are some hungry people in America, but not to the degree that is so rampant in many parts of the world where people have absolutely no where to turn for help. There are programs on television that show us scenes of starving people in far off places, but because we don't see such hunger here in America we have a hard time believing anyone anywhere else in this world could be that hungry. But, if you have ever been anywhere outside of the United States you would soon realize just how blessed this country is and just how poor many other countries are.
To the degree many people in this world are suffering physical hunger in their natural bodies; the Christian should be just as hungry for the things of God. The church in America at this time is starving to death for the truth of God's word, and for a move of God. We are in a spiritual famine in this country just as severe as the physical famines in other countries. Since we have entered into this spiritual famine; every kind of evil known to man has availed itself to keep this famine alive. It comes in every form and in every type of media available to man. But the church ignores it because it doesn't have the power to fight back. We are weakened and have lost our strength because we are spiritually starving. While men preach on how to get more money out of God and where to purchase their books on seven step to whatever, we hear nothing about striving to obtain the righteousness of God where He fills our all in all and we become the righteousness of God striking fear in the heart of the devil and his associates.
Jesus said in [Matthew 5:6] "Blessed are those who HUNGER and THRIST for RIGHTEOUSNESS. For they shall be filled." The kind of hungry Jesus is talking about isn't a physical hunger. This kind of hunger cannot be satisfied with a burger and fries. This is a spiritual hunger that is way down in our soul gnawing at our spirit; crying out to be satisfied with God's righteousness. Nothing else can satisfy it. Only God can fill it. Jesus said when we develop that kind of hunger for the things of God, "We shall be filled." Brothers and sisters that is the kind of hunger it will take for us to see a move of God in our country, and in our churches, and in the communities in which we live. Are you hungry? When God gets that kind of hunger working down in our soul gnawing at our spirit for satisfaction and we begin to pursue the righteousness of God with our whole being; we will see every kind of miracle begin to take place in our lives, in our families, churches, and in our communities. God longs to see His children doing the deeds Jesus performed on this earth setting His people free of their sins, demons, ill health and cares of this world.
T. L. Osborn, a world renowned evangelist once said, "It is harder for a person in America to receive a healing for a headache than it is for a person to be healed of cancer in most other countries of the world." The reason Americans have a hard time receiving from God is because they have no faith in God. I have ministered in Mexico and seen all kinds of healing take place because they had no one but God to turn to. Isn't that a travesty? God has blessed this country more than any other country in the world; and because He has we should have faith to move every mountain in our life, our neighbors life, and in this country. But that is not the case. Which goes to show us God is a God of faith, and whoever has faith in Him to meet their needs, gets their needs met. Those who don't, won't.
I have ministered in the dump ground area of Monterrey, Mexico as well as the remote areas of central Mexico and have seen every kind of miracle take place. I just preached the Word and told them, "God is here to meet your needs. Who has faith to be healed, delivered and set free?" And immediately a line formed and God met their needs. I saw the deaf hear, the blind see, and the bent over stand up straight, stiff bodies made flexible, people delivered, and the lost saved and filled with the Holy Ghost and consumed by the love of Christ. Then I have ministered here in America and said the same thing; and the people looked at me like I was nuts, "Their actions told me we don't believe in that faith healer snake oil stuff here. All that passed away with the Apostles you know." And sure enough God didn't heal anyone there because of their unbelief. The difference between the two groups was the Mexican people knew they had no one to turn to but God, and the American people's faith was in their doctor. Both got what they believed for. God met both of them where their faith was. The Mexican people didn't pay a dime to receive their healing from God, but the Americans left the doctors office minus an arm and a leg. (Just kidding.)
On a more serious note,"Have you seen all the pharmaceutical companies advertising their wares on television today?" They have a pill for every possible ache a person can have. The thing about those advertisements that grabbed my attention was not the fact that they had a pill for everything, but the list of possible adverse side effects that accompanies those pills is a half mile long and in many cases more dangerous than the problem being treated. And I thought to myself, "What Christian in their right mind could place their faith in a chemical substance with all those side effects?" As we well know, many do. God tells us, "If we will hunger and thirst after righteousness, we will be filled." Brothers and sisters when we start pursing God's righteousness with our whole being, His righteousness will overtake us; and as He does there will be no doubt in our hearts and minds that God is with us, we won't any longer be starving for the things of God; and every evil thing in our life will disappear faster than we can say, "Scat!" OTBP TITHES AND OFFERINGSIn my last message entitled, "THE BORROWER IS SUBJECT TO THE LENDER," I wrote about the reason for tithing and gift giving and how God looks at it. In this message I want to write about why the tithe and offerings principle works. Many people don't realize there is life in the money we give to the work of the Lord just as there is life in a grain of corn that is planted in the ground. If we take the grain of corn and eat it, our body reaps the benefit of it but the life in the grain of corn is gone forever. If you set the grain of corn aside and never plant it, the life is still in it but the life in it is not being utilized and therefore it does no one any good. Or, you can plant the grain of corn in the ground, water it, and let the sun shine on the place you planted it, and pretty soon a corn plant will burst through the soil and a short time later produce two or three ears of corn. And each one of those ears of corn will produce from two to three hundred grains of corn. Thus you have anywhere from a six hundred to a nine hundred percent increase on that single grain of corn.
If you use ninety percent of those grains to meet your needs and plant the other ten percent you will reap about ninety ears of corn with each ear producing from two to three hundred grains of corn, and if you repeat the process over again the following growing season, keeping ninety percent of the harvest to meet your needs and planting the other ten percent; it won't be long until you will have a big field of corn. And if you plan on repeating the process very many times you will have to buy more land and more land. This is the principle of life God placed in the grain of corn when He made it. If it is planted and cared for; it will grow and produce. It cannot but do what God has commanded it to do. Let us understand; the purpose in life for the grain of corn is to produce an increase. Are you with me so far?
The same multiplying factor God placed in the grain of corn is the same multiplying factor He has placed in our tithing and gift giving. If we plant the grain of corn, it will produce more corn. It cannot deny itself. If we tithe and give gifts in the name of the Lord, it will multiply just as the grain of corn multiplies itself. Whatever is planted in God's Kingdom produces after its kind according to the multiplying factor God has placed in it. It is a law God set in motion when He created the earth. Now let's listen in as God explains this principle to us in Malachi 3:10-11. "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. (The planting phase) "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. (The multiplying factor) 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." (God's promised harvest.) There is life in the tithe the same as there is life in the grain of corn. If we plant it, it will grow and reproduce according to the multiplying factor God has placed in it. It cannot help but do what God has commanded it to do.
Did you know God put an example of His multiplying factor of the things we give to Him in the Gospel of John chapter six? In this story Jesus uses a little boys lunch of five loaves and two fish to feed some twenty thousand people. Now let's follow the course of events in this demonstration that allowed this increase to take place. The little boy gave his lunch to the disciples who in turn gave it to the Lord, who received it, looked up to heaven, blessed it, broke it, returned it to His disciples, who in turn gave it to the twenty thousand people present, and when they had eaten all they wanted, the disciples picked up the left overs and gave them to the little boy who went home with several baskets full of fish and bread. Do you see the multiplying factor God placed in the grain of corn working in the little boys lunch because he gave? The little boy planted, the Lord applied the multiplying factor and all of the people's needs were met, and the little boy harvested many times more than he planted. The only difference between the planting of the grain of corn and the little boy planting his lunch is that God shows us how fast this multiplication factor can take place in the spiritual realm where there are no natural barriers to its reproduction. The people's needs were immediate, Jesus gave them immediate relief, but only enough to meet their temporary needs. The one that received the most was the little boy who gave. He received enough to feed him and his family for some time.
The people who receive of our tithes and offering receive on a temporary basis only. They receive enough to meet their immediate needs, but our return on our tithe is far greater because we did the planting or giving. Therefore their needs are met, but we receive the blessing of the increase on our gifts so we can keep planting and receiving the increase from each tithe we give. Now do you see how the process works? The little boy gave to the disciples, the disciples gave to the Lord, the Lord received it, blessed it, broke it, gave it back to the disciples, who gave it to the crowd, retrieved all the left overs and gave them back to the the little boy as a return on his gift. The parishioner gives to the church, who gives to the missionary, who gives to the needy who has their needs met. And the Lord blesses every phase of the tithe until it is returned unto the hand of the giver. The farmer gives or sowes his crops to the earth, the earth blesses the grain with nutrients, a body or plant is formed, the body or plant gives or produces the blessing of the head or ears, and the farmer reaps his reward at harvest time. Through every phase of every work in God's kingdom there is a giver, a blessor, a receiver of that blessing, and a harvest time for the sower. To further prove this point; Jesus, said, in [Luke 6:38] "Give (or plant) and it shall be given unto you (harvest time) good measure, pressed down, and shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure you give out, it shall be measured back to you." Brothers and sisters, Jesus couldn't have made it any plainer than He did with that statement. Everything in God's creation works on this sowing and harvesting principle. If we do not give, (plant a seed) we cannot expect a return. (a harvest) Paul wrote of this in [2 Corinthians 9:6] "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." Another way of saying this is: "He who sows nothing reaps nothing."
If we are still having a hard time understanding how tithing works, lets' use one more example of the multiplying factor in the plant and harvest principle of tithing and gift giving. Man was lost and without hope in this world. Man was in dire straits and there was no one to help him. So God tithed or planted His Son Jesus Christ in this world, (Jesus explained this in John 3:16) and when His time was fulfilled, He produced one hundred and twenty people who gathered in an upper room above the home of the mother of John Mark. On harvest day, (the Day of Pentecost) the Holy Spirit (the harvester) filled those one hundred and twenty people with Himself, (A 120% increase.) And one of them stood up to preach and three thousands souls were added to the kingdom of God that day. (A 3000% increase.) A few days later, that same person stood up and preached again and another five thousand souls were added to the kingdom. (A 5000% increase) If my figures are correct the kingdom of God increased by 8,120% in just one week when one man planted God's Word in Israel. The harvested (the saved) went and preached the message of Christ around the world; and today there are hundreds of millions of saved souls in the world because God planted or tithed His Son in the earth two thousand years ago. There is life in the tithe that the church has never understood and I have never heard preached. The same laws that apply to the natural realm apply to the supernatural. If we eat or use up what we have been given - it cannot reproduce; it is gone forever. If we plant it - it will reproduce and increase exponentially in just a matter of time. We understand natural grains have a set time before they can be harvested, but things in the spiritual realm have no such barrier as is shown in the example where Jesus fed the twenty thousand people from a little boys lunch of five fish and two loaves of bread. The little boy planted and reaped a harvest the same day, and Peter preached to the multitudes on the Day of Pentecost and three thousand people were added to the kingdom that very day. OTBP
6月4日 THE BORROWER IS SUBJECT TO THE LENDERIf you are one of the fortunate people who are serving the Lord and have not gotten yourself into debt; consider yourself extremely blessed and wise. That is not the case for the majority of the 84% of Americans who call themselves Christian. Brothers and sisters have you ever really given any thought concerning why God blesses His children? You know God has a reason for doing everything He does. He doesn't do things because He has nothing else to do. God blesses His children for a reason; and it isn't just so we can spend His provisions upon our lust and live in the costliest houses or drive the fanciest cars and wear designer clothes. Sure God wants us to look good and be comfortable, and He doesn't want us living on the street corners of life begging bread from His enemy or eating the worlds left overs out of dumpsters; but neither do we have to dress like kings to let the world know that God has blessed us. And especially not if it means we are spending money we don't have to purchase those items. There is a scripture in the proverbs that tells us, "The borrower is subject to the lender." [Proverbs 22:7b] Or in other words, Solomon tells us a person in debt isn't any longer their own man until they have paid their debt to the lender. From the time we borrow until the debt is paid off; that lender has a claim on a portion of our life and income; and if we don't pay him what he is owed; he can stake a claim on what we own and take possession of it. That's the law! And if we owe more than one creditor; we have more than one person taking away a part of our paycheck; and the more debt we have to pay off, the less we have for our own personal use. God made us to be free men. The only person we are to be in debt to is the Lord. And every person on the face of this earth owes the Lord a debt they can never pay; it can only be forgiven. And as you well know earthly lenders are not as forgiving of our debts as the Lord is. They want what is due them on the date due; and if it isn't paid by that date they add interest and penalties to it and take yet more of our paycheck. However, when we are born again, God gives us an opportunity to start over no matter what shape our life is in. And if we will do things His way He will teach us how to live free of debt, overcome the sin in our life, and rise above every situation that has a claim on our life. God's desire is for all of His children to be free men. People who are happy, healthy and whole; free to serve Him with their whole heart. He wants us so because "Debt is a cancer that is consuming the body of Christ." Because of our ignorance of God's Word and we are a self seeking people; the church of Jesus Christ is as full of this debt cancer as any person in the world. The church is the instrument God brought into the world to be a shining example of His power and love to the lost and dying that they might see how truly blessed the body of Christ is and want to be a partaker of their blessings. But because the church is as sick and as broke as those who don't know Him; God's glory and magnificence is not being reflected into the world. And Satan uses the poor state of the church to point out to the unbeliever that the majority of them are living better than those persons who say they serve God. The sad truth is; the devil is right. In most cases the world does live better than the church; they are healthier because they exercise more, they are more aggressive in their pursuit of happiness, and they are more prosperous. Jesus made the statement in the "Parable of the Unjust Steward" in [Luke 16:8] in comparing the people of the world with the children of God, "For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light."
I have often wondered if the church knows why God blesses us. And by the way, we are all blessed whether we know it or not. We may not think so because we have spent more than our allotted blessing, but we are blessed. The Christian gets into debt and trouble when they try to live like the rich man down the block and spend more than they have coming in. Our income is our allotted blessing. And when we have more money going out than coming in, we are in debt. The person who goes into debt is promising to pay for something based upon future earnings that may or may not be there when they get there. And when they get there and the money isn't there as they hoped it would be; they then realize they have a problem. The problem was birthed when they began living on presumption and not God's Word. I know a lot of people think it is impossible to live debt free because of the cost of everything. But when a person thinks that way they are believing the lies of Satan and eliminating God from the equation. The devil is the author of the world's financial system and it is not designed to bless; it is designed to take away from us the blessings of God. But if we will follow God's plan and do as He instructs us in His Word, pay our tithes, and give gifts and offerings to whom He directs us; He will take what we give and multiply it to not only to meet the needs of other people, but our needs as well. It is when we are in debt and don't have the money to pay our tithes and give gifts and offerings that we end up keeping back what God would have used to bless us. God cannot bless what we do not give.
Christian are supposed to be smart enough to realize that God's intentions are for His children to take of what He has blessed us with to further His kingdom upon the earth. If He did not intend for us to further His kingdom on the earth; He would not have commanded us to pay tithes to the local church and to give gifts and offerings to help those people whose needs are greater than our own. People don't realize this but when we don't pay tithes to the local church and give gifts like we are suppose to that the person God wanted to bless with the money we should have given won't receive the blessing God intended for them to receive. And do people not realize that we are accountable to God for the care of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world. The Christian thinks small and has a tendency only to think locally, but God thinks globally. He sees the needs of those people on the other side of the world just as clearly as He sees our needs. Man has a tendency to only be concerned with the needs in his own household, but God has the needs of every person on the earth on His mind. And if the church doesn't look out for those people who live a half a world away; who is going to? The devil? No. He's the one trying to kill them. God's children are the one's who are supposed to help God save them by giving a portion of what He has given to us to bless them so they too might have the opportunity to come to know Christ as their Savior.
Brothers and sisters, God uses what the Christian gives to the needy not only to meet their need but to introduce Himself to that person and the Holy Spirit can then minister to that person creating a desire in their heart to learn more about the loving God of the Christian. But if the Christian has nothing to give to the needy because they spent more than they should have trying to keep up with their rich neighbor; the Holy Spirit has nothing to work with and that person is being cheated out of an opportunity to meet the Lord because we didn't pay our tithes and give our offerings as the Lord has commanded. It is easy for a hungry person to turn a person off when their empty belly is speaking louder to them than the words of the preacher, but when that physical hunger has been satisfied with food given in the name of Jesus Christ; that person is more open to trying to understand why a perfect stranger would help them expecting nothing in return. OTBP 6月3日 GET BEHIND ME, SATAN!People in the church have the mistaken idea that Satan can do whatsoever he desires when he desires, but that is not true. Satan has no more authority on this earth than a gnat unless man lends him his. Have you ever thought about this? When Satan attempted to usurp the throne of God and failed; what did God do to him? Did He just slap him on the wrist and tell him he was a bad angel? No! God sentenced Him to an eternity of hell, kicked him out of heaven, and exiled him to a place far from His presence. Since God still had plans for Satan; He created for him a temporary holding cell complete with boundaries he cannot cross. He was barred from God's presence except on certain rare occasions when he was called to report his activities to God. [Job 1:6 & 2:1] Whereas God is orderly and organized and all of these things were placed in Satan at his creation, but after his rebellion he became the exact opposite of the being he had once been. At one time he was the angel of light, the sum of perfection as God described him; [Ezekiel 28:12-15] but God says he has now become the angel of darkness, the author of confusion and every evil thing, he is a liar, a murderer, a thief, and the enemy of all that is good.
In the first and second verses of Genesis the bible tells us, (1) "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (2) The earth was without form, and void: and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters." Theologians tell us there is an unknown period of time between verse one and verse two of Genesis one. The bible says the heavens and the earth were completed in verse one, but something happened that changed all that by verse two. My next statement is purely speculation, but Satan being a spirit and spiritual forces being greater than natural elements had the power to change the solid consistency of the natural earth back into its original form in his attempt to keep God from forming anything of substance within Satan's exiled area. I also believe Satan knew that the heavens and the earth was going to be the future home of God's highest creation that would be made in the very image of God with Godly powers to rule over the heavens and the earth as well as Satan and those angels that had been evicted from God's heavenly kingdom. At the time the original earth was created in verse one of Genesis one; I do not believe there was any darkness in God's kingdom, and no darkness appeared in it until after Satan's rebellion and exile. Where upon his eviction from the presence of God, Satan turned the area he was confined to into a chaotic mess and turned it to darkness in his anger. But, as the time came for the implementation of God's plan for the creation of man; when God said, "Let there be light." He was telling the Holy Spirit,"It's time!" And the place of Satan's exile light up just as it had been at the first; and when the light appeared Satan knew God was about to implement His plan for the creation of man; and his place of exile was about to come under the dominion of both God and man.
Our next question would have to be: "Why would God exile Satan to the area of His creation that He planned to make a home for His children?" The answer to that would have to be: since God created every spiritual being in His creation with a free will; there was always a chance God's man would use his free will to rebel against his creator just like Lucifer had done. If there was going to be another rebellion; it would not be in heaven but in a confined area outside the gates of God's heavenly domain. Well, we know from reading God's account of Adam in the Garden of Eden that Adam did in fact use his free will to rebel against the commands of God and gave away his God given authority to the devil. Where upon Satan used that dominion to bring death and destruction into the life of man and earth.
That leads to the question: why didn't God just automatically sentence man to hell as He had Lucifer and his angels? The answer is: angels are not made in the image and likeness of God; and they do not have a portion of God's own Being in them. Man is God's crowning achievement. He is God's highest creation. God did not make man on the order of angels. Man was made on the order of God with all of his abilities and attributes. We are the very children of God Almighty Himself! We were not created to bow the knee to anyone or anything except our Father. We were made to rule right alongside God Himself. Listen to what the writer of Hebrews tells us in [Hebrews 2:6-9] "What is man (Adam) that you are mindful of him, or the son of man (the descendants of Adam) that you take care of him? You have made him (man) a little lower than than the angels: (that word angels in this Scripture is a misinterpretation of the original Hebrew word. The word is 'Elohim' in the Hebrew Lexicon and is the same name used throughout scripture for God Himself.) You have crowned him (man) with glory and honor, and set him (man) over the works of your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his (mans) feet. For in that He put all things under him, (man) He left nothing that not under him. (man) But now we do not yet see all things put under him, (man) but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels (Elohim) for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone."
Beloved, angels were created to be servants of God and man and nothing more. [Hebrews 1:14] They possess great power, but it is nothing compared to the power of God and man. God has not left us helpless in this life. He has given us the creative ability to create a life that is on the plane of God by using the words of God as our substance from which to construct it. Whether we know it or not, we are creating our life using the words of somebody. If we are not using God's Words, we are using the thoughts and ideas we receive from Satan. What we have is exactly what we have been speaking. Now Jesus told us in Matthew 16:23] "Get behind me Satan! You are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men." There are a couple of very interesting statements in this Scripture besides Jesus demonstrating the authority of a sinless man to command Satan to leave our presence. The majority of the church has never been taught nor have they realized that a person's sins that have been forgiven makes that man a sinless and pure man in the eyes of God just like Jesus was when He was on the earth. And if we are forgiven we have the authority to command Satan to,"Get behind us!" just as Jesus did and Satan and all of the evil he has brought into our life has to depart from our presence. Brothers and sisters, Do you understand what I am saying? Satan cannot stay in the presence of a pure and sinless man once he has been commanded to leave. If we are forgiven; it is as though we have never sinned, and all of the authority God gave Adam in the beginning is ours to use through the death and suffering Jesus went through on our behalf. And when Jesus who is our example commanded Satan to leave a person, everything evil left the person. That means sickness, disease, demon possession, everything that is of Satan left him. And that which is of God came into the person and replaced the sickness, demon possession or whatever had been there before. And when Jesus said of Satan,"You are an offense to me." He meant evil is an offense to a Holy God and should be to a Holy man. If Satan is an offense to the Son of God, he should be an offense to the children of God. If evil and sin isn't offensive to us, we need to check our relationship with God because something is amiss, and it isn't on God's end; it's on our end. The statement, "You are not mindful of the things of God, but of men." tells us that Satan doesn't have a clue about what is going on in heaven. He can't know because he cannot escape the limitations of his exile. He is only mindful of the things of men, and he wouldn't be mindful of the things of men if men would not give him the time of day and commanded him to go where he is headed at some future time.
Dear God, help us to understand that you are not weak; and your children are not to be weak. We were created strong and expected to rule with you over all of your creation. And for those people that will lay aside their desires and take up their cross and follow the Lord; will rule and reign with Him over all of creation for all of eternity. Praise God. Brethren, don't you see who you are? Rise up and take your position in the body of Christ. Get the sin out of your life and make your life count for something. Stop complaining about the trouble you are facing; use your trouble as an opportunity to exercise your faith and take authority over your troubles in the name of Jesus; command Satan to get out of your face; and your life will straighten out. If you will not use your God given authority; don't expect things to get better. They won't. They will keep getting worse until Satan has taken everything you own and in the end your very life. One day I was talking to the Lord about my problems, and He said to me very plainly; "Stop complaining to me! I don't have what you need. I didn't take it from you; the devil did. And if you want it back; get in his face and tell him you want it. It belongs to you; it doesn't belong to him. I don't have a need for it, and neither does he. You have the authority on the earth, he doesn't. Now use it!" In no uncertain terms the Lord told me if we are a Christian and Satan has robbed from us, he did so to keep it out of our hands. If we don't have what God has blessed us with; we can't use it to benefit the kingdom of God. So if we have been robbed from whether it is in our finances, our health or our sanity; know that God didn't take it from us, and if we want it back; we are going to have to exercise our authority and demand Satan return it to us. That is the only way we will get it back. Understand this also: everything in God's kingdom operates upon the premise of who has the authority to do what. We have been given the authority to rule with Christ, and if we have been saved for some time our heavenly Father fully expects us to use the authority He has given us to rule with Him. Ignorance is not an acceptable excuse in the kingdom of God. He has given us a sound mind and He expects us to use that sound mind for something other than a storage place for the garbage we see on television. If we don't study His Word and if we don't use the authority He has given us; we have no right to complain to Him about the things that are going on in our life we don't like. OTBP
6月1日 THE SON OF MAN WILL JUDGE THE NATIONS"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, then He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you? And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, 'inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' Then He will also say to those on the left hand. 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." [Matthew 25:31-46]
Jesus tells us what is going to happen at the judgment seat of Christ when all men will be judged. I want you to pay particular attention to how many times Jesus said the word 'will' in these passages of Scripture concerning the things that are going to happen on that Day. Picture this if you can; Jesus comes into the judgment hall: (1) then He (Jesus Christ) will sit on the throne of His glory. (and) (2) All the nations will be gathered before Him, And the Judging begins: (3) then He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. (4) And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. (5)Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me. (6) Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you? (7) And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, 'inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' (8) Then He will also say to those on the left hand. 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' (9) Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' (10) Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' (11) And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Did you pay attention to who the judge is? It isn't His Father or the Holy Spirit; it is the one who was rejected by men during their life time. Why is He the judge and not the Father or the Holy Spirit? He was the one who came, who died, and who suffered at the hands of sinful man for the sins of man. Most everyone in America has heard that He died for our sins that we might have life; and they have lived their life just as other people of all the ages have lived their lives. They have been deceived into thinking it doesn't matter to Jesus whether or not they were loving and kind, hateful and revengeful, or selfish and materialistic. But this is not the picture Jesus is painting for us in these passages of Scripture. Jesus clearly makes a distinction between those who accept Him as their Lord and Savior; and those who are self serving people. The one group Jesus called 'the sheep' and seated them at His right hand. The other group He called 'the goats' and placed them at His left hand. Then Jesus goes into detail providing us with a description of the things 'the sheep' did that made them acceptable to Him and a list of things 'the goats' didn't do that caused them to be rejected. To 'the sheep' Jesus said, "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: and to 'the goats' He said, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
Both 'the sheep' and 'the goats' were judged on the merits of their life. 'The sheep' who willingly followed their Lord and obeyed His instructions are going to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world; and 'the goats' who are self willed and self seeking people will go into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Jesus then lists the good deeds 'the sheep' performed in His Name in their life time; and what 'the goats' didn't do that caused them to be cast into the everlasting fire. To 'the sheep' Jesus said, "I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me." But he said to 'the goats' on His right hand, "I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me." Then Jesus pronounced judgment on 'the goats': "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me."
Notice in the above Scriptures Jesus said the things that were done and those that were not; were all done unto Him who is the judge. How can this be you ask? Folks, Jesus who is the judge purchased all of mankind from Satan by forfeiting His own life as their purchase price; and when we accepted Him as our Lord and Savior we dedicated our life to Him. Even though a person hasn't accepted Him as their Lord and Savior that person still belongs to Him because He paid the same price for the life of 'the goats' as He did for those who are dedicated to Him. He gave His life that every person that will ever be born on this earth could have eternal life. Now it is up to us to decide whether or not we want to partake of that life. Those that were grateful Jesus called 'Sheep' and set them on His right hand. Those people who were ungrateful and selfish He called 'Goats' and seated them to His left. The only question now remaining to be answered is whether or not we are going to be one of the heaven bound 'sheep'; or one of the fire breathing 'goats'? God gave us a free will when He created us and He has given us the right to choose where we want to spend our eternity. He won't twist our arm to make us choose heaven, but neither will he keep us out of hell if we are bound and determined to go there. We choose whether we want to be a 'Baa' and inherit the kingdom prepared for us, or a 'Butt head' and go to hell. In this life we choose where we want to spend our eternity; and Jesus will abide by the choice we made "On that Day." OTBP
5月31日 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 5月30日 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
5月28日 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
5月26日 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 5月25日 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 5月23日 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 5月22日 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 5月21日 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 |
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