Saturday, October 20, 2012

The Government Shall Be Upon His Shoulder

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 Oh! What a most wonderful God we all serve. We serve the God of all gods, the Lord of all lords, the King of all kings. We serve the one single being that controls all things as He chooses for them to be. He left nothing to chance, and He left nothing to man. God said “For unto us a child is born…” in Bethlehem and to the Virgin Mary. Not just any son but the Son of God also known as the Son of man. While they are one in the same they are separate in that one is God and the other is man; one is God himself and the other sits on the right hand of God. John said that when he was called up in spirit in to heaven he saw one that set on the throne. "And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne." Revelation 4:2 this One is God. We also learn that to the right of this throne is another throne and he that set on that throne is the man Christ Jesus. "Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God." Luke 22:69 it is He (the Son of man) that God shall set the governments of the earth, and it is also Him who’s shoulders God has given all power and rule. Jesus Christ has all powers over the earth and one day He will once again sit on the earth one King David’s throne and rule it once again. In a couple of weeks we will have an election; we will either keep the powers that be or we will replace them with new powers. As Believers in Jesus Christ we can take much comfort in the fact that God rules and controls everything and He has predetermined this world’s future as He has chosen for it to be. With this being said God sets kings and powers up as He chooses and He takes them down as He chooses. Whoever is the victor on November 6th will be by Gods choosing and not ours. However I believe it is the duty of every believe to vote and to vote with biblical valves. However on the night of November 6 or the morning of the 7th we must understand the victor was installed by Gods power. This does not mean that one or even either one is godly servants but rather a servant that God will use for a certain purpose. God uses the lost just as He uses the saved to accomplish His blessed will. God has certainly predestinated an end to this world and the next great event following the second coming will be the tribulation period and it is this event that the world is heading under the headship of God. Romans 13:1 "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God." In 1 Peter 2:13-17 we are told that the powers that be whether kings or goveners we are to obey them because god has set them into place. "...king, as supreme; Or unto governors..." So beloved do not fret about this election; just vote and trust the Lord with the results. We do not understand everything the Lord does; but we certainly should trust Him in the results of everything. In this election we have two men, one who claims (with not fruits) to be a Christian and a Mormon, therefore we must ask [why not a good Christian] and [how can God set either one of these men in office]. Well the answer is simple; while neither of these men serves God as Christians the winner will serve God; not to the good as Christians do but to the bad in helping to bring together the tribulation period. Romans 13:3 "For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:" Therefore beloved however the election turns out be sure not to fret but to praise Gods holy name for the results, because either way this person will be used of God to help set the world up for the tribulation period. And please remember to vote because God will use your vote in whichever direction this election goes.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Salvation Made Simple.

Acts 16:30 - 31 "And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? (31.) And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." I love this passage of scripture because it tells the way of salvation without any doubts. It is plain, simple, and straight to the point. “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved…” no anything else. This passage of scripture reminds me of Ephesians 2:8 - 9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (9.) Not of works, lest any man should boast." They are both irrefutable. These two men Paul and Silas did not add one single thing; no decision, no prayer, no baptism, no works, no etc, it was just plain, simple, and to the point. Paul also told us in Acts 4:12 "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." This includes anything in existence or that will ever exist. Whether it is a person, a work, or an act of any kind, there is no salvation in anything else no matter what it is called. We must all understand in order to be saved you must flee to Jesus Christ; He is the only name that will be your Saviour because it is He who shed His blood to cleanse us from our sins. John told us in John 1:12 "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:" To “receive Him” is to believe on him as your Saviour and none other. Jesus Christ does not compete with or share the glory with anyone or anything else. If salvation included another person, thing, or act, it would take glory away from Jesus Christ. Since Jesus Christ was Gods Son, and elected to die for our sins, and the One Who shed His blood for our sins then He must be the only Saviour. Man has added all this other additional stuff to salvation, Paul and Silas stated it yes simply but truthful. If one thinks about any other added thing then it belittles Jesus Christ as our Saviour by declaring His death and His shedding of blood was not enough to deliver mans salvation, however Paul neither here nor any other place in the scriptures ever recognized any thing being added to Jesus Christ for mans salvation. We are never told that we are condemned if we are not baptized, work, live the law, not anything else, however we are told if we do not believe in Jesus Christ we will be eternally damned to hell fire. John 3:18 "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." Salvation is made simple to those who believe, but to all others it is an impossible task. One cannot live good enough, one cannot do enough works, one cannot do anything good enough without it being overridden by our sin. No one is without sin before or after salvation because whether saved or lost we are all sinners by nature and that will not change until we leave this fleshly life. Folks God did not make the way of salvation confusing or hard (that was man) but rather simple and irreversible. Listen to Paul and Silas just as the Philippian jailer did and you too can be saved. The Lord declared in Isaiah 45:22 "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."