Truth and False Doctrine Will Never Walk Together.

2 John 1:9 - 11 “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. (10) If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: (11) For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.”

Christians, we all need to take these scriptures as a warning. We are not our own, no, not at all, we belong to God because before the foundation of the world God chose us as His own, and in time Jesus Christ redeemed us to be God’s once again. We were all born into sin, this means we came from our mother’s womb sinners and in doing so we left the fold of Gods chosen and became sinners and separated from God wondering in a lost and dying world. When God said in this parable of the lost sheep, “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.” Luke 15:4 We all came into this world lost sheep of God whom He gave to Jesus before the foundation of the world. However, in this world we were lost, sinful, and wondering in a dark world not knowing we truly belonged to Jesus. We are blessed because we had a Saviour, a Sheperd who left heaven and came to this world to seek and to find His lost sheep. He found us, because we could never find Him, because we were never looking for Him. Jesus brought us back to His fold and put us with the other ninety and nine. What a glorious gift to us who were elected before the world as God’s children and gifted to Jesus. While we still dwell in this dark and sinful world we are no longer bounded to sin because Jesus has set us free from Satan’s power and sin. God sent His Holy Spirit to us to teach us, and we learned the doctrine of God’s word day by day as we studied to rightly divide the word of Truth. God was also gracious to us to set us into a church where our Pastors and Teachers could feed us the truth of God’s Word. This doctrine of the bible, this word of truth, should be the most precious thing in our life. We need to continually feed on it and nourish our spiritual hearts and causing spiritual growth. Our most closet time with our God and our Saviour is when we meet with them in study, but it is more precious when we meet in our churches to study and worship together. God warned us to never sell the truth Pro. 23:23 but to surrender all, even our lives to protect it. God said, “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ…” and if you surrender the true doctrine you, “hath not God.” What a horrible thought, to understand that if we surrender the truth of the doctrine we have once again separated ourselves from fellowship with God. God warned in Amos 3:3 “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” and the answer is no they cannot, especially with God. Therefore, it is our responsibility to God and to Jesus our churches Head to hold the line on bible doctrine. We are to protect our church from false doctrine and always “rightly dividing the word of truth.” So that we are never ashamed before our Lord and Master. God said if anyone comes among us who has a different doctrine we are not to, “receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed.” Because there is nothing more damaging to a house of sheep than a wolf in sheep clothing. We need to send that wolf and his false doctrine on his way, “neither bid him God speed:” This is because helping him in anyway is partaking of his evil deeds, and getting caught up in his lies and false doctrine. Pray for his soul, pray for his coming to truth, but never pray to our God of Truth to help him spread his false doctrine. Never give him a place in your church to pray, sing, or to speak in any way, just ask him to go, before there is damage in the Lord’s church. “For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” Remember that two cannot walk together unless we agree and Truth never will agree with false doctrine, ever! Many of Christians and even church have committed apostasy with the truth and God because they have failed to heed God’s warning and in Judgment they will pay for their apostasy. Please watch whom you listen to, and if it is not Truth, please turn your ears from it.   

Buy the Truth and sell it not!

Proverbs 23:23 “Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.”

What does God mean by “buy the Truth,” He means to own it, no matter the cost. As children of God, we are to be like our Father, and that means to search for and believe His Truth. He also means to possess it, make His truth your life, never sell it for the world because the world and all that is in it is only temporary. Matt. 16:26 “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” The Truth of God’s word is not popular, it will cost you much to believe it, it could cost you friendships, relationships, and even family, to believe it and it could also cost you to testify of it because of the hate of it. The world by nature hates Gods Truth and a lot of Christians either refuse to believe the Truth or hide from it. Many of Christians lose it for just the reason I have already spoke of. People by nature care about the cost of the Truth, they care about what their family, co-workers, or friends think about them believing the Truth of God’s word. However, remember this, you cannot serve God and the world, one will cause you to hate or despise of the other. The Lord not only told us to buy it, but He also told us not to sell it out. Your family, friends, and coworkers are not worth selling out God’s word of Truth. Do not allow Satan, this evil world and their demonization of the Truth cause you to lose what God has graciously given. Believing Truth is a gift, like salvation is a gift from God. While you cannot lose your salvation, you can lose or sell out the Truth of God’s word. Carefully walk my friends, what we do in this life will affect our reward status in heaven. The believer’s judgment will be before Jesus Christ and our judgment will be harsh. Our judgment will not be for our sins because Jesus Christ has already paid dearly for them at Calvery. The Christians judgment will be our believing and obeying of the word of God. Our judgment will be harsh, it will hurt to stand before our glorious Saviour and realize that we failed our Lord. The realization that we failed to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Tim. 2:15 Or that we failed to obey the word of God, sometimes even acting as though we did not hear it, see it, or simply chose to ignore it, or making excuses for it. We will stand before Jesus WITHOUT EXCUSS and very pitiful because He is the very one who wrote the bible and commanded us. We will be ashamed of our action on this earth of not being a good Christian, or a good soldier for the Lord. We will no longer be able to lie to ourselves and believe even though we told ourselves we were good soldiers we lied to ourselves and convinced ourselves that we were. Beloved, what we personally believe, and think is irrelevant because the word of God overrides what we think or believe. God warned and even commanded that we study His word of Truth, but He also commanded that we believe it and use it to “rightly dividing the word of truth.” The writer of the Proverbs wrote these words of wisdom, “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.” Proverbs 2:1 -5 The greatest blessing for a believer is not within this world, it is within the pages of God’s word of Truth. As the recipients of God’s grace and love, not only in salvation but also in being taught by the Holy Spirit of Truth, it is ours to study, learn, believe, and to walk within. However, if we fail, if we sell the Truth, then it is our fault and in judgment we will suffer much greater loss. I know some things are hard in life, however, there are no excuses for failure. We are not alone, seek and you shall find, as and it shall be given to you, but you must want the truth to find it. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” Matthew 7:7 - 8 

What will it be like to be incorruptible?

1 Corinthians 15:42 “So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:”

Someday, today, or maybe a few years from now we will utterly understand what it is like to be incorruptible. We that are saved will not understand the full power of our salvation until we are with the Lord in heaven. In this flesh we are sinners because Satan, the chief sinner brought sin into this world when he convinced Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit, and because of that Adam did eat, and because of that we were born in corruption. Even though our salvation is complete through Jesus Christ, our salvation will not be completed for us until the rapture and our bodies are glorified “it is raised in incorruption:.” Peter wrote in 1Peter 1:23 “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” Our souls are pure when we are saved and our spirits are also pure because they have been quickened from a dead state to a living state. However, our bodies are still in the state of corruption, therefore, sin is continually eating them up and they are continuing to die. God said in Romans 8:30 “Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” Therefore, to God we are glorified because God sees the end result, but our bodies will not be glorified until we are raptured or resurrected from the grave and changed, then we are truly incorruptible. One glorious day, we that have been blessed by God’s grace to be His children will stand in the kingdom of God as pure as Jesus Christ is. All our sins have been forgiven, cleansed by the blood of our Saviour. Paul made it known that in this flesh there is nothing good, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing”. Rom. 7:18 However, when we are in God’s kingdom we will no longer have this flesh, we will shed it and leave it behind. While today we may not understand what it will be like we know that we will be like our Saviour, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2 With our souls being cleansed by the blood of the Saviour, our spirits being quickened by the Holy Spirt in salvation, our vial bodies will soon be like that of our glorious Saviour. Philippians 3:21 “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” All Christians should hate sin because we are sinning against the very God that saved us by grace. God gave us so much, He loved us when we hated Him. He loved us so much He sacrificed His very own Son to redeem us. And in return we can not (because of our old nature still being present) resist sinning. Although for most Christians we do not want to sin, we do and that is unfortunate for us. But, a great day is coming, and may be soon that when our salvation is complete in the rapture and we are given our new glorified bodies, we will understand. We will for the first time understand what being incorruptible. Please listen closely to what God said through Peter’s writing, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, (5) Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3 – 5. What a day that will be when we drop this robe of flesh and no longer desire to sin because sin will no longer be any part of our being. Praise the Lord!   

Our Heavenly Father Knows Our Needs.

Matthew 6:8 “Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”

What is the context of this passage of scripture, it is praying to be heard. “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.” Matthew 6:5.

Prayer is a special meeting between our Father and His child, it is a very private heart to heart talk with our Heavenly Father. It is not a time for personal glory, it is not a time of proud speaking to be heard as the heathen would do. God is our Omniscient or all knowing and all wise God, so much so that He knows everything about us that there is to know, even our most needful needs. Jesus went on in verse (31) to say, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?” I cannot believe that Jesus meant that we are not to ever ask God for our needs, but we do need to remember that we are speaking to our Omniscient Father, who does supply all our needs. We need to remember that He is the Eternal God and knows the beginning to the end and everything in between. As Christians we never need to be forgetful that everything in our life is a result of God bringing them in our life. While sometimes it is hard for us to see or to understand, we must remain conscious of God’s work and dealing in our life. We are never walking alone but by the will and grace of God for us. This is why we must have an active prayer life, praying many times a day. We are asking our Heavenly Father to bless us in so many ways, because we trust Him to answer. The Psalmist wrote, “He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.” Psalms 91:15 God will never give us all our that we ask for, but He will supply our need if asked according to His will. "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." 1 John 5:14 - 15 We must always be reminded that God has ordained our life from the womb to death. Charles Spurgeon wrote in his sermon “Shall and Will” these words, “"He shall call upon me." It is not said, "I will give him this and that, without his praying." He that asketh receiveth; to him that knocketh it shall be opened; he that seeketh findeth. The asking, the knocking, the seeking must come before the reception, the opening of the door, and the finding. This is God's way.” That is God’s way indeed, that we do not pray in the open to be heard but that our prayers be and opening of our hearts to God our Father. Jesus went up into the mountain and prayed all night long, “And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.” Luke 6:12 This proves to us that an active prayer life is only a good thing but should be part of our Christian life. We need to also understand that it is not only that we pray but that we pray much, as Jesus did. While public prayer is so wonderful and I love to hear God’s men pray, prayer is also a private time between our Father and ourselves for talking to Him and making our personal request known. Let us pray for each other, let us pray for our Pastors, Ministers, Churches, and Missionaries and their works. There is so much we all need to sit and talk about with God, ask and you shall receive, but never ask amiss and never pray just to be publicly heard for your well speaking. Ask for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of God’s word. Ask God to send His Holy Spirit and teach you, and to correct any doctrinal misunderstandings. Talk to our Father about our nation and our wicked world, about the hate in the world, and how best to present the Gospel to the lost. Jesus prayed all night on that mountain top because He had mush to talk to His Father about and so do we. Make a list, and talk to God about that list, point by point. Cannot sit on a mountain and talk to God then use a closet because it is always a better conversation when it is one on one and exceptionally long in time. Folks, it is our prayer life, not only publicly but more so in a private setting with us and our Gracious and loving Father. If we ever pray to be heard, then we are praying amiss, and God will refuse to hear and answer our prayer. The Lord said, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Matt. 6:6 The Lord does not forbid public prayer as long as it is sincere and not for show. And when we pray, do not let us pray as though God doesn’t know our needs, because He does.  

“Be still and know that I am God”

Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

For us to properly serve God we must live and walk in Truth, the truth of His word. We must walk in the Spirit, (Gal. 5:16) and in doing so we will not in any way fulfill the lust of our old nature to disobey God. God told us here to “Be still…” Albert Barnes defined this phrase like this, “It is also employed in the sense of not making an effort; not putting forth exertion; and then would express the idea of leaving matters with God, or of being without anxiety about the issue.” In Ex. 14:13 God told Moses, “And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD…” If we obey the Lord and “stand still” then in God’s own time we will see the hand of God dealing with the issue. We need to remember what prayer is for and exercise our chain of communication to our Heavenly Father, then stand still and trust Him. Then the Lord tells us, “and know that I am God.” The word “to know” is for us to know, to understand, to remember, to trust, that He is God, and it is in His hand and power. The Psalmist David wrote in Psalms 46:8 “Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.” The word “desolations” is defined “ruin or waste” which is to be understood that the ruin or waste of our land or of the earth is God’s workings and not “bad luck or something caused by another source.” God is not only to be praised for the good but also for the desolations on the earth. God has many reasons and purposes for the ruin He causes, and one reason is to get the attention of the heathen. As Christians we are not to buy into the excuses of the world but in everything as the power and work of God, even in disasters. People who do not know God are excusable from seeing God’s hand in things, but we who know God thru Jesus Christ are without excuse if we use the reasoning of the heathen to explain why something happens. We must exalt God in all things “I will be exalted among the heathen.” The heathen must understand that God delivers these desolations to make the world understand their error. People who believe that God is not behind these events do not know the Omniscient and Omnipotent God we know. So, some might ask, “why would God cause such desolations on the earth, and God answered that question, “I will be exalted in the earth..” God is saying, “I will make myself glorious by my great and wonderful works.” The heathen need to understand that their sinful ways are and abomination to God. Sin is not ok; it is ok to disobey God. People want to believe these heathiest preachers that “God is love” and that “God loves everyone” and that “God wants nothing but the best for us.” God is a God of judgment, Moses wrote “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” Deuteronomy 32:4 God destroyed this earth with a flood and killed every living soul except eight, why, “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:5 Noah stood still, he did as God commanded, he built a ship on dry land, he knew it was God and he exalted God for the desolation that He brought. God was also exalted with the desolation of Sodom and Gomorrah “But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.” Genesis 13:13 God has not changed, as Christians we know the plan of God, we know the world is heading to many more desolations because of their evilness. God is not the bad here, He is a God that all His ways are judgment, and He is judging this world through desolations just as He has since creation. The desolations of this world, all of them have meaning, they are God’s work and His judgments, we are to be still and praise God in them. God will be exalted by His people and someday by the very people He delivered these judgments too. “…As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” Rom. 14:11. Therefore, when these things happen, know that He is God and that these things are His judgments!   

"As Christians we belong to God."

 James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

As Christians we are the children of God, we are no longer the property of any other because we were bought by the blood of Jesus, God’s own Son. We are to live, move, and have our being by the rule, authority, and laws of God, because He is our Father. God hates sin, there is not one sin that our Heavenly Father is pleased with, not one. So, what is a sin against God, it is any action, word, desire, purpose, or omission contrary to the law, which is contrary to the word of God. Jesus, God’s own Son said, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” John 5:30 If every believer had this thought in their heart, and worked to accomplish this, we would be so obedient to our Father and our crowns and rewards would be also great in heaven. While we all sin because of our old nature, our new nature should correct our old nature, and we would sin so much less. When our sin is a voluntary violation of, or failure to comply with the word of God then we are in greater violation of God’s law. God said, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” The Believers who walk the closest with God in His word are always the happiest because we are walking in fellowship with God. Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. (17) If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” John 13:16 - 17 And He should know because He walked 100% with God and in God’s will. We must remember that every transgression is represented in the Bible as an act of rebellion against God, who is all Holy and is a hater of all sin. For us as His children to act independently of him, to set up the will of His child against the will of their Father in Heaven, and to put self in the place of God, and thus to dishonor His Holy name. We must also understand that it is wrong to twist our thinking and to blame our natural flesh for our sin. We must accept responsibility to God and work every second of everyday to please our Father. Sin should be our unrest in life, like a tossing of the waves of the sea; a constant disturbance, the flesh against the spirit, us against Satan. The Apostle Paul wrote about “departing from the faith” it was like “…having their conscience seared with a hot iron;” 1 Timothy 4:2b That is “to render unsensitive” to the will of God for us to walk upright. Paul wrote about our new born again life, “This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.” Ephesians 4:17 – 19 And do not forget, when Paul speaks of the word “Gentiles” his reference is to lost people of the world.    

"It is just with God eternally to cast off and destroy sinners."

There is no question that sin is breaking God’s laws, and it is never just with a Holy God to break His laws, just or lost. God is a Holy God which means He does not ever tolerate sinfulness, not in any manner.  The punishment to all people who die lost or without being covered by the blood of the Saviour, will be an eternal presence in the lake of fire that will never be quenched. The most damning thing lost sinners can do is to listen to men attempting to preach things they know nothing about. God said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”  Joh 5:39 Men are like Satan trying to teach you, the blind trying to lead the blind. Matt.15:14 “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” It is especially important for everyone, last and saved to understand that God hates sin and that He is going to punish sin to the lost and remove crowns and rewards to the saved. “Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” 1 Corinthians 3:13 the works of every believer will be the Christians judgment. While Jesus Christ has paid for the sins of every believer, our failure in our service to God is our responsibility. It is different for lost people; their sins will be paid for in judgement including the sin of death they inherited from Adam. Rev 20:13 “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.” Their works are their sins, and some too greater, some too lesser punishment, as their sinful works deserved. These people were cast into hell because Jesus said, depart from me, I never knew you as my own child. “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:15 God is just in His hatred for sin and His judgment as He was in judging and punishing Jesus Christ for ours.

I am never alone.

Acts 17:27 - 28 “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”

I am no different than any other person, I am a sinner, born in sin, grew-up in sin, grew-old in sin, and yes, I will die a sinner. When I was born, I was born at enmity with the God of creation, the God of grace, and the God of salvation. Not knowing nor even caring about God or what He had in store for me. I thought as all people do, I must live and exist on my own, making my own way and being my own defender. It was not until my gracious Lord’s Spirit come to me, entered my body, quickened my dead spirit, and called and caused me to believe on Jesus Christ as my Saviour. It was that moment that this worthless and sinful young man became a child of God. It was that very moment I could feel the Holy Spirit working inside of me, while I did not know what was happening inside of me, I knew it was changing me. It was years later in life when I was taught that the life-changing experience I had was the power, grace, and love of God and His Beloved Son Jesus who died for me so many years ago. What I felt working inside of me was the Holy Spirit and that He would never leave nor forsake me, no matter what. It is hard to understand just how much the Lord God works in our life, and that He is so close that He is never far from us. I am blessed, because later in life I learned just how much God works in my life, I can feel Him working and see the results of His work in every move and happening in my life. I understand that I will live my entire life and never totally understanding how much God did in my life. God made me a promise, “that all things work together for good to them that love God.” Many things happen in my life, my day is full and there is no telling what good or disastrous thing may happen in that single day. But I have learned that every step I take, every breath of life I breath, and every happening thing, good or disastrous things, it is God that brought it, and it was brought for my good. The Lord is never far from me because He lives inside of me. I am not my own, I belong to the Lord my God and He has promised that no matter if the house falls on my head, it was He that caused it to fall. God has even promised me, “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.” It is I that must be patient and wait on the Lord because it is He that has made me all these wonderful promises, and that I will never walk alone for a single moment alone.

We all lack fear.

Proverbs 13:24 “He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.”

There are a lot of people, some even Christians, and even worse some Pastor who disagree with God here, but where there is not discipline there is no fear. If there is no fear then there is no righteousness, there is only unrighteousness. God said about fear, “…The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.” Psalms 36:1 God also said a child that is without discipline is an unloved child. “If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” Hebrews 12:7 – 8. Satan is the one who tells us that an undisciplined child is good, he is the one who is against discipline. It does not matter, anyone who is without discipline is not upright. God speaks of discipline in our children, our families, our churches, and His own saved children, and discipline begins with fear. God said of people, “And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Romans 3:17. Today in our world children grow-up without discipline, churches fail to discipline, nations no longer fear one another, government are soft on crime, and the world does not fear God. All we must do is look at our godly and lawlessness society, where drugs are an infestation, children are shooting schools and committing heinous crimes in the streets. Grown adults have no fear of God, the laws of the land, and no fear of death. Most of it is because so-called churches with so-called pastors no longer preach the fear of God, the fear of chastisement, the fear of death and hell, or the fear of God’s judgment from the pulpits. Counterfeit churches are not the only ones to blame, parents are to blame because of the way children are raised, schools are to blame because of our ungodly education system, our governments are to blame because there is no fear of prosecution. Today, because of the way our children are raised, the world does not know “love” people do not know what love is, children say they love their parents then kill them, husbands say they love their wives then divorce them, families say they love their siblings and never talk of visit, people say they love God and hate His word. When the world lost its Reverence for God, it lost its reverence of good vs evil. God said of fear, “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” 2Cor. 7:1 Let us walk in righteousness and holiness in our fear of God, this is where the world failed, now evil and drugs have taken over the world. “Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.” Eph. 5:21 The salvation sermon called the gospel of Jesus Christ has been watered down and destroyed by so-called church who are simply houses of unsaved souls. God is mocked, shown to be weakened, shown to be defeated, shown to be an old man with no teeth, but one day this world will see God in judgment and the flames of hells fire will burn and burn the pain will be unbearable and unquenchable. But how would the world even know this, people never hear these messages anymore, the message of fear is ignored in most churches. “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.” Psalm 89:7 And the Lord went on to say in, Hebrews 12:28-29 “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.” Where there is no fear, there is no godliness, and the people will suffer, and evil will take over. 

Does God truly “will” all men to be saved?

 1 Timothy 2:4 “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

Most of those who fail to recognize and understand the Sovereignty of God will answer yes and point to scriptures like this one while ignoring all the rest of the scriptures. God is the Creator of all things and in that He is Sovereign in all things. David wrote in Psalms 115:3 “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.” God does as He pleases because He can because He is Sovereign in all things including Salvation. Paul writes in Romans 9:13 – 14 “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.” God loved Jacob and hated Esau at His choosing, not because of anything else. God’s Sovereignty allows God to do anything He chooses and without unrighteousness in His choice. Paul went on to write these words in verse 15 “For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” God is not unrighteous in His choices even in making a person righteous and another unrighteous, “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” V. 21 If a person is happy taking scriptures out-of-context and making it seem that the ordained will of God is that all men to be saved as it appears here then they have found the scriptures to be out-of-context altogether making the bible worthless at best. The question we must all ask is can God be Sovereign and will for something He cannot have? Not all men will be saved, people die everyday lost and without Christ. The truth is, if God wanted all men to be saved then all men would be saved because the absolute will of God never fails. God will that people do a lot of things, but unless it is God’s absolute will or ordained will, none will do anything God wills. It is no different than to say God wills all men to go to church, or God wills all men to accept Christ. It is God’s ordained will that causes lost sinners to come to Christ, it is by God’s drawing power that delivers them. God does not want anything He cannot have, God never fails. Therefore, it is deceiving to ever look at a scripture that eliminates the ordained will of God. God would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth, but neither will ever happen. This is not because God failed, it is because God’s Sovereign will did not call them. Romans 8:29 - 30 “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (30) Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”     

When Christians Disagree What Do We Do?

Romans 14:1-3 “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.”

Here in this church in Rome they were disagreements over the eating of meats, some weak in faith believed eating meats was wrong and the stronger in faith believed that the old laws and customs were eliminated by our salvation in Jesus Christ. Any time there is an assembly of people there will be disputes and disagreements. We must always remember that we are people and while we are all saved by Jesus Christ and all cleansed through His glorious blood, we are still people with diverse ways and thinking. I suppose that throughout history every church has had disagreements and disputes over church issues or doctrinal meaning of the scriptures. God said of the church “For the body is not one member, but many.” 1 Corinthians 12:14 We are not mind-numb robots that God has saved and made us all the same, we all come from different backgrounds, we were all raised with different beliefs, we all have different mindsets, and we do not all always agree. The stronger members in the church are to help the weaker members and even in life we should help the weaker Christians who are not as strong as other might be. But the question is, who are the stronger members of the church or of the Christian faith? Some will say those who know the most scriptures, or those who have the higher education level and these are generally smarter, some may say the Pastor because he is the leader in the church. But all these are not exactly true, God can make a bush in a yard smarter than we all, God makes the foolish things wiser than the wise. We must all be reminded that whenever problems arise in churches or among Christians the problem solvers are the most intelligent. Sometimes, most times, when disputes arise it takes sacrifices to solve the issues. I am afraid that in today’s churches we have forgotten how to solve the problems, and the reason we have is because we are letting our head override our hearts. If one Christian disagrees with another Christian, do we withdraw fellowship or solve the problem? Problems are not always solved, if one believes in one thing and another thing, why is that and whose fault is it, and who is right or wrong? Doesn’t the Holy Spirit teach us, and does He teach us with the same doctrine and exactly the same understanding? We cannot force someone to believe something just because we do, nor can we reject them just because the Holy Spirit has not blessed them with the same knowledge. Since when do “we break fellowship” with other believers instead of loving them and praying that God will solve the issues. Who appointed us the judge of other Christians, who left us in charge of “right and wrong,” who among us is without sin or error, it certainly is not me! Again, I ask who are the stronger Christians, it is those who solve problems instead of worsening problems. It is those who sacrifice and stop eating meat to not offend those who believe it’s wrong. Paul wrote in Romans 14:10, 12 “But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ…So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” When we mishandle disagreements and disputing’s we become the sinners and show no maturity as God commanded. It doesn’t matter how smart you are in scripture that makes you strong, it’s the wisdom we have with that knowledge that makes us strong. We need to remember that Jesus will judge us all, and hurting other believers because we did not have enough wisdom will only cost us in judgment. “Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.” Rom. 14:13 Let us ask ourselves, how would Jesus manage it, with a breaking of fellowship or with grace?

Sacrifices Pleasing to God

Hebrews 13:2 “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

For the believer, (this includes every believer that God has graciously saved), we are bound to serve the Lord our God in everything we do in life, and even with our life if necessary. No believer should ever neglect to be as gracious, loving, and kind as our Lord is, because He is above us all. If God’s own Son can be a servant, then we can also be the same, always pleasing our Father before self. Pleasing God is a personal sacrifice, but it will never be more of a sacrifice than God giving His own Son to die by wicked hands of the lost, nor Jesus sacrificing His entire life to redeem us all, even in death. God said in Heb. 13:1 “Let brotherly love continue.” This means that all believers should never allow our brotherly love to ever be interrupted. Not with human love but with the godly love the Holy Spirit blessed us with after we were saved. The Greek word for love here is “Philadelphia” which is defined as “fraternal affection” that is God’s love That the Holy Spirit gave to us when we were saved. Paul wrote about this love in Rom. 5:5 “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” God’s love has been poured out from the Holy Spirit into our hearts, not just love but God’s love.
“This is agapē love, and the Holy Spirit flooded the hearts of believers with God’s love, and with the assurance of it,” as one writer put it. In the days of old, or the early years of the Lord’s church Christians had to flee because of persecution and afflictions. Something most of today’s Christians have not experienced, but as perilous times continue to flourish those times may return and include us. It may be hard for some Christians to understand but when we meet a stranger we never know who that stranger is. Therefore, it is incumbent on us to entertain all strangers. The Lord reminds us “…for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Could we encounter Angels, we never know what God is doing and how He is testing us. Angels have taken on human bodies before and could again, even in our day. I cannot say I have ever had contact with one, but I cannot guarantee that I have not. Therefore, no matter who we encounter or who is among us, it is our duty of hospitality to treat them with love, kindness, and gentleness. The purpose of this scripture is not for us to look for angels, but to exercise our Christian and church duties, being kind and entertaining even those we may not know. Always letting brotherly love continue and always entertaining and not judging if or if not we are to help others. Sacrifices pleasing to God and not to self, the Lord has given us a commandment and it is our responsibility.    

All Power Belongs to God, All Power.

Psalms 62:11 “God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God.”

God is eternal and everlasting and beside Him there is none else. He and He alone is the creator and giver of all things, and all things are subject unto His power and authority. The world was created by the voice of God, man was created from the dust of the ground, woman was created from a rib taken from the man that God created from the dust of the ground. Everything that exist, the sun, moon, stars, galaxy, the birds, trees, fish, everything was created by God. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” Colossians 1:16 God has preeminence over everything that exist, and nothing exist our side or without the power of God, NOTHING. “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep” There was nothing until, “…the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Man was nothing but a lump of dirt until, “…breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Nothing created itself, nothing powered itself, man did not cause himself to become a living soul, the sun gets all it’s power from God, the moon and stars all give as much energy as God has created them too. God also created Satan, and we ask why did God create Satan to be so evil? “The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.” Proverbs 16:4 God gets glory from Satan, just as He received glory through Job, Noah, Jonah, Israel, and just as He will through the failures of all mankind. God will never fail to receive glory from all His creation, just as He does from evil world leaders. Some bring good things and some evil, but no one brings anything outside of the ordained will to God’s glory. Everything on this earth, everything through time, everything that lives will bring glory to God in some fashion. When Adam sinned and the population died, God sent Jesus Christ to bring glory to Him and give Him a name higher than any other name. Every saved person brings glory to God, some more than other and other less, but all brings the glory to God because He ordained. “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.” Romans 11:36 God said, “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” Luke 15:10 Why is there rejoicing in heaven every time a lost sinner is saved, because God saved every sinner that has been saved. Therefore, all glory belongs to Him who has earned it, because no sinner can bring glory to God. We would do well not to listen to people, they are wrong on everything and lie about everything. “… let God be true, but every man a liar…” Rom. 3:4 God has a plan and he controls the outcome of that plan and man can do nothing to alter God’s ordained plan. Some will as about “global warming also known as climate change” God is in control of that also, because man can not alter anything much less the climate. Whatever God’s ordained plan is, is what is happening, therefore, if the climate is changing it is because of God’s ordained plan and power and not man. The truth to everything is man can control nothing, man can change nothing unless God does it for him. All man can do on their own is to fail God and sin.       

God’s Warning to the World.

Isaiah 1:4 “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.”

From the time Adam eat of the forbidden fruit the world has been sinful and an abomination to God. No matter how much people believe they are morally good, God sees this entire world as wicked and every imagination of every human heart as evil continually. Gen. 6:5 “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” To the eyes of God, no human ever born (outside of Jesus) ever had one single second of goodness, not one single good deed about them. Every person was born speaking lies as soon as they were born, conceived in iniquity. Today, people are no different than they were before the flood, people are all born with evil and wicked hearts. They are born hating God; they love sin and drink it like water. Job 15:16 “How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?” and Job 34:7 “What man is like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water?” Not one place in the entire bible does God ever speak highly of any person except those that are His people, not one. However, it is not unusual for people to believe in their own mind that they are good in many ways, while failing to see it only took the sin of Adam to condemn us to eternal hell. Our nation, your nation, the entire world is just as bad as Judah was when Isaiah wrote this to them. God says of this entire world, “…There is none righteous, no, not one:” Rom. 3:10. It does not matter what we see in ourselves, it only matters to what God sees in us. He only see’s evil and wickedness. If we look into a mirror and see how beautiful we are, we can look into the mirror of the bible and see how wicked we are. Let us all look at Romans 3 and then determine wickedness as a person. The bible is a warning to us all, Israel ignored it, and the rest of the world ignores it. People will ignore the scriptures to justify their sins, allowing themselves to sin and believe it is ok. God said, “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,” Hebrews 10:26 God sent His own Beloved Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to redeem us from our sin and wicked nature. God did not perform this act of mercy and grace as an excuse for sinfulness. People sometimes wonder why there is so much destruction in in our lives, we need to look and see if that destruction is God’s rebuke. The only happiness a redeemed sinner will ever have in life is if they are living godly. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” John 13:17 But the Christian must separate themselves from the world because this evil, wicked, and sinful world will only drag you back into the miry pit of evil that God pulled you out of to begin with. The Psalmist wrote these words “Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.” Psalms 19:11 As Christians our reward in not in this earth, it is not being rewarded by an evil and sinful people that is at enmity with the very Saviour who died at the wicked hands of this world to redeem us. God said, “Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.” Psalms 19:11 The closer we walk in God’s word, the closer we walk in the book that was inspired by the Holy Spirit, the greater our reward will be in heaven. God warned us many times in His word about the evil in this world, how that there are NONE that seek Him, listen to Him, none that desires His leadership, why would any Christian ever want what evil souls have? Jesus warned us, “But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.” Mark 13:23 The question is, are we listening to our Lord? “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7 Do you have a spiritual ear, do you hear the Holy Spirit through the scriptures, are you following God or the world? These are the questions we all need to ask ourselves.

Justified By Works?

Romans 4:2 – 3 “For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”

Matthew Poole, a biblical commentator in the 1600’s had this truth to say, “The argument of the apostle might be thus formed: If Abraham had obtained justification by works, he should have had somewhat whereof he might glory before God: but he had nothing whereof to glory before God; therefore he was not justified by works.” It is true that the greatest majority of those who identifies as Christin’s and even churches believes that works are a necessity to be saved but are they correct. Works in themselves are glory to the person doing them, however, if one believes works were in any part necessary to be saved then he “…hath whereof to glory; but not before God.” God does not count the works of a non-believer in Jesus Christ as to have any value to Him. The Apostle Paul wrote this about his beloved Nation of Israel about their unbelief. “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” Romans 10:2. Having “a zeal of God” is not enough to get you to heaven, because it is “not according to knowledge.” of God’s word. When God is telling us about His salvation and He says, “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:9 If salvation is of grace, then there is not room for works, “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” Rom 11:6 Abraham had a lot of works in his life but not for his salvation, but because of his salvation. Abrahams works were because he “believed God” and that believing of the record of God is where his righteousness was accounted. Righteousness in the Lord is believing God and not by things we do. God very clearly explained people’s unrighteousness and depravity in Romans 3:9 – 20 without question or doubt. The problem with most people is that they do not believe God. Paul wrote of works again in Romans 3:26 - 27 “To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.” Boasting, which defines our works is excluded from salvation by Jesus Christ because He is our Saviour, our righteousness, our justification, therefore we must believe God when He says, if we believe in Him then we have eternal life. God went on to say, “Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.” 1 John 2:22 If people proclaim that Jesus Christ is not God’s salvation gift to us then they not only deny the gift of God’s Saviour but call God a liar because they have not believed God. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.” 1 John 5:10 Anyone who believes that salvation includes personal works then they make God a liar and count the work of His Son Jesus worthless. Man cannot be his own savior no more than they can be their own doctor. We must be like Abraham and believe God, however, people will never believe God unless God quickens their dead spirit. People cannot quicken their spirit, they are incapable of repenting from their evil heart, and are incapable of coming to Christ on their own. Unless the Holy Spirit does all these things for them, they will never believe God and will die believing Satan’s lie. “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10 – 12  Do you believe Satan’s lie or God’s truth, because if you are not believing God as Abraham then you are not righteous. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.” 1 John 5:10 Believing in His Son and not of our works.

“Wherein hast thou loved us?”

Malachi 1:2 “I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,”

I have read many times that God did not hate Esau because God does not hate any person. I understand that people see certain places in the scriptures that the bible “appears” to say something that it does not actually say the way it is read. If every scripture was to be takes exactly as we read it, then the bible would be in contradiction. This is why we must study the bible in the context of the entire scriptures as they are written. God said, “Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:14, 15. To study the bible is to dig deep into it and find what God is saying to us, what He is teaching us. If a person simply takes the scriptures as read and does not study them, they will be very confused. If a person does not piece the puzzle of the bible together, they will always be “spiritually discerned.” This means this person will never be able to make a spiritual determination of what God is saying. They will never be able to put the scriptural puzzle together. While no human will ever understand the bible in full (because it is God’s word) we must spend our entire spiritual life on this earth in study of it to “rightly dividing the word of truth.” The difference between men of old (like Spurgeon and others) were so biblically intelligent is because they have little else to occupy their time. Therefore, they (as a family) would sit under a candlelight or other burning lights reading and studying the bible and praying for the Holy Spirit to teach them. This is what made these men so scripturally intelligent. This is why so many (including myself) read and study their work. Most Pastors today have seminary learning or have been to school that teaches men to become Pastors. The greatest seminary is the local church under a scripturally sound Pastor. They will teach you how God is Sovereign, how He is all-knowing, and how He is eternal and never changes. How that the bible is God’s word penned by people that were inspired by the Holy Spirit. Your Pastor will teach you to take the time to study God’s word in-depth, looking up words and putting the context of the bible together, and “rightly dividing the word of truth.” That in that study you will “…shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed” It will be in that in-depth study that you will learn the right answer to this question, “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” Rom. 9:21 You will also learn that “Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.” Rom. 9:18. And in all this scriptural understanding we have learned, and the Holy Spirit has taught us, we may have “the mind of the Lord” and “have the mind of Christ.” 1Cor. 2:16 When the Lord blesses us with this understanding, because we worked hard to learn it, then we will understand how it is that God loved Jacob and hated Esau his twin brother, just as God loved Abel and hated Cain. God loves us with an eternal love, He did not come to love us, He never did not love us. However, with people like Esau, God never loved them, God did not come to hate them, God hated them as He did Esau in eternity past. Once you learn this then you will shun off silly preachers comments like “God can’t change your will” or “God did not hate Esau because God does not hate any person.” God’s love to us is an act of mercy on God’s part, and the reason God saved us is an act of grace on God’s part. People that refuse to believe this has not studied enough to rightly decern the scriptures. That is, they are not able to separate by the differences between Truth and fiction. God loves us because He chose to, not because He had too.  

We are built on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:20 - 22 "And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."

There is no question that the Lord is talking about the local New Testament church here. In verse 19 the Lord said, “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;” The “corner stone” is a large stone firmly at each corner and Jesus Christ is the “chief corner stone” He is named as such because the whole building rests on Him. Brother Oscar Mink, once Pastor of our church and now with the Lord said, “Christ Is The Cornerstone. A Corner Stone Is the Stone Placed In The Corner, Or Angles Of The Foundation Or Sub-Structure Where Two Sides Meet, And By Which They Are Held Together. The "Chief Cornerstone" Is the One, If Removed The Whole Building Would Collapse.” When   God says, “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,” God is speaking of the gospel message of salvation and biblical truth, but the foundation of the church is Jesus Christ because He is the “chief corner stone” of both the church and the truth of the bible. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” That “rock” Jesus was talking about was not Peter because he was a (Petros - a piece of rock) the rock (petra - a mass of a rock) is Jesus Christ. The foundation of everything is laid on Jesus Christ because without Him is all comes tumbling down. God said in 1 Corinthians 3:11 “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about the church or the gospel or biblical truth, Jesus is the foundation of it all, and if it is not built on Him then it is built on sand. Matthew 7:26 - 27 "And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: (27) And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." So, we must ask why did God say “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets” Because as Brother Mink said in his study of Ephesians “We Are Not To Understand By These Words That "The Apostles And Prophets" Are A Part Of The Actual Foundation Of Salvation From Sin, Rather That They Were Apart From Christ, The Original Messengers Of The Truth That Salvation”. The Actual foundation of all of it was Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter if you are speaking about the word, the gospel, or the church, Jesus Christ is the foundation and these Apostles and Prophets are the foundation laid on top of Jesus, this is why He is the Chief Cornerstone. However, since these men of old laid the foundation of truth the building continues to be built, “In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:” Verse 21. We are framed together on the same foundation as the Apostles and Prophets who are all built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. This is true if you are talking about the word of God, the family of God, or the Lord’s churches, we are “all the building fitly framed together” as God has so chosen. And it is because of this foundation, the Apostles and Prophets, and everyone since until today and even into tomorrow, we “are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” That is “For the indwelling, or the dwelling-place, of God.” Each individual believer, as well as each individual local church, all built on the foundation of Jesus Christ and the Apostles and Prophets for the purpose to be the “dwelling-place, of God.” Built by the Holy Spirit.

Do you desire to be a servant of God?

Isaiah 6:8 “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.”

Have you ever asked God to use you, if not why not? As a Pastor and a Minister of God I did not ask God for the service He has chosen for me. God chose me, because serving God is not a choice but rather an appointment. While this verse is in the form of a question it is not a question because God does not make request, serving God is not an option it is a command. What sort of God, Master, omnipotent God would our God be if He had to make request. God does not ask, plead, or beg people to come to Christ as so many claims, oh no, God draws them. John 6:44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” God did not ask Isaiah to volunteer but rather God ordained it of him, gave him the willingness and when the Lord asked God drew him into accepting. Our Sovereign God would never leave the accomplishment of His work in the hands of people, He ordains and administrates every step. "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all." 1 Corinthians 12:4 – 6 The word “administrations” means – the spiritual services of a believer. Therefore, we see Isaiah quickly jump at the opportunity to serve God as all of his servants are. Therefore Isaiah responded, with no hesitation "Here am I". Why are people not falling on their knees to ask God for service appointments? Why are Christians with great voices not serving God in music, why are men with great scriptural knowledge not serving as ministers or teachers, why not? Because God has not called them, God has not chosen them to His service. Isaiah did not say, Lord I am busy. Or Lord I cannot do the work, or Lord I am bashful or shy, he did not even say why me Lord, oh no, not at all, he simply asked God “Here am I; send me.”

I remember seeing the Prophet Jeramiah ask God, “behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.” And then God’s response to him was, “Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.” Jeramiah was not refusing, he was not rejecting God’s will, he just could not believe with his age and experience that God would use him. However, doing God’s will is not about us, it is about how God elects to use us, God will take care of everything, we just need to enjoy the blessings in serving God. So, as God told the Prophet Jeramiah, “Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.” The blessing of all blessings of God is to be used of Him in His service. None of us are ready, none are prepared, we are all meek and lowly but God has made us what we are by His grace. As the Apostle Paul wrote, "For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed." 1 Corinthians 15:9 - 11 Do you desire to be a servant of God, do not be afraid, shy, or never say “I cannot do it” because we are all in God’s gracious hand.

“Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD”

Jeremiah 17:7 “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.”

It may be silly to ask this question, but what do you think it means to trust in the Lord? Most people say and even believe they trust in the Lord, but do they? On a scale of one to ten with ten being 100% what is your trust level in the Lord? The word “trust” means – to be confident or sure in someone or something, it also means to be sure and have hope in it. – This word is aligned with faith, but they are somewhat different. Our trust in the Lord makes us blessed and the more trust we have the more and stronger the blessing we have. Our blessings are centered in our hope through our trusting God. However, the stronger trust we have the stronger faith we have and the more blessed we are. The Lord said in Psalms 125:1 “A Song of degrees. “They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.” So, when is our trust in God strong enough, when we are unmovable from trusting in Him. This trust all starts with how strong your belief in in God’s Sovereignty or God ability to control everything in your life. The preacher Solomon wrote in Ecc. 3:1 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” God just said that to “everything”, that would include anything that exist whether it is an event, tome, happening, or anything else in your life. Believing in the sovereignty of God means that we understand that every step of our life is by the appointed will and power of God. God has appointed every happening in our life by His will and for His purpose. Most Christians and at time all Christians have trouble with this. Sometimes when some events or happenings develop, we do not understand what is happening and fail to remember first that God is controlling it. Let’s test your trust and faith in God, how strongly do believe in Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Did you say a 7 – 10? Do you genuinely believe “that all things work together for good”? Now can you say truthfully in your heart that you “KNOW” and believe that everything, everything in your life is (1) ordained of God for you, and (20) works out for some good in your life, without though or question? When God said, “They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion” why did He mention mount Zion, because He said, “which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.” This is exactly where both our trust and faith both ought to be in God. Without doubt, question, or fear, but recognize that anything or everything, is appointed by God and that everything in life has a good for us. John Gill had these remarks, “Who trust not in themselves, and in their own hearts; nor in anything of theirs, their strength or wisdom, riches or righteousness; nor in any creature whatever, in the mightiest or best of men; but in the Lord; in God, as the God of nature and providence, for all temporal mercies; and in him, as the God of grace, for all spiritual and eternal ones; who should be trusted in at all times, whether of affliction, temptation, or darkness; for which there is abundant reason.” God said in Jeremiah 17:7 - 8 “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.” If our trust in the Lord is strong as it should be that we will never worry about the happenings in our life but instead we will pray and look for the good in the outcome. We may not always see the good bit we must still trust God in them.

Does your heart cry because of sin?

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

We are sinners, we cannot help being sinners because it is how we were born. It was not just David that was born in sin, it was every human ever born except for Jesus who as the Christ. When you are born something, you cannot change what you are, male is male, and female is female, and a sinner is a sinner. A born sinner is never anything else, just as an apple tree bares apples and an orange tree bares oranges a sinner can only sin. Because of our father Adam who sinned God condemned the entire human race under him. God said “For as in Adam all die…” 1Co 15:22 and this is why we are born sinners and cannot change who we truly are. Since we were “shapen in iniquity” it is “in sin did my mother conceive me.” Because mama and daddy were both born in sin and sinners then their children were born sinners. Even if one or even both were born again believers in Jesus Christ, I was still born a sinner. No one is born a Christian all Christians were born again a second time which we were born of God. Our sinful nature is something we never leave behind not even in salvation or in our new birth from God. Unfortunately, we were born with sinful natures, and we will die with sinful natures, and it is only after this death our human natures will leaves us. God said, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” Romans 6:12 This is not a choice for a lost soul, and if God does not supply us with enough grace, it is not a choice for a Christian. Our human nature will always make us desire sin because it gets its strength through sin. The war within the Christian is the battle of two natures, one sinful and the other holy, and this battle within us will be until we die. God said, “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God…” Rom. 6:13. This is the very reason the Psalmist David prayed, “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight… Ps 51:4. He was begging God to cleanse him from His sin and to make him walk in a righteous path of life. The Psalmist went on to pray these words, “Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” Psalm 51:12 David was miserable as a person because as long as he was on this earth he was a sinner. If a Christian is left alone, they will always choose sin over righteousness, it is only within God’s blessed grace we will choose righteousness over sin. The Psalmist knew he was still a sinner, but he prayed constantly two things, (1) that God would forgive his sin and (2) that God would lead him away from sin. God warned us, “not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think;” because “For I say, through the grace given unto me” therefore we are only as strong as, “according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”  This is why we sing, “I am weak but Thou art strong; Jesus, keep me from all wrong;” therefore David wrote these words “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Ps 51:10. Our hearts as Christians need to cry unto God this same prayer, we need to realize and never forget that we are sinners, we need to pray for the grace of God to overcome our sinful desires of our fleshly nature. And let us all pray as David prayed, “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” Ps 143:10. Beloved, grace is not what we needed just to be saved, oh no, grace is something we need every hour of every day. As the song so truly says, I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord; No tender voice like Thine can peace afford. I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby; Temptations lose their pow’r when Thou art nigh.I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain; Come quickly and abide, or life is vain. I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will; And Thy rich promises in me fulfill. I need Thee every hour, most Holy One; Oh, make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son.” Please dear Lord, forgive my iniquity and keep me for sin! Oh Lord, “Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.” Ps. 51:11

God’s Blessings

Ephesians 1:18 - 20 “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, (19) And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, (20) Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,”

Oh my, the grace that God has bestowed upon us who believe in Jesus Christ as our Saviour. There are so many blessings in this passage of scripture it would be impossible for me to cover them all in this short article. Beloved, if you have any biblical understanding of Truth, it is a gift from God. If any of us fail to see everything in our life as a blessing of God’s grace, we will miss the true blessing here. God said, “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened….” We all know that our eyes are the instrument by which we see. If we cannot see, then we will not truly understand. We are all ignorant of something until we can see and learn, that is called being enlightened by God. The eyes God is speaking of here are our spiritual eyes which is our inner spirit. When our spirit was dead then we were blinded, God said, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not…” 2 Cor. 4:4 This is because lost people have dead spirits and therefore spiritually, they cannot not see the truth of the scriptures. The words “being enlightened” means - to shed rays, that is, to shine or to be made to see-. God quickened our dead spirits “that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” . His calling is God calling us from darkness to light, from a dead state to a living state and once our “understanding being enlightened” by God we can see the hope that God has given to us. “And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe” Just that fact that we are saved is showing the greatness of God’s power, but we are also to see the workings of God in our everyday life. “according to the working of his mighty power,” God, in the salvation of our souls performed many blessing in our life way beyond our salvation. He also fills our life with blessings that He has chosen for each of us as He chose them. God does not work the same in every child, He leads us all in many different directions as He has chosen. And since He has “enlightened our eye of understanding” we are also able to see God’s blessings. And we come to understand that all of them are “according to the working of his mighty power” because we know that all things are only possible through Jesus Christ and the workings and power of God. Our “inheritance” are the blessings of God in our life which are innumerable. The word means - a possession – Strongs, Vines says it means - what the believer will be to God in that age, - as children of the King of kings being His children. “Which he wrought in Christ”, this word “wrought” means - "to be operative, be at work, put forth power." All these blessings from God is possible because the Father raised Jesus from the dead. We owe every blessing to God because of what we have in Jesus Christ. As we saw in God raising the Son of man from the grave we can see how God works all blessings for us, in Christ. What wonderful blessings God has bestowed on us! 

How much does God allow Satan to harm us?

Job 1:9 – 12

Have you ever wondered how much Satan has to do with things in your life? So many Christians do not understand just how much Satan’s able do in their life, but God knows. God is Omniscient which means God knows everything, not a few things, not some things, not most things, but everything. The truth of the matter is Satan can do nothing unless God allows it, in fact no being in existence has any ability at all except that it be given to them for the All-Powerful God. God created every being in existence as He chose what he wants them to be. “Hath not the potter power over the clay…” Rom. 9:21. People have a hard time understanding what God is able to do, but please understand that every creature is exactly what God has created it to be, “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” Therefore, God created Satan to be Satan and to be the evilest creature in existence. Satan, at the time Lucifer was a high-ranking Angel, even an Archangel until He fell. Today we know him as Satan, the archenemy of God and even everyone connected to God. Satan has great powers, and if God allowed him, he could and would kill every Christian on this earth. However, as we saw in the event of Job, he is limited to God’s power. God said to Satan, “And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand...” This means that Satan was able to do as he pleased with everything Job had, but Job himself was not to be overtaken with sickness nor was his life to be taken. Can you imagine what life would be like for you if God was to give Satan that power over you? Satan asked God, “Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side?” Job 1:10 The answer was yes God did, just as God has a hedge over all of us. A hedge is like a fence for our protection but also for our restraint in life. Satan also told God about Job, “thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” Yes, God did bless Job with much and Job knew that God had and this is why when this satanic persecution came upon him, he never cursed God. Job realized a truth very few people understand, and that is God provided him with everything in life and if God took it all, he was still blessed. This is why Job said, “Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” Job 1:21 – 22 This is simply amazing, Job had so much and lost everything, he did not pout, he did not ask God why, he did not curse God, he was not mad at God, he did not blame God, he didn’t even blame Satan, he simply “blessed be the name of the LORD.

As God’s children we must understand that God has a hedge about us and with that hedge we are protected as well as we are restricted by God. We live, move, and have our being by the grace and power of God. Our strength is in the Lord and in our understanding as to exactly what God has ordained for us in this life. Every part of our life from birth to death and beyond is exactly what God has  ordained for us. Paul understood this when he said, “by the grace of God I am what I am” 1 Cor. 15:10 and Jesus understood this throughout His life and even in His death. Job blessed the name of God and Jesus never opened His mouth but suffered as God had ordained. “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” John 6:38.

The truth is, Satan can only harm us as much or as little as God allows him too. As much as he would love to make our life miserable and even kill us all, he cannot. We all need to stop looking for someone to blame for our miseries in life and be like Job, and continually bless the name of God in everything.       

Thank You Lord, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath…”

1 Thessalonians 5:9 - 10 “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, (10) Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.”

Every lost person trusts in something or someone, organized religion, works and good deeds or some other false hope. Every lost soul is trusting in some sort of god, even if they are agnostic. The world is full of gods, saviours, with all sorts of ways to get to their believed heaven. And these lost people have one thing in common, their god is imaginary, their salvation is impossible, and their salvation is dead just as their god is, and they are all going to suffer the wrath of Jehovah The True God.  Jehovah is the God of the bible, the God who saves the sinner from His wrath through His Son Jesus, the seed of the woman, the Saviour of mankind. Jesus is not just man He is also Jehovah’s Son incarnate with Jehovah the Son, the second part of the Trinity. God said in Isaiah 26:4, 5 “Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength: For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.” Our total faith must be in God, and if it is we can indeed be content in this world, but one single wrinkle, one small kink in our armor of faith, and we will never be content. Moses told the Jews in Exo. 14:13  “And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.” The promise was “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD…he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.” The wrath that is too feared is not the people of this world, it is not even Satan and his angels or demons, it is God because He is Omni everything. God’s wrath is a Just and Righteous wrath, and it is painful and dreadful, and it will come to every single lost soul in this world. God promised is in 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God is not willing that any of His elect souls should perish, and this is His promise to us who are saved or will one day be saved. Again, this is the base of our contentment, trusting in the word of Jehovah God. God is Omni or all-power and there is no power greater than that of God. God is all-knowing; therefore, He knows everything at one time, He never does not see everything because He already knows everything. He already knew that Satan wanted to take Jobs life, therefore God forbid him from doing so. As God’s children we need to understand and believe in God’s promises to us, and one of God’s gracious promises is “God hath not appointed us to wrath”. There is nothing more hurtful to a human soul than that of God’s wrath. The Tribulation period is full of God’s wrath on this lost and dying world. More than ever before, more than the flood because people will suffer much before God kills them and send them to eternal hell. People will see God; Jesus will open the heavens and they will know that Jehovah is God and that He is sending His promised wrath to them. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.” Romans 1:18 And when God is finished all of them will be caught-up to the White-Throne of Jesus and learn of their eternal placement in eternal hell. But to us, to us who God has saved and Jesus has redeemed, to us whom God has promised many things, “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ”. We are the blessed of all God’s created beings because God hath chosen us not to suffer eternal damnation with the lost and wicked of this world, but to live eternal blessedness with Him and our Saviour sin-free and cleansed as He is. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” 1 John 3:1 

“I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”1 Corinthians 1:4-8