A better understanding of God’s election.

1 Peter 1:2 “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”

The election of God is one of the most confusing doctrines of the bible. It begins with an understanding of the inability of God to ever change, James calls it “…from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James 1:17b. With this in mind we must also understand the Omni-ness of God which means “all-ness”. The word Omniscient means God has all-knowledge, that is God can neither advance in knowledge, or decline in knowledge. We must also understand that part of God’s foreknowledge is Him being an Eternal Being, meaning there is no time with God. With God there is no yesterday, today, or tomorrow, there is just eternity. Time began (as far as we can understand) with the creation of the earth. We see in Prov. 8:23 “I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.” and time will die when the earth is destroyed. If we cannot understand what the bible means by the words “the eternal God” (Deut. 33:27) then we will never understand God or His knowledge, His ordained will, nor His Being as The Sovereign God. The word “variableness” means -"a transmission" from one condition to another- and the word “shadow” means -"shadowing-over of mutability" implying an alternation- these two words means God can never-ever have an occurrence where He changes, EVER! Therefore, it must be concluded when Peter wrote God “Elected according to the foreknowledge” His choosing or electing was not His picking one over another but rather Him eternally knowing who was His and who was not. When God made one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor it was not an actual choice as we know choice but rather Him acting on His foreknowledge. Some people with an inability to understand does not make this not true. We must remember that God is an Eternal Being with no limits and we are created being with countless limits. God does not think like man, He does not have a heart like man, nor is He anything like man, because He is The Sovereign God of all creation and without limits. God does not owe it to anyone to be gracious to them, nor is He required to have grace on or save any person. Everything God does is by grace, “That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” Eph. 2:7 - 8. The truth is God was never without knowledge who He was going to save, He never actually picked and chose us, because that election was by of His foreknowledge not an actual choosing. People that refuse to accept and believe the truth about God are very confused in their description of the scriptures. The real question is, how does God know the happenings of the world thousands of years in advance? How did Danial write about the happenings of today, or how did John write the prophecy of Revelations? To assume God looked into the future and saw all these things, is about the most asinine suggestion about God that a human could make. God did not look into the future to see that Adam would fall, or that people would do certain things or that certain happenings would develop, or even that His Son Jesus would be crucified by the hands of wicked people. The bible clearly says God foreordained them, He knew everything beforehand because He has all-knowledge of everything, there is nothing God does not have eternal knowledge of, not one. Ecclesiastes 3:11 “He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.” To deny the Sovereign Eternal mind and workings of God is to deny God! God saves sinners that He foreknew as His own, He gave them to Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world, and Jesus knew them as His own while He was being crucified for them on the cross. “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.” John 17:6 and John 18:9 “That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.”

Thank you, Lord God, for Your Gift of salvation!

The man of God

2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”

The man of God are His Ministers; it does include the men of the churches and as men of God we need to remember who we are. We are called servants of God and we are responsible to God to uphold biblical truth no matter what. We need to remember what Paul reminded Timothy of in 2 Timothy 3:14 “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;” Also the men in the churches need to remember that we are not on our own but rather we are God’s servants and called to be God’s pillar and ground of truth. The scripture “is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine…” and it is not of private interpretation 2 Peter 1:20. The bible, as written is our only textbook and the Holy Spirit is our only teacher. We are most certainly in the midst of the last days when of all the ruin and confusion, the heresies and moral depravity and wickedness are standing boldly and proud in this world. While we cannot control the world, we also cannot allow God’s inspired word of truth to fall either. We have been “throughly furnished unto all good works.” with the complete word of God, that is “is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” so that we can, even in the time of opposition be prepared to battle Satan and His workers. We are God’s servants, we are all the men of God, we are still the light that is burning bright in a very dark, and sinful world. We are, without question the most blessed men on this earth to have access, in days like these, to the eternal fountain of inspiration from the Holy Spirit and power from on high. God is with us, His Spirit is still within us, the battle has not been lost even though it may look badly. Our Master is the Lord God, the creator of all things and Jesus Christ is He by which everything consist or He is the glue that holds everything together. We are servants and not generals, we are the fighters in a very horrible world, let us all remain in the fight for the souls of the unsaved. We cannot surrender to Satan and his world system, the truth was bought by Jesus and we cannot sell it for worldly profit. Our Fathers wise instructions are, “He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” Proverbs 4:4 – 7. The Truth of God is a glorious gift, not only to us Ministers but also the churches of God whom Jesus gave his life for. Churches are the body of Jesus Christ and they are to be treated as such and not as worldly institutions. To many Christians have fallen to the temptations of Satan and His worldly system. The love of money is the root of all evil and we cannot allow these evils to be the cause of Jesus Christ removing His candlestick from the churches. It is better for one of the Lord’s churches to dry up and die rather than to surrender to Satan. We are just His servants we are not the answer to the problems; however, we can be part of the problem instead of part of the answer. We must remember that we are in the “last days” and not the beginning, nor the middle, but rather the dark and ugly last days. Yes, it is sad, we cry and ask God for solutions but we must remember that God has ordained what is to be and all the strength in the world cannot change it. Like good solders on the battle field, we must remain faithful until breath of air. Holding faithful to the Truth of God, because we have already been fully furnished with God’s word of truth. Let us all join together in prayer, remembering who it is that we serve and who it is that has us in the palm of His hand. We truly do live in blessed days; we may actually be alive when Jesus returns for our rapture. May the glorious grace of God lift us all up with power and strength, Amen!      

Understanding The Context of The Bible.

2 Tim. 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Some Christians have a problem when they study the bible, they depend to much on what men say. Please understand, when the scriptures were written over thousands of years and by many writers it was not their words that was written, but God’s words. We sometimes accredit the written word to the person that penned it, but it is not, it was all God’s word. Without error and impeccable in its original context, inspired of God Himself, breathed into the spiritual hearts of these writes by the Holy Spirit. As ministers, teachers, and authors, we are only men and we are not inspired of God as the writers of the scriptures were. As writers we are not infallible, and certainly not in our belief of God’s written word. No commentary written is infallible, and therefore, when we study them, we must not take every word as though it is infallible. It is our responsibility as Christians to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Now, please understand that I am not critical of the people who have worked very long hours and spent much of their life studying to write these books, I also use many commentaries to study. However, if we believe doctrine because some man teaches it, then we are subject to be wrong, all doctrine must be underlined by the scriptures only, “…rightly dividing the word of truth.” We can only be accomplished if the final understanding is in context of the bible. The Truth, that is the Truth without the possibility of error is only in the bible’s context. As a young minster many years ago, my mentors all told me that the context of the bible is not negotiable, because if you have problems making the bible fit together then you are in error somewhere. Do not just brush it off as an inability to understand it. God said in 1 Cor. 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The natural man is people that are not spiritually taught, mostly referring to lost souls. However, as Christians we are only spiritually when the Holy Spirit teaches us. Because our teachings are not infallible, “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.” Only the Holy Spirit can teach the bible in an infallible way. The truth is, as Christian people we are all going to disagree on bible doctrine somewhere, but the Holy Spirit never disagrees with the bible because He is the Author. The words “spiritually discerned.” Means – people are not spiritually able to put the puzzle of the bible together on their own – but only by the teachings of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, as Christians and bible students we should never mistake the word of any man as the true context until we are satisfied that it is without question God’s true context. The lazy way, and biggest mistake is to believe what a person has taught you without study time, the right way is to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God…”. Our education level does not affect our understanding of biblical truth and the true context of it. There are untold numbers of PhD educated people who know very little, to no bible truth, and there are many low to moderate educated people that know much biblical truth. Listen very closely to God as He put this thought into His words. “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:10 – 12

Please never forget, the bible is our blessing and God is our teacher. God uses many wonderful teachers to teach us, but our true teacher is the Holy Spirit. We all need to take the time to learn God’s word in Truth, and to do that you will need much study time, much prayer time, and good dictionaries and commentaries, but the Bible is your only infallible truth. If it’s not in total context then there is an error somewhere, find the error, correct it, and you will find the truth in context. The puzzle must be perfectly fitted together, and when we find that Truth, we have found our greatest blessing. I call it diamonds buried in words.   

The Mysteries of Seeds Growing.

Mark 4:27 “And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.”

As Christians, Churches, and even as Pastors and Ministers of all kind we must understand our limits. God has commanded us all to plant the seeds of His word into the world. He commanded that that the gospel is preached to every living soul, even if we are unaware of what will grow and what will not. As workers together with God, we cannot lose sight of what our part is in these seeds, it is only to plant and water. We all have a great hope as we plant, not only the gospel of Jesus Christ but also the doctrine of the Word of Truth that increase will come. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you…” Matt. 28:19a & 20a. Everything we do in planting God’s seeds, the seed of salvation (the gospel message) and the seed of Truth (all biblical doctrine) we have our limit, we plant the seeds, but God must give the increase. The Apostle Paul wrote, “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:6 As powerful as these men, all of them were in the ministry of the Lord, they could only plant and water the seed of the gospel and the seed of biblical doctrine. We have no power to make any seed grow, just as we plant a garden and care for it, we have no power to make it grow. But isn’t it a wonderful and beautiful thing to watch those seeds break the ground and become a plant. To us it’s a mystery because somehow a very small dried-up seed, maybe setting for a few years, a lot of hard labor, and a lot of prayer, it can have life once again and grow into something so wonderful. To us the labor and workers who till the ground and put much love and time into it, do not know if it’s going to grow or not, and if it grows will it ever produce any fruit? “and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.” But this we do know, “God gave the increase.”, that’s right it is through the gracious love and power of God that there is any life of fruit from those seeds and all that labor. The reason it is a mystery to us is because we have no control of life, we have no power to give life to nothing, only God can give life. So much is the same to the human soul as God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life, He also breaths into a dead spirit the breath of life as His Spirit (the Holy Spirit) quickens a dead spirit. Until He does there is no life at all, just as God delivers life to our dried-up seeds His Spirit delivers life to a lost soul with a dead spirit. Beloved, no matter what your work is, no matter how much labor you use, do not be discouraged if you do not see the results you expected, you can only do your part, God does the rest. Never get discouraged at the outcome, it’s all a mystery to us, we do not know the workings of God until we see the results. Do not be discouraged and think your words were not powerful enough because salvation is not accomplished by our words, but by the word of God. “but of incorruptible, by the word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). Even the Apostle Paul had to admit that his own words were not as powerful as God’s words, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:4. It is the same in teaching bible doctrine, both are seeds that God must give the increase. Biblical doctrine is a gift from God, if it was not, then we would all believe the same, but we do not. Bible doctrine is a revelation that only the Holy Spirit can give, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” John 14:26

Beloved, we are only workers for the Lord, we are planting the seeds and watering the seeds, and as much love and care that we give them, we cannot make them grow or produce fruit. Life in the Lord is a mystery and we must continually understand our limits. God must do His mysterious work of giving the life to those that He has chosen too. But, as heartbreaking as it sometimes is that some seed may never grow, how rejoicing it is when one lost sinner comes to know and believe in Jesus Christ as their Saviour or to come to the acknowledgement of biblical Truth. “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” Luke 15:10 

Faith is a must.

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Doubters and unbelievers never please God, because only with real faith can we please God. God wants our unwavering faith in Him, in all that He is, in all that we ask, and in all that we do. The faith it takes to believe in God is spiritual faith, that is the faith given to every sinner that God saves. Galatians 5:22 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,” As we all know fruits of any kind are produced and spiritual fruits are produced by the Holy Spirit and therefore the natural human soul does not have them. Humanly speaking everyone has a faith but they do not have saving faith and this is why the Holy Spirit gives it to us. This is why the natural person will never on their own have enough faith to be saved, and why salvation is a gift of the Holy Spirit and not produced by a lost soul. A lost soul will never do anything pleasing to God, because without salvation they have no faith in God. However, it is never pleasing to God when a soul that He has saved and Jesus has redeemed does not have enough faith to trust Him. God said of a Christian with a wavering faith, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)” Heb. 10:23. How could we ever trust God to save us, to keep us, and never leave nor forsake us, if He was not faithful without doubt? Our salvation is our most needed possession in a Christians life, and salvation is all about trusting God. That is why God said, “…for he that cometh to God must believe that he is…”. What about our prayer to God, do we without doubt or question trust God to hear and answer our prayers? Why pray to God about anything when there is one single molecule doubt? This is why God said, “without faith it is impossible to please him” and He did not mean weak faith, faith mixed with doubt, but with unwavering faith. Look at James 1:6 “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” When we as Christians pray to God, we must put our human pride behind us, we cannot trust in ourselves if we ask God to handle something. One of the hardest things for Christians to do is to give-up total control to God, but we must remember “without faith it is impossible to please him”, that is faith in Him without our help. We must always be reminded that worry after prayer is sinful, because either we trust God in our prayer or we do not. “For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” God went on to say in James 1:7 - 8 “For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” We must ever be reminded what God said in Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” If we must see evidence from God, then we have little faith in God and are wavering. God knows, He knows what you have need of before you ever ask, He knows what it takes to make all things work together in your life before you ever ask. God knows what is good for you and what is bad for you before you ever ask. God knows every detail about you and what will happen, not only today or tomorrow or the next day, but every day of your life. Paul wrote in Php. 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” The question is not can He, but do we have enough faith to believe He can, we better have! We all know that putting things in God’s hands and not worrying about them are not easy, but if our faith is strong enough in God then it is not. If you want a measuring stick to measure your faith it is how much faith do you have in God’s ability without any doubt. This is very important for believers, because God said we must have that faith and when we do, “…he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Please listen very close to 2 Peter 1:3-7 “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.”

“…for he that cometh to God must believe that he is…”         

 

Why Can’t We Teach The Lost Truth?

1 Timothy 6:3 “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;”

False teaching has always been around and we are not about to change it. As Christians and churches, we must focus on the Truth of the bible and not what other men are teaching. If we are going to fulfill our responsibility to God then we have more to do than counter false teachers or doctrine. We always need to remember that our Great Commission is to get the true unmolested gospel message out to every living soul. Our responsibility is to be the pillar and ground of Truth and not to allow ourselves from getting detoured by false teaching. God has warned those that teach false doctrine, “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ…He is proud, knowing nothing.” That is, he knows nothing of God’s word, because God’s word is Truth and anything less is not God’s word, it is not God’s teachings, and it is not God’s doctrine. We need to heed the same warning that the Apostle Paul issued to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:3 - 4 “As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, (4) Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do.” People that teach the bible can only teach it one of two ways, in Truth or as a lie, there are no in between. The Trueth glorifies God and the lie glorifies man and Satan. People that teach lies do so because they are not blessed by the Holy Spirit to have been taught the Truth. These people are bounded to the lies they teach because to them it is truth, it is just as much truth to them as the real Truth is to us. Jesus said to these people, “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.” John 8:43 They have no ability to hear Biblical Truth and any attempt to teach them just falls on deaf ears. Jesus went on to say “And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” John 8:45 Why would they not believe Jesus, because what they heard was a lie to them, because they are spiritually discerned, or they cannot connect the dots of the bible to see the truth. The Truth of the bible goes against everything humanistic. Jesus told them, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” There is no truth in Satan and therefore there is no truth in any lost soul. Jesus said in verse 46b “… And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?” If they will not believe Jesus then why would they ever believe us? If Satan has these people blinded then only God can cause them to see, and we are certainly not God. God must “command” the light to shine from darkness to light or else they will never believe God. 2 Cor. 4:4. The word command means God must order by causing the light of His word to shine on them. We do not have that power, no power to save the lost, nor the power to change the mind of a lost soul to Truth. So, some may ask, why didn’t Jesus cause them to see the Truth, He answered that in John 8:47 “He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” They will never believe the Truth over their lie because Satan has them blinded, and only Jesus can make the glorious light or Truth shine in their hearts. Listen to Jesus in John 10:26 - 27 “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:” But do not be discouraged, Jesus is not done with His earthly work until He returns for the rapture. But for us, much prayer if needed for those who do not hear.           

 

Should we be surprised at this world?

John 15:18 “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”

What do Christian expect from this world, what do we want God to do when He told us, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” 2 Corinthians 4:4  The world has always hated God and because of that it will hate Christians and Jews alike. People will not hear God; they will not repent and come to Christ unless God draws them. “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him…” John 6:44 One day they will all stand before Jesus for judgment, and He will say, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matt. 7:23 The they will be cast into the lake of fire for eternity, “they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.” Rev. 20:13, 14. The world is doomed, Satan blinds them, and they hate godliness and God. This is what we are to expect, it is not getting better it is getting worse and worse. Wrath is on its way; Jesus is coming with flaming fire and vengeance. Let us focus on the Lord and not the world, we still have a work to do. We are to be faithful to God and continually walk in the scriptures, and this world should not change that. There was a time in the history of this world where they crucified Jesus because they hated Him, they crucified most of His Apostles because they were His. They martyred millions of Christians because they were His. This world is at enmity with God, they hate God and because they do, they also hate us. John 15:18 “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.” We should never be surprised that they hate us because God told us they would. 1 John3:13 “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.” It should not even surprise us if our own families hate us because Cain hated and killed his own brother because God loved Abel and not him. The power of Adams sin was more powerful than the world could have believed, it caused a great divide between God and man. God called it the world’s enmity toward Him. Christians throughout history have been hated and even murdered by the world because they are God’s. Just as Jesus was crucified because He was God’s Son. So, here we are in the 21^st Century the most advanced time of the world, and the world still hates God and every child of God. It will never change because for it to change God would have to save the entire world. Hate is in their soul, very deep in their souls and they cannot overcome it. But let us always remember what Jesus told us in Luke 6:22 “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.” God loves you and He chose to save you and He gave His own Son as our sacrificial Lamb to save us. We could be just like them and once was until God saved our souls. So, yes, we are blessed and their hate toward us should remind us how blessed we truly are. As God’s children we cannot hate them back, as hard as it is, God told us not to hate them back but to love them and pray for them. Matt. 5:44 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Jesus prayed as He was about to give up the ghost on the cross, “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34 Hate is in their souls; their human nature and heart tell them to hate God and every one connected to them. We need to pray for them and continually remember why they hate us so much, it is because God has saved us. It seems that as time moves closer to the coming of Jesus that the hate grows stronger and stronger. But God told us this time would come, we can see the hate oozing out of them as time moves toward Jesus’s return. But let it not surprise you because God said it would get worse and worse. Read at how much they hate God’s two witnesses in the Tribulation period because today they almost hate us just as much.  Revelation 11:7 - 10 “And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.” Folks, this world is bad and it is only getting worse by the day, because their hearts are controlled by Satan and he hates us all with such a great hate. Come Lord Jesus, Come and take us home is our prayer.      

What is the true meaning by what Paul wrote?

1 Corinthians 15:10 “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.”

Have you ever taken the time to understand what the Apostle Paul was truly saying in this verse? In this single passage of scripture, we can see the work of God in the human heart. What Paul just said about himself is so intense, and it includes all of us. Paul just wrote in verse 9 “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” Paul was so hurt in his heart that he considered himself unworthy to serve God and especially as an Apostle, but by grace become the most profitable Apostle. Paul accomplished more in His 40 or so years in serving God than an other Apostle. I, as a sinner against God can understand what Paul is saying, I never persecuted the Lord’s church and I never seek to harm God’s children, but I was a once wild sinner, and have sinned even after God’s gracious act of saving my sinful soul. If there was a sinner that never deserved one ounce of God’s grace it was Saul of Tarsus. But I must look at my self in a mirror and ask, what made me any more deserving of God’s grace than Saul of Tarsus? I was just as much a sinner as Paul, as a lost soul I was at enmity with God as all lost people are, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God…”. Rom. 8:7a I was of a carnal mind before God saved me as were all Christians. This single verse tells us that all lost minds are hostile against God, so I must ask, what makes us better or any different than Saul of Tarsus? When we were lost would we have persecuted the Lord’s church and Christians if we were in Sauls shoes? God said in order to save us, (all of us that are saved) God had to destroy the enmity that was in our hearts, “Having abolished in his flesh the enmity…” Eph 2:15a. God was speaking about all lost souls when He said “…There is none righteous, no, not one:” Rom 3:10.b Paul went as far to write in Rom. 7:18a “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing…” Paul was speaking this as a Christian and Apostle, this is why God said in Rom. 12:3a “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think…” Now that we see ourselves in these scriptures we can see that we were never no better than Paul, not a single Christian can say they were ever worthy of God’s grace. So, now we must see what Paul means when he said, “But by the grace of God I am what I am…? However, Paul said something really strong in the next part, “and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all…” Is it possible for God’s grace to be used in vain? When God gives an unworthy soul His grace it is not to be neglected by the receptions of His grace. When God gives us grace we are to use that grace to glorify and accomplish fruits for God. We are responsible to God for His gift of grace and to Jesus Christ for His works of love and grace that allowed God to “abolish” the enmity in our hearts toward Him. But some Christians rarely use their God given grace to bring glory to God. But the truth is, if God did not continue having more grace on us we would all waste His grace, Paul went on to say, “…but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” God’s grace on me is the reason I never wasted it Paul said. Christian, we must never fail to see the extent of God’s grace in our life and if we do then we will “waste God’s grace”. The Apostle Paul informed in this scripture that anything good he done as a Christian was only accomplished because of God’s grace. The bottom line here is, not one single Christian has ever accomplished anything good for God without God’s grace in it, “…through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think…”. Listen to what God said in 1 Cor. 8:6 “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.” If we ever take one single ounce of credit for anything that brings glory to God, then we have wasted God’s grace, because we are taking credit for God’s work of grace in us. The Apostle Paul never did that, “…but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” If we can say that same thing then we are living within God’s grace, God is getting all glory because it is His! Our entire Christian life accomplishments are to God’s glory because we accomplished them only by His grace. Beloved, let’s all look at our life and praise God for His grace!            

Evil Never Sleeps

John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.”

Satan, he is the most evil and dangerous being in all creation. It is because of him that we have sin on the earth, and that our fore parents Adam and Eve sinned. And it is because they sinned that all human beings are born sinners. Satan hates, he never loves, his entire existence is nothing less than evil. But he is not alone, when he fell, he took a lot of angels with him, they are his servants and will do as he pleases. He also has a world full of servants and they also do his pleasure, “Ye are of your father the devil…”.  However, Satan is not only the lost persons father but just as those fallen angels, he is their god, and they also do his will, “and the lusts of your father ye will do.” These poor sinful souls with dead spirits are also haters of anything unlike them, they are images of their father Satan. Satan is sly, he was so sly he talked Eve into eating of the forbidden fruit. He has caused many of God’s people to sin and to do evil deeds. He has special evil powers, and he is so sly he can appear and an angel of light, or a creature of beauty. “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 2 Cor. 11:14. But his very nature is evil, God created him to be evil, and this is his sole purpose. His earthly servants also appear as good people, they just like their father imitate God’s good. On the surface they are so counterfeit it is hard to see the difference between good and evil. He counterfeits God and Jesus, his servants on earth counterfeits Christians, Ministers, Pastors, and churches. But while on the surface they appear real and true, they are nothing but murders, liars, and deceivers. They have entered the Lord’s churches and attempted to destroy them by causing conflict and dividing the body of Christ called the church. They seek out the weak, the troubled, and those not embedded as a strong believer. They like their father never rest, they just keep working until they capture one or a few members that will oppose what is good and right.

No matter where Satan or his servants are, churches, mission workers, outreach, study groups, political leaders, even presidents, kings, or world leaders, they are all their fathers’ servants and their goal is to deceive and conquer the world and rid it of God, Jesus, and everything connected to Them. It may even surprise you to know that the “church” on your street, the sweet old lady next door, the minister or mission worker that seems so nice inside, may be the evilest soul you have ever met. We must always be aware, look for signs of darkness in them, and opposition to God, Jesus, or the Truth of the word. God warned us “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”1 John 4:1 Just because they seem nice, just because they smile, just because they seem happy, and just because they want to help you, that doesn’t mean they’re of God and that they’re not evil. You must ask, are their biblical doctrines aligned with the bible, do they walk in the spirit of the scriptures, does something seem to be not right, because all of these need to lineup with the scriptures. While counterfeit may look on the surface to be real, and while it may be very hard to see the fakeness, ask for help, your Pastor, or a bible teacher, or an elder in the church, because if you are led away, you may never return to the church or the truth of the word. And always remember, Satan nor his servants never rest, they will continue to seek your destruction from the church and even destroy the church if possible. And always remember what God said, “and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.” What they speak may seem close to what God teaches, but with a deeper look you can see the little flaws, lies, and ugliness. Because God said, “When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” Satan is the father of liars and they can do nothing but lie, and even if it looks good, it is nothing but lies. The Apostle Paul gave us this warning and we all need to take it deep into our souls, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.” 2 Cor. 11:3 – 4 And never forget to pray for God thru the power of the Holy Spirit to protect us from falling into their wicked hands.  

What is God’s promise of the Holy Spirit?

John 5:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”

I will never defend nor attempt to make any sense of the reasoning of people who believe in works for salvation. However, I understand their thinking because it is humanistic thinking and not that of God. When lost souls think of God and His gift’s and His workings with the people of this world, it is like they see God as a man and not the Sovereign God that He is. This means there must be two schools of the biblical understanding, fleshly and spiritual. Since the ability to think only like lost people is natural, then because of their dead spirit they can never think spiritual and are what God called spiritually discerned. However, with the Christian, the Holy Spirit has quickened our dead spirit (dead because of sin). “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)” Ephesians 2:5 Here we see that a saved soul has had their dead spirit “quickened” and this quickening was accomplished by the Holy Spirit. It is only with this quickening by the Holy Spirit that we are able to hear and interact with God, lost souls have no ability to interact with God at all. It is only after the Holy Spirit has quickened our spirit that we are able to hear the call of God to come. “…He that heareth my word…” While some people, both saved and lost say this call is general (to every human soul) it cannot be because people with unquicken spirits do not hear God’s call. This same unquicken soul does not nor cannot hear the word of God or the gospel. While they can learn some biblical doctrine it will never have an inner meaning to them because they cannot hear it in their spirit which is dead. Paul wrote in “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Romans 8:14 The meaning here is there are two types of people, those are led by the Holy Spirit and those that are not. The deeper meaning here is that those that are led by the Holy Spirit are saved and those that are not led by Him remain spiritually dead. This is the quickening talked about in Eph. 2:5 “hath quickened us together with Christ”. Next Jesus says only when the Holy Spirit quickens the dead spirit in a human soul then they have spiritual life, and along with spiritual life the Holy Spirit of God begins a work within us. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” Romans 8:9. He dwells in us the rest of our life because God has come into us and He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, Heb. 13:5c. Some Christan’s understand little about the working of the Holy Spirit within us because God does not give to us all the same spiritual gifts, 1 Cor. 12:1-11. The Holy Spirit living inside of us, is how God communicates with the believer. He not only quickens our dead spirit, He not only gives us many spiritual gifts, but He also blesses us with the ability to see and hear in our new living spirit the word of God, even the gospel of Jesus Christ. God explained how that a lost soul without the Holy Spirit in them will never come to know Christ and will never please God in anything. Romans 8:7 - 8 “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. (8) So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” Without the quickening of the Holy Spirit one can never be saved, never truly learn the word of God, and will never do one single good thing to please God. God even said “the carnal mind is enmity against God” meaning in their heart they hate the True God. People want to believe that they control God, that God is not Sovereign and needs their permission to gift them with eternal life. God needs their permission to give them spiritual gifts, and that God needs their permission to give them spiritual understanding of the bible. But God needs no such permission, He does not need a sinner’s permission for anything, “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13 So, why do lost souls not hear and react to the gospel, because the Holy Spirit has not graciously given them the ability to hear the gospel. He has not given them salvation, eternal life, not taught them the goodness of the bible. Let us remember as Christians just how blessed we truly are because God has given to us His Holy Spirit.    

Have most forgotten that Jesus is coming?

Revelation 22:20 “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

I believe that Jesus Christ is coming, do you? If you are a Christian, and if God has blessed you with the precious gift of salvation, are you prepared for Jesus to return for the rapture? I have read that even in bible seminaries that most of the students do not believe that the return of Jesus is imminent, even worse a very large number of those doubters do not believe He will return at all. This leads me to ask, if they deny the word of God in His promise that Jesus will return and that is it imminent, then how can they qualify as teachers of God’s word? How can any Christian even call themselves a good Christian if they deny that His coming is imminent? As Christians if we cannot look at this world and cannot see the bible unfolding right before our eyes then we are too busy to pay attention to God. Have we not seen the apostasy or the falling away from the Lord’s churches? Can we not see the “luke warmness” of the Lord’s churches as in the Church in Laodicea? Can we not see that God is not saving as many lost and dying souls today? Can we not see that the future of the churches is getting dimmer and dimmer? Can we not see that Pastors of Truth are getting fewer and fewer. Can we not see the world waxing worse and worse, and that America is on the verge of socialism and maybe even communism? Even though the times sometimes may seem to be improving, the Lord warned us not to be deceived. God promised that Jesus is going to return, Jesus promised that He would return, therefore, never doubt, Jesus is coming and He is coming quickly.

Another promise God made was that Jesus would come as a thief in the night, meaning when you are not prepared, while you may be sleeping on Him, when you may have lost faith or interest in His return, when it is too late, Jesus will return. 1 Thess. 5:2 - 4 “For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” Jesus will not announce His coming, He will not let us know, but when the ordained time is here the last trumpet will sound and Jesus will order us up to Him. It is going to be a world disaster because people will be working and be gone, planes flying and people will just be gone even some pilots. People everywhere from every part of the world will at one time disappear.

Are you ready, have you prepared, or are you a doubter that His coming is imminent. So many Christians are not ready and that is sad, sad because they will regret not filling their lamps with oil and allowing them to burn bright. Sad for not fulfilling God’s commandments in their everyday life. Serving God is not an option in life but a demand from our King, Lord, and Master. Churches will regret turning to lukewarmness instead of being hot as God intended and for allowing our own selfish hearts destroy what God has assembled together. Just because God ordained this time, just because God warned us these days were coming before the return of our Lord does not justify it’s happening. I remember back when Christians were pleading with God for Jesus to return, their prayers were filled with request for the Lord’s return, and today you rarely hear prayers request the Lord to return. Are our lights still shinning in a dark and dying world that gets worse and worse? Are we still doing everything possible to get the gospel out to this lost world. Have we forgotten our responsibility that God has given to us as churches and Christians? God gave us one purpose in this world, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:19 – 20

Beloved, I believe we are in the last days, the Lord is coming, the question is, how will He find His people and churches doing? Why should this concern us so much, because He is coming in judgment for us all.   

God does not request.

Romans 9:21 “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?”

When people fail to see God as God then they will never understand just how Sovereign God is and how that God never request anything from people. God does not request that we be honorable, He demands it, however, God knows our frame and in its natural state we can never be anything but sinful and dishonoring toward God. God is nothing like you and I, He is as pure as pure can be, God cannot be anything like us or else He is nothing but a man. When we see God, we see a Being that needs nothing, He needs no one, and He never fails. God never request anything from any other creature or being, because He controls everything. People mistakenly make God appear to be human, they make Him to have feelings, cares, they make Him to be dependent on people as though we can add anything to God the very Creator of everything in existent. There is no power that God does not have and there is not anything that God does not have ultimate control over. People do not control God, God controls people. God hath the power over the lump of clay, God can make a man to be honorable or dishonorable just by creating it to be so. Look at the Prophet Jerimiah when God told him, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 Jeremiah had no control to do anything but to be whatever God had chosen him to be. God asked nothing of Jeremiah because long before he was even formed in his mother’s belly God had already elected his life. Nebuchadnezzar, God made him a king, took him down, set him in the field to be like and eat like an ox, until God changed him and took him out. Saul of Tarsus, he did nothing to change from the evil hearted Jew that he was until Jesus paid him a visit. It is the same will all the people of the bible and it has been since creation and even today. The Jews did not choose to be God’s elected nation because God chose them. None of them people in the New Testament chose to be anything they were, even the Apostles and the first church membership was chosen and called out by Jesus as He said “come follow me”, it was not a choice but a command. God said of the first church and all churches after it, “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.” 1 Corinthians 12:18, not only as members but by position also. The truth is God has total control over all His creation even Satan whom He created an evil spirit. It seems when some people see God, they refuse to see Him as the Sovereign Being that He is and thinks somehow that God bows to our want’s and wishes. If He did then He would not be God. I have heard preachers say some pretty silly things but the worst of all it that “God cannot change your will”, if He could not, then none of us would have ever been saved. Every time these people say these false things about the Sovereign God of the universe then they show their ignorance of the True God. Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:” Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,” When people deny the Sovereignty of God, they deny God, because it is He who does as He pleases with all of His creation. God is not bound to the same moral standards as people are because He exist by the very laws He has made. God’s heart does not bleed with tears like ours because God does not feel, He ordains and purposes. People must see the True God and not some image that sinful man has made to fill their unholy thoughts. God is not a man, “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Numbers 23:19 

Are we doing enough to help our fellow Christian?

Galatians 6:1 – 5

As a Christian and more so as a Minister/Pastor I wonder how the Lord, our Master and Heavenly Father see’s us today. I wonder if we are truly walking in the Spirit as God commanded or are we in many ways failing God. The Lord never commanded that we only believe and teach the Truth of His word, but that we also teach and walk in His word. James wrote in 2:18 “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” The question I have is, are we actually walking in the very truth we believe and teach? The Lord told the Church in Laodicea “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.” Rev. 3:15 A cold church is one that is basically without spiritual life, a hot church is one that is absolutely walking in the Spirit and as correct as we can be. The Lord went on to say in V. 16 “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Have the churches fallen into a state of lukewarmness? The Lord commanded in Gal. 6:2 “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Are we as Christians and churches “bearing one another’s burdens”? So, let us understand what the Lord is talking about here, I do not believe it is just financial but also spiritual, I believe this burden is our walk in the Spirit. Paul wrote in 1 Cor. 13:3 “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” So, no matter what we do in our Christian Walk, if it is not done in love than we are failing. Believing and preaching the Truth, standing strong in the Truth, this is not enough. To be a hot church, or to be a hot Christian is to walk within all the word of God. Do we remember the old WWJD (what would Jesus do)? This is exactly what our Christian Walk should be, asking ourselves am I handling this like Jesus would? As Christians and even whole churches we need to examine ourselves in all the word of God because it is our righteous walk. Do we see any commandments that we lack, and if we do, do we simply ignore them rather correct our walk. This is not what we believe, but how we are showing what we believe in our walk. The Lord said in Gal. 6:3 “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” Are we actually walking correctly or are just lukewarm or even worse cold in our walk, if so, are we deceiving ourselves into believing we are hot when we are not? The truth is bearing the burdens of others is a walk of love, it is loving the other Believers and doing everything to help their spiritual walk. If we just cast each other aside then we have failed in our Scriptural Walk, we have failed to help bear another’s burdens. We must understand that we are all subject to fall, we can all get to the point of needing spiritual help. Paul wrote in Rom. 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” In the church we are one and if we are right in the scriptures we are in unity. And as Christians we are also one in Christ, one big family, and as part of that family it is our job to help, in a very loving way, to pick up our fallen brothers and sister that have fallen into the trials and temptations of Satan. It is sometimes a battle, sometimes we have to be a little rough, but the goal is to help and not just cast away. Where would we be if the Lord treated us the way we treat others? How would we like it if the Lord just broke fellowship with us, or just gave up and stopped trying to help us? Why if the Lord just refused to help us with our burdens and left us alone to continue in them alone. Where did we get all that love, doctrine, from. James warned us in James 5:19 - 20 “Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; (20) Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” A Christians burdens belongs to us all, we are one big family trying to help one another with much grace and love, just like God does with us. It is possible that some have fallen too far for our help, but never to far for our prayers.

What is your main priority in life?

Matthew 6:24-25 “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”

We must all ask ourselves, what is our main priority in life? Is it family, maybe financial security for your family? I could ask you this in a hundred separate ways, but you get the pitcher here. Whatever you list first as priority on your list, it becomes the first in your heart. And if our priority is not God then we are wrong and devalue God, because we put something above God. Our first priority will enslave our heart, meaning we will focus and treasure that priority over all others. It will control our mind and cause us to value that priority more than God, therefore we will lessen our service to the Lord. As Christians we make choices everyday of our life, and our priority is what directs those choices. It is easy in this flesh, even as Christians to become shackled or a prisoner to the desire to have material things of life, for ourselves or our families. If our hearts are on material things then that becomes our treasure, and the more we seek earthly treasures the more we lose heavenly treasures. Earthly enrichment overrides spiritual enrichment which causes us to fail God in our worship. God said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.” Gods warning to us all is, we will hold to our most important priority and treasure it over God if He is not our main priority. Then God tells us, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Because worldly riches will become our god, it will even replace our need for God. And let us all be honest, money is high on every person’s list of priorities, we all like security for our families and ourselves. However, it is not money that is our problem, it is our scale of love for money. God said in1Tim. 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil:” the key word here is “love” because we all know our love is where our heart’s desire is. Almost every evil on earth begins with money and our love for it. Then God said, “which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith” erred because we were “seduced.” By our sinful desires of it. Then God finished with these words, “and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Why sorrows, if it helps us so much, and we live a comfortable life, isn’t that a blessing from God? Listen, it matters not if you agree or not, but this is the truth, God will never bless us to lose our priority to worship Him. Once anything becomes our god over God then we have lost so much. We must understand we still walk on this world with our old fleshly nature, and it will attempt to cause us to sin against God, it is called the desires of the flesh. The desires of the flesh are sinful, Paul wrote in Eph. 2:3 “Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” We will find that it is more profitable to direct all our “zeal” or “passion” toward our worship of God, the bible, and the church. As Christians we cannot allow anything, not even the love and support of our family come between us and God or His church. We must remember what Jesus promised, “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?” We must trust that God will supply all our earthly needs, and believe me, God will never bless you with anything that comes between you and Him or cause you to “forsaking the assembling of ourselves together…” Heb 10:25 God will not always give us what we want but He will always give us our needs.  Php. 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” The words “all your need” is everything you and your family need in life, this is His “His wealth in glory in Christ Jesus.” for us. The question is, do we trust God, do we have our priority in Him and him alone. Putting anything, including our needs or our family’s needs before Him, His word, or even His church is a sin and putting mammon as our god, whether we admit it or not. Christians can live in darkness because disobeying God’s word is to walk in darkness and if we are not walking in the light than there is no fellowship with God. And the riches we gain means we will pay a great price for those riches, because God did not give them, God become less valuable to you in your life. You can have riches as a Christian but only if God gives them without devaluing our worship and service to Him. 

It is about the Lord, and not about you.

“And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not…” Jeremiah 45:5a

Humility to every believer is their greatest walk in life. It is so easy to gain pride because pride is natural, but humility is a gift from God. We can see the greatest humility in the men who penned the scriptures, because they all understood that the Spirit of God gave them the gift of writing the Holy Script. I cannot say if they knew that what they wrote was going to become the Word of God for thousands of years. But I can promise you this, they knew it was special because they felt it deep in their hearts. I would have to assume that the most humbled servant of God must have been the Apostle Paul, because he arose from one of the biggest haters of Jesus Christ to one of the most loyal servants of Him. In his past he reaped the greatest havoc on the Lord’s church in Jerusalem to become one of God’s greatest servants. God used him so great, and of his greatest accomplishments he wrote anywhere from 13 to 15 books in the New Testament, while a Missionary, Pastor, and while being imprisoned. And of all his accomplishments he wrote these humble words, “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.” 1 Corinthians 15:10 He never thought of himself as anything except a very blessed servant of God. We see this same humility in so many of God’s servants throughout the scriptures, and it should make us very humbled in what God calls us to do. Humility begins with the understanding that we are nothing, that every accomplishment is a blessing from God. Greatness is not something we earn, it is God’s grace and humble servants do not seek greatness neither do they need it, because all glory is the Lords. The greatest man to have ever lived never seek glory for Himself, He said I come to do my Fathers will. “I can of mine own self do nothing…because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.” John 5:30. Whenever a believer that God saved, called to be a servant, and gives him everything he needs to be successful, then God is to be the glory not him. As servants we never need to think of ourselves more than we ought, Rom 12:3, but to humility thank God for every success. Jeremiah knew this when “the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.” Jeremiah 1:9 Whatever we are, it is by God’s grace and work, and it is not about us, and it never will be. Never seek the Lord’s glory for thyself!

Lawlessness is a sign of the Lord’s return.

“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Matthew 24:12

It is no secret nor is it any hidden thing that the time of apostasy has happened. As we study the seven churches of Asia Minor, we see only one church that remained faithful to the Lord, the Church in Smyrna. We do see the church at Ephesus left their first love “thou hast left thy first love.” But there is nothing said about their repentance and return to their first love; therefore, we must assume that they never returned. True churches today are called Smyrna type churches because they have remained faithful to the Lord and His word of Truth. It is sad when a church of Truth, or a Smyrna type church has allowed themselves to turn into an error church in the time of apostasy. The scripture we are looking at Matthew 24:12 is a scripture describing a sign before the Lord’s return. Jesus is privately asked in Verse 3 “And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Jesus’s reply was, “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold...” I believe, the Lord is describing some churches and Christians here, because we all know that the world will wax worse and worse therefore this is speaking to the lawlessness of many churches. Just as six of the seven churches fell from the Lord and left their first love, so many have today. The Lord prophesied “…the love of many shall wax cold.” That is both churches and Christians, they have “left thy first love.” We can look into the world and see the heathenism, and as that is expected, but when we see this in the personal lives of Christians and even worse in churches, which is unbelievable. As the recipient of God’s grace of His gift of salvation and His gift of honor of being a church member, some need to ask themselves “how did we leave our first love”? The Lord answered this very question in verse 4 “…Take heed that no man deceive you.” Deception causes Christians to leave the Lord, and, in some cases, entire churches left their first love. They were deceived by their fleshly lust, for many different reasons to ignore the word of Truth and to think for themselves. This lawlessness that the Lord is talking about is not the world but rather His churches and Christians. When Christians refuse to join or attend a Smyrna type church or a church that has remained faithful to the Lord, then they are not godly believers. Church is not an option for a believer and remaining faithful is not an option for churches. Jesus said in verse 8 “All these are the beginning of sorrows.” That is, all these things listed in the verses above, including the lawlessness of churches and believers. Christians need to stop using ungodly excuses and lying to themselves and others, repent and return to the Lord because they have left their first love. However, as sad as it is, they’re going to believe their deception, justify their fall and never repent and return. In the end, only the Lord’s elected remnant will remain faithful, which leaves us asking, “where they ever really part of us?” “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” 1 John 2:19 Falling from the Truth and leaving their first love is no simply thing, it is inexcusable, it is ungodly even with all the fleshly excuses. I am personally not asking if all people who have fallen from the churches are Christians or not, I just repeated what God has said. But how do God’s children fall from the churches, from the Truth, and away from their first love and not even think it is wrong? Churches are absolutely dying because Christians refuse to attend and support their churches. There is no excuse for this sin against God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit who assembled the churches. “iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” And there are no excuses because the Lord warned us all, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together…” Heb. 10:25 Please stop with the excuses, stop trying to justify your apostasy, stop using ungodly excuses and just realize that one day, if you are truly a Christian, you will stand before Jesus and understand you left your fist love, because He sure did not leave you! Did your love for the Lord and His church wax cold? “…the love of many shall wax cold.” If so, it is time to repent, its time to return, and it is time to ask the Lord for forgiveness, and if you do not, you will answer to Jesus in judgement. And if you believe that I am cruel in writing this, wait tell Jesus judges you.

Let us remember God’s loving kindness to us.

Psalm 48:14 “For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.”

As the recipients of God’s love, mercy, grace, we must never forget what God has done for us. We should wake every morning, go to bed every night and if it were possible dream every night of the blessings God hath shown to us. We must praise Him for the love He gave us in sending His own Son through the womb of Mary to be born to secure our gift of salvation. We must also remember the mercy He has given to every saved sinner in redeeming us through the sacrifice and blood that Jesus secured. We must also remember the promise to never give up on us, even though we remain sinners on this earth. While there is no excuse for sin, we will all die active sinners as long as we remain to have one single ounce of the old nature. It is only when we fly away in death that we shall be free from sin and death for eternity. Paul wrote in referring to God’s law and our sin these words, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”  Romans 7:24 – 25 We sometimes forget who we are in this flesh, we sometimes forget the battle between our old and new natures and their conflict even as much as a painful conflict it may be. Sometimes life for a Christian can be an agonizing struggle between good and evil for us. This affects us all; every single believer is affected by this struggle, some more than others but all are affected. No believer, no not one single believer is beyond sin in their life, but we are also not without the love and grace of our God our Saviour. We are not without the love of our Saviour in Jesus Christ who both has promised us “he will be our guide even unto death.” Praise God! We do not have to rely on ourselves to fight the battle from within, we have the power of God to help us fight to do good, to do right, to walk in godliness, in the power of the Holy Spirit. As we walk on this earth and eventually walk into our graves we never walk alone. “He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Psalms 23:3 - 24 Through God’s loving kindness to us, “He quickened us,” that means He causes all believers to live when we were dead, He made us all as a vessel of honor when He could have very well made us a vessel of dishonor. But His love did not stop there, He caused our redemption through Jesus, and “he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake”. The Psalmist Asaph wrote in the Psalms these words “Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.” Psalms 73:21 Asaph was grieved at his heart because of envy toward the wealthy, it is amazing how small sins make us realize our lack of faith in God’s love and grace. The Psalmist went on to write, “Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.” Psalms 73:21 For failing to remember the love and grace of God toward us. Let me ask, would it be better to be the richest lost soul on earth or the poorest believer in Jesus Christ? We must always remember “For in him we live, and move, and have our being...” Acts 17:28. Therefore, we must ever be content for the grace that God used to bless us with so many blessings. Life-eternal is not what we have but rather the grace, and lovingkindness of our Lord and Master. The gifts that he has given to us, and the blessings that are too numinous to even count.   

Works and Salvation.

Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

The debate from the beginning of salvation has been about whether human work is in any way part of the salvation of the human soul. God answers that question and settles the whole debate in these two scriptures. Salvation is by grace and not by work because grace is a gift. God goes farther to say that grace and works cancel each other out. “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.” Romans 11:6 God just declared that salvation is by His gift of grace and are in any way of works. God gives us His love, His mercy, His Son, His Spirit, His faith, and many other things in giving us His gift of salvation. God said in Romans 3:28 “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” If justification comes by faith, then how could human works be involved? Paul also wrote in Romans 3:20 “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” This one single part of this verse defines the role of the law in our salvation, “for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” We see in God’s book of law called the bible that once we reach the point of understanding Gods law then we recognize our failure and are brought to the point of repentance. God called the law a “schoolmaster” to us. Gal. 3:24 “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” The word “schoolmaster” shows us the rebuking of God; it is not actually teaching us not is it an instructor word but rather showing us our condemnation through sin. The only teacher or instructor we have is Christ not the law. Paul went on to say in verse 25 “But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.” If the word “schoolmaster” meant the law was our teacher then why does it end once faith comes, it is because as Christians Christ is our teacher bringing our sins to light, not the law. Verse 26 shows us why we no longer need a schoolmaster or the law, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Since we are “all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Why do we need the law? Everything we are as children of God we are “in Christ Jesus.” And as we saw in Eph. 2:8 “and that not of yourselves”. The gift of God explains to us that salvation is only in Jesus Christ and by His works and power of God. The Holy Spirit brings to us “faith” therefore we do not need works for salvation because Jesus Christ is our salvation. Once saved the meaning of works changes for us, it is no longer a schoolmaster, because remember it ended once faith came, therefore, to the believer works means a labor for God. Our faith produces our labor for the Lord and if you have no works then how we say we have faith. “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” James 2:18 Our works are not for our salvation but rather a show of our love to God who saved us and Jesus who redeemed us. If works were in any way a part included in our salvation, then where does that leave Jesus? Our salvation and labor must be separated to give Jesus due respect for His work and sacrifice to redeem us. How can Jesus have preeminence in salvation if He shares it with our works, what kind of glory is that for Jesus. Jesus does not destroy the law; He just changed the meaning from condemning us to His glory through us. God said of Abraham, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?” James 2:21 The word “justified” means a rendering or a show of His faith, he obeyed God because he was righteous, he did not become righteous because of his work. Verse 23 explains this, “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness” His faith had already made him righteous, and that is why he was ready to offer “Isaac his son upon the altar”. People cannot have true faith, God given faith, saving faith, and not have works that show their salvation, this is called letting your light shine in this world, your works of faith is your glorious light.    

Does God Truly Elect People to Salvation?

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”

The question is not can God elect people to salvation but does He. This has been a debated question since Jesus was on this earth and even longer. To get a better understanding to arrive at a right answer everything starts with God. Most Christians or those that claim Christianity fail to understand that God is Sovereign. God created everyone and everything that exist outside of Himself and He is eternally self-existent. Therefore, God owns everything that exist because He created it. Everything in existence is under the rule and power of our Sovereign God. From the heavens to the very plants on the earth. In the beginning after God created Adam he sinned against God, therefore separating himself from God along with his wife who ate of the forbidden fruit through the slyness of Satan. When Adam ate of the forbidden fruit, he not only became a sinner separating himself from God he became a spiritually dead soul. With him being spiritually dead Adam could no longer have fellowship nor communication with God unless God came and personally communicated with him. Adam and all his descendants which includes all of mankind are born with dead spirits, and sinner bounded to sin in their natural state. Paul said of all mankind, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing…” Rom. 7:18a meaning there is nothing good in an unregenerated soul, nothing, not one good thing. Therefore, there is no possibility that an unregenerated soul can ever “make a decision” of any sort to change what they are by nature. Therefore, without the election of God to save a remnant no human soul would have ever come to know Jesus Christ. God said in Rom. 3:11b “…there is none that seeketh after God.” because there is no want nor ability in the depraved heart to ever be saved because of sin they hate God. Oh, there a love in their heart for “a god” just not the very God that condemned them because of sin. God is Sovereign and nothing can save a dead spirit unless God quickens it to a living state. But it takes God’s Sovereign Power to quicken a dead spirit. “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;” Ephesians 2:1 There is nothing in the scriptures that tells a dead spirit to quicken itself, nor does it say to “make a decision”, nor does it say that “God cannot change the human will”. In fact, without the Sovereign Power of God a sinner will never truly turn to Christ. Now we must ask this question, does God choose His children by election, yes, and without question. This is why salvation is “not of yourself but a gift from God,” through His electing you. So, it is these elect that are given the gift of salvation of God. Paul wrote in 2Thess. 2:13 “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:” So, these unlearned preachers want people to believe that “God cannot change the human will”. But the Apostle Paul wrote in Php. 2:13 “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” How does God “work in us to will and to do His good pleasure” if He does not change our will? And why would a lost, spiritually dead sinner who is born at enmity toward God, ever want God’s salvation? He does not, therefore he goes about to create his own salvation opposite of God’s giving of salvation. Their salvation is humanistic at its base, decision, choices, and all sorts of works, which eliminates the power and work of God, including election. The Jews also had this ungodly thought about salvation when Paul wrote “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.” Rom. 10:3 More than 2,000 years later they still do not know who Jesus Christ is. Neither do most of what call themselves “Christians,” and neither are they saved except in their own sinful heart and by their ungodly thinking. People misuse the scriptures to eliminate God from saving sinners, but only to their own destruction. Salvation is a gift of God, He has the power to give salvation to one vessel and not another, Rom. 9. The word grace in Eph. 2:9 means - the divine influence upon the heart – meaning that God influences the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit once the spirit is quickened to come to Christ. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Romans 8:14 But only as many as God has chosen. Everyone needs to stop believing everything some man says and believe God.