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.  

Understanding Grace.

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

Without a proper understanding of what grace means, why God gave us grace, and how God continually uses grace in our everyday life, we will never have a proper appreciation to God for His gift of grace. Without God’s grace toward us, God would have never saved one sinful soul. Sin is an abomination to God, He hates sin, therefore, the thought must be, how could God ever save one single soul? After the sin of Adam and the fall of mankind, man became an abomination to God. God said in the flood of the earth, “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth…” Gen. 6:6a. The repenting of God here is the punishment that God was inserting toward mankind. When God said “…it grieved him at his heart.” it is to show us the amount of anger that God had toward the sinful sinner. How did God truly feel about sin, “…the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth…” Gen. 6:7. This anger was not only toward Adam but the entire human race, we were all condemned. We must understand God’s anger, not only toward sin but also the sinner. While Noah was a “just man”, he was also a sinner and had committed the same abomination against God that everyone else, but “Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” and it is this grace that caused Noah to be a just man. God’s repentance is His grace, not giving some sinners their just due, which is the wrath of God. Any goodness man has toward God is God’s grace toward us. None of mankind should ever have an imaginary thought that we are the source of anything good toward God, because we are not. One of the greatest and most godly men of the New Testament was the Apostle Paul, but toward the end of his life, after all the good he did he said, “But by the grace of God I am what I am…” 1 Cor. 15:10a, because he was unworthy to be who God made him by grace. Paul never forgot his greatest abomination against God, “For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” V. 11. Paul was not devaluing his works as a servant of God, he was being grateful for God’s grace to have elected such an unworthy worm to be what he was. I believe the greatest blessing to us as Christians is to remind ourselves of our own sins and to remember the grace that made us what we are as Christians. I believe, in our time now, many Christians and even churches have forgotten the true meaning of God’s gift of grace in our life that has made us what we are. When a believer loses the true meaning of grace, we turn weak toward God’s grace and gather more pride. We never need pride because a proud heart is a sinful heart. “An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.” Pro. 21:4. Every good thing we do in the Lord is by God’s grace, and if we fail to credit God, then we are sinning. God’s love toward, even a remnant of sinners is a very large gift of grace. God’s love, even toward one sinner is grace, His dispatching His very own Son, Jesus Christ to do the acts He did for our redemption is grace. And it goes deeper, the very act of our spirits being quickened, our believing, our repentance toward God, and our life and works in the Lord are all God’s wonderful grace. God elected all of this for us, we are not responsible for our Christian life no more than the Apostle Paul was. However, many of us, maybe even all of us at some point have wasted God’s grace. Paul wrote “…his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all…” meaning that some had “wasted” God’s grace by making it “void” or empty. When a believer forgets what grace means, when they grow hardened to God’s grace and stop pleasing the Lord, stop serving God “according to the scriptures”, then they have wasted God’s grace. And on the other hand, when a believer forgets to remember God’s grace in their life and starts thinking that “they” have risen and accomplished much, then they also have wasted God’s grace. The Apostle Paul never forgot nor wasted grace, “…yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” Our remembering God’s grace is what make our walk in the Lord stronger, more upright, and more rewarding.        

Be careful in dealing with other believers.

1 Corinthians 2:15 “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”

This chapter teaches us so much about our knowledge, understanding, and wisdom of God and His word. We understand that everything from God is a gift, and God gives His gifts in diverse ways to His children. 1 Cor. 12:1 – 11 will teach us more about this. But to us who are blessed with God’s gifts of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom of God and His word. We are responsible for those teachings, to grow in them, to decern them, and to walk in them. Everyone, from the Pastor down are to spiritually know, understand and in wisdom how to properly decern biblical truths. And one of those teachings is to “spiritual judges all things.” Not somethings, not things we think of, not things with human understanding, but things taught by God in His word. Once we step outside of those guidelines, we have failed God. Everything we judge must be judged in LOVE, with the love God gives us and not human love. Since our understanding of God’s giving of gifts to each believer, our judgment must be with much caution. Because another believer may not understand spiritually or be as spiritually smart as you are. We must remember that only God can truly teach another believer and cause them to decern the scriptures. God went on to say “…yet he himself is judged of no man.” Because we do not know the workings of God in every believer’s spiritual life, or even what God is doing in our life. We only know and understand what God is showing us; we do not know the mind of God. Our judging others must be with much love and understanding of what God is doing, and this takes much prayer. Please understand, God is judging us on our action as we are judging His other children. Especially as Pastors and church members. Let us never stop studying, praying, learning, and walking in that spiritual education, because we do not want to fail God.

When God says, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Gal. 5:25 While our walk will not be perfect, that cannot be our excuse in a voluntary failure. Every believer is required to walk in the Spirit. Our walking in the Spirit or in the Holy Spirit is to follow our spiritual hearts in the Truth of the Word. And if we fail, we are giving in to the lust of the flesh. The Lord went on to say in the next verse Gal. 5:26 “Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.” That is by our failure to walk in the glory of our hearts and not that of the Spirit. Living in the Spirit is walking in the Spirit, a failure to do one is a failure to do both. Again, we will not be perfect, but that is not an excuse to fail. We may ask, “how does this equate to how we treat other believers,” well we must try to understand not only ourselves but others. God is the giver of everything good, therefore He gives His gifts diversely and while He may give to one does not mean He gives to everyone. This makes every gift a blessing and therefore we cannot blame another for not having that blessing. The greatest example is the gift of salvation, because God gives it, it cannot be obtained by anyone except to whom it is given. Therefore, we cannot blame a lost soul for not being saved, it is not within the person’s choices. Neither is any other of God’s gifts, they like salvation is a gift, not earned are a choice of getting. Therefore, we must be carful and not judge God’s other children for what they do not have, because God may not have blessed them with it. It is better to thank God for our blessing instead of being critical of believers who may not have it. Every saved soul is God’s child; it is Jesus who justifies and Jesus who judges and He has promised to judge us as harshly we judge others. As Christians we are to help the weak, we are to attempt to teach them, but while some judgment is right, it is extremely limited.

Matthew 7:1-6 “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”

Are you prepared?

Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”

Death is coming, I know people ignore the subject, but death is not far away, and the fires of hell await those who have ignored the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you live your life at your pleasure and ignore God and His word, please be aware that judgment day is coming. Your final place for eternity is either in heaven or hell. Think of it as a joke if you please, ignore it if you please, but the day of judgment without mercy and grace is coming, it is going to happen. 1Cor. 15:52 “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” As Christians all we can do is plant and water the seeds of God, any increase is of God. So, the seed and the water is this article, hate it, laugh at it, ignore it, but in judgment you will wish you had taken it to heart. Luke 16:24 “And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”

Here is the solution for your redemption, “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” Hebrews 9:28 and in Luke 16:23 - 24 “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”

John 5:22 - 27 "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man."

John 8:16 "And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me."

Romans 2:2 "But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things."

2Cor. 5:10 "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

Revelation 20:11 - 15 "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 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. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

So, as we can all see, that judgment is coming and the lack of thinking about it will not delay it. There is a place called hell, and the road is wider than the road to heaven. When a lost sinner dies not amount of prayer, no amount of hoping, no minister preaching your funeral and just insert you into heaven. Only Jesus Christ, His being, His life, His work, His most painful suffering, His crucifixion, His death, His burial, His resurrection, and His blood shed can save you from hell. Titus 3:3 - 7 “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

Satan’s Walk.

Job 1:7 “And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”

Satan works daily along with hidden demons to trouble those that belong to God through the salvation that God has so graciously bestowed on us. When we study the word of God on Satan, we learn that he has many names, the devil which means the slanderer, the tempter or one who entices Christians to sin, the evil one or the one who is the source of sin, then there is the liar that is the deceiver of truth, murdered because he the killer of life, God called him the god of this world because he has dominion over the people or rulers of this world, he is called a dragon because of the manifestation of the power of Satan, and while there are many more biblical names for Satan God gave him one more name we need to pay close attention to, and that name is Roaring Lion.1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” God called him this because he is “walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” This is why when God spoke with Satan in Job 1:7 he said he was “and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.” As a hungery Lion seeking out his prey. I am sure when God suggested a more favorable target like Job, whom God said, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?” Satan was like a hungry lion looking at the best piece of meat he could have ever been given to him. However, Satan is like so many they forget that God is Omniscient, and God knew the outcome. God never gives up His people, His servants without deity protection. However, God did not need to ask Satan what he was doing, God already knew that Satan was walking as a roaring lion seeking prey. But who exactly is Satan’s prey, it is Christians and churches, why, because he has the lost blinded already toward God and Truth. The lost are like dry bones to Satan, they have no meat because they have been blinded and dead since birth. Satan wants meat on those bones, he wants to hurt and devour as many of God’s people that he can, this is why he was overly excited when God offered up Job. The word “devour” does not mean that Satan wants to cause us trouble, it does not mean this very hungry wants a leg or an arm, the word “devour” means - to drink down, that is, gulp entire, swallow (up). Satan wants to totally control you heart and mind again, he wants to laugh at God that he has swallowed up one of His own. God allowed Satan to take almost everything Job had, about all he had was a wife that told him, “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.” Job 2:9 But all that Satan put Job through, even turning his wife against him, he kept his “integrity”, God said of Jobs integrity in verse 3 of chapter 2 “my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.” Do not be so hard on Jobs wife, her faith and integrity were not as strong as her husbands, in fact God said of Jobs integrity “there is none like him in the earth,” not even his wife. Satan uses the weaker around us in his effort to devour us, just as he did with Adam. So, what was Jobs answer to his wife, but he said unto her, “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” Job 2:10 Therefore, instead of Job allowing himself to be devoured by Satan, he remembered that no matter what, I will stand with the Lord, because all that I have was a gift from God. Therefore, Job said if Satan takes it all, “And 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.” Job 1: 21. We all need to remember, as Paul wrote “But by the grace of God I am what I am:” no more and no less, God has made me what I am only as He has elected. Beloved, we all need to “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil…” because we are all Satan’s prey and he is looking for our weaknesses and any kink in our armor, and crack he can slither through, to make us prime prey for him to stop our walk long enough to devour us. Satan never stops walking because God said he knows his time is limited therefore, his walk is constant. Beloved, be careful, remain alert, examine all things, and make sure God’s will is in it, and pray much.        

How shall God not freely give us all things?

Romans 8:32 “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”

God asked in v. 31 “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Looking at the context of this chapter God is telling us that through His electing us, and His “predestinating us to be conformed to the image of his Son” v. 29 God has made us into the image of His Son, Jesus. God did not just redeem us, but also “conformed” us to be like unto His own Son. That is a total changing us from a wretched lost and dying sinner to be like unto His Beloved Son. The process of this change was costly to God because it was essential that God choose the perfect source of our change. Therefore, the only way for God to be molded in the image of His Son was to sacrifice His own Son. Therefore, God elected us, predestined us, called us, and in Christ He justified us, and in the end, He will glorify us. This means God, in His finished work will make all believers in heaven to be fashioned like His own Son Jesus. God through all this, brought to view His glorious love for us, because He sacrificed His own Son to accomplish this work of change in us. If God was to form us like unto the image of Jesus, then Jesus had to pay the price for our redemption. This is what God did for every Christian throughout time and until this change is complete. We, in this flesh will never understand what God has done for us in our redemption until we are in heaven. The love it took for God to allow His own Son in Jesus to crucified by Satan and those wicked and sinful hands that sacrifice Him. We will never in this life ever understand nor appreciate the love and sacrifice of what God has done for us. If we did, just our smallest and most insignificant sin would cause us to fall on our face and ask God for forgiveness. Our human mind cannot understand the reality of heaven and hell and the glorious love that God has given to us. In heaven we will surlily understand the true meaning to these words “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me.” God, “spared not his own Son,” God put on Jesus the entire burden of sin for every soul that He is going to redeem.

Then God said, “…how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” The words “all things” does not include our every wish in this life, God did not say this for our selfishness, but for His grace given. Let us remember the gift of grace God had just given, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all….” The question is, isn’t this all things? Isn’t this more than we would or could ever ask for? What else could we ever ask for that overshadows our gift of salvation? “All things” are our spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit has given to us along with our salvation. God said, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” James1:17 God is not a giver to selfishness; God is the giver of grace and mercy. God knows our needs before we ever ask, “for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.” Matt. 6:8b. Therefore, Jesus warned us in the same verse “Be not ye therefore like unto them…” that is “thou shalt not be as the hypocrites.” The greatest gift that God has ever given to a sinner is salvation through redemption by His sacrificed Son, how dare we ever be selfish. Therefore, God has given us everything He has chosen for us, let us rejoice and be glad, let us enjoy everything God has given to us. We that are saved have the greatest gift because there is none greater, every other gift just adds to that joy. Thank you, Lord!

If God Be for Us.

Romans 8:31 “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”

What a true blessing of a scripture, what a blessing from our Sovereign God, the very Being that controls everything that is created. As created beings, even as Christians, we will never be able to totally understand nor grasp what God is saying here in this verse. This verse should bring glorious peace of mind to every believer, and when we add in verse 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.” it should cause every believer to rejoice and shout from the mountain top, so that everyone can hear us for miles around. Listen closely to Psalms 46:7 “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.” The word “refuge” means God is our cliff or inaccessible place, meaning there is no safer place in existence than being in the Lord and the Lord being in us. Look at how the Psalmist describes the Lord in Psalms 18:2 “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” We must ask ourselves, “do we need anyone else” the answer must be no, because in the Lord our God we have everything we need. Beloved, we need never worry, wonder, nor fear any creature or anything else because God is for us! Listen once more to the Psalmist in Psalms 118:6 “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” As Christians we are God’s children, we are His possession, and because of that we have His greatest promise, “…for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Heb. 13:5c This very thought should give every child of God the greatest of comfort. We live in a dangerous world, Satan and his people in this world hate us, they want to destroy us every second of every day. And if it were not for the power and grace of God, they would. But God is our refuge or our hiding place, we are in the palm of His hand, and no one has the ability nor the power to bring any harm to us that God does not allow. Think about the word is “perseverance”, it is found only once in the entire scriptures, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;” Ephesians 6:18 The word “perseverance” means persistence which means we are to be "to be attentive or vigilant." in our faith in God. We pray because we trust God in all things, in our everyday life and every event or action or happening in our everyday life. We need to constantly remind ourselves that “God is for us” and since He is, we can believe that whatever He brings us to, that He will also bring us through it. If God (as He did with Job” bring suffering and challenging times to us, then we are going to be fine. The Lord said in Rom. 8:17 “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” God will lead us into trials, persecutions, and tribulations, just as He did Jesus His own Beloved Son. It is our walk in this life, suffering with the Son because this is God’s will for us and it is for our own good.

Then God added in verse 31 “who can be against us?” this is our perseverance or our persistence that our faith can be strong because we do not walk alone in this life, God walks with us protecting us from all evil. God sets the limits of what happens in our life, there are no coincidences, or we do not live by “luck” everything in a Christians life is by God’s will and grace. Just as He told Satan “And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand…” Job1:12 God is not against us, God does not allow things in our life to hurt us, but everything has a purpose and that purpose is, “…all things work together for good to them that love God…”. Therefore, no one can be against us, because God is not only for us but in us. God is the Omnipotent God over all creation and there is no greater power than Him. Praise God for His always being with us!  

Is Satan real, and what is his purpose.

 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”

If you believe in God and if you believe God’s word, then you must believe Satan is as a real and powerful being. Satan is anti-God; He was created to be Satan even though he was originally created a powerful angel. God never created any one or anything without a purpose to bring Him glory. “The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.” Proverbs 16:4 We must understand the reason God created anything, it was all created for God’s personal glory, God gets glory from everything, even from Satan. This world, man, Satan, and everything else was created because of the glory God wanted for Jesus His Son. Without the creation of everything there would not have been the fall of Adam, and sin would not have entered the world. Therefore, God created evil in the person of Satan and created Eve to sin, therefore creating Adam to sin and through Adams sin bringing sin upon all mankind. Satan was created also as an adversary of God; he fell from heaven by challenging to be like God. “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Isa. 14:14 This challenge from the angel Lucifer was a sin, and angels that sin with him were cast into hell which God made just for Satan and his angels, and for all those who die lost. God said to Satan after the fall in the garden, “And the LORD God said unto the serpent…And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed” Gen. 3:14a, 15a. The word “enmity” means -hostility and even hatred- meaning God has put hate between “the woman’s seed, and Satan’s seed, the seed of the woman is Jesus and the seed of Satan is the non-elect. Therefore, the real hate that exist between God and Satan is also between the elect and non-elect or those that are saved and those that are eternally condemned. Satan through the fall took dominion over the world in the fall of Adam. God gave this dominion to Adam and Satan took it in the fall and Satan became ruler over the earthly system. In 2 Corinthians 4:4 Paul called Satan the “god of this world”, “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.” In the fall Satan through Adams fall brough spiritual blindness to the entire population of the world. And this blindness is so powerful that only the power of God can remove it and cause man to see, “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6.

God said Satan was, “your adversary the devil” Satan is the Christians greatest adversary because of his power. We have already looked at how he blinded the entire population of the world with such blinders that only God in His glorious power can undo the damage that Satan has done. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts…”. People have no power to undo the damage that Satan has done, people are helpless without God. God said Satan is “as a roaring lion, walketh about”, he is a wild beast and he is so dangerous God compared him to a “roaring lion”, Vincent’s Word Study said of the word “roaring” “it denotes especially the howl of a beast in fierce hunger.” Therefore, he never rests to do as much harm to Christians and churches relationship to God as he can because his time is short. Revelation 12:12 “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” Satan knows God and he knows what his future is, but he is still wanting to cause as much havoc as he can to God’s people. This is why God warned us all “Be sober, be vigilant….” It is our responsibility to be watchful and not allow ourselves to be overcome through his trickery. Satan wants the weak and those that are easily tricked into falling. It is unfortunately that so many Christians and even churches have failed the Lord because they are not watchful enough. God went on to warn us that he is “Seeking whom he may devour…” and the word “devour” means “to drink down, that is, gulp entire.” Satan’s desire is to cause all of us to be worthless, so the Lord cannot get glory from us. He cannot steal our salvation, but he can rob us of our service in righteousness, if we are not watchful for him.