Saturday, May 27, 2017

Proof God Only Teaches Truth.


Luke 9:44-45 “Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men…But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.”

 

This passage of scripture is an eye opening scripture. We have to sometimes wonder why men who study the same bible, sometimes in the same churches, simply cannot agree on the scriptures. I believe by this passage of scripture it is because God gives us the understanding that only He wants us to understand. There is a great difference between a Christian who knows bible truth and refuses to teach it than one who simply cannot understand it. I believe it is impossible for a Believer to extend beyond the limits that God has allowed them to have. “But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.” 2 Corinthians 10:13 I believe doctrinal truth is elected just as salvation is, it is by God’s grace and giving love. We never have a reason to boast about our knowledge or understanding of the scriptures, likewise a believer with understanding should not criticize another one for their lack. Jesus told these wonderful dedicated servants that His death was soon and they understood not, why not, “…it was hid from them, that they perceived it not…” God did not bless them with that knowledge. I always wondered why these men did not attend the crucifixion of Jesus. If they understood (while it may have been painful) they would have gloried in His death. We do, as sad as it is to visit the scriptures on the crucifixion we understand how glorious His death was. And then the tomb, why were they not there on the resurrection morning? Jesus had just told these men that He was going to Jerusalem to die and God did not give them the knowledge to understand. These men who lived, slept, eat, preached, and suffered with Jesus, these men who followed Him at any cost, these men who heard Him preach, saw Him heal, and loved Him more than life, understood not. Why not? Because God did not show it to them. Beloved, please understand we only get what God gives us in every area of life. Two great Ministers, two great writes of commentaries, two men that had great knowledge of the scriptures, but neither John Gill nor Charles Haddon Spurgeon understood the truth about the church, neither where Baptist, why not? And not just them but millions of others never understood select truths about the scriptures, why not? We study the same bible, from like-minded pastors and teachers, why is it some get it and some do not? I believe because if God does not show and teach it to us it is impossible to understand. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:6-7 “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all…But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” We all serve one single God, who is above all, but only gives each of us the measure of grace He has given us in Christ. I believe we cannot surpass this measure of knowledge no more than we can pass our bounds of life. If one person lives to be 90 and another lives 2 years it was God who ordained it, just like He limits our understanding. Therefore, beloved, let us not be so hard on those who do not understand, if they are saved and have little knowledge of the scriptures and you have a lot, thank God for what He has blessed you with and pray for those that is without. I believe some believers are simply too hard on others that disagree with them. If two people are saved then that have a great fellowship in Christ, why fight and dislike over doctrine. Just think about it!!  

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Walking In The Spirit.

Galatians 5:16 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”
I wonder if we were to examine our walk on this earth could we say we walk in the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God has many effects on us. He convicts us of our lost state and brings us to the Christ and causes us to believe. He effects our learning of God’s word, keeps bringing thoughts of the scripture back to us as we struggle in life. He also keeps us saved throughout life not allowing us to fall. But for us, He also prepares us to meet our Saviour Jesus Christ and our heavenly Father. And, not last or least, He will never leave us nor forsake us. What a blessing He is to us who are called the children of God. If it were not for the Holy Spirit, we would all fall right back into sin and become what we were before we were dragged from the flaming fires of Hell. However, with all this being said we must not forget the part of mankind. That’s right we have a part in all of this and that is our Walking in the Spirit. What it means to “Walk in the Spirit” is our everyday life, from our prayer life, to our study of God’s word, to our everyday living on this earth, to our worship of God. How is our everyday life meeting the standards of the Holy Spirit? What are the standards of the Holy Spirit, just read the bible. The bible is the word of God as inspired by the Holy Spirit. It should be the single book of instructions in our life, it should fulfill our everyday life. If it is our everyday instructions in life then it will control our every thought, word, action, and yes our every walk. Every time we fail to walk in the scriptures we fail to walk in the Spirit, we fail God, and we fail ourselves. Paul went on to write “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh…” in other words you cannot serve God and mammon, who are you serving every day? If you walk to please the world than you cannot please God because Paul also wrote “…these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” If they are “contrary the one to the other” then they can never be served together, ever. Jesus said in Matthew 12:30 “He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” If you are not serving God, if you are not walking in the Spirit, then whatever you do, you do it against the Lord. Sometimes Christians do not think of the consequences of serving the lust of the flesh, or to walk against the scriptures, but always remember no believer in Jesus Christ should ever go against the God that saved their eternal soul from hell, ever. Beloved, going against God or His word is not an option, we must as Christians guard our everyday life to serve the Lord and to walk in the Spirit. I must admit, in this world it is hard. The world is at war with God and walking in the Spirit takes a lot of energy and humility on our parts, and a lot of grace on God’s part. However, it can be done, and we ought to be ashamed if we fail to give it our best effort. Beloved, there is nothing in this worth the loss we suffer in eternal glory for our failure to do so. Jesus asked this question, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”  Matthew 16:26 Now while our souls are kept by the Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ, what about our standing before our Father? If we get to heaven and have no rewards, then what have we gained? It will be like a kid watching other kids playing with toys and you have none. Folks, there is nothing in this world, no possession on this earth is worth our eternal standing in Christ. Our everyday walk is ALL impotent to us, let us all walk in the Holy Spirit everyday no matter what.    

Saturday, May 13, 2017

Because Of Mine Enemies!

Psalms 27:11 “Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.”

As Christians we need to cry unto the Lord that He will teach us, and lead us by His gracious hand. We live in a world that is worse than ever, times like these have never existed. I know about the persecutions and killings of the past, but our times are unique and different. When God said “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” 2 Corinthians 11:14 As “today” Christians we live in times when Satan truly rules the world. His will is the rule of the day, and everything is anti-Christian. God warned us about people who follow Satan. God warned of fleshly people “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.” John 8:44 People who follow after the things of Satan must be of Satan. God said “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” Meaning, even if they say they are Christian they are not, how is one a Christian if they hate God and His Truth. As Christians we cannot serve two master, because one will cause us to hate the other. Matthew 6:24. When people who come to dislike Christians for following the plain path of God that He taught us, then who is following who? Following the Lord means to deny Satan and the things of the world. Since Satan can come as “transformed into an angel of light.” Then he can make his demon teachings look as though they are right, and in return make Gods Truth look as though it is wrong. As we look on Sunday morning we see buildings called churches full of hundreds if not thousands of souls. But what are they learning, God’s Truth or Satan’s lies? When these same people camouflaged as Christian go into the world teaching the lies of Satan, condemning the people of God for their believing the biblical truths, we live in dangerous times. God said “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Matthew 7:20 If one acts, believes, and teaches the lies of Satan then what are we supposed to think. There is a problem with the folks who call themselves Christians when they standup against the very Christians that are standing on biblical truth. This may be a newsflash to some counterfeit Christians out there, but the LGBT community is not acceptable to God. We (as Christians) are not to fight for their rights. I am not in any way condemning the LGBT people but I have no problem with what God says about them. When people who call themselves Christians and then fight against what is supposed to be their brother of sister in Christ, there is truly something very wrong with one of them. God said, “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” 1 John 4:20 There are some people who call themselves Christian who will condemn Christian believers and help the LGBT people. I am not the judge of mankind, that is Jesus Christ, but something is drastically wrong with that. God said “And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet… as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind” Romans 1:27, 28a But somehow some people believe that we are to accept them (LGBT) as normal everyday families. Please remember “God gave them over to a reprobate (worthless) mind” Personally while I do not condemn the folks of the LGBT community, I will never accept them as normal families. So if some of these counterfeit Christians wants to condemn me and other believers in Jesus Christ like me for being biblical, then go ahead, God will reward me. But I make you this promise, I will never oppose my God or His word “…because of mine enemies.”

Saturday, May 6, 2017

Our Bounds Are Set!

“Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;” Job 14:5

Death is something we simply do not understand. We all believe that people will live long on this earth, but that is totally in the hands of the All Sovereign God. God is the one that people just do not understand, and that is because they continually deny His Sovereign Power. Job here is speaking about mankind, and he points out that mankind’s bounds or life limit has been determined or set, and people simply cannot pass that limit. People are always failing to connect God and His Sovereign Power to anything, and that is because people really do not believe in Him. Solomon writing under the name “Preacher” wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” The word “season” means - an appointed occasion – and then the Preacher went on to give a number of things under this “appointed occasion” and in verse 2 he wrote “A time to be born, and a time to die…” and this appointed time is for everything, including mankind. I once heard a Pastor in Tyler, Texas speak about this subject and he said “to prove this predestination stuff wrong just walk in front of a truck, and you will die early”. Now, what this self-glorified genius of a preacher did not know is that theory proves nothing except it was that persons appointed time to die. See, you cannot disprove a Truth of God. If God has ordained it, it will come to pass without question or interruption. Now God said in Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To every thing there is a season…” therefore we must conclude that God has ordained a beginning and end to everything that exist, including mankind. I also hear “Preachers” in their insults about God speak as though God simply cannot control everything, it is way too large. Say what, God is too small to control everything? Then they just called God a liar, because God has declared that He created and controls everything, even evil for His own glory. This I also know, since this is true, we ought to fear God. The Preacher went on to say in Ecclesiastes 3:14 “I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.” Nothing can be added to it nor can anything be taken from it. Therefore, to the Preacher I spoke about in Tyler, Texas, stepping in front of the bus, changes nothing. The writer of the Proverbs wrote in Proverbs 19:21 “There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.” No matter what God’s ordained will is, it will without interruption and failure be brought to fulfillment. Now, I said all of this to prove this one point, that our life span is totally determined by God, when we were born and when we will die is at Gods choosing. No matter what it is God controls it, even evil. Satan can do nothing except God grant him the power, and neither can anyone else. Most people in this world does not “get” or “understand” God because they willingly fail to understand His sovereignty and His powers. People want to believe that somehow they are superior to God, but that is a total false idea. We must always understand that everything lives, moves, and has its being by the power of God.