If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. James 1:5 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/jas.1.5/68509
Do you need wisdom?
Category: Choose to follow Jesus Christ
He died for you
Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 1 John 3:16 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/1jn.3.16/79993
What does God want from me?
This is a long post but it needs to be said. I pray that everyone who reads this will do so prayerfully.
That is the question that many people seek the answer to sometimes for many years before they find the real answer. God doesn’t need anything from us because He is the Creator and the sovereign Ruler of the universe. When we read the Bible, whether we are reading the Old or the New Testament, there is a recurring “theme” that you can see if you are attentive while you are reading it. You will find it in every book of the Bible and it is that God demands our obedience. When God says to do this or says do not do that, He isn’t really testing you although it could feel that way. He wants our obedience. Period.
Just as the test that He placed in the Garden of Eden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God planted it there for a reason and that was to see if mankind would follow His instructions to the letter. Was the tree supernaturally powerful? Did it have some strange knowledge to bestow on mankind? Yes, it was supernatural because “their eyes were opened when they took a bite from its fruit”. Yes, in some way it did give them the knowledge that they should be ashamed of their nakedness but it was their disobedience to the command of God that started them down the pathway of sin and its consequences. This was only the first instance of disobedience but it started the ball rolling in a manner of speaking.
We are only three chapters into God’s Word at this point but the die is cast from this point on. Did Adam and Eve regret their decision? Of course, they did! While they were in the Garden, they didn’t have to work for their food at all. It grew on every tree around them. None of the animals were dangerous because Adam was their caretaker. But after they disobeyed God, the animals feared Adam and they had become more dangerous because of their fear of him. God had killed two animals to make clothes for Adam and Eve and before this time the Bible doesn’t even speak of the death of any animal. But blood had to be shed to cover their sin.
How long had Adam and Eve been in the Garden? We are not told their ages until after they were sent from the Garden and even then we don’t find out until after Seth is born. Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born, so that could’ve been how many years they had been outside the Garden. So you could look at it as there was no aging while they were in the Garden of Eden. It was their disobedience that brought aging into their lives because God had told them that “if you eat of the tree that I told you not to eat of, you will die”. Aging is a slow death. Not as slow today as it was back then, but that is the best way to look at it.
My point is that once disobedience began in the Garden, we have never been able to undo its effect on our lives. God has always wanted and required obedience to His laws and His commands but most of the time we only partially obey Him. He asks us to give a tithe (10% of our income), we give 2 or 3 percent if we give at all. He asks us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, yet many of us don’t even know our neighbors. Jesus asks His followers to take up their cross and follow Him and we can’t even figure out what that means! It means to crucify yourself daily and follow Him doing His will while you are able. Most of us choose not to crucify any part of our old lives even after we have given our hearts to Jesus. We just continue on with our lives, but maybe we don’t cuss as much or drink or smoke like we did before but would anyone who sees us every day know we are a Christian unless we told them?
Every book of God’s Word has a story of obedience or disobedience toward God’s commands in it. For most of mankind’s history, we haven’t been very good at being obedient. A small percentage of us may be obedient up to a point but there are very few who are totally obedient to every command of our Lord and Savior. I needed to write this more to myself than to anyone else because I know that I haven’t been obedient enough in my life and for that, I have asked God’s forgiveness. Maybe you should too.
No harm will come to you
And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good? 1 Peter 3:13 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/1pe.3.13/60129
Do not be afraid
Joshua had to take over the leadership role of Moses after his death. Wow! Talk about some big shoes to fill. That is why God was telling him to be strong and courageous and that He would never leave Him. So, why can’t we, as Christians, learn from Joshua’s experience and be courageous in our faith and our life? Sometimes we are but until we learn to be bold as well as courageous, most of us just hide in the background and let someone else be bold.
What would’ve happened if Peter had not been bold on the day of Pentecost? The day of Pentecost wouldn’t have had much to show anyone if he and the rest of the disciples had not been bold. While it is true that the Holy Spirit is what made them bold, if they had not followed the lead of the Holy Spirit there would’ve been no New Covenant church. All of the Christians over the past two thousand years would have never come to know Jesus as their Savior.
The Holy Spirit gives us strength and knowledge today so that we can be bold in our faith. I pray that anyone who is looking for their Savior will seek Him in Jesus Christ because there is no other Name that can bring eternal salvation to you along with eternal peace and assurance.
We are blessed
Regardless of the situation that we may be living in today, compared to much of the world we are blessed. America has not fallen…yet. Why did I place that qualifier in there? Because it is likely that America will fall soon. Maybe not in my lifetime but it will happen. If it does happen in my lifetime then God had already prepared that for us and we did not see it or we weren’t supposed to see it. Everything that happens in our lives and in the world around us is orchestrated by God. Nothing significant happens in this world without His hands guiding it to be that way.
No leader of a nation, regardless of how incompetent they may be, attains their office without being placed there by God. I pray that all who read this will seek out your answer in this life in God’s Word because your answer is there. Pray that He would show you where your place is in His Kingdom because you have a place and a purpose there as well.
I never knew or even realized that I had a place in His Kingdom until He called me to be a preacher eleven years ago. Now, I only preach here due to COVID and its effect on worship services. If you have given your heart to Jesus and are a follower of His, please tell others about Him while there is time. When that day comes and the church is taken up to heaven, many will still come to know Him but it will be harder then than it is now. Why?
Because by that time the next “leader” of the world will be the Anti-Christ and whether people know that or not it will happen. God’s Word says so in the book of Revelation. He may be the “savior” for a time but he will be a dictator and a very hard one at that. At some point during the seven year treaty that he will have signed with Israel and the country’s around it, he will break the treaty and begin a persecution like the world has never seen. It will be against the Jewish people and those who have come to know Jesus during this time as well. Anyone who doesn’t worship him will be killed.
We live in an uncertain time
But…it is not an unknown time. Many of the things which have happened in the past few years have been foretold in God’s Word. The re-gathering of the Jewish people in their land in 1948 was the first and there have been many more since then. In 1967, Jerusalem was restored to Israel as the capital. All of these things were prophesied by God through the prophets and His ministers, the apostles, who wrote of Jesus and His gospel.
Why do so many people disagree with the Word of God? It is backed up by many more original copies from the first century than any other “ancient” document. Yes, there have been many translations but if they are compared to the originals their content is true and correct. Some may argue that the Bible has many errors in it but it doesn’t. Some words translate easily from Hebrew to English but many do not simply because of the Hebrew alphabet.
I am not a Hebrew scholar but I do own a Hebrew Bible with the Old and the New Testaments in it and it backs up every scripture, even the King James Bible. Yes, some words are different but the context and the meaning of the Scripture are the same. When you read the prophecies from the Old Testament and then compare them to what happened in the life of Jesus and His apostles, even if you have to use more than one or two commentaries to make sense of them, they are accurate as if the writer was there. David described His crucifixion exactly in Psalm 22 right down to the casting of lots for His robe and this was written over a thousand years before Jesus was crucified.
We are living in a time where the “time of the Gentiles” is coming to an end. I pray that everyone who is seeking to know Jesus and the explanation of what is going on around the world will look it up in God’s prophecies, specifically Matthew 24 and in Isaiah 53 and the entire book of Daniel. Seek the truth in God’s Word while there is time.
Worship together
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20 KJV https://bible.com/verse-of-the-day/mat.18.20/10823
What will you do?
There will be a day sometime soon when the church will leave in the twinkle of an eye. That is faster than a blink. You may be talking with someone and in between words and the blink of your eyes…they’re gone and all that is left is their clothes and their watch or phone. Will you know what happened? Will you wonder about it or have you heard this story before? There will be many millions of people missing and there will be many car wrecks and planes crashing on that day. The news will be so busy reporting all of these disappearances that they may not realize that some of their crew is missing.
What will that day look like around the world? It will likely be chaotic with many people missing and so many wondering why wasn’t I among the number that was taken? Others will be asking why were they taken in the first place? There will also be many mothers who will lose their young children and babies right in the delivery room because they are still innocent in the eyes of God.
There will be many people in the world who will be asking many questions and some who do have the answers but the time to make the decision about your eternity is not after the Rapture has happened but before…like today! Have you put it off because you enjoy living without “rules” to ruin your nightlife? Have you just decided that being a Christian is too much to ask right now? The day of salvation is today, not tomorrow. No one is guaranteed to live a certain number of years, so even tomorrow is not promised to any of us.
Make sure of your eternal home today because on that day when all of the world is wondering what happened you want to be included in the group that was taken. What comes next for the rest of the world will be like hell on Earth for seven years.
Who is Jesus?
This is the question that many people have asked for centuries. Is He the Messiah, the Son of God, or is He just a great teacher?
The evidence points to Him being exactly Who He claimed to be! He was and is the Son of God and everyone will see Him coming in the clouds one day. All of the people since the first century who have died because of their belief in Him wouldn’t have held on to their belief to the death if He wasn’t.
Jesus Christ is the One that we have all been waiting for. To say or believe something else is foolish. Make sure of your faith in Him before it is too late.
