NOW I HAVE TOLD YOU

Matt 28:7
There you will see him.' Now I have told you. NIV
** The angel had a job to do and here we see that he finalized that mission by his words “Now I HAVE TOLD YOU.” I need to take the mission God has given me as serious as this angel took it. Following everything to the letter and then being able to say, “Now I have told you.” I don’t want to be standing before my Lord and God and have unfinished business. I want to be as Paul said, “I have finished the race.”

STANDING OUR GROUND

Matt 23:27-28
27 " Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. 28 "So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
NASU
** Submit, submit, submit! I’ve heard this from people throughout my life. The message has always been clear. “Submit to those who are in authority over you.” I agree 100%. We need to submit to their authority by law….. UNLESS…. It tries to over ride God’s law of the Bible. So if my government, who I am submitted to, writes a law that says I can’t preach in the name of Jesus or meet with others on Sunday to worship together, God’s word over rides the law of the world for the bible says “do not forsake the assembling together with the believers,” and “Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” Therefore, whatever the cost I will obey God’s word over man’s law. This word submit has been so missed used for instance the bible says “wives, submit to your husbands.” Now what if the husband tells the wife that he wants to bring a second woman into the home for his pleasure? Is she suppose to “submit” to it and allow it? Of course not! His request for her to submit is in rejection to the word of God. This is where it will get sticky in the days to come. People, so called Christian people will be the fore runners to tell the church that they are suppose to submit to the new laws of accepting homosexuality as from God and that abortion is ok because the “law” says that it is. Who will we obey? The Word of God is very clear on both of these subjects and we MUST obey and submit to God over man. Big can of worms I’ve opened up here huh? We can just go along with the status quo and end up like we did many years ago and had prayer taken out of the schools because we just sat back and submitted to something that was not of God. If you are a true follower of Christ, you will get off of your behind and stand up and speak your voice when the time comes. STAND YOUR GROUND.

SHREWD AND INNOCENT

Matt 10:16
Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. NASU
** We are coming to the end of this world. I continue to feel an urgency to prepare for rough
food and stuff” person, but lately I’ve really felt like the people of God need to stock up on dried foods etc. Even as Joseph was warned by God that a famine was coming so he stocked up in his barns so too I believe that the church should be the ones who listen to God’s voice and do what He tells them to. In the journal reading today it says to be “shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” Being shrewd would be a person who hears the voice of God and acts upon it. And to be innocent would be one who not only acted upon God’s word but one who shares the benefit to others.

UNSALTED

Matt 5:13
"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. NASU
** The other day I was at the church and I saw a jar of peanuts sitting on the counter. I was a bit hungry and I took a hand full and put them in my mouth. As I began to chew, I tasted this horrible bland taste as if I was chewing balls of cardboard. I looked at the jar and there was the problem. “Unsalted!” I managed to chomp down the rest and went and washed my mouth out with a coke or something but the point of this is, salt adds flavor to foods. I’ve never been just a man of the world. I mean I’ve never just been an unsaved person walking around in the world. I’ve always know Jesus as my savior my whole life. I have however been around people who do not live their lives for Jesus and I can see how wonderful their lives could be if they would just choose to be salted. Jesus, in this verse, is talking to Christians. “You are the salt of the earth.” The only reason that the world is as great as it is today is because we are IN it. I don’t know if you’ve been watching the news at all but there are little pockets of our world that have completely abandoned anything that has to do with Jesus and when I look at them on the TV, all I see is BLAND. If you are a Christian, keep salting everywhere you go and you will see great taste.

IMMEDIATELY

Matt 4:22
22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. NASU** They didn’t mess around getting everything together when they decided to follow Jesus. So here it is, true discipleship. Leaving your livelihood and your family to follow Jesus. They didn’t necessarily give everything up as much as they gave up their number one attention and focus to give it all to Jesus. We know this because later when Jesus was crucified and buried, the went back fishing and didn’t have to buy new boats and nets. What they did do was redirected their life’s goals and focus from one thing to Jesus. Now I believe some of them did get rid of everything just as Elisha did when he met Elijah and killed his ox and burned his plows. But often times we think we can’t truly follow Jesus unless we go into ministry full time. Everyone needs to be a full time minister but that doesn’t mean they have to work for the church or some ministry. Everyone that is a follower of Christ or a true Christian, needs to leave everything and immediately follow Jesus. He needs to be our primary focus and goal in life and everything else secondary.

ACT LIKE MEN

1 Cor 16:13-14
13 Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love. NASU
** Act like men…. This is a tough statement. “Act like men.” What does a man act like? We were all raised different and we watched different TV shows or movies that showed us what men were suppose to act like. Are they wrong or right? Well, the only real man I know was Jesus Christ. He showed us how to act like real men. I encourage you to go to the bible and read the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and pay attention to the red letters (just the words of Jesus) and if you follow the red letters, you will then be acting like a real man. Paul is saying to act like men and then he says “be strong.” So when people say that being a Christian is being less than a man and a wimp, the bible claims it different. You can be strong by being a man of the word of God.

TO SPEAK OR NOT TO SPEAK

1 Cor 14:39-40
39 Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak in tongues. 40 But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner. NASU** Three things Paul ends up with through this chapter. 1 Everyone desire to prophesy. 2 You can’t tell people not to speak in tongues. 3 In all this prophesying and speaking in tongues, do it properly and in order. When you read the 14th chapter of 1st Cor. You must see it for what Paul is presenting it. He is explaining certain differences between personal devotional tongues (what everyone receives when they are baptized in the Holy Spirit and according to Paul everyone should speak in tongues) and then there’s the congregational tongues (the gift of tongues for the church body that should be controlled and in order and not used more than 3 times during a gathering of the church people). You notice that Paul moves from one gift to the other as he explains the proper way to exercise the two gifts. Now days the churches have almost completely done away with the gift of tongues during their services. My thought would be that they either saw someone or heard of someone abuse the gift or misuse the gift of tongues and decide that it will not happen in their church. And something that was meant to be so good has now been abandoned. I would rather have every gift of God in operation and have to deal with people who are self centered and out of order once in a while than to not have the gift in operation at all.

WHO'S PROFIT?

1 Cor 10:31-33
31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. 32 Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; 33 just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved. NASU
** Who’s profit? Not mine. This even goes along with Paul’s statement, “ I become all things to all men that I might by all means save some.” Pleasing all men does not mean that I go along with their sinful ways and participate with them so they can see that I fit in or that I’m cool enough to be able to hang around with them. The world needs Christians that will live CHRISTian lives. I believe they really want something different that the sinful lives they live every day. So, WHATEVER I do, weather I eat or drink, or whatever I do I will do ALL TO THE GLORY OF GOD. He’s the reason I live…. He is Awesome!

WALK

Gal 5:16-17
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
NASU
** These verses are so self explained. Spirit VS Flesh. Who will win? Each day I wake up I have a choice to either obey the Spirit or obey the flesh. Later Paul describes the fruit of each one.
Gal 5:19-24
19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
** Who will win? The one you feed? Paul gives us one clear picture, “walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” Am I walking in the Spirit or flesh? Each day I have to make a choice to walk. Flesh or Spirit? It’s your choice.

TRUE HEIRS

11-6-08 = TRUE HEIRS

Gal 4:1-2
4:1 What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. 2 He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. NIV** When I read this I see how God set up everyone of us as heirs. Now heirs have every right to everything that is in the kingdom of God. However He goes on to say that we are no different from a slave who does not have rights to the kingdom of God and all it’s blessings. What makes the difference? Guardians and trustees! God places guardians and trustees in our lives (pastors, teachers, leaders etc.) to help us understand our inheritance and our rights until the time God sets in His order. So if you see some Christians being blessed and receiving all kinds of blessings, do you think it could be because they have submitted to the guardians and trustees in a more open way than others and that’s why they receive so quickly and not in length of time? I mean, I’ve seen some people live in poverty (both physically and spiritually) their whole life. And other times I’ve see people get saved and get under good biblical teaching and start receiving blessings right away. Why? It’s got to be a heart thing more than just a “this is just the way it is” thing. I want to listen to my guardians and trustees and hear what they are saying to me so I can learn to be a true heir of God’s kingdom.