When they are finally convinced it will be too late.
Jesus on prophecy-
John 14:29 'And now I have told you before it
come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might
believe.'
Told something before it happens- prophesizing.
So when it happens- you believe.
Watch- things will come to pass.
We have a wealth of prophecies that we've been allowed to realize beyond a doubt were written before they came to pass and a wealth of historical facts to prove the prophecies to be true. Many things were written so that we might believe.
Jesus prophesized of His death and resurrection before they happened and those that heard believed once it came to pass.
Prophecy is given to us allowing us to realize truly that God is in control. Skeptics reign in our world and they always will reign until Jesus returns. Unfortunately for those who choose not to believe in God's prophectic gift to mankind, for those who lack faith when they are finally convinced it will be too late.
Without faith it is impossible to please Him.
People cry out for concrete proof and ignore the fact they live and in that fact is proof alone. With scientist picking apart the human being and reducing them to cells that they can reproduce they claim to be able to play God in creating another human being but the fact remains no matter what scientists only use what has already been created and exists they have not brought into existence anything from nothing. They do not hold out their hand and in that hand appears that tiny bit of matter with which life begins. Anything they manipulate was already there in existence to be manipulated by them. The very fact they cannot produce something from absolutely nothing says one thing, they are not creators. They take from the already created and their so called new creations are merely manipulations. They are manipulators not creators. They don't create cures, they don't create disease they manipulate matter in existence and that manipulation brings forth various things for good or bad. They invent, they don't create. Even us ordinary men and women who reproduce we only do so with things created within us that we had no control over creating, all we've done is brought the two bits of matter together and from there the creating takes place not through any creating of our own but once again through us manipulating what is already there. We are not creators, we will never be creators. We can take a lump of clay and mold it into a gorgeous statue and people will call us the creator of that piece of work but the truth remains we only manipulated the clay we didn't bring the clay into existence, for that matter we didn't bring ourselves into existence. We are not creators. We take what exists and work with that. If we take two things and make something different a third thing that appears to be new that's all well and good but the fact remains we did not create those two things brought together to form that third. Ultimately when you break things down to their smallest component there was a Creator who brought into existence that smallest component. To assume that smallest component just popped into existence from no where is illogical because why aren't we still being bombarded with things just popping into existence? Why aren't we even seeing things popping into existence sparsely let alone being bombarded? These are all logic questions. When was the last time you heard of something that just appeared out of nowhere forming something brand new? What scientist has conjured from thin air, or rather from no where because yes they like to manipulate air too making it thin or thick- seriously they do manipulate air so that analogy falls short. What scientist had conjured something from nothing at all? I mean it. Nothing. What human being has just stood there and thought into existence anything at all? We have all sorts of fantasy movies and books about special people with powers able to do just that but those people are ficticious and in no way real. The fact remains there doesn't exist a single creator upon earth.
Satan, whose desire to be God overwhelmed him into believing he could be a creator- and yet he was a creation of God's. Creatures longing to be creators it hasn't ended not since Satan's pride reared up and spilled over into mankind.
We creatures have been blessed by our Creator and given so much by Him so that we might make that leap of faith. By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may we have that faith and as one man cried out- Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. May we too cry out the same. God will help our unbelief, because in asking for His help we are believing He is and He is able.
By His mercy! All power and glory, all praise to our God, our Lord, our Savior! By the Holy Spirit.
Amen.Jesus on prophecy-
John 14:29 'And now I have told you before it
come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might
believe.'
Told something before it happens- prophesizing.
So when it happens- you believe.
Watch- things will come to pass.
We have a wealth of prophecies that we've been allowed to realize beyond a doubt were written before they came to pass and a wealth of historical facts to prove the prophecies to be true. Many things were written so that we might believe.
Jesus prophesized of His death and resurrection before they happened and those that heard believed once it came to pass.
Prophecy is given to us allowing us to realize truly that God is in control. Skeptics reign in our world and they always will reign until Jesus returns. Unfortunately for those who choose not to believe in God's prophectic gift to mankind, for those who lack faith when they are finally convinced it will be too late.
Without faith it is impossible to please Him.
People cry out for concrete proof and ignore the fact they live and in that fact is proof alone. With scientist picking apart the human being and reducing them to cells that they can reproduce they claim to be able to play God in creating another human being but the fact remains no matter what scientists only use what has already been created and exists they have not brought into existence anything from nothing. They do not hold out their hand and in that hand appears that tiny bit of matter with which life begins. Anything they manipulate was already there in existence to be manipulated by them. The very fact they cannot produce something from absolutely nothing says one thing, they are not creators. They take from the already created and their so called new creations are merely manipulations. They are manipulators not creators. They don't create cures, they don't create disease they manipulate matter in existence and that manipulation brings forth various things for good or bad. They invent, they don't create. Even us ordinary men and women who reproduce we only do so with things created within us that we had no control over creating, all we've done is brought the two bits of matter together and from there the creating takes place not through any creating of our own but once again through us manipulating what is already there. We are not creators, we will never be creators. We can take a lump of clay and mold it into a gorgeous statue and people will call us the creator of that piece of work but the truth remains we only manipulated the clay we didn't bring the clay into existence, for that matter we didn't bring ourselves into existence. We are not creators. We take what exists and work with that. If we take two things and make something different a third thing that appears to be new that's all well and good but the fact remains we did not create those two things brought together to form that third. Ultimately when you break things down to their smallest component there was a Creator who brought into existence that smallest component. To assume that smallest component just popped into existence from no where is illogical because why aren't we still being bombarded with things just popping into existence? Why aren't we even seeing things popping into existence sparsely let alone being bombarded? These are all logic questions. When was the last time you heard of something that just appeared out of nowhere forming something brand new? What scientist has conjured from thin air, or rather from no where because yes they like to manipulate air too making it thin or thick- seriously they do manipulate air so that analogy falls short. What scientist had conjured something from nothing at all? I mean it. Nothing. What human being has just stood there and thought into existence anything at all? We have all sorts of fantasy movies and books about special people with powers able to do just that but those people are ficticious and in no way real. The fact remains there doesn't exist a single creator upon earth.
Satan, whose desire to be God overwhelmed him into believing he could be a creator- and yet he was a creation of God's. Creatures longing to be creators it hasn't ended not since Satan's pride reared up and spilled over into mankind.
We creatures have been blessed by our Creator and given so much by Him so that we might make that leap of faith. By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may we have that faith and as one man cried out- Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. May we too cry out the same. God will help our unbelief, because in asking for His help we are believing He is and He is able.
By His mercy! All power and glory, all praise to our God, our Lord, our Savior! By the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
6/27/10
Act 19:13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
Act 19:14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
Act 19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
Act 19:16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Act 19:17 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
There is power in the name of Jesus, power we can call on but not falsely. We have to have a real relationship with Jesus, a true relationship with our Lord and Savior. Simply using His name isn't enough.
Devil's believe and they tremble. Devil's know Jesus and His true followers. Those who don't have a living, breathing, relationship with God, with their Savior, can't expect the mere mention of the Lord's name to work for them as they want it to work. These men- these vagabond Jews, these exorcists, wanted to rid a man of an evil spirit. These men knew Jesus truly cast out evil spirits. These men knew that Paul, an apostle of Jesus, cast out evil spirits in the name of the Lord. These men had the idea that if they used the name of the Lord they could cast out evil spirits too. The Holy Spirit wasn't in these men and the evil spirit knew that these were men who were not in any way connected to Jesus. There was no love of Jesus, no love of God in these men and the evil spirit knew they had no power to destroy and was free to attack them which it did with a vengeance.
We can't imagine evil spirits in this way, and we can't imagine true exorcism. This sort of thing might have happened in Jesus' day but not in our day. So where have all the evil spirits gone? I'm not saying I want to confront an evil spirit, far from it!!! I hope never to encounter one, never! I hope and pray that my relationship with my Savior is a pure and strong relationship, a just and true relationship so that if ever I'm in such a situation and I can call upon the name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that the Holy Spirit will dwell in me and the power of the Lord will be revealed. No glory, no honor to me, but all glory and honor to God. May we all seek to have a true relationship with our Lord, may we all be found in Him so that if we ever are in any situation that will test our faith, our faith will remain firm in Him.
By His grace and mercy, through His righteousness, in His amazing love now and forever, all glory and honor to Him!
Amen.
6/27/11
Luk 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
Luk 21:35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Luk 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
We just studied this yesterday so why are we back here? I'll tell you why we are back here. We're back here because yesterday we talked about taking heed of three snares in our lives, but I just don't think we talked enough. I haven't forgotten the prophecy study we are on, but that prophecy study needs to be interspersed with the life lessons that we need to understand because what good does it do for us to understand the end is coming and the Bible prophecy is real if we aren't prepared for that end?
Life is one long learning process for us. Even those caught up in a mundane routine that never seems to vary- they too are constantly learning on some level. Every moment of our existence is a chance to live for Christ or not to live for Christ. Really, this is ALL that matters in our life- God. Before you start freaking out and naming all the things that are important, ask yourself this, do any of those things matter without God? Seriously, does good health matter unless you are God's? Does the health of your children matter if they can't see God in your life and have God themselves? Does having money, a job, a home matter if you do not know Jesus in your life as your Savior? All those things exist without God in your life- they don't disappear the moment you turn on God or if you've never accepted God. The same problems, the same pleasures, the same you exists but when you have God your spiritual dimension changes and as your spiritual dimension alters then it can affect other parts of your life- not necessarily changing the existence of things so much as changing how you might view them. Viewing things in the light of eternity, viewing things in light of forever living with God, viewing things with the understanding that NOW is only temporary changes perspectives. Does accepting our Savior mean you will suddenly love mushrooms if you despised them before? No. Does accepting our Savior mean you will suddenly no longer be annoyed at head-banging music as you were before? No. Accepting our Savior begins a new life- a spiritual life and just like our physical lives our spiritual lives will go through transformations, our spiritual lives will suffer from that refining process we are all called to go through. We will have spiritual growing pains and NO two people will have the same experience.
Yesterday we talked about being overcharged with:
Surfeiting
Drunkenness
Cares of this life
And one of the things we mentioned was how EVERYONE is vulnerable to these three snares of Satan. The whole world has the potential of being ensnared by a trap laid by the Devil himself and brought up into wonderful fullness. The Devil has made these snaring points what we generally just call 'life' today. His snare is our life. You can't get much more deceptive than that, can you? Oh well, that's life. That's just how it is. Can't change things. Things just keep getting worse. How to handle this, how to handle that, how to deal with life. Life for Dummies. The 911 on Life. Accept it, you can't alter it. Go with the flow. Modern thought. Current times. Keep up with evolution. Advance in acceptance. Don't be old school. New times. This day and age. Be informed. The newest trend. And the list goes on and on and forever on doesn't it?
Do we REALLY believe that our modern world with all it's advancements haven't come at a price?
Do we teach eternal life? Do we prepare our children for the real life possible for them to possess in Christ? Forget all about everything else and think about the reality of Christ's return to take us with Him. Do we LIVE with this as a REALITY?
Take heed.
Watch and Pray.
IF… and I really shouldn't even use that word…but I will because I'm not going to presume you aren't in a place of watching and praying as you take heed. If you find yourself caught up being overcharged with any one of those three things mentioned, or with two of them, or all three- what are you going to do? Will the third thing- cares of this life swell to gigantic proportions to envelope the other two? Or maybe drunkenness, drugs, intoxicating influences will be what inflates to deal with the other two. Perhaps you'll just indulge like never before in eating or other self-pleasures of your choosing to the point you think you care less about anything else so you're not caught up in those old life cares, right?
Vile and vicious, insidious, and spiritually-flesh eating, these three things have an incalculable number of tendrils snaking out every which way weaving in and out of our lives at any given moment trying to keep us from ever being free in Christ.
So…
Examine your life. Do it. Go on. Examine your life. Take an introspective walk through your last day. Do you notice points where any of those three snares might have you? You do? Good, good. Now do you feel a slight sense of despair at ever being snare free feeling you?
Think about this- overcharged heart.
This didn't say you can NEVER do anything for yourself in any way.
This didn't say you can NEVER drink.
This didn't say you can NEVER care about anything at all in life.
This said OVERCHARGED with these things. Letting our LIVES revolve around these things. Letting these things consume our lives! Letting these things become our lives!
We can't despair, Satan wants that more than anything. Satan wants us to despair to the point of losing all hope.
If you are trapped in any of these things or all of them, there is HOPE. CHRIST is our HOPE! We find our freedom from the snares only in CHRIST and no other place.
1Ti 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope
Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Rom 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
Rom 5:4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Rom 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Rom 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Mar 13:33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
Luk 12:37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching
Mat 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
1Co 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
2Ti 4:5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions
1Pe 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour
Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints
This is the counsel we have been given. We can choose to ignore it. We can choose to make a half-hearted attempt at a life in Christ. We can choose to keep the snare about us and deceive ourselves if we want that and many will want that. The life Christ calls us to isn't one of worldliness in any way. If we want the world and Christ it's just not going to work at all, not really, no matter how much we want it to. Satan has packaged this world in a pretty, very enticing wrapping completely with ribbons and bows the only thing he hasn't done is sign the gift card because he wants us to be deceived.
Our life cannot be mostly worldly with a pinch of Jesus. Our lives have to be mostly Jesus with a pinch of the world and only that pinch because we have to live in this world- even Jesus understood that we had to live here and He prayed to His Father to have us kept from evil while we were living in this world.
This must be our prayer, keep us from evil Lord, keep us from anything that would keep us from You! Let us NOT be deceived. Help us to watch, to take heed to all that we need to so that we may be with you, that we may rise to meet You in the air when You come for us. Please Lord, all by Your grace! All by your mercy! All through Your righteousness in Your amazing LOVE, by Your Son, through forgiveness He gives to us.
Please Lord.
Please.
Amen.
John 14:29 'And now I have told you before it
come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might
believe.'
Told something before it happens- prophesizing.
So when it happens- you believe.
Watch- things will come to pass.
We have a wealth of prophecies that we've been allowed to realize beyond a doubt were written before they came to pass and a wealth of historical facts to prove the prophecies to be true. Many things were written so that we might believe.
Jesus prophesized of His death and resurrection before they happened and those that heard believed once it came to pass.
Prophecy is given to us allowing us to realize truly that God is in control. Skeptics reign in our world and they always will reign until Jesus returns. Unfortunately for those who choose not to believe in God's prophectic gift to mankind, for those who lack faith when they are finally convinced it will be too late.
Without faith it is impossible to please Him.
People cry out for concrete proof and ignore the fact they live and in that fact is proof alone. With scientist picking apart the human being and reducing them to cells that they can reproduce they claim to be able to play God in creating another human being but the fact remains no matter what scientists only use what has already been created and exists they have not brought into existence anything from nothing. They do not hold out their hand and in that hand appears that tiny bit of matter with which life begins. Anything they manipulate was already there in existence to be manipulated by them. The very fact they cannot produce something from absolutely nothing says one thing, they are not creators. They take from the already created and their so called new creations are merely manipulations. They are manipulators not creators. They don't create cures, they don't create disease they manipulate matter in existence and that manipulation brings forth various things for good or bad. They invent, they don't create. Even us ordinary men and women who reproduce we only do so with things created within us that we had no control over creating, all we've done is brought the two bits of matter together and from there the creating takes place not through any creating of our own but once again through us manipulating what is already there. We are not creators, we will never be creators. We can take a lump of clay and mold it into a gorgeous statue and people will call us the creator of that piece of work but the truth remains we only manipulated the clay we didn't bring the clay into existence, for that matter we didn't bring ourselves into existence. We are not creators. We take what exists and work with that. If we take two things and make something different a third thing that appears to be new that's all well and good but the fact remains we did not create those two things brought together to form that third. Ultimately when you break things down to their smallest component there was a Creator who brought into existence that smallest component. To assume that smallest component just popped into existence from no where is illogical because why aren't we still being bombarded with things just popping into existence? Why aren't we even seeing things popping into existence sparsely let alone being bombarded? These are all logic questions. When was the last time you heard of something that just appeared out of nowhere forming something brand new? What scientist has conjured from thin air, or rather from no where because yes they like to manipulate air too making it thin or thick- seriously they do manipulate air so that analogy falls short. What scientist had conjured something from nothing at all? I mean it. Nothing. What human being has just stood there and thought into existence anything at all? We have all sorts of fantasy movies and books about special people with powers able to do just that but those people are ficticious and in no way real. The fact remains there doesn't exist a single creator upon earth.
Satan, whose desire to be God overwhelmed him into believing he could be a creator- and yet he was a creation of God's. Creatures longing to be creators it hasn't ended not since Satan's pride reared up and spilled over into mankind.
We creatures have been blessed by our Creator and given so much by Him so that we might make that leap of faith. By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may we have that faith and as one man cried out- Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. May we too cry out the same. God will help our unbelief, because in asking for His help we are believing He is and He is able.
By His mercy! All power and glory, all praise to our God, our Lord, our Savior! By the Holy Spirit.
Amen.Jesus on prophecy-
John 14:29 'And now I have told you before it
come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might
believe.'
Told something before it happens- prophesizing.
So when it happens- you believe.
Watch- things will come to pass.
We have a wealth of prophecies that we've been allowed to realize beyond a doubt were written before they came to pass and a wealth of historical facts to prove the prophecies to be true. Many things were written so that we might believe.
Jesus prophesized of His death and resurrection before they happened and those that heard believed once it came to pass.
Prophecy is given to us allowing us to realize truly that God is in control. Skeptics reign in our world and they always will reign until Jesus returns. Unfortunately for those who choose not to believe in God's prophectic gift to mankind, for those who lack faith when they are finally convinced it will be too late.
Without faith it is impossible to please Him.
People cry out for concrete proof and ignore the fact they live and in that fact is proof alone. With scientist picking apart the human being and reducing them to cells that they can reproduce they claim to be able to play God in creating another human being but the fact remains no matter what scientists only use what has already been created and exists they have not brought into existence anything from nothing. They do not hold out their hand and in that hand appears that tiny bit of matter with which life begins. Anything they manipulate was already there in existence to be manipulated by them. The very fact they cannot produce something from absolutely nothing says one thing, they are not creators. They take from the already created and their so called new creations are merely manipulations. They are manipulators not creators. They don't create cures, they don't create disease they manipulate matter in existence and that manipulation brings forth various things for good or bad. They invent, they don't create. Even us ordinary men and women who reproduce we only do so with things created within us that we had no control over creating, all we've done is brought the two bits of matter together and from there the creating takes place not through any creating of our own but once again through us manipulating what is already there. We are not creators, we will never be creators. We can take a lump of clay and mold it into a gorgeous statue and people will call us the creator of that piece of work but the truth remains we only manipulated the clay we didn't bring the clay into existence, for that matter we didn't bring ourselves into existence. We are not creators. We take what exists and work with that. If we take two things and make something different a third thing that appears to be new that's all well and good but the fact remains we did not create those two things brought together to form that third. Ultimately when you break things down to their smallest component there was a Creator who brought into existence that smallest component. To assume that smallest component just popped into existence from no where is illogical because why aren't we still being bombarded with things just popping into existence? Why aren't we even seeing things popping into existence sparsely let alone being bombarded? These are all logic questions. When was the last time you heard of something that just appeared out of nowhere forming something brand new? What scientist has conjured from thin air, or rather from no where because yes they like to manipulate air too making it thin or thick- seriously they do manipulate air so that analogy falls short. What scientist had conjured something from nothing at all? I mean it. Nothing. What human being has just stood there and thought into existence anything at all? We have all sorts of fantasy movies and books about special people with powers able to do just that but those people are ficticious and in no way real. The fact remains there doesn't exist a single creator upon earth.
Satan, whose desire to be God overwhelmed him into believing he could be a creator- and yet he was a creation of God's. Creatures longing to be creators it hasn't ended not since Satan's pride reared up and spilled over into mankind.
We creatures have been blessed by our Creator and given so much by Him so that we might make that leap of faith. By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may we have that faith and as one man cried out- Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief. May we too cry out the same. God will help our unbelief, because in asking for His help we are believing He is and He is able.
By His mercy! All power and glory, all praise to our God, our Lord, our Savior! By the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
6/27/10
Act 19:13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
Act 19:14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
Act 19:15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
Act 19:16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
Act 19:17 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
There is power in the name of Jesus, power we can call on but not falsely. We have to have a real relationship with Jesus, a true relationship with our Lord and Savior. Simply using His name isn't enough.
Devil's believe and they tremble. Devil's know Jesus and His true followers. Those who don't have a living, breathing, relationship with God, with their Savior, can't expect the mere mention of the Lord's name to work for them as they want it to work. These men- these vagabond Jews, these exorcists, wanted to rid a man of an evil spirit. These men knew Jesus truly cast out evil spirits. These men knew that Paul, an apostle of Jesus, cast out evil spirits in the name of the Lord. These men had the idea that if they used the name of the Lord they could cast out evil spirits too. The Holy Spirit wasn't in these men and the evil spirit knew that these were men who were not in any way connected to Jesus. There was no love of Jesus, no love of God in these men and the evil spirit knew they had no power to destroy and was free to attack them which it did with a vengeance.
We can't imagine evil spirits in this way, and we can't imagine true exorcism. This sort of thing might have happened in Jesus' day but not in our day. So where have all the evil spirits gone? I'm not saying I want to confront an evil spirit, far from it!!! I hope never to encounter one, never! I hope and pray that my relationship with my Savior is a pure and strong relationship, a just and true relationship so that if ever I'm in such a situation and I can call upon the name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that the Holy Spirit will dwell in me and the power of the Lord will be revealed. No glory, no honor to me, but all glory and honor to God. May we all seek to have a true relationship with our Lord, may we all be found in Him so that if we ever are in any situation that will test our faith, our faith will remain firm in Him.
By His grace and mercy, through His righteousness, in His amazing love now and forever, all glory and honor to Him!
Amen.
6/27/11
Luk 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.
Luk 21:35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth.
Luk 21:36 Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.
We just studied this yesterday so why are we back here? I'll tell you why we are back here. We're back here because yesterday we talked about taking heed of three snares in our lives, but I just don't think we talked enough. I haven't forgotten the prophecy study we are on, but that prophecy study needs to be interspersed with the life lessons that we need to understand because what good does it do for us to understand the end is coming and the Bible prophecy is real if we aren't prepared for that end?
Life is one long learning process for us. Even those caught up in a mundane routine that never seems to vary- they too are constantly learning on some level. Every moment of our existence is a chance to live for Christ or not to live for Christ. Really, this is ALL that matters in our life- God. Before you start freaking out and naming all the things that are important, ask yourself this, do any of those things matter without God? Seriously, does good health matter unless you are God's? Does the health of your children matter if they can't see God in your life and have God themselves? Does having money, a job, a home matter if you do not know Jesus in your life as your Savior? All those things exist without God in your life- they don't disappear the moment you turn on God or if you've never accepted God. The same problems, the same pleasures, the same you exists but when you have God your spiritual dimension changes and as your spiritual dimension alters then it can affect other parts of your life- not necessarily changing the existence of things so much as changing how you might view them. Viewing things in the light of eternity, viewing things in light of forever living with God, viewing things with the understanding that NOW is only temporary changes perspectives. Does accepting our Savior mean you will suddenly love mushrooms if you despised them before? No. Does accepting our Savior mean you will suddenly no longer be annoyed at head-banging music as you were before? No. Accepting our Savior begins a new life- a spiritual life and just like our physical lives our spiritual lives will go through transformations, our spiritual lives will suffer from that refining process we are all called to go through. We will have spiritual growing pains and NO two people will have the same experience.
Yesterday we talked about being overcharged with:
Surfeiting
Drunkenness
Cares of this life
And one of the things we mentioned was how EVERYONE is vulnerable to these three snares of Satan. The whole world has the potential of being ensnared by a trap laid by the Devil himself and brought up into wonderful fullness. The Devil has made these snaring points what we generally just call 'life' today. His snare is our life. You can't get much more deceptive than that, can you? Oh well, that's life. That's just how it is. Can't change things. Things just keep getting worse. How to handle this, how to handle that, how to deal with life. Life for Dummies. The 911 on Life. Accept it, you can't alter it. Go with the flow. Modern thought. Current times. Keep up with evolution. Advance in acceptance. Don't be old school. New times. This day and age. Be informed. The newest trend. And the list goes on and on and forever on doesn't it?
Do we REALLY believe that our modern world with all it's advancements haven't come at a price?
Do we teach eternal life? Do we prepare our children for the real life possible for them to possess in Christ? Forget all about everything else and think about the reality of Christ's return to take us with Him. Do we LIVE with this as a REALITY?
Take heed.
Watch and Pray.
IF… and I really shouldn't even use that word…but I will because I'm not going to presume you aren't in a place of watching and praying as you take heed. If you find yourself caught up being overcharged with any one of those three things mentioned, or with two of them, or all three- what are you going to do? Will the third thing- cares of this life swell to gigantic proportions to envelope the other two? Or maybe drunkenness, drugs, intoxicating influences will be what inflates to deal with the other two. Perhaps you'll just indulge like never before in eating or other self-pleasures of your choosing to the point you think you care less about anything else so you're not caught up in those old life cares, right?
Vile and vicious, insidious, and spiritually-flesh eating, these three things have an incalculable number of tendrils snaking out every which way weaving in and out of our lives at any given moment trying to keep us from ever being free in Christ.
So…
Examine your life. Do it. Go on. Examine your life. Take an introspective walk through your last day. Do you notice points where any of those three snares might have you? You do? Good, good. Now do you feel a slight sense of despair at ever being snare free feeling you?
Think about this- overcharged heart.
This didn't say you can NEVER do anything for yourself in any way.
This didn't say you can NEVER drink.
This didn't say you can NEVER care about anything at all in life.
This said OVERCHARGED with these things. Letting our LIVES revolve around these things. Letting these things consume our lives! Letting these things become our lives!
We can't despair, Satan wants that more than anything. Satan wants us to despair to the point of losing all hope.
If you are trapped in any of these things or all of them, there is HOPE. CHRIST is our HOPE! We find our freedom from the snares only in CHRIST and no other place.
1Ti 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope
Rom 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Rom 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
Rom 5:4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Rom 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Rom 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Mar 13:33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
Luk 12:37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching
Mat 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
1Co 16:13 Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
2Ti 4:5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions
1Pe 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour
Eph 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints
This is the counsel we have been given. We can choose to ignore it. We can choose to make a half-hearted attempt at a life in Christ. We can choose to keep the snare about us and deceive ourselves if we want that and many will want that. The life Christ calls us to isn't one of worldliness in any way. If we want the world and Christ it's just not going to work at all, not really, no matter how much we want it to. Satan has packaged this world in a pretty, very enticing wrapping completely with ribbons and bows the only thing he hasn't done is sign the gift card because he wants us to be deceived.
Our life cannot be mostly worldly with a pinch of Jesus. Our lives have to be mostly Jesus with a pinch of the world and only that pinch because we have to live in this world- even Jesus understood that we had to live here and He prayed to His Father to have us kept from evil while we were living in this world.
This must be our prayer, keep us from evil Lord, keep us from anything that would keep us from You! Let us NOT be deceived. Help us to watch, to take heed to all that we need to so that we may be with you, that we may rise to meet You in the air when You come for us. Please Lord, all by Your grace! All by your mercy! All through Your righteousness in Your amazing LOVE, by Your Son, through forgiveness He gives to us.
Please Lord.
Please.
Amen.