Faith, Hope, Love.
Luke {17:20} And when he was demanded of the Pharisees,
when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them
and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation
{17:21} Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for,
behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
{17:22} And he
said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall
desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall
not see [it. ]{17:23} And they shall say to you, See here; or,
see there: go not after [them,] nor follow [them.]
{17:24}
For as the lightning, that lighteneth out of the one [part]
under heaven, shineth unto the other [part] under heaven; so
shall also the Son of man be in his day.
{17:25} But first
must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this
generation.
{17:26} And as it was in the days of Noe, so
shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. {17:27} They
did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in
marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the
flood came, and destroyed them all. {17:28} Likewise also
as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they
bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; {17:29} But
the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and
brimstone from heaven, and destroyed [them] all. {17:30}
Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is
revealed. {17:31} In that day, he which shall be upon the
housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down
to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise
not return back. {17:32} Remember Lot’s wife.
Luke {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. {21:35} For as a snare shall it come on
all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. {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.
John {14:15} If ye love me, keep my commandments. {14:16}
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; {14:17}
[Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know
him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. {14:18}
I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
{14:19} Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more;
but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. {14:20} At
that day ye shall know that I [am] in my Father, and ye in
me, and I in you. {14:21} He that hath my commandments,
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth
me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and
will manifest myself to him. {14:22} Judas saith unto him,
not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself
unto us, and not unto the world? {14:23} Jesus answered
and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my
words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto
him, and make our abode with him. {14:24} He that loveth
me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear
is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. {14:25} These
things have I spoken unto you, being [yet] present with you.
{14:26} But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you
all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you. {14:27} Peace I leave with
you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid.
2 Tim. {4:8} Henceforth there is
laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing
2 Tim. {1:12} For the which cause I also suffer these things:
nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that
which I have committed unto him against that day. {1:13}
Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of
me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. {1:14} That
good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the
Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
1Thess. {5:1} But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have
no need that I write unto you. {5:2} For yourselves know
perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the
night. {5:3} 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. {5:4} But ye,
brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake
you as a thief. {5:5} Ye are all the children of light, and the
children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
{5:6} Therefore let us not sleep, as [do] others; but let us
watch and be sober. {5:7} For they that sleep sleep in the
night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
{5:8} But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the
breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of
salvation. {5:9} For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but
to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, {5:10} Who
died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live
together with him. {5:11} Wherefore comfort yourselves
together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
2 Thess {1:3} We are bound to thank God always for you,
brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth
exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward
each other aboundeth; {1:4} So that we ourselves glory in
you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all
your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: {1:5}
[Which is] a manifest token of the righteous judgment of
God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of
God, for which ye also suffer: {1:6} Seeing [it is] a
righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them
that trouble you; {1:7} And to you who are troubled rest
with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels, {1:8} In flaming fire taking
vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: {1:9} Who shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of
the Lord, and from the glory of his power; {1:10} When he
shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in
all them that believe (because our testimony among you was
believed) in that day. {1:11} Wherefore also we pray
always for you, that our God would count you worthy of
[this] calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of [his]
goodness, and the work of faith with power: {1:12} That the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and
ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord
Jesus Christ.
2 Thess. {2:1} Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and [by] our gathering together unto
him, {2:2} That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be
troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from
us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. {2:3} Let no man
deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come,]
except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin
be revealed, the son of perdition; {2:4} Who opposeth and
exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God,
shewing himself that he is God. {2:5} Remember ye not,
that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? {2:6}
And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be
revealed in his time. {2:7} For the mystery of iniquity doth
already work: only he who now letteth [will let,] until he be
taken out of the way. {2:8} And then shall that Wicked be
revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of
his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his
coming: {2:9} [Even him,] whose coming is after the
working of Satan with all power and signs and lying
wonders, {2:10} And with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. {2:11}
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that
they should believe a lie: {2:12} That they all might be
damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.
By the mercy and grace of our Lord and Savior may we be found believing in the Truth, believing in all Jesus is, holding fast His ways. Deception will reign and deception by its very nature is something subtle and believable. The only way we won't be deceived is by holding fast to Jesus Christ and the truth He has revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. Let a love of the truth be in us, by the grace of God. We must believe, we must have hope and faith, love of Christ by Him, through Him, all Him!
Amen.
8/15/10
Ecc 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecc 12:14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Exo 20:20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
The conclusion of the WHOLE matter. We like conclusions. We like knowing what the whole matter is. We like knowing the end from the beginning especially when it concerns our eternal life. The matter is this… life. Isn't that what the matter is? Seriously. We live. We want to keep living. We want to live in health. We want to live in happiness. We want life as we imagined it was meant to be upon our creation. Life in peace, in wonder, in awe, in love. People will say that love without angst isn't love, but that's our warped minds playing that old tune. We've become so twisted and sin sick that we tell ourselves we need the bad to know what the good is. We are so wretched in our thinking that we can no longer believe that there can be good without evil. We imagine a life of pure boredom without any obstacles to overcome and that's how Satan would have us believe. As long as we continue in our sin sickness we are His.
The whole matter is life. Without life there is nothingness. We've most likely all seen depicted on television a person dying. Some of us may have even witnessed a death in real life. Certainly most of us have read this somewhere or other, that you can see life draining out of a person's eyes. The dead stare remains, the empty look into nothingness. Without life there really is nothing. The whole matter is life and not only life now, but life everlasting.
The absolute conclusion, the end of the whole matter is-- Fear God and keep His commandments. Whether this is reverencing God or actually fearing God it doesn't matter. To reverence God is to believe in His authority, respecting His authority as Creator, as Redeemer. To fear God is to understand that He holds all the power in His hands, power over our eternal life, power over our mortal life. The whole matter concluded is fearing God and keeping His commandments. Understanding that God is ruler over all and His commandments must be kept. God is a ruler, God has commands for us. Has God forever had commands to follow? God existing from everlasting to everlasting is the same from everlasting, right?
Psa 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
God is God. His ways haven't changed. God isn't going to change from one moment to the next making laws one day that are meaningless the next. In all He's done, God has done so with purpose with love His driving force.
If you had the power to rid the world of evil, would you?
Think about it, seriously. Would you destroy all evil? I'd love to say, of course you would. I'd like to think I would in a heartbeat. I can't see the end from the beginning though, and certainly not all life in between. God can see it all. To destroy sin is a much more complex matter than simply speaking it gone and it's gone. God has done all He can do, God has done everything within His power to save mankind. All that would be saved by a loving God, all that fear Him and keep His commandments which he's not kept secret, will be saved.
This is the WHOLE matter. Fearing God. Keeping God's commandments. God's commandments --
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
We imagine them to be so though, don't we? Commands that are just TOO hard to keep. Commands that are IMPOSSIBLE for us to keep. If we are caught up in sin and have no love for God, then yes, His commands will seem impossible to keep. Through His love we can keep His commandments. Through His love we automatically keep His commandments. The question was raised not too long ago about God's commandments in heaven, with sin being this--
1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
The question was - did God have laws in heaven? If Satan sinned then He had to have transgressed the law of God. In a world where love abounds sin would be foreign to it. God's laws wouldn't have needed to be given like we have been given them.
There are a lot of questions, a lot of things we can't understand. God's love is real. God's love is revealed in His laws- and His laws are only burdensome when we would transgress them and do away with that love. We need to fall on the mercy of God. We need to beg forgiveness. We need to understand the whole matter and in understanding we need to determine through the righteousness of Christ to fear God and keep His commandments now and always.
Psa 103:17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children
By Your Grace!
Amen.
8/15/11
Yesterday we
began to delve into what I believe could be or could not be unfulfilled
prophecy. What I do know is this,
the papacy has NOT come to its end. The little horn power has not come to its
end, the beast power has not come to its end. How do I know this? Because evil
still exists in our world and our Savior has not yet returned for us.
Let's re-read the
same verses we read yesterday--
Dan 11:40 And at the time of the end shall the
king of the south push at him (the Papacy): and the king of the north shall come
against him (the Papacy) like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen,
and with many ships; and he (the Papacy) shall enter into the countries, and
shall overflow and pass over.
Dan 11:41 He (the Papacy) shall enter also into
the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall
escape out of his (the Papacy) hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the
children of Ammon.
Dan 11:42 He (the Papacy) shall stretch forth his
hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
Dan 11:43 But he (the Papacy) shall have power
over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of
Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
Dan 11:44 But tidings out of the east and out of
the north shall trouble him (the Papacy): therefore he shall go forth with great
fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
Dan 11:45 And he (the Papacy) shall plant the
tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet
he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
Now, we ALL know
that mankind put the chapters and verses divisions into the Bible and sometimes
there are continuations that should be there where they are not.
Let's continue a
bit…
Dan 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand
up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there
shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to
that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that
shall be found written in the book.
AND at that time,
what time? When the Papacy plants the tabernacle of his palace between the seas
and the glorious holy mountain (Jerusalem), the Papacy would come to his end and
none will help him- and at THAT time- MICHAEL shall stand up, that great prince
(Jesus) which stands for the children of thy people.
The Papacy meets
its end- and then Jesus stands up!
Where is Jesus?
In the Heavenly Sanctuary, the same sanctuary that needed to be cleansed. That
cleansing began in 1844. After 6000 some years of sin, with the last 167 years
of cleansing underway from ALL that sin accumulated over time- we are STILL In
the cleansing phase and will remain in that cleansing phase until our SAVIOR
stands up, until His work in heaven as our High Priest is over and He takes on
the crown of King of Kings who comes as conquering Deliverer!
Do you see!? We
are so close to this amazing second coming of our Savior! We are living in
predicted time- every human being alive is living in predicted time. We have to
watch and pray, we are told to watch and pray and there is SO much we need to
watch and so many prayers we need to pray!
We'll continue
with more tomorrow but we really need to think about this- OUR FUTURE! If you
hope to be alive when our Savior returns then this has to interest you! I know I
hope to be alive when Jesus returns and this interests me a great deal. There is going to be a period of time
between the moment our Savior ceases His cleansing work as our High Priest and
when He returns for us. One thing is certain that in that time we will be living
under the full righteousness of our Savior, under His full grace - cleansed and
free from all sin. In that state of being made clean, in that completely
purified state we will be ready for our Savior when he comes for us. We won't be
cleaned in any way by our own power, we cannot cleanse ourselves- all our
righteousness is as filthy rags.
Christ must cleanse us, Christ's righteousness must be ours- we have no
righteousness of our own. All
through Christ, everything through our Savior.
May we grow
closer and closer to our Lord, our only hope, our LOVE!
By His grace! By
His mercy! By His forgiveness!
Amen!
Ecc 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecc 12:14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
Exo 20:20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
The conclusion of the WHOLE matter. We like conclusions. We like knowing what the whole matter is. We like knowing the end from the beginning especially when it concerns our eternal life. The matter is this… life. Isn't that what the matter is? Seriously. We live. We want to keep living. We want to live in health. We want to live in happiness. We want life as we imagined it was meant to be upon our creation. Life in peace, in wonder, in awe, in love. People will say that love without angst isn't love, but that's our warped minds playing that old tune. We've become so twisted and sin sick that we tell ourselves we need the bad to know what the good is. We are so wretched in our thinking that we can no longer believe that there can be good without evil. We imagine a life of pure boredom without any obstacles to overcome and that's how Satan would have us believe. As long as we continue in our sin sickness we are His.
The whole matter is life. Without life there is nothingness. We've most likely all seen depicted on television a person dying. Some of us may have even witnessed a death in real life. Certainly most of us have read this somewhere or other, that you can see life draining out of a person's eyes. The dead stare remains, the empty look into nothingness. Without life there really is nothing. The whole matter is life and not only life now, but life everlasting.
The absolute conclusion, the end of the whole matter is-- Fear God and keep His commandments. Whether this is reverencing God or actually fearing God it doesn't matter. To reverence God is to believe in His authority, respecting His authority as Creator, as Redeemer. To fear God is to understand that He holds all the power in His hands, power over our eternal life, power over our mortal life. The whole matter concluded is fearing God and keeping His commandments. Understanding that God is ruler over all and His commandments must be kept. God is a ruler, God has commands for us. Has God forever had commands to follow? God existing from everlasting to everlasting is the same from everlasting, right?
Psa 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
God is God. His ways haven't changed. God isn't going to change from one moment to the next making laws one day that are meaningless the next. In all He's done, God has done so with purpose with love His driving force.
If you had the power to rid the world of evil, would you?
Think about it, seriously. Would you destroy all evil? I'd love to say, of course you would. I'd like to think I would in a heartbeat. I can't see the end from the beginning though, and certainly not all life in between. God can see it all. To destroy sin is a much more complex matter than simply speaking it gone and it's gone. God has done all He can do, God has done everything within His power to save mankind. All that would be saved by a loving God, all that fear Him and keep His commandments which he's not kept secret, will be saved.
This is the WHOLE matter. Fearing God. Keeping God's commandments. God's commandments --
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
We imagine them to be so though, don't we? Commands that are just TOO hard to keep. Commands that are IMPOSSIBLE for us to keep. If we are caught up in sin and have no love for God, then yes, His commands will seem impossible to keep. Through His love we can keep His commandments. Through His love we automatically keep His commandments. The question was raised not too long ago about God's commandments in heaven, with sin being this--
1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
The question was - did God have laws in heaven? If Satan sinned then He had to have transgressed the law of God. In a world where love abounds sin would be foreign to it. God's laws wouldn't have needed to be given like we have been given them.
There are a lot of questions, a lot of things we can't understand. God's love is real. God's love is revealed in His laws- and His laws are only burdensome when we would transgress them and do away with that love. We need to fall on the mercy of God. We need to beg forgiveness. We need to understand the whole matter and in understanding we need to determine through the righteousness of Christ to fear God and keep His commandments now and always.
Psa 103:17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children
By Your Grace!
Amen.
8/15/11
Yesterday we
began to delve into what I believe could be or could not be unfulfilled
prophecy. What I do know is this,
the papacy has NOT come to its end. The little horn power has not come to its
end, the beast power has not come to its end. How do I know this? Because evil
still exists in our world and our Savior has not yet returned for us.
Let's re-read the
same verses we read yesterday--
Dan 11:40 And at the time of the end shall the
king of the south push at him (the Papacy): and the king of the north shall come
against him (the Papacy) like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen,
and with many ships; and he (the Papacy) shall enter into the countries, and
shall overflow and pass over.
Dan 11:41 He (the Papacy) shall enter also into
the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall
escape out of his (the Papacy) hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the
children of Ammon.
Dan 11:42 He (the Papacy) shall stretch forth his
hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
Dan 11:43 But he (the Papacy) shall have power
over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of
Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
Dan 11:44 But tidings out of the east and out of
the north shall trouble him (the Papacy): therefore he shall go forth with great
fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.
Dan 11:45 And he (the Papacy) shall plant the
tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet
he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.
Now, we ALL know
that mankind put the chapters and verses divisions into the Bible and sometimes
there are continuations that should be there where they are not.
Let's continue a
bit…
Dan 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand
up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there
shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to
that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that
shall be found written in the book.
AND at that time,
what time? When the Papacy plants the tabernacle of his palace between the seas
and the glorious holy mountain (Jerusalem), the Papacy would come to his end and
none will help him- and at THAT time- MICHAEL shall stand up, that great prince
(Jesus) which stands for the children of thy people.
The Papacy meets
its end- and then Jesus stands up!
Where is Jesus?
In the Heavenly Sanctuary, the same sanctuary that needed to be cleansed. That
cleansing began in 1844. After 6000 some years of sin, with the last 167 years
of cleansing underway from ALL that sin accumulated over time- we are STILL In
the cleansing phase and will remain in that cleansing phase until our SAVIOR
stands up, until His work in heaven as our High Priest is over and He takes on
the crown of King of Kings who comes as conquering Deliverer!
Do you see!? We
are so close to this amazing second coming of our Savior! We are living in
predicted time- every human being alive is living in predicted time. We have to
watch and pray, we are told to watch and pray and there is SO much we need to
watch and so many prayers we need to pray!
We'll continue
with more tomorrow but we really need to think about this- OUR FUTURE! If you
hope to be alive when our Savior returns then this has to interest you! I know I
hope to be alive when Jesus returns and this interests me a great deal. There is going to be a period of time
between the moment our Savior ceases His cleansing work as our High Priest and
when He returns for us. One thing is certain that in that time we will be living
under the full righteousness of our Savior, under His full grace - cleansed and
free from all sin. In that state of being made clean, in that completely
purified state we will be ready for our Savior when he comes for us. We won't be
cleaned in any way by our own power, we cannot cleanse ourselves- all our
righteousness is as filthy rags.
Christ must cleanse us, Christ's righteousness must be ours- we have no
righteousness of our own. All
through Christ, everything through our Savior.
May we grow
closer and closer to our Lord, our only hope, our LOVE!
By His grace! By
His mercy! By His forgiveness!
Amen!