John to the seven churches
(((Seven churches. Biblically the number seven is used many, many times. It was used in the beginning of the Bible- God made the world and all that was in it in seven days. God made the seventh day a memorial for eternity. Our lives are still influenced by the seven day week and will be forever.
'The first pages of the Bible explain how God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. This seventh day became the Jewish day of rest, the sabbath, Saturday.
Extra-biblical locations sometimes mentioned as the birthplace of the 7-day week include: Babylon, Persia, and several others. The week was known in Rome before the advent of Christianity. -- http://www.webexhibits.org/calendars/week.html#anchor-origin'
With seven denoting in a sense completeness - of perfection it truly is perfect for indicating the beginning and the end of the prophecy.
Sevens in the Bible
Seven days of creation
Genesis 1
Seven days for Noah to fill the Ark
Genesis 7:4-10
Seven years Jacob serves for each wife
Genesis 28:18-20; 29:27-30
Seven good and seven famine years in Egypt
Genesis 41
Seven days the waters turn to blood
Exodus 7:25
Seven lamps of the Menorah
Exodus 25:37
Seven feasts of Israel
Leviticus 23
Seven years of the sabbatical year
Leviticus 25:4
Seven times seven to the jubilee year
Leviticus 25:8
Seven priests with seven trumpets circle Jericho seven times
Joshua 6
Solomon spent seven years building the temple
1 Kings 6:38
Daniel’s seventy sevens prophecy
Daniel 9:24-27
Seventy years in Babylonian exile
Jeremiah 25:11-12
Seven loaves fed the 4,000, seven baskets are leftover
Matthew 15:32-39
Seven deacons in the early church
Acts 6:5
Seven miracles in the gospel of John
John
Seven discourses in the gospel of John
John
Seven “I am” statements in the gospel of John
John
Paul sent letters to seven different churches
Paul’s epistles
Seven churches in Revelation
Revelation 2,3
Seven promises, seals, trumpets, angels, plagues, bowls etc
Revelation
Seven promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Genesis
Seven miracles on the Sabbath
Gospels
Seven sayings of Jesus from the cross
Gospels
Seven appearances of angels
Gospels and Acts
Seven elements of the armor of God
Ephesians 6:14-18
http://www.windmillministries.org/frames/CH27-3A.htm
Yes, the number seven is a number of completeness and we can easily understand that while Christ chose to give God's Revelation through His angel to John to go to seven churches it would be a message for all time as well. The fulness of history from that point on. Seriously, the revelation would be complete and that means a revelation for all of God's servants through time. The blessing given to all who read, hear, and keep the words within are for all- for you and for me. The blessings were for those living in that time as well. Knowing this we have to read these words and pray for a clear understanding to be blessed with all that we need to hear and keep.))))
...
John to the seven churches
(((Churches- a church Biblically is what? A building? No. The church essentially is God's people, period. It's not a building erected and named. God's people in each of these places are being addressed. We could also say, God's people in each of these times are being addressed. God's people- His church.))))
...
which are in Asia
Grace be unto you
and peace
from him
which is
and which was
and which is to come
(((Grace and peace- this is all God has ever wanted for us, His people, isn't it? His grace to cover their sins, His peace which isn't of this world but a peace in knowing Him and Him knowing us. 'John {14:27} Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you' Grace and peace from HIM which is, which was, and which is to come. God. 'John {17:1} These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee', '{17:9} I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. {17:10} And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.' We are all God's. We are God's- Jesus even said so.))))
...
and from the seven Spirits
which are before his throne
(((From the perfect Spirit- seven the perfect completeness of Spirit. Seven churches- the complete church. Seven Spirits- the complete Spirit.))))
...
And from Jesus Christ
who is the faithful witness
and the first begotten of the dead
and the prince of the kings of the earth.
Unto him that loved us
and washed us from our sins in his own blood
And hath made us kings and priests unto God
and his Father to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
(((From Jesus Christ. The faithful witness. The first begotten of the dead- the first begotten- Jesus was the first begotten of His kind wasn't He? Think about it. The Son of God. There was no other Son of God that took on humanity. Jesus was the first begotten in the manner He was begotten and yes- the first begotten and the only one by whom the dead - those promised death through sin- will live again. The dead will find life in the first begotten. Jesus truly is the first begotten of the dead- we only find life in Christ.
'The prince of the kings of the earth.' Jesus is the ultimate prince of all the kings. There is no other prince of the kings of the earth but Jesus- He reigns.
'Unto him that loved us.' No other has ever loved us like Jesus- no other!
'and washed us from our sins in his own blood.' Only Jesus the innocent Son of God could cleanse us from our sins by His amazing sacrifice. By His blood we are freed from sin.
'And hath made us kings and priests unto God' We are to serve God as His kings, his priests, we are God's through Jesus!
'And His Father! To him be the Glory! And dominion!
Forever and ever!
Amen.))))
...
Amen.
8/19/10
Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
None. He said this to NONE of the angels. So while angels have their place in the grand scheme of things, a great place, they cannot compare to the Son of God.
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Angels sent forth to minister to ME! Angels sent forth to minister to YOU! We would be heirs of salvation and we have angels to help us. Even in our darkest hour angels are surrounding us- protecting our salvation. Would we have it any other way? Sometimes we want help right now for our temporal life and that's not such a bad thing, but more importantly we need help for our eternal life and suffering here and now is nothing as long as we holdfast to the prize of salvation. Life weebles and wobbles all the time. One day it's wonderful the next day it's filled with horror. Everything in our life can be taken from us. All our money can be stolen, lost, spent. Our health can go from perfect to deadly in a blink of an eye. There is NOTHING in this world that can't be stripped from us, nothing! I've heard these words in a song, but they are from the Bible--
Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Everything is counted as loss. Anything we have, everything we've gained whether it's mental gain, emotional gain, physical gain… it's all counted as loss… if we have Christ!
There isn't ONE thing you can possess in any fashion that is worth more than the possession of salvation through our Lord and Savior.
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
We ARE ministered to. We might not realize it, but we are and in the ONLY way that matters, in a way we cannot fathom, in the way of the invisible. We can't see the angels that surround us as we engage in this unseen war that most people don't even WANT to realize exists. The unseen war is fiction and fairy tale, the stuff of fantasy to the majority of people. The unseen war isn't real- ask most people you meet if they believe in the unseen war, the battle of principalities and powers and they'll give you a look that tells you that you belong in a loony bin.
Keep it real. You've heard that before, right? Keep it real. This is as real as it gets. Eternal life real. I refuse to believe that this screwed up life right now is the only life we are supposed to ever have. Call me crazy if you want, but I'd rather be considered living in a dream world than having my feet firm in reality if it means giving up my belief in eternal life, my belief in the unseen world beyond this one.
Angels sent forth to minister to us- heirs of salvation. Are you an heir of salvation? By the grace of our Lord, through His love, mercy, His forgiveness and His righteousness we can be heirs of salvation. And being heirs of salvation we can be assured that behind the veil that separates our sight from the unseen world angels are there to keep us in our path of salvation, protecting us, ministering to us in the way of the eternal all because of our Savior's love! All because our Lord sit's at the Father's right hand.
Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
No angels sits at the right hand of God, our Savior sits there and the angels are sent forth by Him to help us. Praise God!
In His Love now and forever!
Amen.
8/19/11
Psa 36:1 The transgression of the wicked saith
within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
No fear of
God.
The wicked do not
fear God.
We've spoken of
this before- that there are only two crucial, life altering choices we ever face
in life. All our less crucial choices from then are shaped by those two crucial
choices. Every day we wake up and we have to choose from one of those crucial
choices. Every night before we go to sleep we make that crucial choice. Some of
you might be truly confused right now and that's understandable. People often
like to believe that once they make that first crucial choice then there is no
need to make it ever again, but this choice is so incredibly crucial to our
lives that it has to be made every day, twice a day, maybe more- especially if
we use that choice to define all other choices in our lives.
When we neglect to choose, that is consciously choose, knowingly making
the choice every day then we set ourselves up to take the default choice and
that default choice has the potential for becoming a choice we would not
consciously wish to make.
The crucial
choice to make is between - eternal life or eternal death and yes, it is a
choice we make every day. Our
lives are defined by the days we live, and what we choose on those days. Our
history is a culmination of the choices we've made throughout our lives,
throughout the number of days we've existed. Each day brings with it an
opportunity to choose to live eternally or face eternal death.
Unfortunately the majority of people don't realize or rather don't WANT
to realize that this is a daily choice. All people will have a chance to make
this choice at least once, but most people have the choice presented to them
more than once. All too often however after making the choice for eternal death
by not accepting eternal life in Jesus Christ, people choose to allow
themselves to become blind to future choice making and grow oblivious to the
opportunities to change their mind.
People don't comprehend the need of choosing, and are left to the default
choice. The choice of not actively seeking Jesus. The choice of not praying
daily for that daily Bread.
Does everyone
pray every day? Do you? Is daily prayer necessary? According to Jesus it is.
When teaching His
Apostles the prayer to base all their prayers upon, Jesus spoke these words-
Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
Give us THIS day
our daily bread. Give us day by
day our daily bread. A daily need of our Savior, our spiritual sustenance.
And so yes, we
make this choice daily- knowingly and unknowingly.
You hear all the time that silence is a form of acquiescing. If you
remain silent you are accountable for your silence. We are accountable whether
or not we are actively choosing.
I'm positive all wicked people do not wake up and announce to themselves
that they are choosing to be wicked that day. Yet they remain wicked unless they make
the choice to have Christ as their Savior, asking forgiveness from Him for all
their sins, repenting deeply of all they've done.
God's chosen
people were given an example of keeping God continually before them- burnt
offerings to the Lord were to be made every morning and evening.
1Ch 16:40 To offer burnt offerings unto the LORD
upon the altar of the burnt offering continually morning and evening, and to do
according to all that is written in the law of the LORD, which he commanded
Israel;.
If God's people
chose to ignore a morning offering would they have been following God's will?
No. They would not have been choosing to follow God when making that
decision.
After Christ died
and rose, doing away with the need for the sacrificial law He instituted a life
of prayer and supplication.
Mar 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if
ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive
you your trespasses.
How was
forgiveness to be received? Through prayer. And during that prayer- forgiving
others.
Psa 51:16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else
would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
God required
sacrifices from His people, God required that His people be in a perpetual
state of understanding their need of Him to forgive their breaking of the
covenant. God taught His chosen
people they were dependent upon Him for their lives in Him. God promised that
eventually all sacrifice would be done away with through a Messiah- a Savior,
and that Savior came. Our Savior, the Innocent Lamb was sacrificed for us as
the ultimate, perfect Sacrifice doing away with the need for the sacrificial
ceremonial law.
The thing we need
to remember here though is that Jesus Christ did NOT do away with our daily,
continual need of God in our lives.
Php 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every
thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made
known unto God.
Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Luk 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to
this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
Luk 18:2 Saying, There was in a city a judge,
which feared not God, neither regarded man:
Luk 18:3 And there was a widow in that city; and
she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
Luk 18:4 And he would not for a while: but
afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
Luk 18:5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I
will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
Luk 18:6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust
judge saith.
Luk 18:7 And shall not God avenge his own elect,
which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
Luk 18:8 I tell you that he will avenge them
speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the
earth?
Continual prayer.
Cry day and night unto God. A constant understand that we are dependent upon
God for all things, for our lives now and eternally.
We must DAILY
choose Christ! We must choose daily and it's a crucial choice we make. When we
choose to follow Christ all the other choices we are called to make in our day
should be based on the choice of being a follower of our Savior! Too many don't
choose at all, too many choose not to follow Christ, too many choose to not even
believe He exists, all to their eternal end.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Psa 36:1 The transgression of the wicked, saith
within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
The wicked have
no fear of God before them.
The wicked choose
not to believe in God.
The wicked...
Psa 36:2 For he flattereth himself in his own
eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.
Psa 36:3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and
deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.
Psa 36:4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he
setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.
The wicked
flatters himself in his own eyes- SO TRUE! So many people are cocky in their own
belief of superiority. So
many wicked applaud themselves for being too smart to believe in God, too
intelligent to be fooled into believing in the unseen, too amazingly bright to
get caught up in anything that actually calls for faith.
The wicked speak
sinful things, deceitful things, and the wicked are NOT wise in abandoning God
and believing only in themselves.
The wicked bring
on their own destruction.
The wicked choose
to accept evil. The wicked even
call evil good.
Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and
good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter
for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Without any fear
of God in them, a person chooses eternal death.
God is
merciful!
Psa 36:5 Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens;
and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
Psa 36:6 Thy righteousness is like the great
mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and
beast.
Psa 36:7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O
God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy
wings.
Psa 36:8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with
the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy
pleasures.
Psa 36:9 For with thee is the fountain of life:
in thy light shall we see light.
Psa 36:10 O continue thy lovingkindness unto them
that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
Psa 36:11 Let not the foot of pride come against
me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.
Psa 36:12 There are the workers of iniquity
fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.
Praise God! All
glory to God!
We talk about
wanting to understand what everything is all about, what the meaning of life is
and I'll tell you- it's to live and the only way we live is in Christ, through
Christ's righteousness, through Christ's forgiveness, by Christ's mercy and
grace!
We have two
crucial choices to choose from- life or death, God or self, make no mistake it
is our choice to make and no one else's.
By the amazing
love of our God may we choose Him always and not be accounted among the wicked-
fallen, cast down, never able to rise again.
Al praise and
thanksgiving, all honor and glory to our Creator, Savior, King, to our Heavenly
Father, to the Holy Spirit!
Amen.
Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
None. He said this to NONE of the angels. So while angels have their place in the grand scheme of things, a great place, they cannot compare to the Son of God.
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Angels sent forth to minister to ME! Angels sent forth to minister to YOU! We would be heirs of salvation and we have angels to help us. Even in our darkest hour angels are surrounding us- protecting our salvation. Would we have it any other way? Sometimes we want help right now for our temporal life and that's not such a bad thing, but more importantly we need help for our eternal life and suffering here and now is nothing as long as we holdfast to the prize of salvation. Life weebles and wobbles all the time. One day it's wonderful the next day it's filled with horror. Everything in our life can be taken from us. All our money can be stolen, lost, spent. Our health can go from perfect to deadly in a blink of an eye. There is NOTHING in this world that can't be stripped from us, nothing! I've heard these words in a song, but they are from the Bible--
Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Everything is counted as loss. Anything we have, everything we've gained whether it's mental gain, emotional gain, physical gain… it's all counted as loss… if we have Christ!
There isn't ONE thing you can possess in any fashion that is worth more than the possession of salvation through our Lord and Savior.
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
We ARE ministered to. We might not realize it, but we are and in the ONLY way that matters, in a way we cannot fathom, in the way of the invisible. We can't see the angels that surround us as we engage in this unseen war that most people don't even WANT to realize exists. The unseen war is fiction and fairy tale, the stuff of fantasy to the majority of people. The unseen war isn't real- ask most people you meet if they believe in the unseen war, the battle of principalities and powers and they'll give you a look that tells you that you belong in a loony bin.
Keep it real. You've heard that before, right? Keep it real. This is as real as it gets. Eternal life real. I refuse to believe that this screwed up life right now is the only life we are supposed to ever have. Call me crazy if you want, but I'd rather be considered living in a dream world than having my feet firm in reality if it means giving up my belief in eternal life, my belief in the unseen world beyond this one.
Angels sent forth to minister to us- heirs of salvation. Are you an heir of salvation? By the grace of our Lord, through His love, mercy, His forgiveness and His righteousness we can be heirs of salvation. And being heirs of salvation we can be assured that behind the veil that separates our sight from the unseen world angels are there to keep us in our path of salvation, protecting us, ministering to us in the way of the eternal all because of our Savior's love! All because our Lord sit's at the Father's right hand.
Heb 1:13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?
No angels sits at the right hand of God, our Savior sits there and the angels are sent forth by Him to help us. Praise God!
In His Love now and forever!
Amen.
8/19/11
Psa 36:1 The transgression of the wicked saith
within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
No fear of
God.
The wicked do not
fear God.
We've spoken of
this before- that there are only two crucial, life altering choices we ever face
in life. All our less crucial choices from then are shaped by those two crucial
choices. Every day we wake up and we have to choose from one of those crucial
choices. Every night before we go to sleep we make that crucial choice. Some of
you might be truly confused right now and that's understandable. People often
like to believe that once they make that first crucial choice then there is no
need to make it ever again, but this choice is so incredibly crucial to our
lives that it has to be made every day, twice a day, maybe more- especially if
we use that choice to define all other choices in our lives.
When we neglect to choose, that is consciously choose, knowingly making
the choice every day then we set ourselves up to take the default choice and
that default choice has the potential for becoming a choice we would not
consciously wish to make.
The crucial
choice to make is between - eternal life or eternal death and yes, it is a
choice we make every day. Our
lives are defined by the days we live, and what we choose on those days. Our
history is a culmination of the choices we've made throughout our lives,
throughout the number of days we've existed. Each day brings with it an
opportunity to choose to live eternally or face eternal death.
Unfortunately the majority of people don't realize or rather don't WANT
to realize that this is a daily choice. All people will have a chance to make
this choice at least once, but most people have the choice presented to them
more than once. All too often however after making the choice for eternal death
by not accepting eternal life in Jesus Christ, people choose to allow
themselves to become blind to future choice making and grow oblivious to the
opportunities to change their mind.
People don't comprehend the need of choosing, and are left to the default
choice. The choice of not actively seeking Jesus. The choice of not praying
daily for that daily Bread.
Does everyone
pray every day? Do you? Is daily prayer necessary? According to Jesus it is.
When teaching His
Apostles the prayer to base all their prayers upon, Jesus spoke these words-
Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
Give us THIS day
our daily bread. Give us day by
day our daily bread. A daily need of our Savior, our spiritual sustenance.
And so yes, we
make this choice daily- knowingly and unknowingly.
You hear all the time that silence is a form of acquiescing. If you
remain silent you are accountable for your silence. We are accountable whether
or not we are actively choosing.
I'm positive all wicked people do not wake up and announce to themselves
that they are choosing to be wicked that day. Yet they remain wicked unless they make
the choice to have Christ as their Savior, asking forgiveness from Him for all
their sins, repenting deeply of all they've done.
God's chosen
people were given an example of keeping God continually before them- burnt
offerings to the Lord were to be made every morning and evening.
1Ch 16:40 To offer burnt offerings unto the LORD
upon the altar of the burnt offering continually morning and evening, and to do
according to all that is written in the law of the LORD, which he commanded
Israel;.
If God's people
chose to ignore a morning offering would they have been following God's will?
No. They would not have been choosing to follow God when making that
decision.
After Christ died
and rose, doing away with the need for the sacrificial law He instituted a life
of prayer and supplication.
Mar 11:25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if
ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive
you your trespasses.
How was
forgiveness to be received? Through prayer. And during that prayer- forgiving
others.
Psa 51:16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else
would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
God required
sacrifices from His people, God required that His people be in a perpetual
state of understanding their need of Him to forgive their breaking of the
covenant. God taught His chosen
people they were dependent upon Him for their lives in Him. God promised that
eventually all sacrifice would be done away with through a Messiah- a Savior,
and that Savior came. Our Savior, the Innocent Lamb was sacrificed for us as
the ultimate, perfect Sacrifice doing away with the need for the sacrificial
ceremonial law.
The thing we need
to remember here though is that Jesus Christ did NOT do away with our daily,
continual need of God in our lives.
Php 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every
thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made
known unto God.
Php 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Luk 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to
this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
Luk 18:2 Saying, There was in a city a judge,
which feared not God, neither regarded man:
Luk 18:3 And there was a widow in that city; and
she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
Luk 18:4 And he would not for a while: but
afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
Luk 18:5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I
will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
Luk 18:6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust
judge saith.
Luk 18:7 And shall not God avenge his own elect,
which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
Luk 18:8 I tell you that he will avenge them
speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the
earth?
Continual prayer.
Cry day and night unto God. A constant understand that we are dependent upon
God for all things, for our lives now and eternally.
We must DAILY
choose Christ! We must choose daily and it's a crucial choice we make. When we
choose to follow Christ all the other choices we are called to make in our day
should be based on the choice of being a follower of our Savior! Too many don't
choose at all, too many choose not to follow Christ, too many choose to not even
believe He exists, all to their eternal end.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to
please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Psa 36:1 The transgression of the wicked, saith
within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
The wicked have
no fear of God before them.
The wicked choose
not to believe in God.
The wicked...
Psa 36:2 For he flattereth himself in his own
eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.
Psa 36:3 The words of his mouth are iniquity and
deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.
Psa 36:4 He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he
setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.
The wicked
flatters himself in his own eyes- SO TRUE! So many people are cocky in their own
belief of superiority. So
many wicked applaud themselves for being too smart to believe in God, too
intelligent to be fooled into believing in the unseen, too amazingly bright to
get caught up in anything that actually calls for faith.
The wicked speak
sinful things, deceitful things, and the wicked are NOT wise in abandoning God
and believing only in themselves.
The wicked bring
on their own destruction.
The wicked choose
to accept evil. The wicked even
call evil good.
Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and
good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter
for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Without any fear
of God in them, a person chooses eternal death.
God is
merciful!
Psa 36:5 Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens;
and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
Psa 36:6 Thy righteousness is like the great
mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and
beast.
Psa 36:7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O
God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy
wings.
Psa 36:8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with
the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy
pleasures.
Psa 36:9 For with thee is the fountain of life:
in thy light shall we see light.
Psa 36:10 O continue thy lovingkindness unto them
that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.
Psa 36:11 Let not the foot of pride come against
me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.
Psa 36:12 There are the workers of iniquity
fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.
Praise God! All
glory to God!
We talk about
wanting to understand what everything is all about, what the meaning of life is
and I'll tell you- it's to live and the only way we live is in Christ, through
Christ's righteousness, through Christ's forgiveness, by Christ's mercy and
grace!
We have two
crucial choices to choose from- life or death, God or self, make no mistake it
is our choice to make and no one else's.
By the amazing
love of our God may we choose Him always and not be accounted among the wicked-
fallen, cast down, never able to rise again.
Al praise and
thanksgiving, all honor and glory to our Creator, Savior, King, to our Heavenly
Father, to the Holy Spirit!
Amen.