What is Your Treasure?

What is Your Treasure?

Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness? 2 Peter 3:11 When God told Abraham He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham's life was immediately and radically affected. Noah could not carry on business as usual once he knew what God was planning for his generation. Knowing that God is preparing judgment brings a sobering reality to Christians, helping us recognize what is eternally significant and what is not. Peter cautions us that a catastrophic time of judgment is coming. On the day of the Lord there will be a great noise, and the elements will melt with a fervent heat. On that day, he warns, the earth will be consumed. Peter assures us that this is not mere speculation; it is certain and imminent. He then asks the crucial question that applies to each generation: “What kind of persons ought you to be?” With judgment pending for us and countless millions of people facing destruction, how should we live our lives? Many Christians attach great value to temporal things. Hobbies and possessions consume us, leaving little time or energy to invest in what is eternal. More than anyone else, Christians should be sensitive to the times in which we live. We should walk so closely with God that if He were preparing to bring judgment upon people, we could warn those in imminent peril. Since Christ has been long-suffering in His return so that no one might perish (2 Pet. 3:9), should we not invest our effort in building God's eternal kingdom? Should there not be an urgency about us to complete the tasks that God gives us? - Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day 

What do you place high value on? Your clothes? Shoes? Your looks? Perhaps your car or truck?  Your boat or RV? Your home? Maybe it's the hobby or for some the job you have.  What are you really putting the most time, energy and effort into in this world?  That is your real treasure.  Outside of work that's a necessity in life, what consumes your attention? Some put way too much of themselves into their work. Some put excessive attention on even family, friends and pets to the exclusion of all else. 

Then, maybe, God gets the leftovers.  Maybe people drudge out a short prayer for food. Maybe a short Amen that they keep to themselves.  Maybe even barely a Sunday morning service at a Church. The cares of this world have ensnared billions and they don't even realize it. It's not a commonly known thing but there's whole research institutions that do nothing but craft chemicals to trigger smells that in turn trigger memories. Stores often utilize the sense of smell to trigger involuntary buying.  Car dealers use smells to make a car attractive.  We are conditioned to react favorably to the smell of a room after its been cleaned with certain cleaners. 

Foods we eat are crafted to cause many things in the human brain.  Did you know that the tastes of certain foods are so poignant that the chemical response in your brain is exactly in the same part of the brain that causes crack addiction?

People are conditioned throughout generations to accept supposedly new things as the normal. And not just as the normal but the stepping stone for other things to bind us to this world. 

Billions are spent every year on storage spaces.  For stuff we don't even know why we were compelled to buy yet also struggle to part with. 

What's your treasure?  The Bible says to store up your treasure in Heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy.  Even climate controlled storage systems fail. The items degrade regardless of the best of intentions were at the time.

Your treasure is what you value the most.  My friend, dear Reader, is it at all your life in Christ?  A farmer spends every day he or she can out on the land working it because that is necessary and important to see results at the end of the season.  If he or she sits on the porch the whole season long except to get the mail or only to mow the lawn they see, how will the crops be planted, nurtured or harvested?  

You invest time in what matters to you. If all you do is spend your time, energy and talents on things that don't matter in the plans of God for your life, or the lives of those around you, then indeed you are far more entangled in this world than you care to admit. You are living in denial of the work that you have been entrusted to do. 

"Not my job" has been used as a run on joke but in reality it's the swansong of generations.  Reaching people for Christ is the job of those people in leadership in Churches. It's for the Pastor. It's for someone else who isn't busy.  The Great Commission wasn't for only certain people.  It wasn't for the other guy. It's for you.

In the last several years I have been divesting of things in my life. Been making it a point to pray more. To do more in my devotionals and Bible reading. To reduce what consumes my time that isn't valuable to God's plans. It's painful at times.  Letting go of things that at the time brought significant joy.  You see that's the painful hard truth.  I put my joy where it didn't belong.  Those addicted to drugs use chemicals to put joy where it doesn't belong. 

Where is your treasure? Are you who call yourselves Christians storing anything at all in Heaven? Will you arrive to at Heavens door to find your treasure room empty?

Now is the time to reevaluate your life in regards to your treasures. I miss some things that I let go of for sure. But what I can gain in my relationship with Jesus far outweighs it all. If you are encumbered by the cares of this world you will never be ready for the Spiritual warfare that awaits all who claim the name of Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. 

The Right Perspective, It's Right in Front of You

The Right Perspective, It's Right in Front of You 

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. ROMANS 8:28 

When President Roosevelt was in office, a madman once took a shot at him, wounding the president in the arm. A steel glasses case, which the president kept in his breast pocket, deflected the bullet and saved his life. The funny thing is, President Roosevelt hated that glasses case. It was heavy and burdensome, and he had often complained about it. But in the process of God’s providence, the thing he hated saved his life. Joseph’s is a similar story. Though at times Joseph may have hated his situation and wondered about God’s purposes, eventually his life was an example of the rule of God’s providence. God took the darkest events and used them as stepping stones to move Joseph into position. Even when Joseph couldn’t understand what God was doing, the Lord was still at work. God had been arranging the situation, even when it seemed like He was far away. In the end, Joseph realized God had worked all things out for good. Joseph had it all in perspective. He saw that God was using even the evil things of this world to illustrate His providential work in the lives of men.-  Dr. David Jeremiah Morning and Evening 

Ok. So a wise man once said that if God's repeated something, pay attention!  

I have two different books by Dr. David Jeremiah and was finished reading my devotionals this morning when I decided to open the newest one from him.  The same devotional was in both.  I was already set on using this one an that little verification confirmed it. 

To say the least the last year seems to be a very dark time in this world.  This so-called situation in the world has forever altered the lives of billions of people.  Not a few, not a few hundred, not a few thousand or even a few million. Billions. 

In this apparent mess the viewpoint of most everyone has been touched.  It's brought to the surface underlying emotions that most weren't aware they harbored...and this is just the beginning. 

There are no coincidences when God's hands are working. None. Period. Zilch. Zero. 

But, you may argue, none of what's happening was ever mentioned in the Bible!  Ahh there you go jumping to the wrong conclusion.  Why yes, the specifics aren't there, the general description is. To get TO what Jesus described the last days as being you have to go through some things before you arrive there. 

Let's see what a few things are, shall we my friends?  2 Timothy 3 is where we will begin "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers,  disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited,  lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these. For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

This warning to Pastor Timothy was what would happen WITHIN the Church.  Those within would be the very same as those outside of it.  We are not told to shun or avoid the unbeliever. These people claiming to be believers will have infiltrated and influenced the Church.  Really? Yes, really.  Read Matthew 18. The handling of what many refer to as Church discipline.  " “Now if your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that on the testimony of two or three witnesses every matter may be confirmed. And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, he is to be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."  

We are not to avoid the unbeliever but to let our light shine, that is, Christ in us. To pray for them and be a witness of what Christ has done for us to them. 

This world is quickly embracing what the largest condemnation was against the world before the Genesis flood. The thoughts of man are becoming continually evil. Not in evil as you might expect from the bad guys in movies or television.  Remember the words of Jesus. Matthew 24:38 "For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark."  This is happening today with what was happening then. Marriage between people that is not right in God's eyes.  The Lord Jesus was very specific about who is involved in Biblical marriage. He was very specific with Moses when writing the Law as to what to do concerning a man laying with a man or a woman with a woman.  God's Word will never be broken according to Jesus when He said not one jot or tiddle would ever be removed from coming to pass. So Churches that teach otherwise are false Churches. They are those that Paul warns Timothy about. Of who he warns us about. 

Nobody expected the situation of the last year. Never dreamed it possible that the path the country was going on would end so quickly.  When the Rapture happens a great many billions of people will be having the point of view that Jesus shouldn't have left them.  As to what we just covered, many millions today don't believe that about the Churches they attend are really false Churches. They don't see those attributes we listed from 2 Timothy 3 applying to the Church.  Many millions per day wake up in Heaven who didn't expect to be there, millions of others entering because they did. The same thing happens in Hell. People arriving by the millions who refuse to believe that they weren't worthy of Heaven.  From their perspective they were good people.  

My friends...we do not,  and never will be able to, establish the standard for entry into Heaven. Jesus did. He is the Creator God. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the One True Messiah. He doesn't require a Jury to decide on innocent or guilt. He doesn't need lawyers to lay out perceptions concerning purported facts.  In the moments we read in Revelation when Jesus Himself separated people. He never asks any questions. Ever notice that?  He just separates. He already searches the hearts of man. He already knows who is sealed by the Spirit. The evidence of the Spirit is all the evidence that's required for Him to know who is who.  Nobody's worthy of Heaven outside of being sealed in the Spirit of God. That only comes after someone comes to Christ for Salvation. Once sealed it can't be undone.  Salvation is through Christ Jesus. Salvation is a binding agreement of Biblical Adoption. Established by God and unrevokable.

That's the perspective to keep in mind and to realize.  We who are in Christ Jesus are to be different from the rest of the world.  The attributes of the Good Samaritan should be evident.  The praying of the Church should be personal and consistent. Time in God's Word should be personal and consistent.  The love of the world and the things of this world shouldn't be evident in our lives. 

Look at your perspective...does it reflect a life spent with Jesus or does it reflect a life spent living only for yourself?  Remember it's what Jesus sees that's important.  Millions are entering Hell who think they are good people. Millions are entering who are being told they rejected Jesus. That is why they are there. They tried their own way to get into and learned the truth. There is no other way.  Remember too Satan is not in nor ever has been in Hell. He and all demons know that is a place of punishment and they want nothing to do with it.  Secondly Satan doesn't care if you go to Hell. He just doesn't want you going to Heaven.  Doesn't want anyone to worship God. He doesn't care who he uses along the way. 

There's a war going on in this world for the souls of mankind.  Jesus came to seek n save.  Satan wants to thwart that.  

How's your perspective now?

Conditions of the Heart

Conditions of the Heart 

“But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.” Luke 8:15 

At any time, the receptiveness of your heart will determine your response to God's Word (Luke 8:5–18). If your heart is like the trampled ground, hardened by the sin of bitterness and unforgiveness, you will be unable to accept a message from God. Though you hear the words of the message, you will remain unchanged. If your heart is like the shallow soil on top of a rock, you will accept God's Word in your mind, but the truth will not penetrate your heart to make a difference in your actions. A heart like thorny soil is a life that is distracted by the cares of the world; the pursuit of earthly pleasures prevents God's Word from taking hold and producing righteousness. The heart that is like good soil receives a word from God, applies it, and brings forth fruit in due time. This is the heart that Jesus desires in us, for the fruit will be a Christlike life. Any time you hear a word from God, whether through Bible reading, prayer, or worship, the way you respond will depend on how you have cultivated your heart (Hos. 10:12). How do you develop a heart that is like good soil? Repent of any bitterness, anger, or unforgiveness. Meditate on God's Word until it enters deep into your heart and not just your mind. Let Him bring His word into reality in your life (Gal. 6:9). See that you don’t devote all of your energy to worldly concerns, rather than to pursuing your relationship with God. The condition of your heart will vary, depending on how you cultivate it. If it was receptive to a word from God yesterday, this does not guarantee it is receptive today. Daily prepare your heart for the word God has for you! Blackaby Experiencing God Day by Day 

In this second post for today there's something to look at that's below the surface.  

You go into a Doctor's office for a checkup. They have tools to 'see with their ears' at the condition of your heart.  They are taught to listen for specific things. To translate those specifics to words that we understand. 

In Christ we have the Great Physician. He needs no special tools to know every aspect of our hearts. Every cell of the physical and every thought and intention you have ever had.  He doesn't need to put things in His ears and a cold metal object to areas around your back or chest.  Doesn't need you to breathe to tell you your diagnosis. 

We are all dying of sin.  There's only one cure. He is the cure for what ails you.  He already paid the price and experienced what you could never survive. 

The question He has for you while in His Office is this: Do want to be healed?  Is being healed of the deceptive ravages of sin something that you want?  Death, apart from God, is where you are headed if you refuse that treatment He offers.  But how can this be?  He will take your place. He will substitute Himself for you. You, in turn must live for Him. In everything that matters you are born again. Given a new life.  You will begin to really live.  There's a catch. I knew it! You may say.  It's to live for Jesus the rest of your days.  To turn away from that sin that was your death sentence in the first place.  

Jesus didn't come here, live a sinless life, die a horrible death on a cross, raise from the dead 3 days later, to give you the opportunity to live...to then ruin your life on earth. We live for Jesus out of gratitude. Out of love for the One who loved me so much that He willingly took my place, my punishment for my sins. 

So what is really holding your attention in this world?  Cultivating the soil of your heart is a daily exercise.  Keeping the ground malleable, keeping it from hardening towards the things of God. The highway that we are on towards Heaven has all kinds of exits. There those enticing signs along the way to tempt us to leave that road for what is being offered.  The cares and worries of this life will choke out the growth in Christ that He is trying to do in you. 

You have to choose to stay on that road. You must choose to lighten your load so that you are not encumbered by this world. 

Jesus said His burden is easy and His load is light.  He promises rest. 

This world promises great things but all are futile in providing rest.  You are back to where you began and finding your way back to that road is never as easy as it sounds, outside of crying out to God. We think we can handle this or that, then ultimately learn we had no business thinking in the first place. That's how my repeated lessons in life have been. 

Are you going to try to cry out to God?  Ask Him for help in coming to Christ? Ask Him to save you and take your place?  Breaking up that hard soil of your heart so that a new life in Christ begins?

Let today be your dependance day...that day you start being dependent upon your Savior and Lord to guide you through this life. 

The Return to Heaven: The Ascension After the Cross

The Return: The Ascension After the Cross 

. . . taken up in glory. 1 Timothy 3:16 We have seen our well-beloved Lord in the days of His flesh, humiliated and sorely distressed; “He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (Isaiah 53:3 NLT). He whose brightness is like the morning wore the sackcloth of sorrow as His daily dress; shame was His cloak and reproach His clothing. But now, since on the bloody cross He has triumphed over all the powers of darkness, our faith sees our King returning with dyed garments from Edom, robed in the splendor of victory (see Isaiah 63:1). How glorious He must have been in the eyes of the seraphs, when a cloud received Him out of human sight and He ascended to heaven! Now He wears the glory He had with God before the earth existed, and yet another glory above all—the glory He earned in the fight against sin, death, and hell. He wears the illustrious crown as victor. Hear how the song swells! It is a new and sweeter song: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. . . . For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood” (Revelation 5:12, 9 NKJV). He wears the glory of an Intercessor who can never fail, a Prince who can never be defeated, a Conqueror who has vanquished every foe, a Lord who has the allegiance of every subject’s heart. Jesus wears all the glory that the majesty of heaven can bestow on Him, all that ten thousand times ten thousand angels can offer Him. You cannot, by the farthest stretch of your imagination, conceive His exceeding greatness. But there will be a further revelation of it when He descends from heaven in great power, with all the holy angels—“then he will sit upon his glorious throne” (Matthew 25:31 NLT). Oh, the splendor of that glory! It will capture His people’s hearts. And this is not even the end of it, for eternity will sound His praise: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psalm 45:6 ESV). Reader, if you want to joy in Christ’s glory later, He must be glorious in your sight now. Is He? C.H. Spurgeon Morning and evening 

Was reading this this morning, on the heels of my Bible reading which was involving the end words of the Last Supper.  

A scene unfolded in my mind after the thoughts and words of Spurgeon mixed with those I read from my Bible. 

Jesus reenters Heaven.  The Angels rejoiced at the sight of their King!

They notice the scars. They note the marks on His body.  He approaches the Throne of His Father. He bows to His Father out of respect to Him.  Then the Father stands and places the crown that Jesus had set aside back on His head. The Father smiles. The clothing of Jesus is transformed to His royal robes. King of Kings and Lord of Lords is emblazoned on that robe.  Jesus takes His place at His Father's side on His Throne. The celebration begins...those brought to Heaven with Jesus shout a great shout along with the hosts of Heaven.  Oh the amazing sight of it all!

To Be Ready Means to Be READY

To Be Ready Means To Be READY 

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. Itake heed to myself, lest my heart be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on me unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. I watch therefore, and pray always that I may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. The day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But I am not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake me as a thief. I am a son of light and son of the day. I am not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let me not sleep, as others do, but let me watch and be sober. I look forward to Your return, Lord Jesus! Keep me ready and watching, I pray! MATTHEW 25:13; LUKE 21:34–36; 1 THESSALONIANS 5:2 –6. Dr. David Jeremiah Life-Changing Moments with God 

The prevailing thought these days is that if there is to be some day that Jesus returns that it's far off in the distance.  That it's sometime way off in the future. 

The Scriptures say otherwise.  When asked of when the things Jesus spoke of would take place, He both referred to them in terms that were easily understood and made no reference to hundreds of centuries.  His references were to be easily understood.  Cultures change but His explanations would fully apply.  There and in other places in the Bible events would be recognized.  People who are looking would understand what they are seeing. Apathy would be rampant.  Would Jesus find the faith when He returns?  People would be believing that if if were to happen it wouldn't be in their lifetime. That they could claim to come to Christ yet go live life as they wanted.  Let that future generation deal with it. 

Oh so many are in denial of what evidences that have already occurred in the last 100 years!  If you are at all looking you can see Scripture coming true concerning Israel. You can see the Bible's references to how mankind would be prior to the return of Christ are what our world is about. 

To be honest I find my heart trying to go two directions.  One has to do with what I want and desire vs what I am told to write about and proclaim to the world.  

I fight desires to go and do and just forget responsibility. To just find something that I want to do and just go do it. To go places, to see things, that this world isn't going anywhere.  

In the other part of my heart I know certain truths. That in my youth it was revealed to me that in my lifetime I would see the Rapture of the Church.  Mine was that generation that would see the Tribulation. 

I see through all of this the futility of things.  I see the need to tell as many as I can how to find Salvation in Christ Jesus alone.  I see the urgency of the Spirit.  This blog has been mind blowing to me as to its scope and global reach.  The Spirit is taking it places that I never could with a book should I write one.  

My Friend time is of the essence.  We don't have hundreds or thousands of years to live like there's no tomorrow. We need to be right with God today while it is still today. While the opportunity to be saved is possible.  Jesus was telling those around Him that they would always have the poor and others but they wouldn't always have Him. He would soon be going through the crucifixion then to Hades to bring those of centuries past who believed in Him with Him to Heaven.  He kept that promise. He made another promise. To return to receive those who had died in Christ first then those of us who were alive and remained next who were sealed in the Spirit.  My Friend once saved you are sealed by the Spirit of God. He seals the deal on Salvation. Nobody including ourselves can break that binding agreement.  That's another promise kept. 

The Old Testament made promises of One who was to come. Of the things He would endure. The death He would die. In those promises came life for all who would believe.  The promise of His coming was exactly as foretold. The city of His birth, exactly as foretold. The conditions of His life, having a need to escape to Egypt, exactly as foretold. Of His occupation. Of His...that list can go on and on.  Nobody in Human history except Jesus Christ fulfilled to the last detail what the Old Testament claimed of Him who was to come. 

Our world is full of carnival rides and attractions.  Designed to distract and bring a false sense of happiness and security. To those in power it is where opportunists take advantage of weaknesses of others to dominate their lives.  Distractions are flooding this world to take our attention away from the Father's business. To save lives.  Scripture tells of both prudent and foolish virgins awaiting the return of the one that was coming.  Some sacrificed and prepared for an unexpected arrival. The rest did not. Will you be ready for His return?

My Friend if you haven't come to Christ for Salvation you most certainly are not ready for His return.  Those of us who are saved will be leaving this world when He gives that call to come to Him at His return. It grieves me greatly at the depth of the deception that has permeated the so-called Church.  Teachers telling people just what they want to hear. Just as the Bible said would happen. Another promise kept.  Billions will flock to Churches after the Rapture.  Crying out to God for another chance. Crying out to God to come back!  Only realizing too little too late that they really hadn't come to Christ after all. They believed twisted lies of Satan's perpetrator's in the so-called Church's. Those who deny the power and position of Jesus. Those who teach as things that are good and ok yet the Bible says are sin. Those who have taught people to stumble away from who God really is. Those who call good evil and evil as good. 

Fact: The day of the Lord is coming.

Fact: Jesus was and is The King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

Fact: Without Salvation in Christ Jesus alone you will not escape the wrath of God that is coming upon the world. 

Fact: Once you have chosen Christ Jesus as your Savior and Lord, you are sealed. Protected by His Promises. The Spirit comes to you and indwells you. 

Fact: By only the name of Jesus can anyone be saved.

Fact: He is coming soon. Are you among the ready or are you among the foolish who believe the lie that you can live however you want until He might come?

Being Prepared for His Return

Being Prepared for His Return 

Thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist. . . . So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 

I will arise and depart, for this is not my rest. Here I have no continuing city, but I seek the one to come. There remains therefore a rest for me as one of Yours, Lord God. I will let my waist be girded and my lamps burn; and I myself will be like one who waits for the master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks I may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. I gird up the loins of my mind, I will be sober, and I will rest my hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to me at the revelation of Jesus Christ. One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind . . . I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore if I am mature, this should be my mind-set. May I be ever watching and ready for the return of Your victorious Son. EXODUS 12:11; MICAH 2:10; HEBREWS 13:14; HEBREWS 4:9; LUKE 12:35–37; 1 PETER 1:13; PHILIPPIANS 3:13–15 Dr. David Jeremiah Life-Changing Moments with God 

I was having a conversation yesterday that saddened me greatly.  Someone was asking me some serious questions about what in essence was questions about faith.  On the surface it was questions about some end times events.  Did I think this medicine was the Mark of the Beast referred to in the Bible. 

Then that question branched off into some things that were what saddened me.  Somewhere people are being taught that when Christ returns that a great many Christians would be left here to teach others about Christ throughout the Tribulation.  In no way is this Biblical!  The language of the Bible is clear.  When the Father says it's time, all the dead in Christ rise first. Then those of us who are alive and remain will join them in the air.  In no way is there any teaching about leaving believers behind on purpose.  The Spirit's role only slightly changes during the Tribulation.  He will still be about the Father's business of saving lives.  He just won't be restraining the Antichrist that was created by Satan for that hour of mankind.  A great many people will be saved after the Rapture due to reality hitting that they missed out due to being deceived in the places they thought were real Churches. 

Being ready to leave is important. Being about the Father's business in seeking the lost is right there as our primary goal.  That's the Great Commission call to believers.  It's not fancy houses or cars. It's not grand vacations. It's not even retirement life. Most assuredly it's not false teachings that lead people into a state of fear and anxiety about being left here to endure what happens after the Rapture.  

In Romans it's clear that there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  Condemnation is a judgment against.  It's a ruling against. It involves punishment. We who are justified in Christ by the work of the Spirit are not viewed by God as condemned. 

In Thessalonians we read about the promise of His return and that we will be going with Him. We will not see the Mark of the Beast.  We will see things that will lead to it.  

When challenged about paying taxes Jesus replied to render to Ceasar the things to Ceasar and to God the things that are God's.  In regards to this medicine.  It's not a means of control.  In all reality this is a new type of flu and combating it has to start somewhere.  For decades it's been a serious concern of the Medical world that our reliance upon antibiotics would someday create a bug that's impervious to them. This isn't that.  

As an example goes that I have shared before.  A woman was crying out for God to save her. A truck comes by to offer to take her to safety. She says no, God's going to save her. The waters rise, she still cries out to God. A boat comes along and they offer to save her. She says no, God's going to save her. Standing on the roof of her house a helicopter sees her and wants to save her. She tells them no. God's going to save her. She dies. Stands before Jesus and is complaining to Him. Why didn't you save me! To which He replied, I sent a truck, a boat, and a helicopter, what more did you need?  You can make use of this medicine or not. But don't complain to God if in choosing not to use what He has provided to help you that you go through things that you didn't need to. 

God gave you a brain with the expectation of us using it.  We often use it incorrectly. 

We fear things we shouldn't and don't fear what we should.  

Resting in Christ Jesus is what brings peace that passes all understanding.  If you aren't experiencing that...it's time to pray n ask why you aren't.  In Psalms 23 we will be lead THROUGH things, not lead TO things.  We won't be left in some situation without Christ. He will be there, leading the way THROUGH whatever is in your life.  The choice of going through those things kicking and screaming is on us.  But for those of us who are saved, we are given this:

2 Timothy 1:7 — English Standard Version ( ESV) ... God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

The Coming of the Lord

The Coming of the Lord 

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. You, Lord, the Lord God, are merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth. May I walk worthy of the calling with which I was called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with others in love. May I be kind to others, tenderhearted, forgiving others, even as You in Christ also forgave me. The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Love suffers long and is kind. In due season I shall reap if I do not lose heart. Therefore I will be patient until the coming of the Lord Jesus. I see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. I will also be patient. I will establish my heart, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. Lord, teach me to live so that Your Holy Spirit’s presence in me bears fruit that blesses others and honors You. GALATIANS 5:22; EXODUS 34:6; EPHESIANS 4:1–2; EPHESIANS 4:32; JAMES 3:17; 1 CORINTHIANS 13:4; GALATIANS 6:9; JAMES 5:7–8

Dr. David Jeremiah Life-Changing Moments with God 

Oh this prayer!  

The coming of the Lord is at hand.  Oh indeed it is.  In our world it doesn't take a doctorate or degree to see the established lines between good and evil.  There are a few undecided but not really many.  

Scripture says, and if we look we see it, evil people will proceed from bad to worse.  Read it.

2 Timothy 3  "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these. For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, worthless in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their foolishness will be obvious to all, just as was that also of Jannes and Jambres.

Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! Indeed, all who want to live in a godly way in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil people and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work."

Our world is filling up with rage against God. Taking it out on those who are Jews or Christians.  Raging because their deeds are evil in His sight.  Shaking their fists at God because He's told them what is necessary for Salvation.

People want their ideas of good to be acceptable to God and He has rejected that.  They want to have their perverse thoughts and actions accepted as being just as Holy as what the Bible says is Holy.

This will never happen. 

In the days of Elijah there was a grand challenge of challenges. Whomever responded with fire from Heaven was to be worshipped as the one true God. 

Elijah gave the competition a whole day to try to evoke some kind of response out of their supposed god. Then took part of the day to drown his altar to the God of Heaven with enough water to make it physically impossible to light any fire on it.  Then, with a simple prayer God instantly responded. Dried up and burned up everything in accordance with Elijah's prayer. Providing He, the King of Kings and Lord of Lord's IS the One True God. 

My dear reader, stop ignoring the evidence!  Look at your life! Look at the news!  Look at how people are around you!

Jesus said that He will come at an hour you will not expect.  I have already shown you that indeed many so-called church buildings will be filled after the Rapture. People who were deceived by the twisted lies of Satan into a false sense of Salvation. Do you really want to take that chance?  The return of Christ is at hand. Unless it's been missed by many a Godly man in preaching it, there's really nothing left to need to happen before Jesus gets up from His Throne to obey the Father's command to come bring us home who are ready. 

Are you ready? Or are you too busy for God's will for you?  He's not willing that any should perish but that all who call upon Him will be saved. 

Not many are fans of the movie Titanic. But there's a scene near the end that describes our Savior's last pleas to you. 

The crewman who made the decision to return and bucking orders was going to try to save whomever he could, regardless of cultural status. Regardless of who was worthy in the eyes of society. It gets so quiet and all that you hear is a lone voice of him calling out to anyone, anyone who was still alive to say something, that he might do something to save them. 

The Spirit is doing that with you and this world. That soft still voice is calling out for you and for me. 

Softly and Tenderly 

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling—

  Calling for you and for me;

Patiently Jesus is waiting and watching—

  Watching for you and for me! Come home! come home!

  Ye who are weary, come home!

Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,

    Calling, O sinner, come home!

Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading—

  Pleading for you and for me?

Why should we linger and heed not His mercies—

  Mercies for you and for me?

Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing—

  Passing from you and from me;

Shadows are gathering, death-beds are coming—

  Coming for you and for me!

Oh, for the wonderful love He has promised—

  Promised for you and for me!

Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon—

  Pardon for you and for me!

The Lord is coming soon. Is this world really what you want more than to be saved from the judgment of God?