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Tag: John

  • Free?

    Free?

    How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

    We are slaves to our past. We are slaves to our culture. We are slaves to our traditions.

    “I was born (Hispanic, Asian, black, white… whatever excuse.)”

    The Pharisees were proud of being born Hebrew; proud of their Jewish past. In fact, they were slaves of their past, culture and traditions. Like many of us, they were slaves of their sin.

    They were under the rule and slavery of Rome, who granted Jews (for a time as was politically expedient) a measure of freedom to worship and live as they were accustomed.  Like us, they did not realize that they were slaves of God’s providence and timing – God’s circumstances for application and witness of faith through difficulty.

    Jews were so proud to have escaped the slavery of Egypt, that they did not recognize the slavery of their own disobedience to ‘elohiym hä·yä hä·yä – Yĕhovah Yĕhovah.

    Yet their lives under the slavery of Rome required continual compromise of their freedom. These righteous rulers of the people slipped more and more into sin until they no longer had relationship with Almighty God.

    The Temple was no longer a place of truth.  The worship of God had become as false as the faith of the Pharisees.

    Then God, Who had been silent since the days of the Prophets, returned to the Temple in the Person of Christ Jesus.

    John 8: 

    “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

    “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

    “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world…”

     

    The Truth Will Set You Free

    31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

    34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave[b] to sin.35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

    Jesus is LORD. But is Jesus lord over YOUR LIFE?

    Have you slipped into the sin of your past… just as the Pharisees? Are you bound to the slavery of our sins?

    Two Christian sisters have pointed out this week their deep sorrow over the addictions of loved ones to heroin. (It would not have to be heroin, though we realize more the inevitable consequence.) It could be gambling, or beer, booze or wine. It could be cigarettes or over-eating. It could be pornography or partying with the sexual sin of the world.

    And worst of all for our witness of Christ (just like the Pharisees), we may at the same time CLAIM to be Christians.

     42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God.The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

    We seek the sin that will satisfy in the shadows of darkness and self-delusion. To continue in sin is to have sin shackle you.

    Romans 6

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Dead to Sin, Alive to God

    6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

    What are they sellingWhy do christians so easily return to our chains of addictions to the sins of our worldly past? — a life of slavery? — before Christ Jesus freed us by His Blood of the Cross?

    Galatians 5

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Christ Has Set Us Free

    5 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

    casino drinks 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

    19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions,divisions, 21 envy,[d] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

    Is Jesus your Lord?

    OR Is your sin your lord?

    What is the TRUTH?

    John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.  18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

    PRAY for those yet chained to the sins and addictions of their past.

    1 Peter 2:16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

  • The Time Is Near for our Church – Prologue

    The Time Is Near for our Church – Prologue

    1 The revelation [apokalypsis] of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.

    He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. 3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

    To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

    7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.

    TIME’S UP!

    Has anyone ever announced that to you?

    Were you ready?  Was it a test? Did you know that the end of your time was coming?

    What would happen IF you got up one morning and God sent an Angel to you with an announcement:

    TIME’S UP! I’m taking you up from this earth today.

    What would you think? How would you react?

    You might think: HOW? Will it be an accident? A heart attack? Will someone murder me unexpectedly?

    You might wonder: How soon?  Do I have time to finally write a will? Can I call a loved one, first?

    You might remember that sin: the person you could NOT forgive, that action you never confessed. You might recall how little you had given to your church and how often you had found better things to do than worship God and thank Jesus Christ for His sacrifice on the Cross for you.

    You might even think to ask: Am I going to HEAVEN or HELL?

    You might even be in AWE that an angel would show up to bring a message to you.

    Admit it: you’re finally fearful of the end of your TIME. All of a sudden, DEATH and Eternal Life have a personal relevance.

    The Apostle John, or course, was a better witness of Christ than you or me. He had  actual first-hand witness of Jesus’ resurrection. Yet even John may not have expected the revelation Christ gave to him, which John wrote for us as the final book of the Bible.

    (You should read ALL of Revelation on your own.)

    8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

    I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.

    Of course we know that the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ IS GOOD NEWS. Although Revelation sounds more and more like NOT so good news.

    IF the CHURCH will heed the warnings of Christ through the angel to John to the seven churches to OUR 21st c. church: there is still TIME remaining in the hourglass of these last days.

    The King James Version states: Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.

    John saw what was, what was then, what was to come soon for the first century church, AND John saw what would happen well beyond the day of the death of his earthly flesh in the first century. John saw the hereafter: an AWESOME vision of Eternity.

    Are YOU ready? Is your church ready?

    Haven’t we had just about enough of this Kingdom of the evil one?

    The TIME of the hereafter is NEAR.

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    READ the cautions for our Church. NEXT: Ephesus

  • Why Not Saul?

    Why Not Saul?

    The scene above is much later in life after the Lord has rejected Saul as King and he asks a witch to speak with the dead Prophet Samuel. 1 Samuel 28

    It’s too late. The die is cast. What happened? How did Saul lose favor with the Lord?

    Earlier (before it was too late)…

    1 Samuel 15:1 One day Samuel said to Saul, “It was the Lord who told me to anoint you as king of his people, Israel…

    The Lord Rejects Saul

    10 Then the Lord said to Samuel, 11 “I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.”

     Consider that you may be anointed by the Lord, yet later rejected.

    In just ten verses of 1 Samuel 15 we witness both the anointing and the rejection of King Saul. The Lord had chosen Saul to lead his chosen people.  All seemed to be going Saul’s way as the anointed King of Israel; but then the Lord rejected him.

    Why would the Lord anoint a King and later reject him?  Why not Saul?

    The indictment of the Lord against Saul is much more serious than we would imagine.  It seems that in victory, what Saul explains away as a simple misunderstanding is inexcusable in the eyes of the Lord.

    From the time the Lord had led the Hebrew people out of Egypt they had demonstrated their stiff-necked resistance to doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord; so why such a harsh penalty for Saul for just one act of partial obedience by His newly anointed King?

    Hear well Samuel’s reprimand of Saul from the Lord:

    Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. 23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

    OBEDIENCE. Now there’s a word we resist. Submission: BOW down to the will of GOD and NOT the will of your SELF.

    Some christians will proclaim grace again and again, before remembering repentance and obedience.  Yet sometimes God will reach the limit of his patience with us.

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    Saul Pleads for Forgiveness

    24 Then Saul admitted to Samuel, “Yes, I have sinned. I have disobeyed your instructions and the Lord’s command, for I was afraid of the people and did what they demanded. 25 But now, please forgive my sin and come back with me so that I may worship the Lord.” 26 But Samuel replied, “I will not go back with you! Since you have rejected the Lord’s command, he has rejected you as king of Israel.”

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    Perhaps you would argue that this is the God of the Old Testament — God B.C. — God before the grace of the cross.

    Recall then, the disobedience of Ananias and Sapphira. God is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. (You recall it from Hebrews 13:8  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.) Recall also that Christ Jesus said: “Before Abraham was even born, I AM” John 5:58

     GOD judged Saul — as God judged Ananias and Sapphira — as God will judge you and me — and as God will judge every claimant of Christ and every disobedient soul.

    So let us examine with more diligence the sin of Saul by which he lost his anointing by God. Listen! Obedience… (I’m sure we get the idea.)

    Submission: that is, bow down to God’s will in place of your will of SELF. Hear the warning of 1 Samuel 15:23

    23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.

    What does it mean for you to say: Jesus Christ is LORD?

    Are you a stiff-necked rebel?  Judas was a rebel.

    Do you worship something other than the Word of God? Like Saul, do you build monuments to your SELF?

    Money? Power? Position? Status?

    Are you stubborn for your freedom to do whatever YOU wish?

    IF so, you worship idols.

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    In these last days and in this season of much false worship, let us not overlook the comparison of the Lord that rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft.

    Let’s not overlook the dark nature and 21st century reality of witchcraft (so easily dismissed as fanciful myth by those too stubborn to worship God).

    Later Saul would consult a witch to speak to Samuel from the grave, as in the scene depicted above in the 19th c. painting by Edward Henry Corbould.

     

     What is witchcraft?  

    From the Hebrew in 1 Samuel 15:23 & other verses:  qecem – divination, witchcraft; 

    1. of false prophets

    The root word of the New Testament word for witch is: pharmakeus.

    False contact with the dead OR false prophesy OR false cures – drugs, vitamins, natural treatments of the earth for remedy to God — ALL prevalent in these last days.

    And the consequence of the sins of idolatry and witchcraft are well documented in the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John:

    Revelation 21:8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

    SO BECAUSE YOU HAVE REJECTED THE COMMAND OF CHRIST… (fill in the blank…)

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    You with ears to hear: Do NOT say, “Thus says the Lord,” when the Lord has not said.”

    Do NOT say, “I follow Jesus,” when you worship your SELF.

    Do NOT say, “I have given myself to Christ,” when you have held back your heart from the LORD.

    Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.

    23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.

    So because you have rejected the command of the Lord…

     

     I pray that it is not too late for your obedience, submission and return to the cross of Christ Jesus, our Lord and savior.