Fear Not

 

Fear Not

God is with us 

 

“Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” –Luke 12:32

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”— 2 Tim. 1:7

“So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”— Heb. 13:6

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”— 1 John 4:18

“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”— Rev. 2:10

When we read these verses we can see that we are not supposed to fear anything. God is with us.

If we believe that God is right beside us, and even in us through His Holy Spirit, then why do we have fear? Our God is bigger than anything in this world, and anything the devil can throw at us.

These verses above indicate that there is a spirit of fear. A demonic entity which harasses us. It says in First John that we are tormented by fear.

Therefore battling fear is Spiritual Warfare. It’s something we can overcome.

The first thing needs to be faith and trust in God, His goodness and His Word.

Nothing else matters.

I harp on this idea of a relationship with God. When we know Him, we know where to turn. We can trust Him. Even when everything around us is terrible and we are in our darkest days we can trust Him. Even though the devil tries to get us to turn from God, and curse God, and doubt Him. We can trust Him. And that is power. For in our weakness we are strong when we turn to Him.

 God is not against us. It is His good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. He is for us.

Say it out loud. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

“God is with me! He wants to give me the kingdom, He is not out to get me. He is my helper, I will not fear.”

Believe it.

We can overcome fear in His Power, His Love and His Wisdom.

We can pray and know He hears. He promises that if we ask anything in His name He will do it. —John 14:14

No doubts. Trust Him. He hears and is moving.

Fear be gone! God is with me!

Love casts out fear. Confront the fear in love.

Do the loving thing.

When faced with fear, love others. Do unto others as you would have done to you. Loving others takes your mind off of self, and onto other people. Use the fear to fuel love. Overcome evil with good.

Remember that God loves you. If we are saved, then we are perfect in God’s Love. Remember this. He loves through us. Let Him love you and love others through you.

The devil threw some of them into prison. They were told to fear not. So, what did they do? How did they overcome fear?

They loved. They prayed for the guards and other inmates. They preached the Gospel and spoke faith to the other prisoners. They comforted the sick in prison. They helped each other. They loved, in the midst of fear and hate, and temptations for anger. They turned prison into purpose. That is how you cast out fear.

Love casts out fear.

Praise God. Loving Him and praising Him casts out fear. You cannot hold fear in your mind, while praising God at the same time.

We also overcome fear through a sound mind. We have a sound mind by knowing God’s Word. By seeking Him for wisdom and understanding and truth. By having faith in His Word. By prayer and His guidance.

We can look at how God has brought us through things in the past, and trust that He will again. We can go and seek out the truth. Study, ask, learn, seek answers. Fear thrives in the unknown.

We can ask ourselves, “What is the worst case scenario? Has God let the worst things happen to me? What if He does? He will be with me through it.”

Overcome and drive out fear through Power, Love and a Sound mind. We can drive it out through Him, and His Word, and Faith in Him and His Word. We trust that He is good and He is with us.

 Spirit of Fear be gone in Jesus name.

Say it out loud. Cast the spirit out.

Remember times when God was with you and saw you through. Trust Him.

Dark times are coming, according to prophecy.

We need to be able to wage spiritual warfare and cast out fear.

Remember during Covid, when the virus was everywhere and fear was running with it? Remember when the vaccine came out and they were forcing people to take it or lose their jobs?

That was a picture of what is coming.

They will say, take the Mark of the Beast or lose your job.

When you see saints being rounded up, and your own pastors turning you in for refusing to bow to the Anti-Christ.

Fear not.

Love not your life unto death. —Rev. 12:11

Fear keeps us down, and keeps us from acting in faith.

Drive out the fear, in Jesus name.

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Cover photo by pexels 

What Is Death?

 What Is Death?

It's important to know.

 

 

Death on its most basic level means separation.

It is not an end, as some suppose.

The Bible teaches that we are triune, like God. We are made in His image.

We have a body, a soul and a spirit.

When God created everything He created it good. Evil was contained elsewhere, and there was no death. Everything ate plants. Fruits, veggies and nuts.

We were created to live forever.

God loves us and wants us to love Him freely, so He gave us free will and a choice.

Adam was given dominion of the Earth to take care of it. He was free to eat of anything he wanted except for the tree in the midst of the Garden.

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”—Gen 2:17

We do not know how long Adam and Eve were in the Garden together. But, Satan came and got them to do the one thing they were not supposed to do. Eat of that tree.

The moment they ate it, something happened.

“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.”— Gen. 3:7

Their eyes were opened.

They were previously living in innocence like little kids, running around the woods naked. But, when they ate it they became aware of both good and evil. They previously only knew good. Now evil came flooding upon them, and into them. Their innocent nature became corrupted. They tried to fix the problem themselves, but only God can fix it.

This is where our corrupted nature comes from. That thing inside of us that leads us to commit sin and causes us to be unclean, and in league with Satan.

Now, notice Adam and Eve did not die.

This shows us that they died spiritually. Their spirits died. That living soul, that God breathed into them; left them. (Gen.2:7)

But we also know that Adam lived 900 years before he died in the flesh. That is one day for God. (2 Peter 3:8)

Because Adam had dominion he was in charge, and his failure opened the door for evil to flood into him and all humans after him. It also caused death to come into this world, and upon everything in this world. The entire creation groans waiting for this to end. (Romans 8:16-25)

Since he chose to follow Satan instead of God, the dominion was handed over to Satan, who has become the god of the world. (2 Cor. 4:4)

This is why death came. It is a separation. We are separated from our loved ones and from God, by spiritual death, physical death and eternal death.

God is a holy God. Paradise is a good, holy place. The corruption that plagues humans cannot be allowed to enter heaven. It cannot be allowed to enter eternity, or else the eternal will become ruined the same as this world. Imagine an eternity full of the suffering we have in this world.

God destroyed the Earth with a Flood, to wash away the evil. But, it rose back up. He knew it would. Now, the world waits to be purged with fire and burned up, before God creates a new heaven and earth. (2 Peter 2:3)

God Himself, in the form of Jesus Christ came to Earth and died on the cross to restore that which was lost. (Matt. 18:11)

When a person hears Gods call and turns to Him, confessing Jesus is the Lord, they are saved. They are filled with the Holy Spirit and they are brought from death (separation) unto life. Their spirit comes alive again.

Like Adam, when we commit our first sin, our spirit dies within us. Until it is resurrected into new life in Christ.

Understand that our spiritual separation makes us blind toward God. But, He still sees us clearly. There is no where we can hide from God.

When we die physically we become separated from this world and our loved ones. If we are saved and washed in the Blood of Jesus we are clean from the evil that plagues us and we go to be with the Lord in Paradise. (Luke 23:43, 2 Corinthians 5:1-8)

BUT…

If we die physically and are not washed in the Blood. We are full of the corruption which plagues all humanity. We cannot go to Paradise to be with the Lord, because we are plagued. Evil is like a plague that spreads. Our sins are a symptom of this plague. We sin because of what is in us. We are plagued and unclean. (Rom 7:7-25)

So, we have to go to Hell and eventually The Lake of Fire, where Satan and His Angels, Demons and Unclean spirits will be. It is a place of containment. It is a garbage dump for all things evil and foul and unclean.

It is eternal death. Or eternal separation. A quarantine.

All humans are raised from the dead and given new bodies. But, some go to live forever in Paradise, while others go to live forever separated in Hell/Lake of Fire. The second death. The second separation. (John 5:28-29, Rev. 20:5=6, Rev. 20:12-13)

We often look at this subject in legal terms. Laws, Sin, Judges, Punishment. These are the terms used for Satan and his rebellion. For all those who knowingly reject God.

But, the reality is that God loves us and seeks to save us from a plague that corrupts us and keeps us from knowing Him.

Jesus did not come preaching law. He came healing people. Healing the blind and setting people free from Satan and his demons.

That is what God is doing.

He is saving us, setting us free and opening our eyes, if we turn to Him.

Death for the saint is not separation. It is a homecoming.

We once were blind, but now we see. We were once dead, but now we live eternally.

When we give ourselves to God, He saves us and holds us forever. We are washed in the Blood, forever clean and able to enter His presence.

When Jesus died, the veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom (Matt. 27:51)

God Himself ripped that wall of separation apart so He could bring his kids home.

And when He returns, He will restore what was lost, and defeat death. (Rev. 21:4)

And we will be with the Lord forever.

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Cover photo by pexels/Pixabay

Matthew 25 Church

 Matthew 25 Church

Are we prepared for His return? 

 

 

Matthew Chapter 25 is a chapter in the New Testament that describes what will happen when Christ returns. It states that He will separate the sheep from the goats. It appears that this judgment is not the Great White Throne judgment, where the lost are judged. This judgment is the judgment of the nations. It seems to be a judgment of people who assume they are right with Christ. The sheep enter into the kingdom, and the goats go into fire. There are many verses that speak of this judgment.

      

The criteria in this judgment will be based upon how people have treated others. It will be based upon their charity, or love in action. In the Chapter Jesus says “ And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” --- (Matt 25:40)
      

He takes it personally. Now we can say all kinds of things about Matthew 25. First, we can say that we are saved by grace, not by works. Our salvation is not based upon what we do, but upon what Christ did for us, and because we know Him, and He knows us.
      

This is true. But, it’s also true, that if we know Him, and He knows us, we will do the things He calls us to do. Not saying we won’t fail, or sin, but we will have an abiding desire to help and love others, which leads to action. This is the Fruit of The Spirit that grows in us. This is our warfare, our duty. It becomes who we are; if we are really saved.


If you'll notice the goats in Matthew 25, never knew Him. They were not really born again, or saved. This can be seen in other verses where Jesus tells us that many religious people will think they are saved, but are not. It’s not about works, it’s about being washed in the Blood, confessing Him as Lord, and letting the Spirit work in you and through you to teach, and tell others about Jesus. Saving people for eternity is the goal of everything we do.
      

There are justifications that people will give based upon the wording of Matthew 25 above. Some will claim that since it says “My brethren.” Jesus is talking about the Jewish people, and that this is a judgment against people or nations who have mistreated Israel.  Another view could be that it’s referring to Christians, because we are grafted into Israel, and become His brethren, and we are also His spiritual brothers. This justification attempts to leave out the gentile or the unbeliever as someone we do not need to show charity to. It’s an attempt to create a loop hole. But, all of scripture works against this concept. We are to show charity to those around us, even our enemies.
      

Another justification is that this is a judgment of nations not individuals. But, the actions of nations are made up of the actions of individuals. We can see this when God is talking to Abraham about Sodom. Abraham says, “Will you destroy it if there are 10 righteous?”  (Gen. 18:16-33)   There were not any righteous in the city, righteousness comes by believing God. Not believing in God, but believing what He has told us. Turning to Him, and confessing Jesus as the Lord, trusting Him. (Rom. 4:1-12) No one in that city, except for Lot put their faith in God. But, this shows that the Faith of individuals can save or affect nations. If only 10 righteous people existed, God would have spared all of them. The actions of individuals matter.
      

Some will claim that this judgment is describing how God will treat the Nations who do not support the nation of Israel, during the tribulation period, or the time of Jacobs’s trouble. We are called to support the nation of Israel and are blessed for doing so, but as shown above, this verse has more meaning than that.
      

But, let’s assume that every justification that is given by people who do not want to hear the truth of this verse is true. It still doesn’t change the fact that we are to love our neighbor, and that God is serious about it. Those who do not, regardless of how you justify or explain it will be thrown into the Lake of Fire with the Devil and his angels; because, that is who they have followed. Satan. Now, do not get me wrong. I am not making a political statement here. I’m not claiming that our nation needs to adopt certain socialistic or globalist ideologies. Or that churches need to adopt a social gospel. Those things are from the spirit of antichrist, in order to build the Kingdom of the Anti-Christ.
      

What I am referring to is that individuals and churches need to make a serious effort to change the foundation of church activity from entertaining music and constant milk filled teaching, to one of charity. The seriousness of Matthew 25 warrants that. Of course, we need to worship and teach, but charity and evangelism should be the basis for everything. Matthew 25 does not say that Jesus sends the goats into the Lake of Fire because they didn’t sing the right songs, or raise their hands high enough, or go to church to listen to sermons. Churches and individuals have placed too high of an importance on music instead of on charity. It needs to be flipped.
     

 God tells Israel, ^“ I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”--- (Amos 5:21-24)
     

 If we are not doing what God wants us to do, then He does not want to hear our worship. Our worship of Him comes through our service to Him and others, not by standing in a building singing songs. That is not real worship. We worship Him with our lips, but our hearts are far from Him. (Isa. 29:13, Matt. 15:18, Mark 7:6)
      

God does not want us sitting in churches singing praises to Him while there are people down the street in need who are going to hell. He doesn’t care about our gatherings, while families are breaking up and cannot afford the basic needs of life in this culture. How about instead of building mega churches, we build mega homeless shelters, or free colleges, or mega job centers. We complain about the cost of government public aid, but public aid exists because the church is not doing its job. The poor is not going to go away just because we refuse to help them, because we think they sin too much. Jesus says in Matthew, that in the last days, “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Matt. 24:12)  Do not let your love for others grow cold. How many times have you failed God? How many times have you promised to do better? Has God given up on you? Quit worrying about someone taking advantage of you. How many times have you ripped off God? Can you ever pay Him back for what He has given you?
      

God lets the sun shine on the just and the unjust, we are to do the same. When Jesus returns he will judge. There will be people in that judgment who think they are saved but are unwashed, they have no garment, they have no talents to give the King, and they have no oil. You can twist or justify yourself all you want to, but these verses are clear. There will be those who think they are saved, but are not. Jesus said that Love fulfills God’s law. If you’re saved, charity will flow from you.
      

So, what does a Matthew 25 church look like? Well, a group of people would get together to form a church and that church will be based upon helping Christians and those in the community. They will be built around food pantries, homeless shelters, clothes closets, helping repair people’s houses, disaster relief, classes to teach basic living, visiting and praying for the sick, helping people pay bills, fundraising for causes, providing places to gather instead of bars, helping families, and on and on. Any sort of charitable ministry you can imagine. That would be the church; it’s all about charity and service, for the purpose of showing God’s love and telling people about Jesus so they will be saved. We must always remember that the purpose of it is salvation. We do not want our charity work to become like so many other Christian charity groups that have turned away from teaching the Gospel, while helping the others.
      

But, what about worship? We would worship before we go work in our ministry, before we open the food pantry, before we go visit the sick. We will have a praise service when we come back from the jails and the streets after preaching. We will sing praises outside the courthouses, and the statehouses as we call for national repentance, and for these governmental entities to turn to God’s Law. That’s how and when we worship. What if instead of putting the 10 commandments on the court house lawn, maybe we should stand there and sing praises, while preaching the Gospel?
      

What about teaching? We will have classes or sermons that teach believers how to wage spiritual war, and serve God, and others. We will have preachers who are famous for the amount of families they have helped rise up from poverty, instead of the number of watered down books they have sold. They will be famous for leading people to Christ, instead of for inventing some new doctrine that scratches peoples itching ears. On Sunday morning, they will be praised for the number of believers who follow them out into the community to help people and preach the Gospel, instead of for the number of goats falling asleep in the church pews.
      

Christ is returning. The church needs to judge itself, that we be not judged with the world (1 Cor. 11:31-32) we are saved by Grace, but we need to step up. God’s Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are His. (Rom. 8:16)  How does that happen? When we are stepping out to follow and serve Him, He shows us that we are His, because our flesh would never have done the things we are now doing, and He is there feeding us, and growing us, and giving us more of Himself. Listen to His Spirit, as he leads you to go do things for the Kingdom. Trust Him. 

When we sit and do nothing for the Kingdom, we start to wonder and doubt. We become spiritually starved. Like Paul said, "If they will not work, neither shall they eat." We grow in Christ and faith by going out and serving and trusting Him.

Take up the Cross and follow Him. Do everything in His name.

As If By Fire

 As If By Fire

Will you have rewards? 

 

 

 

“Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”—1 Cor. 3:13-15 (Chapter 3)

When God saves us. He saves us forever. I do not believe we can lose our salvation, and the scriptures do not teach that, despite any man made argument to the contrary.

If you know Him. If you are His. If you have turned to Him and asked Him to save you and confessed Him as your Lord. Then, He will not cast you away. He chastens us. He grows us. He breaks us and molds us. He refines us.

He does not cast us aside, because we broke one too many rules. Even if we reject Him. Still He is faithful and continues to keep His Word and do His work. (Romans 8:37-39. 1 Thess. 5: 20-24, 2 Thess. 3:3)

If we really know Him. If we have really given ourselves to Him. If we really confess Him as Lord. He accepts us and saves us forever. (Romans 10:9-10)

He saves us and starts working in us and through us. The law and any other rule becomes a guide for growth and confession. We are washed. We are clean. But, sometimes our feet get dirty in this world. The laws help us to know what to clean and pray about for growth and healing. The Law shows us our sin, and we know what to confess to the Lord.

As we live in Christ, we are to be Spirit led. We are to turn to the Lord (repent) and let Him save us and grow us. We are to acknowledge Him in ALL our ways and He shall direct our paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6, Romans chapter 8)

This means that we are to listen to His Spirit, and when we do this He works in us and through us. So, our work and our life, and our following Him; is done by His power, not ours. It’s Him doing it, not us. If we allow it.

Our works of righteousness are as filthy rags. (Isa. Chapter 64, Romans Chapter 1)

We cannot please Him in our own flesh. We are fallen. We have a corrupted nature. Even when we are saved, we still fail and sin. We cannot please Him in our own obedience or desire. No matter how great it is. If He didn’t do it, or call for it, or lead us in it. Then, it’s flesh. It’s hay, wheat and stubble. You can build a million orphanages and ministries but if He’s not in it or led you to do it, then it’s nothing.

When He returns, all of our work and all of our life will be tried in the all consuming fire of who He is. (Hebrews Chapter 12, Deut. 4:24, Deut 9:3, Matthew Chapter 25, 2 Peter Chapter 3)

Like in the days of Noah, the water fell and broke up from below swallowing the world and destroying it. Only 8 souls saved on the Ark.

Likewise, when He returns the Earth will be burned up in fire, and those in Christ will be saved as if by fire, receiving the rewards. He shall judge the quick (saved, living) and the dead (unsaved) at His appearing. (2 Tim. 4:1)

All that will remain will be that which can survive the fire. Gold, silver, and precious stones through God’s work in us.

But, all flesh. All hay, wheat and stubble will be burned up. Those things that were not from God, by God or commanded by God, will perish. All things not of your relationship with God. Burned.

We will be left with what God has done. Not what we did in our flesh. No matter how good. No matter how much we obey the Bible in our flesh.

Did we know Him and follow His Spirit? Did we abide? (John Chapter 15)

But, we ourselves shall be saved as if by fire. Only having the things God has done. And we shall cast them at His feet. Because He has done it all, not us. (1 Cor 3:10-15, 1 Cor Chapter 3, Rev. 4:10-11,)

He is worthy.

And there shall be a new Heaven and new Earth, where He dwells with us. A new Creation where there is no death, corruption, curse or sin.(Isa 66:22-24, Isa Chapter 66, Isa Chapter 65, 2 Peter Chapter 3, Rev. Chapter 21)

Now, several points need to be made. There seems to be different judgements. The Judgement of the Believers which is where our rewards are decided. The Great White Throne judgement, which refers to the lost, and the judgement of nations. We do not know exactly how these things will happen and when or in what order.

When He comes there will be Judgement. When He comes there will be rewards. We know there will be a fire judgement. We know there will be a millennium, and a thousand year kingdom. But, exactly how this works we are not told. (2 Peter 3)

But, if you are a believer then we are called to serve the Kingdom. We are called to abide in Him and endure the attacks of the enemy.

When Jesus returns, our works as saints will be judged. And the work that God has done in us and through us will remain as a reward.

But, Paul warns us that if we are saved and we have done nothing. If we have not let the Holy Spirit work in us, on us and through us. If we have lived as Carnal Christians. We will face that fire, and will have nothing to show for it. God, will keep His Word and save you. But, you will go into eternity with nothing. Like a man who ran out of his burning house naked in the middle of the night. Everything burned up.

You never stored treasures in heaven. You stored them all on Earth, and when its burned. It’s burned.

But, you yourself will be saved as if by fire.

Smelling of smoke. By the skin of your teeth, so to speak.

God keeps His Word.

Learn to listen to His voice and serve the Kingdom. There is no better place to be, than with Him.

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Photo by pexels/edited by author 

Test The Spirits

 Test The Spirits

We can know for sure 

 

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:

And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”—1 John 4:1-3

Gods Word gives us several ways to try the spirits.

But first we must define “spirits.”

When I say spirits I’m referring to literal spirits. Either any kind of spirit that is behind a person, speaking into their mind or having twisted them over the years and have influence over them. Or an organization that is controlled by people controlled by these sorts of spirits. Which ultimately are and are controlled by the spirit of anti-christ.

Remember, we do not war against flesh and blood. Our battle is with the spiritual forces that are behind things. What is pushing, motivating, or giving ideas to you, another person or group. (Eph 6:12)

Jesus warned the disciples, “ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of” (Luke 9:54-55)

Be aware that even born again believers can be tempted, harassed, or led into doing things the enemy desires. The worst thing you can do is to think you are immune. The scriptures warn us about our enemy for a reason. Be vigilant, for the devil goes about as a roaring lion.(1 Peter 5:8)

Here’s where people will say, “Yeah but whatever happens must go through God’s hands.”

Have you really read Job?

Gods Word warns us for a reason. Learn from it.

Also, consider that you are a soul/spirit, you have a body. Just like your body can be influenced by physical things, your soul/spirit can be influenced by spiritual things.

This test applies to ALL spiritual things.

So we are called to test the spirits and there are several tests.

I hate to disappoint the pharisees out there but, committing sin is not one of them. You sin too. John says, “ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth (Jesus) is not in us.”—1 John 1:8

James said, that if you try to keep the law and fail on one point, you’ve broken the whole law.  So, when you commit that little sin you allow yourself. That makes you equal to a murderer and child molester according to the Word. That’s why we need Jesus. (James 2:10)

But, lets get to the tests.

1. Confess Him as Lord.

In 1 Corinthians 12:3  Paul says that no one can confess Jesus is the Lord, unless the Holy Spirit guides them.

An unsaved person without the Holy Spirit will not say that Jesus is the Lord. 

The demons believe He is God, but they are in rebellion and refuse to submit. So, they will not confess Him as Lord. (James 2:19)

They will acknowledge that there is a God. But, they will not confess Him as Lord.

Paul also says that person who is really saved cannot call Jesus accursed. They won’t use His name as a cuss word or say bad things or untrue things about Him. They will not reject Him totally.

This is not an act of will. This is Love. If you’ve ever met Jesus and accepted Him and seen Him working in your life, there is no way you can say anything bad about Him. You know Him. The love is greater than what you have for your own child. If you know, then you know.

2. Confess that He came in the flesh.

In 1 John, the Word says to test the spirits. Then it gives the test. (1 John 4:1-3)

Some pharisees love to quote ‘Test the Spirits”, then go off falsely accusing people and attacking them over sin.

But, the verse plainly states that the test is whether they will confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.

This is in the same vein as confessing Him as Lord. Because the spirit must confess that Jesus is God, because God is the only One to come from heaven and become real flesh. That means He is Lord, because the Gospel is true.

See?

Demonic spirits, and those under their control, will not confess these things. They know there’s a God, but are in rebellion.

Now, comes the “Yeah but…” Yeah but I know a guy….. Who can confess Jesus is Lord…and blah blah blah…”

Let me tell you, if a person can confess Jesus is the Lord, or confess that He came in the flesh, then that person at some point in their life got saved and has the Holy Spirit.

I don’t care how much they sin or what they do or don’t do. At some point they were accepted by God and got saved.

Jesus said “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” —Matt. 7:21-23

These people are affirming that He is God. They are not confessing Him as their Lord. 

They do not do the will of the father in heaven. They rely upon their works of righteousness for salvation.

They never knew Him. 

Jesus said that the works of the father is to “believe on him whom he hath sent.” (John 6:28-29)

We are saved by grace through faith not by works. God fills us with His Spirit to help us do good works, after salvation. (Eph. 2:8-10)

3. By their fruits

Jesus said, “By their fruits ye shall know them” (Matt. 7:15-20)

He is referring to the Fruit of the Spirit. (Gal. 5:22-23)  

Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance:

Do they express or work in this? These are fruit of the SPIRIT. It’s something the Holy Spirit does through us and to change us. It is not by our works. A person can obey rules. But, to express this fruit for real must come from the Holy Spirit.

We will sin. We will say mean things. We will do bad stuff and justify it. We will do things in the flesh and fail. But, It’s not our fruit. It’s the fruit of the SPIRIT. That’s why it’s a test. It shows the Spirit working through us and in us. It cannot be faked.

Knowing them by their fruits is not a one time snap judgement. It takes some time to make an honest assessment and righteous judgement.

4. The works of the devil.

I am not talking about normal fleshly sin here. We all sin. We are called to confess it.

I’m referring to the specific works of Satan. He is the father of lies. He has come for nothing but to steal, kill, and destroy. He is the accuser of the brethren. He tempts people. He keeps them in bandage.

These are all sins, but they are specific actions that help Satan’s kingdom.

Does the individual or group work in and support the work of Satan’s kingdom with total disregard for the work of God’s kingdom? Do they reject Christ?

Who are they serving? Which Kingdom are they building?

5. The Holy Spirit warns.

Have you ever felt that something isn’t right?  

Well, we are not called to lean unto our own understanding. But lean to God and His Word. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Sometimes, that feeling is the Holy Spirit speaking in that still small voice. (1 Kings 19:1-15)

I’ve heard things or seen things that I felt was wrong, but couldn’t place why at the time.  That was the Spirit. He saw or knew something I didn’t.

Trust the voice of the Spirit. Saints have the freedom to withdraw. We are to do it rightly in love. But, we are not forced to remain associated with evil.

This testing of spirits can apply to organizations as well as people. Are they operating in Jesus name?

I’m not saying we should only associate with groups that promote Christ. If we did that we couldn’t go shopping or buy cars or anything.

What I’m saying is that you should be aware that a group is not operating in Jesus name. You will not be deceived when you can see what spirit they are operating in.

No matter how good. No matter what they do. If it’s not in Jesus name. Be aware.

Just because your gas station doesn’t sell gas in Jesus name doesn’t make them bad. They are just focused on gas. They might be owned by Christians or support the Lord’s work.

Remember, even churches can be dead. They can be run by people who do not really know the Lord, or have been led away.

Judge rightly.

In these last days deception is going to get worse, and false teachers will be every where. 

You see technology growing. We have deep fakes now. They can literally create pictures and videos, that show a person committing the most heinous acts, and it is totally fake.

 Human Teachers who are spreading all kinds of information and it all seems good. But, its propaganda for money. We have corporations who will pay scientists to come up with results from experiments that are slanted or flawed, in order to sell or protect a product.

We have AI who is not even human pretending to be human and sounding very wise. Even using the Bible, to teach things. Remember Satan quoted scripture. 

Knowing the Bible is not an indication of truth. You must know the Lord. And these tests show that.

All of this will be and is being used to deceive and draw people away from the truth and into the Anti-Christ Kingdom in these last days.

But, these tests given in the scriptures can help us determine what spirit is behind the teacher or doctrine.

Learn to discern truth.

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Photo by the author

Eye Hath Not Seen

 Eye Hath Not Seen

We need the Holy Spirit 

 

 

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”—1 Cor. 2:9

This verse in 1 Cor. is a quote from Isaiah,

“For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.”— Isa. 64:4

Isaiah this chapter is speaking of the power of God, and the wickedness of man. He speaks of our works of righteousness being as filthy rags, and of coming judgement. But, he also speaks of God molding us as clay, and begs for peace. He is speaking of our total depravity and God’s ability to solve it.

Paul in his letter to the Corinthians takes this one verse, and expounds on what it actually means.

What is this mystery that has existed since the beginning of the world?

Why is it a mystery?

God had a plan from the moment Adam and Eve fell.

God in His love allowed free will. Without free will, Adam and Eve would have been slaves forced to love God. That is not true love. True love must be a free choice.

But, what if they fell in their freedom?

There was a chance to fall, or else there would not be freedom.

God in His all powerful nature had a plan.

He would come and save them. He is love. Loves saves the lost. True love loves the fallen and the unlovable. True love sacrifices and works to mold them like clay, and love them as children.

The plan was Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the Earth (Rev. 13:8)

In the mind of God, the moment the fall happened, He already knew what He would do.

He kept this salvation hidden in plain site with pictures and allegories. So, that the princes of this world would fall into the trap. (1 Cor. 2:6-8)

Those princes, Satan and his fallen angels. Those demons, unclean spirits and human slaves.

That prince spirit of the air which works in the children of disobedience. (Eph 2:2)

Did not know the plan.

For had Satan known the plan, he would not have crucified Jesus and destroyed himself. (1 Cor. 2)

Paul tells us that this mystery has been revealed to us in these last days, because we have the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth. (John 16:13)

The Holy Spirit helps us in the infirmity of our fallen nature and opens our eyes to see the deep hidden things of God.

Our flesh cannot see, nor understand the Gospel, nor anything of God.

This is why Jesus preached in parables.

“He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.

Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”—Matt. 13:11-15

Our salvation comes by turning to God in faith, confessing Jesus as our Lord and believing He rose from the dead. We must trust God and believe His Word. (Rom. 10:9-10, Eph 2:8-9)

We must hear His call and turn to Him. He won’t allow salvation by any other way.

When we do this, we are saved and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and teach us the deep things of God. He molds us.

Unsaved people without the Holy Spirit cannot fully understand the things of God. They remain in darkness and deception. Blind leaders of the blind.

Again Jesus said,

“If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?” (John 3)

We will not understand heavenly things, without faith, and the Holy Spirit. So, God shows us the truth in a picture; in mysteries so we will turn to Him in faith.

So, why does this matter?

Well, because if we refuse to hear the Spirit, or do not have the Spirit, we are not saved. We are lost. We might go to church. We might call ourselves Christians, but we have never really known Him.

If we have no interest in the deep things of God, or to serve the Kingdom to get people saved, that could be an indication of our spiritual condition.

If your church speaks nothing of the Holy Spirit, that is a red flag.

The Spirit of God will lead us to be about the Fathers work.

We will learn from Him and grow in Him and his fruit will develop in us and through us. It’s not about committing sins. If you are saved, your sins are washed away. But, saved people will follow His voice. They will serve the Kingdom.

According to the Apostles, these last days are going to be filled with evil and deception. The only way to endure to the end, is to abide in Christ.

Those who are saved, trust Him and hear His voice. Abiding means to remain with Him. If you are really saved you will abide and have the Holy Spirit and He will not let you go.

Those who do not endure and do not abide, never really knew Him. (whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. –Matt. 13:11-15 )

The scriptures indicate that there will arise a False Prophet. This guy will probably create the New World Religion, which will be a spirituality mixed with science and every religion on Earth. Unity will be the key.

This False Prophet will have all the answers, even so much that atheists will flock to him.

The deception will be so bad that “even the elect” will be deceived, if it was possible. (Matt 24:24)

The reason it’s not possible for the elect to be deceived is because they have the Holy Spirit and listen to Him. They believe God’s Word, not the False Prophet and his facts. Not AI and spirituality.

The False Prophet will endorse the Anti-Christ at some point.

He will call him the Christ.

Realize that “Anti” means “instead of” it does not mean “against”

So, this Anti-Christ will take the place of the True Christ, Which is Jesus.

The False Prophet and Anti-Christ will seem to embrace Christianity as well.

The Anti-Christ will be considered an incarnation of Spirit, like so many others.

It will be taught that these incarnations have come throughout history to help guide us in our evolution.

The New World Religion will teach that we are evolving in every way, physically, spiritually, mentally, financially, scientifically, socially, and politically.

They will teach that the incarnations, or men and women of great renown, have worked to guide us in this. They have all given their lives to it.

They will even rope Jesus into it, claiming He was one of the incarnations.

But, there will be a problem.

Those saints who refuse to accept. Those extremists who refuse to get on board.

Those saints of God who confess that Jesus is the Lord, and that there is no other name under heaven whereby men shall be saved. (Romans 10:9-10, Acts 4:12)

And there will be persecution in those days.

Anyone who refuses to accept the Anti-Christ as Lord will be cancelled, they will be fired, they will be locked up and re-educated, they will be killed. (Rev. 13:7. Dan. 7:25, Rev. 6:9-11)

And that’s when the great falling away will happen. The great falling away is a sign to the saints, not an indication of a loss of salvation for the apostates. They never knew Him. (2 Thess. 2:3) (whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. –Matt. 13:11-15 )

In the midst of great persecution, the people who go to church, but do not know Him, and do not have the Holy Spirit will fall away and turn to the New World Religion of the False Prophet.

This will be the Apostate Church. Those who knew who Jesus Christ was and saw Him, but still rejected.

They will join in the persecution, hunting down the Saints. (Matthew 24:48-49, Matthew 10:20-22, Rev. 13:7. Dan. 7:25, )

They will gladly accept the Mark of the Beast. (Rev. 13)

And all of this will occur as the Spirit has prophesied from the foundation of the world. All of it will work together according to Gods plan, which He prepared from the beginning.

And like Isaiah said,

“Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,

 As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!

 When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.”—Isa 64:1-3

None of us know exactly how the last days will work out. God has given us clues, and signs. But, we cannot be exact. I’m am not claiming to have it all figured out. Because we cannot. There are many teachings.

But, this scenario seems to me to be very likely.

God will be with us.

He is in His saints, through His Holy Spirit.

He will never leave us, nor forsake us. (Heb. 13:5)

Are you ready for His return?

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Cover photo by Pexels.

What Is Jesus Worth?

 What Is Jesus Worth?

The Workers are worthy 

 

I have been in church and heard a lot of sermons. I’ve listened to preachers on the radio and TV for decades, and I can say that I have heard many sermons about how the employee needs to work harder.

“Work as unto the Lord! Work as though Jesus is watching you!”

Is the basic flavor of all these sermons.

“Don’t complain about your job. Be thankful you have one. Some people have nothing.”

Or

“The Bible teaches you that you should obey authority. That includes your boss…”

That’s the gist of thousands of sermons.

But I have never heard a sermon telling employers how to treat workers.

Are there no Christian employers?

We know there are because they let us know.

They have a fish symbol on their business cards. They let employees have Sunday off…etc.

But let’s flip the script.

What if Jesus was your employee?  How much is Jesus Worth?

Minimum wage?  One sick day with a doctor’s excuse? 

Would you complain that no one wants to work if Jesus showed up every day?

Consider where Jesus said “What you’ve done unto the least of these my brethren you’ve done unto me”.

Could it refer to your employees? Are they not poor? Are they not “The least of these”?”

What about that big house and new car? All bought by the cheap labor of Jesus at your store, or construction site.

How much money should we horde off the whip scarred back of Jesus?

Jesus+profits= new bass boat.

How much is Jesus Worth?  

Minimum wage? Unpaid sick days?  Can Jesus take his sick kid to the doctor? Can Jesus spend time with his wife and new born baby? Can Jesus not get sexually harassed today? Can Jesus get a mental health day? Can Jesus get insurance or maybe a vision plan? Can Jesus get stuck in traffic and show up late today? Should Jesus get ripped off on overtime? Should Jesus get fired for no real reason?

Just asking.

And I’m referring to Jesus the Lord. Not Jesus from Mexico City who cuts your massive lawn.

What is Jesus worth?

But, let’s go further because this is actually a very important subject.

Why do you think that sermons on how employers should treat employees are rare?

I think it’s because most churches employ people. The pastors are not going to preach about how they should treat their own employees.

Likewise, churches are full of business owners who pay tithes and don’t want to hear sermons that hit them in the wallet. 

So basically its the love of money. It’s choosing to serve Mammon over God. 

Too harsh?

Consider the book of Philemon.

Philemon was a rich Christian who owned slaves. One of his slaves named Onesimus escaped, and ran into Paul. Who led him to know Christ.

Paul writes  the church where Philemon attends and tells Philemon about it.

Paul talks Onesimus into returning home. And he tells Philemon “If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;”

He took all of the burden upon Himself. He stood in intercession for Onesimus, against an employer or slave master.

Now consider Christ. Consider that Paul did this in obedience to Christ, and as a picture of what Jesus does for us. Do bosses consider that Jesus died for the employee too and they should be forgiven and treated with love?  Treated like they would treat Jesus or a friend?

So, let’s look at what the future holds for all this greed. James tells us, 

“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.

Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.

 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days.

 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.”— James 5:1-6

I consider that James is speaking of two events. 

One is in relation to the last days, when money will become worthless in response to the Black Horse of Revelation, which I think will be a global economic collapse.  (Revelation Chapter 6) 

The other is much more terrifying, because it relates to the return of Christ. When he says “What you’ve done to the least of these you’ve done to me.” and sends the goats off into hell.  (Matt. 25: 31-46)

If you are a Christian employer or boss and you do not bless your employees and treat them properly, you might want to check your salvation papers.

There will be huge amounts of “Christians” who find out they were never really saved on Judgement day. 

No oil in their lamp. Talents buried in the sand. Goats heading into darkness.

Works do not save us. But when we know Christ we begin to do things differently.

“But, I’ll go broke!” You might say.

Pray about it.

Jesus says,

 “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”—Luke 6:38

You cannot out give God. You can give more to your employees, and there will be a return.

Jesus said,

 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”— Matt. 6:33

When we put God first, He will take care of us.

Trust God. Love and bless your employees. Treat them better and watch what happens. You are free to do better than what the norm is. You can do better than what the law requires. 

God sees what you do, and He hears their cries for justice. 

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Cover photo by author.

Our Dirty Feet

 Our Dirty Feet

 We get dirty walking in this world

 

As followers of Christ, we live and walk in this filthy world. We see things, we feel things, we think things, and we do things that are sinful. It’s a fact. It says in 1 John 1:10 ” If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” So, if you cannot admit that you sin, then you do not know Christ.

Jesus is the Word. “The Word is not in you.” if you cannot admit your sinfulness, you have never known Christ or been saved.

We still sin as saved people but we are not viewed by God as sinners. He sees Christ, not us. Our sins are never brought back up. That’s what “we do not sin” means. Our sins are not imputed on us. We are righteous. (1 John 3:9)

In the Gospel of John, when Jesus began to wash the disciples feet. Peter was appalled. He could not let the God of the universe. The Holy One of Israel, do this for him. We often feel that way. We cannot bring ourselves to let God take care of us. It’s a pride issue. We think we can do it ourselves. This leads to false religions and false teachings of works based doctrines. Pride comes before a fall. (John 13)

Jesus said (to Peter) “if I do not wash you. Then you can have no part with me.” (John 13: 8-9)

Jesus is referring to the washing away of sin. He is talking about being washed in His blood and getting saved. When we are saved; our sins, past, present and future are gone. If we are not washed, we are not with Him.

Peter sort of understood, and told Jesus to wash ALL of him. Peter wanted to make sure he was with Christ. He wanted to show that he was all in.

But Jesus knew that Peter was already washed. He knew Peter was already saved. 

Peter had been called, and accepted the call. Peter believed, and had already confessed Jesus as God, and his Lord. He had turned to God. Salvation was not the issue. When Jesus asked “Who do you say that I am?” Peter said, “Thou art the Christ the son of the living God.” This is the foundation of salvation. Confessing Jesus as The Lord, or God. (Matt. 16: 13-19, Rom. 10:9-10 )

Next Jesus says (to Peter), “all you need is for me to wash your feet.” (Verse 10)

 As we walk in this world we get dirty, and we need to be washed. Not for salvation if we are already saved, but as a means of removing the filth of this world, so we don’t spread it every where. So, we don’t carry it with us. So, it doesn’t begin to impact our lives. So, we can feel better. Often talking about something with God or another person can help us.

So, how does this happen?

In 1st John it says to confess our sins and He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness. We pray and confess our sins to God, and He forgives. As we do this, we find that He works to help us overcome, more and more. Sometimes, it doesn’t feel like He hears us. But, we must believe that He does. Sometimes, prayers of confession can be a struggle. (1 John 1:9)

This is not just a spiritual activity. When we pray to the Lord, and ask Him to forgive us our sins, we need to try to be specific. When we do, we can see Him moving to not only cleanse us in the spirit but to remove things that are against us in our lives as well. He cleanses us of ALL unrighteousness. Not just some spiritual thing.

When we are saved, the Holy Spirit works in our lives. We often struggle with things. The Holy Spirit teaches us and brings us into ALL truth. So, lets say that we confess to the Lord that we lied. He forgives us. But, He also starts working to help us over come that thing in our lives. He might show us that we lie quite a bit. So, we start confessing that specific sin more often. Then He shows that we lie at certain times or toward certain people. So, we start being more aware, and seeing our sin more, and confessing more. He might reveal that we lie because of fear. So, it’s actually a lack of trust in God that is the problem. So, He starts working on that. And on and on. This is the renewing of our mind. This is how deep change occurs. (Romans 12:1-3)

It could be any sinful behavior in our lives. Confess it and watch God forgive you and work in you and around you. This part of the relationship. It builds faith. It grows us and changes us.

It all starts with confessing it to Him. When we confess to Him in prayer we are showing that we need Him. We are seeking the relationship with Him. The Holy Spirit shows us what to confess, but we must do it. We destroy our pride and submit to the Lord. Every thought of our being is filled with sin, we are totally depraved. The fall of Adam corrupted us so entirely that we do not even see how bad we are. When we refuse to submit to God and let Him do it, we are in a very bad place. That is why pride is the worst sin.

When we submit and turn to God, confessing to Him. He saves us, forgives us and starts working to change us. This depravity is why our minds must be renewed. Renewed to what God originally created, and desired.

In James, it says to confess our sins one to another, and pray for each other. This can be very difficult when you have no one you can trust or you fear repercussions. This is why it’s fine to simply confess to the Lord. There are some churches where gossip will destroy you. The purpose of confessing, is to heal and get cleansed. It is not to allow humans the chance to destroy your life. (James 5:16)

Find people you trust, and who understand the truth of confessing. Churches are full of all kinds of people. Many of the folks there are not saved. They have never really accepted the Lord, or have a relationship with Him. Just because they are a pastor doesn’t mean they are saved or love you.

But, you must do as the Holy Spirit leads you. If you feel that you need to publicly confess, or confess to others, then do it. But, you must weigh the amount of damage you might cause, and do it in a way that does not hurt others. We are called to Love. Learn to be led by the Spirit and he will guide you.

When we hear of someone struggling we must pray for them. Do it immediately, either silently or with them. If you wait, Satan will make sure you forget. Do it now. Don’t gossip about it. Don’t use it to destroy someone. We all have sins. We all have pasts. Pray for them and follow the Lord. Let God do the chastening. Follow the Spirit. (Proverbs 3:11-12)

This is Foot Washing, as it pertains to spiritual matters. Of course, there’s the act of washing others feet in reality. This is a very humbling experience, the Lord can use it to grow us.

Turn to God. He is with us.

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Cover photo by pexels/Nishant Aneja

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