... But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness;and all these things shall be added unto you.
Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent
While people run around chasing their tails today, the Lord is calling us back to fundamentals. What does this mean? It means putting first things first. Things like "first love" and seeking the kingdom of God are first. I can't think of any more important things to do today than these things. How much time is left before the time of Jacob's trouble begins? Who knows, there are plenty of indicators that hint at sometime over the next 30-40 days. If the Lord comes back for us today or tomorrow or the next day, what's really going to matter? First love, and seeking first his kingdom.
Speaking of first love, what exactly does that mean? It means loving Jesus first. How do we love Jesus first? We obey his commands.
John 14:15
... "If you love me, you will obey my commandments.
Notice that this scripture ^^ is John 14, and the very next chapter John 15 we have this:
John 15
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. 9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. 10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
^^This tells us very clearly that YOU can be CUTOFF from the vine, thrown out and burned if you do not "abide" in him. That means you enter "in Christ" and you STAY THERE. How do you abide/stay in Christ? Obey his commands. Obeying his commands proves that you love him, it proves that you are not a liar:
1 John 2:4
... The person who says, "I know him," but doesn't obey his commandmentsis a liar. The truth isn't in that person.
There it is^^ if you say you know him but don't obey his commands you are a liar. You don't "know him." And we know from the ongoing dialogue here that "knowing" our Lord and him "knowing" us is HUGE:
Matt 7:21 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. 22 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? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
How could one who professes to "know" Jesus be told "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity?" Lack of obedience. If you think some decision you made last week or last year or two decades ago bought you some kind of spiritual insurance policy then you are fooling yourself. The word of God clearly tells you that obedience is tied to "knowing" Jesus and PROVING that you love him.
More evidence for "proving" your first love and "knowing" Jesus:
James 2:26
... For just as the body without the spirit is dead,so also faith without works is dead.
What kind of works? Works that put you in the center of this: "he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
How can you do the Fathers will if you don't know what it is? If you are trusting your hired hand "pastor" to tell you what the will of the Father is you are in HUGE trouble. Do you trust these men with your eternal life? Many do. What happens when your "pastor" is an apostate wolf and you trust them to teach you the will of the Father, which they do not do, where does that leave you? In big big BIG trouble.
How does a person come to know the Father's will? Through the word of God which is Jesus the person and the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth. Too many people's faith is in their hired hands (idolatry) and not in the Son of God who is the only one who can get you into the kingdom.
I highly suggest today that you look closely at what you believe and why. Why is one of the most important questions in life. Why do you believe? Where is your faith? Who is your faith on, Jesus or some man or 50/50-Jesus/men?
The Lord could come back for us today. The escape from all is coming. I have come to notice how definitive the words used in the Bible are. Escape from ALL is very definitive. We know from Noah and Lot that the escape takes place BEFORE the flood or fire and brimstone. We know that the escape involves physical separation and physical place of safety just like Noah and Lot. For those people who say we are "kept" here on earth, how do they resolve this dilemma?
If we are still on earth and the man of sin is given authority and power to overcome the saints/every trible and people and tongue and nation then that means he has authority and power to overcome us, how can we be "kept" and overcome by the man of sin at the same time?
Revelation 13:7 ... It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, andauthority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
How exactly is that "escape ALL?" How does that jive with the stories of Noah and Lot? They argue we will be kept on earth, how does that jive with this the trial to come upon ALL the world/ALL those dwelling upon the earth?:
Rev 3:10'Because thou didst keep the word of my endurance, I also will keep thee from the hour of the trial that is about to come upon all the world, to try those dwelling upon the earth.
This single handedly destroys any notion that we will be "kept" on earth. ALL THE WORLD leaves nowhere on the world to be "kept." DWELLING ON THE EARTH gives us clear spatial reference. The Lord gives us the promise of being "kept" and he tells us that it will not be "upon the earth" when he tells us the trial will be for ALL the world/those dwelling upon the earth. Very clear, very specific. Does this jive with escaping from ALL that's about to happen (Luke 21:36? Yep. Does it jive with the open door in HEAVEN in Rev 4:1? Yep. Redeemed and rewarded men in heaven in Rev 5? Check and checkmate. All the pieces have to fit folks, and they can't be jammed/crammed in to make a piece fit where it does not fit.
What you believe will determine everything about your destiny. It takes faith to believe and faith only comes from the Son of God. There will be fake raptures/fake signs and wonders and the cherry on top of this will be the delusion send directly from our God to those on earth for their refusal to love the truth and so be saved. If you don't love the truth do you think you'll be saved? There is a worthiness factor associated with the escape, go read it again. Candy coated apostianity won't touch these things with a 10 foot pole. We are told to fear God for a reason. YOU can be cutoff from the vine which is Jesus Christ, thats a fact (John 15). Our God CAN throw both your body and your soul into hell, that's a fact:
Luke 12:5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!
We are told clearly here the REASON to fear: the authority to kill and cast into hell. We also know who the audience is....YOU..."yes, I tell you, fear Him."
Its tragic that so called christianity has no stomach anymore for the full counsel of God. This babylonian form of christianity around us is overburdened with anything but the dessert tray of God's word. If its pleasant and soothing they can deal with it, if it has to do with anything else in the bible its "for someone else."
The people of churchianity today are saying the same things the people of Israel said to the prophets of their time:
Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel! ( Isaiah 30:9-11)
The time for playing church is over and has been over. Warning after warning after warning has been sent to mankind but who has ears to hear them today? There is so much deception in the world today (just like Jesus told us) that people must have direct, 1 on 1 knowledge and dealing with the Lord for themselves. YOU must seek the Lord's face today, you must read his word today. You must get a word from him today. If you think your spiritual hired hand can maintain and develop your "first love" then you are really in big trouble, that's the truth.
The Lord motivates his people with the carrot AND the stick. He pulls you toward him with his promises and he pushes you forward from the rear with FEAR. You have not been given a spirit of fear that's true, but so many take this out of context. The Spirit you have been given is the Holy Spirit, that's all that's saying. It's not saying that everything written to YOU in the bible about fearing God, and fearing the consequences for sin, disobedience faithlessness etc etc are null and void. Satan always come to you with the same tired things "hath God really said?"
Hath God really said he would cut you off from the vine? (John 15)
Hath God really said there is an escape from ALL thats about to happen (Luke 21:36)
Hath God really said the wages of sin is DEATH? Rom 6:23
Hath God really said only a few will be saved? Matt 7:14
Hath God really said all your religious "good deeds" are worthless if you do not do the Fathers will? Matt 7:21
The list goes on. How foolish men are to trust their eternal souls to hired hands. In the greatest time of deception this world has ever seen people farm out their relationship with Jesus to hired hands. It's mind boggling. Keep the faith, develop your first love. Find out for yourself what the fathers will is an DO IT.
Done for today grace and peace
