1 Timothy 4 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. 14Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.
15Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. 16Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
There are two important points to be made out of this short section of scripture. First, notice that we are supposed to have a gift given to us through a prophetic message when the body of elders lays hands on us. Notice here that there is no mention of "pastor" anywhere...Can you tell me in your "church" when exactly is the last time anyone found out from a prophetic message what their gifting was when the body of elders laid hands on them? Do you even have a "body of elders" or does your "pastor" run everything? When is the last time you saw anything truly prophetic in your "church?" If the bible tells us the church looks and does things a certain way and you are not seeing those things in your "church" wouldn't you say your "church" has problems?
Next, we see more clear evidence that the doctrine of OSAS-once saved always saved is a lie. The evidence is everywhere you look in the bible. Note what we read here:
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Do we really need to be rocket scientists or "learned scholars" to figure out what the basic straightforward meanings of "persevere" and "IF you do" are? What does "persevere" mean? Is that a one day, one minute event like what we are told a "decision for Jesus" is by the apostate church or does persevere mean stick with the thing over time, many days, every day? What are we told here about "saving" yourself and your hearers? We are told that IFFFFFF, (what does "if mean?) you persevere in watching your life and doctrine closely THEN you will save yourself and your hearers.
Do you wonder why we are told to watch our life and doctrine closely? We are told to watch them closely because we have people running around in the world telling you that once you say a 30 second prayer you have no need to do anything else to make it into the kingdom of heaven. We see here in the bible that you do need to do something else...you need to watch your life and doctrine closely AND you need to persevere in them. Persevere is NOT a one time event, its an every day event. That word persevere has a close relative called "abide" that you can see Jesus using over and over and over and OVER again in John 15 to warn you of what will happen to those who do not abide in him:
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.
John 15 is absolutely LOADED with the essentials of our salvation. We are told to "abide" in him and if we do not we will be cast out, withered, gathered and cast into the fire. Your "pastors" tell you that you can never be cast out and burned, the bible tells you clearly that you can be cast out and burned up, who are you going to believe? The words of men or the words of God?
Why do I keep coming back to these things over and over again? I asked the Lord this morning if I could not write about this but write about something else instead. His answer? Write what I have been given to write and here you are reading it. I will do what he instructs me to do, I will write what he tells me to write even if that means writing the same things over and over again until the end of time. I suspect that if there were more real watchmen in this world who actually warned the church of what our Lord said instead of what the world is saying, then I would be freed up to write on a broader range of topics. As things stand however, people don't want to offend anyone or give anyone a "spirit of fear" so the whole counsel of God is ignored for topics that are irrelevant to the mind of God and instead meaningless drivel is fed to people instead.
What's going to happen when the escape from all does show up and people are not ready for it? Will it matter if 8 million articles are written on how close it is and how short time is but nobody is actually found WORTHY of it when it does show up? Yea, its coming but the question is ARE YOU READY FOR IT. I believe the Lord is very concerned about people's readiness for him to show up. Don't believe me? How about this for some proof:
Luke 18:8
... But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
He knew thousands of years ago that he would be concerned about the state of people's faith when he came back. You can preach about the rapture, the tribulation, the time of Jacob's trouble until you are blue in the face but if you are not READY for them when they show up then how exactly are you benefitted from knowing they were coming?
The Lord has made it very clear to me that people need to get back to the fundamentals of the faith, that means the basics. Pray, worship him on your knees-maintain your "first love" Rev 2, read the word of God, pray continually, keep his ways always before you, meditate on the word day and night. If you do those things and you are rooted deeply in them, then you will be ready for the things that are coming in the future.
The escape from all (luke 21:36), also known as the rapture will happen during days that resemble those of Noah and Lot. Today resembles the days of Noah and Lot. In spite of the fact that the economy is crumbling, things haven't completely fallen apart yet and most of the people I see around me are living life just the way they always have with no changes whatsoever. I don't need to search the internet for hours anymore to see that major changes ARE coming the only question being when? When I ask the Lord about "when" he directs me right back to the fundamentals of the faith and says "don't worry about when, put first things first."
Many people today call themselves christians and call Jesus "Lord" but look what the Lord tells us about many of them:
Matt 7:13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
15“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
These things are not written as a "beat down" but as an encouragement to wake up and set things right in your life. The "fear of the Lord" has a huge place in the true believer's life (go do a word search for that phrase in the bible) but the vast majority of "christians" in the world today have no place for it, they don't want to think about it. Because of that and many other reasons we see the words written in Matt 7:14-28.
These are the things the Lord has laid on my heart today. grace and peace
Be Anxious For Nothing
5 years ago