The Lord's Rejection of Religious Teachers

Matt 16:8Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

When Jesus walked the earth, he reserved some of His harshest words for who?  The religious people.  What did He tell the disciples above?  Be on your guard against the teaching of the who?  Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious teachers and preachers of the day.  What is interesting is how Christians can say "yea, those Pharisees and Sadducees were bad news" but they don't blink an eye at their own priests and pastors.

Who is it that robbed the people (money changers)?  The religious people
Who is it that plotted to kill Jesus?  The religious people
Who is it that twisted the law (the Word) so Jesus told the disciples to guard against it?  The religious people

What's the point?  Times change, people don't.  The Lord has always had a called out and separate remnant to call His own.  Who are they?  The few.  Those who travel the narrow path to enter the small gate that leads to life.  What does that mean?  Most people are wrong, and have been wrong historically.  It means that most people missed the path and took the broad road that entered a wide gate that leads to destruction.  It means there is no safety in numbers, the herd does not protect.  It means most people will follow the herd over a cliff and not think twice about it.

John 10:25Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, 26but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. 27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all^c ; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.30I and the Father are one.”

As I just put this scripture in here ^^ I noticed this again " I know them."  If you remember reading a post here not too long ago about why many will not make it, its because the Lord does not know them:

Matt 721“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one 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 in your name perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Why write this?  If we are nearing the end of the end of the age, and the Lord is going to show up with all kinds of destruction on the earth, the tribulation etc, then now is the time to tie up loose ends.  Now is the time to make things right before its too late.  Getting into heaven is everything, there is no middle ground.  Its heaven or hell, life or eternal death, win or lose and its all coming at us like a freight train.

What does anything matter if we don't make it into heaven?  Eternity is a long, long, long, long time.  It has been weighing on my heart and mind lately that we make the most of the time we have left here.  Who knows how many days we have left?  Only the Lord.  I have been asking Him what I should be doing to ensure I make it in, that I please Him and confirm my calling and election.  I have been been burdened with the uselessness of most things we do under the sun for the few days we spend here on earth.

What can we do to please the Lord?  What can we do to confirm our calling and election?

2 Peter 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

The Lord did not mince Words.  He did not put a single useless sentence in there.  This writer believes it is the Spirit of the Lord that has brought these things to mind.  We have no idea how short time is so we should make the most of the time we have.  What can we do to please the Lord, what can we do to confirm our calling and election, how can we make sure we enter the small gate the leads to life?

I know this is all nonsense to the "once saved always saved" crowd who tell you a 10 second teary eyed confession can lock you into heaven forever.  They willfully forget that the Lord threatened us, thats right, threatened us in the Word:

John 15:1I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2Every 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. 3Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4Abide 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. 5I 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. 6If 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.

He tells us here in no uncertain terms that a person can be "in Christ" "in the vine" then CUTOFF, cast forth and burned.  End of story, threat received and taken seriously.  Does cutoff, cast forth and burned sound saved to you?

There is a reason you can find the phrase "fear of the Lord" over and over again in the Bible....

This is a call for me, and you to fear and trembling:

Philippians 2:12 

... dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

I didn't write this ^^.  Do I fear the Lord?  You bet I do.  Do I tremble when I read Matt 7 and John 15?  You bet I do.  We would be fools not to tremble at the Words written to us.  He meant every Word He said and unfortunately many are going to find out the hard way.

This post was written so that you and I do not have to learn the hard way.  We can take the Lord seriously today, in fear and trembling.

grace and peace

Negotiating With The Lord

As you seek answers to prayer and request miracles from the Lord, remember this:  you can negotiate with the Lord.  What you have to remember is, you have to move His heart according to what is already in His will.  In other words you are not going to negotiate something He is firmly against.

Consider what happened here:

Matt 15:21Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”

23Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”

24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”

25The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said.

26He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

27“Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

28Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.

What happened here?  The Lord basically told this woman no at first, but she found a reason for Him to help her.  What did this woman do?  She brought faith to the table......Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.

What can we bring to the Lord to have our prayers and requests answered?  His Word and our faith then a healthy dose of patience.  Sometimes the Lord answers immediately, sometimes He takes His sweet time.  Remember the story of the centurion, the Lord told him he had great faith and his servant was healed.  Now look at this woman who was not going to get what she asked for, she brought her faith to the Lord and ended up getting what she asked for.

We are all needy people, this brother above all.  I need the Lord's help and assistance and guidance every minute of every day or else I am done for.  It has been shown to me how weak and needy I truly am.  Many others are in the same boat as I am.  The Lord must provide and protect or its game over for us.  What has happened is the Lord has provided and protected up through this very day.  Why?  How?  Through faith.

Faith is a gift from God but we can also build our faith up.  If we are lacking we can ask for more.  Consider what the Lord Himself said to these people in the Bible.  According to your faith it is done to you, and woman you have great faith!  Your request is granted.

Why bring to the Lord His Word and your faith?  They cannot be resisted.  How can the Lord resist His own Word?  Do you see evidence in the Word of the Lord resisting great faith?  No.  If you twist the Word like the enemy did in the desert with our Lord Jesus, forget about it.  If you bring Him the Word according to His will then you can see miracles happen and prayers answered.

This brother does not bring you theory today or just hot air.  The Lord has delivered many miracles to this brother.  So what?  I now have a testimony to share with you.  Everything the Lord has said is true and can be trusted.  There is just as much power in His Word today as there ever was.

If you are going to negotiate with the Lord it helps if you know Him.  Bring His Word and your faith to Him and see what happens.  Remember to be patient, we never know how long our answer will take.

grace and peace

Sleeping Through The Storm

Matt 8:23Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. 24Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. 25The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

26He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

27The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”

This right here is what we are called to.  Note, a furious storm was raging to the point where the disciples feared death, and what was the Lord doing?  Sleeping!!!!

When our faith gets to the point where we finally say "okay, this time, in this circumstance I am not going to panic, I am not going to stress, I am not going to frantically beg the Lord.  This time I am going to pray and ask for what I need and REST in the Lord, through faith."

Is this ^^ easy to do?  No, but our faith is something we can build and it is a gift from God.  We decide, "this time I am going to trust the Lord, period.  This time lets see how things turn out when I rest in my faith trusting the Lord."

The Lord set the example for us.  The master showed us what He wants, what He expects and how it is done.  I can tell you from first hand experience that this is a decision that has to be made and stuck with moment to moment day by day.  I tell myself over and over again, "nope, this time I am going to rest in the Lord and trust Him.  I am not going to worry, I am not going to "what if" myself into a frantic state, I am going to trust the Lord."

We were given a free will to decide for ourselves what we are going to do and what we are going to believe.   Nobody else can force you or me to fret, worry or become faithless.  We decide.  Lets call out to our highest selves, the "me" that is the best and most Christlike and do exactly what our Lord did.

Here we have more support for this idea from the Word:

Matt 6:25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^e ?

28“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

and

Heb 4:1Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.^a 3Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger,

‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”^b

So......let us enter His rest.

grace and peace

Why Only A Few Find It

This blog was started years ago because of this:

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.

I was stunned, shocked and amazed that nobody, and I mean nobody preaches on this ^^.  Years I spent "going to church" and I never heard a single preacher mention this?  Why not?  Not important enough?  Only a few are going to make it and nobody bothers to mention that to us?  This led me to take a hard look at "pastors",  a word used once in the New Testament in the book of Ephesians, a word that the apostle Paul never mentioned once in his travels to the churches and throughout Asia, but we see them dotting every corner in every church in America.  Why?  Much has been written about pastors and the church, you can find links to this on the right side of the blog but that is not why I write to you today.

Why will so few make it?  Why will only a few find and make it through the small gate on the narrow road that leads to life?  What does a few mean?  People try to skirt this issue but not addressing what few means.  It means not most, not many, a small number, a minority.  Why, why, why and why don't people seem to care?  I have asked the Lord about this, and part of the answer (I believe) is here:

2 Peter 1:3His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness

It is easy to read right over that and not get it.  How can we live a godly life?  Through our knowledge of Him.  In other words, we have to know him as in a personal relationship.  We actually really know Him.

The Lord has hammered this home with me in recent days:

Col 1:9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,^e 10so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^f to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

How do we live a life worthy of the Lord and please Him in every way? ^^^bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God

Knowledge of God means we know Him.  We really know Him......

This blog was started by what is written in Matt 7.  Not only does the Lord tell us that few will make it through the small gate on the narrow path, He also tells us this:

Matt 7:21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one 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 in your name perform many miracles?’23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Again, this ^^ is not important enough to preach on huh?  Skip right over it and go straight to God's grace right?  Just pretend that Matt 7 does not exist and it will go away right?  No, it will not go away and it causes this writer to tremble.  The wrong time to have your memory refreshed about Matt 7 is when you are standing before the Lord.  The Lord tells us plainly here ^^ many will say to Him "Lord, Lord."  Do atheists and agnostics and heathen call Jesus Lord?  No, Christians do....And why will He tell them to go away and call them evildoers?  "I never knew you."  There it is again.  They don't really know Him.  They play church, they pay their spiritual "hired hands" and  they think everything is just dandy, but its not.

John 10:11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

Don't believe a word I say.  What did Jesus say?  Why will so few be saved?  Why will many call Him Lord and be turned away as evildoers?  They do not know Him, really know Him.

This post is not a beat down for you or for me.  It is a moment of clarity (I hope).  My spirit has been grieved lately, about this issue.  What does the Word tell us to do?

Col 1:9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,^e 10so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^f to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.

and

3His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.

10Therefore, my brothers and sisters,^a make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Bottom line? 1. we have to know Him, really know Him and 2. do what He says to do.

I share these things with you today because they have weighed heavily on my heart.

grace and peace

The Importance of Giving Thanks

From Col 1:

9For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,^e 10so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^f to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

This  ^^ is a list of things we should do:

1.  bearing fruit in every good work, 
2.  growing in the knowledge of God, 
3.  11being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 
4.  12and giving joyful thanks to the Father

Then moving onto Col 2 we see this:

Col 2:6So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

The Lord emphasizes thankfulness over and over again throughout His Word.  As we see throughout the Word as well its His way or the highway.  Those who are full of thanks are blessed, those who grumble and complain get cut down like weeds:

Num 14:26The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 27“How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. 28So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say: 29In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me.

Bottom line?

Griping and complaining wont take us far with the Lord.  There is a fine line between reasoning with Him and complaining.  I think we all know the difference.  I we would learn to give thanks always, even when our guts are turning upside down in our bellies as we face our battles every day, things will go better for us.

What is the big deal with giving thanks?  The fundamental questions in life:

What were we created for?  Why are we here?

Colossians 1:16 

All things being created by Him, were created for him; being made by his power, they were made according to his pleasure, and for his praise and glory

We were created for His glory.  How do we glorify Him?  One way is through giving thanks.

We are all going through battles in life.  The Lord gave us instructions for how to move through these battles.  What if things we do could shorten the battles?  Would we do them?  What if things we do could avoid some of the battles altogether?  Would we do them?  Giving thanks is one of these things that can shorten battles and avoid some battles altogether.

Who knows how much time we have left here.  It would seem that 2014 will kick off some real fireworks.  What can we do with the remaining time to serve and please the Lord?  One thing we can all do is give thanks always.  We can all find something to give thanks for.

grace and peace

Why We Suffer. Grief.

1 Peter 1

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed

Twice in here ^^ the Lord points out how important our faith is.  First it was :

who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time

then

 though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith

We also know this:

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God

And what does the Lord ask us about when He comes back for us?

Luke 18:8 

... However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

We live in a day and age when the preachers of Babylon tell us everything is about the Lord's grace.  Grace this and grace that and some grace to go on top of it all.  I am the most thankful among the brothers for the Lord's grace but what about FAITH?  Do we think the Lord asked

when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" 

for no reason, or does He already know the answer.  By grace and through FAITH we are saved.  We are shielded by God's power through FAITH.  And what are many of our sufferings and trials here on earth attributed to?  The testing of our faith.  The enemy tries to discount faith through the preachers that serve him.  Everything is grace with them and there is no place for faith.  What does the Word say?

Our faith is worth more than gold

 7These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire

We suffer for it and we live by it.  Our faith is being tested to weed out the kind of, sort of, maybe, fair weather Christians.

Our faith is being tested because we are about to inherit a kingdom that we cannot wrap our minds around.  What is in store for us we cannot even imagine.

1 Cor-6We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,

what no ear has heard,

and what no human mind has conceived”^b —

the things God has prepared for those who love him—

10these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

Kind of awesome huh?  This ^^ inheritance is why we suffer today.  I have no doubt whatsoever that when we are in the Lord's presence and He points His finger off in the distance and says "look what I have prepared for you!" that all our present sufferings will be so far removed from our minds we will be in awe of how we were so troubled in our present state.

This is a message of encouragement.  We suffer and our faith is tested because our inheritance is real and it is beyond human imagination.  Keep the faith, it will be worth it.

grace and peace