BIBLE REFERENCE:
Matthew 12:30; “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”
ENCOURAGING WORD:
The Bible verse for today is one that I truly believe is not taken serious enough, nor is it really understood as to what it really means. When it comes to serving Jesus Christ, you are either all in, or you are all out, you can’t be in the middle. Way too many of us were taught that as long as you are a faithful church goer and spend an hour or two inside the walls of a religious environment, you can do whatever you feel like the rest of the week. I believe this is what most of us have been brought up to believe, I for one was guilty as charged. If you would have asked me back in the 70’s or 80’s if I was going to heaven, I would have said without hesitation, yes, I am, and if you would have asked me why I believed that, I would have said because I believe in God and I go to church. Was I deceived, but this is what I was taught in my denominational church from kindergarten all the way through graduation and beyond for at least another twenty years. I just thank God that He didn’t return back then, because I would have been sentenced to an eternity in hell! I didn’t know better until about thirty years ago when the Holy Spirit spoke to me as clear as crystal. I remember it as if it were yesterday, you don’t forget something like this. I was leaving church after the service was over and all of a sudden it hit me, what did I really get from today’s message, I couldn’t tell you because I didn’t listen, I was thinking about what I was going to do the rest of the day. I’m sure that whatever it was that was taught that day, was not what I did the rest of the day or for that matter, the rest of the week.
I think most of us look at God as a part time God, we only call out to Him when we are in trouble or feel that we need something, and in most cases, it is not something that we really need, it is just something that we would like. God is not a genie in a magic lamp, there to fill every request that we have, in fact, if you are not born-again, you are not a child of God and your prayers are not even heard. We read this bit of wisdom in John 3:3-5; “Jesus answered and said to him, (Nicodemus) “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, (Jesus) “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” God only hears the prayers of those that are His, and once again, it is those that have received Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior and have been born again. We read this truth in John 10: 27-28; “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” If you understand anything about being a shepherd, you know that only your sheep hear your voice and follow you, the same applies to those that are of the flock of Jesus Christ! If you are not of His sheepfold, then your prayers are not even heard. This brings up another interesting fact, people ask, why doesn’t God answer my prayers, well according to the scriptures above, it is because He doesn’t hear you. Let me put this in terms that all of us should understand. Let’s say a child comes up to you that you don’t know nor have ever seen, and this child ask you for some money so he or she can buy some candy, now, in most cases and I’m not saying that everybody falls in this category, but you would most likely say, “NO” and you would tell them to ask their own father. Well, basically, it is the same way with God. If you are not going to serve God, then don’t come to Him with any request any more than you would go up to a complete stranger and ask them for something, especially in this world in which we live in now. With this being said, there are a few philanthropists in this world that would help out anybody if they had a chance, but that actually goes against the nature of man. We are for the most part, selfish and self-centered and only care about ourselves. Again, there are exceptions. Our God is a sovereign God, with laws and rules that cannot, and will not be compromised in any way.
If you happen to fall into this category of a part time Christian, you need to understand that you are not saved. John 12:26; “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” If you don’t honor Jesus, then you do not honor the Father. Jesus and the Father are one, but only through the acceptance of the birth, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ can one be saved. This was the Fathers way of making reconciliation back to Him. He came to earth in the personage of Jesus Christ to pay for the sins that we, ourselves cannot pay for in any way, shape or form. Jesus tells us this in, John 14:6; “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Can it be anymore clearer? At this point, I have to ask, do you believe the Bible is the true and inerrant Word of God, if not, then there are no absolute truths and everything is whatever you want it to be. You can believe what you want, but when you stand before Jesus Christ at the white throne judgement, the only thing that will matter is whether you knew Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior or not. Here is a very scary verse in the Bible to those that believe that they are saved because they feel they are good enough. Matthew 7:22-23; “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ If this doesn’t make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, then you weren’t listening. This message makes it crystal clear that nobody can make it into heaven based on his or her own merit. If you are being taught that you can, or you believe that you can, read this verse over and over again until it sinks in. What does Jesus say, “I never knew you.” He is talking about a personal relationship. Of course He knows you, He created you, but did you ever acknowledge the reality of who He really is. He is the God of the universe, and His sole purpose for creating us is for fellowship with Him, but He also gave us free will, to make the choice of whether or not we want to fellowship with Him. If you fellowship with Jesus in this life, you will be with Him forever throughout eternity, if you reject Him in this life, He will honor your choice and give you what you chose, eternity in the same place that was created for Satan and His fallen angels.
Getting back to the original text above. When Jesus says that we are either with Him or against Him, He is also saying, that no one can be on the fence. Let me give an example of what should make sense, back in the days of the civil war, you were either a Rebel or a Yankee. If you sat on the fence, you would have most likely been shot at by both sides, in the same way, if you are on the fence where Christianity is concerned, Satan will attack you every day to make sure that you do not fall on the side of Christianity. On the other hand, God will not protect you from the evils of Satan because you have not trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. God protects His own. You are vulnerable for attack and you will be miserable. Satan hates you and wishes the worst for you, but God loves you and wants the best for you, which side makes the most sense to you? Let me clarify one more thing for you, if you are one of Gods children, you will still go through trials and tribulation, but it will be allowed by God for a reason that we may never understand, but we can be sure of this, all things are working out for the good as it says in Romans 8:28; “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” I also like what it says in Joshua 24:15; “And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. So, ask yourselves this day, whom will you serve, the world or God. Here is a sobering statement from the book of James, James 4:4; “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” Jesus said in Romans 12:2; “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” So, let me ask you one more question, are you conforming to this world and believing all the evil that is being perpetrated as truth, or are you transforming into the image of Jesus Christ as the Bible declares we should. Galatian’s 2:20; “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
At this point in time, we are all headed in one of two directions, we are either moving toward Jesus or we are conforming to the world. If you are following the world, let me say this, you can repent, turn around and start to follow Jesus. If you don’t turn around, you will fall deeper and deeper into the one world system that is on the near horizon. So, with all this being said, there is still time for you to make the right choice. I don’t know how much time is left, but the door to the age of grace will close, and it could be sooner than we think. When that door closes, you will be left to face all the evil that is about to come to the world, the world that you trusted. Let me summarize it this way. You will end up with who or what you trusted in, is it the world and all the lies that are sucking you in, or will you turn to Jesus where you will be eternally saved and taken to the most wonderful environment where the Bible say, 1 Corinthians 2:9; “But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” It sounds pretty incredible to me, how about you? The choice is yours to make and nobody can make it for you. So, as the Bible verse say in Joshua, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” The question that you need to ask yourself is this, who will you serve?
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