BIBLE MEDITATION: “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15;
ENCOURAGING WORD:
This is the time when true Christians should be a shining light for the true Word of God. But unfortunately, from what I see, very few Christians are now putting their lives in the hands of Jesus and trusting Him for their salvation. Its times like this, as they say, where the rubber meets the road! As I read through the Bible there is always a couple of verses that are hard to grasp as to what they signify and one of them is found in Matthew 7:13-14; “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it”. The reason this is such a concerning verse to me is because when God says a few, He means a few. Then I read another concerning verse in Matthew 7: 21-23; “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 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, you aren’t listening! There are religious sects of Christianity that teach that all will eventually be saved and taken to heaven. This is perhaps one of the most dangerous teaching there is. That would give everybody the right to live in sin as much as they would like, believing that they will eventually go to heaven anyways. This is a lie from the pit of hell!
Those that have been following the signs of the times, are not surprised by what is taking place. I remember discussing this with a Christian friend about 15-20 years ago wondering if this would happen in our life time. Well, I do not need to wonder anymore, the times that have been spoken of by the prophets of old are here.
We read in 2 Timothy 1:7; “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” And then we read this extremely comforting verse in Romans 8:31; “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us”? It is times like this when our true faith is tested. When we start feeling fear, we need to fall back on Bible verses like to two verses above. Believe me, it is not hard to focus on the events of the world and forget where your faith is, but you need to go back to the promises of God. It boils down to this, is your hope in the things of the world or is your hope in Jesus Christ. If your hope is in the things of the world, you have no hope and you are most likely running around in fear as you should be.
The problem that I see from the pulpits today, especially the mega churches is the fact that they are watering down the truth of what is coming and they are not preparing their congregations for the upcoming judgments. They are more interested in lying to them with feel good messages that are not true just to build their audiences and the prosperity that comes with it. These are prosperity teachers and seeker sensitive teachers. They are what the Bible refers to as wolves in sheep’s clothing! Here is what the Bible has to say about these false teachers in the end of days, 2 Timothy 4:3-4;“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” This scenario is what is happening today in America. Without mentioning any names, check the life styles of the mega church pastors. They have million dollar homes, yachts and some even have their own jets. They are deceiving millions of people. It is all about the money and you are the one funding these false teachers if you are attending one of these churches.
There is another side to those that do not have any fear and that is those that do not believe in God in the first place and have no idea what is coming in the near future. Those are the ones that should be fearing the most, but because of their ignorance about the truth of God and His Word, they just go on with their lives' thinking all is good, not having a clue of what is coming. The time is coming and is already here in some cases where the true Bible believing Christians with be thought of as a evil. When you look back at the Gospels, that is exactly what the religious leaders of their day said about Jesus Christ. We read this in Matthew 12:24; “Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow (Jesus) does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, (Satan) the ruler of the demons.” They accused Jesus of being demon possessed, so those of us who serve Jesus Christ will suffer the same criticism. Jesus said in John 15: 18-21; “If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent me.” So, let me ask you, do you want to be one of the hated for the sake of Jesus Christ or do you want to be one of the Haters?
So, with all this being said, are you a so-called Christian that is running scarred or are you a born-again Christian that has trusted in the Word of God and turned to His Son Jesus Christ for comfort and peace. The biggest fear from all this comes mainly from the unknown. But if you have total faith in the Word of God, the unknown should not bring you fear, because God is in charge of your life and once again as I commonly share this verse from 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 share this verse because to me, it is one of the most comforting verses written in the scriptures to those that truly have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and have been born-again into the Holy Spirit! Stand strong for Christ in these times of uncertainty and be a shining light to those that need hope. If we do not show the unbelievers the power of God through our actions, why would they want what we have? So, like I mention repeatedly in all my posts, you are the one that has to make the choice and you will be the one that will be held accountable for the decisions that you make. Make the choice today to receive Jesus Christ and ask the Holy Spirit to dwell within you! Like I heard someone just recently say, Jesus is coming back at midnight and the time is 11:59. The days are late and the time is at hand, do not make the mistake of missing out on the greatest gift ever offered…the free gift of grace!
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