Sunday 012625
Don’t let me or my writings influence or scare you in any way, instead, allow me to be used as a vessel to open the Word, just a little bit, and hopefully, together we are going to read and study His Word, and let God teach us what He wants us to hear.
Since the beginning of this study, our vision has been that we are ONLY going to follow what is found in the Holy Bible, that pertains to us, and we realize that it’s ONLY from our own effort that we put into this study, that we’re going to take anything away for our own use.
The verses we are going to study tonight:
Revelation 12:4, 1:20; 1 Corinthians 3:1-3; Galatians 1:15-18; Acts 13:9-11; 2 Corinthians 7:1.
So, our lesson I wrote yesterday, educated and allowed me to see more than I’ve ever known about early Christianity, the Roman empire and Jesus’ half-brothers James and Jude; just as a reminder, James and Jude were Jesus’ half-brothers. Like I said, I really enjoyed the lesson.
In all honesty, it had to have been very difficult for that Jewish individual, their entire life living under the Law, following Jewish rituals and holidays, and then, to all of a sudden, to just stop and put those things behind them, it would have had to have been a very difficult time.
I need to step easily here, because to that person today in the 21st century, that grew up in a family where a certain religion was practiced, that person too, would have to have gone through the same hardships as those Jews in Jesus’ times of ministry. They both would have confronted some difficult times.
To continue and go another step further, if there was a person that grew up in an atheist environment for a generation or more, with absolutely zero exposure to any religious influence at all, it too, would have to have been difficult for that person to change from how they were brought up in their environment, to all of a sudden, there be a change to something totally different, it too would have been a very difficult change in their lifestyle.
In this writing, I’m going to attempt to portray this world today, most of the population today, live their lives totally away from God.
There are so many young kids today that have never had the exposure to God being in their life because their parents are so anti-church.
With that statement alone being said, our churches today, not all of them but many of them, put too much of a focus on tithing. Too much emphasis is put on collection baskets and some churches place them everywhere, another words, these churches are spreading a false message. This is the reason so many have left the church. This shows us a degree of unbelief, but in all reality, it’s not an unbelief in God, these churches never talked about God, they were to interest in lining their pockets with money and these kids seen this. Their unbelief is in the church not in God. They are left wandering because they never heard the real message. That is where you and I need to come in. We need to voice the real TRUE Message that God has given us to pass on to this world. All of us MUST take part in this service to our fellow man.
It is estimated today on google.com, that there are around 8.2 billion people alive on the earth. That’s a lot of people.
345 million of those people live here in America alone. And that number increases daily for those that cross our borders trying to get into this country. Is it right for these people to flood this land because they want to come to America? The majority of these people have had nothing their entire lives. We in America throw away items in our garbage, that we no longer want or need. But for that person, that’s never had a thing, our garbage to them is everything.
And now with President Trump’s new policy on illegal aliens, I think we can forget about those coming into our country, for now.
30% of the individuals in America today, claim they are Christians, that’s 103 million people. Of that 103 million people, how many of them will God actually save, we should ask ourselves?
There is no way for a human being alive today, that could possibly calculate that math equation problem accurately, but it should get our gears turning, just thinking about that question.
We have so much available to us today in this country and our outlook is so tiny. We have no value here in this country.
In a way, the same value is found in Revelation 12.
Revelation 12:4 ‘…And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born…’ KJV (King James Version)
There are those today that claim every time there is something bad that happens in the world or in the bible, there is a finger that points directly to an angel or to the devil. Well in this case anyway, the ‘stars in heaven’ are referring to the angels.
Revelation 1:20 ‘…The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches…’ KJV (King James Version)
If a person doesn’t study the Bible, how are they able to criticize what has been written in the Bible? To take that point just a little further, the elite in Jerusalem, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, these men read the scrolls continuously throughout every day. These men knew the writing forward and backward, but Satan must have hardened their hearts because these men, that were constantly reciting what was written in the scrolls, were not listening to what had been written, they were only reciting words. We have that same problem today, people that study the Word daily, they sometimes forget to listen to what has been written and instead they’re just reading the words written on the pages.
Here is maybe one of the truer statements found in the Bible.
1 Corinthians 3
vs1 ‘…My Christian friends, I could not teach you as I would teach people who have God’s Spirit. I had to teach you as people who belong only to this world. You were like little children who could not understand the message about Christ very well…’
vs2 ‘…I had to teach you things that were easy to understand, like a mother gives milk to a baby. You were not yet ready to receive proper food. And you are still not ready to receive God’s complete message…’
vs3 ‘…You still do what your human nature wants to do. You are jealous of each other, and you quarrel with each other. Yes! This shows that you do what your human nature wants to do. You live like people who do not know God…’ EASY (Easy English Bible)
Too often today, when the Word is preached it has been diluted down, hoping that some of its value could reach a person’s heart. But the problem with that, the message has been so watered down for so long, the actual strength of the Message, is lost. It has been made cloudy trying to get a message heard. It is better to read the message the way it has been written and after, then that should be broken down so the message can be understood.
Galatians 1 …
v15 ‘…But God in his grace chose me even before I was born and called me to serve him. And when he decided…’
v16 ‘…to reveal his Son to me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the Gentiles, I did not go to anyone for advice…’
v17 ‘…nor did I go to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me. Instead, I went at once to Arabia, and then I returned to Damascus…’
v18 ‘…It was three years later that I went to Jerusalem to obtain information from Peter, and I stayed with him for two weeks…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
Four verses taken from one letter written to devout followers of Jesus Christ, all congregated in various churches, in the region around Galatia. The book is believed to have been written sometime in the mid first century, around 49 – 50 A.D.
The letter was written by Paul in response to the theological issue that confronted the early church over the Mosaic Law.
But the first five words used in vs. 15, should be all that needs to be addressed or even mentioned, they should be the first and final words that even need to be said.
Not Paul wishing the Gentiles had the best or, not a god that gives only to his people or, your tithes have bought you freedom … but instead it states:
But God in His Grace
None of the original twelve knew anything about ‘God’s Grace.’ They never heard anything about it, ever.
God’s GRACE should be the ultimate rule.
It was God’s grace that accepted Saul to be the one that would spread the word of God to the Gentile world.
In Acts 13
vs9 ‘…Then Saul—also known as Paul—was filled with the Holy Spirit; he looked straight at the magician…’
vs10 ‘…and said, You son of the Devil! You are the enemy of everything that is good. You are full of all kinds of evil tricks, and you always keep trying to turn the Lord’s truths into lies…’
vs11 ‘…The Lord’s hand will come down on you now; you will be blind and will not see the light of day for a time. At once Elymas felt a dark mist cover his eyes, and he walked around trying to find someone to lead him by the hand…’ GNT (Good New Translation)
Saul began using the name of Paul more frequently and those that traveled with him, they too began referring to him as Paul.
2 Corinthians 7:1 ‘…My friends, God has made us these promises. So, we should stay away from everything that keeps our bodies and spirits from being clean. We should honor God and try to be completely like him…’ CEV (Contemporary English Version)
Keep your Bibles always open and continuously study His Word.
I love all of you. Keep yourselves ready for that day when the Trumpet will blow.
Jesus, I pray that those ears and eyes, either listening or seeing this message today would be opened to the very fullest and allow Your love to come inside their lives and comfort them. Teach us Jesus. Protect us. We love You. Amen
InHIM. ><)))o>