“ Hold Tightly”

 “Hold Tightly”

 

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His Promise.  Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.  And let us NOT neglect our meeting together. As some people do, but encourage one another, especially NOW that the Day of His Return is drawing NEAR.   Hebrews 10:23-25

Our RELATIONSHIP with the Almighty God, is very IMPORTANT to our OBEDIENCE to Him.  And the ONLY WAY to have a RELATIONSHIP with our Creator, comes from our RELATIONSHIP with His ONE and ONLY Son, the LORD JESUS CHRIST. The ONLY One who could PROVIDE that RELATIONSHIP.  It was with His OWN SUFFERING, the SHEDDING of His OWN BLOOD, and His DEATH, and RESURRECTION. 

This HOPE is what we MUST HOLD TIGHTLY, without WAVERING. This HOPE is what we PROFESS. And we PROCLAIM it to others, because God CAN be TRUSTED to KEEP His Promises.  He is FAITHFUL and TRUSTWORTHY.  And as His CHILDREN, we MUST BE SUPPORTIVE of our WORSHIP to the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. He ALONE is WORTHY. 

It is ALSO IMPORTANT that we find ways to MOTIVATE and ENCOURAGE others to participate in ACTS of LOVE and GOOD WORKS.  And we MUST NOT FORSAKE our MEETING TOGETHER, as GOD’S CHILDREN, in LOVE and UNITY, for the GOOD of the BODY of the LORD JESUS CHRIST (the Church). 

We NEED to ENCOURAGE one another, and possibly RECEIVE some ENCOURAGEMENT also.  And the QUICKER, the BETTER.  ESPECIALLY because the DAY of CHRIST’S RETURN is IMMINENT. Are you READY for Him to say to YOU: “WELL DONE, My GOOD and FAITHFUL SERVANT”?  Or will He have to say to YOU: “DEPART FROM ME, I DON’T KNOW YOU”?

If you are a Child of God, but you are NOT attending Church, because, of some SELFISH, SELF-CENTERED desires, OR things are NOT going YOUR way.  Remember, You’re there to WORSHIP GOD WITH YOUR BROTHERS and SISTERS in the LORD.  It’s ALL about GOD and His SON, and NOT ABOUT YOUR SELF-CENTERED WORSHIP and PRAISE. Now I’m talking about people who don’t attend church, and they don’t attend because THEY DON’T WANT TO, it’s not because they are SICK, in the HOSPITAL or NURSING HOME or some other SITUATION that may come up, one that you DON’T HAVE ANY CONTROL over. They just don’t want to ATTEND.  

And if you are NOT a CHILD of GOD, and DON’T GO to Church, then your DESTINY is at SERIOUS RISK.  The LORD JESUS is COMING BACK SOON!!  We don’t KNOW when, but we KNOW it will be SOON, because there are SIGNS that indicate His IMMINENT RETURN. Then comes JUDGMENT.  If you don’t want to spend ALL of YOUR ETERNITY in HELL with ALL its HORRORS, and NO WAY to ESCAPE, once you are there, you MUST CHANGE that destiny by: ADMITTING that YOU are a SINNER in NEED of the SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST, the ONLY ONE able to KEEP YOU from an ETERNITY in HELL .  And YOU MUST BELIEVE with ALL your HEART, that JESUS DIED for YOU, and that He is ALIVE in Heaven, making intercession for you, before God.  You then, MUST CONFESS your SINS to Him and ASK Him for His FORGIVENESS.  You MUST be WILLING to TURN AWAY FROM your SINS and TURN TO GOD with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART.  You MUST ACCEPT God’s Gift of SALVATION and HOLD TIGHTLY to this HOPE.  DON’T GIVE Your ETERNAL DESTINATION to the DEVIL. Do this NOW, while you STILL can!  He’s WAITING and COMING SOON!!!  Don’t Be LEFT BEHIND!!!

“Led By God’s Truth”

 “Led By God’s Truth”

 

Lead me by Your truth and teach me, for You are the God who saves me.   Psalms 25:5

 

We are living in a world that has changed the TRUTH for LIES.  Many people seem to think that LIVING a LIE is EASIER than being TRUTHFUL.  So, they put themselves into the leadership of the DEVIL, who is the MASTER of DECEIT. And he makes LIVING A LIE, appear so MUCH BETTER, and EASIER, but he HIDES the DISASTROUS ending. 

Some are SO proficient at it, that they really don’t know what the TRUTH is.  And so, they CONTINUE to LIVE a LIE. And they LEAD others down the WRONG PATH. A PATH that can ONLY lead to a HORRENDOUS outcome, and to an ETERNAL TRAGEDY.    Hopefully, YOU are not going down this PATH.

King David is the Psalmist, and I detect a little bit of urgency.  In vv 1-3, David seems somewhat distraught, he says: “O LORD, I give my LIFE to YOU. I TRUST in You, MY GOD! Do not let me be DISGRACED, or let my enemies REJOICE in my DEFEAT.  No one who TRUSTS in You will ever be DISGRACED, but DISGRACE comes to those who try to DECEIVE others. 

In verse five David says: “LEAD ME by Your TRUTH and TEACH ME. All day long I PUT my HOPE in YOU.  He is IMPLORING God to LEAD him with His TRUTH, and to TEACH him about that TRUTH.  So, that he might NOT be guilty of DECEIVING others and end up DISGRACED. 

Like David, we NEED to SEEK God to LEAD US, by HIS truth.  And when we are SUBMISSIVE to His LEADERSHIP, we will be able to BE TAUGHT the TRUTH of GOD, and to LIVE our LIVES in HIS TRUTH, and NOT be GUILTY of DECEIVING others, and we will NOT be DISGRACED.

If you belong to GOD, HOPEFULLY, you are LIVING under the LEADERSHIP of His TRUTH, and you are being TAUGHT His TRUTH.  However, if you have NOT given your HEART and LIFE to God, then you are NOT BEING LED by His TRUTH, but you are functioning under the LEADERSHIP of the Devil, and your DESTINY will be an ETERNITY in HELL, with ALL its HORRORS, and NO WAY to ESCAPE once you are there, UNLESS, you ADMIT that YOU are a SINNER, in NEED of the SAVIOR, the LORD JESUS CHRIST, the ONLY SON of the LIVING GOD, who DIED to bring you an ETERNAL LIFE in HEAVEN with ALL its BLESSINGS.  You MUST BELIEVE, with ALL your HEART that JESUS DIED for YOU, and that He is ALIVE in Heaven, making intercession for you, before God.  You MUST CONFESS your SINS to Him and ask Him for His FORGIVENESS.  You MUST be WILLING to TURN AWAY from your SINS and TURN TO GOD with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART.   You MUST ACCEPT God’s Gift of SALVATION and be LED BY HIS TRUTH!!  So, do this NOW, while you STILL can!!!  He’s WAITING and COMING SOON!!!  Don’t Be LEFT BEHIND!!!  

 

 

“Opened Eyes”

 “Opened Eyes”

 

“I want you to open their eyes, so they will turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God.  Then their sins will be forgiven and by faith in Me they will become part of God’s Holy People.”   Acts 26:18

 

The Apostle Paul was at one time a STRONG PERSECUTOR of the TRUE BELIEVERS of the LORD JESUS CHRIST.   BUT all of that CHANGED and Paul went from being a STRONG PERSECUTOR to being a STRONG WITNESS to the GENTILES (non-Jews).  This was quite a TRANSFORMATION for Paul, and it literally OPENED his EYES to the TRUTH of the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST.

You see, Paul had an ENCOUNTER with JESUS, one day, after the DEATH and RESURRECTION of the Lord.  Paul was on the road to Damascus, to hunt down the followers of Jesus.   When Paul met Jesus, it was like NO ENCOUNTER that Paul ever had.  He began telling of his ENCOUNTER, to King Agrippa.  “I was on the road to Damascus, when a light from heaven brighter than the sun shone down on me and my companions.  We ALL fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?  It is USELESS for you to FIGHT AGAINST My WILL’.

Then Jesus told Paul: “Get to your feet!  For I have appeared to you to appoint you as My Servant and Witness.’  And Jesus said: “Yes, I am SENDING you to the GENTILES to OPEN their EYES so they may TURN from DARKNESS to LIGHT and from the POWER of SATAN to GOD. Then they will receive FORGIVENESS for their SINS and be given a PLACE among GOD’S People, who are SET APART (sanctified) by FAITH in ME.”  And that was Paul’s COMMISSIONING by the Lord Jesus Christ.   

Paul was GLORIOUSLY SAVED and SANCTIFIED to OPEN the EYES of all that he encountered.  And Paul was OBEDIENT to God, and MANY were TURNED AWAY FROM the POWER of Satan to the POWER of the ALMIGHTY GOD. And they had their EYES OPENED to the TRUTH of God’s Holy Word.   Anybody who receives Christ as their SAVIOR and LORD, is given this SAME MANDATE.  Matthew 28:18-20, is the COMMISSION for EVERY TRUE BELIEVER.  The Lord Jesus Christ says, “Therefore, GO and MAKE disciples of ALL the nations, BAPTIZING them in the NAME of the FATHER and the SON, and the HOLY SPIRIT. TEACH (Open eyes) these NEW DISCIPLES to OBEY ALL the COMMANDS I have given YOU.  And be SURE of this:  I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS EVEN TO THE END OF THE AGE.”

If you have NOT given your HEART and LIFE to God, by coming to JESUS for your SALVATION, then you are STILL UNDER the POWER of SATAN, and your EYES have NOT been OPENED, and you are STILL LIVING in DARKNESS, and headed for an ETERNITY in HELL with ALL its HORRORS, and NO WAY to ESCAPE once you are there.  In order to CHANGE your DESTINY, you MUST COME to JESUS and ADMIT that YOU are a SINNER in NEED of the SAVIOR.  And you MUST BELIEVE, with ALL your HEART that JESUS DIED for YOU and is ALIVE in HEAVEN, making intercession for you, before God.  You MUST CONFESS your SINS to Him and ask Him for His FORGIVENESS.  You MUST BE WILLING to TURN AWAY FROM your SINFUL LIFESTYLE and TURN TO GOD with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART.  You MUST ACCEPT God’s Gift of SALVATION and COME OUT of the DARKNESS and into the LIGHT and have your EYES OPENED to the TRUTH!   And RECEIVE YOUR COMMISSION.  Do this NOW, while you STILL can.  He’s WAITING and COMING SOON!!!  DON’T BE LEFT BEHIND!!!

 

 

“God’s Promise of Freedom”

 “God’s Promise of Freedom”

 

Is there a conflict between God’s Law and God’s Promises? Absolutely not!  If the Law could give us NEW LIFE, we could be made right with God by obeying it.  But the Scriptures declare that we are ALL prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s Promise of Freedom only by BELIEVING in JESUS CHRIST.  Galatians 3:21-22

 

There are some in this world, today, who believe that IF you OBEY GOD’S Law, that is ALL that you need to do, to be counted as RIGHTEOUS.  However, the Law was given to SHOW mankind their SINS.  It CANNOT bring SALVATION and RIGHTEOUSNESS to mankind.  And mankind CANNOT OBEY the WHOLE LAW,  

Therefore, there is NO CONFLICT, the LAW was given to show us the TRUTH of our SINFULNESS.  The Apostle Paul tells us that the Holy Scriptures declare that we ALL are PRISONERS of SIN.  We are born with a SINFUL NATURE, and because of that SINFUL NATURE, we NEED a PERFECT SACRIFICE, whose BLOOD could BLOT OUT our TRANSGRESSIONS. 

Hebrews 9:22 tells us that; “without the SHEDDING OF BLOOD, there is NO FORGIVENESS”.  So, it came about that the BLOOD of the animals, was no longer effective in the REDEMPTION process.  Instead, God’s Promise of FREEDOM from our SINS, could ONLY be ACCEPTABLE through BELIEVING in the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and being CLEANSED by His BLOOD, which was the ONLY WAY for mankind to be made RIGHTEOUS, before the PERFECT LAMB of GOD, the LORD JESUS CHRIST. 

Do you BELIEVE that JESUS is the TRUE Son of the LIVING GOD, and that it is ONLY through our RELATIONSHIP with Him that we are made RIGHTEOUS. And that we ALL are PRISONERS of OUR SINS, and that we can be set FREE from the SLAVERY of our SINS?    

If you are STILL a SLAVE to your SINFUL LIFESTYLE, and are NOT a TRUE CHILD of the LIVING GOD, you can change that by: First, ADMITTING that YOU are a SINNER in NEED of the SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST, who SHED HIS OWN BLOOD to set YOU FREE from your slavery.  You MUST BELIEVE that JESUS DIED for YOU and that He is ALIVE in HEAVEN, making intercession for you, before God.  You MUST CONFESS your sins to Him and ASK Him for His FORGIVENESS.  You MUST be WILLING to TURN AWAY FROM your SINFUL LIFESTYLE and TURN to GOD with a TRUE REPENTANT HEART.  You MUST ACCEPT God’s Gift of SALVATION and be made RIGHTEOUS in God’s Sight.  When you become a TRUE CHILD of the LIVING GOD, you will receive His PROMISE of FREEDOM from your SINS, and ETERNAL LIFE in HEAVEN, with ALL its BLESSINGS.  And you will be able to ESCAPE HELL, with ALL its HORRORS and NO WAY to ESCAPE, after you are there.  So, do this NOW, while you STILL can.  He’s WAITING and COMING SOON!!!  Don’t Be LEFT BEHIND!!!