Repent or Perish

Question: Have you made a decision to repent and turn from your wicked ways, which means to be sorry and reject your sins, confessing them to the Lord, asking Him to forgive you for the sins that you have committed against Him and others, and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness and to be your Lord and Savior?  Have you been convicted of your sins through the precious Holy Spirit and come to the end of yourself, finally ready once and for all to seek the Lord to get of rid your sins through the precious blood of the Savior Jesus Christ to be cleansed and washed and forgiven and finally set free?  If you have not and you are ready that is a great thing and I don’t think you will ever regret that decision.

I want to make this very clear, the Word of God says that we have all sinned and fell short of the glory of God.  It also says there is none righteous, no not one.  It says this in the Word of God also, that our righteousness is as filthy rags.  There is no way that we can be right with God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit without being covered with the precious blood of Jesus that was shed on Calvary’s cross many years ago.  Jesus was the sacrificial Lamb, and the only way we can get to God the Father is through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  

When He was crucified, the veil in the Temple was rent from top to bottom, then it was like Jesus became the veil.  It relates to this in the book of Hebrews 10:19-20 check it out, “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh.”  The only way we can get to God the Father is through Jesus the Son.

Let me tell you another truth; no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draw Him.  Everyone has a choice, you can choose Hell and with it all the pain and suffering, the endless tears plus much more, but the worst problem is that you will be separated from God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit, that also comes with that choice.  Or you can choose Heaven, the most beautiful place you have ever seen, a place where there is absolutely no sin, no thieves, no murderers.  You can’t even imagine anything like it or could you compare it to anything, a place where there is no sickness, no pain and no regret and no tears, where there are golden streets and so much more.  But, the most amazing thing that you will find anywhere will be there and that is the Holy, Righteous Father, the Holy, righteous Savior, His Son and also the Holy, Righteous Holy Spirit, there everyone will know what real love is, yes, unconditional love  and not just the word love that is thrown around when it is convenient down here.

Then you may say what if it’s not true, and I would say what if it is true, and I believe it is, and if it is, and you didn’t make the right choice look at what you have forfeited.  I can’t convince anyone, only the good Lord can do that, so the choice is up to you, I pray that you will make the right one.  Jesus related to this subject in Luke 13:2-5, “And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.’”

I think you got the message, may the good Lord bless you and yours and may each of you have a super, super day and a Merry, Merry Christmas!!

Why

Question: when you read the Bible, do you ever stop and think to yourself why this happened or what was the purpose of that happening or just generalizing what and why things happened the way they did?  Did you ever say to yourself; if I were God, I would have done this or that differently and not done some of the things you have read at all?  I think many, if not everyone, that has heard about God may have questioned some of the things they have read in the Word of God.  

Do you know why I think this is true?  It is because I believe that, this is what happened to many of the atheists and non-believers that exist today and all down through the ages.  Take Lucifer for instance, here we have a beautiful angel without a sin nature that stood in the presence of God Almighty and one day he decides he is better than God and is going to build his throne higher and greater than God’s throne, not being content to serve God but wanting God to bow down and serve and worship him; and keep this in mind, God created him.  Just like Lucifer, many today are not content to serve and honor God and let Him rule and reign, they want to rule and reign themselves.

This is what happens when people start leaning on their own understanding. Thinking about what they just read and thinking they know more than God, they went on a tirade against God and started their own ministry, some cursing God until they died.  There are many of these people still around today, they will not bow their knee to God but continually stand at odds against Him.  This is how many of the cults got started and are still around today.  God’s Word tells us not to lean on our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge Him and He will direct our paths or make our paths straight.  

I see the problem as being our understanding of what is happening around us today and thinking we can handle things better than God.  But we are so deceived in so many ways.  We tend to believe whatever we hear, depending on who says it even when we don’t know if it is true or not.  So many times we get people’s opinions and we believe them as the truth.  The Word of God says to check out a matter and see if it is true.  

For me it comes down to this, where do we find the truth?  In the Word of God of course.  Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life, no man can come me unless the Father draw him.  There are what I call watered down sermons and doctrines of demons today and people sit under them all the time, blinded to the truth and drinking in the lies like they were pure water.  

The Word of God talks about people who won’t put up with sound doctrine in the end times, but they will only listen to what their itching ears want to hear which is sure the truth in our day.  It seems like whatever makes people feel good is only what they want to hear, but Christianity is not just a feel-good theology, plus do not forget sometimes the truth hurts, but it doesn’t make it less true.  Some people don’t believe that the Holy Spirit convicts believers today.  If you only listen to lies that make you feel good and not sound doctrine and you believe what you hear, how would you feel convicted?

There are times when the Lord chastises or disciplines those He loves, and if you are never chastised, or disciplined, then you are an illegitimate child.  No chastisement, or discipline, seems good at the time but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.  You can find this in Hebrews 12:11.  

In Hebrews 5:8 it talks about Jesus learning obedience through suffering, please read it for yourself, “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”   ebrews 5: 8 it tells us of how Jesus learned obedience through sufferingHhjiippij      

Paul said this, “if anyone lives a godly life, he will be persecuted,” he didn’t say he might be persecuted.  It sounds to me that if you live a Christian life, you will experience pain of some sort; but if you weren’t taught this and it happens, you might say that you didn’t sign up for this and decide to throw in the towel especially if all you listen to is feel good teaching and preaching, so be careful who you listen to and what you believe.  

Enough said I hope this was a help and a blessing to you!!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and have a very Merry Christmas and remember Jesus’ birth is the reason we celebrate Christmas each year!!

Blessings

Blessings come in all sorts of ways and probably the good part of them we are truly thankful for, I would like to think.  A lot of what we think of as blessings are good health, nice family, gifts that we receive from others, a nice house, also gifts in ministries along with the talent to perform the ministries plus advancement in our employment, basically the good things that happen to us in our walk with the Lord!!  You know like days when it is sunny, not too hot or cold, hearing the right speaker or the right song at just the right time when we feel that we need it the most.  There are large and small blessings and many times we are blessed, and we don’t hardly even notice.  It wouldn’t hurt to write down the many times you have been blessed.

Have you ever heard this, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away?’  How about this, ‘one blessing a day helps keep the blues away.’  I think if we were all honest, many of us take many of our blessings for granted, just thinking that when nice things happen, that, that’s the way things should happen.  Let me ask you this question: how many of you would say that suffering could be a great blessing also?  How many of you could suffer and praise the Lord in and through it?

There was a man in the Word of God that suffered, along with many others, that flat out worshiped God while suffering a great deal; this man’s name was Job.  He not only lost family members but most everything he had, even his health and he still worshiped God even when his wife said something like this, ‘are you still holding onto your integrity, just curse God and die,’ but Job said something close to this in his response to her, ‘you foolish woman should we accept only the good things from God and not the bad,’ and he still didn’t curse God with his mouth.  Job didn’t understand why He had to go through these testing’s, but in the end, he understood and was a better person because of them.  I want you to understand that his suffering didn’t happen over a one day period, no, it went on for a while, and he had a lot of unanswered questions and he also got a lot of bad advice from his so called friends that truly didn’t help him at all, no, the advice did more hurt then good.   

I think that many times when people have gone through, such testing’s they have thrown in the towel, so to speak, and gave up and walked away from God.  They may have hung in there for a while but when the heavens seemed like brass and they didn’t think that their prayers were going to be answered, they just quit and walked away from the Lord, and some never came back.  Some of this turning away could stem from emotional problems but I can’t rule out the fact that some of this may have come from bad teaching from pastors, teachers or evangelists that only preach or teach a ‘feel-good’ message, afraid they will offend someone.  Think of this, if you are a believer living in sin would you want to hear a convicting message or a pat on the back type of message that goes like this; don’t worry about it, God loves you and you are alright in His eyes, His grace covers all your sins.  

Let me make this very clear, if you sin God does not wink at your sin and He will hold you responsible for it and your sin will cause you to be separated from Him.  The good news is this, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness,” 1 John 1:9 which was written to the communities (church).

This was also written to the communities (church), Paul speaking to the people, in the community in 2 Corinthians 7:10-13, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you. Therefore we have been comforted in your comfort. And we rejoiced exceedingly more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all.”

Even in Job’s situation he had to repent in the end and he did and he was forgiven and the same thing will happen to all who humble themselves before the Lord and truly repent and confess their sins, please read Job 42:1-6, “Then Job answered the Lord and said: ‘I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

Persecution is something else that can be very painful, that we should count as a blessing according to God’s Word.  Take Paul and Silas for example, when they were thrown into prison about midnight they were praying and singing hymns, praising God.  Read what it says about this subject in Acts 16:25, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

Now think of this, these men suffered persecution willingly because they could have made it known that they were Roman citizens, but they didn’t choose to do that, if they did they would not have suffered as they did.

It may seem strange that we can be suffering, and it is also considered a blessing, if we suffer for the cause of Christ Jesus because God’s Word says this in Matthew 5:10-12, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

   

Paul was happy to suffer for Christ, please read 2 Timothy 2:8-13, “Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”

Blessings come in many forms, be careful that you don’t just take them for granted, but thank the good Lord for each of them.

I think you got the message, so I don’t have to go on and on.  I hope this has been a blessing and a help to whoever reads this Tidbit!!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you all have a super day!  Don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for He is worthy!!