Christ

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The Holy Spirit and False Doctrine

Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. 1 Cor 12:3

At the risk of being called judgmental, I often see someone that makes a claim of salvation but I see no evidence of it in their life.
I hear a minister read from the Bible and yet teach something contrary.

It seems to me that every Christian reads the same Bible, praises the same Father, and is filled with the same Spirit.
We may go to a different church but all the same things should apply.

But there are some that are on the edge of being sacrilegious – even blasphemous. The Bible says,

the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. 2 Tim 4:3-4

The time is here. Unsound doctrine is here. False teachers are here. Even those with their doctrine, which will curse the name of Jesus. These things are not possible with someone filled with the Holy Spirit.

Your only defense is to know what the word of God says through the power of the Holy Spirit. And the only way to know this is to read your Bible every day.

Abba, reveal truth to me. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

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Do not quench the Spirit

When you listen to the Holy Spirit you will find it in conflict with your carnal side – your worldly side.

The Holy Spirit will lead you to do things that your natural being will not be comfortable with.

The Book of Acts is filled of the accounts of the early church under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
The first encounter leads bystanders to believe that the church is a bunch of drunks.

That did not stop the spread of the Gospel or the salvation of thousands.

Do not quench the Spirit. 1 Thess 5:19

I have! I recounted a story from years ago in which I felt led to help an elderly man and his wife sing. He was really struggling that evening. The Holy Spirit told me to go and stand with them and sing.

I quenched it. I justified it. I sat there.

That man died the very next day.

I don’t know if my helping them sing would have spared his life but it would have shown both of them that I cared and loved them.

When you quench (extinguish or put out) the Holy Spirit – it doesn’t just affect you but those around you!

Don’t be like me and fight Him. You will never get that opportunity again.

Abba, I am still convicted by that night and ask Your forgiveness. I forgive myself for my shortcoming and I learn from it. I will strive to listen to You. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

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Look for your blessing!

Linda sends me to the pantry to get a can of tomato sauce. I look and look and don’t find any. She comes in there and just grabs it.
I’m like “it wasn’t there a moment ago!”

There are those times each of us can’t see the forest for the trees. I believe that includes our spiritual lives.

Part of some of problem is the intensity of looking too hard.

There are times I know I missed the blessing from God because I didn’t see it or, better yet, I just didn’t recognize it.

Many times I can moan and complain about a problem and not realize that the problem is a blessing and the real problem could be much worse. Then I see the hand of God staring me in the face!

Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. Gen 22:13

When Abraham was in the process of sacrificing his son, he was so focused on that he did not see what was behind him the whole time – a ram!

God had provided a blessing.
God had provided a solution.
God had provided a way out.
And Abraham just failed to see it.

Do not let the world distract you from what God wants you to see.

Abba, I definitely want every blessing You want for me. Help me see them today, in Jesus name, YES&AMEN

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God has Provided

God has never demanded anything from you that will allow you to provide salvation for yourself.

It is revealed that –

all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; Isa 64:6

So why would God demand a self-prescribed fix for you – a fix doomed to fail?
He wouldn’t!

Even the Law is not a cure for sin. Paul said,

I would not have known sin except through the law. Rom 7:7

So God’s demand for Abraham was not a sacrifice for sin. It was a method to increase the faith of Abraham.

A test is different from a temptation.
A temptation will entice you to sin.
A test will encourage you to do what is right.

A test will make you realize your dependence on God.

As Abraham said (and discovered) at his sacrifice of his own son, Isaac,

“God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. Gen 22:8

God did this for Abraham and has done this for you. Jesus is the Lamb of God provided for you. (John 1:29, 36; Acts 8:32; 1 Peter 1:19; Rev 5:6)

Abba, You have provided the way for me through Jesus! I am grateful! YES&AMEN

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The Sacrifice of a Child

And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Gen 22:10

Child sacrifice has been part of many civilizations and cultures from the earliest of time.

It would have been part of Abraham’s world and a part of worship that he and Sarah were denied, since they were childless.

It may have been they wanted children so bad they could not comprehend how others could so carelessly toss away those innocent lives to a god.

God’s calling came to Abraham and it removed him from the land of the Chaldeans to the land of the Canaanites.

In time Abraham and Sarah had a son, Isaac. For me the test of Abraham and Isaac is perhaps about Abraham’s giving of Isaac because he loves God as compared to the devotion of those pagans he left behind all those years ago; pagans that willingly gave their children to a god of wood or stone.

Then again, Abraham’s faith is in the ability of what God can do.

He concluded that God was able to raise [Isaac] up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. Heb 11:19

As for God, He gave His only Son for us.

He became sin for us!
He became despised for us!
He was rejected for us!
He was cursed for us!

That we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. John 3:16-17

Today children are still sacrificed but only for the god of selfishness. Abortion is a blight on our land and it is the demise of any civilization – when it’s citizens are destroyed even before they are born.

There is forgiveness, even after abortion!

If you know someone that has had an abortion, you could minister to them or at least pray for that person. Perhaps seek the council of a pregnancy help center for advice.

Abba, children are a blessing. Help me to touch the life of a child today or the life of someone that has loss one. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

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Trees

I love trees!

But about eight years ago a storm and straight wind pushed several over around our acreage, including the top of one pine that landed on the house. It was at that time Linda said she wanted every tree cut that could fall on the house.

That task was finally started and finished over the past few days, with the last few trees cut yesterday evening. Fourteen trees in all.

Now had all these been big majestic oaks or a bunch of fruit trees, I would be sad. But every tree was a pine, some as tall as fifty or sixty feet. Pines don’t give a lot of shade and needles and cones fall every where so I don’t count it as a great loss.

You know trees are mentioned throughout the Bible, beginning with the Tree of Life as well as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Noah made an ark from wood cut from trees. Daniel interpreted a dream about a tree that was cut down but the stump remained.

The Psalmist says that anyone that reads and meditates on God’s word,

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. Ps 1:3

It is written how the trees rejoice and praise God.

Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord. Ps 96:12

And the Lord Jesus both cursed a fig tree and was later hung on a tree.

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), Gal 3:13

What a sad day it must have been for that tree – that the Creator was killed upon it. But what a day for you to rejoice and praise God because Jesus did die upon that tree and three days later was resurrected.

Abba, Thank You for the sacrifice given on my behalf so that I may no longer live under the curse. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

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Lesson from an Ant

I have finally started cutting firewood. I’m just a tad behind my regular schedule of doing it, which usually starts in May/June so that it is well seasoned by the first fire!

It’s not that I’m lazy, I just haven’t felt like doing it, which may be another way of saying that I’ve been a bit lazy. I like to tell others that I’m not lazy – I’m just slow!

I’m also behind on redoing our bathroom. I bought a surround shower/tub and the wall board back in March. I haven’t done a thing with any of it.

I have not learned the lesson from an ant.

Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, O sluggard? Prov 6:6-9

I could make excuses about not getting anything done. I’m the praise leader and pastor of my church. So I’m responsible for getting the music and the sermons for Wednesday’s and Sunday’s, along with their presentation on multimedia. I also work full-time at two Christian radio stations.
Are you impressed?
Neither is my fireplace!

I’m not the only person that has this problem with laziness. I see it very often on Sunday’s.

In fact, I have some tell me that they wanted to come to church but just couldn’t get out of bed or just couldn’t get moving or just couldn’t get ready in time.

I’ll bet every excuse disappeared by work time Monday morning!

I will share some advice to those that just can’t make it to church and with those that just can’t get up to cut firewood – put one foot in front of the other and the body will follow!

Abba, I want to be more productive in these last days. In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

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Narrow & Broad

Everyone wants it easy.

Women once scrubbed clothes on a rub board to get them clean and hung them outdoors to dry.
Men chopped wood by hand to fuel a wood burning stove for cooking or to heat the home by fireplace.

Many modern conveniences were created to make life easier. Washer, dryer, dishwasher, microwave, electric or gas stoves, and chainsaws and wood splitters make everything easier and more convenient than before those items were created.

Look around your home right now and you will see many things that did not exist fifty years ago and probably a lot of things that did not exist five or ten years ago.

The problem is that people want an easy and convenient way to God.

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. Matt 7:13-14

When I think of narrow and broad, I think of a gymnast on a four inch wide balance beam doing handstands and flips. The balance beam is about the width of a landscape timber.
I certainly couldn’t do it. I would need something more broad like a 2×12.

In the same way, many evangelists and preachers have replaced the balanced beam way to salvation with a wider 2×12 doctrine – widening their “so-called” way to salvation.

Their way has become too easy and all inclusive.

The way of salvation doesn’t need to be made any simpler than what it is – faith in the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus.

Once you take that step you will realize the narrowness of the way. Yet the Lord will help you become sure-footed!

Abba, Your way is perfect and does not need me to improve or change it. I pray I will always tell others of THE way of salvation! In Jesus name, YES&AMEN

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Chronicled

Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 1 Kings 14:29

Can you imagine having every act you do chronicled? A chronicle is like a daily journal or a diary.

It’s one thing for you to write about yourself, “Dear Diary, I was awesome today! …”

It’s another thing to have someone else writing about you with your good days – AND YOUR BAD DAYS!

In the case of most rulers, their people were only allowed to mention the victories and great accomplishments with long paragraphs of praise. The losses of war and the agonies of defeat were given a mere mention.

But you don’t have a choice of how your life is written up. God is keeping a record of everything.

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 2 Cor 5:10

Your deeds will follow you – even what you say!

I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. Matt 12:36

But Jesus says,

“Behold, I make all things new.” Rev 21:5

Trusting in Him as your Lord and Savior will erase the past –

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Cor 5:17

Accept Jesus as Savior and change what is recorded about you.

Abba, thank You for Your grace and mercy that wipes away my horrid past. Thank You for the fresh start in Jesus. YES&AMEN

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Sukkot

It’s another Feast Day and the second blood moon of four. This one falls on Sukkoth and the eclipse was early this morning in the states.

Sukkoth is also known as the Feast of Booths or Feast of Tabernacles.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days to the Lord. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work on it. For seven days you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. It is a sacred assembly, and you shall do no customary work on it. Lev 23:33-36

It is a time of great celebration after the solemn Yom Kippur – Day of Atonement.

The Jews build temporary shelters to celebrate the occasion and Jesus was familiar with the day.

Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. John 7:2

You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come. John 7:8

Jesus has not yet fulfilled this Feast but the day is coming when He will.

It is written,

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Rev 21:3-4

To me, this is the final great act of God – to dwell with us and give us great comfort. It’s like coming home to security and reassurance.

Jesus is our Tabernacle.

Abba, I long for the fulfillment of the last three Feasts. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. YES&AMEN