A time to choose

You can ascribe to God's word or to government's word, but you can't do both. The days are here the battle lines are drawn you must choose a side. Not choosing is a choice for man It does not matter what ANY MAN may say about any issue, God has covered everything we may think of and pervert, God says we shall not murder, man says we may in the name of choice, 58 million murdered souls testify to this before the throne of God each day as more are murdered , now man says marriage is for all but God says this marriage is the union between a man and s woman, man says living together is fine but God says this sex is for marriage and anything outside of the confines of marriage as He designed it is sin, man says that if you feel like a woman be one if you feel like a man be one this is simply perversion God says that He created them male and female. Make no mistake you can doubt and mock what God says but there are eternal consequences. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 HCSB Don’t you know that the unjust  will not inherit God’s kingdom?  Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters,  adulterers,  or any kind of homosexual,  no thieves,  greedy  people, drunkards, verbally abusive people,  or swindlers  will inherit God’s kingdom. And some of you used to be like this.  But you were washed, you were sanctified,  you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

God's grace is greater

I have received God's grace more than any man I know. God in His loving kindness has poured upon my life His grace so thick that it consumes me and compels me to share Him every time He gives me the opportunity.

I grew up doing church , but I truly did not receive salvation until I was 33. I was angry with God because of who I thought He should be, and He was not.

I used the 10 commandments as stepping stones in my anger and broke them all to defy God and make Him hate me.

But God in His grace said I love you, I love you so much that I died for you to become the sacrifice for your sins.

God poured His love and grace on me and broke me.

I don't know your story but God does, this I know His grace and love is greater than your sins.

It is no coincidence that the last words God has John record in the Bible are these.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. Revelation 22:21

If you have not received God's grace yet, today is the day you need to ask Him to show you His love, mercy and grace.

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for to you do I cry all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. Give ear, O Lord , to my prayer; listen to my plea for grace. In the day of my trouble I call upon you, for you answer me. There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like yours. All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name. For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Teach me your way, O Lord , that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.

Psalms 86:3-13

Standing out in the crowd.

Living by faith, most say they do. But few actually follow through. When they are tested by fire they so easily bow as the crowds do and give in.

There have been men and women through the ages that have stood against the crowd walked through the fire and trusted God. Not all of them came through untouched by the flames. But they all came through with God at their side and went on to bigger and better things

I don't know if you're in the fire now, just came through the fire or are standing at the door of the furnace, but this I know you must decide if you are going to bow down to the god of this world, or trust the God of heaven and earth to see you through.

God is not looking for the crowd He is looking for those who will stand out from the crowd.

Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”  Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.  Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”  Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the burning fiery furnace; he declared, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here!” Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out from the fire. And the satraps, the prefects, the governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together and saw that the fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.

Daniel 3:15-27

Are we living as priests of God?

God set Israel aside to be His priests to the world, to be set apart to show the world His power, love and grace. He set the entire nation apart not just the Levite's.

But they became spiritually proud and failed even though time and time again God warned them and they swore they would listen.

God set Israel to the side because of their disobedience and hard stubborn hearts, He has blinded them to His truths but has kept a remnant for Himself for the end of days.

God called the Church to be His priest to the world through the complete work of Christ through His life, death and burial and resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven. He has called us to be set apart to obey His word and to take the gospel to the world.

We can see what happened to Israel for their spiritual pride, and disobedience but we do not see that we the Church are following the same path.

It is time that the Church get back to repentance and obedience, that we stand on the word of God, out of love not throwing down the law as a weapon but using it in our lives and to others to show that there is a  need for forgiveness and God has taken care of how we may be reconciled to Him and made to be with Him through Christ.

Take God at His word, trust Him and obey Him not in word alone but in every aspect of your life.

God will not be mocked, if we live outside of His ways and will, we are taking His name in vain, and that will not go unpunished.

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

Exodus 19:5-6

So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.  As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”  So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”  and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

1 Peter 2:1-11 ESV

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Exodus 20:7 ESV

Lingering in sin.

Sin, a word we are all familiar with. But it is more than a word it is a heart condition. It is a silent killer that daily destroys lives, marriages, and families

It dwells in each of us, we are born with it by nature and there is only one cure. Jesus Christ and His atonement, redemption and reconciliation with God the Father through Faith and Grace.

But we are resistant and we are stubborn and hooked on our sins. Like Lot in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, we want to stay where we are we linger when God says run, we negotiate with sinful desires when God says to stay away, we are blinded by our desire to please our selfish ways.

Read Genesis 19 today look at the entire picture here of how far sin will take a person, at some point people go beyond response and God turns them over to their gods, themselves.

Are you lingering around a certain sin today that God has told you to flee from? No matter how big or small it is , sin will hold you back from what God is doing, it will take you further than you ever thought you would go, and it will leave you for dead once it has used you as it's slave.

Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place. For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord , and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. And as they brought them out, one said, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away.” And Lot said to them, “Oh, no, my Lords. Behold, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die.

Genesis 19:12-13, 15-19

Where to find Peace

Pursuing peace .joy, and happiness seems to be the way to go, after all if we had these things life would be grand.

The problem is if you're pursuing these goals, and not God you will never obtain them, for they are only found in Him.

We may find temporary peace, joy and happiness but everlasting peace , joy and happiness is what we need to live in a world scarred by death, destruction and pain.

Whether your goals are temporary, or eternal determines where you look for peace, joy and happiness.

Jonathan Edwards said this. "This is the main difference between the joy of the hypocrite and the joy of the true saint. The former rejoices in himself, the latter rejoices in God”

Psalm 16:2-11 I say to the Lord , “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.