Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover. WOW!

A-MA-ZING!!!!!!! Ray Comfort meets Larry at the Huntington Beach pier (south of Los Angeles). Not only am I amazed by his testimony of Salvation, but to also not to judge. A verse that he quoted came to mind, 1 Samuel 16:7 "“Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”". Thank you brother Larry for that lesson!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See you in the clouds!

 

5 Things God Wants You To Know

I uploaded a pamphlet my husband had saved for years. It's a succinct 2-page document called Five Things God Wants You To Know by the late pastor Nick Michalinos.

If you have not yet come to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, in this the time the world celebrates His birth, I ask that you take just a few minutes to read this. Click the link above, it's a PDF.

We all come to Him lost, so don't think you have to wait until you get your life straightened out, or until you can give money to the church. Tomorrow may be too late. Please read it and Merry Christmas to all!

WHY Study Prophecy?

Many Christians think it's useless to study prophecy. If they believe God's will is sovereign they figure His perfect will is working itself out, so what's the point of studying it?!?

Since the Bible is sufficient for all, we go to it (as always) to see what is true:

1. Thankfully God answers this in no uncertain terms right at the beginning of the ultimate book of prophecy (and of the Bible itself) - Revelation 1:3 "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near. " A BLESSING is given to those who pay attention to prophecy - why? Because "the time is near.", the end-time, time of judgment and thankfully to those who are saved, the time of rapture before the judgment!
2. If you know anything about end-times prophecy at all, you can see the signs working themselves out exactly as Jesus told us in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 (undeniable "birth pangs" such as earthquakes, plagues, famines, etc. All of which even non-Christian sources admit to having increased in the last few years.
   
3. As we see "future" prophecy coming to fruition in OUR OWN time we become like the sons of Isaachar (1Chronicles 12:32) as "men who understood the times"! In Matthew 16:3 Jesus Himself pointed to the foolishness of those who did not know God's word, and thus did not recognize Him as the promissed Messiah - they were UNLIKE the sons of Issachar - they could figure out the signs in the skies but could not see the coming of the Savior. This He said when the Pharisees and Saducees requested a sign from heaven that He was indeed the Messiah: "And in the morning [you say], 'There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? "
4. We know not to fear and indeed to be glad when we see these things as they are signs to us that our redemption is close, that we will be raptured from the Great Tribulation and Jesus is soon to come! Luke 21:9 "When you hear of wars and disturbances [rumors of wars], do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately."
   

Rapture Passages (just a few):

• 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.
• Matthew 24:31 "And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. "
• Mark 13:26-27 "Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN CLOUDS with great power and glory. And then He will send forth the angels, and will gather together His elect from the four winds, from the farthest end of the earth to the farthest end of heaven."

Maranatha!

Jesus Prayed For YOU!

A study in John 17, Jesus' prayer before he was arrested shows us that Jesus not only prayed for the disciples He also prayed for those who would someday be saved by the teaching of the Gospel.

In verses 20-23 of John chapter 17 Jesus prayed for YOU blessed believer! He prayed: [emphasis mine]

John 17:20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word;
John 17:21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
John 17:22 "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one;
John 17:23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

That's pretty awesome! In our day to day living we often get bogged down with the worries, deceptions, challenges of earthly living and we forget that the one who foreknew us, who knows every hair on our head prayed for us long before we ever existed!

Death

Faced with an imminent death in the family I went to the Scriptures to find comfort and answers. This is by no means a complete list of what the Bible says about death and what happens afterwards, it's only a fraction, and I have focused on this post only on life after the death of the believer in Jesus Christ. The fate of those souls who die without Christ is also thoroughly addressed in the Scriptures, but that's another post.

You don't have to be afraid of death if you have trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. We are in this world as aliens in a foreign land. Our physical death is merely the BEGINNING of our true life! Just as the death of Christ was a triumph rather than a tragedy, so is our death in Christ!

What the Bible Teaches

We Don't Belong In This World:

(Phillipians 1:21-24) [the Apostle Paul said] For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.

(Ephesians 2:18-19) - for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household,

(2Corinthians 5:20) we are ambassadors for Christ

(1Peter 1:1) Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout ... who are chosen

(1Peter 2:11) Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul.

What Jesus said about death:

(John 11:25-26) "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die, Do you believe this?

(John 5:24) Truly, truly, I say unto you, he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life

(John 8:52) 'If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.'

(Revelation 2:11) 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.' [(Revelation 20:6) Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection [physical death]; over these the second death [hell] has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

What Death Means to a Believer in Christ Jesus:

(2Timothy 1:10) revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel

(Romans 8:38-39) For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

(Hebrews 2:14-5) that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

(1John 3:14) We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.

(1Corinthians 15:54-55) But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?"

(2Corinthians 1:9-10) we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us

(Hebrews 2:9) But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.

(Ecclesiastes 7:1) the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth.

Death in perspective (everything gets BETTER for the believer after death, not worse!):

(Phillipians 1:21) - "to live is Christ, to die is gain".['To die' communicates profit because upon death there is union with Christ and with the new life which has no limitations of physical illness, age, money, location, etc. ]

(2 Corinthians 5:1-8) For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven.... Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge [a promise]. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- for we walk by faith, not by sight--...[Christians] are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

(Psalm 116:11, 15) In Your presence is fullness & joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever......Precious [valuable] in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones.

(1Thessalonians 4:13-18) But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope [the unsaved]. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

(Hebrews 2:15) and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

When the believer dies he:

(at death a believer is IMMEDIATELY in Jesus' Presence...to a believer in Jesus Christ, physical death is only the beginning of life)

(2 Corinthians 5:6-9) while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- [we] prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

(Ecclesiastes 12:5,7) Man goes to his eternal home, the spirit will return to God who gave it

(Psalm 23:4, 6) - "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me...I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

(Romans 8:2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

Also:

(1Corinthians 15:26) The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

(2 Samuel 12:22-23) King David, after his child died (1st child he had with Bathsheeba - taken by God as punishment for David's great sins of adultery and murder) said: "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept....but now he has died...can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me". He knew he would see his child again after his own death! So will we be reunited with our loved ones in Christ Jesus.

The Final Word on Death (literally):

(Revelation 21:4) and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."

Work > Blessings > Sharing

Ephesians 4:28 says "He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have {something} to share with one who has need."

James 4:3 says " You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend {it} on your pleasures."

It seems too many people, even Christians in our society feel a sense of entitlement from God. I admit I myself had read the passage above many times without noticing the Eph 4:28 part which I have emphasized in bold letters above. Too many of us live as if and truly think we DESERVE a better house, job, car, etc. As Isaiah 64:6 teaches us, the BEST of our actions still leaves us as filthy rags ... and nothing but the acceptance of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ will save us from our own sins.

Maranatha

Sometimes you may hear or see the term "Maranatha" used. Do you know what it means and where it came from?

To the best of my knowledge, Maranatha is a Greek transliteration of an Aramaic word meaning "Our Lord come". It may have been used by early Christians as a greeting and a goodbye, much like the Italian "ciao" or Hebrew "shalom" of today.

The word occurs only once in the New Testament at the closing of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians (I Cor. 16:22): "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha."

Strong's Greek Dictionary explains it as such:
G3134
μαρὰν ἀθά
maran atha
mar'-an ath'-ah
Of Chaldee origin (meaning our Lord has come); maranatha, that is, an exclamation of the approaching divine judgment: - Maran-atha.

In the penultimate verse of the Bible Jesus Himself uses a form of this word in Rev 22:20 "He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."

Of this John Wesley wrote:
Rev 22:20 - [He who testifies to these things] - Even all that is contained in this book. Saith - For the encouragement of the church in all her afflictions. Yea - Answering the call of the Spirit and the bride. I come quickly - To destroy all her enemies, and establish her in a state of perfect and everlasting happiness. The apostle expresses his earnest desire and hope of this, by answering, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!