Revelation 11: The Seventh Trumpet

The Seventh Trumpet

The seventh trumpet sounded and the loud voices that came from Heaven said in Revelation 11:15 "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." What does this mean? This means that the kingdom of the world belongs to Jesus. But the world isn't one kingdom as it has 7 continents (currently) and many countries with different rulers and methods of governing. But once that 7th trumpet sounds, Jesus will rule all. It won't matter what continent or country you live in. No matter what city, town or state, Jesus will have rule over all. Not for a short while. Not for a week. Not for a year, but "forever and ever."

PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS! 

Wednesday Wake Up #34

What Do I Get?

There are conversations I have had with people regarding their life situations and the Christ-like, God honoring response to an issue rather than the typically unfiltered human reaction. The question that usually comes from a conversation like that is "But why would I do that?" Basically, they are having an issue with not being encouraged to just respond the way that they are accustomed. They don't see the benefit in responding in a way that honors God or shows that they are a disciple/follower of Christ. I will say this, if you are a Christ follower then your focus should not be on "why be loving" but on "how can I be loving?"

Ask yourself "how do I serve the Kingdom of God (in terms of serving those who are poor and less fortunate). If you do not, can you? Of course you can. Maybe you truly cannot afford to buy the homeless food, but one thing people need is time. Would you ever spare some time? Can you spend some time once a month with the homeless in a shelter or some sort of function? You can. Maybe not the homeless, what about the elderly? Kids? The sick? The poor? There are all types of people who could use financial help or just some time. What can you do? Something. If you need some encouragement, read Proverbs 21:13 and know that when you hear that the poor need help and you answer it benefits you. But do it out of love, not obligation.

What about the problems we have with people? There are ways to respond and ways to not respond. First, think about James 1:19 and remember to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. We might think "But they said 'x-y-z'. I cant let them get away with that. My response is, look at how Jesus responded to the Pharisees. Read through the gospels and examine the responses Jesus had. When he "lost his cool" it was because people were being cheated in the church which was also being used for non church/God things. When it comes to people we have to remember to look at the perspective of not just what is best for us personally, but what benefits others and honors God. In Philippians 2:4 we read "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." In verse 3 Paul writes "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." So when you question "what's in it for me", rethink that and turn it into "how can I honor God?"

PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!

Galatians 4: Slaves and Sons

Slaves and Sons

Being under the law instead of under grace makes you a slave. A slave to the law. As I stated before, when it came to the law, you basically had to be perfect. There is no grace in the law. It is just the law. Either you broke it or kept it. There is no "well just this time" or "if you do it one more time" kind of warnings or grace. It was the law, so there was no space for grace. In verse 7 we understand that we are no longer slaves (under the law) but we are sons (daughters and offspring) of God and therefore heirs to the kingdom. In verses 21-31, Paul breaks down the difference between the slave son (law) from Hagar and the son of a promise from Sarah (grace through Jesus) and which one was blessed. 

PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!

2 Corinthians 11: False Teachers and Humility

False Teachers and Humility

In verses 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, Paul separates himself from teachers who claim to be the same as he is. He calls them false apostles, deceitful and they are disguising themselves. Paul is telling the church at Corinth to beware of these people and not assume that they are the same as Paul who may not be as good of a speaker, but possesses the knowledge. Paul is trying to save them from being led astray. He says that even Satan disguises himself so it would be obvious that his servants would disguise themselves too. 

Lastly, Paul does not like to boast. He has been known to tell his stories of his experiences and he has been told that he is bragging and boasting. Paul says in verse 30 that if he were to boast it would be in his weaknesses. In those weaknesses it can be seen that God is the King of all and turn those weaknesses into strengths to honor his Kingdom. Amen.

PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!

Friday Focus #16

Avoiding Hurts Doesn't Help

Have you ever heard the saying "hurt people, hurt people"? It simply means that people who have been hurt and are still hurting emotionally will go about hurting other people. In essence it creates a domino effect of hurt. I get hurt by someone and then I go on and say or do something to someone else that hurts them. The cycle continues. But, I ask you, is that the life God wants from you? Does God want you to go around being hurt? Does He want you to go around hurting others? Or does God want you to heal from that emotional pain?

One thing avoiding hurt does is it can eat at us. It can gnaw away at who we have become in Christ and slowly evolve us into someone else that has seemingly forgotten what Christ means to us. When carrying a hurt we can overeat, drink alcohol in excess, use drugs, even go on shopping sprees. All of these things (and others) can serve as band aids to the hurt that we feel when we think of that person, that time frame in our personal history or what was done/said that hurt us. When you break a bone, you don't put a band aid on it, you get surgery if necessary or at least a cast. But a band aid to a major problem does nothing. God wants you to stop putting band aids on your hurts. God wants us to come to Him for all things. We see that truth in Matthew 9:20-22. The woman who had had a monthly flow for 12 years believed that if she just barely touched Jesus's clothes that she could be healed. He acknowledged her when she touched his clothes and told her that her faith has made her well. Jesus wants us to reach out to him when we are hurt emotionally or sick physically. 

Tell God what is going on with you. Tell Him about what happened. You can complain to God. He can take it. He wants to hear from you the same way you want to hear from your own children (if you have them) if they have some hurt in their life. God wants to comfort us and heal our broken hearts (Psalm 147:3). Write down what bothers you. Put it in a journal if need be. For things in the past, try to remember that they are not still happening to you. Stop reliving that hurt too. Be around people who encourage you to do and be what God wants from you. Thinking about it often or all the time doesn't help to heal you which means you cannot be who you need to be for God's Kingdom. Be well, be with God.

PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!

John 11:4- The Glory of God

The Glory of God

The more we read scripture the more we understand how Jesus was focused and how we should focus.

When Lazarus died, people thought that Jesus who had healed a blind man could have saved Lazarus from dying (John 11:37). Once again we see "naysayers" looking at things from the outside rather than with real righteousness (God's will). The focus is to glorify God through what we do, not appease people's opinions and thoughts on what we should do.

In John 11:4, Jesus said “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” That means this is not "it" for Lazarus. This isn't the end and God will be glorified through it. People came to Jesus in order for him to save Lazarus. He waited two more days before he left to see Lazarus. Why did he wait two days?? Look at it this way, the Pharisees were going to critique him and question everything Jesus does any way. If Jesus was to hurry and heal Lazarus, then the Pharisees could say that Lazarus wasn't really dying and probably would have attributed it to some medical anomaly. When Lazarus died Jesus was able to glorify the Kingdom through the Son of Man (himself) being able to resurrection and showcase the the power in him as he is God in the flesh.

I know it is hard to relate the works of Jesus and various parables to our life and see how we can see the sin in our lives and what in our lives is not focused on obedience to God.  I look at it like this, there are hard times and really, really tough times that we can go through in life and it just seems like there is no end to it and the world is crashing down around you. You cry out to God to save you and nothing happens. You pray day and night and nothing changes, or things get worse. Now you start to think "does God even exist or is He ignoring me?" Look at it this way, what am I doing in my life that is leading to death? Maybe not physical death, but maybe it is. Maybe it is emotional death? Maybe spiritual death? Jesus needs to be allowed to work in your life. That means you will need to see what it is he wants from you. You can believe all you want, but when you believe the actions follow. God wants you to follow Him and submit to Him. If you do not there will be more "death" in your life. It is time to submit to God's will for all parts of your life.

PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!

Wednesday Wake Up #9

Service When Stressed

For the last few weeks I have had several stressors in my life and a big one which was a lot of school work. That sense of stress felt very overwhelming. I felt like I wasn't going to get everything finished or tended to. I even had two dreams/nightmares Saturday night that my projects were not completed by the rights dates and were incomplete. Pretty scary stuff. But today I realized, after 80% of the stress was completed, I really had been focusing on myself for a while. I wasn't making time to spend with people. I would have a phone call here or there, but I wasn't making time to sit with people face to face. I also wasn't serving in areas where God has shaped me. I was focusing WAY TOO MUCH on myself. Then Monday night, I went for a drive and passed by a homeless man sitting on a bus stop with what appeared to be all of his belongings. Before I left the house I took a cold water bottle with me. I keep these water bottles with me for the homeless people that I see. I was able to give that homeless man that cold water bottle. He didn't speak much English, but was able to say thank you.

When we serve, it is not out of pressure from others. We serve out of our hearts and souls with our body in alignment with God's will in Christ's name for the benefit of those in need to glorify the Kingdom. Matthew 25:40, Jesus tells us that what we do for the least of his brothers (all people) then it is like doing it for him. We don't serve for photo opportunities or to brag about it on social media, we serve out of love, plain and simple.

By serving in this way, I get to see how something so simple and easy something easy for me can mean so much to someone else. I repeated what I did by giving out two more water bottles last night to another homeless man who resides on a bus stop by my school. I even put the bottles in the freezer for a bit so they would be cool for him when he received them. I do this out of love and their necessity to honor God. The next time you feel stressed, try taking the focus off of yourself and put it onto something else that God could want from you. If you don't know what it is like to know that you have been serving a purpose, I can't explain it, but it is very humbling.

How will you be serving in the future?

PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!

Luke 18:17- Receive the Kingdom like a Child

Receive the Kingdom like a Child

Children depend on their parents and guardians for many things. Children need food and shelter and clothing and most importantly love. Children need guidance too. How can a child come to know Jesus and who he was if the parents do not tell or lead the child?

The disciples were trying to stop the children from being brought to Jesus. But Jesus corrected their actions and said "Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."

Jesus wants us to be humble when we seek the Kingdom. Children receive God's blessing without pretending they don't need it. We need God. We need His will ion our lives. Children are dependent on parents like we should be dependent on God for all we need. 


PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS!

Wednesday Wake Up #4

Is Being A Good Person Good Enough?

I have heard that far too many people who refer to themselves as Christians think that in order to get to Heaven they just need to be a "good person." That thinking makes me question what a good person really is. I know "good people"  but there are times that they have done bad things. Then again, I have known "bad" people who have done good things.

Is a good person someone who always volunteers at shelters for the homeless and visits sick people in hospitals? Are bad people only the ones who break major laws? What about people who lie; are they bad? What about white lies? Aren't those okay?

There are so many questions and ways to try to figure out who is good and who is bad, but God is not concerned with who is good or bad, He wants you to put Him first in all things (see Matthew 6:33). Everything? Yes! Everything!

If we go back to the 10 Commandments, we see that the first commands are all about God and us honoring Him by having no other gods before Him, have no false idols (worship nothing other than God), do not take the Lord's name in vain and last, we are to keep the Sabbath (take a day off from working as God did when making the universe). Those are not the last four commandments, but the first four. God told Moses to relay that message and keep his commands about our relationship to Him FIRST. The second set are all about our relationships with people.

Jesus had an encounter with a young rich man in Matthew 19:16-26. The young rich man wanted to know how to get to Heaven. He thought that since he kept all the commandments then he would be able to spend eternity with Jesus in Heaven. Jesus in the end told the man to sell all of his possessions. The man couldn't do it and went away sad because he had great possessions. We learn from this, that no matter how great of a person you have been in your own eyes, God knows more. God wants you to dedicate yourself to Him and His will. When confronted with that many of us will just walk away.

More on that on Friday....


PLEASE SEE THE LOGOS AND LINKS BELOW TO SHARE THIS VIA EMAIL, TWITTER, FACEBOOK, PINTEREST, AND GOOGLE PLUS. THANKS.

Matthew 24:4-5- False Messiah

Matthew 24:4-5 "Jesus answered: 'Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many." commentary- Jesus, in describing the destruction of the temple and the sign of the end of times, states that many will come after Jesus saying that they are him, in the flesh. Jesus warns the disciples not to believe it when people say "he is here" or he is over there."

We know when Jesus will come back by reading Revelation 1:6-7 "and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

 “Look, he is coming with the clouds,”
    and “every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him”;
    and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”
So shall it be! Amen."

Know God's word so you are not lead astray by false teachers caught up in the world. Here are a few examples of exactly what Jesus was warning us about 2000 years ago. I included photos an links to youtube videos of them underneath the photos.

Alan John Miller and Mary Suzanne Luck

False Jesus named Jose Luis De Jesus Miranda

David Koresh the false Son of Man

Matthew 19:16- The Rich and the Kingdom of God

Matthew 19:16 "Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, 'Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?'” commentary- This man wants to know what to do to get into Heaven. He recognizes Jesus as the authority which is why he calls him teacher. Jesus replies and tells him only "One who is good." The "o" in one was capitalized to show that only God was good (God is the One Jesus referred to). Jesus told the man if he wanted to enter life then he should keep the commandments. The man wanted to know how to enter Heaven but Jesus gave him the examples of how to enter life to show the difference between earthly existence and the kingdom of Heaven. The man asked which of the commandments to keep and Jesus points out six of the commandments that have nothing to do with relation to God being number one. The man says he has kept all these commandments and Jesus then tells him to sell his belongings and follow him. The man went away sad because since he had great wealth, he did not want to sell his "things." His things were far too important to remove in order to follow Christ.

Jesus goes on to explain that a rich man entering the kingdom of God is harder than getting a camel through the eye of a needle. But with God all things are possible. So Jesus is not saying that you have to be broke in order to get into the kingdom of Heaven, but if you are rich and are afraid to or refuse to give up what prevents you from following Christ, then the kingdom of Heaven is not attainable for you. He wants our obedience whether we are poor or rich.

Matthew 7:21

Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of  heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." commentary- Jesus here is referring to those  who claim one thing verbally (as it pertains to doing God's will), but in their heart they are not focused on God's will. You can see how others live for God's will  by the fruit they produce. Does the Holy Spirit run their life or is it their own passion & selfish desires?