Category: Tim McNab
The Prophet and the Donkey
Numbers 22: 31 Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.
Do you sometime feel you are standing in your own way?
![60-wrong-way[1]](http://www.restoringgodstruth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/60-wrong-way1.jpg)
Have you ever wanted to go some where and all most went to the wrong place, because you found you were going in the wrong direction.
I missed my plane at an airport in Paris once, I wanted to get on a plane going to Brussels but somehow I was waiting at the gate for one going to Brazil. Has this ever happen to you while you are traveling, don’t feel you are all alone. We are born going the wrong way because of sin, and it is Jesus who puts us back on track.
How many time do we miss the Signs that God has giving us to direct and guide, all because we become careless as Christians.
In the Bible we are told that there is only one thing that is importance, and that is to follow Jesus. There is nothing else that Matters.
But it is so easy to become careless, when place ourselves on satanic ground
We sometimes try to get things that God know it not good for us, because it will not lead us closer to Him; but father away from him.
The world strive for more everyday, everyday you see people who are court up in a world of making more, weather it is more Cars, more Houses, more Land, more Crops, more Investments, More, More, More, MONEY.
I once asked a rich man how much is enough, he look at me for a while and then said, until, I said until what, he said until I have it ALL.
So I then asked, when you get it all, what are you going to do with it. Try to get more?
Mark:8: 36:
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
As Christ representative how are we supposed to look each day? How are we supposed to act each day?
Many times a person life may be determined just but the way we act or look in a giving situation.
One day the Pastor told me that there was a complaint about me, I ask him what is was, he told me that a cretin Man who told him he will never come back to Church again because of the way I looked at him. I was floored by what he said; I don’t understand I told him.
He told me that one Sabbath after study service was over; I was coming down the hall getting ready to go up and start the worship service with the other Elder. This Man was standing in the Hall and he looked at me and said I looked back at him, and he could read the expression on my Face “by the way I looked back at him” that I did not want anything to do with him, that I through little of him.
This all happened a few years ago while I was in the middle of Radiation and Chemo treatment the second time.
I know I was not the best persons to be around at that time in my Life, even my Children moved out of the house. Most days I should have not even came to Church, but I did because it made me fell better then just sitting at home. But I wish now that I would have stay home that day, because of an expression of my face there is a person who may never come to know Jesus.
It is hard, but it is true; that it does not matter if the expression on my face was because of Pain, Sorrow, Sickness, Suffering, or just Contempt. He read something in my Face that should not have been there, and a soul may become lost because of it.
How about with doing Gods will, do we sometime jump the gun, and take off running with our fully listening to what Gods is saying.
How easy is it to misinterpret what Gods real plan is when we are bent on doing something we want to do. I am sure that no one here has that problem.
Lets go to the Book of Numbers Chapter 22: and see if any other Christian had this problem
1: And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in the plains of Moab on this side Jordan by Jericho.
We find here that the Children of Israel had not yet intern into the promise Land, for we are told that they were still on the other side of the Jordon in the plains of Moab.
Now if you were the King of that country and all of a sudden a large amount of People just showed up and camped in your back yard, how would you fell about it?
To make matters worse, you hear all kinds of stories about them and how there God goes before them. In fact you hear stories about how they have walk through Rivers of water on dry-land, how they eat food that come down from the Heavens, and how there God goes before them into battle.
This would make you pretty up-set would it not? Balak was indeed up-set!
2: And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
The Amorites were a strong people in the Land, but were powerless to stand before the Children of Israel when God was with them. Notice: I said when God was with them
This is a good lesion for us today, we should only fight the battle for God when he is with us, don’t try and do it on you own
3: And Moab was sore afraid of the people, because they were many: and Moab was distressed because of the children of Israel.
They were afraid and they were scared because they have seen what had happen to the Amorites and figure it will also happen to them next.
4: And Moab said unto the elders of Midian, Now shall this company lick up all that are round about us, as the ox licketh up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of the Moabites at that time.
Normally when an approaching army comes and besieges a City, they pretty much eat off the Land and do what ever they want. Because there were no re-enforcement in those days
But this was not Balak main concern, his main concern was that Israel was going to defeat all the Kings round about them, and it would only be a matter of time before he to would have to defend his kingdom.
Now let me ask, was God fair in his dealing with these Kingdoms?
Did they have the opportunity to know who God was?
Did they have the knowledge of the great God of Creation?
How do we know that the knowledge of God existed in that part of the world, look at verse #5, what does it say the King did.
5: He sent messengers therefore unto Balaam the son of Beor to Pethor, which is by the river of the land of the children of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, there is a people come out from Egypt: behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide over against me:
I just love the way this King describes the people of God, there is a day coming when the people of God will again cover the face of the whole earth.
6: Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.
The King knew and understood one thing, he had a big problem on his hand and this Man was in contact with the one person who could help.
What he did not know was that this same God was the one bringing these people into his homeland because they had refused to acknowledge him as there Lord and Master.
Moab was a descendent of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. So they had ever opportunity just like we do today to know God, but they do just like we do, they choose to turn away from God and serve another Master.
Jesus well said in the Book of Matthew 12:
30: He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
The people of Moab knew who Jehovah was but they choose the pleasures of sin for a season rather then to serve the God of creation, so the cup of there transgressions had finally reached it limit.
We too have the same problems; we too choose the pleasures of sin, rather then to give God not only our Life, but our Time, our Money, and our, Heart.
The Day of Judgment will come when we lease expect it, and rather then asking God for his forgiveness the world like Balak will search and hope to find someone who can curse the people of God who dire stand in there way.
Now the King is sending his delegate, his diplomat, his representative, his ambassador, what every you may want to call them; on a very special mission.
Numbers 22:
7: And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand; and they came unto Balaam, and spake unto him the words of Balak.
So they are doing what the people of this world would do when in trouble and need a quick fix.
How many times when you are having a problem do you look for a quick fix. You don’t need to raise your hands; it is just about all of us at times, right.
We are always looking the fast way out rather then having to stay in for the long hall. The King of Moab was no different he needed a quick fix so he is sending now for Balaam’s help.
Now let’s take a close look at the Man of God and what he is going to say to this envoy of people from the Moab
8: And he said unto them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as the LORD shall speak unto me: and the princes of Moab abode with Balaam. Way to go
As Christian we should never take matters into our own hands. Always before entering into a matter we should make it a time of prayer and seeking to know God will. Here we have a very good example of how to handle every type of situation.
9: And God came unto Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee?
I am sure God did not need to ask Balaam who these men were or what they were doing there. But God always gives us a chance to explain the matter in clarity, so that God and Man are talking on the same terms and we can’t say later “I did not understand”.
10: And Balaam said unto God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, hath sent unto me, saying,
11: Behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth: come now, curse me them; peradventure I shall be able to overcome them, and drive them out.
Balaam also knew who these people were and he also knew that the Lord God was bringing them out of Egypt to possess the land before them.
12: And God said unto Balaam, Thou shalt not go with them; thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed.
Case is now settled and the matter is closed, right.
13: And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said unto the princes of Balak, Get you into your land: for the LORD refuseth to give me leave to go with you.
Now I have a problem here with the way Balaam handles this, I think he should have used better words then the Lord refused to give me leave.
Maybe something like; you better get home and get your house in order because the Lord God of Israel is going to give your Land to the people before you, and don’t call on me again.
In the way Balaam answer these men he left an opening for the King of Moab to come back. He left an opening for satin to inter, for he wanted to please God but he also wanted to please the King of Moab, who was to give him a very lard reward.
14: And the princes of Moab rose up, and they went unto Balak, and said, Balaam refuseth to come with us.
Balaam just needed to find a way around God not letting him go to claim this reward; after all he could do a lot of good with that kind of money.
He could build a School, go on a missionary trip, and maybe even hold some evangelistic seminars right there in the mist of all these Idolatry nations. BUT God does not need Money he needs a people who are faithful to him in every aspect.
15: And Balak sent yet again princes, more, and more honourable than they.
16: And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus saith Balak the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming unto me:
When people are bent on doing something there way, they will stop at nothing, even selling themselves to achieve what they want
17: For I will promote thee unto very great honour, and I will do whatsoever thou sayest unto me: come therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people.
This is the reward Balaam was hoping for; if he could curse these people for the King of Moab and get paid before the children of Israel invade Moab he could take is easy for the rest of his live.
But Balaam knew one thing, it was not up to him, he must inquire of God.
18: And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the LORD my God, to do less or more.
Does God change his mind, do we need a second time to go and ask God it is still Not OK to go.
How do you feel when your Children come to you and ask?
Dad I know you said No on this; but I want to check to see if it is now OK.
People may change, but God does not, if God told you to go,
you need to ask what’s stopping you, and if God told you to not to go,
you need to shut it down fast.
19: Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what the LORD will say unto me more.
Balaam knew who these people were he knew that God was with them and he knew God was going to answer him the same way.
20: And God came unto Balaam at night, and said unto him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, and go with them; but yet the word which I shall say unto thee, that shalt thou do.
Now please notices what God told him” If these men come to call thee, rise up” and go with them
Here is a big problem with many of good Christian people of God
These men knew that God would not give Balaam permission to go with them and so they did not go to inquire of Balaam but broke camp and made ready to depart.
When Balaam learned this what did he do?
![RidingDonkey[1]](http://www.restoringgodstruth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/RidingDonkey1.jpg)
21: And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.
Balaam did not wait for the men to come and ask, he was ready that morning to go with them; He was standing in the wrong line, waiting to go to the wrong place.
This happens when we know what God will is but we try and input our own will instead. Balaam did the same thing we do; and that is to try and rationalize what God said.
Good Christian people everyday try and explain what God is saying rather then just paying attention to the words in God Holy Book, just read it for yourselves.
God was not pleased with the actions of Balaam.
Balaam was double-minded, pursuing a course to gain and retain the favor and honor of the enemies of the Lord, for the sake of rewards he received from them.
At the same time he was professing to be a prophet of God. Because the Idolatrous nations believed that curses might be uttered which would affect individuals, and even whole nations.
22: And God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.
If there were every a Man between a Rock and a Hard place I believe Balaam found it.
23: And the ass saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.
Any one here have a Donkey, not only are they ugly but they are about the most stubbing animal there is; the only reason to ride one is because it is better then walking.
I am sure in Gods eyes sometimes we are just like Donkeys
24: But the angel of the LORD stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side.
25: And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall: and he smote her again.
Balaam did not know what was happing, but that pore little Donkey new, and he wanted nothing to do with the Angle who stood in the path he was going in.
26: And the angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.
27: And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.
This kind of reminds us of what happen when we are in traffic and there is a slow poke in front of you and you just want to beat them out of the way.
Now please notice what the Lord does here.
28: And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?
Balaam is so mad that he does not even realize he is talk to the Donkey,
29: And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.
30: And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay.
As he now starts to realize what is going on by the way the Donkey is speaking to him, God open his eyes
31: Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.
32: And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me:
The Angle told him, Because your ways was wicked before me:
33: And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive.
34: And Balaam said unto the angel of the LORD, I have sinned; for I knew not that thou stoodest in the way against me: now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get me back again.
Balaam sure changes his tune now. Why do we have to wait for an Angle of God to knock us off our Donkey before we start to go the right way. (And there is another word I would like to use in place of the word Donkey), Paul had to get knock his Hose
35: And the angel of the LORD said unto Balaam, Go with the men: but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak. So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.
Here is a solemn warning for the people of God today, to allow no un-Christian trait to live in our hearts. A sin which is cultivated becomes habitual; and, strengthened by repetition, it soon exerts a controlling influence, bringing into subjection all the nobler powers.
Balaam loved the reward of unrighteousness. The sin of covetousness, which God ranks with idolatry, he Balaam did not resist and overcome.
Satan obtained entire control of him through this one fault, which deteriorated his character, and made him a time-server. He called God his master; but he did not serve Him; he did not work the works of God
There are a lot of times in life we try and go our own way and do our own thing, forgetting that God is right there everyday watching his children.
We sometimes go where we should not go, and do things we should not, even look at someone the wrong way.
We as Christian must always be on guard against the attack of satin, sometimes when we know the will of God we too like Balaam want to go when God is saying stop.
We are sometimes just like Balaam when we want to follow our own way rather then following God way. Sometime we make excuses or try and put words in God mouth of what he has not told us to do,
We need to make sure we are following Jesus, following the Cross and not following the world.
If you follow the world it will lead you to destruction just like it did to Balaam, but if we follow Jesus he will lead us to eternal life is a land that eye’s have not seen and ear’s have not heard of.
God Bless
Elder Tim McNab
Restoring Gods Truth
You Are What You Eat!
Did you ever hear someone say these words to you before?
What do they really mean?
Are we to believe we are what we eat, or we eat what we are?
I have heard a lot of different sermons on this subject, but my question is this what does the Bible and the Bible only say about food?
We hear everyday someone preaching on the Radio or we see them on the TV, and most of the time what they are saying really sounds good. They are even giving Scriptures to back up the opinion that was made.
But you know what, “I found that you could take the bible and use a few scriptures and make it say whatever you want it to say”. “Is that not what satin does all the time?”
Because we form our own opinion about a subject, or because we were tart a subject in a way that you could never see truth, unless the Holy Spirit is your guide.
Well we are going to look at what the Bible say about Food, not what I say or the preacher on the Radio said about it.
We will let Gods book speak for itself on the matter.
First of all we need some rules:
Rule #1
The Bible and the Bible alone will interpret itself, it does not need mans help!
Rule #2
If in doubt see rule #1
How should we study the word of God?
First Let’s have Prayer:
You should never open the word of God with out first asking for his spirit to guide you into all truth
If you find something hard to understand you should never give up and except what the world said about it, keep searching till you understand the meaning.
We are going to jump in head first by looking at the Book of Leviticus:
I will be using a lot of Scripture today and it may not be possible for you to keep up, so if you like I will make available free of charge to anyone a copy of this sermon.
Leviticus 11
1: And the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them,
2: Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.
Here we have God saying to Moses, I am going to show you something Moses if you want to live a better life and a longer life, do what I tell you. There are beasts I have created that are ok to eat and there are beasts that are not ok to eat.
I am going to show you that there is a different between them.
3: Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.
No need to be a professor to understand what that just said, right. God did say that what is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud among the beasts (Mammals) are OK to use as food. Is that clear?
4: Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the hoof: as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.
5: And the coney, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.
6: And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.
7: And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud;he is unclean to you.
God said that all Mammals as described above are not clean and you should not eat them. Is that clear?
Now God goes on to tell Moses the same thing is true of all I created in the Sea
9: These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.
10: And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:
When God said something is an Abomination people need to wake-up a smell the Coffee.
What is another word for Abomination, “eyesore, loathe, abhorrence, repulsive, detestation” do you kind of get the picture God was painting about what he thinks of man eating these things.
God said Moses I am not finish yet there is more we have to talk about things that fly.
13: And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,
14: And the vulture, and the kite after his kind;
15: Every raven after his kind;
16: And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,
17: And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,
18: And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle,
19: And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.
20: All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you.
These are all birds of pray and God said don’t eat them, they are not good for food.
21: Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth;
22: Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.
I don’t know of anyone standing in line for a grasshopper burger, are better yet a grasshopper burger toped with locust. But God said there were clean and OK to use as food.
Matt 3: 4
And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
God goes on talking to Moses he said.
Leviticus 11:
23: But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you.
God also told Moses, I created a Dog to be man best friend not on his plate for lunch.
27: And whatsoever goeth upon his paws, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean unto you: whoso toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even.
42: Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat; for they are an abomination.
Look good at the next scripture:
Who is telling us this “ Can man change what God said !
44: For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
God’s gave these requirements to His people His holy people. Back then God’s holy people were the Jews. Today God’s holy people are His true followers
What does Paul tell us in 1st Corinthians 6: 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
We are not to believe that our bodies are ours to do what we please, our body belongs to God and they are giving to us for a short time here on Earth.
45: For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
46: This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth:
Why do you think God gave us laws? If you know that giving your children too much food with sugar in it will make then sick, what do you tell them. Do you not make rules or Laws of what they can or can’t eat? God is no different; He knows what is good for our bodies and what is bad.
47: To make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten.
Are we still to obey these old laws today; this is the big question.
We here a lot of Christian preachers saying that they are out dated, they were for the Jew only, we Christian are not under the law so they don’t apply to us today.
Is that Scripturally True:
Let’s keep going to find the true answer to the question, remember I am not going to give you my opinion of the subject, I am going to give you all of what the word of God said on the subject and you will draw your own conclusion.
There is nothing I dislike more then hearing a preacher read the word of God and then say well it don’t really mean that it mean this, are it was for these people and not us, we are different.
Were the Jewish people, Gods holy people?
Careful of what you say now, are we today Gods holy people?
What makes the different!
They were Gods people then, and we are Gods people now, they were the church then, we are the church now.
The only different is the Cross of Jesus. They looked forward to the Cross; we look back at the Cross.
Lets doing a little digging here and go back to creation.
Does the word Meat mean Flesh food in the Bible? Let’s look at Genesis: 1: 29: And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
Does any one need a preacher to understand what we just read? What we read is God gave to man his food, and it was not the beasts’ (animals) of the earth, it was the fruit or meat of the fruit as the Bible calls it.
For this reason you will find many Christians who are vegetarian and not meat eaters.
The diet of man was altered after Sin entered into the Human family and man became so wicked that God had to make an end.
Genesis 6
5: And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6: And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
7: And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8: But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
We are not going into the book of Noah, because of time; let’s just take a look at what happen.
We know that God told Noah to build an Ark because he was going to destroy the earth with a flood. God gave Noah the plan for the size of the Ark, why because he knew it would have to hold a pair of all the beasts of the earth.
Lets pickup on the story where God is calling the animals and they are going into the Ark.
Genesis 6
19: And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.
20: Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
Let’s dig a little deeper here into what is happing right here.
Genesis 7
1: And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
2: Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
Did we just read that right, did God say Clean beast by sevens and un-clean by two.
Did God make a distinction between what animals were clean and unclean back in the time of Noah?
So why do we here men preaching telling us we don’t have to worry about those old Laws, we can eat anything we want, just put a little more gravy on it. It is ok to eat what God said is an abomination
Were those laws for the Jew only and not for us today? Was Noah a Jew?
We have the same problem with the Sabbath, God said Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Preachers are saying that was for the Jew not for us, we can worship God on any day we want.
But yet we find God resting on the Sabbath in Genesis.
Genesis 2
1: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2: And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3: And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested
We here preacher saying the Sabbath was for the Jews only, yet we find God gave it to our first parents Adam & Eve, Were they Jewish ?
God said Remember the Sabbath day, man said No Forget it, we go to church on Sunday. Who are you going to believe; God or your preacher?
God knew that all the vegetation would be destroyed on the earth, and he knew man would need to eat, so he permitted man to eat the clean beasts of Earth.
It was not Gods intended food for man; he did not create our body to consume Flesh food. It was only a substitute after man Sinned.
This is the 3rd time we find God lowing the Food standard for man, did you know that.
Let’s look at the Facts
Genesis 1: 29
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
This is the first and best food God gave to Mankind, Is this correct, their more, lets look
Genesis 2: 9
And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Did you understand what we just read, in the garden there was a Tree of Life, this with the fruit of other trees was Man Food. The perfect mixture that could keep the bodies God created running forever and ever and ever.
Did you know that in each of us God created our bodies to repair themselves. It’s all there inside us; the problem is we no longer have access to the perfect mixture of food that was in Gods plan for man, Why. “SIN”
Science today has discovered that the body uses different compounds to aid in repairing itself. It get these compounds by the food we eat, it brakes down the food and absorbs the chemical. Then it uses the chemical in a microscopy way to aid in the repair of cells. But they all agree on one thing. That there is one Chemical Missing and they have no idea what one that one is. Could it be the Fruit we can’t get anymore “the Tree of Life”
Look at the next scripture:
Genesis 2: 17
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
So there was a Tree that gave Life, and a Tree that gave Death, would anyone like to guess which Tree man chose.
That’s correct we chose Death,
So we know the Hi octane food needed for man to live forever was removed because we chose to die rather then live.
What did God do next!
Genesis 3:
17: And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18: Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
God never intended for man to eat the herb of the field, or vegetables of the earth, that was our choice; guess what happens when you no longer had access to the Food God made for you.
Genesis 5: 5
And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
Conclusion:
- God created hi octane fuel for our body “ Tree of Life and the Fruit of the trees in the garden”. We will call this No# 1 Premium grade Fuel. If your body is running on this is will run forever.
- God substituted man food after sin interned by taking away the Tree of life and giving him the Vegetables as well as the Fruit of the tree. We will call this No#2 Medium grade Fuel. And man life went from Forever to about 900 years.
- After the Flood we again find God substituted man food by giving him permission to eat the clean beasts of the Earth. We will call this No#3 Low grade Fuel. And again what happen, man life went from 900 years to 500 to 300 to 200 to 125 to 70 years. Its all in the Bible read it.
All I want to do here is give you the facts from the Word of God and not my own opinion
Are we what we eat or do we eat what we are.
Now I am going to ask you to form your own opinion on this one.
If God gave permission to eat the low-grade #3 fuel “Clean Animal”
What would you call the Un-clean Animal; Extreme low grade #4 or #5 Fuel, now you understand why God said don’t eat them they are an abomination to you, “Don’t even touch them”
I hear a lot of good Christian people saying, in the New Testament we are told we can eat anything we want. Well that great my friend but you will never find that Scripture that said you can eat anything unless you take it out of the content it was written in.
Why because God’s people are still Gods people today, from Adam to Noah to Moses and the Jews and you and me who by Faith in Jesus are grafted in to the true vine.
God gave his Laws to our first Parents, and told there Children 2500 years later to Remember them. 1500 years later he came to this Earth to prove he Loves us and even died showing it.
As a Christian I can eat anything I want to eat, but I choose Gods way because I know that he would want me to keep this body running in good condition for as long as possible.
1Cor:6:19: What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
My body is the temple where Gods Holy Spirit lives and I want to put only what God said to put in it. If the so called old laws were good enough for Gods people back then, they are good enough for Gods people now. God does not change and His laws are still binding no matter what man may say. Let the Bible and only the Bible speak, Gods Holy Spirit lead Men to write it and God Holy Spirit will lead you into all truth and make clear what God is saying.
Most of you know that I had Cancer and it came back 3 times. I fought it with all the radiation and chemo’s, but it did not work. Then the last time I just gave it all to God and because my body was in better health then normal by eating the right foods God stopped the cancer from growing. I still test positive for NPC and my doctors can’t understand how I am still alive 8 years later. Then again most of them know nothing about the correct food that Gad gave to man.
STORY: New Car
If you buy a new can what is the first thing you do, read the owner Manuel right. Why would do you do that?
Because when we buy something new we want to know what the Manufacture said about our new car and how to take care of it
The Manuel will tell us the type of Spark Plugs to best use and how often to change Oil and Filters where to put water and where not to put it, and most of all what type of Fuel is best for our New Car to keep it running at Maximum performance and keep all the internal part clean and working good.
Now we have a chose to make, we can do what the Manual said to do and keep our New Car in tip top shape, or we can through the Manual away, and put what we want into the car fuel tank, it just that simple.
You know it seams like we all start out making the wrong chose at first, look at Adam & Eve. Our first parents made a bad chose, but when they found out, they ask for forgiveness and God forgave them. So it was with our Fathers before us, so it is with us today.
When we finally realize that we make some bad mistakes in life all we have to do is say Father please forgive me, and he will. We may have to live with the result of the many bad mistakes we made, and that is understandable. So did our first Parents, but we can change our live and start living for Jesus today
I don’t know if this message will make you change your life style or not, or after hearing it what you will do. I pray it was a clear subject on the word of God dealing with what we should or should not eat; only you and God will know the answer to that.
The Choice is your!!!
Are you what you eat, or do you eat what you are?
I have changed my life style back to a vegetarian because I don’t like the taste of meat and because I believe God knows what the best things are for me to eat. After all who knows better but the creator.
Remember God gave these laws to His Holy people, back then they were the Jews, today they are His true follower His true Church.
God Bless
Elder Tim McNab
Restoring Gods Truth.
God is Love
Matt:hew22:37: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
A few months ago my Wife gave me a gift for Christmas, something I always wanted, a GPS for my truck to help guide me when I get lost coming home from work. Well mostly for when I am traveling to help find where I am going.
It is really cool you can set where you want to go and just kick back and do what it tells you to do.
But I find it has a fault with it. You see I don’t like going the same way to work and back home all the time. Sometimes I take short cuts by taking the back roads. So I have to sit there and listen to my GPS telling me I am going the wrong way turn around, then when it finally understand I am not going to turn around. It said re-calculating and shows me the way home from my new location.
Now this is really fun or it was for a while anyway. What I would do is to let it tell me the time it would take to get home from my destination, and then I would go the back way and try to beat its best time.
Now as much fun as I was having with the GPS, it did not take long before it started to get Old.
And you know I was not playing with it anymore, nor did I try to beat its time.
But what really got me the most is that no matter how many times I let it take me home on the back roads, it never learned. It was as if it new only one way, it never learned as much as I tried to teach it the back roads.
You even wander how God feel about stuff like that.
When He first created Man God did not want a robot something with a pre-formed program that will always love Him.
Can you image, I LOVE YOU, YES I LOVE YOU> with no meaning to it.
How long do you think it would take God to get board with something like that?
He wanted a being that could learn, could make decisions, could laugh, could sing and Love Him back. Someone that He could communicate with and enjoy spending time with Even at the risk that one day they might rebel and kill Him.
Let Us Pray:::
———————————————————–
Turn to the person sitting next to you and answer this question to yourself.
Would I die for this person sitting next to me?
More then likely if it is your Husband, Wife or your child your answer is Yes.
Not always the case but we are saying more then likely.
Let’s be Honest now; What is that four letter word that we as Christian seldom use,
That right “LOVE”
It is one thing to say you Love; and quite another thing to truly mean it.
What is LOVE?
How does the world describe LOVE, is it a one night stand, or just sexual desire when your hormones get overworked.
In our world today there are many who look for Love in the things that this World has to offer, but it is not true Love.
- Beautiful; people worry about how they look, and there is nothing wrong with that we all want to look good; but wanting to look good should not be your life’s goal or ambitions. I am glad I am Ugly so I don’t have to worry about this one.
- Money; there is nothing wrong with having money as long as it is not your God or that you put it before others.
- Things; just like money we can have a Love for the possessions we have; If you put the things you have in life before others.
- Love of self, being glad that you are not like other who are less fortunate then you are. Best described as a five letter word called PRIDE.
So how do we define true Love in a world of Sin.
You know in the old days when a Boy and Girl meet they fell in Love they got Married raised a family, the Man would work hard making a living and bring it all home to support his children and Wife.
They would live a long life together for 50 to 70 years and then go to rest in Jesus.
Some one told me that was old fashion; we now live in the year 21 century so get with it old man.
Now days when Boy meets Girl they get married on the 5&10 plan
They meet fall in Love because they both look good and are at the healthiest point in there life. They get Married start having Children and 5 or 10 years go by and they are getting a Devoice.
Now let me ask you what was missing in there lives. Where did they go wrong?
They have no true commitment or true love for each other
Let’s take a look at LOVE and how it is described in Gods word.
Love is the basis of all creation; and redemption is the basis of true education.
This is made plain in the law that God has given as the guide of life. . . . To love Him, the infinite, and all-knowing one, with your whole strength and mind and heart, means the highest development of every power.
It means that in the whole being; the body, the mind, as well as the soul—that the image of God is to be restored in Mankind.
The law of love calls for the devotion of body, mind, and soul to the service of God and our fellow men. And this service, while making us a blessing to others, brings the greatest blessing to ourselves.
John 3: 16: For God so loved the world,
That little Verse of Scripture says a lot. In the days of Creation we are told that after God had finish his act of creation he looked out and saw everything he had made
In the book of Genesis 1: 31: we are told And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.
God did not just through us into a dead old world; every thing that came from the Master hand came with the best intensions.
God gave of the best that heaven could give in the creation of Mankind, in that we were created in the very image of the creator God. What an honor God places on Man to be made in the likens of his Creator
The Scripture goes on to say that he also gave his only begotten Son,
Not only did God love us but he had also planned ahead that in the event man would prove to be unfaithful, there would be hope for him.
Just how would this come about; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam.
It was a revelation of “the mystery which hath been kept in silence through eternality.” Rom. 16:25
It was an unfolding of the principles that from eternal ages have been the foundation of God’s throne.
From the beginning, God and Christ knew of the apostasy of Satan, and of the fall of man through the deceptive power of the apostate.
God did not ordain that sin should exist, but He foresaw its existence, and made provision to meet the terrible emergency head on.
He Died for YOU
So great was His love for this world, that He covenanted to give His only-begotten Son, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
This could not be done by force. The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God’s government; He desires only the service of love.
For love cannot be commanded; it cannot be won by force or by authority.
Only by love is love awakened. To know God is to love Him; His character must be manifested in contrast to the character of Satan.
This work only one being in all the universe could do. Only He who knew the height and depth of the love of God could make it known.
Upon the world’s dark night the Sun of Righteousness must rise, “with healing in his wings” Mal. 4:2)
John:3: 17: For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
To all who have accepted Christ as a personal Savior, the Holy Spirit has come as a counselor, sanctifier, guide, and a witness.
The more closely believers have walked with God, the more clearly and powerfully have they testified of their Redeemer’s love and of His saving grace.
The men and women who through the long centuries of persecution and trial enjoyed a large measure of the presence of the Spirit in their lives, they have stood as signs and wonders in the world. Before angels and men they have revealed the transforming power of God’s redeeming love in the heart
Romans 8: 39: Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
In the beginning, God was revealed in all the works of his creation. It was Christ that spread the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth. It was His hand that hung the worlds in space, and fashioned the flowers of the field.
“His strength setteth fast the mountains.” “The sea is His, and He made it.” Ps. 65:5&6; It was He that filled the earth with beauty, and the air with song. And upon all things in earth, air, and sky, He wrote the message of his Father’s love for Mankind.
Rom:13: 10: Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
True Love is Patient, true Love is Kind, true Love will endure, and true Love will overlook the Faults of others and endeavor to bring into others the saving grace of Jesus.
It sees no evil, wishes no evil and does no evil to someone else. Jesus said Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
If only we would follow the Master words Love worketh no ill to others, what a place our world would be.
Matthew 5
43: Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
44: But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
45: That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
46: For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Through the prophet, Jesus declares, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.” He compels none to follow Him. “I drew them,” He says, “with cords of a man, with bands of love.” Ps. 77:20; Jer. 31:3; Hosea 11:4.
It is not the fear of punishment, or the hope of everlasting reward, that leads the Disciples of Christ to follow Him.
They behold the Savior’s matchless love, revealed throughout His pilgrimage on earth, from the manger of Bethlehem to Calvary’s cross, the sight of Him attracts, it softens and subdues the soul. Love awakens in the heart of the beholders. They hear His voice, and they follow Him.
The law of God, from its very nature, is unchangeable. It is a revelation of the will and the character of its Author. God is love, and His law is love. Its two great principles are love to God and love to man. “Love is the fulfilling of the law” Rom. 13:10
Matthew 22;
36: Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38: This is the first and great commandment.
The greatest of all Commandments is to Love the Lord your God, This will take in the first Four of God Ten Commandments.
The revelation of God’s love to man centers in the cross, its full significance
tongue cannot utter, pen cannot portray, the mind of man cannot comprehend.
Christ crucified for our sins, Christ risen from the dead, Christ ascended on high, is the science of salvation that we are to learn and to teach.
Rom. 8:34 “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God”
Heb. 7:25 “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he liveth to make intercession for them”
It is through the gift of Christ that we receive every blessing. Through that gift there comes to us day by day the unfailing flow of Jehovah’s goodness.
Every flower, with its delicate tints and its fragrance, is given for our enjoyment through that one Gift. The sun and the moon were made by Him. There is not a star which beautifies the heavens that He did not make. Every drop of rain that falls, every ray of light shed upon our unthankful world, testifies to the love of God in Christ.
Everything is supplied to us through the one unspeakable Gift, God’s only-begotten Son. Who was nailed to the cross that all these bounties might flow to God’s people who Love him and he will manifest his life in them who truly love him.
1 John 3:1 “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God”
The knowledge of God as revealed in Christ is the knowledge that all who are saved must have. It is the knowledge that works transformation of character. This knowledge, received, will re-create the soul in the image of God. It will impart to the whole being a spiritual power that is divine.
Of His own life the Saviour said, “I have kept my Father’s commandments” John 15:10. “The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him” John 8:29.
As Jesus was in human nature, so God wants His followers to be, In His strength we are to live the life of purity and nobility which the Savior lived.—
When your heart is in its right place the Love for God will be first and foremost in your life. There will be nothing you will put between you and God
I hope we can truly understand that, There will be nothing you will put between you and God. It is through the transforming love of Gods grace that others will see the Love of Jesus living in you and want to know more about him.
The Second greatest Commandment is like the first; Love for others, on this hang the other six Commandments.
Matthew 22:
39: And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40: On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets
God’s Laws are all built on a Foundation of Love for others.
John 15:
12: This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Now how would you answer the question of True Love.
It is easy to say I would die for my Spouse, I would die for my Children, my Brothers or Sisters, my Dad and Mon, and for a few good close relatives just to be on the good side.
But it is quite another thing to say it and mean it about dieing for someone else or someone you don’t even know.
True Love will look over the other Faults and still say yes I love you.
One of the reasons so many Marriage fail today is because one of the pair fail to over look the faults of the other.
And it is no different in the Church; when we get so busy looking at the faults of other we fail to see our own and when this happen it can destroy even God house.
Luke:6:42: Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.
In take upon Himself humanity, Christ revealed a character the opposite of the character of Satan.
But He stepped still lower in the path of humiliation. “Being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Phil. 2:8.
As the high priest laid aside his gorgeous pontifical robes, and officiated in the white linen dress of the common priest, so Christ took the form of a servant, and offered sacrifice, Himself the priest, Himself the victim. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.” Isa. 53:5.
Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive the life which was His.
It was Satan’s purpose to bring about an eternal separation between God and man; but in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen.
In taking our nature, the Saviour has bound Himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages He is linked with us. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.“
He menthe what he said and he said what he menthe
I would like to share a story with you and hope it will hit home.
I’ll never forget reading the first time about a dream that the famous Scotch theologian, Alexander White. This man awoke one night in a terrible sweat of fear and torment. He was weeping; his wife, in fact, had been awakened by his cries in the night. She said, “What’s the matter Alex, what’s the matter?” “Ah,” he said, “Mary, I had a terrible dream. I dreamed I stood in Pilate’s judgment hall, I saw Jesus brought in there before the tribunal.
I saw them strip Him to the waist. I saw a cruel Roman soldier step up with a long wicked lash, and he began to beat Jesus.” He said, “I watched as that great whip came down once, and then it came down twice, and I could stand it no longer. I sprang forward, I gripped the arm of the soldier. I held on as tightly as I could, then suddenly,” he said, “this soldier turned and looked me in the face, and Mary,” he said “it was I!
I was the soldier-I was the one beating my Lord.” And Alexander White broke down and wept bitterly as he remembered that terrible dream. Ah, friends, if we could only be impressed so vividly ourselves, that it was our sins that crucify the Son of God.
May God help us to confess our sins, to accept Jesus as our Saviour, to have our sins washed away in the blood of Christ, so that they shall not stand against us, so that we shall not share in the sin which killed Him there upon the cross of Calvary.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
We can only learn how to die for others when others can see Jesus in us.
If they can’t see Jesus in us then the only person we will die for is ourselves, and that death is the eternal death from Jesus.
When Love is in the heart the Image of Jesus will be present in the Life.
Love is the outward workings of the Holy Spirit in the Live of people who has made Jesus the center of there lives.
Love works no evil, hears no evil, and does no evil to others; remember Jesus died for ALL
Matthew:5:46: For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Matthew:22:37: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind
When we learn to Love God with all of our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind; then we will have learn to the point of being willing to die for others as Jesus die for you.
God Bless
Elder Tim
Law & Grace
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Sometime things are hard to see even if it is right in front of our eyes, but praise God he has giving us a Spiritual Mirror so we can not only see but understand his words.
Story: I once had a Boat named the Egabrag 1
You might ask what was so great about the Egabrag,it was no different then any other Vessel, but it had one of the most importance jobs in the Military working for the US Navy
Every day it preformed it job flawless, it never failed to do its job, too much was counting on it to fulfill its daily mission.
For almost 20 years it worked non stop, She was not much to look at but her Crew had great pride in running her
When she was decommissioned and I took her over, I just could not help but wonder, Who could of came up with a name like Egabrag 1 the name just did not made sense, until one of the Crew told me, people in California did not like a boat being called the Garbage 1 Egabrag backwards is Garbage
Sometimes the Bible is like that; but just because we don’t understand a topic in the Bible it does not mean we should just skip over or pass it by, for it is by studying God word that we uncover the true meaning of the hidden truth berried deep in Gods word.
Let Us Pray
————————————————————
Are law’s importance?
Do laws put us in bondage?
Have you ever lived in a place where there were no laws?
What do you thing would happen to the USA if there were no law’s to govern the people?
Just think, if there were no laws; you could do whatever you want and no one would stop you. Except everyone else is doing the same thing as you, and there is no one stopping them either.
Do you see where a problem could come from?
What if I don’t like stopping for red lights, there are always a pain and turn red at the wrong times. So I am going to just drive straight through them from now on. I might not live long doing that; but remember there are no laws telling me I can’t.
Laws are not made to keep us from something good! They are made to keep us happy and safe. So everyone knows what to expect from the other person.
Were Gods Law’s to be a burden or a joy to mankind?
What about Grace if we have Grace Do we still need Law’s?
First we must understand What is GRACE?
We don’t have to earn it. It is the most valuable gift of all. The Scripture says in Ephesians 2:8, 9: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Salvation does not come from any human effort. It is a free gift without money and without price, or let’s says with out cost to Mankind
In Revelation 5:9, the redeemed are pictured as standing before the throne of God, both the redeemed from the Old Testament times and from the New Testament times, singing glory to Jesus, the Lamb, “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.”
A great, fundamental truth is expressed here—the only way a sinner can be saved is through the blood of Jesus. Since the time of Adam, sinners have been saved only by believing and having Faith in Jesus.
If men are saved through faith in Jesus Christ, where does the Ten Commandment law come in?
Throughout all the ages of controversy between Christ and Satan, the devil has sought to destroy the authority of God over man by casting the law aside and by preventing knowledge of the truth about God’s law.
The enemy of Christ brings this about by rejection of the law; or a wrong concept or understanding of the dispensation of the law as opposed to the dispensation of the gospel. This is what we call being one sided or not seeing the hold picture.
Satan could bring in the principle of salvation through works, and prevent the functioning of the law according to God’s design.
Kind of writing it out backward so that you see it but don’t truly understand what it is saying. Do you see the ECARG & HTIAF Grace & Faith
The role that the law fulfills in relation to the gospel is two-fold.
1. First, it is God’s standard of what is right and true. As a standard the law expresses the mind and the will of God, for in Psalm 40:8 it says, “I delight to do thy will, 0 my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.”
2. Second the law also declares man’s duty to God, for in Ecclesiastes 12:13 we read, “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”
How often I have heard Christians boast that they don’t care about those old laws of God. “Why”
Because they hide behind Romans 6:14, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”
They say that since they are saved by grace, through the atoning blood of Christ, they don’t have to keep God’s commandments at all. Have you ever heard that theory?
BUT: You can not take just one scripture from the Bible and make a completed doctrine, that my friend is a very dangerous way to live. Because when you live your life that way you are not truly living it for Jesus, but for what fits your life style.
In Romans 6:15, the very next verse in the chapter, Paul says, “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? Paul says God forbid.” The fourteenth verse has stated, “Sin shall not have dominion over us,” or “it shall not be our ruler.”
We are not under Sin or the condemnation of the law either, when we obey God.
Why?
Because we are saved by grace, But that does not license us to sin? “God forbid.”
When an individual is saved by grace, he is under greater obligation than ever before to keep the laws of God.
As it says in Romans 3:31, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.”
Are we licensed to break the law of God because we are saved by grace and saved by faith? God forbid. “Yea,” he says, “we establish the law.” The law is firmer than ever in our lives.
Question?
Who is under the law today in your city? Those who have broken it; they are under the law, and in jail.
The man who keeps the law, is the man who is free today.
The law breaker is under the condemnation of the law and doing time in jail.
Right here let us stop a moment and read the definition of sin in 1 John 3:4. “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”
Are we clear on this. When a man sins he has transgressed the law.
Who’s Law; “GOD”.
Every sinner has broken the law. What is sin? “The transgression of the law.” When a man sins, what does he do? He breaks the law of God.
There must be a law, otherwise he couldn’t break it. We are not under the law unless we break the Law.
I would fear to be called a minister of the Lord today and tell people it is ok to break Gods laws.
Matt: 5:19: Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
How does God feel about man making his own laws and rules and teaching people to live by them instead of his commandment Law’s.
Matt:15:9: But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Is there danger in not keeping God Commandments?
You might say; Lord I am saved by grace I was told I don’t need to keep those old laws.
The governor of the state has life-and-death power. A man has been sentenced and condemned to die. He is under the sentence of death. Friends intervene; they present evidence to the governor, special factors involved in this case—contributing factors as to why this individual was caught in this particular crime.
As the governor investigates the evidence, he feels that this man deserves clemency; so he uses his official prerogative as the head of the commonwealth. He takes his pen and dips it in the ink and signs across those condemnation papers, “PARDONED,” and then signs his name.
That condemned man, my friend, has been saved by grace, not by his works or by his goodness.
He was doomed to die, and being ever so good in that death cell would never, never in this world save him. That is very obvious.
In other words, after an individual has broken the commandments of God, he cannot be good enough to save himself. The wages of sin is what? Death. We have all sinned, so are under the sentence of death. And there is only one way of salvation, through Jesus Christ.
Now the condemned man is pardoned. He can hardly believe his eyes as he sees the kindness, the stroke of generosity and love shown by that governor.
PARDONED. SAVED. FREE. You meet the freed man a little later and he says,
“Wonderful what that governor did for me, and wonderful this new freedom of mine.
Now I can break the law all I want, for the governor set me free from the law and from the sentence of death. I am saved by his grace.”
Did the governor pardon him so he could go out and become a greater law breaker? Shall we who are saved by grace continue law breaking? “God forbid.” We are under even greater obligation to keep the law because we are saved by God’s grace.
Matt:22: 36-40
36: Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38: This is the first and great commandment.
39: And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40: On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Love the Lord thy God it is the first four of the Ten Commandments;
Love thy neighbor it is the last six of the Ten Commandments;
Do we find any evident of keeping the old Jewish Ten Commandment Law in the New Testament Yes we do….
Matt:19:17: And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Mark:10:19: Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
Luke:18:20: Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother
Luke:1:6: And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
Over and over and over again we hear Jesus telling the people to keep his commandments.
.
If you really Love the lord, and want to show him that you Love him, then do what?
Show him you love him by doing what he tells you to do.
I have heard some say, “Those commandments were only for the Jews.” Then a Christian can lie and steal, and murder people, and do anything else that he pleases. Is that possible?
Jesus says in ” John:14:15: If ye love me, keep my commandments.
It was because Gods Laws were broken that Jesus gave His life. If these were to be abolished, why not abolish them before Jesus came to die? Then His death would not have been necessary.
John:14:21: He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
John:15:10: If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
Some people say, “Well, I can’t leave my church.” We’re not talking about church my friend.
We’re talking about following God. And if your church is in the way of you following God then you need to move out of it…….
Don’t look at the people. Look at the Light God is showing you.
We need to take one more quick glance here at what Jesus said. Matthew 7:21. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
Now notice verse 22. This is an amazing statement by our Lord. “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?”
Oh yes, miracle worked in the name of Jesus. Good so called Christian people who refuse to do one thing, and that was to keep God’s laws.
Don’t you see Christ’s answer now in verse 23. “Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
Oh, this is one of the most sobering passages in the Word of God, because we’re led face to face here with an understanding which we can’t escape—that it makes a difference to God what we believe and how we live.
It isn’t enough to say, “Yes, I believe. I’m a church member.” Church will never get you to Heaven
It’s a matter of how you live and what you believe about God that makes a difference.
Many will say, “Lord, we’ve cast out devils. We’ve done miracles. We’ve prophesied.” And yet, they will be lost.
It makes a difference what we believe. Anchor your faith firmly, my friends, to the rock of Scripture “GOD’s WORD” and nothing else.
Christian can you say you know Jesus and not keep his Commandments
1John:2:3: And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
1John:2:4: He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
That’s not my saying brother and sister, for it is written in the book called the Bible, which is none other then God word.
1John:3:22: And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
People are always looking for bargains, for special discounts. Some churches advertise, “Come to us, we will give you a bargain, 10% off of the Ten Commandments.” But will that stand in the judgment?
Just because some great churches tell you that they will make it easy and only ask you to keep nine of the Ten Commandments, is that sufficient? Will you pass in the judgment day?
Has any church the right to discount the commandments of God? How do we dare imagine that we are on the high road to heaven when we knowingly break any of God’s commandments?
Matt: 5:19: Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
1John:3:24: And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.
1John:5:2: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1John:5:3: For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
So now we know that it is very importance to keep God’s commandments.
If you love God then who are you enemy with, That’s right the world.
For you can’t love God and the world!
What are we told will happen to God people because they love the Lord their God and claim to be his people. His people who keep his Laws and keep the testimony’s of his Son Jesus Christ.
Rv:12:17: And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Rv:14:12: Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
Rv:22:14: Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
If the world hated Jesus then you know it will also hate you, But don’t worry He Jesus will give you the power needed to obey
Some time ago one of the items of interest in the newspaper was about a cave-in in a mine down in Pennsylvania somewhere—I think you might remember it. There were some miners trapped but there was reason to believe they were still alive under ground.
There was no way to dig down through the mine shaft that had caved in so they were hoping the miners were off to the side of the main shaft in a little room in a horizontal shaft.
So they brought in a great drilling rig and started drilling down through that solid rock trying to get into that room where they felt they were probably entombed.
Hour after hour, day after day, while the world watched, virtually holding its breath, as the news media portrayed for us the picture of how they went down there 6 inches and then another foot and down finally to three feet.
The families camped at the mouth of the mine where the rescue operations were going on.
Finally the day came when that great boring rig bore through the ceiling of that room where the miners were trapped. Rapidly it was withdrawn and they lowered a microphone taped to a little speaker down that hole.
The man who was directing the rescue operation at the top spoke into his end of the microphone and said, “Are you alright? Are you alive? Are you there?!”
And then a voice came back from the heart of the earth. “Yes, we’re here. We’re alright.”
A great shout went up from the rescue workers at the opening of that pit. Then the director said this into the microphone. “What do you want the most?” There was a pause and then a voice came back, “FREEDOM.”
Oh friends, heaven is involved in the greatest rescue operation the world has ever known.
All the universe is watching. Day after day, week after week, year after year, for the last six-thousand horrible years,
God has been seeking to rescue those of us who have been entombed by the avalanche of sin.
What must it do to His heart by our procrastination, our idleness, our spiritual postponement of eternal things.
We send back a message and say, “Oh, we’re satisfied with the trinkets, we’re satisfied with the things, but thanks just the same.”
How shall we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation?
Have you every ask your self just what is GRACE anyway,
Well here it is in a nut shell
GRACE “God’s Riches At Christ Expense”
Elder Tim McNab Restoring Gods Truth Ministry
In Vain Do They Worship Me!
Matthew: 15:9: But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
What did Jesus mean by saying this to the Great Religious leaders 2000 years ago. For almost 3500 years from the time of Moses the Religious leaders were responsible for the keeping of God holy word and for showing the common people what they need to do. But yet when Jesus came he told the Religious leaders in Mark:7:13: Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
If it was possible for the Religious leaders in Jesus time, to put there traditions before the word of God; could the Religious leaders of our time 2000 years after Jesus came be making the same mistake
We need a deep understanding of what Jesus meth when he said this.
Look at what Paul told the Galatians:1:6: I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Paul was surprised that no sooner then he left false teachers came in behind him teaching something other than the truth and people believed it.
Let’s take a look into the book of Acts:20:29: For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Paul called them grievous wolves, why because they did not care for the flock these false teachers wanted only the power, glory, and money that could be made off the common people by selling them religion.
Search for the true church:
There must be over 2000 religions in our world today and over half of them claim to be Christians, follower of Jesus who claimed to be the son of God. Have you ever wondered why so many different Christian religions, how do you tell which one is the true one, they all claim to be the one true church.
I am a Christian first, and then I am a Seventh-day Adventist Christian last
I am a Bible Believing Christian because I believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and want to follow his example. I also believe in every word of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation that it is the word of God. Teaching us about His love for mankind and how we need to live to show the World that we love God.
I am a Seventh-day Adventist because I believe the Seventh-day Adventist Church teaches the Complete Bible Truth as close as it can be with what light God has let shown in our day and time.
Many Churches clam that they teach the uncompromised word of God. But when it comes to keeping the 4th commandment they all say oh we don’t need to keep that one, it was just for the Jews we keep Sunday as the Christian Sabbath. Problem is that no where in Bible can you find that teaching. Not even the disciples of Jesus kept Sunday all through the New Testament you find them keeping and teaching on the 7th day Sabbath. And what is more interesting it is the only Commandment that God said to Remember and our Religious leaders saying it is OK to forget. Who do you believe God word or mans traditions?
I believe that more Truth is yet to come as we come closer to the End of Time and the light of God word is revealed unto his Children that have kept His word.
Many of good men and woman were lead astray by religion leaders who’s goal were not to teach the Pure Gospel of Jesus Christ but to teach there own version of how they believe it should be at the same time making a very nice living off of believers.
For this way they could hold people in darkness
Let’s take a look at some of the parables Jesus used to warn His believer about false teachings creeping into the Church.
Matthew: 25:
1: Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
What does a Woman represent in the Bible? That is correct a Woman represent a Church, a pure Woman or a virgin would represent Gods Church; and a harlot Woman would represent Satan church. In this story Christ out lines it as virgins so we know he is talking about his church and not the world.
2: And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
3: They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
4: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
5: While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
Both the wise and foolish became weary while waiting for the Bridegroom (Jesus) to come, so they slept. But look at what happens next
6: And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
7: Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
8: And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
9: But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
Here my friend is what makes the different, did they all bring enough oil with them. They all had Jesus, they all were Christians, but there was something missing with half of them, the oil. And what does oil represent in the Bible that is correct Gods Holy Spirit
10: And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
Christians who are ready will go in with the Bridegroom when he comes; but what about all the rest.
11: Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
12: But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
I don’t want to hear my Lord say to me I know you not. We need to be studying Gods word everyday we need to be obeying His commandments all ten of them. What did Jesus say in Revelation:14:12: Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Gods true Church will be the ones keeping His commandments, why because Jesus said in John 14:15: If ye love me, keep my commandments.
We don’t keep His commandment to be saved; we keep them because we are saved. If you love someone doing what they asked you to do is an enjoyment.
When I got married I wonted to do what ever it took to make my wife happy. So when she would ask me to do something I did it with joy. Why because I knew it showed her that I love her and still do after 39 years. When we do what Jesus ask us to do it shows others in the world who we love. So you see doing what someone ask is a way of showing you love them, that is what Jesus was saying.
There are some Churches today that say we don’t need to keep those old Ten Commandments Jesus did away with them on the Cross. Is that what Jesus said or is that someone interpolation, let’s take a look at what Jesus said
Look at Matthew 5:
17: Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
I did not come to do away with but to fulfill all the Law and commandments. These words are coming for the same God who created man and gave man His laws. Jesus said I am not come to do away with my Laws but to fulfill my Laws.
A rich young man came up to Jesus one day and asked this question
Mark: 10:17: Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
What must I do so I can have eternal life: What did Jesus reply to him
19: Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
If Jesus came to do away with the Ten Commandments why would He instruct this young ruler that he needs to keep them.
Let’s go on and see his answer:
20: And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
21: One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
22: And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
What was this young man real problem, Commandment number 1 Look at Exodus 20:
3: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. His money was his God, he was blind to the fact that he was putting his money before God and breaking the very first Commandment.
Take a good look now in the book of Revelation and hear what the angle is saying to every creature on Earth, it is called the Everlasting Gospel.
Revelation 14:
6: And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
7: Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
Where in the Bible can we find those same words, in the 4th Commandment. It tells us who God is and what God did. God is the creator God; He made the Earth, the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. He spoke the world into existence and then in Genesis 1 He said 31: And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.
Right in the very heart of Gods Ten Commandments we find the same words as the angle uses in the Book of Revelations. Go and read them for yourself
Exodus 20:
8: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9: Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
My friend the Angle in Revelation is pointing man back to his Creator God; and is telling all the Earth to Worship Him and Him only this whole controversy is over one thing, who do you worship. God or Satan
So my question why did Jesus say to the religious leaders 2000 years ago In Vane do they worship me; because He knew as we get nearer to the end of time the religious leaders will again put there traditions above Gods Law. If they hated Him they will hate His true followers that do as He has asked them to do.
Matthew 5:
18: Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
I ask you what should you be doing, what Man said or what Jesus said. Read your Bible and study it and let Gods Holy Spirit lead you into all truth. You can’t trust the religious leaders today any more then you could trust them 2000 years ago.
Matthew 7:
21: Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22: Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23: And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
In the judgment many of the great religious leaders today will be standing there on the outside saying Lord look at all we done for you have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works yes even miracles. But what does the Bible say Jesus will answer them. I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
These men knew the truth and refused to preach it because it was not the popular thing to do, it did not bring in the large groups of people that they needed to keep them living in there beautiful homes and churches. That is what will make the different between Gods true people. Who are you worshiping, who are you following.
Revelation:14:12: Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
I hope as you read this sermon that you study your Bible and see that no where did Jesus do away with any of His Ten Commandments. They are still there and still to be obeyed as on the very first day God gave them to Moses. And on the 4th He told Moses Remember, Remember what I did back in creation how it was I who created this World and all the things in it and it was I who created Man and gave him My Sabbath to be a day that we both will be together
The Ten Commandments are the very character of God Himself, in them He is showing us what He is like; He is a God of love, mercy, passion, and a God Justice.
In vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. In the garden God gave one little test to our first parents, He said you may eat freely of every tree in the garden except this one tree. It was a simple test of obeying what God said.
Along comes Satan and says to man oh you are not going to surely die. Who do you believe; you see the different it makes in doing what God said to do. Again God is giving man one little test of who will you obey. Jesus said in John:14:15: If ye love me, keep my commandments.
John:14:23: Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Just remember we don’t keep His commandment to be saved; we keep them because we are saved by His grace and we show that we love Him by doing the things He said to do. Keeping His Law keeping His Commandments, the ones He wrote on stone with His own finger.
Matthew:12:8: For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
Mark:2:28: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
Luke:6:5: And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
In three of the four Gospels you will find Jesus telling us what day He is Lord of, He is Lord of the Sabbath day.
John a disciple of Jesus was witting the book of Revelations almost 50 years after the resurrection of Jesus. Read Revelations:1:10: I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet. What day was John in the spirit, the day that Jesus called Himself Lord of; the Sabbath Day.
Friend do you love Jesus enough to do what He told you to do; don’t listen to anyone who is telling you different then what Jesus said. You want to show the world you love Jesus then do it His way and not the world’s way. Is God particular in what He says, you bet to know it. That is why He wrote the Ten Commandments Himself so no one could say oh those old Laws we don’t need them anymore.
God wrote them and on the 4th one He said Remember, don’t let anyone tell you to forget something that God told you to Remember.
God Bless
Elder Tim McNab
It will never Happen
Luke 17: 26: And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Have you ever heard someone say! “Don’t worry that will never happen”
And the very next day there it is right in front of your face. And then you say to them I though you say this could never happen? and they look back at you and say “Well it not suppose to happen!
Our world today is a different place then it was just 100 years ago,
Some of you sitting here today can say yes that is true. I can’t say that because I was not here 100 years ago. But I was here 50 years ago and I tell you our world is a different place then it was just 50 years ago…so what happened?
I hear people saying things like what is going on; is the world coming to its end…..
When you say the end what does that mean?
Well most of the time it is the way we say the last part, its over, There is no more!
Well I am happy to say that with God the end mean just the beginning. For you see it is the end of sin but the beginning of life.
The 6000 thousand year old controversy over sin will soon be over and all who have put their trust in Jesus as their savior will live forever with him in a paradise home that he has created for all of his children
When you look all around and see so many things occurrence, one right after the other it really makes you wonder what’s Next!
Well let see what is in God’s word, and let him who is the Creator tell us what is next !
Let us Pray!
************************************************************************
History has always repeats itself; it is like an old broken record that is played over and over again.
So if we are going to try and find out what is going to happen next we must first go to the passed and see what happened before, in order to know what will happen now.
Our God is not a God of confusion but a God of perfect order; let’s go to the Book of Genesis for starters.
Genesis 6:
5: And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6: And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
Things must have been really bad for God to want to destroy all of his creation. For sin had filled the hold world and it had corrupted everyone, everyone except Noah, he like Faithful Job stood alone with only his Faith and integrity in the God of his Creation.
Now I want you to imagine for just a moment God telling you something like this
7: And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
I think I would be about as dumb founded as I could. Lord you are going to do what? Destroy everything what precisely do you have in mind when you say that.
12: And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
What a sad day it must have been for God to look at the world he had just created about 1,400 hundred years before and see the corruption sin had caused. How the un-falling worlds must have also looked in dismay at those who rebelled against such a loving Creator.
13: And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
14: Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.
Would it sock you, would you say well it’s about time, what would you do?
God told me to build a really big boat and get in it, so I will be safe.
17: And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.
If you were Noah what do you think you would be doing?
Obeying right!
I want us all to look at what God said in Genesis 6: 8: But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
God knows each of us by Name, there is nothing that happens by chance. It is either God’s will that it happened or God removed his protection from us because of sin and lets us have our own way. And the natural result of sin is the destruction of a person life.
Luke 17:
26: And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
27: They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Almost 4,500 years ago God told Noah that the End was coming, he told Noah to build a boat a really BIG boat to hold all living creatures.
Noah himself did not know what a flood was he too had never seen a flood. But by Faith in God he knew if God said it, it was going to happen..
God loves and forbearing with mankind to repent and turn from sin and his sinful ways had reached its limit. The yard stick of sin was at last to its full mark about to run over.
No longer could God hold back the storm that was coming upon this world. Mankind had rejected God as there lord and Savior and in his place made gods for themselves of the wood, stones and the metal.
While faithful men preached to this world about the creator God who in 6 days made the heavens and earth, by the word of his power and rested on the seventh-day.
Who created our firth parents that had just died no more then a few hundred years earlier, even with the Garden of Eden still in mans sight, mankind rejected the God of his Creation.
It was not multitudes or majorities that were on the side of right. The world was arrayed against God’s justice and His laws, and Noah was regarded as a fanatic and a fool.
Satan, when tempting Eve to disobey God, said to her, “Ye shall not surely die.” Genesis 3: 4. Great men, worldly, honored, and wise men, repeated the same. “The threatening of God,” they said, “are for the purpose of intimidating, and will never be happen..
You need not be alarmed. Such an event as the destruction of the world by the God who made it, and the punishment of the beings He has created, will never take place.
Be at peace; fear not. Noah is an extremist.”
The world made merry at the folly of the deluded old man. Instead of humbling the heart before God, they continued their disobedience and wickedness, the same as though God had not spoken to them through His servant.
But Noah stood like a rock amid the tempest. Surrounded by popular contempt and ridicule, he distinguished himself by his holy integrity and unwavering faithfulness.
A power attended his words, for it was the voice of God to man through His servant. Connection with God made him strong in the strength of infinite power.
For one hundred and twenty years his solemn voice fell upon the ears of that generation in regard to events, which, so far as human wisdom could judge, were impossible.
The world before the Flood reasoned that for centuries the laws of nature had been fixed. The recurring seasons had come in their order. Heretofore rain had never fallen; the earth had been watered by a mist or dew every morning.
The rivers had never yet passed their boundaries, but had borne their waters safely to the sea.
Fixed decrees had kept the waters from overflowing their banks. But these reasoners did not recognize the hand of Him who had stayed the waters, saying, “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further.” Job 38:11.
As time passed on, with no apparent change in nature, men whose hearts had at times trembled with fear, began to be reassured.
They reasoned, as many reason now, that nature is above the God of nature, and that her laws are so firmly established that God Himself could not change them.
Reasoning that if the message of Noah were correct, nature would be turned out of her course, they made that message, in the minds of the world, a delusion–a grand deception.
They manifested their contempt for the warning of God by doing just as they had done before the warning was given.
They continued their festivities and their gluttonous feasts; they ate and drank, planted and builded, laying their plans in reference to advantages they hoped to gain in the future; and they went to greater lengths in wickedness, and in defiant disregard of God’s requirements, to testify that they had no fear of the Infinite One.
They asserted that if there were any truth in what Noah had said, the men of renown–the wise, the prudent, the great men the great Religious leaders –would understand the matter.
Had the antediluvians believed the warning, and repented of their evil deeds, the Lord would have turned aside His wrath, as He afterward did from Nineveh.
But by their obstinate resistance to the reproofs of conscience and the warnings of God’s prophet, that generation filled up the measure of their iniquity, and became ripe for destruction.
The leave walls of this sinful world could only withstand so much sin before breaking the banks and flooding the world.
Genesis 7:
1: And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
Our world is again becoming ripe for the destruction that destroyed the antediluvians world. But this time not by water but by Fire, men again will turn from truth to believe a lie
I have no idea how much Faith Noah had, but I tell you this every time Noah drove a nail into the Ark his Faith grew. It is today no different with us only as we exercise our faith in Gods power will we be like faithful Noah one nail at a time.
Can we trust God? Let’s look at where we are today
We are told of a time of trouble that is coming upon this world we live in. A time that we who are God people will not be able to buy or sell, a time when the whole world will hate us and blame us for the problems that this old world will be going through
Can you believe the things that are happing in our world today!
This world is saying don’t worry; things are going to be just fine there is no need to be alarmed, your government will take care of everything and take care of you.
Do you believe that? What is going to happen when you find yourself all alone and the whole world against you?
When the day comes and its seam like everyone has turned agents you, even your own Brothers, sisters, Mother, Father, your own Children and husband or Wife. Where will you go what will you do, who will help you.
You will not be able to look to man for help, they will be the ones condemning you.
Soon very soon there will be a time of trouble that the world has never seen. When God’s people will be persecuted because of what we believe and who we believe in.
The Bible said that we won’t be able to buy or sell, how are we to live! What shell we eat what shell we ware, what shell we drink.
Look at how God lead in the pasted and you will see how he will lead in the future
Look at Moses 40 years he lead the children of Israel, did they want for anything
So what did they eat ?
Exodus 13:
14: And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.
15: And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.
God gave them what they needed not what they wanted, there is a big different between what we want and what we need. But it all takes Faith; we must learn to walk by faith and faith alone, relying upon God to lead and only upon Him.
Those who exercise but little faith now, are in the greatest danger of falling under the power of satanic delusions; and the decree to compel the conscience.
Even if they endure the test they will be plunged into deeper distress and anguish in the time of trouble, because they have never made it a habit to trust in God.
The lessons of faith which we have neglected now we will be forced to learn under a terrible pressure of discouragement.
We should now acquaint ourselves with God by proving His promises. Angels record every prayer that is earnest and sincere.
We should rather dispense with selfish gratifications, than to neglect communion with God. The deepest poverty, the greatest self-denial, with His approval, is better than riches, honors, ease, and friendship of this world.
If we allow our minds to be absorbed by worldly interests, the Lord may give us time by removing from us our idols of gold, and of fertile lands he may even allowed sickness or disease to come in and open the channel of communication again that was lost but only for a time.
The young would not be seduced into sin if they would refuse to enter any path except for that upon which they could ask God’s blessing.
If the messengers who bear the last solemn warning to the world would pray for the blessing of God, not in a cold, listless, lazy manner, but fervently and in faith, as did Jacob, they would find many places where they could say: “I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Genesis 32:30.
They would be accounted of heaven as princes, having power to prevail with God and with men.
The “time of trouble, such as never was,” is soon to open upon us; and we shall need an experience which we do not now possess and which many are too laid-back to obtain. It is often the case that trouble is greater in anticipation than in reality; but this is not true of the crisis before us.
The most vivid presentation cannot reach the magnitude of the ordeal. In that time of trial, every soul must stand for himself before God. “Though Noah, Daniel, and Job” were in the land, “as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.” Ezekiel 14:20.
So now the Future !
We are just in the beginning of the little time of trouble; we are just starting to see strange things that are happing in our world today.
It is not going to get better?
Sorry things will only get worse !
Will the Lord forget His people in this trying hour?
Did He forget faithful Noah when judgments were visited upon the antediluvian world? Did He forget Lot when the fire came down from heaven to consume the cities of the plain?
Did He forget Joseph surrounded by idolaters in Egypt?
Did He forget Elijah when the oath of Jezebel threatened him with the fate of the prophets of Baal?
Did He forget Jeremiah in the dark and dismal pit of his prison house?
Did He forget the three Men in the fiery furnace? or Daniel in the den of lions?
“Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?
yea, they may forget, but I will not forget thee.
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands.” Isaiah 49:14-16. The Lord hosts has said: “He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye.” Zechariah 2:8.
Though enemies may thrust Gods Children into prison, yet the dungeon walls cannot cut off the communication between their souls and Christ.
One who sees their every weakness, who is acquainted with every trial, is above all earthly powers; and angels will come to them in lonely cells, bringing light and peace from heaven.
The prison will be as a palace; for the rich in faith dwell there, and the gloomy walls will be lighted up with heavenly light as when Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises at midnight in the dungeon.
The people of God will not be free from suffering; but while persecuted and distressed, while they endure hardship and suffer for want of food they will not be left to perish.
The same God who cared for Elijah will not pass by one of His self-sacrificing children. He who numbers the hairs of their head will care for them, and in time of famine they shall be satisfied.
While the wicked are dying from hunger and pestilence, angels will shield the righteous and supply their wants.
To him that “walketh righteously” is the promise: “Bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.” “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.” Isaiah 33:15, 16; 41:17.
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls;” yet shall they that fear Him “rejoice in the Lord” and joy in the God of their salvation. Habakkuk 3:17, 18.
“The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil:
He shall preserve thy soul.” “He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust:
His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” Psalms 121:5-7; 91:3-10.
God will be there as he is here with his people now, to guide, to lead, to save.
We have nothing to fear but that we forget how God has lead in the passed he will again lead in the future.
Put your trust your faith in him he will not leave you.
God Bless
Elder Tim McNab
Reflections of the Christ
John: 15:13: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
While a man was polishing his new car, his 4 yr old son picked up a stone and scratched lines on the side of the car. In anger, the man took the child’s hand and hit it many times; not realizing he was using a wrench. At the hospital, the child lost all his fingers due to multiple fractures. When the child saw his father…..with painful eyes he asked,
‘Dad when will my fingers grow back?’ The man was so hurt and
Speechless; he went back to his car and kicked it a lot of times. Devastated by his own actions……sitting in front of that car he looked at the scratches; the child had written ‘LOVE YOU DAD’.
The next day that man committed suicide. . . Anger and Love have no limits; choose the latter to have a beautiful, lovely life….. Things are to be used and people are to be loved, but the problem in today’s world is that, People are used and things are loved..
During this year, let’s be careful to keep this thought in mind: Things are to be used, but People are to be loved … Be yourself….This is the only day we HAVE. Have a nice day
Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits they become character; Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
Let us Pray!
What is the most importance thing in your life? To many it is there Silver and Gold and the things they have in Life. I use to work at a Shipyard many years ago and sometimes we had work to do on some very expensive yachts. Some of them worth many millions of dollars and right as you go in they would have a sign hanging over head saying He Who Dies with the most Toys Wins. One time I had the opportunity to ask the man who own Sandals in Lost Vegas about his sign. I ask him how much is enough, he replied back till I have it all.
Till I have it all; what does the Bible teach about material things Matthew:16:26: For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Growing up I had to work everyday, I would go to school and right after school I would have to go to where my Dad worked to help him. He was a retired seaman and worked in a store selling discounted lube Oil back in New Orleans. One day my Mom and Dad got into an argument and ended up devoicing. Mom did all she could to teach us about God but Dad always thought that Christians were nothing but weak minded people. Dad moved back to the Islands in Honduras and Mom did all she could to keep the family together. But I was an angry young boy just about 14 years old when they separated and had no direction in life. About 6 months after my Dad left I was getting into all kinds of trouble on the streets of New Orleans and one day I decided to run away. So I planned very carefully and on Christmas Eve 1969 I packed my bags and got onto an airplane and left the USA for Utila one of the HondurasBayIslands.
Here I lived for the next 5 year and here it was that I learned why my Mother could no longer take living with my Dad. I loved him but he did not know how to give back love, his life was void of affection and full of hate. With the help of my older brother who was from my dad’s first wife and lived on the Island I made it until I was old enough to come back to the US and work.
Before I meet my Wife, my hold life was a life of nothing but living for the next day. At the age of 17 I started working in the Oil fields and moved to VeniceLouisiana. My cousin & I who was more like a brother lived doing nothing but drinking and smoking dope and anything else we could get our hands on. But I always had an empty feeling in my life and tried to fill that void with what everything I could. I got married just after I turned 18 to a very wonderful young Lady who was 21 at the time. She said that way she could finish raising me, boy she did not know what she was getting into. But guess what I did not know what I was getting either, but God knew, He planned it this way because of a pray I would pray. Asking Him Lord please bring a woman into my life that will make me a good wife and love me for what I am. I was not even a Christian then but God heard my prayers and answered them with a beautiful young Island girl who did not know the first thing about cooking.
A few years after we were married we had our first Child, a beautiful little girl who had my heart. I did not want for her to have a life like I had, so I decided I will make a change. I want in her little eye’s to see me as a loving father, but I did not know what a loving father was because I did not have one as a pattern. But I did remember my mother reading from the Bible about a Father God, so I started to studding about Him. The more I read about Him the more I started to change my life. I gave up drinking, smoking, dope and even started to change my vocabulary to words of a pleasant nature. I wanted to be to them what I never had a father who Loved me; I wanted them to see in me the Reflection of Jesus.
I wanted my Children to see the God I meet in me!
What are we showing others around us, do they see Christ in you or a Devil.
The Bible is a book of love it is a love letter from the God who has created this world. But something went wrong the man God created in his image rebelled because he believed a lie told to him in the garden. From the beginning we are told that everything God did was perfect in the Book of beginning called Genesis on the very first chapter 1: we have the story of God’s creation of His love.
24: And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
25: And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
26: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29: And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30: And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31: And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good
But the question, with giving Man so much freedom and giving him dominion over the whole world; would he remain faithful to his creator. So God planted in the middle of the garden a tree just one tree as a simple test to see if man who He created in his own image would love him. Genesis 2: 9: And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Genesis 2: 15: And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16: And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
God told the Man and Woman who He created that everything was there, but that there was one restriction they were never to eat of this one tree. Why because God loved His creation and God knew that if man would eat of this one tree it would open his life to a life of sin and rebellion and life of pain, suffering, sickness, and death.
There was nothing different about this tree; it was just another tree in the garden that God created. But what it was was a test of obeying God word, God said not to eat of it and live or eat of it and die. It was a simple test that God took one tree and said don’t eat of it.
It had to be this way, why because God did not create the Man and Woman to serve His from force, God wanted man to serve Him out of love; the same love that God had in the beginning the same love that God has for all of us today. For freedom to be free it must be willing to let go, willing to take a chance, willing to show love in the hope of receiving love back again. The freedom of choice comes with a price and we all have been giving that freedom and we must choose whether we will serve God or man.
God knew that man might sin but that did not stop His love for man, God knew that if man sinned he would have to die, Why because one of Gods Laws were broken, But God had a plan.
Now sin has marred God’s perfect work, yet the handwriting remains. Even now all created things declare the glory of His excellence. There is nothing except the selfish heart of man that lives unto it self. No bird that cleaves the air, no animal that moves upon the ground, but ministers to some other life. There is no leaf of the forest, or lowly blade of grass, but has its ministry. Every tree and shrub and leaf pours forth that element of life without which neither man nor animal could live; and man and animal, in turn, minister to the life of tree and shrub and leaf. The flowers breathe fragrance and unfold their beauty in blessing to the world.
The plan for our redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after the fall of Adam. It was a revelation of “the mystery which hath been kept in silence through times eternal.” Rom. 16:25: Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
It was an unfolding of the principles that from eternal ages have been the foundation of God’s throne. From the beginning, God and Christ knew of the apostasy of Satan, and of the fall of man through the deceptive power of the apostate. God did not ordain that sin should exist, but He foresaw its existence, and made provision to meet the terrible emergency. So great was His love for the world, that He covenanted to give His only-begotten Son, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Lucifer had said, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; . . . I will be like the Most High.” Isa. 14:13, For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
But Christ, “being in the form of God, counted it not a thing to be grasped to be equality with God, but emptied Him self, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men. There is no other love greater then the love that God has toward man, we have sinned we have broken our relationship with our creator we have turned our back on Him but even then He did not stop loving us. He came to save the world and the world knew Him not; He came to his own people and His own people did not except Him; but hung Him on a Cross. Why because of God’s great Love, God has never stopped loving mankind.
When man sinned by eating of the Tree that God warned him not to eat there was a Law broken and that Law said in Ezek:18:20: The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
The King of glory stooped low to take humanity. Rude and forbidding were His earthly surroundings. His glory was veiled, that the majesty of His outward form might not become an object of attraction. He shunned all outward display. Riches, worldly honor, and human greatness can never save a soul from death; Jesus purposed that no attraction of an earthly nature should call men to His side. Only the beauty of heavenly truth must draw those who would follow Him. The character of the Messiah had long been foretold in prophecy, and He desired men to accept Him upon the testimony of the word of God.
With amazement the heavenly messengers beheld the indifference of the people whom God had called to communicate to the world the light of sacred truth. The Jewish nation had been preserved as a witness that Christ was to be born of the seed of Abraham and of David’s line; yet they knew not that His coming was now at hand. In the temple the morning and the evening sacrifice daily pointed to the Lamb of God; yet even here was no preparation to receive Him. The priests and teachers of the nation knew not that the greatest event of the ages was about to take place. They rehearsed their meaningless prayers, and performed the rites of worship to be seen by men, but in their strife for riches and worldly honor they were not prepared for the revelation of the Messiah. The same indifference pervaded in our world today. Hearts selfish and world-engrossed were untouched by the joy that thrilled all heaven.
In Psalms 23: we read these words
1: The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2: He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3: He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5: Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
“I am the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” “I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep.”
Again Jesus found access to the minds of His hearers by the pathway of their familiar associations. He had likened the Spirit’s influence to the cool, refreshing water. He had represented Himself as the light, the source of life and gladness to nature and to man. Now in a beautiful pastoral picture He represents His relation to those that believe on Him. No picture was more familiar to His hearers than this, and Christ’s words linked it forever with Himself. Never could the disciples look on the shepherds tending their flocks without recalling the Saviour’s lesson. They would see Christ in each faithful shepherd. They would see themselves in each helpless and dependent flock.
This figure the prophet Isaiah had applied to the Messiah’s mission, in the comforting words, “O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! . . . He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom.” Isa. 40:11. David had sung, “The Lord is my shepherd; He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young
And the Holy Spirit through Ezekiel had declared: “I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them.” “I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick.” “And I will make with them a covenant of peace.” “And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen; . . . but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.” Ezek. 34:23, 16, 25, 28
Christ applied these prophecies to Himself, and He showed the contrast between His own character and that of the leaders in Israel. The Pharisees had just driven one from the fold, because he dared to bear witness to the power of Christ. They had cut off a soul whom the True Shepherd was drawing to Himself. In this they had shown themselves ignorant of the work committed to them, and unworthy of their trust as shepherds of the flock. Jesus now set before them the contrast between them and the Good Shepherd, and He pointed to Himself as the real keeper of the Lord’s flock.
We are the sheep of His pasture and God has called us to attend His flock and to lead them by His example. We are to do this by doing the things that He did and speaking the words that He spoke.
John:10:14: I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
The life of every Father on earth is to be the leaded the priest of his family, we are to show our children the reflection of Christ living in us. We are to be to our Wife, family and others living around us a reflection of the good shepherd. We must follow His example we must study and read everyday and apply to our life the things we learn about being a true shepherd so that when the world sees us they see only the reflection of the Christ living in us.
Jesus gave us two great commandments to live by
Mark 12
29: And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
This commandment takes in the first 4 of the Ten Commandments, Mans duty to his creator
31: And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
This Commandment takes in the last 6 of the Ten Commandments Mans duty to his brother.
What a letter of love that God has giving to man that we might know the love of the Father through His Son Jesus.
I can only pray that my wife, my children and my grandchildren see only the reflection of the Christ living in me. Salvation is a free gift to all who by faith will except it, but it was not free to God’s Son Jesus he paid the price for our sins by His death. What a beautiful story about Love, how can anyone reject pure love so freely giving is a mystery to the heavenly host.
John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Friend I hope and pray that you find in Jesus the love that God has giving for this world salvation. John: 15:13: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. That is just what Jesus did, he dies to give you life, He took your sins upon Himself because He loved you with a Godly love.
There are many people that we meet each day in our world and you can always tell the ones that live with Jesus in there hearts. Just look for the reflection of His life in them.
God Bless and may your life also be a reflection of Christ living inside of you.
Elder Tim McNab
God Answers Pray
James: 5:16: Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. 
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
There was once a Church in a small town that had a problem, a saloon open upped across the street. Church members were very angry about this and tried to get the Owner to close it or move somewhere else.
They appealed to the city official, who because of taxes refused to do anything about it.
So the Pastor called on the Church to Pray that God would shut down the Saloon, They meet at the Church everyday in special prayer meetings asking God to intervene in there behalf and help them to shut down the Saloon.
Sure enough about a month later during a very bad storm lightning struck the Saloon and burned it down to the ground.
The Church was delighted until they got served with a legal suit.
The owner of the Saloon was suing the Church, Claiming that their Prayers had resulted in Lightning striking his saloon, and so he held the Church as responsible and was suing them for damages
The Church Lawyers claimed that the Church and there prayers were in no way responsible for the saloon keeper’s damage.
The judge decided in favor of the Church!
But the judge said.
It is very confusing to find that the saloon keeper arguing in favor of the power of prayer and the Church arguing against it.
Do we really believe in the Power of Prayer?
Let us Prayer!
—————————————————–
Have you every prayed for something and it came true, How do you know it was not just a coincident that it happened
I have seen many of prayers answered in my life that there is no possible explanation for; Except God answered pray
What is Prayer and why is it important in a Christian life.
Prayer is the act of addressing God for the purpose of worship or petition. Specific forms of this may include praise, requesting guidance or assistance, confessing sins, as an act of reparation or an expression of one’s thoughts and emotions.
The words used in prayer may take the form of intercession, a hymn, words of gratitude, or a spontaneous utterance in the person’s praying words. Praying can be done in public, as a group, or in private.
What does Jesus tell us to do when we pray?
Mt:21:22: And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
What ever we ask in prayer believe and you shall receive
Believe is another word for Faith and the Bible tells us what Faith is
Heb:11:1: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
James tells us when we are praying we are to ask in Faith believing that we will receive what we have prayed for.
Jms:1:6: But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Many times we pray but don’t really believe God will answer our prayer, Why because it may take too long or our prayer don’t get answered right away we think God does not hear us.
Some prayers are not answered right away and other prayers are answered in different ways that we are not aware of
Jms:5:15: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
Question: is God a respecter of person
The answer is no, God treats everyone the same; we are all equal in Gods eyes. What God does respect is a person Faith in Him.
God has used Men and Women of Faith through history to foster his plan for mankind’s salvation
Jesus tells us what Faith can do.
Lk:17:6: And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
This is why; Jesus said when you pray Believe
Story: of the King who was Sick Hezekiah
2 Kings 20:
1: In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.
2: Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, saying,
3: I beseech thee, O LORD, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.
4: And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying,
5: Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.
6: And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.
God hears our Prayers always
Story: Zacharias
There was a man by the name of Zacharias who prayer asking God to give them a child, but for years his Wife remained barren. He is now in his late 70 and so is his wife.
It was his duty to go into the Most Holy place of the sanctuary and minister before the Ark of the Covenant.
There he sees and Angle, and the Angle tells him something wonderful, his prayers have been heard and that his wife was going to have a Baby
But he questions this is not possible because I am now too old and my wife is passed the age of life
That is unheard of, Old women having children They do when God answers pray.
He must have prayed for many years, until his wife was well passed the years of child bearing, but God heard his prays, and in God’s time he answered this old mans pray.
Lk:1:13: But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
Here is a lesion for all of us We must learner to wait on God’s timing.
If we would learn to wait on Gods timing we would find life so much easyer.
God does not promise that when you become a Christian you will not have problems. What he tells us to do is to pray and he will give you the strength to overcome your hardship, your difficulty, your danger, your misfortune, and your hard times.
Zech:2:8: For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
Jesus prayed for each of us, that our faith in him in times of trouble would not fail, for He tells us in John
Jn:14:1: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
What did we say belief was, Belief and Faith are the same.
So if you have Faith in what you are praying for then you need to start getting ready to receive your request.
Acts:12:5: Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
What happened to Peter, an angle came by night and loose his chains and walked him right out of prison.
Why because the Church was praying for him.
You know you might say, Good Stories Tim, I like them all,
But does God do anything for His people today like he did for those in the Bible..
First thing; There is a big different between the Church of the 1st and 2nd century and that of today
People then were willing to Die for what they believe, rather then enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a season.
Today it is hard just getting Christians to come to Church if they are not mad at the Pastor or someone else in the Church.
Sometime God does not answer us because we don’t really believe that he will bottom line
I really can’t speak for anyone else but this I can tell you; and that is what God has done for me
Story: Me and the Truck
I was on call for work one night many years ago and had to drive a fuel truck into some plants to fill up the air compressors that were keeping the plants running. While driving the truck I notices that the light were not very bright, but did not think too much about it till the engine died coming off a bridge and all I could do was to cost all the way down. As I came off the bridge I pulled over and then tried to restart the engine, but all I could hear was clicking under the hood. Oh no I said the battery is dead, that is why the lights were getting dim on me. I tried everything but no luck is was 1:30am and I called all the emergency contact numbers for my company and no one answered.
Oh no I said I just started this job a few months ago and knew I needed to get fuel in the Air compressors or they would soon start shutting down. I called my Wife who was at home sick and told her what had happened and how I could not get anyone at the office on the phone, I also knew she could not help me being as sick as she was. I was just a new Christian believer at the time and all I could do was to think why don’t you just pray about it. Yes right like that is really going to start the engine, I got out the truck again and did everything I know but nothing worked. I was stranded all alone and in a very bad part of town. Again my thought went to just pray, ok what do I have to lose, so I did I prayed. Not long after praying I got a feeling to try and start the engine, I flagged it off because just a few minutes before I already tired that. But again the feeling came try the engine. OK I will try it, and as soon as I turn the key the engine started, I could not believe it. I put the light switch on and the light were brighter then I ever seen. So I made my run that night and filled all the equipment and drove back to the shop parked the truck. Wow I could not believe it then I thought to my self maybe it was just a bad connection after all. But when I went to try and start the truck again it was dead and I mean completely dead. The next day I came in to work and one of the mechanics was working on the truck and so I ask him what was he doing. He said do you know who drove the truck last night I said yes it was me. He looked and said boy you are a lucky guy I said why, he told me the alternator was out and the battery was totally dead. I knew then for sure it had to be an angle help me that night, all because I prayed in my time of need.
I believe we all sometimes ask God for things we don’t need or for something that is not good for us.
God in his Mercy understands and sometimes said no, it is the same thing that any good parent would do for Children you love.
One time my son Patrick came home with a big fish tank full of Tarantula (Spider) and he said Look Mom Dad can I keep them in my room.
Do I need to tell you what our answer was NO
God is the same way; sometime things are not going to be good for us so he just said NO
I was in Love with a girl once when I was 16 and remember praying asking God to help me to marry her.
I event went as far as telling her we could get married and no one will ever know.
Then one day God let me see something in her I never seen before, and right then I realized why he said no. Then I prayed and said God thanks you for not answering that prayer of mine.
So the next time I prayer about getting married I ask God to provide me a Women to be my Wife.
About a year later, guess who came into my Life. She has been so much more then I could have ever asked or even hoped for, why because she was Gods choice for me. This year we will be married for 39 years, God is so very good
Phil:4:6: Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Eph:6:18: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Col:4:2: Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
Only God could have lead her into my life and on Gods time not mine.
2Tm:1:3: I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;
1Pt:3:12: For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
Have you ever wonders where your prayers are kept.
The Bible tells us that God has a special place where are kept the prayers of all his People.
Rv:5:8: And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rv:8:3: And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Rv:8:4: And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.
There is nothing that is impossible for God to do; God hears the prayers of his children, He longs to talk to each and everyone one of us.
Sometimes we are too busy, sometimes we just don’t have time to give to God because we have so many things going on in our life.
Have you every wondered where do all these things come from, these time takers. They are all a vice from satan to do one thing, keep you away from God.
One of the best time taker satan every invested in was Music
Here he enter the ear and mind of many people, but that was not enough he wanted more so he invested in a tube we call TV
Now he has the ear, mind, imagination of the people all at the same time and he has them doing nothing.
The Prayers of a Father:
A minister concluded his sermon one Sabbath by saying, “If there’s someone here who wants help in getting to know God, and you would like me to pray for you, please raise your hand.” A young man stood up and said, “Please pray for me, sir. The burden of my sin is too heavy to bear.”
After the service the minister talked with the man and led him to faith in Jesus. The young man had been wandering around the country for 8 years without contacting his parents, so he decided to write to them and tell them about the change in his life.
Several days later, a reply came from his mother: “My dear son, you must have accepted Jesus Christ at the same hour your father went to sleep in Jesus. He had been sick for a long time, and that day he was very restless. He tossed from side to side on his bed, crying out, ‘Lord, please save my poor, wandering boy.’ I’m sure that one of the reasons you became a Christian was Dad’s unceasing intercession.”
A praying father will “ask,” “seek,” and “knock” in behalf of his children, persistently trusting his wise heavenly Father to do what is best (Matthew 7:7-11). Let’s thank God today for faithful parents who never stop praying for their children.
Parents never stop praying for your Children, It is never too late to pray for them and never to early to start praying for them
Jesus said in Jer:1:5: Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
God bless and remember God knows what you need He is just waiting for you to ask, then He will provide it at the right time in your life; not too early and never too late.
Elder Tim McNab
Don’t give up!
John: 15:12: This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
There was once a bunch of tiny frogs who arranged a running competition.
The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower. A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants…
The race began… Honestly: No one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower.
You heard statements such as: “NO, WAY it’s too difficult!!”
“They will NEVER make it to the top.”
“Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!”
The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one…
Except for those, who in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher..
The crowd continued to yell, “It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!”
More tiny frogs got tired and gave up… But ONE continued higher and higher and higher…
This one tiny frog however wouldn’t give up!
At the end, everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog, who after a big effort, was the only one who reached the
top!
THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it?
A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal.
It turned out… That the winner was DEAF!!!!
Let’s Us Pray!
————————————————————
Whatever you do Never listen to other people’s tendencies to be negative or pessimistic
Because they take your most wonderful dreams and wish them away from you–
the ones you have in your heart!
Always think of the power words have before speaking.
Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions!
Therefore: ALWAYS be… POSITIVE!
And above all: Be DEAF when people tell YOU that you cannot fulfill your dreams!
Always think: God and I can do this!
Most people walk in and out of your life……but FRIENDS leave footprints
in your heart!
We all need to have some encouragement at time in our life.
We all get Tired, we get Lazy, Wore out, Burnt out, even feel Defeated at times.
Especially when we hear people telling us, you can’t do that! It’s too much for you! No one really expected you to complete it!
In our weakness, we find strength only in the Lord.
When all the world seams to be against us, we know that He is right there, He is there to give guidance, to give instruction, and to give us consul when needed.
God’s love is forever with His people who have put there Trust, there Faith, there very Live into His hands. He never gives up on you.
In the opening story what made the difference between the frogs who did not finish and the one who did. Being —- Deaf to what people were saying.
Sometimes we too need to learn to shut the world out. Don’t listen to what others are saying to us, or about us. Just continue doing what Jesus said.
Do what God is telling you to do, and go where God is telling you to go.
What do you think would have happened if Jesus listened to what others were telling Him, that He was not the Son of God! That He was not the Savior!
When the world does not encourage or help you, remember God love never stops.
What would have happen if Jesus would have became discouraged? He almost did.
Turn to the book of Matthew chapter 3:
Look at the story of Jesus baptism, hear what His Father said.
- Jesus at His Baptism:
Matthew:3:
16: And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
17: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
All of Jesus life he heard only negativeness from people around Him. His own Brothers and Sisters, His Aunts & Uncles, the Religious Leaders.
They all thought Jesus had some loose screws in his head They failure to realize the what the Scriptures said about Him.
Do you hear the same things where you work, how about at Home, how about at Church? People telling you that you are not good enough, you are just not able to do this.
It is almost like they want to see you fail, They themselves can’t do it and they want to make sure you can’t as well..
Funny with Jesus it was only the Common people who heard and believed in Him, because He gave them hope.
Hope that there was something better for them then this life of pain & suffering. Hope of a place where there will never be Hunger, Sickness, or see Death again.
All through Jesus life He did only works of Good, He showed Love, & compassion, But the world hated Him all the more. Who Hated Him, The very people who he came to save.
- Look at what is said in the Book of Luke 22:
40: And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
41: And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
“Tarry ye here, ” He told his disciples, “and watch with Me.”
He went but a little distance from them, but not so far that they could not see and hear Him as He fell prostrate upon the ground.
Why was He here, what was He doing, He was paying your death, all your sins and all my sins. Look now at what it was doing to Him.
He felt that by sin He was being separated from His Father. The gulf was so broad, so black, so deep, that His spirit shuddered before it.
But In this agony He must not exert His divine power to escape or save His self.
How many of us if we had the power in our hand, would not have freed ourselves and said tuff luck and walked away
But not Jesus: As a man He must suffer the consequences of man’s sin. As a man He must endure the wrath of God against transgression.
Christ was now standing in a different attitude from that in which He had never stood before.
His suffering can best be described in the words of the prophet, “Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, and against the man that is My fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.” Zech. 13:7.
Holy angle spirit angel
As the substitute and surety for sinful man, Christ was suffering under divine justice. He saw what justice meant.
Hitherto He had been as an intercessor for others; now He longed to have someone intercessor for Him.
As Christ felt His unity with the Father broken up, He feared that in His human nature He would be unable to endure the coming conflict with the powers of darkness.
In the wilderness of temptation, when the destiny of the human race had been at stake, Christ was then conqueror.
Now the tempter had come for the last fearful struggle. For this he had been preparing during the three years of Christ’s ministry.
Everything was at stake with him. If Satan failed here, his hope of mastery was lost; the kingdoms of the world would finally become Christ’s; he himself would be overthrown and cast out.
But if Christ could be overcome, the earth would become Satan’s kingdom, and the human race would be forever in his power.
With the issues of the conflict before Him, Christ’s soul was filled with dread of separation from God.
Satan told Him that if He became the surety for a sinful world, the separation would be eternal. He would be identified with Satan’s kingdom, and would nevermore be one with God.
Again the Son of God was seized with superhuman agony, and fainting and exhausted, He staggered back to the place of His former struggle.
His suffering was even greater than before. As the agony of soul came upon Him, “His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
The cypress and palm trees were the silent witnesses of His anguish. From their leafy branches dropped heavy dew upon His stricken form, as if nature wept over its Author wrestling alone with the powers of darkness.
A short time before, Jesus had stood like a mighty cedar, withstanding the storm of opposition that spent its fury upon Him.
Stubborn wills, and hearts filled with malice, had striven in vain to confuse and overpower Him. He stood forth in divine majesty as the Son of God.
Now He was like a reed beaten and bent by the angry storm. He had approached the consummation of His work a conqueror, having at each step gained the victory over the powers of darkness.
As one already glorified, He had claimed oneness with God.
He had spoken to His disciples in words of courage and tenderness.
Now had come the hour of the power of darkness. Now His voice was heard on the still evening air, not in tones of triumph, but in human anguish.
The words of the Savior were borne to the ears of the drowsy disciples, “O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.”
The first impulse of the disciples was to go to Him; but He had bidden them tarry there, watching and prayer.
But when Jesus came to them, He found them still sleeping.
Jesus longing for companionship, for some words from His disciples which would bring relief, and break the spell of darkness that well-nigh overpowered Him.
But their eyes were heavy; “neither did they know what to answer Him.” His presence aroused them.
They saw His face marked with the bloody sweat of agony, and they were filled with fear. His anguish of mind they could not understand. “His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.” Isa. 52:14
Turning away, Jesus sought again His retreat, and fell prostrate, overcome by the horror of a great darkness.
The humanity of the Son of God trembled in that trying hour. He prayed not now for His disciples that their faith might not fail, but for His own tempted, agonized soul.
The awful moment had come–that moment which was to decide the destiny of the world. The fate of humanity trembled in the balance.
Christ might even now refuse to drink the cup apportioned to guilty man.
It was not yet too late. He might wipe the bloody sweat from His brow, and leave man to perish in his iniquity.
He might say, Let the transgressor receive the penalty of his sin, and I will go back to My Father.
Will the Son of God drink the bitter cup of humiliation and agony? Will the innocent suffer the consequences of the curse of sin, to save the guilty?
The words fall tremblingly from the pale lips of Jesus, “O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done.”
Three times has He uttered that prayer. Three times has humanity shrunk from the last, crowning sacrifice.
But now the history of the human race comes up before the world’s Redeemer.
He sees that the transgressors of the law, if left to themselves, must perish.
He sees the helplessness of man. He sees the power of sin. The woes and lamentations of a doomed world rise before Him.
He beholds its impending fate, and His decision is made.
He will save man at any cost to Himself.
He accepts His baptism of blood, that through Him millions may gain everlasting life.
He has left the courts of heaven, where all is purity, happiness, and glory, to save the one lost sheep, the one world that has fallen by transgression.
And He will not turn from His mission. He will become the propitiation of a race that has willed to sin.
His prayer now breathes only submission: “If this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, He said My Father Thy will be done.”
Having made the decision, He fell dying to the ground from which He had partially risen.
Where now were His disciples, to place their hands tenderly beneath the head of their fainting Master, and bathe that brow, marred indeed more than the sons of men?
Jesus trod the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with Him.
Please don’t think that the Father did not suffer with His Son for in that trying hour all of heaven was still as the Father and Son agonize over the one lost sheep.
Angels beheld His agony. They saw their Lord enclosed by legions of satanic forces, His nature weighed down with a shuddering, mysterious dread. There was silence in heaven.
No harp was touched.
Could mortals have viewed the amazement of the angelic host as in silent grief as they watched the Father separating His beams of light, of love, and glory from His beloved Son, they would better understand how offensive in His sight is sin.
The worlds un-falling and the heavenly angels had watched with intense interest as the conflict drew to its close.
Satan and his confederacy of evil, the legions of apostasy, watched intently this great crisis in the work of redemption.
The powers of good and evil waited to see what answer would come to Christ’s thrice-repeated prayer.
Angels had longed to bring relief to the divine sufferer, but this might not be.
No way of escape was found for the Son of God.
In this awful crisis, when everything was at stake, when the mysterious cup trembled in the hand of the sufferer, the heavens opened.
A light shone forth amid the stormy darkness of the crisis hour, and the mighty angel who stands in God’s presence, occupying the position from which Satan fell, came to the side of Christ.
The angel came not to take the cup from Christ’s hand, but to strengthen Him to drink it, with the assurance of the Father’s love.
He came to give power to the divine-human suppliant.
He pointed Him to the open heavens, telling Him of the souls that would be saved as the result of His sufferings.
He assured Him that His Father is greater and more powerful than Satan, that His death would result in the utter discomfiture of Satan, and that the kingdom of this world would be given to the saints of the Most High.
He told Him that He would see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied, for He would see a multitude of the human race saved eternally.
Christ’s agony did not cease, but His depression and discouragement left Him.
The storm had in nowise abated, but He who was its object was strengthened to meet its fury.
He came forth calm and peaceful. A heavenly peace rested upon His bloodstained face.
He had borne that which no human being could ever bear; for He had tasted the sufferings of death for every man.
The sleeping disciples had been suddenly awakened by the light surrounding the Savior.
They saw the angel bending over their prostrate Master.
They saw him lift the Savior’s head upon his bosom, and point toward heaven. They heard his voice, like sweetest music, speaking words of comfort and hope.
The disciples recalled the scene upon the mount of transfiguration.
They remembered the glory that in the temple had encircled Jesus, and the voice of God that spoke from the cloud.
Now that same glory was again revealed, and they had no further fear for their Master.
He was under the care of His Father; a mighty angel had been sent to protect Him.
Again the disciples in their weariness yield to the strange stupor that overpowers them.
Again Jesus finds them sleeping.
That same night they took Jesus and place Him before a marked trial of Evil men. But he stood before then not as one having been defeated, But as one who has gained the Victory
3. Jesus at the Cross: Luke 23:
39: And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.
40: But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
41: And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.
42: And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
43: And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.
On the Cross there was only one man who called upon the savior, Even while Jesus was suffering on the Cross Himself, His ears were open to hear the cry for help.
Have you become discouraged in your walk with Jesus, when we pass out literature and no one seams to accept what you have. When we have evangelistic seminars and no one comes. When we preach the word and there are no followers.
Do you get dishearten because no one heed the warning, and you feel like a failure.
We all need to be encouraged at time to complete the work giving us. Somehow when we have other pulling for us it makes the road easier to bare.
It can’t be explained and we don’t know why it is.
But pain and suffering somehow becomes bearable when we know you are not alone when we know others are praying for us.
A man was sleeping one night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled
with light, and God appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to
do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained
that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. So, this the
man did, day after day.
For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set
squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing
with all of his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and
worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.
Since the man was showing discouragement, the adversary (Satan) decided to
enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: “You have been
pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn’t moved.” Thus, he
gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a
failure.
These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man. Satan said, “Why kill
yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort;
and that will be good enough.”
That’s what the weary man planned to do, but decided to make it a Matter of
Prayer and to take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.
“Lord,” he said, “I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all
my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I
have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am
I failing?
The Lord responded compassionately, “My friend, when I asked you to serve
Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock
with all of your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to
you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you
come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is
that really so?
“Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and
brown; your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have
become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much, and your
abilities now surpass that which you used to have.
“True, you haven’t moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and
to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. That you have
done. Now I, my friend, will move the rock.”
*At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect
to decipher what He wants, when actually what God wants is just a simple
obedience and faith in Him.
At time we hear people telling us like satin you can’t do it.
You can’t Speak, You can’t Teach, You can’t Preach, You can’t, You can’t, You can’t.
When people are putting you down, when you hear the voice of Satan telling you what you can’t, we need to look to the word of God that tells us.
I can do, I can do, I can do…….
Phil:4:13: I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Don’t let the world stop you from reaching the finish line,
Sometimes all you need is to become Deaf to the world in order to hear Jesus.
Whatever you do always remember” Never Give Up”
Elder Tim McNab
Restoring Gods Truth
Believe also in Me
John 14: 1: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
There was once a tightrope walker who was crossing Niagara Falls. After he had held the crowds spellbound with his daring act, he asked, How many of you believe I could cross the tightrope again, this time Blindfolded and pushing a wheelbarrow with someone riding in it.
The crowds applauded.
They were sure he could do it. But then he said, Who will volunteer to ride the wheelbarrow?
There was a vast silence.
The audience had just been reminded of the vital difference between belief and trust! It’s one thing to believe that the wheelbarrow would make it safety across the Falls. It’s quite another thing to put your own life on the line.
Total Trust is putting one foot forward and walking with both eyes closed
Faith is like thread
One peace all by its self can not do much, but each time Faith is used it becomes stronger Until that thread becomes a rope, a life line to Jesus
Faith still trusts God even when things don’t work out the way we want them to.
It’s easy to trust God when life is going smoothly. The real test of faith comes when our prayers seem unanswered.
The Lord would have you trust in his love and mercy amid clouds and darkness as well as in the sunshine.
KNOWING GOD RESULTS IN TRUSTING GOD.
IF YOU DON’T KNOW HIM, YOU WON’T TRUST HIM.
IF YOU DON’T TRUST HIM, IT IS BECAUSE YOU DON’T KNOW HIM.
Let us Pray!
————————————————-
Several years ago some visitors to the US Mint in Philadelphia listened to a worker in the foundry area. The man said that if you first dip your hand into a bucket of water, a small ladle of molten metal could be poured over the palm of your hand and it would not burn you. The worker said, “Do you believe that?” Well, they all believed that. “Who would like to try it?” A man stood there and said: “Not me!” “I’ll take your word for it.” The workman turned to the man’s wife, and said: “Perhaps you would like to try it?” She said, “Certainly.” She put her hand in the bucket of water and calmly held it out while the hot metal was poured over her hand. And it didn’t hurt. I don’t think she held that molten metal very long. Now, don’t go try this. Both the husband and the wife believed. Was there a difference in their belief? Only the wife trusted completely. You may say she was a fool for doing that. If you trust Jesus completely you’re not a fool. That’s the type of trust that it going to take to be saved. That’s the type of belief that it take to be saved.
You’ve got to completely trust your life to Him and totally believe in Him; His perfect life will be accounted to you in place of your imperfect life. You will be saved by His blood. Jesus’ righteousness will be freely given to everybody who really and truly believe in Jesus. We are saved not by works but by faith, belief, and trust. This is called grace. That is called the good news.
John 14:
1: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2: In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
It is one thing to Believe something is going to happen, but quite another thing to totally put you Truth and Faith ahead of you belief and see it fulfillment
AFTER A FEW OF THE USUAL SABBATH EVENING HYMNS, THE CHURCH’S PASTOR SLOWLY STOOD UP, WALKED OVER TO THE PULPIT AND, BEFORE HE GAVE HIS SERMON FOR THE EVENING, HE BRIEFLY INTRODUCED A GUEST MINISTER WHO WAS IN THE SERVICE THAT EVENING.
IN THE INTRODUCTION, THE PASTOR TOLD THE CONGREGATION THAT THE GUEST MINISTER WAS ONE OF HIS DEAREST CHILDHOOD FRIENDS AND THAT HE WANTED HIM TO HAVE A FEW MOMENTS TO GREET THE CHURCH AND SHARE WHATEVER HE FELT WOULD BE APPROPRIATE FOR THE SERVICE. WITH THAT, AN ELDERLY MAN STEPPED UP TO THE PULPIT AND BEGAN TO SPEAK.’
A FATHER, HIS SON, AND A FRIEND OF HIS SON WERE SAILING OFF THE PACIFIC COAST,’ HE BEGAN. ‘WHEN A FAST APPROACHING STORM BLOCKED ANY ATTEMPT TO GET BACK TO THE SHORE. ‘THE WAVES WERE SO HIGH, THAT EVEN THOUGH THE FATHER WAS AN EXPERIENCED SAILOR, HE COULD NOT KEEP THE BOAT UPRIGHT AND THE THREE WERE SWEPT INTO THE OCEAN AS THE BOAT CAPSIZED.’
THE OLD MAN HESITATED FOR A MOMENT, MAKING EYE CONTACT WITH TWO TEENAGERS WHO WERE, FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE SERVICE BEGAN, LOOKING SOMEWHAT INTERESTED IN HIS STORY.
THE AGED MINISTER CONTINUED WITH HIS STORY,’GRABBING A RESCUE LINE, THE FATHER HAD TO MAKE THE MOST EXCRUCIATING DECISION OF HIS LIFE: TO WHICH BOY WOULD HE THROW THE OTHER END OF THE LIFE LINE.
‘HE ONLY HAD SECONDS TO MAKE THE DECISION. ‘THE FATHER KNEW THAT HIS SON WAS A CHRISTIAN AND HE, ALSO, KNEW THAT HIS SON’S FRIEND WAS NOT.
‘THE AGONY OF HIS DECISION COULD NOT BE MATCHED BY THE TORRENT OF WAVES. ‘AS THE FATHER YELLED OUT, “I LOVE YOU, SON!” HE THREW OUT THE LIFE LINE TO HIS SON’S FRIEND. ‘BY THE TIME THE FATHER HAD PULLED THE FRIEND BACK TO THE CAPSIZED BOAT, HIS SON HAD DISAPPEARED BENEATH THE RAGING SWELLS INTO THE BLACK OF NIGHT. HIS BODY WAS NEVER RECOVERED.’
BY THIS TIME, THE TWO TEENAGERS WERE SITTING UP STRAIGHT IN THE PEW,
ANXIOUSLY WAITING FOR THE NEXT WORDS TO COME OUT OF THE OLD MINISTER’S MOUTH.
‘THE FATHER,’ HE CONTINUED, ‘KNEW HIS SON WOULD STEP INTO ETERNITY WITH JESUS AND HE COULD NOT BEAR THE THOUGHT OF HIS SON’S FRIEND STEPPING INTO AN ETERNITY WITHOUT JESUS…
THEREFORE, HE SACRIFICED HIS SON TO SAVE THE SON’S FRIEND.
‘HOW GREAT IS THE LOVE OF GOD THAT HE SHOULD DO THE SAME FOR US. OUR HEAVENLY FATHER SACRIFICED HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON THAT WE COULD BE SAVED.
I URGE YOU TO ACCEPT HIS OFFER TO RESCUE YOU AND TAKE A HOLD OF THE LIFE LINE HE IS THROWING OUT TO YOU IN THIS SERVICE.’
WITH THAT, THE OLD MAN TURNED AND SAT BACK DOWN IN HIS CHAIR AS SILENCE FILLED THE ROOM.
THE PASTOR AGAIN WALKED SLOWLY TO THE PULPIT AND DELIVERED A BRIEF SERMON WITH AN INVITATION AT THE END. HOWEVER, NO ONE RESPONDED TO THE APPEAL. WITHIN MINUTES AFTER THE SERVICE ENDED, THE TWO TEENAGERS WERE AT THE OLD MAN’S SIDE.
‘THAT WAS A NICE STORY,’ POLITELY STATED ONE OF THEM,’BUT I DON’T THINK IT WAS VERY REALISTIC FOR A FATHER TO GIVE UP HIS ONLY SON’S LIFE IN HOPES THAT THE OTHER BOY WOULD BECOME A CHRISTIAN.’
‘WELL, YOU’VE GOT A POINT THERE,’ THE OLD MAN REPLIED, GLANCING DOWN AT HIS WORN BIBLE. A BIG SMILE BROADENED HIS NARROW FACE. HE ONCE AGAIN LOOKED UP AT THE BOYS AND SAID, ‘IT SURE ISN’T VERY REALISTIC, IS IT? BUT, I’M STANDING HERE TODAY TO TELL YOU THAT STORY GIVES ME A GLIMPSE OF WHAT IT MUST HAVE BEEN LIKE FOR GOD TO GIVE UP HIS SON FOR ME.
YOU SEE… ‘I WAS THAT FATHER AND YOUR PASTOR IS MY SON’S FRIEND.’
I WOULD RATHER LIVE MY LIFE AS IF THERE IS A GOD AND DIE TO FIND OUT
THERE ISN’T, THAN LIVE MY LIFE AS IF THERE ISN’T AND DIE TO FIND OUT THERE IS.
Several years ago two ships collided. It happened far out in the calm quiet Atlantic Ocean on a dark foggy night. The smaller ship with two hundred and six people on board sank within thirty minutes. Immediately the larger ship put out life boats to retrieve the passengers who were floating in the calm sea.
Only thirty four were found!? They were all picked up and saved. At first it seemed a great mystery why a hundred seventy two people were lost and so few were saved. The problem was not a lack of life jackets or life boats.
** I don’t know if any of you have ever been in a collision, things happen so fast that you don’t always get time to think about them or think about what to do. You just do them.
I was once on a ship that had a collision with another ship many years ago. We too did not have time to think, We knew that our ship was going down and we needed to get off and off fast. So when the Captain gave the order to abandon ship that is what we did, with in fifteen minutes the ship sunk, but all of our lives were saved, only because everyone followed the Captains orders.
But there was a different problem here on this ship, the people heard the Captain order, but many did not want to go when the call to abandon ship was giving. Why?
What in this world would keep you on a sinking Ship? The order is giving get off, Abandon ship and save your life. What’s keeping you from getting in the lifeboat?
Later it was found that the primary reason so few were saved was that most if not all of them had busied themselves during those last thirty minutes in seizing their gold and silver and securing it to their clothes or belting it around their waist.
They were weighted down and unable to remain afloat until the rescue boats could reach them. They lost both their life and their money. They were Jeopardized by greed.
What hinders you today from giving Christ your all?
Cast off the carnal things that weigh you down. Many of good Christians are like a waterlogged raft, they are just barely afloat. They have soaked up so much worldliness and are so absorbed with little sinful traits that it is almost impossible for them to be towed into the heavenly harbor.
Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
Sorry: but you can’t have your pie and eat it too. No heart can mature two crops at the same time. We must decide which is more important.
Immerse yourself in Jesus. Lighten your load of temporal doodads. Give Jesus your total heart and sole and stop living your life in a world that is dying because the temporal reward looks great.
Just remember the word temporal means just that. “temporary, brief, short lived”.
When an immigrant comes to America, before He or She can become a citizen they must renounce all commitments and allegiance to their former homeland and pledge one hundred percent allegiance to America. Then and only then will the U.S. Government grant citizenship.
That’s the way it is with Jesus. When you accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, you renounce Satan completely. You can’t “split time” by serving Satan part-time and Christ part-time.
For a Christian there can be no moonlighting with the world.
It is impossible to have one foot in the world and one foot in the church. Very quickly you would have to do the splits because the path of the church and the world are zeroing in at two very different destinations. One is eternal Life the other is eternal destruction.
Like a boat leaving the dock, you can’t have one foot on the boat and one foot on the dock for very long or you will end up in the drink.
An individual who divides his heart between God and the world will eventually be wholehearted for the world and fainthearted for God! You can’t dine at the Devils table on Friday and at the Lord’s table on Sabbath. You can’t sing “All The Way” in the pew and swear at the fax machine at work.
Luke 14:33: In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
We must be willing to give up everything. You can’t hold onto the world and its knickknacks with all your strength and equally hold onto Jesus.
You can’t get your high from Jesus on Sabbath and get your “High” from drugs on Saturday night.
Brown-nosing with Satan when you are with the crowd and pretending at church makes you a hypocrite!
1 Thessalonians 5:23: May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus wants us one hundred percent, Completely, Totally, All or nothing
I remember as a boy in Honduras we drove across the country to visit some friends, I reckon we hadn’t gone a stone’s throw before we came to a vacant lot. The problem was that it had not been empty long, just a few days before a family had lived there in a home. My Uncle said, “Boy, they moved out fast and took everything!” The clothes-line was gone, the mail box, and even the dog house was gone they were out of there completely. I said man it looks like they took the very dirt.
Then I came here to the US and found out that when people here move out they take the Very light bulbs out before leaving.
Look what Paul said, I can do all things through Christ who strength me.
Isaiah 29:13: God says, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me
We sing songs like “I’ll go where you want me to go Dear Lord… I’ll do what you want me to do…
But don’t ask me to sing in the choir or play the hand bells, or teach in the little kid’s department or help with VacationBibleSchool or sit on a committee. I just want to sit among the saints. I don’t want to be involved to much, I just don’t have the time!”
God’s yardstick is total devotion or none at all. We modern Christians come to the celestial check out lane and when we reach the cash register we say,
“I would like to buy about three dollars worth of God please.
- I don’t want enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep.
- I don’t want enough to make me love people I don’t like.
- I want gladness but not transformation.
- I want the warmth of the womb, but not the new birth.
- I want a pound of the Eternal in a paper sack.
- I want a sprinkling but not an immersion.
- I want a taste of God but not a total meal.
- I want to sample Jesus but not be over involved.
- I want to do God’s will as long as it doesn’t interfere with what I am doing.
David eventually became a man after God’s heart by going all the way with total commitment.
Psalms 119:2 David says: Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart.
Those who seek him with all their heart!
I’ve had a lot of people come and say, I just can’t get victory over sin. I’m trying to be a good Christian and I just can’t do it. How do I get strength to live the Christian life?”
( Stop Trying )
I’ll tell you how to get Christian strength. You seek it with all your heart. You’re going to get what you’re really seeking.” If you go at it with all your heart you will find it.
God is there waiting, reaching out to take your hand.
Pray and when you finish praying pray somemore. Jesus is not tired of hearing your pray, or your request, he is willing to do what every it take to help you, he proved it by dying for you on the Cross.
Revelations:3: 14: And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16: So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
God wants your heart, the whole heart, and nothing but the whole heart. He wants all of you or he doesn’t want you at all. Lock, stock, and barrel commitment is what God is looking for in His people in these last days.
Unless you love Him totally, you do not love Him at all. There is no such thing as lukewarm commitment. If you don’t crown Him Lord of All, you really do not crown Him at All.
Notice that our heavenly Father does not expect what He is not willing to give. Does God give totally? Does He? Yes, He does.
Does He give half-way? Do we have a part time daddy? Our awesome God gives totally! The bible is full of examples of how God give totally.
Let’s look and see!
Luke 8:48: And He said unto her, “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace.” (NIV)
Does God heal us half-way? No. He heals us all the way. Her faith had made her whole. She was not healed half- way she was healed completely by her faith in the one who could give healing.
When Jesus died on the cross, He totally paid for all my sins. His forgiveness is absolute. God’s healing power is unbounded. When we all get to heaven, we will be given access to the immeasurable universe.
He’s not going to say,
“Well, I’ll just give you a little bit of heaven.
I’ll give you just a touch of it.” No!
Does He give us just a sample of heaven? No!
He gives us the whole thing. It’s ours completely, all of it!
We will be able to fly. We don’t need to have reservations. We just go to all these other worlds. Every corner of the universe is yours to explore. He doesn’t hold back. Total freedom to go and come, to observe all that He has created.
We can obtain a knowledge that exhaustively takes in the alpha to the omega of the universe. We can fly at more than the speed of light and picnic in a far off corner of the universe. We have unlimited access.
But to completely experience the joys of heaven then, you need to be totally committed to Jesus Christ today. Without that total commitment you won’t be there.
Now you could say, “Well, I attend church on Sabbath morning. I’m here. I’m sitting in the pew. But when I go home, I don’t dress like I dressed here. In fact I put on some of the world, you know. I start acting like the world. Swear words occasionally come out. That’s not total commitment is it. When you are total committed you are committed 24hr a day.
Let’s suppose you are going to get Married but before getting Married you’re soon to be tell you
“I’ll be true to you ninety nine percent of the time.” That would be pretty good, wouldn’t it? Wouldn’t that be great? “Ninety nine percent of the time I’ll be true to you. I will.” How many of you would accept that? And yet we expect God to accept that, don’t we?
What does the Scriptures say we need to do:
Ephesians 6:11. Put on the partial armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Is that what it says? “Put on the whole armor of God.” Partial of anything may not be sufficient to keep you safe.
The young David was able to slay Goliath because the giant did not use the whole armor. Where did that little stone find its mark? It sank into his forehead.
Where was his shield that came over his face, or his helmet? Where was the shield that his shield-bearer should have had? They were missing.
He was not wearing one, he did not feel the need to put it on, after all Davit was just a little small boy, not very big at all, what could he do to a Giant like Goliath
Goliath didn’t have the whole armor and so he died, you cannot become a Christian today without the whole armor of God or you too will die.
One little loophole was all it took for David’s stone to transform the mammoth monster into a dead dwarf.
Don’t ever think satin is not taking aim! He wants nothing more then to keep you from a total commitment to Jesus. Satin does not care if you have a 70%, 80%, 90% or even a 99% commitment to Jesus. He just wants to keep you from having a 100% commitment
There is no such thing as half-and-half unless you get it at Wal-Mart. In Christ there is a hundred percent or nothing.
STOEY: A Hog and Chicken sets a good example.
Visualize a chicken and a pig vacationing together. They travel for many miles and many hours. Finally they get hungry. The sharp-eyed chicken spots a restaurant. Approaching the door, they read a sign which says, “Ham and Eggs: Our Specialty!” “Hold it!” oinked the pig. “What’s the matter?” clucked the chicken. “Plenty,” said the hog. “All they want from you is a little compromise. They are asking me for total commitment!” That’s exactly what God wants.
How do you have a great marriage? You are totally committed to it. These are marriages that last seventy-five years, those people are committed to it. Commitment! That’s what we need to pray for.
When a little trouble comes to a great marriage, when both of them are committed to it, they’re going to stick with it. They’re not going to run.
Mark 8:34–36 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”
A few years ago a super fast concord jet was zooming off the runway in Paris, France, with its load of passengers. Everything was going fine. Do you realize that the pilot of a jet aircraft comes to a point of no return on that runway.
It gets going so fast that you cross a line where you have to decide to “fly or stop”. Once you cross that line you have no choice but to fly or to crash. The pilot of that fast jet came to that line. It seems that when he came to that point, a tire blew out and large chunks crashed into the fuel tank. The plane took off in a fireball and crashed in an explosion.
Unfortunately, churches are filled with many members who have never left the ground. They have been sitting on a spiritual runway for years and years gunning their spiritual engines but they never really reaching the point of total commitment, that line that you must cross as a Christian or you are not going to make it.
You cannot stay on the runway and reach heaven at the same time. You’ve got to get committed and get off, take off.
Philippians 3:7,8. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ. Praise God for Paul! That’s beautiful!
What is man’s greatest possession? I would submit to you that man’s greatest possession is a relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s the greatest thing you can have all else is rubbish.
Jesus wants you totally: Hook, Line, and Sinker and that is another Sermon.
Do you want Him with all your might? Just pray this little prayer: “Dear God, you be the needle and I’ll be the thread. You go first and I’ll follow wherever you may lead.” That’s what thread does.
***In the beginning of this sermon I ask you a question!***
What in this world would keep you on a sinking Ship? The order is giving get off, Abandon ship and save your life. What is keeping you from getting into the gates of Heaven?
An old song goes like this: “I Surrender.. how much? All.” Yielding totally to Jesus. Another song says – “All The Way My Savior Leads me!” Are you willing to go all the way with Jesus?
The ship is sinking and there is not much time left, what are you going to do! The longer you wait the lest chance you miget have.
I pray that today you will give Jesus a chance, a chance to save you from a sinking world. Jesus said in Matthew:11:28: Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
In Noah time only he and his family were saved God was giving a warning to the people of Noah’s time for 120 years, telling them the ship was sinking. Get into the safety of God provision but no one believed what the man of God was preaching. The same is with our World today, God has done all he can do to save you, but the choice is your.
I pray that God will be with you as you decide today if you are staying on board this sinking ship or if you are following the command to get off this sinking World and into the hands of a God that loves you.
God Bless
Elder Tim McNab
D5 Creation
