What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?

The rich young ruler asked Jesus; what did he need to do to have eternal life.  He named off all the things that he was doing already as a young man.  But Jesus said if thou will be perfect, go and sell that thou have, and give to the poor, and thou shall have treasure in heaven:  and come and follow me.  But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful:  for he had great possessions.  Then Jesus said unto his disciples, verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 19:20-23.  That scripture reminds me of what Jesus said in Matthew 13:22.  He also said that received seed among thorns is he that hears the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word and he becometh unfruitful.  I believe the young man worshipped his wealth which, to me is another form of idolatry.  He didn’t want to part with it and go and follow Jesus.  That is what has taken over today in our world.  People have set up idols in their lives; money and wealth being the most common.  The world has become full of idolatry, the thing we have to do is find out why and what the enemy is using. 

Personally, I believe the devil is using covetousness to lure people in.  If you covet worldly things or you are greedy for riches then watch out, the enemy is headed straight toward you.  Remember, he tempted our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with riches, wealth and kingdoms.  Praise God he didn’t have any lust for nothing of this world in him.  Jesus said the prince of this world (satan) comes and have nothing in me.  John 14:30 Everything we see on television is heavily filled with lustful desires; all of it is for people to sow to themselves.  That is why the devil blasts us with these things all day long.  It’s because he wants you to covet them; the food, the cars, the houses, the shoes, and the clothes.  He wants you to covet the money, the degree to earn the money, the women, the Viagra to please the women, and the list just goes on and on.  That is why he uses celebrities to promote the stuff in order to entice us to lust after it.  To defeat him we must resist him and deny ourselves.  God clearly told Israel not to covet anything of thy neighbors in Exodus 20:15.  Jesus says to the disciple, take heed and beware of covetousness, a man’s life consist not in the abundance of things which he possess. Luke 12:15 Furthermore, Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 5:5, for this you know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man who is an idolater, have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.  And he said it again in Colossians 3:5. 

         Now, please understand, I am not saying that rich or wealthy people will not make it to heaven.  I am saying that Jesus said it will be hard.  The most disturbing thing to me is that people who go to church, know the word, and confess that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior will hear this and be offended.  I know we need money and worldly goods for the times we are living in.  Of course; rent, car notes, mortgages, insurance, etc; must be paid.  Just don’t make money your god and don’t idolize it.  Everyone has been around people who judge others by the world’s economic classifications.  Even fake church people participate in judging their brethren, some obvious and some by secrecy.  For example; my wife and I was headed to service one Sunday; on the way we stopped by our county’s trash dump to drop off our trash.  I saw a guy I went to high school with.  I said, “Hello big man how have you been?  It’s good to see you!  It’s been 16 years since I saw you last.”  The first thing he said was, “What are you doing to get down for yours?”  That means he asked me how do I earn my living; for those who may not understand street language.  I froze; could not form any words to give a reply. Obviously, to him I appeared to have money or a nice vehicle.  I think because he was driving the trash truck he felt the need to ask me where I worked.  In my head I screamed, “Lord this is what’s wrong with a lot of people!  Their minds are on material possessions that they have or someone else has!”  By this time a reply formed in my mind and I simply stated to him that I make an honest living just like him.  I handed him a card and told him to call me if he wants to come over sometime and fellowship, read and discuss the bible.  If how you are living is pleasing to God then what is it to me?  God is not a respecter of persons.  If your work is honest in his eyes, then who cares?  The devil wants you to care; he wants you to see how your neighbor is living.  The devil wants you to covet all the day long, so eventually you seek him to become rich.  That is why every song, every commercial is about “my this” and “my that”.  He wants you to be caught up into yourselves.  Jesus said seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto you Matthew 6:33.  The problem with this is people missed the first part of that scripture and seems to have only heard “added unto you”!  It is some church people who really don’t believe that God is our provider.  I know that because you see them outside the stores scratching off lotto tickets trying to hit it big before they go to church.  Let’s keep it real people, if you are poor and playing the lottery, you are not only putting money into the government’s pockets, but actually denying God.  What makes people think when they become rich they are going to give God the glory?  Man, I no longer care about stuff!  It doesn’t matter to me!  People think others are blessed because they see the things they own.  But don’t stop to think of the hell folks have in their lives.  And you don’t know the (god) they serve either.  My dad always taught me to be thankful for what we have and to stop worrying about what others have.  He also told me to help others that were less fortunate than us.  Now that I am older I understand what my dad was teaching us and also understand what Jesus Christ was saying too.  Both of them were talking about covetousness; looking upon your neighbor, wondering about what they have and how they got it.

We can get more accomplished as saints if we focus on the ministry of Christ.  Let’s get people to Christ and get them saved!  Let us deny all of this worldly lust and fashion ourselves accordingly in Christ Jesus.  Let’s stop wondering about the things our neighbors have in their possessions.  Instead, let’s pray for one another and uplift each other.  Above all deny the devil and give God his due honor and praise!   

As Always

It. Is. Written.                

Will you be able to sustain during your betrayal?

      Make no exceptions my brothers and sisters; the word of God lets us know that we will suffer betrayal in some form or another.  As the times of the last days draw near and the world continues to get desperately wicked.  People are becoming more and more violent.  Children are getting kidnapped in broad daylight by force.  Older people’s homes are being broken into while they are in them.  Some people are beaten badly and some are just killed for no good reason.  When the Government takes over and begins to cut programs that help people; I believe things like Social Security and unemployment benefits will cease to exist.  When they no longer exist, what will people do in order to survive?  They will steal, kill, and destroy.  That is what I want to dwell on for a moment.  People will destroy each other by betraying one another.  Even the people in your family will betray you in these desperate times that are fast approaching.  (Luke 21:16)  Remember this; you love and serve The Most High God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Those of us who will not take the mark of the beast will be betrayed by the ones who will.  They will do anything to survive because they can’t fathom leaving this nasty filthy world.  (I John 2:16)  They can’t get past this place; none of them fully believe that there is a Heaven or a Hell after we die or even that God is actually real, for that matter. 

         Jesus Christ was betrayed himself by someone who was called his disciple.  (Matthew 26: 21-23)  Could you imagine walking around and talking to the very person who will betray you?  That takes super natural power from God to not only know; but to go and still continue to do God’s Will.  We too have to keep marching forward ourselves and not faint.

       It is so many people caught up with the world to the point they will not be able to stand.  Their faith is severely misplaced.  Their faith is in man, materialistic things, and of course money or riches.  None of those aforementioned things can save anyone.  So that means if your faith is not in Lord Jesus then your faith also can betray you.  Misplaced faith can let you down.  Some people’s faith is in the churches where they worship.  They actually believe the building or temple can save them during troublesome times.  Your faith has to be totally in Jesus Christ.  There are people who continue to sow unto their flesh.  Your flesh can definitely betray you.  The flesh can overeat, get tired, and have inordinate sexual desires.  That is why it must die daily.  There are men like King David whose flesh betrayed him.  David was filled with lust, so he desired to have Bathsheba.  So much so he was willing to kill her husband to have her.  That is why we are not supposed to fornicate or commit adultery.  By doing these things you sin against your own body.  We need to be spirit filled to war against the flesh to not walk after the flesh.  I believe when Jesus prayed unto the Father three times right before he was betrayed, his flesh was trying to betray him.  Jesus asked his disciples to pray to not fall into temptation because the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.  (Matthew 26:38-46)  After the third time of praying Jesus got up and carried on with the mission.  Jesus sustained through his betrayal.  He stayed obedient even unto death.  I pray to God that He fills us with His spirit so we can also sustain while being betrayed.

As Always,

It.Is.Written.

 

Our Author of Eternal Salvation

Jesus Christ is the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.  (Hebrews 5:9)  As we watched oprah and lady gaga sit at Harvard University deceiving people everywhere; both of them telling people how to live and about the good they do as if they are the standards we should live by; obedience through Christ Jesus is the only standard!  If you don’t have the seal of Christ Jesus then you are not His.  (2 Timothy 2:19)  Sitting in bible study intently listening I realized these thoughts were confirmed by our pastor as he touched on this very subject.  And from all of this I realized one simple thing; the world is dictating to us, the Saints; the people they want to lift up.  We waste precious time debating back and forth with worldly people.  There are only two things we should concentrate on asking anyone. 1.  Are you saved? 2.  Do you want to be saved?  Anything more than that can lead you all around the wilderness wasting time.   

I have been guilty myself of going back and forth with people and not accomplishing anything.  Father, forgive me!  Now is the time to get straight to the point with people.  You are either saved and obey Christ or you are not saved and love the world.  (1 John 2:15-16)  There is no in between or grey area.  Why real men and women of God are never invited to speak in front of a world audience?  It is because they would tell oprah, lady gaga and all the people who think like them they need to be saved.  And Jesus is the only way you can be saved!  They think their so called good works, good deeds and charities are something.  But the sad reality is they are nothing but a smoky, hot, and rotten stench to the Most High God’s nostrils!  The devil is using these two ladies to spread his lies and deceive people.  And the people are drinking and eating their nasty filth down.  Every day in every arena the devil is flaunting in our faces with no fear!  He is telling us he is the big bad giant, now come get some!  This creature is raping kids.  He is sacrificing and killing babies.  He is oppressing the poor and the out of work.  God, come on and load us with the Holy Ghost, pull the hammer back, and let the bullets of righteousness fly and kill this vile creature!  It is time for the truly saved people to put on Christ and take off anything that resembles the world.  (2 Corinthians 6:16-17)  It is time to make a clear separation from the filth, leaving no doubts about whom we worship.  It is time to walk in the full obedience of Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 10:5), so he can be the Author of our Eternal Salvation because we obey him!  God give us the Holy Ghost so we can go about doing your will in the Name of Jesus!

As always,

It.Is.Written.