Thursday, November 13, 2014

Hand Me the S'mores

In recent weeks, I have seen some church leaders take to the highways and bi-ways to ask people if they believe in Jesus. They ask people on the sidewalks and in park areas or bus terminals if they believe there is a "God". I am amazed at the answers. In the few answers they do televise, only one or two may say they know there is a "God". But the rest of the people who are asked really have no answer or do not care if there is a God or not! Today, it seems there are those who delight in being their own "god" and doing their thing, whatever that it is!

I also understand that it is the belief that is being passed around in this day, especially by some who have a TV talk show, and those who have something to do with music industry and the arts is that each person is divine and is a "god" in their own right! What?
And I have recently been sent information of the movement of an "emergent church".What???

Not sure where I have been, but all this is weird to me!

So if I am understanding this correctly, we need to have church toned down so people will hear His Word and want to come to church. That the important thing is people be given a "message" that makes them happy and want to return.
How many will be happy when they take the last breath and find a million in front of them being moved forward into a fiery hell? How many will be mad when they find out the truth was not given to them for sake of desire to have extravagant numbers to fill the big coliseums with thousands of people and yet not give them the "message" in truth?

Job 5:17.......17 "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects;
Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. NKJV

Jeremiah 1:10
10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant."
NKJV


In referring back to this one program and the question asked, "do you believe there is a "God"? Yes, I believe!
When I saw this program on one of the Christian channels, I instantly remembered this commercial of recent months. The commercial was people partying on the beach and had all their fires going on the beach. It was toward evening time during the summer and someone had pulled out the chocolate, crackers and marshmallows for s'mores!
I thought of how many in that group of people knew of Jesus and what was coming on the world in the next decade. Would any care of the "dramatic changes" that are about to occur? Even in my life time I have seen such changes, and I am wondering what happened to the "innocents of youth"? What happened to people being safe to walk in their neighborhoods without being held up by someone who decides to attack, either just to rob or to "hurt in some extreme manner?
Everyone wanting to do "their thing" is apparent when you drive down any interstate highway. Those who will not leave the "left land" for anyone. They will drive 55 mph and take 15 minutes to pass 5 semis and have twenty cars behind them, but they will not "budge" from the left lane! Yes, I saw it and experienced it on a cross-country trip back in October.

The word of God was given to us, to help us, to teach us, to bring comfort and to see who God is and His desires for us. Like Jeremiah 1:10, the word is given for us to tear down any kingdom satan  has tried to put upon us. ( like family thinking is when you are born into that family)
Example: This woman has always cut her turkey into two parts. She had put them into two different pans, so the turkey was never served whole. At one Thanksgiving dinner, the grand-daughter asked the mother why she did this. She, the mother then asked the grandmother why they did that. The grandmother's response was, " when she was first married back in the early  40's, her and her husband lived in a two room apartment. The oven was very tiny, so she had to cut the turkey into two parts to roast it." "But I would not know why your mom would cut the turkey into two parts."
So we see, some things can be passed down without us even thinking twice to do them. It is something to watch your parents do and then do the same thing, but we really need to find out when it comes to serious matters why some people do what they do and not follow their example!
 God has shown us to root those things out of our thinking,...........to then plant God's Word into our thinking.......so we have the same thoughts as God's thoughts and not someone else's thoughts of that new reality show. We are to be built and planted to grow like the scriptures shows below.

Psalm 1:2-6
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.

4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish. NIV


If people reject God, and do their own thing, then when the last day comes for them, one can only imagine where they will be found!

In scripture, we find Jesus told of  and yes, described the atmosphere in the furnace of fire. This scripture is the telling of "the wheat and the tares" found in Matthew 13:36-43.

Matthew 13:36-43
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." 37 He answered and said to them: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!  NKJV

So we see the world is the field. Jesus sowed the good seed of His Word. We find it in the Gospels.
Those who follow Jesus, who KNOW God, are those who are the good seeds, the sons of the kingdom. But the tares are those who are of the wicked one, the devil! The "tares" those that "offend", those who "practice lawlessness", will be cast into the furnace of fire. It is described there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. When Jesus talked of the "atmosphere" I always think of those players of a football game who cannot get along with each other, and the chaos breaks out. There is the initial pushing and shoving, then the fist comes into play, "whack" and how many punches did they get in before a referee will even notice? But in this of which Jesus speaks is a fire that never distinguished, it never burns out, but continues to burn forever!
In this fire, is separation from God forever. His Presences is not found in hell. There are no parties and some person yelling" hand me the s'mores"! No, it is not a party for people to do whatever they want to do. Yet there are those who do exactly that, without thinking of the consequences of the future.

For the "righteous", their future is bright and they will shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. When I read on this word, I am always reminded of the three young men from the book of Daniel. 

Daniel 3:16-30
16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. 17 If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. 18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up." 

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 22 Therefore, because the king's command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 

24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, "Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" They answered and said to the king, "True, O king." 25 "Look!" he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." 

26 Then Nebuchadnezzar went near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spoke, saying, "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, servants of the Most High God, come out, and come here." Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego came from the midst of the fire. 27 And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king's counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them. 28 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own God! 29 Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this." 30 Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the province of Babylon. NKJV

These men experienced a fire created by man. It was a tribulation or trial, but in it all, they kept their focus on God! The fire was heated up seven times greater for the furnace.
Now these men were men who followed in obedience to all God spoke to them. Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were lead to the furnace by mighty men of valor who served in Nebuchadnezzar's army. As these mighty men were commanded to put the young men in the hot furnace, they obeyed. The young men fell into the fire but were not injured, burned or killed, but those who took them to the furnace died because of the exceedingly hot flame.

Nebuchadnezzar looked in and saw "four" men instead of three and he described the fourth as the "Son of God"! Because of their knowing the "one true God", these men were delivered from fire that had no power over them, nor was the hair on their heads singed nor were their garments affected. It was their God who delivered them from the hands of the enemy.

There is a fire coming to many...........and we still have time to confess Jesus as Lord.  This "fire" is one that God created. There is an everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41) and sadly many people will find their destiny in the fire. There will not be heard laughter, joy, or will there be an opportunity to experience the refreshing breeze of the Lord's presence, and no sound of " hand me the s'mores!
Jesus came to bring us life everlasting. In this, those who live for this life will face two deaths: physical and spiritual. (like Adam died) But those who are born again ( receive Jesus as Lord ) die only once: physically and then are ushered into everlasting life!
We have time to get out of "lawlessness" and that which offends God! God is holy and will have nothing to do with anything wicked. He will have nothing do with anything which inflicts pain,or harm to anyone. It is the devil who came to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10)
He has nothing to do with the profane, the filth, the murderous intent imagined by some, and will not listen to any prayer made with any words against His Son, the Cross Jesus hung from or against His Holy Spirit!

Which will we pick?
Revelation 21:7 " He who overcomes (this world) shall inherit all things & I will be his God and he shall be My son." ( parenthesis is mine)
I choose life today. I choose the life-giving force that comes through the shed blood of Calvary when a God of love sent His Son to die for sinful man. Today I choose to pray for those around me and those I do not know that they too would experience the life Jesus came to give to us..........a life of abundance........in healing, in peace, in joy, in salvation so you and I can spend eternity with God, who loved and gave His best for us!

Father, I pray that we bend down to hear and humble ourselves before a God who can cast someone into hell. I pray for us to hear and understand YOU sent Your Son, the Son of Your Love to die for us on the Cross. Lord, I pray for receptive hearts to know God is good and He is for us. YOU are the God who wants His children with Him for all eternity.  May receptive hearts hear today the still small voice and know that it is You who speaks for us to come and receive through the shed Blood of Jesus Christ. May receptive hearts kneel towards Your Holy of Holies and know Your gentle hand that leads us to joy, triumph, yes, victory in salvation through Jesus. Give us a heart for those who may be on their way to an eternal bonfire that never burns out of that which causes thirst forever and cannot be quenched. Give us a heart to continue praying for those YOU our God are drawing to Yourself and may heaven be filled to overflowing of people of every ethnicity. You alone are the judge. May our names be in Your Lamb's book of Life. It is in Jesus' name I pray. Amen



You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at (http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV


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