Well-Watered Garden
July 07, 2015
They will come and shout for joy on Mount Zion. They will be radiant with joy over the good things the LORD provides, the grain, the fresh wine, the olive oil, the young sheep and calves he has given to them. They will be like a well-watered garden and will not grow faint or weary any more. Jeremiah 31:12
kit: Merkeley Designs Get Together Add on, photos by me
Rainbow
July 06, 2015I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Genesis 9:13, 15b (NIV)
They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity. But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. Ephesians 4:19-20, 24 (NLT)
What does a rainbow mean to you? Does it stand for God's beautiful promise to never flood the earth again or does it stand for rebellion against God? The rainbow has been hijacked and this is by design. This rebellion against God is very deliberate and well-orchestrated by an evil one who has hated God since the very beginning. As with every issue that comes up in life, you need to choose a side--either good or evil. That is not the same as being on the side of love or hate. God loves all people and hates all sin. Hatred against any person for any reason is not of God, it's of the devil. The loving thing to do with regard to willful sin is to tell the truth about what God said rather than letting people think God doesn't mind if we go our own way and ignore His instructions. Wise people do not make the mistake of thinking that God doesn't see the evil that goes on or that He doesn't care. He keeps His promises. He withholds His wrath according to His own timing, not ours. He is patient and long-suffering, but everything He said will come to pass. Don't be deceived. All paths do not lead to God. He made ONE way and that is Way is Jesus.
When someone continues to purposely sin after becoming a believer, the Father considers it as trampling His Son underfoot. How could anyone suggest that anyone who loves God should do that? (Again, this applies to ALL of us--we're to strive for holiness through the power of the Holy Spirit.) Anyone who thinks that the Father approves of willfully sinning after accepting His Son as Savior is suffering from delusion. People who deceive you are not being loving. If you notice, there is a difference between stumbling and making a practice of sinning with no repentance whatsoever. No one is perfect, but deliberately sinning is not the same as slipping. How many verses would we have to remove from the Bible in order to somehow arrive at the conclusion that God approves of sin? I would be rich if I had a penny for all of the time that people quote the passage where Jesus said not to cast the first stone and left off the end: Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." John 8:11b Don't gamble with eternity by waiting until it's too late to wake up and live for God. This is a WAKE UP call, and not just for one particular group of people. If you thought Jesus may return at any moment, would you do anything differently? God does not change. We seriously need to take His word on this. He means what He said. The Bible basically says that if we continue sinning deliberately after we claim to believe, that there is something wrong. The Holy Spirit indwells believers and helps them to put the old sinful self to death. Jesus said that those who love Him will obey.
God has not exempted any sins as being special and approved of, nor does He have a list of any people who He will not wash clean if they repent. One kind of sin is particularly being addressed at this time because those who advocate it have chosen to flaunt it in God's face and try to force everyone who disagrees with them to accept it. There are no "causes" that stand for and defend the other sins in the Bible such as lying, stealing or being greedy. The charities that deal with sins that lead to addictions such as drugs and alcohol abuse are there to help people escape the grip those sins have on their lives, not to encourage them to continue in them. Many charities are there to help people who are victims of the sin of others, such as shelters for abused women and children. There have been many victims throughout history and they all have one thing in common. They were sinned against and God hates sin. He doesn't have more compassion for one victim than for another--it doesn't depend on which sin was committed against them or why. He loves all people equally. All sins are ultimately committed against Him. They're His rules and they're there for our good because He knows best and He loves us! He loves us too much to let us go our own way for too long.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. Psalm 103:8
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Matthew 24:35
Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Joshua 24:15
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Matthew 12:30
“How you are fallen from heaven,
O shining star, son of the morning!
You have been thrown down to the earth,
you who destroyed the nations of the world.
For you said to yourself,
‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars.
I will preside on the mountain of the gods
far away in the north.
I will climb to the highest heavens
and be like the Most High.’
Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead,
down to its lowest depths.
Everyone there will stare at you and ask,
‘Can this be the one who shook the earth
and made the kingdoms of the world tremble?
Is this the one who destroyed the world
and made it into a wasteland?
Is this the king who demolished the world’s greatest cities
and had no mercy on his prisoners?’"
Isaiah 14:12-17
"Did God actually say?" Genesis 3:1
Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as Jesus is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:7-8
By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 1 John 2:3-6
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that Jesus appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen Him or known Him. 1 John 3:4-6
Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. Matthew 7:13
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Luke 6:46
He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” Luke 11:28
For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You. Psalm 5:4
Let those who love the LORD hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Psalm 97:10
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:26-31
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Roman 6:1-2
For the godless are full of resentment.
Even when he punishes them,
they refuse to cry out to him for help.
They die when they are young,
after wasting their lives in immoral living.
But by means of their suffering, he rescues those who suffer.
For he gets their attention through adversity.
Job 36:13-15
Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. Galatians 6:7-8
He replied, "Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand. Daniel 12:9-10
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:21
For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love Galatians 5:13.
With regard to the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter containing our decision that they should keep themselves from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality. Acts 21:25
"But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea." Matthew 18:6
"Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell." Matthew 18:7-9
For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another. Titus 3:4
So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. You also lived your lives in this way at one time, when you used to live among them. But now, put off all such things as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices and have been clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. Colossians 3:5-10
With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. Ephesians 4:17-18
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 2 Timothy 4:3-4
Just so we're clear, once again--God loves EVERYONE and wants ALL people to be saved. No one is perfect, but the Holy Spirit is our Helper. We can be over-comers when we let Him run our lives. God is faithful to forgive when we slip and admit it. Truly repent and ask for His help to live for Him. He keeps His promises. I am telling you this IN LOVE. It's not looking like you will hear it from some of the very sources who should love you the most and want you to know this for the sake of your soul. I love you enough to tell you the truth. This is a free message. I am not taking donations, writing a book or going on a speaking circuit. People who want to make money off of telling you what you want to hear will adjust their message to maximize their profits. I'm telling you because I want to see you on the other side. I love you because I love God and He loves you.