TODAY'S PROMISE

"Love the LORD, all you godly ones!

For the LORD protects those who are

loyal to him, but he harshly punishes

the arrogant.

So be strong and courageous

all you who put your hope in the

 LORD!"

(Psalms 31:23.24 NLT)

THE DAY OF JESUS CHRIST

THE DAY OF JESUS CHRIST.

This is a day that is mentioned through out the Holy Bible.

It is expressed in a number of different ways; "The day of

the Lord",  "The day of Christ," "The day of Jesus Christ,"

etc.  And theologians like to spite hairs over this to try and

prove their favorite doctrine.

Perhaps my favorite Scripture regarding this event is:

"BEHOLD, HE iS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS,

and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced

Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over

Him.  So it is to be.  AMEN."

(Revelation 1:7 NASB)

I just love it.  EVERY eye will see Him.  That is you and

I.  It is every man, woman and child that ever lived will

see Jesus Christ when he returns.  Even those who crucified 

Him.

You say you don't believe that stuff.  That does not 

matter, you will see it yourself.  That is why all the

tribes of the earth will mourn.  They did not believe

in Him.  They have rejected Him.  They have wanted

nothing to do with God and His Son Jesus Christ.

But like it or not, they will see Him.

So, the real question is, am I ready for that day?

Let me give you one of the best descriptions of that

day in the Bible.  It is a long description, but this is

what you and I are going to see.  

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse,

and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and

in righteousness He judges and wages war.  His eyes

are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems;

and He has a name written on Him which no one knows

except Himself.  He is clothed with a robe dipped in

blood, and His name is called The Word off God.  And

the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, 

white and clean, were following Him on white horses.

From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it 

He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them

with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of 

the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.  And on His

robe and on His thigh He has a name written, 'KING

OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS'".  

(Revelation 19:11 - 16 NASB). 

Now the question is, 

are you ready for that day?

If you have not gotten into a personal

relationship with Jesus Christ, then you

will be one of those who "mourn" because

of what is coming on them.

TODAY'S QUOTE

“People should love being alone with

the Word of God and nothing else -

just them, the Holy Spirit and the 

Word of God.”

- Francis Chan

ARE YOU A SAINT?

ARE YOU A SAINT?

You can be.

That question would make most of us flat out laugh -

including myself.  We know only to well what we are

made of.  We know those thoughts and desires that 

go through our mind.  They are anything but holy.

To say nothing of our life and actions.

All of us have memories of past actions that we would

give almost anything to be able either redo, or erase

from out minds.

Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary defines "saint"

as:

"1. A holy or godly person; esp, one regenerated

and sanctified or undergoing sanctification."

And what is "sanctified";

"Free of sin; set apart to sacred duty or use."

Well, that left us all out - didn't it?

CONSIDER:

"To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi,

including the overseers and deacons: Grace to you

and peace from God our Father and the Lord

Jesus Christ.

(Philippians 1:1,2 NASB)

What does that have to do with me?

Notice  it says "saints", plural.  The Church at Philippi

had numerous "saints".   Not just some old person

"canonized" by some religious authority.

"To the church of God which is at Corinth,

to those who have been sanctified in Christ

Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every

place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

their Lord and ours:"  

(1 Corinthians 1:2 NASB)

There is our clue as to what a saint is.

When a person turns to Jesus Christ accepting

him as Lord and Savior, God forgives our sins,

cleanses us with the shed blood of Jesus and

sets us apart for himself.

That is what "sanctified" is.  Cleansed and set

apart for Jesus Christ.  That of course is from

calling on his mighty name.  And then his Holy

Spirit can come into us making us a new person.

And that new person is a "saint" according to

God Himself.

How ever.  Most people who "profess" to know

or live for God are only doing it in their own

power or mind.  They have not truly turned

them selves over to God and simply live a 

fleshly life like anyone else.

"They profess to know God, but by their deeds

they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient

and worthless for any good deed."  

(Titus 1:16 NASB). 

You can be a "saint" if you will let Jesus Christ

make you one.

TODAY'S PROMISE

"Then Jesus said to the disciples, 'Have faith in God.

I tell you the truth, you can say to this Mountain, 'May

you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will

happen.  But you must really believe it will happen

and have no doubt in your heart.  I tell you, you can

pray for anything, and if you believe that you've

received it, it will be yours.  But when you are praying,

first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against,

so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins,

too.'"

(Mark11:22- 25  NLT)

FINDING TRUE PEACE

Peace.  We all want peace.  Even those who want to 

kill us want peace - their way.  The longer the world 

goes, the less peace there is going to be.

There will be no world peace until Jesus Christ returns

to this world.  He is the "prince of peace."  But, in the 

meantime what do we do for peace?

Like nearly every thing else, there are those who offer

us a false peace.  You know, stand on your head until

you faint.  Or, work yourself into a frenzy so you forget

about your problems, etc. etc.

But first we must recognize where peace, real inner 

peace comes from.

"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the
 Lord Jesus Christ."

(Philippians 1:2 NASB)

True peace only comes from God.

Jesus Christ the Son of the living God, the very

creator of the heavens and the earth, said while

he was here on earth:

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you;

not as the world gives do I give to you.  Do not let

your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."

(John 14:27 NASB)

This peace he gives to his true disciples.  It is an 

inner peace he gives to us that the world cannot 

take away. 

It comes because ;

"... we have peace with God throughout our Lord 

Jesus Christ,"

(Romans 5:1 NASB)

When we turn our lives over to Jesus Christ and
submit our self to him;

"... the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension,"

(Philippians 4:7 NASB)

becomes ours.

TODAY'S QUOTE

"He demonstrated that one can trust

the God of the Bible for every need,

whether temporal or spiritual."  

- Brother Bakht Singh of India

p.24.

WHEN LESS IS MORE

It seems that everybody is wanting to be rich
or richer.  However over many years I have
noticed there seems to be very few really happy
rich people.  They put on a big smile in public,
then go home and commit suicide.  All their
money did not satisfy them.

Jesus Christ tells us of a rich man who had more
than he could use.  He decided to build bigger barns
to store all his "goodies" in:

"But God said to him, 'You fool!  This very night
your soul is required of you; and now who will
own what you have prepared?'  So is the man
who stores up treasure for himself, and is not 
rich toward God."
(Luke 12: 20,21 NASB)

Jesus tells us of another rich man:

"Now there was a rich man, and he habitually
dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living
in splendor every day. --- ... and the rich man
also died and was buried.  In Hades he lifted
up his eyes, being in torment, "
(Luke 16:19,22,23 NASB)

O.K.  so you get rich for yourself and have more
"goodies" that other people.  But that is only for a
few short years here on earth.  What are going to
do when your body dies and the real you goes out
into the forever.  Would it not have been far better
to have just a little material goods but be rich
toward God.

There is a song that express it this way;

"Little is much when God is in it!
Labor not for wealth or fame;
There’s a crown, and you can win it,
If you go in Jesus’ name."

Now I understand why the Psalmist 
could say;

"Better is the little of the righteous

Than the abundance of many wicked."

(Psalms 37:16 NASB)

TODAY'S PROMISE

"Don't envy sinners,

but always continue to fear the LORD,

You will be rewarded for this;

 your hope will not be disappointed." 

(Proverbs 23:17,18 NLT)

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

WARNING      
READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

BECAUSE.

A.  The "Establishment" does not want you to know
these facts.  To know them will put you in
disfavor with the world system.

B.  You will be held accountable for these facts.
The time is coming that you will have to give
account for your use or misuse of them.

Fact No. 1

"It is certain that all men die one time.
And the Judgment Day comes after
death"

Fact No. 2

"everyone has sinned and is far away
from God's glory."

Fact No. 3

"The pay you get for sinning is death."
"And I saw a great white throne and
the One who was sitting on it.  The
earth and the sky ran away from His
face, but they could not find any place
to hide.  I saw dead people --- important
and unimportant.  They were standing
in front of the throne.  Books were opened.
And another book  -- the Book of Life --
was opened.  The dead were judged from 
the things which had been written in the
books, according to the way they had lived.
The ocean yielded the dead people who 
were in it.  Death and Hades yielded the
dead people who were in them.  Each 
person was judged by the way he had
lived.  Death and Hades were thrown
into the lake of fire.  (The second death
is the same thing as the lake of fire.) If
someone's name was not found in the 
Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake
of fire."

Fact No. 4

"but God's gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus,
our Lord."

Fact No. 5

"God loved the people of the world so much
that He gave up His only Son.  Every person
who commits himself to Jesus will not be 
destroyed.  Instead, that person will have
eternal life."

Fact No. 6.

"While we were still helpless and ungodly,
Christ died for us -- at exactly the right 
time.  It is rare when someone dies for another
person -- even for a good person.  However, 
some do dare to die for a good man.  But God
reassures us of His love for us in this way.
While we were still sinners, Christ died for
us."

Fact No. 7

"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way the truth
and the life!  The only way anyone can come
to the Father is through me!"

Fact No. 8

"If you confess with your mouth that 'Jesus
is Lord' and if you believe in your heart that
God raised Jesus from death, you will be saved.
To become right with God a person believes
with his heart.  Declaring it openly, that person
comes into salvation."

(Quotations taken from the Bible.)

WELL!

What are going to do about it?

TODAY'S QUOTE

“A half hour with God, limited to doing 

his will in His way, is worth more than

a million years doing the best in our

own self and energy.  All fleshly effort

will be tuned to ash and will not make

It into eternity.”

K.P. Yohannan

The Road to Reality

p.191

READ THE BOOK

After reading and studying the Bible many years
I have learned that there is a lot of misinformation
about it.  Even a large number of honest, truthful
people hold some wrong teachings about it.

The problem seems to be not the person, preacher
or teacher.  But the fact that they took somebody
else's word for something without checking it out.

READ THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF. 

The Apostle Paul mentions such people when
he said;

"For some men, straying from these things,

have turned aside to fruitless discussion, 

wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though

they do not understand either what they are

saying or the matters about which they make

confident assertions."

(1Timothy 1:6,7 NASB)

Jesus Christ said it a different way;

"Let them alone; they are blind guides of the

blind.  And if a blind man guides a blind man,

both will fall into a pit."  

(Matthew 15:14 NASB)

READ THE BIBLE FOR YOURSELF.

If you will read the Bible for yourself you will not 

need to read all those other books about the Bible.

But you will have the straight truth for yourself.

Just a personal suggestion.

If possible use a version that uses the same

language that you do.  There is nothing especially

Holy about reading the Bible in some quaint odd

language that no one uses anymore.

I would further suggest that you do not read 

it in a hurry.  But take it slow and easy.  Let

it talk to you.   Ask God to reveal the things 

to you that He wants you to see and understand.

TODAY'S PROMISE

"The Lord hears his people when they call

to him for help.

He rescues them from all their troubles."  

(Psalms 34:17 NLT)

TWO MORE FUNERALS

Perhaps one of the largest funerals I ever attended was of

a former coworker.  I worked with the man for about 23

years, so was pretty well acquainted with him.

This man was a sports fan through and through.  Apparently

most of his life all of his free time was spent either in sports

such as being a coach, umpire or fan.  Also he was well liked

both at work and in the community.

When I arrived for the funeral there simply was no parking

room.  So many people had come that I had to park at a 

distance from the funeral home.  And of course the building

was packed.  It was hard to find a place to sit.

During the funeral service all they could talk about was

sports.  This man's devotions to sports.  His family talked

about his love of sports.  Even the preacher that was 

officiating the service, all he could talk about was this 

man's love of sports.

But, what kept eating at me was the man ready for death?

In 23 years I never got any indication from the man that he

had any relationship to God.  Or that he had even pretended 

to serve or live for God in any way at all.  But I did know

 that he was an alcoholic.

I know, I did not know his heart.  I do not know if in his

last years he turned to God in anyway.  But for the best I knew,

while all these people were telling what a good man this 

guy had been - HE WAS NOW BURNING IN THE DEVIL'S

HELL.

Then, there was Jeanie's funeral.

We knew Jeanie and her husband for years.

They published a small Christian newspaper

in this area for years.  Both Jeanie and her 

husband lived to serve God.  If you could be 

around them the talk was going to be about living

 for God.  They loved God with all their hearts.

They had no children or family in this area.

But all of God's children were their family.

I went to Jeanie's funeral.  Circumstances as 

they were, her husband had to officiate her

funeral.  If I remember correctly, counting all

the guests, Jeanie's husband and the funeral home

employees, There was a total of nine of us at

Jeanie's funeral.

Sad.  Yes, that is, that Jeanie had passed away.

But all of us were able to rejoice because she 

was now with Jesus Christ, the God she served

in heaven.

You guess which of the two deceased I would 

choose to be if I were in their place.

TODAY'S QUOTE

“A missionary once taught an ignorant

Chinese woman that she was God’s child.

This new-born child of God stood at the

railway station when a bombing raid

began.  She raised her oil-paper umbrella 

‘I am God’s child, so I can’t be hurt!’ she

screamed to the crowd. ‘Whoever gets 

under my umbrella with me will be safe.’

Four helpless ones crowded under the

umbrella with God’s child.  When the raid

was over, only those five stood alive and

unharmed amid the shambles.  Under the 

umbrella of the Almighty they had found

their refuge until this tyranny was past.”  

Agnes Sanford in her book 

“The Healing Light”. 

p.154,155

RELIGION WILL SEND YOU TO HELL

RELIGION WILL SEND YOU TO HELL

"SLAVATION"

"Let us begin by understanding each other.

When we speak about salvation we are not talking

about religion.

"Many people suppose that Salvation and Religion

are the same thing, but that is a mistake.  Salvation

and Religion are by no means identical.  You may have

a great deal of Religion without having a bit of 

salvation.

"It is true that the Bible speaks of a Religion which

is 'pure and undefiled,' but even this Religion is not

Salvation, but only a product of Salvation.  The

Bible frequently warns against Religion as a

substitute for Salvation.

"The dictionary will tell you that the word "Religion"

is derived from a root meaning 'to heed' or 'to have a

care.'  It is the opposite of 'neglect.'

"It is a good thing to take heed and have a care for

the things of God, but even this will avail nothing

unless it leads to Salvation.

"Religion by itself is death.  Salvation is Life.

"How is Salvation Obtained?

"No one gets Salvation by getting Religion.  Nor

by joining the Church.  Nor by turning over a new

leaf and trying to serve God.  Nor by praying.  Nor

by confessing his sins.  (The promise of 1 John 1:9

is for those already saved).  Nor by sorrow for sin.

Nor by asking God to forgive his sins.  By none of

these means is Salvation obtained.

"Salvation is obtained through a definite receiving of

the Lord Jesus Christ as one's personal Savior.  The

instant this is really done, Salvation is an accomplished

fact.  This is shown by John 1:11,12.  'He came unto 

His own, and His own received Him not.  But as many

as received Him, to them gave He power to become

the sons of God, even to them which believe on His

name.'

"The next verse goes on to tell what happened to those

who 'received Him,' that is, those who 'believed on 

His name.'  They were at once 'born...of God.'

"Just so it is today.  As many as receive the Lord Jesus

Christ as their personal Savior, giving up all else and

cleaving only to Him for Salvation, are instantly and

forever saved.  His own declaration of John 5:24 stands

good through all time; - -

"'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hearth My word,

and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life,

and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed

from death unto life.'

"Salvation is in Three Tenses

"There is the past tense.  When a man takes the Lord

Jesus as his own Savior, he may at once and ever after 

truly say, 'I am saved!'  Putting the matter in the past

tense as to the time, he may truly say, 'Then and there

I was saved!'  This work is instantaneous; it is Salvation

from the penalty of sin.

"'There is the present tense.  When a man is born again,

the Holy Spirit begins to work in him, both to will and 

to do of God's good pleasure, and to conform him to the

image of Christ. This work is progressive; it is Salvation 

from the power of sin.

""There is the future tense.  When the Lord Jesus comes

again it will be 'apart from sin, unto Salvation' (Heb. 9:28)

It is then that we who are now the sons of God will be 

instantly changed into the image of Christ: 'we shall be

like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.'  (1 John 3:2).  

This is instantaneous; it is Salvation from the presence 

of sin."

- W.L.P.