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Ps 37:12-15
The wicked plots against the righteous And gnashes at him with his teeth. 13 The Lord laughs at him, For He sees his day is coming. 14 The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To cast down the afflicted and the needy, To slay those who are upright in conduct. 15 Their sword will enter their own heart, And their bows will be broken. NASU
If you still watch nightly news and are depressed by all the evil that is reported each night then I have good news for you. The good news comes from Psalm 37 where we are informed the Lord laughs at the wicked. He is going to frustrate their plans. "Their sword will enter their own heart," the Psalmist says.
He knows what He is going to do. He sees the day is coming when He will interfere with their plans. Then "righteousness" will conquer "evil".
Matt. 25:31-34, 41 - But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, ' Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; … " NASU
You will notice immediately upon death the "rich man" as he is called is in torment, while Lazarus is not. He also wants someone to go back and warn his five brothers not to come to this place (Hades). Luke 16:23-25, 27-30 - "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. "And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.' …"And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house — for I have five brothers — in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' 29 "But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' NASU If the evil you see depresses you then take your eyes off of what is going on around you and look to what is going to happen. First, the righteous will be with our Lord where there will be no evil. Secondly, the evil person will be judged, found guilty and punished. They will not be able to buy this Judge like can happen here on earth. They (the rich and poor) will pay for their sins. Think About This: Justice will WIN in the end. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Genesis 1:26-27 - Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. NASU
Mankind was made in God's image and by that I believe it means we have become a "spirit being". We are a "created spirit" being. This is the big difference between mankind and God. Mankind is "created spirit" and God is "uncreated spirit". In other words, He has always been in existence.
How does he do this? The way he does it is by getting us to believe his lies. He lied to Eve in the garden and he hasn't stopped lying. He is the father of lies (John 8:44). Gen. 3:1-6 - Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" 2 The woman said to the serpent, "…God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'" 4 The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! 5 "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." His plan is to lie to you and me about God. In the garden of Eden God said they would die if they ate of the forbidden fruit and they did die, spiritually, after they ate of the forbidden fruit. To die means to separate and that is exactly what happened, their fellowship with God had gone through a separation. They would later die physically. The devil said they would be like God that was a lie. They were already like God. He created Adam and Eve in Their image.
The devil had to be laughing with her answer. I am not a biologist either but a woman is an adult female. Not a male who thinks he is a female or one who has gone through an operational procedure to become one.
Spend time in God's Word learning about the great I AM and you will not regret it. Think About These: I have trust issues because people have lying issues. Tell a lie once and all your truths become questionable. Even the smallest lie can break the biggest trust. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Lk 14:2-4 - And there in front of Him was a man suffering from dropsy. 3 And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?" 4 But they kept silent. And He took hold of him and healed him, and sent him away. NASU
Jesus knew the truth about what God wanted Him to accomplish and He did it. You have to know what you are doing is the correct thing even while being criticized or persecuted. When you know in your heart you are doing the right thing it is easier to continue on with the task.
We can see that man's traditions were violating the Word of God. One thing we need to remember and that is "It is never wrong to do the right thing." There are some people who are very outspoken and they will try to stop you from doing the right thing. You must move forward deliberately even in the face of opposition.
He was driving to our worship service and he saw an elderly woman standing by her disabled vehicle. He stopped to help her and became involved in the situation and by the time he had helped her fix her vehicle the worship service was finished. I told Larry that he had done exactly what Jesus had wanted him to do. The next Sunday as I was greeting people after the service an elderly lady came up to me and said a man from this congregation had stopped to help her last week and she tried to pay him. She said the only payment he would accept is for her to attend one of our worship services. She said so please tell him I said thanks and that I did attend.
I wonder how many times that elderly lady told the story of how her car broke down and a nice young Christian man stopped to help her?
In life you can find two types of people - there are the "Givers" and the "Takers". Larry was a giver all the time. What makes Larry's story even more remarkable was the amount of suffering he endured on a daily basis. If I told you of his struggles you would be saying, "Where does he get his strength?". When others would have quit, become cynical or walked away from their faith not Larry. He endured hardships like a true spiritual warrior. So who are we helping today? We won't help anyone if we aren't looking for people to help. It has to become a part of our mindset. Find someone today that you can help, I am sure you will be glad that you did. After all that is why Jesus came to earth to do good and help people who had gotten themselves into a terrible fix. Think About These: You can give without loving, but you can't love without giving. The manner of giving is worth more than the gift. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Mark 14:6-8 - But Jesus said, "Let her alone; why do you bother her? She has done a good deed to Me. "For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you wish you can do good to them; but you do not always have Me. "She has done what she could; she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial. NASU
I can actually say I am participating in a prophecy of Jesus as I make mention of this lady who anointed Jesus. If you will tell people about this lady then you likewise can participate in fulfilling a prophecy of Jesus. We know there are numerous reasons people were anointed in this day and age. It was done to refresh a person's body after traveling all day. The sun would have beaten down upon one's body and the oil would have brought relief. We know that people's body were to be anointed with oil when sick and to be prayed for during this time of anointing (James 5:14). But Jesus' body was being anointed because He was on His way to die and be buried, "…she has anointed My body beforehand for the burial." Jesus knew His time was at hand and drawing nearer and nearer.
She had done what she could. She had this very costly oil and she poured it over Jesus' head. He said she was preparing Him for burial. This was a prophetic act whether she knew what she was doing or not Jesus knew what it meant. He was going to die. What about us today? If Jesus were to appear before us today, what would he say? Would He say, "We are doing what we could."?
Can we show some acts of kindness or display compassion to those in need? Can we share the gospel message with someone who doesn't know Jesus? Can we tell our waiter or waitress where we eat that we are going to pray for our meal and ask them if they have a need we can pray about for them? Wouldn't it be nice to know if Jesus were here He would say about us that "He/She has done what he/she could."? Think About These: Faith with works is a force. Faith without works is a farce. Faith without works is like an automobile without gasoline. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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