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Luke 3:7-9 - So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? "Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ' We have
Abraham for our father,' for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. "Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." NASU
I have heard more than one teacher say, "You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. So make your messages palatable to the hearer." I always thought after I heard that, "Yeah, but I am not trying to catch flies. I am trying to convert people." John has no time for "fakes". I know a few Collegiate Wrestling Coaches and I have learned this much from them. They don't want any pretenders on their team. They want men who want to learn. Men who want to be the best they can be. If you want to just go through the motions then go somewhere else and do it, would be their thoughts.
In Matthew 3:7 we can see he's specifically addressing the Pharisees and Sadducees: "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" John's first point: he is telling them to Stop Playing Their Silly Religious Games. He calls them out when he says: "You brood of vipers." In other words, those that came in contact with them were poisoned by their teachings and the hypocrisy of their lives. Jesus later in His ministry will say it this way in Matt 23:15: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." WOW! Jesus and John didn't waste their words. You didn't have to wonder: "What did they just say?" John's second point: to "Bear Fruit." He is saying, "If you think for one moment you are going to use the trump card that you are children of Abraham you're sadly mistaken." God is able to make stones turn into children of Abraham. John's third point: "Judgment is Coming." "The axe is laid at the root of the trees" is John's way of saying, "Judgment is coming." He goes on to say, "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." So let me ask you are you bearing any good fruit? You might be thinking I am not sure. What exactly is good fruit? Here is what Jesus said in Matt 10:42 - "And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." It could be as little as giving a cup of cold water to one of these little ones. I believe the "little ones" are those who are new to Christianity. The newly converted.
He probably would not have to change his message at all: 1. Stop Playing Silly Religious Games 2. Bear Fruit 3. Judgment is Coming We can do this. We can bear good fruit today. Think About These: God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts. The Gospel of Jesus Christ breaks hard hearts, and heals broken hearts. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Why Some People Will Perish
2 Thes. 2:10-12 - "…and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. NASU
If you want to avoid getting in trouble with God then have a love for the truth or His Word. We can see that Charlie Kirk had a love for the Word of God or truth and yet it cost him his physical life. Why did it cost him his life? The answer is because the coward who shot him hated hearing the truth. It has been said there are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. There are plenty of people who don't want to believe the Word of God, but I can tell you this killing people who do believe will not make it any less true. So all you have to do is look around and you will see plenty of people who do and do not believe the Word of God is truth. What is really important is what do you believe?
John 4:23-24 - "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth ; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." God is seeking us to worship Him in "spirit and truth". The only way for us to find out what it is that God wants from us is to study the New Testament. If you say you are a worshipper of God then you will listen to Jesus. Jesus is very clear that God will not accept any type of worship. One's worship must be done in the spirit and according to His Word, which is "truth". In John 18:37 - "…Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice." This was Jesus speaking to Pilate. Right after Jesus says this Pilate asks Him that question that many still ask today: In verse 38 - Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, "I find no guilt in Him.
Revel. 21:8 - "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." The apostle John states in the book of Revelation that the following types of people will be sent to the lake of fire and they are 'the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars,…" Cowardly comes from the Greek word "deilois" which means timid or faithless. Unbelieving comes from the Greek word "apistois" which means disbelieving or without Christian faith. Abominable comes from the Greek word "ebdelugmenois" which means to be detested. Your actions will make you detestable in the eyes of God. Murderers come from the Greek word "phoneus" which means to slay or the unlawful killing of a person. Whoremongers come from the Greek word "pornos" which means prostitute. Sorcerers come from the Greek word "pharmakeus" which means a drug or spell-giving potion. Idolaters come from the Greek word "eidololatres" which means a worshipper of images. Liars come from the Greek word "pseudesin" which means deceitful, erroneous or untrue. If in your lifestyle you are practicing the things above you will be guaranteed to be an adversary of God and therefore will find yourself ending up in the lake of fire. The apostle Paul gives us a list of things not to participate in also. Gal. 5:19-21 - Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. The key word to understanding these verses is "practice" in the Greek it is "prassontes" which means to perform repeatedly or habitually. It doesn't mean you do them once or twice. It means that these are apart of your lifestyle.
I encourage you today to be a friend of God and not one of His enemies. Believe the "Truth" about Jesus and become one of His disciples. Think About These: It is pretty hard for the Lord to guide a man if he hasn't decided which way he wants to go. God still speaks to those who take time to listen. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Gen. 42:21-22 - Then they said to one another, "Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us." Reuben answered them, saying, "Did I not tell you, 'Do not sin against the boy; and you would not listen? Now comes the reckoning for his blood." NASU
Many years later there is a famine and Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to buy grain. When Joseph sees his brothers, he recognizes them but they don't recognize him. Joseph has them placed in prison and accuses them of being spies. He leaves them in prison for three days. He tells them they must leave one of the brothers in prison, travel home and bring their younger brother to Egypt to prove they are not spies.
We probably all have done some thing in our past that periodically comes back from time to time to haunt us. The two best ways I know to overcome a guilty conscience if you have hurt someone:
After their father, Jacob, dies the brothers send a message to Joseph asking him to forgive them. Gen. 50:16-17 -"Your father charged before he died, saying, 'Thus you shall say to Joseph, "Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong."' And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." The brothers asked Joseph for forgiveness and it was granted to them by him.
During those times I remind myself I am not the same person that Gary died and was buried March 2, 1975 in the watery grave of baptism. Jesus was and is the perfect sacrifice. He atones for the sins of mankind. The best way to defeat your guilty conscience is to be born again. I am not perfect now but thank God I am not what I used to be nor am I what I want to be. I want to do what 2 Pet. 3:18 says, "…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Like the sign says, "Under Construction: God isn't finished with me yet." Christians are under construction. God is working on us. We are a work in progress.
You may have done something that hasn't hurt anyone but yourself so you don't have to ask for anyone's forgiveness. You simply need to learn how to let yourself off the "guilt hook". You do have to learn how to forgive yourself. People have told you, "To let it go." You wish you could but everything you've tried isn't working. So what should be done in those situations? I would say, "You need to remember what God has done for you and that is He has forgiven you, so forgive yourself."
I like this saying, "When the devil wants to remind you of your past, remind him of his future." God is going to CRUSH him one day and so it says in Romans 16:20 - "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you." If you want to dwell on something dwell on what God has done for you and what He will do to the devil. Think About These: The head usher to happiness is a well-kept conscience. Your conscience is not the voice of God; it is a gift from God. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Heb 8:12 - "FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES,
AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE."
This is probably the greatest piece of news any forgiven person has ever received. When God says, "I will not remember your sins." It doesn't get any better than that my friends. God can't remember our sins when He says, "…I will remember their sins no more." One of my favorite preachers was a man named Don DeWelt. I remember one of his illustrations about when he would visit his elderly mother in a nursing home. Don said, "Every time he visited her she would ask him the same thing. It was if he would pray for the Lord to forgive her of her sins?" Don said, "At first I said, 'Yes' and would ask the Lord to forgive her." Finally, he said, "I couldn't take it any more and the next time he visited her and she asked him, he said, "No. I am not going to ask God to do something He has already done." This is a great lesson for all of us. When God has forgiven us of our sins and we remain in Christ, the blood of Christ continually cleanses us. In other words, God doesn't remember our sins. 1 Jn 1:7 - "...if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." We all have sinned and fall short of God's glory, but we can have our sins forgiven by accepting the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. 1 Jn 2:1-2 - And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. The word "propitiation" means "to appease." Jesus' sacrifice of Himself appeased God's holy demand from His creation. I like how the Psalmist has written it. Ps 32:1-2- "How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity,…" Have you ever taken the time to sit and ponder how blessed you are because God has forgiven you of your sins? If not lately, now would probably be a great time to take inventory of this tremendous blessing.
The second thing God can't do is break His promises. God not only makes promises He keeps them. One of my favorite promises from God is found in Psalms 34:19 -"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the LORD delivers him out of them all." You will notice it says the righteous are going to have many afflictions, BUT the LORD will deliver us out of them ALL. I found that in 41 years of ministry a lot of Christians believed they weren't supposed to have any troubles. Yet, it is plain to see God's Word says the opposite. The good news as I see it is God is going to deliver the righteous from ALL their afflictions. What better way to build trust then to be there to help someone in their time of need. God is there for us and that is a promise. We also can be there for others in their time of need. It will give us an opportunity to be more like God. Don't forget we were created in the image of God. Think About These: God makes a promise - Faith believes it, Hope anticipates it, Patience quietly awaits for it. Promises are only as dependable as the individuals who make them. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 - "… Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. 8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me."
God said, "My Grace is sufficient for you." In other words, come on Paul man up will you, great day in the morning it isn't killing you and we both know what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger. Not only wouldn't it kill him it would make God's power perfected in Paul's weakness. Paul has a change of attitude and then makes this concluding statement - "I will most gladly boast all the more about my weakness, so that Christ's power may reside in me." How about us? Are we dealing with any "thorns in the flesh" today? Many people like to speculate about what Paul's thorn in the flesh was but does it really matter? What matters is he changed his attitude about it after God informed him that God's grace was sufficient and that God's power was perfected through Paul's weakness.
God's grace is sufficient for us and His power is perfected through our weakness. Do we really want to glorify God through our physical being? I would say that we do but we don't always know how to accomplish that. The answer is we may have to glorify Him through some type of suffering or some type of thorn in the flesh. I have seen Christians with all types of thorns in the flesh that glorified God with them. People have been blind, had missing limbs, health issues of all types, and one preacher friend on mine passed over 300 kidney stones. But God used them to bring honor and glory to His name. I can testify having passed two kidney stones that I have never felt anything more painful. He prayed that God would correct his body so that he didn't have to keep passing kidney stones but God never removed that thorn from his flesh.
Moses didn't get the answer he wanted to his prayer. Paul didn't get the answer to his prayer that he wanted and Jesus didn't get the answer that He wanted to His prayer. So the way I see it we are in good company if all our prayers don't get answered the way we want them to be answered. People have asked for years this question -What is their purpose here on earth? According to this passage of scripture our purpose is not to "exalt" ourselves and to allow God's power to be perfected through us. Some of us may have thorns in our flesh and some of us may not but we all are to allow our physical bodies to "Glorify God" with them. Think About These: Conceit is what makes a little squirt think that he's a fountain of knowledge. Don't find fault with what you don't understand. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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