Wednesday, December 6, 2017, 07:31
(2.)
Smyrna
Rev 2:8
"And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:
Rev 2:9
'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
Rev 2:10
'Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Rev 2:11
'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.'
We may, can, and will have
1. Tribulations
2. Poverty
Realize:
1. Even though we my have no money or things (we can be rich)
2. God knows when we are spoken to and of wrongly by the blasphemy of those that are not of true faith but belong to satan ("Blasphemy" a display of gross irreverence towards any person or thing deemed worthy of exalted esteem.)
So:
1. Do not fear suffering (read Job) through suffering we are tested
2. Be faithful until death, and receive the crow of life from God
Tuesday, December 5, 2017, 06:48
(1.)
Ephesus
Rev 2:1
"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:
Rev 2:2 - Rev 2:3
'I know your deeds, your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.
Rev 2:4
'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Rev 2:5
'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent, do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place--unless you repent.
Rev 2:6
'Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Rev 2:7
'He, who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.'
We must: "Refrain from the eating of "things sacrificed to idols" (Acts 15:29).
1. Toil, (work hard to do the will of the Lord)
2. Preserver
3. Do not tolerate evil men
4. Test those who call themselves apostles (and profits)
5. Preserver and endue for the name of God and do not grow weary
6. Remember where you have fallen from and repent
7. Do the deeds you did when you were first saved
8. Hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans
9. Repent
Or: Jesus says
1. I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent.
Refrain from the eating of "things sacrificed to idols" (Acts 15:29)
Such a restriction, though seemingly hard, in that it prevented the Christians from joining in public festivals.
Nicolaitans (purposely deceiving Christian at gatherings in to eating food they had sacrificed to idols) and therefore John was justified in condemning them. In writing to the Corinthians, Paul gives warning against the same evil practices, basing his arguments on consideration for the weaker brethren (compare 1 Corinthians 8).
The doctrine of the Nicolaitans appears to have been a form of antinomianism. (Antinomianism: A belief that is based upon the recognition of the mercy of God as the ground of salvation, but it makes the fatal mistake that man can freely partake in sin because the Law of God is no longer binding. It held the truth on the gratuitous reckoning of righteousness; but supposed that a mere intellectual “belief” in this truth had a saving power.)
Hierarchy of a ruling class over the rest of the people, developing a pecking order of fleshly leadership Jesus hates this and warns the people to repent or else
Faithful believers, of Christ Jesus, are all God's.
Peter exhorted us to feed the flock of God which is among us, taking the oversight thereof, not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage but being examples to the flock.
And when the chief shepherd will appear, you will receive a crown of glory that will not fade away.
Shepherds serve the sheep but the wolves that clothe themselves with so-called leadership and spiritual authority serve themselves, thinking that they serve God; in essence, this makes them false christ’s.
Early church leaders were established as overseers, not as an dictating royalty.
If we want spiritual crowns to lie at the feet of God we must first give up our authority and leadership at the foot of Jesus.
Tomorrow Smyrna
Want to be right with Christ and in good standing with Father God?
repent of the sin's in your life ask Christ in to your heart, ask to be forgiven, of from your ways witch are not His ways. if you will ask Jesus is faithful to forgive and except you into His kingdome.
Monday, December 4, 2017, 08:52
i’m starting to go through Revelation, have heard a lot of teachings on Revelations over the years and have gotten rather disturbed over most of them one teaching went over three years that i know of and was still going when we quite communicating with the group. Reading Revelations is supposed to be a blessing to the reader and those listening to it being read, not a burden to understand, nor a full time job to understand, read it for yourself, as if it were written about you, to you, and for you to use to guide your life. Look for things that are in your life that you need to change.
This will not be a long drawn out study, for after reading it i do not believe it is worth it to try and figure out when Jesus is coming for the church, but i do believe it is important that we are ready whenever He may show up for us.
What i want to focus on is the letters to the seven churches, for each of us live in the situations described even to day
Jesus said; “The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the Seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, The seven lampstands are the seven churches”
Tomorrow; Ephesus
Saturday, December 2, 2017, 07:51
Going to vent today;
Holidays good or bad?
Guess it depends on what, how and why you are celebrating them.
Things most holidays have in common;
Most people get a day off
All holidays seem to be set around some kind of food
We have a Holladay set around chocolate, one for corn beef, one for apple pie corn on the cob and fried chicken or the BBQ,
one for candy,
one for turkey, ham, pie and basically any and all kinds of food,
and one for peppermint.
The United States has over 175 National Holidays set aside to celebrate food one specific food for each day.
Why do we have to have so many holidays in America?
We have 175 National Holidays just for food
We have 172 for animals
Over 100 to celebrate individual people or special days
??????
And the average American doesn't know about most of them.
All these holidays have become centered around food
And the most common foods involved have to do with sweets (sugar)
They also each have their own set of cards that you can purchase to give or mail to someone, so they can know you are celebrating National eat a raw oyster day, or that you hugged your cat on huge our cat day.
We as a people waste so much time, energy and money on trivial things it is a wonder we get anything of value dune, and then there is the commercialization of eachmajor holiday, the hype to get you to purchase that perfect gift or old i wont talk to you the rest of the year but i love yand care for you so much card.
Just in greeting card last year in America we spent over 6.5 Billion dollars a year that $6,500,000,000.00
In America we spend over;
19 Billion on Valentine’s Day,
7.4 Billion on Halloween,
7.9 Billion on Thanksgiving and over
800 Billion on Christmas
For a total of $834,300,000,000.00
It is estimated that this year over all on holiday’s birthdays in America we will spend $9.4 trillion dollars.
According to the American debt counsel the total outstanding U.S. consumer 2016 debt was $3.9 trillion dollars, and is looking at an 18% increase for 2017.
If you honestly look at the numbers, in America one of our largest debts is due to holidays. Over half of consumer debt is holiday spending, to try and make our self’s feel better or to try and make someone ell think or feel better about us,
i personaly know of one lady who by her own admission admits she does not communicate with her family all year except for holidays, she sends cards for every holiday and on the major ones like Easter, Halloween, Thanks Giving and Christmas last year she spent (on credit) over $8,000.00. When we were talking she had no problem stating it was because she felt guilty.
Next time you walk in to purchase a greeting card, or that special gift that will set on a shelf and collect dust, stop and think about it, are you doing yourself or the person it is intended for any real favor, instead set down and wright them a not or letter, or perhaps give them a call or if they are close enough go visit them, share your time with them.
The Lord said “I don’t want your money I want your life” Man is really the same way it is of more value to spend one on one time with someone then to spend money on them.
You can’t buy happiness, you can’t buy friendship, and you can’t spend away bad feelings.
Stop feeding the beast.
Friday, December 1, 2017, 04:23
The holidays are coming quickly upon us aging,
The time of year when we are to be joyful and full of good cheer,
But it seems as each year goes by people become more and more dissatisfied, and disconnected.
Being dissatisfied not only with their surroundings, what they have or don’t have, but in general with them self’s,
Spending (or wasting) hundreds of dollars to try and fill a need
Being dissatisfied can bring about depression in a sole and cause a person to dwell on the negative things that have happened in our lives, which brings about depression, the fillings of unhappiness, despair, sadness, hopelessness, dejection and rejection.
Loneliness, isolation and feeling less than can be your worst enemies.
So this year try something different.
Get outside yourself; take the time to do something for someone ells stop feeling sorry for you, go to a retirement center and visit with someone, when out at the store look people in the eye and say “Hi you have a good day”, (or perhaps even “Merry Christmas”) if you see someone in need do what you can to help them, even just a kind word can change a person’s life. You specking a kind word can also change your own life even as you are seeking them.
Take the time to make someone a card or cookies and give them to someone perhaps your neighbor,
Think on things that are good and pure, consider the blessing in your life, consider that this world is not all about you, that there are other a lot of other people out there and a lot of them are feeling dissatisfied lonely and depressed,
If you are feeling this way know the worst thing you can do is to isolate yourself from others.
As a Christian, if you are finding yourself in this condition think about this, Christ said “I will never leave you nor will I forsake you” Relies who you are in Christ; you are the light of the world, a fearfully and wonderfully made individual who is loved by Father God.
This year when you think your light is going out that you have nothing to give to others, take the time to let the light of Christ shine through you, this will help build the fire within you and the light Christ has placed in you will shine forth, to be a beckon to a lost world.
You have a job to do and it does not include feeling sorry for yourself.
Christ first
Then family
Then others
Then self
If you will take care of your relationships in this order, life will take on a whole new meaning and your life will have purpose and fulfillment, along with contentment.
Be blessed and know who you are in Christ
Merry Christmas