Do-Over to Delusional

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

Okay readers, if any of you are well-advanced in years like me, get prepared to knock down a few cobwebs in your brain. I want you to flashback to your childhood years—all the way back to when you were a young child and would play games with your friends.

While you were playing games with your friends, how many of you would yell “Do-over” if you made a wrong move?

Yelling “Do-Over” meant that you wanted to restart the game from the very beginning, or else you wanted to redo your last play. In other words, you didn’t want the last action that you took to be held against you. You did something wrong, you made a mistake, and you wanted a fresh beginning.

Sometimes yelling “Do-over” worked—other times it didn’t.

“Do-over” works with God. God can wipe your life-slate clean from all of your prior mistakes. He can even free you from sin’s shame. You can have a fresh beginning!

In order to have a life “Do-over” there is a requirement. And no, you don’t have to stand up and flail your hands around, screaming at the top of your lungs “Do-over.”

All you have to do is humble yourself, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from your wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14). You must repent of your sins.

When you truly repent of your sins, it requires a change of heart and not just a change of words. This means that you completely recognize that you did wrong, you accept full responsibility for your actions, and you change in your attitude as you turn from your sins. Thus, you make a 180 degree turn. Prior to repentance, you were going in one direction—after repentance, you begin to go in the opposite direction.

When God forgives your sins, He helps you to turn around and head in the opposite direction. Not only that, but He helps erase your shame. You get a life “Do-over.” You can spiritually begin again—a spiritual rebirth.

On the other hand, you can refuse to repent… it is your choice. You can continue to blame your sins on other people, you can hang on to your same rotten attitude, and you can even keep going in the wrong direction. But heed the following warning!

If you continually choose sin over God and refuse to repent, great delusions may eventually attack your mind. If that happens, you will no longer be able to comprehend right from wrong or good from evil. To you, the truth will seem like a lie, and a lie will seem like the truth. You have chosen to follow Satan because you took pleasure in your sins; thus, your mind will become Satan’s evil playground.

Right now, God is giving you a spiritual opportunity to yell “Do-over.” Don’t refuse His invitation!

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, KJV). Not only does God cleanse us from all unrighteousness, but He also removes our sins as far as the east is from the west (Psalms 103:12). My friend, that is pretty far!

Today, you have a choice between two different roads—one road leads to God and thus heaven. The other road leads to Satan and thus hell. Which road of life will you choose?

DO-OVER!

“Come now, let us argue this out,” says the Lord. “No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool.”

Isaiah 1:18 (NLT)

Three Key Concepts:

1.  God will permit you to have a spiritual “Do-over.”

2.  God can forgive your sins and remove them as far as the east is from the west.

3.  People who refuse to repent may be attacked with strong delusions.

Spiritual Heart Attack – Lukewarm for God

And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; these things…I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot… So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Revelation 3:14-16 (KJV)

This week, I heard a wonderful message at my Wednesday night bible class. My Pastor, Alan Greene, taught a lesson titled “Keep Your Heart Right with God.”  As much as I would have dearly loved for all of you to have been there, sitting right next to me on the church pews, I know that wasn’t possible. So I’m going to use a few of my Pastor’s words in this week’s blog (of course with his permission).

Friend, when you pick up the newspaper and read the headlines, you quickly learn that you are living in a perilous time—evil is running rampant. This world, along with society mores, has turned completely upside down. Good is now called evil…evil is now called good.

Not only has this world changed, but also lurking in the shadows are some charismatic people who have disguised themselves in holy garb (2 Corinthians 11:13-15). These masked villains are waiting for an opportunity to entice you into their wicked world of deception. Some of these deceivers flourish in large churches, diluting God’s Word with worldly ideas. Other villains are popular authors, although they claim Christianity, they insist on rewriting and misinterpreting God’s Word. Truly, this is an evil time.

Although our world is evil, be assured, it will get worse. Great, that is just what you wanted to hear!  “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13, KJV).

Since evil will prosper in this world and will continue to get worse, it is time for you to examine your heart. You need a heart-shocking, spiritual examining, cholesterol-blocking message that will restart your spiritual heart and help clean out your spiritual arteries. You need a spiritual resuscitation so that you will not become lukewarm!

This world has changed from what it was thirty, twenty, or even ten years ago. Television programming, musical lyrics, dress codes…all of them have changed. Face it, society now flourishes on sex, greed, lies, and hate. Sin surrounds you, and as such, it is difficult to maintain a soul-preserving connection to God. But you must! Therefore, stay close to Him in prayer and read His Word, because you cannot afford to be lulled into acceptance of sin.

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Timothy 3:1-5, KJV).

Wow! That preceding paragraph could have been written just last week as a description of our world today. But it wasn’t. It was written about two thousand years ago, as a warning to let you know when the time of your rescue is getting close. That time could be any second now: today, tomorrow, next week, or even next year. Are you ready?

For hundreds of years, people have been saying that our Lord’s return could be any day now. A few individuals have even gone so far as to set erroneous dates and hours of our Lord’s return so that people no longer want to hear it and they even laugh about it (2 Peter 3:3-6). But look at it this way, each day that passes without Christ’s return, is one day closer to His return.

The return of your Lord is eminent so get prepared! Protect your heart and make sure that you are right with God.

But at the same time, be warned that you have an enemy who will to try to contaminate you. That enemy is Satan. He will do everything in his power to destroy you because he wants to disqualify you from heaven. Therefore, he sends artery clogging deposits of doubt, envy, hatred, and strife (Galatians 5:19-21). He aggravates, he irritates, and he annihilates. He wants to pollute your heart and poison your attitude. He wants you to become like him—hateful, boastful, and unthankful.

Fight Satan and don’t let him clog your arteries with bad attitudes that may bring on a spiritual heart attack. Keep your spiritual arteries clean from the pollutants of this world. If someone does you wrong, don’t become filled with rage; instead, bite your tongue and remember, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19, KJV). Let God handle all of your fights—you must keep focused on staying pure. (see April 17, 2011, blog posting “Stand Your Ground—The Battle Belongs to God).

Just as a heart patient watches his/her diet and gets plenty of exercise, spiritually, you have to watch your diet and get plenty of exercise. Feed yourself healthy food in the form of God’s Word, staying away from all worldly garbage. Exercise your vocal cords by singing God’s praises. Then exercise your knees through knee-bends in prayer. Don’t forget to exercise your shoulders through lifting your arms in praise (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22). Do you get the picture?    

So get ready for your Lord’s return. Please heed the advice of my Pastor, “Don’t let your spiritual arteries be filled with the plaque of this world so that you have a spiritual heart attack.” 

But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:8-9 (KJV)

Three Key Concepts:

1.  You are living in a perilous time.

2.  Evil in this world can clog your spiritual arteries and slowly choke your heart.

3. You need the proper spiritual nutrition and exercise to avoid a spiritual heart attack.

The Privilege of Prayer

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7 (KJV)

The other evening after I had just gotten in bed and had fluffed my pillow, I felt in my spirit that I needed to get back up. God was calling me to get down on my knees and pray. At first, I said to myself, “I just got in bed so I will pray while I am laying here.” But that was not what I was supposed to do. I knew in my heart that I was to get up and kneel down in prayer. So reluctantly, I got out of bed.

Now since my bed is tall and I am short, it isn’t a small feat for me to get in and out of bed. I have to slide down off the bed and then I have to climb up to get back in. But nevertheless, I got up. However, I didn’t do it with a happy heart— I approached it as if I was doing a chore.

But do you know what happened?

As soon as I began kneeling down, my heart changed. Instead of thinking that, “I’ve got to pray,” I thought that, “I get to pray.” Through that simple act of obedience, God made me realize how truly blessed I am. I have the opportunity to kneel before my God.

Not everyone can freely kneel before God. Some people may have physical limitations that prevent them from kneeling. Then there are people in countries outside of the United States who may have government restrictions that require them to kneel secretly in prayer. But I don’t have any limitations or restrictions. Anytime I want, I can kneel and pray…I have both the ability and the freedom. That is a blessing! That is a privilege!

Once I was down on my knees, God opened my eyes to the privilege of prayer. Unfortunately, it is a privilege that I often take for granted. God, the Creator and Giver of life, savors my prayers. That was a humbling thought, which brought tears to my eyes. But at the same time, I was ashamed of my initial thoughts of staying in bed. Therefore, I repented.

How could I have ever considered staying in bed when God was calling me? A soft bed does not even compare to God loving me and wanting to hear from me. “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers…” (1 Peter 3:12, KJV).

For a while as I was kneeling in prayer, all I could do was praise God’s name. His Spirit came over me and I felt so blessed that I had the opportunity to pray. That is a precious privilege that I never want to take for granted again. “Lord, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice” (Psalms 141:1-2, KJV).

Do you know how special you are? You can bow down before the Creator of this world. God loves you, He cares about you, and He listens to you. In fact, the Bible says that when God’s children pray, their prayers are like a sweet-smelling incense, “…and they held gold bowls filled with incense—the prayers of God's people” (Revelation 5:8, NLT).

God made a way that you can personally talk to Him through prayer. It is a wonderful freedom but it came at a tremendous price. Jesus paid that price. “Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom…” (Matthew 27:50-51, KJV ).

How do you feel about praying—is it a chore or is it a privilege?

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven's Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. This is the new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us through the sacred curtain, by means of his death for us. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God's people, let us go right into the presence of God, with true hearts fully trusting him. For our evil consciences have been sprinkled with Christ's blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10:19-22 (NLT)

Three Key Concepts:

1.  God loves you and He hears you when you pray.

2.  Praying is a privilege, not a chore.

3.  Your privilege to pray came at a tremendous cost.

Faithful is He

Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (KJV)

Good morning, everyone!  I just wanted to pop in for a quick moment to share some encouraging words; especially since yesterday’s message may have stepped on a few toes.

God loves you and He is faithful. You can depend on Him when you are down in a valley of despair. You can depend on Him when you are high on a mountaintop of victory. And you can depend on Him to help you overcome trials and temptations. Just face it—He is dependable.  

So throw both of your hands up high in the sky and praise His name. Rejoice!

Many Religions, but One God

Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

Matthew 24:40-42 (KJV)

Friends, this week we are going to cover a lesson that may offend some people. However, I love you too much to sweep this message under a rug. So if I offend you, I’m sorry.

Recently, I had a conversation with someone about God’s requirement for holy living. “For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness” (1 Thessalonians 4:7, KJV). The person that I was talking with did not like the Bible’s reference to holiness, so in response, I was told, “There are other religions.”

Yes, there are other religions. There are Lutheran, Scientology, Buddhism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Islam, Catholic, Hinduism, Baptist, Pentecostal, and many more. Now there is even Chrislam, which is a mixture of Christian and Islam.

I don’t want to be an alarmist…but sound the alarm! There is a push to mix these two religions, Christian and Islam. When I first heard about Chrislam, I didn’t believe it. Further, when I searched the internet and found well-known ministers embracing this new religion, I was flabbergasted and glad that I was sitting down. Because if I had been standing up, I probably would have hit the floor.

So take your pick. Whatever you want to believe, there is a religion for it. But heed my warning! Although there are many religions, there is only one God. So no matter what religion you pick, you cannot change God into your image. God alone is God and His Word (the Bible) is Truth.

For too long, Satan and his evil cohorts have successfully deceived many people by tricking them with false religions. False religions will not save souls. “For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to right teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever they want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:3, NLT).

Dear readers, we are currently living in a time when people don’t want to hear right teaching. Consequently, their lives remain empty and in a futile attempt to appease their restlessness, they try to remake and repackage God into a religion that allows them to retain their own evil desires. Somehow they pacify their cold, calloused hearts through worshipping man-made gods.

No man-made god can cleanse or prepare hearts for eternal life in God’s presence. The deceived hearts will be left behind when our Lord returns. He is coming for the pure and the spotless (Ephesians 5:27) (2 Peter 3:14)(1 Thessalonians 5:23).  “Obey God because you are his children… But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God—who chose you to be his children—is holy” (1 Peter 1:14-15, NLT).

In Romans chapter 8:3, Paul tells us that, “…God destroyed sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins” (NLT). If you have truly accepted the blood sacrifice of Jesus, then sin’s control over you has been broken. No longer, do you continue to live in sin—you have been freed!

Paul goes on to say in Romans 8:6, “For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace” (KJV). Please understand that if your mind continues to be controlled by all sorts of sin, it will bring death. On the other hand, if you have accepted God’s gift of His Son, been freed from your sins, been filled with God’s Spirit, and live and walk by His Spirit, you will have life. If you do not have the Spirit of God within you, leading and guiding you, then you are not one of His. You don’t belong to God (Romans 8:9).

I know that this may sound harsh to you if you have been taught a different way for many years. But don’t take my word for it; instead, search the Scriptures! “Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God” (3 John 1:11, KJV).

Today, counterfeit religions are flourishing all around us. And we, the Church (God’s children), are standing quietly by and watching it happen. What should we do?

Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:2, that we should, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (KJV). We are to teach the truth, whether it is convenient or not. Further, we must stop justifying sin. Unfortunately, too many Christians want to be “liked” by the world so they refuse to speak out—in essence, they wink at sin. 

It is time that we change our attitudes and quit worrying about being popular. Sin is sin…and we must begin speaking the uncompromised Word of God. I am not encouraging you to pick fights or stand around arguing about the Word. But I am saying that it is time to hate sin and stop justifying it.

I certainly am glad that John the Baptist, Paul, Peter, John, and Jesus were not concerned about being “liked.” They didn’t care whether the world liked them or not, they continued to speak out against sin. Aren’t you glad?

One final suggestion, if you currently are attending a church that does not teach sanctification or holy living, then it is time for you to leave that church. Get into a church that teaches the whole truths of God’s Word. I beg you to search the Scriptures before it is too late. Don’t be left behind!

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Proverbs 14:12 ( KJV)

Three Key concepts:

1.  There may be many religions in the world today, but there is still only one true God.

2.  Religion cannot save anyone, only God can.

3.  Christians must be willing to speak the uncompromised Word of God.