“BY THEIR FRUITS!”

Matthew 7:15-20                                           (ESV)

“15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

16 You will recognize them “BY THEIR FRUITS”. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

17 So, every healthy tree bears GOOD FRUIT, but the diseased tree bears BAD FRUIT.

18 A healthy tree cannot bear BAD FRUIT, nor can a diseased tree bear GOOD FRUIT.

19 Every tree that does not bear GOOD FRUIT is cut down and thrown into the fire.

20 Thus you will recognize them “BY THEIR FRUITS”.”

“This world” generally considers people who regularly attend services at a church house as being members of the body of CHRIST.  Actual members of the body of CHRIST have allowed the language used by others to define who we are ACCORDING TO THEIR STANDARDS.  

JESUS, OUR CREATOR, set THE only standard that will matter on Judgement Day.  HE said “You will recognize them “BY THEIR FRUITS”!  Not by what others think of us.  Not by what building we attend on Sunday morning.  Not by whether we are a deacon or pastor!  Being known “BY THEIR FRUITS” is the only way to be recognized as a CHILD OF GOD!

When a fruit is picked before it is ripe, it may not be fit to eat.   When we try to live a life that is contrary to Scripture, we are a stench in the nostrils of ALMIGHTY GOD.  We cannot change Scripture to make us feel better about ourselves.  ONLY GOD can determine what is RIGHT and WRONG and HE will not change HIS WORD!  We WILL be judged “BY THEIR FRUITS” and a “diseased tree” cannot “bear GOOD FRUIT”.

Just because you are the largest contributor to GOD’S house doesn’t mean that you will enter into HIS KINGDOM.  HE desires a RELATIONSHIP with you evidenced “BY THEIR FRUITS“!  Why did JESUS make such a HUGE DEAL about “many will be deceived”?  Could it be that at the Judgement there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth when our FRUITS are inspected?  “Thus you will recognize them “BY THEIR FRUITS”!!!

“A DEEP SLEEP!”

Genesis 2:21-25                                                         (ESV)

“21 So the LORD GOD caused “A DEEP SLEEP” to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

22 And the rib that the LORD GOD had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.

23 Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." 

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.”

There isn’t a word of Scripture that was placed there by accident.  ALMIGHTY GOD orchestrated HIS WORD being written for HIS purpose.  Why then did he find it necessary to explicitly say that Adam was caused to be in “A DEEP SLEEP” when Eve was created?  Why couldn’t GOD just have Created her the same way HE Created Adam?  

Those of us who have been in “A DEEP SLEEP”, such as the drug induced coma I experienced in 2007, can attest that we had absolutely no input in decisions being made in/with our lives, nor the miracles performed.  Although a rib was taken from Adam, Eve was Created by ALMIGHTY GOD.  Adam had no input in her formation at all.  Adam was gifted with Eve, but she wasn’t to be treated like a child’s toy, put away when she wasn’t being used.  He was supposed to “hold fast to his wife”, similar to an extremely valuable possession!  

How many marriages wind up in trouble because a spouse treats the other like a favorite toy, placing them on a shelf where they are tired of playing with them?  When husbands try to be a (small letters) god instead of directing her to ALMIGHTY GOD, he quickly finds out that he isn’t equipped to GOD, especially when he doesn’t know GOD IN THE FLESH, JESUS!  We cannot be something we were not intended to be in the first place!  

What were you designed to be?  If you are a man like Adam, your design is to “hold fast to his wife”.  GOD has created a perfect match FOR YOU!  Waiting on HIM to introduce her to you can be a challenge.  Treating her according to Scripture can be an even larger challenge!  Sometimes we may need to quit trying to help GOD and fall into “A DEEP SLEEP”, so HE can receive ALL THE GLORY???

“MAKING PEACE!”

Colossians 1:15-20                                                     (ESV)

“15 HE is the image of the invisible GOD, the firstborn of all creation.

16 FOR BY HIM ALL THINGS WERE CREATED, in heaven and on earth, VISIBLE and INVISIBLE, whether THRONES or DOMINIONS or RULERS or AUTHORITIES-ALL THINGS were created through HIM and for HIM.

17 And HE is before ALL THINGS, and in HIM ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER.

18 And HE is the head of the body, the CHURCH. HE is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything HE MIGHT BE PREEMINENT.

19 For in HIM all the FULLNESS of GOD was PLEASED to DWELL,

20 and through HIM to reconcile to HIMSELF all things, whether on earth or in heaven, “MAKING PEACE” by the blood of HIS cross.”

There is a statement that says something like “Our world problems today are not caused by racists, terrorists or any other group floating around out there.  The problem is not guns.  It is hearts without GOD, homes without discipline, schools without prayer and courtrooms without justice!”  

Colossians 1:18 (ESV) is completed by theses words, “HE (JESUS) MIGHT BE PREEMINENT”.  We can try to be non-offensive, but JESUS in Luke 12:51 “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?  No, I tell you, BUT RATHER DIVISION!”  HE understands that we will have to pay a price for being one of HIS soldiers, a person who is “set apart” from “this world”!  We can blame guns, terrorism, or anything else we choose to deflect the focus of the real issue, but until we understand the TRUTH, that “MAKING PEACE” can ONLY come from JESUS, we will continue getting the same results that we are currently experiencing.

ALL THINGS were created through HIM and for HIM.  Only when we recognize that HE is what holds ALL THINGS together will we SEE results that are improving.  Governments and rulers cannot achieve this.  Even “invisible” things cannot bring desired results.  ONLY JESUS CHRIST can!!!

The answer to “MAKING PEACE” is very simple and right before our eyes, but “this world” will NEVER accept the HE is the answer!  JESUS said in John 6:44 “No one can come to ME unless the FATHER who sent me draws him.”  Our salvation is a “free gift”, lest any man should boast he was better than someone else!  Within the hearts of man there is no ability for “MAKING PEACE”, it just cannot happen!  The ONLY hope we have at “MAKING PEACE” is JESUS CHRIST!  HE IS OUR HOPE!!!

“I WILL HARDEN PHARAOH’S HEART!”

Exodus 14:4; 14                                                                (ESV)

“And “I WILL HARDEN PHARAOH’S HEART”, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD." And they did so.”

“The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." 

Recently I watched the testimony of a computer guru before a senatorial committee speaking about technology companies mind control through subliminal and other manipulative schemes to influence voters, and thus elections.  That stirred my anger for a brief second, until I remembered that NOBODY can out think MY GOD!  

When Pharaoh had the Children of Israel captive in Egypt, he was commander of the most powerful army in the world at the time.  Pharaoh had all the known power in his control !  He could NOT be beaten!  The Children of Israel numbered over 3 million, but they had absolutely NO battle skills in their history, NONE!  

If “Big Tech” thinks they can control the minds of millions of people, they might better read the entire fourth chapter of Exodus?  Verses 21-28 might be where they want to focus their study.  Pharaoh and his army were the biggest power known to mankind at the time, and ALMIGHTY GOD only needed a few hours to render them as a memory!  Verse 28 states “The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of ALL THE HOST OF PHARAOH THAT HAD FOLLOWED THEM INTO THE SEA, NOT ONE OF THEM REMAINED”.  

The United States Of America, arguably the most powerful nation in the history of the world, was brought to its knees by less than 20 rogue terrorists on September 11, 2001.  The lessons from that day are still vivid in my mind.  The quietness of that afternoon still is etched in my mind.  The entire world seemed as though it STOPPED, DEAD STILL!!!  Don’t ever think that you are TOO BIG to be taken down.  GOD changes hearts, ask Pharaoh!  “I WILL HARDEN PHARAOH’S HEART” was simply a way for GOD TO GET GLORY!  HE can do it again, and WILL!!!

“THE WAY IS HARD!”

Matthew 7:13-14                                      (ESV)

“13 "Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is WIDE and the way is EASY that leads to DESTRUCTION, and those who enter by it are MANY.

14 For the gate is NARROW and “THE WAY IS HARD” that leads to LIFE, and those who find it are FEW.”

Many people have differing opinions about how the CHRIST HONORING LIFE should be lived?  Some of those in the pulpits around “this world” are being complicit in the culture of “easy believism” by proclaiming that if we come to JESUS, then everything will be easy and our problems will all be taken care of?!?

Just because a preacher says something it doesn’t mean that it is TRUTH!  Acts 17:11 says “Now these Jews (in Berea) were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, EXAMINING THE SCRIPTURES DAILY to see if these things were so.”  We are CALLED to “STUDY” HIS WORD, not only by going to a church house and listening to what is being preached, but by allowing ALMIGHTY GOD change the course of our lives through the POWER of HIS WORD!  

JESUS, OUR CREATOR, says “THE WAY IS HARD” that leads to LIFE!  HE didn’t promise a private jet ministry, or a life free from sickness or disease.  HE didn’t promise that we would always take the path that has the least resistance.  HE didn’t guarantee that HE wouldn’t lead us around the difficulties that others face!  However, HE did promise to never leave us, nor forsake us, if we followed HIM!

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we came to JESUS and all of our troubles vanished and life became “EASY”?  But JESUS says in Matthew 7:13 that “...For the gate is WIDE and the way is EASY that leads to DESTRUCTION, and those who enter by it are MANY”!  Just because we are experiencing resistance in “this world” doesn’t mean that we are on the wrong path!  As a matter of fact, “THE WAY IS HARD” is what OIR CREATOR PROMISED!  Are you so special that HE will make exceptions for you???  Did GOD make exceptions for JESUS, the sinless, spotless LAMB OF GOD???  

“LAST DAYS!”

2 Timothy 3:1-5                                        (ESV)

“1 But understand this, that in the “LAST DAYS” THERE WILL COME times of DIFFICULTY.

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,

3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of GOD,

5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. AVOID SUCH PEOPLE.”

Seeing “this world” become darker and darker as time progresses, the “natural” question is raised “what is happening to our society”?  Many people prefer to ignore the BIBLE and its TRUTHS, but that doesn’t lessen the TRUTH contained within!  Allowing HIS TRUTH TO CHANGE us is the only HOPE for “this world”!

After the shootings in El Paso, Texas I saw a post on social media saying “thoughts & prayers” with a line drawn through it followed by “POLICY & CHANGE”!  That sounds good to the “natural” man, but we who are BORN OF THE SPIRIT understand that these “times of DIFFICULTY” must come before JESUS RETURNS!  No amount of “POLICY & CHANGE” will curtail the slightest evil.  Only a repentant heart will! 

People, we MUST recognize that we aren’t to expect to escape the DIFFICULT portion of the Plan of GOD for the “LAST DAYS”, the end times, for the entire world.  We MUST almost embrace the DIFFICULT times that lies ahead and KNOW that the battle has been WON!  It’s not as if Scripture says the “LAST DAYS, may come, or they might come, but THERE WILL COME times of DIFFICULTY!  It is just a sign of the times!!!

“I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD!”

Exodus 20:1-3                                          (ESV)

“1 And GOD spoke all these words, saying,

2 "I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD”, WHO brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 "You shall have no other gods before ME.”

The TEN COMMANDMENTS are almost an enigma as we humans can’t even follow the first one in our feeble attempts at righteousness.  Romans 3:10 says “as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;”, so why did ALMIGHTY GOD initiate the TEN COMMANDMENTS knowing that we would fall short in our efforts to BE YE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY?

We, humankind, have been under the curse of sin since Adam and Eve with only JESUS succeeding.  There are TEN COMMANDMENTS, yet we cannot get past the first one, so JESUS came to live RIGHTEOUSNESS on our behalf.  JESUS was GOD IN THE FLESH but mankind could not SEE and therefore crucified HIM, in their limited wisdom.  They probably thought in their hearts they were doing god a favor, but GOD/JESUS was rejected by all, fulfilling HIS Plan!

We do the same thing today.  We do WHAT WE THINK is best for us to to make money, to grow our 401k, to make sound business decisions, but seldom do we yield to THE SPIRIT OF GOD to lead us down the paths of righteousness? We are too busy trying to make a profit that we don’t take time to listen for HIS GUIDANCE and INSTRUCTIONS choosing instead to do what WE THINK is best! 

Dr. Tony Evans recently stated, “GOD wants it publicly declared that you are operating under HIS authority.”   If we are living by what WE THINK is best for our lives, we are trusting that we know better than HIM!  “I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD” desires for us to operate under HIS authority, but are we listening?