You Reap What You Sow

Galatians 6:7-8 ESV

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.” 

In America, in our day and time, many people are being deceived into believing that they can make a one-time profession of faith in Jesus Christ and that it will secure them salvation from sin, forgiveness of all sin (past, present, and future), and that it will guarantee them heaven when they die, done deal, nothing else required. But that is not what the Scriptures teach, as you can see by these verses above and by these Scriptures below:

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we lose our lives, i.e. we die with him to sin and we live to him and to his righteousness, then we have eternal life. And he also said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father (Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

And Paul taught that if we walk by the flesh, and not by the Spirit, and that if we obey sin, and we do not obey our Lord, and if we practice sexual immorality, and sensuality, and lying, cheating, stealing, and idolatry, and the like, that we will not inherit eternal life with God, but we will die in our sins, and heaven will not be our eternal destiny. Wrath and fury will be. For, again, we all are going to be judged by God by our works, and we are all going to reap what we sow in this life.

So, if we sow to the flesh, and if how we live is of the flesh and not of the Spirit, which is shown by our attitudes, words, and behaviors, then we will reap corruption (death, destruction), not eternal life. But if we sow to the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord, and we leave our lives of sin behind us, and sin is not what we practice, but righteousness and holiness are what we practice, then we will reap eternal life with God. So, please take this seriously so that you are not deceived and fall short of the glory of God.

You Reap What You Sow

Video Talk

February 27, 2023

https://youtu.be/HwXszKtbvEQ

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Praise the “I AM!” 

An Original Work / February 24, 2012

Jesus, my Savior, full of compassion,

Glorious in power, mighty in strength;

Gracious Redeemer, mighty deliv’rer,

My heart adores Him. Praise to His name!

Perfect salvation my Lord provided

When He died for my sins on a tree;

Crucified my sins; conquered in vict’ry,

When He arose, so I could be free!

I am so thankful for His forgiveness;

Grateful that He chose to pardon me,

Giving me new life full in His Spirit,

So I can serve Him; His servant be!

Walking in daily fellowship with Him,

Obeying Him whate’er He commands;

Forsaking my sins, living in freedom,

I will endure with Him to the end!

He gives me peace and calm reassurance

In times of sorrow, or in distress.

His grace is sure, and oh, how sufficient

To meet me in my need for sweet rest.

Oh, how I love You, Jesus, my Savior.

My heart longs for You where’er I am.

Your word is precious; speaks to my spirit; 

Brings comfort, healing. Praise the “I AM!”

https://vimeo.com/125736554 

Why Are You Afraid?

An Original Work / December 5, 2013

Based off Various Scriptures

Do not be afraid. 

Your Lord is always by your side.

Serve the Lord in righteousness

Before Him all your days.

Those who hate the light

Will not come to the Lord.

They fear their deeds

Might be noticed.

So, they hate the light,

And they embrace the night.

Do not be afraid,

Although your enemy attacks.

Dare to share your testimony

Of God’s saving grace.

Do not fear their threats,

But honor Christ, your Lord.

Be prepared to give an answer

For the hope you have,

With gentleness; respect.

Why are you afraid?

For all that’s hidden will be shown.

What I tell you, speak in daylight.

Let the truth be known.

Do not be afraid

Of those who’ll take your life.

Fear the Lord with understanding.

Trust Him with your life,

And give not up to strife.

Do not be afraid.

Take courage, it is I, your Lord.

Bow before Me; now adore Me.

Oh, why do you doubt?

Listen to the Lord.

Get up and bear His name!

Run and tell the world He loves them.

Jesus came to save.

Give Him your all today. 

https://vimeo.com/114668071

Have You Been Tested?

Psalms 66:8-14 ESV

“Bless our God, O peoples;

    let the sound of his praise be heard,

who has kept our soul among the living

    and has not let our feet slip.

For you, O God, have tested us;

    you have tried us as silver is tried.

You brought us into the net;

    you laid a crushing burden on our backs;

you let men ride over our heads;

    we went through fire and through water;

yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

I will come into your house with burnt offerings;

    I will perform my vows to you,

that which my lips uttered

    and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.”

If we are genuine followers of Jesus Christ, we are going to be tested and tried so that we can see whether or not our faith is genuine, or so that we can grow in our walks of faith and become more like Jesus and have greater commitments to Christ and to his word and to walks of obedience and holiness. And we will also be persecuted for our walks of faith, too, especially if we are sharing the truth of the gospel and if we are exposing the lies of the enemy which are opposed to the gospel.

[Matt 5:10-12; Matt 10:16-25; Matt 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 21:12-19; John 15:1-21; John 16:33; John 17:14; Acts 14:22; Rom 5:3-5; 2 Co 1:3-11; Php 3:7-11; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Thess 3:1-5; Heb 12:3-12; Jas 1:2-4; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 1 Pet 4:12-17; 1 John 3:13]

But the Lord will help us so that our feet do not slip and so that we don’t fall back into sin, or so that we don’t become discouraged or disheartened and withdraw from being his servants and witnesses. But we must cooperate with him in his working in our hearts and lives. We have to do what he says to do. We have to obey him. For he is not going to just zap us and do it all for us. We have to do the works that he prepared in advance that we should walk in them. And we must walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and we must resist Satan and flee temptation, etc.

[Matt 5:27-30; Matt 7:21-23; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10; Gal 5:16-24; Eph 2:10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 3:5-11; 1 Thes 4:1-8; 1 Tim 4:7; Titus 2:11-14; Heb 12:1-17; 1 Pet 1:14; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]  

Yet even though the Lord allows us to suffer, and to be persecuted, and to go through trials and tribulations which test our faith, if we cooperate with him in what he is doing in our lives through these difficult times, then he will bring us through them on the other end to a place of spiritual blessings. For he disciplines us for our good so we will share in his holiness, so we will become like him in his death, and so that when we have been trained by these disciplines, some or many of which are painful, the disciplines will yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness in our lives.

And we will fulfill our vows to our Lord, our commitments we made to him when we believed in him by God-given faith, and when we entered into a marriage covenant with Jesus Christ to be wholly his and to die with him to sin and to live to him and to his righteousness. And it isn’t that we weren’t already doing this, but these trials and tribulations, which test our faith, and these persecutions and rejections have a way of rearranging our priorities and of drawing us closer to our Lord in walks of surrender to him. And that really is the point of them all.

Have You Been Tested

Video Talk

February 24, 2023

https://youtu.be/05ITVMS_jEE

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All The Way My Savior Leads Me

Lyrics by Frances J Crosby, pub. 1875

Music by Robert Lowry, pub. 1875

All the way my Savior leads me,

What have I to ask beside?

Can I doubt His tender mercy,

Who through life has been my Guide?

Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,

Here by faith in Him to dwell!

For I know, whate’er befall me,

Jesus doeth all things well.

All the way my Savior leads me,

Cheers each winding path I tread,

Gives me grace for every trial,

Feeds me with the living Bread.

Though my weary steps may falter

And my soul athirst may be,

Gushing from the Rock before me,

Lo! A spring of joy I see.

All the way my Savior leads me,

Oh, the fullness of His love!

Perfect rest to me is promised

In my Father’s house above.

When my spirit, clothed immortal,

Wings its flight to realms of day

This my song through endless ages:

Jesus led me all the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWdmZGik1Jw

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Heartstrings

What’s pulling on your heartstrings tonight?

Is it concern over a loved one who’s dying?

Or o’er someone who’s sad, who is crying?

Is it money that seems not to come

When you direly need to have some?

Is it fire destroying all that’s around?

Or, is it water that’s not to be found?

Is it that you are treated unfairly?

And kindness received seems all but rarely?

Do you often feel misunderstood?

And, that hate is returned for your good?

Is it that those you trust now betray you?

That their faithfulness is fully untrue?

Are you burdened for those who are lost

In their sins, who’ve not come to the cross?

Do you care they are caught in a snare?

And, clean garments they have not to wear?

Are you burdened so many addicted

To what on the screen is depicted?

Does it pain you that marriages are broken?

And lies are what often are spoken?

And that families are being torn apart?

Because light not preferred, but the dark?

Do you pray for those for whom you’re burdened?

That from their sins they’d be delivered?

Do you trust the Lord now with your life?

And give your heart not up to strife?

An Original Work / October 9, 2019

How Long, O Lord?

“The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,

    and you will not hear?

Or cry to you “Violence!”

    and you will not save?

Why do you make me see iniquity,

    and why do you idly look at wrong?

Destruction and violence are before me;

    strife and contention arise.

So the law is paralyzed,

    and justice never goes forth.

For the wicked surround the righteous;

    so justice goes forth perverted.” (Habakkuk 1:1-4 ESV)

Habakkuk was a prophet of God. As with most prophets of God, he cared deeply about what God cared about. He was deeply troubled in his spirit over the wickedness, the injustice, violence, strife, conflict, physical destruction, and moral decay that he witnessed with his own eyes, in his own nation, and among his own people. He could not understand why God allowed this to go on with no apparent hope for salvation. Not only that, but he felt as though God was turning a deaf ear to his cries for mercy. 

I empathize with him. I have seen much wickedness, injustice, strife, and destruction of people’s lives caused by sin’s deceitfulness in my own nation, and among those professing faith in Jesus Christ, too. I have seen so much apathy and complacency among God’s people to the things of God, i.e. to true righteousness and to holiness in living. And I have witnessed the gospel of Jesus Christ being watered down to make it more palatable to the listener and to make it easier for people to “come to faith in Jesus Christ.” 

But the problem with that is that it is not the true gospel nor is it true biblical faith in Jesus Christ. For the Bible teaches that unless we die to self and to sin, we cannot live. We have to turn from our sins, and we have to turn to walk in obedience to Christ. This is what it means to come to faith in Christ. Thus, if we preach a false gospel, we are giving people a false hope, and we are condemning them to remain in their sin. So we need to teach death to sin and walks of obedience to God as the faith which saves.

And, I have witnessed that some who stand for what is right, and who preach the true gospel, are being ostracized and rejected in the church, and even invited to leave because they don’t fit the new way of marketing goals and schemes for how to draw in large crowds of people into their gatherings. For so many of our leaders within these gatherings are following after the ways of the flesh and of the world rather than after the ways of God and his holiness and righteousness. So the righteous are being rejected by them.

I have wept many tears and prayed many prayers to God over this destruction of God’s holy people, his church, by sin’s deceitfulness, by moral decay, through complacency and apathy, and through the church becoming one with the world. I know it breaks God’s heart, because he shows me his heart all the time. And it breaks my heart to see those who profess to know and to follow Christ still walking in sin’s way, and still following the ways of the world more than or in place of following Christ Jesus and his ways. 

It breaks my heart and God’s heart to see many pastors leading their people to walk in the ways of the world more than or in place of teaching them to walk in holiness and righteousness. And I know God is going to judge his complacent and apathetic church for her refusal to listen to his voice and to turn from her sins of idolatry and spiritual adultery. That breaks my heart, too, because I know the devastation and pain that must come upon God’s people in order to get them back into a right relationship with their God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

God’s answer to Habakkuk 

“For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,

    that bitter and hasty nation,

who march through the breadth of the earth,

    to seize dwellings not their own.

They are dreaded and fearsome;

    their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.”

“At kings they scoff,

    and at rulers they laugh.

They laugh at every fortress,

    for they pile up earth and take it.

Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,

    guilty men, whose own might is their god!” (Habakkuk 1:6-7,10-11 ESV)

God’s answer to the spiritual and moral condition of his people, at least here in America, but elsewhere, too, is to bring judgment on the people to get them to repent of their sins. Over the past 20 years the Lord has spoken to me much concerning the church in America, where I live, and concerning our government and their involvement in what is ultimately to be the beast of Revelation, I believe. The government and military of the USA are part of a global order, which includes the U.N. and NATO as its military force. 

The Lord has revealed to me many times over that the US government and their military are doing the kinds of things worldwide that are described here in this passage of Scripture concerning this Babylonian kingdom that God would use to bring against his people in order to get them back into a right relationship with God. Leaders of nations are turning against their own people, so this is destruction from within, in concert with other nations in the world, and to bring about a one world order of government, I believe. 

I believe they are on their last leg of this journey to conquer all the kingdoms of the world, including the USA will be completely conquered by them, too. History repeats itself. And, one day we will see the fulfillment of the prophecies of the book of Revelation in our time, I believe. First he used the USA and their NATO allies to take down other nations in the world, and I believe now he is turning our leaders against their own people in order for God to bring revival to our nation so that many will be saved for eternity.

Now, what I just stated above may not comply with what you have always been taught or with what you have come to believe about your own nations, or about the USA (where I live), and it would take hundreds of documents to prove my case. So all I can do is ask that you pray about what I just shared with you, and ask the Lord to show you about the governments of your own nations and that of the USA and who they really are and what they are really doing, and then let God show you his plan to get his people revived in heart.

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

https://vimeo.com/379406352

The Plans of God for Us

The following was a specific promise given by God to a specific people at a particular time in history under very distinct circumstances which are not relevant to us today. The people of God were under the judgment of God for a period of 70 years. So, the Lord was giving them specific instructions for them only. For they had false prophets lying to them about the 70 years, and so the Lord was correcting those errors. And then the Lord told them that when the 70 years were completed that he would visit them, and that he would fulfill his promise to them to bring them back to their homeland. Then he said:

Jeremiah 29:11-13 ESV

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

Now, although these words were spoken to God’s people under their specific circumstances, and so in that sense that they were given to them they do not apply to our lives, still there are biblical principles contained within these words which do apply to our lives today. And so we can learn from this passage of Scripture what those are in relation to our relationships with Jesus Christ and in relation to the gospel of our salvation.

So, what plans does God have for our lives? We who believe in Jesus, and those who are yet to believe in Jesus, were predestined by God to be conformed to the image (likeness) of Jesus Christ. And he has called us to a holy calling, and to be holy is to be different from the world because we are being conformed to the likeness of Christ. And this was his plan for our lives even before he created the world. And we are to be holy in all our conduct.

[Ps 139:13-16; Rom 8:29; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Eph 1:3-4; 1 Pet 1:14-16; 1 Co 12]

And the plans for welfare and not for evil are found in the teachings of the gospel of Christ. For we learn that Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness (1 Peter 2:24). And Jesus said that if anyone would come after him he must deny self and take up his cross daily (daily die to sin and to self) and follow (obey) the Lord Jesus. For if we hold on to our lives of sin, we will lose them for eternity. But if we die to sin and follow our Lord in obedience, then we have the hope of eternal life.

[Luke 9:23-26; cf. Matthew 7:21-23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14]

And this is to give us a future and a hope, but this future and hope are contingent upon us dying with Christ to sin, not just once, but daily, and us walking in obedience to our Lord in holiness and in righteousness, and not in sin. For if sin is what we practice, and if obedience to our Lord is not what we practice, then we do not have a future and a hope. But we will die in our sins, and heaven will not be our eternal destiny, and we will not inherit eternal life with God. So, we need to take this to heart.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15] 

Now, we cannot call upon God of our own doing. We can only come to faith in Jesus Christ if God the Father first draws us to Christ (John 6:44), i.e. if he first persuades us as to his holiness and righteousness and of our sinfulness and of our need to repent of (turn from) our sins to follow him in obedience. For the faith to believe in Jesus is not of our own doing, but it is gifted to us by God, for it is authored and perfected by Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-10; Hebrews 12:1-2).

But then we will call upon him, and we will come to him and pray to him, and then we will seek the Lord with all our heart if our faith in Jesus Christ is genuine God-given faith which dies with Christ to sin and which lives to him and to his righteousness. But not everyone has such faith. Many are relying on human faith alone and on humanistic teachings which do not require repentance, obedience, or walks of faith in Jesus Christ. And sadly, they do not have a future and a hope in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

The Plans of God for Us

Video Talk

February 23, 2023

https://youtu.be/h8TCpsxiYsE

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If That Isn’t Love

By Dottie Rambo

He left the splendor of heaven

Knowing His destiny

Was the lonely hill of Golgotha

There to lay down His life for me

And if that isn't love

Then the ocean is dry

There's no stars in the sky

And the little sparrows can't fly

Yeah if that isn't love

Then heaven's a myth

There's no feeling like this

If that isn't love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ID9X5ovox0

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We are Not Guaranteed Tomorrow