The back door into hell!

 I’ve heard our pastors say, just because you attend our church doesn’t mean you are going to heaven! I can only plead with you today to examine your heart and your soul to find if it is lacking. 

Are you paying attention to what Jesus says?

At Big Ticket Festival this last weekend we saw David Crowder and he told this story about growing up in Texarkana, half the city was in Texas and the other half in Arkansas. He said they attended the First Baptist Church of Texarkana and his grandma carried the biggest bible you ever saw. The family Bible! Jokingly he said, because she wanted you to know she loved Jesus more than you! 🤣

Anyway, one day he asks, granny why are some letters in black and some in red? She said, David pay close attention to what Jesus says.

For those of you that don’t know, some bibles have Jesus’ words in red, (letters).

So David wrote this song: 

https://youtu.be/E1ohrZaZfTI

Blessings 

June 26 AM

"Art thou become like unto us?"-Isaiah 14:10

What must be the apostate professor's doom when his naked soul appears before God? How will he bear that voice, "Depart, ye cursed; thou hast rejected me, and I reject thee; thou hast played the harlot, and departed from Me: I also have banished thee for ever from my presence, and will not have mercy upon thee." What will be this wretch's shame at the last great day when, before assembled multitudes, the apostate shall be unmasked? See the profane, and sinners who never professed religion, lifting themselves up from their beds of fire to point at him. "There he is," says one, "will he preach the gospel in hell?" "There he is," says another, "he rebuked me for cursing, and was a hypocrite himself!" "Aha!" says another, "here comes a psalm-singing Methodist-one who was always at his meeting; he is the man who boasted of his being sure of everlasting life; and here he is!" No greater eagerness will ever be seen among Satanic tormentors, than in that day when devils drag the hypocrite's soul down to perdition. Bunyan pictures this with massive but awful grandeur of poetry when he speaks of the back-way to hell. Seven devils bound the wretch with nine cords, and dragged him from the road to heaven, in which he had professed to walk, and thrust him through the

back-door into hell. Mind that back-way to hell, professors! "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith." Look well to your state; see whether you be in Christ or not. It is the easiest thing in the world to give a lenient verdict when oneself is to be tried; but O, be just and true here. Be just to all, but be rigorous to yourself. Remember if it be not a rock on which you build, when the house shall fall, great will be the fall of it. O may the Lord give you sincerity, constancy, and firmness; and in no day, however evil, may you be led to turn aside.

Joshua 24:16-18 He Is Our God!

16The people answered, “Far be it from us to abandon (reject) the LORD to serve other gods; 17for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs (miracles) in our sight and kept us safe all along the way that we went and among all the peoples among whom we passed. 18The LORD drove all the peoples out from before us, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God.”

He Is Our God!

“Significantly, their declaration is based on God’s past dealings with them. How could they not serve such a great God?

b. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God: This is essentially the same attitude reflected by Jesus’ disciples in John 6:66-69: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. If serving God sometimes seems hard, think of the alternatives.” (Guzik)

Have you ever considered where you’d be without Him? When we were young we were invincible, strong and could do anything. But He kept loving us and waited! He waited for the moment we realized that we were just a worm and we couldn’t fill that void in our heart with everything we chased after. Be it drugs, alcohol, money, relationships or _________.

God designed us for Him, to have a close relationship with our Maker. He’s the One and only chain breaker!

If you are reading this today and are chained to other gods, go to Him on your knees and pour your heart out to Him and ask your Father to break your chains.

Matthew 7:11 (Amp) If you then, evil (sinful by nature) as you are, know how to give good andadvantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven [perfect as He is] give what is good and advantageous to those who keep on asking Him.

Blessings 

https://youtu.be/JGYjKR69M6U

Joshua 24:14-15 Sincerity in Serving the Lord

 14“Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; remove the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the [Euphrates] River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15If it is unacceptable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Sincerity in Serving the Lord

“The best test of sincerity is not always the open hostility of foes, for this often braces up the energies of combat, while at the same time it makes the path of duty clear. Still less is it at the hour of triumph over our foes, then there is no temptation to rebel. The real test of our faithfulness to God is in most cases our power to continue steadfastly in one course of conduct when the excitement of conflict is removed, and the enemies with which we have to contend are the insidious allurements of ease or custom amid the common place duties of life.” (Spence in The Pulpit Commentary)

What god we serve, is determined where we spend our time and energy!

This sign hangs outside our front door as a reminder and a proclamation.

Blessings 

Joshua 24:11-13 Hornets 🐝 and Undeserved Blessings!

 11After this, you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The people of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I delivered them into your hand. 12I sent the hornet ahead of you, and it drove out the two Amorite kings before you, but not by your own sword or bow. 13So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities that you did not build, and now you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’

“There is a sense in which every blessing is undeserved, but some are more obviously so. When Israel enjoyed vineyards and olive orchards in Canaan, it should have made them especially grateful for undeserved blessings.

i. They should also have remembered that those who planted the vineyards and orchards were removed by God’s righteous judgment, and if they disobeyed and rejected God, they might also be so judged.” (Guzik)

When I study these verses and commentary there are two things that stand out: the Lords hornets and undeserved blessings.

Was the hornet 🐝 special or the everyday hornet which we have around us today? I suspect since they were sent by their Maker the swarm was so huge it blackened the sky and blocked the sun! 

Revelation 9: 6And in those days people will seek death and will not find it; and they will long to die [to escape the pain], but [will discover that] death evades them.

7The locusts resembled horses prepared and equipped for battle; and on their heads appeared to be [something like] golden crowns, and their faces resembled human faces. 8They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. 9They had breastplates (scales) like breastplates made of iron; and the [whirring] noise of their wings was like the [thunderous] noise of countless horse-drawn chariots charging [at full speed] into battle. 10They have tails like scorpions, and stingers; and in their tails is their power to hurt people for five months. (AMP)

I can’t imagine the image that this paints!

Undeserved blessings, everything we have comes from the Lord. Here is the difference between those in Christ and the world. The people in the world, that is without Christ think they work for everything they have, ie, they earned it. The Christian believes in this verse!

Romans 11:36 NLT For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those reading this, keep them in good health, strong in the faith. We thank you for our undeserved blessings! We pray that our family members that don’t know You will be drawn by the Holy Spirit to Jesus so that when the end comes they won’t have to experience the pain of Your wrath.

In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.

Blessings 

Joshua 24:7b-10 Sin and Spiritual Warfare

 Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

8Later, I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I delivered them into your hand, that you should possess their land when I destroyed them before you. 9Then Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you, 10but I would not listen to Balaam. So he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you from his hand.

“Notably missing from this review of Israel’s history is any mention of Israel’s sin, rebellion, and failure. Though God recorded those things at the time (in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), when He reviewed their history through Joshua He made no mention of them. Later, God said their sin I will remember no more (Jeremiah 31:34). Here, it was as if He had “forgotten” Israel’s past sin.” (Guzik)

“Arose to make war against Israel: Numbers 22-25 makes it clear that the war Balak made against Israel was spiritual in nature. He wanted to destroy them either through Balaam’s curse (which did not work) or through the seduction and idolatry of the Moabite women (which worked somewhat). Though it wasn’t a war fought with swords and spears, it was a war nonetheless.” (Guzik)

Two main points in this scripture and commentary are:

1. God said their sin I will remember no more.
2. the war Balak made against Israel was spiritual in nature.

Brethren, these apply to us today as a Christian! If you are born again by accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, God said your sin I will remember no more!

The war going on in our society is spiritual in nature! The Lord gave us the rainbow as a reminder of His promise to never flood the whole earth again (Noah’s ark) but the devil co-opted the symbol of the promise and turned it into spiritual warfare through the seduction and idolatry of sexual sin!

James 1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

The only thing that can save our country and society from its path of destruction and lawlessness is the Lord, through prayer and revival. Please pray daily.

Blessings 

Joshua 24:5-7a I Brought You Out!

 5Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and afterward I brought you out. 6When I brought your fathers out of Egypt and you reached the Red Sea, the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. 7So your fathers cried out to the LORD, and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, over whom He brought the sea and engulfed them. Your very eyes saw what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

“There were still many among the leaders and elders of Israel who were children when Israel came out of Egypt, and who saw God destroy the Egyptian army at the Red Sea.” (Guzik)

I Brought You Out!

Do you remember the day the Lord saved you, when you accepted Jesus? 

I remember where I was but unfortunately I’m bad with dates and didn’t write it down. My wife says that I use to have a drug problem because she had to drag me to church! 

Was I truly saved when I was a child attending the Catholic Church? God only knows! But as an adult, the day my soul was saved and I born again was in the old Calvary Tucson chapel where the school now resides. Pastor Robert performed an alter call, a come to Jesus moment and my soul was saved! 

“I brought you out”! God brought me out, yes indeed!

John 3: 3Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”

Are you born again? If not, what are you waiting for?

Blessings 

Joshua 24:2-4 And worshiped other gods

 2And Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your fathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods. 3But I took your father Abraham from beyond the Euphrates and led him through all the land of Canaan, and I multiplied his descendants. I gave him Isaac, 4and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau Mount Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.

And Worshiped Other gods.

“We don’t often think of Joshua as a prophet, but here he spoke as an inspired messenger of God. Prophecy is not necessarily a prediction of the future. It can simply be a uniquely direct and spontaneous word from God.” (Guzik)

“Before God challenged Israel, He reminded them of His faithfulness. His goodness was shown at the very beginning of His dealings with Abraham and Abraham’s descendants.” (Guzik)

The Lord took Abraham from his home country because of they worshiped other gods. But Abraham had the faith to do what the Lord said!

Are we worshiping other gods? If Jesus isn’t the center of your life then you have put another god in His place! 

Is the Lord calling out to you like Abraham to get up a leave your sinful surroundings?

Blessings