JESUS SAVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to thank you all for following this blog.  For now, it is time to take a break.  Always hold on to Jesus.  He is the way, the truth and the life. 

If you are reading this and do not know Jesus as your Lord and Savior.  I beg you to call on Him today

Romans 10:13 NASB  for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."

Clean Sweep (Lesson One)

Setting our self aside for God’s service is important

2 Chronicles 29:3-5 NASB

(3)  In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them.

(4)  He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the square on the east.

(5)  Then he said to them, "Listen to me, O Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place.

Dedicating our self to God, means getting everything cleaned up and ready to worship God.  It should be a deliberate part of our lives.

Peter shows us that we need to cleanse ourselves in order to be fit to present ourselves before God.

1 Peter 1:13-16 NASB

(13)  Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

(14)  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance,

(15)  but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;

(16)  because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."

What is our standard of Holiness?  The Holy One who called us.  JESUS

What makes us Holy before God?  Jesus Christ. 

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, His blood shed on Calvary covers us.  God then sees us through the Blood.  When this happens, God sees us as if we had never sins.

That is JUSTIFICATION

No Other Gods (Lesson 2)

Sorry about missing last week. We were helping a family in time of need.

To love and worship the one true God

Jeremiah 10:11-15 NASB

(11)  Thus you shall say to them, "The gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens."

(12)  It is He who made the earth by His power, Who established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has stretched out the heavens.

(13)  When He utters His voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, And He causes the clouds to ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the wind from His storehouses.

(14)  Every man is stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols; For his molten images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them.

(15)  They are worthless, a work of mockery; In the time of their punishment they will perish.

Idolatry is an act of supreme foolishness

Jeremiah is preparing to deliver God’s message.  The gods that did not make heaven will perish from this earth.  Isn’t it wonderful to know that the one true God made the heavens and the earth.  He has all power and just from the sound of His voice He moves the waters in heaven and makes the clouds ascend to earth, lightning, rain and wind.

What a powerful God.  Then it is so terrible to think that people make their images from material that will pass away. They invest so much of their time. Time that could be spent serving Jesus.  Not only does the graven images pass away but their gods are dead gods.

John tells us how to make sure we have God.   

1 John 2:22-23 NASB  Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.  (23)  Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

Get all other things out of your life and ask Jesus to be your Savior today.

No Other Gods (Lesson 1)

To love and worship the one true God

2 Kings 17:7-8 NASB

(7)  Now this came about because the sons of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods

(8)  and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD had driven out before the sons of Israel, and in the customs of the kings of Israel which they had introduced.

Idolatry is an offense to God

Hoshea becomes king and does evil in the sight of God.  Not only does he continue in the ways of the past kings of Israel.  He becomes a servant to the king of Assyria and agrees to pay tribute to him.  After a while, he gets tired of this and calls on Egypt’s King for help.  Shalmaneser takes him prisoner, invades Samaria and carries away the people into Mesopotamia.

Clearly, the actions of Israel offended God.  Anytime we put other things before God, He is offended.  What are some of the things people place before God today?

Here are just a few things that could come between God and us.  Fishing, Golf, Shopping, even our loved ones, the fact is that anything can become an idol if it distracts us from God.

Satan is roaming the earth and is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.  His goal is to do whatever it takes to draw us away from God.  Do not allow the distractions of this world to become an offense to God.  

Are You Serious? (Lesson 4)

Exploring God’s Judgment

2 Kings 10:11,18-19 & 23- 28 NASB

(11)  So Jehu killed all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men and his acquaintances and his priests, until he left him without a survivor.

(18)  Then Jehu gathered all the people and said to them, "Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much.

(19)  "Now, summon all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers and all his priests; let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal; whoever is missing shall not live." But Jehu did it in cunning, so that he might destroy the worshipers of Baal.

(23)  Jehu went into the house of Baal with Jehonadab the son of Rechab; and he said to the worshipers of Baal, "Search and see that there is here with you none of the servants of the LORD, but only the worshipers of Baal."

(24)  Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had stationed for himself eighty men outside, and he had said, "The one who permits any of the men whom I bring into your hands to escape shall give up his life in exchange."

(25)  Then it came about, as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the royal officers, "Go in, kill them; let none come out." And they killed them with the edge of the sword; and the guard and the royal officers threw them out, and went to the inner room of the house of Baal.

(26)  They brought out the sacred pillars of the house of Baal and burned them.

(27)  They also broke down the sacred pillar of Baal and broke down the house of Baal, and made it a latrine to this day.

(28)  Thus Jehu eradicated Baal out of Israel.

God’s judgment is comprehensive and complete

Here we see Jehu has totally removed Ahab and all his descendants from the face of the earth.  God had pronounced judgment on Ahab and through Jehu’s obedience, God’s judgement was thorough and extensive.  However, Jehu was not finished with annihilating Ahab and his family.   

He called for all the servants and prophets of Baal to gather under the pretense that he was going to serve Baal.  When he had them all in one place, he ordered his guards to kill them all. 

I wonder how many times these people saw the hand of God and failed to worship Him.  They would worship their false God’s in order to satisfy their own lusts and wants.  The sad thing is that we still have people today doing everything to prove God wrong.  People will not accept Jesus even though the Bible plainly says

1 John 2:23 NASB Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

Ahab did this and God’s judgement was comprehensive and complete.

Yes I am serious and God is too.

He is RISEN

He is RISEN INDEED 

Happy Easter!

Are You Serious? (Lesson 3)

Exploring God’s Judgment

2 Kings 9:30-37 NASB

(30)  When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it, and she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out the window.

(31)  As Jehu entered the gate, she said, "Is it well, Zimri, your master's murderer?"

(32)  Then he lifted up his face to the window and said, "Who is on my side? Who?" And two or three officials looked down at him.

(33)  He said, "Throw her down." So they threw her down, and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall and on the horses, and he trampled her under foot.

(34)  When he came in, he ate and drank; and he said, "See now to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king's daughter."

(35)  They went to bury her, but they found nothing more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.

(36)  Therefore they returned and told him. And he said, "This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'In the property of Jezreel the dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel;

(37)  and the corpse of Jezebel will be as dung on the face of the field in the property of Jezreel, so they cannot say, "This is Jezebel."'"

You cannot run from God’s Judgement.

This week, we continue to explore the extent of God’s Judgment.  When Jezebel designed her scheme take Naboth’s land for Ahab, Elijah told her that the dogs would eat her flesh.  Now we see in these verses that Jehu comes for her and persuades her own guards to throw her from the balcony.

As she lay dead on the ground, Jehu goes in to eat.  He then tells his men that she is a King’s Daughter and sends them out to get her and to bury her.  When they go out, they find that God had executed his judgment to the letter.  The dogs had indeed eaten her and the only thing left was her skull, feet and hands.

Jezebel faced judgement like she did everything else in life, with arrogance and pride.  The Bible teaches that we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.  It is only through the blood of Jesus we are saved.  If we fail to accept Jesus, we will certainly face God’s Judgement.  You cannot run from God’s Judgement.