Just my thoughts on this Saturday morning about many still clinging to idols or choosing sin over Jesus. Who do you serve exactly?
Prayer: Holy Spirit -The Down Payment
Relevant verses:
Luke 9:23-24 (KJV)
23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
Matthew 12:30 (KJV)
30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Matthew 24: 4-14, 21-22, 37-42 (KJV)
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
Matthew 26:28 (KJV)
28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
1 Thessalonians 5:2-14 (KJV)
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 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.
9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
1 Corinthians 6: 9-11 (KJV)
9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Jeremiah 2:28 (KJV)
28 But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.
Jeremiah 7:26-27 (KJV)
26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.
27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
Judges 10:14 (KJV)
14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.
Ephesians 3:17-19 (KJV)
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Isaiah 57:13-14 (KJV)
13 When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;
14 And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people.
Psalm 40:4 (KJV)
4 Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
Psalm 57:2 (KJV)
2 I will cry unto God most high; unto God that performeth all things for me.
Psalm 118:8 (KJV)
8 It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
Proverbs 1: 20-33 (NLT)
20 Wisdom shouts in the streets.
She cries out in the public square.
21 She calls to the crowds along the main street,
to those gathered in front of the city gate:
22 “How long, you simpletons,
will you insist on being simpleminded?
How long will you mockers relish your mocking?
How long will you fools hate knowledge?
23 Come and listen to my counsel.
I’ll share my heart with you
and make you wise.
24 “I called you so often, but you wouldn’t come.
I reached out to you, but you paid no attention.
25 You ignored my advice
and rejected the correction I offered.
26 So I will laugh when you are in trouble!
I will mock you when disaster overtakes you—
27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster engulfs you like a cyclone,
and anguish and distress overwhelm you.
28 “When they cry for help, I will not answer.
Though they anxiously search for me, they will not find me.
29 For they hated knowledge
and chose not to fear the Lord.
30 They rejected my advice
and paid no attention when I corrected them.
31 Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way,
choking on their own schemes.
32 For simpletons turn away from me—to death.
Fools are destroyed by their own complacency.
33 But all who listen to me will live in peace,
untroubled by fear of harm.”
Proverbs 30:20 (KJV)
20 Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
Joshua 24:15 (KJV)
15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
I heard on a previous podcast that you were not getting many comments. I wanted to let you know that I look forward to your posts, and this one was very powerful. Thank you for sharing what was on your heart. I too spend much time alone, as have no strong believers in my life. I prefer it as I am not interested in what others are doing to fill their days. I do pray to God every day, try to live my life to please Him but I feel I always fail. I have tried to tell people what is coming but most are not interested. Thank you for your ministry, your words help me.God Bless you. Shirley. Australia.
God Bless you Shirley. Thank you for your supportive comment. I prefer it that way as well for the most part although fellowship would be nice. All of us feel like we fail the Lord in some way as none of us are perfect but the point is we pick up our cross and continue to walk after Him to train ourselves to be more like Him rather than continuously ignore His calling and keep nailing Him back to the cross. No we nail the sins to the cross, pick it up and keep following Him. Unfortunately there are many who still aren’t doing that and there also seems to be a disconnect on many levels. Shirley I am most thankful for your comment and I’m glad to have you at Innocence Redeemed and I thank you whole heartedly for reaching out. Feel free to comment any time. Blessings.
Oh dear brother, I totally relate to this. A lot of us do. Daily, everyone just goes on like they have all the time in the world. It’s really sad that they place safety and security in their jobs, their titles, their bank accounts, men in positions of power etc. Being in the wilderness will absolutely bring anyone to their knees, both you and I know that well. I don’t want to know how much worse refining will be at that time so the heeding of our Lord’s warnings would do people good now. He loves us with such a great love it’s hard to fully grasp, he shows us all the time. There’s been plenty of God’s people who have seen when the bombs hit, that are playing video games, going on with everything like we aren’t at the end. Just unbelievable at times but I truly believe a lot of people don’t want to face the fire, they don’t want that mirror that shows them the truth.
Amen sis. It’s nice to know some get it and can see it. I am working on something new. Stay tuned!
Thank you again brother Ray!
Jesus Bless you Shannon
FORGOT ABOUT ” PAUSA ” ?
Not sure what you are referring to..
I agree with everything you said. People need to wake up before it’s too late. God is a just judge and people are in denial.
I agree with all you say. Every day we make a choice – do we choose to spend time with the Lord or do we brush Him aside? One of my favourite scriptures is the one about Jesus being the vine and we are the branches. I pray that all our lives will remain rooted in Jesus -everything else is sinking sand. God bless you Ray.
Hi Audrey! Hope you are well. Interesting you mention the vine as I was thinking about doing an episode on that. We shall see. God bless you too Audrey. 🙂