Unchanging
This is important to understand: God never changes. The God of the Old Testament is the same God as the New Testament:
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
God's desire to live on earth hasn't changed one bit AND by the signs of the times, He is returning very soon. He is only coming back one way: with judgment...seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls.
Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
God judges sin. He always has promised to. The truth is there are literally HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of promises of judgment in the Bible...New and Old Testament...individual cities, nations, tribes, people groups, and behaviors are ALL promised to be judged in a global judgment before Jesus returns.
God didn't replace His plan for judgment with the new covenant...He made a way to ESCAPE the coming judgment...but it IS coming. In fact, it is unfolding all around you. That is why the world feels so intense. It is coming here. Do you know this?
Many have a mistaken idea about who God is and what he is doing. They teach that He was one way in the new testament, and another way in the old. God didn't change. Your grace and power to agree with Him did, if you want to step into that. But you have to step into it.
Saying phrases like "old covenant" to dismiss things like sin and judgment, and "new covenant" to give people comfort that they don't need to worry about judgment...these are marks of people that don't understand salvation.
Many mistakenly believe God somehow changed His mind about judgment in 32 AD when His boy suffered the wrath of all judgment on behalf of anyone HUMBLE enough to come back under His LEADERSHIP. God didn't change His mind about judgment...He initiated a rescue operation for anyone who wanted to escape...it was a very costly rescue operation that many, in the name of liberty, have come to ignore the basic tenants of.
Humility to repent of sin and reaching more and more to live under Jesus' perfect and unwavering leadership are two qualifications to escape the guaranteed coming worst judgment earth has ever seen.
Look around, friends. Don't you see it already unfolding? The trap of judgment is sprung, guys. There is no escape except the escape paid for by Jesus. There is one way only, and it is narrow and difficult:
Matthew 7:13-29 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Notice that the statement Jesus made here is an end time statement, describing the coming storm of JUDGMENT. Jesus taught on judgment more than any OT prophet. It was His MAIN message. John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus. Judgment...specifically, narrowly escaping it... was John the Baptist's main message, too:
Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Jesus, in laying out His Sermon on the Mount judgment teaching in Matthew 7, that I quoted above, said this: the way is difficult, few find it, and when it comes down to it, there will be many FALSE teachers teaching in my name, doing healing miracles in my name, casting out demons in my name, "loving on the sheep" in my name...and none of them know me. They won't help you escape the judgment.
Listen, you don't have to look very hard to find these promised false shepherds, friends. They are in many places right now. I see their poisonous teaching locally and nationally. Do you see them? Are you looking? If you look in conversation with Jesus and a Bible open on your lap, you will easily spot them.
You know them by their fruit.
Does the teacher you are listening to reflect a wholehearted lovesickness for Jesus that is overflowing into a love for His Bride and calling others to be the Bride...with a vision to live more and more pure and spotless. Do they have a vision for the fact that life right now is entirely about preparing the earth for Jesus to return and that this is accomplished by living a CRUCIFIED life of self-denial and putting on hunger for holiness?
OR
Is the teacher you are listening to giving vision of how he or she is "making their best life now" and calling you to the good life now, just like them...BEFORE their overshepherd comes? Friends of the Bridegroom don't flirt with the Bride or scheme and plan how they can go on the honeymoon without Jesus. Does your teacher give comfort to stay impure and spotted? Are they equipping others to live on fire so that they can invite their circles to the wedding, or are they "building their ministry" in the name of Jesus...saying the calculated things to appeal to the greatest numbers of people?
Judgment is coming. There is only one escape. False teachers have filled many areas of the leadership vacuum in the western church. Don't be fooled. Their "freedom" is actually slavery to a false religion that has no power. Going to their meetings, though it might placate your Sunday morning obligation guilt, it won't save you.
Run with lovesick on-fire people, and you will grow in lovesickness and fire for Jesus and run right into the gathering storm of judgment in confidence and the power of God to gather in a harvest unlike any other.
Run with compromising or lukewarm people and you will find yourself running from judgment.
This has always been the promise from the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament, who spent His own Son that you could choose to live under His perfect leadership again...but you have to choose to live under His leadership.
Isaiah 28:22 Now therefore, do not be mockers, Lest your bonds be made strong; For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts, A destruction determined even upon the whole earth.
Revelation 6:8-9 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.
Matthew 24:9-14 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
The stakes are high and the time is short.
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
God's desire to live on earth hasn't changed one bit AND by the signs of the times, He is returning very soon. He is only coming back one way: with judgment...seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls.
Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
God judges sin. He always has promised to. The truth is there are literally HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of promises of judgment in the Bible...New and Old Testament...individual cities, nations, tribes, people groups, and behaviors are ALL promised to be judged in a global judgment before Jesus returns.
God didn't replace His plan for judgment with the new covenant...He made a way to ESCAPE the coming judgment...but it IS coming. In fact, it is unfolding all around you. That is why the world feels so intense. It is coming here. Do you know this?
Many have a mistaken idea about who God is and what he is doing. They teach that He was one way in the new testament, and another way in the old. God didn't change. Your grace and power to agree with Him did, if you want to step into that. But you have to step into it.
Saying phrases like "old covenant" to dismiss things like sin and judgment, and "new covenant" to give people comfort that they don't need to worry about judgment...these are marks of people that don't understand salvation.
Many mistakenly believe God somehow changed His mind about judgment in 32 AD when His boy suffered the wrath of all judgment on behalf of anyone HUMBLE enough to come back under His LEADERSHIP. God didn't change His mind about judgment...He initiated a rescue operation for anyone who wanted to escape...it was a very costly rescue operation that many, in the name of liberty, have come to ignore the basic tenants of.
Humility to repent of sin and reaching more and more to live under Jesus' perfect and unwavering leadership are two qualifications to escape the guaranteed coming worst judgment earth has ever seen.
Look around, friends. Don't you see it already unfolding? The trap of judgment is sprung, guys. There is no escape except the escape paid for by Jesus. There is one way only, and it is narrow and difficult:
Matthew 7:13-29 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Notice that the statement Jesus made here is an end time statement, describing the coming storm of JUDGMENT. Jesus taught on judgment more than any OT prophet. It was His MAIN message. John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus. Judgment...specifically, narrowly escaping it... was John the Baptist's main message, too:
Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Jesus, in laying out His Sermon on the Mount judgment teaching in Matthew 7, that I quoted above, said this: the way is difficult, few find it, and when it comes down to it, there will be many FALSE teachers teaching in my name, doing healing miracles in my name, casting out demons in my name, "loving on the sheep" in my name...and none of them know me. They won't help you escape the judgment.
Listen, you don't have to look very hard to find these promised false shepherds, friends. They are in many places right now. I see their poisonous teaching locally and nationally. Do you see them? Are you looking? If you look in conversation with Jesus and a Bible open on your lap, you will easily spot them.
You know them by their fruit.
Does the teacher you are listening to reflect a wholehearted lovesickness for Jesus that is overflowing into a love for His Bride and calling others to be the Bride...with a vision to live more and more pure and spotless. Do they have a vision for the fact that life right now is entirely about preparing the earth for Jesus to return and that this is accomplished by living a CRUCIFIED life of self-denial and putting on hunger for holiness?
OR
Is the teacher you are listening to giving vision of how he or she is "making their best life now" and calling you to the good life now, just like them...BEFORE their overshepherd comes? Friends of the Bridegroom don't flirt with the Bride or scheme and plan how they can go on the honeymoon without Jesus. Does your teacher give comfort to stay impure and spotted? Are they equipping others to live on fire so that they can invite their circles to the wedding, or are they "building their ministry" in the name of Jesus...saying the calculated things to appeal to the greatest numbers of people?
Judgment is coming. There is only one escape. False teachers have filled many areas of the leadership vacuum in the western church. Don't be fooled. Their "freedom" is actually slavery to a false religion that has no power. Going to their meetings, though it might placate your Sunday morning obligation guilt, it won't save you.
Run with lovesick on-fire people, and you will grow in lovesickness and fire for Jesus and run right into the gathering storm of judgment in confidence and the power of God to gather in a harvest unlike any other.
Run with compromising or lukewarm people and you will find yourself running from judgment.
This has always been the promise from the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament, who spent His own Son that you could choose to live under His perfect leadership again...but you have to choose to live under His leadership.
Isaiah 28:22 Now therefore, do not be mockers, Lest your bonds be made strong; For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts, A destruction determined even upon the whole earth.
Revelation 6:8-9 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.
Matthew 24:9-14 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
The stakes are high and the time is short.
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