The Lamb Of God

“Our hope is in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone” –R Nelson

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

ENCOURAGING WORD:

We certainly are living in a time where people are asking a lot of questions. Probably the number one question is, “what lies ahead for America?” I know what ultimately lies ahead for America and so do all those that have been studying what will take place in the end days, but, as for the next five to ten years, only God knows. I hear a lot of conversation on both sides of what people believe lies ahead and they all hold validity (the quality of being well-grounded, sound, or correct). I, myself have two very strong viewpoints for what I believe is in the very near future. Both of my views come straight from the scriptures of the Bible. First of all, let me say this, there are those that say there is no hope for America and then there are those that believe America will see a revival. Those that say there is no hope, obviously do not know the God of the Bible. As long as Jesus Christ is on the throne, and He still is and always will be, there is always hope. I stand with those that believe we are going to receive a huge blessing from God in the form of a miracle. There are many people that say, it would take a miracle of God to heal our nation, and I agree. For those that haven’t noticed throughout Americas two hundred plus years of existence, we have had miracle after miracle and that is why we are still the most powerful nation on earth. Most people do not have any idea why God has put His hedge of protection over our country like He has. There is one main reason and let me say this, it will be rejected by a lot of denominational churches. It is because of our stand and support of the nation that God put His stamp on, Israel. When we pull our support from Israel, I believe we will see judgement come swift and hard to the once great USA. The following verse explains this without argument. Genesis 12:3; where we read, “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” This is a promise that God made to Abraham regarding his offspring, the Jews of Israel. You can look back at history and come to the simple conclusion that God says what He means and means what He says. Every nation that came up against Israel, no longer exists or is a no longer a nation of power. This is why I believe America still has hope. As soon as we pull our support of Israel, and there are few reasons why that could happen is explained in Ezekiel, chapter 38, America will be judged. This chapter prophesizes about a day when the nations of Islam will come up against Israel led by the forces of Russia. Actually, all these nations are in place and ready to attack. What is stopping them? America. Therefore, I believe that as long as America stays a supporting ally of Israel, we will continue to be blessed with Gods hedge of protection. Right now, we have an administration that has done more for Israel than any other administration in the relatively short history of America. I am not going to expand on this because I do not want politics to enter this message. I just wanted to give you something to think about!

I will share another scenario as to why I believe there may be a revival. There are two verses in the scriptures that jump right out at me regarding this issue and once again, they are highly disputed among the denominational churches as well as other religions. I tell you this because I want you to be aware of where your church stands on these issues. As always, believe what you will, I am just sharing my thoughts of what I believe are in store for our nation. The first one is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14, where we read, “ If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” I have never in all my days seen such an uprising of Christians coming to the Lord, turning from there wicked ways, and calling on the name of the Lord. They are gathering in huge groups all over America. I believe God is hearing our prayers and will stay faithful to His Word. The second reason comes from 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3; “Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” My reason for bringing this up is because right now, we are not living in peace and safety and people think that the catching up of the saints’ to meet the Lord in the air is going to happen because of all the turmoil that surrounds us. What does Jesus say about this? When we least expect it, that is when He will return for His church. If we have a revival and things are going well, that is when I believe the verse above will happen. Could I be wrong, of course I could, I am just giving you food for thought and encouragement for you to do your own research.

So, with all this being said, If you are truly a Born-again believer, you have nothing to fear with what is coming to the world. If you know the truth of the scriptures and Gods promises to His church, you should not be running in fear like most people in the world are. Here is a verse that should bring you comfort if you are scared and unsure. God has given us this promise in 2 Peter 2:9; “then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the “Day of Judgment,” See, regardless of what Gods plans are for the world, if you are true to Gods Word, you will not face the tribulation this is about to come to the whole world. When we read the following verse, most people do not really know what they are reading. John 8:31-32; “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  Most people do not know how to apply this to their lives. This verse does not mean that you will be free from trials in your life and everything will be peaches and cream, it just means you will be free from the sting of death that will come to all those who reject the truth of God’s Word and do not receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. God has given us so many verses in the Bible that are meant to bring His children comfort. But therein lies the problem. Almost everybody owned a Bible at one time or another in their life, but very few ever picked it up and read it with sincere intensity. God gave us a blueprint as to how we are to live our lives and when you really understand His plans for each and every one of us, we should all be comforted beyond words. So, when I said above, ““Our hope is in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone,” that is exactly what I meant. If you put your faith in any manmade object or any other so-called god, your faith is empty and will produce nothing of any value. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is the only God that came to earth to make reconciliation back to Him through the personage of Jesus Christ. The only way to be saved is by the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. See, we are all infested with an incurable disease, it is called “SIN” positive. If we die with that disease still in our blood, we forfeit all the promise that came from God to enter His kingdom. We cannot pay for our own sins, therefore it had to be paid by someone who Himself was without sin. There was only one that can make that claim, which was our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, you see, it is really quite simple, believe and be saved or reject and be condemned for all eternity. Once you breathe your last breath here on earth, your choice will have been made.

ACTION POINT:

So, my last bit of advice for you is this, stop worrying about what is taking place in the world and do what the following scripture tells us to do, Matthew 6:33; “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Stop thinking about the things that are temporal and focus on the thing that are eternal. You will find comfort in God’s Word and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Go to the Lord in prayer and give all your cares to Him, He will be with you always, here are His words concerning this, Hebrews 13:5; “I Will Never Leave You nor Forsake You.” Do you believe this, if so, then live like it. Either you trust in God’s Word or you don’t. There is no middle ground. “Written To the glory of God, Inspired by the Holy Spirit!” Amen!

From our Chaplin-R. Fritz

Our hope is in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone

Your life on earth as well as after death depends on Jesus Christ and if you had a relationship with him. Too many people believe they are going to see Jesus Christ in Heaven. I am not here to judge anybody, that is not my purpose. The Bible clearly states you must be “Born Again” to enter the kingdom of God. That is what gives the true relationship with Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost teaches you “all” things as you are going through them. It tells me if I should or should not do certain things. I am trying to tell you if you’re not hearing warnings or are still doing the same things and have not changed in a long time, it might be time to ask the Lord what is going on and pray the Lord will show you the truth. Satin is good at trying to imitate the Holy Ghost. I want to assure you that counterfeit spirit from Satin is overcome by that relationship with the true Holy Spirit. I talked about your spiritual gifts last week. All these tools given by God to overcome Satin; you need the Holy Ghost to teach you spiritual things. Battles are won or lost in the spirit. If we are fighting in the flesh, we will lose. Ephesians 6:12 says “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” These words explain what you see happening around us and who is responsible. If you get to a point to trust in the Lord, all the things you see and are to come, the Lord will take care of you. It does not mean everything will be perfect and you will not go through issues, the things we go through grows our faith and gives us a closer relationship with the Lord. Remember Satin is using the people of the world to do the things he wants done. These are not necessarily bad people; he uses them through their mind. The “mind” is the battlefield where we win or lose and where Satin operates. The Holy Spirit operates in us to overcome Satin and his mind games. 2Corinthians 10:4-5 says “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalted itself  against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” The words “bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” stops the spirit of fear and its thoughts immediately. I say that because when the Holy Spirit showed me this, I used it to stop fear immediately and the spirit of fears grip on me. It goes for every spirit and bad thought you have. The Holy Spirit gave me this ability and I am letting you know you have the same ability as me to stop thoughts and spirits. Our words are very powerful and with God’s words, you can take control of your life, emotions, and impulses. Getting control over your emotions is very important. When you give all of you including your emotions to the Holy Spirit, we will be able to have a great life. You now see the ability we all can have on this world if we let the Holy Spirit completely operate in us. We have to trust the Lord with all our heart. I thought I was best suited to control my feelings all my life and I finally let the Holy Spirit control my feelings. I learned to quit fighting the things the Holy Spirit could do better. The Lord is waiting for us to give all of us to let the Holy Spirit work through us. This is the revival we are waiting for. It starts with us, the Born-Again Christians. Luke 10:19-20 says and this is Jesus talking “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.” We were given spiritual power through Jesus Christ and our names are written in heaven. This power is taught by the Holy Spirit. We need to ask and obey what the Holy Spirit shows us.

 The problem with most of us have not worked through and hang onto the issues we still have to overcome yet. I learned in the last year that things I saw as a child or things that happened to me as a child now need to be brought to my remembrance. These happenings have affected my or your life. The Holy Spirit brought back the details and pictures of what I saw or what happened for me to deal with. This gave me the ability to see what happened and deal with it once and for all with the Holy Spirit giving me everything I needed to move on. What I saw or the things that happened to me affected my life from a child to where I am now. Satin cannot use that against me anymore. I do not know why now the time was to deal with it. I can tell you that there are things you saw or things that happened to you that need dealing with. I have heard a lot of Veterans that the Lord brings back things they saw to deal with. I pray the Holy Spirit brings the details back to you, “It will be now time to deal with it.”  You need to be the best warrior for Jesus Christ you can be. I pray for courage that all of us deal with our past!