Be Ready!
Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Matthew 24:44
Recommended Reading
Luke 12:35-40
Lawmakers and military experts work day and night to keep America's armed forces at a high state of readiness. How about you? Are you living in the State of Readiness? Sixteen times in the Bible we find the little phrase, Be ready. It first occurs in Exodus 19, when the children of Israel were told to "be ready" for the Lord to descend onto Mount Sinai.
In the New Testament, we're told to be ready always to give an answer to those asking us for a reason for our hope (1 Peter 3:15). We're also to "be ready for every good work" (Titus 3:1); to be ready to give generously (2 Corinthians 9:3, 5), and to be ready to preach the Word in and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2).
If the Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared," the Christian's motto is "Be Ready." We can never take a break from our Christianity nor relax our spiritual vigilance. Be ready to share, to give, to preach, to work. Most of all, be ready for Christ's return.
It might be today!
Ready to go, ready to stay, ready my place to fill,
Ready for service, lowly or great, ready to do His will.
Charles D. Tillman (1903)
Read-Thru-the-Bible
Psalms 26:1 - 31:23
Turning Point online
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4 comments:
Can you help me out with interpreting these scriptures and what they truly mean, so that I can see how you translate them- or interpret them to be?
Thanks!
Deb,
These verses clearly tell us that we are not to purposely sin against God once
freed from the punishment of sin through Jesus Christ.
Rom 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we
establish the law.
Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under
grace? God forbid.
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? [Is] the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not
known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said,
Thou shalt not covet.
Rom 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin,
that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? [Is there] unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
1Cr 6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make [them] the members of an harlot? God forbid.
Gal 2:17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, [is] therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
Gal 3:21 [Is] the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
Gal 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.
Jesus told us that he came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (something that none of us could ever do); not abolish the Law.
Jesus also said:
Mat 9:13 But go ye and learn what [that] meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Repentance means confessing sin and turning away from the willful actions and intent to sin again.
Yes. We all fall short of the glory of God and are all sinners, myself included. But there is a difference between denying that a sexual act is a sin against God and happily continuing in that sin; and "backsliding" into a sin
that you have repented of and were "weak in the flesh" so you did it again.
The eternal destination of each soul is based on confessing, repenting and asking forgiveness of sin in order to ask Jesus Christ into one's heart as Lord
and Savior of one's life. There are people who ask him to be their Savior, but haven't made the commitment for Him to be Lord over their lives. The indwelling
of the Holy Spirit does not guide one astray from what is written in God's Word.
That's another kind of "spirit" talking.
The Holy Spirit guides us according to God's holiness and righteousness.
Even when born again, we still have the free will choice to follow Him guiding our hearts or follow after our flesh. The expression "God forbid" is meant as a proclamation that we ask for God's help (through the power of the indwelled Holy Spirit) "may it never be so with me" to ever commit that (fill in blank) sin
again. The verses above reiterate this fact.
To willfully continue to sin that way is to take our bodies and to "make them members of an harlot." When born again, we are not our own. We belong to
Christ...totally. Our bodies are now a temple for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within our hearts. Whenever we slip up and backslide back into a "favorite" sin, we are to feel remorse for committing those sins that Jesus died for...for our sakes.
You asked my take on this. There it is.
Mark added this great quote at his blog:
We have no right to pronounce a sentence of eternal doom against anyone (John 5:22). But by the same token, we have no business receiving just anyone into the communion and fellowship of the church. We should no more forge spiritual bonds with people whose religion is fundamentally in error than we would seek fellowship with those guilty of heinous sin. To do so is tantamount to the arrogance shown by the Corinthians, who refused to dismiss from their fellowship a man living in the grossest kind of sin (1 Corinthians 5:1-3).
We must also remember that serious error can be extremely subtle. False teachers don't wear a sign proclaiming who they are. They disguise themselves as apostles of Christ (2 Corinthians 11:13). "And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness" (vv. 14-15).
In view of the current hunger for ecumenical compromise, nothing is more desperately needed in the church right now than a new movement to reemphasize the fundamental articles of the faith.
Adapted from John F. MacArthur, Reckless Faith (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1997), pp. 108-17.
The mantra of "gay" Christian theologians and their followers is an ideology that lives to constantly accuse Bible based Christians of being "hateful," "bigoted," and "intolerant."
My answer?
Bible
Is
God's
Only
Truth
Don't let others add to, or delete what is already written in God's Word. The book of Revelation tells us this:
Rev 22:18 ¶ For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book.
Rev 22:20 ¶ He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Rev 22:21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ [be] with you all. Amen.
Jesus did not come to abolish the law, or the prophets (which includes everything they wrote, including the verses calling homosexuality an abomination to God) but to fulfill it.
Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
In addition, we should heed these verses as well:
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
In the following verse, Jesus tells us that believers who teach men to break the "least" of these commandments, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, one who is born again will not lose their salvation if they break the commandments and teach others to do so, but those who are not saved will enter into destruction.
Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For those who are saved, it will be a matter of rewards in heaven when facing Jesus Christ at his Judgment Seat.
However, the unsaved go to the White Throne Judgment where their sins will remain upon their own souls and thus be separated from God forever.
Moral of the story:
Be very careful that what you are teaching is Biblically sound, truthful and adheres to God's Word.
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