"The Mystery Of Godliness" (With Charles Spurgeon Sermon) - Inspirational Weekend

In my previous post last weekend, we discussed "The Mystery of God", which pointed to Jesus Christ as the mystery of God, and how also His rule in God's soon to be kingdom was part of that mystery.  Today, we will talk about "The Mystery of Godliness".  

Remember, a mystery in the New Testament sense is not something which cannot be understood.  It is rather some plan or purpose of God which has always been known to Him, but which he kept  the meaning hidden until He knew the time was right to reveal it.  Mysteries were revealed by Christ and eventually by the Holy Spirit.

I am sharing here a 52 minute sermon by the "prince of preachers", Charles Spurgeon, which is titled "The Great Mystery of Godliness".  This sermon is well worth the time to listen to, as are all of Spurgeon's discourses.

Spurgeon explains that the great mystery of godliness is the manifestation of God in human flesh, that He might save men from sin.  Jesus took the sins of man upon Himself so that He paid the price for sin in our place.  Therefore, if we believe in Him as the Savior, and have faith, we may have forgiveness of sins and gain eternal life.

"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:  God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."  -    1 Timothy 3:16

There are many Scriptures that admonish true believers to have godliness themselves; to lead a godly life.   Godliness is reverential piety toward God.  The two words express inward and outward holiness.

"For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty."  -  1 Timothy 2:2

"For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come."  -   1 Timothy 4:8

"But godliness with contentment is great gain."  -  1 Timothy 6:6

"According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue."  -  2 Peter 1:6

So called carnal Christians need to wake up and take these Scriptures to heart. You cannot be a part of the world and have godliness at the same time.  I really feel like there is no such thing as a carnal Christian, with the exception, perhaps, of new believers that do not yet have a clear understanding of how the world can corrupt and ensnare you to keep you from being an effective and "on fire" follower of Jesus Christ.

"The key to godliness is not more knowledge but more obedience."  -  Woodrow Kroll

"How can you give up the world?  Just do what you ought to do and it will give you up."  -  Jack Hyles

"Grace and peace are possible since God has given us (all Christians) everything we need to live godly lives."  -  Dr. Thomas Constable

"Prayer - secret. fervent, believing prayer -  lies at the root of all personal godliness."  -  William Carey

"Godliness, as well as the doctrine of our faith, is a mystery."  -    William Gurnall

When a person gives evidence of a sincere appreciation and love towards the heavenly Father, that is one of the most evident signs of genuine godliness.

What helps a person to be godly and to live a holy life is for him to have a close, intimate, personal, love relationship with God through Jesus Christ His Son.   How does that happen?  By much prayer and much Bible study.  As I have said previously, you cannot get to know a person unless you communicate with him.  That is true of God as well.  Take everything to Him in prayer and pray often.  Take time to "listen" to Him speak to you in your heart and through His Holy Word.  When we read in the Bible about the character of the good Lord, we come to know Him better.  We appreciate His many attributes, and grow to love Him more and more the better we come to know Him.  

Perhaps there are those reading this that are not saved; that do not believe in Jesus as their Savior.  I would like to remind you that these are the last days of this age....we are even in the last "hour" of the end times.  You need to repent and turn to the Lord in faith and believe that Jesus is the promised Savior.  Do it now while there is still time before the 7 year Tribulation period and before that being left behind because of unbelief when the Rapture of the Church occurs soon.   

Romans 10:9,10,13 explains,  (9) "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  (13)  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

"(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation)."  -    2 Corinthians 6:2

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,  but have everlasting life."   -   John 3:16

Have a blessed weekend and a Christ centered life !

  

"How To Be Blessed" - Inspirational Weekend

I felt blessed to capture this Mandarin Duck with my camera earlier this month at the Honolulu Zoo as I had always wanted to see one and take photographs of it.  

But this is not the sort of blessing I want to concentrate on in this post today.  Instead I want to talk about spiritual blessings.  One place to find out how to be blessed is to go to the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12.  Jesus in these verses, begins His Sermon on the Mount.  In the Beatitudes He begins each one by saying, "Blessed are....."  and ends each one by showing a reward.  The Greek word for "blessed" means "happy or blissful."  It literally means "to be enlarged."  In the Beatitudes, blessed does not mean a superficial and shallow happiness but, rather, a state of spiritual well-being; a deep joy of the soul.

Let's just concentrate on only two of the Beatitudes right now.   The first one is found at Matthew 5:3 and says, 

"Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Although Jesus preached most frequently to the poor,  the above verse is not referring so much to monetary poverty as it is to spiritual poverty.  To realize you are a sinner and in need of a Savior; to realize we have no righteousness of our own.  Also to be willing to be in God's hands.  It is the opposite of pride and vanity and ambition.    And notice that the poor in spirit have as a reward the kingdom of heaven, which refers to salvation.  The kingdom of heaven is, of course, referring primarily to eternity in heaven with the Lord.  To sum it up, before we can enter heaven we need to recognize our inability to save ourselves by good works (Ephesians 2:8-9) and to recognize our own worthlessness and that only faith in Jesus can save us.

Let us now look at Matthew 5:8 which says, 

"Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God."

The Pharisees of Jesus' day were not pure in heart. Oh, they had an outward purity, but deep inside their hearts were full of corruption and wickedness and hypocrisy.  A big part of the Jewish religion was the strict  outward washings and cleansings , and this they believed would enable them to one day see God and to enjoy eternal glory.  But the Lord is here saying that what is needed is a purification of the heart from all things wicked in order to enter into the kingdom of God.  A person must be delivered from all sin by the blood of the Lamb Jesus Christ in order to have Scriptural hope of ever being with God.   

And the reward for having a pure heart is that you will see God.  Granted, in a sense we (particularly unbelievers) will all see God as a Judge and not as a Friend.  (Revelation 1:7).  But in Matthew 5:8 to see God is spoken of as a special favor.   To see the face of someone, or to be in the presence of anyone, especially a king or a prince, was regarded by the Jews as a high favor and honor.  To the Hebrew, those that saw the face of a king were his favorites and his friends.   Therefore, in this verse, to see God means to be His friends and favorites, and to be with Him forever in His kingdom.

Since many Christians and others do not often read the Bible book of Revelation,  they may not be familiar with this verse below:

"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand."   -  Revelation 1:3

This is the only time in the Bible where it says you will be blessed by reading one of its books, meaning Revelation.   But not only just reading Revelation, but by keeping those things written therein.  

"We should keep in mind those things which relate to the future and obey those things which are required as truth and duty.  The blessing results from the fact that  the truth is properly regarded and exerts a strong and desirable influence over our lives."

The book of Revelation consists of prophecies of future events.  It tells us about the antichrist, the New World Order, the one world religion to come during the tribulation period, the one world government, and the one world economy.   All of which are in the beginning stages at the present time.  How close then is the 7 year tribulation !   And, therefore, closer still the Rapture of the Church which occurs prior to the tribulation.   The book of Revelation speaks of the new heavens and the new earth and of the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ on earth.   It covers all the plagues and woes to happen to the wicked who are left behind after the Rapture to face God's wrath and judgments. 

So the book of Revelation can bless you by making you aware of these judgments to come and to enable you to turn to Jesus in faith as your Savior.  It gives you hope to realize that soon this wicked and chaotic world mess will be gone forever, and that Jesus will reign in a paradise on earth and true believers have something to look forward to for all eternity. 

Notice that the end of Revelation 1:3 says that the time is at hand.  If that was true in the apostle John's day, how much nearer are these soon to occur events in our day and age !   We are living in the end times; the last days. 

Time is short.

Turn to Jesus as your Savior before it is too late !

Jesus loves you. 

He is waiting for you to come to Him in complete trust and faith.

Read the book of Revelation and you will comprehend just how terrible the 7 year tribulation will be with all of its woes and catastrophes and plagues.  You do not want to experience the great wrath of the Lord at that time. 

Yes, the reading of Revelation can save your soul and enlighten you to the point of accepting Jesus Christ as the Savior and surrendering your will and your life to Him. 

So to be blessed, you need to be saved and then live as godly a life as possible.  Read the Bible everyday and pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17) in order to get to know the Lord better, and to have a close, intimate, and personal love relationship with Him. 

It is all about Jesus !!

Be blessed !!


Have a Christ centered weekend !


"(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I seccoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)"   -  2 Corinthians 6:2

"Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book."   -  Revelation 22:7

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."  -  Revelation 21:4

The Rapture - It Won't Be Long Now In Light Of Current Events (With Video)

In light of current events, even those who are not Christians realize that "something has to give."  Many are fearful and without hope and in dread of what will happen next.   Many fear a World War Three which some say has already begun, just not in full force as of now.   Christians have a blessed hope, however, in all of this turmoil and wickedness and chaotic happenings across the globe:

"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ."   -  Titus 2:13

It will not be long now, believers, before we are caught up to be in heaven with the Lord when the Rapture of the Church occurs.  Maranatha !!

I have written much about the Rapture and will not repeat myself in this post.   In the search box above and to the right on this page, type in "rapture" and several posts will appear and you can scroll down and chose the ones you wish to view.  Some have videos by prominent pastors and authors on the subject of the Rapture of the Church.

I would like to share a recent video by Amir Tsarfati, a Jewish believer in the Messiah who lives in Israel and has a thriving ministry.   In it he discusses current Middle East and world events and he discusses the Rapture as well.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTVmX7y30sE   

These current events should be watched always as they are fulfilling Bible prophecy and verify that we are in the last days now.  Someone has said that the present time is just as prophetic as the time when Jesus was on earth 2000 years ago.

"And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."  -  Luke 21:28

The above verse applies to believers in Jesus Christ, who is The Savior.   If you are not saved by the blood of Jesus, by faith in Him, then I am afraid you do not have that heavenly hope.

You need to repent and call on the name of Jesus, confess your sins and ask for forgiveness,  turn away and cease from your sins, as repentance means a change of mind and heart: to not keep living in sin.   

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."  -  Acts 4:12

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:  no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."    -  John 14:6

To God, Jesus is not one way among many,  but The Way...... the only way. 

Do not harden your heart against the Lord.   Realize that time is short on this earth, and eternity is a long time to spend in the wrong place...... which is hell if you do not repent and turn to the Lord and believe in Him as The Savior.   

Believers have a hope, a blessed hope, of being with the Lord forever in eternity.   You can have that hope as well when you surrender your life to Jesus, in faith and complete belief in Him.

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.   .....For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."   -  Romans 10:9,10,13

The Seven Seals of Revelation - Why A Gap Between The Rapture And The Tribulation (With Video)

I have written previously about a gap of possibly several years between the Rapture of the Church and the beginning of the seven year Tribulation period.   This post includes a video discussing that very subject.  But before we talk about the video, it will be a good idea to discuss the 7 seals of Revelation 6.   There we find the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.  Most of you are familiar with the four horsemen, but many of you probably have not read the Scriptures pertaining to them.   Please read the entire chapter of Revelation 6 for your own edification.  I will touch on those verses briefly now.

Revelation 6:1-2 (the first seal) speaks of the white horse, "and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given him: and he went forth to conquering, and to conquer."  This is the antichrist , who is alive today and will be revealed after the soon rapture of believers.

Revelation 6:4 (the second seal) speaks of the red horse, which symbolizes war.

Revelation 6:5 (the third seal) tells of a black horse, "and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand."  Revelation 6:6 reveals that he represents famine, and economic hard times.

Revelation 6:8 (the forth seal) reveals a pale horse, "and his name that set upon him was Death, and Hell followed with him."

Revelation 6:9-11 (the fifth seal) speaks of "the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"   Notice that these martyrs do not know how long it will be, so, according to Bill Salus, they must have died and said this before the Tribulation began, because the Tribulation begins when Israel signs a peace covenant with the antichrist, and the Bible tells us how long after that before Jesus returns to destroy the wicked on earth and sets up His Millennial Kingdom.  This is expounded upon in the following video.   

Revelation 6:12-17 (the sixth seal) speaks of cosmic disturbances to come upon the earth.  Instead of repenting, the remaining wicked upon earth choose to try to hide.   

The seventh seal begins the seven trumpets.  

In the illustration above, the 5th seal is shown as "Martyrdom and the Great Tribulation."  In the following video from prophecywatchers.com, Bill Salus explains why he believes these seals of Revelation 6 happen after the Rapture but before the Tribulation.

Please watch this video and decide for yourself if you agree with Bill Salus' conclusions.  He "challenges traditional thinking" says Gary Stearman of Mr. Salus.

Whether Bill Salus or anyone else is right or not,  we need to believe the Bible and we need to make sure we are right with the good Lord.  Without holiness, no one will see the Lord.   It does not mean that we will be perfect, but that we should have faith in God and believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, Lord, and Master.   We should immediately repent of our sins, and not repeat them and live a life pleasing to the Lord.  We should surrender to Him totally. His will, not ours, be done.   

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."  -  Romans 12:1

"But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."  -  Romans 6:22-23

"Because it is written, be ye holy; for I am holy."  -  1 Peter 1:16