Preparing for the End

The the king shall do according to his own will...He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all. Daniel 11:36-37

There's a guy I hear talked about a lot. I even hear people trying to pin his title on various people now and then. Who am I talking about?

I'm talking about the anti-Christ. To help us understand who and what the anti-Christ really is, let's dig into our verses today. You'll see several things that explain the agenda of the anti-Christ to us.

Number one, he's got some Jewish blood that is flowing through his veins, but according to our verses, he will turn his back on the faith of his fathers. That is a pervasive, growing position around the world. You've probably run into many people that have said, Well, culturally I'm Jewish; I just don't practice. This guy will take on that exact same position. He will not regard the God of his fathers.

Secondly, he will not regard the desire of women. Stop right there. What's that telling you about him? What's that telling you about his agenda? It's telling you and me that either he is himself homosexual or he is very accepting of the homosexual agenda.

You know, it's gotten to the point where I clearly understand that when I speak out against homosexuality, I am speaking out against the entire culture. I'm speaking out against what has become so politically accepted and correct; and that's this guy's agenda.

Thirdly, he will regard no god, exalting himself above all. This is certainly pervasive amongst our society, people saying, What does it matter what church you go to or what name you call your god-Jesus, Allah, Buddha, Krishna-it's all the same thing.

Is that not the heart of our entire society? This is the agenda of the anti-Christ.

I don't know if you're with me or not, church, but you've got to be asking yourself, Is his agenda my agenda? Am I now somehow saying, Bob, who cares if they're two guys; they love each other,' or, I was raised in a Christian home, but I really don't believe in it anymore,' or, It doesn't really matter who you worship; it's all the same.' We need to ask this question of ourselves, because we've got to see whose team we are playing on and position we are promoting.

Whose agenda are you pushing, the real Christ or the anti-Christ?

Prayer Lord Jesus,

You are God above all else! You are the only way, truth, and life! Whether my family has known you or not, I know You now, and I will live for You my whole life, no matter what other agenda confronts me!

Amen

Never Saw It Coming

Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, I have no pleasure in them.' Ecclesiastes 12:1

Oh, I'll do that later. Have you ever said that? I know I have. The sobering thing, though, is that you and I might have less time to do things later than we think.

None of us know when our end is coming. I remember one particular Sunday morning when one of the high schoolers in our community died rolling his car. Our pastors went out to comfort his family, none of them expecting the end to come so soon.

Have you ever had an experience like that? Maybe it wasn't to that extreme of a degree, but all of us have been taken by surprise at some point in our lives. And the last thing we want when we get to the end of our lives is to say, Man, I never saw that coming. I wasn't ready.

You see, it's one thing to be caught by surprise. It's another thing completely to be caught by surprise and not be ready for it. A lot of people were surprised by the economic downturn, but some people had planned ahead well enough, diversifying their investments, having saved up little by little over the years, acting wisely enough ahead of time that they weren't hurt too badly by it. Others who were caught unawares by it have suffered greatly.

The unavoidable truth is that life doesn't last forever. Even the things we enjoy in lifehearing, eyesight, desire for our spouses, teeth, the strength of our bodies-these things fade as we age. And the question that all of us need to answer is, what are we doing with what we have now.

What are you doing with what you have now? Are you holding onto it, hoping for a better day? Are you using what you have for the Lord so that when what you have in this life disappears, you still have a reward waiting for you in Heaven? Or are you wasting what you have now on worldly pursuits, on what sounds good to you today? Are you spending all your resources for your own pleasure while you can, leaving yourself eternally bankrupt?

We need to live today with eternity and the rest of our lives in view. Nothing we have will last forever, but what we can gain by using what we have now for the Lord will last forever.

None of us know what's coming tomorrow, so choose to serve the Lord today.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You for reminding me that, while I can try to make plans, I really never know what tomorrow will bring. I give my life and all that I have to You today. Guide me in this life and help me to use what I have for Your glory!

Amen

Knowing God's Plan

His delight is in the fear of the LORD, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. Isaiah 11:3-4

Does the idea of God as judge scare you?

It should, to a degree. But-and this is a big but-knowing how God judges us helps us know that we can trust Him. Here's what you need to know:

God will not judge us emotionally; He will judge us faithfully. God isn't fickle or moody. He is a God of love who judges us faithfully-righteously faithful to the truth.

God also judges us righteously faithful to the cross, according to whether or not your life has been sprinkled by the blood of Jesus. It doesn't matter whether we like this or not, because this is the standard by which we will be judged. The fact is that we have all sinned, which means that we will be condemned to Hell unless we hide ourselves under the blood of Jesus.

If Jesus hasn't paid for it all in your life, then you still owe a debt you'll never be able to pay. And because God doesn't judge emotionally, He will never say, Well, Jimmy doesn't have the blood covering him, but I really like him, so I'll just say that he's okay. No. God judges righteously faithful to the cross.

God will also judge us based on the Spirit of God. Is the Spirit of God residing in you? Is He active in your life? Are you following Him how He leads you? Are you letting Him bring out His character inside of you? Because Jesus died on the cross and then gave you His very own Spirit, and He doesn't want you to live like His Spirit is some fourth-class gift, given a place of dishonor in your life where you ignore Him all the time.

God will judge us based on these things, and He's told us about it ahead of time so that we are not caught unaware. It won't be a surprise on that day when we stand before Him; there will be no Gotcha! moment.

So now you know what you will face when you stand before God. Are you ready?

Prayer Lord God,

Thank You that You are a righteous and faithful judge! Thank You for telling me what You desire to see in me now and on that day! Please help me to be faithful in all of these things so that I may hear You say, Well done!

Amen

Upgrade

And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil...Then He said to her, Your sins are forgiven...Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.' Luke 7:37-38,48,50

I hope that you can relate to the woman in these verses. Her story starts out pretty bleak. All we know about her is that she was a sinner, and everyone in town knew it.

But that's not the most important thing about this woman. The most important thing is that her heart was broken over her sin. How do we know? We know because as soon as she knew where to find Jesus, she invited herself to the party and gave everything she had to Him. Quite likely, she had given everything she had to many men, but this was different. This was deeper. This was not an offering of her body as she had given to others; this was an offering of her heart, her soul, and her very life.

When she knew where to find Jesus, she took the only thing of value she had and poured it out on Him. She wept tears of loving repentance to wash His feet and then dried them with her hair. She humbled herself, dirtying her own hair so that His feet could be clean, knowing that as soon as he walked into the dusty street they would be dirty again. She kissed His feet with kisses of pure innocence and love.

She sought nothing from Him, but in offering everything, she received more than she gave. She received forgiveness. She received wholeness. She received a brand new start, a new life, and an opportunity for a new reputation.

This is why I hope you can relate to this woman. Have you recognized your need for Jesus and offered yourself to Him?

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I love You! I need You and I offer You everything I have! I lay myself at Your feet. Please forgive me and help me to live a life that is different because it belongs to You.

Amen

The Crowd at the Crossroads

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you are disqualified. 2 Corinthians 13:5

It's one of the saddest things I hear from time to time-that many people will fall short of Heaven by twelve inches, the distance between your head and your heart.

See, many people learn about Jesus intellectually, but fail to gain that emotional connec-

tion with Jesus that we all need. Other people stir themselves into a frenzy emotionally, but don't even remember who they're singing about.

I have three words for us today that can help you ensure that you don't fall short of Heaven, but don't jump to conclusions here, because they are not the three words you think they might be.

You might think the three words are, God loves me. No doubt that these are three wonderful words, but knowing that God loves you will not get you to Heaven. After all, He loves everyone, but not everyone's going to Heaven.

Or they might be, Yes, I believe, but those don't cut it either. Demons believe in God, too, but we certainly won't find them in Heaven.

How about, Christ close by? Nope, not this one either. If Christ is just close by, then it's close, but no cigar.

Maybe Christ on cross will work. Well, it actually doesn't, because it's like, Well, that's nice that you know Christ died on the cross and wear that little piece of gold around your neck, but I see no evidence of your faith in your life.

Let's try, Christ forgives sin. Yep, you're right; He does forgive sin. And? What about it?

Oh, I know, the three words must be, He is risen, right? Wrong. Many, many people have seen the empty tomb in Jerusalem, but they still aren't heading to Heaven.

Jesus is Lord, that must be it! Again, it's good, but it's just another doctrinal, theological point that we could discuss and debate without any change taking place in our lives.

So what are those three words? I'll tell you. The three words are, Christ in you. That's it. You can take all the rest of these words and they're all nice things to know, great things to believe and to have learned, but until Christ is in you then none of it matters.

Is Christ in you? I hope that He is today, because there's nothing sadder to Him than someone who misses Heaven by twelve inches.

Prayer Jesus Christ,

Thank You so much for all I have learned about You, and thank You even more for teaching me today that none of those are enough. Please come in me today and change my life now and for eternity!

Amen

Fender Mender

There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself. Proverbs 11:24-25

Would you consider yourself to be a generous person? My guess is that you probably do, but I want to provide a definition of what generosity really is because being generous is the key to you having all you need.

We think about generosity as something that's a luxury for those who have more than enough. Giving is something that's good for all of us to do, perhaps, but it's easy for people whose bank accounts are overflowing already. But for the rest of us who have to watch our finances more carefully, perhaps generosity is a luxury we cannot afford.

That's kind of an ugly way to say it, but I wonder if that is really the way most of us think about being generous. If it is the way you think, then you need to renew your mind to line up with what the Word of God says.

Read the verses for today. This is wisdom coming from Solomon, the wisest man to ever walk the face of the earth who also happened to be one of the richest kings in history. He figured out a thing or two where money is concerned, so we can learn from him.

He says that you have to sow seed to reap a harvest, and the more seed you sow, the bigger the harvest you reap. Scatter your seed, he says, and, be generous in many areas. But then comes the promise: The person who does this increases all the more. This means he receives more than he gave!

This is a spiritual principle. When we take care of other people instead of selfishly watching out for our own interests, then we end up better off than we ever would have been by ourselves. This does not mean that we bankrupt ourselves in the name of faith or generosity. No, we still need to be responsible. However, let us not confuse responsibility with stinginess. After all, our futures depend on our being generous now.

Prayer Father God,

Thank You that You are the provider of all that I need! Teach me to trust You with my finances and give me wisdom to know how to be generous.

Amen

The Ultimate Purpose and Power of the Cross

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18

What do you think about the cross? Have you ever really thought about it?

Have you looked at your golden necklace and realized that you are wearing an instrument of torture and death around your neck? Have you seen the cross on the church steeples around town and remembered that it used to be a rated R-level scene of horror, gore, violence, and death-only it wasn't a movie; it was a very real, public display of capital punishment?

When you think of it this way, why on earth would we wear cross jewelry or erect crosses on church buildings? It is because the message of the cross is the power of God to us who are being saved.

Where the world sees weakness, we see strength. Where the world sees utter defeat, we see complete victory. And perhaps most of all, where the world sees foolishness, we see wisdom.

We see the wisdom of Christ Jesus, by all appearances wasting His life on wretched sinners, but in reality saving for Himself a new breed of children of God who will one day be His bride. We see His wisdom in emptying Himself, not holding on to what was rightfully His, yet then being given the name above all names so that at His name every knee in all of creation will bow before Him (Philippians 2:5-10).

The reality of the cross can only be one thing for us-either foolishness or power. Either it will be foolish and you will still think you need to force your own way through life, taking what is rightfully yours and insisting on your own way in this dog eat dog world. Or you will see the power of the cross, receive the free gift of life that Jesus provided, and trust Him to make your way for you throughout your time on earth.

Foolishness or power. Self-seeking or God-seeking. Self-establishing or God-trusting. Oh, and don't forget this one-perishing or being saved.

This is the choice set before us today and we can only choose one way. What will the cross mean to you today?

Prayer Lord Jesus,

I recognize that I desperately need saved, and I gladly receive the cross as the power for salvation in my life! Please fill me with this amazing power, with Your wisdom, and help me to follow Your example.

Amen