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PREACHER, DON’T TAKE IT!

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 calling card

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Ken Blue

People who love their pastor want to do good things for him and his family. I am thankful that I pastored that kind of church. Let people do thing for you. They receive greater joy in giving, than you do in receiving.

However, there is a story I read that should be a warning to every pastor. There is something you should not take.

A Christian lady was shopping at a local city mall where she engaged a stranger in conversation. She wanted to direct the conversation toward spiritual matters so she could tell the lady about Christ. The stranger was polite, and listened intently. Finally, she said she must go, and finish her shopping. The Christian gave her a gospel tract, and was also able to secure her name and address. They shook hands, and each went their way.

The zealous Christian recorded the name and address on a visitation card and placed it in her Bible. Next Sunday, she approached the pastor and shared with him the good contact, and conversation she had with the lady. She assured him that this lady was a great prospect, and could be won to Christ. He then took the card.

That week the pastor made the call. He introduced himself, and explained the purpose of his visit. The woman told him she was not interested, and that she had her own faith.

You guessed it. At the next church service, the pastor was ask how the call went. He told her what the lady said. With shock in her face and voice, she said, “I don’t understand what you did that caused her to reject you. She was very interested when I talked to her.”

Many people think those who are polite are interested in what they have to say. The pastor was assigned the call, checked on, and found responsible for failure. So, when someone tries to give you their prospect, think long and hard before you take it. Better yet, let them follow up, and reap the results.

Remember Pastor, whatever task or assignment you take from others, you are now accountable. You will be giving a progress report, and expected to succeed. Think before you take it!

 

A WASTED LIFE

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wasted life

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Ken Blue

You’ll meet many standing idle on life’s charted road.

Others struggle on with pain from the seeds they’ve sowed.

Some don’t seem care, all ambition and will are gone.

Somewhere, along the way, choices they made were wrong.

 

There is a Bank with life’s deposits, made just for you.

You may withdraw as you like; spend as you want to.

Invest wisely, on your way, as the interest will accrue.  

There will be accounting time, when the debts comes due.

 

Amusement’s the choice of some; life’s a complete waste.

It’s a game; thoughts of God have all been erased.

Pleasure hold’s captive, the simple and the fool.

Accounting is ahead, when you ignore life’s rule.

 

So, dear friend, are you trapped in this worlds sinful mold?

Are you spending your life, on thing you cannot hold?

Invest your time and talents for men, and the Lord.

At accounting time He’ll say, great is your reward.

 

Open up the ledger, and see just where you stand.

Stop blaming and excusing, start moving while you can.

The righteous Judge will see through, your feeble alibi.  

You’ll regret a life wasted, when it’s time to die.

 

Life’s a gift, but like the wind, it will swiftly fly

Everything we grasp down here will wither and die.

So, use the Bank wisely; invest to gain the more

A wasted life’s a tragedy; you can’t restore. 

 

LET’S STUDY REVELATION # 42

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REVELON BOOK

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A continuation of chapter 11:19

John sees the temple in heaven (v. 19), with the Ark of the testament inside. The purpose of this vision is to reassure the remnant of God’s faithfulness. They will be able to connect God’s mighty working with the Ark. There are five names given to the ark in the Old Testament.

1.   The Ark of the Covenant. It contained the tables of

the law.

2.   The ark of Testimony. It testified to God’s presence

and holiness.

3.   The ark of God. It was a visible reminder of His

presence.

4.   The ark of God’s Strength. Many mighty works are

connected to it.

5.   The Holy Ark. It was where the mercy seat was located, and their God met in holiness with Israel.

The Ark was a box measuring 5 ft. 2 ½ in. long x 37 ½ in. wide x 37 ½ in. high. (See Exodus 25:10.) It was made of acacia wood and overlaid within and without with gold. Inside the box were three items of memorial. The two tables of stone containing the Ten Commandments constituted the “testimony” or evidence of God’s covenant with Israel.  The other items were manna, the bread from heaven, and Aaron’s almond-rod that budded.

Some writers erroneously believe that the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant was taken up to heaven by visiting cherubim.  Ezekiel 11:23 is cited as a departure of the Ark to heaven. Someone has watched Indiana Jones one time too many times.

The teaching that this ark in heaven is the Ark of the Old Testament is pure conjecture. There is not one verse of Scripture that remotely suggests such an idea. In fact, it would be contrary to Scripture. The ark was made of perishable materials, wood and gold. All items in the earthly tabernacle were only copies. This Ark in heaven, seen by John, existed long before Moses ever gave the blueprints to Bezaleel.  Shall we assume that the Candlestick and the rod of Moses are in heaven also?

John has already mentioned the throne, the sea of glass, the altar of incense; and now he sees the ark. All these, and much more, are in heaven and are called “the true.” None were taken to heaven by UFO’s or aliens. Hebrews 9:23-24 says, “It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.”

Verse 19 takes in chapter 16:1 through 18:24. Chapter 12, 13, and 14 are parenthetical and are necessary to the understanding of the vials.

The voices, the thundering, the lightning, and the earthquake are all mentioned to describe the awful intensity of the seven vials quickly to follow.

 

 A Parenthetical Section

 The Fourth Vision

 This is the fourth vision in heaven and deals with the age-old conflict between the Dragon and the Woman.

 “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.”  (Revelation 12:1-2).

T

his passage is a quick glance back to the beginning of the satanic plan against Israel and her Seed. (See Genesis 3:15.) After a quick overview the writer brings you back to the mid-point of the Tribulation and takes you through the Great Tribulation one more time, with the satanic plan in view. This vision is the Scope of the satanic plan.

The “woman” of this chapter is none other than the nation of Israel and her remnant. Not by any stretch of the imagination is she Mary, the Roman Catholic Church, the protestant church, or Mary Baker Eddy!

She is a “sign” which depicts Israel and her conflict with Satan. The “sign” is clear. (See Genesis 37:9-10.) Joseph had two dreams, which were a prophecy of Christ who was rejected by His brethren, sentenced to death, raised to life, and will be recognized by Israel and reign over them at His Second Advent.

THE EMMAUS WAY

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emmaus road

 

 

 

 

 

By Ken Blue

We were on the road, just the two of us,
To a local village called Emmaus.
We were troubled and confused, as we walked.
A stranger drew near, and joined as we talked.

He inquired as to why, we were so downcast.
Have you heard of events, just three days past?
Jesus of Nazareth was crucified.
With Him, all our hopes for Israel died.

Some women were early at Jesus’s tomb
His body had been stolen; they did assume.
But, an angel told them, when they arrived,
He is risen, and that He was alive.

Then the stranger, rebuked our unbelief,
And showed us Scriptures, dispelling our grief.
Understanding came, as he told the story,
How Christ must die, and then enter glory.

From Moses, the prophets, and from the Psalms,
Truths once hidden; understanding now calms.
Searching the Scriptures, and you too will see,
The volume of the Book, is about Me.

Reaching the village, He would have gone on,
Constraining Him to stay, daylight was gone.
Abide with us, the disciples said to Him.
He went inside, and partook bread with them.

He blessed the bread; and He broke it that night.
Their eyes were opened; He vanished from sight.
We walk by faith, and not by sight today.
All became clear, on the Emmaus way.

GRAFTED INTO WHAT?

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grafting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Ken Blue

“Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:” 1 Corinthians 10:32.

When it comes to right divisions, the reader should notice that God classifies three distinct groups in Scripture. They are Jews, Gentiles, and the Church of God. Although a Jew and a Gentile may be in the Church of God, the context of Romans 8-11 shows that God is speaking about them as three distinct groups, and not as individuals.

Failure to rightly divide these three has caused many in the Church of God to fear being “cut off,” and “cast aside.” All manner of mischief can develop when we ignore the context. The believer in Christ discovers in chapter 8 that nothing can separate him from God’s love. Then, he turns the page, and reads that he must fear lest he be “cut off.”

The key is to follow the context, and see that all three groups are dealt with in these chapters. For instance, in Romans 8 we read, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39. It is clear that chapter 8 is speaking of all believers within the Church of God.

When we come to chapter 9 and 10, we see that the Jew is the subject. There, Paul explains why the Jews have been temporally “cut off,” and that God would save Gentiles without Israel’s conversion. It is important to see that prior to Israel being “cut off,” and their “fall,” they held the favored place in the plan of God as a nation. Paul says, “Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; 5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.” Romans 9:4-5.

However, as a result of Israel’s rejection of their King and the kingdom, they have been temporally “cut off,” and have “fallen” from having the favored status among the nations. “Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?” Romans 11:12. Notice that the fall of Israel, resulted in them being scattered among the Gentile nations, and Paul was also sent to the Gentiles with the gospel of free grace. The result of their fall resulted in the riches available to the Gentiles. The wisdom, financial ingenuity, and understanding of science has benefited every nation wherever they have gone.  

Today, Israel is like all other nations, and each Jew must come to Christ just like the Gentile. Gentiles, have the same standing, and privileges as the Jew. The Gentiles have been placed, or “grafted,” into a new place of privilege, and opportunity, without the conversion of Israel, which they did not have before. Chapter 11 is not talking about, individual believer in Christ, but rather Gentile nations as a whole.

No one is grafted into Israel, nor does the Gentile or the Church take the Jew’s place or promises. The text is clear; Gentile nations now have the same privileges, and standing as the Jews. All are sinners and must come to Christ the same way. The time will come when the Gentile nations will be removed from this status, and the Jews will be “grafted” once again into the favored position with God. They will become the head of the nations.

When God begins to “graft” Israel back, the following will be true for them. “1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. 2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it. 5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.6 In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; 7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.” Micah 4:1-7.

Many Christians erroneously think that Israel has been removed from her covenants and promises, and that the church of God has replaced them. Nothing could be further from the truth. The illustration of “grafting” simply shows that the Gentile nations must not be high-minded against the nation of Israel, and many have. The warning is against Gentile nations, not individual believers.  All are on equal ground. This is the new privilege for the Gentile nations at this time.