Romans 1
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
In the Greek, the word for (servant) “Doulos,” is actually translated “slave.” “Bond slave.” Without any ownership rights of their own. However, the slavery is a voluntary state. It is used of believers who willingly live under Christs authority as His devoted followers.
Now I’m not going so far as to say that people that choose not to live as His 100 percent devoted followers are not saved, maybe they are, maybe not. I am saying that as someone that claims to love Jesus, we should want to live like that. We should strive in every way to bring honor to Him in all things that we do.
1. Which He had promised before by His prophets in the holy scriptures,
2. Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh,
3. And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead.
Jesus Christ, the son of God was promised many, many times in the OT going all the way back to Genesis 3:15
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
Many prophets also prophesied about the coming of Jesus without even realizing it. Isaiah, Micha, etc.
If you read the gospel of Mathew chapter 1, the birthrole of Jesus Christ, you will see that He came from the family line of David, going all the way back to Abraham. Which fulfills the promise that God made to David that his seed would never leave the throne.
When Jesus returns in the last days, He will sit upon the throne of David and rule.
“Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts willdo this.” Isaiah 9:7
Here is where our true faith kicks in. it’s where the rubber meets the road.
“ And Jesus went out, and his disciples, into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and by the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Whom do men say that I am? And they answered, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others, One of the prophets. And he saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? “ Mark 8:27-29
This is a question that Jesus asks each of us and He is asking you today…” Who do you say that I am?”
“Who do you say Jesus is?”
This is the most important question you will ever answer. It is a life altering question. Who do you say Jesus is? Was He simply a good man? A great teacher? Or is He the son of God? God in human flesh?
You see, if Jesus was just a good man or a great teacher, then He was a lunatic, a mad man, and all of His followers were mad also. But, if He is who He claims to be, the Son of God, then we better be doing what He says…right?
Do we do what He says? Nope…We absolutely do not.
Not by a long shot.
There are so many things the Bible says that we totally ignore because we don’t like what it says. We don’t want to obey certain things.
What we believe about Jesus is proven by how we live our lives. How we behave. How we treat others. How we honor God.
Do we honor God in everything we do? Nope.
We watch TV shows and movies that mock Him and promote filth and sin. We listen to music that pretty much does the same thing. We get caught up in holidays that completely dishonor Him, Halloween for instance. It’s evil and pagan and God hates it yet we dress up our kids in costumes and take them out to get candy. We know that witches and satanists consider Halloween a high holy day and that as Christians we should have nothing to do with such things, yet we just don't seem to care. It doesn’t bother us one little bit.
Christmas dishonors God. It sure does. Every single tradition that we have at Christmas is pagan from the tree and decorations, right down to the greed, and materialism that the holiday promotes.
I can’t for the life of me figure out how spending hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars and maxing out credit cards on toys and other gifts for family and friends is honoring to Jesus. It’s not.
And even worse, we lie to and deceive children with all of this Santa clause stuff. we know full well that lying is a sin, we know that liars will have no part in the kingdom of God, yet we just don't seem to care. We aren’t the least bit worried about it.
Why? Because we love this world and the shiny things of this world more than we love God. And that’s a fact. We have no fear of God, and we have no respect for him.
Do you realize that many of the things we love to do today, God hates. Do we care? Nope. If we did, we would not be doing half the thing we do. We would be bending over backwards to honor Him and bring Him glory.
Once more, "Who do you say Jesus is?"
Think about it...
You want to know what really scares me? What keeps me up at night? It’s not all the lost people out there, all the crazy people, violence, all the evil…
No…its all the deceived people sitting in church pews every Sunday. It’s all the professing Christians that don’t take Gods word seriously, and we don’t.
I’m scared that when persecution comes, and its already started in this country. Folks, Its already here. I’m scared that so many of us are not ready for what’s coming. Because we don’t have Gods word, Gods truth, firmly settled in our hearts and minds.
I want you to read something that Paul Washer said way back in 2008. He is referring to Christians that just cannot seem to wrap their mind around how serious God is about His children living holy lives. Christians that are so wrapped up in the things of this world and the busyness of our lives that we have no time for God.
The church in America is going to suffer so terribly and we laugh now but they will come after us they will come after our children, they will close the net around us while we are playing soccer mom and soccer dad, while we are we arguing over so many little things and mesmerized by so many shiny trinkets…
The net even now is closing around you and your children, and your grandchildren and it does not cause you to fear.
you will be isolated from society as has already happened. anyone who tries to run for office who actually believes the Bible will be considered a lunatic until finally we are silenced.
we will be called things that we’re not and persecuted not for being followers of Christ but for being radical fundamentalists who do not know the true way of Christ which of course is love and tolerance.
you'll go down as the greatest bigots and haters of mankind in history. they've already come after your children and for most of you they got them. they got them through the public schools and indoctrination in the university and indoctrination and then you wonder why your children come out not serving the Lord it's because you fed them right into the devil's mouth.
so, little by little the net is closing around and then it's not little by little look how fast things are going downhill just in a matter of a couple of years.
but at the same time know this. persecution is always meant for evil but God always means it for good and is it not better to suffer in this life to have an extra weight of glory in heaven.
you must settle this in your mind this is the one thing I want to say over and over do not believe the lies.
down through history you have a wrong idea of martyrdom and persecution. you think that these men were persecuted and martyred for their sincere faith in Jesus Christ, and that was the real reason, but no one heard that in public they were martyred, and they were persecuted as enemies of the state as child molesters as bigots as narrow-minded stupid people who had fallen for a ruse and can contribute nothing to society.
Know this… your suffering will not be noble so your mind must be filled with the Word of God when all people persecute you and turn on you and the Spirit of God and common grace pulls back, and you see even your children and your grandchildren tossing in the lot that you should die.
this is no game people. you want revival and an Awakening but know this for the most part Great Awakenings have come only preceding great national catastrophes or the persecution of the church.
I believe God is bringing a Great Awakening but I believe that he is raising up young men who are strong in trust in the Providence of God to be able to wade through the hell that's going to break loose on us and it will be on us before we even recognize it.. unless…in God's providence he is not done he is not done.
this is not silly talk… apart from a Great Awakening these things are going to come upon you, so be ready to lose your homes your cars, your jobs, and everything…
Be ready to lose everything. That’s what it will cost you to be true followers of Christ…everything…
We’re not ready
We’re not prepared…
Our kids are not prepared…
We think we are…
Peter…the rock…spent three years with Jesus… the first to confess that Jesus was the Son of God…He thought he was ready…but when persecution came…he folded…he denied Jesus…He cursed his Lord…
He wasn’t ready…
The other disciples…they spent the same three years with Jesus…they claimed they were ready to die with Him…but when He was arrested, they all fled like cowards…
They weren’t ready
Are you ready?
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