Spiritual Encouragement

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04000640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000066" FACE="Arial" ><B>Church of God, In Truth</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>    |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church of God, In Truth"><B>home</B></A></div> <div> back to<B>  </B><A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Edification Articles"><B>Edification Articles</B></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=200 BGCOLOR="#0000BF" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="am_i_going_to_heaven.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Am I going to Heaven?">Am I going to Heaven?</A></div> <div> <A HREF="why_does_the_earth_have_a_mo.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Why does the Earth have a Moon?">Why does the Earth have a Moon?</A></div> <div> <A 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Judgment">Righteous Judgment</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id337.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The physical and spiritual blessings of ">The physical and spiritual blessings of submission</A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=380 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> SPIRITUAL</div> <div> ENCOURAGEMENT</div> <bR> <div> <I>"Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures"( James 1:18).</I></div> <bR> <div> God, through the Apostle Paul, tells us in 1 Corinthians, "As it is written: 'eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him'" (1 Cor. 2:9). Yet, many times the Christian race appears very difficult and certainly, many, sadly; have given up this great race for salvation and eternal life. God has an awesome plan to reproduce Himself and add millions, if not billions of sons and daughters into His immortal Family.</div> <div> Yes, we all grow discouraged once in a while. Each of us feels, now and then, that we just can't make it. You know, the way is too hard. There are too many problems and temptations. We especially feel this way when we undergo trials or when life hands us a few set backs. Many scriptures in the Bible deal with trial and tribulation, and they all seem to rush into our minds at times like that.</div> <div> Let's look at a few of them: This one sounds particularly daunting, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies" (Eph. 6:12). Wow, how can we contend with that? Or, we may recall what Christ said in the Sermon on the Mount: "Go in through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in through it. Because narrow is the gate and constricted is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it"</div> <div> (Matt. 7:13). That doesn't sound like our odds are very good! Or perhaps we are familiar with Paul's words over in Romans (For clarity, most of the quotes in this article will be from one of the modern</div> <div> translations) "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out" (Rom. 7:18). I'm sure we can all emphasize with that statement!</div> <div> But probably the most quoted of all verses when we are down on ourselves is vs. 23-24 of this same chapter: "I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?"</div> <div> Well, the answer to that and to the other scriptures we looked at is given in the very next verse: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (we are delivered or saved)," (Rom. 7:25); yet we all still feel a little discouraged - at least once in awhile.</div> <div> The truth is, we ARE in a life and-death struggle against Satan. We suffer persecution from time to time and we are weak and sometimes tempted. But should we feel dejected? Discouraged? Want to give up and quit? By no means!</div> <div> The question for us today is this: Do you consider yourself a spiritual pessimist or a spiritual optimist?</div> <div> As an example, let's read a verse in the book of Acts and note how we might emphasize the words in it: "When they [Paul and Barnabas] had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:21).</div> <div> How did YOU read that verse? What words did you emphasize? Did you read, "We must THROUGH MANY TRIBULATIONS enter the kingdom of God"? If that's how you emphasized it, you could be a spiritual pessimist. Or did you read, "WE MUST through many tribulations ENTER the kingdom of God"? This is spiritual optimism, knowing there will be trial and trouble, BUT having the confidence that with God's help you CAN make it! The pessimist usually sees only the worry and woe and tribulations. He doesn't see the silver lining in the cloud or the rainbow after the storm. The optimist knows he cannot avoid the storm, but sees success at the end of the trial. He sees the light at the end of the tunnel.</div> <div> Now this article isn't about how easy it is to make it into God's Kingdom. Because as I've brought up before, we can't sit back in the old rocking chair with our arms folded and relax, thinking we have it made or that we have nothing to do. That is not true. There is no "once saved, always saved." According to God's Word there WILL be struggle. There WILL be trials along the way. There even may be persecution and difficulty. But you CAN make it - the scriptures are plain on that! Peter states plainly, "[God] is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9). Yes, we have a most wonderful and merciful God!</div> <div> Because the death of Christ was so great - so encompassing - because He was God in the flesh - His death paid the penalty of sin for ALL men. It became possible at that point, through repentance and forgiveness of sin, for humans to grow and overcome and to be born into the Family of God. However, Jesus the Messiah did NOT die so we could continue in our sins!</div> <div> There is a common concept in many religious circles is that God's plan was ruined at creation - that Satan came in and messed up everything! Many believe Adam and Eve were created in a special, high state, and that when the serpent tempted them to take of the forbidden tree, they "fell." And, those who hold this belief go on to say that God has been trying ever since to get mankind back to a condition as good as the one Adam was originally in. That is not what happened.</div> <div> Let's read an important passage in 1 Peter, "That's why the Scriptures say, 'I am the holy God, and you must be holy too.' You say that God is your Father, but God doesn't have favorites! He judges all people by what they do. So you must honor God while you live as strangers here on earth. You were rescued from the useless way of life that you learned from your ancestors. But you know that you were not rescued by such things as silver or gold that don't last forever. You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ, that spotless and innocent lamb. Christ was chosen even before the world was created, but because of you, He did not come until these last days. And when He did come, it was to lead you to have faith in God, who raised Him from death and honored Him in a glorious way. That's why you have put your faith and hope in God" (1 Pet. 1:16-21).</div> <div> No, Adam and Eve SINNED - they didn't fall! They were created as physical, flesh-and-blood humans. When they took of the wrong tree, they disobeyed God and sinned, but they didn't fall. And ever since Adam and Eve, all people have sinned: "For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins" (Rom. 3:22-25).</div> <div> And also in Romans, "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:22-23).</div> <div> You see, we have ALL - just as Adam and Eve, been given free moral agency. WE decide what we will do - whether we will obey God or not. Adam and Eve were tempted by the devil to disobey. We have all done the same thing - that is, we have all been tempted and have slipped from time to time. But upon repentance, we have forgiveness through Christ Jesus.</div> <div> From the beginning God and Christ knew that Jesus would have to come and pay the penalty for man's sin. That's what we just read in I Peter 1. The apostle Paul who had a lot to say about this subject, states, "When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman" (Gal. 4:4). It was necessary for one member of the God Family to empty Himself of divinity and become a man and pay the penalty for sin. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant, and coming to be in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him, and has graciously given Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee may bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue may confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is working in you, both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philip. 2:5-13). Or, as another translation has the last verse, "God is working in you to make you WILLING AND ABLE to obey him."</div> <div> God gives us a great deal of spiritual encouragement. As we have already seen, the Bible tells of the persecution and trials we might face. But it also tells of the rewards for over coming and remaining faithful.</div> <div> God expresses as His will for all mankind: "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim.2:3-4). Quite honestly, I believe that, contrary to what some others believe, not every single human who has ever lived will be saved. Jesus Himself said that some of the people living in His day would, after their resurrection to life again, not be in His Kingdom,: "And He [Jesus] was traveling through various cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then one said to Him, 'Lord, are there few who are saved?' And He said to them, 'strive to enter through the narrow gate, because many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open for us,' and answering He will say to you, 'I do not know you, where you are from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.' But He will say, I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.'There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being cast out" (Luke 13:22-28).</div> <div> And God reveals in Mal. 4:1, that "the day is coming, burning like an oven [in other words, the great lake of fire], and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up." So no, not everyone will make it. It seems there will ultimately be some who just will not obey God. They are what we refer to as the incorrigible. In His mercy, God will make them as though they never were. Contrary to what most of Christianity believes, the lake of fire is not eternal flame where evil souls are sent. It IS however, the final conflagration, which will consume all physical matter and those incorrigibly wicked who have not been changed to spirit. But I truly feel that will not be many. As we saw earlier, God is not willing that ANY perish.</div> <div> So what about us? If you are truly converted, have God's Holy Spirit and have set your desire on God and His way of life, Christ says to you, "Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me'" (Heb. 13:5-6)? Yes, as Christians we sometimes stumble. We are occasionally weak. But Christ has not and will not leave us alone.</div> <div> The apostle Paul constantly had to encourage the congregations he served in Asia Minor. We are no different; we need encouragement, too: "And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you WILL bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus" (Philip. 1:6). God will not give up on us. He will not cast us off. Not unless WE totally give up and quit become incorrigibly wicked! The prophet Isaiah states, "Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear" (Isa. 59:1). God is never out of reach. He is always concerned about those He has called to be firstfruits and never has to say, "I'd really like to help, but I just don't know what to do, or I'm just not powerful enough." No, He is there to hear our needs and to intervene on our behalf.</div> <div> Paul wrote on how to prepare for the future - how to continue toward eternal life: You can't just let the future happen. You have to build Christian character. And you have to build on the right foundation. He is speaking of the rich, but the intent of what he is saying is for us all: We could say, "WE are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for ourselves as a good foundation for the future, so that we may take hold of that which is truly life" (1 Tim. 6:18-19). There are two things to consider in this regard. First, over in Matt. 7, Christ said there are two foundations upon which we can build. There is a foundation of sand and a foundation of solid rock. If you don't build on the right foundation, any building you erect will be worthless. Second, the apostle Paul tells of two different types of building materials in 1 Cor. 3:12: You can build out of wood, hay or straw. Or you can build out of gold, silver and precious jewels. If you build out of the former, even on a good foundation, your building cannot withstand the storms. But if you build on a firm, solid foundation out of durable, quality materials, you can make it through whatever comes.</div> <div> The apostle Paul added: "Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you" (1 Tim. 4:16). So there is something for us to DO. We have to continue in God's way. We</div> <div> can't, as I mentioned earlier, just sit in the ol' rocking chair. We find God's way of life, then live it. And as it states in Rev. 2:26, we have to continue to live that way and overcome to the end. God is working out His wonderful plan here below. HE is going to succeed -are we?</div> <div> We are called to be the firstfruits of salvation. As we saw on the Last Great Day, right now God has not set His hand to call all the world. For the past nearly 6,000 years mankind has been permitted to write the lesson of human history apart from God's laws: From Adam and Eve to our day, most human beings have decided to go the wrong way. However, this has not been their day of salvation; ...it IS ours! God's plan is right on schedule. James tells us that God has only called "firstfruits" at this time, "Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures" (James 1:18).</div> <div> But, brethren, the next major phase of that plan is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ as King of kings. When that occurs, all the dead IN Christ will rise from their graves. Those in Christ who are alive will be changed to immortal spirit beings. Together, they shall rise to meet Christ in the air: "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words" (1 Thess. 4:13-18).</div> <div> Speaking of that same time, the prophet Zechariah tells us: "On that day His feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward" (Zech. 14:4). "Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him" (vs. 5, last part). "And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and His name one" (vs. 9).</div> <div> We often only notice the terrible things described in the book of Revelation, but there is an inspiring passage in the book of Revelation showing how desirous God is of your making it into His Kingdom.</div> <div> In Revelation 5, the prophecies of the book of Revelation are likened to a scroll that only Christ is worthy to open. Those prophecies are about the time yet ahead of us when Christ will return to set up God's government on the earth. They are about the time when the saints will be raised from the dead to meet Christ and to rule with Him for 1,000 years. I feel there is a slight mistranslation in the King James version of the Bible in verses 9 and 10 of Revelation 5. These verses are truly inspiring verses and have a great deal to do with OUR future. I would like to quote them here as they should be translated: The elders at the throne of God, while giving honor and praise to Christ, who sits at the right hand of God, sing a majestic hymn. Notice: "And they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for You were slain, and have redeemed <I>them</I> [the saints] to God by Your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And have made <I>them</I> [the saints] unto our God kings and priests: and they shall reign on the earth" (Rev. 5:9-10). I don't know if you have ever looked at it this way before, but YOU just might be the subject of a song that is sung at the throne of God!</div> <div> In his first letter, Peter wrote about the plan of God being worked out here on earth, as "...things which angels desire to look into." The angels must find it fascinating - how God took mud of the earth and, in His own image, fashioned human life. For nearly 6,000 years the angels have observed it all. Man has been permitted to go his own way and follow Satan's deception. They saw God's Son give up His immortal life, as a sacrifice for mankind. They saw the beginning of the Church of the Firstfruits, and continue to observe us to this day! And they will witness when Christ comes to set up God's government, and the devil taken and bound for 1,000 years. They will see that eventually, everyone will have a chance to know the true God and live God's way.</div> <div> But brethren, the great part is that you and I can learn and live God's way now! YOU can be among the "them" the 24 elders sing about! Revelation 5:11 describes a heavenly choir of more than 100 million angels singing praise and honor to God and Christ and His plan. God is extending to YOU brethren, NOW, the opportunity to be part of that fantastic plan!</div> <div> Yes, there may well be struggles and trials along the way. But you can make it! God and Christ are on our side. They are there to help - to pick us up - to give us encouragement and hope.</div> <div> The Heavenly Elders sing about OUR future glorification! Millions of angels will cheer the plan of God and our part in it. Yes, brethren, you can make it!</div> <div> Pete Fleming</div> <bR> <div> CALL TO ACTION!</div> <div> "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen." Matt 28:18-20</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>