refuse

November 14, 2019

“They Wander In Their Hearts”

10  This ignited my anger with that generation    and I said about them, ‘They wander in their hearts just like they do with their feet, and they refuse to learn my ways.’ – Hebrews 3:10 TPT

Hebrews 3:7-12 TPT

We should always be obedient and have a teachable spirit. If we become stubborn and rebellious, God will not be able to use us in His plan and He will remove us from the position He has allowed us to hold, just as He removed Saul from being king of Israel.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.”–1 Samuel 15:23 (KJ21)

God sees an unteachable spirit as stubborn and rebellious and compares it to sin and idolatry. We must allow God to replace our stubborn, straying hearts of stone with hearts of teachable flesh and He will write His name upon those hearts of flesh. Then He will be our God and we will be His people. Then we will learn His ways and walk with Him into that land of rest.

Ezekiel 36:25-27 NLT

“The Gospel has come to you because it’s on its way to someone else.” -Anonymous

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August 30, 2014

Don’t Be So Sure About That!

God is waiting to show you the Way.

God is waiting to show you the Way.

13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” 16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. 17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.–James 4:13-17 (NLT)
Although, none of us are promised tomorrow, it is still a good idea to have a plan. God has set that example for us. He had a plan for all His children collectively, before He laid the foundations of the earth.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.–Matt. 25:34 (NLT)
​He also has plan​s for each of His children individually.
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.–Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)
​So, it​ is not wrong to have plans. They are only a problem and a boast when we plan without asking God about it. Or if we think that we can accomplish anything good without God. We are only here on this earth for a very small portion of time and then we are gone. So, we need to spend our lives “redeeming the time”, in other words, making good use of it to further the work of the Kingdom of God. This was His plan when He created the world and us.
10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.–Eph. 2:10 (NLT)
So, we see that God planned us, formed us, and then created us anew to do His good works for His glory. If we plan anything less, it does not honor our Creator and if we plan anything greater, it is presumptuous and sinful. When we know to do good and refuse to do it, it is a sin against God and our fellowman.
Post 08-30-14

August 1, 2014

Faith–The Evidence of Things Not Seen

God is waiting to show you the way.

God is waiting to show you the way.

23 Faith led Moses’ parents to hide him for three months after he was born. They did this because they saw that Moses was a beautiful baby and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s order.​ 24 When Moses grew up, faith led him to refuse to be known as a son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to suffer with God’s people rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a little while. 26 He thought that being insulted for Christ would be better than having the treasures of Egypt. He was looking ahead to his reward.​ 27 Faith led Moses to leave Egypt without being afraid of the king’s anger. Moses didn’t give up but continued as if he could actually see the invisible God.–Hebrews 11:23-27 (GW)
​Pharaoh​ had ordered the midwives to kill all the male children at birth, but Moses’ parents had faith that God would take care of their son so they hid him for three months. Then, by faith, they put in a basket in the Nile so that he might be discovered by the Egyptians. Pharaoh’s daughter probably never realized that she had been chosen by God to play a huge part in the deliverance of God’s children from Egypt. Moses was taken care of very well by the Egyptians. Later, by faith, he refused to carry on the masquerade, but rather chose to suffer with his Hebrew brethren. By faith, he realized that being offended for God was better than anything the world had to offer him. By faith, Moses stood against Pharaoh and without fear, he led the Israelites out of Egypt taking tons of their wealth with them. By faith, He followed the instructions of an invisible God and went out looking for a city not made by hands, his heavenly reward. By faith, Moses understood that
No one can please God without faith.​ Whoever goes to God must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who seek him.–Hebrews 11:6 (GW)
​We must remain faithful even when we can’t see the end result with our human eyes. We must press on knowing that we shall receive our rewards.
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July 13, 2014

We Must Remain Faithful and Encourage Each Other

God is waiting to show you the way.

God is waiting to show you the way.

12 Be careful, brothers and sisters, that none of you ever develop a wicked, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 Encourage each other every day while you have the opportunity. If you do this, none of you will be deceived by sin and become stubborn. 14 After all, we will remain Christ’s partners only if we continue to hold on to our original confidence until the end.15 Scripture says,
“If you hear God speak today, don’t be stubborn.
Don’t be stubborn like those who rebelled.”
16 Who heard God and rebelled? All those whom Moses led out of Egypt rebelled. 17 With whom was God angry for 40 years? He was angry with those who sinned and died in the desert. 18 Who did God swear would never enter his place of rest? He was talking about those who didn’t obey him. 19 So we see that they couldn’t enter his place of rest because they didn’t believe.-Hebrews 3:12-19 (GW)
​God​ is a God of love. But we must never forget that He is also a jealous God.
14 Don’t worship any other god, because I, the Lord, the Jealous One, am a jealous God.–Exodus 34:14 (NCV)
​When​ we rebel and refuse to accept God and His plan of salvation, He becomes angry and His wrath can be as dreadful as His love is wonderful. We don’t hear about the wrath of God from churches much anymore. But we must always understand that God is a jealous and a wrathful** God to those who refuse to believe in Him and His Son, Jesus. Once we are saved, we do not have to fear the wrath of an angry God. That, however, does not give us free rein to do whatever we please.
So do you think we should continue sinning so that God will give us even more grace? 2 No! We died to our old sinful lives, so how can we continue living with sin?–Romans 6:1 (NCV)
We won’t lose our salvation or be turned away from heaven, but God does discipline His children.
8 If you are never disciplined (and every child must be disciplined), you are not true children.–Hebrews 12:8 (NCV)
​So​ we should strive to live a Holy lifestyle on a daily basis and encourage others to do the same. Then, our lives will be filled with joy and we can live in anticipation of the day that Jesus takes us home to be with Him forever!!
** You might want to read Johnathan Edward’s famous sermon: “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God”.
Post 07-13-14