Good morning to all on this beautiful Sunday in December. We are having record warm weather in Georgia. It was in the low 70's yesterday. Waine is able to play golf with short sleeved shirts. I trust everyone had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends. Freddie and his family and Aleron were in Thomaston with us and Freddie made the entire dinner. It was delicious of course. I heard this radio article during Thanksgiving week about celebrating "Friendsgiving Day". There are folk out there who would rather be with friends than family. I thought that was odd. How do you create lasting memories with folk that are not your family? Warts and all my family is my tribe and I am grateful for them.
I am continuing my journey in second Thessalonians 2 verses 1-17, "Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the One who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendor of His coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as first fruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word." Amen and may God Add a blessing to the reading and hearing of His Word.
Paul was encouraging these young Christians NOT to be deceived that the raptured had taken place. Satan's counter attack on the young church was to spread rumors that Christ had already come to claim His church and therefore the "eternal" life of "Grace" through "Mercy" had already taken place. Not so! Satan is the great deceiver--the great "confuser" that takes portions of the truth to distort the Truth. For instance, God created the family from 1 man and 1 woman. We now live in an age where people would have you believe that the family can be composed of 1 man and 1 man, 1 woman and 1 woman, who then should have legal rights. Laws are being written to uphold an alternative family structure which in essence means that society is negating the Family as created by God to uphold a family created by man. This is the work of Satan and Satan alone whose entire existence is predicated on destroying the order created by God. Don't believe the hype!
As Christians it is our job to spread the Truth. I don't know why a man desires other men or women desires other women. I don't involve myself with that debate. All I know is what God teaches in His Word. Sodom was destroyed because of their sinfulness and debauchery --one of the hallmarks of which was the lust of men after other men. When nature is turned on itself then you know that sin abounds. I believe firmly that when the order of life as God intended is upended then sin is in play. I see many Christians trying to compromise their view of homosexuality, Hollywood is trying to make us believe that it is ok if love is in play. That's when we need to go back to the basics--the Word of God. The truth is that we are all sinners saved by Grace AND we all need to repent and let the Love of God change us from the sin nature we are born with to the spiritual nature that comes through the sacrifice of Jesus for us. Don't believe the hype! God hates sin--He loves us as sinners and as sinners we are to repent and CHANGE.
As we move into this Advent Season, let's remember the REASON for the Season and proclaim the Gospel of Christ to all men and women. It is our job to present and the Holy Spirit's job to convict. We are to love all with the Love of God. Do something to defeat Satan today. Let the Love of God cover you and cover others.
Now may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.
Stephanie
No comments:
Post a Comment