LIVING IN THE LAST HOUR

We could all be living our last hour.

Recent Posts

  • Wolves in the Midst

    In this last hour, we as believers and followers of Jesus Christ need to be alert to the tricks of the enemy. The enemy is cleverly deceptive. He will not pass up any opportunity to strike at God’s children. We proclaim “that greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.”; that the Lord has promised much to his children. We need to rest on those promises.  Still, we must not put ourselves in compromising situations, of which there are many, some innocent, but just as deadly. We need to test the spirit of those teachers, preachers and pastors whose teaching, discipleship, or leadership we choose to follow. There are many wolves among the sheep. Can you single them out? Could you tell the difference?

    Many are known as motivational speakers and they have taken over the pulpit, the airwaves and your thought life. That’s not to say that all pastors are motivational speakers, but clearly many rely on lines from their best sellers to encourage their congregation, and, or followers. You may have heard of positive thinking, something that sounds scripturally sound, but truly is not the same as trusting in God and thinking of, “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” This thinking comes about from a renewed mind and only God, because He gave His one and only Son to pay for our sin, through the power of the Holy Spirit can renew your mind.

    I am of the opinion that motivational and encouraging words minus the Word of God equals to empty rhetoric.  The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. It cuts deep into the soul when it is appropriately applied,  We should be striving to be content in all things, more so in this last hour. Phil. 4:11  Whether we love it or not…because by His grace we stand.

    We are living in a very confused and chaotic world. If you are not reading, or hearing the Word of God, you may just be listening to a different gospel.

  • Part 4: Developing the Mind of Christ

    Developing the mind of Christ begins by taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2Cor.10:5).” Learning to think on the things of God will follow as we rejoice in the Lord always. Philippians 4 tell us, “I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Finally, verse 8 directs us to dwell on whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

    Taking every thought captive is not an easy task. We have all entertained thoughts, if only briefly, about something contrary to our personal belief of right and wrong. Most morally conscious individuals will override those thoughts with rational thought. The Word of God instructs to take every thought captive. As Christians, we are not free from temptations, even though we know it is wrong and against God, we proclaim “I stumbled” into sin. We use the excuse, “before I knew it…”, but recognizably we know that the thought of sin was planted and watered and nursed in our mind. We coddled that sin, we rationalized the guilt, and the sin became reality. Remember the battle is in the mind and for your mind, so following through is impossible without the Spirit of God in control.

    We must all choose to follow and live according to God’s commandments. Is it easy? No! Was it meant to be easy? No! Jesus said, “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved (Mat. 10: 22).” They hated him first.  Timothy said, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted..(2 Timothy 3:12).”   The Word tells that sin and the lusts of this world are constantly inundating our thought processes. Further, proclaiming your faith, living by faith and living for Christ seems to attract the big guns. You have to understand that there is no rest from spiritual attacks if you are not cognizant of the fact that these attacks are purposeful and with one goal, destroying the faith and witness of the children of God. Positive thinking will not work here. You need the power of God that comes from trusting in Him. We must stand on the foundation of Christ. Not many Christians understand, at least not completely how the enemy operates. And more choose to deny, or ignore the influence of various forms of perverted media. Choosing to believe, choosing to follow, choosing to deny self, and living for God are choices, just like choosing to get up in the morning to go to work. “Choose you today, who you will follow.”

  • Part 3: Characteristics of the Carnal Mind

    The Bible describes the characteristics of the carnal mind that fit nicely into three categories, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Contained therein, we find all forms of vile attributes common to humanity, greed, deceit, malice, discontent, hatred, bitterness, resentfulness, all forms of wickedness, rebellion, haters of God, lovers of every false thing, prejudice, discrimination, selfishness, pettiness and the list goes on.

    Man has placed sin on a scale that fits nicely into everyone’s schema, but to God, sin is sin, rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft and hate for a brother like murder (1 Samuel 15:23). For example, few people are concerned if another is materialistic, because we all are to some degree. We all lust. Some people will agree that a white lie is acceptable if it is meant for good. Every man must have a sense of pride for others to acknowledge him. These Christians seemingly born again, live according to their old nature rather than the new nature that God gives us when we choose to believe. I think many Christians would confess to straddling the fence between the new man and the old nature.

    Do you know anyone that fits this bill?