The Earth Is Going To Be Dissolved

"Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will endure; yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak you will change them, and they will be changed." Psalm 102:25-26 Everything in this world is going to be dissolved. Everything – the great works of art – the great cathedrals – everything. We are told this several times in God's Word: We're told in the Old Testament: "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind." Isaiah 65:17 And in the New Testament: "Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away." Revelation 21:1 Nothing of this world is going to remain, the world and its treasures are all going to be dissolved. The first time, the earth was flooded by water in the days of Noah. The next time it will be by fire. It's easy to imagine now, because nuclear bombs in the possession of evil men could alone bring this about today. Whether this is the way it's going to come to an end, or whether the Lord himself is going to bring it to an end, the bottom line is that nothing from this world is going to last. "...the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same Word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3:7 There are great works of art worth hundreds of thousands of dollars; great sculptures, great books by great men, great monuments and cathedrals, the great wonders of the world - it's all going to be dissolved. Therefore, if it's all going to be dissolved, of what worth is it? God places no value on great works of art. He's not impressed with their value being reckoned in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. It's all going to come to an end. vs 11-12: "Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and Godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?" All will vanish -- except God: "But you are the same, and your years will have no end." Psalm 102:27 Therefore, let us not be fools in putting value on things that have no real value. Let us instead seek the Lord, because he is forever and those who belong to him are forever. When the earth is dissolved, the things of the earth will be no more, in fact the Scripture above says the former things won't even be remembered. But the end of the earth as we know it is not the end of existence. God is going to create a new earth "wherein righteousness dwells." To this we aspire, to live forever in a world of peace and joy. How important is it then, to seek things that will have value in the world to come? "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein righteousness dwells." 2 Peter 3:13 So, one might ask, what today will have value in the world to come? Only one's relationship, or lack thereof, with Almighty God. And it has to start with being born into the Kingdom of God. Jesus said one MUST be born again in order to enter the Kingdom of God. We are all born in a fallen human nature, at enmity with God. That's why we MUST be born again. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You MUST be born again.’" Luke 3:6-7 It's not a suggestion, it's a must! When one is born again, he enters into a whole new life. Jesus has taken the penalty, the judgment on the man's sins, and now the man belongs to him. He embarks on a life totally different from the life he lived before, and it's a walk of faith as well as a grand adventure. All his growth in the Lord and the fruits from the works God leads him to do, all will accrue treasure in heaven. What could possibly be more important then, than finding out how to enter, and then how to walk with him? What could be more important than one's relationship with Jesus Christ, our Creator? What could be more important than leading others to Christ, that they too might have eternal life? There is NOTHING more important. All else is going to pass away. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21 Where is your treasure? Turn away from what has no value. Find out what will last forever. Just one life, 'twill soon be past. Just what's done for Christ will last.

EARLY Will I Seek You

"O God, you are my God, early will I seek you;" Psalm 63:1 Early will I seek you… How many circumstances in life bring us to prayer -- AFTER we have tried everything else? How often have we heard, "now all we can do is pray." Folks, this is surely putting the cart before the horse. Shall we seek God LAST??? The way one resorts to the Lord will indicate the depth of his faith or the lack thereof. A person who lives by faith, whose heart is totally the Lord's, won't have to be counseled to seek the will of God, that is the very first thing he will do, that will be the natural thing to do, he won't even THINK of confronting a situation until he has brought it to the Lord. If one goes to God finally, after he has tried to settle a situation himself and only when he has run out of solutions, then he might very well question his walk with the Lord. WHY isn't GOD the first he thinks of when life presents a problem? There is a depth of consecration for a true believer that will seat God on the throne of one's heart. If that is not the case with a person, then he is not right with God. This is not to suggest that he would lose his salvation, that is a gift of God totally paid for and free to all who ask. But if that is you - the question is - is that as far as you want to go in your walk with him? Is that as deep as you want your devotion to him to be? Are you content to put him last? Do you think your solutions in life are sufficient without God's input? If so, though you wouldn't want to admit it, you're elevating your own wisdom above his. You're thinking your ways are wiser than his. Think about it. vs 6-8: "When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches. Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice. My soul follows close behind you; your right hand upholds me." That could be written only by a person who has EXPERIENCED God. The psalmist tells the Lord that HE has been his help, THEREFORE… If your relationship with God has been shallow, if it's more religion than relationship, if it's theology or head knowledge rather than abiding with God, then seek him for a deeper walk with him. If you ask him to take you deeper, if your heart truly wants that, then he will. It might cost you, but it's eternally worth it. God has a specific, personal plan for your life. Seek him, ask him to show you his plan, and then get in line with it. Make the trade - take the life you've conducted yourself and surrender it to him, and take HIS plan for yourself and let him be the Lord of your life. If one doesn't understand these things, then he doesn't understand the basics. He has not asked, "who are you, who am I, and why am I here?" Our lives here are extremely short in comparison to the length of time we will spend in eternity. This life should be our investment in our future. It is here that we build a correct foundation, it is here that we learn eternal things, this is our boot camp. Don't -- please -- don't waste it. "When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun - We've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun." -from Amazing Grace

None of the Wicked Will Understand

"When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory." Psalm 102:16 Tucked away in the Old Testament is this prophecy for our day. The Scripture gives us a time-frame for the events of "the last days." Imagine - in a passage written 3,000 years ago, the Lord tells us about the end of this age. We are told the end will come "when the Lord shall build up Zion." Zion is another name for Israel, used repeatedly as such throughout the Bible. Because of their rebellion against God, and after many warnings, God brought judgment upon Israel. In 70 AD, Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews were scattered throughout the world. There is no nation on earth where the Jews weren't scattered to, and there they remained for almost 2,000 years. And during that 2,000 years the land of Israel remained desolate. It didn't rain there. No one who went in and tried to make it livable was able. The land lay desolate. But throughout the Bible the Lord repeats many times that "the last days" will be signaled by the return of the nation of Israel. Furthermore, he says, it will be in that time period when Israel is being built up, that HE, the Lord, will come. God signals that that is the last generation of the age - in the days of the restoration of Israel, which is happening now, in our generation. vs 18: "This will be written FOR THE LAST GENERATION, that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord." "Ha'dor ha'acharon" - literally, "the generation, the last." A hundred years ago there was little interest in the events of the "last days." The time hadn't come. The nation of Israel didn't exist. The Jews were scattered throughout the world. Bible teachers, when they came to passages about the restoration of the Jews to the land of Israel - they taught that this must be symbolic because the idea of gathering Israel back to that land was all but impossible. But in "ha'dor ha'acharon," the last generation, God did the impossible. He fulfilled his Word literally, not symbolically. He started bringing them back to the land they left almost 2,000 years prior, and in May of 1948 the nation of Israel was reborn in her own land, the land of her forefathers, the land they left in 70 A.D. The impossible took place. And today, the nation of Israel has surely been restored, today she is among the most modern and successful nations on earth, even rivaling America. And she is also the most hated. "The wicked" despise Israel. We of this generation have watched as the Lord has built up Zion, and those who understand are watching for the rest of that passage to be fulfilled, namely, "HE shall appear in his glory." Those who study the prophecies of "the last days" know that one of the greatest of those prophets was the prophet Daniel, who wrote the Bible's "Book of Daniel." That's far too extensive a subject to delve into here; suffice it to say that he was given the keys to understanding "the last days" and was told that the prophecy wouldn't be understood until then, but that when the time comes, then the prophecy will be revealed. God said to Daniel: "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed UNTIL THE TIME OF THE END." Daniel 12:9 UNTIL the time of the end ...Yes! It is in THIS, our day, that the Book of Daniel, having been sealed throughout all those generations, has been opened to us. It is a fascinating subject and along with what Jesus filled in later, it has become the very foundation for all "last days" understanding. "Many shall be purified, made white, and refined. But the wicked shall do wickedly, AND NONE OF THE WICKED SHALL UNDERSTAND, but the wise shall understand." Daniel 12:10 Truly this is an exceedingly wicked generation, and how precisely did Daniel foretell that NONE of the wicked shall understand. The kings of the earth, the leaders in high places, the ambassadors, the media moguls, the professors, the experts - none of them understand. It's so plain to see, yet they do not see. They do not CARE to see. They scorn the Word of God, to follow their own agenda - which, as it turns out, is Satan's agenda for "the last days." Friends, the Lord has built up Zion and the time of his appearing is near. Much has been said about this generation, and much has been revealed to the teachers God has raised up. The Great Tribulation is soon to begin, and if you've read what Jesus said about those days, recorded in Matthew 24, as well as what is presented in the Book of Revelation - you don't want to be here for that. Jesus said that the time of the tribulation will be worse than anything the world has ever known since the very beginning. And it's nearly upon us. "For then there will be great tribulation, SUCH AS HAS NOT BEEN SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD until this time, no, nor ever shall be." Matthew 24:21 God is merciful and he has raised up men to bring this message to whoever will receive it. The word has been spoken far and wide. Friends, we know what's coming. We've seen the "blood moons," which are total eclipses of the moon that made the moon look red. Each of them fell on Biblical feast days, and ONLY on Biblical feast days, how much clearer could the Lord make it? We've seen the total eclipse of the sun. We've seen the Revelation 12 "great sign" in the heavens. And coinciding with the last signs, the Pope of Rome, who many believe is the "false prophet" of the Book of Revelation, is well on his way in uniting all religions in his program of "ecumenism," to fulfill the prophecy of a global religion. False gods rising, Islam taking over large parts of the world, beheadings as spoken of in the Book of Revelation are practiced widely. We had an illegal “president,” a man of lawlessness with no birth certificate, a man who bypassed Congress and defied the Supreme Court issuing evil by "executive order," and he changed the course of America. Sodomy (homosexuality) has been made legal. Babies murdered by the millions. And even now, another false “president,” sitting in the highest position in the land, a con man put up by the world's evil agenda whose goal is to reduce earth's population to 500 million, and they're well on their way with the program which most don't understand. Terrorists have flooded in through our borders. CERN is unleashing inconceivable things upon the earth, more scary than most people would be able to handle. If you can't see it, you fit right into Daniel's statement, "NONE of the wicked will understand." All these things have taken place publicly and no one can say they were not warned. The Lord has covered the earth with men of God who have made all these things clear - clear, that is, to those who want to know. The rest will not understand and will go into perdition. "But the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand." This Scripture divides mankind into two classes: those who understand, and those who don't care to. The wise and the wicked. Do not be found among the wicked. In the end - they're not going to make it. There is salvation only in Jesus Christ. His Word has revealed these things to us at the right time, and his mercy awaits all who turn to him - until that door is forever closed. In Noah's day, they didn't "get it" until the door was closed on the Ark. And the very same thing is happening now. None of the wicked understand. As Jesus said, the last days will be "as in the days of Noah."