CONSIDER THIS: BEHOLD

 “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age….Matthew 28:20

CONSIDER THIS: The word “BEHOLD” appears in the Bible (the universally accepted King James…and other versions) over 1320 times! The word means to fix your attention (eyes, mind etc) on something; to fix your eyes upon or to direct your fixed gaze to! The great John the Baptist said “BEHOLD, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world”. The brutal Pontius Pilate said “BEHOLD The Man!” Are you beholding the Man – Christ Jesus today? Is not just your Sunday gaze, but is your Monday-Saturday night gaze, mind, body, soul and every fiber of your being in the manifest presence of Jesus Christ and the Beauty and Majesty of Him Who sits on the Throne?

ACTION: Being in the manifest presence of the Lord – Jesus Christ – is only possible on this side of heaven, if one is filled with the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit means only one thing – a person’s sins are forgiven and we are born again. Therefore, since we have the Spirit of Christ in us through being redeemed/saved/rescued by Him, our only way to being found in His image is through knowing Him more and more each day. It is a process, a marathon and something which will take us right up until our final breath. This requires an intentional walk closer and closer to Him through reading and learning the Scriptures – the Bible and through daily prayer and devotion to Him, in thought, word and deed. The task today, if we have completely not gotten in the swing of it, the previous 22 days of the 31 days of Prayer, is to firmly set this goal before us and start moving the very next minute towards it. It is as easy as backing out of the driveway unto the street in the morning. It will require the foot on the gas pedal of active faith, from here on out.

Father, in the Name of Jesus, we pray that You firm up our resolve in this way, that we may not only know that we are saved and a follower of Jesus Christ, but we will know, for certain, that we are walking in His Will, but seeking His Presence in EVERYTHING we do each and every day, no matter how small or large we think the thing is. Lord, help us to be more like Jesus. We love, adore and glorify His Precious and Holy Name, amen and amen.

LUKE 3:16 - "EVANGELISM 101 BY JOHN THE BAPTIST"

John answered and said to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire (Luke 3:16)

Any believer in the one True God will know that He is not only His best Evangelist but also the very First One. He says in Exodus 9:16 “But for this purpose, I have raised you up. I show you My Power, so that My Name may be proclaimed in all the earth”. Jesus, the Son of God Himself, was clear in Mark 16:15 when He says “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel”.

The great Scottish missionary Robert Moffat (1795-1883) said these immortal words, which inspired his son-in-law David Livingston “In the vast plains to the north, I have sometimes seen, in the morning sun, the smoke of a thousand villages where no missionary has ever been”.  These words had a profound impact on Dr. Livingston, who blazed a trail for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in darkest Africa.

These men – Moffat and Livingston – operated with the same urgency as Yochanan the Immerser (or John the Baptist), the final Old Testament prophet. The first half of the Gospel of Luke, chapter 3, contains a detailed and dedicated account of the greatest evangelist in the Bible, after the Lord Jesus. The methodology of this passionate man of God is a thing to behold, thereby becoming a blueprint for us to know the basics of evangelizing.

MISSION STATEMENT:

Luke 3:3 gives us John the Baptist’s mission statement “…and he came into all the district around Jordan preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”.

DIRECTIVE:

God Himself had prophesied through Isaiah that He was sending John to pave the way for the soon coming Messiah – John’s actual earthly cousin (in verse 4). Here is what the Lord called John, who is called “the voice of one crying in the wilderness”. His assignment came directly from heaven, which he declared with powerful proclamations. These are his orders from our Heavenly Father. God the Father gave these orders 700 years before, in Isaiah 40:3-5:
-  Make ready the Way of the Lord
-  Make His paths straight
-  Humble the proud and exhort the humble (every ravine will be filled every mountain and hill will be brought low)
-  Reveal the crooked and depravity of mankind that they may face up to their sins
-  Explain the rough roads and narrow gates will lead to smoother, greener pastures
-  Do all of this (repentance, faith, and baptism) that “all flesh will see the salvation of God”

METHODOLOGY:
John used varying degrees of heat to apply the board of divine education of their spiritual condition, to the seats of their knowledge.  He was quick to call out those who claimed to represent God because of their position in the temples and synagogues of the Land

NARRATIVE:

John understood his role and mission here during his brief time on earth. He was almost the exact age of Jesus but full of the Spirit of God. His extremely humble lifestyle (clothed in rugged natural clothes), with a menu of locusts and honey, was indeed reflective of simple Savor Himself – the Lord Jesus! John’s lifestyle and integrity gave him immediate credibility when God unleashed his fiery ministry in the desert!

Consider this – the desert was quite some miles on foot, or donkey – from Jerusalem and its surrounding towns like Bethany and even Bethlehem. When this Duck Dynasty looking man, with the beard and “desert -styled” hair started preaching, many recognized that he was a significant prophet of God! The reason is that there had not been a prophet of the Holy One of Israel for over 400 years since God shut the windows of Heaven with the closure of Malachi’s ministry. Malachi was the final prophetic book of the Old Testament.

John completely sold out to his mission. He was fearless and let the Truth fly, as God revealed it to Him. 

He let fly with what some may term the “Doctrines of Grace”, but with power, conviction and a knife straight to the heart of sin! Listen to some of the words he chose carefully:
 -  You brood of vipers (religious hypocrites and fake “believers”). (Why do you wish) to flee the coming Wrath of God (the coming Judgment of all people)
 -  Produce fruit in keeping with Repentance (stay humble, seek forgiveness from God)
 -  Don’t believe because you are children of Abraham, you are saved (God has NO grandchildren)
 -  The ax is at the root of (your) tree and one that doesn’t produce will become firewood! (This is the gist of Luke 3:7).

Note that in his modus operandi of in-your-face evangelism, he was very explicit about the sinful nature and total depravity of man. This really got their attention because they stayed and listened to him. First of all, they had to be more than interested in just who this eccentric prophet was. They walked miles through the desert to the various deep pools of water, where John was baptizing after the converts made declarations of Faith. (John kept moving to different rivers depending on where he could find good amounts of water).

Cut to the quick, some of the new converts, once getting on the same page as John, now sought to sincerely seek how to live and bear “fruit”. This is called Sanctification. This fruit of repentance of which the Baptist spoke is no different from what the Apostle Paul taught in Galatians 5:22-23. Paul had spent three years in the Arabian desert being taught directly by Jesus Christ after his dramatic conversion on the Road to Damascus.  Therefore,  he knew, with precision, what the fruits of the Spirit were. 

The fruit of a forgiven and converted person are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  These are no different from what John the Baptist taught, as a voice, crying out to the lost in the Judean Desert. Basically, he was saying….and it is still true….that “they shall know you by your fruit”. In all of the above-mentioned, John the Baptist became the first New Testament Evangelist, in addition to the final Old Testament prophet! All of this occurred in his early 30’s.

APPLIED:
Luke 3:16 fulfills the zenith of the John the Baptist’s main prophesy, and where the fullness of Jesus the Lord’s mission of earth comes completely into view:
- The One Who comes (and is now, here) is most Powerful
- This Powerful Supreme Being is overall, and even I, John the Prophet, am not even fit to be in the same room as Him or even tied His shoes. This Person is a King of which no word or action is comparable
- The King Who is coming is not here to baptize people with natural water. This is a topical testimonial of This is the job of mortal men. This King’s baptism is the Holy Spirit and "fire" (as Luke 3:16 indicates).

Knowing this, we have, who are called by His Name, have two choices. We can work for the King or sit back in the back row of the church of life, and do nothing. We can inspire our children, friends, family and the gas station clerk to be better and find peace, joy, and be healed with Jesus, or we can do nothing. We can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us, but if we do not recognize and grow in this strength and power, we are just barely going to squeak into heaven.

If your neighbor's house were on fire, you would warn him/her and call the Fire Department. Christians know instinctively there is pending doom. The Holy Spirit and the Fire of God are in sync with our spirit to place that fact of eternity in our hearts. We will be held to account by the Father if, when presented with an opportunity to help someone in distress find God, we pull a Jonah and bolt in the other direction. The difference between modern western Christians and Jonah is this - Jonah actually stayed around Nineveh (now called Mosul) after we read of him and his book cuts off in Jonah 4. He taught about Yahweh, lived in the area, died and was buried in Nineveh. We know this because when the Islamic State took over Mosul a few years ago, one of the first things they went after to destroy, was the tomb of - guess who - the Jewish prophet Jonah. Jonah complained, but he did the right thing. Today, church people complain...and the majority do nothing.

Let this not be said of us. In the same beautiful journal, of which we spoke in Matthew 3:16, we recommend the following:
 - Go to Galatians 5:22-23.
 - Write down one fruit of the Spirit per day. Then, take the first one - love - and do some soul-searching.
 - With the first Fruit of the Spirit, Love, write down what your love for God means, in Jesus Christ. Be honest, and also write down where you think you need to do more work in loving God. 
 - Write down where you are at with your love for your family, and other people. How is your love for the lost and hurting? Write it down. Are you cold and need to show some TLC (tender loving care) in that area? Write that down....and so on. 
 - This first fruit (love) is probably the most important because how you view Love affects all the other fruits.  If you and I love God and the Bible and Jesus and honor the Holy Ghost, we will be so much at peace that the joy will overflow and people will see it on our faces, all the time. Because of that peace, we are patient with others, because we LOVE (agape) them...and so on.
 - Do the same exercise with EVERY single fruit of the Spirit in your journal. For instance, if you are troubled over something, journal it, with the question "why am I not at peace?" Then go to the concordance at the back of your good Study Bible or most any bible, and research the word "peace". Or simply, "google" the words "peace in my soul..." or something similar. Then find the associated bible verses and instead of just writing down the verse number, journal the ENTIRE verse....or verses...and then watch God begin to transform your cares into a state of rest in His Promises and care.

This is a major assignment and all flows from the Gift of our Salvation, from the One Whom John the Baptist said, will fill us with the Holy Spirit and fire. This One's Name is - Jesus, the Messiah. 

(Images Credit Here)

MATTHEW 3:16 "COME, HOLY SPIRIT" (includes PERSONAL GROWTH STEPS)

"After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he (John the Baptist) saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him." (Matthew 3:16)

Right off the bat, in the very first 3:16 verse of the New Testament, the great Apostle Matthew (formerly Levi the tax collector), shows a powerful truth to the first Jewish Christian believers. It is something unheard of, except maybe in the ancient pages of the scrolls of Moses and the Prophets.

The scene itself is something directly out of a Divine Central Casting. God and God alone, is the only Creative Director of what is set to occur, as it reverberates through all history. The itinerant preaching cousin of the Messiah was fulfilling his God-ordained role of loudly proclaiming the need for repentance. He was baptizing those who repented and sought the forgiveness of the Lord. While standing in the Jordan River, up comes his cousin – Jesus.

By now, John the Baptist knew precisely who Jesus was, apart from being his cousin. John’s father, Zechariah the priest, prophesied in praise of Him, right before he spoke of his own son – John in his astonishing prayer/prophesy! Zechariah had just gotten back his voice after losing it, due to doubt about his aging wife being able told by God she was going to have a baby (John). God temporarily ordered him to lose his ability to speak, since he, a man of the cloth, doubted a true Angel of God. John knew the Messiah came from the same family as him, and he also knew His Divine Destiny. Jesus confirmed this later on (click).

John then uttered the immortal words “Behold the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the World”. He then baptizes Jesus. The moment Jesus’s head come out of the water the Holy Spirit of God, Who IS God, descended through the open heavenly skies right upon the Messiah. This signaled the beginning of an amazing three years of ministry of the Christ. It was the three years which have forever changed the world.

316 APPLIED:

While the world changed, in the general sense, because of the visible descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, this one significant event held the promise for any and everyone who would believe, thereafter,  in the Son of God and His Gospel.

The verse says “….and lighting upon Him”. In context, this means that the full power, influence, and authority of Heaven come upon Jesus and became one with His Spirit. He was (and always will be) fully God and fully man.  This means everything for all humanity. For Eternity past, the dearly departed souls who resided in what Jesus called “Abraham’s Bosom” or Paradise, had their Faith in God rewarded. The Messiah had come.

For the present, as in now, this would be the first of only two times which the Holy Spirit will be visible to the physical eye.  The Spirit of God, Who raised Christ from the dead, descended as tongues of fire on the disciples as they prayed and spoke in foreign languages so that all assembled in Jerusalem could understand what the Disciples were preaching.  That is is the accurate description of the “many tongues” they spoke.  The “tongues of fire” were only visible to the Elect of Christ in that room who saw the unique phenomenon, so that Christ’s Words from Acts 1 would be fulfilled.

Since there, the Holy Spirit immediately indwells and seals the truly saved. He is invisible to both the world and the Christian in whom He dwells. The fruits of the Spirit (peace, love, joy....) depends on the quality of faith and obedience of the Christian and should be evident over the course of a lifetime. There is a tremendous responsibility and debt which those whom Christ has saved and rescued owe Him. We owe Jesus not just everything but need to conduct ourselves accordingly.

Knowing the History of the Holy Spirit on this earth, from the descent at Christ’s baptism in the Jordan by John, and knowing His appearance as Tongues of Fire on Pentecost, what evidence of His appearance is there in YOUR life (and mine)? For your own good, and mine, let us proceed with the following practical steps towards our own sanctification.

PERSONAL GROWTH STEPS:

• Begin a private journal. They can be purchased anywhere for less than $10 (Walmart, Walgreens...or any bookstore)
• Write down each of the following fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control
• Then, take each and do a personal inventory, logging where improvements can be made or work actually begun on the “fruits” where they are non-existent in your life.
• Be serious about maintaining this journal and log in several times per week, as you worship the Lord daily through prayer and bible study.
• In one month, you will begin to notice a change in your desire to read your bible daily and pray. In six months of steady dedication, even if it is only two sentences. Transformation begins. Then look back over one full year - the fruits of the Spirit will begin to show all around you and I....if we just allow the Holy Spirit to do His Word....and "light upon us".

THE 3:16 VERSES OF THE BIBLE, PART 25: "FIRE, SOAP AND A BOOK"

"Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name". (Malachi 3:16)
After some of the Jews returned from their exile (538 BC) to Babylon, for disobeying the Laws of God, they were a powerful and devout bunch under Ezra the Scribe and Nehemiah. But in very short order, once these great Godly men had gone home to be with the Lord, the remaining residents of Jerusalem turned rogue. Even the Levite priests went over to the dark side and began to serve two masters. While mouthing The Almighty and preaching the Law of God from the Torah (first Five Books of the Bible), they lived like the devil and the rest of the sinful world, following after the lusts of their dark hearts and even the strange gods of the surrounding nations.

So the Lord gave them one final prophet - Malachi (who proclaimed during and after the passing of Nehemiah). In all chapters of the final prophet of that Age, Malachi hit the wide-ranging sins of the people in Jerusalem and hit them hard. But, as God always does for His Remnant - He left Good News for those who love and follow Him, as we see in Malachi 3:16. However this is a small oasis in a desert of destruction and despair! To get to this cool, eternally-satisfying supernatural "water", we MUST educate ourselves why we even need an oasis, when everything around us seems to be going well.

Today, most people are well-off - in Europe, South America, the UK, Asia and across North America. Most do not even see a need for God in their lives, far less allowing Jesus Christ to be the Lord and Master of their lives. To them, Jesus is the cute baby in the manger at Christmas time. They even know the words to Silent Night or Joy to the World. To them Easter is about a man on a Cross and then Easter Eggs and ham dinners. But do not bother them with what the 33 years of the Life of Christ means to their eternal souls.  They recoil at the thought.

Whether billions of people believe it or not, from when Jesus lived on Earth and preached the Gospel to the present and the final act at the End of the Age, the Truth remains the Truth and God will continue with His Work. Malachi was the last the Jews heard from God for over 400 years! Yes, FOUR HUNDRED years. God did not speak for those four centuries but He told them exactly what was going to happen here - from Malachi Chapter 3:
   -  He is sending His messenger before Him (verse 1). Four hundred years later, the final prophet of the Old Testament - JOHN THE BAPTIST - appeared preaching Repentance and the Coming Messiah, who actually was his cousin, Jesus! John was sent by God, as a voice crying in the wilderness, literally saying He was preparing the Way for the Lord. Promise Kept.

   -  Prepared to be stunned in the very NEXT verse- Malachi 3:2a! What God is foretelling here is not the baby Jesus in the Bethlehem manger, but the Second Coming of Jesus! It is generally agreed to and gleaned from Scripture that Jesus will land in Jerusalem when He returns in fire and glory to first wipe out the heathens of this world, and then reclaim His Property on the Jerusalem Temple Mount. Everything in those Hills of Jerusalem belong to Him NOW - He is only coming back to reclaim. God says, and other Bible passages confirm - no one will stand. That means - no one on the earth. The followers of Jesus will already have been removed before this, so that the Armies of Heaven will have one final 100% house-cleaning to do.

   -   What confirms that what verse 2a is talking about is not the baby Jesus is this statement from verses 2b-3. The returning and conquering King Jesus is going to destroy and clean house by fire. Fire also refines and removes impurities and this is what is going to occur on that fearsome day of the Lord's return. The fullers' soap signifies and washing of the clothes of the saints or the redeemed believers in Jesus. But what the Lord is concentrating here is the Refiner's Fire.

There is no such thing, in this current world, as 100% pure gold or silver. If you go to a precious metals dealer, they will always inform you that the silver is 99% pure. So it is with Gold. It just proves that the only perfect entity in this entire universe is God. On His Return, His Fire will be both literal and figurative. His fire will separate the pure from impure and the dross that rises to the top will be skimmed off and thrown away. Judgement is coming, declares the Lord.

God does not just make wild statements and let them stand. Over and over, in both the Old and New Testaments, He tells exactly what the indictments and charges are, from the Grand Jury Room of Heaven. In Malachi Chapter 2 and in all previous pleadings with people to get right with Him, God teaches about sins in family life (from adultery to divorce and more). He talks about how to raise children many times. He talks about how to live within our communities and on and on. He then talks about how they were not paying their temple tax duties and tithes which they were supposed to under the Law. They robbed God. This particular teaching is used by some churches to teach a certain version of tithing which was actually only meant for the Jews. We still recommend Christians take 10% off the gross income (or more) when paid, and give it towards the Lord's work. But, as an aside, there is no tithing formula set by Jesus and Paul in the New Testament, except that God loves a cheerful giver. It is better to be wise and deduct your 10% when paid, and watch the other 90% bless your family.

God not only had the indictment of the people and their priests robbing Him of the 23% of income which supported His Temple and the poor, but He added the following charges from Malachi 3:5 -
1. He is going to punish them for witchcraft. Today, we have more dark arts and witchcraft than ever. They too will fall under this Judgment.
2. He is going to punish adultery and sexual immorality outside of biblical marriage, which He ordained in Genesis 2:24. 
3. He is going to punish them for perjury (lying under oaths made before God).
4. He is going to punish all who exploit the poor, widows, orphans and today, all who persecute Christians and promote abortion and other decadent lifestyles.
5. He is going to punish those seeking legitimate refuge.
6. He is going to punish them - MOST OF ALL - for the sin of Unbelief and refusing to recognize, honor and respect God because every previous sin listed and unlisted, stem from the act of unbelief. Too many do not fear or believe God....to their own eternal peril.

When the Lord sent Malachi to tell these people the coming divine charges and felonies they committed, they reacted with fake outrage. In fact, they act just like the Lost do today who say to each other and the evangelist "I'm a good person....I never robbed a convenience store....or killed....or stole another man's wife....or....or...." and on and on, we hear the list of why a person without Christ, thinks he/she is going to heaven, based on nothing else but "i am good enough...and not as bad as Hitler or Stalin or Mao and Castro....or that guy down the street". We recognize these people as hopelessly lost in their self-deception because those people used to be us, before we were brought face to face with our sin and eternal future and had to make a choice, a decision.

Malachi 3:13-15 describe the modern lost soccer mom, librarian, IT manager, stockbroker, construction worker or local official perfectly. These next three verses tell the state of man, during the time of The 400 Year Godly Silence before John the Baptist, as it does in the 21st Century. Here is what God says: "13 “Your words have been arrogant against Me,” says the Lord. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept His charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hosts? 15 So now we call the arrogant blessed; not only are the doers of wickedness built up but they also test God and escape.’”

Many will complain on Judgment Day because they lived their lives with this lie. Some of them know it is a lie, (that we are "okay" and "everything will work out in the end") but they foolishly go along anyway. When Malachi prophesied this, in essence, from verses 13-15, EVERYONE got scared! This included God's Faithful Servants. Today, that would be the same as the Saved and True Christians being really scared that they too are under condemnation when we hear of the coming destruction of those who hate Christ. This is only natural and attributed to human nature.

But, God - in His love, grace and long-suffering, reminded His faithful and loving followers this way...as we read in Malachi 3:16 that He has their names written down in His Book. In the New Testament, this Book of Remembrance is called the Book of Life, meaning all whose names are written in stone to get into heaven! Please take note of this portion of Malachi 3:16 here "Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and who esteem His name."

You and I have this blessed assurance, that when we are faithful and true and forgiven and redeemed and have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior....HE PAYS ATTENTION to our cares and fears!He really and truly cares for those who love Him! Our names are in His Book of Remembrance/Life. He "has our backs", so to speak. He is for us - NO ONE is against us! Glory to His Name!

But not just this one promise about names in a God's Book but here is the rest of the Promise from Malachi 3:17: “They will be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” 

Here are some major promises from God the Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth. They are to be trusted, believed and acted upon by serving Him. While the fate of the wicked is as sure as the Second Coming of The King, God has this loving promise for those who love, honor, obey, trust, serve and proclaim Him....from Malachi 3:18: “They will be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.” 

(Image Credit Here)

ZACHARIAS' SONG: JOHN THE BAPTIST IS BORN, PART 1

Over the centuries, much has been made of the great praise song of Jesus’ earthly mother – Mary (or the Magnificat).  However another song/Poem or praise Psalm which is relevant to not just the Christmas story, but the entire prophetic plan of God is not as “famous” (for lack of a better word).

It is Zacharias' Prophesy or Song from Luke chapter 1, verses 67-79.  To recap Zacharias the Priest’s background, he was the great father of John the Baptist and the husband of Elizabeth. Elizabeth was Mary much older relative, who was past her time of natural child bearing. The Angel Gabriel was sent by God to inform Zacharias that Elizabeth would have a son named John, while he was attending to his priestly duties in the Temple. Because  Zacharias did not believe Gabriel’s words of John the Baptist’s birth, as spoken directly from the Throne of God,  Gabriel rendered him literally speechless. Zacharias remained unable to speak until the appointed time of the birth of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ.

Can you imagine the thoughts going through the priest’s mind, after he was disciplined by God for unbelief, not being able to minister in the Temple?! Here is a man who is supposed to not just do the daily temple duties, but to proclaim Torah, read the prophets and speak of the Messiah, yet when God sent His main angel Gabriel, Zacharias doubted! Before we get too high and mighty and look down on this great man, we should look in the mirror. We should be very careful because we can  not only be doubters like Zacharias when he got the good news, but we have also done the same thing literally dozens and dozens of times.

Zacharias' voice only returned to him after Elizabeth gave birth and he repeated the words of Gabriel, by writing on the tablet “His name is John” (Luke 1:63). This simple action underscored his belief in the words of Gabriel, who was sent directly by God to give him these instructions. Zacharias' ability to speak immediately returned when he showed his obedience to God’s commands. He promptly broke out in effusive praise and worship of the one True God of Heaven.

He said here in part, in Luke 1:67-79:
67             And his father Zacharias' was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
    for he has visited and redeemed his people
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
    in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies
    and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers
    and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74     that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75     in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
    in the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
    whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

Footnotes:

PART 2: WHAT ZACHARIAS' PROPHESY MEANS

THIRTY ONE DAYS OF BIBLE TRUTHS - DAY 14 (VICTORY IN PRAISE)

BIBLE VERSE: But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel (Psalm 22:3 kjv)

TRUTH:  It is not difficult to understand why our Heavenly Father would want to inhabit/dwell/live in and operate in the praises of His chosen.  It is the way we acknowledge His power, majesty, sovereignty and authority over our lives.  The word “praise” means to commend, applaud, lift up high and magnify. It is the ultimate expression of worship. It is the ultimate acknowledgement of our relationship, fellowship and friendship with our Creator. It is no better example of our worship to the Only One Who is worthy.  That’s our God.  It is easy to be aware of His goodness when things are perfect and “every day is Christmas” and “it’s all good in the ‘hood”. What about when the diagnosis is bad and you’re alone in the room with your doubts, cares and fears?  

Sometimes it is harder for someone who is closer to God than most other Christians to handle extreme adversity from  cancer to a tragedy.  We are not alone like this. Look at John the Baptist. He goes from “Behold, the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sins of the world” to “Are you really the One Who is to come”?  When the horrible trying times come, and they will, respond like Paul and Silas. These two men were in a dirty rotten stinking prison for preaching Christ and what happened? They started singing hymns and psalms! They probably would not make it in most modern megachurch worship teams, but you know what? God was there. He inhabited their praise and worship and then a miracle – the Philippian Jailor got saved!  So now, what then shall we do? Praise Him! 

LIKE A REFINER'S FIRE - THE SIXTH SEAL

Today's brief passage speaks a lot to what is going on currently in our world. As I read Malachi 3, it gripped me that this is relevant to the child of God, at any point in history! Malachi was the final prophet of the Old Testament, before John the Baptist comes on the scene right before the Birth of Christ (as a man) and it is he (John) of whom Malachi is writing, 400 years before he was born!

Here is our passage: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD....(Malachi 3:1-3 ESV)

John the Baptist (I supposed he was a "southern" Baptist, as he was south of Nazareth!!!) was called the voice of "one crying in the wilderness" who prepared the way for the Lord! John did proclaim Messiah who came into the Temple and taught and started to purify it by chasing out the money changers. But I see a more End Times prophetic declaration here in verse 2 "But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap...(Malachi 3:2 ESV).

Today, I encourage you to pray about this verse because, unbeknownst to him, Malachi just gave us an End Times prophesy which will shake the majority of mankind when he sees the terrible judgment of the Lord, on those who not only have rejected Him as Messiah, but persecuted His church and turned away from His attempts to reach them with pure and cleansing power of His Love! It was this Love which He demonstrated on the Cross. Yet, they still don't get it.

Here is the corresponding back up scripture to Malachi 3:2 and pray for those whom you know not to be walking in the ways of the Lord, because one day, some of them will be in this situation. Time is short...read, be terrified and pray, because the Day of the Lord approaches with each new day! Amen

FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATION:
When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” 
(Revelation 6:12-17 ESV)

THINGS ARE NOT AS THEY SEEM.....

ROBERT E. LEE AND JESUS?!

One of the neatest and most exciting discoveries I came across, was in a glass case of JParsons, a New York-theme store, which is packed with amazing treasures and collectibles. This one (seen above in my photo) is an encrypted message by the great Civil War General Robert E. Lee.

Retired General Robert E. Lee

By the hand of fate, Lee, one of the Union's best soldiers before the Civil War, ended up defending the South in the War which almost destroyed America. Among other things, this war was about Slavery and Emancipation, which as we know, occurred when Lincoln famously ended slavery.


What most people don't know is that General Lee also opposed slavery, and was a devout man of Christ! Lee inherited slaves from his late wife's estate and immediately freed them all!! His most faithful friend was William Mac Lee, one of those former slaves and Lee's closest friend DURING the Civil War (as well as his cook)!


William Lee said of General Lee "I was raised by one of the greatest men in the world. There was never one born of a woman than General Robert E. Lee"


Both men - both Lees- are nowhere in the stature of the first man about whom this was said - JOHN THE BAPTIST. But while praying and reading the Word this morning, the Lord clearly brought to mind, the following scriptures to me from Hebrews:
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”?
Or again,
“I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son”?
(Hebrews 1:1-5 ESV)
(Emphasis mine)


Some things to note this morning about this photo of the Civil War message from General Lee, which makes no sense to the untrained eye, in comparison to the Word of God:


Unless you know the man who wrote the encoded note above and how he operates, you will never get this message! The same with God and our Savior Jesus Christ! Unless you know Him personally as the Lord of your life and His Word and how HE operates, there is no hope of Heaven!


The question is, now that we have clearly decoded what God has said in Hebrews 1: 1-5 here, what are we going to do with that information?! Clearly, we shall accept it as Truth confirmed by God, Who has note written anything in code or numbers, but spoken as plain as day from Genesis all the way to the End of the Book.


Are you ready to accept this truth? Robert E. Lee was a man of prayer and grace and the Lord Jesus. No matter what the politics and history will say, he knew Christ and Christ knew him. Forget politics and all that noise - DO YOU KNOW CHRIST...and the Glory of His Name?

Amen.