How to be Ready for the Lord’s Coming - Revelation 22:6-15

Based on Revelation 22:6-15 (New King James Version)

“Then he said to me, ‘These words are faithful and true.’ And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place. ‘Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.’ Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. Then he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.’ And he said to me, ‘Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.’ ‘And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.’ Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.”

This is an irrefutable truth, especially when we see the world we live in today: Christ is coming soon. Everything that was foretold by the holy prophets of God and by the Lord Himself is being fulfilled and continues to be fulfilled daily throughout the world, as it is written: “Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ‘Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.’ Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.” Matthew 24:1-7. The wars that have happened in the rest of history cannot compare to the wars in the last two centuries. Pestilences that are affecting all men throughout the world like they have been lately and continue happening now has not occurred in history, where millions in the world die because of different diseases. And we see now this coronavirus that has caused the death of more than a million people in a matter of months; and people can try to point the finger at the authorities, but the issue is that no one could have seen this coming, nor have been prepared for something like this, and so, not even be able to know what to do (and we still don’t know well enough). There is hunger throughout the world, even in developed countries, because of poverty and lack of resources. According to the World Health Organization, in a study they published in 2018, more than 820 million people in the world do not have enough food to eat, more than 10% of the world population. Earthquakes, what can we say? The earth has shaken a lot and very hard, and in different places. And how can we forget Israel, the world’s clock, where one of the most extraordinary prophecies was fulfilled when Israel was brought back to its land and established by the world as a sovereign state once again in 1948, something that was seen as being impossible before. Everything is being fulfilled. Nothing will stop the fulfillment of God’s Word, as it is written: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” Matthew 24:35. So then, a wise person should think like this, “How can I be ready for the coming of the Lord?” And I can only answer with God’s counsel through His very own Word.

The first thing should be our focus on God through Jesus Christ, and we see this when John thought of worshiping the angel that was revealing God’s mysteries to him, and the angel told him not to do it, but to only worship God. We can neither worship, nor give any adoration to anyone or anything outside of Jesus Christ, because God’s saints themselves never allowed it. They pointed to Jesus Christ. We see Mary, for instance, in the following: “His mother said to the servants, ‘Whatever He says to you, do it.’” Juan 2:5. The Apostle Peter also said this: “But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” 1 Peter 5:10-11. The Apostle Paul also wrote this about the Lord Jesus, inspired by the Holy Spirit: “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:36. Everything and everyone point to the Lord, for it is written: “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5. So then, we cannot put our eyes on a person, no matter how special they may be. This was the error that the Jews committed when God the Son (Jesus) was before them. They were not able to see the Messiah, and they even killed Him, because they were more focused on Abraham, on Moses, and even on their own persons and desires rather than on the Most High and Sovereign God of the universe. Our goal, all of our focus and priority should be the Lord, for it is written: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. ‘And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.’” Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

The other thing we see in this passage is that we will be judged for our work, and that we should do righteousness, sanctify ourselves, and do His commandments. So then, God is greatly interested in what we do with our lives, especially after coming to the knowledge of the Truth, because we are saved for a purpose, not just because. The Bible teaches us this: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10. What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? James 2:14. “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:9-10. Everything we do after receiving the knowledge of the Truth counts, for good or for evil, depending on what we decide to do with God’s Truth, whether we decide to live for Christ or for something or someone else.

The day is drawing near for the world and for every human being. There is no way to avoid it, and to know when it will happen. So then, will the Lord find you ready when He comes for His true church, or when He comes for you individually? Lord bless! John

Suffering for the Gospel - Revelation 2:8-11

Based on Revelation 2:8-11 (New King James Version)

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, ‘These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life: ‘I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.’”

Everything has a price, and we are not necessarily talking about money. And whoever says contrary does not understand reality. For example, to be able to be a professional or reach goals that go beyond others, sacrifices must be made. A person that desires to be a great professional must work hard during their formative school years to learn what is necessary. After that, they need to go to a university and complete many years of study and pay a lot of money, and their effort only starts there because they need to continue gaining experience, they need to continue studying, they need to continue sacrificing time, money, and even personal relationships to be able to continue excelling in their profession. When a person fights for good things, a price is paid. When a person makes mistakes or does stupid things, a price is also paid. Nothing is free.

As a supreme example, the gift of salvation, what God did through Christ is free for us, but the price that God paid is incalculable. God the Father gave His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for all mankind, what was most precious to Him. The Lord Jesus paid the price of leaving His kingdom, His sublime and holy position, to take on our humble form, to live in poverty, and suffer the unthinkable when He died in the most horrible way a human being could die. And not only that, but also in order to complete His work, to be able to triumph over death, He had to descend to the lowest depths of the earth, to Abraham’s bosom, to Sheol, to raise those that were worthy from there, and also, as a testimony to those who were facing their eternal perdition; and from there be resurrected. I still do not comprehend why They would do such things for such insignificant beings like us, but that speaks even more of their greatness, goodness, and love.      

Now then, salvation, the power to be born again in Christ is by grace, but within itself, it also bears a price. We do have to pay something costly, and if it were just about money (not that salvation can be purchased), it would be something simple. We are talking about greater and more important things than what is material when we talk about the price that could be paid for the Gospel of Christ, and this is of what we read today. It is very probable that many that are reading this will either suffer persecution, or already are suffering some form of persecution for their faith in Christ, especially considering all of the people in different countries in the world that see this ministry. This is what the Lord says in His Word: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. People suffering legitimately for the Gospel (and I say “legitimately” because suffering for the Gospel has nothing to do with a person being a jerk, or obnoxious, or inappropriate, or not wise, and far less, suffering for errors and sins committed), are going through bad moments because of demonstrating the characteristics of Christ in their life, because of being faithful to the teachings in the Word; and finally, because they love God above everyone and everything else. When you suffer for the Lord, that does not make you less of a Christian, or that you have faith problems, or anything like that, but quite the contrary. That is why the Lord forewarned us, that we would have affliction in the world, because of faithfully following Him. This is what the Scriptures also say: “…Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.” Hebrews 11:35b-40. As followers of Christ, we will suffer persecution in the last times, the times we are living through today, as it is also written: “Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’ And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. ‘Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.’” Matthew 24:3-13. So then, we will have affliction. We will suffer persecution. And we will live through tribulation. There is no doubt. But, we need to persevere until the end in order to get to the goal. The race must be finished. We must remain faithful to the Lord until we breathe our last, no matter what happens, and at any cost. We need to be willing to suffer for the Gospel.

Now, you may be asking yourself, who are these of the synagogue of Satan? To be able to answer, we see this: “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’ Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.’” Matthew 16:21-24. Peter had a very bad moment, but for his own good, he repented and abandoned that evil path, and he was able to be faithful to the Lord until his death. But every person that supports the things of the flesh, and especially teaches things that put the flesh and the things of the world as a priority over God are of the synagogue of Satan. So then, you need to think very carefully with what you are exposing yourself to, and above all, what you are following and supporting because you may be very far away from the truth, even though it may seem good, positive, inspiring, etc. So, you should ask yourself this question, “Are you of the synagogue of Satan or are you truly fighting for, suffering for, and paying the price for the Gospel of Christ to be able to get to the eternal reward?” Lord bless! John

Transformation - Ephesians 4:17-24

Based on Ephesians 4:17-24 (New King James Version)

“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.”

What does faith in Christ truly consist of? Is it just about believing? I have to say according to the complete counsel of God through His Word that believing in the Lord is only part of the matter, and that there is much more to consider and do, especially if there is a true faith. True faith consists of actions, those that are generated as a result of a genuine faith in Christ, so it’s not just about simple belief. This is what the Word counsels us: “But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” James 2:18-20. So then, if demons believe and even tremble, what should there be in us? What work should we do to be able to go beyond simple belief?

To be able to understand this even more clearly, we need to understand first what God did through the sacrifice of His Son on the cross. What was God’s true purpose through His sacrifice? The Bible teaches us this: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17. God’s purpose is to transform and renew what is fallen, that which has been affected by sin. God desires that for those things are not good in our lives to end so that the new can start, the eternal, making us thereby through Christ a new creation. This is a very popular verse in our Christian community, but it is many times not applied correctly. The application of this principle has to do with the fact that a person must live a new life, leaving behind what they used to be, being transformed, and not to be used as a cut off (per se) so that they are not bothered with their past. But rather, quite the contrary, we should always remember what we were before Christ. We should remember where the Lord brought us out from and be able to compare that to the present, to be able to see if in fact we have been transformed, or if we are simply just trying to adopt a new religion or something superficial, because following Christ goes beyond morality and doing what is right.

Now then, when we convert to the Lord, by repenting from all our sins and making Him the Lord of our lives, is there anything else left to be done? And the answer is, “Yes.” Everything is left ahead of that. When we are born again in Christ, that is only the beginning. That’s why the Lord explained it as a birth, as a new beginning, it is the start of a long journey that must be traveled to be able to get to the end. That’s why the Word urges us to not walk like the rest of the Gentiles, not to walk in a futile mind, not to have a blinded heart, not to lose sensitivity, and not to give ourselves over to lewdness. We are urged to leave behind the old man which implies a process. When we start to follow Christ, we are entering a process of transformation. When we first come to the Lord, through our genuine conversion, a radical change should happen at the beginning or at least a very significant change in thinking. But that doesn’t mean that we are made perfect instantly, speaking from a practical standpoint. There is a process that is left that involves continual change, of being transformed, while we follow the Lord, because true faith in Christ consists in following the Lord, and not just saying that we believe only. The Word continues telling us this: “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” Galatians 5:16-17. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:1-2.

So then, how should this transformation in Christ continue? What is most important is that the all for the transformation, or the reason for why it should happen should be because we love the Lord, and nothing else. This is not about personal improvement or about attaining human goals, or a lifestyle change. Following Christ and letting yourself be transformed by Him through the work of the Holy Spirit always should be based on our love for Him. When that is the foundation, then you can continue moving forward just like the Word says: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:25-27. The Word of God is what washes and purifies us, which is what should be part of our daily walk with the Lord. God through Christ in our life looks for a relationship, not a religion, and not even necessarily morality. And like the relationship He looks for, He uses His Word to speak to us, to be able to tell us what needs to happen in our lives. That is why, again, the reason for why everything is done should be because of our love for God, and nothing more. So then the Word is the key, for it says this: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

So, transformation in Christ has a great purpose for man, because it is about deepening our relationship with God and like that, being made useful for His work, because He wants for us to be a part of what He wants to do on earth and also in eternity, because this world is not even a shadow of things to come. That’s why we are urged as follows in His Word: “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2. So then, are you living a transformed life in Christ, because of your love for the Lord, for your own good, and for the good of others? Lord bless! John

God Gives Everyone an Opportunity - 1 Samuel 9:1-19

Based on 1 Samuel 9:1-19 (New King James Version)

“There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power. And he had a choice and handsome son whose name was Saul. There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people. Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. And Kish said to his son Saul, ‘Please take one of the servants with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.’ So he passed through the mountains of Ephraim and through the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them. Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and they were not there. Then he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they did not find them. When they had come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, ‘Come, let us return, lest my father cease caring about the donkeys and become worried about us.’ And he said to him, ‘Look now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honorable man; all that he says surely comes to pass. So let us go there; perhaps he can show us the way that we should go.’ Then Saul said to his servant, ‘But look, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread in our vessels is all gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?’ And the servant answered Saul again and said, ‘Look, I have here at hand one-fourth of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way.’ (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: ‘Come, let us go to the seer’; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.) Then Saul said to his servant, ‘Well said; come, let us go.’ So they went to the city where the man of God was. As they went up the hill to the city, they met some young women going out to draw water, and said to them, ‘Is the seer here?’ And they answered them and said, ‘Yes, there he is, just ahead of you. Hurry now; for today he came to this city, because there is a sacrifice of the people today on the high place. As soon as you come into the city, you will surely find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, because he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those who are invited will eat. Now therefore, go up, for about this time you will find him.’ So they went up to the city. As they were coming into the city, there was Samuel, coming out toward them on his way up to the high place. Now the Lord had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came, saying, ‘Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him commander over My people Israel, that he may save My people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me.’ So when Samuel saw Saul, the Lord said to him, ‘There he is, the man of whom I spoke to you. This one shall reign over My people.’ Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, ‘Please tell me, where is the seer’s house?’ Samuel answered Saul and said, ‘I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today; and tomorrow I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart.”

If we understand this passage, we can see the great opportunities that God gives, and very unexpectedly. We see this Saul that simply went looking for some donkeys his father lost (back then, animals had great material value). So then, this Saul went out by obeying his father in helping him recover part of his wealth—something unanticipated happened, a need, and something was happening that neither Saul nor Kish had any idea of, something in the background, and these lost animals were only something that would open the door (per se) to something else. This same event should open our eyes and help us understand that we have no idea what is happening around us, and why it is happening, and that we have no control over anything, because the great majority of things are invisible or unknown to us.

Now then, some might say, and because of this same ignorance: “I never received such an opportunity to be something so important.” But the truth is that you have in fact received such opportunities, and many times, and in different ways. You may reply, “How, when, where…?” And of course, the answer is in the Word of God. To start looking at this, God presents Himself personally to every human being through many different ways and manners, as it is written: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Romans 1:18-21. Everything that was created speaks of God, of His magnificence, of His power, of His person. The problem is that everything that was created is taken very lightly because some prefer to believe that the creation is either a cosmic accident or simply, it just is and nothing more than that, and so, it is taken for granted. And since no one can neither control nor do anything with all of that, then it is taken as something common and ordinary (incredible, isn’t it?). Things like the sunrise that He allows to happen, like the air that He allows our lungs breathe, like the beating of our hearts He allows to occur, like the gravity of this planet that He sustains with His presence that keeps us from flying off into space, and so on, are seen as unimportant. As it is written: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:16-17.    

Maybe this issue of questioning further the value of God’s call continues, which within itself bears its own punishment, because we are not talking about a human being’s invitation, we are talking about God’s invitation. To answer this, the Word teaches us the following, which is God’s purpose for all mankind, as it is written: “And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.” Revelation 5:9-10. When God calls us to follow Him, He is really inviting us to be His kings and priests, to be beings of great standing in a place that surpasses this temporary world, in eternity. God is always looking for people to acknowledge Him and to convert to Him so they can be transformed into these kings and priests, and He allows for these unexpected situations to occur that interrupt daily life so His invitation can be made even stronger, going even beyond the daily greatness that He uses to speak to us. In the end, what are your lost donkeys, the things that are affecting you somehow? Will you be able to understand God’s call when the unexpected happens, and will you be able to pay attention to Him so you can follow Him to greater things? Or, will you just continue being focused on your lost donkeys and lose the opportunity for eternal greatness? Lord bless! John

Love is Everything - Revelation 2:1-7

Based on Revelation 2:1-7 (New King James Version)

“To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: ‘I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.’’”

How can God tell a church that is doing good things, a church that has done everything they have done for the sake of God’s name, that they should repent because they have fallen? How can they be wrong when they are doing so many good and admirable things? The issue that God has with the church, or more exactly, with the people individually (because a church does not consist of a building before God, but rather, of people) is that they have forgotten what is essential, the foundation of everything: love. You might say: “But, how can this be if the Word itself is saying that they have done everything for the sake of God’s name?” To be able to explain this issue, we need to go deeper.

The first thing we need to establish is that true love (not the world’s love, because that is useless) is something that must emanate from a person. And the only way that this love can flow or emanate from a person is when a person has been born of God, by knowing God. This is what the Scriptures teach us: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8. So, this goes beyond actions. It consists of something much deeper and divine. The Bible teaches us also that a being can be capable of incredible things, but yet, be missing the most important thing of all, and it also teaches us what this divine love truly is, as it is written: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13. Can you see that the love of which the Bible speaks of is very different to what the world says is love? Quite simply, God’s true love can never support sin, because there are no contradictions in God. Fornication is not love. Adultery is not love. Sexual deviations are not love. Calling evil good and good evil is not love. The love that comes from God is something that will always align itself with Biblical principles, and it surpasses all of the limits, even the unthinkable. How could have the Jews ever imagined that the same Being that did all of the great miracles He did through Moses and Elijah would be the same Being that would take on our very humble human form and let Himself be crucified so that all of humanity could have the hope of their sins being forgiven and the promise of eternal life? Never! This does not fit our logic! And this same love is the one that should emanate and flow through those that have been born again in Christ. We should take on those same characteristics and intentions.

Now then, the second point. The love that should flow from the born again does not consist of feelings, but rather, of a decision and a direction. In other words, it is not just about having this love in your life, but more so, the way its genuineness can be seen is through the direction in which it is focused on. This is what the Word teaches us: “Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, ‘Which is the first commandment of all?’ Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’ So the scribe said to Him, ‘Well said,  Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.’ Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, ‘You are not far from the kingdom of God.’ But after that no one dared question Him.” Mark 12:28-34. Love must be directed towards God, and when that happens, then everything else starts falling into place, in the order that God teaches. If I love God, then I will do as He commands, whether I understand it or not yet, and the first thing I must do when loving God is to love my neighbor. My love for God must be the reason for why I do everything in life, for why I look to fulfill what He commands me to do. How does this love start? It starts by acknowledging and appreciating what the Almighty has done for us, and what He did without any kind of obligation. God chose to love man. God did not have to suffer, and far less, die for humanity. We must weigh and value what He did for such insignificant and evil people (because that is what we all are). God died for you and for me. It is written: “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Romans 5:10.

So then, and finally, God is most interested in the reason, in the motive, in what is very deep within every human being, as it is written: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:9-10. This is what God sees and matters to Him most: if He is the direct reason for why we do things. So then, can God see the intention of your heart, that the reason for why you do everything in life is because you love Him with your whole being? Lord bless! John

Reactions to Christ - Acts 13:42-52

Based on Acts 13:42-52 (New King James Version)

“So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul. Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have set you as a light to the Gentiles, that you should be for salvation to the ends of the earth.’’ Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and came to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”

Why is there such a difference between people in the way they react to God’s Truth? In today’s passage, we saw different people react in different ways. We see the disciples, the religious Jews, the gentiles, devout and prominent women, the chief men of the city, and also the multitude. And within all of that, there were reactions, some determined in their faith in Christ, others that did believe as well, but we see these religious Jews that did not want to believe, these devout and prominent women and chief men of the city that did not believe either, and also a great number of people, possibly a great part of the multitude that is mentioned that did not believe as well, because a mass of people expelled the disciples, not just a few individuals. At the very least, the devout and prominent women, the chief men of the city, and part of the multitude maybe did not have the same sentiments of the religious Jews, but they had enough unbelief to be influenced by evil. What is it that determines these different reactions?

The first point that we could see is whether God is the one that determines this. And it can be clearly said that God is not the One that determines if a person is saved or lost, no matter how much many people may argue for general predestination. It can be argued that the Word of God gives the opportunity to believe that certain people through history may have been predestined for perdition, but that relates to only a very select group of people, not to all humanity. To start touching on this topic, God did not make everlasting fire for man. That was not His intention, as it is written: “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’” Matthew 25:41. God’s intention was always to try to save the world, all of humanity, and the everlasting fire was originally prepared for the irredeemable, for the devil and his angels (fallen angels or demons), but not for man. The Word teaches us that God so loved the world, which includes all mankind, without exception, and He loved it in such a manner that He gave His only begotten Son, as it is written: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. The Word deepens even further in that God desires for all to come to the knowledge of the Truth when He teaches us that we should even pray for all men, as it is written: “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4. And there is much more than can be cited that helps conclude that, “…there is no partiality with God”, and that He desires for all to be saved. So then, we cannot blame God for people’s unbelief.

Who then decides whether they believe or not? And the answer is: the person; you. Each human being determines whether they desire to believe or not. It’s as simple as that. Every human being has the power of free will, and that is the reason for why this place that we know exists, with all of its imperfections and problems. The world is just the prelude to the eternal, the place where everything is decided, whether a person chooses to believe and live forever or not. So then, this place and what we do in it is supremely important. We should not live in this world irresponsibly, because during all of this, you are determining with your actions what finally will happen with you in eternity. In this part of today’s Word is where we can focus so we can see a certain detail where it says: ‘It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles. So then, a person judges themselves unworthy of everlasting life, by rejecting Christ and His Truth. This is the great error that many commit, thinking that God has to change His process, what was eternally established, to accommodate people’s opinions and whims, that finally, God has to justify their evil and say that the wrong they do is right. It’s like saying: “I don’t want to climb the mountain, but I want to stand at its peak, so, I want for the mountain to come to me and place itself underneath my feet so I don’t have to do anything”. It sounds ridiculous, but that is what is being demanded from God Almighty, the One that did create all things including the mountains in this world, and even more, He created the universe. And so, it is not God that has to accommodate Himself to man, but rather, it is man that needs to conform to God and to His Truth. That is the decision.

So then, what is it that produces decision in every person, whether they decide to believe or not? That is between the reason of a person, of desiring to understand the overwhelming and irrefutable proof that God is God and that we need to obey Him, and the sin that dwells within us, that is also part of every person. It’s an internal battle and there can only be one victor. There are no ties. And the Word teaches us that the person that overcomes the sin that dwells within them is the one that will inherit the things of God, as it is written: “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:7-8. So, you should ask yourself, “Does what I understand about God and His Word command more within my life, or does my cowardness, my unbelief, my abominations, etc. command more in my life?” “What is my reaction to Christ, the very thing that judges me worthy or unworthy of everlasting life?” Lord bless! John

Valuing Christ’s Sacrifice - Hebrews 10:11-25

Based on Hebrews 10:11-25 (New King James Version)

“And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,’ then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’ Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Do we truly understand what the Lord did for us? And do we live our lives in such a way that demonstrates that we value His great work for us? If we observe our behavior as a group in general, it would be difficult to say that His work is valued. For starters, there is much corruption within the universal church of Christ, from those that preach and teach to newer believers. Quite simply, we don’t look well as a group. It’s really sad. We know that none of us will be perfect until we get to the goal, but at the very least, something of Christ should be visible in our lives, enough so others are stimulated to want to believe and follow the Lord. That is how we should affect people that surround us, regardless of their sins and how lost they may be. We are the ones that should be salt and light in the world, those of us that say that we believe and follow God. The big problem that I believe that has happened in the people of God is that too much sin has infiltrated the church, and like that, evil doctrines that support more the things of the flesh and sin than the purposes and will of God have become popular. We have lost our direction as a group. We are so focused on desiring the here and now that we have become even more problematic than the world that surrounds us. The world cannot tell the difference between us and them. Almost every believer desires for their lives to be comfortable and pleasant, just like the world. The great majority of the supposed Christ followers don’t want to have problems with anyone, just like the world. And in general, much of so-called God’s people do not worry about the needs of their fellow man, just like the world. And finally, the Christian only looks to fulfill their will and satisfy their desires, of course, just as the world desires. So then, what is the difference? None. There is no difference between one and the other. And, if there is no difference, then what incentive does the unbeliever have to look to believe in Christ? None.

The deviation of the group in general has happened because we do not understand clearly the sacrifice of the Lord, and as a result, we do not value what God has done for us. We do not have our eyes on the goal, but rather, we are more desirous to listen to things that feed our flesh than to try to understand and value what produces life, the Word of God. But, that doesn’t mean that we need to stay on that course. God always encourages us to change, to turn from our evil ways, to understand His will and be able to fulfill it. So, what should happen? We need to come back to the foundation of faith in Christ, to the why of things, to the reason for why we should follow the Lord. And the only way that this can happen is if we renew or try to understand more clearly what God has done for us.

To be able to understand what God did for us, we need to see where we were before knowing Christ, what was (or still is if you have not come to truly be born again in Christ) our background. The Bible teaches us this: “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Romans 5:9-10. “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die.” Ezekiel 18:4. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23. So then, we were God’s enemies. That was our reality (and still is your reality if you have not come to true faith in Christ). And every person, whether they have sinned a lot or a little, their souls were dead, completely subjected to the penalty of sin. When sin entered the world through Adam and Eve, the destiny of the entire human race was to die in hell for all eternity. That is the truth, because all that have sinned in one way or another fall short of the glory of God. We had no access to heaven, or to eternity, or to any of God’s promises on our own. That was our reality before Christ. So then, absolutely no one has anything to feel proud of, and far less, feel deserving of what God has done.

This is what God has done: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23. We deserve to die, but God gave us a great gift through the Lord. Even though we were God’s enemies, the Lord treated us like friends, as it is also written: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” John 15:13-15. What else could be desired? Can anything else be greater or have greater priority than this in our lives? If you truly understand this, it is not possible.

And finally, it is mentioned that a day is approaching, and that is judgment day. Christ did and finished everything, but now, every human being must fulfill God’s will in their life through Christ to be able to obtain what was promised. Otherwise, why would we be urged to move forward? Because it is also written: “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.” Hebrews 12:1-3. So then, are you living your live in such a way that it demonstrates that you value the sacrifice Christ did for you? Lord bless! John

The Basis for Faith - John 4:46-54

Based on John 4:46-54 (New King James Version)

“So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a certain nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.’ The nobleman said to Him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go your way; your son lives.’ So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, ‘Your son lives!’ Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, ‘Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.’ So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, ‘Your son lives.’ And he himself believed, and his whole household. This again is the second sign Jesus did when He had come out of Judea into Galilee.”

Believing in the Lord through signs and wonders has inherent problems, and they should not be the foundation for our faith in the Lord, and for many reasons. A great majority of people, and unfortunately, many who say that are believers have this problem, that they expect for God to demonstrate to them personally through signs and wonders His existence and power as a condition for them to believe.

The first problem that this issue of demanding signs and wonders of God has to do with a big problem involving pride and arrogance, and it is very easy to determine this because if someone wants for a another person to prove themselves to them is because they feel worthy of receiving such proof. In other words, by demanding from God that He needs to do something special so they can believe puts God in a position of service, like if God becomes God if He receives their seal of approval per se. Can a human being demand from a being like God proof that He is real? Let’s think on how absurd and completely out of place this issue is. If you really look at this, it can be categorized as insulting to God. Let’s put ourselves in God’s position for a moment: “The heavens and earth and the entire universe tells of My glory, everything visible and invisible knows that I am the Almighty, and the eternal powers that I have created acknowledge and worship Me for who I am, and I have to prove myself in some way to this person, to a being that is less than nothing, that I AM who I AM?” Do you understand how ridiculous and completely out of place this demand is? This is what the Bible says regarding this: “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, ‘Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.’ But He answered and said to them, ‘An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.’” Matthew 12:38-42. So then, if a person desires to commit the absurdity of questioning God’s existence, they may want to think really hard on Who they are doubting and should brace themselves for the consequences, if there is no turning away from this mindset.

The other problem that emerges with waiting for God to prove His existence and capacities with signs and wonders is that they are not a good foundation for faith. The reason is because whatever these signs and wonders may be, since they are manifested in a temporary world, they are also temporary in nature. As an example, it can be said that the greatest miracle (physically speaking) that the Lord did on earth was raising the dead, and the Bible tells us that Jesus did this in different occasions. The most clear and definitive demonstration was when He raised Lazarus, because not only did He resurrect Lazarus, but we need to take into account that Lazarus was dead for days. Notwithstanding, and of course, it was something great, but Lazarus finally died yet again. Lazarus is not alive today physically speaking. So then, even though it was something great, it was something temporary. So, how can you take something that is temporary as a foundation for what should be eternal? In other words, what good is it to me that my faith in the Lord be founded on something temporary? What good is it to believe in something that cannot assure me eternity if I have the same proof in Lazarus and that he died again? We can say the same thing about the loaves of bread and fish, of the lepers He healed, of the lame He made walk, of the blind He gave sight to, etc. They are all finally temporary things, that yes, tell of the glory of God, of the veracity of the Lord Jesus, and the work of the Holy Spirit, but they have a limited result, and possibly, man could come to duplicate those things in some way, whether it be through medicine, science, and/or technology.

The other problem that surges is: “What if God does not answer in the way I want Him to, with a miracle?” What then? For example, the Apostle Paul was not healed from his thorn. The Apostle John died of old age in jail. The Apostle Peter died being crucified upside down. Many prophets had very sad endings humanly speaking, as it is written: “Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise.” Hebrews 11:35b-39. What then? Did these people not have enough faith and that is why they ended up the way they did? That’s why we need to be very careful with what we listen to and what is used as a base for our faith because it is very easy to be drawn away by apostasy (demonic doctrines), by what is distorted from the Word of God (the devil uses the Word to make lies sound like truth). There will never be more faithful people than these or others spoken of in the Scriptures. And so, what then? We should simply not base our faith in God on things that are subject to our criteria, on the temporal, but rather, it should be based on the eternal, only on the Lord. It is written: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.” Hebrews 11:1-2.

The greatest miracle and sign that the Lord left us that is most useful to us is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the One who is at this very moment seated at the right hand of the Father. Jesus is the One who gives eternal life to all who believe in Him and follow Him faithfully until the end, no matter what happens (even if things don’t turn out the way you want them). The basis of our faith should only be on the Lord because He is the Almighty and the Eternal God. He is the resurrection and the life. And when what is temporary is gone, He is the only one that remains forever and ever, and the only One that can give us of the life that really matters, eternal life. So then, what is the basis of your faith? Lord bless! John

Looking to be Ready for the Day of Christ - Philippians 1:1-11

Based on Philippians 1:1-11 (New King James Version)

“Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers with me of grace. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”

When we become born again in Christ, is there nothing else left to do? There has been much controversy through time regarding whether a person loses their salvation or not, of if good works count or not after receiving Christ, and if we will be judged for our good or evil works after coming to Christ. It’s understandable for there to be so much controversy and for two simple reasons: because the devil looks to cause confusion in what is simple and obvious to try to make the saints deviate from the truth, and because of the sin that still dwells in us, even after we have been born again in Christ. Our sin will always try to ensnare us, even until the last moment, until we breathe our last breath. The devil and our sinful nature are a terrible combination. To be able to get to solid answers, we need to go to the Word of God in conjunction with the Holy Spirit’s guidance.

The first thing we can see is through what the writer of the letter believed within himself, the Apostle Paul (of course, inspired by the Holy Spirit). It can be said quite assuredly that Paul was an exemplary life of what it means to not only believe in Christ, but also, what it’s like to follow the Lord faithfully, and such fidelity that it even cost him his life. And towards his physical end, Paul gave his life voluntarily for the Gospel, for his faith in Christ, because Paul could have simply not have been beheaded if he would have denied his faith. This is what Paul himself said about his faith and about his walk much before dying for the Gospel: “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.” Philippians 3:8-13. So then, Paul never thought that receiving salvation was just a matter of time, but rather, he believed that it was something for which you had to fight for, that you had to move forward. So then, if Paul expressed that he had quite a way left to go and a fight to be fought to get to the goal, wouldn’t that apply to us also, to those of us that have not yet arrived and have much effort still left ahead? Otherwise, if salvation was a matter of sitting and waiting and living our lives the way we want to, why did Paul put forth so much effort? And why would he encourage us to do the same? Why did he pray for these Philippians the way he did?

The answer is quite simple: the salvation that can be obtained through God’s grace is not about simply waiting and doing whatever we want, but, quite the contrary. Having and following faith in Christ involves fighting for it, and using the gift of God’s salvation for however God wants to use us. It is not something that you put on a shelf somewhere, or a decoration, or a status symbol. These are all kinds mistakes that are committed when a person does not look faithfully into the Word of God to be able to understand and do the will of God, as we are guided to do so by His Holy Spirit. For it is written: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” Hosea 4:6. In order to be able to know God’s will, as the people of the Most High, and be able to individually become capable for the work, we need to believe His Word and fulfill it in our lives, as it is also written: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17. This is the first and constant step that every person that has decided to follow Christ must take, to be able to abound in what is necessary.

Following Christ to be able to get to what was promised consists of abiding precisely in Christ and doing things for Him, because this is what we are taught also: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” John 15:5-8. Here is where everything starts to work together, because for a doctrine to be sound, it must agree with the Scriptures in their entirety.

Salvation has an end, a purpose, a why, as it is also explained to us in the following: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:8-10. The Word says this also: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, ‘Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’’ ‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.’ Revelation 14:12-13. “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:9-10. So then, are you living your life in such a way that you will be ready for the day of Christ, living for the glory and praise of God? Lord bless! John

Being Faithful - 2 Timothy 1

Based on 2 Timothy 1 (New King James Version)

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, to Timothy, a beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day. Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us. This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that Day—and you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus.”

We live in an age where everything is wanted right away, that everything needs to occur instantaneously and to a person’s liking. Many have titled this phenomenon we are living as a microwave society. The idea behind this is that as many of you know, a microwave supposedly cooks everything much faster than a conventional cook-top or fire. Instead of waiting many minutes or hours, many things in the microwave are cooked in a few minutes or even heated in seconds. And we have become so impatient that we even stand by waiting while the seconds count down and we open the door before the timer expires because even those few seconds seem like an eternity. Many people want everything handed to them and right away. Quite simply, there is no patience for anything.

This issue that everything is required right away and to our liking translates to nearly every aspect of life, like when young people start their very first jobs, and they want to get paid very well right away and they want raises right away instead of waiting for some time pass while they begin acquiring experience, because what is interesting is that they want a lot of money, but many of them know very little. This impatience also translates to marriage. At the first sign of difficulty, many marriages are ended. In the US, the majority of divorces occur within the first 8 years. According to Wilkinson and Finkbeiner (a law firm in California), 50% of all marriages end in divorce, although the percentage has decreased a bit because many people are opting to just live together. In the US, a divorce occurs every 13 seconds. Following that statistic, nine divorces occur during the time it takes for one couple to recite their wedding vows (approx. 2 minutes). And there is a long list of other examples of impatience and lack of dedication.

This problem finally translates to the things that have to do with the Lord. Today, a gospel is preached where God practically must render like a form of customer service, and of course, when the customer wants things and how they want things. And if God does not do things to their liking, they abandon Him and they look in other things where they think they will be catered to. It’s because of this kind of behavior and disposition is that many people abandon the faith, or they create some sort of belief system that is subject to their opinion, but there is simply no faithfulness to the Lord. Practically, the majority of people do as they want and desire but are far from remaining faithful to the Lord. Even more so, and as we saw in today’s passage, we saw all kinds of different people mentioned. We saw some people that abandoned Paul like everyone that was with him in Asia, like Phygellus and Hermogenes. The Lord clarified things like this: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Matthew 7:13-14. The problem that many find is the progress of time, and when they begin to find challenges along the way. The issue is that it is easier to follow the things of the world and to do those things that lead to destruction like we just read. No one likes difficulty, and good costs a lot of work, effort, care, dedication, and yes, even sacrifice. Many lose their patience with time, and for many different reasons. Many abandon the Way when they see that they have to do what the Lord says rather than being able to do what they want. Many abandon the things of God when they see a long and hard road ahead, when things become difficult, when persecution and condemnation start, when God supposedly does not fulfill their petitions like they want, or when the world starts looking more appetizing than the Lord’s things. Quite simply, they leave the narrow path because other things take priority over any kind of feeling or idea they have of God. And many times, people make the mistake in thinking that abandoning the Lord consists in denying the faith completely. Abandoning the Lord consists also in not following Him. That is also true abandonment, because we have to pursue and walk with the Lord; we need to follow Him, as it is written: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” Matthew 10:37-38. The Lord is always in motion, doing different things, and to be able to be with Him, we need to follow Him, not just believe in Him, and even less, become stagnant and expect for God to leave His way for us. This is very different to what is preached commonly.

And as an ending, we see another group of people that did follow the Lord and remained faithful until the end. We saw this Timothy that becomes one of the principal leaders of the local church, but thanks to the faithfulness of his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. When seeing this, we can understand that faithfulness creates a chain through time, a chain that the Lord started, and was followed by the Apostles and the disciples, and these brought others to the Lord by remaining faithful, and so on until now. If we remain faithful to the Lord until our time is fulfilled here, we will form part of this great chain that God desires to make through eternity, that what we do here remains forever in perpetuity and before the great throne of God. So then, have you thought about just how important it is for both you and those that surround you that you remain faithful to the Lord all the days of your life, fulfilling His great and eternal purpose? Lord bless! John

Living a Lifestyle of Obedience - 2 Samuel 2:1-7

Based on 2 Samuel 2:1-7 (New King James Version)

“It happened after this that David inquired of the Lord, saying, ‘Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah?’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Go up.’ David said, ‘Where shall I go up?’ And He said, ‘To Hebron.’ So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite. And David brought up the men who were with him, every man with his household. So they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, ‘The men of Jabesh Gilead were the ones who buried Saul.’ So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead, and said to them, ‘You are blessed of the Lord, for you have shown this kindness to your lord, to Saul, and have buried him. And now may the Lord show kindness and truth to you. I also will repay you this kindness, because you have done this thing. Now therefore, let your hands be strengthened, and be valiant; for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.’”

One of the big problems that exists today in Christianity is the lack of obedience to God. And what the devil has used to be able to have this evil happen are the bad doctrines that he has infiltrated by using many of these so called ministers and preachers of God, by instilling everything that has to do with the abuse or ill use of God’s grace and love. In many places, God’s love and grace are taught like a license to sin, as if God’s grace and love has nothing to do with obeying and living a life that glorifies God. We can try to blame the devil all we want (and he is guilty), but there is also a great attraction to this evil. So then, the same evil that happened in the garden of Eden with Satan, Adam, and Eve is produced. The devil tempted man with something that appeared to be true to make them fall, but the woman and man found both pleasing and appetizing this false truth they were being sold, and they fell precisely in the sin that we are talking about today, the sin of disobedience, which involves many things.

For starters, disobedience never brings anything good, no matter how much love and grace God dispenses. In all reality, disobedience produced the fall of man, and if there is no obedience towards God and to what He commands, all of God’s grace and love cannot fix the consequences of the sin of disobedience. For it is written: “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?” Romans 6:15-16. What we need to understand is that we were created by God, and we were made for service, and as such, what we choose to do with ourselves is what we wind up serving, and therefore, we become servants and slaves to what we do. And as the Word just explained, if we obey God, then we become slaves (because of love) for God, but if we serve sin, we then become slaves to sin and to whoever sin belongs to. So, will God’s grace and love be able to save us if we choose to serve sin and the devil?

This is something also that the Word of God teaches: “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.” 1 John 5:1-4. And this is the greatest commandment and perfect will of God that we should fulfill through Jesus Christ: “Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.’” Mark 12:29-31. There is no love for God if there is a desire to disobey.

As a beginning to obedience to God, the very obedience that saves us is when we repent and convert from all of our sins, and when we acknowledge and make Jesus the Lord of our lives, and this cannot just be words, but rather, with all of our heart. And this is only the beginning, just as the Word explains it, that when we come to Christ we are born again in Christ, and as a birth, a person needs to grow and develop to become what God desires for them to be. This is God’s will also: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17. We were saved by God’s grace and love, but so we can do those things that perpetuate life, for every good work, and not for us to do whatever we want, and least of all, for us to return to the sin that caused our spiritual death to begin with. This is the great error that is taught as truth, that God’s love consists in that God needs to forgive our unrepentant disobedience and rebellions and for Him to serve us in whatever we want. And this is the same error that is taught as love also, that loving your neighbor consists in not giving them Godly counsel and letting them sink in their sin, and furthermore, support them in the wrong they do. Love can never consist of supporting sin and in not doing anything to help someone else that is destroying themselves in decadence. Christ died on the cross not so we can do what we want, or to fulfill our whims, and even far less, so we can serve sin in some way, but rather, He died and was resurrected to give us eternal life, and so we could be made free to do those things that do produce life.

Now then, what does all of this have to do with today’s passage? And so, we need to read this: “And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’ From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior—Jesus—” Acts 13:21-23. David was not a perfect man, but for the majority of his life, he lived a lifestyle of obedience to God, looking to do what was pleasing to God, and supporting those that did the same. And God would guide David because he would look to do God’s will, not his own will. He understood that the Lord was the Lord and his desire was to do what his Lord desired. This same concept exists today, especially as a product of the death and sacrifice of our Lord. God’s grace and love was shown on the cross so that we could be able to belong to the Lord through faith, to make us part of His kingdom, and to be able to live a life free from the power of sin so we can fulfill God’s will,. And so, are you living a lifestyle of obedience to the Lord by looking to do His will? Lord bless! John

God’s Mercy - Jonah 3-4

Based on Jonah 3-4 (New King James Version)

“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.’ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’ So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, ‘Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?’ Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord, and said, ‘Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!’ Then the Lord said, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’ So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, ‘It is better for me to die than to live.’ Then God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?’ And he said, ‘It is right for me to be angry, even to death!’ But the Lord said, ‘You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?’”

It’s easy to remember the prophet Jonah because of what happened to him because of his disobedience. He was the one that got swallowed up by a big fish for not wanting to do God’s will. What was Jonah’s problem? Why did he not want to go to Nineveh? The reason is simple. Nineveh was the Assyrian Empire capital of that time, one of the most brutal empires, and Israel’s main enemy. They were blood thirsty and power-hungry people, and within their own civilization, they were very decadent which much paganism, like many kingdoms during that time. Quite simply, they were despicable and for many reasons. But the Lord has always been a merciful God, and He loves all mankind, and at the very least, He wants to give everyone an opportunity for repentance, in one way or another. And He is even more merciful when there is ignorance, when people simply have not had a good and clear opportunity to know Him.

The situation is that God loves people incredibly. He is not the God that many think of as being cruel, like He is ready to punish or cannot control His wrath. If that were true, no one would exist right now. God’s wrath is something very terrible because He is the Almighty of the universe. But, within His incredible Being is this incredible love and mercy, and He desires everyone’s good, even those that seem most evil. No one is far away from God’s mercy. As it is written: “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live? Ezekiel 18:21-23. He always leaves the opportunity for repentance. God does not expect for us to be perfect here (because it’s impossible), but rather, He desires repentance and conversion, that there be at least a desire to change when confronted with our sin. That’s what God looks for in mankind.

What should be our incentive to help others come to the Lord, even our enemies? No one likes to know this reality, but here it comes, what our reality was before being born again in Christ: “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” Ephesians 2:1-3. Whether we have sinned a lot or a little before coming to Christ, we were all children of wrath, dead in our sins, and faraway from God; and in reality, God’s enemies. And if God had mercy on us being what we used to be; He also desires to have mercy on those that are just as lost as we were. Are those of us that have come to Christ before better than the rest that have not come yet? Of course not.

Jonah’s error was believing that he was more deserving of God’s mercy than Nineveh. And this is the error that many believers commit, forgetting from where God took them from, of what they used to be before coming to Christ. None of us were good, and we are still not good. Quite simply, there is no place for pride or a feeling of superiority. And that is why we need to do what Christ did, even with His enemies, because the Lord even gave Judas Iscariot the opportunity to repent from his evil ways, knowing all of the thoughts that Judas had, and even the evil he was doing while with them, because God knows everything. This is the work of those that have come to Christ, our responsibility: “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.’” Mark 16:15-16. Can it be inconvenient or difficult to share the Gospel? Of course, it can, and very much! But that is the way it came to us. It cost many people much effort, pain, and even their lives so that I could come to Christ, so we could have what we have today. And of course, what can we say about what the Lord did for us, so that we could also have the opportunity of being saved? So then, will you form part of God’s mercy, so that others can also have the opportunity of being saved, at whatever cost? Lord bless! John

God Rewards Faithfulness - Genesis 39

Based on Genesis 39 (New King James Version)

“Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there. The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand. So Joseph found favor in his sight, and served him. Then he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put under his authority. So it was, from the time that he had made him overseer of his house and all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had in the house and in the field. Thus he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand, and he did not know what he had except for the bread which he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came to pass after these things that his master’s wife cast longing eyes on Joseph, and she said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, ‘Look, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’ So it was, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not heed her, to lie with her or to be with her. But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me.’ But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran outside. And so it was, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, that she called to the men of her house and spoke to them, saying, ‘See, he has brought in to us a Hebrew to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. And it happened, when he heard that I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went outside.’ So she kept his garment with her until his master came home. Then she spoke to him with words like these, saying, ‘The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came in to me to mock me; so it happened, as I lifted my voice and cried out, that he left his garment with me and fled outside.’ So it was, when his master heard the words which his wife spoke to him, saying, ‘Your servant did to me after this manner,’ that his anger was aroused. Then Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in the prison. But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison; whatever they did there, it was his doing. The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph’s authority, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper.”

Does everything turn out well when we do good? Here and now, sometimes yes, and sometimes no. Doing God’s will here on earth does not assure us that everything will turn out fine here. There are many that teach that if a person has sufficient faith, that they will be able to get many things here on earth, even impossible things, and that everything will be fine. That’s what they base faith on. If we are reading the same Bible, then that is not true. If things go well for you here, then that does not mean that your faith is strong, just like if things don’t turn out well for you here does not mean that you don’t have faith or that God loves you less. There are many things that are taught as truth when in reality they are not. The truth is that doing good things now on earth and having a lot of faith does not guarantee that things will go well here and now, and that’s why our focus should not necessarily be on the here and now, because if we only focus on the here and now, you may lose your faith or misunderstand what faith is about which can then take you down a path that is very far from the Lord. The way to perdition contains many things that seem like the truth.

For starters, we saw a part of Joseph’s life, a person that was an example of faith and faithfulness to the Lord, who suffered many times for doing what is right. If you know the story, Joseph was sold as a slave by his brothers (although some just wanted him dead) because he was faithful to the Lord, because they envied him. After being sold, Potiphar bought him. Things went more or less well for a short time (although he was a slave), but this time, he was accused unjustly of trying to rape Potiphar’s wife. And from there, he was imprisoned. Things started looking up again (per se) while in jail, although not only was he a slave now, but also, a prisoner, without any kind of right or human value. And in summary and after certain events, God allows for Joseph does rise to power and He uses him with Pharaoh to help Egypt and his own people. But, Joseph had many ups and downs, very unpleasant moments, and not one time do we see Joseph be unfaithful, but actually quite the contrary, many of his problems were caused by his faithfulness to God.

This is what the Word of God truly teaches: “Having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.” 1 Peter 3:16-18. It is possible to experience hard times (humanly speaking) when we fulfill God’s will, when being faithful, for it is also written: “Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented—of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.” Hebrews 11:35b-40.

So then, where should our sights be placed on to be able to remain in Christ, even through those hard times that we may need to endure for doing God’s will? It is written: “For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” 1 Corinthians 15:16-20. Faith in Christ is not necessarily for this world, and even far less, to be used for the things of this world, but rather, faith in Christ and being faithful to Him is for the resurrection, for eternity. Therefore: “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. So, will you be faithful to the Lord, no matter what happens, so that you can get to what really matters? Lord bless! John

Jesus Transforms Those that Follow Him - Acts 26:1-23

Based on Acts 26:1-23 (New King James Version)

“Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You are permitted to speak for yourself.’ So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself: ‘I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews, especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently. My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers. To this promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and day, hope to attain. For this hope’s sake, King Agrippa, I am accused by the Jews. Why should it be thought incredible by you that God raises the dead? ‘Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests, at midday, O king, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me. And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ So I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’ Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance. For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come—that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.’”

All of us that have been born again in Christ started as something completely different. We see in today’s passage how Paul tells of his conversion, and what he used to do before coming to Christ, and how God transformed and converted him into something completely different and contrary to what he was. Saul (or Paul) was an extremely religious man, even to the point of feeling such zeal for his religion that he even persecuted the church, and jailed and consented in the death of many (as he consented in Stephen’s death). He did what he did not because he liked hurting people like some have erroneously assumed. Before Christ, Paul was a powerful man, with great political support, very educated, of the Hebrew aristocracy, a Roman citizen, and quite possibly, rich as such. But, by seeing his writings and stories, we see a person that is completely different, that he left everything for this new faith in Christ, and that history tells us that he traveled more than 10,000 miles (16,000 km) preaching this Gospel, and that he was even decapitated for his faith in Christ in the end. From being someone powerful, rich, strong, he ended up in another faith; and humanly speaking—poor, persecuted, and even died prematurely. What can cause such a transformation in a person, and moreover, take them to a complete reverse of what many would consider as something crazy and undesirable; especially comparing his life to today’s mainstream Christianity?

The issue is quite simple. He had an encounter with God, with Jesus Christ. And when he had that encounter, there was a transformation in the way he felt and thought, something happened at the center of his being in those moments that made him become a completely different person. Instead of continuing his persecution of the Church, his course changed, there was instant repentance and conversion. At that moment, Paul felt He found something, or Someone, much greater than what he thought and believed. He found Someone of greater worth and power than his human status, his human powers, his human wealth, and even his religious beliefs. He found himself completely overtaken by God, and he abandoned everything he was and had for Someone he esteemed as greater and more worthy, like he said it himself: “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.” Philippians 3:7-9.

Can anyone come to this? And the answer is, yes. Everyone that desires to truly know God can do it through Jesus Christ. Paul did what he did before coming to Christ because he thought he was serving God, and Christ came to encounter him so He could help him take the right path. God tries to do the same with all of us, in one way or another. The problem is that many people are too focused in other things that they lose sight of the shining of God’s glory. Do you think you have not had the opportunity Paul had? You are wrong. Do you not see the sunshine or hear the great works of the Creator, or smell the fragrance of His creation? All of our senses are capable of sensing God’s glory, day after day; and the death and resurrection of the same Christ that Paul believed is the same we have today. The issue is simply that there is no true repentance or conversion in many people because they are looking to justify sin and their love for the world rather than appreciating the greatness of Almighty God, the same Jesus that Paul saw on the way to Damascus. Many are more content or still searching for the crumbs of this age. “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.” Acts 3:19.  

When you give yourself the opportunity to see the glory of God through Jesus Christ, and you come to a true repentance and conversion, then you will start to understand what was that thing that motivated Paul (that also motivates me), and God will start to change your life, as it is written: “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” Galatians 5:24. So then, have you decided to abandon your sin and truly follow Christ so you can be transformed by Him? Lord bless! John

True Ministry - Acts 13:1-12

Based on Acts 13:1-12 (New King James Version)

“Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John as their assistant. Now when they had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, ‘O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.’ And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.”

What does the true ministry in the Lord really consist of? Do you need to leave or abandon everything to be able to truly serve the Lord? Maybe yes, maybe no. Do you have to go to seminary or a special school to be able to prepare for the ministry? Maybe yes, maybe no. Does a person need to go to a faraway land to be able to truly serve the Lord? Maybe yes, maybe no. Is the only way that a person can serve the Lord is if they are recognized by some Christian institution with established credentials? Maybe yes, maybe no.

To be able to understand what true ministry really is, we need to go to the Bible and to see what God truly says about this, not what men say it is, because that is the primary problem that commonly exists, people letting themselves be guided by human opinion rather than seeing what God says through His Word. This is what the Lord Himself left established: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen.” Matthew 28:19-20. What does it mean to “make disciples”? The topic of making disciples is, first of all, taking the Gospel to people that do not know the Lord, those that have not yet been able to establish that personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. That is the first step, because the second, to be able to fulfill the idea of making disciples has to do with what the word “disciple” which means: a follower. And of course, making a person a disciple of Christ is helping them not only come to believe in Christ, but also, helping them follow the Lord, that they adopt the lifestyle that the Word of God teaches. God not only desires believers, and He did not command us to just make believers only (because believing in the Lord and following Him are two completely different things). This is what the Word says about believing: “But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?” James 2:18-20. So then, coming to believe in Christ only is not a great thing, and it is not what saves you, because otherwise, then demons could be saved (which is impossible). Salvation comes through believing and following Jesus, becoming His disciple, doing what He teaches. And so, true ministry has to do with everything that involves making disciples for the Lord, either helping people come to Christ, as well as helping people follow Christ, or both. That is true ministry, the service that the Lord is truly looking for.

It is an error to think that we must leave everything to serve the Lord. God wants for us to follow Him, and for Him to be the One that says what we should or should not do. Paul, for example, worked to sustain himself, and moreover, and he did this as an example that should be followed, for it is written: “But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you; nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread.” 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12. So then, leaving our jobs is not a Biblical requirement. For the glory of the Lord, I keep my own secular job (that many times requires between 50-60 hours a week, and sometimes even more) to be able to follow the Biblical example and not be a burden, and not to look to make myself rich either (I am far from that).

What should in the end be true ministry? The Word explains it like this: “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’ And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Peter 1:13-19. True ministry consists of being available for what the Lord wants, if He really is the Lord of your life (because He is the One that should be in command, not us), and obeying Him, in making disciples for Christ where He says so, both how and when, whether it be at work, at school, with your family, with your neighbors, with your friends, with total strangers, for you to be available and obedient like those great men and women that preceded us in the faith, that thank the Lord, and thanks to them, we have what we have today. If it were not for their obedience and disposition in the Lord, I would not know the Lord like I know Him and try to follow and serve Him until He comes for me. So then, are you fulfilling a true ministry, despite the challenges that you may find along the way? Lord bless! John

Murmuring Against God - Exodus 16:1-3

Based on Exodus 16:1-3 (New King James Version)

“And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, ‘Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’”

Do you understand that God sees and hears everything, and even knows your inner most parts? God knows everything. How can I make such an assertion? Because the Word says so. For starters, the Word of God is more than just a collection of words and thoughts written through the centuries by men that were inspired by God. The Word of God is a Person, the Person of Christ, as it is written: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” John 1:1-2. The Word is part of the Divine Trinity, and John reveals Him as the Lord Jesus. And so, by establishing this fundamental principle is that we can establish the following, as it is also written: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:12-13. Therefore, the Word of God is spoken of in a personified sense because It (He) is a Person, the Word is the Lord. As such, the Word of God, or rather, the Lord pierces even to the division of the soul and spirit, the joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart, and nothing is hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to Him. He knows absolutely everything.

In the following passage, we can see this principle in action, per se, as it is written: “Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered. So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Arise and stand here.’ And he arose and stood. Then Jesus said to them, ‘I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?’ And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. But they were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.” Luke 6:6-11. Here we read that He knew their thoughts and understood their intentions by the way He acted. And of course, they were filled with rage for all of those reasons, because they realized that He knew everything, and that they didn’t even have the smallest excuse to precisely carry out what they wanted to, their plans were completely frustrated. On a tangent, and as further clarification of everything the Lord knew about their plans, the scribes and pharisees could not just go and kill the Lord. It had to be done in a way where they could be seen as the good guys, to feel justified publicly, and so no one could notice their true intentions.

Now then, coming back to today’s key passage, we see again the issue of murmuring and speaking evil of the Lord, because that is what murmuring is: complaining, or speaking ill of someone, and doing it secretly. After God had done such wonderous works, miracles, signs with supernatural power, to free them from the power of Egypt, where they were slaves for centuries, with rigid, harsh, and ruthless masters, those that made them build those great pyramids we see today, with hard work, at the edge of the sword and being whipped, with blood and death, they dare come to complain that God wasn’t doing things right, and that they were better off in Egypt? That is an incredible injustice and such a false accusation! They were truly better off in Egypt? Of course not! There was no limit to their lack of appreciation and ungratefulness! And this issue of murmuring and complaining against God really made Him weary, together with their other sins. That’s why they roamed the desert for 40 years, until the generation that had left Egypt disappeared in the desert. Because of their rebellion and complaints, a trip that should have only taken 9 months if they would have walked a mile per day (1.6 km) took them 40 years. Do you understand that complaining against God, speaking evil of Him, and murmuring brings only more problems? And, why does this happen? Because if a person does not have a heart to acknowledge realities, and to realize everything the Lord has done, continues doing, and intends to do with those that love the Lord, they simply will not receive good while here on earth, and even less, in eternity. How can God reward people that don’t see as blessing and good the things He does? How can God give good if everything He does is seen by them as evil or inferior?

The issue is that we cannot temp the Lord, nor murmur like many times we have the tendency to do (if we are honest), for it is written: “Nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” 1 Corinthians 10:9-11. And this is New Testament passage, not Old Testament, for those of you that claim that the things of the Old Testament don’t apply today. The past was written for us so we can learn from it and apply what we learn from then now, and in the future. This is what we need to keep in mind before murmuring: “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” Isaiah 55:8-9. And I would venture to say that we should be careful with thinking evil of God, having clarified everything we did previously, because not only does He know when you speak evil of Him, but also, He knows and understands even the depths of your being, He knows your thoughts and intentions, as it is also written: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” Jeremiah 17:9-10.

So then, if you don’t look to learn and understand everything God has done, does, and thinks about doing to those that love Him, things will not go well for you. But, if you look to think and feel good towards God, seeing reality, that He loves you and only desires good for you now, even though you may not be able to understand right now because you simply don’t have the capacity to know what He knows, then you will obtain what He has for you now and even more importantly, what He desires for you to have in the future, in eternity. So, will you continue murmuring against Him that sooner or later will give you according to the intentions of your heart? Lord bless! John

The Dispensation of God’s Grace through Faith - Romans 9

Based on Romans 9 (New King James Version)

“I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called.’ That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. For this is the word of promise: ‘At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.’ And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), it was said to her, ‘The older shall serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.’ What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.’ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.’ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?’ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As He says also in Hosea: ‘I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved.’ ‘And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ there they shall be called sons of the living God.’ Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: ‘Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved. For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth.’ And as Isaiah said before: ‘Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah.’ What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. As it is written: ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”

Blaise Pascal said this once: “Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that He (God) exists.” In today’s passage, it can be misunderstood that God supposedly is the One that creates people with predetermined feelings, and from a certain point of view, that can be possible, but in very select cases, not in general. It is necessary to take the Bible in its entirety to be able to get many answers, and not base or fabricate an ideology on a few verses only. For in doing so, it is both an irresponsibility and a great injustice. And moreover, if the things of God are taken out of context of the Scriptures as a whole, God is not the one being affected (under any circumstance), but rather, the people that dedicate themselves to do it and those that listen to and read what these people fabricate. That’s why I cannot emphasize enough that each person should read and study the Word of God, not as an intellectual discipline, but rather, through the faith and enlightenment of the Holy Spirit that only comes through a new birth in Christ. Faith ultimately justifies God’s actions and opens the door to the fulness of God’s grace.

To start, we need to try to understand faith and its great value. God has always subjected His things to faith, and not to human intellect, and far less, to carnal capacities. Quite the contrary, everyone that obtained great rewards and promises in the Old Testament did so based on faith, starting with the father of faith: Abraham. Why subject everything to faith? Because it is something that is within every human being’s reach. To be able to have faith, you don’t need to be highly educated, nor rich, nor powerful, nor anything this world establishes as a requirement. Every human being has the capacity of faith and they exercise it at every moment, consciously or unconsciously, by taking many things for granted because of that same faith they exercise. Even small children have the capacity for faith. And even more so, God counsels us in that we should have faith like that of a child. For example, do you know what happens with your fruits and vegetables before you bought and eat them? Impossible for most. Nonetheless, you maintain a job to pay for them, and you go to the market to buy them, and you eat them without much question or doubt. The same thing is done with medicine. There aren’t that many questions, and they are simply just taken. There is an incredible amount of trust on things that people hardly know anything about. So then, if you have that capacity, then you have the capacity to be able to understand, comprehend, and accept God and what He teaches; you have absolute access to the grace of God with the faith ability you possess and exercise. You are not part of the group of people that possibly were made for other things. The issue then is, “What do you do with your faith? What do you put it on then?” That is the issue.

God has given a small push (per se) to compliment Israel’s hardened heart of not wanting to accept Jesus as the Messiah, so that we the gentiles, those of us that did not have access before for similar reasons to the things of God (because of the incredible hardened heart in our ancestors), can now enjoy the dispensation of God’s grace through faith in Christ. But, we cannot take for granted that the door will remain open much longer, because the opportunity will close at a determined moment when the Scriptures are fulfilled and Israel begins to turn their eyes to the true Messiah, and that is already happening, the fig tree has begun to blossom. We are getting closer and closer to the end, and everything that we are seeing is pointing towards that. The Word exhorts us in this manner: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6. So then, are you exercising the faith you have on taking advantage of the dispensation of God’s grace, or on other things that are not worth very much? Lord bless! John

God’s Judgment is Coming - Joel 2:1-17a

Based on Joel 2:1-17a (New King James Version)

“Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand: A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations. A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; the land is like the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; surely nothing shall escape them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; and like swift steeds, so they run. With a noise like chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array. Before them the people writhe in pain; all faces are drained of color. They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; every one marches in formation, and they do not break ranks. They do not push one another; every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down. They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief. The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble; the sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. The Lord gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; who can endure it? ‘Now, therefore,’ says the Lord, ‘Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.’ So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind Him—a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes; let the bridegroom go out from his chamber, and the bride from her dressing room. Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, ‘Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them.”

The book of Joel is short, but very applicable to us, especially in these moments that we are living through because the Bible in its entirety has many purposes like telling us what happened in the past and leaving written the experiences and consequences of those that were affected and how that relates to us individually today, and principally, the way that God uses it to be able to speak to us as a group and individually. Quite simply, the Word of God was fulfilled before, is being fulfilled now, and it will be fulfilled in the future. The Word of God was, is, and shall ever be; without exceptions, no matter how much many try to do things against it, whether they try to make it vanish, or taking from certain places within it, or cutting it in pieces, or trying to disfigure or change Its meaning with supposed better translations and actualization. No matter what people try to do, God will fulfill His plans with or without man’s acceptance. The big question is: “How will the Word of God be fulfilled in your life?” And, “will you experience His judgment or His grace?”

The people of Israel in general that were taken out of Egypt quite possibly thought that their sin and rebellion was not going to be taken into account, despite the great miracles that God did to free them from the hand of Pharaoh. But in reality, and history tells us, that their rebellion and their evil ways brought judgment upon them, as it is written: “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.’ Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.” 1 Corinthians 10:1-11.

Joel’s message was very similar to those of the other prophets, which consisted of foretelling the evil that would come if there wasn’t a definite change of heart. Many things can be believed that Joel prophesied of, and especially considering when it was believed that the book was written. The prophet Joel gave his message to the people of Judah approximately 835 years before Christ, before the Babylonian conquest. He foretold of a plague of locusts, which we don’t know if it happened or not. But, we need to keep something in mind, that the visions and message that the prophets had many times were either literal or figurative, more or less explaining the events that would come to pass. One thing is certain, and unfortunately, something even more horrible did happen than what a plague of locusts could have been, and that was the Babylonian conquest. The people of Judah did not repent as they should have and great devastation did come about, something they never imagined. They misunderstood God’s mercy as unfulfilled prophecies. They never thought that they would see such a horrendous day where God’s Word spoken through Joel and other prophets like him would be fulfilled, prophets that God used to speak to them time after time, year after year, that they should change from their ways, repent from their sins, and turn to their God. Historically speaking, the Babylonian tactic of attack was incredibly swift and overpowering, like that of swarms of locusts, men that were quite skilled and agile that knew how to ride horses like others were not able to, and they used weapons of fire. Everything that their army would touch was left in flames and ashes, and everyone they found in their way would be killed. They left nothing as they passed through, only bodies and a completely devastated and consumed land.

Having read this, should we commit the mistake of believing that we are the exception? Should we think that God’s grace would invalidate His holiness and the expectations He has for those that say that are His people? I don’t think it would be very wise to commit such mistakes and assume so erroneously. Many things could happen to us that would devastate us as a group or individually, whether it be because of the sin of many, or because of individual sin, or simply because we live in a fallen world. Both the righteous and the unjust will be affected. The issue is that God’s judgment is coming. Unfortunately, we will see even worse days than what we are seeing now if we as a group do not look for the Living God with our hearts. So then, will you be of those that are partly responsible for God’s judgment that is coming, or of those that repented, looking for divine mercy and grace? Lord bless! John

God’s Instruction is for Our Benefit - Leviticus 11:1-23

Based on Leviticus 11:1-23 (New King James Version)

“Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth: Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud—that you may eat. Nevertheless these you shall not eat among those that chew the cud or those that have cloven hooves: the camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; the rock hyrax, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; the hare, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you. ‘These you may eat of all that are in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers—that you may eat. But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you. They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination. Whatever in the water does not have fins or scales—that shall be an abomination to you. ‘And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, the kite, and the falcon after its kind; every raven after its kind, the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after its kind; the little owl, the fisher owl, and the screech owl; the white owl, the jackdaw, and the carrion vulture; the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. ‘All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you. Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those which have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the earth. These you may eat: the locust after its kind, the destroying locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. But all other flying insects which have four feet shall be an abomination to you.”

Have you ever thought why God would even be concerned with telling us what is good to eat or not? Why would God worry about such details? The Word of God, in its fulness, is God’s complete counsel to man, from Genesis to Revelation. In other words, the Word of God also has its practical side where God tells man what to do for man’s greatest benefit possible. As the Heavenly Father He is, He gives us His instruction for many reasons (let’s not lose focus in that this is a message that is dealing with food only).

The first point is that the Lord gave us His Word for the good of mankind and not for His own good. The Lord is not the one that comes out losing if His counsel is not followed. We are the ones that come out losing. This is something critical that many people do not understand. Whether we obey the Word or not here on earth does not affect in the slightest of ways His kingdom because His kingdom is not even from here, as it is written: “Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.’” John 18:36. So then, whether we follow or not God’s things does not impact in the very least His kingdom, His sovereignty, or His existence. This is what the Word teaches us: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17. So, the Word of God, His counsel is only for our own good. We are ultimately free to do whatever we want to do in this place, but everything bears a consequence, as it is also written: “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.” 1 Corinthians 10:23.

The second point has to do with the purpose the Word has, or rather, with our obedience to it. This world is only a prelude to greater and more lasting things. The purpose that this world has is to see what a person is capable of, and nothing more, whether a person understands or not what they need to understand to move forward to the next thing. This is what the Lord said: “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” John 3:12. In other words, if we don’t want to understand, and least of all, obey simple things in the present, how can we then understand and take part in greater things? It’s like a child that does not want to learn that two plus two is four. How can you teach a child multiplication, division, algebra, geometry, etc. that does not want to learn how to add? So then, what does God do with people that neither desire to accept or understand that He is God, that don’t desire to love Him or follow Him, that never take Him seriously, and of course, without any kind of desire to obey Him? His Word explains it even more clearly through this: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. ‘So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ ‘Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ ‘But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” Matthew 25:14-30. If a person desires to be useless, then what more can be done?

The Lord gives us His counsel through the Word to see what we are and what we do with it, if we desire to be apt or not, if we appreciate His love and teaching, or if we simply just want to fulfill our own will, something that will never take us to God, nor to what He has prepared for those that love Him. So then, do you look to understand and follow God’s instructions, for your own good? Lord bless! John

God and Human Authorities - Luke 20:20-26

Based on Luke 20:20-26 (New King James Version)

“So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor. Then they asked Him, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth: Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?’ But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, ‘Why do you test Me? Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?’ They answered and said, ‘Caesar’s.’ And He said to them, ‘Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.”

Before sharing this message, we will make a clarification. The purpose and reason for why this ministry and yours truly exists is to be dedicated to sharing Jesus Christ and His Truth with the world. The only standard that shall remain upheld, with God’s help, is precisely the Lord’s and everything that supports His things. Therefore, and as the Holy Bible as a foundation, with the thought that everyone (without exception) will need to give an account before the Most High someday, we will share and support precisely the things of God, and not the concepts of this world and society. So then, if there is disagreement or discontent with the content, you will not necessarily be contending with people and their opinions, but rather, with God Himself and the counsel that is given to us through His Word. In other words, do not get upset at the messenger because we didn’t write the Word of God, we only try to share it with the greatest fidelity possible, for the good of every person that either reads or listens to what is being shared. The Lord only wants what is good for us. In summary, the topic is this: to be able to please God and fulfill His will on earth, we are not called to rebel against the authorities, nor desire any evil upon them, but actually, quite the contrary.

To be able to understand this better, we need to consider the historic context in which the Lord Jesus found Himself when He spoke in this passage. The Roman Empire was the empire that was the most destructive and imposed itself more harshly over everything it conquered. The Roman Empire did not conquer the majority of its territory through diplomacy or friendship, but quite the contrary, they conquered through war, with the shedding of blood and death, with the advancement of its army and its legions. And when they reigned over the different nations, they were ruthless and inflexible. And with all of this, people needed to pay tribute and taxes just like we read today. The Son of God Himself paid taxes. Understanding all of this context, the Lord never spoke about rebelling against Rome, nor about destabilizing its authority, nor about putting up any kind of resistance. On the contrary, He said and taught: ‘Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ Understanding this, is there any Biblical reason to justify the contrary today, having conditions that are extremely different to those from before? There is simply no justification. God never spoke about defying the authorities, nor of rebellion, no matter how ruthless or unfair they could have been. This is what the Word of God teaches: “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For he is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for he does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject, not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for they are God’s ministers attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:1-8. And this is how the Lord continues counseling us, and in the things we should occupy ourselves: “Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.” Titus 3:1-8.

And if there are injustices committed by anyone, without exception, this was what the Lord taught us: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48.

And finally, Paul is the greatest example we have of someone that was used greatly by the Lord after converting. That is why God is interested in a sinner’s transformation. We see in the following a small narration of how Paul behaved as a Jewish authority before coming to faith in Christ: “Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.” Acts 26:9-11. What would have happened if one of the Christians from back then would have killed Paul in vengeance for all of the evil he did? We would not have much of the Bible we have today, and even far less, many of us would not know the Lord. The glory belongs to God, but God used Paul as His vessel, for his eternal reward (because everything that we do for the Lord will have its reward in eternity).

So then, are you respecting God’s authority by respecting and praying for those that exercise authority over you? Lord bless! John