Don Twobears

The FEW…the Forgiven…ONLY God Knows for Sure! :: by Don Twobears

Published on: by RR2

There comes a time, every so often, when a writer, pastor or whomever comes upon a revelation they did NOT know before. One sits in the sanctuary or in the quiet peace alone, sometimes reading, sometimes praying, sometimes listening to a sermon─when the Lord will touch you and suddenly you will have a certain amount of understanding. This evidently was meant for this particular time and place and if nothing else is ever done in your life, this should be the one thing you make certain to take place.

Most everything we do is on impulse, one person wants: such-n-such and you then try and fill that need, am I not correct? The point is, how much time do we truly put into “prayer” and by this I mean actual, truthful, “fervent prayer?” How many of us are either tired, bored, depressed, whatever the case─to actually come before the Lord and ask HIS blessings on what truly matters in this life? Oh sure we all do the usual, “Lord please give me this or that, blah, blah, blah”…for ourselves…as many blessing as HE thinks we deserve. Come on now! That is just plain…heresy to the Lord! Is this all we can think of…to PRAY about?

What about the “separation of church and state?”

“NO prayer in our schools?”

The changes our elected officials are making…“IN OUR NAME?”

How about the justice of all our judges?

How about our citizens…their SIN before the Lord?

What of the direction our fellow Americans are moving in: perverse actions, homosexuality, pornography, taking the Lord’s name in vain ALL THE TIME?

The divorces, the “living together,” the “Prosperity Gospel” and the “Feel Good Gospel” in our pulpits, of all things?

Is this OUR SIN as well? Are we a part of this problem, as well as those that commit these SINS before the Lord? Do NOT sit back, getting all smug about yourself because WE are indeed at fault for these things…as if we had committed them ourselves! WE allowed these things to come and take place…ON OUR WATCH!

Has it never occurred to anyone, that we are RESPONSIBLE by virtue of allowing these things to take place, when we should have been on our knees and confessing each and every one of them before the Lord, as they took place? This is called APATHY. What was the saying, “Bad things happen when good men fail to stand up for what is good and right?”

I would say that is our state of affairs, right now, wouldn’t you? Where was the thunder of knees hitting the floor every time we went to war, every time the government chose to conduct our children’s upbringing, instead of the parents? Or when the message of pastors and preachers (which was to be the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the cross) became something else all together?

Even worse, as YOU sat there and listened to that message and did NOTHING! What do YOU think Jesus Christ went to the cross at Calvary for? For us to sit around and pat each other on the back, for garbage sermons, hypocritical prayer, false motivations, inept attitudes every day and in every action?

THAT IS WRONG!!!

Do YOU really think the Lord is hearing any of our PRAYERS…when they are worthless Prayers to HIM just looking for blessings for our selves and to hell with everyone else? How far have we fallen now? Let me share this with you, it is from the “Love Worth Finding Ministry” as taught be Adrian Rogers and it was a small devotional in my email, but worth more than every word in it!

BIBLE MEDITATION

“We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have      rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments” (Daniel 9:5).

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Daniel prayed, “We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done      wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and Thy      judgments.” You ask, “Did Daniel do all that?” No, Daniel simply included himself in      his prayer for his nation.

Does God hold me accountable for the abortion in America? Yes! Does God hold me      accountable for the pornography?Yes! For the drug addiction, alcoholism,      materialism, humanism? Yes, He does. Friend, if the church had done what she ought      to have done, and if we would do what we ought to do, then these problems would be      healed. And while we may not commit these sins, they are still our sins. Verse 20 of      this same chapter makes it so clear: “While I was speaking, and praying, and      confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel….

Now, people who don’t know God aren’t going to confess the sin of this nation. Like      Daniel, we must set our face and pray with reflection and repentance, confessing our      sin and the sin of America. Only sin that is confessed is forgiven.

ACTION POINT

Have you ever set your face to prayer? So much of our prayer, I hate to say, is casual      prayer, prayer that comes with almost a take-it-or-leave-it attitude. When are we going      to set our face before God with fasting and determination?

I listen to Adrian Rogers on the radio and on the Net and I am certain that he is a true born-again Christian designated by the Lord to teach and preach the Word of God. I am also convinced that Adrian does so with the direction from the Lord. This devotional was the focal point, that led to my writing this article.

Matthew 7.13-14: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

This is then, the exact spot…”Where the rubber meets the road”…sort of thinking! If we are RESPONSIBLE for the actions of our citizens and the officials over us and yet we never bring this SIN before the Lord and ask HIS forgiveness…for allowing these things…for NOT bringing it before HIM as it took place…then we are living in SIN!

Will we still be one of the FEW?

John 3.16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Is Sin Worth Talking About? :: by Don Twobears

Published on: by RR2

Has it ever occurred to anyone, how easy it is to SIN?

I have been writing lately all that I know about SIN and what the Bible has to say about it. I am very sure this is not going over well with many of my readers─at least according to the numbers of emails I usually receive (for better or worse). I am aware that many become tired of hearing it, yet the real problem is:

We continue with our SIN as usual.

Maybe even more so, considering the times in which we live and the prophecies that are coming true all around us. It would seem preferable to most to strive for a better walk with our Lord, in light of the perils that are so close at hand for this world. Yet the wiles of this world call to us, like a siren at sea speaking sweet murmurs of pleasure of things that come so easily and with so little work involved. By now, we should be in a better position, to see these things as the work of Satan and his ilk.

Everything we believe concerning the Bible as well as anything about Israel or Jerusalem quickly causes us to be perceived as a hostile and unpleasant people. We are now the “haters” because we endeavor to stand with what the Lord says is truth. The world is dying, inch by excruciating inch. The dark clouds of war drift ever so slightly across the Middle East and few are watching, much less doing anything about it.

Far too many sit in the church pews with gloved hands so politely folded in their laps, glazed eyes searching for nothing, ears hearing the same. They seek “prosperity” for themselves. They relish the “feel good” sermon, while little else touches their hearts. Is this not SIN? Does SIN separate us from the proper relationship we should truly desire with our Lord?

Far too many are out of work or are in limited amount of work, thus many suffer difficulties every day. We hate to see this come about and yet…who are those that elected these officials to office? The same officials, that offer little or useless hope to Israel and Jerusalem, instead, choose to mock and verbally assault these two. And to think the varied amounts of help and ingenuity the Israeli’s have shared with us!

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35-35).

Last time I checked, is it not the right thing to do, to reciprocate when one does good to you? Evidently not in this day and age! The Lord God Almighty has shown us─you and me, so much more good than we could ever deserve; the death of HIS only SON on the cross at Calvary! How are we showing our Love for HIM? Or could it be we are more interested in our little lives and so we turn our collective backs on HIM?

“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).

I try and make words my world when writing, and every time I come across that passage of Scripture, I am frozen for a moment. It is the word: FEW. It sticks in my throat and paralyzes my fingers! My thoughts begin to drift to the question, “Am I walking with my Lord as I should?” At this point. I must confess, if I must ask, then there is much for me to confess and ask the Lord to repair our relationship

Having said all this, does the issue of our own SIN become more relevant? Anyone who seeks the blessings of the Lord, seeks a relationship of worth with HIM, ought to be considering this issue for themselves.? Is your relationship, where it should be with the Lord? Don’t feel bad, I have the same questions and it is how it should be, considering the ramifications…if it is NOT! So then it is, that word FEW scares the beejaybers out of me!

It is in my prayer that I bring this fear to the Lord and then it escalates to my wife and to my children. It must be understood, that “fervent prayer” is needed and nothing less! Am I the only one that sees the veracity needed here, because the answer, if less than needed, would be catastrophic! These verses run continually through my head and the word FEW is always punctuated. I don’t know how others are dealing with this, I don’t know if they care as much about it. I seldom receive any feedback concerning this issue, so I have little to assess in that regard. Far too many are too willing to sit on the sidelines and read or listen with little else taking place afterward, or at least, it seems that way to me. The Lord blesses my family on a continual basis, but does that mean it is enough? Conundrums!

The Bible is so exacting, as to divide the body and the Spirit (Hebrews 4:12).

It must mean that my life with Jesus Christ must be as exacting as well. Yet in view of this world and what this world expects of each of us, though we should be separate, how are we to make the relationship work? It is then paramount to KNOW, that it is by the FAITH we have in Jesus Christ not in ourselves or our deeds, that not only saves us eternally, but makes us better stewards of this one relationship. It is by the name of “Abba Father” that we must be eternally consigned to.

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:4-7).

Here, in this one passage of Scripture, we find the answer to our questions. Please make note of the part of the verse that is underlined. It is in the hand of Jesus Christ, that we find out if we are acceptable to God or not, if we will join HIM in the Rapture or not.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).

The Bible uses the “body” as a way of looking at our SIN, it is frail and easily damaged, infected and destroyed. The “spirit” is altogether different! That goes back to God upon the death of our body and HE decides the eternal destination for that spirit, depending on whether or not the blood of Jesus Christ, covers our SIN. That my friends, is the bottom line! Our SIN is either covered by the blood of Jesus Christ…or it is not!

So…is SIN still that all important part of our lives…or is it not?

One way or the other, you will, as do I, come to terms with Jesus Christ about our SIN. If your SIN is covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, you are one of the FEW, you have nothing to fear. If it is NOT covered, then the entire situation is different, you die in your SIN. This alone, is the reason for the Bible speaking so directly about SIN and it is also the entire reason for Jesus Christ going to that Roman cross and dying there.

Thus, if it is not a welcomed subject for everyone to consider, there is a failure to communicate with you and it is not the fault of God! The fault has ALWAYS been ours and it is up to you and me to change that! It is you and me who are SINNERS and it is up to God to decide if our choice between heaven and hell is relevant to our decision between Jesus Christ or Satan. I didn”t say so, The Word of God…says so!

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).