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Don’t Hope To Buy

27 … it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment ~ Hebrews 9:27b

The Egyptians used to bury their kings with gold and silver in holes that they could take it with them in the afterlife. In fact, they even mummified their cats and buried them with them in hopes that they’d be able to take their cats with them. In ancient Greece, they would put two coins on the eyes of the dead so that they could bribe Charon, the ferryman who delivered the dead across the river in Hades.

See, there was no hope in the ancient world, so they tried to bring their money with them. They tried to bribe and pay for eternity, but here’s the thing, you can’t take anything with you.

Nowhere does it speak of a purgatory in Scripture, and especially not one where you’re able to buy your way out. That renders Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross useless, and null and void, if we can now purchase it for money.

Once you die, that’s it. There’s no second chance. There’s no buying your way out. There’s no praying your way out. It is allotted once to die and then the judgment.

Therefore, prepare for eternity now. Don’t wait for you to feel the flames of eternity creep up to repent. Today is your opportunity to be saved, tomorrow is promised to no one. You can’t take your money with you. You can’t buy your way out. Only accepting Christ, picking up your cross, and following Him will get you to Heaven. He paved the way. He canceled the debt. He paid for you. So, the only way to be saved is through Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Hope To Buy.

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Be Armed

[14]  Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? [15] What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? [16] What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [17] Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, [18]  and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” ~ 2 Corinthians 6:14-18

I had a dream last night that I was walking from the living room to the stairs and the front door was wide open. I slowly walked to it and looked out. There was no one outside. Just a plastic bag blowing in the wind as it rained, yet I got this scared eerie feeling come over me. So I closed the door and crept up the stairs where I saw one other person in my home. He was keeping very low to the ground and told me he was the only one. He then handed me a box of tissues as a weapon. I thought immediately, no I need the BB gun in my side dresser. As I walked back down the stairs to find a better weapon, I woke up.

My home was in danger because the door was left unlocked and there were no defensive weapons in the home to get to. Each and every one of us is a home. A spiritual home. It’s where the Spirit of the LORD, God Himself wants to dwell, but He will never break in and force you. However, the enemy will always find a foothold.

We have to be on guard at all times. What we watch, listen to, thoughts we entertain, words that come out of our mouths, and the actions we make when we think no one’s watching. The enemy doesn’t need a formal invitation or any invitation for that matter in order to enter into your life and cause havoc. He just needs you to forget to lock the door or window. Forget to bring in the key. Forget to have your spiritual weapons on you at all times so that you might fight off his attacks.

We are to be on guard. Our enemy is not defeated to us. He is a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Seeking someone to overcome. To destroy. To enslave. We, as Christians, are not immune to his attacks. On the contrary. His attacks are aimed at us with such force, that the majority of us are bound up.

The Church has just as much divorce, depression, adultery, fornication, lust, sexual immorality, hatred, and anger as the world. In fact, we can no longer even differentiate between the world and the Church. How can we say our enemy is defeated? We are under attack and the only weapon we’ve grabbed is a box of tissues. We need to pick up our Sword of the Spirit. We need to pick up our Shield of Faith and fight back against the enemy, instead of living our lives in a false security based on the lie that because I am saved, the enemy cannot do anything to me.

We can be saved and still open doors for the enemy to attack. We can be saved and still have our lives taken from us too soon, before our time. We can be saved and still have strongholds in our lives. These are not conflicting statements, that’s why the Church looks just like the world. Because we don’t address or tear down strongholds that open doors in our lives for the enemy to wreak havoc on us, in us, and through us.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Armed.

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Look To The Millennia

[8] But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. [9] The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ~ 2 Peter 3:8-9

When Peter tells us that a thousand years is like a day with the LORD and a thousand years like a day, he’s referring to the coming of the LORD. Now, what does this have to do with the Feast of Booths since it’s the final day of the feast? Well, if a thousand years with the LORD is like a day and a day like a thousand years, and is all in connection to the coming of the LORD, then there is a subtle or hidden message in those words.

There’s seven days of creation and roughly somewhere over six thousand years since creation. Where does that leave us? For six days God worked, but on the seventh day He rested. For six thousand years the earth has been worked by man, but for a thousand years we will rest with the LORD. What a reward. What a fulfillment.

Everything God has authored in His Word has meaning. It’s never just for no reason. Today is the last day of the Feast of Booths, take time today to search His Word and learn more about the LORD and what He has in store for His people.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look To The Millennia.

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Hope In All His Rewards

4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him for a thousand years. ~ Revelation 20:4-6

One day we in Christ will reign with Him for one thousand years. When will this take place? This is after the Second Coming of the LORD, when the dead in Christ rise first, and those of us who are alive and remain are caught up to meet them and Jesus in the clouds, and we go into heaven for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb as every eye watches.

We are not told how long this celebration will last. However, in Jewish tradition, wedding feasts could last several days, and in some cases, they could last up to a week or more.

Therefore, we could be in heaven celebrating for up to seven years or more while the judgment of God is being poured out on the inhabitants of the earth. After the seven angels with the seven plagues have poured out their bowls, the wrath of God is finished, as per Revelation 15:1. So, once the wrath of God is complete, The Great Prostitute, The Beast, and that great city Babylon are all judged.

Then heaven will open and Jesus Himself, who is sitting on the white horse, will come to fight the last war, which at Armageddon. The beast and the kings of the earth with their armies are all gathered to make war against Him. But the beast and the false prophet are captured and thrown alive into the Lake of Fire.

Satan, that great dragon, will be bound with a great chain and thrown into the bottomless pit for a thousand years – the length of the Millennial reign of Christ. Then those who in Christ will reign with Christ for the thousand years. That is a great reward to look forward to. That alone, reigning with our God for a thousand years, is worth all of the strife of this world. What can compare on this earth to reigning with the LORD Jesus Christ Himself for one thousand years? With peace. Security. And no Satan on earth.

Nothing in this life could compare to that great reward, and that reward isn’t even the end of it. There is so much more to come, an eternity with Christ. An eternity of perfection. Where every tear will be wiped away and pain, suffering, and hurt will be no more. Where we will dwell with the LORD God and He will be our God and we will be His people.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Hope In All His Rewards.

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Think On The Coming New

[8] For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. [9] So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, [10] for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. [11] Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. ~ Hebrews 4:8-11

As all feasts, the Feasts of Booths foreshadows something. This particular feast foreshadows something in the future that has yet to take place. So, what does it foreshadow? The Feast of Booths was about dwelling in tents in remembrance of how the Israelites dwelt in tents for 40 years. During those 40 years, the LORD sanctified the people, or separated them.

Those who refused to trust in the LORD perished during that time, while those who trusted in the LORD did not perish but remained in the same strength they left Egypt in. Only those who had faith made it into the Promised Land. This world is not our home, we will not receive our eternal home until after the Millennial Reign of Christ and the Last Judgment. Therefore, I believe the Millennial Reign of Christ and the Last Judgment are the fulfillment of the Feast of Booths.

I believe the seven days of the Feast of Booths will be fulfilled in the Millennial Reign of Christ and the eighth day that no other feast has, will be fulfilled in the Last Judgment. For after these two are complete, we will receive our eternal rest in our Promised Land of the New Earth, just as the Israelites got to receive their Promised Land.

So, as Christians, we look forward to eternity with Christ. We look forward to eternity, not in heaven, but on the New Earth. We were never created for Heaven, but for the earth. And one day this failing earth will flee from the presence of God Himself, and the LORD God will create for us a new earth where He will dwell with us forever and ever. He will be our God and we will be His people. What a great hope we have.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Think On The Coming New.

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Look For The Final Fulfillment

2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand. 10 But after His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He also went up, not publicly but in private. ~John 7:2, 10

8 So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” ~ Luke 22:8

The Gospels directly records Jesus keeping only three (though technically two) of the seven God ordained or appointed feasts. Why technically two? Because Jesus is never actually physically recorded in Scripture as celebrating the Feast of Unleavened Bread as it is not the same feast as Passover.

See, by the time of Jesus, the two feasts, Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, had been morphed into one feast. But Jesus is only recorded as celebrating Passover and the Feast of Booths, not the Feast of Unleavened Bread as He died on Passover before the Feast of Unleavened Bread was celebrated, which is the next day.

So, with that said, why is Jesus only recorded as celebrating those two? Because these two are the first and the last of the feasts. Jesus brought the new and better covenant when He came the first time around. At His final return, He will fulfill all covenants.

It’s almost like the LORD is foreshadowing Jesus claiming the titles of the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last in the book of Revelation. Everything in the Bible is written intentionally. Everything has a meaning. I believe this is, at the very least, one of the reasons these are the only two feasts we see Jesus celebrate in Scripture.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look For The Final Fulfillment.

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Fire Sacrifice

36 For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work. ~ Leviticus 23:36

It says that for seven days you shall present food offerings to the LORD. Here’s the thing though, that’s not what the original Hebrew says. When you go to the original Hebrew the words “food offerings” isn’t actually written, it was added in for “clarity.” But instead of adding clarity it actually changes the meaning of the verse. See, they knew Numbers 29:12-34 says in great detail the different sacrifices for each day, which they equated to being food offerings. The Hebrew word there is actually ‘iššeh which literally means “a fire offering” or “that which is burned.” Why does that change the meaning of the verse?

Because it’s an offering brought forth by fire not a food offering that they were commanded to bring to the LORD. Different offerings sacrificed by fire daily. Why does this matter? Because as Christians, we now follow a new and better covenant. The old is the predecessor and it was the physical foundation for a spiritual continuation. No longer do we sacrifice bulls and lambs because Christ has been sacrificed on our behalf as the final sacrifice.

If we read the New Testament we see this fulfilled, for even the Old Testament points to this.

[5] Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; [6] in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. [7] Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’” [8] When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Hebrews 10:5-10

33 And to love Him [God]  with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Mark 12:33

So, what does that mean for us Christians today?

[10]  According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. [11] For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. [12] Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— [13] each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. [14] If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. [15] If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

1 Corinthians 3:10-15

[6] In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, [7] so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:6-7

Our actions, how we live our lives, that is now our offering by fire. We aren’t a did sacrifice. Our actions are not a food sacrifice, but they are an offering treated and brought forth through fire. Why? Because fire purifies. It puts the weight of something to the test. It sees what something is truly made of. That’s why the LORD is a consuming fire. For who can withstand Him and who can stand against His wrath?

Therefore, each day should be a different offering sacrificed by fire to the LORD. A different action and/or act of faith to the LORD. Why? The Fear of Booths was about remembering the importance of putting faith in the LORD and acting on that faith. For faith without actions is dead.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fire Sacrifice.

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Look Forward To Eternity

33 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the Lord.” ~ Leviticus 23:33-34

The Feast of Booths was the final feast given by God to the people of Israel. It was to be observed in the seventh month on the fifteenth day of the month. Why? When we look at the date God gave us for this Feast, we have the seventh month, which is the number of completion. And we have the fifteenth day, which in Hebrew isn’t actually the number fifteen, but the numbers ten and five. Ten is the number of covenant and five is the number of the Church.

So what does this mean? This Feast, like the Feast of Passover, looked back at something, but also looked forward at something to come. It foreshadows the fulfillment of the covenant God has with His Church. His final covenant. His perfect covenant. The completion of wandering this earth without a true eternal home, and then receiving the eternal home of the New Earth.

This is what we have to look forward to. The fulfillment of our promised land. Our eternal New Earth.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Look Forward To Eternity.

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Watch How You Live

[42] You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, [43] that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. ~ Leviticus 23:42-43

Today is the first day of The Feast of Booths. It was given as a statute from the LORD to the people of Israel through Moses. Why? See, the people of Israel had wandered the wilderness for 40 years because they feared the Nephilim in the Promised Land more than they trusted and had faith in the LORD God. Their faith was in their own fear, not in the LORD. So, the LORD had them wander the wilderness for 40 years. And to remember this? They were to dwell in tents for seven days in the seventh month starting on the fifteenth day.

Each year they ware to keep this Feast to the LORD, that the LORD Himself sanctioned. Now, I want you to notice something, they were to dwell for seven years in tents in remembrance of the 40 years in the wilderness. 40 seems to be the number of sanctification, which means to be set apart as holy. During those years, the Israelites who were unfaithful and who refused to enter the Promised Land died in the wilderness. Their descendants however were baptized (by going through the Jordan) and then circumcised into the covenant when they entered the Promised Land.

For 40 years the LORD was sanctifying His people so they could inherit their promise. Then to remember them being sanctified, they were to dwell in tents for seven days. Seven is the number of completion. It was almost like they were sealing their ancestors’ sanctification for themselves. Like they were claiming it for their generation.

Everything the LORD has a do is for a reason, even if we don’t truly understand it at that time. Even if we have to wait for eternity to understand and see the full picture we can trust that the LORD has a plan for us. A good and perfect plan for our lives. One for our good and not for our evil. One of a hope and a future. So, don’t let fear keep you from your promise. And don’t fail to do something because you don’t fully understand it. We live by faith, not by sight.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Watch How You Live.

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Hunger For Meat

2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. ~ Proverbs 25:2 NKJV

God has hidden, or has concealed matters, or prophecies pertaining to His people and to His Church, and it is our responsibility to search out those matters. Or surround ourselves with those who can. And those who do. And those who teach such things

The Word of God isn’t for us to write off and say “Well, we’ll never really know.” That’s the response of someone who has been shown the Truth but it contradicts their idea of truth.

And that day, when we all stand before the Great White Throne and we give an account of our lives, including our beliefs. Including how we studied the Bible. How we influenced and taught others. Do you think the LORD will be understanding and overlook you refusing to see the Truth and making excuses for your false beliefs? No.

He has sent us His Holy Spirit. He gives wisdom and understanding freely to anyone who asks. We have no excuse for refusing to believe the Truth the LORD has authored in His Bible. Therefore, lay down your own ideas, feelings, desires, and beliefs at the altar and sacrifice them to the LORD so that He might show ypu the Truth. So that you might grow in wisdom and understanding.

Don’t allow pride to keep you from growing in your faith. We aren’t intended to remain on one level of knowledge and understanding. We are to go from milk to meat. If we refuse to seek out and accept the Truth, we will never taste meat.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Hunger For Meat.

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