****Please read the scripture from the Bible first as this is God's Word****

Which "one day" does your life focus upon? What day in your future do you most think about and prepare for? We must focus our present lives on the day when Jesus will come. What do I mean by that? Think about what day you long for right now. Is it a wedding anniversary, for kids its birthdays and Christmas, and some long for the day they grow up and leave for college, and some people long for the day they retire and so forth. What if Jesus came tomorrow? Would you be prepared? Would have maybe made some different choices in the past week, or month, or year?

You see its not about if Jesus will come again, its about when, because he is coming. We have to be prepared, and live like He is coming! We get so caught up with the distractions of life, like the TV, Basketball games, Football games, entertainment, and things of the world, that it removes our focus away from Jesus. I think as Americans we are inclined to be more lazy and selfish in the fact that we have so many luxuries that we want everything in life to be easy. The fact is that this life isn't about ourselves, it is about glorifying the one who created us. Even churches have lost focus, and made it like a contest to see how many people they can get going to their church, however they are using things such as rock concerts and parties and things that appeal to the lust of man to do this, when the only reason should be that we want to go to worship our Savior Jesus. The term "Christian" is thrown around pretty loosely today, however the term means "little Christ". That's a pretty big title to fill, however we if we call ourselves Christian, we ought to live and be Christian, and to be Christian is no easy task. Our sinful nature discourages us from being true Christians. Being a Christian is simply acknowledging that we are sinners and we need a Savior that is Jesus Christ who can cleanse us with his shed blood on the cross, and there is nothing we can do to otherwise for the forgiveness of our sin.

We see in Revelation that the world is on the cusp of judgment and chapter 11 is about the second coming of Jesus. Our almighty God, is holding back right now and allowing us this age of grace. In verse 15 of Revelation chapter 11 we see the seventh angel about to sound his trumpet. The number seven may be significant, but without getting into to much detail, it would appear this is a number of completion, as in the 7 day creation. It means this is the final judgment that will finish God's plan, a day of completion. As the angel sounds the trumpet we see the day of transformation of the rebellion of this world to the Kingdom of God.

In verse 16 - 17 we see that this will be a day of worship. The four and twenty elders are representative of the church of true believers, as they fall to their face and worship God for is almighty power which will endure forever and ever. This is they day we ought to long for, the day we are with God in heaven, worshiping him and rejoicing.

In verse 18 we see that this will be a day of action, wrath and reward. We see that the nations will be angry. Why you ask? Why do people hate Jesus? Why do people hate God? One of the most common reasons is that people in their prideful states don't want to be told they are sinners. I can agree with this because I used to be one of them. I have been granted mercy and grace as I have come to know the Lord, and pray for those who don't know Him, because the judgment and punishment of the earth in the future will be unimaginable. However God will reward those who fear Him. What do I mean by that? The best way I can give an illustration is a broken family who goes to church and pretends all is okay and acts a certain way in front of their peers at church when in fact they are anything but the way they act at church. They fear what man will think of them and how man will judge them. We need not fear man, we must fear our God, and obey our God with loving hearts. Christianity is anything but easy, and Christians aren't here to judge, we are merely honest to admit we are broken and need God to fix us, more specifically we need Jesus our only high priest and Jesus only to cleanse us of our sin.

Are you living like Jesus is coming?

posted by Ben at 9:07 PM
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****Please read the scripture from the Bible first as this is God's Word****

People are often inspired by historical events and characters to accomplish great things and make great sacrifices. This particular passage gives an example to follow, not in historical characters, but in future ones. We must be bold in our service of the King.

God calls us all in His own will. Sometimes we get selfish and prideful and think that we know better. Our God of the universe who made all and knows all and with His sovereignty controls all, knows more than we can possibly even comprehend, knows better than we do. We should always seek God's will in every facet of our lives. We should also listen for when He calls us as God called his 2 witnesses in verse 3. You might think, well God will give those 2 witnesses power to prophecy. This chapter of revelation is a prophecy that John wrote, and we can share it with others. You see the word witness in Greek is martyr or testifier, someone who sees and tells.

God commissions us all to represent Him before others. You may think why would God use me to tell others. First of all God commands us to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to all (Matthew 28:19). Second, God can use anyone that so chooses, including you. God used Moses, who murdered an Egyptian to lead many Jews out of Egypt across the desert. God used David who committed adultery and murder to bring glory to his name. God used Jonah who was full of anger to bring revival to many. God can use you, if you just trust and obey.

God accompanies His Word with supernatural power. We see that these witnesses were given power to have fire come from their mouth, and for there not to be rain or to bring plagues to the earth. You have to remember it is God that is granting the power.

God also protects those that he calls. God protects us and never gives us anything we can't handle. Remember Paul was stoned and left for dead, but the Lord didn't let him die, instead Paul continued his missionary work. God is perfect in what he allows in our lives. We see that He protects the 2 witnesses until their duty is complete.

God sometimes allows the world perceived victory for His own purpose. We see that God allowed the witnesses to be killed by beast of the bottomless pit. We also see that they were left dead on the city streets for 3 days. We would assume that the beast is victorious however God is always victorious. Sometimes God allows these things to happen to bring testimony to unbelievers.

God will always be victorious. We see that the 2 witness rose from the dead and stood up. Then they were called up to heaven and ascended up. This is almost like the 3 day resurrection of Christ. This just shows how God is all sufficient and perfect with his plan.

posted by Ben at 8:49 PM
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****Please read the scripture from the Bible first as this is God's Word****

It is quite amazing to think that the God of the universe would bother to communicate with us. But He has done so, and in marvelous ways. We must listen and respond to His revelation to us. Revelation is basically how God is revealing Himself to us.

We can see and understand a little about our God by reading Psalm 19. This tells us of Gods great power, and goodness, beauty and most of all love. In Revelation Chapter 10 we see an angel descend from heaven that will give us revelation of God. Some say this is actually Christ Himself, however if we read verse 6 we see that the Angel swore by Him that liveth forever and ever which is God (Why would Jesus swear by Himself?). This leads us to believe that the angel has been given power from God since he is able to stand on water and earth at the same time, but the indication is that this is an angel and not Jesus Himself. However the angel is bringing us revelation of God.

We also see revelation by means of a profit. If you remember, John has been taken up to heaven to witness these prophecies so that he may write them down so that God's revelation would be preserved for us to see. It is amazing how the bible, a book with 40 different authors, written over a span of 1500 years has been preserved over the years. 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that the bible has been given to us by inspiration of God. 2 Peter 1:21 tells us that men wrote the bible as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. God has written for us a perfect bible and communication to us that we may obey his commandments and live as he has taught us.

In verse 3-4 we see that the angel cried 7 thunders. John heard a voice from heaven that said not to write these things that the angel had cried. God has placed this in the bible for a reason. He wants us to know that there is more revelation, but maybe it just isn't time for us to know. He always has perfect timing with what he wants us to know.

We see in verse 2 that the angel had a book in his hand. We notice that this book is little and appears to be an open book like that of a normal book, not a scroll type book. The book is to be consumed and will taste sweet in the mouth and bitter in the belly. We also see that this may be an international book because John is to prophecy before many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings. This is believed to be the bible. To consume a book means to read a book. The bible is full of prophecies in which some are of good news and some are of bad news. The bad news is to those who are unbelievers.

We are very blessed that we have an all sufficient God who loves us and has given us this revelation along with mercy and a time of grace that we may come to know Him and obey Him.

posted by Ben at 8:49 PM
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****Please read the scripture from the Bible first as this is God's Word****

This is one chapter of the bible that is difficult to interpret, which has lead to all kinds of different ideas and speculation. While avoiding the wild speculations, we want to grasp clear life lessons from this passage.

Before we jump into this chapter, I want to take just a couple of seconds and recap what has happened, thus far. John is taken up into heaven, and Jesus is the only worthy one to open the 7 seals. The first six seals were opened and when the 7th seal was opened we see there are 7 "trumpet" judgments, and then we see that the final 3 trumpet judgments are called "woes". Now a woe interpreted as doom to come. In this chapter we will see the first two woes.

The first woe we see is verses 1 - 11. In verse 1 we see that a star falls from heaven and is given the key to the bottomless pit. In the Greek language this is interpreted as fallen star, angels are often referred to as stars. This can lead to speculation that this may be the fallen angel, Satan, or one of Satan's demonic beings in his hierarchy. This fallen angel is granted the keys to the bottomless pit. In verse 3 - 6 we see these locust creatures that come out of the pit and they are to not touch any trees nor grass only torment those men that have not the seal of God on their forehead. Those that don't have the seal of God on their forehead are the unbelievers. They are not to be killed however they are to be tormented to the point of the men seeking death, but they shall not find death. These demonic attacks are to occur for a period of 5 months.

Lets look at the visual description that John gives us about these demonic creatures. Verses 7 - 11 give us this description. They are shaped like a locust and were like horses ready for battle with crowns of gold and the face of a man, hair of a woman, and teeth of a lion, breastplates of iron and their wings mad the sound of chariots and horses running to battle, and they had tails like that of a scorpion with stingers to torment mankind. Their king was that of the bottomless pit named Abaddon or Apollyon which translates to the word destroyer. Take a moment and ponder on this description. We can speculate what this means, but the point of this description is to give terror. This is a terrifying image, and this terrifying demonic creature will torment those unbelievers for 5 months.

Now you might think, big deal, demons attacking mankind. Some people say, well I am going to live it up for now and redeem myself later on, and others say, I will ask for forgiveness on my death bed. This is a very big deal to an unbeliever because they will suffer a great deal and later we will see that they won't repent, and it is impossible for man to redeem themselves. The bible describes these attacks as a scorpion sting, which those of you that live in the dessert are familiar with, the scorpion sting causes a lot of pain.

The sixth trumpet sounds which is also the second woe. The angel that sounded the sixth trumpet was commanded to release the "4 angels" which were bound in the great river Euphrates. These 4 angles that were bound are also part of Satan's army of demons. These angels are going to kill 1/3 of mankind.

These judgments are very horrifying, but sometimes it helps to hear the bad news first. You see we are still in the age of God's grace where we can choose to accept Jesus into our hearts as Lord and Savior for the forgiveness of sins, and can avoid these terrifying prophecies that will occur. With all the turmoil going on in the world today, we are still very blessed with God's grace. The moment God decides to remove the grace and begin judgment will be very terrifying. The destiny of mankind is dependent upon the hardness of his own heart, pride and selfishness. We are our own biggest enemy, but we can choose to accept the fact that we can't do anything to save ourselves, redeem ourselves, because God has purchased our pardon by sending His Son to die on the cross for us.

I have heard some say, that when they are on their death bed they will ask for forgiveness, or they will try and redeem themselves later in life. In my opinion that is the biggest excuse and mistake. Notice verse 20 and 21, it goes on to say that even though mankind has seen all this judgment with their own eyes, they still don't repent of their sin. Not everyone has the benefit of "having a death bed". Freak accidents happen where death comes in the blink of an eye, and off you go into eternity, either in hell or heaven. If we look at Luke Chapter 16 verse 19 - 31 we see the story of the rich man who had everything but didn't believe and went to hell, and asked if someone could come back from the dead to forewarn his family to turn to God and he is told that if they haven't heard Moses and the prophets, they won't listen to a person from the dead.

Some people say, well I just don't believe in God because I can't see Him, I want tangible proof of His existence. I don't know if these people have had their eyes closed since birth, but all you have to do is take a look around, look at the sky at the beautiful sunrise that God paints in the morning, or look at all the creatures of the sea that we find, and are still discovering, look at the miracle of life that God creates, this list can go on and on, and that is just the tangible proof. We see evidence of God answering prayers, and giving us blessings and mercy with His grace.

We must respond NOW to the grace of God, before it's too late. The world is full of Satan's works and is very powerful, it is very tempting and can consume you without you even realizing it. It is so important to accept Jesus into your heart and repent now before its too late!

posted by Ben at 8:43 PM
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