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Friday, December 14, 2012

Tis the Season - Hypocrites? by Tim Cameron

All around us are signs “of the season” Christmas Lights, Christmas Trees, Christmas
Music, sales and more sales. How can you not know what time of year it is?

Luke 12:56 “You hypocrites! You know how to analyze the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why do you not analyze this present time?

This message has very little to do with Christmas in the “holiday” sense. I’m not going to get into whether its a Pagan Celebration or any of that except to say, as for me I do celebrate the fact that God so loved the world that He did send His only begotten Son and He came through virgin birth and was wrapped in a manger and lived a sinless life, took the sins of the whole world upon Him and died a sinner’s death but 3 days later, rose from the grave. And that is the single greatest present ever and it too was given under a tree (THE CROSS)

This message is not about Christmas but about “This Season” and what needs to be done while there is still time! Ask anyone from child to senior and they will tell you what time of year it is because the signs are obvious!

But Jesus would say to all of us who know it’s Christmas but are clueless to what time it really is ... that we are “Hypocrites” and He’d even explain why. Mathew 15:8 "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

Before I continue, let me stop and shout I’ve been “GUILTY AS CHARGED” in my own walk and in my own life. There have been “seasons” where I have honored God with my lips and even with my service but my heart has been far from Him.
However, its always been God’s goodness that Has exposed that in me and drawn me back to TRUTH. He desires "truth in the inward parts” and hence this message!

At this moment in time, I personally am very concerned of many who might be living under a false assurance of a salvation at a time that we need to know that we know that we are saved!! One of the signs of the times is apostasy, people falling away from Biblical truth and instead having itching ears, heaping up teachers who tickle ears. Giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons and forsaking major points of The Gospel..namely REPENTANCE.

Which is very scary, it would be very much like having stage IV Cancer and you going to the Doctor and Him deciding to give you 4 Tylenol instead of Chemo.

Case in point is the story of the Rich Young ruler who came to Jesus and said “Master, what must I do to be saved?” In this modern church era we would jump at the question and say “Man you are so in” “all you need to do is repeat after me” but Jesus dealing with this man asked him to “go and sell everything he owned and give it to the poor and come and follow Me”

Let’s be honest can we? We have mishandled the Word of God and have created a mess for ourselves. We have given many people a means to an end instead of the END..what do I mean? The Rich Young Ruler wanted the means, he said he wanted salvation but SALVATION was standing right in front of Him. The One who owned it all was asking Him to exchange what he had in this world to just follow Jesus who is Eternal Life and the Rich Young Ruler went away sad because he truly didn’t want Jesus! Yet for decades now, we have told people to just say a little prayer and sent them on their way “assured” of something that’s not biblical. Salvation is a free gift and can not be earned, but salvation is not a simple prayer it’s entering into an eternal covenant relationship of “following Jesus” You might say, “The thief on the cross!” And I’d say YES, He recognized that Jesus was His Only Hope and Just wanted Jesus. He was very aware of his broken and dismembered state and when He said “remember me” He was actually saying would you please put me back together!

There are many people on this planet right now that want to go to heaven when they die and would tell you so when you asked. But if you ask them do they want to “follow Jesus” they would say NO! But here is the truth, ...He is the Way and you can’t go any other direction than to Him!!

Repentance in modern English is to “stop n think” differently than you were before you stopped and thought. And if You have a truly come to Jesus moment in your thinking it will produce a new direction in your life. You will from that moment realize that Jesus is who He is and you will go His direction! And again it’s a free gift “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but My Father in Heaven” Jesus would say!!

This is an urgent message, you see “today is the day of salvation” “now is the appointed time” As I type this things are happening at warp speed on this planet that suggest we might not have much more time to make things right. Like for instance? You might ask....

Signs of the season are screaming everywhere!

Israel even now is dealing with enemies on every side. (Psalms 83) Prelude to Jacob’s Trouble
Damascus on the verge of destruction (Isaiah 17)
Egyptians realizing they have a “cruel leader” (Isaiah 19)
Daniel was sealed but now is revealed. (Daniel 12) Knowledge and the speed of travel will increase for thousands of years travel was mules, horses, and camels but in the same generation as Israel’s rebirth we have seen travel change “at warp speed” (No pun intended)
Global economies on the brink of total collapse (USA 16 Trillion and counting)
Moral collapse (Timothy in the last days Perilous times will come)(As it was in the days of Noah)
The plan to divide Israel (Joel Chapter 3) would it help if I said “Just Say No!”
Earthquakes in diverse places! I know there have always been earthquakes but the scale and frequency and the new awareness of the word Tsunami’s??
Wars and rumors of Wars, Terrorism!
Scoffing this message (2 Peter) In the last days scoffers will arise!!

What do all these things point to? The Day of The Lord. What is that? It’s a period of time that God deals with rebellious and sinful man on an apocalyptic scale for what reason?? Their rejection of His Son Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and that rejection’s fruit of dealing treacherously with God’s Covenant promises that are “yes and amen” There is that old saying that if “God says it then that settles it!” Well the Day of the Lord is a set and appointed time of God “settling” it.

It will be a time period that unless God shortened the days “no flesh would survive” Why? Because when God gives man up to a reprobate mind and lets us have our hearts desire it always leads to self destruction. The carnal man is at war with God and is absolutely incapable of anything else but dying. Godless lives are “fish without water” Just because death isn’t immediate doesn’t mean you aren’t already dying. The Bible says the soul that sins ...dies! It also says “we have all sinned” so we are all dying. But during the “Day of the Lord” that fact will become brutally known.
Isaiah 13:9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

Isaiah 26:21 For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

Jeremiah likened it to A STORM!! Jeremiah 23:19 “Look! The Lord’s anger bursts out like a storm, a whirlwind that swirls down on the heads of the wicked.

What does the storm of the Lord include?

90-100 pound Hailstones: Rev 16:16-20
Great earthquake leaving NO ISLANDS on earth and
taking down every mountain on earth. Rev 16:17-21
1/3 of the earth is burned up, 1/3 of trees, and all the grass Rev 8:7
1/3 of the sea is turned into blood Rev 8:8-9
The abyss (bottomless pit) opens and locust-like scorpion creatures arise Rev 9:2-3
Evil angels released to kill 1/3 of mankind Rev 9:13-15
Painful sores break out on people that have taken the mark of the beast Rev 16:2
The sun will scorch people with fire Rev 16:8-9

And even worse ...is that which will never end...a lake of fire.

And man can we not see the storm clouds building??

IF we aren’t majorly awakened to the “time at hand” I would submit it’s because we are either in a state of our walk with God that we are “playing” the part, giving lip service to our faith but our hearts being somewhere else, or we are just too distracted and burdened by the cares or maybe even the enjoyments of this life!
Jesus warned us of this mindset in Luke 21:34 “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. 35 For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Some would suggest that if you aren’t watching that you won’t make it, but I don’t believe that aligns with what scripture teaches. See, it’s a free gift, salvation that is. Otherwise you could boast that you are a “watcher” and are “earning” it by watching. But all of our works including watching are as a filthy rag, apart from The Spirit of God doing the work through us!

However through 2 Peter 3 , we can read that there will be those who are caught unaware and be ashamed! It’s an issue of where is our heart? Remember, God wants truth way down deep in our inward parts! If it’s our hearts desire to live here on earth and have a good ole time we are being “just like this present age” at a time the Bible says the Spirit and The Bride are crying “Jesus Come Quickly” There should be a huge part of us that is longing to be where Jesus is!! If NOT then maybe we bare a major resemblance to the Rich Young Ruler, wanting to hang onto something we value more...THIS LIFE! The Rich Young Ruler, Again went away sad because he did not want to exchange what he currently had to “follow Jesus” who has gone to “prepare a place for us, that where He is we may be also” “it’s a time to get real and ask am I fooling myself? Am I just a pretender?”

In being transparent and honest, I’m very thankful for the gift of life and my family and enjoy my hobbies BUT if you think for one second I’m not longing MORE for a city who’s builder and maker is the Lord then you wouldn’t know me very good! I dream of 100 years from right now, having no less days to sing God’s praise than when I first began... I dream of seeing my family’s faces shining bright with that everlasting Joy! I dream of the greatest family and friend reunion ever! Of not going to a mall wondering if someone is going to walk in with an AK-47 or if a suicide bomber is lurking at a convenience store or going to the dentist for a root-canal or waiting in a traffic jam or dealing with death and sadness! I was born to live in this world, but I was Born Again to live in another world!!

So back to the dilemma of the Rich Young Ruler and the biggest question of “Tis this Season” What must we do to be saved? Jesus would say “Repent or you will all like wise perish” “please stop’n think” “your life is but a vapor”

Jesus came to reconcile lost man back to what that which was lost a 24/7 unbroken covenant relationship with Almighty God as an “Everlasting Father” In order for that covenant relationship to be entered into, Blood had to be shed and Jesus willingly shed His own blood on our behalf. Secondly God’s Spirit must be welcomed into our hearts by confession of our humbled recognition of our total inability to save ourselves and therefore confession of our Faith and Trust in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the Cross and the glorious truth that Jesus not only died but rose from the grave and is Alive and says “Whoever calls upon ME shall be saved” Think of that fish taken out of water...now being put back into the water! When we call upon Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we are being put into Christ (Into the Water) and it’s in Him that we have our moving and our being. It’s no longer us who lives but Christ in us.

In even simpler terms we are like a person who is drowning out in the middle of the ocean and our only hope is to realize we are drowning and cry out for “HELP.” Let me ask you to think about how thankful you would be if You were out in the middle of the Ocean and storms were firing up and you were drinking in water and fighting and splashing trying to stay afloat and the minute you cried out HELP a man reached down and picked you up and took you to safety...how thankful would you be to that man? When you cried out and saw His hand reaching for yours, would you not take it? As He leads You to still waters ..would you not follow? and would you not for the rest of your life on this planet not be saying “thank you” to that man every chance you got?

Unfortunately many people have reacted quite appallingly to that man!

Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Psalms 92:7 When you seek the wicked spring up like grass it is that they maybe destroyed forever.

TIS THE SEASON – To Make Things Right (Godly Sorrow Produces Repentance)

There are those I know who’ve never had the opportunity to “choose this day whom you will serve” and in reading you’ve come to realize you are living a life that Romans 1 says has stored up the wrath of God against yourself!! Right Now you stand exposed in the Presence of almighty God as “guilty as charged” and you deserve to be destroyed forever!

I’m asking you to please recognize that you are so very lost and drowning in this world and need to be rescued. Realize you absolutely have no ability to stop from dying and are at the mercy of the one who created you! I pray that The Spirit of Almighty God has convinced you of your current state and you are trembling in your heart and asking “what must I do to be saved?” Jesus would answer very simply “Follow Me.” Please don’t be like the Rich Young Ruler and go away sad! Entering in to an eternal covenant is very much like a marriage except God is always Faithful and will never ever leave you nor forsake You.

Romans 10:9 if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

To the one who Jesus might say is a hypocrite because you aren’t living with an urgency this time demands, I just simply say, “man I’ve been there” but it’s time to wake up and rise and shine...REPENT of living for the here’n now ..repent of having a mindset like the evil servant in Luke 12 that says “my Master is delaying His Coming” 1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever

Romans 13:11 This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

In Christ,
Tim Cameron