ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE JOURNEY

There is an old Dutch proverb that says “He who is outside the door, already has a good part of his journey behind him.” We are all on a journey. It begins, not when we’re born, as some have suggested, but when we’re conceived in the womb. As we travel on this journey, there are many roads to choose from. Some are chosen for us by others, and we are forced down some roads by circumstances, but where we end up is ultimately up to us.

By setting goals in life we can reach our destination more efficiently, and with fewer pitfalls. Our ultimate goal should be heaven. I know there are some who say there is no heaven and that God does not exist, but the Bible says, those who say there is no God are fools (Psalm 14:1; 53:1). The religion of evolution has clouded the minds of countless millions, but there is no excuse for not following God.

The Bible says, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1).

The Bible also says, “what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20).

There is no excuse for not following God. He created us. He loves us. He died to save us from the power of sin, and he’s coming back for those who love and obey him. Those who have been born again. Soon he will end all this suffering and we will live with him forever.

I truly believe we are almost at the end of our journey. What a day that will be when we stand face to face with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who loves us and gave himself for us (Romans 5:8, Titus 2:14).

As we travel on this journey we should invite everyone we meet along the way to join us. At the same time let us be aware that our enemy, “the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8).

We’re often tempted, but God won’t allow us to be tempted with more than we can handle. God always provides a way for us to escape without sinning (1 Cor. 10:13). The Bible says he is able to keep us from sinning (Jude 1:24). Sometimes we get discouraged and take our eyes off Jesus. It’s in those times that Satan and his forces can overwhelm us and we give in to sin. When we sin we’re ashamed to face God, just like Adam and Eve were when they sinned in the garden of Eden. They ran and hid from God.

There’s an Ethiopian Proverb that says, “He who Conceals a disease cannot expect to be cured.” That’s the way it is with sin. Sin is a terrible disease and if we keep our sins concealed we can’t expect to have them forgiven.

In 1 John 1:9, the Bible tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Praise the Lord for that verse. It’s so good to know that he loves us and will forgive us if we confess. This is something every follower of Christ needs to understand. It can be a determining factor in where our journey takes us.

As we walk, day by day, through this sin-cursed earth, we must realize that this world is not our home. We are only passing through. We are headed for a better home on high, whose founder and builder is the Creator of life itself (Heb. 11:10).

We can’t walk through life with blinders on. We need to be aware of what’s going on around us. Although we must be in the world, we must not be of the world. Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus and persevere. We will receive our reward when he comes in the clouds of heaven. And it will be a reward far beyond anything this world could ever offer us.

The road ahead may get rough and rocky, but don’t be discouraged. “He that endures until the end shall be saved” (Matt. 10:22). One hundred percent trust in God is a must for these last days because things are getting bad already. Believe me, our faith WILL be tested, so surrender your life to Jesus and be born again. Trust, obey and serve the King of Kings. Lift up your eyes and behold the Great City of God. “In a little while, we’re going home.”

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FIRST AND SECOND DEATH, FIRST AND SECOND RESURRECTION

“If you’ve been born twice you’ll only die once, but if you’ve been born only once, you will die twice.” Have you ever heard that expression? The Bible mentions two deaths and two resurrections. Everyone is born once, to a mother, when we enter this world as a baby. This is the FIRST BIRTH. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are born again. This is the SECOND BIRTH. In Revelation 20:14, we read about the SECOND DEATH. John tells us here that the SECOND DEATH is hell fire. So what about the FIRST DEATH? There are differences of opinion on this subject, so what’s the answer? The Bible doesn’t mention the FIRST DEATH by those exact words, so how can we know, without speculating, what the FIRST DEATH really is? There’s only one way. Let’s see what God says it is.

Romans 5:8 
8. But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

2 Corinthians 5:14
14. For the love of Christ constrains us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then all were dead:

Ephesians 2:5
5. Even when we were dead in sins, God has made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;)

We were ALL DEAD. Dead in sin. Many say, “When Adam sinned in the garden of Eden, he didn’t die that day like God said he would.” Yes, he did. He died spiritually. Adam was made in the sinless image of God. Then he sinned, and his son, Cain was born in the sinful image of Adam. He was born spiritually dead, and that condition has been passed down to all of Adam’s descendants. Since then, every person who is born on planet earth is born spiritually dead. This is the First Death. Keep reading.

Romans 5:12 
12. Wherefore, as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men because all have sinned:

1 Corinthians 15:22 
22. For as in Adam ALL DIE, even so, in Christ all will be made alive.

Like Adam, everyone dies physically when the body wears out or is damaged beyond repair, but the Bible refers to this as sleep. But, this verse is not referring to physical death, because the contrast is, being MADE ALIVE IN CHRIST. This death is SPIRITUAL DEATH. We are all born with a sinful nature. We are all born Spiritually Dead, and we need the sacrifice of Jesus to make us alive again. (See Ephesians 2:1-13)

What we call death, the bible refers to as sleep. That’s why Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me will never die.” (John 11:26) 
When Lazarus died Jesus said, he was asleep. (John 11:11)

When they told Jairus, the synagogue ruler, that his daughter was dead, Jesus said, “she is not dead, she is sleeping.” (Matthew 9:24, Mark 5:39, Luke 8:52)
Now, look at these verses.

Psalm 13:3 
3. Consider and hear me, O LORD my God. Lighten mine eyes, lest I SLEEP the SLEEP of death;

1 Corinthians 15:51 
51. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all SLEEP, but we shall all be changed,

1 Thessalonians 4:14 
14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, those also who SLEEP in Jesus will God bring with him.

So God’s word says that we are all DEAD in sin because of Adam. This is the FIRST DEATH. We are born again when we accept Jesus as our Savior. This is the SECOND BIRTH.

1st BIRTH ---- Born into the world.
2nd BIRTH --- Born into Christ. (Born again)
1st DEATH --- Dead in sin (Because of Adam)
2nd DEATH -- Hell Fire

Now The Resurrection

Ephesians 2:5-6 
5. Even when we were dead in sins, [God] has made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;) 
6. And has RAISED US UP together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

Romans 6:4 
Therefore we are BURIED with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in NEWNESS OF LIFE.

Colossians 2:12 
BURIED with him in baptism, wherein also you have RISEN with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath RAISED him from the dead.

Colossians 2:13 
And being DEAD in your sins and the uncircumcised of your flesh, he has MADE YOU ALIVE together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

2 Corinthians 5:17 
Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new.

John 11:25 
Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet he shall live,

John 11:26 
And whoever lives and believes in me will never die…

Again, we are all DEAD in sin before we meet Jesus. When we are converted and baptized, we are BURIED with him, then RAISED UP or RESURRECTED as a new person. Spiritual Resurrection from Spiritual Death. This is the FIRST RESURRECTION.

DEAD, BURIED, AND RESURRECTED.

1st BIRTH --- Physical Birth (Born to a mother)
2nd BIRTH -- Spiritual Birth (Resurrection from Spiritual Death)
1st DEATH -- Spiritual Death (Born dead in sin, because of Adam)
2nd DEATH-- Physical Death (Hell Fire) Revelation 21:8

For more on 2nd death read Eternal Life Or Eternal Death

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© 2015 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

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THAT PROPHET

For hundreds of years, people had been waiting for the promised Messiah to come. Daniel chapter 9 was a time prophecy about the Messiah, and everyone who was familiar with the prophecy knew it was about time for him to appear. When John started preaching and baptizing in Jordan, many wondered if he was the Messiah (Luke 3:15). So the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him if he was (John 1:19).

John 1:20-21
20.  And he confessed, and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Messiah. 
21.  And they asked, What then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you that prophet? And he answered, No. 

What did they mean by THAT PROPHET? In the book of Deuteronomy, God told Moses this.

Deuteronomy 18:18
18.  I will raise up a Prophet for them, from among their brothers, like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall tell them all that I shall command him. 

So the people of Israel were looking for THAT PROPHET that God said would come, and now they thought he had. But, John told them he was not him, but he told them this;

John 1:23
23.  He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said (Isaiah 40:3).

John said he was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Through the prophet Malachi, God adds more detail to this prophecy.

Malachi 3:1
1.  Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom you look for, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in: behold, he shall come, says the LORD of hosts.

In John 1:25, after John the Baptist told the priests and Levites that he was the messenger crying in the wilderness that God had sent to prepare the way of the Lord, they asked him, “If you are not that Messiah, nor Elijah, nor THAT PROPHET, then why are you baptizing?” (John 1:25)

John 1:26-27
26.  John answered them, saying, I baptize with water, but there is one among you, whom you do not know. 
27.  It is he, who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose shoe latches I am not worthy to loosen. 

It’s interesting that John says “There is one AMONG you” to describe the One he was preparing the way for. In Isaiah’s prophecy, God had said he would raise up a prophet from AMONG them. Now, years later, the time had finally come and this generation was about to encounter THAT PROPHET.

John 1:29-34
29.  The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. 
30.  This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who is preferred before me, because he was before me. 
31.  And I knew him not: only that he should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water. 
32.  And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 
33.  And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, said to me, “Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” 
34.  And I saw, and testify that this is the Son of God.

John identified Jesus as the One he was sent to prepare the way for, and as THAT PROPHET God had raised up from AMONG them, and as the Son of God. 

Remember when Jesus fed the five thousand with only five loaves and two fish? Look what they said about him then.  

John 6:14
14.  Then, when those men had seen the miracle that Jesus did, they said, Truly this is THAT PROPHET that should come into the world.  

Based on the testimony of John the Baptist and others in holy scripture we can safely say that Jesus Christ is THAT PROPHET. But here it is, plainly spelled out for us, by Luke and the Apostle Paul. 

Acts 3:22-26
22.  For Moses truly said to the fathers, the Lord your God will raise up a prophet unto you of your brothers, like me; and you shall hear him in all things whatsoever he shall say to you. 
23.  And it shall come to pass, that every soul, who will not hear THAT PROPHET, shall be destroyed from among the people. 
24.  Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those that followed after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. 
25.  You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, “And in your seed, all the people of the earth shall be blessed” 
26.  Unto you first, God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from their sins. 

Act 19:4
4.  Then Paul said, John truly baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people, that they should believe in him who should come after him, that is, in Christ Jesus. 

After careful study of the scriptures, there can be no doubt that John the Baptist was the one sent to prepare the way for the Messiah. The angel Gabriel had told John’s father, Zachariah, what he would do even before his miraculous conception (Luke 1:5-17). 

Careful study of the scriptures also leaves no doubt that Jesus is the Messiah. This study shows that Jesus is the One that God raised up in fulfillment of the prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:15-18. JESUS is THAT PROPHET.

———————————————–
My Blogs
https://teddylynn.blogspot.com
https://teddylynn.wordpress.com

© 2015 Teddy Lynn – All Rights Reserved

My books are available in paperback and digital format on Amazon @ 
https://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Lynn/e/B01MZDB6L6