Living Right in a World Gone Wrong!

By Xlibris US

Lets face it Brothers & Sisters in Christ, were living in a world thats gone totally mad. The fact is that what we see going on around us on a daily basis are Biblical prophecies being fulfilled. While what were living through is Scriptural, that doesnt necessarily make it any easier for those whove professed Christ. Neither are we relieved of our responsibility to be faithful to the final words of Christ, to go forth and evangelize the world.
My prayer is that through the prayful reading of this volume of Scriptural Articles some will gain insight or discernment so as to, Live Right in A World Gone Wrong.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 23, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499005189

Book preview

We’re Chosen!

I’ve been chosen. Guess what? You’ve been chosen as well! From the time that God spoke to Moses, telling him that he had been chosen for a task, which Moses really did not want to do, mankind has repeatedly been chosen by God.

‘Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.’ (Exodus 3:10)

The Lord doesn’t just chose an individual every now and then, on more than one occasion God has chosen an entire race, or culture, of people, and proclaimed them to be His own.

‘For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.’ (Deuteronomy 14:2)

With the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ, God made it clear that a relationship with Him was something that every single man, woman, or child could have. We all were chosen, even before we were born, or as Paul worded it,

‘just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself . . .’ (Ephesians 1:4-5).

In other words, everybody was chosen to be God’s own, all we have to do is to choose God! Our Lord has established several covenants with man, beginning with His giving man dominion over every other thing He had created. The Ten Commandants was a covenant God entered into with man, as was the covenant extended to Lott. These covenants mentioned are just a few which was extended to man, and God kept forming new covenants because man couldn’t, or wouldn’t, keep the previous ones, which resulted in the death, physical and spiritual, of man. The last covenant given man was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and unlike every other agreement between God and man, this is one that man can keep. The covenant written in the blood of Christ isn’t based on being a member of a certain race, or culture. It isn’t a list of laws or commandants which man can’t keep, not while we’re still in this world. The way, or means, by which we can keep the covenant is the Grace which came with the blood of Christ.

Is He Your Chosen?

When I was asked to put together an article, I felt honored that the Lord wanted to use me in such a way. The first thing I did was to pray, and I prayed that God would guide me in the writing of this. It is very important that I am being led by the Lord, and that includes anything He may have chosen me for. We all have been chosen, our Bible tells us that, just as one of the most conscientious persecutors of early Christianity was chosen by the Lord. Ananias, whom Saul was sent to in his blindness, had every reason not to go anywhere near Saul, whose reputation preceded him wherever he went. But Ananias followed the call of the Lord, and he went to Saul, and told him that;

‘14The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. 15For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why are you waiting.’ (Acts 22:14-15)

Saul had a choice to make, and he could have chosen not to respond to God as he did. And don’t think that it would have been easy for Saul to do a complete about face with his life. In just a few moments, literally, Saul had went from being the most enthusiastic enemy the Early Church had, to responding to God with complete surrender.

‘So I said, what shall I do Lord?’ (Acts 22:10)

It wasn’t by any kind of accident, or on just a whim, that the Children of Israel were proclaimed by God to be his people.

‘For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.’ (Deuteronomy 14:2)

Whether or not we respond to God is our choice, and that is left up to each one of us, no one can make that decision for us. All too often, and if anybody is guilty of this I am, we make all kinds of excuses, trying to justify to ourselves why we can’t follow the Lords’ lead. And just like it wasn’t a mistake that the Children of Israel were chosen, neither did God make a mistake when He came to Moses and told him to return to Egypt.

‘Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.’ (Exodus 3:10)

Moses came up with any number of reasons why he should not be the person to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt, starting with his own unworthiness,

‘But Moses said to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? (Exodus 3:11)

When that didn’t work, he tried to use the excuse that he wouldn’t know how to explain to the Children of Israel about who God was.

‘Then Moses said to God, Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is His name? What shall I say to them?’ (Exodus 3:13)

Moses continued on with excuses about why he couldn’t or shouldn’t go back to Egypt, all to no avail. God had chosen Moses, and, just like He is with us, God was patient as He dealt with every one of those excuses. Even those who don’t profess the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior are still guided by a little inner voice. We can call it our conscience, or conviction, a gut feeling, whatever we choose to call it; IT IS GOD speaking to us. I am one of those who do not believe that anyone cannot believe in God, we’re made in His image, not a physical image, but a spiritual image. When people say that they’re an atheist, or that they don’t believe in God, all they are doing is trying to justify their own actions, or trying to avoid accepting the conviction which God places them under as exactly what it is. The word of God tells us very clearly just where that will get them,

‘Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, reap that he will also,’ (Galatians 6:7)

Even the Pharisees, while trying yet again to discredit Jesus, had no response except to leave when Jesus questioned their own actions.

‘So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.’ (John 8:7-9)

We all were chosen, even before we were born, or as Paul worded it;

‘ . . . just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself…’ (Ephesians 1:4-5).

Gods’ perfect will for each and every one of is salvation through the blood of His Son, and when we acknowledge His will, we become responsible to His will. In Pauls’ letter to Timothy, he spoke of both this responsibility and of just one of the ways satan may try to destroy or damage our testimony.

‘O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge—by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith.’ (I Timothy 6:20-21).

There have always been those who try to read more into God’s word than there is. Also, there are those who try to give Scriptural value to what are called ‘the lost books of the Bible.’ My response to both of these groups is directly out of the Bible, and it doesn’t require me to read between the lines, or search history for any other manuscripts or writings to verify the completeness of the Word which God gave us.

‘16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

We have to apply just a bit of common sense here, and this shouldn’t be mistaken for ‘interpretation’ or having received some kind of special ‘discernment’ from God in order to understand His Word. These two verses tell us several things of interest, and they have to be understood as absolute statements from our Lord God. First, every word we read in our Bibles is there because God wanted it there. Yes, there have been revisions, and different translations, and any number of things that people can, and will, use to argue the validity of the Bible. But here’s the thing, if we concede to any of these arguments, then what we’re doing is actually denying the omnipotence of God. He says that everything in the Bible is there through His inspiration, and if this statement isn’t completely and entirely true, then He has told us a lie and God don’t lie! The second point of interest here is that He says that with the Scriptures in hand, those who follow Him, as ‘men of God’, are complete, which should also tell us that without His Word in hand, we are not complete, as in being ‘thoroughly equipped for every good work.’ God will not send us out to dig ditches with a pair of knitting needles. Then we have the warning, straight from the mouth of Our Savior, as to what will, not might, but WILL, happen to anyone who attempt to add to or take away from His Word, the word that He inspired.

‘For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.’ (Revelation 22:18-19)

To sum everything up, it’s simple. God has chosen each and every one of us; we decide whether or not to choose Him. When we decide to choose God, His perfect Word to us, the Bible, is complete, nothing is missing, or has been left out.

Don’t Be Afraid!

Are you afraid? Hey, guess what, you’re not alone! And do you know what else? It’s okay to be afraid. Just like it’s okay to be mad or angry. Being angry or afraid is not right or wrong, it’s what we do while we’re angry or afraid that makes being angry or afraid right or wrong. Don’t let any of this confuse you, that’s just the devil trying to get in the way of what God wants from us.

‘For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.’ (1Cor. 14:33)

While it’s true that Paul was directing this particular passage to those who were members of the church at Corinth, basically explaining to that group of believers that the gift of speaking in unknown tongues was for the benefit of the nonbelievers, such as what happened at Pentecost, it is also something that each and every one of us today shouldn’t ever forget.

‘When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.’ (Acts 2:1-4)

The vast multitudes who were gathered there, at Antioch, to observe the Jewish festival, were all from different areas. At first, they were all confused upon hearing the disciples speak. The confusion was because the crowds knew that the disciples were Galileans, yet each individual heard the words spoken in their own language. This confusion quickly gave way to the effects that Our Lord had intended from the beginning.

‘Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful words of God. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, Whatever could this mean?’ (Acts 2:7-12)

While some continued to ridicule the disciples, even offering that they were merely muttering in drunkenness, the vast majority of those present while they were at first confused, quickly expressed amazement. What is important here it that it wasn’t an unbelieving amazement, but an unconditional acceptance that something amazing had happened. The way things began, with confusion, disbelief, amazement, it was like a chain of events, with one link leading right to the next, then the next, and so on, with the final link, or the end result, being that the Early Church grew, by about three thousand souls that very day! Why are we surprised by the way God uses man’s own responses to His Glory? We shouldn’t be, because this is one of the promises He makes to us, as just one of many parts of His covenant with man, written in the blood of Jesus Christ.

‘And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.’ (Romans 8:28)

We need to keep in mind that the way God words his instructions to man is not by accident, but very specific. For example, this verse we just looked at says that ‘all things work together’, not that all things might work together, or that some things work together. This is not a ‘maybe thing’, or an ‘it will if… ‘ thing, this is a promise. So what does it all boil down