Tune In: The Holy Spirit; Tune Out: The World’s Confusion

Tune In: The Holy Spirit; Tune Out: The World’s Confusion    Kelly Durant

 

Luke 11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

 

2. Have you ever made a wrong or bad choice and then later you could have kicked yourself for being so gullible and stupid? One that comes to my mind is when my wife and I decided in the 1990s to buy a Kirby vacuum cleaner from a friend of a neighbor. It was a time when our 4 kids were in high school and we really had zero money, but it was only $39.99 a month for 3 years!

 

That would be like $100 or more a month today! I grew up in the 1960s knowing it was a good brand and even though we could not afford it, somehow, we got convinced to buy it. So month after month for 3 years we suffered to find the money to pay for it. I now look upon this as something we did without prayer. All of us are vulnerable to make huge mistakes without prayer, without tuning into the Holy Spirit, and asking the Lord what to do about every decision in life.

 

Here is the problem, we are conditioned since are children by the media and the government schooling to just go along and accept whatever is presented to you whether it is fake or real, right or wrong, helpful or destructive! Subliminally we are conditioned to believe, ‘Resistance is futile’! People who want to make money from you, exploit you, control you, and gain advantage from your naivety are aggressively, intimidatingly, and harmfully trying to make you be their next victim. But, if you have God’s Holy Spirit, you will have a chance to escape! This involves what happens to your body and mind, and your soul’s destiny, whether it will be on the path to heaven or to hell!

 

3. The world’s people and countries were on edge from the recent virus, were they not? Now over Ukraine and China… we could have a world war! What happens to people under stress? When a person is in confusion from contradictory messages, under duress from anguish not knowing how to keep on surviving, when the pressure has produced a breaking point, what occurs? That person, you or me, make irrational decisions; these are usually decisions that will provoke our own harm and self-destruction! We are in dangerous times, and we need the Holy Spirit guidance like never before! It comes by prayer and Bible study! Plus, ‘walking in the counsel of the Godly’ helps a lot! (Read Psalm 1)

 

Just like how my wife and I were in the predicament of being pressured by a salesman that you must sign now, you must commit now, this is the only opportunity, tomorrow we can’t offer this deal ever again, we, as weak humans, not guided by God in all our decisions, cave to the bullying of the people of the world who just won’t go away until they have pocketed you and got you under their thumb! A vacuum cleaner is a simple thing, but the decisions about to be made right now in the near future will have a repercussive affect, not just the destiny of our minds and bodies, but of our souls! 

 

Here is a warning from God which applies to all people who do not obey His righteous statutes, and remember how Pharaoh was punished! Deuteronomy 28:20 “The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me.”

 

4. History proves to us time and again that when certain people or a previously God respecting nation stops obeying God, when the people become prideful, arrogant and God defiant and produce rat on your neighbor betrayal world, a rat eat rat environment, the Lord allows them to fall under the curse of a self-destructive punishment. When you sew to the wind, you reap the whirlwind! Hosea 8:7.

 

One of the curses is the confusion of not being able to distinguish right from wrong, male from female, Satanic form Godly, or healthy from unhealthy. The disobedient to God seem to always fall under a destruction that comes from the collective wickedness of the entire murderous, exploitive, Satanic system governing around the world from ‘high places’. (Eph. 6) 

 

We can talk all day about where a virus originated, about whether it is man-made or animal transmitted but none of it matters if there is not a resolve on how to live Godly so that God blesses each of us with His protection of health! Exodus 15:26 and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.” Deuteronomy 7:15 And the Lord will take away from you all sickness and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known but will lay them on all those who hate you.

 

5. You and I will be faced with some life altering decisions in the very near future. You will be pressured to cave and be silent to the new draconian totalitarian ‘new normal’ which means that you will be tracked and spied upon by different means, one being apps on your iphone, mandated for your own good, to control the spread of a plague. And now there are previously prestigious hospitals training people on how to hunt down everyone you have ever met up with because you had the potential to be a spreader of the virus. The so called ‘protective services’ can take your kids away, and you will be forced into a confinement camp. It happened in Australia and several countries! Doesn’t this bring Nazism to mind?! Christians had better toughen up and be Spirit led over all that is happening!

 

The world’s contradictory confusion has produced these results: 

You must self-quarantine whenever the media experts say to.

You must accept being spied on you for your own good.

You must accept being stripped of travel and other privileges.

You must accept a one world technocratic government to control people.

 

Our world’s situation really looks like a nightmarish sci-fi movie, does it not? It has been Satan’s dream for centuries to psych people with fear to the point they will accept Him and his ‘beast control system’ for humanity’s salvation. Some Christians do see through his recent deceptions and tricks but those without God’s Holy Spirit are infected with the virus of the ‘world’s spirit’ and these are the new victims, the useful idiots, the fearful ones Satan uses to subdue all resistors to his ‘new world order’. Revelation 21:8

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

 

6. We all desperately need the Holy Spirit for guidance and discernment!  Luke 11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” Do you want to ask God for His Holy Spirit right now? You should, let’s pause and ask Him…(prayer)

 

There are many verses on the Holy Spirit, but I just want you to know that, ‘the Spirit will guide you into all truth’, it will ‘comfort you’ when in any trouble, and it will ‘give you power’ to be a testimony for Jesus. I can say that at one time when young I was very afraid of being looked upon as a fanatical church idiot. I was prideful and wanted to fit in with the vain false crowd of the world and now I ask myself, how could I have been so dumb and deceived to think those unloving, vain stupid people were cool? They never would have accepted me, an ordinary Joe! The people of the world are always too busy stepping on heads to climb the ladder of success to care what happens to you or me! If you want to find authentic loving caring people, it will only be within the bands of a few Christians.

 

The Holy Spirit power is what solves all our spiritual needs! One of the greatest needs right now is the discernment of what is truth and what is not. Should you trust your health, your financial income, and your future by doing what certain authorities with horrible abusive records say to do? Unless the person speaking is a Christian and has good fruits in his past, then you should not listen, and you should do the opposite of what is suggested. Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

 

7. It is a big challenge to let the Holy Spirit rewire your habits and way of thinking. Almost everyone I know are so proud they can never accept that I, or anyone, could ever offer them any good advice. It is a sad reality but too many Christians have never asked God to fill them with His Holy Spirit, to smash and break them, like the clay in the hands of the potter, to be remade into the image of Jesus. Ask God today to remake you, rewire you, and to most of all not let you do any decision without His Holy Spirit ‘s guidance!

 

Jude 1:10 But these (the people of the world without God’s Spirit) speak evil of whatever they do not know; and whatever they know naturally, like brute beasts, in these things they corrupt themselves.

 

Today we are appalled at how so many people make irrational decisions, like a dumb animal, and like a parrot, they repeat to their friends and family the enslaving loathsome messages of the world that all must submit to the ‘new’ system?! And those not ‘with the program’ get censured and persecuted! John 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 

 

8. Better it is to be loved by God and saved for eternity than to be loved by the world’s debauched perverts who only want to use you and then throw you away like garbage! Better it is to let God lead you than the old serpent Satan who only offers pleasures and wealth for a short time before he drags you into the lake of fire and punishment reserved for the unrighteous.

 

Luke:11:9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

 

These verses describe exactly what is happening today. The masses of people are living in uncertainty and confusion, they are hungry for love, for a comforting peace, for truth, for reality, and what does the world offer them? A cold stone of nothing! Solutions that are fake and a scam from the world’s evil rich serpent worshipping bloodlines! Solutions from the nation of the flying serpent that hates God and jails and kills Christians at will! Which do you want, the serpent’s spirit, or the Holy Spirit?

 

9. We are in desperate times! Christians with the Holy Spirit saw the recent reality during the ‘shut down’, liquor stores were open, abortion clinics were open, the rich circulated as they pleased while ‘we the people’ were being told that the churches must remain closed and that everyone must stay at home and that ‘for our own good’?! We knew a totalitarian draconian ‘new world order’ was coming but did we ever imagine that it would be implemented with such velocity? And again it will come, we only went through a trial run.

 

So while you are alone, do you pray and experience God’s presence? He speaks into your mind His Word, His comfort, and His peace. When I pray or write sermons verses come into my mind, and that is God’s Spirit. Every Christian needs to ask God for this kind of an experience! John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. 27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

 

The only alternative to being guided by God’s Spirit is to be guided by your own prideful self which is as the confusing serpent’s spirit of the world! Christians, please get serious with God and read His Word as never before! Don’t be ignorant to deceptive ones who will entrap you for their own benefit! Only the strong survive, that is the ones strong in Jesus! We can be empowered by something far greater than ourselves, and that is with the Holy Spirit! Ask for it and believe, and you will understand, speak, and act in the way God wants you to. God’s Spirit is beyond words! It’s a fire that warms your soul and shines a light for all to see!

 

 

Valentines: How to Show Love! Can you perceive it?

How to Show Love! Can you perceive it?        Kelly Durant   2-12-23

 

 

1 John 3:16

16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

 

2. We will talk about love today! I actually could talk about love all year long! I was about 13 when the Beatles sang “Love, Love, Love”, and at that time that message was speaking to everyone, “All you need is love! It’s true, but what we need is God’s love, and the love of each other, or we will shrivel up and die!

 

In I John 3:16 (a supplement to John 3:16) it begins with; ‘Hereby, perceive we the love of God’. The first key word is…perceive! Love is not love until you give it away. Love is a manifestation of an action which is from some feeling, or emotion, or passion: an action! Love is hard to describe but to give an illustration it is like the wind that we can see by what its affecting, but we cannot see the wind itself. We often try to write about love, millions have, but it’s complicated!

 

Today some people want to degrade love into having a meaning only in s-x, in something only carnal when love is Spiritual. That is a very huge misconception. In perspective: God is love! 

 

3. Love is the opposite of selfishness, instead of the person making him or herself the owner and center of everything; it is a position that gives up all status and possessions to share with another. Look at the way Jesus showed love! He gave up His life! He even died in a horrible way because it was God’s plan for Him to be our atonement for sin. His love was healing, redeeming, forgiving, and beyond!

 

In the verse we perceive what is implied by knowing all of what Jesus did for us, he died on the cross and gave us the forgiveness of sins and the gift of resurrection for eternal life. 

‘Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren’. He set the example of how far love should go!

 

4. Jesus chose to give up all of what he could offer us, and this included His time, talent, and treasure. He gave up all, all the time while He was alive and then He gave up all in his death. Laying down his life was something that was a proof, and manifestation of love all while here on earth. Laying down His life for us implied that this was for all people of all nations and tribes, in the past, present, and future!

 

We know how Jesus gave up all to show us love, so now let’s meditate on how to get others to perceive His love and our love inspired by Him. Before applying this to the work of God, let’s apply it to the normal universal human relationships which God created as an example for us to learn from.

 

5. The effects of love we can understand, or perceive, in the manifestation of the 3 T’s; time , talent, or treasure. I recall as early as age 14 when one had feelings of love for another girl (or guy for the women) the expected was that you show off your talent. You had to reveal your love! I have written several dozens of poems in my life while in school and I am sure most of you have too. And around this time of year Valentine’s Day cards and poems are sent and mailed and delivered, not to mention chocolate and flowers, so love has become a multimillion dollar industry!  

 

Just to erase any doubts the most beautiful and intense songs I have written have been for my wife Regina! One Chorus of a song states this:

“And every day you choose to stay, shows how love wins anyway!

Hey, I know love is for eternity, Hey, You know it is what made us to be.”

 

Common poems were like this: Roses are red, violets are blue

Sugar is sweet my love, but not as sweet as you! (But being commercialized, few respond to these kinds of words anymore, ha!)

To prove love’s intensity, or passion, you must apply your own personal unique creative inspired talent to make a difference!

 

6. Another proof of love is in treasure, or the sacrificial part; how much are you willing to spend or give up? If she knows you have a lot of money and you buy one rose only, instead of a dozen you may be in trouble for being looked at as cheap! When there is love, the other person expects to be treated with more class than the ordinary. Love must have evidence of being over the top!

 

To prove seriousness, or dedication in love, you must apply your personal money, material goods or treasures. In life, whether it is for your mate, children, parents, or a friend, when you show you are willing to sacrifice in way that it counts, costs, or is a sacrifice, then you make an impression. 

 

Until you or I sacrifice something in a big way, we won’t be proving we have much love. The cost of love is that it does have to come with a sacrifice!

 

7. Another imperative factor for love is time. You cannot say to your boyfriend (or girlfriend) I love you, but I don’t have time to talk to you because ‘I am too busy’!? For important people, the ones we love, our bosses, or our friends, we all have a tendency to make time to communicate! If you are not sharing all the details of your life, your dreams, your pains, your desires with the one you claim to love, then how could that one believe that there is love present?

 

To prove credibility, or confidence in love, you must take time to share your innermost secrets, fears, desires, and dreams.

Taking these examples on the manifestations of love, we can apply them as a thermometer to determine the hot or cold temperature we have in our love for God.

Let’s review this one more time with loving God and others in mind…

 

8. Talent: Do you share your talent with God and others? Some of you do it well and Regina and I, and everyone here, and in particular God, sees every little thing done with your talents. You show your love by: cooking, painting, teaching, singing, cleaning, leading meetings, and disciplining. God knows the names of the faithful and so do we.

 

Treasure: Any program, any building, any operation requires money and thank God we are able to keep on going due to your tithe and offering support, the support of the outside donations, and by the major gifts donated by those who have it and are generous with it! I know many of you give the maximum of what you can, and God knows, and he blesses the cheerful giver. I have seen others give their time since they did not have any money or goods and that is valid as well and I am amazed at how God keeps providing for the church and for each of you!

 

Time: I have given out books to lots of folks as a tool to help each person spend more time with God. We must be doing more prayer, and more prayer in cell groups too.  Everyone must spend quality time with God, we all must study His word and consume it as our daily bread, so we learn what it is He desires from us. Imagine if you have a friend but you never want to spend time with them or learn about their wishes or needs? It takes time to love!

 

9. We pray and talk to Jesus as our best friend, so He knows we are honoring Him and His Father, and our time spent with Him is proof of our connection to Him through mental and verbal communication. 

 

And finally, finishing the verse it states: ‘and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren’. The point is, Jesus proved His love, He laid down His life: now all of us are forever challenged to prove our love by showing the same level of sacrifice! Thank God very few of us will have to die on a cross like Jesus did but we must be as sacrificial as He was. Proof requires manifestation in time, talent, and treasure all given to God’s work, and to another, a brother or sister!

 

With these perceptions out on the table it is time to evaluate how good a lover you are. Do you spend quality talent, treasure, and time with the one you claim to love? Or with your friends? What about your enemies, Jesus even states for us to love our enemies!

 

And with God? If God were to measure your love for Him, what do you do to show your love for Him and to show your love for your neighbor as yourself? Mark 12:30-31

30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

 

10. We have the standard of Jesus laying down His life and this was the maximum love ever expressed by God and by His Son on earth! Doesn’t this type of supernatural, unexplainable, amazing, intense, merciful love provoke a response?! How much will you love back then?

 

There is a limit and a balance to loving others, however. Matt 7:6

6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

 

You and I both have had bad experiences with other human beings with whom we have given a lot of love to; we have given our passion, our dedication, and our confidence only to be betrayed because they were too selfish and arrogant to understand what love is and be reciprocating and thankful. Measure if others are thankful or ungrateful, giving something or nothing in return. Returning indifference for your passion, and indifference for your love is hurtful and sad.

 

Are you a person full of love yet? If you are then let’s see and perceive you serving God, loving Him and others, being on fire, speaking up, and giving of yourself! 

Love everyone today! Love God and Jesus back with a passion! Love your brother and give your life for him or her as the scripture spoke!

A Lost Love: Ephesus and The Church Today

A Lost Love: Ephesus and The Church Today                         Kelly Durant Re: 2-5-23

 

Revelation 2

2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things said he that holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

2 I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.

4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.

7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

 

2. How many of you have heard the words, “I don’t love you anymore”? Those words really hurt! These words create broken hearts, and broken relationships! I am very sorry if you have had to deal with another person who has said this to you before! I know after several years married many couples may doubt, and ask the question inside, do I really love like I did in the beginning? To speak this is damaging! Never forget that real love, God’s love is so much more than a feeling! God’s love keeps on loving no matter what! God’s love forgives, heals, sacrifices and keeps on loving forever!

 

The current lack of love in people is a sign of the times, Matt 24 “the love of many will wax cold”. Anti-Christ like people of the cruel world only live for their selfish up and down feelings in reference to love. This is why a dedicated Christian should never be unequally yoked with an unbeliever because over time the unbeliever will feel entitled to satisfy their desire for love (lust) by whatever means possible instead of trying to invest their energy into the one they married and swore a lifetime commitment to. The best way to live is to choose to live “in love” everyday! In love with Jesus and those He has put in your life! Pray for love to fill you and it will! Pray, Lord, make me live “in love” with my mate and all humanity! And to love the lost and needy as you did!

 

Today we will continue our study of the modern day church in reference to the sins exposed in the first 7 churches in Revelation. We covered the Church in Laodicea before, today we return to the first one mentioned in the context of the seven in Revelation, Ephesus. Sadly, isn’t it obvious compared to a generation ago, that the church of today has lost its passion to win souls to righteousness, lost its love for Jesus, and lost its mission? The church has allowed apathetic worldly people inside to subvert it with the corrupt culture of the current trends. It is urgent that each Christian must evaluate their own self and get back to their first love for God!

 

3. I love how Jesus is described with the seven spirits, the stars and the candlesticks. Jesus is ascribed to being the light which extends throughout the universe in the stars and also as the light in front of you as a candle in the room. Do you recall His words, Matthew 5:15 “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house”. Jesus is our light! His light is life itself! Many candles make the church shine if they are lit!

 

Go to Verse 2, “I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:” Jesus is praising the true ones in Ephesus! They are working hard, have good works, and they have patience with others. We all fail and it is important to put up with each other with love and forgiveness, and here we learn that they are mature in several ways.

 

Jesus is also praising them for not tolerating in their fellowship those that are pretending to be apostles (which are ones who claim they follow Jesus) but instead they are false, hypocrites, and liars. This means they are praying, singing hymns, listening to the Word studied together but they are doing it with false pretenses having no intention of being a true Christ lover. Have we seen people like this in our churches? They seem to do what a Christian does, copying the actions, but when they are out in normal life, they are as crooked as a snake. Sadly, too many churches tolerate people who are false pretenders and hypocrites and these few bad apples causes others to get turned off and never what to come back! How damaging this is!

 

4. Vs3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. Interesting, Jesus once again praises them a second time for working well serving in His name, for having patience, and he highlights they have not fainted or given up. This implies they have had problems and resistance. Have you ever felt like giving up? I have a few dozen times! But after I pray about it and give it to Jesus, Jesus seems to always encourage me somehow and I keep on going!  Ask yourself, have I ever fainted? Do I labor as expected?

 

Jesus expresses Himself as any good teacher, He first praises the good, and then He comes down with the bad news. 4 “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love”.

What was I mentioning a few minutes ago about not being in love? A life without love hurts! The first love refers to how it is when you are first starting out enthusiastic, optimistic, and hopeful as a couple “in love”. You do anything and everything the other person wants because your happiness is their happiness! One who is full of love serves, respects, and has full focus on the needs and desires of the other. Is there evidence of you having a passionate love for Jesus?

 

When you lose your love for someone you do not care to make them happy anymore: in essence you pass from a selfless phase to a selfish phase! Losing love is tragic! This is what happened to the Ephesians in Revelation 2. The whole point of Jesus coming to earth was to teach us to love! A church or Corps should be the most loving place in the city! John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Churches with loveless people are not representative of Jesus, think about that!

 

5. A Christian leader who has been around for a long time and loses their first love for Jesus also loses their love for their brothers and sisters in the church and for the lost outside the church. How is, or not, love? I Cor. 13: 3 “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”  Do you know of Christians who serve the poor but with a bad attitude? They do it just because they are required to by their peer group or their job description but their heart is not really into it! They are not loving those a lot less fortunate than them! It is painful to put up with someone without love! It is also painful to observe many churches in America have lost their first love for Jesus!

 

You and I know people who probably started out loving Jesus but then they lost their first love so how do they act? The opposite of this: 4 “Love suffers long and is kind (they are impatient and mean to  others); love does not envy (they are jealous of those who have a better situation than them); love does not parade itself, is not puffed up (they are arrogant and proud of their power position and accomplishments); 5 does not behave rudely (they are rude and humiliate you and others), does not seek its own  (their self-interests always come to light), is not provoked, thinks no evil (they get angry quickly and want to harm to those they don’t like); It is tragic how each of us suffer under those with no love!

 

Let’s continue to compare how people with love and those without love behave: 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth (they are happy when someone insulting and bad pulls a fast one); 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”(Loveless ones are not tolerant of others claiming they are tolerant but are hypocrites and unjust, they do not expect good outcomes and always bear bad news, they disillusion others and make them lose faith and hope, and they do not want to put up with anyone because only they know how to do everything) Sadly everyone else around them perceives them to be just ignorant, belligerent fools pretending to be good!  

 

6. Vs.5 “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; (of doing things with a passionate love!) or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Jesus is stating He will allow their fellowship to be removed and disbanded if they do not repent and get back to having the passion and love they once had.  Haven’t we already seen too many churches disbanded from a lack of love for God and others! The enemy today is attacking fiercely with apathy and dissention using divisive popularized controversial matters.

 

I can say in my lifetime I have seen several Christian ministries come and go! What happened? People may start off great, loving Jesus, and laboring for Him but then the light goes out if over time some problem gets in the way. It is usually these things that destroy Christian fellowships: false teachings, a lack of patient love gets replaced by a legalistic self-righteousness, or an apathetic laziness to keep up the good work loving and serving others. Also, the light goes out when a person or group of proud leaders in charge refuse to see their faults and their church’s faults! The leader should be bringing everyone closer to God loving Jesus more!

 

Vs. 6 “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.” Despite the warning, Jesus praises them again for rejecting a group of false infiltrators. Notice that Jesus says He hates these people, the Nicolaitians. So Jesus loves, but He also hates those who are hypocrites and false to profane the will and love of God! If one of these Nicolaitians were to repent, I am sure God would have received him, but the subversion of Jesus’ teachings is an abomination!

 

7. It is speculated by theologians that the Nicolaitians were a local gnostic group that rose to power and faded away after a few years. “Nike” (first part of word “Nic”), in Greek means to conquer, and “laitian” refers to people (as in the word laity), so their name has the connotation of meaning “those who conquer people”. So how did they conquer? By deceit, they were liars and false ones infiltrating the brethren to abandon absolute faith in Jesus and mix it with the world. 

 

From history we know that the early church had a battle with those who claimed there was no resurrection. What conquered thousands of early believers was the conviction with which the disciples retold the story of Jesus resurrection! For a person or group to counter that and say that it is a lie is a huge offense and insult to Jesus’ life, death, sacrifice, and resurrection!  Any resurrection denier is in effect a liar deceived by Satan! Today there are too many loudmouthed disrespecters of Jesus! Jesus’ life and doctrine was pure love, so anything not of that is of Satan!

 

Possible other offenses were that these people being Greeks, thought that since in their worldview no God is pure and holy or capable of saving someone from Hades, (their Greek gods were definitely not divine in their behavior!) then they could justifiably live as hypocrites claiming one could be loyal to Jesus for certain moments, and then participate with the other Greek pagan god’s filthy pleasures as well. This false doctrine meant that they did not have to live a holy life, but rather they could participate in Greek orgies doing abominable things, thinking its fine to please your flesh in unholy ways since the other gods were of this nature. Do you know of any hypocrite person who partakes in all the things of the world during the week yet they go to a Sunday worship thinking its ok with God? Today we see many world-pleasing hypocrites as were the Christians that were in Ephesus! The remedy is to repent, which means to leave it behind and never go back to it! It is all Jesus and nothing else! By observation we see that corruption and modern day Nicolaitian type behaviors have infiltrated every company, government, and church! It’s live mixing love with hate, and they cannot mix!

 

8. Vs. 7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Basically Jesus is commanding us to be spiritually attentive! We must listen to what He says about the churches, and since He is alive in the Spirit, Jesus still speaks to those that listen concerning the state of affairs of the churches. Those who study understand and see clearly.

 

Where do we read about the tree of life? It is the tree that God prevented Adam and Eve from eating from so they would not live forever.  Genesis 3:24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. But after we die and become spirit, we will be enjoying this tree again in heaven! 

 

But we see a condition here to gaining this privilege, what is that? It is to overcome, “To him that overcometh”. In this case what is Jesus referring to? To overcome what? Within all the context it means to overcome the apathy and falseness He is exposing. What did they need to overcome? What do you personally need to overcome so God will be pleased with you?

 

9. The Christians in Ephesus, and all Christians today must overcome these obstacles:

A) To not lose one’s first love for Jesus

B) To not lose the ability to repent from their failures

C) To hate hypocrisy and evil workers as Jesus hates them.

 

Have you lost your first love? Some people come into our doors excited that they have discovered that Jesus is real, they have their eyes opened, and their hearts are on fire. But then due to their peers or family criticizing them, due to resistance from the world, they stop coming to worship and love Jesus, and they lose their “first love”. How tragic! Like the seed that was sewn and grew, but then died before it could flourish into a beautiful plant!

 

Jesus always offers us a chance to repent! Everyday, and not just on Sundays after the sermon, we should be examining our hearts to repent of any wrong behavior, of any behavior that was not done in love. It is a sin to live without a passionate love for God and Jesus! Pray to love passionately and eternally as God loved us!

Use it or Lose It: What has God given you?

Use it or Lose It: What has God given you?    Kelly Durant.  1-29-23

Matthew 25:14-33

2. Many people set new goals for their life when a new year starts. Here at the Corps some do it with the case worker. Everyone should have goals and, if not you will be failing God making yourself an unwise steward of your life. If you are not having life happen as you plan it, if God isn’t getting His fair share of you, then who or what is getting in the way? Most always it is your own stubborn self to blame! Do you want blessings for hard work, then get busy! There is a lot to do! 

Notice that we all praise the honeybee for his busy work, but we hate the mosquito! The busy-ness you choose must be prayed over, planned and counseled about, and then executed. You don’t want to waste time and energy you can never get back! Many people choose the wrong activities and disregarding God’s will, they hurt others, and anger God.  

God keeps you and me out of trouble this way, ha! But King David, and anyone with too much leisure time may get into mischief! As Christians we must always be serving, studying, working and being productive in all good things!

3 Some people, however, would love to use your or my time to take them shopping all day or do errands for them! I wish we could spend more time with each other but if you and I do not plan our priorities for the day, we’ll lose all our time in the little the errands of everyone else and not get anything done that we should do! 

It is time to evaluate where your time, talent, and treasure are being spent and determine if you are dedicating enough of it to God or not. He is the judge, not me, but my role is to inspire you to use what you have for Him, or as in this parable of today, warn you of the consequences of not using what you have for God! All I want is for the Lord to tell you what you need to do to come into His joy!

4 In the parable of the talents, we can compare this to our lives. Think of it this way, some people may have 5 abilities while others may have one or two. Some people are excellent with math and money while others are average with it, some people are good with people for good relations and sales, or some people have a musical or artistic ability or sports talent. Everyone has the ability to do something, and everyone is needed!

The talents Jesus referred to were literally pieces of money. But in this parable the lending of the money implied a time value to it for an investment yield, or to spend it to make more by buying and selling, a work value of using your brain and talents to produce something worthwhile. 

God is expecting that you apply what you have naturally been given to make it better and more productive, and most importantly giving a return back to Him who gave it you. 

5 The modern problem we have today in the community is that people are not applying their time, talent, and treasure into things that are useful for God and they are wasting away. In the world some people are content to let the government support them all day to watch TV or sit around playing games on the computer and they do not care at all to progress to develop their selves, work or do anything at all because they don’t see the need to. These people have no goals, no ambition, and no future! The poor ‘we have with us always’, and some are poor due to a lack of the production of anything!

And some people who work so hard at things that will never be of any use to anyone, like the kid who plays video games 7 hours a day and they asked him, “How are you going to make a living at playing a video game that will be outdated in 5 years?” There is no response because it is all wasted time! Or from texting, or social media, maybe only 1 out of 1,000 people can make a living from that!

As in the parable of people who do not use their time, talent, and treasure to produce something for God, they always justify their laziness and self-created limitations, after all they are the victim that no one understands, and they want us to feel sorry for them for being so miserable when it is their own fault their situation!

6. In various Corps we have managed basketball, soccer, and afterschool programs and summer camps. To know what to do we should ask questions and then just listen. If you have not learned to listen to people, you will miss learning life lessons on how to progress in things for the benefit of yourself and others. The question in my mind was, what makes so many be willing to sweat in over high degree heat 10 hours a day, and often all summer long, to do a something that is not making them very rich really?

One of our coach friends explained this to us, that he had a supervisor’s job for several years and he just sat at a desk all day and often worked long hours, and he was making $18 the hour. But he was discontent since he had studied 4 years sports training and physical-therapy and he was not applying himself in what he loved to do. So, he took a cut in pay in order to do what he loves and apply his talent. 

He didn’t worry for the money; it made him feel good to work with kids, it was his show, his passion, his satisfaction, and he was finally able to do what he wanted to. Before we had 120 families involved and it became successful after 3 years of hard work! Our Corps gyms got used and not wasting away! 

7. I wish people would come to serve Jesus with this same passion being willing to sweat all day to preach the gospel! Only people with a passion for Jesus pass the test to gain a position of leadership in God’s service. All good things require sacrifice!

Our coach friend also expressed he even expected us to tell these families about Jesus because he shared that he as a kid he had played basketball in our gym and he recalled that the Captain then always shared a devotional about Jesus. Don’t you and I feel like giving respect to those who respect us and respect our Lord?

So, in order to gain something, you have to be willing to give up something! The man with the one talent buried it. Imagine, he was not willing to let it go and take the risk to apply it so he lost what was not his but could have been his if he would have been more willing to work, invest, and use his brains! But investing pays!

8. Not using your body, your mind, your talent, your money, and your time for God is a sin and crime against God and humanity! Some people serve in God’s work many hours a week, others a few hours, but most do not serve at all! In the end you are not the god of yourself to do as you please; you did not make yourself into being, you and I are God’s property out on loan! So, have you asked God in prayer yet, what you should do to win souls and how to help your community?

It was your mother that formed you into being by a miracle of God’s design and he brings everyone on this earth for a mission and a purpose; the problem is people are too lazy, too rebellious, and too selfish to do what God expects of them! Because people fail God, we have the world as it is! Can God be happy when we, his creation, disobey Him and even reject His Son! I heard a quote once that “people just want to find a comfortable spot and then “stay there until they die”. This sadly sums up the life of many people quite well and since people don’t include God in this life, sadly He will not be there after their soul moves. 

9. But the most dangerous place for a Christian is a comfortable place! When a person becomes so complacent with all the evil happening around them that they do not care anymore about the sin in the world and the exploitative abuses and extreme poverty and oppressions, and all the souls going to hell, then that person is like that one with the un-invested talent, useless to God! We are soldiers in a war on evil, so tell me about your plan of battle! God and all of us are expecting results!

A reality of life is the majority of people out of the billions that exist everywhere never leave their comfort zone, never leave far away from home to accomplish anything for God, for another, or for their own selves. The majority of people never even consider that they could live a life of adventure living out their passions. Only God can give you and me the vision of how glorious life can be if we will only put him first investing in Him, and most of all being faithful (‘til death)!

The problem is often people do count the costs or serving and after determining that it would come at a great sacrifice, then this person decides that they are incapable of making the investment required putting in all the hard work it. What a mistake to choose poorly!

10. No sacrifice for Jesus goes unrewarded.  Matthew 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. 

It is sad too few people are willing to have the patience to store up their treasures in heaven, but what I have experienced is just what this verse states, you gain rewards in this life as well and I do not regret serving Jesus despite how it has cost me a few things like suffering a few thefts, getting hepatitis for 6 weeks, and having to move a few dozens of times with 4 little kids but I would not trade this life for nothing else! I have learned to love the ultra-poor and minister to the ultra-rich which is what Jesus did!  

With God you are never allowed to be motionless and unproductive as all things are in motion and like a train, you either get on it when He calls you or you get left behind! God is a God of movement, and He expects production and movement from us! 

11. You can’t allow yourself to become like a stagnant pool of water or you will become poisonous form the bacteria generated from no inflow and outflow. What kills people spiritually, morally, emotionally, and physically is the lack of movement; when a person does not take in and then give out.  

And the bad part too is when someone gives their time to God others those who are stagnant immediately criticize them like they are crazy to invest and spend energy in something that does not give them an immediate payback. 

We have a Salvation Army today because millions have invested in God’s work voluntarily and this is a proof that is God’s work that does store up eternal benefits. William Booth and his wife Catherine were willing to leave the stagnant Methodist church and they lived out their passion to help the people in absolute misery and addiction!   Will the Lord say to you…

12. Matt 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

What are you planning on doing for God this year? God and everyone expects more from you. Have you even considered setting goals of doing more for God, in the church Corps and community? Today make a promise to God, and then keep it! You will be glad you did it when you are in heaven and your reward will be there for you!

Human Trafficking: It’s Worse Than What You Have Ever Known!

Human Trafficking: It’s Worse Than What You Have Ever Known!  

  Kelly Durant

 

2 Peter 2:2-4 (KJV)

2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not.

 

2. How many of you of think we are in better times, that in general slavery has been abolished? No longer are people wearing chains plowing in farm fields but is the era of slavery really over? This is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and we must all be instrumental in helping to rescue and heal those caught up in it. How sickening and sad to know many children are used and abused and many corrupt officials are getting paid off to let it keep happening!

 

I did a google search and this is what came up concerning slavery today…. Estimates of the number of slaves today range up to 50 million, depending on the method used to form the estimate and the definition of slavery being used. Slavery in the 21st century – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Slavery in the 21^st century’ 

 

Is that not shocking? That is like the entire population of Colombia, or Spain! And honestly, I think those numbers are low! Many of the persons trafficked are prostitutes. Here is web site for that info which states that 42 million are involved in that! About 2 million are in the United States and many of them are minorities. https://prostitution.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000095

 

3. How does God feel about people owning other people as their slaves to be abused, adulterated, and extortioned? He detests it and excludes these kinds of people from heaven! 1 Corinthians 6:8-10 (KJV) 8 Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. 9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

 

But as you all well know, we live in a fallen world, taken over by Satan’s authorities which control religious, governmental, and entertainment organizations, and since we are in the endtimes, we can only expect more of these above-named evil activities to increase. 

 

It sad because so many young people, especially those of minorities groups or with single parents, fall into the trap of evil seducers who promise them big money and hob knobbing with influential people in exchange for committing crimes against God and humanity. After 5 or so years of abuse, they are then thrown away to the street like a sick ugly dog. These human extortioners, which range from street low lifers to billionaires control their naïve victims usually by getting them addicted to drugs, by enticing them with wealth and fame, by exercising over them extreme fear and intimidation, and by disorientation moving them to another city or country, or island. And you may recall as in the case of Epstein (with his Island), many employ mind control tactics. They evade the law usually because the victims are afraid for their lives, for the lives of their families, and consequently they suffer in silence never seeking help.

 

4. Okay, now that I have shared the shocking information about how massive this abominable soul condemning abuse is, we must now ask ourselves, how can we be a part of the solution to help save those victims suffering? To begin with, you and I can pray God will use you and me one day to see an injustice happening and then act to do something about it! If only one person in every hundred people aggressively tried to help a victim out, we could rid ourselves of this plague in a few years. We might need to quadruple the size of our jail space though!

 

Here is a problem I observe: Christians and most large churches are afraid to tackle this issue, but they should actually be the first ones to respond! It is a horrible moral, spiritual, and physical injustice! And sadly, for some huge churches worldwide, sexual and labor exploitation is ignored, covered up, and under Satan’s control, so it keeps on proliferating! Sexual sins are dividing and destroying nations everywhere! Christians must step up!

 

Millions of people commit the sin of omission for not denouncing this and doing something when they learn of someone being abused or falling into the hands of evil abusive people. I am very thankful that our church, The Salvation Army has safe houses for the victims in almost every State in the U.S., and we also have them in around the world where victims can get rehab, learn a skill, live in a new city, and start a new life. 

 

5. What is sad is that the world (Hollywood, music industry, some school systems) promotes sexual exploitation sins (porn, prostitution, etc) as if they are normal, legal, and acceptable. A friend of ours who ran to be Mayor of a (certain) City told us that the first ones to come to offer him money (in case he was the victor) were the owners of the strip clubs! Evil exploiters always work in the dark from behind the scenes, it is Satan’s secretive way. Being bought with a bribe is a huge sin!

 

The mafias in New York and L.A. don’t even need to pay off officials anymore to sneak in illegal drugs, all they have to do is find some rebellious teenager online that wants to run away from home! They get enticed by people they have never met and then after meeting up with them are trapped and enslaved just like in the movie 2017 ‘Trafficked’.  

 

These evil gangs can put her or him in a hotel room and make more than $1,000 per night, so one youth over time can make someone a million dollars before they are abandoned or killed! This is like having a chain on someone who is forced to labor. It is a hell with no freedom, no education, and no normal life like others. 

 

6. Have you ever wondered, what happens to all the missing children year after year? In the U.S. alone 800,000 go missing! That is almost 1 in every 100! Apart from exploitation many children are captured for Satanic ritual abuse (SRA)! The practice of abusing children and then killing them has been Satan’s game from the beginning of time! People who play with Satan’s crowd are commanded to perform acts that will guarantee them hell as a punishment for abominable works.

 

 The children of Israel were forbidden to offer their children to the false pagan (Satanic) gods who always wanted human sacrifice. Leviticus 18:21

And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.

 

This is why Satanic groups in society are nothing to play with nor respect! Due to their secret evil practices by blackmail and coercion, Christians must demand they never be allowed in our community schools, libraries, or clubs and organizations. Their statues in public must come down! They are parasite vermin destroying communities from within by their immorality, corruption, murders, and extortions.

 

7. Those of us who love God are often naïve to all the evil around us, while the people of the world think violence, disappearances, and exploitations are just the normal ways of the world. Those living a lie and partaking in evil hold the truth as the enemy! 2 Peter 2:2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

 

The pattern we observe is that people who are evil, violent, vile and abusive, with secret sins having a double life, are the ones who are most outspoken against the people of God because we speak the truth, and the truth exposes their evil and lies! Christians usually are the only ones who expose their deeds as evil, so we are hated the most, maligned and under attack, either to be sabotaged in our fellowships internally by Judases, shamed by the media, or shut down by new perverse and illogical laws targeting us. 

 

After all the agendas are in place already, there is a now a new push to normalize pedophilia. Have you heard that some want marriage, or casual ‘you know what’, between an 8-year-olds and a 50 year olds be legal and normal? According to many people who support certain political or religious views our archaic laws need to be updated!? So, if the murder of a newborn is fine, then why not any s_x as one pleases with anyone? We are as in the days of violent Sodom and Gomorrah!

 

8. So we are on God’s side and what is He going to do about it? Vs 3. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

 

God is going to judge, condemn, and lock into hell the demons and the dead souls who have practiced these abominable acts! The practice of demons is to own their host, to have them as their property or merchandise so they do extreme lude and offensive acts. They get them to recruit and entice others into a sinful lifestyle as well which will bring upon their souls and bodies horrible consequences and judgement. Beware that certain political parties, certain religions, and certain companies want to own you and me demanding our support of these atrocities! These dark powers in high places will punish you or even kill you if you do not think, act, speak, and support all the soul damaging agendas they dictate to you. 

 

Satan hates God’s beautiful creation of humankind and he wants all ages and races of people to be rapidly killed by extreme exploitation! What a crime and an outrage that people would destroy their own, even those from their own families and neighbors by trying to own another’s soul, mind, and activity in order to make money from them, or get them to do evil. 

 

9. So we need to warn everyone, even the children, and we need to do awareness campaigns to expose that this type of evil is an abomination to God and a crime against humanity. Human trafficking may include exploiting others for the drug trade, sexual abuse, and unpaid labor and an infinite amount of secretive sinful activities.

 

Take note that this abuse happens on a large scale in entire nations! In (fill in the blank) if you do not like their government and policies, and if you do not conform to their abuse of you as a slave to their leaders to labor in a factory, you will end up in a slave prison camp. There, your kidneys, or any body part, will be harvested at any moment they please so the state can then make a huge financial profit off of you! Atheistic political parties, or false Satanic domineering cult-like religions (those opposing the worship of Jesus), are murderous and abusive and never fulfil their promises to you for peace, equality, justice, and a god-like status. 

 

Watch and pray and be very cautious with certain organizations, gangs, mafias, and even your neighbor down the street, as Satan is always on the prowl, like a roaring lion seeking who he can devour. Pray that you and I can protect our own from being owned by another person who will make merchandise of them or of you. Save your own and save a stranger when possible! Jesus will guide you, be courageous! Let’s expose human trafficking so they cannot operate in our neighborhoods! 

       

You know you can expose suspicious activities when you see them, here is a website for that https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/identify-victim?utm_source=google.com&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=rg.search-fy20.broad-allcit&utm_content=human&utm_term=human%20trafficking%20statistics