The power to... by Gary Rose

Tomorrow is groundhog day; can you believe its almost here?  This wolf can and he decided to eat the prognosticator!!!  I know, TOMORROW IS GROUNDHOG DAY, NOT TODAY, but the important thing here is that the wolf had the power to decide what to do about the groundhog and DID SOMETHING ABOUT IT!

Although most of us don't like to think about the final great judgment, it will happen, just as the Scripture says...

Revelation, Chapter 20 (World English Bible)

  ¹¹ I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.  ¹² I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. (emp. added vs.12b GDR) ¹³ The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works.  ¹⁴ Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.  ¹⁵ If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.(emp. added vs.15 GDR)

Revelation, Chapter 3 (World English Bible)

 ¹  “And to the angel of the assembly in Sardis write: 
“He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars says these things: 
“I know your works, that you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.   ²  Wake up, and keep the things that remain, which you were about to throw away, for I have found no works of yours perfected before my God.   ³  Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If therefore you won’t watch, I will come as a thief, and you won’t know what hour I will come upon you.   ⁴  Nevertheless you have a few names in Sardis that didn’t defile their garments. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.   ⁵  He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.  (emp. added vs. 5 GDR) ⁶  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.

John, Chapter 3 (World English Bible)

³⁵ The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.  ³⁶ One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys  the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

What you do in this world will determine your ultimate fate. If you truly believe in Jesus and obey him, you will have eternal life; if not, then wrath awaits. Seems like a no brainer, doesn't it; yet many will read acts chapter two and explain away baptism.

The Apostle Peter says...

Acts, Chapter 2  (World English Bible)

¹⁴ But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and spoke out to them, “You men of Judea, and all you who dwell at Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to my words.  ¹⁵ For these aren’t drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is only the third hour of the day.  ¹⁶ But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel: 

  ¹⁷ ‘It will be in the last days, says God, 
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. 
Your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions. 
Your old men will dream dreams. 

  ¹⁸ Yes, and on my servants and on my handmaidens in those days, 
I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy. 

  ¹⁹ I will show wonders in the sky above, 
and signs on the earth beneath: 
blood, and fire, and billows of smoke. 

  ²⁰ The sun will be turned into darkness, 
and the moon into blood, 
before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes. 

  ²¹ It will be that whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

  ²² “Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him among you, even as you yourselves know,  ²³ him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;  ²⁴ whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.  ²⁵ For David says concerning him, 

‘I saw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. 

  ²⁶ Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. 
Moreover my flesh also will dwell in hope; 

  ²⁷ because you will not leave my soul in Hades,
neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay. 

  ²⁸ You made known to me the ways of life. 
You will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

  ²⁹ “Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰ Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,  ³¹ he foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul wasn’t left in Hades, and his flesh didn’t see decay.  ³² This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.  ³³ Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this, which you now see and hear.  ³⁴ For David didn’t ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, 

‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit by my right hand   ³⁵ until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’

  ³⁶ “Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” 

  ³⁷ Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 

  ³⁸ Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  ³⁹ For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”  ⁴⁰ With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!” 

  ⁴¹ Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls. (emp. added vss. 38-41)

The stark reality of human beings is that what we do in this life has consequences. The choice is yours; I pray that you make the correct one!!! Hopefully, your name will be found in the book of life and I will see you in heaven forever!!!

Bible Reading February 1 by Gary Rose

Bible Reading February 1 (World English Bible)

Feb. 1

Genesis 32

Gen 32:1 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

Gen 32:2 When he saw them, Jacob said, "This is God's army." He called the name of that place Mahanaim.

Gen 32:3 Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.

Gen 32:4 He commanded them, saying, "This is what you shall tell my lord, Esau: 'This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with Laban, and stayed until now.

Gen 32:5 I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.' "

Gen 32:6 The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau. Not only that, but he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him."

Gen 32:7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies;

Gen 32:8 and he said, "If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then the company which is left will escape."

Gen 32:9 Jacob said, "God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, 'Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,'

Gen 32:10 I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies.

Gen 32:11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers with the children.

Gen 32:12 You said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which can't be numbered because there are so many.' "

Gen 32:13 He lodged there that night, and took from that which he had with him, a present for Esau, his brother:

Gen 32:14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

Gen 32:15 thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows, ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals.

Gen 32:16 He delivered them into the hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd."

Gen 32:17 He commanded the foremost, saying, "When Esau, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying, 'Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?'

Gen 32:18 Then you shall say, 'They are your servant, Jacob's. It is a present sent to my lord, Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.' "

Gen 32:19 He commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the herds, saying, "This is how you shall speak to Esau, when you find him.

Gen 32:20 You shall say, 'Not only that, but behold, your servant, Jacob, is behind us.' " For, he said, "I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me."

Gen 32:21 So the present passed over before him, and he himself lodged that night in the camp.

Gen 32:22 He rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok.

Gen 32:23 He took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had.

Gen 32:24 Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day.

Gen 32:25 When he saw that he didn't prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled.

Gen 32:26 The man said, "Let me go, for the day breaks." Jacob said, "I won't let you go, unless you bless me."

Gen 32:27 He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob."

Gen 32:28 He said, "Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed."

Gen 32:29 Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." He said, "Why is it that you ask what my name is?" He blessed him there.

Gen 32:30 Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for, he said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."

Gen 32:31 The sun rose on him as he passed over Peniel, and he limped because of his thigh.

Gen 32:32 Therefore the children of Israel don't eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip.

 

Feb. 1

Matthew 16

Mat 16:1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

Mat 16:2 But he answered them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.'

Mat 16:3 In the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can't discern the signs of the times!

Mat 16:4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah." He left them, and departed.

Mat 16:5 The disciples came to the other side and had forgotten to take bread.

Mat 16:6 Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

Mat 16:7 They reasoned among themselves, saying, "We brought no bread."

Mat 16:8 Jesus, perceiving it, said, "Why do you reason among yourselves, you of little faith, 'because you have brought no bread?'

Mat 16:9 Don't you yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up?

Mat 16:10 Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up?

Mat 16:11 How is it that you don't perceive that I didn't speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

Mat 16:12 Then they understood that he didn't tell them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Mat 16:13 Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"

Mat 16:14 They said, "Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."

Mat 16:15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

Mat 16:16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Mat 16:17 Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Mat 16:18 I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

Mat 16:19 I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven."

Mat 16:20 Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he is Jesus the Christ.

Mat 16:21 From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.

Mat 16:22 Peter took him aside, and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you."

Mat 16:23 But he turned, and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men."

Mat 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Mat 16:25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it.

Mat 16:26 For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?

Mat 16:27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.

Mat 16:28 Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death, until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom."