Looking Forward! Matthew 25:31-34

When the Son of man shall come in His Image and Character with Splendor And Brilliance with His Holy Angles then He shall sit upon the Throne of His Glory! And before Him shall be gathered all the races of mankind and He shall cast out the wicked and abominable as the Spiritual Leader of the flock. He will divide the sheep from the goats! He shall set the Sheep on the right hand giving them equal honor as to Himself! He will set the goats on His left hand! Then shall the King of the people say unto them on His right hand, Come, my Father shall dwell upon you and you will be heir of the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world! Comment: So where is His Throne of Glory located on earth with His return? Jerusalem! The same place where He was Crucified! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Jesus Words! Matthew 24:13

Greek Translation: “But he that endures a load of miseries, adversities, persecutions, provocations in faith and patience towards people until your goal of perfection is accomplished completely shall have the spiritual and eternal salvation granted immediately by God through Jesus Christ,” Comment: Did you ever notice you do not start off your life with Jesus Christ? You start out by being in love with the world. However after a load of miseries, adversities, persecutions and provocations you figure out something is wrong? Most of our woes are self inflicted but a few done by others! Then Jesus Christ comes into your life with a love you never thought possible? Jesus fills your emptiness with His love! You still have the miseries, adversities, persecutions and provocations however they are no longer internal but external! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Forgiveness! Matthew 27:50

Yielded up here means Christ voluntarily gives up His Spirit in His body! To forgive sin means to remove those sins from oneself! Only God is able to do that for us! To forgive sin is not to disregard them or do nothing about them, but to liberate a person from them! That is to remove the guilt and power of sin over and in a person! We are to ask God to forgive us our sin and remove them from us so we do not stand guilty of them and under their power and control. Christ has forgiven us and He also asks us to forgive others! Remember our forgiving others is a sign of our salvation but only Christ has the power to redeem others! This is why Evangelism is so important! I can forgive a snake for biting me but if I go back to that snake he will bite me again! You can forgive that poor devil but he is still a devil. The sinner must still come to the same Christ we have come to! One sign that you have forgiven a sinner who has offended you is that you regularly pray for them that God will Bless them and that they will find Christ as their Savior! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Resurrection! Matthew 27:52-53

The word resurrection literally means to quit one’s previous position and to rise up! We need a spiritual resurrection and a physical resurrection! Jesus said we must be born again! We had no control over our physical birth and no control over our physical death unless we chose suicide! Without Christ we wake up everyday in our previous position of sin! Nothing seems to change except things get worse! Through Christ we quit this position and move into righteousness! That is we are made right with God! We wake up with a spiritually resurrected body and the promise of a physically resurrected body! It is interesting that when Jesus died on the Cross the graves were opened up by an earthquake and many of the saints arose! Notice in verse 53, they came out of the graves after the resurrection! When sin has been paid for people get free! I spent a few years in India and learned some of the aspects of the Hindu religion! The Hindus suffer from many bondages and superstitions based upon their Theology of God! One particular destructive belief about God is the Doctrine of reincarnation! Not the incarnation but reincarnation! They believe if you sin or are a bad person in your next life you could be a bug, rat or a snake or something awful. There is no remedy and you are locked into this condition due to your sin! They have respect for bugs and rats because they could have been a former family member! If fact in the Hindu Temples they feed rats and snakes milk and give them respect! Lucky critters! So they believe their sin is punished forever into the next generations whom could be a bug, snake, cow or a human never to come up in life! They make no effort to improve their life because their lot is permanent! It was very hard to improve their life under these beliefs! The incarnation is very different from the reincarnation! God taking on our sin who was without sin to deliver us from evil. God becomes man to take the very sin that separates us from God! If reincarnation were true and Jesus was just another human and took on the sin of the whole world he would have been resurrected as Satan! But Jesus was God and only that sacrifice would have been acceptable to God the Father! His son was the key to redemption! When Jesus was raised from the dead the saints were raised with Him! The resurrection is probably the most important aspect of our Faith! It is also based on historical facts! The next time you see a bug crawling across your floor you have my permission to step on it! What we believe about God determines our outlook and attitude about life here on earth and after! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Prosperity or Poverty? Matthew 6:11

There are two extremes coming from the American pulpit! Prosperity preaching that says you can get it all if you just believe and the poverty message that if you just abstain from these vanities you will be blessed in the after life! Jesus said give us this day our daily bread! It was not give us more than we need or less than we need but what we need for today! Do not store up or throw away but trust Him for today! Do not worry about the next day but trust Him for today! If you do this you will be able to sleep tonight and the peace that the world longs for but cannot find! Your peace will come from following Jesus and just doing what He told us to do! He is the Prince of Peace!

Signs of Jesus Second Coming! Matthew 24:9-10

Verse 9 “Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and kill you and you shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.” A report yesterday said 90 thousand Christian’s were killed in 2016! These numbers are beginning to equal or exceed the early church persecutions! Is Jesus screening out the fakes before His return? That is those still standing? In the next verse 10 as a consequence many shall leave the Faith! Today in America i can skip Sunday services and cheat on my tithes and no one will know except God! However if i have to choose Christ or my life this is a very different test! Most will serve Christ if the benefits are good such as an income tax deduction and a favorable view from friends and family. What Jesus said would come before His second coming is here and also coming to America! We need to make up our minds today what we would do when this comes so we can be prepared! Like today you will either confess or deny Jesus! If we practice today to confess Him then it will be much harder to deny Him in the future! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Christmas and Family! Matthew 1:18-20

Many fascinating things can be learned from the Christmas story! One thing cannot be denied! God always wanted a family! He started off creating one man and one woman! Not two men or two women but one man and one woman! The challenge got bigger when God wanted a son born of human parents! He looked over His creation to find the right parents. They had to be Jew for salvation comes by the Jew! The new millennium had just begun and the signs in the Heaven and earth were just right! The virgin birth predicted hundreds of years before by the Prophets was ripe for fulfillment! God found a young Jewish couple from Nazareth that were about to be engaged. Their names were Joseph and Mary. Then Joseph found his espoused bride pregnant? Joseph minded to put her away privately! Then an Angel appeared unto Joseph and told him his bride Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit! So Joseph became the step-father of Jesus! Years later Jesus told us that pure religion was taking care of widows and orphans! God always wanted children to have both parents! My Bible says God hates divorce! He wants to come to the aid of the victims! It seems American culture today does not hold the values God has established for the well being of the family? Jesus God’s son could not increase the size of His family until He went to the Cross! Today Jesus Father is your Father! Christmas means many things but most important you are now in God’s family now and forever! Pastor Oscar Cope, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Fairburn, Georgia.

Where Two or Three are Gathered? Matthew 18:20

Why two or three? That is the way God does it! Jesus prays to the Father and that makes two! The Holy Spirit is the third member of the Trinity and that makes three! Is the math too hard for us? Why two or three on earth? So when the answer comes God will get the Glory and not man! If ten people or a thousand people are praying for the same thing and the answer comes who’s prayer got answered? Not one individual but all because Jesus accompanied them! The word “midst” in the Greek means to accompany! Jesus will go along with us! He will accompany us to Heaven! He will accompany us to meet the Father! He will accompany us in prayer! He accompanied a thief on the Cross to Heaven! He can also accompany you! We have to be careful about any person or ministry that tries to corral us into a corner and says it is only because of our prayers or organization that your prayers are answered? You can only be saved if you join our church? No organization or man has saved anyone! We point people to the Cross for we cannot even save our own souls! You have a better chance of winning the lottery than trying to make it in life on your own without the accompaniment of Jesus! Do not gamble with your eternity! If you lose forever is a long time! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Selfies, Selfish & Selfless! Matthew 16:24-26

Selfies are not wrong or bad! Hey, look at me! They could be called the poster child of selfishness! Selfish seems to dominate American culture! Every group wants attention! They all get up on their soap box! Sin is about selfishness! No sacrifice required! Satan, Adam and Eve thought they could rise above God! Do not be denied God is holding out on you! Jesus said to seek first the Kingdom of God! Would you lose your life for Jesus? Take up your Cross and follow Him! Deny yourself! When you do that you are following Him! Ditch your selfie! His words seem as foreign to our culture as they did back in the 1st Century! To take up your Cross is to live in self-denial and lay your life down and take up His life! You will be exposed to death! For the first time in American history Christians are being executed for their Faith on our home soil. The executed had to carry their own Cross to the execution site after scourging! When you carry your own cross the popular culture will look at you as a criminal. You will undergo suffering, trial, punishment, disapproval and death! The only way to deny self is die to self! Others are more important! No wonder Jesus had so few disciples! Very few sign up and stay on! It is easier to live for you and not for Him because you have to trust your outcome to Him! Faith is taking your destiny out of your control! To follow Jesus means to walk in the same path! It means to be in union on the same road like military soldiers marching down the same path! To lose your life means to destroy it completely with a new identity! Save my life or lose it. The word life used in this scripture means the Spirit or eternal soul. It is more than just the here and now! Self is about the here and now! Gain the whole world and lose your soul? The word soul used here is the same Greek root word used for life! The world will never be able to save your soul. You were purchased with a price! His blood for your soul! Matthew 6:33 To seek first means in time, place and order of importance! Seek His righteousness! That means to seek His innocence and justification! Can we do the math? Then all these things will be added unto you! II Corinthians 5:15 Do you live for yourself? Live for Him! As He was raised He has promised to raise you up from the dead! Live like it! Look for Him and live for Him! Pastor Cope, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Fairburn, Georgia.

Guilt and Hope Matthew 11:28

We live in a fallen world! Violence, crime, natural disasters are all around us! From earthquakes, cyclones, floods, fires, pestilences and disease covers the world with tragedy! Wars and rumors of wars! From cop killers to Islamic Jihadist law and order seems like a distant hope? Political failures at home and gains by terrorists seems daunting! Guilt is the product of our fallen world! Guilt drives the Islamist terrorists! They believe the only sure way to get to Heaven is to commit Jihad! Kill themselves and others! How sad! God has a plan to defeat guilt and sin and it lead Him to the Cross! Jesus was raised from the dead for our fallen world! God shed His blood to cover our guilt! To reject God’s blood is to shed man’s blood! Guilt and sin leads to more sin! One sin to cover another! One lie to cover another lie! Bring your guilt to Jesus! Jesus said to come to Him those that labor and are heavy laden! A ship that is heavy laden will sink! Jesus bore your sin on the Cross! A yoke is designed for two oxen! Let Jesus come along side you and carry your load! Do not try to carry too much! God made you to trust Him! Not by your own efforts! Jesus went on to say He would give you rest! Rest means to pause from your own efforts! It means to refresh! That is why God gave us the Sabbath! At Creation God Himself rested from His work on the 7th day! Are you greater than God? Many have tried! The burn out of American families today is the result of not honoring the Sabbath! The 24-7 schedule takes no time for rest in the Sabbath! God not only saves us but he sanctifies us! Philippines 1:6 says we are confident that the good work He has begun in us He will perform in us until the day of Jesus Christ! Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever! His purpose within us will continue forever! Why miss out on the peace and joy of Jesus living in you? Pride and the fool says i can make it on my own! No one ever did! That was Satan’s plan! Sorrow and death is his constant companion! Do you want rest and freedom from guilt and shame? Ask Jesus! Humble yourself and ask for help! It is not that hard to do! What is hard to do and impossible is to try to live without Jesus! He will raise you up from your fallen condition! Pastor Oscar Cope, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Fairburn, Georgia.