Tag: wide

Gideon’s International Isaiah 55:11

Hebrew Translation: “So shall my written word or historical record be that goeth out of the mouth of men, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish through labor, toil and sacrifice that which I find pleasure and delight in, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I send it.” Comment: Everything spoken here refers to our Bible! Gideon’s International has distributed over 87 million Bibles around the world! It has distributed 11 million here in the United States! The Christian’s here in the United States fund about 80 percent of all Bible distribution! The Gideon’s should be an extension of your local church! If you really want to prosper someone send them a Bible! A dusty Bible is a rusty Saint! What does God delight in? The Salvation of men! That is why Satan works so hard in every culture to ban the Book that leads men to Heaven! The Bible is the most banned Book in the universe yet the number one best seller in the universe! If God cannot sell his redemptive plan to your life then you are going to make a bad investment elsewhere! His plan cost him everything and only requires a yes from you! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

Hour of Temptation! Revelation 3:10

Greek Translation: “Because thou has kept the spoken word of my cheerful endurance, I will also keep thee from the hour, time and season of one’s virtues which shall come to pass upon all the world specifically the Roman Empire, to try them that dwell on the whole earth.” Comment: The Greek word for our English word “world”, used here refers to the Roman Empire. From the Roman Empire the temptation is spread into the whole earth. So what temptation is Jesus keeping you from that is spread to the whole earth from the Roman Empire? The temptation to deny Christ! The world at this time in history was the Roman Empire! They had conquered most of the known world! Jesus and all the disciples except John and many of the early church Father’s were martyred by the Roman Empire! The Apostle John at the time of the writing of this Book of Revelation was exiled on the Isle of Patmos working as a slave in a stone quarry because of Caesar’s sentencing of John! Christian persecution of the Church began in 64 A.D. with Nero and the great fire of Rome. The persecution of the Church ceased in 313 A.D. with the Edict of Milan with Emperor Constatine. It has been estimated that there were at least 100 thousand martyrs during this period. Remember in previous postings we talked about the unpardonable sin? What was blasphemy of the Holy Spirit? Remember to mock one part of the Trinity is to mock all. The unpardonable sin was to deny Jesus! God can forgive every sin except denying Jesus because He is the only one who can forgive sin! Remember the 21 Coptic Christians who were beheaded by ISIS last year? In their hour of temptation they did not deny Jesus! Rome became Christian under Emperor Constatine and became the Holy Roman Empire! Jesus knew what the believers were going to face under Roman Rule for 200 years! He was preparing them for the hour of temptation! So how did the preparation come about for the hour of temptation for the whole earth? When Roman Empire became Christian all the roads they had built throughout their entire Empire were used to take the Gospel to all the known world! I will give you a historical quote on the Roman Empire from Wikipedia: “By means of European Colonialism following the Renaissance, and the descendant states, Greco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian culture was exported on a world wide scale, playing a crucial role in the development of the modern world.” Now where are we at 21 Centuries later today? The pressure upon Christian culture today is to deny Christ! The popular culture, Hollywood, liberal media, atheistic teachings such as evolution, abortion promoters, white supremacy haters, anti-colonialism, gays, lesbian, and transgender promoters all apply pressure against us to deny Christ! Even in the church the denial of Christ exists! Many believers do not tithe their income! Many make a 7 day work week and skip Sunday services! Worship of money over God! The list goes on but we can either deny Christ one small step at a time but when push comes to shove and you have to make a choice between your life or Christ God’s grace will not be their to confess His name! James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com

What Did Jesus Say About Following Him? Matthew 7:13-14

Jesus had a radical message! You can only enter in at the narrow way, narrow passage or narrow gate to follow me. A narrow gate would only be about the width of your shoulders. You cannot carry any baggage with you when you go through it. Following Jesus through the narrow gate requires focus with no distractions in the way. The broad road or gate leads to destruction. Jesus does and did not go this path. It is a dead end road. Few people choose the narrow gate. American culture is more Christ resistant than anytime in our history. To follow Christ today is more costly than in previous generations. We are considered radicals by our culture and ridiculed. We are considered on the outer fringes like space cadets. Did you ever notice the on-line surveys always give you a way out. You are never committed to a yes or no answer. Kind of like politics today. Christ gave His disciples no third choice. It was either Heaven or Hell. The same holds true for us today! Yes or no? Easy or difficult. Matthew 5:1-2. Jesus real audience was more than the crowds it was His disciples. They had already made up their minds to follow Him but their trust level was low. It takes time to figure out if you can trust someone. Jesus told them the Kingdom of God is right now! It was not yesterday or tomarrow. Living right now is Monday through Saturday working, school and difficult schedules. Jesus said let Heaven break into your boring day to day world. Jerusalem has 12 gates. The wide gate is the most used gate. Examples today are convenience stores, shopping malls, fast food, ect. We like the best paved roads with the fewest traffic lights. They even have drive through churches today. Just hear a message on the internet or television. Why go to church? Studies have found that women like to shop on the internet after 9:00PM. Why? Convenient! We like to choose the easy way over the difficult. Going through the wide gate we can take along as much baggage as we want. No constraints, no sacrifices, easy choices, no boundaries, no commitment applies to all who travel the wide gate. Taking this path leads to ruin. Jesus took a narrow path from The Judgment Hall to Calvary. It was also a steep climb carrying your Cross! He took your unforgiveness, hurt, pain and all your sin. Jesus was a teacher of virtue. Creativity exits between boundaries. Whether it be inventions, music, poetry, sciences, discoveries or even the work of a humble farmer. All great work is done within constraints and boundaries. Jesus had to be sinless to fix your sin. Because of the discipline of constraints and boundaries we have very few great people. People do not like boundaries. Live together why get married? Why study? Why work? Get on welfare. Pregnant? Get an abortion. Vote for the political party that offers you no constraints or boundaries. Revelation 7:9. Heaven is not sparsely populated but has a great multitude. Salvation belongs to our God! It is a free gift like a Christmas gift under a tree and is easy to find. Jesus is easy to find but very difficult to follow. Weddings are exciting but then the couples have to learn to live together. Marriage goes from easy to difficult. The wide gate is to get a divorce or just live together unmarried. To remain in covenant is a miracle from God and requires His Grace. To stay married is hard work and a challenge. Getting pregnant is easy but raising children is hard work. The family under the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman is God’s only plan and design for relationships and for the security of future generations. Worship even requires constraints and boundaries. All people will make one of the following four choices in their life. 1. Secularism- autonomy, it’s my life, live for yourself, no boundaries, no restraints. Not Jesus way. No! 2. Moralism- Follow the rules and get the life I deserve. Entitlement. Steeped in religion that says it is all about me. I deserve to be rich and famous because I am a moral person. 3. Religion- I owe my life to God. Obligation. Things better go right with me because I am serving God! Bad exchange. Problems come! Death and disease comes to all! 4. Grace- Jesus says your life for my life! Wonderful exchange! Great Exchange! My nothingless for His everything. Give God your life and He gives His life back to you! Stop living for yourself. It is a dead end. Let Christ come in. Welcome the Holy Spirit! You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. What needs constraint in your life? Do you eat food for comfort? Do you have a drug or sex addiction? Do you feed your senses to no avail. Let Christ increase and you decrease. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and He will add to your life that will help you to victory. Source: Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Message given Sunday September 1, 2013.