Grace and Good Coffee

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i was the one

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I’ve claimed to know and love God our Father and Jesus His Son my whole life. I was dedicated to The Lord as a baby. I was raised in church and knew right from wrong. I was confirmed at age 12. I prayed the sinner’s prayer. I was active in youth group. I sang in church, I prayed often, and I thought I was covered — even in the midst of my repetitive, high-handed, deliberate sins.

Y’all, take it from me – ignorance is only temporary bliss.

I didn’t truly belong to The Lord as I had proclaimed; I wasn’t really saved. I didn’t obey Yahweh’s laws and listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit; I was willfully disobedient. I was a worker of “lawlessness” according to Yah’s Word, but I didn’t know that because I was not READING His Word.

And for that, I have no excuse.

It wasn’t until I began reading His WHOLE Word for myself, from the beginning, that I truly realized the full weight of my sinful depravity. My eyes have now been flung open by His Words, and I have discovered that there is no such thing as a secondhand relationship with God.

Yes, Grace covers a multitude of sins. But we are not supposed to be willfully disobedient in living our own lives apart from Yahweh, ignoring His laws and taking wrongful advantage of His Grace. That is not true repentance.

Yahweh is compassionate but not condoning of sin. He brings conviction and change to humble hearts. He loves us with an everlasting love; but He hates sin.

Hear these warnings, spoken by our Messiah:

The Parable of the Banquet
(recorded in Matthew 22:1-14 and Luke 14:15–24)

Once again, Jesus spoke to them in parables: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to call those he had invited to the banquet, but they refused to come. (They all had different excuses as to why they couldn’t come.)

Again, he sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’

But they paid no attention (to the servants’ invitation) and went away, one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the crossroads and invite to the banquet as many as you can find.’

So the servants went out into the streets and gathered everyone they could find, both evil and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

But when the king came in to see the guests, he spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’

But the man was speechless.

Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Another stern warning from the Messiah:
(Matthew 7:21-23)

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’

These warnings tell us that even some people who KNOW Who Jesus is, and who expect to be welcomed at the wedding feast, will instead be ejected from The Lord’s presence and cast into hell. What a sobering reality for all of us.

But why are believers surprised by this? If we’re reading His Word, throughout scripture we see that even satan and his demons know Who Jesus is and shudder in His presence. They have to flee at His command. But this obedience is forced; they are not willingly following Yahweh’s commands out of love.

Friends, for the majority of my life, I thought I was one of the 99 sheep that was safely grazing on the hill. But I was the one Yahweh had to come after. I was lost. And I only discovered this by reading His Word for myself, rather than relying on others to read it for me and then relay the meaning (which is pretty dangerous, especially considering the number of false prophets running rampant in these last days).

If you don’t currently have a Bible study plan, I highly recommend seekingscripture.com. Christy Jordan does a beautiful job of leading this study on the whole Word of God in such a loving way. Yahweh is calling His Remnant to come home to Him in these last days. Seek Him through His Word, and enter into His everlasting and perfect Peace. Fall at His feet and be FREE!

Matthew 18:12-14

Blessings!
Emily

let in the light

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The first thing I do each morning when I walk into my living room is to open up all of the blinds and let in the light. It’s second nature. I am drawn to the light. It’s warm, inviting, and lovely. I want it to fill my home and brighten everything it touches. I want to sit on the window bench in my breakfast nook and soak up every drop of sunshine, while holding a warm cup of good coffee and counting my blessings.

It’s hard to imagine anything brighter than the sun. Every day, the sun warms the Earth and gives life to everything it touches. The plants, animals, waterways, and humans all need the sun in order to survive. Our Creation was designed in this way. Everything needs the light.

But there is one light that is even brighter and more life-giving than the sun!

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you:
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”
~ 1 John 1:5

Can you imagine how bright God’s light must be, if there is NO darkness in Him at all?? No shadows, no clouds, no haziness. His light is SO bright and He is SO holy that man cannot look upon Him and live. (from Exodus 33:20)

But how do we gain access to a God this holy? How do we approach Him? How do we get to know Him? How can we possibly spend eternity with Him? There are many things to learn about His ways, but the most important point to understand is this:

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.'”
~John 14:6

No one enters the gates of Heaven except through Yeshua (Jesus). But what does this mean? Many things in the Bible are a great mystery, and there are some things we will never understand on this side of Heaven. However, this passage is one that we can easily break down and translate because we must — it is the KEY to understanding salvation.

The WAY: Believing in Yeshua as the Son of God is the ONLY WAY to God. He is the perfect High Priest and the Lamb of God that is without flaw. By first studying the Old Testament (particularly Leviticus), we gain an understanding of what it takes to be seen as holy to God (and WOW, do we ever fall short of that endeavor).. And when we do fail to remain holy, we see that the way to atonement for sin is through blood sacrifice, as defined by God in unmistakable detail. God makes it abundantly clear to Moses and his people how they can make atonement for their sins; He tells them what types of sacrifices are acceptable and exactly how to present the offerings in order for them to be holy and pleasing to God. God is perfectly thorough in His instructions; He does not leave out any details or room for error. Therefore, by first understanding these Old Testament laws, we can see why Yeshua’s birth and death was absolutely necessary in order to restore our relationship with God, and save us from eternal death in sin. In this way, God essentially wrote the check HIMSELF for the payment that was needed to make atonement for OUR sins.

The TRUTH: God’s Word (the entire Bible) is the Truth. Yeshua is the Living Word of God. He is the Wisdom of God. Yeshua is the embodiment of God’s holy Word. His ways are perfect. He came to fulfill the law of God, not to abolish it. Yeshua is the true and perfect example for us in how we should live according to God’s laws. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” And from John 1:17, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” AMEN!

The LIFE: For this one, we can flip back to John 1:4 which says, “In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.” Now we’ve come full circle back to the light. Yeshua as God’s Son is the life and light of men. Through Yeshua, we can now receive eternal life with God the Father in Heaven.

I encourage you to let in the light today, and every day. Open all the blinds and curtains. Grab a good cup of coffee, and dig deep into God’s Word. Spend time with Him every day. Study the Truth, so that when you encounter false teachings (and you certainly will), you will be able to discern them from the Truth.

If you’re like me and need some guidance on where to start and how to study the Bible, take a look at the free study plans that are offered on the free YouVersion Bible app, which is available in both app stores for your mobile device.

Friends, we are living in dark times. Many believe that we are the last generation before the return of Yeshua the Christ. Although no one can know exactly when He will return, by studying God’s Word, we will be armed with the Truth and we’ll know what signs to look for so we can be ready.

Blessings!
Emily