Tag: timothy

To know me doesn’t mean you love me

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In Matthew 7:21 Yeshua tells his Talmudim (Disciples) this:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

He goes on to say that just because some people declare they did miracles and wonders in His name doesn’t mean they will enter the kingdom of heaven. In fact, he says He will tell them that He never knew them!

It seems that we get these different messages: all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:13) yet here Yeshua says that those who call Him, “Lord! Lord!” will not be saved! And we are told that the gift of salvation is an irrevocable gift, but Yeshua says (and Paul reiterates this in his letter to Timothy) that those who hear the Word and accept it can still fall away, i.e. lose their salvation.

So is the gift of salvation truly a guarantee? When we call on the name of the Lord, are we really saved? Can we trust God?

The answer to these question is Yes….and No. Except for the last one- we can always trust God. Always. Who you can’t trust is yourself.

Yes: the gift of salvation we receive from God (through Messiah Yeshua) is guaranteed and is irrevocable. No one can take it away from you, ever. And Yes: if you call on the name of the Lord you will be saved.

The reason the answer can be No to both of these questions is because no one can take away what God has given to you, but you can throw it away.

Do you really think that if someone who is not truly repentant and calls on the name of God for salvation will receive salvation? There are so many parables Yeshua tells us that show how some are going to be able to enter the Kingdom of God and others will not because they didn’t do as they should have, even though they were there. The bridesmaids without oil, the tree in the garden that didn’t produce fruit, the slave that buried the Talent: all of these parables are clearly stating that just knowing Yeshua is the Messiah, and acknowledging that He is the Son of God, is not enough. The bible tells us that even the demons know and acknowledge who Yeshua is. You think they are going to heaven? Will they be in Paradise with God for all eternity?

I don’t think so.

The most important part of Matthew 7:21 is the end of the sentence:”… but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven.” We can have salvation for free, we can know absolutely that God will grant us forgiveness of sins, but if we don’t really mean it, if we haven’t done T’shuvah (turning from sin) in our hearts, and if we don’t walk the walk, then what God has done we will undue. No one can take it from us, no one can change it, and God will not renege on His promise, but the promise that we will be saved is not an unconditional promise. It is free, it can never be bought, and it can never be revoked, but….we have to do our part. God will do His part but if we don’t do our part He hasn’t weaseled out of the deal- we have.

You buy life insurance, you are guaranteed that your family will receive the benefit if you have an accidental death, and then you jump off a bridge. Do you think the insurance company will pay out on that? Of course they won’t- suicide is not an accidental death. You didn’t meet the conditions of the agreement; the insurance company’s promise is still valid and trustworthy, you are the one who failed to meet the requirements.

Calling on the Lord and receiving the gift of salvation is absolutely the best insurance policy there is. But if you continue to sin on purpose, if you never had (or don’t now have) any desire or intention of changing your sinful ways, then no matter how many times you go to church/synagogue, no matter how well you tithe, no matter how many “nice” things you do, you are going to be told, “Be gone- I never knew you.”

God isn’t stupid. He can’t be fooled, and when He says He will save you it is based upon you doing what you should do, which God has outlined very clearly in the Torah.

If you don’t know what the Torah says, you can still do what Yeshua told you to do and be OK because (here it comes…) Yeshua taught nothing but Torah. Torah was what Yeshua told us to follow, that He did not change any part of it (Matthew 5:17) and Shaul backed Him up on that in every single letter he wrote to the Messianic communities he formed throughout Asia and the Middle East during his ministry.

What Yeshua and Shaul said is that just obeying the letter of the law in Torah is not going to get you saved because, quite simply, it can’t be done. Attaining salvation through Torah is like taking a test with questions you cannot answer, so you can never get 100%, and you have to attain 100% to pass. That’s why we need Messiah- He is our “spiritual grading curve”  that allows us to get that 100% we can’t get on our own. We still have to take the test, we still have to study to be able to do as well as we can, and the curve is available to all. But it’s only given to those that try to pass.

If you never show up to take the test (never call on Messiah Yeshua for forgiveness) or if you never study (live as best you can to obey the commandments) then you will not receive the curve. In fact, you will fail miserably. And failing the test means being left back when everyone who passes goes to the next grade, which is being in God’s presence forever. You will be “left back” in the cold and the dark where people wail and moan and gnash their teeth.

So don’t listen to those religious leaders who fill you up with bad test answers by telling you you only have to be a good person, or Jesus died for your sins so you can just live your life any way you want to, or who tell you that because you have been baptised you will be able to enter heaven. None of that will get it done. You need to show that you love the Lord by following the commandments He gave us in His Torah. Then He will know you.

God gave us Torah, Yeshua provided the forgiveness we need because we can’t live according to Torah, and we have to do our part, which is to let the Holy Spirit shape us into the likeness of Yeshua; for that to happen you have to be willing to change.

God and Yeshua have done their part- it is all on you now.

 

 

 

Living in Fear

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How many people do you know that always think the worst that can happen? When they hear about a plane crash they say, “I don’t know if I want to fly anymore.” Or when they get a call late at night, the first thing they say is, “Oh no! Someone must have died!” (The first thing I say when I get a call late at night is, “Someone better had died!”)

Maybe it’s more subtle, maybe it’s something as seemingly innocuous as not driving a car, or refusing to travel, or even something as silly as never ordering anything different at a restaurant. Sometimes this is personal preference, and sometimes it’s just doing what one wants. If someone is brave enough to go their own way, and eat only what they like, that’s fine. But if their resasoning is that they are afraid they won’t like something, or that something bad might happen, then they are living in fear.

Fear is a very strong emotion, and it is like fire; it can be a friend or a foe. Oh, yes- there are things to be afraid of, and someone without fear is a fool. Fear is what keeps us aware, fear is what protects us from running foolishly into trouble or personal harm. Fear can be a lifesaver, or a life-ruiner. It all depends on who is on control: are we controlling our fears or are our fears controlling us?

There is one verse from the B’rit Chadashah (Good News) that I try to remember and tell people I know who profess to believe in God and worship Him: It’s 2 Timothy 1:7, where Shaul reminds Timothy that, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and discipline.” Within the context of the letter, Shaul (Paul) is empowering Timothy, a young Disciple and someone struggling to preach the word. Paul is in jail and stating how he has been abandoned by friends. This letter is to encourage and strengthen Timothy to continue preaching with confidence and zeal, despite the suffering that Paul is going through.

The Bible is rife with statements and encouragements by God to those who have faith:

Psalm 23:4; Psalm 27:1; Psalm 118:6; Deuteronomy 31:6; Psalm 56:3-4; Isaiah 41:13; and on and on and on…

Fear that controls us, that keeps us from trying new things, that runs our life…this is not fear of the Lord, it is faithlessness. Yes- that’s exactly what it is. If you are a person who says you worship the Lord, then you are not to be afraid. The angels that went to Gideon and Joshua began by telling them not to be afraid. Why? Because they were afraid, because they did not trust. God sent His angels to be a physical sign to them that God is with them. After which they acted faithfully, took hold of that encouragement and fearlessly ran with it. Look what they did with it!

We all have fear in us. Abraham was as faithful as anyone ever was, yet he had fear- he “pimped” his wife two times out of fear! And when Moshe first saw the burning bush he was told not to be afraid to go to Pharaoh. Moses took a little more convincing than Abraham, but once he devoted himself to doing God’s will, even the failure to free the people after 9 plagues did not dissuade Moses from facing a Pharaoh that said he would kill him and a people that wanted to stone him. And in the desert, did the people not revolt? Did they not want to stone him and Aaron (at least) a few times? Did not Pharaoh’s army pursue them? All this time Moses grew stronger in faith, and fear left him. By the time they reach the land, Moses was unshakable.

I work with someone who assigns the incoming calls to the system engineers (if she is reading this do not be disheartened- please take hold of what I am saying and be strong, for yourself. I only want you to be happy and faith is the path to joy.) Each time she calls me to say someone is on the phone for me, she whines my name and sounds apologetic. I have told her, over and over, there is nothing to be afraid of. She is constantly afraid that she will “bother” me because she knows how busy I am. Well, DUH!! Of course I’m busy- it’s a help desk, there are barely enough techies to handle the calls and I am always busy. I tell her to just let me know if someone is calling for me, and I will let her know if she can send them through or to please take a message.  Yet, despite my constantly telling her it’s OK, and just say, “Steven: so-and-so is on the phone, do you want to take it?” Instead I constantly get, “Steeeeve? I’m sorry to bother you, I know how busy you are, but so-and-so is calling. They are asking for you and I know you’re busy and I don’t know if you want to take this or not? Do you want to take it?”

This is what I mean about living in fear. Despite the many times I have told this person that it is OK to just tell me who is on the phone, she refuses to accept that she can approach me openly. She thinks she is being courteous, but the truth is she is afraid of upsetting me, or getting yelled at, or upsetting the caller, and it is all founded in her overriding fear of being rejected. Of not being “liked.”  If only she showed faithfulness. She says she is a Believer, but yet, she is ruled by her fears and not by the spirit of victory that we all have in God .

Yes, even something as small and seemingly insignificant as transferring a phone call can indicate if one is living in fear or not.

Here is Zechariah 4:6, “Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.”  We mere humans have little to nothing with which to accomplish great things, but God has everything that ever was and is, and whatever He needs he can create with a thought. It’s true! When He is with us, who can stand against us? Shaul tells us this in Romans 8:31, the basis for which is found in Isaiah 41. Whether we are battling the demons of the Enemy, or just asking someone to do something for us, we need to be firm and faithful.

How do you get this faith? It’s actually quite simple: do what God says you should do. Follow His commandments and He will bless you here on Earth. He promises that throughout the Torah, throughout the books of the Prophets and Yeshua confirms all this in His teachings, as well.

God has provided all you will ever need, and if you are afraid, remember who is on your side. If you are ashamed of God, Yeshua says that He will be ashamed of you (Mark 8:38) so stand firm and be faithful.

Being afraid of everything is not humility: humility takes strength and faithfulness (search “humility” on this page to read more.)  Being afraid does not serve God; it serves the Enemy of God. Being ruled by fear is when your actions are based not on, “How will this reflect on God?” but on, “What will happen to me and what will people think of me?”

It’s not about you, it’s not about me, it is all about God. Be faithful, trust in God, and he will justify your trust. Live in fear and the Enemy will eat you alive (Matthew 10:28.)

When you stop living in fear you can be truly free. When you reach out to grab hold of God you have to let go of your fear, first. So let it go, reach for God, and His hand will grab yours.

Fear of the world (being afraid of everything) will enslave you, slowly kill you and destroy your soul, whereas fear of the Lord (meaning faithful and obedient) will give you courage, strength and freedom.

You choose.