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God Is Patient
God has warned for thousands of years through the prophets and Scripture for everyone to repent of unbelief and turn back to Him in believing faith. He has been patient in giving many opportunities for us to admit we are rebellious in heart and need to change that attitude. “In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent [to turn away from idols and turn to him]. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed" Acts 17:30-31.
Every
life is valuable to God, because every soul will spend eternity in one
of two places—that is why God has delayed His wrath. Before
Christ returns, we must turn back to God in trusting faith for things in
this life—for healing by a trusting faith in the atonement of God chose His people Israel, but they turned away in unbelief. The apostles told them, "We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles” Acts 13:46. Every soul is of great value to God, and everyone could enter His kingdom, but every individual will have to turn back to Him, and believe in faith on the atonement work of His Son for life issues to save their soul. God “is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” 2 Peter 3:9. God is love and God is faithful, so He is patient and He gives many opportunities for people to turn from their rebellion and be willing to trust Him in faith. If anyone will make that decision to believe, and personally trust God in faith, they will receive His Spirit—the “free gift of the water of life” Revelation 22:17. It is a total surrender of our self-will to do God’s divine will. Luke 14:33 “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” The world will face judgment. “The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming” 2 Peter 3:10-12. A holy and godly life is possible only by a believing, trusting, and enduring faith on the atonement sacrifice of Christ, but more than five billion people have openly rejected the Lord Jesus. God still loves them, so He gives them more time to repent. Jesus told us to interpret signs—like, military conflicts, food shortages, earthquakes, persecution, hatred toward believers, wickedness everywhere, rampant immorality, horrible crimes, an increase of evil but a decrease of love, and false teaching everywhere—because only those “who stand firm to the end will be saved” Matthew 24:3. The only escape is through a believing faith in the sacrifice of Christ. Everyone will make a choice to either reject Him in unbelief and be lost forever, or to trust Him in believing faith and be saved forever. God cannot make that choice for us, but He wants us to make the right choice to believe that the resurrection power in back of the Name of Christ, can heal our body, provide our needs, protect from harm, guide our decisions, and save our soul. “Many are called, but few chosen" Matthew 20:16 because most will not trust God. There is only one type of valid faith—that which is on the shed blood of Christ for real-life issues today. There is only one true faith in God, but there are many false teachers who distort God’s grace. Any correct interpretation of God’s Word must include the vital need of putting a believing faith on the atonement sacrifice of His Son for removing the sin nature from our heart. True believers “Hear God's word and put it into practice" Luke 8:21. There is only one true faith in the resurrection power of Christ, but many false doctrines and counterfeit faith today. Those who teach eternal security—once saved always saved—distort God’s grace. There is security in Christ but not in sin. They teach that sin will not keep a person out of heaven, but Jesus said it would. The Revelation 21:8 The “cowards [fearful] who turn away from me, and unbelievers, and the corrupt, and murderers, and the immoral, and those who practice witchcraft, and idol worshipers, and all liars — their doom is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.” True grace Titus 2:12 “teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” Satan is disguised to deceive and destroy anyone foolish enough not to resist him in faith. Satan is not yet in the lake of fire, but he is disguised on earth and prowling to destroy everyone. We must be on a high state of alert and 1 Peter 5:8-9 “resist him, standing firm in the faith.” God does not resist him for us, but we are to resist him by the grace, strength, and faith God gives. It is our choice to resist the devil by faith in Christ, or to give in to the devil by no faith in Christ. Even Satan quoted Scripture, so we have to constantly be on guard against the leaven of false teaching. The apostle taught Ephesians 2:8 “it is by grace you have been saved,” but he always included through a continuing faith in the atonement promises of Christ through all trials and tests. We are justified through faith Romans 5:1 but faith can cease to exist. Even the Jews “were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith” Romans 11:20. Everyone is loved by God and could stand before His Son forgiven of their sins, but every individual will have to make a deliberate choice to trust in His resurrection power for the important issues of life—health, healing, provisions, protection, correcting injustices, divine guidance, and victory over the rebellious nature that will not trust God in faith for anything. Many are called but very few stay in the race, and even less are willing to believe and trust God in faith. There is only one way to stand before God forgiven of our sins—“this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” Romans 3:22. We are not under law Romans 6 but “If you live according to the sinful nature, you will die” Romans 8. Future sins are not forgiven unless there is a willingness on the part of the sinner to repent and forsake those sins. The apostle said Ephesians 5:1-4 ”Be imitators of God, as His dear children. And live and act lovingly, as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up to death on our behalf as an offering and sacrifice to God, yielding a fragrant odor. But fornication [immorality] and every kind of impurity, or covetousness [greed], let them not even be mentioned among you, for they ought not to be named among God’s people. “Avoid shameful and foolish talk [obscenity] and low jesting—they are all alike discreditable [shameful, wrong]—and in place of these give thanks.” “For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a man is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Abusive language, profanity, filthy jokes and immoral talk is common today, but we are to be a spiritual light in a dark world—not a spiritual hindrance by talking & acting like the world. God will not tolerate any idol in our life, so we must be ready to learn, when God wants to convict. He is always faithful, but we must be willing to keep a faithful trust on the resurrection power of Christ. Revelation 2:10 “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.” Eternal life is for everyone because Romans 2:11 “God does not show favoritism,” but very few recognize the seriousness of sin, so they do not believe nor trust in the sacrifice of Christ for the needed cleansing from sin. Following God’s Word is just evidence of believing faith in God’s power—to heal, deliver, protect, provide, and save. Very few are willing to trust God and fewer still endure in the faith through trials. God loved us so much that He had His Son die for us Romans 5:8, but we must love him and trust Him in faith to the end. The young ruler rejected God’s advice, but Jesus still “looked at him and loved him" Mark 10:21. Nothing can separate us from the love of God Romans 8:35, but our choices often separate us from the Word and will of God. James 2:5 “Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” God’s love is beyond any human love, so anyone can enter heaven, if they are willing to place a trusting faith in the resurrection power of Christ. Every human life has an eternal soul, so living by a trusting faith in Christ is the most important issue facing the world today. God loves us, so He gave an invitation. Laodicea was invited, but their love turned cold, so corrections were needed. Revelation 3:19-21 “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne.” God is patient and will always be faithful, but we must be willing to trust Him in believing faith to enter His kingdom. †††
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