Indeed, what will it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Mark 8:36
“Why has the Adversary so filled your heart that you lie to the Ruach HaKodesh and keep back some of the money you received for the land? 4 Before you sold it, the property was yours; and after you sold it, the money was yours to use as you pleased. So what made you decide to do such a thing? You have lied not to human beings but to God!” Acts 5:3-4
A simple point made by the Lord this morning to me, which is nothing new but in a different twist to it. That is man puts other men to lead him and they obey them. They might voice their displeasure and hate what they do. But they allow him to keep leading them, and each man takes you down further and further into dysfunction and separation from God.
God reminded me of how so many people are protesting and marching for “no kings day.” Which is really directed towards trump, most of them are democrats, and there is a good point behind it. But what is interesting to me and very hypocritical is how these same people are. If trump was signing executive orders to give free health care, free cell phones, and whatever else the general voting people demand, they would not protest. Instead they would be giving him big rating numbers, which is another point to make, they give us a voice and a vote to do these things. And they must have freedom of speech in our constitution. But do you really have any voice? Your complaints and my complaints do nothing to remove a man like trump from office. And your right or freedom to vote really does nothing to improve our life. New president with new controls they put in place. The democrats think things improved with their candidate and the republicans with theirs. But the truth is show me where anyone’s life got better during those terms?
Each party tells you about the few good things that happened during their term, and ignore or downplay all the bad stuff. And even hide most of it. With every new bill passed there is someone skimming off the top with free money, which also takes a little more of our freedoms and rights away. It also drives up inflation which is really being felt these days by many families.
And the people do not get it, the more they ask for these free things the more it costs them a few years later. Nothing is free, and these law makers give the people what they ask for which then for every dollar spent on the free thing like health care, it gets charged $1.50 or more with administrative cost and what many call a black market. We never see this black market, but it has been exposed by guys like Musk who showed it with doge. We see the money leaving the system, but have no idea where it goes. And if you try to shut it down, they can’t.
So what does this have to do with religion or spirituality? It is the same, the people follow religious leaders with the idea what is in it for me? Some even all the way there were they only hook up with a church because they are lazy and do not want to work so they are poor and seeking free handouts for the religious people. But in most cases what they really seek is peace of mind that what they believe is good with God and salvation is theirs. With the least amount of effort, or no effort on their part.
God also is showing me over and over how the people follow the King, for the most part. When the Jewish kings honored Adonai, then everything was good because the rest followed. When the next king came in and worshipped baal or which ever man made god, they followed the KIng and everything went bad. But either way they did what the King said to do.
That trend still continues, and we do not even know the damage the words of a king or president does to us. Being an ex catholic and ex pat not living in the US anymore. I can see now how evil both are. Not that Mexico is a saint country, because it is not. They all are evil, just in different ways. But the point is until you separate yourself from a certain king, and start to live in a different kingdom. You will never understand the way the kingdom you live in now is affecting your decisions and how you think.
We as gringos think we are it, and the rest of the world is second fiddle. Same with catholics, it is engrained into us that catholics are the best because it was the original religion set up by the original pope Peter. But Peter never called himself a pope, and never lead the church system like the catholics do. Peter was full of the Holy Spirit and downplayed his role as a servant and not a god. He knew who God is and always gave the glory to him, as did the son of God Yeshua.
Today the popes and other religious leaders all want the glory the same as the Pharisees. And if anyone does not give them the honor, they get upset and even kick you out of their church, it has happened to me.
This is the problem I see over and over, we follow the church system and its leaders and not the Lord, because the leaders of said church system want to lead you and not tell you to go to the leader or good shepard, Yeshua.
The other part of the message today has to do with the verse from acts, and two points. The first one is how the people give, but many times hold something or many things back. God wants it all, not part of it. We must trust him with it all. With your relationships, your finances, your health in all ways, physical, mental and Spiritually.
There is nothing written about giving 100% of your money to a church system and the system dividing it up according to needs. It is interesting to me because I do not know where the disciples came up with that one? And why did Hananya sell what he had to give to the disciples? He did not have to. But he did it half hearted and most importantly lied to the Holy Spirit.
Many people tell you that God the Father is not the same anymore. That his wrath is satisfied and he does not punish people the same anymore since Yeshua came and died for our sins. But this verse tells a different story doesn’t it?
So the question then becomes how do the people practice religion and not suffer when they hold back on God? Or cheat on their wives? How is that the catholics do not have other nations destroying them like in the old days when the Jews had idols?
Well, actually he already has turned you over like he used to. You have your men kings who rule over you and keep you separated and keep you in sin, and are stealing everything from you. Little by little. If they did it all at once they know you would rise up and destroy them. But little by little they change laws, most unconstitutional. But no one does a thing about it. It is exactly like the Hebrews when in Egypt, at first because of Joseph, they had a good life there, but over the 400 years the Edgpitians put more and more control over them, making them slaves all the way there. Getting them to the point of calling on the name of Adonai for being set free from the bondage. And what did Adonai give them? A man leader in Moses because he knew their hearts and they would not listen to him.
And some of you cry out to God and ask for help in whatever area of life you need help in. But it does not come, why? Because you do not know God, you have your false god and religion which has nothing to do with the Lord almighty. If it does and you hold back, then the strong judgment comes. But if you are out worshipping your own god, Jesus Christ and his saints and Mary or mohamad or whoever. And not the real son of God. You are under the power and in the kingdom of the ruler of this world, the adversary, the devil. And God leaves you alone.
It is really hard to explain, and most will not understand because most believe in their men teachers who tell them everything is good because you do what we as your church leaders tell you to do. You sit when they tell you to sit and kneel and stand when they tell you to. Say amen when it is time… You obey them, and you obey the laws of men from governments, but you do not want to obey the Lord who can set you free?
And this is why you remain in the sin and have a lot of dysfunction in your life. The closer you get to the truth and follow the truth, even if simply following the law and things written in the bible. But the more you obey these truths of God, the better your life is. However obedience to a law does not equal salvation, and this is the part that most do not get.
Paul wrote about this and his message gets twisted into the saved by grace doctrine. Paul’s real message is not doing no work’s. Because everything you do is a work and judged by God. And only God can explain to you or show you the kind of works which are pleasing to him. The works he shows you to do will keep you in the torah (law).
Everything taught by the disciples and then Paul are about this. Know the Holy Spirit, the helper and obey him. It does not mean do not worry about the Torah and you can sin. It means focus on the light, the truth and way, and live in him. Yeshua is the light, truth and way to the Father and no one gets to the Father except through him. Not through a religion you can hold back on, like Hananyah tried to. Because when you do, you will pay the price. Maybe not instant death, but you will pay the price.
What the Holy Spirit does in us is two fold. First he comes in with the light and convicts us of our sins and dysfunctional way of living. The cleaning process which can take some time. A lot of it you stop immediately, like when I really came to first know God (not my religious beliefs but I heard him speak). I stopped immediately using his name in vain or in the wrong context. And one by one he showed me things in me that needed to change, which some were not a big deal to overcome. And some I had to have his help in overcoming.
Along with his light showing your evil, he also gives you his truth so you know how to do it differently, the way he wants you to do it. It is then up to you if you obey or ignore the light, which is then the judgment. You accept it and live in it, then your judgment will be good for you. You will have peace and salvation as long as you live in the light.
However if you ignore the light and do not do as he says, you remain in the dysfunction of the world and under the god of this world, satan. And little by little satan makes your life more and more miserable. He does it in any way he can, with finances, family issues, freedom issues, satan just keeps coming and coming at you and destroys it all little by little and we do not even notice, especially at first. But in the end we notice as it seems it all really hits us hard all at once.
And when that happens most of us blame God for it, which is partially true, it is the god of this world’s fault because he led you there, but then that is the role of the adversary, to lead you astray. You think you have freedom in the system the adversity shows you, but it is the most dondage ever. The Lord’s way seems like the most bondage ever, but it is the real freedom. This is how good the adversary is, he makes us to believe what is good is bad and what is bad is good. In all aspects if we let him drag us that far down into his dark little hole. We keep helping him by digging this deep hole we cannot get out of and even see the light of day anymore. I did, and most all the people I know are doing the same. Some only dig deep enough to still see the light of day, and remain in their little hole, but they are not in the light. They do not obey satan all the way there like I did unwittingly. But they also do not obey the Lord God, they just keep some of his
torah or law.
Knowing what I know now, coming to know the Lord personally and hear him speaking to me and then obeying his truth. It makes me wonder why it is so difficult to understand this one little thing. That it is not about grace or obeying laws, which are the main two doctrines. It is simply about hearing and obeying the wisdom or instructions of the Lord. Him speaking to you. And this is the part of Yeshua being the only way to the Father. Hearing him and obeying him. And not holding anything back from him.
One more thing, which the Lord just put on my mind. Those who simply follow the crowd will never find the truth in God. But those who seek the truth will find it. This is biblical but we do not really get it. We accept what men teachers tell us as truth, and they, like ourselves, have been led astray by the world and the adversary or god of this world. But the few who seek the truth, no matter the cost to them. They are the ones who the Father calls so that the son can teach them. They are the only ones with hearts he can shape and mold into his own. And the reason for it is they are seeking truth, not the easy way out or free stuff. Following every whim of doctrine and being tossed to and fro like the waves of the ocean.