First questions of the day:
When you stand before the Lord GOD, Will you be at peace?
Will you be excepted as a friend?
Will you hear these words; Well done, enter in to the joy of your master, you were faithful with a few things I will put you in charge of many things?
Day 3 of a few.
More; going over what the Lord had, has to say about us (the church) in Revelation 2 and 3
Revelation 2:13-17
“I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality.
So, you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
{ the teachings and doctrine of Balaam taught by Balak and those of the Nicolaitans are in the church even today.
They are deceptive, teachings,
a. One trait of false teachers in the church is that they attempt to turn Christian liberty into a “freedom” to be promiscuous.
b. The doctrine of Balaam teaches compromise, wanting Christians to forget they are called to be separate from the world and holy;
c. The doctrine of Balaam makes believers indistinguishable from the unbelieving world.
d. The person following the doctrine of Balaam is willing to compromise his or her beliefs for the sake of economics.
e. Their acts to enable sinful behaviors for personal gain or even participate in the sinful behavior.
In practical terms, the teaching or doctrine of Balaam is the view that Christians can or even should compromise their convictions for the sake of popularity, money, sexual gratification, or personal gain.
It’s the attitude that treats sin as “no big deal.”
the teaching or doctrine of Balaam is that Christians can’t and shouldn’t totally shun the presence of sinners or unbelievers.
But what the word of GOD says is that we are obligated to stand up for truth, righteousness and goodness whether it’s what others want to hear or not.
The Balaam and Nicolaitans also believed in Human sacrifice (that of young children was common.) }
3:16-17
Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.”
{ Will you choose to stay deceived?
To fulfill the lust of your flesh, or will you humble yourself before the Lord repent of your sins and follow His commandments?
When Christ Jesus returns on the clouds of heaven will you be caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air?
Or will you have been so deceived you won’t be able to leave with Him?
Will be as one of those spoken of in Jude.
Jude 1:8-25
Yet in the same way these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties.
But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said,
“The Lord rebuke you!”
But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed.
Woe to them!
For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.
These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.
1:14
It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage.
Keep Yourselves in the Love of God
1:17
But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you,
“In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.”
These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.
And have mercy on some, who are doubting;
save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.
1:24
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever.
Amen. }