King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]
Date: Saturday, May 14, 2022
Chapters: I CHRONICLES 20, PSALMS 32, 86, 122
Study: The Time is Now
Hello My Friend,
I had my first evaluation yesterday, what they do is listen to a phone call that we had with a patient and grade the call according to how we assisted them. I got an eighty-four and a half percent because I left a patient on hold for three minutes without checking back with them. Most of the time when we put someone on hold it has to do with a transfer and we need to contact another department. If we are talking to another agent and they are having a hard time finding the patients information, the minutes can add up without us even realizing it. Keeping them on hold without keeping them informed within a minute or specific time frame is an automatic fifteen point deduction, so, I would have been at ninety-nine and a half percent had I known that we need to check in after a minute (we were taught two minutes) or give them a specific time frame of say, five minutes.
Time is actually very important to God, for obvious reasons, He does not disclose an exact time frame for most things, but He does disclose some information that we need to be aware of before we leave this earth, and what is to come of the earth when we are not here. We can never know when our last breath here will be, only God knows that, and even that can be negotiable to a point (think of Hezekiah, God added fifteen years to his life, 1 Kings 20). Nevertheless, God shows us everything we need to know to be prepared for leaving the earth, at least, until Jesus returns and brings us back, [Matthew 24:34-37 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. 37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.]
I suppose I am a little bit excited and sad at the same time, I see how much God has blessed me, especially in the past two years. If this Covid mess has taught me anything the past two years, it is that God does turn our transgressions into blessings when we are faithful to Him and repentant. I have not seen God’s hand on me so much since I dedicated my life to Him back in 2006, and wow, how time does fly. We can never understand how, God with all His power and might can intervene so much in our lives, and yet, let this one thing get through that we our heads every time in wonder how we could have let it happened. Perhaps, there are many of those one thing experiences for some of us, but when we do get through them with Jesus, they are great reminder of just how merciful and long suffering God is toward us. Today’s Bible reading is kind of short as it leads into the next chapters that show Nathan’s warning to David about the repercussions of his sin with Bathsheba, which was really more to do with how he treated Uriah. As we return to 1 Chronicles, it too gives the account of the war going on with Ammon that David decided to stay behind.
[1 Chronicles 20:1-3 And it came to pass, that after the year was expired, at the time that kings go out to battle, Joab led forth the power of the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem. And Joab smote Rabbah, and destroyed it. 2 And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it; and it was set upon David’s head: and he brought also exceeding much spoil out of the city. 3 And he brought out the people that were in it, and cut them with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes. Even so dealt David with all the cities of the children of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.]
[But David tarried at Jerusalem.] 1 Chronicles does not repeat what happened when David stayed behind, his transgressions, and Uriah being killed in the battle with Ammon. It is observable to note that God does not want us to keep dwelling on our transgressions, especially once they are forgiven. God does not see our sin when we confess it, we are the ones who cannot seem to let go, and we will see this with even David in the next chapters. We do both ourselves and God a disservice if we continually dwell on what we have done, not to mention, all the time that is wasted by putting ourselves is this forever punishment that even God would not press upon us. You messed up, you confessed your sin to God, you repented, and He forgave you, now, move forward. David, knew this when he wrote this Psalm.
[Psalms 32:1-4 A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. 3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.]
[When I kept silence,] I know whenever I had done something knowingly, I had a hard time talking to God about it, but once I did I not only lifted that weight that I had on me, I also gave it over to God and He took care of it. When you stop to think about it, we are not given the punishment that we do deserve, God is much more merciful to us than we even give Him credit for.
[Psalms 32:5-8 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah. 6 For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him. 7 Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. 8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.]
[I acknowledged my sin unto thee,] While the Holy Spirit can never leave a truly saved soul that has accepted Christ as their Saviour, it can feel like it if we have sinned against God and kept silent about it. On the other hand, those whom never confess they are sinners never have a chance at salvation because we must first admit we have fallen before Jesus can pick us up out of that mire of sin we were sunk into, [Romans 3:10-12,23-24 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:]
[For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found:] Yes, there will come a time when people will be searching for Jesus and He will not be found. Even David knew this, and he was well aware of what God had done to Saul when he lost his faith in God and was not about to let the same thing happen to him. Therefore, he was quick to ask God to keep his salvation, which is why we often see him asking God not to remove the Holy Spirit from him, [Isaiah 55:6-8 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.]
Are you not glad that God’s thoughts are not yours, or your ways for that matter? Think about it, even though God has one rule that we must follow in order to be saved, He is pretty lenient on us. At my job, we must be at a ninety-five percent adherence, this is different from our quality scores, this is whether or not we follow our schedule, if you are scheduled to be on a break at 5:45pm, then you need to be on break. Yes, we get points taken off if we are not on our breaks when they are scheduled (with exceptions of being on the phone with patients or management). We could literally lose our jobs if we do not follow our schedule. I am so glad that God is not that way with me, I would have lost my job with Him the second I started my training at my job. Keep in mind that He will not condone sin nor will we not suffer some chastening for our sin, which is why David had to face a lot of suffering after what he had done, but even through the suffering God had his back. Watch, how, even though the wars never stopped as Nathan had told David, God still protected the nation.
[1 Chronicles 20:5-8 And there was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver’s beam. 6 And yet again there was war at Gath, where was a man of great stature, whose fingers and toes were four and twenty, six on each hand, and six on each foot: and he also was the son of the giant. 7 But when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David’s brother slew him. 8 These were born unto the giant in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.]
[And yet again there was war at Gath,] Do you see what the problem was and why the entire nation had to suffer, and still is suffering today with war after war? There is actually two reasons, the first one goes all the way back to Joshua’s days when God had told Israel to get rid of all the Canaanites, the second has to do with Israel’s rejection of Jesus. Until Israel accepts Jesus as the Son of God, there will always be war in Israel, [Acts 1:6-8 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.]
Well, I was looking for another passage before I had found this one and realized that it fits in more with timing. Did you know that the word, Israel, is written in the Bible two thousand three hundred and one times in the Bible? Well, it is taking me more time than usual to get this written, part of it has to do with my mind being is twenty different directions, as I had mentioned that I am both excited and sad at the same time, but most of it has to do with me looking up so much Scripture. I think that God levels our or time with Him sometimes He wants us to spend hours in prayer with Him, other times it is hours in His Word, which I believe might just be Him talking to us as though we are praying to Him. I am starting to cry as I read this Psalm for probably the fifth time this morning, with the reminder that the stronger I get in my faith the more poor and needy I get.
[Psalms 86:1-5 A Prayer of David. Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy. 2 Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. 3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. 4 Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 5 For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.]
[For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive;] There is a reason why I ask God to forgive me for failing Him every day, there is always something that I should have done that I never got to do because I got too busy doing something else. Or someone that I did not talk to, or I did not go to church, or soul winning as I did want to do this morning, but because my health is not the best at present. Praise God, that I am feeling a thousand percent better, but I still have a lot of pain, which is why I am so excited and tearful at the same time. This part of the Psalm just says all that I want to say to God without me even changing one word.
[Psalms 86:11-15 Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. 12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. 13 For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. 14 O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them. 15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.]
[the proud are risen against me,] Satan himself has risen against us, he can knock us around, shake us up, and tear us into pieces, but what he can never do is take our soul for it belongs to Jesus. Praise God and Hallelujah! And let me tell you, he is good at intimidating us and making us feel as though God has given up on us. Do you want to know why I believe that no true Christian could ever fall from their faith? Jesus never lets them go. There is a difference between falling from grace and falling into sin. There are so many Christians who are just living their lives they way they want, clueless to what the Word of God says, other than believing and accepting that Christ is their Saviour. And I tell you what, sometimes I wish that I were like them because they just go through life with their faith in Christ, and do not think twice, while I worry about every little thing that I do, and if I know I have failed God it eats me up for months. Well, all I can say about that is, thank God, for grace. I actually set my ringtone to Amazing Grace, and oh, how amazing it is. I get to get up in the morning, step in church, and teach my kids (nephews and Sunday school) about Jesus, and I am okay with that.
[Psalms 122:1-5,8-9 A Song of degrees of David. I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. 2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. 3 Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together: 4 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD. 5 For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. 8 For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. 9 Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.]
[For there are set thrones of judgment,] Yes, there are different thrones of judgment, we have our great judicial system, and all our great leaders who are running our nations into the ground (except for the few judges, governors, and congressmen that will not bow to them), but the one in charge of it all is Jesus Himself. Our leaders are suppose to be practicing just judgment and justice for all people, and here they are persecuting those who oppose to late term abortions and men acting as a woman. Okay, so, that message is for another day, but one day, when Jesus returns to reign, all of His saints will reign with Him as well.
[Matthew 19:27-30 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? 28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. 30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.]
What Jesus is talking about is our choosing Him, it does not matter what our parents, siblings, or spouses choose to do with the knowledge of Christ, although we ought to be yoked together with like minded Christians, it does matter what we choose. If we truly believe in the Gospel and accept that Jesus is the only way to God, then it will cause some division because not every one believes that, [Luke 12:51-53 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: 52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. 53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.]
Hopefully, our loved ones will come to the same faith that we have, but if not, that is where the problem lies and sadly, there are countless people in hell right now because they gave up their faith in Christ for their family. Watch how Jesus responds to those who choose their families over Christ, [Luke 9:57-62 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. 61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. 62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.]
Do you see what Jesus is talking about? The time in not tomorrow to choose to follow Him, the time is now, regardless of what anyone else chooses to do. You can believe in Jesus all you want, but unless you personally accept Him as Your Saviour, then that belief will get you nowhere, but hell, [Acts 17:30-31 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.]
Today’s Prayer: God, You make it simple for all to come to You, admit that we have sinned, believe in what Your Son, Jesus has done through the Gospel, and confess that He alone is our Saviour from death and hell. The time is not tomorrow for all who believe in Your Son to accept Him, the time is now, and You are warning us of that fact live there is no tomorrow. We have but a short time here on earth, let us not worry about where our future lies or dwell on past, for we whom have accepted Christ as our Saviour are forgiven and have nothing to fear, except for our loved ones who are not saved. Lord, Lead us and guide us, and by Your amazing grace, let us treasure each day that You have given us and make each day count in an effort to bring glory to You and reveal Your Son as we look not back, but press toward our new home in Your kingdom. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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