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: Sunday, November 21, 2021
Chapters: Acts 11-12
Message: Purpose of Heart
Hello My Friend,
[Purpose; That which a person sets before himself as an object to be reached or accomplished; End; effect; consequence, good or bad. To intend; to design; to resolve; to determine on some end or object to be accomplished. Heart; The seat of the understanding; The seat of the will; hence, secret purposes, intentions or designs; person; character; used with respect to courage or kindness. Disposition of mind.]
We are told that everything that happens has a purpose, meaning that it has an object or goal to be accomplished behind it. Couple that with each persons heart, meaning their character way down deep inside of them, and how they reason the good, bad, and ill will among themselves, and you will either have someone who is a God fearing Christian or a God hating reprobate. There is no in between, you either love God or hate Him, and I will tell you this, all of those who say they love God, but do not believe in Jesus, are no different than the reprobate. If you say that you love God and want nothing to do with Christ, then that is all on you when you end up in hell because without Christ there is no purpose, but hell, [Revelation 21:7-8 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.]
Jesus is no respecter of persons, it does not matter if you were born into the family of Jacob or in my case, Sam, we all have a soul, and that means we determine the purpose of our soul by either believing in Christ or not. Jesus Himself said, [Matthew 10:33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.] and that is regardless of whether or not we are aware that Jesus even exists. And do not believe those who say they do not know that Jesus exists, everyone knows the name Jesus, unless they truly are reprobates and God gave them up to their reprobate mind because they do not believe in Him. Now, God did use the Jews to make His name known to the rest of the world, but He never intended for one family to be saved, He wants all to come to Him and be saved. As we continue in the reading of Acts, Peter meets up with the Apostles who were quite upset when they heard the news that he had witnessed to the Gentiles and there were getting saved.
[Acts 11:4-10,17 But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying, 5 I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me: 6 Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat. 8 But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. 9 But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. 10 And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven. 17 Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?]
[But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning,] Peter knew that he was going to be getting some slack for telling the Gentiles how they can be saved as well, he probably rehearsed it several times in his head before meeting up with them. Notice that Peter said that he had seen this vision three times, then were drawn up to heaven, right there, God had given him the sign that all who are clean, meaning all who accept Christ as their Saviour, will go to heaven. I am sure that Peter also remembered what Jesus Himself said when He washed their feet, [John 15:3-4 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.]
Well, they could not argue with the fact that it is God who determines who gets saved, and quickly rejoiced when they heard that they are able to preach to the Gentiles as well. In fact, while in Antioch, they built the very first church specifically for the Christian.
[Acts 11:22-26 Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. 23 Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. 24 For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord. 25 Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: 26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.]
[that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.] It always boggles my mind that a religion can call themselves Christian, yet not believe that salvation comes through Christ alone, and that you cannot lose your salvation. What was the goal that these Christians set upon their hearts? To cleave unto Christ until the day they die. Jesus promises that anyone who receives Him alone for their salvation has eternal life, and no one can pluck them out of His hand, [John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.] This is determined as long as our purpose of heart is to cleave, meaning to stick to as long as we both shall live. Yes, I referenced a wedding vow that no one seems to use anymore, but the second we accept Christ as our Saviour we do enter into a marriage vow with Him, but we must keep that vow until He brings us to heaven. And this is why I always say that a true believer will never renounce Christ, [Matthew 24:12-13 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.]
Now, do you remember the conversation that James and John had with Jesus when they asked Him if they could sit with Jesus in the kingdom? [Mark 10:37-39 They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. 38 But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? 39 And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:] Well, James would become the first Apostle to be martyred for preaching Christ. In fact, he was captured by Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, nephew to Herod Antipas, who beheaded John the Baptist. When he realized the fame he had gotten by killing James he captured Peter and intended to kill him as well, but because they were observing their Easter celebration, he had him put in jail.
[Acts 12:1-7 Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. 2 And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. 3 And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) 4 And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. 5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. 6 And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. 7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.]
[intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.] This is not the same Easter celebration that modern Christian religions observe, this is a pagan holiday, filled with disgusting sexual behavior. The world’s Easter, as you know, has nothing to do with Christ, in fact, the reason they associate it with bunnies and eggs has to due with fertility, which is why true Christian churches refer to the Sunday of Easter as Resurrection Day. Resurrection Day has always been aligned with Passover due to the fact that Jesus was crucified during that time, and was necessary at that time to show that Christ is the true Passover for all who believe in Him. When we accept Christ as our Saviour, His blood is applied to not only our soul, but heart as well, when the death angel comes to take our soul, he sees the blood of Christ and passes over it, [1 Peter 1:18-20 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,]
Yes, God had purposed in His own heart to redeem souls well before He created the earth. Do you think that He did not know that Satan would try to overthrow Him and turn a third of the angels against Him? Do you think that He did not know that Satan, upon being cast to the earth, would tempt Eve? Do you think that He did not know that Adam would take a bite of that fruit? God knew everything that was about to happen, and I can only imagine that it might have grieved Him a little bit to know that most of mankind would reject Him, and make such a mess of the earth, but that did not stop Him. Freewill works both ways, while God actually does give us the choice of whether or not we choose Him, He also has the choice of whether or not to choose us based on the choice we make, [Romans 8:27-30 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.]
[and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up] Herod literally had sixteen men guarding Peter, that of course, was not going stop God from the purpose that He had for Peter. He actually thought that he was dreaming for a while there, only to realize that he was not when he actually outside of the prison.
[Acts 12:9,11-12,16-17 And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. 11 And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. 12 And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying. 16 But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished. 17 But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the brethren. And he departed, and went into another place.]
[Go shew these things unto James,] This is not the same James that was just executed, this would be the earthly half brother of Jesus as in the flesh, Joseph and Mary’s son. We could wonder why God had protected Peter and not James, but the truth is, James had already fulfilled the purpose that God had for him. We all have a purpose here, and God will use us according to the purpose of our heart. We may only be here to lead one soul to Christ, we may only be here to send judgment on someone who has disobeyed God. And, to God be the glory, we may only be here to cause havoc on true Christians to keep them faithful. Yes, God does have vessels of dishonor as well as vessels of honor, [Romans 9:21-22 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:]
Let Us Pray: God, To think that You have given life to each and every one of us, and how so many reject You is astounding, and quite sad. There is nothing more comforting then to know that Your Son gives eternal life to all who believe in and receive Him. I am a witness to the amazing transformation taking place by purposing in my heart to cleave to You Lord by applying the blood of Christ upon my soul and heart. Lord, let me be a witness and a testimony of the true Gospel to those who do not know You and even those who have fallen away from You. Produce in me a vessel of honor, keep my heart open and accepting toward You and my faith enduring until You have fulfilled Your purpose in me. I love You Lord, and ask this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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