Saturday November 21, 2009
Stephen Porter - 7:42 PM AST
169 THE END
1Pe 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
Everything that we know, feel or see will end and everything has an ending.
The end does not necessarily mean that something will stop and never be again.
God’s kingdom does not have an end but that does not mean that it won’t change.
Jesus had an end on this earth but yet He is forever.
A person is born, has a father and children, then dies; how many beginnings and endings that person will have in their lifetime is beyond counting. They will begin to breath, they will begin to grow, they will begin to mature, they will begin to die and so on; all of these beginnings that I just mentioned will have an end.
Everyone has multiple projects on the go right now but all of them will have an ending. Some will end as they are completed, some will end because they will be neglected until they are no longer useful and many will end because the person working on the project can no longer do that thing.
Death brings an end to all our projects and, even though this is an ‘end’ that we all know is coming, most of us are never really ready to go when it is our time to go.
In other words there are still some things that we want to continue doing because they are not completed.
Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
Mat 24:39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
God’s ending will surprise most everyone because they will be in the middle of one project or another and they will just not get completed. There will be people in the middle of their jobs, housework, shopping, sleeping and every other thing that we do and many will not be completed.
When God ends this project, many will end here with it and not be ready for the next part of God’s schedule because of their commitment to this present word’s progress.
All endings are also beginnings; many people who are living for this life are completely unprepared for the ending that is to come and the new beginning that accompanies it.
God’s ending this way of life that we are living will come in His time and no one knows when He will decide to stop this situation and bring His end.
We speculate but we all hope to be ready when that happens and go through that change and into God’s next project. Those of us that are alive are planning for and hope in Jesus’ return and to go, alive, with Him into His kingdom but there may be another end that will happen first that will affect us just as much.
Our death will end all the projects that we have going on right now and will produce the same results as Jesus returning, for us.
Upon our death, we will instantly be thrust into the presence of God and our eternity in heaven or hell will begin. This also is an end that we don’t know when will happen and could happen NOW; are you ready for that?
Saturday November 14, 2009
Stephen Porter - 9:00 AM AST
168 WORD POWER
2Ki 1:10 And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
God hears and answers prayer; God also speaks through His people.
As Christians, we are commanded not to lie so when God answers someone through us or commands us to talk to someone on His behalf, what they hear will be what God is saying.
One of the key signs that a person is really a Christian is that they don’t lie. [Don’t get me wrong, here; there is still the fact of being mistaken that is perfectly legitimate. The way to test this is if the person acts on his own advice and suffers loss, too.]
I should mention something right here, now; there is a lot of teasing going on and it is a lot of fun. I’m guilty of this because I like to tease people and in a lot of cases, it can be used to lighten a bad situation or just bring a smile to someone’s face.
Teasing must be done carefully and with everyone’s wellbeing in mind; if it is done to offend someone then you had better make sure that it is also done in defence of their victim and not for spite or revenge.
AND, never leave without correcting yourself if you think that one or more of the people you teased might think that you were serious and believe that untruth. [It goes with really loving the people you are around.]
Now, back to word power; words can encourage and enlighten or hurt and tear down. A warning from a Christian about wrong attitudes or behaviour is meant to enlighten and give that offender the knowledge that he is in danger of angering God. [Yes, He does get angry.]
As we prove our self trustworthy to our God and He sees that He can trust us, He will give us more to say and will trust our judgement more by acting on what we say; proving our position as His follower to those around us.
It is important, as a mature Christian, to be careful what we say because God is watching and hearing us and will take our words at face value; sometimes giving us things that we really don’t want after we think about what we have said.
This is also true about vague and general prayers; if God cannot understand what it is that we really want by our request then He might not give us anything until we explain ourselves to Him.
God gave Jesus all power and Jesus spoke to the people, creatures and things and they obeyed Him. Jesus has given this power to His people so that we can do good things representing Him, for the benefit of His people or to lift up His church before the world.
Our words have power because God says so and not because we are important in ourselves.
Be careful what you ask for because you should get it from God and be careful what you say because it should happen.
God will honour our words to show people that by honouring us we in turn honour Him because we are His and will do everything as He wants it done.
By the time the third fifty soldiers came up to Elijah, in the following verses, they had a healthy respect for God and His servant and begged him not to call down fire on them.
God was revealed and honoured in the truth of Elijah’s words; what about your words?
Saturday November 7, 2009
Stephen Porter - 9:04 AM AST
167 OBEDIENCE PATIENCE = FAITHFULNESS
1Ki 13:17 For it was said to me by the word of the LORD, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.
1Ki 13:18 He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the LORD, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.
We all know someone who is continually taking on new projects before finishing what they started before and their past is strewn with unfinished things.
They start their projects in the heat of the new experience but, as the work progresses, they quickly loose interest and are quick to take on the newest project to renew that excitement of something new. The old project gets to a point where it can be put on the shelf and never gets completed.
Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
To succeed in God’s eyes is to COMPLETE the task that He has given you and then He will give you another. If the first task is not complete, how can we expect God to bless a new project? We have not proven to Him that we are faithful but are just in it for the thrill of starting not the hard work of finishing.
Many things are coming into our lives almost ever minute and demanding that we take them on and make them important projects for our energies; especially after God gives us something to do.
We have the task of picking the projects that we are going to do and for how long. To obey God for a short time [before the project is completed] is not obedience to God but is obedience to our own feelings; because we started and did a little we have appeased ourselves and think that we can go on and do something that we really want to do.
When God gives us something to do in His kingdom, it is a blessing to us from God; a great honour that God takes very seriously and for us to pass it off as nothing insults God and causes Him shame.
The starting verse tells the story of a prophet that God sent to give a message to the king and then he was supposed to leave without eating or drinking anything. [God TOLD him to do this.] Another prophet of God lied and told him to come home with him and eat. The first prophet chose to believe what the lying prophet said and not what God told him.
His task was not completed until he had left the country. His punishment for his disobedience is described in the following verses.
God wants us to be faithful to HIM and to question everyone else; especially when we are in the middle of one of His projects.
Our faithfulness will be judged on the completion of our task not on the starting of it.
As we prove our faithfulness to God, He will give us more and greater things to do.
We, as humans, are faithful to what is important to us and people will listen to us only if they can SEE that what we are talking about is important to us. [Because, if it is important to us, we will take the time to know what we are talking about.]
Finished projects shows God that He is the most important thing in our life and shows the world that we care enough about God to be faithful to Him and that we Know Him well enough to be able help them.
One of the end time signs is a great falling away from God which means that many of the things that He wants done are not being completed.
Saturday October 31, 2009
Stephen Porter - 10:01 AM AST
166 GOD’S NEEDS
Psa 14:2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
Everyone has a need. [And, most of us have more than one.] Those of us that have found God and know Him to be real have been taking our need to Him for as long as we have known Him and He has heard our prayers and answered them.
Our need have ranged from financial, martial, children, safety and protection. We get a fear or worry and we complain to God and ask Him to help or remove what we are afraid of. Being God, sometimes He removes our fears and sometimes He gives us strength to face them; but He is always there waiting and willing to help.
Those that don’t believe in God must face their fears alone and accept whatever happens to them, alone; whether they want it to happen or not. There is no comfort for them except that what their friends will and can give.
We have already decided that we have many needs; some we can handle and many others that we cannot but, what about God’s needs?
Don’t look at me like that! Just because He is God does not mean that He has everything that He wants.
He has made us for a reason. We are not just a whim that He thought about one day.
Those that think that He made us to fall on our faces once in a while and shout praises before Him just to puff up His ego are sadly mistaken. He created all kinds of creatures and beings that inhabit His heavens to do that for Him.
We are made in God’s image and still we need a pat on the back once in a while. We need to be told we are important and are valuable to someone. It makes us feel good. We have gotten to the point where we accept praise from every direction and bask in it knowing that those giving it are just after our money and care nothing for us.
This is where God is with all those creatures that He has made and that worship Him in heaven and here on earth. They were made to do this and do it fearfully because God could do some terrible things to them if they don’t.
That is NOT what God wants.
God has tried to satisfy His needs with His creations but has found out that by forcing everything to work the way He wants it to, does not make Him happy.
So, what does make God happy? Fulfilling our every want and demand?
No; that would make us gods and God our servant. God would be looking out for our needs at His expense.
So, why all this going to church, reading our bibles and praying; and then there’s all those rules and laws that He expects us to obey? Does God need us to run around and worry about every little detail in His word?
No; He can get someone else to do that.
God needs us to want Him, just the way He is and not for what He can do or give to us.
This makes Him happy. God needs to feel wanted and happy. He needs friends that care about how He feels and about what will make Him happy.
He wants these friends to do all those things He has asked them to because we want to make Him happy, not to get something from Him.
God has placed these needs in His life so that we could prove to Him that we love Him and that we care about His happiness. You see, He needs us to care about Him as much as we need Him to care about us.
Saturday October 24, 2009
Stephen Porter - 10:06 AM AST
165 SHHHH
Isa 30:15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
I have noticed a pattern with people and their confidence level. In a discussion where two people disagree and each is trying to convince the other that they are right, the conversation follows a predictable path.
In the case where each cares for the other, they will be presenting their facts to show why they believe they are right and listening to the other to understand why they believe that they are right.
[Sometimes they are both right and are just looking at the situation from different levels. Of course, there is also the possibility that they are both wrong and don’t know it.]
However, I have noticed that a lot of conversations happen where one or both parties do not care what the other thinks and only want to prove their argument is the right one. When this happens they usually disagree with each other and the discussions take some pretty drastic turns. Their voices will start to rise as they try harder and harder to convince the other of their rightness and the other’s wrongness.
Interrupting each other in a sentence and in the middle of explaining their present thought starts happening more often as each becomes more determined to convince the other. Polite conversation and respect for the other leaves and only determination remains.
The more resistance each has to the other only fuels that individual to try harder by talking louder, more often and with more and more energy until they are both either embroiled in a heated argument or worse.
Finally, the one who thinks that they are losing and runs out of things to say about their side of the discussion will start resorting to personal attacks on the other’s actions, thoughts and even their personality; causing hurt feelings and a long lasting breakdown of communication and feelings for each other.
This can happen even among Christians when they do not CARE for each other. When you care for someone you will respect them for being an individual that God has made and that God has enabled to think and reason. [Maybe even differently than you.]
When one cares for another, they will listen to what the other says and answer calmly and carefully; not trying to convince the other that you are right and that they are wrong but presenting your proof so that they can see it. If they don’t then it should not effect your conversation or relationship.
I have found that in a discussion, those that are really right do not have to raise their voices or talk over the other person and they don’t run out of proof of their belief. They can let the other present their proof and then present their own contrary evidence. [Or, even, agree on a point or two. Not every discussion is one sided and not every person is totally wrong on everything.]
Christians are to walk by faith but not blind faith. Faith that is tested and proved then becomes actual history and a reality for the person that experienced it.
It’s hard to argue about a subject that you have not experienced but the other has lived in day to day. They don’t have to get upset with your arguments because you haven’t lived their reality and can feel sorry for your lack of understanding of their truth.
Saturday October 17, 2009
Stephen Porter - 10:01 AM AST
164 LIARS
1Jo 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1Jo 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
It does not matter whether you actually believe what you are saying or not for you to know the truth because you can know whether you are lying or not by your own actions. If you say that you love and believe God and then deliberately sin; you are a liar.
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Your payment for a deliberate sin is death and an exclusion from God and His kingdom. Only people who hate God want to spend eternity somewhere else rather than with God.
When you say that you love God then you must love all those who claim to be Christians. [Be careful here, I didn’t say that you have to believe them, give everything to them or treat them like royalty.]
To love a person is to get to know them and, if they are liars, we are to correct them not let them go on deceiving themselves with lies.
We cannot let our brothers and sisters, who we love in the Lord go on suffering with a physical or mental need while we have the means to help them. This means taking the time to help them or get them the help that they need. If they refuse then they have refused your help and you are no longer obligated to help them. They want to suffer and you cannot help them.
This love also extends to the laws of the land. God has told us to obey them and, if we disobey them, we are disobeying God. [Most of them were put in place to protect people and their property. By disobeying them, we are showing everyone that we don’t really care for their safety or their things.]
That is why tailgaters and speeders are not Christians but liars. They don’t care for your safety and don’t care that they are making you nervous. They are also setting a dangerous example for the ignorant and immature and also will be held accountable for their actions. [I pick on drivers because that is an obvious sin and the fastest example of telling a non-Christian that I know. It is done in plain view of the public and done with total disregard for anyone else’s health and safety.]
When you get angry at someone else that is just living their life trying to get by, you do not love them or even like them. This also is another sign of a non-Christian. People who talk derogatorily about our government with out having any knowledge about what is happening or put down their co-workers or neighbours with out a full knowledge of their situation do not love; they are trying to make themselves feel more important at others expense. Again this is disobedience to God who told His people not to do this sin.
To show love you must DO it, not TALK about it. If you love God, do what He says don’t try to convince others to do it when you’re not doing it yourself.
Jam 2:18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Jam 2:20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Jam 2:22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
Saturday October 10, 2009
Stephen Porter - 10:07 AM AST
163 OBEY? BUT?
1Pe 2:13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake; whether it be to the king, as supreme;
1Pe 2:14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
1Pe 2:15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
God has, through His word and His servants commanded them that love Him to obey Him. When we obey Him, we will do whatever He tells us to; that is how we show God and everyone else that we love and serve God. He also commands us to obey all who have the rule over us. Hebrews 13:7
Not doing this tells God and mankind two things; first that we are liars and second that we really don’t love and serve God. Our actions tell people what is in our hearts but our mouths tell people what is in our heads.
Many professing Christians speak from their heads; telling people that they are Christians and are going to church, reading their bibles, praying and are doing a whole lot of things that they think that religious people are supposed to do.
Jesus angered the religious world that he grew up in by living in obedience to His father, God, His religious leaders and His government of that day and then pointing out their lack of obedience to the one that they called their God.
I see today a religious people that, as long as they appear religious and fit in with the people that go to their church and their church’s doctrine, believe themselves in obedience to God and then live their lives fitting in with the people around them.
Most of the people around them are ‘foolish’ according to 1 Peter 2:15 and are doing things for selfish reasons. [I once used to speed to keep up with the flow of traffic, thinking that I was doing it for the safety of everyone around me but the law commands me to obey the speed laws for the safety of the people around me!]
I was thinking with my head and using thoughts that would satisfy me rather than God or the laws. This head thinking translated into me convincing myself that a lot of things that were illegal, immoral or just plain rude were alright with God if I could justify it with reasoning like safety, material gains or thoughts that it was just not important enough to God to matter.
I have also heard that all you have to do is believe and you will be alright because no-one can be perfect and keep all God’s laws. I used that excuse myself, many times in the past and it satisfied my conscious; until I read;
Phi 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
I realized that I could live for God through Christ because of love.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
As Christians, we do not have to worry about rules and regulations; all we have to worry about is obeying the one we love. If that is God, then we will obey all the rules and regulations because it will be from the heart and not the head.
Take a lesson from that vehicle in front of you that is only going the speed limit. That might be a Christian that you are tailgating and God is watching what you do to those that love Him and will get back to you at some point in time to repay you for your actions, no matter who or what you think you are.
Saturday October 3, 2009
Stephen Porter - 9:53 AM AST
162 FOLLOW THE LEADER.
Mat 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
This topic was given to me through my good friend’s newsletter, Pastor Karl Ingersoll.
So many of us want Jesus to go before us and make everything alright and ready before we get there but I was reminded of my relationship that I had with my last dog, Princess.
She is gone; two years ago, I had to make the hard decision of whether she was to live or die after her liver failed and she became full of her own bodies poison. I still miss her; she had lived with me all her life which was 13 years.
She chose to be only mine; a one person dog. When we were together, she would not let me out of her sight or get somewhere that she did not know where I was.
She would be jealous of anyone or any creature that got near me; coming to my ‘defence’ by standing guard near me watching those around me and growling her warning so that they knew she would protect me from them. I had to reassure her that some of them were friends and family. She would easily make up to anyone and act friendly so long as I said it was OK or she was somewhere with out me. [Boarding kennels and babysitters spoke very highly of her.]
Her defence of me amazed me because I was so much bigger and stronger than she and much more capable of handling any situation better than she but this did not stop her from being there and being willing to take up my side against those who were much bigger than she and much more able to do damage to her.
She was an American Eskimo and I once watched her antagonize two German shepherd guard dogs that were coming near me. Her love for me overcame any fear she had and she acted without any thought for her own safety.
Her love and trust for me proved itself at her death; while the vet gave her the final needle, she was trying to lick my hand through the muzzle that they had placed on her mouth. [This is hard for me because I also loved her back and to make this decision was one of the hardest things that I have ever done in my life but she could not survive and I could not see her suffer a long and painful death.]
The point that started this page was that in our walks, she would almost always go ahead of me searching for objects of interest to her or casting about learning new things but she would always stop periodically and look for me to see which direction I was walking in so she could also go in the right direction. She was constantly in tune to my voice and would drop everything and come to me at my call.
Many times I was the leader from behind; guiding the direction by the way that I went or by voice commands. She never questioned where we were or where we were going as long as I was there and she could be with me.
Once, we were walking behind some business’ in Toronto [She lived her life with me in a transport truck] and we came to a back yard that had a fence running along its back property line. She was going along close to the buildings and investigating everything that she came to. After she checked were I was, I stepped behind the fence and watched her through openings as we progressed by the building. When she looked to see where I was, she could not see me and did not know where I was; she immediately forgot everything else and looked all around trying to spot me. Not seeing me, she ran back to the place that she last saw me and again looked all around for me. It was enough and I stepped out from behind the fence. She immediately thought that she had made a mistake in direction and started behind the fence to continue our walk.
I learned some valuable lessons from my little pet that I have incorporated into my Christian walk; when I follow Jesus and whether He is in front of me or behind me I have set my heart to just be with Him, all the time and no matter where He is or what He is into. I just love Him as He is and He loves me as I am.
Joh 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Thursday October 1, 2009
Stephen Porter - 9:53 AM AST
BOOKSIGNING The Sept. 26th book signing was a new experience for me; one that I enjoyed. Friends and family members came out and bought my book and I had a good time talking with them. I was pleasantly surprised at how much daily business The Olive Branch does and they have been very supportive in displaying and selling my books. [Not to take away from the other stores who also do a good job; The Lighthouse, The Tracy Store and Westminster Books.] It is my hope to expand my coverage to stores in Harvey and Stanley soon and would like some suggestions about some stores in St John, Moncton, Sussex, Nackawic and Woodstock. If anyone knows of a good store that might be interested in carrying my book, I would like to hear from them. Thanks I also sell them personally and am not allowed to say that I include the HST in the price of $15.00 per book, so I’ll just have to let you guess at that.
Saturday September 26, 2009
Stephen Porter - 10:24 AM AST
161 BELIEVE OR NOT BELIEVE
Act 15:7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
It is commanded by God that men only speak the truth and those of us that love Him and serve Him are under penalty if we don’t obey Him in this matter. He wants us to only speak the truth so when we tell people the truth of the gospel, they know that we only speak truth and will believe us.
Eph 4:25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
God does not want to send anyone to hell, He wants every single person for all times to know and believe the truth.
1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
It was God’s enemy that started lying and it is His enemy that causes lies today. Anyone that thinks or speaks a lie has been influenced by God’s enemy. With God, there is no such thing as a ‘white lie’ or a ‘half truth’; it is either the truth or it is not.
[One point that I thought that I should put in here is that there ARE honest mistakes. An honest person can believe something that they heard and that was not true and speak about it as if it were true. Mistakes are not failures but are part of the learning curve and need to be corrected by those that know the truth.]
With God, we may not hear all that we want to and start assuming that what we want is what God said. This is especially true if God does not finish telling us everything that is to be said about our subject. Our minds then fill in the unknowns and it is usually in our favour even though God did not say it.
He is God and does not have to tell us everything or, even, anything; that is His choice and His right. However we do have the right to know the truth and God will send it to us through His word, His people and, even, His creation.
It is then our responsibility to believe the truth. God’s enemy has so many people working for him that there are more lies than truth being spoken today and we must be careful to test everything that we do not know is true.
God’s word is absolutely true and can be depended on to correct any lie that we hear. If we are still unsure about the truth of anything, we can also go to God and ask Him about truth and to show us the correctness of anything that we hear or encounter.
Finding out the truth about anything can involve a lot of time and many questions; some that are hard for the honest person to answer but finding the truth is worth all the effort that it takes and helping someone to understand the truth is worth whatever it takes to accomplish it.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Free from doubt, free from worry, free from mental chains, free from fear and free from death; isn’t knowing and believing the truth worth all that?
