Now Think On This - Steve Martin: September 2015

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Sometimes I Feel Like Jonah - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Sometimes I Feel Like Jonah

- Now Think On This

by Steve Martin

"When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it. But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry." Jonah 3:10-4:1.” NASU

Yes, sometimes I feel like Jonah. I can get tired (angry?) of the continual lack of repentance in our land, and the seemingly non-judgment or inaction of the Lord regarding it. When will enough be enough, and it just end.

I certainly can also understand the disciples reaction about a village’s response, when they asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven. As recorded in Luke 9:51-56, “When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem.

When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." And they went on to another village.” (NASU)

In the first Scripture above written about Jonah and Nineveh, when the Lord called Jonah to travel to that city, to warn the people of impending judgement, he ran the other way, believing why bother, for the Lord would be merciful anyway. He did not want to do what it was going to take, to tell it like it was, as the word from the Lord was to be delivered. The prophet would have rather let them perish for the evil that they had committed. After all, they deserved it.

And the disciples, after seeing that the Samaritans were not receiving Jesus into their midst, because He was a Jew travelling to Jerusalem, they wanted to have them burned alive. This was even after Jesus had been with His team for three years, and had already resurrected. Surely they must have known the Lord’s heart of compassion, and were to be as He had taught them of His love, “…for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.” Luke 9:56

How often I find myself just wanting the Lord to quickly now put an end to all the sin, all the evil, all the wicked actions that keep going on and on. When Lord, will you finally put a stop to that which is so opposed to You and Your commands, and bring Your Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven? Will it be soon?

But once again I must realize that the Lord saved me as a sinner, waiting for that time when I came to repentance and acceptance of His substitutional, sacrificial death on the cross. He called to me, as He put people in my life who were willing not to judge me with fire and brimstone, but loved me enough to share the Good News of the Gospel with me. I am eternally grateful they did.

As we are now the Lord’s hands and feet on earth, we have been called to share His love to a dying world of sinners, that they too might receive Him, Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus Christ, into their lives. He has been patiently waiting for those who will yet hear, repent, and receive eternal salvation. He has commissioned us to be the ones to tell them.

Judgment is coming. These last days are revealing the time is drawing to an end. Prophetic words from centuries gone by are coming to pass in our lifetime, before the final preparation and ingathering takes place.

My prayer is that you and I will not allow our hearts to grow cold, and let the dying die, while we wait for His plans to be fulfilled.

“And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.”

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” Matthew 24:4-14 NKJV

May the Holy Spirit give us the love of God for the nations. May we pray, seek His face, and do as we have been instructed – to be bold in proclaiming His Word of salvation.

May His Kingdom come. Maranatha Lord Jesus.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin

Founder

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Now Think On This #179 “Sometimes I Feel Like Jonah” by Steve Martin

Date: In the year of our Lord 2015 (09.15.15) Tuesday at 6:00 pm in Charlotte, NC

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Friday, September 11, 2015

A Head Start In Heaven - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

A Head Start In Heaven

- Now Think On This

by Steve Martin

"…but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. “Matt. 20:14 NASU

As was my usual custom, when I cleared the parking deck ramp, after leaving the uptown Charlotte, North Carolina office, I turned on the radio news. Seemed to be the same usual as usual. Before much too long I turned it off to have some “quiet time” while travelling southbound down the busy late afternoon NC I77 traffic toward home.

Thankfully I began humming in my head a song by Joshua Aaron, a Messianic Jew, singing about his bride and his promise to her, for a long time. Forever in fact. The song, My Beloved (Wedding Waltz) kept going over and over in my head. I was singing along, “I am no longer mine, I am yours forever. I give it all to you, my beloved.”

As you may know yourself, your mind often goes onto another subject. Most of the time they don’t seemed to be related, but as I traced back my thoughts later, they were. It was the Holy Spirit giving me a little revelation blessing of His Word. Follow the thread as it unwinds.

A close friend’s father had passed on to eternity two weeks earlier, and I began thinking about her loss. With my own dad having crossed over to his eternal reward in heaven over 15 years ago, it occurred to me that my dad had already a head start in heaven. He was already enjoying eternity that I know will someday be mine too. Only because Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior.

Then somehow (Holy Spirit in action) I got to thinking about the parable Yeshua (Jesus) shared with His disciples about the workers, or laborers as He called them, in the Gospel of Matthew. Here is the story, which you probably know well.

“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.' When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.'

"But he answered and said to one of them, ' Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ‘Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 'Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?' So the last shall be first, and the first last." Matthew 20:8-16 NASU

Now in times past, when trying to understand this Scripture, I couldn’t justify in my mind how the owner could be so unjust. Or even generous, as it says he actually was. After all, if I worked a full day on my job, beginning at 7:00 am, and another got hired and started at 3 pm, and then both of us got off at 4 pm, I would expect I’d get paid for eight hours, and he for only one hour. But if we both got paid for eight hours…

Catch my figuring at what seems unfair?

So back to the “head start in heaven” thought. Still driving down the road at the 65 mph going rate, it seemed the Holy Spirit wanted to enlighten me on that Scripture, to further my understanding. He started to say that those who have gone on ahead of us to their eternal reward, that being heaven and His presence, are enjoying their time even now. Though some have been there for centuries, once you and I who know the Lord get there, it will be as if we had been there just as long as they have too. There won’t be any “unfairness”, for His reward (pay) at the “end of the day” would be the same for each of us. (Now I know there are different crowns passed out to each for their labors on earth, but that is for another message.)

The head start in heaven, because of eternity’s timelessness, makes it seem as if it is all the same time for all. I know, my head spins too just trying to imagine that. Heaven and eternity are bigger than we can comprehend at this point. It is because His thoughts and plans are so much greater than ours.

It amazes me how the Holy Spirit speaks to us as we give Him moments to do so. In just a short amount of time, whether it is during a drive down the interstate after a busy work day, or starting the morning off in a Bible reading and prayer time, little things like that revelation above encourage us. And yes, I sure am looking forward to heaven.

And I know He is looking forward to us being with Him there too!