Showing posts with label salvation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salvation. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Unique Treasure - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Unique Treasure

“For you are a people set apart as holy for Adonai your God. Adonai your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his own unique treasure. Adonai didn’t set his heart on you or choose you because you numbered more than any other people — on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples. Rather, it was because Adonai loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he had sworn to your ancestors, that Adonai brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from a life of slavery under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8, Complete Jewish Bible)

Some understand and get it when I explain to them why we, Love For His People ministry, support Israel and the Jewish people. They know that the Word of the Lord, complete from Genesis through Revelation, explains the redemption process the Almighty God Himself gave to us, from eternity.

And others? Well, not so much.

My good wife Laurie and I depart today for this journey across the Big Pond (May 1, 2019 - my 20th trip to Israel, which being an accountant I keep track of), to the land, which is now flowing with milk and honey, literally, as promised. I want to again write of that which the Lord Himself called the Promised Land, for the Jews, and why it is such a huge “because”.

Simply put, God created Adam and Eve, the first man and woman (yes, true stories that really happened as written in all the Bible) and gave them life from which they later turned against due to the commitment of sin. This separated them from having fellowship with God. Then this very same God proceeded to bring forth His plans and purposes: send a Redeemer, through a chosen people, to once again have a family who would love Him, His only Begotten Son Yeshua, outworked through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

This God-head, Three-in-One, wanted to share His eternal love with an eternal people, for all eternity. Because a path was needed to come back into His fellowship, and a blood sacrifice was required to redeem mankind from sin, He would send His Son, His only Begotten One, through the people called the Jews, for all the nations to receive His mercy and love.

The people could, if they would, receive Him, the Redeemer. If they received His free offer, fellowship would be restored.

And that is as simple as you can state it.

So how more completely was He going to do it? How would He reveal Himself, His love and mercy, His abundant grace reaching out to any and all who would seek, find, and accept His free offer of forgiveness, reconciliation, and redemption?

He chose the Jews, since the very beginning, to bring forth His plan, to themselves and all the nations. He sent His Son, Yeshua, to become a man, a Jew, and suffer, die, be crucified, and rise from the dead, as the Blood Sacrifice that God required, to cleanse mankind from sin.

As the above quoted, written Word clearly states, “Adonai (the Lord) your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his own unique treasure. Adonai didn’t set his heart on you or choose you because you numbered more than any other people — on the contrary, you were the fewest of all peoples. Rather, it was because Adonai loved you, and because he wanted to keep the oath which he had sworn to your ancestors…”

God the Almighty, the Creator of the Universe, the One Who is above all and everything that has ever been created and exists. This very One chose the Jews. These exact ones who, through the many centuries since that choosing, have been miraculously brought through generations and generations of hardship, persecution, destruction many times over, and yet live on, in the Land of Israel and beyond, proving that God is God (Yahweh, Yeshua, Jesus, Lord of all, King of kings, Ancient of Days, Three in One, etc.) and that His Faithfulness and Truth, promised for all eternity, will not be stopped, with not be thwarted, and will never be beaten by Satan and his hordes of demons and principalities.
No nation, no dictator, no country filled with anti-Semitism, will keep the One and Only from completing His perfect plan and purpose, begun with man in the Garden, to the complete fulfillment of all prophetic words – spoken and written – up through the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. All these redeemed people, from all nations, will then be seated with Him and His Son Yeshua HaMashiach in His heavenly realm. 

This unique treasure, the Jews, those who through it all, despised and rejected, just like their Messiah Yeshua was, are the ones who have carried these promises of redemption and restoration for these thousands of generations. This people, whom the Lord describes as the olive tree, has been brought through the test of times, and now shine forth from their land of promise, Israel.

God the Father gave His promise to the Jews, and through this very tree, the olive tree as described throughout Scripture as a visual for all, has also extended His offered life to the Gentiles, described as the wild branches of the olive tree.

Some have falsely believed, to this very day, that the Jews gave up their inheritance when they failed to recognize Jesus’s first coming as the promised Messiah. But as the apostle Paul clearly states in Romans, it was only for a time, to allow the Gentiles, non-Jews, to also receive the promise of salvation.

As he so adequately wrote in Romans 11:11-16, “I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 

And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. 

Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

"The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;” (NKJV)

Our commitment as believers, as Christians, in support of the Jews and their Land of Israel, Eretz Y’srael (Hebrew - Land of Israel) becomes stronger every day, as these end times further proves the existence and the outworking of God’s holy plan.

Those who chose to stand with His chosen people will reap the benefits of the same, this unique treasure to which the nations will either stumble over or acknowledge as the work of God.

We go today in support of our friends, believers in Yeshua, and rightful heirs of the Land He has brought them back to. May your heart and soul also be in support of these through whom the Savior of the world, Yeshua HaMashiach, has come, will come again, and justly rule from the very city He has placed His eternal Name on, Jerusalem, in Israel.

Now think of this,

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc.





If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.
  
Please donate online safely through our website. Click here: DONATE  

(or use the DONATE  buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 
Love For His People, Inc. 
P.O. Box 414   
Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.) 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.  Others will be thankful you did.

Now Think On This #419 - in the year of our Lord 05.01.19 – “Israel. The Jews. Because. Unique Treasure.” – Wednesday, 6:30 am


Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Clarity (Clearing Knowing The Lord) - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Clarity
-Clearing Knowing The Lord

Now Think On This
Steve Martin


“The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hell-bent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out.” (I Corinthians 1:18, THE MESSAGE)


Clarity. Do you know what it means? Many people don’t. They walk around in uncertainty, misdirection, unknowing in their thinking, or just plain stupefied. They want to know the answers but end up looking in the wrong place and finding even more confusion. Looking for answers in all the wrong places. Reminds me of a song, doesn’t it?

What to do and how to do it. Where to find what you are looking for. “What is truth?” as he asked even way back then when Truth stood right there in front of him.

We all need clarity. We need something on which we can stand on, knowing what is right, what is wrong, and where to turn when mounting chaos seems to break down everything we have known to be true.

In our home group gathering last night, a small group of us, consisting of my good wife Laurie and I, joined by three of the next generation, had a discussion on the supernatural, and why people seek what they seek. People are looking for direction, power, or an adventure to replace the boredom in their monotony. They end up going in the wrong direction, having seen the signposts that used to give direction torn down. Removing the proven ways of life have brought shameless acts of death.


When it all has been said and done, is it really true that your opinion is better than mine, or your ways are higher than my ways? So it would seem. How we have become so prideful in our quest for more knowledge, losing wisdom in its wake.

What then was right, has now become wrong. O how we are so mighty, with lofty methods built on shifting sand.

It didn’t happen overnight that the solid foundation was removed from under our feet. It has taken decades, leaving that which many once stood on seemingly done away with, a crumpled pile of brick, cement and iron rods in its place.


Rather than having certainty, we have welcomed ambiguity. Having removed proven commands for life, we are left with the belief that anything goes, anytime, anywhere. If you want it, do it. If you don’t have it, take it from one who does. My right replaces your right, even if it was wrong in the beginning.

Remove the commandments that once kept all in place, and you are left with each doing their own thing to promote their own agendas. Life is what you make it, even if it destroys you and others in the fatal end.

There yet remains a remnant that know the truth, that haven’t fallen for the big lie, that holds firmly to the belief that God remains on the throne, He is the Solid Rock on which we stand, and His Word is eternal, from the beginning to the end. There is nothing or no one on this earth which can destroy His work and end up with life apart from Him.

You who know the truth, stand strong. You have the answers, because you know the Answer. Do not let your beliefs be eroded and left on the side of the road as others have already done.

Salvation comes to those who believe, who know the Messiah, the Christ, and continue to walk in His ways. We will have life in our living, if you and I do what He has given us in His Word to do. Do not waver or accept anything that seeks to remove this.

Clearly, clarity is found in knowing Jesus, Yeshua. His salvation is eternal, and found in no other.

Shalom and ahava (peace and love in Hebrew).

Now think on this,

Steve Martin
Founder/President
Love For His People, Inc.

P.S. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter. Use the "SignUp" button on our website, or go here: Sign Me Up!






If these messages have ministered to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $10-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families in Israel whom we consistently help monthly through our humanitarian work. Your tax-deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.
  
Secure, conveniently contributions can be done online now. Click here: DONATE 

(or use the DONATE buttons on the blog.)

Contribution checks can be sent to: 
Love For His People, Inc. 
P.O. Box 414   
Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)
 

Please share Now Think On This with your friends on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn.  We appreciate your help.


Now Think On This - in the Year of our Lord 10.01.17 - #319 – “Clarity” – Sunday 7:07 am

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Let the Dead Bury the Dead - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Let the Dead Bury the Dead
  
Now Think On This
Steve Martin


“Yeshua said, “Let the dead bury their own dead; you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God!” 
(Luke 9:60-61 Complete Jewish Bible)


For years I had thought this was a rather harsh response Jesus (Yeshua) gave to the one who said he wanted to follow Him and be His disciple. Jesus didn’t say, “Great! Just come along, do what you want when you want, and I will be sure to accommodate how you live so it won’t cramp your style.” It even seems in some circles that our response nowadays would be, “Wow! Someone who wants to be a Christian! Let’s not make it too hard on them so they won’t start the walk and then later quit. We need all the ones we can get.”

No, Jesus gave the man the one choice he had. Follow Him by letting go of his current life, and live the one I (Jesus) would direct him in. My way is the only way.

Jesus clearly told the one the way it would be, as Luke recounted for us in this historical report.
“As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, "I will follow You wherever You go." And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have  nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."  And He said to another, " Follow Me." But he said, "Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father." But He said to him, "Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God." 

Another also said, "I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home." But Jesus said to him, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:57-62 NASU)

I like how The Message words it in a similar, but unique way.

“On the road someone asked if he could go along. "I'll go with you, wherever," he said. Jesus was curt: "Are you ready to rough it? We're not staying in the best inns, you know." Jesus said to another, "Follow me." He said, "Certainly, but first excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have to make arrangements for my father's funeral." Jesus refused. "First things first. Your business is life, not death. And life is urgent: Announce God's kingdom!"

Then another said, "I'm ready to follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home." Jesus said, "No procrastination. No backward looks. You can't put God's kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day." (Luke 9:57-62 THE MESSAGE)

(Just one minor side thought to point out before moving on. Jesus said, “We're not staying in the best inns, you know." I wonder how many leaders in the church today would still follow Jesus if they lived as He did? Or walked as He walked? I am sure the numbers would be reduced if such were the case. Maybe they missed it somewhere? And what example are they giving to those who follow them? It doesn’t appear to be Yeshua’s.)

So my thoughts on this now, to let the dead bury the dead?

I think it is time that we quit sugar-coating the Gospel message, trying to make it fit in today’s world, so as not to put too much inconvenience on those needing to hear the Gospel, and repent from living the sinful life. Jesus didn’t make it a convenient choice to become His disciple. He spoke right up front to let them know, “This will change your life. What you did yesterday you will no longer do today. The life you led then, it needs to be gone. Repent, take up your cross and follow Me.”

Maybe it is time we quit making our Sunday morning a nice place to bring people to, hoping they will receive a “helpful message so you can get saved today”, but rather use it as the time to really train Christians to get out into the world to take the Gospel to the dying. For as you may have already realized, they aren’t coming to us. We have to go to them. And when we do, we need to tell it the way it is to be.

Let the truth be known. You want to follow Jesus? It will cost you everything you have. You can’t have it both ways – to continue living the way you have been six days a week and then “be the Christian” one hour on Sunday. Jesus is requiring a complete lifestyle change. He calls it “repentance”. We should too.

Rather then offering a Gospel that allows one to keep doing that which was leading to death anyway, it is time we offered the “radical” Gospel that Jesus did. To all those He came in contact with, He said come, repent, and He would then give eternal life in exchange. There cannot be any other way. There has to be a life change through repentance.

“From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 4:17 NASU)

He also made it clear that if there was no repentance, there would be no salvation. They would perish in their sin.

“There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.  Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." (Luke 13:1-5 NKJV)

We are called as believers to demonstrate the Kingdom of God in the world around us, by living a life of repentance. We have been called to leave the old life behind, and walk in the new one that Jesus gives us as we do so. And then, the Gospel message is to tell others to do the same. Repent, believe, and follow Jesus. And in that following, they won’t be doing the same thing they were doing, with just a slight change. They will be letting go of the old in order to receive the new.

They too will be leaving the dead to bury their own dead. They too will no longer be participating with the things in life that are here today and gone tomorrow. They too will be living the way of the cross, which will eternally bring life.

Just like you and I should be doing ourselves.

Now think on this,

Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People, Inc.



P.S. I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. They might need it. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

We are blessed when the ministry receives gifts to bless the families that we do in Israel, India, Pakistan and the hurting ones here in the USA. You also can share out of the abundance you have been given.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.


If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Click here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: Love For His People. If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 
Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)
Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  
martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  
Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Full website: Love For His People

Now Think On This - In the New Year of our Lord 02.14.16 - #243 –“Let the Dead Bury the Dead” – Sunday at 5:15 am

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This




Again, I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

Thursday, January 21, 2016

What Once Was Dead - Now Think On This by Steve Martin

What Once Was Dead

Now Think On This
Steve Martin


“Not long after that, Jesus went to the village Nain. His disciples were with him, along with quite a large crowd. As they approached the village gate, they met a funeral procession — a woman's only son was being carried out for burial. And the mother was a widow. When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. He said to her, "Don't cry." Then he went over and touched the coffin. The pallbearers stopped. He said, "Young man, I tell you: Get up." The dead son sat up and began talking. Jesus presented him to his mother.

They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them. They were quietly worshipful — and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves, "God is back, looking to the needs of his people!" The news of Jesus spread all through the country.” (Luke 7:11-17 THE MESSAGE)


The mom had lost her only son. Her husband had already died. That could have been many years ago. She may have had a daughter or two left in this world, but the one she was really counting on, her only son, whom she had put her faith in to provide support for her in her old age, was no longer. He too was now dead.

What you thought was dead, is dead. It had been here but now it was gone. Does that pretty much say something about something in your life?

You had a dream. Looks like it won’t ever happen. As far as you are concerned, it might as well be dead, and for all practical purposes it is gone for good.

You had a job. They cut the workforce in half. You were part of that half.

The one you loved in your youth, the one who promised to be there 10 years later, yes, even “until death do you part”…they left for another last summer. Now you have no one and are alone.

Just like that mother.

All around us we see death. The economy is collapsing. The society is decaying faster than we ever realized it would, or could. What we once thought was solid rock to stand on has already been shaken. The thrill of life is now buried in a grave. Dead and gone.

If Jesus wasn’t in the world, the world would have no hope. If Jesus doesn’t come now and walk by us, what was dead will remain dead. There is no resurrection power except His resurrection power. God is God, and He alone can restore the broken hearted; the lost and not yet found; the one on their way to the burial ground ready to be put six feet under.

But the good news is that Jesus, Yeshua, is alive and well on this planet earth. (Thank you Hal Lindsey for sharing your book in the 1970’s.)

“When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. He said to her, "Don't cry." Then he went over and touched the coffin. The pallbearers stopped. He said, "Young man, I tell you: Get up." The dead son sat up and began talking. Jesus presented him to his mother.” (Luke 7:13)

Jesus’ heart was broke. He had deep compassion for this mom. He knew that the one being carried away from her, this her only son, was dead and on his way to the final burial place. So He stopped and did something about it. For her sake.

Jesus has compassion for you. What you thought was dead, buried, and never to be seen again can be resurrected by Him. What you thought was finished, He will bring back, because He has compassion. Because He knows the need. Because He alone can bring back to life what was really dead.

Jesus is telling you, “Don’t cry.” Even as He spoke to the young man to get up, and then gave him back to his mother, He is speaking to you.

 “Get up. It is not over!”

God is back, looking to the needs of His people. He will visit you in this time of need. Even as God the Father gave His only Son for you and me, He has come to you for life, and not death.

What once was dead will become alive again. Your Father in heaven, Who will touch you where you are at today, has that power, and love, to do that for you. And He will.

Call on His Name. Believe Jesus.

So think on this, with the compassionate love of the Lord,

Steve Martin
Founder
Love For His People, Inc.



P.S. I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. They might need it. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve

We are blessed when the ministry receives gifts to bless the families that we do in Israel, India, Pakistan and the hurting ones here in the USA. You also can share out of the abundance you have been given.

Love For His People, Inc. is a charitable, not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love of the Father in the nations.

If these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of $5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID #27-1633858.

Click here for safe ONLINE GIFT GIVING THROUGH OUR WEBSITE using major credit cards: LoveFor His People. If you don't have a PayPal account you can also use your credit card or bank account (where available). 

Contribution checks can be sent to: 
Love For His People, Inc.  P.O. Box414   Pineville, NC 28134

Todah rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)
Please share Now Think On This with your friends.

Email: loveforhispeople@gmail.com  
martinlighthouse@gmail.com

Facebook pages: Steve Martin and  Love For His People  
Twitter: martinlighthous, LovingHisPeople 

Full website: Love For His People

Now Think On This - In the New Year of our Lord 01.21.16 - #236 –“What Once Was Dead” – Thursday at 4:30 am

All previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This




Again, I would be most grateful if you'd share this encouraging word with your family and friends. You can easily use the social media icons below. Thanks! Steve