And Jesus Wept!

Luke 19:41

"Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it," 

Matthew 23:37-39

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

Why did Jesus lament and weep over Jerusalem?

Jesus wanted so much to take the children of Israel under His wings and love them, nurture them, help them, and bring them into the New Covenant, but they were not willing!

Their hard hearts, traditions, and pride kept them from humbling themselves to receive the gift that God was offering them!

The same was true in Jerusalem six hundred years before Christ!

Jeremiah 6:16-19

"Thus says the Lord: “Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ Therefore hear, you nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them. Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people—The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words Nor My law, but rejected it."

The same is true today! Paul prophesied about these last days we live in!

2nd Timothy 4:1-4

"I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."

In Jesus,
Tyrone

Cold As Ice

Matthew 24:9-12

“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."

Isn't lawlessness abounding today? I sure think so, just look at the British soldier who served a tour of duty in Afghanistan, fighting the Taliban, only to come home and get run over by a car and hacked to death in broad daylight by two radical Islamist's, surely lawlessness is abounding!

I don't even watch the news anymore because most of it is reporting the latest murder, kidnapping, and violence that goes on daily, surely lawlessness is abounding.

I can definitely see that the love of many people have grown cold as many are so oppressed by Satan and bound by sin that they are beyond feelings! 

Jesus Himself encountered the same cold hearts when He came to this earth and we are seeing the same thing today. Here's a question: would you recognize and receive Jesus if He came to your city, your 'church building', or even your home?

John 1:10-11

"He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him."

The religious leaders of the day did not recognize or receive the Messiah they were waiting for and who Moses prophesied about in the scriptures they read every Sabbath because their hearts were hard and their eyes were blind, do you think it's any different today?

Mark 3:1-6

"And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.” Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him."

Even after three and a half years of receiving the anointed words and love of Jesus, the disciples hearts were still hard after His death, burial, and resurrection! If that was true for them, how much easier is it for us who have not seen or walked with Jesus physically, to have hardness of heart in many areas?

Mark 16:14

"Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen."

So let us remember the sobering words of the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 17:9-10

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings."

In Jesus,
Tyrone

Are You Resisting The Spirit?

Acts 7:51-53

“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.”

Over the last six months or so I have witnessed many people resisting the Spirit of God as Christ is being manifested in this earthen vessel.  The scriptures testify about Jesus and the disciples being persecuted by unbelievers, but I had no idea what it would be like in the natural, in my mind I thought it would be physical persecution for the gospel, and it has been that, but I have witnessed and felt the most opposition and resistance to the Spirit, grace, and word of God in the spiritual. It is one of the most saddening things in this world to me as those who are lost have no clue of the judgement that awaits them unless they repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

In the above scriptures Stephen gives an indepth and detailed testimony about Abraham, the Patriarchs, and Moses while filled with the Spirit and wisdom of God. You would think that the high priest, the elders and those in attendance would have repented in sack cloth and ashes after the word that Stephen spoke, but no! Instead of repentance and weeping we see anger, gnashing of teeth and stoning. How could this be? I have been wondering how could anyone resist the Spirit? The Lord has been teaching me through everyday experiences how this is possible when those who hear the voice of the Spirit and feel the grace of God harden their hearts and set their will on denial, resistance, and opposition of the one who is sent by God to proclaim the good news.

I also wondered how could the Pharisees and Jews resist Jesus Christ who is God manifested in the flesh and while He walked this earth the fullness of the Godhead dwelt inside of Him! But yet He was rejected and crucified by His own creation, by the same people He came to save!

John 8:42-47

"Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

How would you respond if Jesus came and told you that you were not of God?

Many professing Christians today think they are born again because they repeated a 'sinners' prayer or mentally agreed with the scriptures and say they believe in Jesus but yet they don't obey His commands and when they are told the truth about their conversion they say things like, 'who are you to tell me I'm not saved!', or 'who are you to tell me I don't have the Holy Spirit in me!'

John 8:48-53

"Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.” Then the Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.’ Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?”

Jesus is being manifested in His bride in these last days, are you ready to hear the true word of the Lord spoken by true apostles and prophets filled with the Holy Spirit and wisdom of God?

How will you respond when the Holy Spirit convicts you of sin, righteousness, and judgment?

Paul was also strong in the Lord and filled with the Spirit but He was resisted by many people when he preached.

Acts 19:8-9

"And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus."

It's so sad to see people willfully resisting and fighting against the one true God who loved them so much that He gave His only Son Jesus as an atoning sacrifice on the cross to pay the penalty for their sins and mine.

Hebrews 3:7-15

"Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Are you resisting the Spirit and hardening your heart? Let us all examine ourselves to see if we are really in the faith.

In Jesus,
Tyrone