Author: hillturnfs

That eternal plan by which God makes sure that all events of the universe take place are called decrees of God. The creation of the universe, the creation of the the physical laws of nature and the creation of man were all by decrees of God. The decrees of God are always accomplished and they are sustained until God removes the decree.  God exists totally apart from the universe yet is everywhere within it. With God there is no such thing as time as we know it. The past, present and future are the same eternal moment to God. This is why we say God knows the end from the beginning.

Colossians 1:16-17 – For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

God’s directives will always comes to pass. God’s permissive will is what He allows to take place. God permitted the entrance of sin into the world through Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden. God created both angels and men with the free will to choose whether to serve God or Satan. God didn’t want robots compelled to serve Him. Nothing ever surprises God.  Just because God knows what will happen in our life, what choices we will make, doesn’t mean He causes it to happen or doesn’t care about us. God loves us no matter what we decide to do.  God simply lets things happen as an exercise of our free will.

God is sovereign over His creation without impacting our individual freedom of choice.  It is our privilege and responsibility to know God and do His good will. We do that by praying, reading the Bible daily and studying God’s Word. This will bring out our deep trust and unbridled worship of God at every turn of our life.

Deuteronomy 10:17 – For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.

Deuteronomy 10:20-21 – You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name. He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.

There are two major heresies about the Trinity all Christians must vigorously oppose. One distortion claims that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are merely different manifestations of God assumed temporarily to achieve a specific purpose.  Let me be clear about this, the Holy Trinity consists of three distinct Persons who have always existed independently and always will. The Trinity consists of God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit which is sometimes referred to as the Holy Ghost.

The next heretical point of view is that the Trinity has been divided or separated and Jesus and the Holy Spirit are not co-equal with God and are therefore a lower level of deity.  There is only one God. God is a unity consisting of three Persons with one essence, personality and will. The Persons of the Trinity never act independently or in opposition to one another. They are of one mind and they are all God, co-equal and co-eternal.

Our Triune God is not only the Creator of the universe He is also the Sustainer of His creation and the moral Governor of the intelligent beings He has created. God’s Word makes it abundantly clear that God’s providence and sovereignty is complete and comprehensive as expressed in the following Scriptures:

Psalm 135:6 – Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places.

Colossians 1:17 – And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

Ephesians 1:11 – In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.

Acts 4:28 – To do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.

In the New Testament the distinctness of the persons of the Godhead is made clearer. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus taught the disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit which underlines their oneness. When John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River the heavens opened up and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descended upon Jesus.

In Mark 1:10-11 God then spoke directly from heaven saying “You are my Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased.” This was a clear manifestation of the Trinity involving all three persons of the Godhead at the same time. The Trinity is also referenced in the following Scriptures:

Luke 1:35 – And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”

John 14:16 (Jesus speaking) – And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.

2 Corinthians 13:14 – The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy spirit be with you all. Amen.

Romans 1:7 – To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Persons of the Trinity never act independently or in opposition to one another. The Son and the Holy Spirit are subordinate to the Father but they are not inferior. It’s a matter of relationship but not of nature. All are equally divine. The Spirit of God is said to proceed from the Son as well as the Father. The Father is the One by whom the Son is begotten and from whom the Spirit proceeds.

Those who want to make Jesus and the Holy Spirit lesser deities than God the Father must understand that while God the Father was the architect of the universe it was Jesus who actually built the universe and the workman was the Holy Spirit. The Father originates, the Son reveals and the Spirit executes.  Creation is from the Father through the Son by the Holy Spirit. The Trinity has always existed with each Person co-equal and co-eternal. In my blog I’m comfortable using any of the three Persons of the Trinity interchangeably when I speak about God because all three are God. It all depends on the circumstances.

At the heart of the Christian view of God is the concept of the Trinity. This truth is central to an understanding of biblical revelation and the Christian gospel. The Trinity consists of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit.  God is one being, but he exists in three persons, each with their own intellect, feelings and will. God is one in His essential being, but the “divine essence” exists in three modes or forms, each constituting a Person, yet in such a way that the divine essence is wholly in each Person.

While the word Trinity doesn’t occur in the Bible, the existence of the Triune Godhead is confirmed in numerous Scriptures in the Bible though never fully explained. The Trinity is a difficult concept that our finite mental powers cannot easily grasp, even for Christians.  I’d never attempt to win an unbeliever to Christ by first trying to explain the Trinity to them. They would run for the hills. If you are pressed about the Trinity simply tell them God doesn’t tell us everything He knows but only what we need to know.  We are to accept God’s Word by faith and in heaven all will be revealed to us.

The Trinity is one of those things about the Bible that confirmed to me that the Bible is God’s Word. Someone creating a fake religion would come up with a god that would be easy for everyone to understand otherwise what’s the point? The concept of the Trinity is so difficult to understand and explain it proves it couldn’t be a human invention.  Just like I know no human being could have written the Bible because their human nature would not allow all the Bible stories that put man in such a bad light. The Bible is brutally honest and reveals the human condition, warts and all, which verifies only God could have written it.

Deuteronomy 6:4 – Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

John 1:1-3, 14 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made…..The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory; the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Throughout the Bible the Lord Almighty proclaims He is God and there is no other. God states He knows the end from the beginning and He proves it by making over 1,000 prophecies in the Bible, which is 28% of the Bible. Over 500 prophecies have come true in their due time and documented.  No prophecies have failed to come true in their appointed time. Over 60 prophecies about Jesus have been fulfilled and I’ve previously listed the 36 fulfilled prophecies of Jesus I consider most important.  The prophecies of Jesus were made in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament.  I’ve listed the Scriptural reference for each one.

Roman and Jewish history confirm the life and death of Jesus as detailed in the Bible. Only God is the author of history and only our God has proven He is the Creator of the universe. Prophecy is only history written in advance. No other religion has had even one fulfilled prophecy which only shows they are all fake religions sponsored by Satan to lead people away from the truth.

The Bible establishes there is a God and Jehovah is that God. God is revealed in creation but the Bible says anyone can seek the Lord and find him by reading and knowing God’s Word. It’s not the only way but it is the easiest way and the best way to find God. The Bible promises those who seek the Lord diligently will find Him through His Word.  God speaks to His special creation through His Word and we speak to God through prayer.

Throughout the Bible God reaffirms He made us and He has given us an eternal spirit, a part of Himself. We now know that since conception we are immortal beings. The physical body will wither and die but the spirit is eternal. Our life on this earth is our “testing time” where we have the free will to decide to serve God or Satan. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth in the flesh and died on the cross for our sins.

If we accept the mercy and grace of God by accepting Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we are translated at that moment to the kingdom of heaven and eternal life. If we reject God’s grace or simply do nothing our souls will burn in the lake of fire for eternity where we will be in torment forever.  All the important questions in your life answered in the Holy Bible. God makes His Word available but He won’t make you read it or make decisions for you. God loves you as a father loves his children because He made you and He knows everything about you. God waits patiently for you to come to him.

If you haven’t made the decision to put your trust in Jesus yet you’re one heartbeat away from losing the opportunity to make that choice. Nobody gets a second chance. It’s time to read your Bible and study God’s Word.  You must know what you believe so that you can save your soul.  You must know what you believe so that you can witness for Christ.  You must know what you believe so that your faith cannot be shaken by the tribulation to come.

Psalm 119:89 – Your Word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.

It’s important in these end times to clarify what you believe to be true without any doubt in your mind. You don’t have the luxury of waiting any longer. I can tell you from experience all the vital questions you need the answers to right now are in God’s Word, our Holy Bible. When God made us He put eternity in our hearts so we know intuitively there is a God and we will never be truly happy until we find Him. Money, power and fame won’t help you feel whole. The world is littered with unhappy millionaires and billionaires. Only God can fill that void left in our hearts.

My personal search for God started and ended with the Bible. I’m sure it’s that way with most people. God is an invisible Spirit but He left us His Word that we might know Him. The Bible is God’s wisdom and it will endure forever.  The Bible is the story of God’s love for us and our redemption through the coming of Jesus Christ, His beloved Son. If I can believe God authored the Bible then I don’t have to see God to know he is real. God’s Word is something that can be explored with the senses to determine whether it is the truth.

I will keep saying this repeatedly. Anyone seeking God will find him if they read the entire Bible with an open mind. Scripture says those who diligently seek God will find Him. It’s God’s promise and God never lies or breaks a promise. You have my personal testimony that this happened to me.  If you come before the Lord with a humble heart God will convict you of your sin by the Holy Spirit and you will know there is a God. Your eternal spirit is a part of God given to you at conception so when the Holy Spirit shows up your spirit recognizes the Father. A servant always recognizes his master’s voice.

The Bible was compiled by 40 writers over a period of 1500 years. These men wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit to come up with a consistent message of God’s love for us and our ultimate redemption through the coming of His Son, Jesus Christ.  There are no errors or contradictions in God’s Word. Detractors have been trying for 2,000 years to disprove the Bible and have failed. Quite the opposite has happened. Archeology keeps verifying stories, places and people contained in the Bible.

I believe Nebraska is real although I’ve never been there.  Nebraska is one of the 50 states of the United States.  I’d bet my life on it.  I’ve been to 41 states which makes me confident the other 9 states must be there as advertised. I’m also sure Nebraska is there because all of the states, including Nebraska, were covered in my geography classes in school.  I’ve seen Nebraska on maps and read about it.  I’ve seen Nebraska on television.

I’ve met people who’ve lived in Nebraska and their eyewitness testimony convinces me Nebraska is there.  I know people who have at least driven through each of the nine states I’ve never visited and my faith makes me believe they are all real places too.  I’ve never heard anyone dispute the existence of Nebraska or any other state which gives me added confidence.  I don’t have to go to Nebraska to believe in it because my faith tells me it’s there.  The evidence is overwhelming that Nebraska is a real place.

The point of this example is to show we all have a belief system within us. We all take in stimulus from our senses to help us decide what’s real and what isn’t. We see, hear, touch, smell and feel our environment and based on a preponderance of evidence we make judgements and decide whether to believe what we receive or not. We do this many times a day, every day, for our entire lives. Most of the time we don’t even have to think about it.

During the course of our lives most of the things we believe in won’t really have any effect on the quality of our lives. Whether or not I believe in Nebraska or not has no direct influence on how I live my life.  Some of what we believe will impact our life in some way but may not be important.  We need to know what is of vital importance in our lives and then examine all the evidence available on that topic so we can make the best choices.

Knowing whether or not there is a God is all-important. Knowing whether we serve the one true God is vitally important. Knowing whether we have an eternal soul is critical. Knowing where we’re going to be spending eternity is crucial. Knowing how to gain eternal life is vital. Knowing how to find God is indispensable. God made us and put us on this earth to seek His face and find salvation through faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

Everything else in life is static, white noise, and roadblocks thrown up by Satan on our journey of self-discovery in this life. We’re all like salmon swimming upstream in the river of life trying to get back to where we were born. My job is to warn you all of us won’t make it and to show you the way home.  Those who will make it will be those who know the right questions to ask and where to look for those answers.

The Holy Bible contains all the answers to life’s important questions.  Where did I come from?  Why am I here?  Where am I going?  Study God’s Word and the overwhelming evidence it contains will grow your faith in God and His salvation plan for man to the point you will know what you believe and why.  As you abide in the truth and continually pray to God your faith will become unshakeable.

6. The sword of the Spirit (cont’d)

The sword of the Spirit is both a defensive weapon able to deflect the blows of Satan and it is an offensive weapon for inflicting blows because it is the very power of God. When Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days Satan tempted Jesus 3 times and each time He defeated Satan by quoting Scripture. Jesus left this example for us to follow. Jesus left the Bible for us to use to defeat Satan and his demons. God would not leave us defenseless against so powerful an enemy.  Scripture is the living and active power of God. The Word of God is so powerful that it transfers men and women from the realm of falsehood to that of truth, from the realm of darkness to that of light, and from the realm of sin and death to that of righteousness and life.

The Word of God changes sadness to joy, despair into hope, stagnation into growth, childishness into maturity, and failure into success. Millions of Christians have given this testimony. The rest of the world’s religions remain silent because they are all fake and have nothing to offer except to lead people away from the truth of our God.  Every time God’s Word leads a person to salvation it demonstrates its power to cut a swath through Satan’s dominion of darkness and bring light to a darkened soul. We must study God’s Word in depth in order to use this formidable weapon with great skill. Skill takes practice and discipline. The Bible is God’s wisdom which can be ours for the asking. Our charge is to use God’s Word for the glory of God and the furthering of His kingdom.

In summary, the armor of God consists of:

1. The knowledge of God’s Word gained through personal study.

2. Obedience to God’s commands in order to be holy before the Lord.

3. Actively spreading the gospel of Christ per the Great Commission that Jesus gave all disciples.

4. Having faith in who Jesus is and trusting His promises.

5. Trusting in God to be our Rock through whom we have the blessed hope of salvation, eternal life in heaven.

6. The very power of God through His Word to resist Satan and assault the powers of darkness.

Hebrews 4:12 – For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

6. The sword of the Spirit:

We have previously covered the three permanent pieces of armor to be worn by Christians which are the knowledge of God’s Word, obedience to God’s commands and taking action by going forth to spread the gospel of Christ.  Then we mentioned the two additional pieces of armor to be taken up as needed which are faith in the promises of God and the blessed hope of our salvation, eternal life in heaven in fellowship with God.  The Roman foot soldier’s primary weapon for hand-to-hand combat was an 18 inch common sword carried in a scabbard attached to their belt and always at hand ready to use. The Christian’s primary weapon against Satan is the Bible. The Apostle Paul makes it clear this last piece of God’s armor is the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.

The Bible is the believer’s supreme piece of armor. The Bible can deflect the blows of Satan and is the Christian’s best defensive weapon.  For those who know God’s Word the Bible is also an effective offensive weapon against the powers of darkness.  But God’s Word is effective only if handled with precision and applied at the exact point of Satan’s attack.  Think of yourself as a doctor in the spiritual world and you scalpel is the Word of God. If you don’t know God’s Word intimately there’s no way you can use it effectively against Satan. Satan does know God’s Word and we must know it too.  Satan will always attack us where we are weak, uninformed or confused.

John 14:7 – The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

1 Joh 2:20 – But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.

1 John 2:27 – But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.

5. The helmet of salvation:

Roman soldiers never entered battle without their helmet. Helmets were made of thick leather covered with metal plates or they were made of heavy molded or beaten metal. Helmets usually had cheek pieces to protect the face. Helmets were protection from the large double edged broadswords carried by cavalrymen who swung at the heads of foot soldiers.  Helmets were protection against the enemies primary weapon. Satan’s primary blows are against our minds and directed at the believer’s security and assurance in Christ. The two edges of Satan’s spiritual broadsword are discouragement and doubt. Satan wants us to doubt our salvation and discourage us by pointing out our failures, our sins, our problems, our poor health, or whatever else seems negative in our lives.

Satan wants us to lose confidence in the love and care of our heavenly Father by convincing us we don’t deserve God’s love. Satan wants us to doubt biblical truths, including doubt about one’s salvation. If Satan can get us to doubt God’s goodness and dependability our relationship with God becomes uncertain.  If our hope in God wanes we are susceptible to discouragement. As Christians our hope is everything and we can never allow Satan to touch the bedrock of our faith which is “the hope of salvation”.

If we lack hope in the future promise of salvation there can be no security in the present.  Hold fast to the truth of God’s Word and ignore Satan, the father of lies. We must live by faith and not by sight.  The helmet of salvation is the great hope of final salvation that gives us confidence and assurance that our present struggle with Satan will not last forever. We know we will be victorious in the end.

Ephesians 6:17 – And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.