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Be Living Water

Posted in Christine "Clarity" McDonald, Culture with tags , , , , , , , , , on June 29, 2018 by paulthepoke

Matthew 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me… -Jesus

Christine McDonald

Featuring Christine “Clarity” McDonald

Christine is a Member of the Missouri State Advisory Council for Behavioral Health & Substance Disorders.

Trigger warning. Do you see them? The unseen all around you?

So yesterday we did street outreach. Every time I hear these words from women when I offer them food…

“I am starving, I have not eaten in days” or “I have been trying to figure out when I was gonna be able to eat again.”

I hear the almost tears as they say thank you for the food. I continually pray I never forget all those years I was hungry. I was just wanting someone to see me, to see my pain, see my hopelessness, my longing to be cared about. I just wanted my simple humanity to be noticed.

There are times when we all want to slip into crowds unnoticed. But there is still a part of us that deeply longs to be known and seen and cared for. Jesus offers this to believers. Being known by the Creator of the Universe is the most profound “knowing” we could possibly experience.

However, the world around us is full of broken individuals who feel invisible because they don’t yet know Christ. The rest of humanity either ignores them or only sees them when they can be used.

water well

In John Chapter 4, we read the story of Jesus and his conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well. The most profound aspect of the story isn’t that Jesus calls her out for being married multiple times. Nor is it that He knows that the man she is currently living with isn’t her husband. What is profound is that He truly knew her. He saw her. Because Jesus was able to see her. When He offered her living water, she believed.

We claim to feel moved by the hurts and sufferings of others. Yet we fail to truly see those who are hurting as individuals. Our efforts to relieve suffering or bring healing fail. Sometimes, such efforts even do more harm.

God doesn’t ask us to take on the world, but to offer the world hope. We are His ambassadors to a hurting world. Being intentional and thoughtful in our interactions can go a long way in offering hope to those in our sphere of influence. What if we open our hearts to Him? Let Him help us see those around us as He does.

Each and every soul on this planet was fearfully and wonderfully made. Each one is a treasure to the One we love most. He is calling us to see them as precious treasures too.

Psalm 139:14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.

 

“Love your neighbor… ALL of ’em!” -Christine “Clarity” McDonald

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Millennial Kingdom: 1,000 Years

Posted in Millennial Kingdom, Prophecy with tags , , , , , , , , , on January 10, 2016 by paulthepoke

Oddly enough, there is much debate about the Millennial Kingdom. Some think we are in the kingdom now. The critic says, “It is a spiritual kingdom…”

If we are in Christ’s Kingdom as of January 2016, we are getting ripped off. Where is the peace? Where is the prosperity? Where is the security?

Even more bizarre, some argue the length of the Kingdom. Revelation 20 is very clear. There will be a 1,000 year period of time prior to eternity set apart for humanity where Jesus Christ will rule. There will be many witnesses to this 1,000 year period.

The time is effectively marked by Satan’s imprisonment and release from jail.

keys

sunrayministry.org

Satan and an angel from Heaven understand 1,000 years will be involved. Revelation 20:2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years…

Satan will not be incarcerated forever. He will have a 1,000 year sentence. Satan will not be reformed or rehabilitated when he gets out of jail, once a liar always a liar. Revelation 20:3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations any more until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

Believers in Christ who will be beheaded during the Tribulation testify to the length of the Kingdom. Tribulation believers will be resurrected before the Millennium starts. They get to rule with Jesus during this Millennium. Revelation 20:4b …and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Those who do not believe in Christ understand the Kingdom is to last 1,000 years. They are in holding in Hades (Greek) or Sheol (Hebrew). Their resurrection does not come until after the Kingdom. These are the folks who are destined for the Lake of Fire. They are physically and spiritually dead. Revelation 20:5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed…

Those who believe Jesus died for their sins are eternal. They will never die. Believers get to rule with Christ. Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

Satan will be locked up and unable to tempt humanity. Despite 1,000 years of wonderful conditions on planet Earth under the leadership of Christ, humanity is more than willing to follow Satan. Time is short for Satan. The Lake of Fire is calling. He will be let out of the hole and countless people will join forces with him. They decide to declare war on Jesus and His saints in Jerusalem. Even under prosperity and peace, humanity will turn on God the man. Revelation 20:7 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison…

Per Strong’s Concordance, the Greek word for “thousand” is chilioi. It means… a thousand. Jesus Christ and His saints will rule for 1,000 years while Satan is confined.

Don’t fall for the trap. If my circumstances were better…

Humanity, left to its own devices, under the best of conditions, apart from God, is a failure.

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Isaiah 9:18-19 Humanity Impacts the Environment

Posted in Egypt/Nile River, Isaiah with tags , , , , , , on September 2, 2013 by paulthepoke

Isaiah 9:18-19 For wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briars and thorns; it even sets the thickets of the forest aflame and they roll upward in a column of smoke. By the fury of the LORD of hosts the land is burned up, and the people are like fuel for the fire; no man spares his brother.

Isaiah uses idiomatic language to describe wickedness. The wickedness can be in civil relations, moral, ethical, and religious connotations. The people’s wickedness is like a destructive fire. A fire burns vegetation and wood.

As God sees it, the people’s actions are like a fire. God’s judgment in return is a fire. So the logic goes, the people’s actions (wickedness) result in a consuming fire of the land. In the idiomatic language, briars, thorns, and woods are the fuel. In reality, the people become the fuel in their judgment.

God’s word says that people’s actions can affect the environment. I realize in today’s “scientific” world that seems pretty far-fetched in some circles. This concept leaves the “global warming community” and the “environmental left” in a tight spot. These two groups would agree that man has negatively impacted the environment. This position would also be in agreement with God. This does not mean these left leaning organizations are in agreement with the Bible. If you read their beliefs, they are not consistent with God’s precepts.

The greatest environmental disaster of all time was due to man’s actions and sins. That disaster was the flood in Genesis.  Genesis 6:13 Then God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.

Genesis 7:4 “For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made.” The wickedness of humanity resulted in forty days and forty nights of rain. Incidentally, this is the first time in history it rained according to the Bible. Genesis 7:4 is the first mention of rain being caused. Genesis 2:5 indicates that God had not sent rain on the earth. Genesis 2:6 indicates there was a mist from the ground that watered the surface of the earth. God originally used His own misting sprinkler system to water plant life.

Man’s actions have impacted the environment in the past and in today’s world. Man’s actions and wickedness will impact the environment in the future Tribulation. Revelation 8:7 talks of hail and fire. Revelation 16:21 talks of the plague of hail.  The sun is progressively impacted until there is darkness in Joel 2:10, 3:15, and Revelation 16:10.

Matthew 24:37 “For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.

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