tprim32

The Prophecy Revealed In Matthew

Lesson Thirty-two: by turtle

This is going to be a short lesson this morning. It something to think about though. Are you part of the family of God or are you on the outside looking
in. Part of belonging to a group or a set group of people is feeling of belonging. To feel that you do not belong some might say is segregation. Some say
the church segregates. Being sick this week, gave me sometime off to watch some tv. I was watching a sitcom not even know the name of it. However
it had to do with a woman not wanting to have anything to do with church. The reason was she had gone through confirmation classes, which must of
catholic classes to be a part of the church and when graduation day came, her name was not called, though everyone else got the certificate. She took it
as a sign she did not belong and she never went to church again until her little boy wanted to go. And of course as the comic writers for the episode did
a good job on showing all the bad things that can happen in church, however it is not a reason not to go. People are people. Yet whether you attend a
church or not makes little difference on whether you are part of the family of God yet to hear the church people tell you, that not true. If you are not in
church you must be a backslider. You need to repent, “oh you are going to hell” There so many other things people say. And if you are old and can not
get to church and went all your life, you have that need to be re baptized, however the minister thinking you need a dunking and what you need is
immersion in the word of God, because what you missing is the unity of other believers being around you. Older people need tending too. Even if it is
just a short visit with a devotional. Maybe you can’t paint their fence, or fix their curtains, or run to the store for them. Maybe all you can take is the
word of God to them. When you do you find it renews the Spirit of God in their heart that already there, just covered up by all the aches and pains of
this world. Even the neglect of the church as well.

One person asked me years ago what happens when people go senile, does God forget them. I think not. Because faith in God is at the heart level and
not at the brain level always, I think God still communes with our spirit even when our brain is forgetting so much more. The manor people that I use to
visit were some of the sweetest people in the world, but you learn a lot from them. To have a friend die this past week, has brought a lot of memories
of the hunger of God’s word some have that are shut in. However people in the working world has much the same problem. They work and some even
on Sunday only to be forgotten because they are not on church during the week. God has not forgotten these people. God still loves them. They were
sealed with the Holy Spirit upon conversion to faith in Christ Jesus. My ministry seemed to come in full circle. Meaning God gave me a place to share
His word and His love. However my words mean little if not backed by scripture so what is the passage today.

Matthew 12:46-50 KJV
(46) While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.
(47) Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
(48) But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
(49) And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
(50) For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

What is the will of God? Is it the same as in the Old Testament?

Deuteronomy 29:18-19 KJV
(18) Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go and serve
the gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood;
(19) And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the
imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:

One is cursed for disobedience to God and yet it is only because He is the Only true God. We are to have faith in Him. That is part of the first
commandments in Exodus 20.

Exodus 20:3-6 KJV
(3) Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
(4) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the
water under the earth:
(5) Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the
children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
(6) And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Was it before the commandment Israel had. Was it understood in Genesis. God spoke these things concerning Abraham.

Genesis 18:18-19 KJV
(18) Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
(19) For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and
judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

One has to realize it starts with a belief in God. It not about show or how good you can act on stage or at the altar. It is the heart knowledge.

John 3:16-21 KJV
(16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
(18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God.
(19) And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
(20) For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
(21) But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

If you love God then what look close at verse 21. He that comes to the light His deeds are manifested are changed to works of God. God works are
good. He that believes is going to be changed to do good. I remember a young girl when I was working at camp having such a terrible attitude. On
decision night I asked her is there anything she wanted to change and she said she knew she had attitude problem. I said okay, Christ came make the
difference. The girl got saved. The change in the girls attitude was instant. God works that way sometimes.

What about those though that backslid from the faith.

Romans 11:16-27 KJV
(16) For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
(17) And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and
fatness of the olive tree;
(18) Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
(19) Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
(20) Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
(21) For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
(22) Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness:
otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
(23) And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
(24) For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall
these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
(25) For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is
happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.
(26) And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
(27) For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

If you walked away can you be grafted back in. I believe if God still speaking to your heart and He must be if you reading this, then I would repent and
seek God. For even in our running from God, God still loves us and desires us to be part of His family. However maybe the question is do you want to
be a part of God’s family. Do you want to belong/ If so confess your faults and return to the shepherd of your soul.