Is There An Imminent Danger To Come Why We Need To Become Alert And Watchful Always? Part I

When I worked in the cemetery of my uncle in the Philippines at a very young age of ten (10) to twenty one (21) years old (1973-1985), I've experienced an extreme hardships, shame, and bullying  then just to earn a meager income to support my studies in high school and college.  Every Friday at 5 in the afternoon, my cousins and I have to prepare our clothes and some food and have to walk at least three (3) miles going to the cemetery and went home in the afternoon of the following day and have to walk the same miles.  Our parents died at that very age and were forced by poverty to work even to that place which we didn't dreamed off.  I knew that all of us were trained to face life which is full of hardships discipline, patience, endurance, and hope that someday all of us will finish the race and to become successful in life.  Thanks to the hard training we had cause we're all trained to fight life which were full of challenges by parents who were believers of Jesus Christ. For more than ten (10) years of continuous work in the cemetery, I realized that death is coming to all ages in different time, day, month and year.  I observed that people who were buried were just babies, kids, children, youth, adult and seniors.  I told to myself that one day I will die and be buried too in a cemetery.  My mind was filled with mixed facts about poverty, death, shame and bullying that's why I promised to myself that one day I will become somebody and that all of these painful experiences I've been through will be the motivating reasons why I have to strive more in life.  I made to finish my college level in 1986 major in Accounting and made to pass the board examination as a Certified Public Accountant of the same year.

When I was working as an independent auditor of more than twenty companies and aside from my main job as the Finance Manager of a non-profit religious radio broadcasting in Manila, the Lord reminded me of my vows when I was in elementary and high school levels that if God will heal me from my skin sickness, eye cataract and the numbness of my two feet, I will follow him and will enroll in a Bible School.  When I finished my college and to take the board examination as an accountant, I prayed to God that if he will help me to pass the board examination, I will follow him and will enroll in a Seminary.  While I'm working and earning money, it seemed that life was so good and I felt relax and made to forget my vows.  At the age of twenty three (23) one businessman came to our office and looked at me and said,  here is the P500,000.00 or $18,518.52 as professional fee for signing a certificate that the financial statement is right and true to the best of my knowledge and he will use it for loan purposes.  But I refused to sign it not until he let me check and verify his books of accounts.  He left my office and looked for other Accountant who will accept his very enticing offer.  After three months, one of the sponsors in dedication of my eldest son was my classmate in college and an accountant of one of the big suppliers of gasoline in the country, called me through telephone and asked me to sign their company's financial statement for bank loan purposes.  He offered me P2,500,000.00 or $89,285.71.  I told him with excitement and since I knew him very well and told him, " classmate",  bring to my office your books of accounts to make some reviews and checking and I will sign the certificate but the company didn't send the books to me.  He called me again the following day and told me, Ok classmate,  we'll pick you up in your office to eat lunch in one of the finest hotels in Quezon City.  We'll bring the check which is pay to cash amounting to P2,500,000.00 and you'll sign the documents of the company.  After intense prayer, I phoned my classmate and told him, sorry, but I can't sign the documents.  In his dismayed, he didn't call me for two years.  If I accepted those two offers in the same year, I made to reach my goal immediately to become a millionaire though it was my dream then that on or before my 30th birthday, I should be a millionaire if I accepted those offers and my goal would be made in much earlier time!

For almost two years, life seemed so exciting and I almost drowned to my goal to become a millionaire and I felt within me that If you have a goal you can make it.  All my resources, talent, hours and other assets where all focused on the attainment of my goal but while doing these many ways to earn a lot, there were struggles within me.  Every time I hear a bible message, it reminded me that I have vows to God that need to fulfill.  And these struggles became so intense and led me to kneel down in prayer and ask God for wisdom and direction to my big decision to make.  I asked him for the last time that if it is his will for me to be in the full-time ministry of the word, open the best seminary in the Philippines that will mold and prepare me to become an effective minister of his Words.  I wrote to the managing director of Back To The Bible Philippines for scholarship and my letter and application were sent to Back To the Bible, Nebraska, USA for approval.  After two weeks, I received a letter from our managing director and gave me the letter of approval from the home office in Nebraska, USA and all the financial support for my education until I finish the the four-year program but I finished it for seven straight years cause I did it on a part time basis while working.

Why I made to leave my big earning profession?  Did I make a wrong decision?  What do you think?
Wait for the continuation of this article and hoping to bless you and to strengthen your faith in Christ.

For more messages about life, direction, true purpose in life, harmonious relationship in the family, marriage, dating and others, visit our website at savelifewithjoy.com or go to our blogs at hopeandlifeforyou.com and Eugenio "EJ" Juarez.  For your comments, suggestions and prayer requests, email us at agn623@gmail.com.

May our Almighty God bless you all.  Philippians 3:1-11

The Great Privilege And Accountability Of Being A Watchman Of God!

Why God Chose Ezekiel To Bring The Message Of Repentance To Israel?

Ezekiel came from a priestly family and his father's name is Buzi who was a priest under the King Jehoiachin of Israel.  Israel then was under the captivity of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon for almost five years, the first captivity of Israel to other nation because of their wickedness.  God used this heathen king as instrument to discipline his disobedient people hoping that they will change their minds and to obey him again.  Ezekiel was a priest and a prophet or a man chosen by God to bring his holy words of warning to the wicked Israelite.  As a prophet-priest, he was a man for the temple.  A man of God that requires to have a life of holiness, blameless, uprightness, God-fearing and shunned evils.  He was called to be a watchman for the hard headed and wicked Israelite, Psalm 101:6; Job 1:1; Ezekiel 3:17.

Purpose Of Calling?

God called Ezekiel to warn or tell the Israelite to repent from their wickedness, like from worshiping idols, corruptions, marital unfaithfulness, adultery, sensuality and other sins that caused their first captivity in Babylonian Empire, Ezekiel 3:17.  Their freedom was suppressed and they lived there as slaves.  God wanted his people to be freed again and to live as true humane filled with joy, freedom, abundance under his loving and caring arms.  He gave them another chance to straightened their lives by obeying his commands that lead to life.

For Whom The Warning Or The Word Of God Was Given?

The  holy word of God or the warning was given to Ezekiel to inform the wicked Israelite who deliberately disobeyed the commandments of God.  These are the people who have no regard for the holy words of God or God has no place in their minds.  Their minds do not seek him, Psalm 10:4.  If Ezekiel will just closed his mouth and will not warn them and they will continue in their wicked life,  these people will surely die both physical and spiritual or a life away from the presence of God, Romans 6:23; Revelation 21:8 and God  will hold him accountable for their disobedience.  But if he warned them and they insisted to disobey God, they will die because of their sins and he will no longer accountable to their fate.  And if he warned them and they learned to humble themselves and to turn away from their wicked ways, they will be saved from death and he will no longer accountable too, Ezekiel 3:18-19.

Second, if Ezekiel or the watchman does not give warning to the righteous Israelite who turned to their wickedness to repent but rather, insisted to live in wickedness, all their righteous deeds will be erased or will no longer be remembered.  God will let them to do what they wanted to do, even to the point of death.  They chose pleasures of the flesh rather than obeying their God, their creator and their source of true life.  Their minds are full of sin and the wages of sin is death, both physical and spiritual, Romans 6:23.  Ezekiel or the watchman will be hold responsible for their death or he too will die because of disobedience, verse 20.   But if the watchman gave the warning to the righteous people who turned to life of wickedness and insisted to ignore this, they will surely die because of their sins but the watchman is no longer accountable for their blood, verse 22.

The results Of Disobedience.

Physical and spiritual death are the punishment for those unbelievers and believers who insisted to ignore the warnings to repent but rather will continue to live in sinful or wicked life, Romans 6:23; Revelation 21:8; Ezekiel 3:18,20.  

Physical blessings and eternal life are for those who heed or accepted the warnings and decided to turn away from their sins and to live a new life in obedience to the words of God, Ezekiel 3:21; Romans 6:23; Revelation 22:1-5

What is the connection of this call to repentance to the present 21st  generation?

Because of the continuous hardening of the hearts of the Jewish people especially the teachers and protector of the Law of Moses, the Pharisees and the Sadducee, they chose to kill the Son of God through hanging on the cross.  Because of the Israelite's transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make the Israel envious, Romans 11:11.  Before Jesus's ascension to heaven, he gave to his disciples the great commission in Matthew 28:18-20 and this message will be shared to all people in all parts of the world until the second coming of Christ.

It is therefore our great privilege as recipients of this good news to be a part of this spiritual endeavor and at the same time a great responsibility to do it faithfully.  We are now the watchmen to call to repentance all the people in our generation, both the unbelievers and the believers who became lukewarm and chose to go back to live an old wicked life rather than to live a new life in Christ for different reasons.

All the true believers of Christ should ensure that all the members of their family and loved ones were introduced to Jesus Christ and must have a personal relationship by this time cause there are still a lot of people or more than 5 billion people worldwide who are still in need of salvation.  Remember, Jesus Christ second coming is like a thief in the night.  No one knows when this will happen, whether tonight, next week, next month or next year.  What we need to do now is to be watchful and be on guard.  Be faithful to share the gospel through our lives, our personal witnessing, sending and supporting missionaries and all ministries that proclaim the gospel in radio, television, printed materials and many more.  Let us all be united in doing this till the coming of Christ our Lord.

For more messages about life, forgiveness, hope, victory over sin, harmonious family relationship, dating and others, visit our website at savelifewithjoy.com or go to our blogs in hopeandlifeforyou.com and Eugenio "EJ" Juarez.  For your comments, suggestions and prayer requests, email us at agn623@gmail.com

God bless you all and peace be you always!

What The Bible Says About Speaking In Tongue And Prophecy?

Why a lot of bible believing churches have different culture  of worship and administering their church' life?  Some are having focused on the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church and some seemed so silent and can't even clap their hands while singing joyful songs during the worship time.  Are the bible believing people who clap and raise their hands are much holy and pleasing to God compared to those who are singing solemn songs and act like a very formal person and vice versa?  Are the fast growing churches today depend primarily on what they call the unfolding of the power of the Holy Spirit that mold even their forms of worship, style and culture of administering its church life as joyful, full of emotions, practicing speaking in tongues, healing and deliverance and other manifestations of the the work of the Holy Spirit?  How about the conservative way of seemingly silent and formal type of church life?  Are they  wrong in their beliefs and practices that resulted then to slow growth?

God gave the spiritual gifts to the church in order to edify or strengthening the faith of the body of Christ towards growth qualitatively that will surely results to numerical increase, I Corinthians 14:4,26.   He will not give his great commission through Jesus' first disciples without the provisions on how to do it and the power to sustain this task,  Matthew 28:18-20.  Spiritual gifts are the heavenly provisions of God to the church then and today until Jesus comes.  But how we should understand some of the  very controversial gifts like tongue and prophecy?  Are these gifts ceased already or still necessary and operational in the 21st century churches today?

We believed that the work of Jesus Christ on the cross was completed already and there are no another offerings needed to do after this caused his death was the once and for all act of God through Jesus for the forgiveness of sin and physical and spiritual salvation of men, Hebrews 9:12; 10:10. And the word of God says in II Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so  that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."  The work of salvation of God through Jesus Christ was finished and completed and the complete revelation of God through the Scripture is also completed and has its final authority in all matters related to salvation, guidance to live a holy life, right expressions of love, training, relationships, conduct and others.

The writing of Apostle Paul in II Corinthians 14:1-40 gave us the clear understanding on how we should handle this correctly and apply in the 21st century church today.  First, Paul reminded all the believers to do everything in love and we can understand clearly in I Corinthians 13 the true meaning of love that should be seen and served us as our clear rules in practicing the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the church.  There are three fundamental truths God has bestowed in the church and these are love, hope and faith but the greatest of these is love, I Corinthians 13:13.  Even though you gave all that you possess to the church and gave too your life for other people but you have no love, all these are nothing verse 3.  Second, the church should know that God gave the spiritual gifts to the church to edify and strengthen the faith of the people of God.  All the believers have at least one spiritual gift to exercise and use for the edification or building up of faith of other believers, verses 4 and 26.  Not all have the same gift.  It's like a body which has different parts that functions differently but compliment each other in harmony towards one goal.  No other part of the body should say to the feet that I'm the head and I'm much important than you and vice versa.  Think of a person that has a beautiful head but has no feet.  Can he live like as a normal person?  Same in the application of the spiritual gifts in the church.  Complimenting one another and harmony are very important truth for the growth of faith of the believers that results to more fruitful and growth in the ministry.  All are equally important to God cause he is the source and the one to be glorified.

Third, the role of the gifts of prophecy and speaking in tongue are in existence even now for the following reasons:  the teaching of the Apostle Paul in verses 18-19.  He admitted that he speaks in tongue regularly and more than other believers during his time but, he did it  in a right and intelligible manner. Another reason is, the uncontrollable working of God in the world cause he is spirit and we should worship him in spirit and in truth, John 4:23.  He is not bound by space and time.  He can not be contained in a box or be controlled by the wisdom of men.  God pleases what he wants to do which is grounded in holiness and love, for he is our loving God and he is the God of love and has no sin in him and he is God - omniscient or all knowing, omnipresent or in all places at the same time cause he is spirit and he is God.  Fourth,  speaking in tongue is differentiate from prophecy.  Speaking in tongue means, a person is speaking or talking to God.  He says mystery to himself, I Corinthians 14:2  It is more in personal way.  Only him and God understand each other and this personal communication edifies himself alone, verse 18.  But he/she should be careful in talking to God like Moses before the burning bush.  Moses can't looked straight to that tree cause it is so brighter and his eyes can't bear the light.  God is holy and Moses is not that's why he removed his sandals because the place he went into is a holy place cause the Holy God is there.  Same thing with those who say that they have talked face to face to God.  God is holy and all who come to him must also be holy.  God hates sin and he can't talk closely to a person who pretends or else you will be burned and died.  A believer who is experiencing such kind of experience is a very blessed one but be careful to deceive yourself.  True holiness is one of the marks of a believer in Christ who has that kind of gift.  God sees the heart and that person needs to live a holy life too and must bear much fruit.   Apostle Paul told the believers who are doing this gift to be generous or to share what he/she receives from God in order to strengthen the faith of other believers.   This requires then of an interpreter verse 5, 6-12, 20-25, 27.  If there is no interpreter, one must keep silent in the church and don't let the devil use this occasion to distract and disturbed other worshipers for God is God of order and harmony, verse 28, 39-40.  That's why even Paul reiterated in verse 19 to regard to speak five intelligible words to instruct others than ten thousand words in tongue.

Prophesying is a gift of telling intelligent words to others.  It is much greater than speaking in tongue, verse 5.  Its functions are to give a clear encouragement to the discouraged and  hopeless, strengthen the faith of the fearful and confused believers on what to do and how to overcome issues in life, and to give words of comfort to the lonely, sad and people who are in deep mourning due to death of their loved ones and others.  Most of the prophecy about the coming of Jesus, the kind of death he will suffer and the way of salvation God will do through Jesus, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the believers then and today, were all realized already at the cross of Calvary.   But one thing we're all waiting now and this is the second coming of Christ.  The church of God and the ministry of preaching and teaching are considered as prophetic ministry.  The people of God like the pastors and teachers have to inform the unbelievers with passion and intelligently to repent or they will perish in hell.  They have also to remind the believers in Christ to be watchful and be ready for the coming of the Lord, I Thessalonians 5:1-11  Preaching and teaching, healing, and other ministries of the church must pointing to that future event that will surely come.  The ministry of the church now is like the ministry of preaching and teaching during the time of Noah.  He believed that destruction will come if people will not repent and we are now doing the same proclamation of the good news of repentance and eternal life to all because we believed on what we do not see, Hebrews 11:1;6.   Faithfulness in telling the good news is a must to do by all true believers in Christ as a proof also that we are true children of God, true followers of Jesus or true disciples of Jesus Christ.  And all of these should be done in  holy love and faith.

Speaking in tongue and prophesying are not forbidden but should be done in a rightful way and orderly manner.  We can speak in tongue on a personal capacity and on personal level and needs an interpreter to benefit also other worshipers.  Paul is encouraging believers to prophesy to tell the truth in much clearer and intelligible manner than to speak in tongue for understanding purposes.  And those who desire to do this prophetic ministry are expected to have a deep, right and clear understanding and training to share the good news to others clearly and with power.  Much greater responsibility  and accountability are expected to those who do this task cause people will be confused and might be led astray from the truth if have received false teaching and therefore will perish in hell, James 3:1.  False teaching means, false application in the lives of those who received or destruction.  Since we are worshiping God in spirit and in truth, the ministry of prophesy should be done by  holy, blameless, upright, God-fearing and obedient preacher-teacher and believers of the words of God.  The main goal of the church is to edify, build up and strengthen the faith of the believers to become more fruitful in the ministry till the coming of Christ.

For more biblical messages about life, death, hope, forgiveness, confidence, victory over temptations, inner strength and others, visit our website at savelifewithjoy.com or go to our blogs in hopeandlifeforyou.com and Eugenio "EJ" Juarez.  For your comments, suggestions and prayer requests, email us at agn623@gmail.com.

God bless you all.