Psalm 104:27-28 “These all look to you to give them their food at the proper time. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.”

The Scene: A large statue of Jesus with open arms, up high, overlooking His people.

The Trinity: Father God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit all know what we need before we ask. God is always there with us and for us, when we ask Him for our needs. Jesus is well able to provide for His people. The Scriptures show us over and over that He is willing to care of His own.

Matthew 6:25 & 27 ” ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?”

Jesus, when He fed the 5,000 (men) and their families saw to it that there was food left over. And again when he fed the 4,000 (men) and their families there was food left over; more than enough each time. Jesus will meet our needs and more.

He does require something of us, though. He asks us to be good stewards of what He gives us and to share what we have with others in need, especially with family and the Church. When we do this He will trust us with more and more. When we give, it is as if we have given to Him. His Word says so.

Matthew 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ “

Matthew 25:45-46 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me.’ Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. “

8-132 PROVISION/ GIVING

PSALM 62:2 “He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken.”

The Scene: Three views of the same rock, viewing right to left: A rock was thrown. The first rock represents Jesus Christ as the Rock of Salvation who goes out to everyone willing to receive Him. Some accept His Word and His perfect offer of forgiveness of sin following repentance. They fear, obey the Lord and His (God’s) Word. The second view (middle) symbolizes a hot burning coal/rock. Some people do not accept God’s Word nor His offer of salvation. The Word burns their ears. They feel condemned by the Word of God, yet they do not believe.

Hebrew 3:18-19 “And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.”

The Third View: The rock falls to the ground and explodes–representing those who reject God’s offer of salvation, who are rebellious and explode in anger because of their unbelief.

Psalm 14:1-2 “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.”

1 Peter 2:7-10 “Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,’ and, ‘A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.’ They stumble because they disobey the message–which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

8-120 SALVATION

The Scene: The Lord filled the balloon with his breath and tied off the end of the balloon–symbolic of the Christians beginning their life in the Holy Spirit. The balloon soared.

2Corinthians 5:1 “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”

All human beings are made by God and, like God, are triune beings. So when someone dies the spirit and soul are separated from body. The spirit and soul live on–the body begins to decay.

Genesis 3:19 “By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

For Christians who are born-again the spirit and soul go to heaven to be with God the Father and Jesus the Son our Savior.

John 5:24 ” I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.”

John 11:25-26 “Jesus said to her,”I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? “

Matthew 10:28 “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Only non-believers ought to fear death!

8-119 ETERNAL LIFE

Revelation 22:17 “The Spirit and the bride says, ‘Come! ‘ And let him hears says, ‘Come! ‘ Whoever is thirsty let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” The Scene: People sitting in an all- white room, sitting side by side. Water has entered the room at their feet.

The Lord said, ‘All over the world people are being given “one last chance to accept Me“as their Savior and Lord– A chance at salvation by the unsaved. Salvation will come to some, based on the presence of the Holy Spirit, who brings no pressure, but asks each person to make a decision, ‘yes or no’. They were told this would be their last chance to know God in a personal way. The fullness of time, the end is very near.’

The crystal -clear water represents “living water”, God’s Word continued to rise until the people were totally emersed in God’s living Word, that only Jesus can offer.

The Holy Spirit said, ‘Pray for the unsaved. Pray for everybody in your family and anyone else that the Holy Spirit brings to mind. Bind the spirit, the strongman, of bondage away from each person in Jesus’ name and loose the Holy Spirit of adoption to take its place, in Jesus’ name, so that they too can cry, ‘Abba Father.’

1 Timothy 2:1, 3-6 “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for everyone.This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.Who gave himself as a ransom for all men–“

8-128 SALVATION

PROVERBS 4:10-11 “Listen, my son, accept what I say, and the years of your life will be many. I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.”

The Scene: A passenger train going through the mountain tunnel. The train represents life’s journey of born-again Christians. The sequence: The train approaches the tunnel where the Christian’s life began from the womb, progressing into the tunnel symbolic of the dark world we live in and must go through. The train proceeds out of the tunnel into the Light of the World, Jesus Christ, and becomes born-again through asking Jesus to forgive their sins, and to dwell within the heart. The Christian’s name is written into the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Phillipians 2:12-13 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence–continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

The train continues along the track upward bound on the narrow path God has laid out for His people.

Ephesians 1:9-12 “And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment–to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.”

Psalm 119:35 “Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight.”

8-118 RIGHT PATH

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

The Scene: A Saturn V rocket, lifting off from the launch pad; pulling against gravity–representing a Christian’s efforts to overcome the flesh (worldliness & the sin nature).

The Holy Spirit said, “The rocket has to overcome gravity to lift off its pad and begin its journey into the heavens.” Our flesh acts like gravity. It (the flesh) pulls, tugs at us as we Christians try to mature spiritually and come up higher, closer to God.

Like the Saturn V rocket we can overcome the flesh when we exert the energy to learn God’s way and try to follow His commands. Read His Word daily and do what it says. The more we mature spiritually the less inertia the flesh will have on us, as we follow after righteousness as overcomers.

2 Timothy 3:2-5 “People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God–having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.”

1 Thessalonians 5:8-9 “But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

8-106 SPIRITUAL MATURITY