u/The-Old-Path

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

NOW abideth faith, hope, and love. 

The faith of God, the most powerful force in the universe…is here right now.

A hope so wonderful it fills us up with inexpressible joy…is here right now.

Love, God Himself, everything we have ever really wanted…is here right now.

These things abide. To abide means to stay put. Remain. Continue. Endure.

Faith, hope and love, aren’t going anywhere. They are here now. They will stay here now. 

Matthew 4:17

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The kingdom of heaven is “at hand.”

The kingdom of heaven, including its faith, hope, and love, is so near we can reach out and touch it…right now.

1 Timothy 4:14-15

“Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.”

The phrase “give thyself wholly to them” directly translated from the Greek would be “in them you are.” So verse 15 can be translated as “meditate on these things [the gifts of God you have been given], and be them, so that your progress may appear to all.”

The word “gifts” in verse 14 comes from the Greek word charismatos, which itself stems from charis, grace. The gifts of God are the grace of God. The gifts of God are the grace of God in motion. A true Christian IS the grace of God in motion.

Paul’s exhortation to Timothy echoes the same oneness with God Christ preaches in John 17. Don’t just “use” the gift of God, “BE” the gift of God. Be one with God’s grace. Be God’s love in motion. A living love letter from God to the world, known and read by all.

What an amazing privilege it is to be a Christian.

Thank you Jesus Christ!!

1 Corinthians 15:10

“But by the grace of God I am what I am:” 

Exodus 3:14

“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” 

John 8:58

“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”

1 Timothy 4:14-15

“Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.”

The phrase “give thyself wholly to them” directly translated from the Greek would be “in them you are.” So verse 15 can be translated as “meditate on these things [the gifts of God you have been given], and be them, so that your progress may appear to all.”

The word “gifts” in verse 14 comes from the Greek word charismatos, which itself stems from charis, grace. The gifts of God are the grace of God. The gifts of God are the grace of God in motion. A true Christian IS the grace of God in motion.

Paul’s exhortation to Timothy echoes the same oneness with God Christ preaches in John 17. Don’t just “use” the gift of God, “BE” the gift of God. Be one with God’s grace. Be God’s love in motion. A living love letter from God to the world, known and read by all.

What an amazing privilege it is to be a Christian.

Thank you Jesus Christ!!

1 Corinthians 15:10

“But by the grace of God I am what I am:” 

Exodus 3:14

“And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” 

John 8:58

“Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”

Messengers gather people together. Have you ever noticed that?

When someone comes by with a message, the news, important information, the people who want to hear that message gather together to hear it. 

Matthew 13:24-30

“Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”

Matthew 13:39

“The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.” 

The word angels comes from the Greek word aggelos, which primarily means "messenger" or “delegate.” Aggelos, angels, are messengers sent by one in authority to proclaim a specific message. 

We tend to jump towards celestial beings when we hear the word angels, and, yes, many angels are celestial beings, but others are humans.

Luke 9:51-52

“And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.”

The word “messengers” here comes from the same exact Greek word, “aggelos,” as the word “angels” in Matthew 13:39. Jesus calls His human disciples angels. 

It is the job of the reapers, the angels, to gather together the wheat and the tares. 

Messengers gather together those who want to hear the message they have. 

We will be revealed for who we are by who we choose to listen to and fellowship with.

In Matthew 13:30, The master of the house didn’t say “my” reapers, He said, “the” reapers. God didn’t say that they were all “His” angels doing the reaping. He said “the angels.” 

Satan has angels too.

Matthew 25:41

“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

2 Corinthians 11:14-15

“And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works”

Just like Jesus has His messengers to declare His gospel, the devil has his messengers to declare his false gospel. 

If we don’t want to hear the message being spoken, we will not gather around the one speaking it. Messengers only gather together those who want to hear what they have to say. The wheat and the tares reveal themselves for what they are by who they choose to listen to.

The people who are wheat love God’s truth, and will gather around those who speak it in love and sincerity. The people who are tares hate God’s truth, and will gather around those who preach lies that please their carnality.

In Matthew 13:30 it says that the tares are gathered together first. Before the wheat is gathered and stored safely in the barn, the tares are gathered, bound and made ready to be burned. This is what is happening now, today, in this hour. 

Perhaps you see it happening too. Maybe you belong to a true church of God, and you are surprised to see how empty it is these days. “Where did everyone go?” you wonder as you look across the street to the mega church with people flocking in, “Our pastor speaks the truth and loves us just like Jesus Christ Himself. We witness miracles! Why isn’t anybody here? What is going on?” 

The harvest is happening. The messengers are gathering together those who want to hear their message. You aren’t being left behind. You aren’t forgotten about. Your church isn’t even growing smaller. It has the same number it always had, more, if anything. The only change is the tares are revealing themselves. They were never really a part of your church in the first place. Now they are leaving to prove that they were never with you at all, and this has to happen first, before Christ and His angels come for the wheat.

It can be hard to endure. I visualize it like an almost empty field, with just a few tufts of wheat sticking up here and there, far scattered and few between. 

But, once the tares are fully gathered together, then God’s angels will come for the wheat. He’ll gather all of us together and put us safely in His barn. And then we won’t feel so few and separated. All of us will have abounding, overflowing joy as we finally find ourselves in the church we have always so desperately wanted to be a part of. A church without any tares. No one envious. No one hateful. No one greedy or deceptive or vain. 

Everyone there will love just like you do. No one will mock you anymore for doing what the bible says. No one will reject your love. Everyone will love you back! How incredible! How divine!

 I long for that moment. It’s worth the endurance! It’s worth any suffering to make it to that barn of God, full of His good crop, and safe from the burning that will come upon this world. 

Hallelujah!!! Glory to God!!!

But and if you look around and you don’t see people leaving your church… if, actually, people come flocking to your church in large numbers, and the money comes pouring in, and the spectacle increases every week…I’m not saying your church belongs to the devil automatically, but I urge you to take a good hard look at what’s really going on spiritually. I implore you to pray to God to open up your spiritual eyes and to teach you to judge the trees around you by their fruit. 

In Matthew 13:30 it not only says the tares will be gathered, it says they will be both gathered and bound. That’s different than the wheat. The wheat is not bound, because the wheat belongs to Jesus Christ, and Jesus is the God of freedom, He’ll never bind His children.  But the tares are bound, and once the tares are bound together, I don’t believe there will be any escape. All that will be left will be a fearful expectation of the fiery judgment that will quickly come. 

So let us take great care with who we listen to and fellowship with. The angels, the aggelos, the messengers are gathering together those who want to hear their message. 

Satan’s angels gather together the tares that flock to hear his false gospel. Jesus’ angels gather together the wheat that love the truth. 

We are living at the end of this age. The harvest is here.

May the will of God be done in our lives.

Amen.