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If you know anything about the Word of God, you understand that, because God has predicted all things; all things are already done. What matters to God is man's response to His instructions. Man can either choose to respond in righteous obedience, or wicked defiance. So then, why is my hometown behaving this way over something as insignificant as a piece of silver and gold metal? Because it is written. They could've chosen to repent, which is to turn away from their behavior. But, just as God predicted, this is a rebellious people.
You may ask: Then what difference does it make, if all things are already done? This is where I tend to get a little "hood." My answer to that is this:
Isaiah 55:8 (NIV)
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
Therefore, shut up clay, and just repent. Recognize when grace is being extended.
The latter end: God's ultimate outcome is always to retrieve His inheritance. And, only He knows the intricate details. Look at it this way, when God led the children of Israel to the Red Sea, it was because He knew that a massive army was lying in wait on the easier, more traveled path. Howbeit, in leading them by way of the seemingly impossible route, He, and He alone would get the glory for their deliverance. The same is true for this city.
My hometown has been engaged in, and crediting her recent small success to her many ongoing rituals; which constitutes idolatry. BUT GOD says:
Isaiah 42:8 (NIV)
"I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols."
But why do I continue to speak to a people who refuse to listen? Aren't I casting my pearls among swine? ABSOLUTELY NOT. One of the reasons prophets face so much hostility is because our instructions often seem to contradict Jesus's message of peace, prosperity, and obedience. Yet Jesus himself said:
Matthew 10:34 (NIV)
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
My purpose is the same as Jesus's; to do the will of the Father.
Isaiah 58:1 (NIV)
"Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins."
Ezekiel 2:7 (NIV)
"You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious."
Isaiah 30:8 (NIV)
"Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness."
A people willing risk all that they have for something they don't even need.
Jeremiah 4 (AMP)
²²[Their chastisement will continue until it has accomplished its purpose] for My people are stupid, says the Lord [replying to Jeremiah]; they do not know and understand Me. They are thickheaded children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge [and know not how]. ²³[In a vision Jeremiah sees Judah laid waste by conquest and captivity.] I looked at the land, and behold, it was [as at the time of creation] waste and vacant (void); and at the heavens, and they had no light.
God's purpose is not about a ball-game. It's about His glory through His inheritance.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 (AMP)
The thing that has been - it is what will be again, and that which has been done is that which will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun.
```You may ask: Then what difference does it make, if all things are already done? This is where I tend to get a little "hood." My answer to that is this:
Isaiah 55:8 (NIV)
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
Therefore, shut up clay, and just repent. Recognize when grace is being extended.
The latter end: God's ultimate outcome is always to retrieve His inheritance. And, only He knows the intricate details. Look at it this way, when God led the children of Israel to the Red Sea, it was because He knew that a massive army was lying in wait on the easier, more traveled path. Howbeit, in leading them by way of the seemingly impossible route, He, and He alone would get the glory for their deliverance. The same is true for this city.
My hometown has been engaged in, and crediting her recent small success to her many ongoing rituals; which constitutes idolatry. BUT GOD says:
Isaiah 42:8 (NIV)
"I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols."
But why do I continue to speak to a people who refuse to listen? Aren't I casting my pearls among swine? ABSOLUTELY NOT. One of the reasons prophets face so much hostility is because our instructions often seem to contradict Jesus's message of peace, prosperity, and obedience. Yet Jesus himself said:
Matthew 10:34 (NIV)
"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword."
My purpose is the same as Jesus's; to do the will of the Father.
Isaiah 58:1 (NIV)
"Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins."
Ezekiel 2:7 (NIV)
"You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious."
Isaiah 30:8 (NIV)
"Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness."
A people willing risk all that they have for something they don't even need.
Jeremiah 4 (AMP)
²²[Their chastisement will continue until it has accomplished its purpose] for My people are stupid, says the Lord [replying to Jeremiah]; they do not know and understand Me. They are thickheaded children, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge [and know not how]. ²³[In a vision Jeremiah sees Judah laid waste by conquest and captivity.] I looked at the land, and behold, it was [as at the time of creation] waste and vacant (void); and at the heavens, and they had no light.
God's purpose is not about a ball-game. It's about His glory through His inheritance.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 (AMP)
The thing that has been - it is what will be again, and that which has been done is that which will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun.
