Guard Your Heart and Your Mind
Sunday, March 6, 2022
One thing that we can certainly count on is the steady ticking of the clock. Regardless of what men do, time marches on. Whether it is the evil plans of the devil, often working through the minds and efforts of evil men and women; or if it is the fulfillment of the plan of God for the ultimate destruction of evil and the beginning of a brand new earth where nothing but righteousness will dwell, they are both happening right now.
Satan has his plan to destroy mankind and condemn every soul that he can to be with him and all of the fallen angels and demonic spirits in the pits of hell forever, and though he might seem to have the upperhand at times in the earth, his plan will ultimately fail because he is already defeated by the blood of Jesus.
Jesus has paid the price of redemption for all who will believe in him, and make Jesus the Lord of their lives.
I love what the word of God promises to all who will seek after him in Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
What a contrast that is with the thoughts that Satan has against all who follow after him! Satan’s whole agenda is laid out in scripture, but his plans aren’t easy to see because he such a Deceiver. The good thing is that all we have to do is look into the Word of God and it is all revealed to us. Those who refuse to look are easy to fool because Satan’s ways are so sneaky, conniving, underhanded and subtle; often hidden in half-truths and lies that mankind falls into his traps without realizing it.
I want to begin this morning buy saying that we must guard our mind because Satan will do everything he can to get you to be filled with doubt and fear concerning God’s word and promises. He is out to destroy your faith and soul.
He started his trap in the very beginning in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:2-5 Where Eve “… said to the serpent, God has said that, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.”
Satan immediately cast doubt concerning God’s word when he answered, “You will not surely die, For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
He accused God of lying, and appealed to the pride of Adam and Eve, causing them to not only doubt God but to think that they could become like a god themselves, knowing just as much as God does. (they never considered that “knowing what God knows” doesn’t give them the power and wisdom to do what God does with what He knows)
Satan is good at using our own weakness in the flesh to cast doubt upon us, even as Children of God. Look at what happened in the heart of one the disciples that walked with Jesus and was faithful for the years of Jesus’ ministry on earth.
In John chapter 20, the disciples were excited because they had seen Jesus after he was raised from the grave! But this was unbelievable to Thomas. If he couldn’t see it for himself, he would not believe, and he forever earned the title “Doubting Thomas”. All that he knew, and the voice of doubt that spoke to his mind and heart just said, “That’s impossible. Nobody comes back from the dead.” Thomas’ doubt kept him from believing in the miracle of the resurrection until Jesus appeared to him and revealed the truth. Jesus didn’t get upset with Thomas’ doubt. He knew Thomas’ weakness and he turned doubt into belief and then to worship.
Satan never stops bringing doubt into our minds if we give him an open door to bring it to us. There are many today that are doubting that there is a rapture of the church coming. It’s nothing but a trick of the devil to cause many to be drawn away from the truth, doubting that Jesus could come at any moment, so like Adam and Eve, they let their guard down and begin to live as though life will go on forever, forgetting that one day there will be a reckoning. By doing that which is according to their own will, and being disobedient to God’s word, and choosing to live in sin, they won’t be ready when that day comes. The rapture is for Believers, and obedient servants of Christ; not for doubters.
It’s not that you have to believe in the Rapture itself, or it’s specific timing, because all who are Born Again, and living according to the will of God, and who are counted as faithful servants, will go, no matter if they are looking for it or not. The problem is that there are many who live lives that are half-hearted, with little or no real commitment to Christ, who though they believe, they won’t be ready.
In my own life, and in so many others, the very idea that Christ could come at any time helps me to keep my heart right and to do all I can to be always ready for that day, whenever it happens.
Jesus said that “no man would know the day, nor the hour of his return to get his Bride”, but he didn’t say that we wouldn’t know the time or the season. In fact, the word of God gives us many hints and symbolisms that explain how it will all come to pass.
First of all, the Rapture is described in terms of the Wedding Ceremonies of the Jews. The Rapture itself is the act of the Bridegroom, who is Jesus, coming after his Bride, which is the church.
As a part of the wedding ceremonies, there is always a wedding feast that lasted for seven full days of food, music, dance, and celebration. The primary purpose of the wedding feast was to honor the groom.
It's no coincidence that the period of time between the Rapture of the Bride and the Second Coming of Christ to destroy the kingdom of the Antichrist is 7 years, known as the Tribulation. During that terrible time on earth, when the judgments of God are falling upon all of creation, the kingdom of the Antichrist and sinful men; there will be a great celebration, with joy, peace and wonder in the presence of the Lord as we enjoy the wonders of our home in heaven with Jesus.
So what about the timing of the rapture? Do we have any hints as to when it might be? Let me first say, before I go any further with this, that the rapture can happen at any moment, so it pays to be prepared at all times. Don’t take anything I’m about to say to give you any sense of false security and make you think that you can just lay back and be at ease.
There are a few things to consider in the timing.
First let’s remember the parable of the 10 virgins who are awaiting the coming of the bridegroom. 5 were wise and 5 were foolish. The foolish virgins had not taken the time or made the effort to bring enough oil for their lamps and as the Bridegroom delayed his coming, their lamps went out, leaving them in the dark and unable to see how and where to walk when the time came to go.
The wise virgins kept their lamps full and brightly burning, and made sure that they were always ready. The question is, how long did they wait?
We are not told, but somehow I don’t believe that these young virgins would have hung out in the open beside the road, or under the trees for days waiting on the arrival of the Bridegroom. They were fully aware of a certain timeframe when it would likely happen. They just didn’t know the day or the hour of his arrival, so they waited, watched and even had time to sleep while they waited.
The question is, what is meant by day or hour? Let’s read a part of the parable found in Matthew chapter 25. To discover this answer we must see how the Jews reckon time of day or night.
Matthew 25:1-6 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
There is one word used in these verses that tells us what Jesus meant when he says that no man knows the day or the hour of his coming to take his Bride away. The word we need to examine is the word, “midnight”. What significance is midnight in the Jewish mindset of what constitutes a day?
The answer is that they do not figure days as we do. The Jewish day begins at sundown, and ends with the next sundown as the sun drops below the horizon. The Rabbi’s teach that a new day does not begin until the sun is completely over the horizon and at least three stars are visible in the dark sky. At what second, or even minute does this happen? It varies slightly depending upon location and time of year. Our days begin with midnight, and ends with the next midnight, so they aren’t counted the same way.
So when the cry went out at midnight, the Bridegroom is coming, how do we know which “day” it was because midnight could have been on any one of two consecutive days.
We cannot know the exact hour, or day, because the midnight of a Jewish day is hard to determine as the exact moment of both sunset and sunrise are constantly changing with the seasons of the earth’s movement. And because of this the length of the night and daylight are constantly changing.
This affects the exact timing of midnight because in Judaism, midnight is not a fixed moment on the clock when it ticks at 12 AM.
They must literally determine the exact mid-point of the night. In the winter, when the nights are long, midnight is generally before our 12 AM. In the summer, when the nights are short, it is generally after 12 AM. It changes from day to day throughout the seasons of the year.
So when the cry went out at midnight, it could have been at any moment near the half way point of the darkness, but we cannot know the exact minute. We can know the season, and that helps, but the exact day and moment are nearly impossible to know.
We know that we are in the season right now for his coming. The signs of the end times are everywhere, but we don’t know the exact day or hour, so we have to stay prepared with the oil of the Holy Spirit upon us, filling our vessel, or our hearts, so that when we all begin to get weary of waiting, tired and sleepy; when the trumpet sounds to announce his coming, we are ready to go.
When the trumpet sounds there will be no time to try and make things ready then because the Apostle Paul tells us that the Bridegroom with take his bride away in a twinkling of an eye.
There is another reason that we cannot know the day or the hour, but we can know the seasons, and that’s by understanding the manner in which the Jewish calendar is dated.
I’ve been reading some on this, but there’s much more to learn. However, I do know that the Jewish calendar has been altered a number of times. Depending upon which calendar you read, the dates are different, and the timing of the feasts of Israel are different. I can’t go into a lot of detail about this yet. Maybe someday I will.
I do know that the Jewish religious leaders changed the calendar prior to the coming of Christ in order to deceive the Jews, not allowing them to determine the timing of Jesus’ arrival so that they would reject Jesus as their Messiah and leave the power and control of their religion and government in the hands of the Pharisees who were only determined to maintain control over Israel.
There were others in the Israel, a sect of religious leaders known as the Essenes, who were determined to keep the Jewish calendar as it had been since the beginning of the world. The Jewish calendar year generally points to the number of years since the creation of the world in Genesis, but depending on which one you read, it can be either be 5782 or 5947, which is a difference of 165 years.
The Essenes and other Jewish teachers believed that the world is destined to last for 7000 years before it is destroyed and God creates a New heaven and a New earth where his people will dwell eternally. They also believe, and it does seem logical if you look at the symbolism, that everything God does coincides with the timing of the feasts of Israel. If that is true then in the Essene calendar the Rapture will likely happen at the time of the Feast of Trumpets, when the last long blast of the shofar signals the end of the feast.
So if we take 1000 years off for the Millennial Reign of Christ, and the 7-year period of the Tribulation, that would put the dates of the Rapture right at the end of the 6000 years, when the Age of Grace (Church Age) ends and the Age of the Mellennial Reign begins.
That’s 218 years according to one calendar, which I cannot see how this world go on as it is for another 218 years; or in another 53 years, which seems more feasible.
However, let me caution you that there are a lot of things that we don’t know, so don’t depend on any of this. Just be ready at any time. The number one trick of the devil is to cause doubt to enter your heart and cause you to lose sight of the coming of the Bridegroom, thinking that he will delay his coming and you have plenty of time. Be careful to guard your heart against anything that will bring a spirit of doubt, for it could be dangerous to your being ready when Jesus comes.
There are many truths of God’s word that Satan loves to cast doubt about it in our hearts. There’s doubt over the Virgin Birth; doubt over the infallibility of the Word of God itself; doubt even concerning the very existence of God; doubt about the existence of Demons; doubt about Angels; doubt about Heaven itself. You name it and the devil wants to bring doubt about it in the hearts of men. Only by very careful guarding of the Truth of God’s Word can you keep yourself from falling into Satan’s many traps of doubt and unbelief!
The second thing that I want to speak on this morning to encourage you to guard your mind against is that Satan wants to put Fear into your heart! He knows that when fear enters your heart and you dwell on it, that fear has the power to destroy faith.
Fear is the greatest weapon that is being release upon the earth in our time. Fear is always accompanied by deception, and deception is growing greater, bringing even more fear upon the hearts of men.
In Luke chapter 21, in the red letters Jesus is speaking. Look at what he has to say about what will be going on in the days prior to his coming. His coming here is speaking of His Second Coming, but his second Coming and the rapture are only 7 years apart so the signs will already be happening and growing in intensity when the church is taken to be with Jesus.
Luke 21:25-28 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; (not only the literal oceans, but more importantly, the seas of humanity with riotings and unrest) Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.
Is there a doubt in anyone’s mind that we are seeing this all happening right now? And guess what! These signs will only grow worse from here to the time of the Second Coming of Christ, so we must guard our minds and hearts to not allow anything to steal our victory, destroy our peace and trust in God, or cause us to doubt that God is already the victory over it all.
Satan wants to attack our hearts and minds, making you feel insecure in your salvation, and insecure in the promises of God toward those who love him.
He wants us to even feel insecure in our gathering together with one another in the church, and in going out to be a witness to others in the world.
He wants you to be deceived by false doctrines, preachers who are hirelings, who only preach what makes you feel good about yourself, and teach you how to have better relationships with other people, but don’t speak much about repentance for sin, and getting right with God, and living in obedience to God’s will as you build a strong relationship with Jesus Christ through prayer and worship from the heart.
In short, Satan has opened the windows of hell in an all-out effort to make you fail in your commitment to Christ, so we must always guard our hearts and minds against his lies and deceit.
We are living in a time when lies and deceit have become so terrible that it’s hard to know what’s true anymore. We can’t trust the news media. We can’t trust the government. We can’t trust the politicians. We can’t trust the corporate world who are only out for profits. And we can’t always even trust the ministers of the gospel to always tell us the truth because so many have an agenda of their own.
Truth has been trampled into the dust for the sake of destroying the human race and Satan is using that to further his own diabolical plans for man.
So who can we trust? What can we trust in? The only source is Jesus Christ, who is The Truth, The Light and The Way; and our only real truth is found in the Word of God that will stand forever. God never changes and neither does his word, and he broods over it to see that it comes to pass exactly as he promises.
As the world draws ever nearer to the days of judgment that are coming, we must be full of the Holy Ghost and all the spiritual gifts to operate in us. In order to have the Gifts of the Spirit in us, we must first have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.
Here’s a quick list of those 9 Gifts of the Holy Spirit; each one should be a sermon in itself and so much more could be said, but I’ll give a short summary of each.
• The Word of Knowledge – the Holy Ghost will reveal knowledge that we need to know the truth and do his will
• The Word of Wisdom – the Holy Ghost will help us to use the knowledge he gives in the right manner to obtain the right course of action to have right results
• The Gift of Prophecy – not only to understand what’s coming, but to teach others what we know so that they can be saved as well
• The Gift of Faith – I believe that all need Great Faith in these last day, not just a small measure of faith. We need faith that will move the heart and hand of God to overcome the wiles of the devil; faith to move mountains and obstacles to our walk with God
• The Gifts of Healings – with all that may come, medical science won’t be our answer. God is the Healer and I believe we are going to have to trust God more as time goes on.
• The Working of Miracles – Of course God is the Miracle Worker, but he will work through you and I to bring those miracles forward as a witness of his power. But don’t look for the miracles, Look for Jesus and be led by him.
• The Discerning of Spirits – We truly need this one to know who and what is truth and to reveal the deceitful lies
• Different Kinds of Tongues – not only speaking in unknown tongues to God, but I believe that this speaks of the ability to communicate truth and to lead others to Christ, and to give true testimony even when if we are being deceived by the traps of the devil to discredit the Truth of God’s word.
• The Interpretation of Tongues - not only the ability to understand and interpret what God is speaking through heavenly languages, but the ability to interpret what you hear others saying so that you can get to the truth of the matter and not just hear what’s said to deceive you.
Let me give you an example of what I am meaning by the idea that we all need the Gifts of the Spirit operating in us.
There are many prophetic voices speaking in the earth today, but not all of them are true prophets. Many speak out of their own hearts and not out of the Mind of Christ. How will you know which to listen to – only by the Gifts of the Spirit.
In the news, we hear about Russia attacking Ukraine, which is a terrible thing. God help those Ukranians and protect our brothers and sisters in Christ, along with all who love freedom and justice. Stop the Russian bear from devouring that little nation.
But is that all there is to this scenario? Of course not! The Gift of Knowledge will help us to realize that Ukraine, along with other nations in Europe and the Middle East will all be a part of the coming battle of God and Magog, and that perhaps this is the beginning of the alignment of nations and circumstances that will bring all of them down against Israel where they will face their ultimate defeat under a rain of fire. Having read about this great battle, I have no doubt that nuclear weapons will likely be part of that fire that rains down, and may be combined with supernatural fire from God at the same time.
And why is America doing nothing much to help? The Gifts of Knowledge and Discerning of Spirits helps us to know the answers.
First, we know that our President and his family are compromised with our enemies. They have been too busy building their own personal fortunes in their business and political dealings within Ukraine, Russia and China to worry about saving a friendly nation or protecting our own country.
They are more concerned about having their own evil, behind the scenes sins being revealed, than they are about saving innocent lives. They are more concerned about drawing your attention to a war that could have been avoided, so that your attention won’t be placed on how many people in positions of power in America are being caught in manipulation, conspiracies and outright murder and illegal activities and should be punished for wrongdoing.
It’s all a big, deadly and dangerous game of lies and deceit that are meant to present one problem while hiding a bigger one and taking your attention off of other matters closer to home. Save the Ukraine yes, but not appease our enemies and let America be destroyed in the process.
How can we oppose Socialism and Communism in Russia and China on one hand, and try to destroy our own democracy so that we can become like Russia and China on the other? America is so divided that we surely cannot stand!
Our roots are in God’s Word and if we abandon those roots, we are no longer America. I’m glad to see revival breaking out across America, but it’s going to take a truly Great Spiritual Awakening in the churches, in the halls of congress, and in the man on the street, to turn it around and that’s where the focus of our prayers for America must be. All we see from Secular news is just “smoke and mirrors” and we need God to reveal the truth through the Holy Ghost.
We need the Gifts of Tongues and Interpretation to know how to speak, what to say, and when to say it, that will make a difference in the world around us, as well as to know what the Lord is saying. We need the Spirit of God to reveal to us what is “not being said” while we hear what “is being said”, because there’s always so much more behind the scenes that is kept hidden to further the agenda of the devil.
Let me tell you that the church, that is filled with the Holy Ghost and has the Spirit of the Lord in us, is the only restraining force holding back the plans of the devil.
• It is the Voices of Truth, speaking out with power, the Word of the Lord, that’s bringing down strongholds and overcoming the devil’s plans.
• It is the prayers of the Saints, those who are Born Again, and holding on to the Truth of God’s Word that are causing the Lord to send his angels to limit the powers of hell from doing whatever they want.
• It is the preaching of the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that is bringing the only real hope to so many who are living in fear with no hope.
If you are a Born Again Child of God, full of the Holy Ghost and Fire, then you are a part of that restraining force holding back the plans of Satan.
But if you are still lost in sin, living according to your will, and not giving your life to Jesus, then you are being deceived, led down the wrong path to destruction, and you have fallen into Satan’s trap that will destroy you forever.
One day, when that Rapture comes, the restraining force against the devil’s plans will be removed. That’s when the Antichrist shall rise to be the One World Government Dictator, and the Tribulation shall begin when he makes a treaty that gives peace to Israel for 3 ½ years.
Then he will break that treaty and the world, and Israel will face the time the end; the Mark of the Beast will be instituted; and the final judgments from God that will bring the end of the reign of Satan and the Antichrist on the earth. Jesus will come again to set up his 1000 year reign of peace on the earth.
One of the ancient Jewish texts that are not included in our Bible says that in ancient times, God bound up 90% of the demonic spirits and fallen angels and bound them in the bottomless pit until the end of time. If this is true, and it seems that it could be, it means that only 10% of Satan’s army of hell is loose on the earth right now!
In Revelation chapter 9 we are given a picture of a terror that strikes the earth as the Fifth Trumpet sounds and the Bottomless Pit is opened and out of the pit comes a stream of smoke that brings forth locusts so great in number that they darken the light of day. They are given power like scorpions to torment mankind to the point that men will cry for death to come and stop the pain of their torment, but death will not come. Revelation says that they had a king over them, who is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is Apollyon. Both names mean “Destroyer” or “One who brings Destruction”.
Could this be the time when those 90% of the number of demons who have been bound in the pit since the beginning of history, are released to make up time in anger over having been bound? Can you imagine a world where the presence of demonic activity is 10 times more than it is now, and there is no restraining power of a Holy Ghost filled church to stop them from doing everything they want. God’s only limit on them will be that they can’t kill men, but they can freely cause great oppression, torment, paid and a desire to die to everyone.
I don’t want to be anywhere around when that happens. I’d much rather be celebrating the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, as a part of the Bride of Christ, while all that is going on here on the earth!
You can escape it all by just being Born Again and being ready when Jesus comes to take his Bride away! Don’t let the devil deceive you into a false sense of security. Make your salvation sure by coming to Christ and being Born Again today! We don’t know when all of these things will begin to come to pass, but I am convinced that it won’t be very long!
Today is the day of salvation! Today is the day to guard your hearts. Today is the day to ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.
Today you can become among those counted as “Wise Virgins”, faithful Christians who stay true to God, and you can be ready when the cry goes forth to go out to meet the Bridegroom. Whether its today, 53 years, or whenever – Jesus is coming to catch his Bride away, so always be ready for that day and hour, for as the scripture says in Luke 12:40, “Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not…”
God is giving us a Word of Knowledge and has released the Gift of Discernment right now by telling us to, “Guard your heart! Always keep right with God! Let your Light be shining bright through the anointing of the Holy Ghost and Fire! For when men begin to think that this is not the time of Jesus’ return, and when they fail to be prepared, that will be time that the Bridegroom comes and catches many spiritually asleep, only to be left out of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!
Be careful to hear what Jesus is saying! You may only get one chance to get this right. Don’t be fooled into waiting until its too late.
Remember those “locusts” will be released and as the scripture says in Jeremiah 2:5, “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?”
If you can’t serve God now, in this Age of Grace, how do you think you will serve him in the time of Great Judgment and the Kingdom of the Antichrist who is given power to overcome the Saints in the Tribulation to come?
Let your Fear be the Fear of God, not of man and what’s coming on this world.
Let your doubt be in everything that you see and hear in the earth; not in the Word of the Lord! Guard your heart and your mind; so that you will have the Mind of Christ and a Heart that is seeking after God.
