Who are the Nephilim

Who are the Nephilim? Who are the sons of God? Who are the daughters of men? We can get the question with the least resistance out of the way first. Everyone agrees the daughters of men are simply human women. On the other hand, the sons of God are a more complex question to some. After researching the word Nephilim, I did not think that the Nephilim had to be children of angels. They could have been giants; I won't argue that. But the word comes from a prime root that means to fall or fallen. In context, in Genesis, Any man can be Nephilim because we are all fallen in Adam. God did not destroy the world by flood because angels had sex with human women. God destroyed the world by flood because; Genesis 6:5. Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. So, even if Nephilim were giants, that doesn't make children of aliens or angels. They were fallen men. Back to the sons of God; 1 John 3:1, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Oh, what's that? Humans are called the sons of God. That's right! Those who are born again are referred to as the sons of God. What's my point? Righteous men of old believers in God went into the daughters of unbelievers and had children with them. Now that we know who the Daughters of men were, who the Nephilim are, and who the sons of God are, I have one more question. Who are the men of renown? Is the Rock not a man of renown? Is Trump not a man of renown? What about Arnold, Stalone, and many others? When we look up the Hebrew word for renown, we find they were evil and well-known. Imagine that fallen man being evil. I apologize for the sarcasm. These questions tormented me. And now I see for no reason because studying the word of God always brings truth. Praise God.

 

DO YOU REMEMBER

 

Do you remember when you were first Born again? Do you remember how that felt? The joy, the power, the love of God, those mountain top experiences, the loving communion with our Lord? Then after such a grand period of Grace you were expected to stand and found out you could not. Do you remember wanting things to go back to the way they were? Longing for God and wondering why? What Happened? And has it been so long that at times you feel like giving up and just walking away, saying to yourself; “Perhaps it was all in my head, maybe I was never really born again.” But for some reason you just cannot give up. You still greave over your sin, and wonder why is it this way.

I have been in that place of grieving and wondering why. I revisit that place more often than I should, because I am a stubborn, stiff necked, sinner. A wretch saved by the grace of God/

Brothers and sisters, there is a time when we are granted a special period of grace as an infant in Christ. In the same way of the innocence of a new born where faith and trust is so easy and to love and bond with your parents is natural. But then you must learn to walk, not on your own. Your parents are there to help you and guide you but you still make mistakes as you grow. In the same way in our Christian life at a certain point we must learn to walk. And this is why God allows us to walk. Not to become independent of God but we must take responsibility for feeding ourselves spiritually and learning to walk with confidence in the Lord, and learn how to do battle with our fleshly desires. This is why I want to talk to you about spiritual disciplines and how to use them to defeat the old man and put on the new. God has not abandoned you; He is training you, teaching you. And there are certain things we can do as our part in this spiritual education God is giving us. Not to earn salvation but to do our part in sanctification.

In the last article we discussed Fasting, but just fasting by its self would be drudgery. There are other spiritual disciplines That if practiced at the same time as fasting It would help us to offer up a sacrifice of humility and repentance and help build our spiritual discipline in a way we have never experience. And no promises but, if not the mountain top experiences we once enjoyed, then at least we may regain the joy of our salvation.

What are these spiritual disciplines that we can practice? Good question, I’m glad you asked.

1)     Bible intake

2)     Prayer

3)     Worship

4)     Evangelism

5)     Serving

6)     Stewardship

7)     Fasting

8)     Silence and Solitude

9)     Journaling

10) Learning

These are the disciplines that I want to discuss with you over the next few weeks. These disciplines can be practiced separately and together. It would be hard to fast without solitude, Praying, and bible intake. However, one can pray without fasting, one can take in the word of God without fasting. One can enjoy Solitude without fasting but it would be hard to do this without prayer. We will start with how to take in the word of God or bible intake. And there is a good reason to star there. Bible intake has multiple forms such as

1)     Hearing God’s Word

2)     Reading God’s word

3)     Studying God’s word

4)     Memorizing God’s word

5)     Meditating on God’s word

6)     And Finely Applying God’s word

I spent a lot of time setting This article up. So, this time we will only cover, Hearing God’s word. There are good reasons to be ashamed of not knowing God’s word, and you should be ashamed. I know that I am. As long as I have been a believer, well, I should know better. I am writing this so there is no excuse for not knowing God’s word. I would like to see every new believer lean these disciplines. Here is a quote from a book titled, (Spiritual Disciplines for The Christian Life.) By Donald S. Whitney, “It is one thing to be unfamiliar with the scripture when you don’t own a bible; It’s another thing when you have a book shelf full.” Whitney had just discussed a third world country he visited where there was no bible at all not one. Their knowledge was limited because of this. American Christians have no excuse, accept laziness, for not knowing God’s word.

The easiest Discipline concerning the intake of God’s word is Hearing God’s word. Why is this simple task considered a discipline? Because if we make it a practice to not go and hear God’s word whenever it is available to us, then we may only here it accidentally. This is not in keeping with a devoted life in Christ. It does not matter what kind of experience you have had with so called churches in the past it is your responsibility to find a church that is faithful in teaching the truth of God’s word and to be there to hear it. But the purpose is not just to hear it, Jesus said “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it,” (Luke 11:28.) The discipline comes in the form of being there to hear the word of God, and obeying the word of God.

Jeremiah Burroughs, from the 1600’s wrote regarding preparation for the discipline of hearing God’s word,

“First when you come to hear the Word, if you would sanctify God’s name, you must possess your souls with what it is you are going to hear. That is, what you are going to hear is the Word of God…There you find that the apostle, writing to the Thessalonians, gives them the reason why the Word did them so much good as it did; it was because they did hear it as the Word of God. “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of man but as what it really is, the word of God” (1 Thessalonians 2:14). (Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life)

In order to obey we must practice active listening, not in one ear and out the other listening. As I said before I am as guilty as anyone on this count and must learn to practice active listening and obedience to God’s word. No one will be perfect at this, on this side of the grave. But we can all get better as we put forth an effort to learn and build these skills.

Why Fast

 This article relies heavily on Samuel Miller who is a Presbyterian minister from the early 1800s, however, when someone is right, they are right, so let’s get started.

 

“And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting.”

This is a quote from Daniel 9:3, Daniel has realized that the 70 years that the prophet Jeremiah had prophesied was nearing the end. Realizing that corruption was all around him and this included the corruption of his own people, Daniel turned to God in prayer and fasting. Daniel was not presumptuous. Nor was he lazy or sluggish in his action because of the certainty of God"s approaching deliverance. But Daniel instead, “considers himself called to special humiliation, fasting, and prayer.” Daniel confessed his sins and the sins of his nation before God in an attitude of Piety, Humility, and Penitence, asking God to bring about what He had already promised.

What is required for fasting?

1)     Fasting is abstinence.

2)     Fasting is not a requirement or duty of law that must be fulfilled. (You are not bound by the church to fast at certain religious dates or times.)

3)     There is no required number of days to fast.

4)     Fasting is a DIVINELY INSTITUTED tool for which ALL CHRISTIANS ARE BOUND, at PROPER SEASONS, to attend.

5)     Yet it is a matter of the heart.

Fasting is affirmed by the following considerations. 1. Nature itself seems to recognize fasting is necessary. Throughout time many false religions have used the practice of fasting to discipline their followers in a legalistic sense. More recently fasting has been recognized as beneficial for your health by giving the body a much need occasional vacation from the labors of digestion and other necessary movements of bodily function. Fasting has also been recognized as increasing mental acuity, while fasting, it might be a good time to memorize scripture.

Those were physical natural reasons to fast. What benefit is there in fasting before God? One thing to remember is, that fasting cannot make you more presentable to God. Christ has already made you presentable by His imparting righteousness to you when on the cross, “He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” It is the humiliation before God, of confession of sin for ourselves and our nation that brings Spiritual acuity we cannot get just by mental exercises. It is in rejoicing in God’s forgiveness, God’s Mercy, God’s Love that brings peace that surpasses all understanding.

  Mark 9:29 “And He said unto them, “This kind can come forth by nothing but by prayer and fasting.”

The above scripture speaks to a spirit that we cannot overcome by superficial prayer. Only through much prayer and fasting can we overcome such spiritual opposition from the unseen world around us. One example is how the spirit of the antichrist is consuming and controlling the world governments. OUR GOVERNMENT! This kind can only be put out by much prayer and fasting. Sincere, humble confession and repentance, then pleading with God to break the hold of wickedness over our nation and the nations of the world.

By the way, confession is neither humble nor sincere if not accompanied by repentance. Repentance is the fruit of humble sincere confession. This is what I am calling all true believers to. Prayer and fasting, not a certain day, not a certain amount of time. But a continuous, weekly, whatever day of the week you can set aside until we see God’s will revealed for our world. And we must say and believe unanimously, EVEN SO, COME LORD JESUS!

We cannot know for certain that this is the end of time. BUT we cannot know for certain that it isn’t the end of time.

Now I will give you some homework. Examples of fasting in the Old Testament and New Testament. As well as commands to fast from the New Testament.

1)     Joshua 7:6  

2)     2 Samuel 12:16

3)     1 Kings 21:27

4)     Nehemiah 1:4

5)     2 Chronicles 20:3

6)     Jonah 3:7-8

7)     Esther 4:16

8)     Ezra 8:21

9)     Matthew 4:2

10)  Acts 2:33

11)  Luke 2:37

12)  Acts 10:30

13) 2 Corinthians 6:5; 11:27

What attitude should we have when we fast?

Mathew 6:16-18, “Moreover when you fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when you fast anoint thy head and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”  When we fast, we must remember the attitude of Daniel, who when he fasted, he laid before God His own sins and the sins of his people in humility, broken and contrite remembering that he is going before the Holy God. After confession and only after confession does Daniel present his request before YAHWEH. First penitence and humility then request and praise for forgiveness and restoration that only belongs to God.

The Benefits of Fasting

First, we must empty ourselves of any idea that we are meritorious because we would do such a thing as deny ourselves sustenance for a period of time, we are not. If we do this, we are doing only what is required of us. Many heathens have used fasting to their own vainglory and to lead unknowledgeable people astray, don’t fall into that trap.

Fasting, “is a natural and significant expression of our penitence for sin.”

Fasting is for the Mortification of the flesh, a tool to be used to stamp out our fleshly God-dishonoring desires. From the first day of Salvation the carnal desires of the flesh war against the Spirit of God that now dwells within us, prayer and fasting, is the means by which we do battle to keep the flesh under control. And that battle rages until we are home and in the presence of our Lord and our God. Fasting must not be done to such an extreme that one would impair their health. Just as man was not made for the Sabaoth, but Sabaoth for man, in the same way, fasting, is for the man. As was said before fasting is a tool for us to use to subdue the flesh in repentance and humility in thanksgiving for Grace and Forgiveness. Not a legal requirement to be shoved down someone’s throat, not to make one holier than thou, not to fill us with pride or shame because one who does look down on one who doesn’t. Fasting is deeply personal and should be kept between you and your heavenly Father.

Let us remember that fasting has been from the beginning of time. Our forefathers have handed fasting down throughout the ages. Should we neglect such a powerful tool to aid us in our fight against sin?

Shall we not fight against national sin and the corruption of our nation with every tool that God has equipped us with? Remember, Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” God has given us this tool to fight against these powers. Shall we not use them?

I repeat the earlier call for fasting and prayer, fasting and prayer are the ultimate peaceful protest. This battle can be fought from your private place of prayer. So, I beg you my brothers and sisters in Christ to get on your knees. Not just for sake of country but for the sake of building God’s kingdom, for the sake of God’s glory, for the sake of God’s will in your life, my life, and the lives of all the elect. Let us humble ourselves, and give God the Glory.

Ezekiel 3:17-19

 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked,  ‘You shall surely die,’  and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity,  but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

1 Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Ezekiel is a book in the Holy scriptures that is ignored much today. When I read Ezekiel, I can understand, to a certain extent, why. Some crazy visions are going on in Ezekiel that are difficult to understand. As for me, the difficulty lies elsewhere. Not that I have a grasp on these visions, but I am working on them, and our Pastor is teaching through Ezekiel right now, which helps. The scripture reference above is repeated in Ezekiel more than once. Ezekiel 3:17-19 is a grave warning to Ezekiel about his responsibility as a servant of the most high God. If you warn them and they do not repent, their blood is on their own hands, but if you don’t warn them it will be on yours Ezekiel 33:2-6, another warning is more explicit. But basically, say’s almost precisely what 3:17-19 says.

Why is this a problem for me? 1 Peter 2:9, But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

If you’re a believer 1 Peter 2:9 applies to you, as surely as it applies to me. The question, believers, is how many have gone unwarned by you? This is where my problem lies. When I think of all the blood that will be required at my hand, it is overwhelming, and I fear being called into account for those I did not warn. I have to often chosen to stay silent when I should have spoken. We are a holy priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession. Why? That we may proclaim the excellencies of Him, who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. If we fail to do so, are we not as responsible as Ezekiel? I will tell you this by way of comfort, but not excuse. We are in Christ, and because we are in Christ, we need not fear eternal damnation. We should take this warning to heart and proclaim the Gospel of the righteousness of God and the Lord Jesus Christ earnestly and strive never to fail to speak the truth, no matter the consequences. For we serve a risen savior, not a dead one, and in the power of His love, we Can do all things.

I haven’t blogged for a while, and this is a short one. Be encouraged, put on the full armor of God Ephesians 6:10-20. And faithfully represent our Lord.

For the unbelievers, there is only one way, only one name under heaven and earth by which man can and must be saved. Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

His peace be with you, His blessing be upon you, may His salvation and His holy name be Glorified on earth as it is in heaven.

The Romans Road

The Romans Road

1)  Who God Is.

A)   Romans 1:20; For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,^[a] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

B)    ³³ Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

^{34 "}For who has known the mind of the Lord,
    or who has been his counselor?"
^{35 "}Or who has given a gift to him
    that he might be repaid?"

³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

What does it matter who God is? The above scriptures tell you only some of who God is. It is essential to keep these scriptures in mind when God tells you who he is, Exodus 34:6-7, ⁶ The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ⁷ keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation."

The LORD God almighty proclaimed Himself to be abounding in love, to be merciful, gracious, and slow to anger. This is the part everybody wants to remember. But what about the second part? "but who will by no means clear the guilty." OH, OH! This is why we need an accurate assessment of who we are before a righteous Almighty God.

2)  Who Man Is.

A)   Romans 1:25, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

B)   Romans 3:10, as it is written:

"None is righteous, no, not one;

C)  Romans 3:23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

The three scriptures above tell us only some of who we are before God. Romans 3:10-18 says,  ¹⁰ as it is written:

"None is righteous, no, not one;
¹¹     no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.
¹² All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    no one does good,
    not even one."
^{13 "}Their throat is an open grave;
    they use their tongues to deceive."
"The venom of asps is under their lips."
^{14 "}Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."
^{15 "}Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶     in their paths are ruin and misery,
¹⁷ and the way of peace they have not known."
^{18 "}There is no fear of God before their eyes."

In 1 John 1:8 we read, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

So, if you are telling yourself, I'm a good person, and God will judge me based on the good I do there is this, Isaiah 64:6, We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

We are wholly wretched and guilty before a Holy, Righteous, All-Powerful God.
3) Who Christ Is.

A)   Romans 1:1-4, 1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ² which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, ³ concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh ⁴ and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

B)   Romans 8:3, For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,^[a] he condemned sin in the flesh,

C)  Romans 8:31-32, ³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

To who Christ is I will simply add. Philippians 2:5-11, ⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

4)  What Christ Has Done.

A)   Romans 3:22-26, ²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

B)   Romans 5:8, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

C)  Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Before Christ died for us, He first lived for us. What does that mean? It means that Christ fulfilled all righteousness on our behalf. He lived the law perfectly so that we could receive His righteousness. Then he, having lived perfectly, became the perfect sacrifice, and atoned for our sin on the cross. When he died, he didn't stay dead; he rose again, victorious over Satan, Sin, and Death. If you are a believer in Christ, you are victorious in Christ and only in Christ, not in works. So, on the cross, 2 Corinthians 5:21, For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

What does that mean? It means that our sin was imputed on Christ on the cross so that His righteousness would be imputed on us. If you are saved, God has seen you as righteous since before the foundations of the world because of what Christ did for us, Ephesians 1:4, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love.

Which is why we have something to do.

5)  What You MUST Do.

A)   Romans 10: 9-13, ⁹ because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." ¹² For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. ¹³ For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

When God regenerates your lost and dead, heart, soul, and mind, I say it that way because God never saves halfway. God always saves the whole person. We are responsible for responding to the work that he has begun. We must seek Jesus Christ with all our hearts, with all our Minds, with all that we are, every fiber of who we are. When we do this, we should not stop seeking until we have the assurance that comes from above, even then we should not stop seeking until the great and terrible day of God's wrath and judgment.

So, pray now and pray without ceasing, Honor God with all your heart soul and strength. Make sure of your salvation, do not rely on a card signed and dated, or a prayer someone else said as you repeated. The only real repentance comes from your heart.