180 Proof

The standard which God will accept is the standard of childlike faith.  Faith is the currency of the invisible Kingdom of God.  Without it, one is lost, groping around at noonday, asking infantile questions.  God did not choose I.Q., intellectual achievement, beauty, strength, political power, etc. for His standard—He chose faith.  Hebrews 11:6:

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Once faith is exercised, answers begin to follow in the most magnificent way—answers that truly satisfy the mind.  Have you been born again as Jesus commands in John 3:3?  Are you ready for clear answers and a sky-blue clarity of the mind?  Are you ready to begin a brand new life filled with peace, power, and eternal purpose?  Are you ready to be forgiven for all your sins and to have all your sin and shame expunged from your record?  Today is your day of salvation!  Click onto “Further With Jesus” for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  Choose life and live.    NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Deuteronomy 30:19:

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

GOD SAID, Mark 16:15-16:

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

GOD SAID, II Corinthians 4:18:

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

MAN SAID:  We’re animals, too!  If it feels good, do it.  You can’t take it with you, so blow it all on what pleases. 

Now THE RECORD.  A circle is made up of 360°. From the circle's starting point at zero to the 180° mark, it's exactly opposite to the starting point.  Today’s feature, “180 Proof,” will demonstrate the amazing reality of the 180° principle that plays out in our lives daily and that will decide our success upon terrafirma and our eternal destiny as well. 

For mankind, it all began in a place called Eden and in a garden God, the Creator of all, had made.  God had placed two particular trees in the midst of the garden.  One was called the Tree of Life and the other, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Adam and his wife were instructed by God not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for if they did, they would surely die (Genesis 2:17).  A short time later, Satan, taking possession of the serpent, engaged Eve, who had drawn near unto the forbidden tree, in conversation.  Satan challenged the Word of God and Eve was deceived.  Genesis 3:1-5:

1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Here, the tragedy of the 180° begins. 

 

The law of the 180° is now central to all we do. 

The blessings and beauty of God are found in the contradiction. It is here in the midst of contradiction where God’s promises are challenged or contradicted by circumstances. It is where childlike faith is tested—and where childlike faith overcomes.  Faith is challenged by contrary circumstances and the resistance it creates builds Holy-Ghost muscle—Kingdom-walking capabilities.   James 1:2-4:

2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Romans 5:3-5:

3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Hebrews 5:13-14:

13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.

14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Take note of the opposites at work. 

Here is an obvious 180°: Genesis 1:26:

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Man is made in the image and likeness of the Glorious God.  According to evolution, man began in a slimy, primordial soup and evolved through a series of creeping things to his present state.  A contradiction of  180°. 

It is the 180 all the way to eternity.  Consider the following contradictions to the realities of the sons of Adam:

1.  Man wants nothing to do with afflictions, but the Word-walkers have a different understanding.

Psalm 119: 67: Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

Psalm 119:71: It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

Psalm 119:75: I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

Psalm 34:19: Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.

Affliction is important in the growth and development of the children of faith.   It’s here where we are drawn to God’s heart and it’s here where we build Holy-Ghost muscle.  There is a blessing in the affliction. 

2.  When a believer divests of self-confidence and self-righteousness and invests in Christ, he experiences the 180.  The Scriptures record in II Corinthians 12:10:

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ''s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

3.  The sons of Adam are in the business of accumulating riches and the more they accumulate, the more esteemed they are in carnaldom.  But to the blood-bought, it is the 180.  Acts 20:35:

I have showed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

The blessing is not in the getting but in the giving.  Brother Job explains why “the secret of God was upon” his tabernacle, his home, in Job 29:12-13:

12 Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow''s heart to sing for joy.

The blessing is in the giving. 

4.  It’s simply the opposite.  Matthew 16:24-25:

24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

5.  The 180° principle will be eternally clear as laid out by Jesus Christ in Matthew 35-31-46:

31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

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:

42 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

The born-again live side-by-side with the unsaved.  The sons of Adam need to see the opposites in action.  From the beginning to the end, the 180 will be central.

GOD SAID, Deuteronomy 30:19:

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

GOD SAID, Mark 16:15-16:

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

GOD SAID, II Corinthians 4:18:

While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

MAN SAID:  We’re animals, too!  If it feels good, do it.  You can’t take it with you, so blow it all on what pleases. 

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

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