Worst That Could Happen?

 

📖Scripture:

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left… Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels’… And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matthew 25:31–33, 41, 46

🔎Examination:

King Jesus ends the Olivet Discourse with an unflinching scene: the enthroned Son separates sheep and goats. This is not parable but prophecy. The criterion is not religious self-branding but a life that reveals union with the Shepherd. Works here are evidentiary, not meritorious: the righteous are those already known by the King (Matt 7:23; John 10:14). The saints’ care for Christ’s family members displays a prior reality—resurrection life pulsing through the Body. Final judgment consummates God’s relational presence: the righteous enter unbroken communion; the rebellious are banished from His favorable presence (2 Thess 1:9).

Just as a loving mother will warn a child not to touch a hot stove... King Jesus warns us of the consequences of suppressing the truth in wickedness (Rom 1:18-21). This exposes the flawed thinking of many who ask, “What’s the worst that could happen?” Those who rely on their “good works” (filthy rags) remain goats because they refuse to be born again. This unmasks the lies of sentimental universalism and annihilationism: the Judge speaks of “eternal punishment” contrasted with “eternal life.” 

Hell is not a religious scare tactic; it is the Eternal King’s verdict upon those who loved darkness and despised the Son (John 3:19). Every other ideology, not merely traditional “religious” varieties, is a counterfeit gospel; they all crumble before Christ and the WORD. Atheism's denial, Agnosticism's false searching, Islam’s works-weighing scale, Rome’s treasury of merit and purgatorial schemes, cultic theologies that deny eternal punishment, and therapeutic mantras that declare everyone “basically good”... they all oppose and contradict the LORD of glory.

Notice the ecclesial/familial emphasis: “the least of these brothers of Mine” most naturally points to Christ’s disciples (Matt 10:40–42), the members of His Body & Bride. The test is not generic philanthropy, paying it forward, or random acts of kindness... but concrete allegiance to Jesus as expressed in sacrificial care for His people as members of the Body & Bride of Christ. Identity precedes participation: sheep act as sheep because of who they ARE… they belong to the Shepherd… their identity/baptism is in Christ. They gather with the saints, though it costs; they grow under the Word, though it confronts; they give themselves away, though painful; and they go on mission, though it offends. Goats mimic externals, but they cannot manufacture adoration and union with the Good Shepherd.

Therefore, the call is not to manufacture merit but to examine whether we are in the faith (2 Cor 13:5) and to live congruent with our confession (literally "one word"). The saints fear the LORD without panic because judgment day has already broken into our present reality in Christ (John 5:24). We await that Day with sober joy, letting its clarity purge hypocrisy, slander, and envy now (1 Pet 2:1) and enflame tangible phileo and agape-love for Christ in manifest love for His Body & Bride.

🤺Action:

• Does my week/life show true allegiance to Christ’s brothers and sisters in a local, covenanted, Bible-believing, WORD-craving church?

• Read aloud: 1 John 3:14-18; Hebrews 6:10-12; Matthew 10:40-42.

• Do you truly love Christ by loving His people… even more than your autonomy?

🧠Reflection:

The Shepherd-King will separate. Let the certainty of that Day cleanse your compromises and forge your compassion in and through the WORD of God. Live today, and always, as a sheep belonging to the Good Shepherd… one who will stand at His right hand, radiant in His mercy and zealous for His Name that is above every other name!

Click on the following link for a short video version of today's post:

https://youtube.com/shorts/TiaOvfoHHeE?si=LRpMRmucmKpKza5r

Blessings & love,

Kevin M. Kelley
Pastor
BigIslandChristianChurch.com

ITCHING EARS

 

📖Scripture:

“For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires. So they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”
2 Timothy 4:3–4  

“Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, influenced by the hypocrisy of liars, whose consciences are seared with a hot iron.”
1 Timothy 4:1–2

🔎Examination:

Paul’s diagnosis is surgical. The crisis is not lack of teachers but the wrong motivation for the wrong kind of hearing—ears that itch for entertainment, affirmation, and novelty. “Sound doctrine” (ὑγιαίνουσα διδασκαλία) is healthy, life-giving teaching rooted in the pure, unmixed gospel of the sufficient Scriptures. All alternatives fall into the category of “myths”—fabricated narratives that flatter the flesh and displace the true Christ. To abandon sound doctrine is to abandon Christ Jesus who meets His people in the WORD as the WORD. To chase myths is to seek presence elsewhere—ecstatic technique, secret gnosis, and personality cults... all of which are abominations to God.

Paul unmasks the spiritual source: “teachings of demons.” There is only one “Jesus” of Scripture (2 Cor 11:4). Islam denies the Son’s deity and crucifixion; Mormonism introduces an exalted man-god and additional scriptures; Jehovah’s Witnesses demote the Son and recast the Spirit; Rome binds consciences to magisterial traditions and heretical doctrines that frequently eclipse the sufficiency of the written Word; the NAR substitutes “fresh words” and apostolic pretenders for the closed canon, often promising power divorced from the cross. These are not alternative flavors within Christianity; they are the teachings of demons... false gospels and myths that cannot mediate God’s presence because they reject the eternal Son as Scripture reveals and proclaims Him.

The remedy is neither acceptance nor outrage, but immovable ministry: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season” (2 Tim 4:2). True saints endure reproach by clinging to the divine Scriptures that make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (3:15–17). They are the genesis of all holy knowledge, wisdom, and correction. Sound doctrine is not arid; it is healthy because it unites us to the living Christ and nourishes the church’s life together. It WORD forms people who love truth, confess sin, embrace church discipline, and refuse platforms that reward selfish ambitions, slander, and envy (1 Pet 2:1). It trains the saints to spot counterfeit gospels organically: anything that adds to Christ’s finished work, subtracts from His deity, multiplies mediators, or divides Scripture’s sufficiency is demonic math.

This also alerts our ecclesiology (who we are as the church). Our covenanted body is a guardian of the TRUTH (1 Tim 3:15). Entertainment satisfies the itching ears of goats. Only the WORD satisfies Christ's true flock. Programs, politics, and personalities cannot keep consciences from being seared; only the Sword of the Spirit can. Therefore, the saints gather not to be amused or affirmed, but to be anchored... to worship God the Father in Spirit and Truth. The ELECT, those truly born again from above, we crave the Word, test the spirits, and devote our redeemed lives in gospel community under pastors/elders who meet biblical qualifications... because we prize holiness over hype. Perseverance in sound doctrine is not optional seasoning; it is survival; it's worship.

🤺Action:

• What teaching do I crave and desire? Does it flatter me and my desires, or does it exalt the crucified and risen Christ? Both of those things can't be true.

• Read Galatians 1:6-10; 2 Corinthians 11:1-4, 13-15; 2 Peter 1:16-21.

• The Holy Spirit's challenge is this: Will you endure in the sound doctrine of the WORD in authentic gospel community by rejecting all the competing myths of Hollywood, autonomy, family/cultural traditions, peers, political affiliations, and social media?

🧠Reflection:

The itching ears of those who reject sound doctrine are easily satisfied by the teachings of demons. Will you devote yourself to a church focused on entertainment and affirmation, or where the Holy Scriptures rule, Christ is exalted, the Father is worshiped in Spirit & Truth, and where holiness is expected? Christ Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to steady and guide the steps of the faithful into all righteousness!

Click the following link for a short video version of today's post:

https://youtube.com/shorts/xLFKDbZ0674?si=HVoZ2II4CqufNgls

Blessings & love,

Kevin M. Kelley
Pastor

BigIslandChristianChurch.com

RECONCILED

 

📖Scripture:

“Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds because of your evil deeds. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence— if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel that you heard…”

Colossians 1:21–23

🔎Examination:

Paul’s contrast is absolute: his audience (the Colossians) was once alienated and hostile, but is now reconciled to be presented as holy. The shift is not cosmetic; it is ontological (dealing with the nature of being). They are new creations grounded in the historic cross (“Christ’s physical body through death”). Christ Jesus does not reconcile abstractions; He reconciles a people He will personally present to the Father in His presence. Reconciliation is God bringing the saints into His holy presence, not merely adjusting our legal status from afar. The elect crave the WORD because in it the Holy One communes with His people and conforms them/us to Christ.

The conditional clause (“if indeed you continue…”) never introduces uncertainty about God’s purpose; it exposes counterfeits. Continuance is not an add-on; perseverance is the necessary evidence of genuine union. The saints do not remain firm by clinging to trends but by refusing to be “moved from the hope of the gospel”—the apostolic, once-for-all message, not modern mythologies through the teachings of demons. Here, counterfeit systems collapse. Mormonism’s evolving cosmology, JW’s demoted Christology, Rome’s magisterial accretions, and NAR’s fresh “words” all displace or dilute the finished work of the crucified and risen Lord and the sufficiency of the canon. Paul anchors maturity in what the church heard—the public, universal gospel proclaimed by the apostles, preserved in Scripture.

Notice the goal: to present you “holy, unblemished, and blameless.” That is priestly language fulfilled in the church’s identity as a royal priesthood (1 Pet 2:9). Identity precedes participation: saints are made holy to be God’s temple-people. Therefore, participation (gathering, submission to elders, mutual care, church discipline, mission) is not brand loyalty; it is the inevitable expression of a reconciled people living before God’s face. Nominal religion treats church as a weekly event; Scripture defines church as the regenerate, covenanted Body & Bride whose life is (re)ordered by the WORD.

The clause “in His presence” matters devotionally. God is not content to tolerate you at the edge of His courts. He reconciled you to present you in His presence—face-to-face communion as the end for which you were made. That future certainty galvanizes present holiness. We rid ourselves of hypocrisy and slander because such toxins contradict who we are, where we live, and where we’re heading. Perseverance is not white-knuckle heroism; it is Holy Spirit-empowered stability in the hope already heard.

🤺Action:

• Test yourself (2 Cor 13:5): Am I craving WORD-derived, pure milk of the sixty-six books of Scripture... the true, authentic, and apostolic gospel of Jesus Christ, or seeking new voices and “fresh revelations” that are from deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons?

• Read Colossians 1:15-20 to hear what the WORD has to say about who Christ Jesus is.

• Read Hebrews 10:19-25; 1 Peter 2:9-12; Jude 3–4, 20–25. Do you realize that God alone can reconcile you to live in His presence with His people?

🧠Reflection:

Our future presentation “blameless” is not a pipe dream or mirage. Stand firm in the gospel you have heard, and let that immutable and unshakable TRUTH reshape your speech, your loyalties, and your affections today, in Christ Jesus our LORD!

Click the following link for a short video devotional of today's post:

https://youtube.com/shorts/6QbwCSly1F0?si=n5MDNTJqcUXc9B2z

Blessings & love,

Kevin M. Kelley

Pastor

BigIslandChristianChurch.com