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

FREEDOM

“Don’t become idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to party.”

1 Corinthians 10:7

A staple of modern cultures is the pre-marriage blowout. The basic idea is going out with friends for a final hooray to do all the fun things considered off-limits and taboo within the stifling context of marriage. There’s typically excessive drinking, bad choices, decreased inhibitions, paid performers, risqué entertainment, various symbols of human anatomy, and a “free pass” mentality: whatever happens is fine as long as it gets squeezed in before the fateful “I do.”

Ironically, the outcomes of these celebratory “last night of freedom” blowouts often end in embarrassment, tragedy, and loss. Amid the drunken folly of impaired judgment, ugly words and diseases are often exchanged, property and relationships are often damaged or destroyed, and the glorious illusion of our desired “freedom” is exposed as a self-imposed prison.

The Apostle Paul lumped these kinds of behaviors into a particular category two thousand years ago, noting that “fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts… disgraceful passions… inflamed in their lust… filled with all unrighteousness, evil, greed, wickedness… envy, murder, quarrels, deceit, and malice… gossips, slanderers, God-haters, arrogant, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, untrustworthy, unloving, and unmerciful… sexually immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, manipulation, hatred, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions… drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar” all result from our being “dead in your trespasses and sins” because “In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Whether we believe in God or not doesn’t change reality. Claiming to be an agnostic or atheist doesn’t somehow alter the truth. The Bible reveals that the concept of autonomous freedom is a lie. As created beings, we are subject to all kinds of laws, limitations, and forces: oxygen, gravity, light, nutrition, hydration, aging, etc. In a very real sense, human beings are fragile and finite beings. As created beings rather than gods, we have no choice but to be slaves.

Our sinful rebellion against our Creator, Christ Jesus, doesn’t grant us freedom. In fact, the perilous folly of sin has quite the opposite effect. The wisdom of God is woven into the fabric of reality. When we violate that wisdom through our “fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts…” and “disgraceful passions…” we lose our social, economic, relational, and spiritual freedoms.

Choosing to rob a bank, rape, murder, traffic drugs, etc., are all options open to everyone. The fools who commit these kinds of crimes always suffer consequences. Those who are not apprehended by the authorities are often shackled with guilt and forced to live in prisons of fear as fugitives. Those who are apprehended typically spend years, decades, or the rest of their lives in actual prisons. Similarly, liars, cheaters, adulterers, fornicators, the sexually immoral, those who embrace “alternative” lifestyles, gossips, slanders, drunkards, etc., create their own prisons. As Paul wrote in Romans 1:32, “Although they know God’s just sentence—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do them, but even applaud others who practice them.”

We read the following in John’s Gospel account: “As Jesus spoke these things, many believed in Him. So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” The religious leaders responded, “We are Abraham’s descendants. We have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say we will be set free?” King Jesus responded, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin… You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him.” The religious leaders responded, “We are not illegitimate children. Our only Father is God Himself.” So Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on My own, but He sent Me.”

King Jesus, the eternal Son of God, in no uncertain terms, revealed we are all children of wrath by default. Ironically, we verify that very judgment by rejecting it. God made that declaration out of love, not spite. Through His incarnation, King Jesus came to proclaim the Gospel: “The Spirit of the Lord is on Me because He has anointed Me to preach Good News to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed…” His sacrificial death on the Cross wasn’t forced upon Him by the Romans or the Jewish leaders. Instead, Scripture reveals that God, in His omniscience, knew precisely how the story would unfold before it began (Rev 13:8). God knew that humanity would reject Him as their Creator and King. Jesus, God the Son, knew He would be murdered and supernaturally turned our contemptuous hate crime into the perfect, gracious, and exclusive sacrifice for our sins.

Satan, the Devil, the “father of lies,” wants us to believe that true freedom is discovered in a life without limits or boundaries. Giving in to his lies invariably limits our freedoms and unavoidably compounds the weight of our guilt and shame. Succumbing to his deceptions only serves to pull us deeper and deeper into the darkest recesses of our sin-prison. Contrastingly, King Jesus has demonstrated His inexplicable, extravagant, and unstoppable love through the glorious revelation of His creation, incarnation, baptism, crucifixion, and resurrection. While the Devil spews only lies, we can have absolute faith in Christ Jesus, who said, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Alcoholics are slaves to booze. Nymphomaniacs are slaves to sex. The covetous are slaves to greed. The glutton, anorexic, and bulimic are slaves to food. The insecure are slaves to their insecurities. Liars are slaves to their lies. The bitter, angry, fearful, and worried are slaves to their circumstances. We’re all slaves to something, or, more accurately, to someone.

The 80s & 90s pop icon George Michael wrote and recorded a hit song titled Freedom. In the lyrics, Michael talks about how the dream of becoming a star devoured his soul. He articulates how the allure of fame is ultimately hollow, and he desperately desired to experience true freedom. Therefore, in the lyrics, he decides to “take these lies and make them true somehow.” Despite having achieved and acquired virtually everything the world and its ruler (Satan) promises will make us truly free and happy, in the end, George Michael died a lonely, insecure, and reclusive drug addict. All the freedom he strived for apart from God became his very real and nightmarish prison.

We’re all slaves to something. For many, they are unwitting slaves to Satan through their appetites and insecurities. As the Apostle Paul stated in Romans 6:16, “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to submit to? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.” Moses' successor Joshua declared approximately three thousand years ago, “...if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Which will you choose?

Blessings and love,

Kevin M. Kelley

Check out a free preview of my children’s book >HERE<

THE VISION

 

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Revelation 21:1-2

Christianity isn’t about personal salvation any more than elementary school is about recess or nap time. Majoring in the minors and minoring in the majors is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. It might sound strange to refer to “personal salvation” as a “minor” or “byproduct” of being born-again, but that’s because it's so deeply ingrained into our culture. Personal salvation isn't the testimony or emphasis of Scripture.

Since the First Great Awakening (1730-1740 A.D.) Christian evangelists, preachers, pastors, authors, and speakers have been harping on the concept of a “personal relationship” with Jesus. While a profoundly intimate relationship with Christ certainly exists, the setting of its manifestation is revealed in Scripture as primarily and predominantly within the context of Christian community, i.e., the local church. Sadly, within the context of American Christianity and our misguided sense of independence, many have mistaken “personal” for “private.” Consequently, when they fail to experience their vision for the fullness of God’s abundant personal blessings, those who “tried Jesus on for size” end up feeling misled and disillusioned.

The root issue is, at least partly, one of improper vision.

“Where no vision exists people cut loose; but blessed is the one guarding God’s instruction.” Proverbs 29:18

Proverbs 29:18 doesn’t reveal humanity’s lack of having any vision, but rather our supplanting God’s divine vision revealed through Scripture with our own. That was the intent of the crafty serpent in tempting the woman to eat the forbidden fruit—so she could know both good and evil and then choose for herself rather than relying on and trusting in God Almighty.

Genesis 3:6-7 reveals, “The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Her vision trumped God's. Similarly, the book of Judges summarizes the deplorable state of Israel, stating, “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit in their own eyes.” Humanity has never lacked the ability to imagine or envision our own subjective versions of a desirable future apart from God's design and desire for us.

In his extensive five-part literary work, Paracelsus, Robert Browning wrote:

I am a wanderer: I remember well one journey,

How I feared the track was missed,

So long the city I desired to reach lay hid;

When suddenly its spires afar flashed through the circling clouds;

You may conceive my transport.

Soon the vapors closed again,

But I had seen the city,

And one such glance no darkness could obscure:

Nor shall the present—a few dull hours, a passing shame or two,

Destroy the vivid memories of the past.

I will fight the battle out; a little spent perhaps,

But still an able combatant.

Being on a long and arduous journey and suddenly struck with the sinking feeling of having gotten off course and completely missed the destination, only then to catch a momentary glimpse of it afar before it vanishes again… That's only possible if we: 1) have a destination, 2) embark on a journey, and 3) catch a glimpse.

DESTINATION: The misguided vision of “personal salvation” is nowhere revealed in Scripture. Yet it has become the convenient, palpable, and fashionable message conveyed by many preachers and the one adopted by many Christians. According to His own words, King Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), but He did so in order to redeem them into His kingdom. The ones failing to invest the treasure He’s given them will lose it all (see the rest of Luke 19), just as the Pharisees and religious leaders did. Humanity, as God intentionally designed it, should reflect and reveal the eternally relational and familial nature of God as Father, Son, and Spirit. Our autonomy, egocentrism, selfishness, isolation, narcissism, manipulation, exploitation, and hyper-individualism are all evidence of our persistent rebellion and rejection of God and His vision. That’s why King Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends,” and “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”

JOURNEY: As the Apostle Paul notes in Philippians 1:29, the journey of sanctification is neither intended to be easy nor private: “For it has been granted to you (plural) on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for Him.” The idea of setting out alone to encounter the fullness of the spiritual blessings God has blessed us with in Christ Jesus is infinitely more absurd than setting out to win the Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, or World Cup as an individual. Even if a “win” were possible, how incredibly empty it would be with no one else in the locker room to celebrate with! Ephesians 2:10 reveals, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our new way of life.” Christianity isn’t an individual or “private” thing. 

GLIMPSE: Sadly, because many have never heard the Gospel, never been told that Christianity isn’t about “personal” anything, and never been encouraged to set out and experience authentic Christian community… they’ve never had that Robert Browning experience:

So long the city I desired to reach lay hid;

When suddenly its spires afar flashed through the circling clouds;

You may conceive my transport.

Soon the vapors closed again,

But I had seen the city,

And one such glance no darkness could obscure:

If you’ve never caught a glimpse of that heavenly city, The New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband, dressed in the righteous acts of the saints, you can by reading Revelation chapter 21. If the vision and mission of your church sound more like slogans for a customer-experience-oriented theme park or program menu, then it’s time to reevaluate everything.

If your view and approach to church has always been that of a consumer showing up to get stuff whenever you need something, don’t feel bad (2 Cor 7:10). Now that you know better, do better. There’s a good reason why Noah built one giant boat for everyone rather than a bunch of individual rafts. There’s a good reason why the entire Old Testament tracks with a nation rather than a bunch of random individuals. There’s a good reason why the New Testament emphasizes King Jesus talking about His kingdom being established. There’s a good reason why the Lord said, “...and on this rock I will build my church, and the Gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” There’s a good reason why Paul told the church in Corinth, “All these things must be done to build up the church.” The reason is, as Rick Warren wrote in the first line of his book, The Purpose Driven Life:

“It’s not about you.”

In Philippians 1:27, the Apostle Paul wrote, “Just one thing: As citizens of heaven, live your life worthy of the gospel of Christ.” In Ephesians 4:1, he wrote, “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.” In Colossians 1:10, Paul wrote, “Live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way by bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.” And in 1 Thessalonians 2:11-13, he wrote, “For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting, and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe.”

When we catch even the tiniest glimpse of God’s vision through Scripture, and, like Browning, refuse to allow the darkness to obscure or the dullness of the present hour to destroy the vivid memories of that divine encounter, then we too will fight the battle out! We, too, though at times a little spent perhaps, will find ourselves supernaturally strengthened by the Spirit of God as we stand firm in the full Armor of God—unwavering and united as partners in the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

We can either choose to embrace our vision or God’s. “Where no vision exists, people cut loose; but blessed is the one guarding God’s instruction.” 

Blessings and love,

Kevin M. Kelley

Check out my children’s book UNSTOPPABLE! >HERE<