Old Testament Scripture Reading: Deuteronomy 7: 1 – 6 (KJV)
Deu 7:1 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
Deu 7:2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:
Deu 7:3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
Deu 7:4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.
Deu 7:5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.
Deu 7:6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
New Testament Scripture Reading: 2Thessalonians 2:7 – 12 (KJV)
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Stand Firm
2Th 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
2Th 2:14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Transforming Power Statements:
1) Since we know that the Word of God is explicit about the fact that Salvation is a free gift given by God to each one who believes that He has given His Son, Jesus Christ as the only acceptable sacrifice with power to save each one who places all their trust in Him and believe that God has raised Him from the dead, as proof that the curse of sin, which is death, has been swallowed up in victory, then we also must learn that no matter how we are thinking, feeling, or even misunderstanding, or not liking the negative situations that we are going through, God’s plans nor promises are not changing nor even being affected at all!
(This is one great reason that we must learn to walk by faith and not by site.)
2) We must not waiver into unbelief like fallen Israel did, even when Moses had strongly admonished them to be persistent in Faith and pay no attention to the way things appeared being exaggerated (blown way out of proportion!) by the enemies of God, but to rely solely upon God’s promises at all times, making no compromises with the enemies of God, which tend to have great appeal to our own fallen flesh as well.
3) Paul warned the Thessalonians to remain in faith and belief in God’s Word because it shall become a point of testing which shall try every person confessing Faith in Jesus Christ as per the truth, which is the word of God, especially in the end-time scenario soon to be revealed in the latter days.