Shalom,


I like to think of  Psalm 139:1-2 & 7-12 when I share the Gospel with people!


1 O LORD, You have searched me [thoroughly] and have known me. 2 You know my downsitting and my uprising; You understand my thought afar off. 7 Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your Presence? 8 If I ascend up to Heaven, You are there; if i make my bed in Sheol (the place of the dead), behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 Even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold  me. 11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me and the night shall be [the only} light about me, Even the darkness hides nothing from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You.


The reason I like to remember this is that I DO remember how God dealt with me before I was born again! I just couldn't get away from Him and the words I had heard, that I HAD to be born again! I KNOW that the Holy Spirit will continue to watch over the Word that I planted as seed into the lives of other people! He will NOT allow them to rest until they MAKE that right decision! AMEN!


In John 16 was preparing the disciples for things that would take place in the future. Verses 1-3:


1 I HAVE told you all these things, so that you should not be offended (taken unawares and falter, or be caused to stumble and fall away).  2 They will put you out of (expel you from) the synagogues; but the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think and claim that he has offered service to God. 3 And they will do this because they have not known the Father or Me.


This began to happen to the believers in Jesus almost immediately after the Church began. Saul of Tarsus was one who chased down the believers in Jesus, thinking that he was doing the right thing! The early church was persecuted severely and almost every one of the Apostles were martyred for their faith. Remember, also, that when Jesus said these things, He was speaking to Jewish people. There was no Church yet and they were not born again, YET! The things that Jesus said would come to pass, happened to BOTH the Church of Jesus Christ AND the Jewish people! The Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. The Jewish people were scattered to many lands. In every nation that they went to, there were times when they were persecuted and driven from their homes and synagogues! The Crusades were another example of that! The Crusaders claimed to be on a mission from God! It was a "god" alright, just NOT the One, True, Most High, Living, Almighty God of the Bible! And it WILL happen again, during the Tribulation! God has always warned of things to come AND has always shown the WAY out! And we KNOW Who that is! John 14:6:


6 Jesus said to him, I am Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.


Then He encouraged them more with John 16:33:


33 I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace ands confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted}! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]


Now THAT is all the Good News we should need to operate as "more than conquerors" in THIS LIFE (Romans 8:37)! AMEN!


In Ezekiel 46-47 wee see further description of the Temple. I found this VERY interesting in Ezekiel 47:7-10:


7 Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. 8 Then he said to me, These waters pour out toward the eastern region and go down in the Arabah (the Jordan Valley) and on into the Dead Sea. And when they shall enter into the sea [the sea of putrid waters], the waters shall be healed and made fresh. 9 And wherever the double river shall go, every living creature which swarms shall live. And there shall be a very great number of fish, because these waters go there that [the waters of the sea] may be healed and made fresh; and everything shall live wherever the river goes. 10 The fishermen shall stand on [the banks of the Dead Sea]; from En-gedi even to En-eglaim shall be a place to spread nets; their fish shall be of very many kinds, as the fish of the Great or Mediterranean Sea.


I have seen and floated in the Dead Sea! This will truly be a miraculous thing for the waters of the Dead Sea to be fresh and have fish in them! Absolutely nothing lives in them now! It will be an amazing thing to see! GLORY TO GOD! 


Shalom in Him!