JOURNEY 2010: LIVING THE WILL OF GOD: LET GO THE SALT Journey 2010 is about living in the will of God. It is about what John said in 3 John 1:4 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." Now God's Will, God's truth will always be corrupted and thwarted by unrighteousness "Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." END TIMES This morning I will reveal to you the single greatest motivation we as Christians have for walking in the truth. This revealing involves "end times" teachings. Now most of us are very curious about the "end times". Most of you responded that something you would like to know more about is the Book of Revelations. Let me give you this about that. Curiosity is not the proper reason to study Revelations. Jesus gives us the proper reason to study the Word or Revelations: "Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." If your study is motivated by your personal hunger and desire for righteousness, God will satisfy you, He will teach you. But if you are only motivated by curiosity or the pride of 'knowing', you will come away not knowing, not being satisfied. Now as I teach this morning, you may question some of my suggestions as not being in line with what you believe is correct, especially among Southern Baptists. But allow me to clarify: The Southern Baptist Faith and Message is extremely vague about the end time teaching in the Bible. Here is what our official church belief is about the end times according to the Southern Baptist Faith and Message: X. Last Things God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord. (2000 Baptist Faith & Message) So if I get in trouble, it will not be from teaching something contrary to Southern Baptist beliefs. It will be simply because I am teaching something that is contrary to what you have been taught. But let me advise you. My belief's change only when I look at God's Word and study what it says and don't depend on others to tell me what to believe. The truth must be within you and it must be based upon what you have studied and struggled with. Don't accept at face value what I say or what others say. Study to show yourself approved - dokimos unto God, a workman who is not ashamed, but who rightly divides the truth! We'll see why that is so important. OUR MOTIVATION What Is This Single Greatest Motivation For Walking In Truth And Following God's Will? 1 John 3:1-3 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.  JOHN SAYS THAT THE TRUTH OF CHRIST'S 2ND COMING AND OUR CHANGE INTO HIS GLORIOUS BODY IS THE HOPE THAT PURIFIES US. 1 Peter 1:22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, So this truth of our FUTURE transformation when we are face to face with Jesus Christ is to motivate us in the PRESENT to obey His truth and in so doing become PURIFIED or CONSECRATED (agnízō - in 1 John 3:3) to God, which is what living in His Will and walking in His truth is all about. I have read that in certain countries, hunters capture monkeys using a very simple but effective trap. They make a hole in a hollow tree and put a banana in it. The hole is big enough for the monkey’s hand to go in but not for its fist to come out. A monkey would then reach in and grab the banana. It then tries to pull its hand out while grabbing on to the banana to no avail. Its closed fist would be too big for the hole. For the monkey to be able to pull its hand out it has to drop the banana. But hunters are well aware that monkeys will not let go of the banana and that the monkeys will kick and squeal when the hunter approaches but they refuse to let go of the banana. They refuse to let go of the bait and so become captured. LET GO This morning I want each of us to "let go". If we are to Live in the Will of God, we must "LET GO" Jesus was approached by a young man who wanted to know: (The Message) Matthew 19:16-22 Another day, a man stopped Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" Jes