Matthew 24:12

Here is the outcome of a Bible study that I had earlier this morning.

Matt 24 12
"And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold."

Iniquity—anomia. illegality, i.e. violation of law or (genitive case) wickedness -- iniquity, transgress(-ion of) the law, unrighteousness. In the Old Testament of the 11 words translated "iniquity," by far the most common and important is `awon (about 215 times). Etymologically, it is customary to explain it as meaning literally "crookedness," "perverseness," i.e. evil regarded as that which is not straight or upright, moral distortion (from `iwwah, "to bend," "make crooked," "pervert"). Driver, however (following Lagarde), maintains that two roots, distinct in Arabic, have been confused in Hebrew, one equals "to bend," "pervert" (as above), and the other equals "to err," "go astray"; that `awon is derived from the latter, and consequently expresses the idea of error, deviation from the right path, rather than that of perversion (Driver, Notes on Sam, 135 note) Whichever etymology is adopted, in actual usage it has three meanings which almost imperceptibly pass into each other:(1) iniquity,(2) guilt of iniquity,(3) punishment of iniquity.Primarily, it denotes "not an action, but the character of an action" (Oehler), and is so distinguished from "sin" (chaTTa'th). Hence, we have the expression "the iniquity of my sin" (Psalm 32:5
Iniquity—wickedness; injustice; crime; evil; sin; vice.

Wax—seta.
Cold--psucho psoo'-kho: to breathe, i.e. (by implication, of reduction of temperature by evaporation) to chill (figuratively) -- wax cold.

Love—agape. love, i.e. affection or benevolence; specially (plural) a love-feast -- (feast of) charity(-ably), dear, love.

I got some interesting stuff from this website
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http://www.antipas.org/books/be_ye_transformed/love_shall_wax_cold.html
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It's from a book Be Ye Transformed by G.V. Growcott. Wow! I've been repenting as I read.

"The latter days are to be days of unbelief. This is the testimony of prophecy. This is one of the great signs of the time of the end in the world and in the brotherhood." "Increase of unbelief frequently, almost always, takes the form of an assumed increase of knowledge -- a knowing better, a feeling of being cleverer than the instruction of God's Word." "Faith, or belief, as the apostle goes to great lengths to illustrate in Hebrews 11, is a vital, living force, a way of life, a power that made men stand alone in the face of the most violent enmity and persecution, and that led them onward to every form of accomplishment and heroism – (Heb 11:1)."

"The love of the many shall wax cold because the shadows grow thicker -- the sadness and instability of natural things deepens. All things today -- industrial, economic, national, and international -- are at a constant crisis, a constant tension. No one is happy, no one is satisfied -- and we are in great danger of absorbing this atmosphere of tension and stress."

"This is the great message: "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." (1 John 1:4-5) God is perfection in all goodness, and everything to do with God is on the basis of perfection. All that is out of harmony with God, is but darkness and sorrow in the end.
A joyful acceptance of this message in its fulness and depth is the first step in assuring a love that will never grow cold a clear recognition of the great issue between good and evil, light and darkness, life and death -- two ways, two camps, two services. We must decide which side we wish to be on, and bring all our life into harmony with that decision, testing all things by this rule. There are no neutrals, no middle ground, for --
"Whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23).

1 John 3:9
"To the natural mind this is contradiction, but by the mind of the Spirit we are led to see the deep wisdom and lesson of these words.
First, as John points out, perfection is the standard, and must be the standard.
God is all light. There can be no fellowship with Him except on the recognized basis of absolute perfection. The essential perfection of the sacrifice of Christ proves this.
But the more a man comprehends the beauty of holiness and the mind of the Spirit, the more he realizes the utter evilness of his own natural flesh and mind, and perfection constantly seems farther and farther away.
Any who say, or -- as is much more common -- who act on the basis, that they have no sin to worry about -- that they are "doing all right" -- who consider themselves quite acceptable to God -- who do not realize the necessity of constant effort and constant self-examination -- utterly fail to comprehend the standards of godliness and perfection that John is describing. Our highest attainments fall miserably short of the divine perfection of the beauty of holiness.
But still, "He that is born of God cannot sin." The thought of sin is abhorrent to him. He lives in love, in closeness to God.
Though he continually falls short of divine perfection, he continually strives toward it. His choice and desire are always in the way of Christlike gentleness and purity and love. He never condones or is satisfied with imperfection. He knows that to ever deliberately choose the way of the flesh in anything is to wound Christ afresh, who loved him, and died for him.

Any failure, any weakness of the flesh, immediately fills him with sorrow and remorse, and renewed determination to overcome. "He cannot sin."

"The way of godliness is an all-pervading thing. It must continuously control and motivate the whole life, or it means nothing. It is so easy to deceive ourselves by putting on a self-gratifying front of godliness and interest in spiritual things on some occasions, and relaxing into natural fleshliness at others.
But "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." To be godly is to be like God -- the same all the time -- a steady, consistent, spiritual shining, from hour to hour and day to day. Until it is consistent, our godliness is neither sound nor deep."

More on the Launching Out Series!

I'm telling yall! This is what's going on! God is doing some brand new stuff in the life of Sharonda B. Greenlaw.

It's not my time to lead worship. It's my time to go deep into new waters--waters that I've never treaded in before!

So, this weekend (that just passed), I had a Leadership Seminar at the NFB National Center. (NFB = National Federation of the Blind) To learn more about this great organization, go to:
www.nfb.org

Anyway, I took the plane, took the cab, and got there and back successfully! That's right! You heard it first here!
I know these might not be big things to others, but they're big to me. This person was one who was afraid to do this. I had bad memories of buses from when I was a child. I didn't even want to try them. I definitely never thunk (just kidding) I would be doing these things without some help.

Not being able to see is daunting enough when you are in unfamiliar surroundings. Some people never push past their own fears and misconceptions. They live in a world of comfort and ease. They know what's gonna happen at any given time and find that cool. But until you launch out, and push past all that, I promise that you'll never see the success and joy that's on the other side.

I am really happy! I don't know where I'm going. I don't know what my future holds, but I'm excited. I assume that travel will be a part. Yall! This is grand! So, since you are in my world, that requires you to be excited too!

Thanks for reading.