I am just a guy who has been blessed in ways I don't deserve. I have been blessed with an incredble wife and a daughter who melts my heart. Most importantly, I am passionately in love with Jesus and I want the world to know it.
The idea that since the emergence of Christ into our world there is no longer any sin problem is completely preposterous, and not less so is the notion that the approach of the lost man to God is theological instead of moral. Yet this is what the not-the-sin-question thing has taught the religious world to believe. This idea has been expanded, extended and illustrated in how many thousand sermons over the last fifty years till it has become part of the total belief of evangelical groups all over the world. I have personally heard earnest men tell their hearers that they need never fear being sent to hell because of their sins; that the only thing that could possibly condemn them is their failure to “accept” Christ. Thus the whole terrible sin question has been reduced to a theological technicality, and sin itself, that damning and destructive enemy of God and men, has been whitewashed and rendered tolerable, contrary to the whole spirit and mood of the Scriptures and to the beliefs of Christians since the days of the apostles.
Regardless of what men may say, we are still face to face with the sin question, and no man who has neglected to deal with his sins can even remotely understand the question of the deity of Christ and the mystery of the Godhead. Until the sinner has been brought before the bar of God and convicted of personal guilt, any notions he may have about Christ are bound to be academic, nothing more, and wholly unrelated to life. One deadly result of our failure to face up to the fact of sin is the widespread moral insensitivity which characterizes Christians these days. Because there is only a Son question and not a sin question at all, there is little or no repentance required as a preparation for saving faith. The new convert accepts Christ and adopts a certain easy code--a bit above that of the irreligious world, to be sure, but infinitely below that of the New Testament. The nerve has died in the Christian conscience and the sin that would have driven our Christian fathers to their knees in a paroxysm of repentance leaves us almost untouched. It’s lots easier to shift the whole thing over to the “Son question” and escape the pains of repentance. Lots easier, but extremely dangerous, and this latter is what we appear to have forgotten.
The following is directly out of a book that I HIGHLY reccommed to any Christian who wants more of God than what they are truly experiencing. Any Christian who is tired of "status quo", tire of games, and tired of "playing church" while the world around us is walking straight off of the cliffs to eternal separation from God. The book is calld God Chasers and is by Tommy Tenney. Here is a link to it on Amazon.
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WE WANT LIFE BUT GOD IS LOOKING FOR DEATH
We need to repent for designing servises that men like, instead of yielding to what God likes. Like most men and women, we have wanted "life" in our services when God was after "death" through repentance and brokenness that ushers in the presence of God and causes you to draw near to the Lord and yet live
Some people get very uncomfortable at this point because its starting to smell a little smoky. THey can smell the odor of burning flesh in the air. It may not smell good to us, but God is drawn toward repentance. The bible says, "When a sinner repents, the angels rejoice" (see Luke 15:10). Death and repentance on Earth bring about joy in the Heavenlies.
Revival must begin in the local church before it can reach into your community. If you are ungry for revival, then I have a word from the Lord for you: Fire doesn't fall on empty altars. There has to be a sacrifice on the altar for fire to fall If you want the fire of God, you must become the fuel of God. Jesus sacrificed himself to win our our salvation, but He has called each and every person who wants to follow Him to do what? To lay down their lives and take up their cross and follow Him. According to Strong's Concordance, the Greek word for "cross," stauros, means "figuratively , exposure to death, i.e. self-denial." Elijah didn't ask for God's fire to fall down on the altar until he had loaded it up with fuel and a worthy sacrifice. We've been praying for the fire to fall, but there's nothing on the altar!
If you are hungry for the fire to fall in your church, then you need to just crawl up on the altar and say, "God, whatever it takes, I lay myself on the altar and ask You to consume me with Your fire Lord." Then we can follow the lead of John Wesley who explained how he drew such large crowds during the First Great Awakening:
"I set myself on fire, and the people came to see me burn."
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If this does not stir you then I think you need to check your spiritual pulse. I am broken at my apathy and complacency for the Kingdom of God!
There seems to be more than one Jesus to choose from these days. Which one is the true Jesus and who am I following?
There’s a ‘seeker friendly’ Jesus, he’s the one who will not offend anyone in anyway. He loves everyone no mater what they do.
There’s a ‘sow and reap’ Jesus, he made a covenant with man so that man could sow his seed and reap wealth and happiness on earth and then go to heaven when he dies.
There’s a ‘blend in with the world’ Jesus, he wants us to look like, act like, and be like the world in order to reach the lost.
There’s a ‘neverending grace’ Jesus, his ‘grace’ covers us no matter what we do or how we live.
There’s a ‘just believe’ Jesus. As long as you truly believe in your heart, you’re saved.
There’s a ‘name it claim it’ Jesus. You name it; anything and it’s yours! If you don’t get it, it’s because you lack faith. It’s your fault.
There’s a ‘carnal’ Jesus. He doesn’t expect you to overcome sin, he understands you’re just carnal.
There’s a ‘heart dwelling’ Jesus. All you have to do is ask him into your heart and voilà, he’s there. You’re going to heaven!
Truth:
There’s the Jesus who said “Repent and believe the gospel, the kingdom of God is at hand.” -Mark 1:15
He said, “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him.” -Lk 9:23-25
He said without Him you are already condemned. -John 3:18
He said He came to save the world -John 3:16
He said unless you forsake all you have, you cannot be His disciple. -Luke 14:33
He said if we love anyone more than Him we are not worthy of Him.-Matt 10:37-39 He said if you love this life you’ll lose it. -John 12:25-26
He said you cannot serve God and money. -Matt 6:24 He said fear God who can destroy both body and soul in hell. -Mt 10:28
He said be extreme in your war against sin. -Matt 18:8-9
He said love God with all your heart, soul and mind and your neighbour as yourself. -Matt 22:37-39
He said He is the light of the world. –John 8:12 He said the gate is narrow and the way is difficult and few find it.-Matt 7:13-14
He said those who believe in Him but work iniquity will be cast out. -Matt 7:21-23
He said you’ll be hated for His name’s sake, but if you endure to the end, you’ll be saved. -Matt 10:22
He said I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me. –John 14:6
Last night we watched the Passion of the Christ again as a reminder of the importance of Easter. I feel as though God really spoke to me as I watched it.
The same people who acknowledged Him as The Christ as he rode into town were some of the same people yelling "crucify him"!
Think about this...these were people who believed in Him, loved him, cheered for him, celebrated him...yet they were caught up in the emotion of what was going on around them (their society) and ended up mocking Him, spitting on Him, and throwing rocks at Him while He was carrying the instrument of his dramatic public death!
I realized that our society today is full of people (professed Christians), including myself, who believe in Him (even the devil does that), say they love Him, cheer for Him (when it is convenient or need something), and celebrate Him (on holidays or even once a week).
If we examine our lives we must ask ourselves: Do we really...love Him?
Did He die for us so that we could say a salvation prayer, say we're sorry, acknowledge Him once a week, ask for His help when we're desperate...and then continue to feed our fleshly desires by spending more time on the internet, in front of the tv, playing sports, doing crafts, etc.?
I am not saying that there is anything wrong with these things; however, are we not mocking Him when we justify our idols, which I believe is anything that we give more attention and money to than we do Him? Were we really born again if our heart is to defend everything that brings us pleasure instead of a willingness to remove anything in our lives that separate us from intimacy with Him.
When we say we love Him and then give Him a our last bit of time, our last bit of money, and most importantly the last available room in our heart; we are placing ourselves right there on that fateful day on Calvary. We become the man or woman yelling "crucify Him". We are picking up the lead tipped whip, striking his body, and pulling away flesh! We are taking the hammer and driving the nails through his hands and feet!
Is it enough to say a prayer? Is it enough to believe? Is it enough to be sorry?
Let us consider this: Sure a few verses say believe and you will be saved; however, there are many that add to that and say we must repent!
Have we forgotten what repent means? One definition is to "turn away". So if we say we are sorry and continue to live in sin once we have heard or know the truth, have we turned away or repented at all?
EXAMPLE
I can say I love you, but how do you KNOW I really do? You know by by my actions! There is NO way to prove to someone that you love them by simply telling them…you must show them.
What about if I say I love you...my actions seem genuine for a while...then I start to spend all my time with someone else, I avoid your calls (His voice), tell you what I need before I go to bed, and no one who knows me has a clue that I have any sort relationship with you.
What if I say I'm sorry? That makes it alright right? What if I say I'm sorry but I still make no time for you, still avoid your calls, always ask you for help but never ask you what you want. Would you think I meant it when I said sorry?
Repentance is not just saying you're sorry! It is something we MUST do every day!
Were you really born again if your life doesn't look any different than it did before you accepted Christ? Were you born again if you use your salvation as a blank check to live any way you want?
You see, there is nothing we can do in our own strength. Jesus paid it ALL. I just think we should all examine our lives and ask ourselves are we truly saved just because we fit in to the requirements of what our pastor says, our family says. What does the Word of God say?
I have recently realized how dangerous it is to base your salvation on someone else's interpretation of salvation and of the Bible. Beware of a false sense of security!
Is it not worth taking the time to examine for yourself?
Has the Christian "majority", throughout history, ever been the group that was walking in the truth? Are we Christians that look like the rest of the Christians in our society? Does that make you feel safe?
How about this…is our life something that is worth Christ dying for? Are we living a live that is worth Jesus being so brutally murdered on our behalf? Does He know we love him by what we say or by what we do? Would our check book and appointment book prove that we have no idols before Him?
I realize these are all tough questions, and I am sharing what God has put on my heart because of my own recent personal convictions.Christianity is not easy!There is a cost that no one talks about anymore!
We have a short period of time on Earth.As a matter of fact, we are not guaranteed tomorrow.Grace is not a blank check as I’m sure we would all agree.Every breath we take is an explicit example of God’s grace…giving us the opportunity to repent from our sinful nature before we sit before the judgment seat of Christ.
You see he is a fair judge.He became flesh, he was tempted, he felt pain, anger, shame, and even subjected himself to death on a cross.We will have no excuses on judgement day.We can cry out to him and say “but Jesus…I believed in you, I asked you into my heart, I was even baptized like you said”.He will say, “You asked me into your heart verbally, but did you repent and make room for me in your heart?Even the devil and his demons believe in me and tremble at my name!When you were baptized, were you truly born again or did you continue to live in blatant disobedience while mocking me by saying that is was ok because of grace?Did you become a new person or did you stay the same?Were you a faithful bride or did you say you love me and then have continuous blatant affairs with the world?You did have grace, I gave you chance after chance to love me…but remember that love is a verb.It requires action and words just are not enough.”
Do you carry heavy cross or do you leave it at home?Do you give anything to your savior that costs you something or just what you have left over?
This is the time of year to reflect on the sacrifice and on Easter we celebrate the VICTORY!
May Jesus get all the glory He deserves!I challenge everyone to think long and hard this Easter holiday about the sacrifice and victory.
Three days later he rose and the tomb has been empty ever since!
Happy Easter!
Below is a powerful video that is a MUST SEE this holiday season!
