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My wife and I were eating breakfast at Shoney’s this beautiful Easter morning and a couple came in with a little girl and sat down in the booth behind my wife. They were not there five minutes and I heard the man state that he has been thinking of going to church. In another five minutes they were fighting like cats and dogs and cursing every other word. It was out of hand but instead of getting mad, I felt extreme pity. I told my wife that this is why I preach. The world cannot help these people. The world is the problem with these people.
You see, most people think that the only benefits of Christ Jesus are eternal life. This is truly a great benefit but it is not the only or main reason a person should accept Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior for. It is sin that is destroying the lives of people the world over. It is sin that is destroying families and governments. It is the power of sin that Christ defeated on Calvary’s mount. Many are quick to desire life everlasting. Few desire to surrender their lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. People’s lives are falling apart around them in today’s society. Marriages are on the rocks. Families are a war zone where parents fight with their children and each other. Morals and character are a thing of the past. We live in a cut throat society. The teachings of humanism are rampant in every area of life.
Our holidays like our homes, reflect our attitude toward God. Christmas is a fat man in a red and white suit with all of the attributes of God but does not give God the glory due to his name. If I preach that he is a lie (Which is the truth) mothers and grandmothers everywhere rise up in arms against me but these same mothers want me to tell their children that Jesus loves them. They want me to mingle truth with lies and we wonder why our children grow up confused about God. Easter is a rabbit that lays eggs and Gods great gift of the atonement by Jesus Christ is buried in Easter egg hunts. These same mothers and grandmothers get angry if I preach about the paganism of Easter eggs. Thanksgiving is a bird day while we worship the god of sports with no thought given to giving thanks to the one true God who has blessed America in the past beyond our ability to measure. If I go somewhere for dinner the prayer has to be fast so as not to take away from the game and we wonder why our homes are falling apart. Halloween is a day when the entire host of hell is glorified in everything from movies to our children dressing up like devils. These same parents get angry that the preacher wants to “Save the souls” of their precious children. This is not the first time nations have done this. The first chapter of Romans tells us of other nations who have done this exact thing. God tells us that this is the reason those nations were given over to homosexuality. Is this the problem we are having now in America?
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Rom 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves:
Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Rom 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
Rom 1:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet.
Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
It is a dangerous thing for a nation or a people to turn away from God and his truth. This is not the only time in scripture this is talked about. In the book of Hebrews the Bible talks about those who crucify to themselves the Son Of God after tasting the wonderful benefits of Christ.
Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
Heb 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
These people apparently had known and tasted all of the wonderful benefits of Christ. They turned and did like the Hebrews before Pilate. They decide they did not want anything to do with Jesus Christ, his kingdom or his salvation. Away with him, crucify him. Let his blood be on our hands and our children. We have no king but Caesar. This is not a case of a Christian sinning after they were saved. This is a case of a people that know exactly who Jesus is making a conscious decision to cast off Jesus Christ in favor of the world. This is like America casting off Christ for humanism after tasting the heavenly gift and the power of the Holy Ghost and knowing the power of Gods word and the hope of the world to come. America is making a conscious decision to follow the course of humanism, rejecting the God of our fathers and His beautiful gift of salvation.
We need Jesus Christ in our lives more than we need to win the war on terror. We need Jesus Christ more than we need our health, or wealth. Most people spend their lives searching for happiness in this life. They never find true fulfillment or happiness outside of Christ. Millionaires commit suicide every day. Happiness cannot be found in the world.
When we accept Jesus Christ, we receive much more than hope for the world to come. We receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The more we surrender to Christ in our daily walk, the more the Holy Ghost moves and works in our lives. Galatians tells us;
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
This is telling us that the abundance of the Holy Ghost working in our lives is reflected in these nine fruits being manifested in the way we live and deal with others. It does not mean that every Christian will be overflowing with these fruits of the Holy Ghost. It does mean that some of these fruits will be manifested in every Christian in one way or another. The more a person surrenders to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, The more these fruits will be manifested.
The secret word here is “Lordship”. This means that Jesus Christ is sitting on the throne of our lives. It is “not my will but thine oh Lord”. It is living separated from the world and its sin and living holy before God in this world. Living holy is the love Christ commands us to display before the world. It is living the courage to tell others the truth knowing we might be ridiculed or even persecuted for it. It is loving enough to tell others the truth. I believe this is what Jesus meant when he told us to “Take up our cross and follow him”. Become an “Ambassador” for the kingdom of God. 2Co 5:20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. Jesus told us that if the world hated him, it would hate us also. Jesus loved the world so much he left no cloak (hiding place) for their sin. This baring the sin but loving the sinner invokes anger and even hatred from the world. The Bible tells us that the world loves its own, but Jesus tells us that we are not of the world if we are his. He also tells us to be of good cheer, that he has overcome the world. This means that we have the power to overcome the world also. Paul tells us that “We can do all things through Christ which strengthens us”.
We live in truly perilous times just like the Bible tells us.
2Ti 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2Ti 3:2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
2Ti 3:4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
We have the wonderful opportunity to be a witness for Christ in these last days. Let us do like Hebrews 12:1 tells us and put away the sin that so easily besets us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Let us take the hope of the gospel to every person we meet at every opportunity we have. The hope for our family, friends, coworkers, the stranger on the street and even other church members does not lie in our silence, or in half hearted attempts to convince others we are Christians while loving the world but not knowing the power of His resurrection, but in our willingness to be an effectual fervent witness for the Lord Jesus Christ and walking in the power of His resurrection.
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