Where is the burden??!!

Jesus says in Luke 13:34 o Jerusalem, Jerusalem... how I have wanted to gather you as a hen gathers her chicks but you were not willing. This is a point in the life of our Lord here in the earth, when He yearned over the lost of Israel. Have you ever found yourself yearning for someone who is lost? Have you ever experienced a deep desire for someone you know or maybe not know to come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?? What could the church accomplish if we had this attitude, this deep yearning for the lost, those whose face we have never even seen, also for those ones who we do not even know their name.

Have you ever in your life as a Christian prayed for a burden for the lost?? Are you afraid to pray this because you know God will definitely give it to you? Oh that the church would have the same attitude of our Lord (Phil. 2:5), when He yearned over the lost of Israel. I heard recently that Bangladesh has one missionary per every million people, Japan is 0.27% Christian, where is the yearning for these nations to come and give glory to God? Where is the deep desire for these people groups to come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? I know that we cannot do it all, nor does God expect us to do so. Yet that is not an excuse to do nothing, to sit in the pew and enjoy the Christian life without ever getting uncomfortable. I heard a sermon title the other day born to reproduce. It was talking about the Christian life, we are born again to make disciples.

When did we ever lose sight of the fact the the great commission given by the Lord Himself, is also binding on us as well. Do you know that Jesus was talking to you when He gave this commission. This commission has not been fulfilled yet. There 6,775 unreached people groups on this planet. What are you doing to reach them for Jesus??

Another Session of Confession...

I have another confession to make to you brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. I do not know about you, but I am guilty of going about my daily life and not realizing the depth of the lostness of people. I encounter so many people on a daily basis who are lost and without the hope that can be found only in Christ Jesus. I am guilty of doing ministry, and yet neglecting the people I am ministering to. So many times my sinful heart becomes hard toward people, and my heart has so many times gone unbroken for the lost of this world. Oh how I want so badly to yearn for those who do not know Jesus, I want to be broken over those who live only for this world, who do not have eternal life. I want to weep over those who reject Christ, I desire to desire so strongly for them to know the Lord and Savior of mankind.

I want the same attitude which was in Christ Jesus, when He looked out at Jerusalem, and wept over the city and says "oh how I have wanted to gather you as a hen gathers her chicks but you were unwilling". Oh that I can have this same attitude, this same desire and brokenness that our gracious Lord has.

Lord God, gracious Almighty Sovereign Ruler of the vast Universe that You Yourself spoke into existence. Lord I confess I am so guilty of hard heartedness towards people. Almighty God there is nothing that is impossible for You, so Lord i humbly ask that. Please break me Father for the lost, for those who do not know Jesus, and who do not yet have peace with You. God please give me a heart like that of Your Glorious Son. Oh that I would yearn for those who do not know You God i beg. i pray Father in Jesus Name, please grant my request....

Take that global warming...

I wonder how some people try and defend global warming in the wake of such snow storms that are continuing throughout the nation, on an unprecedented scale. Georgia received more snow this last couple of days than they have received in  a decade!! No doubt those who worship the earth will find ways to explain this away. Everything in our world today is "going green". The government is trying to create more "green jobs", trying to reduce climate change, trying as hard as they can to regulate the distance people drive, and so on. All on a theory that is based on faulty science, and this at best. In fact the atheistic nation of England which is completely secular in its world view "threw the movie out of their schools because the science was so faulty, and the views were so biased. http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/commentaries_essays/gleen_beck_interviews_lord_monkton.html

Yet everyone and their brother has bought into this idea that the world is heating up due to the pollution put into the air by man. This movie of Al Gore's is filled with dozens of scientific errors, biased views, and erroneous information. Romans 1:25 says "they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever AMEN!!" 

Yet if one does not buy into this idea that the earth is heating, they are seen as unscientific, unintelligent, as close minded. How can so many people be so quickly deceived, so quickly. Is there no common sense that exists in anyone, anywhere?? Have we forgotten to be objective about anything?? So what is to come of the earth? 2 Peter 3:10 says "but the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements, will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and it's works will be burned up. Since all these things are going to be destroyed in this way. So the earth will burn up, not by global warming but at the return of the blessed Lord Jesus Christ. I wonder if God is going to let those who worshiped and served the earth, who put all of their "stock" into the earth, I wonder if God is going to let them view the burning up of the earth before they receive the punishment for their idolatry. 

Wake up people and be discerning. Do not buy into everything anyone tells you no matter how smart they come across. The Bible says their foolish hearts were darkened, this word is where we get our word morons from. They rejected God, and served the earth and by doing so became morons. Why listen to morons rather than the God who created the heavens and the earth?? 

the root of all kinds of evils...

Throughout the O.T prophets God continually brought judgement on the nation of Israel by destroying them economically. He destroyed their income as a judgement of the nation, in an effort to repent of their wickedness that they were indeed guilty of, and so He would forgive them. 1 Timothy 6:10 says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. It does not say the root of all evil, but all kinds of evil; there is a huge difference and I will not go there. Yet greed does drive the nation to spend 1 trillion dollars in vain spending, all in an effort to "stimulate the economy". 

Recently the greed that exists was shown forth in a most pompous way, when the secretary of state Hillary Clinton traveled to China. Our brothers and our sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ are suffering horribly at the hands of the Chinese government. They may put on a polite face for the world to see, yet China is a cruel, unmerciful, communist nation that hates Christianity and especially hates the preaching of The Gospel. Check out for yourself what some of our blessed brothers and sisters are suffering at http://www.chinaaid.org  This is an atrocity, on any level, the Obama administration prides itself on being one of compassion, change and all about hope. Yet one major political figure in this administration who is Hillary Clinton on her trip to China said " human rights can't interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis (which is an invention of man) and the security crises." Read about this as well at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/human-rights-watch/clinton-remarks-undermine_b_168689.html  

So let me translate this for you, money takes precedence over the fact that there are Christians among other groups in China suffering at the hands of the wicked government there. America out of her greed has turned a blind eye to this all in the name of the economy. Does anyone stop to think that the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, who owns the world and the fullness thereof, who owns the universe and every last thing in it, could be the One who turns this around?? Maybe if we would humble ourselves and seek His face He then would heal our land. I read in Jeremiah tonite and now I know it was not by accident, the Lord through the prophet Jeremiah condemned the king because he put selfish gain above the oppression of people. Oh how this sounds like what happened the other day as the ambassador for the U.S went to visit China.

God has not changed, the Lord still desires that we put the oppression of people above money. Could it be that the reason we are in the mess that we are in, is because we have given ourselves to the worship of money?? Could it be that we are in the situation we are in because we have forsaken the Lord and He has returned the favor?? Oh that we would seek the Lord, and humble ourselves before His mighty hand, oh that we would turn from our wicked ways and cry out to the Living God who is ready to judge the living and the dead!!! 

What is your temperature

Jesus says in Revelation 3:16 because you are lukewarm I am going to vomit you out of My mouth. This is where the church is in my estimation. I asked one of my best friends the other night, after he told me a loved one was in the hospital, "are they a Christian"? The answer was I don't know. This person was elderly and from my friends account did not sound good. Here is my question why in the world haven't you found out where they are at with Christ Jesus? 

Church have we become so lack in our devotion that we have just hoped people are Christian, rather than sharing the blessed Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with them? Have we the attitude that we hope they make it to heaven, rather than sharing Christ with them and so they absolutely they can know they are going to heaven. Do we really believe what the Bible says about death, judgement, heaven, hell and who God is? Have we gotten so far away from the Bible that we no longer have a burden for those who do not know Jesus Christ? 

Where is the burden for the lost? Where is the deep longing for those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ to come to saving faith in Him? Oh that the church of Jesus Christ would come alive and that God would shake the world through His people as He has done so in generations past. 

Gracious Almighty God in Heaven, Lord of glory. I love You. Father I confess my lukewarmness and God I confess me trying to play You as if that is even possible. Forgive me my Lord for these sins that I have committed in rebellion and ignorance, for my sins of commission as well as my sins of omission. Lord I want yesterday to take You seriously, to take Your word seriously, to take Your kingdom seriously. God so many days I have woken up and hard heartedly not worried about people created in You image, who You love dying and going to everlasting hell. Lord You desire none to perish help me to desire the same my great and awesome God. From this time forth and forevermore powerful creator and Architect of the universe as well as my heart, i repent and I get serious. Forgive me my Lord I pray for taking so long to do so. In Jesus name and His name only do I pray. Amen. 

Where is the outcry??

God, time and time again condemns the practice of perverting justice. Ezekiel 22:7 is one such instance, the Word says "they have treated father and mother lightly within you. The alien they have oppressed in your midst; the fatherless and the widow they have wronged in you." As Christians it should bother us and lead us first and foremost to cry out to God and then our elected leaders that there are people who are still oppressed in our midst today. The unborn is one such group of people, who are not only being oppressed but put to death by the millions and yet where is the church in the midst of all of this? 

Yet those I want to focus on today who are the target of probably more oppression than any other nation is the nation of the Jews. Where is the outcry for the Jewish people? If Hamas was launching rockets against any other nation in existence, the outcry would be worldwide, and yet these terrorist launch rockets against the Jews and yet the world sides with Hamas, why is that the case? Revelation 12:13 says "when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child." The woman in this context is Israel, and the devil has and continues to persecute Israel. 

Now let me say this as a Christian, the Jews just like any other sinner on the planet can only be reconciled to God through the Lord Jesus Christ, and His atoning blood alone. Yet with that said, these people are oppressed and righteous indignation should well up inside of us for the injustice that is occurring to the Jewish people. One of the biggest forms of this persecution against the Jews is coming from the terrorist Iranian president. He says "Israel must be wiped off of the map". Read it for yourself at http://www.adl.org/main_Anti_Semitism_International/iran_responses.htm  Now why is this statement coming from this terrorist producing an outcry within  the world?? Yet Columbia University has this man come and speak at their university. Shame on you Columbia University, you shouldn't be heralded for your diversity, you should be imprisoned for treason!!

Yet this same man president Obama wants to sit down and talk with, with no stipulations. Again read this for yourself at http://rawstory.com/news/afp/As_president_Obama_would_talk_to_Ir_11022007.html Where is the outcry? Have we become so blind that we fail to see the injustice in these matters? I am not a political activist, but I love God and love His Word, and desire to see the Jews as well as the Iranian president himself come to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But where is the cry for justice, and the cry to see righteousness carried out on behalf of the Jews and any and all other oppressed people! 

An unholy Agenda??

Karl Marx said that "peace is silencing all of the opposition". Whether we realize it or not this is the direction that the United States of America is heading towards. How can I say that? Because Obama adheres to Marxist philosophy. 

http:www.aim.org/aim-report/media-abet-communist-cover-up/ This country was one that was founded on the advancement of the kingdom of Christ Jesus. The Mayflower Compact which was the document of the Pilgrims that came here states and I quote " Having undertaken, for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian Faith...a voyage to plant the first colony in the Northern parts of Virginia".  I will stop there you can read the rest at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower_Compact

We are systematically trying to remove God from our society, all of this falls in with a socialistic agenda let me explain. Remember the quote I wrote at the beginning of this article, it was from Karl Marx a socialist. He said peace is silencing all of the opposition. This is exactly what Hitler did during WWII. Anyone who disagreed with him, he simply and rapidly disposed of. Who is the biggest speaker against the homosexual agenda?? The church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Opposition is coming against the church, not in overt ways such as Hitler and the Nazi regime. Nevertheless it is coming, in the forms legislation such as the Hate Crimes law. In Canada the Bible has been deemed "hate literature". How much longer brothers and sisters in Christ do you think it is going to be before this becomes the norm here in the United States?? The Hate crimes law is very dangerous legislation when it comes to our freedom of speech. Read about this article at 

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageld=75041 

Other ways to "silence the opposition", is through legislation such as the fairness doctrine, which explicitly targets talk radio, and seeks to silence it. Why does this not bother us, why does this not worry us? Can you not see the direction we are headed, can you not see what the people of God in this country are getting ready to endure? My best friend in this world said that the other day he downloaded the communist manifesto and this country is following step by step!! They are taking in God we trust off of our money, they built a replica of the White house and in this replica there is a chair where the speaker of the house in the Congress sits. On the back of this chair it has the words "in God we trust". They removed them from this model, and above this model there is a picture where they cropped out  this phrase!! 

What should we do? Brothers and sisters in Christ, I am absolutely nothing, I mean nothing, but I love God and He is awesome in power and glory. What can we do, we need to pray, oh that the people of God would cry out to the Living God and cry out for this nation. When will we ever take God seriously, which is the 2nd thing we need to be doing. Take God seriously, the Bible says that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. You are going to be hated Jesus says for My name sake. So with that said we need to take the Lord seriously, get into His word, turn off that television that consumes so much of our time and molds our thinking, and let the Holy Spirit and His divine Word mold our thinking. 

The Coming of our great and awesome King is closer now than when we first believed. Oh that we would be ready for the persecution that is coming on the church, and more than that oh that we would be ready for the coming of Christ. Even so come Jesus!!!

2 John

If you could sum up the 2nd Epistle of the apostle John, in one word it would have to be truth. 6 times John emphasizes the necessity to follow the truth, he goes on to expose what is truth and what is not truth. Whatever happened to talking about truth? Whatever happened to Christians being called people of truth?? The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians that a falling away must come first, that an apostasy will come about. If you are paying attention the apostasy is taking place at an alarming rate. 

I watched the other nite about this "cathedral", and at this cathedral it did not matter whatever religion that you are, just come and worship your "god". One main evangelical preacher has appeared at "Compassion Conference", where Muslims, "Christians" and Jews get together along with Hindus and others to sit down and try and compassionately come to unity. Folks the only way that Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhist, and every other man made religion can come to peace with Christianity is to surrender to the Lord Jesus Christ and follow Him as Lord and Savior. There is no middle ground, there is no compromise, the only thing that the Christians can do is call these people to repentance and faith in the true and living God of the universe. 

Jeremiah 7:28 says truth has been cut off and no longer can be found in their mouth. How true this is of many so called Christians. Now make no mistake about it, God does indeed love the Muslims and every other person who is deceived into false religion; as the children of God we are called to love these people as well. Yet love is not watering down, disregarding, neglecting, ignoring, or suppressing divine revealed truth. We are called to say what God has said, in a loving manner and let the powerful Spirit of the Living God do His mighty wrk. He is much mightier, and able than we ever are. 

Yet with all of this said, we have been given divine truth, we as Christians have been entrusted with the Gospel, the message which is able to lead one to the One even Jesus Christ who can give eternal life to the dead. Eph. 2 

How do we fight the good fight??

1 Peter 5:8-9 Be of sober spirit, be on alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith. 

This Scripture tells us exactly how to fight the enemy of God and our souls. We fight him by being firm in our faith. James says resist the devil and he will flee from you. You resist him as the above verse tells us by being firm in your faith. So where does faith come from? What does the Bible say?? Romans 10:17 says faith comes by hearing, and hearing the Word of God. Want to grow in your faith, want to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, want to be firm in your faith that you may resist the devil?? OPEN THE BOOK!! Christians how will we ever fight the enemy successfully, how will we ever be firm in the faith when we spend 10 minutes a week in the Bible? And this is when we are sitting in the pew. 

Where one spends their time is where their priorities are. Do we find ourselves watching hours upon hours of television, do we spend hours on facebook and a stupid game called mousehunt  that has absolutely nothing to do with eternity or the building up of the kingdom of God?! Where are our priorities? Do we get more excited about a basketball team than we do about being the children of the Living God? Do we ever realize what we have been given in Christ Jesus? Do we realize that because of the mercy and goodness of God we are forever forgiven before Him, bound for eternal bliss in which the worship of God our Father will be our constant practice? If this doesn't get you more excited than the Kentucky Wildcats or the Louisville Cardinals what in the world is going on in our lives??

Fight the good fight. He is worth it. Get busy building His kingdom. 1 Corinthians 15:58

Where is the discernment??

2 Corinthians 11:4 says for if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted you bear this beautifully. Where in the church is the discernment? Where is the church is the contending for the truth, the contending for the faith once for all handed down to the saints?? If anyone comes in and preaches some strange, weird, unbiblical, demonic doctrine, people will just buy right into it nowadays without a thought of where this is coming from. The apostle John in his 2nd epistle says if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching do not accept him into your home. Disregard it, reject it, if anything comes in the way of a sermon, idea, new teaching, etc. and it does not line up with the Bible do not give any heed to it whatsoever. 

I challenge everyone go to http://www.alittleleaven.com and find out if I am just going overboard with this. If this does not shock you, if what the church in America is doing does not alarm you, please check your pulse. I so not mean to be harsh, but so many people are being led into the jaws of hell by the enemy of God and man who parades as an angel of light. Oh that God would open the eyes of His church, that we would get back to the Bible. 

One of our major problems is that we (preachers) are starving our people from the pulpit. I love the Andy Griffith show, I love the movie FireProof, yet they have no place being preached from the pulpit. I am not talking about taking an example from these shows, I am talking about basing whole sermon series around these things. Whatever happened to the preaching of the Word of God, whatever happened to Christ exalting, God glorifying, Holy Spirit led, Bible based expository preaching??!! Preachers lets be on our face before the God we speak on behalf of and first and foremost seek His forgiveness for starving His sheep. Then lets get to the work of rightly dividing the Word of Truth, for all Scripture is God breathed and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. The Bible is enough, lets give God's starving lambs the only thing that is able to build them up the Holy Word of Almighty God!! 

Has God surely said??

Genesis 3:1 the liar asked our primitive parents, "indeed has God said?" The father of lies, the enemy of God and of men is asking that same question today. Many people are like Eve buying right into the lie that God has not really said. The fact is the Bible is under attack, it should not surprise us, the Word of God has been under attack ever since Eden. Sadly many Christian colleges, and even ministers of the Gospel of Christ are debating whether in fact God has surely said. I have a friend at a prominent Christian College, he tells me some professors (not all of them) are constantly arguing why the Bible cannot be accurate. They argue why the numbers of the Exodus of the Israelites from the land of Egypt cannot be accurate. On and on the attacks go and sadly the attacks are no longer coming from outside of the church, but from within the church herself. This again should not shock us, Paul told the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 that wolves would arise from within their own midst. They would arise from within the church and this is what we see taking place at an alarming rate. Yet let me offer you this brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ!

God has indeed said. God has surely spoken, and you and I would do well to listen what Almighty God has to say. Since God has spoken, the things that God has surely said are the most important things ever uttered in the history of mankind. His Word needs to be our constant focus, our constant attention needs to be given to the things that God Himself has surely said. Everything ever spoken by man, from the poorest pauper to the most eloquent, well spoken ruler, pales in comparison to what the God of all the universe has surely said. 

Most Christians if not all of them would say amen to this, but the problem is they are saying amen with their lips and not their lives. How important is the Word of God to you if you never pick it up, how important is the Words of Almighty God to you if you watch 8 hours of television and read one verse of Scripture for 5 minutes and then close the book because the Uof L game is coming on! 

Brothers and sisters God has surely said. I am just as guilty as you of neglecting many times the reading of the Word for my fleshly, sinful desires. I pray for myself first and for you as well, that God would strip me of the things that take away my time, that distract me from the important sayings of God and get me back to where I need to be; before an open Bible! 

Father forgive me my gracious and Awesome Lord, for the neglecting of Your glorious Word and seeking my own selfish ungodly desires. Oh God I pray for the ones reading this, that we all would have a hunger for Your Word, help us to tremble at what You have indeed said. I love You Lord, because You first loved me. 

Isaiah 66:2 

Confession....

The Bible says confess your sins one to anther. I have some confessions to make brothers and sisters in Christ. I recently have listened to the devil and his demons rather than the Spirit of God and His glorious Word. I have bought the lies of the devil that I am really not in Christ. That God does not love me the way I once thought. That I am running the race in vain. Instead of turning a deaf ear to him as Psalms 38 commands me to I have been paying attention to him and I repent. I have been in such despair lately because I love the Lord Jesus Christ so much and to think of not having the Lord in my life just flat out scares me. I have bought the lie that God has abandoned me when He in fact promises to do the very opposite. I am not as strong as I once thought or liked to believe I was. The thing I am finding is God is the One who is strong, He strengthens the weak, but strength comes from Him. 

God forgive me my Father, for believing the lie instead of Your truth. I love my King, You are so very glorious. 

Romans 8

Romans chapter 8 is one of the most encouraging chapters in the Bible. If you ever feeling worn down by the world, beat up by the enemy, read the 8th chapter of the Book of Romans. One commentator says the chapter starts with no condemnation, and ends with no separation. I took 2 days to go through the chapter and it was truly a blessing, to mull over the Scripture and mediate on what the Holy Spirit was trying to say to me. One part I really wanna focus on is who will bring a charge against God's elect?! God is the One who justifies. 

Spiritual warfare is a real aspect of the Christian life, sometimes it almost is overwhelming. I do not know about you, but the enemy really attacks my relationship with the Lord. I used to live a horrible past, full of indulgence, promiscuity, drugs and alcohol. Now the only One I want is the Lord Jesus Christ, I desire Him more than life. I feel like the devil is constantly bringing up accusations against me to the Lord. Yet not one of them sticks. The very One whom the devil accuses us to is the very One who justifies!! God is the One who justifies and praise God because of the Lord Jesus Christ, all of those things the devil accuses the children of God of, the Lord Himself bore on the cross. Rejoice in the fact that you because of Christs' blood are justified before God!!

Do you wanna be great??...

If you have yet to realize it, the kingdom of God is very different from the kingdom of the world. The kingdom of the world tells you, get yours, what's in it for you, think about yourself, etc. etc. If we could sum up the kingdom of this world in one word, it would be self. The world is all about the individual. Yet Christ demands that His subjects do the total opposite. Jesus says if anyone wants to be great among you, he is to be your servant. You wanna be great in the kingdom of Christ, then go serve someone. Give yourself completely to the cause of Christ in the serving of others. This is how one is great within the kingdom of Christ. 

Yet there is an attitude I see especially in myself, but in the church as well. We have this attitude that this is all we are going to do and it is enough. I serve at a homeless ministry once a week that is enough, let someone else tell my co-workers, my family, my friends, the eternal blessing of knowing and surrendering to Jesus Christ as Lord. This lady really looks like someone I could definitely share Christ with but I am on my way to church so I will let someone else tell her. The Bible says make the most of every opportunity. Let's be honest with ourselves I don't make the most of probably 1/2 the opportunities I am given, due to my hardness of heart, or whatever the case maybe. Yet think if we really did make the most of every opportunity, think about what we could accomplish for the kingdom of God, think about how Christ would be glorified in our lives?? 

Give me an example. Recently we just had a pretty bad storm, my family were without power for a week and lemme tell ya, it felt like a month!! How many people did we extend a hand to and ask if they had power, if they did not, how many of us invited these people into our homes? How many of us with chain saws went out and offered to cut up people's trees that had fallen with out expecting anything in return. In fact denying them even when they offered to pay because just as we had been given a free gift of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, we wanted to freely give a gift. How many of us stopped and thanked utility workers instead of complaining to them that our power was not back on. How many of us grumbled that we could not watch t.v. instead of using the time the power was out to get close to our real Source of power the Lord Jesus Christ?? 

Oh I know I am taking this thing too far, I know that you work hard all week and you don't wanna do anything but rest on the days that you have off. I know that gas costs money, and maybe some people would be unappreciative. You know what I call this?? COMFORT. Let me ask you where in the Bible the Words of the Living God does He ever want us to be comfortable?? We must be reading a totally different Bible, because the Word of God that I open says "He died so that they who live might no longer live for themselves but for He who died and rose again on their behalf". 2 Cor. 5:15. The Bible says God owns the cattle on a thousands hills, He owns the house that you did not open up to strangers who could have seen the love of Jesus Christ, He owns the chain saw that you failed to use for His glory, He owns the money that we failed to buy gas with and help someone else out. I am glad the apostles were not comfortable, had they been I would not be writing on this very subject this morning. You know who I am glad chose not to remain comfortable?? Even Jesus Christ. 

Although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking on the form of a servant, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross...

Philippians 2:5-8 

Contend earnestly for the faith...

Many developments and trends in the church are very disturbing to me. Let me introduce myself, I am a Christian. In the Biblical sense, I am not some famous minister, I am not highly regarded, I am just a person who lives the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a preacher of the Gospel, which in my estimation is the highest and most sacred calling one could receive. For a long time I took this calling for granted, yet I have repented and begun to really be in awe that God would call someone like me to preach His word. I am about to go to Taiwan and take the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to this nation, and could not be more excited. Yet as much as I cannot wait to leave this country, many trends that the church is taking are just plain disturbing. 

One of my favorite internet sites is http//www.alittleleaven.com check this site out and look at the atrocities that the "church" is engaging in. What in the world are we doing?? Is this really what it looks like to follow Jesus Christ?? I really do fear for the church in America, I really do fear that God is going to chasten His bride (that I do not fear) what I fear is that this chastening is going to be very refining. It must grieve the heart of God to see His body, His ambassadors playing church. We have taken everything that is holy and somehow put a spin of the world on to it. We feel like the Gospel itself is not sufficient. We may not say this with our lips we sure do say it with our lives. What do you mean?? When you invite someone to church, or share the with someone your faith what does that look like? Are you telling people come to my church they have all kinds of neat programs and they have all kinds of fun activities and oh yeah by the way we are going to worship Jesus a little bit. 

Whatever happened to letting a person know where they stand before a holy and just God? Whatever happened to the preaching of the cross, and the  preaching of Christ and Him crucified? Whatever happened to being not ashamed of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Where is the zeal, where is the passion for the lost, the passion to see God glorified in the lives of people?? Does it bother you that there are people on this earth that do not give God glory? Does it burden you that there are people who are going to die in their sin and spend eternity suffering in eternal hell? Does it bother you that you have the answer to death, you have the bread of life, the very truth of God and we use His Bible to prop up windows, or they sit in our cars or on our coffee tables and collect dust!!?? 

WAKE UP!!! Would the church of Jesus Christ please step up. Would the real, pure, holy bride of the King of Kings even Jesus Christ step up and serve the Lord with a consuming passion, with a zeal that absolutely the world has not seen!!! Contend for the faith brothers and sisters in Christ, beg the unbelievers to be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20)! Serve, pray, witness, glorify Jesus Christ with your lives!!!