Post by TheFirebrand on Oct 14, 2012 9:28:33 GMT -6
"Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. " 1 John 3:16
For us "laying down our lives" does not mean it must be a physical death. A rich man was once told by Christ to give up his wealth and follow Him ...
The 12 disciples dropped their entire existence in order to carry on the ministry of Christ. They were career men with families and they sacrificed that life to live for God with longsuffering, persecution, imprisonment and so on. Eventually they were put to death, but their lives had already been given by that time ...
What are you giving up for Christ?
People think times have changed, that the requirements for ministry are different now. WRONG! God doesn't change, the rules don't change. Neither does His true church.
History has been lost. The church no longer serves it's true purpose. It serves man's purpose. The Bible is no longer a source of information. Its become a menu and a set of convenient guidelines.
The church today does not even know its true history from a hundred years ago let alone over a thousand years ago before the great plague that destroyed much knowledge of our Christian heritage. Our history has been rewritten by man. The Bible has been reprinted by man. There are some parts of the Bible that if not studied, leave us deceived. Even and especially the King James.
The true powers that be, the Bloodlines, Satan all have rule over the earth. From the steeples on your rooftops to the money poored into materialism and entertainment, the church now belongs to him!!! Bought and paid for!
Ye ought be concerned who owns your souls! What book is your name in? If you think you know then you no longer strive to be with God or to be His servant!
Don't be arrogant and assuming. Never be dormant in your faith or wavering in your walk. True Christianity is not given a wide birth. It is only down the narrow path that we can follow God. A true passion for Christ must first come from knowing His anguish, not our own!
His heart is in a deep sorrow over what has become of the church. And all you people do is go to these places of music and fun and you just wanna dance around and hoot and holler. The only time you fall to your knees weeping is when you feel like begging God for the things you want ... without ever asking what you can do for Him!
Let me tell you something, God blesses us in good faith. He gives us the benefit of the doubt and the chance to see that working for Him will be beneficial. But after a while, if you continue to ask and ask and ask for more and more, you may be given some of those things, but it is no longer God providing. It is the devil keeping you convinced that you are right with God and that all your possessions and comforts are true blessings.
That will simply not always be the case (every situation and relationship is different) but God is not interested in how many things we have in our personal collections, how big our houses are or how many cars we own. He does not necessarily provide those items. What He does is provide us with is a financial responsibility to be used for His purpose. Tho, once you start consistently spending that money on materialism, conveniences and entertainment (in home or church) you no longer serve God, but mammon. So you are blessed by the latter ...
There are many people who spend much time in prayer for wanted things, even needed things and never receive them. These may perhaps be individuals with a true heart for God, but God needs something from them first. He will wait and see how far and how long you will go without and still remain faithful to Him ...
But because some of these poor folks enter into a church and see hundreds, even thousand of people who appear to be living wonderful lives with job stability, nice vehicles and always wearing a smile ... those poor persons feel inadequate, unworthy and confused. They leave thinking that something is wrong with them. That God does not care for them. They know very little about what the Scriptures say and therefore they remain lost to the truth of God's will ...
Don't get me wrong. I know there are some people in the world who are very well blessed directly from God and are in the full truth, but they are very few in number ... and we may not know who they are or the true nature of their walk with God. Daniel is a prime example of this ...
But we cannot all be Daniels nor would we be. Neither can we all be Pauls, but none of us should ever be like that rich man who would not give up his lifestyle. Or like those who walked away from Christ because the offer to live and learn from Him wasn't pretty or glamorous.
What we ought to be like is a someone who is always questioning where his or her own faith stands with God. Always pursuing knowledge, striving for more truth, never content in where we are (except in God's grace). Because once we find contentment while still in this world, then we truly have put down our lives ... just not for God.
For us "laying down our lives" does not mean it must be a physical death. A rich man was once told by Christ to give up his wealth and follow Him ...
The 12 disciples dropped their entire existence in order to carry on the ministry of Christ. They were career men with families and they sacrificed that life to live for God with longsuffering, persecution, imprisonment and so on. Eventually they were put to death, but their lives had already been given by that time ...
What are you giving up for Christ?
People think times have changed, that the requirements for ministry are different now. WRONG! God doesn't change, the rules don't change. Neither does His true church.
History has been lost. The church no longer serves it's true purpose. It serves man's purpose. The Bible is no longer a source of information. Its become a menu and a set of convenient guidelines.
The church today does not even know its true history from a hundred years ago let alone over a thousand years ago before the great plague that destroyed much knowledge of our Christian heritage. Our history has been rewritten by man. The Bible has been reprinted by man. There are some parts of the Bible that if not studied, leave us deceived. Even and especially the King James.
The true powers that be, the Bloodlines, Satan all have rule over the earth. From the steeples on your rooftops to the money poored into materialism and entertainment, the church now belongs to him!!! Bought and paid for!
Ye ought be concerned who owns your souls! What book is your name in? If you think you know then you no longer strive to be with God or to be His servant!
Don't be arrogant and assuming. Never be dormant in your faith or wavering in your walk. True Christianity is not given a wide birth. It is only down the narrow path that we can follow God. A true passion for Christ must first come from knowing His anguish, not our own!
His heart is in a deep sorrow over what has become of the church. And all you people do is go to these places of music and fun and you just wanna dance around and hoot and holler. The only time you fall to your knees weeping is when you feel like begging God for the things you want ... without ever asking what you can do for Him!
Let me tell you something, God blesses us in good faith. He gives us the benefit of the doubt and the chance to see that working for Him will be beneficial. But after a while, if you continue to ask and ask and ask for more and more, you may be given some of those things, but it is no longer God providing. It is the devil keeping you convinced that you are right with God and that all your possessions and comforts are true blessings.
That will simply not always be the case (every situation and relationship is different) but God is not interested in how many things we have in our personal collections, how big our houses are or how many cars we own. He does not necessarily provide those items. What He does is provide us with is a financial responsibility to be used for His purpose. Tho, once you start consistently spending that money on materialism, conveniences and entertainment (in home or church) you no longer serve God, but mammon. So you are blessed by the latter ...
There are many people who spend much time in prayer for wanted things, even needed things and never receive them. These may perhaps be individuals with a true heart for God, but God needs something from them first. He will wait and see how far and how long you will go without and still remain faithful to Him ...
But because some of these poor folks enter into a church and see hundreds, even thousand of people who appear to be living wonderful lives with job stability, nice vehicles and always wearing a smile ... those poor persons feel inadequate, unworthy and confused. They leave thinking that something is wrong with them. That God does not care for them. They know very little about what the Scriptures say and therefore they remain lost to the truth of God's will ...
Don't get me wrong. I know there are some people in the world who are very well blessed directly from God and are in the full truth, but they are very few in number ... and we may not know who they are or the true nature of their walk with God. Daniel is a prime example of this ...
But we cannot all be Daniels nor would we be. Neither can we all be Pauls, but none of us should ever be like that rich man who would not give up his lifestyle. Or like those who walked away from Christ because the offer to live and learn from Him wasn't pretty or glamorous.
What we ought to be like is a someone who is always questioning where his or her own faith stands with God. Always pursuing knowledge, striving for more truth, never content in where we are (except in God's grace). Because once we find contentment while still in this world, then we truly have put down our lives ... just not for God.