Whats wrong with that? Day two

Second thought on the question, “What’s wrong with that?” bids me to pose the question,

What is your moral guide in life?

 Everyone has a guiding compass in their life.  God created all mankind with a conscience.  Paul writing to his son in the Faith describes it this way. 1Timothy 4:1 “ Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron”.  In other words coming to the place to where they are numb to the fact that they are not only speaking lies to others in the name of God but they feel no remorse for leading people to a false holiness or false worship of God.  While the context of this scripture is speaking primarily to preachers of the gospel it also declares unto us that God created us with a conscience or knowledge of good and evil.  Mankind as a whole understands this but there are those who come to the place where they cannot fully grasp the fact that they are accountable to God. 

So as a preacher, am I declaring the Word of God to those who hear me as their moral guide in life?  Am I sharing His standards, His teachings, His doctrine or am I combining it with my personal preferences and personal position on certain subjects.  The Bible is mankind’s moral guide.  Whether a person is a believer or not, the Bible is our guide and by it we are held accountable.  But for the Christian more so, James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

In conclusion, who is your governor in life? Who do you allow to control your thoughts your actions, who are you accountable to?  Yourself…no man lives unto himself; we are all accountable to God.  And what is your moral guide in life?  Your conscience…that’s good but does it line up with God’s word?  Your preacher or some spiritual mentor, that’s good but do their teachings line up with God’s Word?  The Bible is our ultimate authority and litmus test for the question, “What’s wrong with that?”

End Times study should always lead us to Evangelism

We hear it often, "You know, we are living in uncertain times...".  With the constant decline in our economy, rising prices of everything from diapers to gasoline one would think the entire world would be looking for the coming of the Lord.  Unfortunately we have seen a decline in church attendance to now under 826,000 Americans reporting they attend church on a regular basis.  The Word of God tells us that the Lord Jesus will return in a time, "...when ye think not..." Luke 12:40.  In another portion of scripture it describes the Lords return as a thief in the night.  As followers of Christ and believers we are responsible to be looking for the return of the Lord and longing for His return.  The primary responsibility of the church is to be leading to world to Christ.   Jesus last words to His followers on this earth were to commission them to go into all the world with His message.  We are seeking to reach this lost world with the glorious message of the Bible.  World missions is the heart beat of God and missions work in this generation is growing and churches are being planted  According to recent statistics the fastest growing areas of converts to Christ per populous are as follows. First is the Northern Mariana Island (6.64%), then Cameroon (6.07%), next Aruba (5.588%) Guinea (5.02%) and Togo (4.77%) The sixth fastest growing body of believers? French Guiana, at 4.77%. Then Nepal (4.69%), Jordan (4.64%), and Oman (4.43%).  If we truly believe that we erare living in the last days, the generation that will see the return of the Lord Jesus in the air, then we must not just be concerned with the economic state or the political climate, we must be concerned with the lost who die with out Christ around us every day.  Over 55,000 people die daily around the world without ever hearing the True Name of Jesus.

The reason we study the time called the tribulation in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is so it will move the believer to know the urgency of the hour in which we live.  The time is now for the True Church of Jesus Christ to rise up and reach the world for Christ. 

Sermon series beginning this Sunday evening on Discernment in Uncertain times- A study of the End of Days. 

Statistics taken from Church society and 2020 Vision by Bill and Amy Stearns