Christ In You

I'm sorry that my blog seems so bleak at times.  I really am, but I cannot, and will never, peddle the word of God for profit like so many of those in ministry today.  I will never be one of those popular ministers that claims "victory over you in the name of Jesus!" or tells you how financially prosperous God surely wants you to be.  There are too many in the church today that clamor for such messages that soothe their ears, while the world falls into anarchy and destruction all around them.

Messages of God's abundant grace and spiritual inspiration to even the most lukewarm believer can be found today through no great effort, but messages about God's fearsome wrath toward sin are far and few between.  The reason we find ourselves in today's wanton and licentious culture is because the church, as a whole, has utterly lost its reverential fear and awe of the holy God it claims to serve.  We have sex outside of marriage, we have multiple divorces, we gossip and slander, we lust after money, we lust after our own image, we lust after comfort, we lust after entertainment, we praise God on Sunday and fall into indifference, distraction and self-pursuit the rest of the week.  And when I say "we" I'm not talking about the world, I'm talking about the church.  And then we cry out to God about men being able to use women's restrooms, like we don't have any idea how we reached this point of insanity. 

Things are going to get worse, I wish I didn't have to say that, but I do because that truth is like a fire in my bones.  Judgment is coming to this nation and our phones, Facebook, favorite music interests, favorite TV shows, makeup, fashionable clothes, favorite movies and movie stars, and all the numerous other frivolous and wasteful ways we spend our time, energy and attention, are not going to save us and neither will they matter when the gavel hits the bench.  Neither will our religious methodology or degrees or endless programs or denominational busy-work.  

When Jesus was asked, "Teacher, which commandment is the greatest in the Law?"  He responded, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt 22:36-38).  When we love God with all our heart, soul and mind, there is no room for anything else.  However, such correctly-directed love enables us to correctly distribute it to everything else in our life.  Now is the time to fall on our face before the holy and awesome God we claim to worship, to humble ourselves and repent of all the things that we have allowed to take His rightful place in our lives.  Now is the time to stop following Christ with a divided heart-- one half devoted to personal pursuits, the other half reaching out towards God.  Now is the time to empty our hands and minds which are full of the things of the world.  We are drowning in idolatry, blind to our own spiritual nakedness-- that is my message and I'm sorry no one wants to hear it, but it must be said.  We are in the time of the wise and foolish virgins and I plead with everyone to fill your lamps. 

Right now, the burden upon my spirit is to speak repentance and to encourage all those who claim Christ to come out of the world (Rev 18:3-5).  The only words of hope I can give are to those that desire to turn away from their sin and put their faith in Jesus Christ.  And those words of hope are the glorious spiritual riches of "Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Col 1:27).  I proclaim Christ, and I admonish, counsel, teach and warn everyone in all wisdom, to present every person complete in Christ, "For this purpose I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me." (Col 1:28,29).  Let us all live lives worthy of our calling and stop living lives that take the precious blood of Christ for granted.

"Christ is enough.  To have Him and nothing else is to be rich beyond conceiving." A.W. Tozer

"...that is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.  For this purpose I also labor, striving according to His power which mightily works within me." (Col 1:26-29)

"To the angel of the Church in Laodicea write:  'These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation.
I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.  I wish you were either one or the other!  So because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor old-- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
You say, "I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing."
But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline.  So be earnest and repent.  Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with Me.'" (Rev 3:14-20)

"'For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries.  The kings of the earth have committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.'  Then I heard another voice from heaven say:  'Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.'" (Rev 18:3-5)