I am inspired by Canadian apologist Wesley Huff. He never convinces, he simply puts the facts down on the table, whether pretty or ugly. Neat or messy.
Nothing is sugar coated.
It is what it is, and he trusts the Holy Spirit to do the rest.
So what kind of a Christian do you want to be?
Almost 10 years ago, God stepped into my life powerfully, starting an unbelievable transformation. However, with a bit of a shock I started realizing that a lot of what I believed, is in the Bible… but not the message of the Bible. I was reading the bible and it was like I was reading it for the first time! I wasn’t hitting one or two verses and teaching… I was reading context… large passages and chapters… and the message looked completely different!
But this is a problem almost older than the bible… Maybe not intentional, but we end up twisting words and verses to mean what we want it to mean, not what its purpose is.
We want motivation, or peace, or joy… so we pick and choose parts of the bible or even parts of bible verses to match our message.
Worse than that is when people take the message and turns it inside out so that teaches the opposite of what the bible meant…
At the end of his life, John writes against False teachings that enters the church… (Specifically the Gnostics, who believed in Salvation through Knowledge)
Their teaching were half truths (AKA “Fully False”)
For instance…
1. God is good, and God is Spirit. The Spirit is Good. But the world is evil and a trap we must escape from.
2. Salvation comes through knowledge (Gnosis) of which Jesus was the ”revealer”. Secret knowledge about how to escape the clutches of the evil world, and reach “God”.
But we can’t really know God… can we??
So since God the Father, the Creator God which has become known to us through Christ and His own revelations throughout the old testament, it stands to reason that he can therefore not be the ultimate and Supreme God… there must be one above even Him…. obviously. Because who can really understand and know God?
See how the truth is just twisted enough to sound … just about right? But it is absolutely not, and was splitting the church!
This is 2,000 years ago…
What are we faced with today?
Let me step back on step…
So what kind of a Christian do you want to be?
Last year was a preparation year… this year is a Kairos year, a year of harvest. A year of activity! A year in which we stand up and DO what Jesus commanded us. A year in which Wedon’t stand back for the world.
But to do that, we cannot be confused. We need to be sure, because if the devil cannot keep you out of heaven (which he can’t) he will do the next best thing, and that is to keep you from living your purpose and calling… keeping you sidelined with confusion and misdirection.
Luckily John’s message was true and good advice back then, and good advice today:
- Test the spirits,
- Test the spirit in which a message is delivered;
- Test the message – does it match God’s character?
and then… - Check if it says anything different than what Christ taught, and what Christ lived.
Lets hit up ol’ John:
”Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
(1 John 4:1 NIV)
John makes a few things clear:
“…but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.”
(Matthew 4:3 NIV)
ANYTHING… ANY Teaching that reduces the works of Christ or Him as our only path of salvation, is not from God… DISCARD!
Next:
Can the world or any evil overcome a believer? John says no. Well, technically no… A believer can give up their belief and faith. It is a free will choice, after all. (John refers to that in 1John 5)
“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”
(1 John 4:4 NIV)
And…
”We know that anyone born of God [reborn] does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.”
(1 John 5:18 NIV)
But John warns that, that doesn’t mean everything will just be plain sailing and hunky dory!
”We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.”
(1 John 5:19 NIV)
Why do we expect an easy life? Why do we think we will not be attacked around every corner?
We stand in direct oposition of everything in the world, and if you don’t believe that, you have not paid much attention to how Christians are attacked on issues like abortion and equality.
If you do not chase what the world chases, and do not love what the world loves, you will be persecuted, made fun of, mishandled and judged. You have to choose… Love the worldly or Love God. (We do, however, love the people of the world… that is commanded by God! Even though they are diametrically opposite to us and oppose us at every turn)
Remember what John warns in this passage:
”Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.”
(1 John 2:15,16 NIV)
As I said, John does remind us to “Love one another…”
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”
(1 John 3:16 NIV)
John commands us to follow the commands of Jesus to love and care for each other. In all things.
So… The world likes to encourage us to chase fame and fortune, love and relationships, power and influence, and will even remind us that God promised it to us, if we want it…
Remember in Matthew it says:
“If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
(Matthew 21:22 NIV)
and
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
(Matthew 7:7-11 NIV)
So John counters with a “for instance”. He says yes, it is true. Ask God for anything IN HIS WILL and it will come in His time:
”This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”
For Instance…
”If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life.”
(1 John 5:14-16 NIV)
Is it in the will of God that someone should be redeemed?
Jesus says yes:
“And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.”
(John 6:39 NIV)
and… why sometimes the delay? So that healing can take place, or repentance, or growth… because it will be better that way.
”Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
(2 Peter 3:9 NIV)
Also, God doesn’t want us to judge the sinner… He does expect us to condemn the sin… and then He expects us to act! How should we act? Should we ask them not to come to bible study…? put them out of church? No…
- Love the person
- Pray for the person
- Actively interfere until they are back and saved…
What is John teaching? Just what was taught from the begining.
- “Love one another
- “Invest into each other”
- “If you have, Give. If you don’t have, pray” and then;
- “Pray until you have, and then give and pray”
- “Don’t stop”
Is it a new teaching? Nope… It is just the words and actions of Jesus…
Remember Zacchaeus the Tax Collector… He came to repentance and …
”Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
(Luke 19:9-10 NIV)
so… in conclusion….
”In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,”
(1 John 5:3 NIV)
Men…. (And women… ALL believers…)
DO NOT drop the ball.
DO NOT be fooled by half-truths and;
DO NOT be enticed by the world.
Think about the world we are in,
The situations facing us today.
The challenges and the struggles.
The decissions we have to make.
…but more than that. The people God expects us to reach out to, to pray for, to invite to church, to speak to over lunch…
Did God not make us exactly for a time like this?
If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise from another place, but you and your family will perish.
You have come to your position for such a time as this
…these are not my words, but I will take them as my warning…
