Saturday 3 March 2018

Not Everyone Will

Not Everyone will
Jesus said,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’  
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Matthew 7:21-23.
It has been said by many both inside and outside the church that if you want to find any kind of wrong doing all you have to do is look at the church.
I would agree. The church as an institution is an old and carries a lot of baggage. There has been many things done by the church that is wrong, everything from the crusades, to murder, to theft to child abuse.
Many calling themselves Christians have acted like hypocrites, bigots and worse.
While these people may say they are Christians, followers of Christ Jesus. They are not.
In the above scripture I quoted Jesus tells us “not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of Heaven.” many who call themselves Christians will find themselves cast into hell. It’s that plane and simple.
The Apostle Paul said,
“For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.” 2Timothy 4:3,4.
This happened in the time of the Apostles it is still happening today.
That is one of the many reasons the New Testament was written. It was inspired by God to show believers in Christ Jesus what God expects of them. To tell believers in Christ what is right and wrong before God.
And the only way we can know what God expects of a believer in Christ Jesus is to study the bible as a whole and the New Testament in particular.
We also need to make sure we are studying the word of God in the context of how it was written. We should never “cherry pick”. Listening to only what we want to hear.
St. Augustine wrote,
“If you believe what you like in the gospels, 
and reject what you don’t like, 
it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.” 
                                                     St Augustine.
If you claim to be a believer in Christ Jesus are you truly studying the whole of the Bible or just the parts you like?
Please think about it.

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