Reformation Not, Revival

 Reformation Not, Revival.

The apostle Paul wrote,

"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 beyond doubt is happening in the North American church today. We have evangelist and pastors who rather than gathering wise biblical teachers and scholars around them as advisors that tell the truth.

    Men and women who will at times disagree with them, correct them, and say why they are doing so. They pick and choose only those that think the way they think.

The result is such people can easily, and frequently do, misuse the word of God to say what they want to say. 

Some do so out of ignorance or because they have not had good teaching in their lives. Others do so for personal gain. Deliberately misleading those who would follow them.

Walking in evangelical circles here in Canada I hear a lot about the need for revival. Revival being, a reawakening within the church. While this needs to happen. What needs to happen first is Reformation.

Reformation a turning back to the fundamentals of our Christian faith. 

By this I mean we need to take a hard look at what passes for Christianity. We need to heed the words of the apostle Paul who wrote,

"What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?  God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you." 1 Corinthians 5:12,13.

We need to get out of politics and believing the lie that the United States and Canada are Christian nations. We need to heed the apostle Peters words who said,

“Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.  

Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” 1 Peter 2:11,12.

We need to take a good look at the evangelist and pastors that we support who are millionaires to see if they are “in love with money”. Remembering that the apostle Paul wrote,

"For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1 Timothy 6:10.

And while there is nothing wrong with being a millionaire we must ask them would you be willing to give up everything to follow Jesus? Jesus quoted as telling a rich man,

"Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Matthew 19:21..

Please think about it.

Not my Job

Not my Job
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 7:1,2
Do you judge the world and those around you? Do you look on people you disagree with, people who are living a lifestyle you disagree with and judge them?
We should not be doing this.
We however are told to by Paul to not associate with immoral people who call themselves brothers in Christ. Paul says,
“I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.  
But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat
“What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?  
God will judge those outside. “Expel the wicked man from among you.”  1Corinthians 5:9-13.
Unfortunately all too many Christians do the opposite to what Paul says. They judge those outside our faith and turn a blind eye or refuse to speak out against anyone who claims to be a brother in Christ and is,
“..sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler.”
We as Christians seem to have a bad record when it comes to speaking up against those who are doing wrong within our faith. Things that makes us look bad.
Likewise we have a very bad record when it comes to judging those outside the church. Some outside the Christian community, because of the negative actions they see done in the name of Christ,  going as far as calling Christians hypocrites and bigots.
We need to be open and honest. Christianity like any group will from time to time find people in their midst that are Christians in name only. Their actions are not actions of true believers.
We need as Paul says, to, “Expel the wicked from among us.”
As for judging others outside our faith we need to stop doing it period. There is a quote I am fond of quoting from the late American evangelist Billy Graham who said,

“It is the Holy Spirits Job to Convict, 

God's job to judge

 and my job to love,” 

                         Billy Graham

He’s right. We would not want people judging us simply because we disagree with their beliefs of lifestyle.
Rather than judging others we should remember the words of Jesus who said,
"So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets" Matthew 7:12.
If we remembered just these words of Jesus we would be able to present the Gospel of Christ far more easily and win more souls for Christ.
Please think about it.