Mark Cahill - Pray for B.O.B.

Witnessing to Strangers - Mark Cahill

The Idolization of Church!

The picture above tells a thousand stories.  It is so true in today's culture that church has become an event meant to charm you, to emotionalize you, to pull you in.  I love Christian music, I truly do.  I have been blessed by some of the best music around.  I have also been blessed to be around some very good biblical teachers.  I sit comfortably in my soft chair and I "partake" in the worship service.  I feel good when I go home.  I have done my "duty" by being in church.  I have done God a great service by having my "presence" be in church!  I can dance with the best of them, I can jump up and down with the best of them and I can cry with the best of them.  I can pay my tithes at numbers that would put most people to shame.  I am the church!

Now for the reality check!

Read what Scripture tells us.
"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another."
Matthew 24:9-10, KJV

"But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls."
Luke 21:12-19, KJV

"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me."
John 15:18-21, KJV

"If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:"
2 Timothy 2:12, KJV

"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
2 Timothy 3:12, KJV

2 Timothy 4:1-4  King James Version (KJV)

4 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

² Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
⁴ And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

There is an attitude amongst many pastors and church members that goes contrary to the Word of God.  Seemingly very biblical churches and its people can fall into this trap of thinking the building is the all in all.  It is "the" place to be and if you are not in it EVERY time the doors are open, then you must not be saved.  Not a biblical stance at all.  Don't get me wrong.  I do believe we should be in church, gathered together to worship God, to be edified by God's Word and to sing psalms together.  I believe in this 100%.  But many church pastors have come up with a new doctrine, and it is one that says if you are not in church EVERY time the doors are open, then you are not saved.  The church members fall for it hook, line and sinker.  This is where idolatry comes in.

The building is worshipped more than God.
Let me give you an example.
Sunday morning sunday school.
Sunday morning worship service.
Sunday evening worship service.
Monday night prayer night.
Tuesday night bible study.
Wednesday night awana and worship service.

And the list can go on and on.
It is possible to spend all of your spare time in church.  Would you really want someone telling you that you are not saved because you did not sit in church more than once per week?

James 1:22

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

With the above scenario, at what point does a person have an opportunity to be a doer of the word?  Seriously, we have to consider that some of the things we do and expect from our church members can hinder them from truly serving God. 

Pastor's...
are you encouraging your members to GO OUT INTO the world spreading the gospel to everyone they see.  Or are you telling them that they are not saved if they do not stay "inside" "your" church?

Church Members...
Have you locked your faith "inside" the church?  You have been fed God's Word.  Now go out into the streets and reach the lost for Jesus Christ.  It is what "you" are called by God to do.

Time 2 Change Churches!: Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?

Time 2 Change Churches!: Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?

Regeneration Camp video

 https://docs.google.com/file/d/0By_dzZkO_FtbdGF4dkxtV3dZdTg/preview?pli=1

please tell me what you think of this video!

Sodom in America!

Too many times we think of Sodom and Gomorrah and being so very vile and the worst of the worst.  They were completely destroyed by God so that MUST mean they were the worst that has ever been!

WRONG!

In fact, I think you will find that there are others since then that are far worse than Sodom and Gomorrah.

[As] I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.    Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.    Ezekiel 16:48-49

Jerusalem was worse than Sodom because they knew God.  They knew what was expected of them and they still strayed from Him.

And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.    But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.    Matthew 11:23-24

Capernaum was worse than Sodom because they saw the miracles of Jesus and did not believe.  Had Sodom seen those miracles they still would have been around today.

Now, what about America?

Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.    Ezekiel 16:48-49

Pride...
Fullness of bread...
Abundance of idleness...
Did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy...

Pride -- America the Great.  The Greatest nation in the world!  No one is our equal.  We can do what we want to do.
Fullness of bread -- we are the richest nation.  We have it all available to us.  We are gluttons in the grandest sense of the word!
Abundance of idleness -- we have now reached a time in America where 51% of America is either unemployed or underemployed.  They are all on welfare from the government!
Did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy -- in fact, our government is causing more and more people to become poor and needy.  High paying jobs are no longer around.  Foreclosures are higher than ever right now.  Gas prices are soaring.

The very things that Sodom and Gomorrah were guilty of originally, are the very things that we Americans are guilty of right now.  What was the natural consequence of their actions?

Homosexuality ran rampant in the city!
Starting to sound like America yet to you?

Pray that God has mercy on America.  Our nation needs to get back to God and needs to do it quickly.

All I can say is...

He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.    Revelationn 22:20

How many times must this be said??

For by grace are ye saved through faith;

and that not of yourselves:

[it is] the gift of God: 

Not of works, lest any man should boast.   

Ephesians 2:8-9

 



 

 

The more you listen to preachers the more I am convinced that many of them are high on themselves.  They will brag about what "they" do and if "you" are not doing the same things, then you must not be saved.  The problem is that the things they say that they do are no where to be found in the bible.  I pray that you all understand that by grace, the ultimate love of God for His creations, the acknowledgment of us not being worthy on our own merits, that we might be saved through faith and NOT by works, why?  Lest any man should boast!

 

Are you saved?  If you are, then there are some things that you should be doing.  You should be displaying the fruits of the spirit.  You should be helping the homeless, the widows, the unloved.  You should be the light that shines in the darkness.  You should not be doing those things because you think it will get you to heaven. NO.  You do them because you are a saved Christian, who understands the price that Jesus paid on your behalf!

 

Many people will quote the above scripture and say, "By grace are you saved, not by works lest any man should boast."

 

The problem is what has been left out.  THROUGH FAITH.  When we truly understand that it is through faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved, then we will experience the wonderful GIFT OF GOD!

 

My prayer for you today is that you submit yourself to the One who paid for your punishment by shedding His blood on the cross.  Bow down to Jesus Christ and submit to Him as your Lord and Saviour.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son (his unique Son, the one and only Son of God), that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

 

Please do not fall for the works mentality of many preachers today.  We serve a God that is 100% Love and 100% Wrath.  If you know Jesus as Lord and Saviour and you have repented of your sins, then you will experience the 100% Love.  If you are trying to "earn" your way to heaven by way of works, then you have missed the mark.  You will ultimately see Jesus as 100% Wrath. 

 

Humble yourself today.  Submit to Him.  Repent of your sins and know that it is through faith in Jesus that God has extended His grace towards you.  You then, will truly be blessed.

 

Don't we serve and awesome God?