It’s time to stand up for Christ

We cannot have one foot in the world and the other foot in the Kingdom. We have to make a choice between God’s way or the world’s way, and by deciding not to choose either then we choose the world’s way.

Source: PInterest

In 2 Corinthians 12:9 the Apostle Paul says; ‘My Grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness’. Paul’s response is amazing, because instead of continuing to plead with God to have the thorn in his side taken away, he goes on to say; ‘Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me’. He continues in verse 10 to say; ‘That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong’. Why mention this you might ask? Well I’ve been pondering recently why the Church (the born-again church), appears to lack any real power and doesn’t appear to be moving very far forward at any great pace, even the parts of the church that do appear to be moving still have little influence on the world. So, as I pondered this and started to think of the many conversations I’d had recently with Christians from various denominations, it occurred to me that instead of being on fire for God as His born again church we’re more like wet squibs and a 'moan again' church.

We seem to have forgotten that our walk with God has nothing to do with us and everything to do with Him. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ‘Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies’. Christ paid the price of our selfish, filthy sin on the cross, He took our place that we might know forgiveness of sin and freedom from death, yet we act like we’re doing Him the favour by allowing Him to be our Saviour. Shame on us! It’s about time we stopped our own pity parties and stopped moaning about what we don’t have or continually focussing on the problems we do have. We should remind ourselves that without God we would have nothing and would be doomed to spend eternity in hell, the place we deserve to spend eternity, instead of having the hope we have of spending eternity in Heaven and in God’s presence, through Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection from the dead.

Source: Sermon Quotes

It’s time for us to stop looking inwards and to start acting like the new creations we are in Christ. We need to serve God as Bond servants, which means we have no rights of our own, we should be subservient to, and entirely at the disposal of our Lord and King to do His will and not ours. Let me re-state the scripture above ‘We are not our own; we were bought at a price. Therefore we are to honour God with our bodies’. We’d do well to remember the command Jesus gave His disciples in John 13:34-35 ‘A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another’. We also need to serve one another as fellow servants and be more concerned about the needs of others than we are about our own needs. As we take our eyes off ourselves and fix them firmly on Christ the author and perfector of our faith and serve Him and one another in love, then I believe we will start to make a massive difference, and in our weaknesses, see God’s power made perfect.

Ask yourself these questions; ‘When people look at you do they see a Temple of the Holy Spirit or a Temple of self?’ Then ask yourself; ‘Do you love the Lord? Do you really love the Lord? Do you really, really love the Lord?’ Then consider; ‘Do you trust the Lord? Do you really trust the Lord? Do you really, really trust the Lord?’ If you’re honest with yourself, these questions could change the way you live your Christian life. We would all do well to remember and follow the words of Jesus in John 5:19 ‘Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does’ and in John 8:28 So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught Me’.

Do we love the world and our own wants and desires more than God? With this in mind, here is one final question. If God asked you to do something you really didn’t want to do, would you do it, even if you didn’t understand why or couldn’t see any sense in it. Would you just do it simply because He asked you to? This is a matter of obedience. 1 John 2:15-17 tells us; ‘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. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives for ever’. We cannot have one foot in the world and the other foot in the Kingdom. We have to make a choice between God’s way or the world’s way, and by deciding not to choose either then we choose the world’s way. Remember we cannot use our weaknesses as an excuse for not doing God’s will, after all God said ‘My Grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness’. We need to live by the truth. God’s Word is truth, and His Word clearly tells us that we are in the last days. You only have to look around if you have eyes to see and ears to hears you will know that this is the case. So, choose, and choose wisely.

I leave you with this final scripture from Romans 12:1-2 ‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will’.

Every blessing.

Author: Kevin Hunt

May God bless and enrich your life

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