Work hard for the Lord

Work hard for the Lord and be sincere,
Hold God’s Word in your heart without fear.
May your faith in Christ never cease,
For by that the Lord you will please.

Don’t worry about the world’s derision,
But trust wholly in God’s provision.
The world and its lust will be judged,
For its thoughts and deeds are smudged.

Be kind in words, thoughts and actions,
For heaven takes notes of your transactions.
Pray and intercede for those afflicted,
For those in darkness and the wrongly convicted.

And faithfully you the Gospel preach,
To each you find in your reach.
That they may believe and be saved,
So no longer they in sin remain enslaved.

Work because you love the Lord and the needy,
Don’t be slow when you need to be speedy.
For the harvest is plenty but the labourers are few,
So pray for more labourers both Gentile and Jew.

Do not hesitate to rebuke a sinner!

We are to rebuke a sinner so that he or she turns to the Lord Jesus in the way of righteousness. Now a rebuke does not have to be a loud rant. One can be calm but et bold in rebuking a sinner so that he or she sins no more. You should never be so scared to rebuke someone that you altogether don’t rebuke at all. Now all those who hear rebuke may not every time repent. However that shouldn’t worry you because it will serve as a warning to others. Also pray for the one who you are rebuking so that they receive it with true understanding.

• A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding than a hundred blows into a fool. (Proverbs 17:10)
• If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. (Matthew 18:15)
• Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. (Luke 17:3)
• Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)
• Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning. (1 Timothy 5:20)
• All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16)
• My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. (James 5:19-20)

Be On Guard Against False Doctrine

Let us be on our guard against false doctrine. Unsound faith will never be the mother of really sound practice, and in these latter days, departures from the faith abound. See then that your loins be girded about with truth, and be very jealous of receiving anything which cannot be proved by the Bible.

Do not think for a moment that false doctrine will meet you face to face, saying, “I am false doctrine, and I want to come into your heart.” Satan does not go to work in that way. He dresses up false doctrine like Jezebel — he paints her face and attires her hair, and tries to make her like truth. Do not think that those who preach error will never preach anything that is true. Error would do little harm if that was the case. No! Error will come before you mingled with much that is sound and scriptural.

~ J.C. Ryle

Prayers leading to Christmas – 25

O Lord Jesus the Redeemer of the world, I pray that this Christmas and even further on, that you lead your people in a special way, to care for the poor and the needy. I ask in faith that you cause more of your preachers to speak about feeding the poor, being kind to the lonely, and visiting widows and orphans in their afflictions. Let them not shy away from preaching about the need to do good works in the name of the Lord God. By the Holy Spirit, give each and every of my Christian brothers and sisters the grace, to cheerfully help those in need of food, clothing, shelter and respect. Let us be the light that shines in the darkness to those who are in despair and gloom. I also pray that the people of the world, too do whatever they can, to bring good things to those in trouble. I ask eagerly that those in law enforcement are kind to the homeless and rescue people from slavery all over the world. I ask this in your Holy Name. Amen.

Debunking the sin consciousness trick used by false preachers

We live in times where apostasy is ever on the rise. There have always been heretics who have misled others into wrong doing by promoting falsehood against the Lord God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Any man, woman or child who professes faith in the Lord Jesus Christ must be on guard against the attacks on his or her faith, be it from the world or within the church. This nothing new under the sun and has happened since many years. It’s just that the terms and topics of heresies change, but they have one thing in common, they deny the Lord by denying the truth of his Holy Word.

• ³ Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. ⁴ For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.  (Jude 1:3-4)
• But there were also lying Prophets among the people, as there shall be lying teachers also among you, those who bring destructive heresies and deny the Lord who bought them, while bringing upon themselves speedy destruction. (2 Peter 2:1)

 

What is sin consciousness?

There are preachers who say ‘Why do we bother telling people to “stop sinning!” or “be holy!”? When obviously nobody can stop sin or even be holy? Can you?’ They then go on give out verses which prove that Christ died for our sins and he fulfilled the law for us and also how people can end up sinning again and again. Obviously, we are forgiven by the death and resurrection of Jesus. It true that people do sin repeatedly. However what they conveniently skip is the fact we cannot continue to live in sin and must repent of it, every time.

By sin consciousness they go on to say that you are focusing more on your sin instead of being ‘Christ conscious’. What they actually mean is that you are too focused on your sinful nature and repenting from your sins instead of focusing on Jesus Christ. Their main contention is that Christ died for all of your sins be past, present or future so you don’t need to bother about sinning. Basically, even if you sin you won’t miss out on heaven. This is far from the truth in fact.

It is a false doctrine to tell Christians that after their first repentance, they never need to repent again for new sins. The blood of Jesus does not automatically wash away FUTURE sins, sins need to be repented of after they are committed. If you disagree, just ask Ananias and Sephira about their pre-forgiven sin. This is why repentance in mentioned in the Lord’s Prayer.

 

Christ consciousness or obedience to God?

Also the bit which they mention about being ‘Christ conscious’ is hardly a Biblical term. And is in fact used in other religions (refer to this link). That itself should be red flag unto a true believer in Christ.

And any thing about being conscious about Christ must be in keeping with the Word of God or else its just falsehood against the Gospel.

When a Christian wants to meditate on Christ it is not just worshiping the Lord but also obeying him. The following verses confirm that we are to obey Christ Jesus who is the Word God.

• For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
• [Jesus said,] you are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. (John 15:14)
  
• Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves. (James 1:22)

 

Teaching disobedience by not repenting is a heretical denial of the commands of Jesus Christ

When Jesus himself commands all people to repent of their sin, then those you who call themselves as believers in Christ too much preach repentance and nothing less.  Here are some verses to reflect on:

• From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17)
• Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. (Revelation 2:5)
• ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

 

 

No who teaches false doctrine must be accepted by those who believe in Christ

It goes beyond question that those who truly love the Lord Jesus Christ must obey him and believe in Him and adhere to the teachings of the Gospel. Anything away from this is false doctrine which a believer must reject and flee away from.

• ⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6-9)
• ⁴⁶ “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? ⁴⁷ Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: ⁴⁸ he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:46-49)
  
• If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. (1 Corinthians 16:22)

 

 

Choose repentance anytime and every time instead of getting tricked by the sin consciousness trick

I’ve mentioned this earlier in one of my previous posts but let me say it again; Why does the Lord throughout the Bible keep warning of severe judgement if some were to receive the mark of the Beast? There are verses that say that those who receive it, will never be forgiven (please refer to Revelation 14:9-11). If the Lord knows that some people are going to sin why does he not use the ‘auto forgiven for the future’ stance? Because simply, such a thing does not exist and is wholly inconsistent with the Gospel. You need to repent if you sin. Period.

 

Sow the seed of the Word of God

“Are you sowing into the Kingdom of God?”, that’s one question both good and corrupt preachers tend to ask their ‘flock’ these days. If you hear the preaching on TV chances are more that once you may heard “Are you sowing into the Kingdom of God? And if not then don’t expect God to bless you.” and so on. Questions of these sort make people fear a lot at times while others go even more miserly!

First off we are not to give our offerings to anyone who is preaching a false gospel. Secondly it’s not a sin to give our offerings which can help spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all the nations. And thirdly we are not called to live in deception. So, don’t get entangled into giving ‘seed’ offerings to those who are only looking forward to consuming your offerings for their personal luxuries instead of using it actually preach and by preach I mean preach the Gospel in its entirety. Those who preach prosperity as the sole output of believing in the Gospel need a lot of preaching as to why the 12 Apostles of Jesus except for John died by martyrdom instead of living like actual princes. O people of God, please check whom are you considering as a real preacher of the Gospel before you send your offerings to them. I once heard, that which preacher you give your offerings to, you end up partaking of their spiritual legacy. I that to this; so be careful if the preacher is not of the right spirit because you’d end up receiving the bad effects of the same!

With all this being said, there is less emphasis these days especially by quite a lot of preachers who are not telling their TV ‘flock’ to sow the seed of the Word of God into the lives of others. Now I’m not talking about brainwashing others into causing them to give their offerings at so and so ministry or preacher. But rather this is about preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to others. Now for many reasons, there are people who are still not able to define ‘others’. So let me make it real to you; your numerous friends, relatives, colleagues, people everywhere who have still not heard of the Gospel  are the ‘others’.  Let me make it clear your aim is preach whenever possible. However don’t make an excuse that it’s not possible to preach at all. I’d say that if your life is in righteousness in the Lord God, then there is no reason to fear sowing the see of the Word of God into others you can reach out to. I’m not saying go to a remote desert or island and find people to preach to. If that’s however the call of God for you then I won’t mind at all, in fact I’d encourage you. My point is; there are others near enough to preach the Gospel to, so go out and reach to them.

Now even before you decide to preach to others, I’d strongly suggest that you get right with the Lord God. Don’t get disqualified when you aim to help others to grasp the Gospel and embrace it. Any sinful tendency must not cling to your heart when preaching. Don’t lie to your heart ever; that unless you tackle sin you won’t preach the Gospel but you don’t know when you’d stop sinning.  Self deception is a great hindrance to preaching the Gospel! Some take pride in ‘living’ a holy life and consider themselves superior to  sinners. That pride itself is a sin. If you are not sinning, then don’t exalt yourself but praise the Lord God for that.

The work that you do for the Lord God in sowing the seed of the Word of God into the life of others, must also be accompanied by sincerity and humility, else it would be dead works. You’d not like to lose your eternal reward that comes from the Lord God due to silly reasons like clinging to pride or lack of belief in the Gospel. But if you preach the Word of God for the love of God and in purity then be assured that your reward will surely endure forever in heaven and in new heaven and new earth to come.

 

Reflect on the below verses:
³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” ³² But Jesus said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. ³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. ³⁶ Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” (John 4:31-38)

The real offenders must be still be preached the Gospel

Quick reminder: Preach the true Gospel everytime

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season;reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you,always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:1-5)

But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” It is these who cause divisions, worldly people,devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved,building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others bysnatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. (Jude 1:17-23)

Quick reminder: Share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with other’s

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.  Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. (Mark 16:15-16)

And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’