The Gospel Light

 

 

     Have you ever noticed the term being used in the church today: "what do we want in the church" rather than what does God want in the church?  Man has come to the point where man has supplanted the authority of God with the man made rules that will meet the requirements of man rather than those of God.  What many are wanting today is to have a church they can attend and have their consciences soothed where nothing is going to bring a guilt feeling or conviction.  In the process of "playing church"  they come together, sing their songs, offer up a form of prayer, and listen to a message that will not bring conviction or feeling of guilt.

     Churches have come to the point of setting up  boards and committees, which make up rules and regulations, in doing this the churches  have totally disregarded the truth of God's Holy Word.  I have attended churches that the administration of God is completely set aside and man has taken over.

     The true Church is established upon nothing less than Jesus Christ, the chief corner stone.  Jesus said in Matt. 16:18 that He would establish His Church and not even all the powers of Satan could stand against it.

(Mat 16:18)  "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

If a church is built on anything less than Jesus Christ and His righteousness, it is not the true Church. If it is ruled by any other than God Himself the rule is illegitimate.  For the Church is a divinely established institution  with Jesus as its head.  Paul tells us that Jesus is the head of the Church and the Holy Spirit places us in the body and administers the gifts of the spirit as He sees fit.

(1 Cor 12:11-13)  "But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.  12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit."

(Eph 1:22)  "And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,"

     Instead of being sincere and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead and direct the church there are many within the local churches that are trying to do it their own way.  It can be assured that insincere love is detectable by those on the receiving end.  It is also very detectable when people are insincere about those things of God in the Church.  When a guest enters into the local church he should be able to sense the true desire of the people to do the will of God.  But, in churches today all to often you get the image that the people are not sincere and that they are playing some sort of "church games".

     The Church needs to get back to the original pattern for the Church which was exemplified by the early Church.  The early Church understood the concept of letting the Holy Spirit have complete control of the local congregation.  It also knew the importance of presenting the word of God through the power of God, bringing about the conversion of sinners and the miracles of God as seen in the early Church.  Instead of doing things their own way, those in the early Church would come together to worship God, to learn more about that wonderful savior that gave His life on calvary,  to pray and have Christian fellowship together.  This being in sharp contrast to the modern church where people want to be the object, which is the center of attention.  A very good example of this was given by Jesus when He described the two men praying in the temple.

(Luke 18:9-14)  "And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:  10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.  11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.  12  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.  13  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.  14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

In many of the local congregations of today, doesn't this sound familiar?  People want to be the one seen, the one praised, the one that will be the center of attention.  But, when you take all into consideration who will be the ones that are justified?  The ones exalting themselves, or those who are humbly following the lead of the Holy Spirit?  Isn't it time that we get back to the Biblical standard for the Church rather than "playing church"?  God is not and has never been happy with anything less than complete obedience to Him and to His word.  God has to be number one, He will not accept second place.

(Deu 5:7)  "Thou shalt have none other gods before me."
 
That means not self or any other god that we may place before God.  He says He is a jealous God and He will not allow you to make anything more important than He is.

(Deu 5:7-9)  "Thou shalt have none other gods before me.  8  Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: 9  Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,"

Isn't it time we quit "playing church" and got back to making God number one in our lives and in our worship?  Jesus said the chief commandment was to love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, and strength.

 (Mark 12:30)  "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment."

Let us love Him and honor Him in our church services.  Let's not be just trying to soothe our conscience or trying to be the important one in church.  Let's not just go through the motions, but instead let's come together as the family of God and truly worship the Lord God Almighty.
 
 
 

 

     The vast majority of people today do not understand the basic mysteries of the Bible.  They don't realize that they lie open and available to all who will listen to the Spirit of God.  Unlike in the days before Christ, we can know the mysteries of God.  (Eph 3:2-5)  If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:  How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,  Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)  Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;".  We see that it was revealed through His apostles and prophets.  With this being the case why then do so many today not know of the mysteries of God, such as what we must do to be saved.  Much of the reason lies in the lack of sound preaching and teaching in churches today.  Many pastors are more worried about what people think of them than what God thinks of them; thus taking the position that they would rather please men than God.  Oh what a dreadful and dangerous position to hold.  By seeking to please man these ministers take the opposite position from the apostles who stated:  (Acts 5:29) "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men."

     It is impossible to truly minister to the people the ways of God and not cause an offence.  (1 Cor 1:17-18) "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God."  Many are not going to want to hear the truth.  Such as the fact that we are not to sin.  (1 John 2:1) "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:"  (1 John 3:8) "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil."  It is not popular to preach that we must live above sin, but it is the word of God.  The apostles and prophets preached it.  It is part of the revealed mysteries of God.  But how can this be?  Haven't we all sinned?  Yes, we have all sinned for sin is willful disobedience.  (1 John 1:9) "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  So it comes to the point of not disobeying again.  (Heb 10:26-27) "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries."  While this is not a popular teaching it is the only way to make it to heaven.  But we were not called by God to speak what people want to hear, we are called to teach the truth.  By doing so we reveal the mysteries of God.  (2 Tim 4:1-4) "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;  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 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; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."

     I admit that there are many today that will not stand for the truth.  Many a pastor has been turned away from a congregation for preaching what that congregation did not want to hear.  But this is not the way of Christ but the ways of Satan.  For the Devil wants you to be complacent, never knowing how to truly be God's.  For if we will not hear the truth the truth is not in us and we are eternally lost, Satan knows this and seeks to destroy your soul.  While God wants us to know the truth and to know His fulness.  (Eph 3:17-19) "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."  We cannot know God's love without knowing the truth, of what He wants of us.  We must experience His love to know His love, and we must serve Him with all our hearts to be filled with Him fully. (John 14:23-24) "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me."  If we wish to be of Christ then we must obey His words.  But how can we obey something that we do not know?  We can't, yet for God to abide with us we must obey His commands.  You can not obey when you have not heard, so to refuse to hear the truth is to condemn your own soul.  A person who truly loves God seeks continually to discover more about Him.  They do not reject God's word because it is something that they find uncomfortable; but they instead seek to conform their lives to the will of God.

     (Ezek 13:1-13) "And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,  Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!  O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.  They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.  Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, saith the Lord GOD.  And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.  Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered mortar:  Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.  Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it."  Many professing Christians today believe that it is easier to go along and not make waves.  I will admit that this is the easy way to get through life but God never told us to take the easy way.  Instead He tells us to take the narrow way.  To not speak the truth of God in every instance is to be a false prophet whether or not you have the gift of prophecy.  For all Christians are called to be a minister within God's glorious church.  To speak less than the truth of God all the time is to face the judgement of God that is listed in the above scripture.  To mislead someone away from the truth of God or to soft soap it to make it a little easier to handle is spiritual suicide.  (Luke 17:1-4) "Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!  It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.  Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.  And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him."  There is no room for selfish false teachings for they divide and destroy.  The pastor should deliver the truth as the truth without watering it down and you should not accept anything less but the same, this  is true of the Sunday school teacher, and for that matter every Christian.  Anything less is an offence to God and will lead to the destruction of someone's soul in eternal fire.  To compromise the truth is not love, it is hate, for to love is to seek and deliver someone's soul from the fires of hell so that they may enter into heaven.  For to allow someone to continue unchallenged on the road of sin is to not love them but to want their eternal punishment.  This is not Christian but sinful for it is an act of Satan.  (1 John 3:15) "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."  Many will say... but I love my brother so I do not want to offend him.  But what if your brother was in a burning house and determined to stay?  If you loved him you would not care how much you offended him to get him out before he burned.  But yet if your brother is a sinner today he is in that burning house.  (Rev 21:8) But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."  Do you love your brother or sister enough to save them before it is too late?  (Ezek 3:17-21)  "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.  When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou gave him not warning, nor sneakiest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.  Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.  Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.  Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul."  Many have heard this scripture used for the responsibility of preachers but it is true of every Christian in God's army.  Will you save your soul or will you have their blood on your head.  (Luke 14:23) "And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled."  Will you love the lost enough to reveal the mysteries of God to a lost and dying world to compel them to leave their burning houses before it is to late?
 

 

     Greetings in the name of the Lord.  It has been quite sometime since our last issue.  It seems things have been moving like a whirlwind around here. It has been hard to even catch our breath.  The Lord has not given us the time to publish for a while.  Thus we have been keeping busy with other projects.  We hope that the Lord blesses this issue of The Gospel Light and that it touches many hearts with the truth of God's Word.
 We live in a day where many are afraid or unwilling to teach the whole truth of the Word of God.  The fear of what people will think is a large part of the problem.   (Gal 1:6-12) "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.  For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."
 The true gospel of Jesus cannot be presented if we worry about what people want to hear.  The gospel of man will never match the gospel of God.  For man hates change. God demands repentance (which means to turn),  thus change from our sinful lives is all that God will accept.  Heart-felt contrition for our past sins and a strong desire to be forgiven.  To see God, sin cannot exist in our lives.  We hope that we can bring God's truth to anyone who will receive it.  May God bless all the readers of this paper and guide them deeper into His truth.

         The Gospel Light is published to spread the true light of God's word to all men.  We are dedicated to the truths of the word of God.  Such as salvation, holiness, sanctification, the unity of all believers, etc...It is also online at http://geocities.datacellar.net/Heartland/estates/6801.  If you use Netword software we can be reached at Gospel Light

    We are not responsible for returning any articles submitted to The Gospel Light.  We reserve the right to hold the articles for future printing, and possible reprinting.  All articles submitted should be submitted to the First Church of God, 818 4th St. Fairbury, Ne 68352.  I hope that the Gospel Light paper is a blessing to you, and may God bless those who read this paper.