My fear is for those who aren't connected to other believers and aren't attending church. Since Christ is the head of the church and we are all part of the body, we need each other. My heart goes out to those who are not connected in some significant way. It doesn't have to be in a building but there needs to be fellowship and some degree of accountability to each other.Let's pray for those who have a heart for Jesus Christ but have been so turned off at all the sin in the church and have said something like "Jesus if this is Christianity, I don't want any part of it."Oarsman you said
I look at what I SAY I believe, I SAY I believe in the Word of God and that I serve a God that does the impossible...and yet my life in my actions, betrays Him. If I have His life in me, if WE have His life in us, wouldn't you think our lives would be a little different?
_________________Ed Pugh
revival9 wrote:So it's back to God and His Word, fasting and praying with new resolve. There is no other way. Do I really love the people who are being deceived in these lukewarm churches, or am I proud that I'm NOT? Do I love those who are being led astray and truly desire the lies to stop, or am I happy pointing out their faults and going about my business, 'eating and drinking like in the days of Noah and Lot'. It's easy to be concerned from a distance, but how many of us are actually beseeching God with our Bibles open and our stomachs empty. Like He told us. Ouch, yeah, me too. :roll:
_________________Rikard Eriksson
I thought this tidbit from an article in Herald of His Coming was fitting. It is from an an article written by Richard Owen Roberts.For a brief period in my life, my wife Maggie and I prayed, that if it pleased the Lord, an open door would come where I would be invited to accept a pastorate for a period of time when the children were young so that they would know their dad and he might have some influence upon their lives. My itinerant ministry was taking me away from home much of the time, and my son hardly knew who his father was. In a sense out of the blue, came an invitation to serve a church that had 2,400 members, about thirty of whom we calculated were born-again believers.What struck me when I read this is at the end when he said he calculated that out of 2,400 members only 30 were born again. I mentioned this to my wife and she said to me, why were the 30 still there?I didn't have an answer and I still don't.The article can be read at this link.http://www.heraldofhiscoming.org/other/home.htmThen go to articles from current issue and the article is called Pleading For God's Mercy.~Mike
_________________Mike