Praise the Lord because He alone is worthy to be praised. God has truly been good to me and my wife who just got out of the hospital this past week. She is feeling much better but still has some issues that we need God to handle and heal for her. In this house we serve and trust the Lord! So as we wait on Him we will yet praise him. The following post is straight from the heart of God and really gave me pause, I am sure it will do the same for you.
Hebrews 12: 25-27 25See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." 27The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
Twelve years ago on September eleventh 2001 terrorist attacked the world trade center in New York and the world’s financial center and the symbol of capitalism in America came tumbling down. It was a catastrophe of biblical proportions. The people of this country were shaken; they flocked to churches across the Nation seeking answers from the same God they were previously trying to turn their backs on by taking prayer out of schools and the Ten Commandments off the walls of its court rooms. A country where at one time on Sundays super markets and malls were closed and “blue laws” were in effect and people flocked to churches, now it is a place where Sundays are wide open and God has to compete with two for one sales, sports and liquor sales to get people into his church on Sundays. But for one short period that all changed, people were hurting and turned to God for answers.
They came, some for the first time, some were coming back after leaving the church for various reasons. They appeared to be earnestly seeking answers and they were earnest in their attempts to find answers, but were they earnest in their attempts to find God for those answers?
All you have to do is look around you when you go to church these days to see that the answer is no. The same churches that were full after 9/11 are now half empty. The people who went looking for answers left out one important thing “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” They forgot to seek God. Instead they sought answers that made since to their carnal minds and rejected sound doctrine. The bible talks about the word of God being spiritual and that only the spiritual can understand it. How do we become spiritual? We first must repent of our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior, and then His spirit will come and live in us and lead us into all truth.
9/11 shook a lot of people up but it did not stir up their hearts enough for them to truly seek God and to realize they needed a savior most of all. They were shaken by 9/11 but not stirred enough to put pride and intellect aside so that God could truly come into their lives. So in the short time they did go to church, Gods word was not able to take root in the fallow ground of their hearts and the cares of this world washed it away and the people did not know who to blame and fell away from fellowship.
It is not all their fault. Though they blame God and even deny His existence in some cases the church, yes the body of Christ has to take some of the blame. People hurting, confused and afraid walked into churches all over the country and were greeted with pastors preaching faith and prosperity and members with no power and living like the world. There were no peculiar people, nobody trying to live holy or teaching about living holy. So multitudes of new comers came in looked around and came to the conclusion that Jesus is not the answer. What a shame.
We Christians should have been stirred up by the opportunity we had in front of us and many were, but we failed in our presentation and in other cases our testimonies did not stand up to scrutiny. We are Christ’s representatives here on Earth; let us always remember to walk according to our calling in Christ Jesus. Let us prepare ourselves so that next time God shakes our world we will be able stir those who come looking for answers and at the same time allow God to stir up our gifts so He can use us to touch and change people’s hearts. God Bless You All
Brother Darrell, Speaking Off the Wall
Hebrews 12: 25-27 25See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." 27The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
Twelve years ago on September eleventh 2001 terrorist attacked the world trade center in New York and the world’s financial center and the symbol of capitalism in America came tumbling down. It was a catastrophe of biblical proportions. The people of this country were shaken; they flocked to churches across the Nation seeking answers from the same God they were previously trying to turn their backs on by taking prayer out of schools and the Ten Commandments off the walls of its court rooms. A country where at one time on Sundays super markets and malls were closed and “blue laws” were in effect and people flocked to churches, now it is a place where Sundays are wide open and God has to compete with two for one sales, sports and liquor sales to get people into his church on Sundays. But for one short period that all changed, people were hurting and turned to God for answers.
They came, some for the first time, some were coming back after leaving the church for various reasons. They appeared to be earnestly seeking answers and they were earnest in their attempts to find answers, but were they earnest in their attempts to find God for those answers?
All you have to do is look around you when you go to church these days to see that the answer is no. The same churches that were full after 9/11 are now half empty. The people who went looking for answers left out one important thing “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” They forgot to seek God. Instead they sought answers that made since to their carnal minds and rejected sound doctrine. The bible talks about the word of God being spiritual and that only the spiritual can understand it. How do we become spiritual? We first must repent of our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior, and then His spirit will come and live in us and lead us into all truth.
9/11 shook a lot of people up but it did not stir up their hearts enough for them to truly seek God and to realize they needed a savior most of all. They were shaken by 9/11 but not stirred enough to put pride and intellect aside so that God could truly come into their lives. So in the short time they did go to church, Gods word was not able to take root in the fallow ground of their hearts and the cares of this world washed it away and the people did not know who to blame and fell away from fellowship.
It is not all their fault. Though they blame God and even deny His existence in some cases the church, yes the body of Christ has to take some of the blame. People hurting, confused and afraid walked into churches all over the country and were greeted with pastors preaching faith and prosperity and members with no power and living like the world. There were no peculiar people, nobody trying to live holy or teaching about living holy. So multitudes of new comers came in looked around and came to the conclusion that Jesus is not the answer. What a shame.
We Christians should have been stirred up by the opportunity we had in front of us and many were, but we failed in our presentation and in other cases our testimonies did not stand up to scrutiny. We are Christ’s representatives here on Earth; let us always remember to walk according to our calling in Christ Jesus. Let us prepare ourselves so that next time God shakes our world we will be able stir those who come looking for answers and at the same time allow God to stir up our gifts so He can use us to touch and change people’s hearts. God Bless You All
Brother Darrell, Speaking Off the Wall
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