Pastor’s Blog 8.28.19

Last week I was writing about defining the Love of God. Culture has redefined God’s unconditional love as God’s unconditional acceptance. We looked at the following verses:

Romans 2:4-10 TPT
Do the riches of his extraordinary kindness make you take him for granted and despise him? Haven’t you experienced how kind and understanding he has been to you? Don’t mistake his tolerance for acceptance. Do you realize that all the wealth of his extravagant kindness is meant to melt your heart and lead you into repentance? But because of your calloused heart and refusal to change direction, you are piling up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. For: He will give to each one in return for what he has done.For those living in constant goodness and doing what pleases him, seeking an unfading glory and honor and imperishable virtue, will experience eternal life. But those governed by selfishness and self-promotion, whose hearts are unresponsive to God’s truth and would rather embrace unrighteousness, will experience the fullness of wrath.

Almost every month another church organization comes out with a new declared acceptance toward sexual sin, especially but not limited to homosexuality. How do you judge whether a church is speaking on behalf of God or if they are only trying to please human culture? That is easy, really. What does the word of God say? Are the prophets saying what God’s word says? Let’s look at the ancient warnings about changing God’s law and standards and saying He is OK with it:

eremiah 23:15-27

15 “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: ‘Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, And make them drink the water of gall; For from the prophets of Jerusalem Profaneness has gone out into all the land.'”
16 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the LORD.
17 They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said,”You shall have peace”‘; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.'”
18 For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it?
19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury — A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.
21 “I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in My counsel , And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings.
23 “Am I a God near at hand,” says the LORD, “And not a God afar off?
24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the LORD; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.
25 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’
26 How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart,
27 who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal. NKJV

That is a pretty lengthy rebuke from the Lord on Prophets saying what people want to hear and not what He has said. Verse 22 says it clearly:

22 But if they had stood in My counsel , And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings.

Again let’s look at:

1 Corinthians 5:1-8 It’s been widely reported that there is gross sexual immorality among you—the kind of immorality that’s so revolting it’s not even tolerated by the social norms of unbelievers. Are you proud of the fact that one of your men is having sex with his stepmother? Shouldn’t this heartbreaking scandal bring you to your knees in tears? You must remove the offender from among you!

Even though I am physically far away from you, my spirit is present with you. And as one who is present with you, I have already evaluated and judged the perpetrator. So call a meeting, and when you gather together in the name of our Lord Jesus, and you know my spirit is present with you in the infinite power of our Lord Jesus, release this man over to Satan for the destruction of his rebellious flesh, in hope that his spirit may be rescued and restored in the day of the Lord.

Boasting over your tolerance of sin is inappropriate. Don’t you understand that even a small compromise with sin permeates the entire fellowship, just as a little leaven permeates a batch of dough? So remove every trace of your “leaven” of compromise with sin so that you might become new and pure again. For indeed, you are clean because Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us. So now we can celebrate our continual feast, not with the old “leaven,” the yeast of wickedness or bitterness, but we will feast on the freshly baked bread of innocence and holiness.

When you come to a Rock Church, we will teach what God accepts and tolerates, not what our secular culture accepts and tolerates. We are members of His body first, even before we are members of our secular society. We will continue to declare God’s great love and endless mercies; as well as His severity and judgments. God’s heart is save, not to condemn and to forgive not to impose judgment. We stand with His word on every subject. It is up to each one whether they will repent and be saved or live on in deception, false security and eventually eternal condemnation. As John told Israel as he introduced God’s method of saving man, which is Christ:

Matthew 3:8 TPT

You must prove your repentance by a changed life. And don’t presume you can get away with merely saying to yourselves, ‘But we’re Abraham’s descendants!’ For I tell you, God can awaken these stones to become sons of Abraham!

You just say, “I believe in Jesus” but offer a change life as evidence of your faith because faith without works is dead”. Please do it God’s way!

Just do it God’s way….do what He says….live like He commands….and you won’t go wrong!