Tuesday, October 21,
2014, 11:23 a.m. – the Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “For Our Nation.” Speak, Lord, your
words to my heart. I read Colossians 1
(NIV84).
Bearing Fruit and
Growing?
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our
brother,
To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray
for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and
of the love you have for all the saints— 5 the faith and love that
spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have
already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come
to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it
has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace
in all its truth. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow
servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, 8 and
who also told us of your love in the Spirit. ~ Col. 1:1-8
So, what about the church here in America? Does this
describe us? Is our faith in Jesus Christ so strong, and our testimonies for
him so powerful, by our lives and by our words, that we have a reputation of
being on fire for God all over the world? Is our love for one another so
powerful and so effective that we have a worldwide reputation for our acts of
love and kindness, one for the other? – Acts and words demonstrating the love
of Christ, in like manner as he loved us, and consistent with his gospel of
salvation? Is the true gospel of salvation bearing fruit and growing all over
our nation because of our commitment to the gospel, to being Christ’s
witnesses, and to making disciples of Christ of peoples of all nations? Or, is
the church in America conjoined with the world, conked out on their sofas, unresponsive
to calls to repentance, and ignoring that the world is going to hell?
A Life Worthy
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped
praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will
through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this
in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in
every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11
being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that
you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving
thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the
saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the
dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. ~ Col. 1:9-14
Oh, how my heart aches for the church here in America! I
pray for the vast majority of the church here to have her eyes opened to her
spiritual condition, to see herself through God’s eyes, and to know how much
God’s heart aches for his children who are conjoining themselves with the world,
who are complacent with regard to a world dying in its sins and going to hell, and
who is, for the most part, completely ineffective in reaching the people of
this nation with the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. How can we, as a church,
be the light to the world and the salt of the earth, if we are checked out,
joined at the hip with the world, and we are not even paying attention to the
fact that so many are headed straight for hell, and that our nation is going
down the toilet?
The church here in America needs to return to her first
love. She needs to understand that Jesus died to call her out of darkness into
his light. He died so she would no longer live for herself, but for him who
gave himself up for her (See 2 Co. 5:15). He died so she could die with him to
her old life of living for sin and self and so she could walk in the Spirit, no
longer fulfilling the passions and desires of the flesh, and so she could walk
in his righteousness and holiness in the power of the Spirit within her (See
Ro. 6-8; Eph. 4:17-24). In fact, his grace teaches us to say “No” to
ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled and upright lives
in this present age while we wait for Christ’s return (See Tit. 2:11-14).
I pray, too, for the church, that she might be filled
with the knowledge of God’s will through all the wisdom and understanding that
the Spirit gives, so she might live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in
every way. But, in order for her to do that, for the vast majority of the
church which has been compromising the truth of scripture, diluting the gospel,
and blending in with the world in order to be culturally relevant, she must
first humble herself before God in repentance, turn from her idols, and decide
to follow Jesus wherever he leads her. She must come out from the world and be
separate, and be set apart to God and to his service. She must love God more
than she loves herself, and desire him above all else.
The Head
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16
For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all
things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things,
and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the
body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so
that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was
pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to
reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven,
by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. ~ Col. 1:15-20
Jesus Christ is not just the Son of God. He is God the
Son, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He was
with God in the beginning, and he is God, and he is our creator (See John 1). He
is completely sovereign over all things. And, He is the head of the true
church, the body of Christ, although you might not know that if you visited
many places in America which call themselves “church.” So much of what is
falsely called “church” these days, although some true believers exist within
these organizations, is not really the true church at all. So many of these
organizations are just man-made businesses, and conducted just like businesses,
too, with marketing schemes replacing the power of the Spirit, humanistic
teaching replacing the Word of God, entertainment replacing true worship, and
man attempting to replace Christ as the true head of his church. Yet, he who
died for us so that we could be free will have the supremacy.
By God’s
Commission
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because
of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s
physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish
and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith,
established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the
gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under
heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh
what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his
body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the
commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26
the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is
now disclosed to the saints. 27 To them God has chosen to make known
among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you,
the hope of glory.
We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so
that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29 To this end I
labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me. ~ Col.
1:21-29
You know, it just breaks my heart to see so many who
profess the name of Jesus as their Savior barely give him the time of day. Even
though Jesus Christ died on the cross to set them free from the control of sin
over their lives, many have drifted back into following after the ways of the
flesh, of man, and of sin. Some never were even delivered from their sin
because they bought into a lie that told them they didn’t have to turn from
their sin and they didn’t have to obey Christ and his Word, and that they could
still have their ticket into heaven. They were given a false hope of salvation.
And, yet scripture is so clear that death to sin is required of the believer as
part of believing faith, and that if they say they have fellowship with God or
that they love God, but yet they continue to live sinful lifestyles, they are
liars and God does not even know them! (See 1 Jn. 1-5)
This scripture, and many others like it, though, paints a
different picture for us from what many of these modern churches are teaching.
We are taught here that we are reconciled to God by his grace through faith IF
we continue in our faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope
held out in the gospel (cf. John 8:31-32; Romans 11:17-24; I Co 15:2; II Tim
2:10-13; Hebrews 3:14-15; I John 2:24-25). The parable of the sower speaks to
this issue, as well, when it talks about the person who received the message initially
with joy but the person’s faith never took root, so the person gave up and
abandoned the faith. In other words, not everyone who prays a prayer to receive
Christ is truly saved. True faith is faith that continues, as well as it is faith
which puts what it says it believes into practice. If we believe Jesus died to
save us from sin, thus, how can we live in it any longer?
Paul was called to be a servant of the Lord and of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Although we are not all called to be Paul’s, I do believe
God has commissioned his church with the spreading of the gospel of salvation,
in its fullness, throughout the world. Yet, God also has very specific
assignments for each one of us within the body of Christ. Mine is to write down
what he teaches me each day from his word and to place it on the internet so
that a “runner” can “Run With It.” And, God takes it from there. I believe, as
well, that I have been commissioned by God to present to the modern day church
in America her spiritual condition, as he sees it, to call her out of her
complacency, to call her to repentance, and to encourage her to walk with
Christ in his holiness, living lives pleasing to him. “To this end I
strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.”
Amen!
For Our Nation /
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting.
Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently
calling
You to follow Him in
all ways.
Trust Him with your
life today.
Make Him your Lord and
your Savior.
Turn from your sin.
Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of
your sin;
Cleanse your heart,
made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust
fraying.
On our knees to God
we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us
answers
That are only found in
Him.
God is sovereign over
all things.
Nothing from His mind
escaping.
He has all things
under His command,
And will work all for
good.
Jesus Christ is gently
calling
You to follow Him in
all ways.
Men deceiving: we’re
believing
In our Lord, and
interceding
For our nation and its
people
To obey their God
today.
He is our hope for our
future.
For our wounds He
offers suture.
He is all we need for
this life.
Trust Him with your
life today.
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