Colossians 3:5-6 ESV
“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.
Because these types of sins have been able to run rampant
within the church for a long time, all under the guise of God’s grace, judgment
is upon the church in America. And, perhaps, the same is true in other nations
of the world. We are now seeing the results of many years of unbridled
immorality within the church, and of leadership who promoted it and/or ignored
it.
Not only were the majority of the gatherings of the church (which
is the people of God, not a building) turned into businesses of men, and
marketed to the world like any other man-made business, but they also turned
the church gatherings into places of frivolity and entertainment. And, worship
services were turned into massive stage productions to entertain the world.
Instead of the Bible being the book of life for the church,
many turned to books written by mere mortals who blended truth with lies, who
diluted the gospel of grace to make it a free license for lasciviousness, and
who also blended other religions, their philosophies, and their practices in
with the teachings of Scripture, and in with Christianity.
And, they also turned to marketing books to tell them how to
grow God’s church, rather than listening to the voice and the counsel of the
Holy Spirit. And, many pastors get their sermons online from various sources
rather than listening to hear the Spirit’s voice teaching them and revealing to
them what God’s messages are for his church in our day and age.
And, many of these pastors have turned into clowns, actors,
and entertainers to attract the world to “the church,” so that the world would
come back, craving more fun.
And, so they dilute the gospel, and they either outright say
or they imply that one can believe in Jesus, but still live in slavery to sin,
and yet have eternal life with God, which is a lie from hell. For, most of them
do not teach or no longer teach the requirement of repentance and walks of
obedience to Jesus Christ for salvation from sin and eternal life with God.
Instead, they chide such teaching and falsely call it
works-based salvation. But it is what Jesus and his New Testament apostles
taught, that we must put to death our former lives of living in sin and for
self, that we must be changed in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, and that
we must walk, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit if we
want to be saved from our sins and have eternal life with God (Rom. 6:1-23;
Rom. 8:1-17).
So, instead of godly men in most of our pulpits across
America, we have mostly wolves in sheep’s clothing or the deceived in our
pulpits tossing people back and forth by every wind of doctrine coming from
human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. And, this is of Satan who
has tricked so many people into deserting the true gospel of grace to follow a
gospel of lasciviousness which allows them to continue in their bondage.
And, one more thing on this subject. The church was also
largely persuaded to unequally yoke together with the US government for they
thought it would provide them some financial benefit. But with that union came
the downfall of most of the church in America as they turned to men to lead
them instead of turning to the Holy Spirit and to the Word of God. And, this is
one of the big reasons the adulterous church in America is under judgment.
Colossians 3:7-10 ESV
In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
So, the Lord wants the church to put all these abominations
away, to cast them off, so they are no longer a part of his church.
He wants the false teaching, the false worship, the deceptions,
the manipulations, the worldliness, the entertainment, the actors, the cheap
grace gospel, the immorality, the sensuality, the idolatry, the wolves in sheep’s
clothing, and the government, etc. gone permanently from his church.
For, none of these are to be part of our lives if we are
true followers of Jesus Christ. We should have put the flesh and sin to death,
by the Spirit, when we trusted in Jesus Christ to be our Lord and Savior, if we
did. All this worldliness, idolatry, immorality, sensuality, and fleshliness is
supposed to be in our past, not in our present, not part of our walks of faith
with Jesus.
For, if we have genuine faith in Jesus Christ, we have put
the flesh to death, and we have put on our new lives in Christ Jesus, which are
created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:20-24; Rom.
6:1-23).
Colossians 3:12-15 ESV
“Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
As new creations in Christ Jesus, our Lord, not only does
that mean that we have put off the flesh and sin, by God’s grace, through faith
in Jesus Christ, but it means we have also put on Jesus Christ and his
righteousness.
For everything that we put off, there is an opposite that we
are to put on. If we put off lying, we put on telling the truth, and making it
our practice. If we put off stealing, then we put on working with our hands and
giving to the poor. If we put off sexual immorality, we put on love,
faithfulness, morality, and purity. If we put off evil desire, then we put on
godly desires.
If we put off outbursts of anger and rage, and spewing it
forth to others, then we put on love, compassion, patience, gentleness, and
forgiveness, oh, and self-control (that’s a big one). And, if we put off
slander and gossip, we put on speaking the truth with love and kindness and
forgiveness.
And, all of these are encompassed in putting on love. For
love, which prefers what God prefers, and which submits to what God prefers, does
no harm to its neighbor.
So, we can’t love people and hate them at the same time. We
can’t love them if we are slandering them, abusing them, cheating on them,
stealing from them, committing adultery against them, lying to them, deceiving
them, and using them for our own evil purposes. For, love is what we do. It is
not lust, and it is not some temporary emotional high, either.
But it isn’t just people that we are to love. First and
foremost, we are to love God, and to love him is to obey him. It is to not just
be hearers of the word, but it is to be doers of the word. It is to walk in the
fear of the Lord, and to give God our allegiance, and our fidelity, with our
whole hearts. And, from that love for God will flow love for our fellow humans.
And, the peace of God will rule our hearts, and then we won’t
be crying out for men to give us peace. For, theirs is not the kind of peace
which God gives. For theirs is absence of conflict, and it is unity with the
world and with the beast, and it will mean the persecution of Christians, mark
my words!
So, look to the Lord, not to men to be your savior. Look to
the Lord to heal your wounded hearts and to give you his inward peace. Trust
him with the circumstances of your lives and put your all on his altar of
sacrifice. Believe that God is completely sovereign over all he has made, and
don’t take matters into your own hands. God has a plan, which he is working
out, which is for our good, and it is to revive his church before he comes
back.
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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