Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the Lord.”
Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,
“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.” (Jeremiah 1:4-10 ESV)
All of us who have put our faith in Jesus Christ to be Lord (Owner-Master) and Savior of our lives have been called of God to his service. All of us have been given spiritual gifts of the Spirit of God to be used to minister to the people of God and to the people of the world, and we have been assigned our body parts (ministry roles) by God within the body of Christ, his church. And all of us are critical to the proper working of the body of Christ, and not one of us is to be excluded who is walking in obedience to the Lord.
All of us who are heeding God’s words and who are following him in walks of surrender to his will are to be being used of God within his body to mutually help one another to walk in obedience to our Lord and to not fall back into sin. So we are to be those who are speaking the truth of God’s word in love to one another, but in the appropriate context, and not out of context. For many false teachings are being spread via Scriptures taught out of context and made to say what they do not say if taught in the proper context.
We are to be speaking the truth in love, one to the other, so that not one of us is led astray by people who use human cunning and craftiness and deceitful schemes to trick us into believing their lies and into rejecting the truth of God’s word. And we all are to be teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and exhorting one another daily via our gatherings so that none of us may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. And we’re to be stirring up one another to love and good works when we gather together.
And as the Lord’s disciples (followers) we are to be going out into the world, and we are to be making disciples of Christ of people of all nations, baptizing them where possible, and teaching them to obey our Lord’s commands. And under the power of God’s Spirit we are to be our Lord’s witnesses. For we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that we may proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness (sin) into his marvelous light (salvation from our sin).
For we are to be the light of the world in taking the truth of the gospel to the people of the world via whatever means possible. For those of us who are on the internet, the internet (at least in America) is still open for us to share the truth of the gospel in the blogging world, on some Christian discussion sites, and on some social media sites. And so we should be taking advantage of this open door while it is still open to shine the light of the truth of the gospel of our salvation with as many as possible before that door closes.
[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Lu 6:27-28; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Ac 1:8; Ac 2:14-18; Ac 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Gal 6:1; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:11-27; Eph 6:10-20; Php 2:1-8; Col 1:9; Col 3:12-16; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; Jas 5:19-20; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6; Jude 1:22-23]
And if God has called us, which he has, then he will equip us, and he will give us all that we need to be able to give out his messages to our fellow professing Christians and to the people of this world. So none of us has an excuse for not sharing the gospel with other people as long as our minds still work and we can still speak and we are able to talk to other people or to write. But we don’t do this in our flesh. This has to be led by the Spirit of God while we let the Lord encourage us in what we are to say.
And we are not to be afraid of what others are going to say about us or do to us, for if we are truly following the Lord in giving out his messages, we are going to be hated and persecuted as Jesus was. We won’t have many friends. We won’t be popular. For we are living in the last days before the return of Christ and the people need to hear the truth of God’s word taught in context so that they know what the Bible teaches. And it is not all the “feel-good” stuff, for if the truth, it is the hard stuff, too.
So this involves not only that we are teaching the truth of the Scriptures, in context, but that we are refuting the lies of the enemy which we know are being taught and which are spreading like gangrene across our nations (at least that is what is happening in America). So it isn’t that we can just teach that Jesus died to forgive us our sins so we can go to heaven one day. We have to teach that he died so we will die to sin and walk in obedience to his commands. And so we must refute all lies which are coming against that.
And it isn’t just that. We must tell the people that a profession of faith in Jesus Christ alone is not enough to save them from their sins and to secure heaven for them for eternity. We must teach them that to follow Jesus we must deny self, die daily to sin, and walk in obedience to his commands. And we must tell them, too, that if they do not obey our Lord’s commands, but if they continue living in deliberate and habitual sin, they will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what their lips have professed.
[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
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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