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Christians in Peril
Christians in Peril
Romans 7:8-7:25
Christians in Peril The Christian today has become a people
without a vision. The Lord has said that, with out a vision my
people perish. We work and cannot obtain, we save and spend
more, we fight and loose ground, we obtain and have less, we
learn and understand little, we pray and little is accomplished.
I wish to share with you a letter some friends of mine sent to
me from India. Dear Reverend Smith. I cant forget the story I
heard a few months ago from one of our missionaries serving the
Lord in North India. With scars on his face and back, his body
literally bore the marks of persecution. They asked me to deny
Christ, he told me. They said they would kill me and cut my
tongue out if I didnt deny Him. Stop preaching the Gospel,
they demanded, or we will take away your bicycle and burn you
alive. This sermon is offered as a lesson to all of us in
Humility. Mat 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt
have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is
thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be
trodden under foot of men. 1Co 1:19 For it is written, I will
destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent. {Ref, Isa_29:14} 1Co 8:2 And if
any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet
as he ought to know. 1Co 13:2 And though I have the gift of
prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and
though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and
have not charity, I am nothing. Contrary to popular belief, a
Christians duty is not to become involved in politics nor the
rhetoric that comes with it, for as I have said before, The
Powers that be are ordained by God. Politics has no business in
the House of God, but a Christians duty is to, 1. Love God. 2.
Seek out the Lost and 3. Preach the Gospel, to be instant in
season and out of Season. Lets look at, 1 Corinthians 1:19 for a
moment. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the
wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the
prudent. I will destroy Who will destroy? [God] What will He
do? [Destroy,] What will He Destroy? [The wisdom of the wise]
Why will He destroy? [Mens words and actions and wisdom are
foolish] 1Co 1:20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where
Luck Or Providence' (D)Luck or Providence' (D) Terry Dashner'''''''..Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK ..... is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? [Destroy,] In general, to put an end to;
to annihilate a thing or the form in which it exists. To ruin;
to bring to naught; to annihilate; as, to destroy a theory or
scheme; to destroy a government; to destroy influence.
Man has disputed with God from the beginning and will continue
to do so until the end. Wisdom only comes from God. The lost or
sinners are always looking at the Christian to see if we are who
we say we are and anything that they find wrong is always at the
top of their conversation. Paul warns us about this very fact
in, 2Co 6:3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be
not blamed: Article after article have come forth from many of
the news papers, condemning the Christian faith because of
politics, because of Christian remarks and even condemning the
Scripture itself for giving the Christian his belief. The damage
has been done but the question is now, How do we repair the
damage and return to the service that we were commissioned for,
the preaching of the acceptable year of the Lord? My answer, As
Paul stated in 2Co 6:3, Giving no offence in any thing, that the
ministry be not blamed: by putting the blame where it belongs,
with us. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is pure and without error.
Assuring the lost that the Gospel had no part in the past
mistakes of man. Letting them know what was said in, Mat 5:13 Ye
are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour,
wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for
nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of
men. 1John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto
you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: My little
children We are little Children of the Father and we tend to
make mistakes. We will not sin willfully, for it is no longer in
our nature to sin. For we are of the seed of our Father in
Heaven. But we, as Paul stated, still flawed by the very fact
that we are still in the flesh and the flesh is weak. I feel in
my spirit that I must include the following verses. Rom 7:8-25
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all
manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I
was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came,
sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained
to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by
the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the
law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was
then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin,
that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is
good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold
Completness In ChristCol. 2:6-10 "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, ..... under sin. For that which I do I allow not: for what I would,
that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do that
which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now
then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good
thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that
which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not:
but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I
would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in
me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is
present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the
inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of
sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the
law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Many a Christian around the world, are being persecuted for
their belief in Jesus Christ. We must renew ourselves in the
Spirit and be ready to suffer with those who suffer, as we are,
One in the Body with Christ. We as Christians are not an island
unto ourselves but we are a guiding light to the world, we are
in the world but not of the world. In the world to guide the
world to Christ the Righteous. Remember what I stated at the
beginning of this sermon? Lets look again. We work and cannot
obtain, we save and spend more, we fight and loose ground, we
obtain and have less, we learn and understand little, we pray
and little is accomplished. 1Co 15:2 By which also ye are saved,
if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have
believed in vain. Tit 3:1 put them in mind to be subject to
principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to
every good work, 2Ti 2:14 Of these things put them in
remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not
about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
1Ti 4:6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things,
thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in
the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast
attained.I pray that this sermon has helped all of us understand
our mission for Christ.
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