JUDGE NOT! (PART 1)

SEE JUDGE NOT INTRO FOR SCRIPTURE AND PREMISE!

As all of you know I am hardest on myself and other Christians when it comes to being responsible for mine and their actions. It is interesting to me that when people begin judging people for the life they are living and how they are living against the bible many times they are going against the bible as well. Everybody knows the old saying; two wrongs don’t make a right, and in this case doing the second wrong is making things worse. As Christians it is our job to recognize sin and to know how to avoid it but at the same time it is our job to spread the good news. We will never be able to spread the gospel if we are busy telling people how terrible they are, how wrong they are living, and why they are going to hell. It is not a Christian’s job to go to someone and tell them all the wrong they are doing, the job is to love them and tell them what they need to do to make it to heaven. Christ spent time with some of the worst people around during His time here on earth but, He spent His time showing them love and teaching them the good of a life with God. I recently preached on the thought that Christ told us in Matthew to go spread the gospel, and gospel was derived from a Greek word meaning good news. We need to spend more time telling people of Christ’s love and the joy of serving Him. We need to be sharing our testimony of how God has brought you through something, those things are good news. Spending time telling someone how bad they are, and that they are going to hell because of this that and the other, that is not the good news. The good news is Christ died for you and will walk with you through every portion of your life. I believe as a church if we would concentrate more on sharing the love of Christ and less time looking at what’s wrong with other people we would be reaching more of the world.
God Bless!!
Pray!

JUDGE NOT!! (Intro)

Matthew 7:1-5 1Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

I have spoken to multiple people over the past few weeks about why they don’t want to go to church. I can honestly say that at this point in my talks that the number 1 issue people have with going to church is the judgment placed on them by people that claim to be Christians. I am going to split this post into parts to cover different perspectives on this so that there is not so much to digest at one time. The fact is that there are rights and wrongs on both sides of this fence so I am going to try to approach both of them in a way that we might be able to see a good way to change the way the church is looked at but, also in a way that teaches people not to use people's actions as an excuse not to have a relationship with God.

God Bless!!
Pray!

BAD COMPANY!!!

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”

Many times I am asked if by avoiding certain people are we not showing a good Christian attitude. I always refer back to this scripture when in doubt of how to handle a particular person. You always have to show the love of Christ to everyone but, if there is a person that when you get around you they bring you down or lead you down a path of temptation you have to avoid them. When a drug addict gets clean, the first thing he has to do is evaluate his friends. The people that he had been around that continue to do drugs, he has to avoid. What we must understand is we are all drug addicts and sin is the drug. If there is a person that brings down your attitude, leads you into old sinful habits, or behaves in a way that does not show a Christian attitude you have to separate yourself from them. You have to share with them what is going on, but if they cannot change those habits you cannot follow along with them. This doesn't mean you mistreat them and it doesn't mean that you don't pray for them, it just means you prevent yourself from getting into a situation that can hurt your relationship with Christ. There is nothing that is more important than your relationship with Christ and anything that hurts that has to go, good or bad. When all is said and done though, pray for that person or persons.
God Bless!!
Pray!

NO CONDEMNATION!!

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

I have been struggling through some things as of late and have even felt as though I was failing at what God has placed in my heart. I met with someone who was sharing with me and pointed me to this verse, which was highlighted in my Bible, and it took on a new meaning for me. We normally look at this as there is no condemnation for our past sins, but how about we are not condemned when we are doing our best to walk in what God has for us but it doesn't seem to be working out the way we think it should. I don't know about you but, when these things happen I tend to beat myself up and condemn myself. If the bible says there is no condemnation to those that are walking in the spirit, where is that condemning feeling coming from? Satan, no brainer. It is just wild that sometimes we need an outside person to point us at something that we know then allow God to work. Remember when you are running after God, you are not always going to get it right; but time spent condemning yourself is time wasted which is what satan wants.
God Bless!!
Pray!