Today's Word -- Judgment Begins Here

 If you are in a church where your preacher says it is okay to sin against God and still make it to heaven, you need to flee that church. Where unrighteousness is preached, it is also practiced. God is coming for a holy church, not a good enough church.

1 Peter 4:16-18

{16} But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear that name. {17} For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God? {18} And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”

Hebrews 2:2-4

{2} For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every transgression and disobedience received its just punishment, {3} how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This salvation was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, {4} and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.

According to Matthew Henry's Commentary, "When God brings great calamities and sore judgments upon whole nations, he generally begins with his own people." For example, in Isaiah 10:12 the Lord tells Isaiah that He will judge Mount Zion and Jerusalem before He judges the king of Assyria. In Jeremiah 25:29 the Lord tells Jeremiah that He is bringing disaster on the city that bears His name. And again in Ezekiel 9:6 the idolaters in the Lord's sanctuary will be the first slaughtered. 

God is calling each one of us to be holy like He is holy. We are each responsible for receiving the salvation and spiritual cleanliness which God has given the believer through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ (Savior) and His Holy Spirit (Fire of God). Through the blood we are saved when we believe in the name of Jesus Christ.  Through His holy fire we are made pure: unblemished, untarnished, unstained. 

I am responsible for believing God's Word. I am responsible for accepting the salvation He has proffered through His Son Jesus Christ. I am responsible for seeking the baptism of His Holy Spirit and obeying Him. I am responsible for living my life according to the Word of God. I am responsible for repenting daily for sins I (may) have committed against God. For tomorrow is not promised to anyone, even God's people. So I must be always ready to meet Him. It is less stressful to be ready than it is to worry about being ready! 

I am responsible for sharing the gospel with everyone I meet. I am responsible for living a life that glorifies God. And I am responsible for attending a church where the full gospel, the true Word of God, is preached, that I may hear with my ears and my heart the integrity of God's Holy Word. I am responsible for Who I worship and how I worship Him. 

I am responsible for my thoughts, my words, my actions. These must align with the Word of God that He might be glorified in me and through me. 

I am responsible for how I will be judged. Will I be found lacking? I hope not. Will I be ready? I hope so. 

Judgment Begins Here

 1 Peter 4:17 "For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?" 

 Luke 12:47 "That servant who knows his master’s will but does not get ready or follow his instructions will be beaten with many blows." 

James 4:17 "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." 

Stop gossiping about sin being judged in other churches and start praying about it,  about your own church, your own self. Seek forgiveness for our own sins against God. The time is coming and even now is here when we must prepare for the coming storm of fire and judgment against those who have heard the Word and done nothing with it: not believed it, not accepted Christ as Lord, not acted upon the hearing of the Word. Even in our churches. 

We, the believers, are responsible for what we believe. We are responsible for first living the gospel, then sharing the gospel with everyone we are led to. We are responsible for being faithful witnesses, ambassadors for Christ. 

We, the believers, are accountable for the words we speak. These words must be spoken in the love of Jesus Christ, with the power of the Holy Spirit leading us, guiding us. These words must be used to encourage and lift up those around us, even in rebuke, love must be present. Even in discipline, words of love must accompany the actions taken. 

We are accountable for the words we don't speak. There are times we must remain silent, even as our Lord and Savior remained silent before Pilate. He didn't bite his tongue, nor did He fight any urges to speak in His defense: He merely remained silent before him who was judging Him. 

We, the believers, will be judged by God for our lack and our sloth. Our lack of compassion for they who are lost in sin and dying without Christ when we could have spoken up but chose not to. Our sloth, our unwillingness to serve in the fields to which we have been sent to work, will be judged by God. 

We who believe had better fall to our knees and repent now before we are called to judgment and held accountable for our actions/inactions and words/silence. Even me. 

A Church On Fire

A church on fire will accomplish great things. But the fire must be of God, that it might consume and burn up all that is not of God. Hebrews 12:29.

The fire must be of God and fulfill God's requirements in order to fall where God desires 1 Kings 18:30-39 & Acts 1:13-15; 2:1

Brought Down and Fallen

Psalm 20:6-8

Now know I that the Lord saveth His anointed; 

He will hear him from His holy heaven

With the saving strength of His right hand.

Some trust in chariots,

and some in horses: 

But we will remember the name

of the Lord our God.

They are brought down 

and fallen: but we

Are risen and stand upright.

"Not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit",saith the Lord. (Zechariah 4:6) We are on all sides attacked. On the eastern borders of our kingdom is out and out hatred for the God we serve and represent. Perhaps we have done a poor example of representation. No, no perhaps about it. We have failed in our ambassadorial positions. Wolves in sheep's clothing claiming to be Christians and followers of Christ have been mistaken for actual ambassadors.

We have done nothing to stop this infiltration, but sleep in our pews and slumber in our beds. Where is the Warrior-Bride whom Christ is returning for? She is no sleeping beauty to be awakened by love's kiss! We need to be on our knees seeking God's face! Seeking His forgiveness for our laziness, our carelessness, our disobedience. Our slack has caused our downfall.

O God, forgive us our trespasses as we forgives those who trespass against us. We have not sought our daily Bread, nor thirsted for Living Water. We have settled for dung heaps and putrid water. Make us over, Lord; wash us clean; seize our hearts and our minds and fill us completely with Yourself. Use us to the advancement of Your kingdom. Breathe not only in us, but through us into another. And another. And another................

Psalm 18:3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from my enemies. v 6,7 .. my cry came before Him, even into His holy ears. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because He was wroth. v32 It is God that girds me with strength. v34 He teaches my hands to war. v35 Thy right hand has held me up. v37 I have pursued and overtaken my enemies.

 It is God who strengthens in times of battle, in times of war. It is God who saves from certain destruction. It is God who teaches us to fight, to overcome. In the presence of my enemies, it is God who saves me. It is God who loves me and gives me His heart's desire. It is God. And none other. 

Rise up Church!