Sunday, April 29, 2007

Examine Yourself



1Peter 3:15&16
15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
2 Corinthains 13:5
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?


Hello fellow Christians. How important is it that we examine our faith. It is important as spiritual life or death eternally speaking. I amazed how often I see Christians today who go to churches in which their pastors(wolves in sheeps clothing) practice intentional doctrinal imprecision. This means they teach at a elementary level. I will admit that some of this just stems from ignorance in the church. Is that acceptable? I would say no. Jesus the Christ is not grading us on a curve, but by his Son. We live in age where your ignorance is no longer acceptable. When you claim to be a Christian and you really aren't, you hurt the true body of Christ.

Lets examine these 2 scriptures listed above. Peter admonishes us to always be ready to give an answer for why we believe. The greek word for defense here is where we get the word apologetics. A lot of word of faith pastors do not like that word, well it is derived from the Word of God. What is he saying here? Peter says we in essence need to know what we believe and why we believe it. Not because grandma or grandpa believes but why do you believe. You ask the american christian that today and all you will get is ignorance, they will tell you about a emotional subjective experience that is most likely not from the Word of God.
Just a very small background of Peter. Peter was one of the original 12 who continuously made mistakes in his walk, over and over again. He even at a time was rebuked by Jesus and Paul.(Gal 2:14) We can make mistakes, we are expected to in our human flesh but we are expected to grow from them and not habitually stay where we are(complacent) or to be in habitual sin.

1 John 3:6
No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

Lets examine what Paul says. In context he was making this argument to the Corinthians because they were questioning his apostleship and he basically was saying, if his apostleship was phony, then so was their faith. He was instructing them to examine their faith on an individual basis. You see if we are truly in the faith and do not take this thing from a eternal perspective, we are making a public mockery of Christ. Today I hate when people find out I am a Christian and they automatically lump me in with heretics like TD Jakes, Ken Copeland, Joel Osteen, Paula White, Ken Hagin, and slew of others. It literally hurts me. In case you do not know,these people deny the sufficiency of Christ and some of them adhere to modalistic views of the Trinity so before you try to defend these charlatans(http://www.pulpit-pimps.org/), do your research and then try to reason with me from scripture, until then-just be quiet.

I ask you a question. Does sin bother you? Do you hate what God hates and love what God loves? Can you sit through an episode of sitcoms that push the gay agenda or watch a sitcom that promotes fornication. I am guilty of this myself but read James 4:17. I have repented. All I can say is God is Holy and his requirements have not and will not change with the cultural trends. This is something somebody should have told Rick Warren, while he is trying to transform the Gospel so that people can stomach it.

I am asking you for the sake of your eternal residence, are you truly in the faith. If you fail the test... I have good news... you still have time.
Hebrews 9:27
Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

In Jesus the Christ