Fame or Shame

 I want to follow up on a thought from my sermon on Sunday. 

I have been looking at the data, talking to people about their numbers and it seems that all those that are not physically coming back to church are no longer viewing it on the internet.

The numbers are falling off, in person as well as those claiming to view it at home. The numbers I see are a cumulative of the weekly viewing, not just at the time of live broadcast.

So what's going on here? When the pandemic first hit everyone was praying and watching and seeking God all due to the uncertainty of the situation.

Why not now?

On Sunday in the sermon I made the point that pornography is the most searched item on the internet. Period. It is not even close.

We have the scriptures, preachers, sermons, classes, hymns etcetera, available more than ever before, yet the consumption of them is far behind other things. Why? Because man left to himself will not seek out the righteous, but the sinful. It is a fact. Even the saint must work hard to stay in God's Word.

The rest of us that are not saints will have to work even harder to make an effort to stay in the Word.

The worst part though is not that they have stopped viewing, or that they have stopped attending, but it seems they have stopped caring altogether for the things of God.

You are going to say that's harsh, or that's a blanket statement. Yes and yes.

I can state those things straight up for the numbers back me up. You can say whatever you want, but anyone who clearly looks at the data and sees the trends and the numbers will have to agree to be intellectually honest.

I can never truly know the heart for we can have deeply religious sinners, and worldly carnal christians, so I can not name names but I can know you by your actions and make an educated guess.

if you use language that more suits the Navy sailor than a house of God, I can question you. If you out drink the neighbors on a regular basis I can question your salvation. If you never show up at a church but never miss a ball game I can assume. If there is no difference between you and the good people at the local bar or nightclub, I can safely think you are of them and not of God.

We owe God everything, We are so indebted to Him and yet we today seem to think we do not have to do anything once we are saved.

It is by Grace that we are saved and not of works, yes that is absolutely true. Yet we are to be among the world but not of the the world.

We are to be set aside for God, pure and Holy as He is, for we have His Spirit indwelling us.

A Living Sacrifice

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 

Rom 12:2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Paul says we are not to be like this world, doing what they do, going where they go, living as they live. We are to be renewed by the Spirit, transformed in the Image of God.

Why do we seem to be qualifying that in today's America? We want to make it gray rather than black and white.

We belong to God the Father, we have been adopted into the family of God. All we do brings fame or shame to His name.

Everything we do and don't do is a mirror of Him. I have asked this before, if there was a trial tomorrow would you be found guilty of being a Christian? Is there enough evidence?

If you are saved and you live exactly as the world, then what were you saved from? To what were you saved for?

You called on the name of Jesus and you were saved. ok. He says:

Joh 15:18  If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 

Joh 15:19  If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 

The world can not know the Spirit of God, can not identify with the Spirit of God, therefore they can not identify with you. For if you do identify with them you can not, CAN NOT identify with God. 

It is time for the God fearing Christians in America to come out from among them and be separate. It is time we stop appeasing the world and start preaching the Gospel in Word and in Deed. It is time we start dying to self daily, pick up our cross and follow Him. It is time they see the followers of Christ actually following Christ.

There is a faith hall of Fame, are you eligible for it? or are you in the hall of shame with wood, hay, and stubble to bring before the throne?