Salt Please?!

We, the Church, look too much like the world.  We live here, but we should model ourselves after the Kingdom of God.

How is it that we look and act so much like the unsaved, perhaps not on every issue, but so much so, that we often blend right in.  Many saints like their off-color jokes, questionable movies, free-flowing alcohol, live-in partners and sexy clothes.

No wonder unbelievers question our sincerity and have little or no regard for us. They know the difference between right and wrong and wonder why we follow them in their questionable pursuits.

We have a lopsided belief system in America.  We lean too heavily on the grace of God and His wonderful loving nature.  We have forgotten that He is also a holy God who loves righteousness and truth.

I know He sees the righteousness of Christ when He looks upon us, but should we come into His presence with a slight odor of the world on our garments.  He died for our sins and here we are participating in a good number of them.

He's looking for sons and daughters that resemble Him--not the world.  He wants to see His character developed in our lives.  This is what is pleasing to His heart.  The more we share in common with the Lord, the closer we can get to His presence.

He wants to bless us.  "Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever."  (Deut.  5:29)

Hear His heart. Can you detect the regret that His people do not follow His ways, so He can bless them even more.

While there are varying degrees of involvement with the world, we all need to ask the Lord to give us a sensitivity for those things that offend Him.  We are to live for Him.  Desire the conviction of the Lord and leave the ways of the world behind!

Tell It Like It Is!

I can't get away from II Chronicles 7:14--"If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Not only are we to search our own hearts, but I believe we are to speak the Word of God to one another.  We have kept our mouths shut long enough in America.

In general, Chrisitans in America lack the fear of the Lord and we have adapted the Word to fit our culture.  As a result we are no longer a blessed nation and we need to stand up and declare the truth in hopes of establishing the plumb line once again.

No one wants to offend --myself included, but I do believe the Word of God is being withheld to such and extent that an imbalance has occurred and sin is rampant among the saints.

This is the Word of the Lord to the American church today.

Ezekiel 3:4,7-11
Then He said, "Son of man, go to the people of Israel and give them my messages.
But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted.
Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces and your forehead strong against their foreheads.
Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.
Moreover He said to me: "Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you and hear with your ears.  And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people and speak to them and tell them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, 'whether they hear, or whether they refuse."

Ezekiel was to speak to his own people.  The house of Israel represents the church and the Lord is telling us not to be afraid of our brothers and sisters.  The Lord has been trying to turn believers around in America for years and now we are seeing signs of judgments in our county.

We are to apply the Word of God to our own lives first (receive My Word into your heart) and repent and then speak the truth, in love, to our brothers and sisters who the Lord calls 'captives'.

The church in America has its own compromised version of the Word of God and the Lord says we are a rebellious people who will not listen to Him.  He is requiring us to speak, despite the fact that most will not listen, but will be stubborn and give us angry looks.

I was floored upon receiving this.  How was I to muster up enough couragge to stand my ground when my approach is usually laid-back?

The key lies in Ezekiel 3:7.  The Lord says, "I will make your face strong against their face."  The NIV translation says, "I have made you as obstinate and hardhearted as they are."  This is what He did for Ezekiel, so he could carry out His commmand and He'll do it for us as well!

My personality is the opposite of what is being required here, but He often chooses those that are completely lacking to show Himself strong in their lives.  All I have to do is cry out for this change.  It may, or may not be an immediate change, but I am to continually ask for His grace to speak the Word boldly.

Ezekiel 2:8 states that if we do not speak out the truth, we will be considered rebellious by the Lord and verse 18 says their blood will be upon our heads if we don't tell them.

We are not to club people to death, but we are prayerfully speak the truth in love.  Hang on saints.  The Lord is requiring a change  and we must keep up with Him!

S-T-R-E-T-C-H You Can Do It!

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.

The Great Commission was given to all that are called by His name.  These were among His last words.  The LAST thing He wanted to leave with us.  Yet most would say that this does not pertain to them.

"Oh, I am not an evangelist."    OR    "That's not for me.  I'm terrible at that."

Well, I was, too.   But that was His last command and while I don't have an evangelistic gifting, He has made me into a 'fisher of men'.

I didn't want to go knocking on doors or speak to my co-workers.  I still don't ---but I know that's what He wants.

He has taught me techniques and given me favor--all because I cried out for help.

I was terrible at the beginning.  I would ring the bell, wait 2 seconds, leave the flyer and be two doors down before the original person answered the door-----then I'd wave at them!

I would cry out to the Lord to make me bolder---to come out of myself and not worry what they thought of me---to preach the entire gospel. 

After a while, things came together and while I'm not perfect---I can generally get the message out in its entirety.

He heard my cries, saw my struggles and knew I wanted to shrink back, but because I didn't QUIT, He eventually was able mold me into one who can share the gospel effectively.

S-T-R-E-T-C-H!  You can do it!                                                                     

Spiritual Housekeeping!

It is very easy to think that we are on target with the Lord when in actuality, we are not doing the will of God.  How can this be?  We love the Lord, go to church, read the Word of God and are doing everything we know to live a life that pleases Him.

The ansewer is found in Jer. 17:9-10.  "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.  Who can know it?  I, the Lord, search the heart and know the mind." 

We might have the best of intentions and truly love the Lord, but He says our hearts deceive us and lead us astray.  We may have no idea that we are off track.  But the Lord does. He examines our secret motives and He knows all things.

Our hearts can fool us into thinking that we're doing this or that for the Lord, but the Lord can examine our motives and show us we're often doing things to benefit ourselves and not Him.  We can protest vehemently, but He knows the thoughts of our hearts.

It's an easy thing to remedy, however.  Don't you think if you asked the Lord to divulge what is in your heart and any wrong motives that He would graciously reveal these hidden things and readily restore you?

We get busy and just rely on Him to understand that we love Him and that our hears are in the right place.  However, it's our responsibility to reserve some special time before Him to examine our hearts for wrong motives.  Some things may surface immediately and others may take a while for the Lord to orchestrate situations that reveal the hidden truth.

You may feel you're too busy for this, but it's actually a preventative measure and the benefits are numerous.  The alternative is to postpone this little housekeeping job 'til the place is falling down around your ears and you're in so much trouble you don't know where to start!

(Part 2 of 12) PERRY STONE: URGENT WARNING TO AMERICA!

Torn Between Two Loves

We are called to live separate lives unto the Lord----  II Peter 2:19--But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's Own possession---yet we identify greatly with the world.

We have allowed apathy and complacency to creep into the church over the years and little by little we have absorbed attitudes of our affluent society.  We live for our comforts, entertainment, sports, fashion, and 'techie toys'.  In moderate amounts, these are not wrong, but we often crave them and consider our lives fuller because we have an abundance of them.

We know they have a hold of us when we become disgruntled, and unhappy during times we have to do without.  Let's face it.  Most of us would have to admit there are things that have a hold of our hearts other than the Lord alone.  There may be varying degrees, but is there much difference between this attitude and that of unbelievers who 'live' for these pleasures.  Again, these things are only wrong if they have a hold of our hearts.

This is almost identical to the children of Israel.  They promised to love and serve the Lord and they did.  But they also loved and served other 'gods' of the land by building shrines in the hills and burning incense as part their worship.  They were to be His people but He had to share Israel with other gods.

This provoked the Lord and He allowed invaders to oppress Israel in hopes they would return to Him and they did.  But it was short-lived and after numerous attempts at re-gathering His people, He brought them into captivity where their way of life and prosperity was stripped from them.  Upon returning, they walked more faithfully until the time of Christ, but it was very costly.

Brothers and sisters, I do believe the church in America stands on the very same precipice that Israel did prior to the Babylonian captivity.  " If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land."

The church might appear closer to the Lord than the average American, but the church is torn between two loves.  We are to live separated lives unto the Lord.  We are His people, His Own possession and we're passing through on our journey.

I Have One of These. Do You?

The concept of breaking up fallow ground as seen in the picture above comes from Hosea 10:21.  "Break up your fallow ground for it is time to seek the Lord."  I brought this topic up because so many of us are praying for America and using II Chronicles 7:14 as a model and it tells us to seek the Lord and turn from our wicked ways.

Fallow ground is a plot of land that is resting or not being used.  Spiritually, it represents an area that the Lord has dealt with us and we never successfully pressed through to the end.  Or it could be that He told us to accomplish a task, but we got busy and pushed it to the side and now there is no harvest.  Either way, our land is a fallow field instead of a profuse garden.

We may not consider it a conscious sin, but if we have neglected to do what He has told us then it is still equated with sin.  At this point, our assignment is labeled fallow or unprofitable ground which makes me think of Matt. 25:30 with the parable of talents.  In the end, The Lord tells them to cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness.

If that's the case, we need to plow our fallow ground and complete what He has directed us to do as part of the requirement for our prayers to be  heard according to II Chron. 7:14.  This is another aspect of turning from our wicked ways or should we say our 'selfish ways' because we've been more interested in our needs than the needs of His Kingdom. 

I believe this is the crux of the problem in our land.  We have been more concerned with ourselves than we have been with the King and His Kingdom!