Keith Green is one of my favourite singers and I thought I'd begin with a song by him called "To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice" which I believe sums up my message here. Please listen carefully to the lyrics...
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| Child being baptised |
http://voiceofeliyahu.blogspot.com/2012/12/what-does-catholic-church-teach-about_19.html
http://voiceofeliyahu.blogspot.com/2012/12/what-does-catholic-church-teach-about_1515.html
My denial of celebrating Christmas started with the statement that there
isn’t any date or time given in the Bible for such a festival nor is it
advocated by the early church fathers and as such is a man made and empty
tradition that in no way edifies my soul but leaves me with a wide door of
opportunity to make my struggle against my sinful nature even more difficult…
In Colossians 2:8 says, "Beware lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of
the world, and not after Christ."
And Paul wrote in Colossians 2:14-17 - Blotting out the handwriting of
ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of
the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let
no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day,
or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things
to come; but the body is of Christ.
Some of us can justify celebrating Christmas by saying that it is one of the best opportunity for us to share Christ with others. But isn't sharing Christ or His great commission just another lame excuse for us to indulge in a pagan festival which basically appeals to our eyes. Eve committed the same mistake when she found the forbidden fruit of the tree as one that was good for food, pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom. She forgot the warnings God gave to Adam concerning this, when she made up her mind to eat of this fruit. Now look at the degree of holiness God is expecting of us...Exodus 23:13 - "Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips. Here is God instructing His people not to even take the names of other God's on our lips. But you may argue that's part of the old covenant and is done away with. I would like to remind you that I do not view this as a law but only in context of holiness and faithfulness to God. Yet we find it okay to join hands with those who have no clue about these things or some of those depraved minds who know yet willfully have distorted the facts or have turned a blind eye to satisfy their inner cravings or lust (whatever form of lust it may be) being a millstone around the necks of their own brethren. Luke 12:48 -...From
everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the
one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Be careful!!! So when the Bible, which I am told is our guideline for living in line with the will of God, the question then arises if I should follow what men tell me or should I follow what the Bible instructs me. Should I fear men and obey or should I fear my God and obey. All the answer I required was given in Matthew 6:24 - No man can serve two
masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he
will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and
mammon. | |
| Hindu Thallikettu |
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| Christian Thallikettu |
There is much talk in Christian circles about carrying the great commission of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world but how many of us are truly trying or giving our everything to living like Christ? Actions speaks louder than words...if so what are your actions portraying to this lost world. Are you a holy person with a beautiful exterior but rotting within. Are you someone who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers or are you trampling under your foot the blood of Christ making a spectacle of the amazing grace that bore your guilt and shame upon the cross. Its time to re-evaluate ourselves these days because the good Lord said, "Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed." This is a particular verse usually quoted with reference to rapture of the church before the great tribulation. Yet I question how many of us are truly ready for His coming? Even the ones who say they are ready, are living a lie and in self denial, self righteousness and spiritual pride having made them blind to the truth. As in the words of the Bible itself, "If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" Matthew 6:23. These are those who are quick to point finger at their brethren. These are those who try to remove the sawdust in their brethren's eye when they already have a plank in their own eye. These are those generation whose fathers said "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ" but whose children and grandchildren are tirelessly working to gain all that discarded rubbish by what seems like a foolish decision of a backward generation that lived before them. These are those who put a holy face and attire in front of others but are scheming and shamefully scornful of those in a lower position than them, failing to remember the very words of Jesus, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.". These are those who are running behind positions in a man made church forgetting the example and words of Jesus on becoming a servant leader. These are not people who are passive in the congregation but are among the active and prominent ones who line up for the coming of the Lord...I reiterate ,"If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" We christians make up the church and it is for the church that Christ returns but is this church truly ready for the rapture?
A beautiful analogy of rapture of the Church is its comparison to a Jewish
wedding and the love shared between the bride and bridegroom for one another. On questioning if the church will pass through the tribulation, this is an analogy that's put forward with the statement "If the church is on
earth during tribulation then it would be like saying the bridegroom is having
the bride whipped before marrying her. How can a bridegroom ever allow his
bride to go through pain, suffering and dirt before he actually weds her. That
is absurd!"
Although the illustration is beautiful...that is all it is...just an
illustration. One must then ask the question, what
is the bride doing with the bridegroom in heaven during the time of the
tribulation on earth? For the verse Rev 19:7 says "Let us be glad and
rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his
wife hath made herself ready." So if the church has been raptured prior to
the tribulation, the church is then for the next seven years of the tribulation
with Christ in heaven. And at the end of the tribulation the wedding is taking
place as per what we read in Rev 19:7. We must question in the natural what is
the bride doing with the bridegroom before marriage? Was she making herself ready from the time of the rapture till the return back with Christ? If so, how was she making herself ready? Because it was only after she was found to be ready that she was presented with "fine linen which is clean and white. How would we perceive our
children to be wed, staying together before their marriage? What does the Bible
say about such a thing? The answers to these I leave to those who have wisdom
to understand. Rev 19:8 says "And to her was granted that
she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the
righteousness of saints." So at the wedding to take place, we see that the
church arrayed in fine linen which is clean and white. Fine linen immediately
is interpreted as the righteousness of saints. To receive this fine linen of
righteousness she must have gone through a period of sanctification. In a
Jewish wedding, the first step is the arrangement. This arrangement is made
between the father of the groom and the father of the bride. A price is paid to
the father of the Bride as a dowry by the grooms father. This is exactly the
opposite of what we see in our Asian culture. In the application of this
towards the church as the bride, I would like to turn your attention to the
Bible. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
Here we see the Father paying a price. One must then ask what is that price
that the father paid through His only begotten Son. The disciple Peter wrote in
1 Peter 1:18-19, “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the
empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not
mere gold or silver. He paid for you with the precious lifeblood of Christ, the
sinless, spotless Lamb of God.” So the price that was paid was nothing other
than the precious, purifying, life giving, victorious blood of His Son.
Ephesians 5:25 says that Christ loved the church so much that he gave himself
up for her. Next I want to turn your reading to Ephesians 5:26, 27 - That he
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he
might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or
any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
And here is where I want to direct your thoughts concerning the
sanctification of the bride. Remember that we talked about the arrangement that
was made by the father for the bride. A price was fixed and paid and then we
talked about the sanctification period of the bride. The sanctification or
preparation period of the bride begins from the day the bridegroom goes back to
prepare a place for the two of them. This is the period of betrothal. What can
we see in comparison to the Church today? The word "sanctification"
means "to be set apart". So the church is being set apart for the
Messiah, in accordance with 2 Corinthians 11:2, to be presented eventually as a
pure virgin to the Messiah. Sanctification is by the washing of water by the
word. This is not by water baptism, but by the water of the Word of God. As the
church becomes more and more conformed to what the Word of God teaches, she
becomes more and more that virgin, as described in Revelation, who is to be presented to Him. A virgin who is
without spot or wrinkle and is holy and without blemish. My
question then would be...is the church a bride being allowed to be whipped by
the bridegroom or is the passing through the tribulation a time for the
sanctification of Christ's bride, to become that spotless, wrinkle free,
blemishless bride for Christ? How would we as parents select a partner for our
children. Won't we look for the best for our son or daughter or do we look for
someone with defects and of a loose and carefree character that does not
conform to our standards? How can we who are such parents expect anything
lesser from a Holy God. God being Holy that He is, looks for a Holy and pure
wife for His Son, so pure that she should not even have a spot on her. The father
paid for the bride with the sinless spotless blood of His Son and in doing so
set the standard required of the bride for his Son...to be sinless and
spotless.
Thus we see a bride who has been purged through a refiner's fire...holy and
acceptable before God...to be truly called the bride of Christ. God
doesn't change his standards for anyone...the question is are you truly ready
to face anything for Christ...even death? Lukewarm...church is now but
lukewarm!!! And a lukewarm church has no place in the kingdom of God. I will
end with these verses...
1 Peter 1:16 - ....Be ye holy; for I am holy
1 Peter 4:17, 18 - 17 For the time is come
that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what
shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved , where shall the
ungodly and the sinner appear ?
I would like to know if I may use the illustration of the Bride of Christ that you have used here?
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