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Re: Bulletin Board [message #11576 is a reply to message #11575]

Sat, 02 May 2015 11:53

Gary
Messages: 1025
Registered: August 2008
Location: Indiana

Senior Member

james wrote on Tue, 28 April 2015 12:25

This past Friday night David Platt taught for six hours on "Christ, Culture, and the Call to Action" in a setting that is called "Secret Church". That term is taken from a mission trip he took about 8-9 years ago where, while in Asia the Christians who were under threat of persecution for meeting and studying God's Word, asked him to teach them at a hidden location at night. He has done fifteen of these intense teachings and they are simulcast around the world to tens of thousands via internet. (anyone interested can find them on YouTube under Secret Church, David Platt...except this last one, it hasn't been downloaded to it yet...but the study guide can be read by going to Radical, Secret Church and downloading the study guide, with the answers filled in.)

He covers a lot of material but here's a couple of quotes he took from a couple of very respected men of God from the last century speaking on the lack of a fear of God and how the society we live in and culture has watered down the importance of repentance and just who God is and what He demands of mankind.

"The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions. It hushes their fears and allows them to practice all pleasant forms of iniquity while death draws every day nearer and the command to repent goes unheeded."
A.W.Tozer

"What is most needed today is a wide proclamation of those truths which are the least acceptable to the flesh. What is needed today is a scriptural setting forth of the character of God-His absolute sovereignty, His ineffable holiness, His inflexible justice, His unchanging veracity. What is needed today is a scriptural setting forth of the condition of the natural man-his total depravity, his spiritual insensibility, his inveterate hostility to God, the fact that he is 'condemned already' and that the wrath of a sin-hating God is even now abiding on him."
A.W.Pink

I have got to say here that I am finding out there is a lot of ungodly people who profess to know Christ. I am only sharing this because this is what I am running into in my workplace and what I am experiencing.

I keep thinking the problem is that many are not being taught the Bible correctly and they have not a clue of what Jesus told His disciples.

Bear with me here. I was talking with a man yesterday who is very vocal and generally a lot of uncleanness proceeds out of his mouth, when out of nowhere he tells me that a man who is a customer of his always sets with him at church where he and his wife attend. I was a little shocked.

Well I'm only sharing this as I'm not here to pass judgement on the guy or other co-workers but just sharing my heart, and what I am experiencing at work. This man has had a huge influence over other employees who also profess to know Christ. They allow themselves to watch anything on TV or the internet and boast of it. This man brags about the porn he watches. Just trying to let you see what I am experiencing not here to make a judgement call on their sin.

Somewhere or how, I know God wants me to be a positive influence on these guys without coming across as holier then thou attitude. (In my heart I would like to quit and go home and just work in the garden till Christ returns or calls me home), that way I won't have to listen to it. Thankfully, I think that will happen when we get to heaven. I don't know if anyone else here has realized this but we or those out of our group are a little bit different in what we hold to as truth. I don't mean this in a bad way but its just that we were influenced in a way to understand.

Why us it could of been anybody, I'm not saying this to make us anything but to make a point. One other thing while I am thinking about it, I always thought peer pressure was something that teenagers had to deal with and that we had passed that stage. But now I think that peer pressure is a powerful force that tries to hold influence over all of us as Christians. Society wants all of us to conform to what they think and feel. I mean who wants to be different or odd, everyone wants to be liked or at least appreciated. So I realize we have to resist societies peer pressure and influence, or at least be able to recognize its influence.

Anyway after reading what James wrote here I thought it was good what was taking place in the world with those preaching the full gospel, but at the same time I realize the church world is in pretty rough shape in America. Its good that God has men out there who are sensitive to the Spirit of God. where do we fit in? Our purpose may be to lead as examples as the Spirit of God directs us. We all do have a part in the Kingdom it's just the finding out where He will lead us. Some here may have considered all of this but I wanted to think about it out in the open before all.

Okay concerning the faith message, I know its been given a bad rap and some have carried it to extremes. But I cannot get away from the fact that Jesus is the one who promoted this whole idea of faith in God. I think its about understanding that the Lord is the Great God and nothing "is" impossible with Him. We can confidently lay our lives before Him in this life. Is anything to hard for the Lord?

Ultimately eternity it is the most important "great pearl", that is worth dying for. Is it so important?, that we try to preserve our life in this life and lose such a great gem because our flesh would desire this world and its ways. I'm talking about all the little foxes that spoil the vine if you understand what I am trying to say. I'm not talking about going out into a life of sin but I am speaking of any area the world would have a draw to want us to conform to its way.

The flesh, the mind, the world is a daily wrestling match, yielding our spirits to God's Spirit has to be our constant goal. We should settle for nothing less.

Well James I was blessed by what you shared here, I hope all of us can comprehend what we have been brought into. The words of A.W.Pink speak to this generation just as loudly as when he spoke them to his generation. Being able to reach this generation by what we have learned and continue to learn is an ongoing process.

Gary

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