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"There is a great quantity of nominal Christianity to-day. There is need of more of the real thing. We need revival of the Christianity of Christ .  We have, unconsciously, lazily, selfishly, formally grown into a discipleship that Jesus himself would not acknowledge. He would say to many of us when we cry ‘Lord, Lord,’ ‘I never knew you!’ are we ready to take up the cross?  Is it possible for this church to sing with exact truth,
                                      ‘Jesus, I my cross have taken,
                                       All to leave and follow Thee?’ 
Charles Sheldon                   In His Steps         Published by Books Inc.

I agree that many have gotten lazy and very selfish. We need to step back and ask ourselves " are we really following Christ?"  The saying WWJD ( what would Jesus do ) rings so true .... if we would keep that phrase in our hearts and minds ... what mountains we could move!

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AMEN to both!  Too many people consider themselves to be Christians simply because they attend church.  They don't realize they must actually 'live' the life.  It reminds me of an old adage....Mr. Righteous went to church, he never missed a Sunday.  Mr Righteous went to hell, for what he did on Monday. 

God want true warriors....those who are willing to stand up for Jesus and spread the true Word of God.  Lately, Christians seem to be afraid to oppose that which is wrong, for the sake of 'political correctness.'  Jesus told us that if we deny Him, He will deny us. 

Mat 10:33
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.

Amen.  In our small community we have over 45 different churches. Some of our churches have recently split do to new rulings that strong Christians could not abide by. Many Christians are having a hard time finding Church's that teach the true gospel of our Lord. The end times are coming just as told in the Bible. We can not stop the tide, but we must stand firm and strong in our faith.

Amen. We must continue to fight the good battle in all that we do and say. We all must continue to do the work of the Lord.

Brothers and Sisters,

For many people, Christianity is just a word, and their relation to this word is vicarious - through the eyes of someone else. In other words, they don't have a relationship with JESUS CHRIST and they are lost.

Some people go to church for social and business reasons - not to worship GOD. The word "nominal" is interesting, and it might represent "barely a Christian" in the context of this discussion. These days, it's really hard to tell whether some people are Christians or not. There are many examples of a person's ties to the world being much more important than the person's ties to the LORD. The examples are too numerous to list, but they all boil down to worldly things and men being more important than GOD.

We can give thanks in this part of the world that we can each decide our own level of diligence and commitment to the LORD. We can also choose where we worship, what we do, where we go, and who we associate with 7 days a week. As Christians, we have freedoms that Christians in other parts of the world are literally dying for. BUT, many take these freedoms for granted and don't appreciate them. We can also give thanks that there are still many places of worship that set the proper priorities for GOD. If we aren't fed and fulfilled in one place, we can move to another place where we will be. We can also do the opposite and go to a place for entertainment and various mixtures of worldly things. The point is that we are spoiled in this part of the world. We can all still find a place to worship where worship is still the priority, but we might not appreciate it. After all, the places that provide worldly things and entertainment are big, fancy, and popular. NOW, we are back to what our priorities are and what we want.

All of us need to take a hard and long look at ourselves to see if our priorities are RIGHT. LET'S GET REAL - If we really love the LORD, examining our priorities would be a natural and frequent task that we would want to do. We, as specific individuals, must get right with the LORD first. If we do, the LORD can work in and through us to impact others.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Titus 3:4-7 NASB  But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Matthew 5:11 NASB  "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

Psalms 104:33-34 NASB  I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.  Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall be glad in the LORD.

Philippians 4:6 NASB  Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

John 10:29-30 NASB  "My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. "I and the Father are one."

Hebrews 12:1-2 NASB  Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Galatians 6:9-10  NASB  Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.

Philippians 1:9-11 NASB  And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;  having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

2 Corinthians 3:5 NASB  Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,