Choices are for the Living

Choices are for the Living

Blessings readers I want to end my three part series on the Spiritual eating disorder in the body of Christ with one more part, which is the radical believer.  I thought about writing on the balanced believer it matched, but only in words.  I do not want to be a balanced believer I want to be an untraditional, sold out, radical, on fire, willing to be lead by the Holy Spirit even if I do not know where He is leading me kind of a believer.  I want to strike a match in the heart of God’s people wherever I go.  I want to make a difference in a place where being  the same has been accepted as fitting in but in reality if we were to examine the truth its only living with a compromise standard.  I do not want to compromise the Word of God any longer.  Ironically what I call a radical believer the book of acts calls the church. 

2Timothy 3:1-5 says, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self- control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying the power.”

The Apostle Paul was in prison in Rome awaiting his death when he wrote this letter to Timothy he was not talking to unbelievers but believers.  Paul was talking about the church.  People will attend the church because they love themselves, instead of God.  You might be thinking that is a bold statement, but why do people love money?  Because they love themselves, why are people abusive they love themselves, they want their way if they don’t get their way they become abusive? Why won’t people forgive others because it’s about themselves not others? Listen, I know there is real relevant pain out in the world.  I know people have been sexual, mental, verbally, and physical abused so how could I say that it is selfish not to forgive, because I myself have been sexually, mentally, verbally, and physically abused and until I released those people I always had my mind on myself.  People who say I just cannot control myself is all about self the only reason they cannot control themselves is because they want what they want no matter what it cost to get it.  Every word the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 is about people being lovers of self, but the book of Acts is the exact opposite.  How can we strike a match and light up a room if we are making it all about self?  How can people see the Holy Spirit in you if it‘s all about self?  How can we call ourselves followers if we will not follow?  Let’s step into the book of Acts for a moment and nail our tent pegs to the ground and see what the Lord shows us. 

Acts 2: 42- say’s, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  And awe (reverent fear) came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.  And all who believed were together and had all things in common.  And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing their proceeds to all, as they had need.  And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all people.  And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.  

If we want our churches to grow we must be different, we must look different, we must act different, and we must talk, walk, and speak different.  You cannot change and remain the same.  You cannot keep doing the same thing and get a different result.  Most churches will un-doubly say they want the power of God in their churches but they are not willing to do what it takes to receive the power that the church of Acts had.   What did you read when you read the account of the book of Acts?  It seems to me they were in complete unity no one was above and no one was beneath.  It seemed to me they did not put one person on a pedestal and another underneath the pedestal.  They honored each other, they were not fighting who was going to be in a spot light but rather they put the light on Jesus.  They cared for the people more than they did themselves.  It wasn’t about who had what gift or the number of people who showed up but rather about unity and the breaking of bread in the homes.  I am not talking about communism; the people still had personal possessions and houses to live in, I’m talking about the desire to give to one another out of a place of love.  We were in the military for 25 years so we have had many opportunities to visit numerous churches but one church has a place in the forefront of my thoughts,  not because of a person but because of a method. So here is the method they used you, (the church goers) would go to church Sunday morning and then on Sunday evenings you would obtain the Pastors notes, then meet in different homes with the home group leader in that area to discuss the message that was brought fourth that morning.  The objective was to talk about how you could use what you had learned on Sunday morning in the upcoming week which would preserve the people from becoming complacent with the Word of God.  If we are going to make a difference we must be different we must walk by the Spirit.  Last week my dad and aunt had called and asked if they could meet us for lunch at Longhorn Steakhouse we said, “yes,” as we were sitting talking to our waitress she had mentioned she had some unexpected car repairs, after we had placed our order and our waitress left, my aunt and I decided that we should take up an offering to help our waitress with her repairs.  Why am I sharing this with my readers?  I am sharing this because we must live by the written Word of God, we cannot ignore Matthew 25:35-46 any longer, what you have done to one of the least of these you have done unto me. I want to live the Bible out loud for Jesus.  I want my life to be relevant, to only live and breathe is to die a slow death but to save the dying while living makes every breathe I breath worth inhaling… Choices are for the living…  I dare you to be an answer to someone’s prayer today.

For prayer, questions, or comments you can reach me at fbministries@comcast.net. If you want to check out our web page you can at fbministries.com  This fall I will be attempting to post web cam messages I will inform you when the first message will be available for viewing.