Test Everything

 Test everything

“Test everything. Hold on to the good.” 

                                                    1Thessalonians 5:15.

As Christians we are called to test everything. We should never follow by blind faith. We need to look at what is being taught. We need to question the pastor or evangelist that is speaking to see if he or she is properly teaching the word of God.

The apostle Paul writes,

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” 2Timothy 2:15.

We need to question anyone calling themselves a Christian leader to see if they are correctly handling the word of God. There is nothing wrong in doing this. The apostle Paul writing,

"What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside?  God will judge those outside. "Expel the wicked man from among you." 1 Corinthians 5:12,13.

Do you from time to time question the pastors, and evangelist you follow to see if they are teaching the word of God correctly?

Please think about it.

Mercy

Mercy
James the half brother of Jesus said,
"Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom,  
because judgement without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgement!" James 2:12,13.
Sadly many within the church, especially the evangelical church forget this portion of scripture. They instead judge showing little mercy to those around them especially toward those of different faiths and lifestyles.
Harper Lee in her book To Kill a Mockingbird said,
"Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of another...” Harper Lee.
She was right. Many people have been turned away from the church by those claiming to be followers of Christians.
If you claim to be a follower of Christ Jesus. A Christian. Are you or the church congregation you attend responsible for turning people away from Christ?
Would the congregation you attend look down on a gay couple holding hands as they enter church? Would they even be welcome?
Would you or members of your congregation be willing to sit down and talk about your faith with those of a different faith?
Would you and your congregation be willing to listen to those of a different faith tell you about their faith?
I strongly feel that in order to win people for Christ we must be willing to open a dialogue between ourselves and others.
No one irrespective of their beliefs or lifestyle should ever be turned away from our churches.
No one irrespective of their beliefs or lifestyle should ever be denied service by any Christian owned business?
The way I see it no one should ever be denied being shown the Love of God in Christ Jesus. And the only way a non-believer can be shown the love of Christ is if we interact with them as equals.
Failure by anyone calling themselves Christians to show the love of Christ to anyone is to question if they are truly Christians.
Please think about it.

The Jesus Question

The Jesus Question

Here’s a question for those who do not believe Jesus is the Son of God, God incarnate.
Why would a man knowing claim to be the Son of God when he knew the penalty by law for saying such a thing meant death?
Jesus knew the law and still claimed to be the Son of God.
The Gospel of Matthew records,
“Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?”  
But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” 
“Yes, it is as you say,”Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.  
What do you think?” “He is worthy of death,” they answered.” 
                                                                     Matthew 26:62-66
The Gospel of John records,
“As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!” But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.” 
The Jews insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.” 
                               John 19:6,7.
Let’s face it, someone trying to start a new religious or a social movement of any kind would be a lunatic to say something that would get him put to death.
C. S. Lewis an Oxford University intellectual, initially an atheist studied the Bible and Jesus. He came to this conclusion about Jesus,
“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him(Jesus): I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” 
           C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Needless to say Lewis became a follower of Jesus.
To my mind Jesus is everything he said he was, the Son of God.
His call to each and every individual is to get rid of any preconceived ideas you might have or someone has place in your mind and read what the New Testament has to say about Jesus with an open mind. Make your own decision as to who he is.
It is my belief that if you do study the Bible with an open mind you will see Jesus for what He is the Son of God, the Saviour of mankind.
Think about it.