Now that I have your attention, I hope you will stick around with me until the end of this adventure. I have to tell you that right now I am so upset that I could eat sawdust and produce 2x4's. This blog tonight is personal, and I might even rant and rave a little, but I do so with the intent to hopefully get Christians all over the world to wake up and realize, that they need to be the Christ centered follower they were saved to be. That they need to be an example to the world of the LOVE of Christ, not the hatred of Satan! I am so sick and tired of the Church being exactly what the lost think it is, a country club that only allows member in if they fit that group of people's image. I am also sick and tired of watching people treat others with contempt and disgust because they don't dress like they think they should. I am so tired of the example that is being set for our youth, by those who are supposed to be the leaders, the veteran of the trenches of spiritual warfare. The Church has become a Day Spa for the "saved", rather than a Hospital for the Hurting as it should be.
When Jesus was asked by the lawyer "what shall I do to inherit eternal life" in Luke 10:25, Jesus asked him in Verse 26 "what is written in the Law? How do you read it? And he answered Jesus in Verse 27 with these words.." You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all our soul and with all your strength and all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." (ESV), and Jesus told him "you have answered correctly, do this and you will live." Jesus gets asked "who is my neighbor" in Verse 29 and he goes in to the parable of the Good Samaritan to get his point across. (Verses 30-37)
Now I had a young lady in my Sunday school class about 3 weeks ago tell me I should be a writer because I made up a story on that Wednesday night to get a point across to my youth and I am going to try to do the same thing here. Imagine an all black neighborhood in a low income, poverty riddled, somewhere in Southern America say 1960. You see houses for sale and abandoned. Some with windows boarded up and some with graffiti on the sides of the walls. You have people sitting out on porches with funeral fans trying to find some form of relief from the summer heat. All the cars on the road are older model cars with many a mile on them and many of them in need of major repair. All of a sudden a car turns the corner onto the street, but for some reason something is different about this car. It looks new, and shines from hundreds of feet away. Behind it follows a U-haul truck and they pull into a house that was for sale but recently had a SOLD sign put in the yard. Out of the car steps a middle aged Caucasian man and an Asian woman and two children, a girl who appears to be around 10 and a boy who appears to be about 5.
They settle into the house over the next few weeks, but not one of the neighbors comes to say hello. Instead when they step out of the house people holler words like "Honky, Cracker,or Whitey" or "slope, slant eyes, Rice Rat, or Gook". Now this bothers this man and woman but they let it go for the sake of the kids. They tell their children to not listen to the names because the people just don't understand what it's like to be different. The little boy asks the dad what he means and he tells him that in this neighborhood, that they are the Abnormal rather than the normal, and that makes some people nervous, because people fear that which is different and outside of their comfort zone.
Over the next few weeks, things get worse and worse until they wake up one morning with their car covered in eggs, toilet paper hanging from the tree, and a big sign right in the middle of the yard that reads "Leave, go be with your own kind, as we don't want you here Cracker. And take your Slant eyed wife and half breed children with you." This incident is the breaking point for the dad, who immediately puts his house up for sale, sends his wife and children to visit relatives, puts his household items in storage, and moves himself into a hotel. All because he and his family were different.
Now take the same neighborhood and same family moving in , except this time instead of racial slurs and violence, imagine the neighbors all come out to help the family move in. Imagine women making pies, cakes cookies. Bringing good old southern sweet tea.and the family becoming a vital part of the community for many years to come. This is a much better situation to picture would you not agree.
The problem with the 2 situations above is this; the first one is prime example of the church in America today. The church has gotten so comfortable in the poverty of their sin, that when someone comes into the church, they are only accepted if they fit the mold of the "clicks" within the church. If they don't fit the "mold" then they are shunned, talked down to and treated bad enough that eventually they will leave the church, some without ever coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Some will drift aimlessly until they land either in another church sometimes, but normally they drift aimlessly until they land deeper in sin, or in some false religion or a cult, because they felt accepted just as they are. No one judged them for the clothes they wear, the way they speak, or the color of their skin. No one judged them for their past. So they went where they felt at ease.
You see Satan will use any means he can to keep people from a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 10:10 "The thief only comes to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." What better place for him to kill, steal and destroy, but in the church. You see when we take our eyes off the Master, the enemy sneaks in, and once in he can move freely in the church today because most people have their eyes on the world and its prizes, not the Jesus and the Cross. The Church today is more concerned about the color of the carpet than the heart of the sinner. The Church of today is more worried about it's finances than the soul of the person sitting beside them. THE CHURCH OF TODAY IS PLAYING DRESS UP INSTEAD OF BEING THE BRIDE OF CHRIST. The Funeral music has started to play as the Church is quickly taking it's final breathes. The casket has been rolled to the front of the building, taking residence in front of the pulpit, as the sun sets on the body of Christ today.
Brothers and Sisters it is time that WE, yes We, those who are called of God, Saved through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, stop playing Church, and fall down on our knees and repent of OUR sin, and call out to the Saviour, and once again watch the Church arise and BE the body of Christ, instead of playing at being the body of Christ. If we will once more Love the Lord, Our God with ALL, I said ALL, our heart, mind and soul, and LOVE OTHERS AS WE LOVE OURSELVES, then and only then will we be worthy to hear our Lord say "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!" Matthew 25:23. But if we do not wake up and change our ways the we deserve the words of Revelation 3:15 when he says " I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth."
What will you here the Lord say to you on that day. Before you answer that ask yourself this Question "Jesus wasn't racist, but am I ?" I leave you with that thought tonight. May God bless this blog and may those who are meant to see this somehow see it. Have a good night all and I look forward to our next meeting.
In Christ's Love,
Bro. Bill Roy
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