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Things Are True
by Dan Coburn Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church pastordan@mtida.net "Half the misery in the world comes from trying to "look" instead of trying to be, what one is not" - George McDonald. The world says (if they acknowledge Christianity at all) you have to jump through all the proper hoops, limbo under the bar, check all the boxes in order to "become" a Christian; a follower of the Most High God. God says however, that you have to "Be" in order to do. Which is it? Although this is a worthy subject matter, the problem is much, much deeper. The problem is Sin in the camp. It destroys our testimony, Ruins the hearers, Tramples the blood of Jesus under foot, and condemns our target demographic to hell. The term we will use as an umbrella for this malady is "Condemning Tolerance". The Church, I mean the Social influencing, Government swaying, Soul Saving venue God Himself ordained to be his instrument to effect a lost and dying world in His stead, has become something else. Something less. You can influence a Church from the outside (evidently) but it - She- his bride, can only be destroyed from within. How? - Condemning Tolerance. God Killed Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5), not over money, but over their irreverence toward him. Do you see any Irreverence today? Ananias means "God is gracious". But He is also Holy. Sapphira means "beautiful", but sin is ugly. It isn't a character flaw, or a lapse in judgment, it is Celestial Treason. Would God really take their lives for this? Just after the tabernacle was erected, God killed Nadab and Abihu (sons of Aaron) for trying to present "false fire" to the Lord - Lev. 10. Achan pocketed a little silver and some fine linen (after God said not to) and as a result, hundreds of his countrymen died just before he and his family. And let's not forget the Non-Levite who tried to stay the Ark. Was any of this fair? What could be the purpose? "Now all these things happened unto them for examples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take head lest he fall." 1st Cor. 10:11-12. "Well everyone is doing it" you might say, so "What's so special about sin?" Well, it is: 1) Empowered by Satan - Acts 5:3. Oliver Windell Holms said: "Sin has many tools, but the handle that fits them all is a Lie". Satan lied, they died. Sin is also - 2) Motivated by pride. God especially hates pride. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate". Prov. 8:13. In Proverbs 6, God says he can't stomach seven things. Number one on the hit parade? Pride. Who are we fooling? see Heb. 4:12. Why has the Church lost all authority or credibility with the world? Is it scandal, pedophilia, backbiting? No, it's Condemning Tolerance. And worse than simply being guilty of such, we broadcast it in a vain attempt to be "relevant". "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." Romans 1:32. This verse should cause you to gasp. Come join us Sunday, as we reinforce what is important. God bless.
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