6 Kinds of People

There are six kinds of people in this world.
1.) People who have not heard the Gospel.
2.) People who have heard the Gospel, yet have rejected it.
3.) People who have heard the Gospel and believe it, but have yet to act upon it.
4.) People who have heard the Gospel accepted it and acted upon it, yet have failed to surrender completely to God.
5.) People who have heard the Gospel, accepted it, acted on it and are seeking God with all of their hearts, but still feel that something is missing.
6) People who have heard the Gospel, accepted it, acted on it, and have been baptized in the Holy Spirit. Not to say that you have arrived. You haven’t. You’ll need it again. There’ll be something missing again... if you’re not continually refilled. There’s always room for growth. Just look at Jesus. All the things he did were by the power of the Holy Spirit. He never used His own power as (the Son of) God. It was all through the power of the Holy Spirit. Greater things than I have done will you do.

Simply put, there are people who are growing and people who are dying. Which one are you? Are you dying? Are you growing? Are you settling for what’s comfortable and less demanding. God demands no less than your life--all of it. That’s what he gave to you. In view (because) of Christ’s mercy offer your bodies. How can you ignore such a great salvation? It doesn’t matter if you’re not yet to step six. Nothing says you have to go through each step either. Many people immediately receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit when they accept Christ as their Savior.

Maybe you are comfortable where you’re at and you don’t see any reason to change. If that’s you, fine. Don’t change if you don’t want to. No one can make you change anyway. They can try all they want but if your mind’s set on not changing you’re just not going to change. It says that in the Bible. [sinful nature, spirit] You can choose to reject God. You can choose to follow God. Or you can choose to be a miserable person who wants all the blessings of God and all the fun of the world, who has chosen to live a comfortable life, and can’t enjoy God because of your sin and can’t enjoy sin because of God. Remember this: God is not a joke. What he says in his word he will do. His word stands forever. What he says literally makes the world go ’round. To ignore his word and his plan for our lives is foolish. There is no middle ground. And if God is true to his word then...[lukewarm, spit out...not fit for the kingdom of heaven.] I’m not trying to judge anyone. It’s not my place to judge. However, it is my obligation to rebuke my brothers and sisters when they are straying from his commands. Maybe you need to just be encouraged. Or maybe it was time for a loving rebuke. After all, that’s all this is--a letter written out of love. Regardless of your response, I won’t think any less of you. I think highly of you already. Ask yourself this one question: Are you happy, or do you feel God calling you to something better? Seek and you will find. He expects nothing but our best. In turn, we can expect nothing but his best.

Forcing Morality

We can all breath easy now. The Republicans run the House. America will once again be called a Christian nation.
I’m sorry but it’s a lie. There is no Christian political party. Although the Republicans may be supporting what many Christians support, some Christians do not support those things. Believe it or not, some Christians are Democrats. So put to rest the fantasy that the Republicans are our knights in shining armor. There are Christian Republicans, but the terms are not synonymous any more than Christian and Democrat.
Having said that I will attempt to prove the absurdity of the whole thing in the first place. There is a common misconception in the Chrsitian subculture today: we can legislate morality. Yes, it is an issue that has been touched upon many times before, yet it looks to me like we still don’t get it. We are seeking to get people into public office who will stand for traditional Judeo-Christian values. We want to abolish abortion and reestablish prayer in schools. We fail to see that while we are pushing our beliefs in the politcal arena we are reducing our Christianity to simply another political group with another political agenda. It has become a fight between us and them. We have stripped ourselves of our greatest power: the Gospel.

We cannot pass a law that can make anyone live righteously. Mostly, regardless of the law, people will live acording to their own philosophies and/or religion. They have a code of ethics which they derived from their education and experience. The classic example is the prohibition of intoxicating beverages and their susequent legalization.

We have a problem. We want non-Christians to live by our rules when we don’t even expect Christians to be able to. We can easily be likened to the Hipocrites with little or no stretch of the imagination. We have forgotten the clear teaching of Jesus. If we love Him we will do what he says. And it is probably safe to assume that if we don’t we won’t. There is no use in coaxing people to live morally. Unless we convinvce people of the reality of the Gospel it is useless to try to get them to live as it teaches.