I have said before that the church (those who are born-again by the blood, Word and Spirit of Jesus) are to 'go out' to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We are NOT to invite the unsaved into the 'fellowship of believers.'  We are to protect our family unity in Christ Jesus. The Lord, in the book of Jude, tells us why: 

"Some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches. These people scoff at things they do not understand, and do whatever their instincts tell them. They deceive people for money, and only care for themselves. They bear no spiritual fruit, and are grumblers and complainers; living only to satisfy their desires. They brag loudly about themselves, and flatter others to get what they want. These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. Why? Because, they follow their natural instincts, and do not have God's Spirit in them." 

So ask yourself if your church challenges you to go to your neighbors and invite them into your home, or maybe to coffee or lunch, so you can show them and tell them about the love of Jesus? Are you challenged to get involved in your school board, or take on a government official job? Are you challenged to be the light 'out' in the world? Or, are you hearing that you should invite the unsaved into your places of worship, hoping they will get saved there by the pastor? 

As a believer, we are all called to "go out" like Jesus did with His disciples. Jesus met privately with His disciples to teach them about the things to come, and to encourage them on in their faith, hope and love of God.  

Is your church influencing the world, or being influenced by the world?

As I see it, from reading the Word of God, and by my own personal journey of faith, “faith comes by hearing the Word of God.” Faith that is applied to anything else than what God tells me, will not have the outcome that rewards me at the end of my life.

People say all the time, “I have faith in myself.” “I have faith in you.” “I have faith in what I’m doing.” “I have faith that it will get better.” Etc. But that is not real faith at all; that’s wishful thinking that rests on personal desire.

We have a ‘conscience’ from God that is to govern our behavior for doing that which is right, and turning away from doing that which is wrong, according to God’s definition of right and wrong. Our conscience can become seared or hardened (the Word of God says) and not be of any good use to us when we continually go against our good conscience and no longer care about what God says.

No wonder people who don’t want to change – hate to hear what the Bible says. They don’t want to HEAR from God. “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to ‘cleanse us from a guilty conscience’ and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Hebrews 10:22)

Doing that which is right, instead of wrong, is a ‘moral’ sense of duty we have as human beings. Anyone can be a moral person, knowing right from wrong, having common sense, because we ALL come from God. But not everyone has ‘faith’ in God. Faith involves hearing from God and waiting on God.

Abraham heard directly what God’s will for him was, and how it would happen, but Abraham needed to wait on God to do what God said HE would do. God audibly told Abraham that he and Sarai would have a son together in their old age. It seemed such an impractical ‘word’ to them that Sarai laughed, she mocked what God told Abraham.

They waited to be pregnant and when they got tired of waiting on God to give them a son, Abraham accepted Sarai’s offer of her maidservant Hagar through which to have a son. But Ishmael was not the son of God’s Word (promise), and so to this day Israel remains at war with the “slave-woman’s son,” thousands of generations later.

When WE attempt to make it happen in our own strength, it will NEVER have a good outcome. It will never earn the right of FAITH’S REWARD. When Abraham and Sarai became pregnant with their second son Isaac (his name meaning “laughter”), they repented and continued on their journey of faith in the rest of what God had said to them about Abraham’s generations and the Promised Land.

Noah, another man of faith, heard from God directly as well in a day of great depravity in the world. God was going to destroy the world (people on the earth) because they all had refused to repent and humble themselves before their Maker.

God called Noah the only blameless man left. (Genesis 7:1) What made Noah righteous in God’s sight? Noah never allowed his conscience to be seared or hardened by the world around him. Noah was not a sinless man (no one is) but Noah remained a humble God-fearing man as the world around him grew more and more depraved.

When God spoke to Noah about building the Ark, Noah questioned God about it, and God answered him. Noah followed through with the work ‘of faith’ in what God had given him to do in ‘his day.’ As believers in God, living in a particular time in the history of man, God has His plan and purpose for each of us who will apply the faith He has given us to do the work of the LORD, with the LORD. What God gives each of us to do – can not be done on our own. We need His presence and power to do what seems impossible or impractical.

Our mustard-seed faith is first applied to the work of Jesus Christ on the cross that provided salvation to all that believe. The Word of God says that we become a “new creation” then, the old has passed away and new has come; like changing our clothes from soiled ones to brand new ones.

As we read God’s Word, the Bible, our minds are transformed, heart humbled, conscience cleansed. “In view of God’s mercy (the Cross), offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1-2

Being “transformed” prepares us for what God has in mind for us to do with Him; that “perfect and pleasing will” of God. It’s not about what we want to do for God, but rather what God wants to do with us.

Faith is the only thing that pleases God, so the Bible tells us. God will reward genuine faith. “My life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” Acts 20:24

Not all Christians have heard directly and even audibly from God for how HE WANTS to use us and apply our faith because not all believers are ready for Him. We learn alot from reading and meditating on the letters the LORD wrote to HIS seven churches. Five out of seven He rebukes for what they need to repent of that go against His perfect will. Two of the seven He does not rebuke, but encourages on and tells them how He will reward their faith and persecution. (Revelation 2 and 3)

Prayer is a matter of our faith too. Most the time we pray according to what WE want to have happen, or not happen. We naturally want what WE think is best for ourselves or for our loved ones. But our understanding is limited and immature. This is where we learn about the grace of God, when WE don’t get what we ask for in prayer. Sometimes God allows us to suffer some (or even a lot) so we mature in our faith. Faith is what God is after. In fact, He states in the Word, “When the Son of Man comes will He find any faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8

None of us is perfect and we all have a sin nature that we wrestle with daily. So ‘faith’ is not turning from sin, doing that which is right and not what is wrong anymore, nor being just or getting justice, that’s obedience. Faith is about walking and working with the LORD. Earthly righteousness and justice is horizontal, man to man. Faith is vertical, God to man.

People don’t have to be born-again to be ‘just and right’ in how they treat others or govern. People come from God the Creator of all life, we’re made in His image. So, we are all born with a good conscience as a guard for our decisions and behavior that always affect others, not just ourselves.

Obeying ‘the law’ is not about faith, but rather about living rightly with our fellow man. Jesus told His 12 disciples that they did not choose Him, but He choose them to walk and work with Him. When Jesus came to each one, with a form of “follow Me,” they acted in faith on the ‘living’ Word of God. (John 1:1)

Not all 12 acted in faith though. Jesus knew the heart of Judas, and is why He chose Judas who would betray Him when the appointed time came; the time appointed by God His Father; the time for Jesus to be arrested and taken to the cross to die in our place.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

As we act on what God says in a timely way (waiting on God’s timing and further instruction), we will get opposition from Satan and his cohorts. The devil uses people to do his evil works just as God uses people to do His good will. Who will be fully satisfied and pleased at the end? With opposition our flesh will want to give up and shrink back with cowardice. We will be tempted to make excuses like: “Maybe I didn’t hear God right.” “If this was God’s will then why so uncomfortable?” “Why would God allow bad things to happen?” So I tell people, “When you read a novel, do you stop in the middle for whatever reason and never finish reading the book? Or do you finish the book to see how it ends, how all that confused you or displeased you – now makes sense?” Our lives are the same way. We start out with the LORD, and when it gets difficult or self-sacrificing we are tempted to turn back and not go any further with Him. But if we will ‘keep the faith,’ in the end we will understand and receive the reward of our faith.

We do not understand all of the evil that is in our hearts until we hear the words that come from it, whether inwardly with thought, or outwardly with words.   

King David of the Bible asked: "How can I know all the sin lurking in my heart?" Then he said to the LORD: "Don't let them control me!" 

The key to overcoming the evil in our hearts is meditation upon God's Word; to think before we speak, and even pray about every word we want to speak that might or might not cause trouble. This will help us to not speak so quickly. 

Some things just don't need to said. Then there are some that must be said no matter what it results in. We need WISDOM from God either way. 

"Our words have the power of life and death," says the LORD.    

The wisest man to ever live tells us in Proverbs of the Bible what man’s government should be and not be, and what the results will be in either case! 

When the wicked are in charge: People will not accept divine guidance; sin and immorality flourishes, and the country will become unstable. Good people will be punished for refusing to accept their lack of morality. 

This lack of divine guidance in the land will result in electing leaders that have no common sense, who create laws that oppress and pervert justice. These wicked leaders hide their intentions behind emotional arguments, so that they can control weak-minded people. They promise to give you everything, and that you will not have any consequences for bad choices. THE END RESULT WILL BE, PEOPLE WILL BE ENSLAVED TO THE GOVERNMENT. 

When GODLY leaders are in charge: They acknowledge God and His Word that brings stability. When the nation's government is biblically stable - people enjoy safety and prosperity. There must be true justice in our courts and strong consequences for breaking good laws; for this will terrify those whose only purpose in life is to take advantage of others. 

Godliness makes a nation strong and great, but it is the moral rot of rebellion to God that will sweep it away. Justice is the truth in action! Truth comes from God, the Creator of Life! Men go in search of the truth, while others suppress the truth that sets men free from a life of their own moral rot. 

How do you know who is wise, and who is wicked? The wise build and govern upon God’s principles of wisdom about the family, government and eternal life found in Jesus Christ alone. The wicked build on falsehoods because they are trapped by their self-deceit and the devil's lies. Wise leaders know that when the people are joyful, and happiness fills their hearts, that the nation will prosper. The wise know that if you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you! 

This next year look let's take a hard look at our leadership, whether in churches or in our government, and note what you see.  If wise, then we have a hopeful future, but if wicked, then we need to be wise and very prepared for what is coming. 

Last Sunday I had my 6 granddaughters over and we had a conversation about how to know if something is right or wrong. Today we have the idea that if most people agree, then it must be right. 

Doing what is right, by God's definition of right, brings a blessing. Doing what is wrong results in consequences that aren't pleasant. An example I used, is a person who is married and commits adultery; will this result in a blessing, or have consequences. They understood.

Then we talked about a little lie, and I asked, “What would the consequence,” and one responded by saying, “A lack of trust.” 

We then began to talk about some of the topics being taught in schools today. I asked this question, "Have you heard it said, 'I was born this way'? and they both said, “yes.” "So how do we know if this statement is right or wrong? Should you decide like the rest of the world that popular opinion should rule? If they were born this way then, is their life filled with consequences or blessing?"

I went on to explain the difference between consequences of simply going through hard times that are out of your control, and a consequence from you doing what is wrong. You can do the right thing and still have hard times, but in these hard times that you can still have the true blessing from God. 

2 Corinthians 4:17: "For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!"  Hard times may only last a short time, but consequences last as long as the wrong is lived. 

The world’s view for not wanting to acknowledge wrong, is to get as many people as they can to agree with them, thinking that they can make a wrong - right, and make a right - wrong.  God has established right and wrong, and somehow I do not think He will change His mind based on what the world thinks.