What is Causing the Church to Flounder? (OPINION PIECE)

            Satan is working overtime to thwart the spreading of the true gospel throughout the world by spreading lies, and causing doubt & confusion. Wokeism is flourishing under the liberal leadership of compromised pastors / priests. There has entered into the spiritual arena unbiblical thought that causes those who are listening to be fed with propaganda that will choke out one’s spiritual life. Things that scripture calls sinful behavior is being touted as new progressive thinking. When God declares something to be sin, who outside of God Himself can reverse that declaration? Does it not seem ludicrous for the creature to correct the creator?

            What we need is good, bible-based preaching and teaching once again. We need to call a sin a sin and not justify the world’s actions by claiming that God is love and would never send anyone to hell. Therein lies a fundamental flaw in their thinking. God doesn’t SEND anyone to hell, they go of their own volition.

            We need to learn how to worship God again. We need to get back to reading a trusted translation of scripture and reliable reference works. We need to understand that sin warrants punishment if left unchecked. We need to realize that while God loves us unconditionally, He also is the holy judge of all humanity and He will not wait forever to dole out retribution. We need to understand that Christians can indeed backslide back into sin (if you doubt it look at the completestory of the Assyrian city of Nineveh). We need to understand that there are charlatans who seek to lead true believers away from the faith and accept a cheap imitation for the real thing.

            Read God’s Word regularly. Pray daily. Always trust God to bring about the best outcome to any situation. Don’t give in to anxious thoughts. Rely on the Holy Spirit within you to lead and guide you. And may we all serve our righteous God with truth and honesty. Be aware of your surroundings and don’t allow yourself to be fooled or swayed into believing something that you are doubtful about. Research it out. Stay plugged into Godly sources and shun all evil. 

This is my opinion.

 

Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing,

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

The Cost of Following Jesus

RESPONDING TO OPPOSITION

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test you [that is, to test the quality of your faith], as though something strange or unusual were happening to you.” (1 Peter 4:12 Amplified Bible)

 

            Persecution shouldn’t surprise any Christian, for scripture promises that it will come. It’s relatively normal since the unredeemed see us as somewhat of a threat, albeit not a violent one. We are a threat to their sensibilities. The unsaved don’t know how to respond to us other than ignoring us or lashing out as a means of getting us all to simply leave them alone. Some consider us proselytizers, as we offer forgiveness in exchange for their sin wracked life. 

Paul promises that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” ^{(2 Timothy 3:12)}. “In the same way,” Jesus reminds us, “they persecuted the prophets who were before you” ^{(Matthew 5:12)}. 

Don’t be surprised when it happens to you; God certainly isn’t.

Even some believers who think their denomination is ABSOLUTELY correct in every way, will shun other believers who espouse beliefs that aren’t exactly like theirs. It could even be someone in the same church. So much for loving the brethren. I think God may be disappointed with those believers who Lord their faith over others. 

                  We are called to love others even as Christ loves the church and willingly died for it. It’s not an easy thing to speak to others about Christ. And experiencing failure or some sort of persecution while “witnessing” can compound the issue keeping us on the sidelines, rather than in the game. I’ve experienced that more than once. Jesus told His disciples to, “Love [that is, unselfishly seek the best or higher good for] your enemies, [make it a practice to] do good to those who hate you, ....” ^{(Luke 6:27 Amplified Bible)}

            Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

What do you do when a person doesn’t want to hear the Gospel?

If you’re confident you’ve shared the gospel clearly with your friends, or family members feel the freedom to back off. They know where you stand. It’s time to be quiet and pray. Does this mean you never bring up their spiritual state? Of course not! There may be times when it’s appropriate to say, “It’s been a while since we talked about Christ. I know what you believe; I just want to remind you if you ever want to talk more about him, I’m always available.”

Backing off doesn’t mean ignoring or cutting them out of your life. Rather, it means spending time with them without constantly discussing their spiritual state. What does this look like practically? Four things:

1. Pray for them regularly. Where there is life there is hope.

2. Be yourself. Don’t hide your faith. Continue to talk about things you value. This will undoubtedly mean talking about your relationship with Christ and your local church.

3. Express affection. Let them know you care. Remember birthdays and anniversaries. Make it obvious they matter to you not because they may one day be saved, but simply because you love them.

4. Give them space. This may mean you no longer forward them spiritual emails or even invite them to church. Think twice before getting them another Christian book for Christmas. If you have made the gospel clear, you are free to back off.

“Preach the Gospel always and when necessary use words.” - St Francis of Assisi

Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

Resource: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/love-wont-believe/

Comment on Reddit: “Even the presence and words of the Son of God walking among us was unable to reach many who preferred their own will, practices, and traditions. Remember, as Jesus said in the gospel of John 6:44 the following: ‘No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me, draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.’ All we can do is to try to spread seeds for God to nourish in His time and purpose.”

The 3 D’s & How to Defeat Them

             Discouragement; disappointment; despair … 3 very real emotions that can cripple a believer. I don’t happen to buy into the whole line of Christian thinking that to experience one of the 3 D’s means you have a lack of faith. Dwight L. Moody, famous American preacher/evangelist, I have read, suffered from great bouts of depression during his short life*. I believe it is safe to say that DL Moody was not lacking faith. 

 

DISCOURAGE (def): to deprive of confidence, hope, or spirit.

DISAPPOINT (def): to fail to satisfy the hope, desire, or expectation of; to frustrate or thwart;

DESPAIR (def): the feeling that everything is wrong, and nothing will turn out well.

 

Is it any wonder that God encourages us to dive into His word. For it is THERE that the 3 E’s are found: encouragement, edification, endurance. We need not wallow in self-pity any longer. We have all the help we need. It is in God’s word. Why would someone NOT want to be strengthened, built up and brought to a place of great blessing? There is a fairly simple answer to that question. People don’t want to relinquish control of their lives to ANYONE … not even God.

Surrendering your life to an unseen Deity is a preposterous concept to millions of people. “Why? I’m not so bad”, they proclaim proudly; however, just because you haven’t committed robbery or murder, haven’t cheated on your wife or been a booze hound doesn’t make you a good person. If all it took to get into heaven was being a good person, who would decide what was good enough and not good enough? You? Me? A government appointed agency? No my friend, I am afraid that the final judge in all this is Almighty God. Either that or we die and rot in the ground and there is nothing more. 

It is a matter of belief. Everyone believes in something. Many would rather believe in a benevolent God who allows us to live life as we choose as long as we put a few “coins in the coffer” in church on Sunday, as the old saying goes. People don’t happen to want to be told that they are not quite as good as they seem to think they are. We all need a major renovation. Even those who KNOW Christ, could stand a purging or two … I absolutely could.

When I get “down in the mouth”, I write. What do I write? Things like what I am writing here. It helps remind me of the goodness of God; of His promises to us; of His steadfast faithfulness even when things look pretty bleak. God NEVER fails! He never has and He never will. Now we must kick our faith and trust into overdrive and simply believe. It WILL come to pass. Whatever it is you are seeking WILL come to pass as sure as God is in His heaven. 

Do you know the old saying “a watched pot never boils”? I believe we can all figure out what that means. Don’t just sit there waiting for your answer from God. Go about your business. Cling to your faith and trust in God and move on. When you least expect it God will bless you with an answer. He knows. He knows you are ill; He knows how badly you need a job; finances; a mode of transportation …. He knows all about it. Trust Him. Rely on Him to work things out for you. Then thank Him. Bless His name. Give Him and Him alone all the glory. He is most worthy of our worship. Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

* Moody died at the age of 41; suspected cause of death, congestive heart failure.

How Serious Are You About Your Faith?

The fact that you experience ANY guilt or conviction regarding your thoughts, words or actions reveals how seriously you take your relationship with Christ. You will sin. Why? Because you’re still human and the old man, though in a state of suspended animation*, wants to come out and play. Scripture tells us in 1 John 2:1-2: “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.” So if you feel remorse for your words or actions, that is a very good thing. Now the next step is to repent for your sin and vow that, with the Spirit’s help, you’ll not be doing that again. But if you do, and seek forgiveness for the same thing again, you are not condemned by God, but forgiven. In fact you’re forgiven 7 x 70 times according to the gospels, which is symbolic for an infinite number of times.

There are those who feel no guilt whatsoever when they succumb to the lure of the sin. That should lead us to consider what type of relationship that individual actually has with Christ. We are not to judge; however, we can be fruit inspectors. Even then we are not to judge, but treat them with kindness and prayer. It is the Spirit of God that can gently minister instruction so that an individual has a new path to follow. The path of righteousness.

Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

*What I mean by that is that because of our diligence to obey the Lord, our old sinful nature has been kept at bay. It is only when we entertain sin that our old nature rises as if from the grave to cause havoc and pain.

5 Things We Need to Understand

5. We need to learn how to surrender our will in favor of God’s will, for His will for us is designed with us in mind.

 

            As followers of Christ we need to realize that God has a will for each one of us. A perfect, edifying, all-inclusive will for us specifically. Now there is a general will that involves witnessing about the goodness of God in your life in the attempt to lead others to Christ. But I’m not talking about that right now. 

            We think we know what God’s will is; maybe we do, maybe we don’t, but scripture is clear regarding God and how well He knows us. “And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Romans 8:27 NIV) THE MESSAGE translation goes so far as to interpret this verse as such: “He (God) knows us far better than we know ourselves, ...”. That is a very true statement. He knows our thoughts and the motive of our heart. He knows what is good for us, while we do not. He knows what we should stay away from, while we do not. 

            The Lord even says thru the prophet Jeremiah that He has plans for each one of us: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV) We cannot know this, for we are incapable of foreseeing the future, but nothing is hidden from God. As long as He is with us in all our endeavors, our future in Christ is bright and hopeful.

            Autonomy is the enemy of obedience. Thinking you have all the answers and a plan for your life is detrimental to a believers walk with Christ. Would you rather follow the plan of someone who KNOWS or speculate regarding your future. God is perfect in every way and cares for us too much to watch us fail, but if you insist on doing things your way instead of Gods, you will ultimately fail. You see God has your whole future lined up for you. Following His will is somewhat like knowing which rocks to step on to get across a rushing stream. With the Holy Spirits leading you can know which way to go, without having to guess.

            This concludes our look at the 5 things we need to understand, I hope you enjoyed it. Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Ministries

5 Things We Need to Understand

4. We need to understand that we are part of God’s unfolding plan.

 

            God's unfolding plan refers to the progressive and divine revelation of God's purposes and will for individuals and humanity as a whole. The idea of God's unfolding plan is rooted in the belief that God has a master plan for each person's life, which may not be fully understood at first but becomes clearer over time through faith, obedience, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. For instance, the Bible states, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" [Jeremiah 29]. This verse highlights that God's plans are ultimately for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

            This plan includes the redemption of humanity through Jesus Christ, the transformation of believers into the image of Christ, and the ultimate restoration of all things [Ephesians 1]. 

In summary, God's unfolding plan is a dynamic and progressive revelation of His will and purposes, which unfolds over time as individuals and communities grow in their relationship with Him. It is a call to trust in God's sovereignty, to seek His guidance, and to be open to the ways He leads and transforms lives. The ultimate reason for man's existence is to know God and experience the pleasure of His presence, as God created humanity for His own pleasure and to share in His glory. Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing.

In His Name & for His Glory,

RL Keller

Bread of Life Ministries

Source: www.gotquestions.org