Are you here today by divine appointment? You did not know it but God has you here today for this very moment. Glory to God!! Has God been tugging on your heartstrings ? God is speaking to you right now if you would only listen to Him. Hallelujah!!! The Lord told us in 2 Chronicles 7:14 .If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. Glory!!! Here is what you do. You get up out of that pew right now and come down front and do business with the Lord....Bless God!!! He is here waiting , won't you come?
Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart right now, Praise Jesus!!! He said in Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me...Jesus is speaking to YOU right now !!..Glory to God!!!.are you gonna open that door and let Jesus in right now?
We have people up here to pray you through right now. Bless God, Hallelujah!! Pray that sinner's prayer ...oh God, be merciful unto me a sinner! Ask Jesus to come into your heart and make Him Lord of your life!!.. Won't ya come?...
Let's sing another chorus of "Just as I AM" while these folks do business with God. Maybe you followed Jesus one time but you lost your way. Maybe it was when you were a child. Praise the Lord!! Maybe you just lost your love for God for some reason.. Maybe you lost your job, your wife, your husband, your dog, whatever it was,,,God wants to give it back...Jesus said....John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.....All you gotta do is give it to God!!! .Glory to God!!!
Did you do it? Did you repent of your sins and pray the prayer? Did you make Jesus the Lord of your life? God is gonna bless you for answering His call...Amen Amen Amen and Hostillashundai!!! (if you are a pentecostal tongue babbling con artist). Now you need to obey the Lord and be water baptized in the believer's baptism like Jesus did.........
How did I do? Did any of that sound familiar? Is that somewhat the method in which you "came to know the Lord"? Is this similar to the way you profess to be saved? Sadly, it probably is. If you want to have a little fun, ask people that claim to be Christian, a Jesus follower, Jesus chaser, or whatever name they call themselves, "how is it a soul is saved" and then just sit back and listen. You will be stunned at the responses you will get. It is very telling of their understanding of what salvation is and how it is secured. I know firsthand, about 1 in 10 can actually give a somewhat clear presentation of the Gospel and even then, they mix it in with some of the baloney I demonstrated in the above rant.
If you haven't noticed, the cross was never mentioned in the example of the typical "altar call" posted earlier. Not only was the cross not there, neither was the death, burial or resurrection of Christ. But it sure sounded compelling didn't it? It is pure crowd manipulation technique being implemented in almost every pulpit in the world since about 1834 when Charles Grandison Finney used an "anxious bench" in which the unsaved would sit and be made a spectacle. It continues to this day in forms such as "raise your hand" or "come on down" (let's make a deal) if you want to know Jesus and the such. Hogwash! None of this activity constitutes the manner in which a soul is saved, contrariwise, it does it much harm. We can't blame ole Finney, should we blame the modern church machinery? Maybe. But at the end of the day, the buck stops at you.
Romans 14:12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
What are you trusting for the salvation of your soul? Where do you turn in the scriptures to present the Gospel that saves a never dying soul in this present dispensation of the Grace of God? It is an honor and a privilege to present the Gospel to an unsaved person and should be the mandate of every believer. We aren't here for any other reason than that of the ambassador for Christ presenting the Gospel , the word of reconciliation to the lost. God doesn't have us here to consume products and get involved in mindless social activities like global warming and picketing abortion clinics or the such. We are here for one purpose, to see souls saved and saints edified and be thankful in doing so.
If you want power in your ministry, it isn't in the rock band on the stage , nor the fog and haze machines, it's not in endless programs aimed at behavioral modification, nor is it involvement with pagan traditions such as filling plastic eggs with cheap candy to establish contact with folks so just maybe they will come back to the church meeting and just maybe they will want to hear about Jesus and just maybe they will "accept Jesus" into their life.....and the baloney continues.....So where is the power?
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
The power is in the Gospel of Christ!!!..what is the Gospel of Christ?
1 Corinthians 1:18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
The power is in the preaching of the cross!!....what happened on the cross?
1 Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1 Corinthians 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
Christ died on the cross for OUR sins, was buried, and rose again the third day!!!!
Okay, now what do I do?..repent of my sins?..ask Jesus in my heart?,,,make Jesus Lord of my life?......
Ephesians 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
You believe the word of truth, the Gospel of YOUR salvation, you trust in Jesus for what He did, you are sealed with the holy Spirit of promise!!!!,,,,you are saved!!!
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Ephesians 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
your opening statements are right on target. While I actually DID walk an isle myself. I knew that my salvation was complete before I ever moved from my pew. I walked out of obedience to the pastor who asked us to make our decision public. To be proud and not ashamed of it.
ReplyDeleteNow my question: Is church for the unbeliever? Are the lost supposed to or expected to come to church? and by "church" I mean the building where we meet of Sundays not the body of believers (tho the same question could be asked but we know the answer to that.).
and I am well aware of the disfunction of the church today (and by "church" here, I mean BOTH the building and the body).
Of course, the church is for both the believer and unbeliever. The believer should be attending to be built up, edified, stablished in the doctrine given to Paul for usward in this dispensation of the Grace of God , that we be no more children tossed to and from by every wind of doctrine. The unbeliever needs to hear the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation with clarity in order to process the information to make a conscience decision without any external influence ie crowd manipulation techniques generated by emotionalism. The responsibility lies upon the man in the pulpit during the service to present the gospel of the grace of God with clarity with no admixture of covenant doctrine associated with Israel from times past or ages to come. That isn't happening due to the failure to follow Paul's instruction in 2nd Tim 2:15...rightly divide the word of truth. So, making a profession before men (come down front and make your profession public) comes directly from Israel's plan, not ours. (Mathew 10:33) And if your pastor asked for you to come and make your profession public, I am positive if he didn't read that verse, it is at least what he based his call upon. Ok, I'm rambling, thanks for reading my posts.
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