Why do THEY Come? (Part 3)

*This series is used in our Pre-Revival Conference material called

The Saul Syndrome: Sixteen Indicators of a Wayward Heart

Seven different and distinct groups of people that USUALLY attend or belong to a local church. Part 3

6. Community Minded Group: (They are a group of people who have a civic mindset about attending the house of God. A sense of community is at the core of their desire to fellowship. They want to belong to a place that has good morals and feels like everyone should be one big community no matter what you believe in. Their standard is measured by the peace of those who are gathered and not the plumb line of God’s Word. Jesus is a major part of their conversations and social life, but this is the problem. Why is this a problem? He’s not their Life as with the Christ Magnifiers. These serve well as long as everything goes their way) (i.e.. Martha, Luke 10:40-41)


7. Christ Magnifiers Group: (They are a group of sanctified, surrendered, submissive, and serving stewards. These disciples honestly desire for Jesus to set their daily agenda and sanctify all their actions. Why do they want Him to do so? He is their Life and He satisfies their deepest affections. They love the Author of the Word of God. They long for His Authority over their life. They lean on the Authenticity of God's Word and live for the Advancement of His kingdom agenda. They are a living sacrifice that has come to the house of God to worship the God they fear and to give of themselves to serve His people. They consistently glean truth from the presence of God through His people and for His glory. They abide in the Vine and stir others on to love and good works. These are true soul-winning/disciple-makers living in the beauty of simplicity. They are single minded in their pursuit to seek first the King of Glory and His righteousness; therefore they believe in lifestyle worship, repentance, fellowship, and discipleship (the ministry of reconciliation) while progressively growing in the grace and knowledge of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.) (i.e.. Mary, Luke 10:39,41 i.e.. John, John 19:25-27)


What Group Do YOU Fit IN? (Prayerfully, if you're not living in number seven you will lay your life down to Jesus and the demand of His Gospel. (Mark 8:34-28) If you are lost (ie... perishing because from an eternal perspective you're in a vast wilderness with no means to survive its desolate conditions as a result of sin's destruction, and with no hope of escape; therefore being lost in this place of sin you are as sure as dead unless you are found). The problem is not with what you do but it is what you are: You are SIN! It's YOU not what YOU do that's the problem. What you do is a result of who you are. Yet Jesus knows YOU are the problem and He still gave His life to rescue you from yourself. Jesus looks past what you have done or goes beyond the sins you have committed in order to deal with the iniquity/wickedness of your fallen and sinful nature. (Micah 7:18-20) We, natural men and women, are normally overcome with the actions of men more than the issues of their heart. Jesus is not deterred by your sinful actions. He took your sin upon the cross so He could deal with the root of your sinful acts. Why? The Father couldn't look past your sin so He gave His Son to satisfy His wrath that you deserve. Your sin condition had you separated from God and condemned to death. Yet God the Father established a very important and eternal truth when He gave us His Son. He established and settled it for all eternity that He loves us with an everlasting love. And because of such a great love He gave to us His Son, Jesus Christ, even though we were hostile enemies to His purpose and pleasure. Salvation is always about God and will forever be about Him and His grace. Because Jesus was without sin when He took upon the fullness of God's wrath, He also supplies the favor necessary to be forgiven and reconciled to a Just and Holy God. To do this He has to change us from the inside. He gets to the root of our sin problem; US! Have you heard Him call you to follow Him? Have you answered His demand of repentance? Have you turned to trust and follow Jesus? Has He delivered you from yourself and darkness? If He has this would mean that you have turned from your sin and self-centered living in order to place your life at the mercy of the Lord. Jesus gave His life for your life! If He's interrupted you and invaded you by His grace surrender to His call today and set your life at His disposal. Give yourself to Him today and forever! I'm not asking you if you placed your faith in a decision you made, or plan you trusted or even a prayer you prayed but have you been set free from everything and everyone to follow the Greatest Interrupter that has ever lived, Jesus Christ? Can you believe the right plan and not be saved? Yes! Many have believed the plan of salvation but do not have a personal relationship with the Person of salvation, The Lord Jesus Christ. Plans, prayers, and decisions are not what saves. It's Jesus who saves! And if anyone is ever saved it is by the grace of God the Father and the gift of grace by Jesus Himself. Salvation is for God's glory and our good both now and forever.

(2 Cor. 5:14-21 ; Luke 14:26-33)

Why Do THEY Come? (Part 2)

*This series is used in our Pre-Revival Conference material called The Saul Syndrome: Sixteen Indicators of a Wayward Heart

Seven different and distinct groups of people that USUALLY attend or belong to a local church. Part 2

4. Caring Missions Group: (They are a group of people who, characteristically, have more love and loyalty to the church locality and building than for Jesus and a humble and holy approach to His Truth. Their ear is always in tune to listen for problems going on in other peoples lives because they “CARE.” They know everything you need to know about everyone and the problems with people, world events, and worldly things, especially things of no eternal value. The danger is that they are not tuning to God’s Word and allowing the Truth to set them free. Their counsel is carnal being gleaned from a worldly philosophy, therefore it aids and comforts the wicked in their wrong doing. They tend to over look sin and fail to truly help people be set free in Christ, yet they will continue to tell others how concerned they are over the condition of their church, community and country. They want everyone else “fixed”, yet they have no sound Biblical wisdom and lack discernment. Their catch-all answer for everyone and everything is “They just need to LOVE everybody.” Holiness is not their passion and their honest opinions are only descriptive of what they see and not prescriptive; therefore they provide no eternal counsel. Their advice is very deceptive because it's usually given with "CARE." If empty traditions of men are characteristically their aim and authority they have never been truly transformed by the redemptive grace of God.) (i.e.. Hymenaeus, Alexander & Philetus, 1 Tim. 1:18-20 ; 2 Tim.2:17 i.e.. Savage wolves Acts 20:29-32 i.e.. Natural brute beast 2 Pet.2:12-22 )

5. Controlling Manipulators Group: (They are a group of people who have deeply rooted and ungodly motives to control the direction of the church and the people whom God has anointed to lead His flock. They will criticize, if necessary, to undermine the integrity of Christ centered leadership by questioning the motive behind every dollar spent, the reason for ministries that they do not approve of, while at the same time acting super spiritual and divinely concerned about the “path their Church is going.” They make an effort to secretly find others to join them in controlling and manipulating the direction and ministries of the church. These, who love to have the preeminence, appear to be deeply devoted and righteous men and women that know how to persuade and convince the immature. Some are very good at being "unnoticed" by the majority as a controller. They know how to flatter people to gain information about meetings and messages given by the pastor or other leaders in their absence. This is a dangerous group that can hinder ministries if not dealt with properly because they are normally well liked by the majority, i.e.. Caring Mission and Community Minded) (i.e.. Judas John 12:4-6 i.e.. Diotrephes 3 John v.9,10)

What Group Do YOU Fit IN? (Prayerfully, you're not in any of the five already mentioned in this series. If you are turn to Jesus. This would mean that you must turn from your sin and self-centered living in order to place your life at the mercy of the Lord. Jesus gave His life for your life! If He's interrupted you and invaded you by His grace surrender to His call today and set your life at His disposal. Give yourself to Him today and forever! (2 Cor. 5:14-21 ; Luke 14:26-33)

[Come back tomorrow for part 3; groups 6-7]

Why Do THEY Come? (Part 1)

*This series is used in our Pre-Revival Conference material called The Saul Syndrome: Sixteen Indicators of a Wayward Heart

Seven different and distinct groups of people that
USUALLY attend or belong to a local church. Part 1

1. Careless Morals Group: (They are a group of people who have no real sense of why they have come to the House of God. They have followed the crowd or family and they have no real grip on why they should fellowship with believers. The youth and children can easily fall into this category when following other youth to church. This group is simpleminded and foolish and have not been under any conviction of their spiritual state.)

(i.e. Simon Acts 8:9-25 ; By-stander Luke 9:59)

2. Curious Motives Group: (They are a group of people who are curious about this “Jesus” thing or what a church has to offer them. They may have just moved to an area or leaving another church and are motivated by curiosity. Some will sense a need to live right so they come to see what the church is all about. Young married couples can find themselves in this group but may not be ready to pay the cost of following Jesus.)
(i.e. Rich Young ruler Luke 18:18-23)

3. Crisis Management Group: (They are a group of people who are usually in trouble and they are looking for help. They were brought up in the Caring Missions or Community Minded home and told the church would always be there when you needed her. They have a variety of troubles; from kids, finances, marital, or in trouble with the law. Some have lost a job or a spouse. This group is looking for the church to help them with a quick fix and not Jesus. When the problems are fixed to their satisfaction they are out the door until the next crisis. (i.e. The fearless seeker Pr. 1:28, 29-31)

What Group Do YOU Fit IN? (Prayerfully, you're not in any of these three. If you are turn to Jesus. This would mean that you must turn from your sin and self-centered living in order to place your life at the mercy of the Lord. Jesus gave His life for your life! If He's interrupted you and invaded you by His grace surrender to His call today and set your life at His disposal. Give yourself to Him today and forever! 2 Cor. 5:14-21)

[Come back tomorrow for part 2; groups 4-5]

It Has No Eternal Value because It's Fallen

This is an excerpt from my newly released book Magnify The Lord: Ten Reasons to Discover, Declare, and Defend why Christ Came, (Xulon Press ; ISBN 9781602669314)

*UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF SATAN

The world system we now live in is under the legal authority
of Satan. Why is it under his influence? When Adam yielded his
authority to Satan in the garden, he gave dominion to the enemy
of God. God, through the apostle Paul, describes all the children
of men in this world as being children of wrath. We were all born
as children of wrath, or as “products of the fall of humanity.”

As a result of this inheritance and the dominion of Satan over us, we lived
all our lives prior to being born again in disobedience. The spirit
that now influences and controls the lives of those who are still in
their sin is none other than the prince of the power of the air, Satan himself.

And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses
and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of
the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of
the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of
wrath, even as others. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

God describes us as being under the influence of the course of
this world. Yes, we all live this way and will unless we are interrupted
by the Lord and made a new creature in Christ Jesus. Our
lifestyles are real and tangible, but they are actually lies. They are
real lives being lived out every day, and no one can deny this fact!
Our lives are so real that Jesus Christ gave His life on behalf of us.
No matter how real they may be, they are still lifestyles of deception
and delusion. Unless they are born again of God and given the
ability to hear the voice of Jesus calling on them to follow Him, they
cannot know the truth.

IT IS GOOD FOR NOTHING
Jesus understood He was born and sent into this world to reveal
the truth to His sheep and expose the works of this world as being evil. (John 7:7)
The world system functions, but it is important to remember it is
fallen. The system is broken because it is no longer in its original
design; therefore, it has no eternal value. When a drinking glass is
shattered on a tile floor, it is discarded because it is no longer useful
for its intended purpose. It is thrown away because it is no longer
usable and is now good for nothing.

IT IS DECEPTIVE
The New Testament explains on numerous occasions about the
devastating effects of any system of learning that is not rooted in and
sanctified by God. If it's not to glorify God the Father and to place
Christ Jesus at the center of all Spirit-filled living, being sanctified by
the Word of God and prayer, it should be avoided: “Beware lest any
man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ”
(Colossians 2:8). Paul warned the church at Colosse not to be robbed
by the emptiness and vanity of pursuing this world’s wisdom. Being
fond of the basic principles of the world system is deceitful and
deadly. James even shared with his audience that having a fondness
with the world is enmity with God. (James 4:4-7)

IN THE NAME OF KNOWLEDGE
Today, many have fallen captive to this satanic scheme. Paul also
warned Timothy of this covert effort by the enemy to entice the intellectual
seeker who has a weakness for a “well shaped intellect”:
"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust,
avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of
science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred
concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen."
(1 Timothy 6:20-21)
We can often find our minds so focused on defending the faith
against apostate teachers in the church that we miss the fact this
also applies to our modern system of education. We may not like
this much, but it is a reality. Do our schools and the curriculum used
teach our kids to exalt and magnify the Lord Jesus Christ and His
gospel? How about our science books? What or who is the core of
their authority? Do they heavily promote the God of creation or the
theory of evolution? Do they teach the biblical role for us as parents
in educating and equipping our children to be champions of God’s
truth on the earth?

IT’S HAPPENING
Timothy was told to guard the precious truth and the lives that
were entrusted to him by not letting empty knowledge cloud his
vision of God’s glory and truth. The church must be cautious of this
travesty happening today. She must sound the alarm. The enemy
has infiltrated her strongholds. Statistics show how young adults are
fleeing from church houses to the many outhouses of this world.
Why wouldn’t they go the first chance they have to be on their own?
Their sinful natures and appetites have been fed all their lives by a
watered-down theology that fits a secular society. We have let our
culture shape and conform what they know about an unbiblical god.
Why have pastors allowed this to happen? They have done this to be
politically correct so they can maintain their jobs in the church and
keep their pulpit. Why has this happened? We, as the people of God,
have not stood against this great spoiling of the minds of our youth
and nation. The church will give an account for not bearing witness
to the truth.

*Taken from Magnify the Lord: Ten Reasons to Discover, Declare, and Defend why Christ Came, chapter 2(He's Come to Define: 1. What Is Truth?), pages 43-45.