Sin

Over the past few weeks it has been on my heart to speak to our church about SIN - again (do you remember the last time?).  I can't say that I was very excited at first to bring this message and I knew that I would not be anyone's favourite preacher afterwards!  But as the days went by the conviction grew and so I did preach on sin last Sunday and will do so again this coming Sunday.

   It grieves me that there is little difference between the church and the world these days.  That the divorce rate is just as high in the church as it is in the world and that things like pornography, homosexuality, materialism, gossip and other such things are commonly found in the lives of 'mature' Christians.  Mostly, it breaks my heart that so many pastors are 'falling' into sin these days too.  

  So what is the answer?  How can the church become a holy place again where God is respected and feared?  I don't have the answer but I do know that if we continue to tolerate sin in our lives as we do we will lose all that God has planned for us.  Far worse than that, many will not be saved because their will not see see the light that we should be shining because we are too entrenched in darkness.

   I believe God wants to purge His church.  I believe He wants to purify her so that Jesus can return to earth to fetch His beautiful bride.  I believe that we need to take sin inside the church seriously and stop playing with 'fire'.  How can we reach out to the lost, to the sinners, to those that are walking around blind if we are still blind?  It's time to grow up church, it's time to stop playing with pooh and it's time to deal with our sin.

Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ   - Philippians 3:8

Are we still passionate about Jesus or is He only in our life when it's convenient and benefits us?  Do we read the Bible because we are desperate to know Him or are we looking for verses that we can use to make our life more comfortable and more blessed?  What does Christianity mean to you these days?  Are you deeply in love with Jesus, so much so that you count everything else as rubbish?

‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Return to Me,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will return to you,” - Zechariah 1:3

I don't mean to be heavy but my heart is heavy and I believe it is with the burden that is on God's heart.  He wants His beautiful children to return to Him with all of their heart, soul, strength and mind.  He is a jealous God and is desperate to be loved by us but we can't love Him if we are loving other things first.  Count everything as rubbish - absolutely everything - so that you may gain Christ.

Listen to the five part series here:  

A Beautiful Bride
Confessions
Kill or Be Killed
The Dark Side
Press On with Fear