Compromised Christianity Part 3

Compromised Christianity Part 3

Seeking Jesus Part 1

Scriptures: Hebrews 11:6; John 11:5-16; 14:1-7; Hosea 4:1-6

Before I go into the message, I want to share a story with you about a friend of mine named Taylor. Taylor was told by one of her peers that he was gay. Taylor without hesitation told the peer that he was not according to the Bible. She was not trying to be rude or anything; she was simply telling her peer what the Bible says. “In her mind” she was just speaking the plain truth to someone who did not know or understand it. And for her it was no big deal. She believes what the Bible says and you can see it in how she lives. Now you may be thinking that I’m talking about someone who has a leadership role in her Church but I am not. Taylor is eleven years old and in the fifth grade and the boy she was talking to is a classmate of hers.

When Taylor relayed the incident to her parents they were proud of her but cringed when Taylor told them exactly what she said to her classmate. Her parents proceeded to “coach” her on how to say things without being judgmental. According to her mother, as they coached her, Taylor looked at them and asked, “Well aren’t we supposed to spread His Word?” Although Taylor is only eleven years old, she truly loves the Lord. She is the one I told you about previously who would be found on the playground alone singing and praising God while all the other kids played. She is not ashamed of God or people knowing she is a Christian! This interaction with her classmate is atypical because most kids (and adults) do not know or interpret the Bible with such confidence that they can firmly say without flinching that something is wrong based on what’s in the Bible. She spoke to her classmate out of concern for him with absolutely no malice. I want you to listen to Psalm 119:128 because I believe it describes Taylor’s heart when it comes to the Bible. “Therefore I esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything. I hate every false way.” You see, for Taylor, what the Bible says about homosexuality is right and if the Bible is right, someone else must be wrong.

This is part three of my series titled “Compromised Christianity” and this morning I want us to think about the difference between someone who actively seeks the Lord to have a relationship with Him versus the one who “falls into Him” because of someone else’s relationship with Him. Someone who “falls into Him” is one who goes to Church regularly and participates in worship but outside of the Church they seldom think about the Lord. Someone who seeks Him out is one who will continue to search for Christ and His teachings to ensure their lives are in line with Him. James 2:19 says that believing in God is not enough as even the demons believe and tremble. We have to do a lot more than just know He exists. Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” The word diligently means to show “persistent and hard-working effort in doing something.” The word “seek” means to “try to find.” This verse is telling us that we should be persistently working hard to find the Lord – it’s not a one and done as we should be seeking Him in in every area of our lives! If we are not seeking the Lord and His truth, we will not be able to determine a lie when we hear it and again, that is the beginning stage of being compromised.

This week I thought about and meditated a lot about the first two messages in the series. They have been two of the most difficult messages I have delivered because the subject matter goes against the grain of what people are comfortable hearing or talking about. And I could see how uncomfortable some of you were with some of the information that I shared. But I truly believe that we are at a point in the life of the Body of Christ where it’s time to take off the kid gloves and aggressively do everything we can to first keep Christians, our brothers and sisters, not the lost, from spending an eternity in the lake of fire. If you thought it was hard witnessing to the unsaved, then you know it’s harder trying to talk to someone about changing their lifestyle when they think they are saved, but living as if they are not. It is not easy standing on what you believe and sincerely trying to help others. I’m sure some of you are wondering, what’s going on with pastor and why is he being so adamant about believing and submitting to what the Bible says? I hope to answer that question in this message because when you read the message to the seven Churches in the book of Revelations, those messages were clear about what Jesus wants from His Church and compromising does not make the list.