WHAT TO DO WHEN CHURCH IS A DRAG.
"What To Do When Church Is A Drag" is based on
the book written by Malachi about 430 BC. Our
comments are in brackets and quotes are from
the N.I.V. Bible.
(When you turn from running your life your way
and trust wholeheartedly in Jesus Christ you
become one of God's family. The name for
meetings of God's family is church. But if it
becomes a drag here's what God says to His
people).
"I have loved you, says the Lord". If you ask
how, God will say because I choose to and not
because you deserve it.
God says He is your Father but you don't honour
and respect Him as you should. Ministers of
religion show contempt for God's name, by
offering second rate service and paltry money
offerings. Try that kind of service to your
employer and you'd be sacked. Try short
changing the Tax office and see how far you get
says the Lord.
How can you expect God to accept that kind of
service? You'd be better off to shut the doors
of the buildings where you meet. You treat
worship when my people gather with contempt,
like a chore to be done. God is displeased. He
won't accept this treatment. Those who
deliberately cheat God are under a curse. "For
I am a great King says the Lord Almighty and my
name is to be feared among the Nations".
(Chapter 1)
Ministers of religion who do not listen and set
their hearts to honour God will be cursed. God
says to them "because of you I will rebuke your
descendants".
"Fair dinkum" ministers are in a relationship
of life and peace with God, they revere and
stand in awe of Him. They give true teaching,
and walk in peace and uprightness with God
turning many from sin.
The words of a minister "ought to preserve
knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek
instruction - because he is the messenger of
the Lord Almighty."
But today many ministers have turned from the
way and caused many to stumble. "So I have
caused you to be despised and humiliated before
all the people, because you have not followed
my ways but shown partiality in matters of the
law".
We all have one Father. He created us. Why do
we profane our relationship with God, which
cost Jesus His life to establish, by breaking
faith with one another?
(There are two world systems. One is run by
the devil and the other by God). If you think
you can have a "foot in both camps" by
continuing to sin with no intention of stopping
while meeting with God's people then you are
mistaken.
For example, it's no use complaining that God
is paying no attention to you while you
continue to break faith with your wife or
husband.
"Has not the Lord made them one? In flesh and
spirit they are His. And why one? Because He
was seeking Godly offspring. So guard yourself
in spirit, and do not break faith with the wife
of your youth. I hate divorce, says the Lord
of Israel, and I hate a man's covering himself
with violence as well as with his garment, says
the Lord Almighty."
"You have wearied the Lord with your words-- by
saying all who do evil are good in the eyes of
the Lord and He is pleased with them, or,where
is the Lord of justice."
(Chapter 2)
(Malachi goes on to foretell the coming of
John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus
Christ's Ministry).
"See I will send my messenger who will prepare
the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you
are seeking will come to His temple.-- But who
can endure the day of His coming-- He will be
like a refiner's fire -- He will purify the
Levites (ministers of Jesus' day) -- then the
Lord will have men who will bring offerings in
righteousness -- acceptable to the Lord."
"And to us now God says I will come near to
you for judgement. I will be quick to testify
against sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers, those
who defraud labourers of their wages, who
oppress widows and the fatherless, and deprive
aliens of justice but do not fear me says the
Lord Almighty."
God says "I the Lord do not change." The only
reason we are not destroyed is because God
keeps His word to love His family. God says
"you have turned away from my decrees-- return
to me and I will return to you."
Every cent you earn is because of God's loving
provision. As an expression of loving gratitude
He asks that the first 10% be returned to Him.
(He doesn't need it, but you do, for your
spiritual health). If you don't do this you
are robbing God.
"Test me in this says the Lord Almighty and see
if I will not throw open the flood gates of
Heaven and pour out so much blessing that you
will not have enough room for it.-- Then all
the nations will call you blessed."
There are those who call themselves God's
people today who feel it's futile to serve
Him because they feel the arrogant are
blessed, evildoers prosper and those who
challenge God, escape.
But there are also those who fear the Lord,
honour His name and don't doubt His goodness in
the face of evil that appears to go unpunished.
Of these God says "they will be mine - in the
day when I make up my treasured possession. I
will spare them, just as in compassion a man
spares his son who serves him. And you will
again see the distinction between the righteous
and the wicked, between those who serve God and
those who do not."
(Chapter 3)
"--The day is coming; it will burn like a
furnace. All the arrogant and every evil doer
will be stubble -- set-- " on fire says the
Lord Almighty. -- But for you who revere my
name the sun of righteousness will rise
with healing in its wings. And you will go out
and leap like calves released from the stall.
Then you will trample down the wicked - on the
day when I do these things says the Lord
Almighty."
(Malachi concludes with a further reference to
John the Baptist. These words have been
fulfilled historically for the Jews. They serve
as a warning to God's people to-day).
"See I will send you the prophet Elijah before
the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He
will turn the hearts of the fathers to their
children and the hearts of the children to their
fathers, or else I will come and strike the land
with a curse."
(Chapter 4)
HERE ARE SOME MAIN POINTS ARISING FROM MALACHI:
1. When Christians meet to pray, absorb God's
word, have a meal in remembrance of Jesus
and encourage each other in an atmosphere of
love due to God's presence as the Holy
Spirit, the name for the gathering is
church.
2. But "church" institutions, denominations,
"professional" clergy and cathedrals have
replaced God's real church. In the main, God
is treated with contempt as ritual replaces
real relationships with Him. And He won't
put up with that. Why should He, when God
Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, had
to be crucified to establish the
relationship in the first place.
3. The devil actively and subtly works to
neutralise God's church. Think of the true
church as a straight line. Over time the
devil will bend it. The only way to stop
this is to constantly check the line being
bent, with the original straight rule. And
the straight rule is God's word in the
Bible. But for simplicity, it's the way
Jesus did everything. So, ask yourself of
the meeting (church) "Is this the way Jesus
did it?" If yes, all's well, if not, throw
it out. And God won't accept half measures.
There's no way He will accept some things
done His way and others the devil's way - by
you or the church.
4. Show your gratitude to God for His love for
you by giving 10% of your earnings to Him.
Bear in mind that judgement day is coming
when God's people will go to heaven and the
rest to what they have chosen, eternity
without Him - hell. Total isolation with no
way out. Solitary confinement - for eternity.
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