The Watchman

[Christ's Free Servant]

The Watchman

[branchesofHim]

A very good article which places emphasis on the duty of Christ's Body = witnessing Christ to the world.

In John chapter 17 it's recorded about Jesus praying for his disciples and not only for them alone but for all those who would believe on Him through their word. (That is bound to include us today because we only learned of Jesus Christ and salvation through faith by the words of those of those first twelve disciples.)

John 17

20: Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

Remember what Jesus prayed about the believers (you and I obviously included)? The Lord asked God to NOT take them out of the world. Jesus prayed the disciples stayed in the world.

John 17

15: I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

It is our duty and commission from Jesus Himself that we go and preach the gospel to the whole world. Obviously can't all of us go into the mission field per se and spend 6 months in another country, etc. But each of us can preach the gospel to those in our everyday worlds; where we live, work, play, etc. We each have a circle of influence in this life and it's in those people that we have the responsibility to share Jesus Christ the Lord and His message of reconciliation to God through His sacrifice for all.

We wouldn't keep the message of salvation from those around us would we ?

Good article.

[Christ's Free Servant]

We wouldn't keep the message of salvation from those around us would we ?

Good article.

abranchofHim,

Thank you for sharing those words of encouragement. That was good!

[Catsmeow]

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God

[Christ's Free Servant]

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God

[gypc]

You are so correct. And, God is about to vomit them out of his mouth!

1 Sam15:19Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?

20And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

21But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.

22And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

24And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

Hi Sue, when I read what you said, my heart became heavy and the Lord led me to this scripture. Is this what many leaders will say to God if they don't repent now? Notice how Saul said he feared the people. I beleive he did but I also beleive he loved the favor he got from the people. Vs 12 of this same chapter says that he built a monument of himself after his victory. Are many of the church leaders building monuments of themselves in their hearts? Well, I defintly don't want to judge their hearts, but their doctrine does not line up with God's word.

I will continue to pray for all these false teachers that they would lay down their practices and preach Christ and him crucified.

[Christ's Free Servant]

You are so correct. And, God is about to vomit them out of his mouth!

Hi Sue, when I read what you said, my heart became heavy and the Lord led me to this scripture. Is this what many leaders will say to God if they don't repent now? Notice how Saul said he feared the people. I beleive he did but I also beleive he loved the favor he got from the people. Vs 12 of this same chapter says that he built a monument of himself after his victory. Are many of the church leaders building monuments of themselves in their hearts? Well, I defintly don't want to judge their hearts, but their doctrine does not line up with God's word.

I will continue to pray for all these false teachers that they would lay down their practices and preach Christ and him crucified.

Yes, I think you are correct. So many people misunderstand "not judging" in the Bible. The Bible tells us that we are supposed to judge those in the church by the word of God, we are to lovingly confront those who are led astray, and we are to work towards restoring them to the fellowship. Now, obviously many of these leaders are not going to listen to people like you and me, and many of them, like Saul, do not see that they are doing anything wrong. Like Saul, they are partially obeying God or doing what they want to do for God and think that will somehow replace obedience. Yes, I think many of them erect images of themselves for people to worship, but if you told them that is what they are doing, I don't think they would see it. And, notice one more thing about Saul. He finally admitted his sin, but he did not repent. It was an empty confession. Fear of man was definitely greater than fear of God. So many of these churches today spend more time being concerned about pleasing man than they do pleasing God. They are afraid to even mention "repentance," because it might offend people. They are teaching that repentance and obedience are not necessary to salvation.

I hate to say this, but I don't think we are going to see them repent and lay down their practices and preach Christ and him crucified until God hands out a mighty loving dose of his discipline to shake them up and to bring them to their knees.