This sermon deals with the Christian in peril and the lazy Christian who is always complaining. Before we start, I would like to share a letter that I received today from one of my associates in the Philippines.
The words and spelling are his, and I decided not to correct them. Dear Rev. Smith, Please assist me in giving thanks to the Lord. On Saturday night, while traveling to a church in Accra, our former capital, I came face-to-face with the dead. We encountered an armed robbery gang, consisting of approximately 42 individuals with sophisticated rifles, and our bus inadvertently entered their territory. The gang fired several shots into our bus, instantly killing the bus conductor, causing the tyre to burst, the radio to blast off, and forcing the bus into the bush, where they pursued us to a standstill. They ransacked all our luggage and took valuable items, including cash. Finally, the commander ordered that those who have paid their tithes for the last 3 months should stand on one side. Some thought it was a joke, but I quickly obeyed, and a sister joined me.
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Those who were not on our side, including the gang leader, claimed that they had robbed God and that there is only one punishment for robbers: death. At that point, they sentenced everyone to death and ordered two of us to leave. We were helpless; we slept there until daybreak. The saga involved about six buses, and at the same time, they sexually assaulted nearly all the women. My heart is very, very sorrowful. This incident has been reported in our national news and newspapers. God kept me alive to write you this day. May His only name be blessed. His Grace in Ecclesia, Bishop Dr. Joseph Rankin. Now let’s look at Scripture. Rom 8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? The word of the Lord is true and eternal. Many are receiving tribulation, distress, persecution, and even the threat of death for their belief in the gospel. But still, they go on. They go on believing in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The problem today, as I have seen it, is that there are too many Christians that are sitting around waiting for the rapture to take place and not being concerned with the state of their other brothers and sisters in a harmful way, who are promoting the gospel to the rest of the world. Being comfortable with one or two services a week, giving the church money when it is convenient for them, not really paying ties but expecting their say at business meetings. And the church, not using the money for propagating the gospel but rather building on instead of building up. Where has the compassion of the Christian gone? Rom 15:27 It has pleased them greatly, and their debtors they are. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in carnal things. Romans 15:27 is not just a passing thought by Paul but a commandment from Christ for the establishment of all the members of the body. 1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:1 is a warning to Christians that there are times that the church loses its way and becomes carnal instead of spiritual. Not being able to receive spiritual insight into the gospel because they have become carnal-minded. 1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal; for whereas there is among you envying, strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men? 1Co 3:3 states that when members of the body become carnal-minded, they start walking as men instead of as Christians, Christ-like in appearance, attitude, and goal.
We sometimes lose our way because of carnal mindness but are rebuked and reproved by the words of God. 1Co 15:1-2 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 1Co 15:1-2 teaches us that even though we have been saved, we remain accountable for the word we have heard, and as Paul stated, By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you.” The church is a child that is growing up each and every day, not as old as some would have you believe. So as a child, it needs to be nurtured, cared for, loved, and yes, sometimes punished because of disobedience to the word of God. The Church has become lax in its duty to God and man by not standing up against hypocritical and false doctrine, written by man to appease the congregations.
This is not getting people to heaven; on the contrary, it is condemning others to hell or a loss of their rewards in Heavan. Let’s read a little scripture and think about these things. 1Co 3:13-15 Every man’s work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man’s work of whatever sort it is. Any man who builds upon his work and abides by it will be rewarded. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. 1Co 8:2 And if any man thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet, as he ought to know. 2Co 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. Gal 6:3 For if a man thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. What does the church think about itself?
Does it think it is secure in its works? Does it think that building on instead of building up is the way of Christ? Has the church lost its way, forgetting where it came from? And what about the individual Christian? Have they also become satisfied with their works enough to stop being Christians? Do you think that being saved is enough to make God pleased with your spirit? I have read many articles concerning pastors and preachers retiring from this church and that church, but not one would ever give a single scripture passage where Jesus said that we could retire from the work that was appointed to us. Not one. If you keep in mind what I preached to you, this is our work; this is our duty to Christ, who appointed and ordained us to minister to the saints.
