Christianity is a Verb, not a Noun

"They hear your words, but they do not do them."
Ezekial 33:32

Are you a Christian? What does Christian mean?

The term was first used in Acts 11:26

And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. - Acts 11:26

The "he" is this passage refers to Barnabas, who found "him" (Saul) in Tarsus and brought him to Antioch. Then Barnabas and Saul "assembled themselves with the church" and "taught much people." The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.)

The term Christian means "little Christ." Originally, Christian was used as a scornful term, a ridicule to mock followers of Christ.

The Christians of this time were such followers of Christ that they were ridiculed for it. That's how much they stood out from non-Christians. They were scorned for their lifestyle.

Isn't that interesting? The Christians mentioned here were so radical, so devoted in following their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that they were ridiculed for it.

Are you a Christian? Then act like it.

As a Christian, should you be different from the world? Yes.

If ye were of the world, the world would love its own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
John 15:19

Listen to this next verse.

I beseech you therefore, brethern, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Romans 12:1

In the above verse, Paul is writing to the church in Rome, and tells them it is their "reasonable service" to present their "bodies a living sacrifice." Wow! Reasonable? Paul did not say extreme or out-of-the-ordinary, but reasonable. According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of reasonable is: "not extreme: moderate, fair." Imagine that. Again, Paul is implying that presenting our bodies a living sacrifice is fair. Wow.

(The difficulty with a living sacrifice is it has the ability to crawl off the altar. In our daily walk, we have the choice to avoid sin or indulge in it. It is our reasonable service to avoid sin at all costs, even if it hurts us physically. If it doesn't cost anything, then it's not a sacrifice. Although Salvation is a free Gift, the cost is our life.)

Romans 12:1 and Acts 11:26 show the seriousness of being a Christian. Romans 12:1 indicates our fair service to God--presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. Acts 11:26 gives us the place (Antioch) where the disciples were first called Christians.

Are you presenting your body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service? Are you a Christian, a "little Christ?"

If you are a Christian, then act like it. How? In action. Become an active Christian. Read The Bible. Do what it says. Avoid sin at all costs. Do not continue in sin.

READ MORE...

Trust in Times of Trial

"Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." Psalm 55:22

The Lord's care is over all His creatures. He loves them all, and makes no difference, except that He has the most tender pity for those who are called to bear life's heaviest burdens. God's children must meet trials and difficulties. But they should accept their lot with a cheerful spirit, remembering that for all that the world neglects to bestow, God Himself will make up to them in the best of favors.

We are in danger, by worrying, of manufacturing yokes for our necks. Let us not worry, for thus we make the yoke more severe and the burden heavy. Let us do all we can without worrying, trusting in Christ.

With the continual change of circumstances, changes come in our experience; and by these changes we are either elated or depressed. But the change of circumstances has no power to change God's relation to us. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and He asks us to have unquestioning confidence in His love.

Satan watches his opportunity to bring about circumstances that will tend to arouse unbelief, hoping to lead us to doubt God. We cannot afford to cherish one thought of unbelief. When we are tempted to look on the dark side, let us open the windows of the soul heavenward, that the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness may shine in. Let us draw near to God. He has promised that as we do this He will draw near to us and lift up for us a standard against the enemy. The efficiency of His keeping power has in no wise decreased. Let faith stand its trial without wavering, for Christ is a perfect Saviour.

You may look upon your plans as perfect, but God may see that it is essential for you to suffer disappointment in order that your plans may be brought into harmony with His plan. His way is always the right way. He seeth and knoweth all things. We do not always see as He sees. . . .

Take your stand on the word of God. Whatever may occur, hold fast the beginning of your confidence firm unto the end.

READ MORE...

We Reap What We Sow

A fairly prominent American was interviewed on the Early Show recently and the interviewer asked him, “How could God let something like this happen?” (In regards to the attacks on September 11)

He gave an extremely profound and insightful response.

"I believe God would be deeply saddened and grieved by this just as we are but for years we have been taking the basic teachings of the Ten Commandments of God out of our schools, out of the government and out of our lives and by doing so have forced these basic guidelines of love out of our lives. How can we expect anybody to respect anyone else if they do not know why it is they should do so?

In the light of recent events…school shootings, terrorist attacks etc, I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered and her body found recently) complained she did not want prayer in our schools.
And we said OKAY.

Then someone said you better not read the Bible in schools…the Bible says thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not kill, and love your neighbour as yourself.
And we said OKAY.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we should not spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should certainly know what he is talking about.
So we said OKAY.

Then someone said principles and teachers better not discipline the children when they misbehave. The school administrators said no faculty member in the schools should touch a student when they misbehave because we surely don't want to be sued and we don't want any bad publicity (there is a big difference between disciplining, touching, smacking, beating, humiliating, kicking, etc.)
And we said OKAY.

Then someone said we should let our daughters have abortions if they want and they won't have to tell their parents unless they want to.
And we said OKAY.

Then some supposed wise school board member said, since boys will be boys and they are going to do it anyway, we should give our sons all the condoms they need so they can have all the fun they desire and we won't have to tell their parents they got them at school.
And we said OKAY.

Then some of our top elected officials said it does not matter what we do in private as long as we are doing our jobs. Agreeing with them, we said it does not matter to me what anyone, including the President, does in private as long as I have a job and the economy is going good.

Then someone said let's print magazines with pictures of nude women and call it wholesome, down-to-earth appreciation for the beauty of the female body.
And we said OKAY.

And then someone else took that appreciation a step further and published pictures of nude children and then went even further again by making them available on the Internet.
And we said OKAY, they are entitled to free speech.

Then the entertainment industry said, let's make television shows and movies that promote violence, profanity and illicit sex. Let's record music that encourages drugs, rape, murder, suicide and occultish themes. And we said it is just entertainment, it has no adverse effect, nobody takes it seriously anyway so go right ahead.

Now we are asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it does not bother them to kill their classmates, strangers and even themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out!
I think it has a great deal to do with the fact that “WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.”

Funny how simple it is for people to trash age old teachings based on the Ten Commandments of God and then wonder why the world has become so unsafe, unstable and seemingly out of control. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say but question what our religious teachers of all faiths have taught us for many centuries.

Funny how you can send 'jokes' through the internet and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding Christianity, people think twice about sharing. Funny how crude, lewd, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace but public discussion of Christian beliefs is suppressed in the work place and schools.

Are you laughing?

Funny how if you decide to forward this page, you will not send it too many people in your address book because you are not sure what they believe or what they will think of you for sending it to them. Funny how we can be more concerned about what other people think of us than what we think of ourselves. Or even more importantly so, what GOD thinks of us.

Note: This is a forwarded message.

READ MORE...

BEING B-U-S-Y (The Devil's Convention)

Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said "We can't keep the Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from conservative values.

But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship in Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken.

So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time so they can't gain that experience in Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!"

"How shall we do this?" shouted his angels.

"Keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent unnumbered schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.

"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6 or 7 days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work."

"Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that small still voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, VCR, DVDs, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their homes. And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays non-biblical, contradictory music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."

"Fill their coffee-tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk-mail, sweepstakes, mail-order catalogues and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes."

"Even in their recreation let them be excessive. Have them return from the recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out to nature to reflect on God's wonders. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead."

"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions."

"Let them be involved in soul-winning, but crowd their lives with so many causes that they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause."

It was quite a convention in the end. The evil angels went to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and rush here and there.

Has the devil been successful in his scheme?
You be the judge.

Does BUSY means:

B - being

U - under

S - satan's

Y - yoke

Satan's goal is to take our minds away from Christ and steer us towards the cares of the world. GOD WANTS US TO ENJOY LIFE, BUT HE MUST BE FIRST. IF WE ARE TOO BUSY FOR GOD, THEN WE ARE TOO BUSY!


Note: I first read the above article when it was posted at the Bulletin Board of the church I used to go to in the Philippines.

READ MORE...