Sept. 17, 2009
Most of us have heard that saying our entire lives. Anybody who has ever owned cows knows that is the case because a cow will run through a fence to get at a pasture not half as good as the one they are in.
As severely flawed beings we are like that too. You see it in people all over, some think Europe is more refined so they want to be like them. Others think other cultures have more to offer so they adopt the dress, vernacular and other things to make themselves look like those around them.
I always get tickled with folks who are covered in piercings, tattoos and other such things. They say it makes them different and not conforming to those around them.
Have they looked around. They tend to associate themselves with people just like them. They are conforming, just to a different set of standards.
If you want to be different try wearing a set of chinos and a cardigan sweater to a Metallica concert.
People will follow anything just to be a part of something, but in essence they are running and rebelling against God. It’s the same today as it was 2,500 years ago.
“You say, ‘We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world who serve wood and stone.’ But what you have in mind will never happen. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will rule over you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. I will bring you from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered — with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. I will bring you into the desert of the nations and there, face to face, I will execute judgment upon you.” — Ezekiel 20:32-35
No matter what you think and no matter what you believe, judgment is coming.
As I said last week, if you do not fully accept Christ as your personal savior, then you are in rebellion against God — and while God’s patience is infinite, He has set a time for all things when he will do what he said he will do.
So, I ask again, why are you rebelling against God?
We want to be like those around us. We dress like them, we talk like them, we buy the things they buy, we worship the same god of commercialism they do yet we do not heed the calling of God and we bring doom upon ourselves and in our hypocrisy we fail to show the lost souls around us the light of God.
We deserve death and the harshest punishment possible for our actions, but God gave us a way out — Jesus Christ.
Through the cross we can wash the filth off of our lives.
“I will accept you as fragrant incense when I bring you out from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will show myself holy among you in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the land I had sworn with uplifted hand to give to your fathers. There you will remember your conduct and all the actions by which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil you have done. You will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for my name’s sake and not according to your evil ways and your corrupt practices, O house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.” — Ezekiel 20:41-44
We all have a time coming of a one-on-one conversation with God, whether we believe in him or not. Whether we are in rebellion against Christ or have declared him as Lord.
“It is written, ‘As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” — Romans 14:11-12
Let us forget what the world desires of us and instead focus on the what God wants from us. What he wants is simple — to believe on the one he sent, His son Jesus Christ. For those who already believe, then he wants one more thing — to tell others what Christ did for them.
There is nothing else we must do. In fact, there is nothing we can do, no matter how good the cause, which will reconcile ourselves with God than through Jesus Christ.
Don’t rebel against God, for those who do punishment and hell awaits. Choose Christ because the alternative, no matter how attractive it looks now, is unthinkable.
Most of us have heard that saying our entire lives. Anybody who has ever owned cows knows that is the case because a cow will run through a fence to get at a pasture not half as good as the one they are in.
As severely flawed beings we are like that too. You see it in people all over, some think Europe is more refined so they want to be like them. Others think other cultures have more to offer so they adopt the dress, vernacular and other things to make themselves look like those around them.
I always get tickled with folks who are covered in piercings, tattoos and other such things. They say it makes them different and not conforming to those around them.
Have they looked around. They tend to associate themselves with people just like them. They are conforming, just to a different set of standards.
If you want to be different try wearing a set of chinos and a cardigan sweater to a Metallica concert.
People will follow anything just to be a part of something, but in essence they are running and rebelling against God. It’s the same today as it was 2,500 years ago.
“You say, ‘We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world who serve wood and stone.’ But what you have in mind will never happen. As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will rule over you with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. I will bring you from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered — with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with outpoured wrath. I will bring you into the desert of the nations and there, face to face, I will execute judgment upon you.” — Ezekiel 20:32-35
No matter what you think and no matter what you believe, judgment is coming.
As I said last week, if you do not fully accept Christ as your personal savior, then you are in rebellion against God — and while God’s patience is infinite, He has set a time for all things when he will do what he said he will do.
So, I ask again, why are you rebelling against God?
We want to be like those around us. We dress like them, we talk like them, we buy the things they buy, we worship the same god of commercialism they do yet we do not heed the calling of God and we bring doom upon ourselves and in our hypocrisy we fail to show the lost souls around us the light of God.
We deserve death and the harshest punishment possible for our actions, but God gave us a way out — Jesus Christ.
Through the cross we can wash the filth off of our lives.
“I will accept you as fragrant incense when I bring you out from the nations and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will show myself holy among you in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the land I had sworn with uplifted hand to give to your fathers. There you will remember your conduct and all the actions by which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil you have done. You will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for my name’s sake and not according to your evil ways and your corrupt practices, O house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.” — Ezekiel 20:41-44
We all have a time coming of a one-on-one conversation with God, whether we believe in him or not. Whether we are in rebellion against Christ or have declared him as Lord.
“It is written, ‘As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.” — Romans 14:11-12
Let us forget what the world desires of us and instead focus on the what God wants from us. What he wants is simple — to believe on the one he sent, His son Jesus Christ. For those who already believe, then he wants one more thing — to tell others what Christ did for them.
There is nothing else we must do. In fact, there is nothing we can do, no matter how good the cause, which will reconcile ourselves with God than through Jesus Christ.
Don’t rebel against God, for those who do punishment and hell awaits. Choose Christ because the alternative, no matter how attractive it looks now, is unthinkable.
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