The Power In God's Church... (Not To Be Ashamed)

Romans Chapter 1: Verse 16 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes… For I am NOT ashamed of the gospel of Christ!!! Not ashamed!!! If God is the same today as HE was the day HE created Adam, the same as HE was the day He required of Abraham to kill and sacrifice his son Isaac… WHY do we look at Him differently today? GOD is HOLY, does the Church today even take time to grasp that concept? His POWER is Awesome and Wondrous, yet the Corporate Church has held HIM at arm’s length; denying the Author and Power of the Church His rightful place, in the process marginalizing the Church in the local communities. NOT Ashamed? Do we speak Christ as we gather each Sunday morning? Or is the only Christ speech we hear that of the Pastor and our Sunday School Teachers? As Christians, we are to be a lump of moldable clay, and Christ is to be the Potter. Do our conversations here in Church, at home, at work and in our neighborhoods reflect the marks of the Potters hand? Can those around us see the smooth finger and hand markings of the Potter in our lives? Our lives should point constantly to Christ, unafraid of the whispers and snickers of those around us. So really, are we unashamed? To offer anything less than our all to Him, is to sin, another doctrine of the Church that is quickly being squeezed out. A radio Pastor, Alistair Begg whom I am growing to love more each day, once said to his congregation “loved ones, as long as sin in our minds remains simply a nuisance, or an inconvenience, or an embarrassment; then we will never ever deal with it, and we will never make any progress”. As long as we visit the same old haunts of our past, talk the same way, keep the same habits, and visit the same entertainment that we did prior to accepting Christ – we will never grow, and sanctification will be stifled at best. We can’t serve two Masters, so who will win out? To not be ashamed as a Church, we first must not be ashamed as individuals. We must approach God on HIS turf, humbling ourselves, poor in Spirit and acknowledging HIS Holiness and Righteousness. WE MUST Seek HIS face while flat on our faces before Him. We pray each Sunday to be a Beacon in the Community for Christ, it’s time that we start showing Him we are serious. To be a Godly Loving Church we must grow to the next level of Glory. We must allow God to be GOD in this Church, yielding to His Holiness, before we can ever truly be a Loving Church. For in understanding all of His Power, all of His Glory, all of His Holiness – we can begin to understand what it meant for Him to send His Son for us. Then in turn, through grasping the magnitude of that transaction and the impact it had on the TWO OF THEM, we can understand the depth of GOD’s love for us. And we will understand the depth of our shame – in being ashamed of Christ. It is my prayer, that God will fan the spiritual embers in our Churches, to set a fire blazing for HIM. That He will begin a huge Spiritual awakening in us as such has never been seen in this generation. Then it is my prayer that we are not only a Beacon for Christ but we become the Harbor to which many lost souls seek salvation and refuge. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes… Let us know the POWER of GOD, which is our salvation through His Son’s Shed Blood. It’s more than just believing folks, it is following Him in sacrifice, and seeking purity in our souls through HIS POWER & STRENGTH. Living in this world – yet not being a part of it – and not being ashamed!