"God Can Use Anybody" and Other Lessons from 1 & 2 Peter

A teacher must learn the lesson she is teaching before she can thoroughly teach her students. This was certainly the case for me. I spent so much time in the Word this semester as I taught through 1 & 2 Peter. It was a privilege. But in the interest of keeping it real, I feel the need to let you know that most of the time, lessons were put together on Tuesday nights before Bible Study on Wednesday morning. The entire week's worth of homework was done on one day, usually Monday. Almost every time I sat down to write, I came up blank at first. Almost every time I stood up to teach, my confidence wavered. I certainly have not felt worthy of the position of Bible teacher because in my mind, I'm just little old Amber. I know my weaknesses, my failures, my shortcomings. So many of you are twice my age and I'm blown away that God could use me to teach you anything new. It's a miracle really! So as I sat down to write the top ten lessons I learned from 1 and 2 Peter, the one lesson that stood out for me above them all is that 

GOD CAN USE ANYBODY.

You don't have to know it all. You don't have to be perfect. You don't have to have it all together.

In this world of suffering and trials and the enticement of Satan and false teaching and people who call themselves Christians without actually being Christ followers, God wants to use YOU and he wants to use ME. It's amazing, considering that if he wanted to, he could just call down audibly from Heaven and tell us to shape up and read our Bibles and follow Him. Instead, he has gifted each one of us with everything we need and charged us with taking the Good News, THE GOSPEL, to the ends of the Earth. He wants to use us!

So learn these lessons from the New Testament, but don't let it stop there.  GO and tell the good news; share these precious promises with everyone you know. I can't wait to see you back in the spring when we'll dig into another book in God's Word together. Until then...

Ten Lessons From 1 & 2 Peter

   1. Trials test the genuineness of my faith.

1 Peter 1:6-7, 4:1-2, 4:12-19, 5:10

   2.  I should live as an exile, set apart from the world.

1 Peter 1:1,17, 2:11

    3.  Obedience to the Word is the key to loving deeply.

1 Peter 1:22, 4:8-10

    4.  Christ is the Cornerstone and I am a living stone.

1 Peter 2:4-8

    5.  My submission to any and all authority honors God.

1 Peter 2:13-25, 3:1-7

    6.  I need to know God’s Word.

1 Peter 3:15, 2 Peter 3:1-3

    7.  Satan seeks to destroy me by enticing me with substitute gospels. 

1 Peter 5:8-9, 2 Peter 2:1-22

    8.  I have everything I need for life and godliness.

2 Peter 1:3-4

9.  Qualities that make me like Christ should be increasing in my life.

2 Peter 1:5-12, 3:11-14

10.   The Day of the Lord is coming!

2 Peter 3:4-13

Strong Women: Refusing to Allow False Teachers to Speak Into Our Lives

If you haven't had a chance to read 2 Peter chapter 2, do it now. (But I'm warning you, it's not a fluffy, feel-good chapter. It's a little intense.)

This whole concept of false teachers keeps coming up again and again in the New Testament. I’m no Bible scholar, but I know that repetition indicates importance, so we would be wise to pay attention. We have so many voices speaking to us today and it’s hard to know who to choose to listen to. How can we discern the false teachers from the true teachers? How can we make sure we aren’t deceived? Should we even bother?

A quick glance at the “Women’s Bible Study” page on lifeway.com allowed me to find a list of today’s most popular Bible study authors and teachers. Can you name a few? Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, Angie Smith, Jennie Allen, Kelly Minter, Lisa Harper, Angela Thomas, Jen Hatmaker…the list goes on. There are men’s studies and women’s studies and youth studies and kids studies. There are studies called “Seamless” and “Stuck” and “Living Free” and “Stronger” and “Restless” and “Ever After”. We are just absolutely inundated with options for “Bible Study” resources. Then we have all of the TV preachers like Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer and Charles Stanley and even Billy Graham. Even in Gonzales we have many options to choose from when it comes to preachers – Jesse Elizondo, Forrest Hamilton, Chris Irving, Andy Smith. Think of a few preachers/teachers that you listen to on a regular basis. It's your job to consider whether or not what these teachers are teaching you is in line with the teaching found in Scripture. 

First things first… Why bother?

The simple answer is this: there ARE false teachers among us. It's not that there could be or that there might be or that one day there will be, it's that there already are! There are people in this world who are seeking to mislead and deceive us as believers. Satan wants nothing more than to deceive you and make you believe his lies instead of God’s truth. We know that these false teachers exist, but so often we think that we are immune to them. It’s like we’re teenagers with brand new driver's licenses. We confidently own the road and we absolutely do not believe that anything bad will ever happen to us. Too often, we treat Bible teaching the same way. We just don’t think it will happen to us. But we MUST look carefully at who is teaching us to make sure that what they say is true and that it lines up with Scripture.

So HOW do we do that? How do we know if a teacher is false or true? The Bible gives us some great guidelines and a good list is found in 2 Peter 2.

11.     They are destructive. (v1)

22.     They follow their sensuality. (v1)

33.     They are greedy. (v3,14)

44.     Their words are false. (v3)

55.     They despise authority. (v10)

66.     They are bold and willful. (v10)

77.     They are irrational. (v12)

88.     They are ignorant. (v12)

99.     They lie. (v13)

110. They are hungry for sin. (v14)

111. They are enticing. (v18)

112. They promise freedom. (v19)

113. They are enslaved to corruption. (v19)

At first glance, most of these things seem really bad- like glaringly, obviously BAD. But these false teachers don’t always look this way on the outside. They have pretty faces and are well spoken. They appear to have it all together and know what they’re talking about. They often hold positions of prominence and power. But what they teach is often a substitute gospel. A substitute gospel is any teaching that takes the place of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In Scripture the Pharisees were well known for such beliefs. They believed that they had to adhere to a list of rules and practices in order to be saved. They were caught up in legalism. We do the same thing today, just with a different list of rules to follow. Our rules are things like church attendance and service projects and tithing. False teachers come to us with beautiful outsides but their messages don't always proclaim Christ.

Paul writes about this same problem in his letters to Timothy (1 and 2 Timothy). Paul is in the same position as Peter in this case – he is writing a letter to Timothy, warning him of things that might hinder the spread of the gospel and instructing him in how to lead the church. In 2 Timothy 4:3-4 Paul says,

“For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” 

The day is coming (and may already be here) when people won’t want to hear the truth of God’s Word preached any more! They’ll move on to different topics that “tickle their ears” and pique their interest. Why? Just a few verses earlier in 2 Timothy 3:2-5, Paul writes, 

“People will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people."

And then perhaps the scariest verse of them all is verse 6 and 7. 

“For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.” 

These WEAK WOMEN are allowing these false teachers to creep into their homes. What do we need to do to make sure this doesn’t happen to us???

First of all, above every other thing, we MUST READ GOD’S WORD. I’m not going to get hung up on legalistic rules about how you must read it for 30 minutes straight every morning in your chair with your incense burning and your soft music playing before you do anything else. I’m just going to say that you need to be reading God’s Word like you eat food. OFTEN. REPEATEDLY.

Second, any time the Word of God is being spoken or taught to you, you MUST OPEN YOUR BIBLE and check to see that what the teacher is saying is true. This comes from Acts 17:11, where the Bereans examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul was saying was true. This also implies that you bring your Bible to church. It implies that you bring your Bible to Bible Study! Bring your Bible to church! Open your Bible when the TV preacher is on. Open your Bible when you're reading this blog or any other claiming to teach biblical principles. Bring it and open it and read it and check to see if you are being taught the Truth.

Third, we MUST PRAY THAT OUR EYES WOULD BE OPENED to discern false teaching from the truth. Remember, it’s not always easy to see. It might be tickling our ears and appealing to all of our desires. We need to ask God to reveal to us whether a teacher is true or false.

The good news comes in verse 9 after Peter has reminded us of Noah’s rescue on the ark and Lot’s rescue from Sodom and Gomorrah. He says if God has rescued them, “Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment.” Vengeance belongs to the Lord. He will take care of every single one of these false teachers on the day of judgment and he has promised to rescue us until then.

But until then, we must be on our guard against false teachers in our own lives. We must consider every teaching carefully, checking it against Scripture to make sure that what we’re being taught is true. If we do not take this seriously, we are in danger of becoming the weak women Paul described who let lies into their homes. God forbid. 

When trying to decide if what you are being taught is true, consider these two things:

Any teaching that presents any other thought or idea as superior to the gospel message of Jesus Christ is false. 

Any preacher or teacher that teaches concepts and topics without a stated, solid foundation in Scripture, should be questioned.

Remember, false teachers are here. It's our job, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, to discern the false teachers from those who are truly teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Promises and Virtues

Welcome to Second Peter! If you haven't read Chapter One yet, go do that now! It is so good. It is delicious. We could just read it over and over and it would feed our souls forever! 

A few pertinent details for you to know about Second Peter...

Author: Peter                         Recipients: The churches in Asia Minor

Date: 64-67 AD                     Purpose: A lesson in godly living before Peter’s death

Second Peter was addressed to believers – to “those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” (v1) It is implied that every bit of instruction Peter is giving is to Christ-followers. Remember that term? Christ-followers. We have already established that a Christ-follower is one who has not only accepted Christ as Savior but who has also made Him Lord or Boss of their lives. These instructions are not intended for people who have not made Him Savior and Lord. You can't read Second Peter and apply it to the life of a non-believer. It's written especially for the Church, the Bride of Christ!

If you've been a blog-reader for a while, you know we've laid a good foundation for the fact that to be a Christian, by very definition, you must be a Christ-follower. But we can't stop there! As believers we need to keep growing! (That's what Peter is reminding the believers in Asia Minor to do.)

Step One: Invite Jesus to be Lord of your life.

Step Two: Grow in grace and peace in the knowledge of Him.

But how? Growing in Christ sometimes seems like a daunting task. We feel like we have so far to go to reach godliness! But the truth is found in verse three. We actually have everything we need for life and godliness by his divine power! The same power that raised Jesus from the grave lives in us! John 14:12 tells us that we can do even greater things than Jesus did and that’s what he expects from us. There are no more excuses, no more reasons to feel trapped in sin or stuck in a spiritual rut. We already have every single thing we need for growth in this life.

God has granted to us so many great and precious promises so that we can partake in his divinity.

He gives us His promises! We aren’t just bystanders or audience members or bench warmers. We are partakers, fellow heirs with Christ, participants! Not Billy Graham and the Apostle Paul and Mother Teresa – me and you! And because of this power and our participation in the divine nature, we have escaped the evil and corruption in the world that is here because of sinful desire. We were all born with a sin nature, but we are not slaves to it. His divine power has given us everything we need to live godly lives and defeat sin. This is Peter’s message! 

I decided to look up some of these precious promises and here's what I found:

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Matthew 11:28-29 – “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Isaiah 40:29-31 – “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

Philippians 4:19 – “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

Romans 8:37-39 – “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 10:9 – “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

And then in our morning Bible Study, we thought a few more. You'll have to look these up on your own. They're so so good!

Proverbs 3:6          Jeremiah 33:3

Philippians 4:7      Psalm 139

Philippians 4:13    Psalm 91

Romans 10:13

So we have his promises and we have everything we need through His power to grow, so how do we grow? What does it really look like?

Well, we've got a list of virtues here. 

Faith

Virtue

Knowledge

Self Control

Steadfastness

Godliness

Brotherly Affection

Love

We had so much great discussion this week about whether or not these virtues are listed in this order for a significant reason. In my studies and reading of commentaries, I found that most likely, these are in no particular order. But some of our ladies found really meaningful insights when they looked at the order of these verses. One said that it seems like we start with the head of the body (faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control) and we move to the heart (steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, love). I love that! Another pointed out that when we can handle the first few inward qualities of faith, virtue and knowledge in our own minds and hearts, we see results in our own lives through self-control and steadfastness and godliness, and it carries over into our relationships with others with the last two outward qualities of brotherly affection and love. 

The English language doesn’t always do the original language justice in it’s translation. Whether or not the order of these virtues is significant, all of these virtues should be increasing in the life of a believer. If they aren’t increasing, it’s wise to “be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election” (v10) to make sure that you have really surrendered your life to the lordship of Christ. These qualities should be increasing in the life of a believer if we are truly believing and tapping into the power and divine nature of God. This is growth. These qualities in increasing measure keep us from being ineffective or unfruitful for Jesus. Make it a point to begin asking God to develop the virtues in your life that need some work so that you will not become ineffective or unfruitful.

Why would we NOT pursue these qualities in our lives?

Unfortunately, sometimes we become nearsighted and blindness results. We are focused on ourselves, the things of this world, the passions of the flesh, our momentary troubles and we, in our near-sightedness, become blind to the fact that those things don’t really matter and that we are supposed to have our gaze fixed on Him, especially if we want to access the power that he has promised us.

Practicing these qualities and allowing them to increase in our lives allows us to confirm our calling and election as believers and Scripture assures us that we will never fall when we do this. (v11)

So, sisters, are you ready to GROW? It's so much easier to slack off, fall away, get lazy and make excuses. Let's commit to not let that happen! Let's commit to encouraging each other to read God's Word. Let's decide to pick each other up when we start to fall. Most importantly, let's remind each other of the precious promises we have in Him that give us everything we need for life and godliness because of His greatest Gift, Jesus Christ!

"Yes, Lord": The Conclusion of 1 Peter

We’ve seen so much in the media about suffering lately. We see the faces of the refugees and we hear the cries of those who witnessed terrible acts of terror and violence. We read their stories and our hearts are pricked. Not much has changed since the days of Peter’s writing this letter. There was a lot of suffering taking place then too. Some were suffering because of cultural or economic or family reasons. Others were suffering because of Christ. There is a difference, remember. When you suffer for the cause of Christ, it’s different than suffering due to other circumstances.

A few weeks ago when we last met, we studied 1 Peter 4:11-19, which addresses suffering for the cause of Christ and Peter comes back to the same subject again in chapter five. The entire letter of 1 Peter is filled with instructions about how to suffer well for Christ. Back then, being a Christian meant persecution and trials and testing and being willing to be ridiculed and beaten and even killed. Being a Christian meant following Jesus Christ, no matter where it led, no matter what happened. It almost never meant fame or notoriety or wealth or success as measured by the world's standards.

Today our "persecution" comes when groups lobby to have the 10 commandments removed from the courthouse lawn or when Starbucks takes the snowflakes off their Christmas coffee cups. Most of us have no idea what it means to actually suffer for the cause of Jesus Christ. 

1 Peter 5 includes a lot of instructions for the church as they face all of this suffering. Peter gives instructions to the elders and then gives instructions to the younger church members. He tells them how important it is to be humble. He tells them not to worry. He tells them to be sober-minded. He warns them to be watchful of the Devil because he is out to get them. Interestingly, that’s the same thing Paul tells the churches in his letters to the Corinthians and the Colossians in his closing statements to them. WATCH OUT GUYS – HE’S OUT TO GET YOU.  James mentions this in his letter too – “Resist the devil and he will flee,” he writes in James 4:7. He brings it back around to suffering one final time in verses 9 and 10. He reminds them that they’re not alone in their suffering because Christians throughout the world are experiencing the same thing. He reminds them that their suffering will only be for a little while and then God will restore them.  He's basically telling them how to be Christ-followers in a world where that's not acceptable. And in typical Peter-style, he's cramming all of these instructions together because he knows that he may not ever get another chance to speak or write to them again and he feels a sense of urgency to make sure they're ready.

Remember last week's blog where I wrote that I had listened to the President of Lifeway research, Ed Stetzer speak? An interesting new trend is happening in the church, he said. The "mushy middle" (people who call Jesus Lord without actually making Him Lord of their lives) is leaving the church. For so long, church has been a great thing to be associated with and the Church has defined the culture.  Remember when almost all businesses were closed on Sunday? Remember when having a kids' sporting event on a Sunday or Wednesday was unheard of? Times have definitely changed. The world definitely doesn't look to the Church to define anything for them.

Last week I wrote, "Yet even today if you were to walk down a busy street and ask each person one question, "Are you a Christian?" many of them would still automatically respond with a  "yes" even though they have no personal, saving relationship with Jesus Christ. They'll argue that America is a Christian nation, that their mom and dad always took them to church, that they are basically "good" people, but they don't have any idea what being a follower of Christ is. Ed Stetzer explained that the statistics point to the trend that those who claim to be Christians without the substance of a genuine relationship with Jesus are leaving the church. While it's tempting to think of this as a negative thing, this leaves the Church full of believers who are truly sold out followers of Jesus Christ, which is definitely fantastic."

I'm going to include even more from last week's blog. Don't give up. Keep reading. It's important!

Ever heard this verse before? Matthew 7:21 says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." 

You can call yourself a Christian all day long and not be one for real.

This is terrifying to me because I know a lot of people who call themselves Christians and I am beginning to see that this applies to many of them. How do we know which ones are real and which ones are not? Back it up to Matthew 7:20- "You will know them by their fruit." Look at Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control."

Take a minute and think about a good person that you know but that does not know Christ. They may be nice and kind and full of love and patience and gentleness. They can appear to have the fruit of the Spirit, but they don't actually have a relationship with Jesus. Most of the time we see the fruit of the Spirit come out when the heat is on, when the trials have come. We see peace when anything but peace should be there. We see self-control when self-control doesn't make any sense.

When I went into premature labor with my twins at 24 weeks, I was immediately hospitalized and ended up being there for several months. I had so many visitors come with concerned, even sad, looks on their faces and I just never could understand it. In my mind, I was just going to lay in that hospital bed, finish baking those babies and everything would all be fine. I knew in my head what could happen if they were born too early, but I never dwelled on it and I never lost sleep worrying about it. (The fruit of the spirit is peace!) My visitors and nurses and doctors commented all the time on how happy I seemed. (The fruit of the spirit is joy!) It wasn't until it was all said and done that I realized what a scary situation I had been in and that my babies really could've died. I had the peace that passes understanding and the joy that could only come from the Lord! 

A pastor's wife was shot in the head in her home a few weeks ago. One pastor friend of theirs wrote that he came into the hospital room expecting to find horrible anguish and anger. Instead, he entered a room that was filled with love and hope and joy. Tears filled that room because those that loved her were sad, but they didn't grieve without hope! That can only be the fruit of the Spirit!

A bit more from the blog last week...

As culture changes and everything we once knew about church becomes obsolete and all of the people who used to define themselves as Christians leave the church, who will be left? Who are the real Christ-followers? The real Christ-followers are those that not only acknowledge Jesus as Savior, but those who serve Him as Lord. The real Christ-followers are the ones that bear the fruit of the spirit. The real Christ-followers are the ones with an unreserved "YES" on the table before God. Before God even calls them to do anything, their answer is yes.

A very special verse to me over the years is Isaiah 26:8. It says, "Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you. Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts."

Our family has lived in Gonzales for five and a half years now. That's an incredibly long tenure for a pastor at FBC Gonzales. Most of the pastors that have been here over the last fifty years or so have been here for short times of just a few years. So it's no surprise that those who love us here are a bit worried that we are going to move away any minute. Any time questions about that arise, we remind our friends that our "Yes, Lord" is on the table before Him. He has called us here and we are staying because our answer is "Yes, Lord." But one day He might call us away and we will go because our answer will still be "Yes, Lord." His name and renown is the desire of our hearts and we long for Him to use our family to make Him known.

This entire letter, 1 Peter, was written to encourage Christ-followers in Asia Minor in the first century and it was written to encourage Christ-followers in Gonzales, Texas today. The question I ask you today is “Are you really following Christ?” Most of us do a bang-up job of putting on a good show. We dress real nice on Sunday mornings and come to church and say and do all the right things. We have been taught for so long that we are all Christians, living in a Christian nation. That’s just not true. The Sunday dress won't be enough. The American flag is not your ticket to heaven. You need to know that those of us who are truly Christ followers may soon come under real, intense persecution. I desire so much for you to be a part of the group that truly KNOWS Jesus Christ and can stand under the trials that will come. If you’re unsure, ask someone today. Ask me. Ask a friend. God promises us that when we seek Him, we will FIND Him when we seek Him with all of our hearts. (Jer 29:13)

Following Jesus isn't for Everyone

I've spent the past four days in Orlando, Florida at a conference with my husband. It's a church revitalization conference called Renovate. Church revitalization is just a fancy way of saying "fixing broken churches". A bunch of pastors and church leaders from all over the country have gotten together this week to pray and cry and learn and plan and dream about how to bring stuck churches back to their original purpose of making disciples. So many churches in America are dead or dying. So many are plateaued, not seeing any new growth at all. Something has to be done to help these churches turn things around and reach the lost and make disciples in their communities. 

It's a rough life being here in Orlando. Tonight my husband is out with some of his old seminary friends from his days of working on his doctorate at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. I was welcome to come along, but I was also welcome to stay in the room and order from Panera Bread and do whatever I wanted in peace and quiet. You'll never guess what I chose...

And yes, that is totally a Christmas movie on TV. It goes against everything in me to be watching one on November 4th, but hey, I'm wanting to live on the edge tonight. I'm such a rebel.

Being in Orlando obviously prevented me from teaching Bible Study in Gonzales today, but I still have so much to share with you. 1 Peter 4:11-19 addresses suffering for the cause of Christ. This of course isn't Peter's first mention of suffering and trials in this letter. It was obviously a big deal back then. Life wasn't easy for believers. Being a Christian wasn't easy. Being a Christian meant persecution and trials and testing and being willing to be ridiculed and beaten and even killed. Being a Christian meant following Jesus Christ, no matter where it lead, no matter what happened. It almost never meant fame or notoriety or wealth or success as measured by the world's standards.

So is today different? Because when I think about myself and my Christian family and friends, for the most part we don't seem to be suffering, persecuted, tried, tested, ridiculed, beaten or killed. We seem to be a bit more on the safe side. 

I got to hear a guy named Ed Stetzer speak yesterday. He's the President of Lifeway Research and a whiz when it comes to statistics, especially the statistics that affect the church. He told us that yesterday a bunch of new data was released that pointed to a very interesting trend. Basically, a division is occurring in the church. The "mushy middle' (people who call Jesus Lord without actually making Him Lord of their lives) is leaving the church. For so long, church has been a great thing to be associated with, so much so that many people have chosen to attend church and claim Christianity as their faith, even though they have no real relationship with Jesus Christ. For example, if you were to walk down a busy street and ask each person one question, "Are you a Christian?" many of them would automatically respond with a  "yes" even though they have no personal, saving relationship with Jesus Christ. They'll argue that America is a Christian nation, that their mom and dad always took them to church, that they are basically "good" people, but they don't have any idea what being a follower of Christ is. Ed Stetzer explained that the statistics point to the trend that those who claim to be Christians without the substance of a genuine relationship with Jesus are leaving the church. While it's tempting to think of this as a negative thing, this leaves the Church full of believers who are truly sold out followers of Jesus Christ, which is definitely fantastic.

Ever heard this verse before? Matthew 7:21 says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." 

You can call yourself a Christian all day long and not be one for real.

This is terrifying to me because I know a lot of people who call themselves Christians and I am beginning to see that this applies to many of them. How do we know which ones are real and which ones are not? Back it up to Matthew 7:20- "You will know them by their fruit." So, apples and oranges? Bananas and grapes? Nope. Look at Galatians 5:22, "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control."

Are you calling him, "Lord, Lord" without a real, genuine relationship with him? Here's what I mean...Is Jesus your BOSS? Are you dead to yourself? If he asked you to move from your home, would you? If he asked you to leave your job, would you? If he asked you to adopt a child or give away your money or tell your neighbor about him, would you? Are you a Christ-follower or are you a pretender?

What does the word Christian mean?

As culture changes and everything we once knew about church becomes obsolete and all of the people who used to define themselves as Christians leave the church, who will be left? Who are the real Christ-followers? The real Christ-followers are those that not only acknowledge Jesus as Savior, but those who serve Him as Lord. The real Christ-followers are the ones that bear the fruit of the spirit. The real Christ-followers are the ones with an unreserved "YES" on the table before God. Before God even calls them to do anything, their answer is yes.

A very special verse to me over the years is Isaiah 26:8. It says, "Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you. Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts."

When the Church in America begins to suffer persecution and trials and ridicule and even death, (in the same way that Christians in Asia Minor were suffering in 1 Peter) the division will become even more pronounced. Which side will you be on - those who follow Christ no matter what, with an unreserved yes? Or will you land on the side full of people claiming "Lord, Lord" who never intended to follow Him? There will be people on that side. People you know and love. People you thought were Christians. And He will say, "Depart from me, I never knew you."

Check your heart, my friend. Are you sold out to Jesus Christ or are you just giving him lip service? It's not too late for you. Our God is mighty to save. Put your yes on the table and watch him fulfill ever precious promise He has for you and live your life every day with Him as your boss, all for His glory.