SO THE CHURCHES WERE STRENGTHENED IN THE
FAITH AND INCREASED IN NUMBER DAILY ………………………
ACTS 16:5.
INCREASE...DECREASE...FANTASY
AND GOD'S WORD
The book of acts tells us of mighty things that God performed by the hands of men of
God … but it's not for us to live in the past … yesterdays gone forever.
We hear endless talk and wishful thinkers wanting God to pack out local churches and
perform mighty deeds before their lustful eyes but God wont move, so they do …
Isaiah 50:10,11.
In Australia today we don't have so much new faces in churches but we have a lot of
wanderers going from church to church trying to find themselves a pastor who will do
things their way. When God added churches in the book of acts … he added fresh skins.
People often say, if God was with that pastor, He would add to that church, that is not
righteous judgment but carnal assessment. If it were true, we would then have to give
Jesus Christ the glory and credit for adding to that wicked Roman Catholic System and that
wicked Moslem Faith and that heinous Jehovah Witness Sect.
And that would be unfair ... don't you agree?
In the book of acts God did add to the churches but we are not in the time of the book of
acts neither are we in the beginning stages of the new testament church, neither is there
people in the world today that are convicted by the preaching of the word as easily as
back in the period of time when the N.T. Church sprung up.
Jesus said … before He would return, people in the world would be so
degenerated and hard of heart … they could be equalled to the period of time in which
Noah lived. Yet so called Christians are still measuring ministers and anointings by
church growth and attendance ... it's plain and common ignorance of reality ... 2 Timothy
1:15.
FROM THAT TIME MANY OF HIS DISCIPLES WENT BACK AND WALKED WITH HIM NO
MORE , THEN JESUS SAID TO THE TWELVE … DO YOU ALSO WANT TO GO AWAY?
JOHN 6:66,67.
The devil has huge numbers of men called ministers, following after man made patterns and
plans, strategies and gimmicks that offer the keys to filling buildings and flooding bank
accounts and I believe their schemes work but Jesus is not looking to recruit fad
followers … Matthew 16:26
Spiritual conditions will no doubt grow vicious as we near our heavenly home and the
carnage will be great. The primary test for all shepherds as the days go by will be …
are they prepared to compromise? … to keep the head count up to their
financial commitments.
Even though the love of many will grow cold towards Gods word, on the other hand people
will flock to the highly organized new age synagogues to receive their injection of false
security. They'll say … Yes! … all are going to heaven it's tithes and
offerings time.
Let's face it! … we are not in the book of acts, we are in the end times.
There is safety in numbers for the carnal minded but any spiritual man knows that numbers
add up to naught at the judgment stand of the Christ.
A churches vision and mission portrays the true heart of the pastor and the desires of the
congregation who sit in that church … amen.
Pastor Paul Sheehan
08.10.2000
http://www.fireandhammer.com |