{"id":2,"date":"2013-07-03T18:48:48","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T18:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegospelplant.wordpress.com\/?p=2"},"modified":"2013-07-03T18:48:48","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T18:48:48","slug":"the-gospel-compels-us-to-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/the-gospel-compels-us-to-action\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gospel compels us to action"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/h2>\n

Moved to Change<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Gospel always seeks a\u00a0“response”<\/i>\u00a0from a person, either\u00a0a hardening of heart, an apathy towards it, or people run to it and apply it; but only one way brings life in all its fullness. \u00a0Theres no room for half- hearted, lukewarm or i’ll apply it\u00a0tomorrow people. Sounds harsh but thats the Gospel, its tough to chew on, to digest, to swallow but then who are we to question or bargain with God about our eternal choices. Who are we to say i’ll allow it to change this area but not that area. I mean come on… he is the God that made the universe after all. We are here to display God’s glory, through love and\u00a0obedience\u00a0towards him. Period!!\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Iv’e been meditating for the last 2 weeks over Revelation 3:15-22 about the lukewarm \u00a0Church of Laodicea and\u00a0I’ve\u00a0learnt a few things from it, that have convicted me and challenged me to change areas of my life that\u00a0weren’t\u00a0given to God. Thank you Holy Spirit for that conviction.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1. If they continued living the way they did then they would be spat out (v16),\u00a0separated\u00a0from God.<\/span>2. Even Laodicea had a chance to turn back in repentance to God. The very fact that he rebukes them shows his love for them (v19), his love for you and me.\u00a0<\/span>3. Repent and theres the promise of being reinstated, don’t and theres the threat of total rejection. That isn’t to say we must be perfect, that is the goal and the aim, but he does require us to repent and\u00a0acknowledge\u00a0our mistakes and sin.\u00a0<\/span>4. A relationship with the creator of the heavens and the earth must be our priority, nothing must come before it. Not your tv, your wife, your child, your job, your money, your car, your friends…. Nothing! Earthly riches to God’s riches (v17-18)<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\n<\/span>The Gospel is an incredible gift to all those that hear it,\u00a0receive\u00a0it and apply it to their life. There is no\u00a0hiding\u00a0the Gospels effect on you, for if you are truly changed by it you will be moved into action by the power of the Holy Spirit. You will want to serve your wife because it is natural to you, bless someone\u00a0financially,\u00a0 give someone your time, share your\u00a0possessions.\u00a0 Just look at Acts, they did all these things because they knew their God, they knew their identity in him and they loved him and allowed the Holy Spirit to lead and guide them.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>We dont read in scripture that once you were blind and now your blind?? Instead we read once you were blind but now you see. So then why don’t we see more in the Church seeing and living it? My frustration and fear is that a lot of Churches in England and the west are more religious then being Christ followers.\u00a0Religion\u00a0is the idol we have created to control the\u00a0uncontrollable, its the box we have created to confine the divine.\u00a0 Its become a\u00a0devastating\u00a0hobby with no intention of fully submitting our lives to God.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>In calling yourself a follower of God you say, God i wan’t you to have total acces of my life, total control, i will follow you where-ever and what-ever happens. To often we allow things get in the way and are happy to live with God taking the number 2 spot instead of the number 1 spot. Having just enough of him to not want all of him. When we go down this slippery slope we create a\u00a0habit\u00a0of religious behaviour, but not a life that is transformed by the Holy Spirit of God.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>Lets get something straight,<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>JESUS is the\u00a0beginning, the first, he is preeminent, top, nothing comes above him, nothing takes his place, in him there is nothing else to gain, nothing else to get, nothing else to want, everything else is wasted time, he’s the goal, the one, the end.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Jesus is what its all about and we have placed him and what he calls us to do bellow earthly things.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>I hope this blog post has encouraged you and convicted you to change areas in your own life to change for the Glory of the one we follow.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n


\n<\/span>Blessings.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moved to Change The Gospel always seeks a\u00a0“response”\u00a0from a person, either\u00a0a hardening of heart, an apathy towards it, or people run to it and apply it; but only one way brings life in all its fullness. \u00a0Theres no room for half- hearted, lukewarm or i’ll apply it\u00a0tomorrow people. Sounds harsh but thats the Gospel, its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,17,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-2","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-religion","7":"tag-christ","8":"tag-christian","9":"tag-christianity","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-glory-religion","12":"tag-god","13":"tag-good-news","14":"tag-gospel","15":"tag-holy-spirit","16":"tag-hope","17":"tag-identity","18":"tag-integrity","19":"tag-jesus","20":"tag-leadership","21":"tag-religion","22":"tag-theology","23":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/thegospelplant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}