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| Do You Have What It Takes? By Troy Craig, CGI Toronto Are you up to a challenge? Do you have what it takes to do what may be the toughest job around? Are you willing to take a risk, even if it cost you your job, family, friends, even your life? Can you take being rejected, ridiculed, badmouthed, and persecuted? If your answer is no, don't bother reading on because you don't have what it takes to make it! But if you answered yes to any of these questions you are then ready to take on the toughest, and the most challenging job this world has got to offer! At times, it will seem like a thankless endeavor, it is extremely difficult because there are a lot of obstacles to overcome. Many times you will fall flat on your face, you will want to give up on it, but if you persevere the rewards are beyond anything you could have ever imagined. This job that you are about to be offered is not in politics, nor is it in the army. You are not being offered a job as a police officer, or a lawyer, or a jail guard; this is even a tougher job that perhaps the most seasoned police officer or soldier may find difficult to do. There is one who is calling many to do this job and in the end He will weed out the weak from the strong, as the old saying goes "Only the strong will survive." This job is being offered to many…many are being called. So what is this tough job? Well here it is; do you have what it takes to be a Christian? Are you willing to surrender your life, which includes your thoughts, deeds and actions to God to live by His laws and to honour Him and our Saviour Jesus Christ for the rest of your life? If your answer is still no, don't waste yours or God's time reading this because you are obviously not yet fit for this job. However, if you still answer yes, read on because you will now read about some of the difficulties and the rewards and more importantly the glory of being a Christian. We will first discuss the challenges of this new lifestyle you are about to choose and then we will discuss the rewards for overcoming and serving Jesus. This is only a brief outline of the things you need to know about this subject, but to go into more details you need to read your Bible from cover to cover. As mentioned at the beginning, by choosing to serve Jesus Christ and God the Father can be very rewarding but it does not come without its many challenges, such as being rejected by family, friends and society. Matthew 10:22; Luke 21:17, "You will be hated by all for My names sake." Yes this world we live in today hates Jesus Christ and the spirit of Anti-Christ is alive and well in today's society, and the world not only hates Jesus but it hates all of those who profess to be his followers. Every day in television, music and the media we often hear the name of Christ being blasphemed and Christians being ridiculed as being "bible thumpers" and "religious fanatics." Truly, mankind hates Jesus and his followers. Jesus also stated that He would send His followers out as sheep among wolves. Now we know what will happen to a sheep if it is let loose amongst a pack of wolves; the wolves will hunt it down and tear it apart. Jesus warns His followers that the world will tear His followers apart because it hates Him and it will hate you. Remember, this world murdered Jesus and if it did this to Him what do you think it will do to you? Pat you on the back and call you a great guy, No! This society will despise and persecute you. Mathew 10:16-18, "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise a serpent and as gentle as a dove. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues (churches or assemblies), and you will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and the gentiles." Not only will civil governments persecute you, but also even churches will persecute you. Yes! There are even so called "churches" that believe it or not deny the deity of Christ and that actually despise and hate him in the name of political correctness. These Anti-Christ churches would rather please men than please God. They are more concerned about their social status rather than standing up against sin and standing upon the Word of God. These churches follow the traditions of man such as keeping Easter, Christmas and reject the Sabbath and Holy days. They reject those who follow God's true Holy days and doesn't believe in the Trinity; they say we are not "true Christians" because we do not follow the abominations and traditions of man and instead follow the real Jesus of the Bible. So are you up to the task of serving the Real Christ or would you rather receive man's praises and follow a false concept of Christ and these meaningless traditions that will lead you to the lake of fire. Jesus did not promise His followers a bed of roses during their walk with Him, He said there would be some tough times ahead for all of us. Now many of us have different degrees of trials, some are minor and some are severe, but nonetheless we all go through some rough times and this is normal in the Christian walk. Any Christian who does not face hard times perhaps is really not a Christian, because Jesus said all of His followers would suffer one way or another. "And Jesus told His disciples (And tells us today), 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.' " Matthew 10:24. What Jesus is telling those of us who choose to follow Him is that this is a one way trip, there is no going back. Once we choose to follow God we must reject the ways of this world and its traditions, and follow the laws of God that include the Ten Commandments and the laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy concerning the true Holy Days and the laws of clean and unclean meats and other laws that God expects us to live by. God does not want us following human traditions that will only lead to the lake of fire such as Easter, Christmas, Halloween and other man made rites. Now this is a tough saying, and many are not willing to make that kind of change or sacrifice, but Jesus, the Real Jesus, expects us to obey and follow the laws He and His Father have laid down for us all. We must give up the ways of lying, cheating, stealing, sexual immoralities, greed, blasphemies and all other kinds of sin. Jesus will not tolerate any kind of disobedience or sin! There is no room for deliberate and willful error, rejection or blasphemy. God is a loving merciful God and he is also a consuming fire. God hates sin and will not tolerate it; neither will sinners enter His kingdom. Exodus 24:17; Hebrews 12:29; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Revelation 21:8. Once a person chooses to live God's way, again there is no turning back Ezekiel 18:24 "But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness that he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die." So when one considers living God's way he or she must be sure that they are willing to take that walk. Jesus tells us to count the cost of discipleship, Luke 14: 26-35. If we willfully reject Jesus we will be in big trouble "For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin." Hebrews 10:26 and you can continue to read on through verses 27 to 39. I'm not trying to scare anyone off from serving God by laying down some of these difficulties of following Him, it's just that some people come into the faith believing it is an easy ride and it is not. God warns us of the rejection that we will receive from mankind and what could happen to us if we choose to serve him and then reject Him. This is the reality we are entering in when we choose to live God's way. Ask any Christian including myself, this is not an easy lifestyle there are days when we just want to give up and go back to our old lifestyle. It is easier to do unrighteous things than it is to be righteous, but this is why Jesus is there for us, because without Him we would not make it. When God the Father looks at us he is ready to pronounce the death penalty because of our sins, but when Jesus comes between us and Him, God sees his shed blood and remembers His sacrifice which saves us from the wages of sin which we deserve. Praise and glory be to Jesus Christ because if it were not for Him we would all die in our sins. Now if you have not yet given up and want to take God's challenge of salvation to the end, here are some examples of the rewards for trusting, serving and obeying Him. This is a reward that neither gold, silver or any amount of money can buy. Revelation 20:4-6, "And I (John) saw thrones, and they (The saints-true Christians) sat on them, and judgement was committed to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded (martyred, killed, murdered) for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image and not received his mark on their foreheads and on their hands. (In other words those who have not conformed to this world's pagan religious, political, and ungodly social system). And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the SECOND DEATH has no power, but they shall be kings and priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." 2 Timothy 4:8, "Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing." Yes a crown is a sign of leader or ruler ship and Jesus said we would be kings in His kingdom. Besides being kings and priests in order to inherit eternal life we must go through another change, for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, so in order to inherit it we must be changed from a physical human being to a spiritual being. 1Corinthians 15:50-54, "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortality has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: 'Death is swallowed up in victory.' "What a promise! Those who choose to serve the true Jesus will receive these great promises, not the false concept of going to heaven after death and just floating on a cloud doing nothing for all eternity, but the promise of ruling with Jesus on this earth as kings, priests, teaching humanity the ways of God. We also see that by serving Christ we can also escape the second death guaranteeing eternal life that even Satan himself cannot take away from us. We shall be rulers with Christ for a thousand years and we shall live on into eternity. The Word of God says we will even judge the angels 1Corinthians 6:3. Revelation 21:7, "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son." God tells us that we shall inherit all things that are including the earth and the entire universe. In order to be an heir of something, usually the person who leaves his possessions leaves it to a son or a daughter and not to strangers. The Great God Yahweh is our Father and Jesus is our elder brother, Jesus is the heir and we are co-heirs with Him. Throughout the gospels Jesus constantly refers to God as the Father. As we read in revelation 21:7 God says we shall be "His sons" Hosea 1:10, "You are sons of the living God." Yes ladies you are not left out of this because we shall be sons and daughters of the Most High, 2 Corinthians 6:18, "I (God) will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." Other scriptures you can look up 2 Samuel 7:14; John 1:12; Galatians 3:26; 4:4-7; Philippians 2:15; 1John 3:1 Throughout the scriptures we are referred to as sons of God and if we are His sons and daughters that makes Him our Father and if He is our Father that also makes us heirs of all things with Jesus Christ. God wants us to enter His kingdom, but in order to get there we must live a righteous lifestyle, become baptized and receive God's Holy Spirit guaranteeing his forgiveness of our sins, to receive His mercy and grace. His Holy Spirit is in a sense a down payment for eternal salvation. Once we receive His spirit we must be careful not to quench it or lose it, because the doctrine of "Once saved always saved" is a false teaching of a "feel good religion," that allows the transgression of the law without any consequences. Remember that God's grace is conditional given to those who overcome a sinful life. By willfully and deliberately falling back into this world you can lose your salvation and end up in the lake of fire, so be careful not to do so. Now if you think you have what it takes and are up to the challenge to start a new life in Christ, a life of overcoming sin and you want to receive eternal salvation, God the Father, the true God who's name is Yahweh and His Son Jesus Christ are ready and waiting to hear from you. All you need to do now is to humbly get down on your knees in true heartfelt repentance asking our Great Creator to forgive you of your sins and trespasses. God will forgive you, Jesus wants to cover up and to forget your sins in his shed blood and He will help you in your new Christian walk, He will guide and direct you into righteousness and life. He will help you keep his commandments, and Holy Days. You can always count on Him; He will never leave you or forsake you. He loves and cares about you. So will you now answer His calling and let Him into your life today? God does not promise tomorrow, life is like a vapour, here today gone tomorrow. So when you die, (And we all will someday) don't you want to go to your grave with God's Holy Spirit? That is the only thing that will guarantee you make it into the first resurrection and the Kingdom of God. If you answered yes to God's calling and His challenge and you want to worship with those of like minds in the faith, like God the Father and Jesus Christ, the Church of God, International, is here to meet your spiritual needs. We have congregations and fellowship groups throughout Canada the United States, Australia and Jamaica. To contact a local pastor you can check the CGI website at www.cgi.org, there you will find a listing of churches, fellowship groups and the names of the ministers and local congregational hosts to contact. The CGI does not police your faith, your faith and salvation are between you and God. We do not force loyalty from anyone, nor do we force anyone to accept our doctrines. God will teach you through His Holy Spirit His ways, and over time you will come to a full understanding of God and His ways. It is not the duty of the church or the ministers to stand and watch over God's children as a taskmaster. The church is here as a service to teach, guide and to direct God's children. You have to go before God and work out your own salvation, we are here to teach and serve you according to God's truths. If you live in the Toronto area we do have a congregation here and you are welcomed to join us for our weekly services. Services are every Saturday at 1:30 pm. Sharp at the Trinity Presbyterian Church Hall, 2737 Bayview Avenue 1 Block south of HWY 401 (Entrance on Trueman Avenue). You can also check us out on our website at www.cgitoronto.org If you want to do further study and you want to join us in weekly worship but can't because you are perhaps living in a rural area or town where there are no CGI congregations, or other Sabbath keeping groups, we have a Bible Study course and many booklets and sermon tapes we offer for free. Here are some titles
of some of our booklets:
Here are some titles of our taped sermons:
You may order any of these booklets and tape at no charge by writing to the Church of God, International at one of the following addresses: In Canada: The Church Of God, International Box 33034 1299 Oxford Street East London, Ontario, Canada. N5Y 5Y4 In the USA: The Church of God, International P.O. Box 2525 Tyler Texas 75710 Telephone: (903) 939-2929 Web Site: www.cgi.org Email: info@cgi.org |
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