2 Timothy 4:2-3 Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. (3) For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear.
Blessed, bold, and beaming with passion for the Word of God, they are our Pastors. We’re either drawn into their message or turned off by it. We either love them or we don’t. Pastors, young and old, are either turning us on to Jesus or turning us on to ourselves. Teaching us to have sunny dispositions and not to seek out the Great Commission.
‘Who has time to make disciples (share the gospel), I have my own agenda?’
It seems we’re handing over our adopted rights as believers to the world at a rapid pace, like Esau did with Jacob…“What good is my birthright to me now?” (Genesis 25:32). So much so that we no longer want what was promised to us but what God can do for us right now.
Christianity has become, in some part, entertainment, having the best of everything, worshiping a right now god. No biblical conviction, no biblical plea for the salvation of our souls found only in Jesus Christ. Just pure entertainment…“teaching man-made ideas as commands from God.” (Matthew 15:9)
And as much as I have a passion for words and all their power, none are more powerful than the Word of God. To the man or woman of God teaching (or a child of the King, you and me) proclaiming, nothing is worth more than the truth we gain in Christ…For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world…(Mark 8:36)
The truth of God’s Word, the true sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins, and the real strength of the Holy Spirit is nothing to shy away from but to run passionately towards. “Hugging the promises.”
If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when He returns in the glory of His Father with the holy angels. (Mark 8:38)
So let’s go Christians! Let’s continue to shine the spotlight onto Jesus Christ and less of it onto ourselves.
John 3:16 For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
Photo Credit: Nicole Leec
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justmyfaithtalking 
Very Good Tahlitha!
Thanks Cathy! We serve a mighty God.
Amen and Amen!
i enjoyed this
Thanks Terry. God’s continued blessings to you and your brother. What a strength you have.
…and Amen! Hi Tola.
Wow Tahlitha, It is 11:36pm, I was getting ready for bed, and now I feel like running down the street, what an invigorating message. My good friend and I were talking the other day, and he said thathe thought a trend in the church today was to have their “religion” like their food, fast and packaged neatly. I would say by your post that we agree on that.
This is my final week in a class on servant leadership, and one thing that was pointed out, is that a servant leader, no, a “Christian” must have ample time each day of silence and solitude. We must shut the world out, cut out some of out Me time and give it to who it really belongs to, God.
God Bless
Jim
Thank you Jim. I truly believe God enjoys quiet, it’s a fellowship taken for granted, sometimes.
God bless you too, in all your endeavors.
I loved this. And “hugging His promises” . .. yes, let’s go! 🙂 You are a great writer, truly, for Him. God bless you as He shines brightly in you today!
Tahlitha,
When you say … “Christianity has become, in some part, entertainment, having the best of everything, worshiping a right now god. No biblical conviction, no biblical plea for the salvation of our souls found only in Jesus Christ. Just pure entertainment…“teaching man-made ideas as commands from God.” (Matthew 15:9)”, you have hit a real “sore spot” with me.
I believe that for the sake of “attracting the lost to come to church” , we have totally compromised the real purpose of the church service. Church was never meant to simply get as many people to come a possible. The real mission of the church is to glorify Christ through winning the lost and teaching doctrinal truth to those who have believed. It is so sad to see the spiritual condition of some of the “churches” of our day. May the Lord forgive us for entirely perverting the real purpose of the church assembly.
Great posting, thank you for a very important message for the Lord’s glory.
Great message as always. I find myself praying more and more that I be used for the glory of God. I’ve seen some pretty amazing things happen because of that prayer. Keep blogging Tahlitha. 🙂
Thank you. I’m unsure of your ministry title Rob, Pastor, Minister, Reverend, but please share it with me.
I would hope that anyone who read this post would not mistake my post as an attack on the church, the members (the body) as a whole. My address was to the ‘entertainment’ value we’ve placed on the truth of salvation, the truth of Jesus Christ. I agree, it is sad to see the spiritual condition of those who believe as well as non-believers. Some have place the message of Jesus Christ as simply going to movies (church) enjoying the show, leaving unchanged (still lost), but eager to see the next performance. This could so be and on-and-on matter…but Jesus is coming again and it won’t be for show.
God bless you as you continue to minister in spirt and in truth.
That’s my prayer (call) as well. Thank you for reading.
Thank you Debbie. Yes, hugging the promises, was presented to me on a wonderful post on having lasting faith on http://settledinheaven.wordpress.com.
God bless you too.
“We’re either drawn into their message or turned off by it. We either love them or we don’t. Pastors, young and old, are either turning us on to Jesus or turning us on to ourselves.”
This is a poignant truth. Recently, my husband and I, after much prayer, made the decision to step out in faith, leaving our church on the account that it had become an unhealthy place for us. We had no other church lined up; we simply trusted that He would plant us where He wanted, when he wanted; however, we attempted to do our part, visiting churches nearby, hoping we would feel Holy Spirit’s voice guiding us toward permanency. Boy, were we dismayed by what we found. Taking your words, “turning us on to ourselves”, was exactly what we found. Hokey, safe, water-down messages, all geared to turn us inward, to find our greatest self. What happened to looking upward, always! We keep our eyes fixed on HIM. Luckily, since then, we have found a lovely church we feel will allow us to both bless others and be blessed in return. 🙂 He is Good.
Thank you, Tahlitha.
Blessings,
Cara
I’m indeed glad for the both of you. God bless your marriage and your church home.
Thank you 🙂
Tahlitha, I’m not one for titles… how about “Rob”? Lord bless!
You got it, Rob, no titles. Just being respectful. God bless you too!
Soooooooooooooo true!!
Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to reading more from your blog. I hope we’re all learning from life’s lessons 🙂
God bless you.
Oh, goodness. Yes! I just recently touched on the same topic myself. We live in a microwave, fast food society. We want to drive-thru, place our order and be on our way. Checking God off our list as we go through our to-do’s. We want convenience. This breaks my heart. I have certainly been guilty and am not throwing stones.
amen Kathy!
Hi Cristal, thanks for reading. It about shining a continuous spotlight on Jesus in our lives.
Amen. Thanks for reading.
Excellent!
I like the new blog Thomas. A new site with the same spirited message for the Klarion Kall. God bless you. I look forward, as always, to reading more.
I think a good message is interesting enough. I liked your message – it is about God, not us.
Thank you for reading, Janna.
Tahlitha, I am nominating you for the “Sunshine Blogging Award” for creativity and inspiration. You do not have to accept, but felt you deserved it my friend. Will feature a link to your blog on my upcoming post today.
Thank you very much Ginny, my friend, it’s an honor and pleasure to glorify Christ.
C-O-N-V-I-C-T-I-N-G.
I love your rally cry… so let’s go Christians!
Talitha, you are so right with this. I think there is something wrong when we sit in the pew and lack conviction on a truth spoken and yet say ‘amen’ to the stuff that make us feel good. The Word must get to the heart of our issues so that we change for the better and not remain idle-minded and passive in our walk. A transformed mind is visible, a life not living it keeps it on lock down.
Good word for the day hun.
Sherline 😀
We ARE giving away our birthright by letting it slip through our fingers. WOW!
I’m so blessed by your post.
Thank you Stitchery Queen. Awesome name by the way 🙂
Reblogged this on Christian Comfort & Conversation Cafe.
Thank you Cliff. God bless you too!
Exactly! Exactly true. Exactly right. Exactly what I needed to hear today. Thank you for sharing this Tahlitha.
You’re welcome Kurt. I’m glad the message was of encouragement.