In terms of the impact of the Gospel, nothing has really changed since the time of Jesus – some people will accept the message freely and others will reject it outright, turning the light of the Gospel off, so they can continue working in the dark undisturbed.
Some, on the other hand, will want to receive the truth, but will find it difficult to accept – mostly because of inward conflict. A sure sign of this is when people try to justify their current situations as being “acceptable to God” or they may even take other ideas and opinions and try to prove them to be more effective than the Gospel.
This is a very good plan of the accuser of the brethren. For centuries he has been ‘blinding the eyes’ of unbelievers to the Gospel (2Cor.4:4). Taking ideas and opinions and dwelling on them, is a perfect way for him to keep us away from God and the truths that God has given us.
Jesus told us to share the Gospel with others (Matt.28:19) – that’s all – no other command he gave with regard to spreading His word. Of course, to do this, we don’t all have to have to evangelists, apostles, teachers or so on… we just have to be ourselves! Each one of us has a testimony of what God has done in our lives and all we need to do is share that testimony with others! Don’t think that God’s testimony in your life is not effective – because it is!
God created a perfect testimony in your life so HE can use it in the lives of others around you, those who need to hear it – from YOUR mouth!!
In our country at this time, we experience unprecedented situations, lockdown, economic uncertainty and being confined to our homes. In these kinds of times, there will always be opportunity for theories and opinions to abound – telling us what and why things are happening the way they are – even predicting what will happen.
Some of these theories are very believable and indeed some (or parts of them), may well be true. I can’t comment on them because I simply don’t know enough about them. I can only comment on things I know.
What I do know is:
If I hear a theory about what is taking place in the world now and it does not have a solution – then I’m immediately sceptical of its accuracy.
If I hear a theory about what is taking place in the world now and it causes fear in my heart – it can’t be from God because the scriptures are full of the instruction that say “Do not fear” (Matt.10:28; 31). Fear is not a characteristic of God, therefore does not come from Him.
The Gospel on the other hand, provides us with solutions and peace (Rom 1:16; Eph 1:13). It provides answers for all of life’s circumstances – present and future. How? – because it opens our spiritual eyes so that we become more aware of God and can start a real relationship with Him. As our relationship deepens with Him, so our trust in Him increases and we find more and more peace. God gives us His Holy Spirit to teach us and show us His path, to bring peace and joy into our hearts (John 16:8).
The true Bride of Christ or the Remnant, of which we have spoken of in previous talks, (those who are born of water and of the Spirit), have the truth of the Gospel. Since the time of Jesus, they have been sharing this message.
Just like David facing the giant Goliath, we face very scary and uncertain circumstances currently. David faced his giant because he trusted in God. David conquered his giant because God was faithful to a man ‘after God’s heart’ (Acts 13:22). Like David – we have the solution.
If we are fearful in this current world situation – it’s normal. It’s normal for us to feel this way because of confusion and uncertainty. However, God is not a God of confusion (1 Cor.14:33). Look at what He’s done in your life. You know that He is real and He is caring. He loves each one of us more than we could know, so why would He allow us to be misled? If you have children, would you allow them to be misled?
So – DON’T take note of any theory that causes you to fear but DO take note of what God’s word tell us. We may not know every chapter and verse of the bible BUT – we know HIM that wrote it – and IN HIM is where we will find peace – irrespective of what our future holds. Disastrous times have come and gone for centuries. God, our Father, will always make sure that we receive the answers to our personal needs, when we need them. He plots every step of our lives – leading straight into ‘His right hand, in heavenly places!!’ (Eph.1:20)
Let’s be like David and face our giants. The David’s have the true answers to all challenges.
From: “…time with the Master…”