Do You Feel It?

We woke to cold temperatures this morning. At first glance, the thermometer said low thirties. Honey told me that they were calling for a light snow last night, but I guess we were spared one more day. After awhile it warmed up about five degrees and started raining. I’ll take rain any day.

As Honey was leaving for work this morning, he looked at me intently and asked, “Do you feel it? Do you feel God tugging at you to draw closer to Him?” He went on to say that he has been feeling God pulling him closer. As my writing indicates, my thoughts are on God more & more too. Why do you think that is? Do you feel it?

As we look around, both in our area and in the news from around the nation and the world, we’ve seen the people almost polarizing. God is calling His people to draw into Him. As if we are being gathered and tucked up under His protective wing. I’m not necessarily talking “Christians”, because a lot of people are using the title of Christian that aren’t following Jesus.

Jesus says it so much better than I do,

“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? Ant then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matthew 7:21-22

Unfortunately, there are lots of folks out there following and teaching a “Christianity-type religion” that doesn’t line up with the true Word of God. I am sad for the ones who follow skewed teaching without knowing any better. It is the responsibility of those that know the truth to teach those who are like lost sheep, following just any shepherd claiming to know the way.

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.” Matthew 7:15-16

Litmus Test:
* Does the pastor/minister/priest/evangelist teach Salvation through Jesus Christ?
* Do they teach that the Bible is God’s Word, penned by man but inspired by the Holy Spirit?
* Do they teach that Jesus is the Son of God, was born to a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, and rose again on the third day?
* Do they teach that after the resurrection Jesus was seen by many witnesses and ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father?
* They don’t leave out the fact that Jesus will return again to gather those who have accepted Him as their Savior, do they?
* Now for the final question – do they teach that Jesus will also return at the end of the tribulation and defeat satan, casting him and all those who follow satan into hell?
If any part of this is missing from the teaching, get as far away from them and their teaching as you can go.

Unfortunately, you can sit under the teaching of a minister for years and never really know where they stand on the truths of God’s Word. If there’s a question about what your church leadership believes – ask them. Don’t be fooled if they give you a watered down version. You need to know exactly what they believe, because it will influence what they teach, both directly and indirectly. We’ve been fooled more than once with skewed teachers … but eventually, the truth became evident. Don’t wait, find out now before the false teaching has time to settle in and mess you up.

I don’t know exactly why I’m feeling so compelled to talk about this so strongly. Some folks probably think that I’m trying to ‘preach’ to them. That’s not my intention. But I feel such a strong need to pass this along. I’ve been really unsettled for awhile now, and sincerely don’t think my spirit is going to get peace until I get it out there. Things are going to get bad very soon, and the time to make a decision for Christ is right now.

Saints, another thing that’s been bothering me is the lack of discipleship. Folks are getting introduced to Jesus, but are left floundering. Tomorrow, I really want to talk with you about Matthew 13, where Jesus explains about “The Sower”. But, this is getting on in length; so I’m going to cut it short. I would like to add one request, and I feel that this is important … there’s more and more talk among the saints about how churches are straying from the Truth. If you know of a church, small group, or home-church that’s teaching God’s complete Word, could you send me the names & locations? Again, I don’t understand the ‘why’, but somehow it’s important. I won’t publish the information unless you want me to. New Christians need to know where to go for sound teaching, and a lot of more mature saints are leaving the churches in droves because of the changes in the teachings. There has got to be churches out there that are teaching the complete Word of God and not just ‘feel good’ religion.

Do you feel it? Do you feel the nudging of the Holy Spirit to draw closer to God? Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27

Do you hear Him calling?

Have a great day, and may the Lord bless you.