Getting Serious with God

Get Serious

Most of us are serious about God. Most of us are serious with each other about God. How many of us are serious with God? Really – I mean really serious with God? Far too many ‘Christians’ lead lives that simply do not match their professed beliefs. I suppose gossiping about their neighbours is close enough to loving them isn’t it? Maybe there was joy in their salvation once upon a time, but that was apparently soon lost. Maybe there was a keen sense of evangelistic fervour once upon a time too. But all this was lost as the world gradually crept back in and now they are no different from their neighbours; no different to the average man in the street.

In the first three hundred years of the church, it is said that new converts received deliverance ministry when saved, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit when they were baptised in water. They all came up out of the water speaking in tongues and prophesying !! Whatever happened to that tradition, I wonder?

Where did our passion go? When did it go? And why did it go? Our passion for the things of God started to wane as soon as things got a bit harder. The first person to knock us back, by refusing our enthusiasm for the things of God, somehow opened the plug hole and all our zeal slowly drained slowly away until we became indistinguishable from the world once again.

I believe God is calling us all to greater holiness and a deeper relationship with Him again. He wants to raise our passion once more. He wants us to be passionate about holiness, sin, evangelism, the Gospel, our dying ego, forgiving, loving neighbours as ourselves – everything He loves but the world hates. He wants to raise the standard of our integrity.

God is calling us to get serious

Serious about holiness, Leviticus 19:2 “Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.” KJV

Serious about sin, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:23 NIV

Serious about evangelism, 2 tim4:1-5 “I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom:  Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.

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. They will reject the truth and chase after myths. But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.” NLT

Serious about the Gospel, mark 16, matt 28:18-29 “ Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,  baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Serious about our dying ego, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 12:24 NIV

Serious about forgiving, Matthew 18:21-22 ^“Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”  Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” NIV

Serious about loving neighbours as ourselves, Matthew 22:35-40 “One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the great and foremost commandment.  The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ “

Its time to get serious with God.