Conviction
CONVICTION?
2 Timothy 4:2
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct,
rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.
2 Timothy 3:1-7 (NASB)
“But realize this, that in the last day’s difficult times will
come. For men, will be lovers of self,
lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, disobedient to parents, ungrateful,
unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control,
brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God,
holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its
power; Avoid such men as these...
Claiming to be a
Christian but no evident change. No transformation. Claiming to be -but living
the opposite. Sunday Christians. Not even wanting God to require too much from
them.
always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth.”
You can learn and learn, but if the Truth isn’t in your heart
then learning does you little.
And I mean the Entire Truth, the Easy, and the hard. The ENTIRE
WORD. We cannot pick and choose. Not just forgiveness but righteousness also.
What is truth? Jesus said in,
2 Timothy 2:15b “…correctly handles the Word of truth” and then He
said in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God.”
If you claim to know Jesus, then there will be evident change in
You.
God expects a LOT, but He also GIVES a lot!
Now for some that means Sinners will be Convicted and come to
Christ. While, of course, that happens!
But, I think, and I believe that means we, whom, do believe Are
CONVICTED and turn to RIGHT living. We are changed. We get right!
Christ did not die for us so that we could continue to live our
way, but to live His way.
You say, oh but Pastor Gregg I’m just human. Do You know what
that is? An excuse! The same Power that raised Christ from the dead is in you.
But the choice is yours. Plug into that power. The lamp isn’t going to work
unless you plug it in. Power does you NO good unless you use it.
When the truth is preached -conviction always follows!
The same Holy Spirit that shows me that I need the gospel is the
same Holy Spirit that shows me how to treat others.
The same Holy Spirit that saves my butt from hell is the same
Holy Spirit that gets me out of my addictions, bad habits and sin…
The same Holy Spirit delivers me from my anger, my rebellion, my
addictions, and empowers me and my ministry to be faithful to Him.
When the truth is preached conviction is evident. There is no
way to avoid it.
So, you may ask, why aren’t people being convicted today in our culture?
Simple, because the Complete Word of God is not being preached in
today’s culture. We want our ears tickled. We gotta be PC.
Please, please, don’t take that as some bold, arrogant
statement. Hereby me Saying that only I preach the truth. Please don’t. Keep me
in context.
There are plenty of good preachers in this city. There are a lot
of people in the world that preach the truth, okay I may say a lot of people
with a little bit of caution.
But at the end of the day, culture proves it, you’re going to
have to burn some rubber and use some gas to find a man of God that will stand
up and that preaches the uncompromised Word of God without coloring it, without
changing it,
This is the Bible! Again, this is the Bible, the Word of God, let
the chips fall where they may.
Am I worried about offending someone? No! Do you think at the
end of the day I worry about running someone off? No! So, stop thinking I do.
Could I be gentler, Yes! But do I worry about offending someone.
Oh, my gosh, Did I offend someone on Facebook? Oh, I better not
post that. Oh, I better not share that video. I might offend someone. Oh, I
better not preach that. Do I toss and turn at night? Thinking I upset someone?
No, I don’t!
Guess what. I will offend someone. Because I will. It does not
matter what I say anyway because someone is always offended.
Why? Because When the truth is preached -conviction always
follows the Truth!
I’ll end this with…
Ephesians 4:15 speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in
every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
1 Peter 1:16 because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am
holy.”
2 Timothy 3:1-7 (NASB)
“But realize this, that in the last day’s difficult times will
come. For men, will be lovers of self,
lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents,
ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without
self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers
of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although
they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these...
always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Hebrews 10:26 (NASB) For if we go on sinning willfully
after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice
for sins,
Romans 6:15 What then?
shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Colossians 3:8-10 (NASB) But now you also, put them all
aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do
not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil
practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true
knowledge according to the image of the One who created him—
1 John 3:6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No
one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
1 John 3:9 (NIV) No one who is born of God will continue
to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because
they have been born of God.
3 John 11 (NIV) Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil
but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does
what is evil has not seen God.
Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will
of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
1 Peter 2:16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom
as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God.
James 2:17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead,
being by itself.
Colossians 3:17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all
in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Philippians 3:10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the
power of his resurrection
James 4:16-17New American Standard Bible (NASB) But as it
is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one
who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
1 Corinthians 15:34 Become sober-minded as you ought, and
stop sinning;
Romans 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
James 4:16-17 (NASB) But as it is, you boast in your
arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right
thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
1 Peter 1:16
because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
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