Sin In The Church!
Deuteronomy 31:9-13 “So Moses
wrote this Law and delivered it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who bore The
Ark of The Covenant of JEHOVAH and to all the elders of Israel. And Moses
commanded them, saying, ‘At the end of every seven years, at the
appointed time in the year of release(the year of Jubilee), at the Feast of
Tabernacles (Sukkot), when all Israel come to appear before JEHOVAH your GOD
in the place which He chooses, you shall
read this Law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together
men and women and little ones and the sojourner who is within your gates,
that they may hear and that they may learn to Fear JEHOVAH your GOD and
carefully observe all the words of this Law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to
Fear JEHOVAH your GOD as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan
to possess.’”
Just as Israel was called to teach
every generation of the people, young and old The Word of GOD so that they
learned to Fear JEHOVAH, so the Church is to teach all the people, young and
old so that they lean The Word of GOD and learn to Fear JEHOVAH.
The Purpose of teaching The Word
of GOD is so that everyone will
understand both GOD’s Love and His Justice! (John 3:14-21, 5:37-47; Luke 12:4-7,
13-21)
Deuteronomy 31:14-22 “Then JEHOVAH
said to Moses, ‘Behold (pay attention), the days approach when you must die;
call Joshua and present yourselves in the Tabernacle of Meeting, that I may inaugurate
him.’ So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the Tabernacle of
Meeting. Now JEHOVAH appeared at the Tabernacle in a pillar of cloud and the
pillar of cloud stood above the door of the Tabernacle. And JEHOVAH said to
Moses, ‘Behold, you will die and join your ancestors; and this people will rise
and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to
be among them and they will forsake Me and break My Covenant which I have given
them. Then My Anger shall be aroused against them in that day, and I will
forsake them and I will hide My face from them and they shall be consumed. And
many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day,
“Have not these evils come upon us because our GOD is not among us?” And
I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have
done, in that they have turned to other gods. Now therefore write down this
Song (Deuteronomy 32:1-43) for yourselves and teach it to the children of
Israel; put it in their mouths, that this Song may be a witness for Me against
the children of Israel. When I have brought them in the land flowing with milk
and honey, of which I swore to their fathers and they have eaten and filled
themselves and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods and serve them and
they will provoke Me and break My Covenant. Then it shall be, when many evils
and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify against them as a
witness; for it will not be forgotten in the mouths of their descendants, for I
know the inclination of their behavior today, even before I have brought them to the land which I swore to
give them.’ Therefore Moses wrote this Song the same day and taught it to
the children of Israel.” (Jeremiah 29:10-14; 2 Chronicles 7:12-14)
What does the Church do today, we
have Sunday morning and evening services, mid-week prayer or Bible study
meetings, home group meetings and what are we teaching the people? Doctrine, prophesy
and theology, we concentrate on subjects based on a Scripture or two (I do this
also); the children of Israel had the Torah (Law), it was the center of their
culture, education and personal lifestyle, yet they sinned. We have the first
Covenant and the second Covenant, but do we read it for the sake of learning
and understanding the full picture of GOD’s teaching for how we should live and
serve Him and Him only and fully surrendered to His Will and Purpose!? As
Pastor Jack Hibbs says, “You better know your Bible!”
The Church today is no different
than the people of Israel have been through history. Disobeying GOD and
following fleshly teachings! Historically the Church has done worse things than
Israel, The Crusades sponsored by the Catholic Church attacked both Muslims and
Jews in the Holy Land in the Name of JESUS. For centuries The Bible was spoken
in a language (Latin) that the common people did not understand, and many who
tried to publish The Bible in their native language were persecuted and
murdered! The Church broke up into different groups of interpretation and
theology and began persecuting each other, this led to the Inquisition and
other religious wars. Instead of preaching the Gospel the church started
forcing conversion upon people groups, killing and torturing those who
resisted. The Church has divided itself by interpretation of doctrine,
condemning others who do not believe exactly what they believe, rather than
teaching the Whole Bible! Today the Church has incorporated many false
doctrines that are opposed to the Word of GOD!
The earliest Church had the same
problem (Acts 11:1-18, 15:1-35) the Jewish religious believers tried to get the
Gentile believers to follow the Torah which they had failed to follow
themselves.
So what is to be done? We need to
stop worrying about time during our meetings, we need to take the time to read
and discuss whole chapters or sections of Scripture and have time for
questions! We need to encourage believers to read the Bible, not in broken up
sections to fulfill a reading time requirement; but in whole chapters and whole
books, then to think about what they read and ask The HOLY SPIRIT to teach them
what HE wants them to know! We need to teach on the subjects of life based on
what the whole Bible teaches (of course this requires the pastor or teacher to
spend much more time in study and prayer) not just a couple of Scriptures. Our
meetings are too focused on feelings rather than what The HOLY SPIRIT is
wanting to do in people’s lives, sometimes there must be sorrow over sin
(personal, corporate and national) so that True Repentance can take place in
the person, the family, the Body and the nation! We have to stop teaching just
the blessings and start teaching the Requirements to receive the Blessings!
Study the story of Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles
29-32, how he called the children of Israel to Repentance and Restored the
Worship of JEHOVAH. It takes personal integrity and motivation to accomplish
what GOD Calls us all to do: to maintain a Right Relationship with GOD; unlike
Hezekiah, we have GOD’s HOLY SPIRIT living in us to Motivate and Instruct us so
that we can and do Obey and Fulfill GOD’s Call and Purpose for us and those who
we influence (Philippians 2)!
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