- Aug 10, 2006
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Isaiah 1:2-4 NIV
In America, this is largely the situation in the church. The church, overall, has partnered with the government, with the world, and with big business in order to attract the world to the gatherings of the church (or state church). So, they have altered how they conduct church gatherings to make them more attractive and inviting to the people of the world.
But since they want to win the people of the world over to the gatherings of the church, not only did they mostly silence the Holy Spirit and those who are listening to Him, but they started listening to men and their marketing schemes for how to grow their churches (their businesses).
Thus, they also altered and diluted the gospel of Jesus Christ to make it more attractive and appealing to the people of the world and to human flesh. For, if they wanted to win the world to their gatherings they could not allow for anything that might offend the people of the world and that might turn them away. And the true gospel offends people.
So, they basically rejected Jesus as head of the church and the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures as their guidance and counsel, and they turned to the world to help them to bring in large crowds of people into their gatherings. And they began to market the “church” to the world just like any other business.
The church now was blending in with the world to where it was barely distinguishable between the church and the world anymore. And the flesh of man was now largely what was ruling in the “church.” But such churches are not really the church, but they are state churches, i.e. they are of man, not of God, even though some Christians attend their gatherings.
And now the pursuits of the church were largely worldly pursuits, not godly pursuits, though some churches still maintained the old-time religion of their ancestors. And now they were making compromises with the world and with sin, and the gospel was getting more and more diluted as time went by.
So, what they ended up with largely is a gospel which is no gospel at all, or is a gospel of men, not of God, of the flesh, not of the Spirit. For it pacifies the flesh and coddles sin and it makes no demands for fear (honor) of God, repentance, submission, obedience, holiness, or righteous living.
Instead, their gospel allows for willful blatant premeditated and habitual sinning against God under the guise of God’s grace and forgiveness. So, it delivers no one from slavery to sin and it turns no one from darkness to light or from the power of Satan to God, but it leaves them still in slavery to sin and living under the control of Satan while promising them heaven.
Isaiah 1:5-6 NIV
But God is not pleased with this trampling of his courts, and with this dishonoring of him, and with this thrashing of his gospel message. So, the Lord has been sending out his messengers (believers in Jesus) who are taking his messages to the people, and who are calling all who profess faith in Jesus Christ to come back to the Lord and to the truth.
He is calling them to leave their sinful lifestyles, to repent of their sins and to forsake their idols, and to return to him as their only God and Lord. He is calling them to turn back to him to following him with their lives in purity of heart and devotion to him and in obedience to his commands.
He is, indeed, confronting them with their specific sins, too, and he is appealing to them, and he is reasoning with them from his Word with regard to how they are living their lives, and with regard to what the Word of God teaches, and with respect to the gospel which is about freeing us from our slavery to sin, not about leaving us still in bondage guilt free.
But mostly they are still not listening. They are ignoring the Scriptures that say what they don’t want to hear, and they are embracing the Scriptures which they believe tell them what they do want to hear, although largely taken out of context and/or twisted to make them say something else.
So, rather than listen to the truth, many of them are attacking the truth with their “crutch,” i.e. with the cheap grace gospel which tells them what their itching ears want to hear. They are attacking the truth of God’s word with lies and with false accusations, and they are trying to prove that the lie is the truth and that the truth is the lie.
But Jesus died on that cross to free us from our slavery to sin, not to permit us to continue living in sin guilt free. Jesus died for us on that cross so that we would die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. And he died that we would no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up for us (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Co 5:15, 21).
And so, he is calling his wandering ones to come home, to come back to him, to be faithful to him as Lord (and husband) of their lives and to stop living in adultery against him. But the majority are still not willing. They are still following the cheap grace which gives them an “out” so that they can continue in their sinful practices. And they want that “out” more than they want to be married to Jesus.
Isaiah 1:7-9 NIV
And this is the result of such rebellion against the Lord and because of his people’s unwillingness to repent of their sins and to obey him as their Lord. We are under the judgment of God, and that is why our nation is being torn apart as it is. But God’s intention is not to totally destroy us, but to purify his people and to make his bride ready for his return.
It’s All You
Lyrics by Tosin Iyawo Ogaga & Sue Love
Music by Sue Love @ Original Works
Vocals by Tosin Iyawo Ogaga
May 31, 2019
You are the reason I want to dance.
You are the reason I want to sing.
You are the reason, expressing myself,
I serve You in all the ways You lead me.
You are the reason my heart gives You praise.
You are the reason that I am alive.
I bring out Your best moves
Just so I do embrace You;
Sing out loud as You lead just to please You.
Let myself follow You. I don’t care who watches me.
All I want to do is to make You smile.
Let every fiber of me bring You praise.
Your love has lifted my feet to dance.
Your faithfulness leaves me singing for joy.
You, Jesus, are the reason, it’s all You.
Your grace gives me life.
“Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth!
For the Lord has spoken:
‘I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.’
“Woe to the sinful nation,
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.”
For the Lord has spoken:
‘I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows its master,
the donkey its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.’
“Woe to the sinful nation,
a people whose guilt is great,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the Lord;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.”
In America, this is largely the situation in the church. The church, overall, has partnered with the government, with the world, and with big business in order to attract the world to the gatherings of the church (or state church). So, they have altered how they conduct church gatherings to make them more attractive and inviting to the people of the world.
But since they want to win the people of the world over to the gatherings of the church, not only did they mostly silence the Holy Spirit and those who are listening to Him, but they started listening to men and their marketing schemes for how to grow their churches (their businesses).
Thus, they also altered and diluted the gospel of Jesus Christ to make it more attractive and appealing to the people of the world and to human flesh. For, if they wanted to win the world to their gatherings they could not allow for anything that might offend the people of the world and that might turn them away. And the true gospel offends people.
So, they basically rejected Jesus as head of the church and the Holy Spirit and the Scriptures as their guidance and counsel, and they turned to the world to help them to bring in large crowds of people into their gatherings. And they began to market the “church” to the world just like any other business.
The church now was blending in with the world to where it was barely distinguishable between the church and the world anymore. And the flesh of man was now largely what was ruling in the “church.” But such churches are not really the church, but they are state churches, i.e. they are of man, not of God, even though some Christians attend their gatherings.
And now the pursuits of the church were largely worldly pursuits, not godly pursuits, though some churches still maintained the old-time religion of their ancestors. And now they were making compromises with the world and with sin, and the gospel was getting more and more diluted as time went by.
So, what they ended up with largely is a gospel which is no gospel at all, or is a gospel of men, not of God, of the flesh, not of the Spirit. For it pacifies the flesh and coddles sin and it makes no demands for fear (honor) of God, repentance, submission, obedience, holiness, or righteous living.
Instead, their gospel allows for willful blatant premeditated and habitual sinning against God under the guise of God’s grace and forgiveness. So, it delivers no one from slavery to sin and it turns no one from darkness to light or from the power of Satan to God, but it leaves them still in slavery to sin and living under the control of Satan while promising them heaven.
Isaiah 1:5-6 NIV
“Why should you be beaten anymore?
Why do you persist in rebellion?
Your whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted.
From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is no soundness—
only wounds and welts
and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
or soothed with olive oil.”
Why do you persist in rebellion?
Your whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted.
From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is no soundness—
only wounds and welts
and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
or soothed with olive oil.”
But God is not pleased with this trampling of his courts, and with this dishonoring of him, and with this thrashing of his gospel message. So, the Lord has been sending out his messengers (believers in Jesus) who are taking his messages to the people, and who are calling all who profess faith in Jesus Christ to come back to the Lord and to the truth.
He is calling them to leave their sinful lifestyles, to repent of their sins and to forsake their idols, and to return to him as their only God and Lord. He is calling them to turn back to him to following him with their lives in purity of heart and devotion to him and in obedience to his commands.
He is, indeed, confronting them with their specific sins, too, and he is appealing to them, and he is reasoning with them from his Word with regard to how they are living their lives, and with regard to what the Word of God teaches, and with respect to the gospel which is about freeing us from our slavery to sin, not about leaving us still in bondage guilt free.
But mostly they are still not listening. They are ignoring the Scriptures that say what they don’t want to hear, and they are embracing the Scriptures which they believe tell them what they do want to hear, although largely taken out of context and/or twisted to make them say something else.
So, rather than listen to the truth, many of them are attacking the truth with their “crutch,” i.e. with the cheap grace gospel which tells them what their itching ears want to hear. They are attacking the truth of God’s word with lies and with false accusations, and they are trying to prove that the lie is the truth and that the truth is the lie.
But Jesus died on that cross to free us from our slavery to sin, not to permit us to continue living in sin guilt free. Jesus died for us on that cross so that we would die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. And he died that we would no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up for us (Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Co 5:15, 21).
And so, he is calling his wandering ones to come home, to come back to him, to be faithful to him as Lord (and husband) of their lives and to stop living in adultery against him. But the majority are still not willing. They are still following the cheap grace which gives them an “out” so that they can continue in their sinful practices. And they want that “out” more than they want to be married to Jesus.
Isaiah 1:7-9 NIV
“Your country is desolate,
your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by foreigners
right before you,
laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
Daughter Zion is left
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a cucumber field,
like a city under siege.
Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us some survivors,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.”
your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by foreigners
right before you,
laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
Daughter Zion is left
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a cucumber field,
like a city under siege.
Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us some survivors,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.”
And this is the result of such rebellion against the Lord and because of his people’s unwillingness to repent of their sins and to obey him as their Lord. We are under the judgment of God, and that is why our nation is being torn apart as it is. But God’s intention is not to totally destroy us, but to purify his people and to make his bride ready for his return.
It’s All You
Lyrics by Tosin Iyawo Ogaga & Sue Love
Music by Sue Love @ Original Works
Vocals by Tosin Iyawo Ogaga
May 31, 2019
You are the reason I want to dance.
You are the reason I want to sing.
You are the reason, expressing myself,
I serve You in all the ways You lead me.
You are the reason my heart gives You praise.
You are the reason that I am alive.
I bring out Your best moves
Just so I do embrace You;
Sing out loud as You lead just to please You.
Let myself follow You. I don’t care who watches me.
All I want to do is to make You smile.
Let every fiber of me bring You praise.
Your love has lifted my feet to dance.
Your faithfulness leaves me singing for joy.
You, Jesus, are the reason, it’s all You.
Your grace gives me life.
