Many American ‘Christians’ look to the right for salvation, while Born-Again Christians look upward.
Psalms 142:4 KJV I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.
Supporting those who work on behalf of your spiritual well-being comes with its own reward. However, the absence of such support should never hinder the gospel of Christ. In other words, I will continue preaching whether or not anyone supports this work—be it financially, with encouragement, or otherwise. I won’t beg for support, demand it, or hold fundraisers for it. Why should I? Either God moves someone to contribute to this work and they respond, or He doesn’t—and they don’t.
1 Corinthians 9:11 KJV If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?
1 Corinthians 9:12 KJV If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ.
Paul understood the freedom of not being chained to financial puppet strings. Many hireling preachers, bound by these strings, refuse to preach the whole counsel of God, which does no service to their congregations.
1 Corinthians 9:18 KJV What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.
1 Corinthians 9:19 KJV For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
You can put yourself in another’s shoes and seek to understand them better without partaking in their sins, enabling you to preach the Gospel in a way they can grasp from their own perspective. If you spit in their face with hate, devoid of God’s love and indifferent to who they are or where they come from, you may need to examine your own need of salvation.
1 Corinthians 9:20 KJV And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
1 Corinthians 9:21 KJV To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
1 Corinthians 9:22 KJV To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
1 Corinthians 9:23 KJV And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
Temperance is a virtue that helps prevent us from becoming hypocrites.
1 Corinthians 9:24 KJV Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
1 Corinthians 9:25 KJV And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
1 Corinthians 9:26 KJV I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
1 Corinthians 9:27 KJV But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
If you mingle with idolaters, you will become an idolater. God hates idolatry, if you couldn’t tell.
Numbers 25:1 KJV And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.
Numbers 25:2 KJV And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.
Numbers 25:3 KJV And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.
Church discipline was a little different back in the day.
Numbers 25:5 KJV And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor.
Numbers 25:6 KJV And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Numbers 25:7 KJV And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;
Numbers 25:8 KJV And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
Numbers 25:9 KJV And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
America is a lady of the kingdoms, just like Babylon, which believed its nation was invincible and would endure forever. America might want to start thinking otherwise sometime soon. However, as an American, I will not hold my breath and will simply pray and keep preaching.
Isaiah 47:5 KJV Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.
Isaiah 47:7 KJV And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it.
America is a nation that has been given to pleasures and feels its greatest woes are the price of eggs. She does not know the pain of genocide like the Palestinians, yet in a moment, all of this can and will eventually change in an instant as history and rebellion against God repeat.
Isaiah 47:8 KJV Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
Isaiah 47:9 KJV But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.
Isaiah 47:10 KJV For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me.
Isaiah 47:11 KJV Therefore shall evil come upon thee; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee; thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.
AI will not save America.
Isaiah 47:12 KJV Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt be able to profit, if so be thou mayest prevail.
Isaiah 47:13 KJV Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee.
Isaiah 47:14 KJV Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
Isaiah 47:15 KJV Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee.
Father, may America trust in You again. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
