Judgement is coming to the house of the Lord and the Lord is doing it through the canal of mercy. Jesus said if you are not a part of Me, My Father is not your father. God is love but love is just. God has prepared an answer for injustice. It is eternal judgement which is manifested in a place called hell.
God reconciles us to Him through His Son (2 Corinthians 5:16-21). We have to change our old ways and repent (1 John 1:9). If you are in Christ, believe His words which are true. When we are in Christ, we have to live the full measure. We need to have extreme radical devotion when we are following Christ. In order for us to have that, we need to cut off the things that are not of Christ.
God has given us grace. Grace is a tool which has given us access to win (2 Corinthians 6:1). When we abide in the presence of God, He imparts something into our spirit.
In the bible, there are different names used to describe hell in both the Old Testament and in the New Testament. The Hebrew word ‘Sheol’ was one of the words used for hell in Psalm 49:13-14. The Greek word ‘Hades’ was also used as a place for the dead (Acts 2:27-31, Luke 16:19-31). The word ‘Gehenna’ was also used which was a place where garbage and dead bodies were kept in Jesus’ time (Matthew 10:28, 25:41). Another word for hell was ‘Tartarus’ which is the lowest depth of hell (2 Peter 2:4).
God alone knows the heart (Jeremiah 18). When God speaks to us, we have to listen. We have to be humble before God. God knows us better than we know ourselves. If we are living a life of dividing the church, we need to repent. God does not want us to use His members to pull down each other.
We ought not to abuse one another or to look upon another lustfully. It is up to us to decide if we will continue to look. Even within the church, there is a spirit of lust. We have to come away from idolatry and immorality. Do we really want to forfeit what Jesus has done for us for a piece of flesh? Do we want to find satisfaction in immoral activity? In the book of Revelation it speaks about immortality. We should find ourselves in God who is the only one that can satisfy our every need rather than taking pleasure in lust. We need to guard our hearts and our minds so that the temple of God would not be defiled.
To Shepherds and Leaders
1. Beat your body into subjection (1 Corinthians 9:27).
2. Don’t lead the little ones astray but walk in fear of the Lord (Matthew 18:1-11).
3. There are wolves in your flock and you might be the chief one. We need to examine ourselves and check our hearts (Malachi 3:3). We don’t want to be a goat but a sheep.
4. Have right motives; seek quality over quantity (Zechariah 13:7-9)
To the Flock
1. Don’t be a stumbling block to others. Don’t be a person who causes strife (Luke 17:1, Romans 12:10).
2. Worship the Good Shepherd and not the local one. We live for God and not for man (Matthew 10:28).
3. Be quick to repent but even quicker to forgive (Luke 17:3-10, Micah 6:8). When we do this, we create an aroma that is pleasing to God. We have to keep a posture of humility before each other and before God. We have to forgive and let it go. It’s not God’s desire for us to perish.
