Advice For Christians Living In The Last Days

today I'm speaking to you with a heavy heart a heart weighed down by the realization of a new type of faith that has quietly but insidiously crept into our churches our homes and our lives this Faith which I have come to call profitable faith is not the faith of our forefathers it is not the faith of the Saints who have gone before us who walked through valleys of suffering and sacrifice with their eyes fixed firmly on Jesus no this faith is something altogether different something born of the Prosperity Gospel a gospel that promises much but

delivers little a gospel that has reduced the almighty God to a cosmic vending machine or worse a Santa Claus who exists to fulfill our every wish and whim the Prosperity Gospel has many faces and many facets but at its core it revolves around three Central tenants Faith wealth and health now I do not dispute that these are biblical Concepts faith is the foundation of our walk with Christ wealth can be a blessing from God and health is something we all seek and desire but the Prosperity Gospel has Twisted these truths perverted them into something unrecognizable

and in doing so has led many astray into a dangerous form of Faith a faith that only serves God when it is profitable let us pause for a moment and examine what this profitable Faith looks like it is a faith that is conditional a faith that clings to God only when there is a promise of personal gain it is a faith that thrives on the expectation that God's sole purpose is to make our dreams come true to grant us wealth to keep us perpetually healthy and prosperous and when these things do not come to pass

when the bank account is empty when the diagnosis is grim when the storms of life rage this profitable Faith begins to falter to crumble under the weight of unmet expectations how did we get here brothers and sisters how did we allow this Twisted version of Faith to take root in our hearts and in our churches it begins with a subtle shift in focus a shift away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ and toward the gospel of Self in too many churches today the message has become centered on what Christ can do for you in this

life yes Christ offers us eternal life but what about the here and now what about your financial breakthrough what about your healing what about your promotion at work what about your dream house your dream car your dream life and so week after week people Gather in these churches not to hear a message about Sin and Redemption but to hear a message about prosperity and blessing they come not to be convicted of their need for a savior but to be reassured that God is going to make them Rich that he is going to make them successful

that he is going to give them everything they've ever wanted there are churches where you can attend for an entire year and never once hear a sermon on sin and yet was it not sin that brought Christ down from the glory of heaven was it not sin that nailed him to the Cross Jesus came to this earth to deal with sin your sin my sin the sin of the world he came to make a way for us to be reconciled to God but in many of today's churches that message has been all but forgotten replaced

by a message of personal success and financial blessing yes you will hear plenty of seron on giving you will hear about the importance of tithes and offerings you will hear that if you seow your seed God will bless you with a harvest of wealth but what about the condition of your soul what about the question of where you will spend eternity sadly there are pastors and ministers who are more concerned about the size of your offering than the state of your soul they care more about your tithe than they do about your salvation this may

sound harsh but it is the truth we cannot afford to turn a blind eye to this reality the Apostle Paul warned us saying For the Love of Money is the root of all kinds of evil notice that Paul does not say money itself is evil but the Love of Money the insatiable desire for wealth and possessions leads to all kinds of evil and Jesus himself issued a stark warning watch out be on your guard against all kinds of greed life does not consist in an abundance of possessions yet the Prosperity Gospel teaches the exact opposite

it tells us that life does consist in an abundance of possessions that God's favor is measured by the size of your bank account and the opulence of your lifestyle this is a lie a dangerous Distortion of the truth that Jesus taught in contrast to the prosperity gospel's obsession with wealth Jesus told us not to to store up Treasures on Earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal instead he told us to store up Treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust can touch them and where thieves can profitable Faith Galatians

1:8 but even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you other than what we have preached to you let him be a cursed the Apostle Paul had a particularly hard response to anyone who preached another gospel the Apostle didn't care who brought the false gospel even if it were himself or an angel from heaven that false gospel was to be rejected no negotiations no beating around the bush that gospel was to be rejected any person who spreads a false gospel was worthy only of a particular curse from God let him

be a cursed and there is another gospel that is in mainstream churches now and that is the profitable gospel in the sense that people no longer come to God because of who he is but rather they come to God because of what he can do for their life this is profitable faith it is based on the belief that I will believe and obey God only if he does something for me that is profitable Faith the theology behind profitable faith is believe in God and he will make you rich the theology behind profitable faith is believe

in God and he will make you 100% healthy the theology behind profitable faith is believe in God and all of your wildest dreams can come true you see this is wrong because the truth is God can indeed make you rich he can God can indeed make you healthy he can God can indeed make your wildest dreams come true he can he has the power and the ability to do so but one is he willing to do so and two does he promise this for all believers the theology centered around profitable faith is all about what

God can do and not who he is you hear sermons called 10 steps to God making you richer four ways to live the perfect life God wants you to two biblical steps for a prosperous life and so many Christian faiths are rooted in profitable Faith they State quote I believe in God because he answers my prayers suppose God didn't answer your prayer would you still believe in him or they State I believe in God because he healed me when I was sick suppose God didn't heal you when you were sick would you still believe in

him true Bible faith is not centered on what God does for you but rather who God is for if you know who he is you know he is the one true God who deserves to be praised and adored for if you know who he is you know he is the one true God who deserves all the glory and honor who deserves my praise and adoration and no matter what life may throw throw at me I will believe in him come hell or high water I will believe in God that is the faith of the three

Hebrew boys that is the faith of job in the Book of Daniel in chapter 3 we are introduced to three unusual young men of God Shadrach mesach and abedo King Nebuchadnezzar had a huge golden image built as a symbol of his power and Glory he then commanded his people to Bow Down and Worship this image whenever they heard the sound of his musical Herald those who disobeyed the order would be thrown into an immense blazing furnace Shadrach mesach and abedo however worshiped only the one true God and they refused to bow down to the false

idol these Brave Believers held on to their faith in God even when threatened with a fiery death they were literally threatened threatened with a fiery death now I want to show you what true pure faith is true biblical Faith the true faith of this gospel Daniel 3: 16-17 Shadrach mesach and abedo replied to him King Nebuchadnezzar we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter if we are thrown into the Blazing furnace the God we serve is able to Deliver Us from it and he will Deliver Us from your Majesty's hand notice

the confidence in the Lord and notice their choice of words the quote God we serve is able to Deliver Us from it like I said God is able to answer your prayers God is able to make you rich God is able to heal you God is able to remove you from whatever tough situation you are in right now he is able to do all those things but look at true Bible faith in verse 18 Daniel 3:18 but even if he does not we want you to know your majesty that we will not serve your gods

or worship the image of gold you have set up that right there is true faith quote but even if he does not but even if God doesn't answer my prayers I am going to serve him but even if God doesn't heal me I am going to serve him but even if God doesn't give me that promotion that I I have been praying for I am still going to serve the Lord not because of what he does in my life but rather because of who he is regardless of what God does believe in him because it

is the right thing to do if your faith is resting on what God does and not who God is you have a profitable faith and I believe that a large number of people who depart from the faith and leave Christianity is because they were never in the faith initially they never had true Bible Faith they were only interested in the things that God could do for them and when the day came that God didn't give them what they wanted when the day came that God didn't answer their prayers they get angry at God they leave

God behind because God didn't answer their prayers Christian maturity is standing with God and not having a temper chantm when God doesn't say yes to your prayers Christian maturity is quote naked I came from my mother's womb and naked shall I return there the lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord Christian maturity is even if my heart is broken because of the situation I'm going to stick with God right now there are some people who are listening to me and they are actively angry at God they are

so mad at God no you will never say it with your mouth you will never admit that you are angry at God but in the corner of your heart in the depths of your heart you are angry at God because he didn't answer your prayer thinking that God doesn't love you anymore God hasn't abandoned you God hasn't left you he will never leave you the three Hebrew boys had no idea whether God would deliver them but they believed in God regardless of the outcome of the situation that is Bible Faith the faith of job it's

a pure faith I can go as far as saying profitable faith is satanic the devil is using it to counterfeit the kind of faith that God requires from us it is unfortunate that many Believers have been deceived by the devil into thinking that God is a Santa Claus God is able to open doors God is able to bless you beyond your wild EST imagination he can move mountains he is able to do exceedingly and abundantly over all that you can ask or think and he has done this for many people and He will continue to

do this for many more people he is a father that loves to give God's gifts to his children however if your faith is based on what God does for you we have a problem if you are selective of the kinds of scripture passages you should read and meditate on you have a profitable Faith the Bible is a holistic representation of God's demand from the Believers that is why it says in 2 Timothy 3:1 16-17 that quote all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction and

righteousness that the man of God may be perfect thoroughly furnished unto all good works it is therefore true that the scriptures are for our prophets but not only in terms of the blessings we expect to receive but also in our ability to accept reproofs Corrections and instructions our faith should not be built merely on what God has done for us or on the profits we intend to receive from him we should learn to obey God and humbly accept the corrections and instructions given in his word when we do we will get blessed we should not

allow the devil to deceive us into accepting that faith is all about receiving from God when we are committed to obeying all that God's word clearly spells out to us God will be committed to blessing us on every side God has given you eternal life that is more than anything you could receive here on Earth God has done the most amazing thing for you and that is to give you eternal life do you understand that eternal life over the past 50 years there have been many major scandals in the church committed or allegedly committed by

Christian ministers these scandals range from theft money laundering abuse fraud abuse of power Affairs adultery miscellaneous behaviors and many more each time a major Pastor is caught in a scandal mainstream news covers those stories anytime I see a Scandal coming out of the church at large it hurts me it hurts because I know that the mainstream media will report on the story and suggest that this one act in one individual's life represents modern-day Christianity you will never see coverage from major newspapers or news stations that a church has opened its fourth orphanage in as many

years you won't see coverage that a pastor has led his church to open a homeless shelter but when a scandal occurs every news tabloid writes a story about it I'm not saying that a scandal should be hidden that is wrong and evil what I am saying is that the good things pastors do are rarely highlighted by the world but when a pastor is involved in a scandal there is a tremendous amount of press coverage there are people whose faith is tested when a scandal involving a prominent figure comes to light some are left confused about

their faith and this is wrong as a Believer your faith should not be rooted in a pasture your faith should not be rooted in one specific Ministry your faith should not be rooted in in a YouTube channel or in a Christian influencer your faith needs to be rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ he is the author and finisher of our faith scandals are nothing new throughout the history of mankind Believers and unbelievers have been involved in scandals what has changed in the last 40 years is that the world has become more connected the world is

essentially one big village now you can live in the mountains of Nepal and digitally attend church on Sundays with your favorite minister in Texas this has led to a culture of celebrity Pastor SL Minister more pastors today are known than at any other time in history 60 years ago for a pastor to be known worldwide they would have to be like a Billy Graham and host Crusades across the world that changed 20 years ago a pastor would have to either hold Crusades or be on TV on one of the major christian television channels but the

world has changed again in the last 10 years a pastor can invite people from across the world into his church via the Internet as a result more pastors have gained notoriety this is one of the reasons it appears that more pastors are falling into sin or being involved in scandals I don't think anything has changed really I believe the same number of pastors are falling as they used to be with the only difference being that now more people know pastors worldwide they are essentially more famous and recognized platforms like YouTube and Facebook have opened the

world up to pastors and to by product of that is that they are more well known to address the issue of people's Faith being shaken when a minister Falls I first want to address the topic of scandals scandals exist wherever people are congregated scandals are not unique to the church in your place of work right now there are probably 37 scandals and two of them are about you that you don't even know about out I mentioned this to make these two points one not all scandals are true and number two everywhere people are congregated you

will find scandals even in the Bible you find scandals this is one of the reasons why I truly believe the Bible was written by God because the Bible lays bare all of of the scandals that its authors are involved in think about it if the Bible was written by men men would make sure they come out looking like the hero men would hide all of their mistakes and sins but the Bible exposes all of that people always want to make themselves look good but the spirit of God wrote an accurate account of history and what

really happened in these men's lives and it exposed all of their shortcomings look at David David was a mess of monumental proportions yes David was a man of God but he had a problem with women David saw Beth Sheba bathing on a rooftop and had Beth Sheba brought to him she became pregnant and David killed be sheba's husband Moses killed a man Peter denied Jesus three times I say all this to get to this point don't put men or women on pedestals don't exalt men or women men and women will disappoint you and let you

down look on to Jesus exalt Jesus he is the one in whom your faith should be rooted not in your favorite Pastor John 14:6 Jesus said unto him I am the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father except through me what Jesus did not say is that Pastor flipflop and brother Holiness are the way no Jesus is the way exalt Jesus build your faith on Jesus Christ and your faith will never waver build your faith on the Lord God Almighty we as humans have a tendency to make Idols out of

men and this is why people's faith is shaken when a prominent figure Falls but as the body of Christ when we see a prominent figure in the church fall let us not rejoice let us not crucify them or celebrate their downfall let us pray for them what we forget in these situations is that when a minister Falls there are usually innocent family members who have done absolutely nothing wrong and they are being dragged through the mud because of their father's or husband's decision we need to be mature Christians not a medieval mob shouting burn him

we need to be mature Christians yes it is true that a pastor teacher is held to a higher standard than the people he or she Shepherds this however does not mean that when a pastor teacher fails to meet these standards we should condemn them to the very pits of hell we as the church should aim to restore them and when we talk about the restoration of a pastor I am not suggesting that a week after a scandal they should be back in the pull pit I am not even even saying that years down the line

a pastor who has fallen to reclaim his or her role as head Pastor or the like I am simply saying that a pastor who has been involved in a scandal can and should be restored to fellowship with God their families and fellow Believers I'm choosing to remain silent regarding whether a pastor who has been involved in any kind of Scandal should be restored to their previous position the reason being that not all scandals are the same and the evidence for each Scandal varies it is up to each Church leadership to handle this matter and thank

God for church boards and leaderships that hold ministers accountable I want you to take these points away with you number one scandals happen everywhere and have been happening since the beginning of mankind number two unfortunately more scandals will happen in the church simply because people are going to be people and we as the body of Christ should have a mature Christian response to these scandals and number three stop looking up to men and women as the Bedrock of your faith your faith shouldn't be shaken because a minister is caught into sin putting a minister on

a pedestral is idolatry your faith should be placed in Jesus Christ Alone he alone is the one whom we should look up to he alone is the one we should adore build your life on Christ and not the shifting Sands of religion build your life on Christ and not on people if you build your life on Christ your faith will be immovable if if you build your life on Christ your faith will be unshakable so the question is how can I build my life on Christ the answer is simple follow his Commandments Matthew 22 37-40

Jesus replied love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind this is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it love your neighbor as yourself all the law and the prophets hang on these two Commandments What will matter in the end would not be the number of church services you attended or the number of sermons you preached or who your favorite Pastor was the only thing that will matter is the the extent to which you walked in love towards God and men so

today you need to ask yourself do I love God loving him is the first and greatest commandment loving him is the biggest fear it's not about how much you know about the Bible it's not about how often you attend church it's not about how much you know about prophecy the biggest factor is do you love God loving God is how you can build your life on Christ loving God with all your heart soul and mind means that God is at the core of your being he is your heartbeat and all other relationships take a secondary

role to your relationship with him loving God with all your heart soul and mind means that you have allowed him to flood the thoughts of your heart you love him with everything you have [Music]