Summoned By Jesus

This message emanates from 1) the message the Lord was crafting in my wife, before she passed, about “The fellowship of His sufferings”, 2) the message the Holy Spirit gave me saying “I didn’t make covenants with women”, and 3) over 20 years of leading and teaching the Bible, Bible courses, and Bible concepts.

I have been a Christian for over 35 years. A sinner saved by the grace and mercies of God. I have learned much from good churches and many good & well learned people. And have been used in leadership roles in my churches. But always there seemed to be something missing. Something incomplete. Something that missed the mark.

Over the years I have been led by the Bible and by many wise and accepted Biblical scholars (through their books and teachings.) AW Tozer, Francis Frangipane, Oswald Chambers, Charles Spurgeon, Dutch Sheets, Bill Johnson, Tony Evans, Jack Hayford, D. James Kennedy, and more. They would often challenge the accepted messages & concepts being presented in today’s churches. I have grown to agree with them.

The message I will be presenting will, for some, be controversial, irritating, and even angering. But I make no apologies. And I make no great justifications. If there is a stirring in you because of these messages, then I encourage you to seek the Bible and Holy Spirit for yourself. That is what has guided me. HOWEVER, I do not want the message to come across as a blanket indictment of all men or churches. That is in no way intended. The observations are generalities and prompted by past and current studies, surveys and evaluations of today’s (American & Western) churches. There are wonderful men and churches doing good, full and rich things for Christ. I consider this message one of “tough love”…and believe it is a “word or instruction” to be considered and applied if and as appropriate.

Recent studies and surveys have indicated that most people (Christian as well) don’t read the bible. They use social media platforms to look up scripture and concepts. They do not check out biblical word meanings or references. They do not have an accurate or complete context of God’s word. As it turns out, most people don’t believe the Bible. They believe it is a series of stories or fables. They have not done the due diligence of checking out its authenticity either archaeologically or scripturally. (But in 2 Tim 2:15 the Bible says “Study to show thyself approved unto God…”)

And most people don’t believe Jesus was the Son of God. They believe He was a historical figure, a prophet, or a wise man of his time… Even though every major religion attests to his historical reality, they deny his deity.

We who call ourselves ‘christians’ have moved away from the word of God and replaced it with easy believe-ism and comfortable programs. However, the Bible says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So I reach out to those people with searching hearts…who know that there is something missing and amiss in our relationship with God, our churches and church programs. People who seek a genuine relationship in their walk with the Lord and who have a desire to know truth.

As my wife said before her passing, “this will shake up a lot of people’s theology.”