Christian Foundational Control
As a true Christian, your area of control is comparable to the parable on the talents (Matthew 25:14-29). Nowhere are we directed to try and control outside of our God-given domain. And the bedrock criteria for how we control our domain has to be foundationally grounded in the Word of God.
If you just verbalize these foundational truths and don’t live them, then you are a hypocrite and God has hypocrites at the top of his hate list. If you actually live according to Biblical foundational truths then you will absolutely know you are on the right track. How’s that?
You will face persecution like you’ve never faced before.
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. II Timothy 3:12
And no one likes persecution, which is why most who started reading this are likely itching to move on to something else. Being thrown to the lions just isn’t their cup of tea. But those foundationally unyielding early Christians transformed an entire empire. Well, lions aren’t the typical arena anyone faces today, at least not literally. I will go into four specific examples involving the control arena for Christians.
These four areas of control will be directly impacted by your personal adherence to God’s foundational Word. If they are not impacted, then you have most likely compromised and have slid into the Laodicean framework (Revelation 3:14-22).
1. Immediate Family
2. Extended Family & Friends
3. The workplace
4. Pastoral positions
- If you’ve had premarital sex other than with your current spouse then you are probably living in adultery. Enough said.
- If any of your children have had premarital sex other than to their current spouse then they are probably living in adultery. Staying overnight under your roof and with that knowledge is condoning sin within your house. Enough said.
- If you are aware that any relative or friend has had premarital sex other than to their current spouse then they are probably living in adultery. Staying overnight under your roof and with that knowledge is condoning sin within your house. Enough said.
- If your workplace insists you work on the Sabbath when it is not a dire emergency (like with a fireman or policeman) then that’s a foundational problem. Enough said.
- If you are in a pastoral position within a local church and you knowingly know of marriages that are really adulterous relationships, many involving children then you face a daunting task. Enough said.
If you stand absolutely firm on God’s foundational word, I guarantee you will face persecution and hardships in all the areas mentioned unlike anything you’ve ever faced before. And your greatest persecution will come from the religious establishment. Families will crumble, jobs will be lost, friends and relatives will fall away, and an entire congregation will turn you out faster than you can say hasta la vista, baby!
In these end times we are seeing the majority compromise and hate these sayings of Jesus:
Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. Luke 12:51-53
And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life. Mark 10:29-30
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26
God guaranteed persecution in this world. I listed just a couple issues that will pile it on. If you’re still here then I can think of only one reason: because you truly, truly, truly love the Lord. And he indicated in these verses (I John 5:3; John 14:15,21,23-24) that if you truly love the Lord, you would obey his sayings and commandments.
Enough said!
I hope that is your exclamation because that’s all that needs to be said. You know God will give you the strength to face any degree of persecution as he empowered the early Christians to face the Roman coliseums and their tortures and atrocities.
If you’re with me and have faced some of these persecutions I’m sure you’ve also received God’s perfect peace that the world can never understand.
And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7
Till the next coffee break, God bless and may you stand firm upon God’s holy word.
Ralph
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