Scripture: Luke 12 v 42 - 46: "And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season?
43 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
44 Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.
45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken;
46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers."
Titus 1 v 7 - 8: "For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;"
A steward should be a wise employee of a house or business, ensuring it is well run, efficient and fit for purpose. Christians are called to be stewards of our King, a very privileged position.
Being a steward to a royal King there are standards to be observed, secrets to be kept, management of affairs of the Kingdom to attend to. As Christians the church is our inner sanctum where we receive our instructions on the day's duties. Some are the usual tasks, but the special attention items are given at the start of day.
Church is not a place of brick and stone. We are the church. Jesus said, Any two or three who are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them. So right now, reading this blog, you and I are in church and Jesus is with us. We are His Body, the church is His Body, and He instructs us so it works correctly.
We are being changed into His likeness. When His Body is gathered in the Rapture we will be joined to Jesus who is the Head of the Body. The union with Jesus is to complete the Bridegroom so He can be ready to rescue His Bride at the Battle of Armageddon.
We must be wise stewards giving out the portion of meat to His household. You are receiving this portion of meat from me, are you giving this portion of meat to your household? Are you a good steward of that which is given to you? Blessed is that servant whom Jesus finds doing his part. Jesus will promote him to higher position, even ruler over His household.
Conversely, if that steward becomes lazy and sloppy in his duties, greedy, drunken and unfit for the job, he will be removed and counted among the heathen. . Christians that do not overcome sin in their lives will pay a terrible price.
Revelation 3 v 3 - 6: "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."
What the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches is if we do not overcome carnal, fleshly, sinful habits and behaviour Jesus will blot out our names from the Lamb's Book of Life. On the Day of Judgment those who were blotted out will hear Him say, I never knew you, depart from me you workers of iniquity. Do not disappoint your Saviour who died to cleanse you of sin.
Hebrews 6 v 4 - 6: "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame."
The author of Hebrews, believed to be Paul, is saying that those who are baptized in the Holy Spirit and have received and know how His gifts work in wondrous ways, need to cherish those gifts and their salvation. If they fall into error and sin, making a choice not to repent and stop sinning, are playing with fire, eternal fire. They bring death on themselves and put the Son of God to an open shame. Once saved always saved is not true. Super Grace is not true. The Word of God is forever true.
We are continuously being assessed and evaluated on our performance before God. He casts His loving eyes upon us but His expectations are high.
Are you assessing your own performance in your attitude towards God and your fellow believers? Do you do the least necessary to please your King, or are you so thrilled to be part of His household that you give every instruction your fullest attention and do your utmost for His Highest?
The verse from Titus is addressed to bishops and how they need to conduct their high office. A bishop is also known as an elder, or a pastor, in the Bible. In the church today these are three separate offices, with the bishop overseeing the pastor, who is above the elders.
If the King did not appoint them to different offices, and He did not, then they are deluded and confused and unlikely to be doing their duties properly. The Church is in a huge mess all around the world, not able to promote unity nor give direction. How will our King judge our efforts, or lack thereof?
It's time to be realistic and start to reform the Body of Jesus and cleanse it of all that is out of line with the blueprint given by God through the Apostles of how the church should be run. The proper function of all the gifts of the Holy Spirit will give us a well-run church. The absence of these gifts gives us a carnal, and powerless church.
Why would the last words of Jesus be a temporary blessing? Acts 1 v 4 - 5, 8: "And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
5 For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."
Let's look at some other things that followers of Jesus should be aware of. There is no case for infant baptism or Christening. It is a false doctrine, meaningless and rejected by God. That means all churches being run under Catholicism or Calvinism need to work this out and reinstate the Biblical version of baptism.
Baby baptism was adopted by the Roman Catholic Church as an upgrade from their prototype of the Babylonian religion where babies were sacrificed to Baal after being named and purified by water sprinkled on their heads. Then they were thrown alive into the fire. The first group of people to reject this were the Anabaptists, forerunner of the Baptist Church. Unfortunately, they rejected the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the fire of God, which would give them power to advance the Gospel. They claim they are given the Holy Spirit when baptized in water. Yes they are but even Mary in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost was baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues.
Acts 2 v 38 - 39: "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
This was on the Day that the Holy Spirit arrived in full on this planet to jump start the disciples into the format of the Church. This is Plan A. There is no Plan B. Every deviation from the above verses is a tradition and doctrine of man, which Jesus calls unacceptable. Every Christian that is being deceived under these false doctrines should be up in arms demanding to be baptised according to God's will, because without the truth your salvation, church attendance, tithes, good works are worthless.
Then the Baptists, who have ruled the gifts of the Holy Spirit as unnecessary because we have the Bible in written form now, are denying themselves the true gift of God to the infant church, and as powerful and needed today, as it was then. When you are truly operating in the gifts of the Spirit it is ludicrous to think they are not needed today!
The Roman Catholic Church, I have mentioned it many times and will say in a nutshell, it's a cult for the worship of Mary, first and foremost. It has completely departed from the precepts of the Word of God, making it of no effect. The name Pope or Pontiff is what the Babylonian high priest was called.
All the fancy robes, beautiful cathedrals, wealth of the Vatican, brings not one Catholic to true repentance and salvation. A few years ago the burning down of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris...The temple of Our Lady....was a judgment of God on their idolatry. Truly Mary the earthly mother of Jesus would shudder to be worshipped like this.
There is much more to say but the Lord said it best in 2 Corinthians 6 v 14 - 18:
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."
Come out from among them! Be separate from them! What agreement has the temple of God with idols? Ask yourselves why you are chained to a religion that will not get you anywhere near Heaven.
Assess and evaluate yourself on what you now know and make a plan to get your life onto God's Plan A. I am not saying the people are bad, I am saying the system is bad. It's like you are all sitting on a powder keg and the fuse is already lit.
Jesus told me that my responsibility is to tell you all the truth. If I do not then I am as guilty as Calvin, the Pope and the Baptists, not to mention the false doctrines of the Charismatics etc. I definitely do not want to be judged by God as a bad steward and get cast aside. I also don't want you to be ignorant of what you may be erroneously trusting to get you and yours to Heaven one day.
I have been born again since 1974 and before that was brought up, christened, confirmed as an Anglican and attended a Roman Catholic School. So I had a double whammy of religion to overcome after I met Jesus Christ. And I have never regretted for one moment being on this journey. There are mountain tops and deep, lonely valleys, straight and narrow roads, bridges and beaches. Every day brings its own joy.
I am unable to recommend any church that is completely 100% sound in doctrine. There are good ministries in many places and I trust you will find a place that answers all your questions and shows you the absolute truth. Take a step of faith today and come out of deception into the glorious truth that is Jesus. Jesus says of these last days "Be Not Deceived!"
Prayer: Heavenly Father, I am being a good steward of the mandate You gave me. You want them all to know of the danger they may be in. You want me to tell it starkly and without embellishing it. You want them to make it home to You. Father, its a tough ask. Tradition is a heavy chain and not easy to break. Thank You for showing me the way out and giving me such a beautiful life. In Jesus's name. Amen.