Strife in The Midst

Strife In The Midst of Believers: Remember the story of Abram and Lot? How they were surrounded by hostile neighbors who were not friendly, hospitable, or sympathetic to them or their families. It would seem that in circumstances like this that they would have been united and pull together as one, but this was far from the case with Abram and Lot. Instead small-minded jealousy over trivial things was separating and tearing them apart. Abram, being close to God saw the strife, the discord, the conflict, the, quarreling, the disagreements and decided to do something about it. He knew all the arguing was displeasing to God. He had love in his heart for Lot and his family so he gave Lot first choice of the way to go. Notice how Abram turned away wrath with a soft answer, I pray thee (In other words please). Abram had the right to dictate and demand which way he wanted to go but he gave the freedom of choice to Lot. What a peace maker. Lot's heart was full of greed and he looked at material things, sad to say the same way some professing Christians do today. Lot saw the country in which Sodom was located and how it would make him an excellent place to live. This was a superb choice from a worldly point of view. In such a place with all the good ground and water he would certainly thrive and become very rich. This was all that Lot was looking for. Christians must realize that the grass is not always greener on the other side. It will only bring heart ache and trouble as it did to Lot. How many Christians jeopardize the good of their souls for the prospect of worldly advantages and worldly gain?

The same thing happens today, like it did with Abram and Lot, with a large proportion of the Christian world. Christians often fight and quarrel concerning small material things when the devil is at work all around them. There exist in our world, today, unseen forces that employ darkness to accomplish their evil purposes. Those purposes are neither kind, nor benevolent and you will find no unconditional love there. God's people had better wake up to that fact! Some Christians will strain at a Nat and swallow a camel. Rivalries, arguments, contentions, and disagreements between believers hinder God's work. Disagreements can hold the believer back and get in the way of progress toward very important goals. These things make a person self centered rather than love centered. Not only will strife hold the Christian's walk back, it will open the door for other things. We can see what happen to Lot and his wife. Let us all remember and not forget Lot's wife! It all started, in the very beginning, with strife and then the strife lead to other things. In today's world, we can see much strife among Christians, preacher against preacher, brother against brother, sister against sister, and so forth. This should not be. God cannot and will not work in the mist of such things. We must show and demonstrate the same kind of love as Jesus had for the church.

We can see the choices Lot made. He selected the very best of the land, even though it meant living close to Sodom and close to sin. This is the same problem that some Christians face today. Greed and the thought of living close to the world (Sodom) cause the Christian not to focus and concentrate on the true issues. The very issues of life. Lot had the paradise, the best of the green grass, and much water, happiness, such as it was, but Abram had the promise. Abram had the assurance from God that something would be done for him. Lot was looking at things materially. Abram was looking at things spiritually. As a Christian, in today's world, what are you looking for? Are you looking for the promise or the riches of this world?

Christians today need to look, as Abram did centuries ago, at the spiritual things and Our Creator will take care of everything else. Did you every stop and think why the battle against the evil forces in this world is so difficult and it seems like Christians are never getting anywhere. Why we take one step forward and two steps backward. I can tell you the answer to the major part of that. There is so much strife and fighting between Christians, The different churches and denominations fight over doctrine and other trivial issues, this leaves very little time for the real fight. That fight is against the devil and his demon allies, not against other born again brothers and sisters in the Lord, no matter what denomination they are. I want to ask you, the Christian, this question: "As a blood bought Saint of God do you want to win the battle against abortion, for the right to have prayer in school, against the homosexual lifestyles and other sinful things that are flooding our country? Do you want to keep Christ in our American Heritage? Remember this country was founded on Christian values. If the answer is yes then we must bind ourselves together in unity. No matter what denomination we are Baptist, Church of God, Assemblies of God, Nazarene, Wesleyan, Four Square, The Rock Church, independents, or any group that I missed, if we have been saved by the blood of Christ and our sins forgiven, we are brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. It is time that we realized that and come together, united, as one church, with Christ at the head to defeat a common enemy. Let there be a gathering, a coming together, of God's people.

Remember the book of Esther? The Jews were about to be slaughtered throughout the land because of Haman's wickedness. Esther called for a fast and every single Jew fasted. They united together for a cause. Esther knew the value of unity and coming together as one. The Jews won and Haman lost! Now I'm sure that there were people from every tribe or the Jews, the tribes of Benjamin, Judah, and all the rest of the tribes of Israel that were united together for the common cause. With unity and God's help the Jews over came. Christians of every denomination can also be over comers if they would only unite together for the cause of a Godly America. America is in her last stages of moral corruption. This country is so far gone that it will take unified born again Christians of all denominations, coming together as one, fasting, praying, and crying out to God, with a common goal, and that is to save this nation.

Remember the upper room with the 120 believers? What did the believers have in common that day? They were in one place and they were in one accord. They were all in unity. Great things happen that day long ago, because of those saints being in one accord. There was a great out pouring and because of that Christianity spread like wild fire throughout the known world. As Christians let us unite in one accord, as the people did on the day of Pentecost, for a common purpose. That purpose is to bring Christ back into our schools, courtrooms, streets, public places, and, yes, our churches also!

Can you imagine what would happen if all the churches in this country were in one accord today? There would be no abortion on demand, no homosexuals marching the streets or walking the halls of our congress demanding special rights. There would be no such thing as not being allowed to have prayer in school or not being allowed to display the Ten Commandments in our court rooms. How true that old saying, "UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL!" As united, born again Christians we can have the victory in Jesus that so many of us sing about.

To put it on even easier terms that you can understand and to get the point of this message across let me put it in everyday terms, you can take a single match and break it. Two matches become harder to breaker and so forth. When you get up to about ten matches it becomes very hard to break and so it is with Christians when they are as one. They become even harder to fight against. How great it would be to say: "THE BATTLES OVER, VICTORY IS OURS, AND WE WON!"

Let me say this in closing and I hope that I'm not repeating myself to much; Christians must unite their self under a common banner to defeat Satan and his demons. I'm not suggesting a one world church, nor do I believe in a one world church by no means. What I am suggesting and saying is this; let us as born again Christians unite, stand up for Jesus and the Word of God, as a united people, with one purpose in mind, to win back our country and the world for Jesus Christ.