Acts 20:27 says:
"For I have not shunned to declare unto you
ALL the counsel of God."
Why is it so important to declare every
shade of Scripture in our life of witnessing for
Christ ?
Because:
"ALL Scripture is given by inspiration
of GOD
(The HOLY SPIRIT)
and is profitable for
1. Doctrine
2. For Reproof
3. For Correction
4. For instruction in
Righteousness
"that the man of God may be perfect (sound,
whole),
thoroughly furnished unto all good WORKS."
2 Timothy 3:16,17
What??!! We are to perform works ? Yes!!
Not for Salvation, but as the fruit of our
Faith;
*the proven result of one's Faith.*
Because without works our Faith is dead.
Meaning: Dead is dead.
You may need a car to go to the store, but
without fuel the car is dead.
The car needs a *work* of supplying fuel, or
the car is dead. One is no good without the other.
If an intellectual assent was all that were
required for Faith, then we would wind up with
insufficient "easy believism".
Judas believed in Jesus, but Judas was not
saved only by believing in Jesus.
The devils ardently believe that Jesus was
both Messiah (Christ) and the Son of God, but no devil is
saved.
Luke 4:41 and
James 2:19.
What *proves* that our belief is sincere and
without spot or wrinkle ?
What sort of Faith brings forth Salvation,
Redemption and Deliverance, Justification, Righteousness
and Sanctification?
(Book of Romans)
What sort of Faith inherits heaven for all
eternity?
Answer:
The kind of Faith that God sees *proven by
our good works*, our righteousness. Yes! and Amen!!
These are some of the *Works of Faith*:
Matthew 25: 31--40
1. Contributing to feeding the hungry and
thirsty
2. Being kind to strangers,
(Not all immigrants and refugees are
criminal). Most come from crushed nations and are poor,
with no chance of employment.
Deuteronomy is loaded with verses concerning
the care of the stranger, too many to number here.
Exodus 22:21; Deut.10:19; Deuteronomy 24:17;
Jeremiah 7:6; Jer 22:3
3. Donate clothing in winter/always to the
needy...jackets, scarves, sweaters, caps, mittens, shoes
etc. Any clothing.
4. Visit the sick and pray with oil over
them.
James 5:14, 15
5. Contribute to prison ministries.
Hebrews 13:3 All our works, including the
above, ought to be in the name of Christianity---Matthew
10:42---
and not in the name of the 'collective
faith',
which is secular humanism.
Our pulpits need to remind people of these
concerns as often as possible.
We are to be
**PROACTIVE**
in our works.
"But be ye **doers** of the Word, and not
hearers only" James 1:22
"For HE shall have judgment without mercy,
that hath shown no mercy." James 1:13
Revelation 14:8
"Write, blessed are the dead which die in
the Lord from henceforth.
Yes, saith the Spirit, that they may rest
from their labors, and their *works*
do follow them."
"And to her (The Bride of Christ) was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white:
for the fine linen is the *righteousness of
saints*". Rev. 19:8
"Faith without works is Dead" James
2:17--26.
Ministers may have parroted those10 verses,
but then quickly glossed over it all with the muzzle of
"sola fide" (faith alone is sufficient), leaving out the
balance of Works (fruits) as a result of true Faith.
Skipping over ten verses
of Scripture is a huge chunk of the Bible
that preachers have refused to teach on for generations,
resulting in the lay-back Laodicean age we're now drowning
in, filled with apostasy.
Ministries got by with ommiting the balance
of Faith with works (even though contradicting what they
just parroted) because many in their audience had
itching ears, and took the path of least resistance.
Widows in the church were not to be taken
under wing unless they were
"Well reported of for **good Works**".
1Timothy 5:10
Works means making an *effort at obedience*,
that proves our love for God.
"Was not Abraham our father justified by
WORKS
when he had offered Isaac his son upon the
altar?"
James 2:21.
That was the strongest example of obedience
in making an effort, a work of Faith.
Martin Luther made many attempts to exclude
the book of James from the Bible (presuming that he knew
better than God,) because Luther did not believe in works.
Actually, Luther wanted to exclude from the
Bible the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelations.
They just didn't meet his standards.
Thankfully others did not agree with him and
all 66 books are in the sacred Canon of Scripture today.
The founding father of the Calvary Chapel
Churches refused to teach the book of James each time it
came around, and instead delegated to an assistant pastor
to read those Scriptures, who dutifully read them. I was
there and was a witness.
This missing element to the teaching of
Scripture prevailed and became known as OSAS
meaning:
"Once Saved, Always Saved"....you could not
lose your salvation, and you did not need a
maintenance-lifestyle of good works. "Works" was a word to
be avoided.
(even though always misconstrued).
So of course we are now deep into apostasy
and selfishness.
Dan Corner's website saved me from that
error.
Deep in our consciences, we all knew that
OSAS wasn't true, as many of our believing friends began
to backslide and eventually walk away all together
(the falling away, the silent apostasy).
God is so Merciful that He is giving them a
second chance during the horrible Great Tribulation to
repent
and to do the efforts of obedience, known as
works of Faith.
"Bring forth therefore fruits (works) meet
for repentance"
Matthew 3:8
It will be hard to do so, and for the most
part it may cost them their lives.
Some will take that second chance; and sadly
many will not.
Luke 23:31
"For if they do these things in a green
tree, what shall be done in the dry?"
Meaning:
'If they can't make efforts at Works of
obedience when times are good, how will they make them
when it may cost them their lives ?'
Luke 18:8
"When The Son of man cometh, shall He find
Faith on the earth?"
There are several grave consequences for not
adhering to ALL the Spirit- led verses of the Bible.
Keep in mind that we are not referring to
the 613 laws of the Old Testament ( legalism) but we are
referring to the inspired Scriptures high lighted by
the Holy Spirit, as referred to in 2 Timothy
3:16.
Consequence # 1
Luke records the warning given to us by the
Holy Ghost in
Acts 20: 29, 30
that if we don't follow the advise of the
Holy Spirit given in Acts 20: 27 (the whole counsel of
God) then "wolves" will enter into the church with
doctrines of demons.
And not only wolves from outside the church,
but also traitors (fifth-column people) from within
the Body of Christ who will lead astray the flock into
grevious error.
Consequence #2
The Greatest Warning of all for not teaching
ALL
the council of God....the Truth, the WHOLE
truth and nothing but the truth, is found in
Revelation 22: 18,19
"If any man shall add unto these things, God
shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this
book.
[Example: Teaching that there is a
purgatory, and/or a limbo, etc. etc.]
"And if any man shall take
away from the words of the book of this
prophecy,
1.God shall take away his part out of
the
Book of Life.
2. and out of the Holy City,
(Will not have the supreme bliss of living
in the New Jerusalem)
3. and from the things which are
written in this Book. ( the glories found in the book of
Revelation.)
Leaving out basic doctrine is like throwing
out the baby with the bathwater.
In times like these --2021-- we need to
live-out all the counsel of God. We need to be **proactive
doers of the Word**.
We need to challenge ourselves, by the grace
of God.
________________________
Literal meaning of "fifth-column"...
Military regimes often have their armies
parade before the people as a show of the glory of their
might.
As columns of soldiers march before the
viewing stand, they face their leader and salute.
Oct. 6, 1981
When a column of soldiers arrived before the
stand where Anwar Sadat of Egypt was seated, they
pulled out their weaponry, shot and killed him...the
ultimate traitorous act from within; a 5th column *within*
the regiment.
The phrase "fifth-column"
originated in Spain in 1936
and has come to mean: any persons
within an organization that are trusted, yet traitorous.