Anyone Can Be A Christian at Church!

If someone asked you if you were a Christian, what would you tell them? How quickly would you answer them? No consider if someone were to spend the next 30 days living with you, watching you, being your shadow as it were, evaluating everything you did and said, and then told you whether you were a Christian or not. How would that report look?

This is the book of James summed up in the Bible. James in a sense was telling believers that unless their actions and words backed up their faith, that were not a Christian as they thought they were. This is the very purpose of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer. He is there to judge our lives, what we watch, what we say, what we think and what we do. One day we will give an account for our lives and what will it say about us? Anyone can be a Christian for an hour and a half at church, it is who we are every other moment of the week that determines who we really are.

As we continue our Bible study through the Book of Revelation in chapter 16 today, we need to remember how important verse 15 is.

Revelation 16:15 ~ "Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!" 

These are the very words from Jesus, Himself. Blessed, in the Greek is makarios, which means to be supremely blest, happy, well off or very well situated. They are focused on every thing they do, and it is weighted in the balance of how it impacts the kingdom of God. This is the blessing for those who are watching. It doesn't mean we simply give up. We need to continue to plan for the future, but we need a plan and purpose for doing so. We need to find the life that God has engineered for us.

The word "watching" in the Greek is gregoreuo - meaning to keep awake, i.e. watch (literally or figuratively) - to be vigilant, wake, (be) watch(ful), in a spiritual sense. It means doing what the Bible says in every aspect of our life.

1 Thessalonians 1:10 ~ "and to wait for his Son from heaven, who he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come."

Hebrews 9:28 ~ "So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him."

Do those scriptures apply to you? Is that you? Are you a real Christian? Does the Holy Spirit live in you?

When you look at the world around you, are you discerning the events in light of what the Bible says? If you were to die today, would you be ready?

Matthew 24:42-44 ~ "Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect."

Matthew 26:41 ~ "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Mark 13:33, 35-37 ~ "Be on guard. Keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. Therefore stay awake - for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight, or when the rooster crows or in the morning - lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all 'Stay awake.'"

Is your life operating on the imminent return of Christ?

1 Thessalonians is all about the rapture of the church, while 2 Thessalonians is all about the Second Coming of Christ. In Paul's time, people were quitting their jobs and sitting around literally waiting for Jesus, but he had to advise them, that is not what he meant.

Even today people will ask such questions like should we have life insurance? Should you plan for the future? The answer is Yes!!! We should also be saving money for our children and grandchildren according to the Bible not blowing it on ourselves.

2 Peter 3:10 ~ "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed."

1 Thessalonians 5:1-5 ~ "Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, "There is peace and security," then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are children of the light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness."

We, as believers in Christ, as to be discerning the times and seasons of what we see happening in the world around us. When people are saying things are going great, life could never be better. We can honestly say in looking into our future, is there hope for a better way of life for our children then it was in the past? The answer is a chilling no, things are not looking better in the future. In fact, while technology might make things easier, the way of the world in light of believers is growing darker by the day. We guard with firm assurance because it is what God's people do.

The picture is this when looking at Revelation 16:15b regarding the garments, that the Lord gives those who are His special garments! When Jacob wanted to 'visibly bless' his son Joseph, he made for him a coat of many colors, to be a sign that he was the blessed, the favored, the one to inherit all he had, he is it!

Genesis 37:3 ~ "Now Israel (Jacob) loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors."

Romans 13:11-14~ "Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."

We are now one day closer to heaven today! Put on Jesus' coat of many colors. You're a Christian!!! Remember however, the moment people hear us say that, people will now begin to look at you differently. They will judge you based on your words and actions to see if they truly back up our faith! What will your life tell the world today?