Heart Transplant

Yesterday, in mentioning the Southen Baptist initiative, The Great Commission Resurgence, we decided to look deeper than restructring and recommitment and discern the true root of our problem in the church: The believers heart. This series is not a condemnation of believers but a challenge for each of us to examine our hearts to see if we have our priorities right. To live the "Greatest Commandment", "To love the Lord God with all of our heart, with all of our soul, with all of our mind, and with all of our strength. And to love your neighbor as yourself." This is a supernatural type of love, that can only be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit."

A New Heart

God writes through the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36:22-27(NKJV), "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God: "I do not do this for your sake. O house of Israel, but for My holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, " says the Lord God, "when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will keep My judgments and do them."

This scripture is written with a specific application to the nation of Israel regarding God's end times plans for His chosen people, but it has practical application to believers of all ages. In fact, it is an excellent description of what occurs when we choose to believe in Christ and are saved. All of our filthiness is removed and God gives us a new heart by placing His Spirit within us. If this has occurred the bible says we have been "born again," a "new creation" in Christ. "Old things have passed away and behold, all things have become new." We are converted and should have a consuming desire to follow God and keep His statutes. To indeed hear and obey the "Greatest Commandment." So why, in so many Christians, does this transformation seem incomplete or not evident at all?

Our First Love

Backslidden or lost? As I've searched the scriptures for the answer to this quesion, they have revealed to me their are only 2 answers. Many Christians are either backslidden into a sinful lifestyle or they were never saved in the first place. I'm not here to judge hearts, as only the Lord can do that, so we will procede with the presumption that many Christians have fallen back into the worldliness and sinfulness of their past. Quite honestly, this is the only answer as to why God's church, Christ's body, exists in the powerless state it seems to today. Paul writes of the end times church in 2 Timothy 3:5, that it will exist "having a form of godliness but denying it's power." We have a power outage in churches and Christians today, and if we are truly saved the only answer for this must be we've turned our hearts from the Lord, in favor of the world and the lusts of the flesh.

Zechariah 4:6 says, "...This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, ' says the Lord of hosts." We as Christians quench and grieve the Holy Spirit through our disobedience and practicing sinful lifestyles. This is not to say we will not sin, as we will. But when sin overcomes us and we practice it in our lives, the power of God is muted in our lives and churches. If we are not truly practicing the "Greatest Commandment, " we fall away from God and become backslidden, seperated from the power of God. The world looks at us, and all it sees is the world.

Jesus issued a warning regarding this in the book of Revelation chapters 2-3. In His letters to the 7 churches His first letter is to the church at Ephesus. In that letter Jesus tells them they have left their "first love," Him. Tomorrow we will begin taking a look at these letters Christ gave to His church as a whole, represented in these 7 churches. These are in fact Christ's last words to His body, the church. We will examine these letters acknowledging that in the body of Christ, their are representatives(in the lives of individual Christians) of each of these churches. In looking at Christ's words in this way we will seek to establish the effects of a Christian leaving their first love, and the God given remedy to return to Him. I hope you'll join me in this journey in self examination as we strive to live the life that Christ sacrificed His life for us to live. God bless and see you tomorrow.