The Contenders For The Faith

I was recently asked to preach to Haven Baptist Fellowship in Douglas, Arizona. We loaded up all the kids, headed down, and had a wonderful time with the folks down there. What a great group of believers! I hope to visit with them again very soon.

The Lord laid on my heart the last two verses of I Corinthians 6, so this is what I preached.

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
(1Co 6:19-20)

An incredulous Apostle Paul was amazed that the members of the church at Corinth didn't recognize themselves as temples of the Holy Ghost. Most of the time in today's Christianity, we don't recognize we are bought with a price.

That price was the blood at Calvary. What a price God paid for a bunch of sometimes worthless, disobedient, stiff-necked sheep. It is only when we realize the price that had to be paid for our redemption that we can truly understand this:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
(Rom 12:1-2)

As Christians, we must understand that we are to be used for the Master's glory. Too often, we strive to do things our own way instead of considering God's way for us to go. This is what causes so many churches to compromise biblical standards.

It works this way:

1. Church doesn't grow fast enough for some

2. Church wants to do more

3. Church stretches out of the biblical bounds for trying to get people in

4. Church adds worldly means to their arsenal

5. Church had compromised and has become a rock concert/social club

Let us remember that God set forth the authority and duty of the local church in the New Testament. Let us not go beyond that. Let us not be presumptuous. Let us not think we know more than God about building a church. Let us see what the Bible says about the administration of the church. Let us do it God's way.

God bless,

Jason Burton
Jason Burton Family Website