How much does the Bible get in the way of what you believe? If you’re like most Christians, you believe in Jesus, but you’ve compartmentalised your faith so that your Bible beliefs have only a little influence over other areas of your life. For many, the Bible doesn’t influence what they believe one iota! As long as they claim to believe on Jesus, they think they can believe whatever they want about issues in life and society. That is absolutely wrong! All that this means is they have not been taught to observe all things Jesus commanded:
Go ye therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.Matthew 28:19–20
You see, a disciple is a person who observes all things Jesus commanded. By and large, the church has not been making disciples. Their goal has basically been “Let’s just get people born again and make sure they’re headed to heaven.” This has caused problems. Because the church isn’t teaching people to observe all things Jesus commanded, there’s a void in society where Christians ought to be taking a stand. When it comes to social or moral issues, a lot of Christians are silent or oppose what the Bible says. They’ve professed faith in the Lord, but they aren’t disciples. That might sound shocking to you, but look at how Jesus responded to people who only put faith in Him:
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.John 8:31
It’s not enough just to get saved so you won’t go to hell. You must continue in Jesus’ words to be His disciple. This ought to be the goal of every single Christian! Yet it’s amazing how many don’t get this. When it comes to hot topics like homosexuality, abortion, and evolution, the church is divided. Most say, “You just need to stick to preaching the Word and stop getting into politics and social issues.” But I am preaching the Word! It’s not me who is invading the social, political arena; these things are encroaching on what the Bible has to say. The Word of God has instruction for every one of these areas.
If we stay silent, the unbelievers—who don’t have a biblical worldview—are going to be the ones establishing all the policies, determining what we can and can’t say, and what we can and can’t do.
This is already happening, and many Christians have just accepted this.
A woman in our Bible college came and told me that every time I’d mention anything about economics, abortion, homosexuality, or creationism versus evolution, she would cringe and say, “O God, get him back on the Bible.” But after being in the school for a year and a half, she said, “I’ve changed. And my position on nearly all of these issues has changed.”
I pulled her aside and said, “I’m not trying to criticise you; I just honestly want to know how a committed Christian could have these viewpoints that are completely contrary to the Bible.”
She said, “I loved Jesus and I really had committed my life to Him. But I really didn’t love the Word. When I came to Bible college and started hearing the Word, I fell in love with it. I let the Word dominate me, and I couldn’t hold on to my positions any longer.”
You can love God and be liberal in your social views, but you can’t love the Word and be that way. If your attitude, doctrine, or worldview doesn’t line up with the Word of God, you need to change it, not change the Word of God.
Sadly, a lot of Christians are buying into a worldly doctrine because there isn’t anyone opposing it or standing up for the truth. Well, I’m taking a stand against things that undermine the Word of God! You need to take that same stand. You might take offense at this because that was not the way you were raised or educated, or you’ve believed things for so long that you don’t know if you can change. But, like I started off asking, how much do you let the Word of God get in the way of what you believe? Are you willing to take a stand? Are you willing to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus instead of just a convert? These are all good questions to ask yourself.
If you sincerely want to change and observe all things Jesus commanded, then you can start by getting my series, Observing All Things. In this teaching, I share on what I consider to be the three hottest social issues today—homosexuality, abortion, and evolution—and what God’s Word has to say about them. Only the Holy Ghost can bring change to a person’s life, but I think this teaching will help you, so I encourage you to get it. You can get this series in CD or DVD format. It will also come with a booklet that has a commentary as well as statistics and graphs on these three topics. To order, go to awme.net/observe, or call our UK Helpline at +44 (0)1922 473300.
Observing All Things
There's more to being a disciple than simply faith in Jesus. That might sound hard to believe, but that's exactly what Jesus Himself said.
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