Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Confession of Faith

Psalms 107:1-2 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy.

Public speaking is a terror to many people. Getting in front of people and having to talk, while they gaze on you makes some people physically ill. It is this truth that must be balanced with Mat 10:33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. AND Romans 10:9-10 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” As well as many other Scriptures that make the case for the need of the redeemed of the Lord to be always ready to give an answer to any and every man of the hope that is within you.

If you cannot share your faith, especially amongst those who claim to be in that faith, perhaps you need to examine whether you are in the faith at all.

Perhaps some of you think I am being harsh in my assessment of testimonies. But let me tell you, Jesus is going to be harsh when MANY chime in with their testimonies of 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' Yes, Jesus will say, those are great stories but that is not the new birth, that is not salvation! You are headed for hell because I never knew you.

There are always going to be Judas’ and tares that sneak in with the wheat, but those who have been saved by the grace of God, filled with the Holy Spirit of God will submit to their Lord and be able to confess Him by baptism and public declaration of faith and hope in Him. Not to mention, they will have a lifestyle to go along with their public proclomation of being ‘delivered from the power of darkness and conveyed into the kingdom of the Son.’

4 comments:

Rick Weiss said...

Hey Bro
Good to see you, It's hard Joe, when you work diligently for God, and your wife and kids think your a bible thumpin wackjob, ah a prophet is never honered eh?

You know your right, any person with enough money can get a masters degree.

Last year I was give an address, and contact name, no money and a Holy Spirit rush in my heart to start a church in Newberry, I did, God lets me know pretty forcefully that I am his, and so we will have our first Prison Emmaus in Newberry September 11-14

I never asked did you do an Emmaus?
What did you think of it and of others who did?

Rockjack@aol.com
Thanks for being Jasons Freind.

Joe VonDoloski said...

Well, a lot could be said about a preacher's relationship to his family. Our first church and responsibility is to our own home. If a man doesn't know how to rule his own house, how can he in the church? (Which is interesting when you consider the role of women in leadership- how can this apply to them?)
So are you pastoring the church in Newberry? Is it in a prison?
Tell me more about it. Is it Lutheran?

Anonymous said...

A little off topic, but I believe it is critical that we get our children up in front of church to recite the verses we are teaching them, to sing a song they like, etc...Doing this as a child will do wonders for equiping your children with the boldness they will need to witness for Christ in this generation.
Oh, did I mention, the parents will have to learn some of those verses and songs and get up there with them.
To God be the Glory!

Joe VonDoloski said...

I would disagree with you anon. What would you say about getting an unregenerate adult in your church up in front singing about how he has been redeemed, how he now loves holiness and is the enemy of the devil when in fact it is all a lie? We must steer clear of hypocritical performance in the church. Giving people/families a position in the church, Ie. singing, reciting verses, deaconship etc. is never to be handed out for motivation to get involved. Now, if the children are regenerate, I see no problem with it.