An example from the Bible on being hot or cold Christian never lukewarm

Welcome to episode 215, In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Spending time in the Word of God is the best way to spend time with God. Welcome to No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, where we will encourage, inspire, and empower you to live your best life in Christ. Here's Greg.

Welcome to episode 215. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, I am continuing on being all in, and I just need to give an example. You know, Paul, the Apostle Paul, was one of those guys that I'd strive to be like, but I'm more relate to the Apostle Peter because it seemed like Peter would always just take one foot out of his mouth and put the other one in it. Peter was always jumping in, but that don't mean Peter was not educated. And I don't think that Peter was really educated from the standpoint of going to school and sitting at the feet of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. He didn't have any documents and he didn't have any letters behind his name. But I think Peter, reading some of his stuff and looking at how he lived his life, Peter had some common sense. I think was well read. I don't think any of these apostles— I don't think God by happenstance picked these people out of the very bottom of society and had absolutely no socially redeeming qualities. I think God on purpose and all-knowing and all-wisdom picked these apostles so that he knew what was inside of them. And I think that's what God knows about you. God knows that you have something inside of you. He knows that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, and you just need to dig into that thing that's inside of you. But for this example, I want to talk about the Apostle Paul because this guy was an animal. This guy, when he got onto something, he was like a dog on a bone. This guy did not let up. He was either all in or he was all out. And like our previous episodes, the last couple was talked about Revelation, I think it was 3:14, 3:15, but was talked about Jesus saying, "I just wish you were hot or cold." because if you are hot or cold, God can use that. God can use something that's totally turned off or something that's totally turned on. It's either all in or all out. God can use either side of that, is the way I read it. But he will vomit you out of his mouth if you are in the middle of the road, if you just won't take a side, if you will not make a stand or take a stand God really doesn't want anything to do with you and how you're going through your life representing him, because I think it just sends so many mixed signals. And we read that scripture in James talking about a double-minded man can think he gets nothing. And I know I just butchered that thing, as I guess a better way to say it— let me go to it real quick. Obviously, I have— do not have that prop— that specific scripture in my memory banks? It's in James 1:5. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, He is a double-minded man, unstable in all of his ways. Double-minded man, unstable in all of his ways. Not just a few, not just in a couple of areas, all of them. The Bible says, Jesus in his own words says, you cannot love God and money. God did not say that you couldn't have money, and God did not say that you couldn't make a whole bunch of money. Don't hear what I'm not saying on this deal. God is not scared of you having a lot of money or making a lot of money. It is the love of money. If that is your specific purpose, or being in your life is to make money, and you use money as how you identify yourself, God's saying you just picked a side: God or money. Now, God also said in Exodus that you shall have no other gods before me. God did not say that you couldn't have any other likes. He wants to be number one in your life. That is what God, I believe, is saying to you and I. That's what he's saying to me for sure, is saying, hey, put me first. Go all in on this deal. Go all in on the fact that I love you, that I'm Father God, that I am the one and true God, that all these other demigods or all these other things that you are trying to or were striving for have absolutely nothing to do with me. If you'll go all in with me, then I will give you all these other things. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. How many of us are truly seeking first the kingdom of God? And I want to go to Paul. I told you we were going to go to this. It's in Philippians. I've read Philippians a couple times in this last week, and this one kind of jumped off the page. And it's just an example. As Paul— one of the things Paul said was to live as Christ and to die is gain. I mean, I don't know if any of you wake up in the morning and just hope that God— pray, Lord, let today be the day that I die, that I come see you. I just don't see many of us, present company included, I have a hard time praying that prayer. Now, I do die daily, and I do crawl up on the altar of God as in Romans 12:1. I pray that every day. I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, present yourself a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which is your reasonable service. I daily get up on the altar of God, and I present myself to God a living sacrifice. But I don't think that's the same as to say, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Paul was an animal. Paul would go out hoping that today— I mean, as I read this, he's saying, look, it's better for you if I keep living, but it's better for me if I die. He is all in, and Paul is incredible. I'm trying to get there. I mean, I'm telling you, I'm nowhere near where the Apostle Paul was. But let's go to Philippians 3. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation. For we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit. Rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the 8th day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, though I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on, that I may lay hold of that which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk By the same rule, let us be of the same mind. And I know with my superior reading skills you just are so fired up when I read a bunch of scripture, but I wanted to read most of Philippians chapter 3 to you because I just think that that shows how fired up Paul was. Paul was the Pharisee of all Pharisees. He had all the doctrine. This guy was brilliant. This guy was passionate about what he chose his life to be. He wanted to be the Pharisee of all the Pharisees. He wanted to be the top dog, and he went at it all the way in. He was all the way in on being a Pharisee, and he counts that as rubbish once he found Christ. And I just need you to picture Paul being at the top of his game, Pharisees and maybe lawyers, and I don't know if that's a good analogy, but let's just say that Paul went to law school. He got the degree, his best degree, a doctorate of law or religious studies or someplace. He was it. He had all of the proper names. He had went to all the proper schooling and education, and he counts it as rubbish, as dung. He does not care about one thing that he did in his previous life once he found Christ. And if that is not an example of going all in and finding that pearl of great value and selling everything that you had, doing— giving up everything that you thought your life stood for in order to get this one thing, the knowledge of Christ, and just to get into God so much so that you just don't care if you live or die. It brings me to my favorite scripture, which is Revelation 12:11, "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." This is the sacrificial lifestyle Your testimony is your testimony. Paul has his testimony. The blood of the Lamb has already been spilt. Jesus is not going to die again. He died once for all, and it's a done deal. So we have— Jesus has conquered death and the grave. Jesus has made a mockery of all of the demons in hell. Jesus has all of power, all authority, and he has given us the ability to use all of that power and all of that authority but he's not going to just give it to people who are just standing there in the middle of the road. I don't know what they're doing. I don't know what most Christians are doing standing in the middle of the road, but God is telling you through me, and he's telling me through his word, get out of the middle of the road. Pick a side. I wish you were either hot or cold. And I am obviously talking to the people that are loving Jesus, the people that want to be disciples, the people that want to be mature. If you have just stumbled onto this podcast, this is where I jump up on my soapbox and tell you, get into the Word of God and talk to the Holy Spirit and develop a relationship with God the Father and Jesus his Son and the Holy Spirit who he sent to help us. And I just want to encourage you and just want you to get into his Word. And I just want you to know that if you'll go all in He will. God will show up, and we're going to talk about that in the next episode, but I just want to stop right now. This has gone on longer, my little rant and rave. I've just got to get this out. This is important, and it's very important that you hear my heart. We need to be all in. God is telling us, look, this time is of the essence. We are getting closer to the end, and we need to be all in on on this deal. That is Jesus and the knowledge of him, and we need to just decide where we're going to stand. Let's pray. God, I thank you so much for your word. God, I thank you for your Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, thank you for leading and guiding and directing me and this listener in our daily lives. Lord, I thank you for the protection. I thank you for just loving us enough to send your son Jesus. And Jesus, thank you for coming. And we thank you, we love you. We ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you for being a part of this, and I look forward to visiting with you in the next episode.

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