As you read through the pages, let it be a time of self examination between you and God. Ask yourself these questions, am I just a church goer bound in religion or do I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and has He set me free? If you were to die today, would you make heaven your home for all eternity or would you bust hell wide open? I pray that you will be able to answer without any doubt that you would make heaven your home. Remember, it's religion verses relationship, Hell verses Heaven. It's your choice.

The Warning Before the Storm

By Roxanne Hoffman

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Roxanne Hoffman
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4389-0519-8

Contents

Acknowledgements....................................viiIntroduction........................................ixThe Chilly Church...................................1The Midway Church...................................9The Spoiled Church..................................17The Lifeless Church.................................23The Lacking Church..................................31The Persistent and Loyal Church.....................39The Approaching Storm...............................49The Sinking Vessel..................................59The Thief in the Night..............................71The Overcomer.......................................79From the Author.....................................87Reference...........................................93

Chapter One

The Chilly Church

I can remember The severe snow storms we use to get when I lived in Pennsylvania. I can recall one dark, snowy night as I looked out my window and saw how beautiful it was. The snow was laying on the trees and branches; it was like another world where everything was pure and clean. Then the Lord spoke to me and said, "My child, this is how beautiful and clean anyone can be who has been washed by the blood of the lamb. It doesn't matter how dirty the sin or what it is, but what matters is My word that says though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow (Isaiah 1:18)."

The Bible describes our Lord's appearance as lightning and His clothes white as snow. Revelation tells us that the "bride of Christ will be clothed in the linen (Rev. 19:8)." White represents purity and God is looking for people to love him and serve him with a pure heart. If we love our Father and Lord with all of our heart and soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30), then we will be able to love others the way He wants us to. We must remember that in our own flesh this is impossible, but as we surrender our lives to Him daily, he will take out that natural love in our hearts and replace it with His love.

This is the church that our Lord told Peter that on this rock, I will build my church that the gates of hell will not prevail (Matt 16:18). Then why church is the devil overcoming so many of God's people? Could it be that we pick and choose those ones that we want to love? Why don't we love the way He has commanded us to love? If they have a different skin color, are poor instead of rich, or a different nationality, we must all remember where we have come from and what our Lord has done for each of us. It doesn't matter what the sin was, for a sin is a sin and He died for each and every one of them.

Some of us have been pulled from the gutter of drugs and alcohol. Others he pulled from the wreckage of divorce, a broken family, a cesspool of pornography, adultery, witchcraft, and others He saved from false religion. Why is it that the church judges instead of loving? When the adulteress was brought before Jesus, all those around him wanted to stone her but Jesus said to them, "If any is among us that has not sinned, then cast the first stone." He knew that they all were sinners even though they could not recognize it.

For the Word of God says, "We have all sinned and fell short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23)." He did not respond the way the crowed thought He should of. Instead, He told her, "Go and sin no more." It was the love coming from Jesus that touched this sinful woman's heart. His heart that said I don't judge you but I forgive you. Can you imagine how that woman felt?

For the first time in her life she was accepted and loved for who she was. We are not to condone the sin, but we are to love the sinner. Our reaction and response towards the sinner could determine their outcome. What would your reaction be if a prostitute, man with an earring or long hair, or person with facial piercings came walking down the isle of your church? What about the biracial couples and the woman who has children out of wedlock?

If we call ourselves a Christian, then the answer is simple: we would respond to these people the same way our Lord responded to the adulteress woman, out of love. How are we going to win the lost if we shun them? Let's remember the story of Zacchaeus and how the crowd complained when our Lord honored him with His fellowship. Zacchaeus was despised and hated by all of Israel.

He cheated the people, but Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus, the Great Teacher, whom he heard was the Messiah and Healer. Zacchaeus had climbed into a Sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus as He was passing by. When Jesus saw Zacchaeus, He didn't look at him as a cheating tax collector, but as a servant who invited Him into his home. Jesus honored Zacchaeus, and because of it, salvation came to his household (Luke 19:1-9). This is the love Jesus is talking about.

Ask yourself, how would you have responded? Would you have been cold and uncaring or would you have been full of compassion and love? Too many people want to be in a high position. They think they either need to be on a committee, praise team, or teach to be recognized, but this is a lie from the enemy of our soul. Jesus tells us that, he opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (John 4:6).

It's not about what position we hold with man, but how we serve the Lord. Jesus says that if you want to be first, then you must be the very last and a servant of all (Mark 9:35). If you want to be a lowly servant of the most High it means going unnoticed and unmentioned. These are the disciples that our Lord is looking for and calling out. When he chose the twelve disciples, he did not pick men who had money, fancy homes, a big car, or a high class job, but He picked twelve nobody's.

They were unlearned and uneducated men who would turn this world upside down for Him. We must remember that it's not about positions in a church, but whether or not we serve and love as He did. Let us not forget that our Lord did not come to be served, but to serve and gave His life as a ransom for many (Matt 20:28). How many are willing to lay down their life for a brother? How many are willing to love as He loves?

How many are willing to leave everything behind to follow Him? How many are willing to serve Him, no matter what the cost? Let me answer that for you: not many! That's why He told us many our called, but few are chosen (Matt 22:14). It is time for the body of Christ to rise up and love as He has commanded us to love.

First we must love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Second we are to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt 22:37-39). When we start loving each other despite a person's skin color, how much money he does or doesn't have, and whether he is educated or unlearned, we will then respond to sinners the way our Lord did, out of love. Remember you are to love the sinner, and not the sin. Then, and only then, will we see God move in our lives.

We must do what our Lord has commanded us to do, love. When we seek God's will in our lives, and (His will is obedience to His word) die to self, there is nothing impossible for God. The church needs to stop being so cold and chilly, and start being loving and forgiving. The reason the church is in this condition is because they are filled with too much self and not enough of His spirit, too much doing it man's way and not God's way, too much judging one another instead of loving one another, too much gossip and strife, instead of praying for one another, and too much unforgiveness instead of forgiving the ones who have hurt and offended us. How can we say we love Jesus when we do nothing to help a fallen brother or sister?

How can we say we love Jesus when we do not help those in need or can not love our own family? We need to stop looking at a person's outward appearance and let God show us the heart of that person. Their heart could be crying out for help, the same way each and every one of us cried out at one time. The church is in the condition it is in today because we have not obeyed His word. Don't you think it's time to start taking God at His word?

Let us not forget that love held Jesus to the cross at Calvary and His love is still there today for each and every one of us. As you surrender and allow the potter to remold and remake you, you will no longer have a cold and chilly heart. It will be replaced with a heart full of His compassion, mercy, grace, forgiveness, and love. Let us heed the warning in (Rev. 2:4), repent and return to our first love. There is no other way, because He tells us in His word that on that Day, He will say away from me.

I do not know you, workers of iniquity (Matt 7:22). So let's repent and do the works you did at first. Then you shall eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. What a promise that He has given each and every one of us, who walks in obedience to His word. So don't you think it is time that we glow with our Father's love?

Let not only the lost see it, but finally feel it. A heart full of love, His heart, His love.

THE GIFT
"O" my Lord I need to know,
Why do you love me so?
As I look in the mirror at what I see,
I allow you to open my heart to the real me.
When I fall so short and I'm so full of pain,
I look ahead to the prize I will gain.
When I see the stripes upon your back,
I fall on my knees when I realize how much I lack.
As I seek your face each waking hour,
I pray to be filled with your Holy power.
There are days that I feel that I'm losing my way,
That's when I have to remember the price that you paid.
As I'm swept away by the treacherous waves,
I'll never forget the life that you gave.
As I cry for help and call your name,
I see the Cross and how you were shamed.
When I fight to hold on and can't take anymore,
That's when you allow me to see the crown of thorns that you wore.
So when I am swept away by all these floods,
I then lift my head and thank God for "Your Blood".

Chapter Two

The Midway Church

Many years ago I made my first trip to Israel. I remember climbing up a steep road, and at the top was the garden and the tomb. Halfway up the long stretch of road I did not think I was going to make it. Regardless of how I was feeling, I kept striving until I had reached the top of the long road, which took us into the garden. As I walked through the garden of Gethsemare, I was in awe of how massive the Olive Trees were. They were as tall as they were wide, and later that day I had learned that they were over two thousand years old.

While I climbed down the steps which led towards the tomb, all I could do was cry because I was thinking of what Jesus has done for me. I was so overwhelmed with thankfulness and love. To think if I had quit halfway up that hill, I would have missed out on this priceless experience. Then, why church, is the body of Christ missing out? Why are there so many halfway Christians in the house today?

As I remembered that day, and what Jesus has done for me, I asked myself where would I be today if He only committed halfway to us? Think in the garden, how Jesus was wrestling with His own flesh. His spirit was willing, but His flesh was weak. Knowing what was before Him, He cried out, "Abba Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me, but not my will but thy will (Mark 14:36)."

Jesus did not quit even though He knew what was ahead of Him. He pressed on to accomplish the will of the Father. Thank God He perservered, or we would be in total darkness and death, instead of light and life. Knowing what our Lord has done for us, church, why do we compromise so easily? Why do we have one foot in serving God and the other foot in serving the world?

This cannot be; we cannot be half hearted Christians. We need to be whole hearted believers and followers of Christ. It's time for the body of Christ to arise and go forth in the name of our Lord. It is time we quit condoning sin and compromising our beliefs in order to please man. Jesus was not concerned about offending those in sin or error.

Instead, He pointed them out, trying to get them to repent, but their hearts refused His rebuke. It is time that the church stops living as the world just to please man. Jesus has called us to be different; we are not to talk as the world talks or do as the world does. We are not to party as the world nor are we to entangle ourselves with the sins of this world. Can you imagine how grieved our Father in heaven is when we fall into temptations?

We are supposed to be a witness and example of His son, but we fail because we won't say no. It is better to offend someone by saying no, then to grieve your heavenly Father by saying yes. There is nothing more disheartening than to witness to someone who says they want no part of being a Christian, because all so and so does is talk about their pastor and go to bars. This has happened to me, and because of the compromise in the churches, the world has a sour taste in their mouth for Christianity. I always told people that Jesus loves them and you can not judge a book by its cover.

Jesus delivered his people out of Egypt, so why are we always going back in? It is because we are not content with what He has given us, but we always want more. We get tired of waiting on the Lord so we chose to do things our own way. We want to be more like the Jones when we can't even tithe like He has commanded us to do. Admit it, church, we still want the ways of Egypt.

This can not be anymore, for God said, "Come ye out." A few years ago when I was recovering from my illness, I watched Lifetime movies everyday. Then one day the Lord spoke to me and said, "My child, what are you doing?" I said, "Lord, I am watching true movies." He answered me and said, "Yes, my child, you are. Movies concerning the violence in this world; movies about adultery, rape, and murder."

Even though I tried to justify my actions, I was unable to. I knew at that moment that I had been compromising the word of God. His word says we need to put on the mind of Christ and to think on things lovely, pure, honest, true, and just, if anything is excellent or praise worthy—think about such things (Phil 4:8). I thank God for His Holy Spirit which convicts. I fell on my knees in repentance and from that day forward I stopped watching those types of movies.

We need to get rid of the junk in our lives so we can hear the Spirit of God as He is correcting and convicting us. Jesus warned the Nicolatians about the compromising that they were doing. We have allowed the pagan society that we are living in today to come into the church. It is being taught that spiritual liberty gives them the okay to practice idolatry and immorality. We have over looked this type of behavior for too long.

We are always trying to justify our sins and why we are compromising, but there is no justifying disobedience. God's word says very clearly that His wrath comes on the sons of disobedience (Eph. 5:6). There are too many churches out there today doing it their own way, and seeking their own will. They try to get things done by operating in the flesh, while allowing man to have his own way in the house of God. These churches do not allow His spirit to correct or convict them, and because of it, they have over looked the sin that is in the churches today. Does not God tell us that judgment begins in the house of God (1 Peter 4:17)?

It is time that the half hearted Christians stop justifying their actions and sins. Sin is sin, and there is no justifying it, especially when we continue to do wrong, when we know what is right. We try to justify our actions even though we know they're wrong. For example, watching R-rated movies, going to bars, drinking, and allowing our children to participate in the Pagan holiday of Halloween.

There is no justification when we allow abortion for any reason, saying it's the mother's choice. No, church, it is murder! There is no justification when we allow homosexuals to stand in the pulpit and preach, for this is an abomination to God. There is no justification when you willingly chose to acknowledge and participate in the devil's activities of this world. When we have leaders who are compromising their beliefs and faith to please man, and allowing a man, who is proclaiming that he is the Messiah to be on national T.V., we have a problem. If we stand by and watch, and say nothing, then we also are compromising the word of God.

When we know what is right and we chose to compromise by doing what's wrong, we then open ourselves up. Then, Satan, the enemy of our soul, comes to attack, and we suffer the consequences because of our disobedience. Our actions and our life will either represent Jesus or Satan. We can not serve two masters (Matt. 6:24). We must remember what happened in the days of Noah. They were eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage, and all man kind was destroyed except for Noah's family (which was eight), because they refused to heed Noah's warning.

The church today is still refusing to heed the voice of the Lord, and because of this, they too will be destroyed. If we continue to serve God half hearted and continue to disobey His word so we can satisfy the cravings of the flesh, we too shall perish. Let us remember what Jesus has done for us. If you have been a half hearted Christian and have compromised His word, ask Jesus to forgive you. Remember, He loved us so much, that He finished what He had started up on the tree at Calvary.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from The Warning Before the Stormby Roxanne Hoffman Copyright © 2012 by Roxanne Hoffman. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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