Monday, February 4, 2008

Christians Might Be On Your Side

7) There are more Christians on your side than you think, but they are afraid to say so. Romans 11:2-4 1 Kings 19:18

Romans 11:2 God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God
against Israel, saying,
3 "LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life"?
4 But what does the divine response say to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."

1Ki 19:18 "Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him."

1 Samuel tells what happened when King Saul and his son Jonathan went to battle against a superior Philistine army. 1Sa 13:6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger (for the people were distressed), then the people hid in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in holes, and in pits.

Then, it tells what happened when God gave victory to Jonathan and Saul:
1Sa 14:21-23 Moreover the Hebrews who were with the Philistines before
that time, who went up with them into the camp from the surrounding
country, they also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.
22 Likewise all the men of Israel who had hidden in the mountains of
Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, they also followed hard after them in the battle.
23 So the LORD saved Israel that day...

There is a tendency of people to avoid being on the losing side, even if the losing side is right. Many Christians will actually attribute this to wisdom. Others will claim that if you had not mishandled the situation, you would not have wound up being the loser. But if you win, those same people will want to identify with you.

I was saved in 1969, when I lived in Pennsylvania. Thirty eight years later, I have seen pastors in that area come and go. I have seen Christians who disagreed with a pastor be removed from authority, and years later, when the pastor was gone, the same Christian was a leader. Christians who stay in the same church over a period of decades will sometimes find themselves out of favor for years, and then suddenly be regarded as a fine spiritual leader. And do you know what else? When the Christian becomes a leader, all kinds of people who had never helped him want to be associated with him! Are these
people proof of God's blessing?

And here's a good thing to remember: Jesus entered Jerusalem on a Sunday, while the people cried out "Hosanna to the Son of David!" Four days later,they cried out "We have no king but Caesar!" Your duty is to obey God, whether other Christians will back you or not.

Ac 18:9 Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be
afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent;
10 "for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city."