HYPROCRITES:The Attractive Christian HYPROCRITES: Today one of the reasons why people do not become a follower of Christ is because they attended a church service with one of their relatives or friends and they study their friends or relatives lifestyle during the week and realize that it is no better than there’s, and they claim Christians as hypocrites. Or for the people who did become a Christian and they do not have any godly friends to help them grow, they fall away from God and do the same things that they have always done. The greatest single cause of atheism is Christians, Christians who have a hypocritical lifestyle, and that’s what a lost and dying world seems so amazing. Some Christians think that we instantly get a license to sin once we become a Christians, they think that it’s ok to; get drunk all the time, sleep with prostitutes, have an abortion, do what they want, and so on and so forth, They think all they have too do is come to God and ask for forgiveness and God will forgive them and they can do the same things over again. But they don’t understand the word REPENT, repent means to turn 180 degrees away from our sin and give it to God and moving on and not doing it again through God’s help. O h it may not be instant, and through God it will take time. When we became a Christian our sins and habits did not go away instantly right? Repenting is a refining process which only God can help us do. It’s not through our will on our own, but it is through God’s. Whoever led you to believe that when you accepted Christ and told you that your sins would instantly go away lied to you! SUNDAY CHRISTIANS: There are many people out their called “Sunday Christians”, people who claim to go to church and believe, and only go to church on Sunday. During the service they might be the ones who fold their arms During worship or sleep during the sermon, because they think it’s boring, and then during the week, pardon my expression, they live like HELL. During the week they claim the have no time for God, when they can make time, they are usually the people who think that we have a license to sin. Then there is the rest of us, “The Disciples of Christ”, the ones who talk to God on a regular basis, study the word daily, sin and repent, go to church because they want too, and worship God whole heartedly. Friends which one are you? The Bible says in Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Friends if you’re the “Sunday Christian” having a car in the garage does not make it a part of the garage, does it? It’s the same way of you going to church; going to church does not make you Christian... And if you can’t decide the Bible says in Revelation 3 16 so, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth. And for all those So-Called Christians who jumped on the band wagon because they thought that being a Christian is some sort of new fad, your confused... Christianity is more than a fad more than a religion Christianity is a lifestyle. THE CHRISTIAN REPUTATION: We as Christians need to change our reputation, we have been called; “Hypocrites”, “Holly Rollers”, “Bible Thumpers”, “Church Goers”, “Church Boys & Girls”. So many Christians have lived in the past so long and think that we as Christians have to be so Holly when the truth is that we are a sinners, and they think that we need that “Old-Thyme Religion”, when we really as Christians have lost one of our fruits of the spirit which is JOY. Our reputation needs to change so that we people who don’t know Christ will want what we have. For an example; you walk into a Denny’s, and you see the waitress bring the customer next to you a big whole hunk of piece of New York Cherry Cheese Cake, and your mouth waters for a taste of the delicious dessert, and you rudely interrupt the waitress and you loudly say, “ I’ll have what he’s having”. That’s what our Christianity needs to be like, like the hunk of desert. We must be attractive and not hypocritical. How We Become An Attractive Christian: 1. We become attractive when we let go of the past, and realize that tomorrow is a brand-new day, and allow other’s to make mistakes because we are all sinners. 2. We let God control us and we let the fruits of the spirit live out loudly, which are; “love, Peace, Patients, Kindness, and most importantly Joy. The Bible says in Psalm 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. The Ten Commandments 1 And God spoke all these words: 2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 "You shall have no other gods before [1] me. 4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. 8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. 13 "You shall not murder. 14 "You shall not commit adultery. 15 "You shall not steal. 16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 4. We have a personal relationship with God, daily studying his word, and seeking his face in prayer, having a personal relationship with him. If we do these things than our reputation will change and we will become like that New York Cherry Cheese cake, and we will become attractive, Then people will want to become followers of Christ, because they have a good example of what a Christian should be, and they will change their mind, just like the press did on Mel Gibson’s movie “The Passion of The Christ”. We as a universal church as Christians need to become attractive and forever stand together and create a wave and sweep the world by storm, that people will want to come to know Christ, and that all of the stadiums of the world and the churches will hold services 24/7 around the world and it would be so big that they would have to turn people away and the people that were turned away would have their own service in the streets and it would be effective just like the domino effect. I am not saying that it WILL necessary happen, but it could as long as Christians become attractive. REVIVAL: Some things have changed since the days of the old Isuzu Street Revival, and the old tent meetings of Oral Roberts, Christians have become uglier; giving a list of does and don’ts watered down teachings... I am not trying to say that we need to be like the old days, but we need a revival in these times that we are living in. Revival doesn’t just start with God; it starts with you, you becoming an attractive Christian, having people having what you have.