"That We Would Praise Him!"

"Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders." (Psalms 107:32)

 You would think that people would not be so hesitant to give God praise, after all, He did rescue us from the fires of hell! But, it seems that there is not much mention of hell these days; at least not in a way that declares the true salvation we have been given. Many sermons today are given as not to offend anyone, or to make people feel as comfortable as possible, so that they might keep coming back. This is hell we are talking about, a place of eternal torment; if people end up going there, then it is too late to get them back, forget about coming back to a church building, they need to be kept out of the fires of hell! The way I see it, we cannot exalt the Lord without mentioning why He went to that cross, what it means when the Bible says, "That none should perish," and perish is not a church building, it is eternal damnation away from God. The Greek word is "apollymi," and pretty much means "to destroy." I remember when I first was introduced to Ray Comfort's book, "Hell's Best Kept Secret," it reminded me of the importance of letting people know why that it is they need to be saved. Many people walk around with the attitude that they are good, that there is nothing they really need to be saved from, and that they are just fine right where they are. The world does everything that it can to make people unaware and not believe in the eternal, it's all about temporary life that must be made to get the most out of, because tomorrow we die. No one wants to think about what might happen after death; as a matter of fact, the way I see things going, we will soon be arrested and charged by trying to persuade someone that there is a judgement after death. Here is California it is a crime to try and tell someone living a gay lifestyle that it is wrong, and that they have made a choice to sin against God by doing so. So, what is the difference by telling anyone who is not saved that they must be saved or face going to hell? It's not just about offending people anymore, it's about causing them to not feel comfortable and feeling ashamed. We cannot do that, because it could cause them to need to be medicated or put on a suicide watch. There is where we are headed, so we better start praising God for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men, and we better start being bold and loud, while we still can...

"Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers and elders of our people, are we being questioned today because we've done a good deed for a cripple man? Do you want to know how he was healed? Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it say, 'The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.' There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved."" (Acts 4:8-12) NLT