Tag: Rodney Hall

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Are You Really Saved?: Restoring the Path of Salvation

Restoring the Paths of Salvation

The apostle Paul’s words pierce through centuries of comfortable Christianity with surgical precision: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.” Not a gentle suggestion, but an urgent command that demands we stop assuming and start examining.

The Uncomfortable Question

When did we last truly question our salvation? Not our church attendance, our Bible knowledge, or our good works, but the genuine reality of Christ living within us? Paul uses the same Greek word that was used for testing gold’s authenticity. A refining process that reveals what is genuine and what is counterfeit.

Today’s church buildings are filled with contemporary worship, high-tech equipment, and carefully crafted sermons designed to attract and retain crowds. But do we still possess the transformative power that marked the early church? Have we traded radical life transformation for comfortable attendance?

The Diluted Gospel

Somewhere along the way, we’ve softened the sharp edges of salvation. We’ve renamed sin “mistakes” and “poor choices” rather than rebellion against a holy God. We’ve avoided uncomfortable truths about hell, judgment, and the genuine cost of discipleship. We’ve presented salvation as an easy addition to life rather than a complete transformation of it.

The historical revivals in Wales, Wall Street and Azusa, saw businessmen traveling thousands of miles, returning stolen money, and experiencing complete life transformation. Why? Because they preached a salvation that demanded everything and gave everything in return.

The Three-Dimensional Reality

Biblical salvation isn’t just fire insurance for eternity. It encompasses three dimensions:

  1. Past – justification: We were saved from sin’s penalty
  2. Present – sanctification: We are being saved from sin’s power, and
  3. Future – glorification: Our transformation will be completed and we will be saved from sin’s presence.

When we reduce salvation to a one-time prayer without ongoing transformation, we create false converts rather than genuine disciples.

True repentance (metanoia) means a complete change of mind and direction. It’s not merely feeling sorry or asking forgiveness; it’s turning from sin to God. Faith without genuine repentance produces the very problem plaguing modern Christianity: churches full of unchanged people living indistinguishably from the world.

The Mirror Test

James describes looking into God’s Word like examining yourself in a mirror. The question isn’t what we see momentarily, but whether we act on what we discover. Four crucial questions demand honest answers:

  1. Has there been a genuine time of repentance in your life?
  2. Is your life noticeably different from those who don’t know Christ?
  3. Do you love what God loves and hate what God hates?
  4. Are you growing in holiness, or just growing older?

The Narrow Path Forward

Jesus spoke of a narrow gate and difficult way that leads to life, with few finding it. We cannot continue on the broad path of easy believism and expect to reach genuine salvation’s narrow gate.

Restoration requires honest self-examination without assumptions, genuine repentance with specific confession, complete surrender rather than partial commitment, and active pursuit of holiness over personal comfort. Remember Jesus said that if we want to follow Him, we should first “count the cost.”

The Choice Before Us

The comfortable, accommodating gospel that fills religious programming today produces comfortable, unchanged lives. But God’s grace, properly understood, is explosive, transformative power that changes everything it touches.

The question isn’t whether you’ve walked an aisle, raised a hand, or prayed a prayer. The question is whether Jesus Christ truly lives in you, evidenced by a transformed life that reflects His holiness.

Examine yourself. Test your faith. The stakes are eternal, and the time for comfortable assumptions has passed. If we can assist you in your journey please let us know. It’s time to Restore the Paths of Salvation!

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What Happened to the Fear of the Lord?

Young lady following a path to the cross

We live in troubling times. How often have we witnessed the heartbreaking spectacle of pastoral affairs splashed across headlines? How many of us have watched fellow believers manipulate others for personal gain, cheat in business dealings, or tear down their neighbors with vicious words—all while their social media feeds overflow with verses about God’s love and grace?

We all wrestle with self-deception, thinking ourselves above it all. But we have all fallen short of God’s glory. We all desperately need the transforming power of Christ. Somewhere along the way, many of us have forgotten a fundamental biblical truth that our spiritual ancestors understood deeply: the fear of the Lord.

The psalmist declared, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10). This isn’t cowering terror, but a profound reverence and awe for God’s holiness that transforms how we live. When we truly grasp who God is—His perfect righteousness, His hatred of sin, His absolute authority—it should shake us to our core and drive us to our knees in humble repentance.

Consider God’s warning through the prophet Malachi: “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear?” (Malachi 1:6). The Israelites were offering God their leftovers while claiming to love Him. Sound familiar?

The New Testament echoes this same truth. Paul reminds us to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). Peter urges us to “conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile” (1 Peter 1:17). Jesus Himself warned, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).

This holy fear doesn’t contradict God’s love—it complements it. When we truly understand the depth of our sin and the holiness of God, His mercy becomes all the more precious. Grace isn’t cheap; it cost God everything. We must not trample it underfoot by living as if our choices don’t matter?

Let us heed Jeremiah’s ancient call: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16). The ancient path is one of genuine repentance, authentic faith, and lives that reflect the character of Christ.

Let’s examine our hearts honestly. Are we using God’s grace as a license for compromise? Are we posting claiming righteousness while living in rebellion? We must return to the fear of the Lord—not in terror, but in awe-filled love that transforms everything we do. Only then will we find the rest our souls desperately seek and become the salt and light this world needs.

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The Three Rs of Revival: A Call to Transform Hearts and Communities

Seeking Revival

In a world marked by violence, division, and uncertainty, many believers find themselves asking: “Where is God in all of this?” The answer may surprise you—He’s waiting for His people to prepare their hearts for revival. 2 Chronicles 7:14 provides a powerful blueprint for personal and community transformation through “The Three Rs of Revival.”

Recognition: Facing Our Spiritual Compromise

The first step toward revival requires brutal honesty about our spiritual condition. Just as the Israelites in Judges didn’t abandon God entirely but simply added other gods to their worship, many modern believers fall into the trap of “blended worship”—serving God for an hour or two on Sunday while chasing the world the rest of the week.

Today’s idols don’t have names like Baal or Asherah. They’re called Comfort, Culture, Comparison, Control, and Cash. We choose ease over obedience, conformity over transformation, and trust our plans more than God’s purposes. The sobering reality is that Jesus isn’t addressing the world in Revelation 2:4-5—He’s speaking to the church, saying, “You don’t love me, or each other, as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen!”

Before we can experience revival, we must invite the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and reveal where compromise has crept in. As David prayed in Psalm 139:23-24, we must ask God to point out anything that offends Him and lead us back to the path of everlasting life.

Regret: Moving Beyond Worldly Sorrow

The second R involves godly sorrow that leads to genuine repentance. There’s a crucial difference between worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. Worldly sorrow says, “I’m sorry I got caught,” while godly sorrow says, “I’m sorry I grieved God’s heart.” One focuses on consequences, the other on character.

When the Israelites gathered at Mizpah in 1 Samuel 7, their regret wasn’t merely emotional—it led to visible change. They didn’t just feel bad about their idolatry; they actually got rid of their false gods. Their sorrow produced transformation, not just tingles.

God desires sincerity over ceremony, genuine repentance over religious performance. As Joel 2:12-13 reminds us, He wants us to “tear our hearts” instead of our clothing, returning to a God who is “merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.”

Restoration: Tearing Down and Rebuilding

The final R requires radical action. King Josiah provides a powerful example—he didn’t hide the idols or store them as backup plans. He completely destroyed them and demolished the false altars.

Paul echoes this in Colossians 3:5, calling us to “put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you.” What needs to die in your life today? Pride, pornography, prejudice, prayerlessness, passivity?

Like Elijah on Mount Carmel, we must rebuild the altars that have been torn down. Only then does the fire fall. Only when we prepare our hearts through recognition, regret, and restoration can we experience the revival we and our communities desperately need.

A Call to Action

The signs around us aren’t signals of defeat—they’re indicators of harvest time. Wars, violence, and confusion create the perfect backdrop for God’s people to shine like stars in the darkness. Revival doesn’t begin with better worship services or bigger buildings; it begins with humble hearts that pray, seek God’s face, and turn from wicked ways.

The question isn’t whether God is still in the revival business—He is. The question is whether we’re ready to die to ourselves so revival can live through us. As Jonathan Edwards resolved: “I will live for God. If no one else does, I still will.”

Revival starts with recognition, deepens through regret, and manifests in restoration. The fire falls on the altar that has been prepared. Are you ready to prepare yours?

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Why Revival Won’t Bring Unity

waterfallCan a new Great Awakening style revival bring unity to the Church? Many are praying, crying out and prophesying it today, but I’m sorry to say it just won’t happen.

As much as we need a renewed spiritual life in the church, and as much as I believe that God is going to pour out His spirit on all flesh in the days we are living, it simply will not bring unity.

Although the word revival is a fairly new invention in the historical perspective of the church, the pattern of falling away and returning to God has occurred repeatedly throughout recorded humanity. Each “revival” brought as much division as it did restoration.

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How to Make Your Attitude Work for You

attitudeThere is a much better and more effective way to apply your positive attitude in a way that will actually yield results. Things do not happen because of a feeling, they happen because you know the rules and are willing to apply some hard work.

With all the Positive Mental Attitude (PMA) talk floating around the self-deception trap has never been easier to fall into. While a positive attitude is very important in pursuing your dreams, there is a point when it turns evil.

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Are You Undermining Your Future?

In 1955, psychologists Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham devised a technique called the Johari Window. It’s purpose is to help people better understand themselves and their relationship with others. It has been tweaked a lot over the years by Psychologists and Life Coaches, but the principles are still the same. The diagram helps explain the model.

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Double-Agents?

doubleagentsEven after all these years, there is a clear image in my mind of the Nuclear Radiation symbol that adorned the stairwell of my elementary school. I vividly remember the drills where we were told to get under our desks or to walk quickly to the fall-out shelter in the basement of the building.

During the cold-war, these events were the norm for children all across America. We lived under a very real threat that the Soviet Union or one of its allies could launch nuclear missiles at any time. Growing up a little over one-hundred miles south-west of the nation’s capital and less than two-hundred miles north-west of the largest Navel Station in the world, made us very aware of our potential as collateral damage in a nuclear exchange.

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Five Responders to the Culture War

Cultural WarI have been astonished and saddened by the level of unadulterated vitriol and hate that is being spewed group against group in our country. As I have watched the decline of civil society over the past several decades, I have been increasingly concerned about a coming civil war.

No, I’m not referring to another North against South, nor do I believe it will necessarily end up as a conventional conflict. I am more concerned with clashes between races, religious groups and political ideologies. I am concerned that warfare might be gang and gorilla style, with riots, murders, rapes, theft and the like. More than physical bombs, I have been concerned about the destruction of personal economies, freedom of speech and the inviolability of our personal thoughts and moral convictions.

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Is Greece A Sign of the End?

GreeceAs Greece dances in the streets, the world teeters on the brink of financial and political collapse. Irresponsible and narcissistic impulses have seemingly seized control of the nations financial system and correspondingly our world economy.

I watched in horrified amazement this week as the people of Greece celebrated their recent electoral decision to stick their collective tongues out at their creditors. In some ways they are like little Oliver Twist holding out their beggar hands saying, “Please sir, may I have some more.” The biggest difference is that the people of Greece are not saying “please.”

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10 Surefire Ways to Destroy Your Christian Witness

witness1. Be a Hypocrite

This classic approach is one of the best ways to make sure that your non-Christian friends never take you serious about Jesus. It also provides them with an excellent example they can use when they advance the argument that all Christians are Hypocrites.

 

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