LOST IN THE CHURCH [BEING LOST IN CHURCH] Part Eight The Name of Jesus There are many things that are closely associated with the Lord Jesus, and some have even been given His great name. However, people need to understand that these things are not Jesus Himself. Therefore, building one's faith upon such things or worshipping them can be a great deception. Being close to the Lord, or even being called by His great name, does not necessarily mean that something is worthy of our worship. This means that a person can become lost before the Lord—or even become lost in church. Satan spent all his time in the presence of the Lord, enjoying His glory, beauty, and blessings; nevertheless, he fell. Judas Iscariot was privileged to eat at the Lord's table. He heard the profound wisdom and extraordinary words that the prophets of old longed to hear; yet he also perished. This happened because they gave created things the place that belonged to the Lord. The name of Jesus is an extraordinary gift given to the true Church throughout the world for salvation. However, we must understand that Satan has also been permitted to use that very same name on earth for evil purposes and destruction. Therefore, the Church must be extremely careful. Not everyone who mentions the name of Jesus Christ, or identifies themselves by that name, is from God. Not everyone who calls themselves a Christian is truly a Christian in their heart. Not every institution that bears the name of the Lord has come from God. One of the greatest things I have observed in this world is that the Lord Himself can bless an institution, a church, a person, or a thing without actually dwelling in it. And that is one of the saddest dangers! Remember Ishmael, the son of Abraham. God blessed him even though he was not the one through whom God's covenant purpose would be fulfilled. > Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!” Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.” Genesis 17:18–20 And concerning Ishmael, Scripture clearly says that the son of the slave woman will never share the inheritance with the son of the free woman. Read Galatians 4:30. The meaning here is that the Lord blessed a person who would nevertheless not inherit eternal life together with the children of God through the covenant represented by Isaac. My brothers and sisters, among the most frightening forms of deception taking place in the Church in these last days is the misuse of the name of Jesus. If a person cannot discern the spirit behind every minister who comes before them, then they are already in serious danger. > “For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many.” Matthew 24:5 One of the difficult statements in the Bible that I thought I understood well—but which took me many years to understand properly—is this statement in Matthew 24:5. For a long time, I thought those false ministers would come in His name claiming that they themselves were Christ. But that is not necessarily what the Lord meant. The correct meaning is that these false ministers would come in His name while openly acknowledging that He—Jesus—is the Christ. They would not necessarily claim to be Christ themselves. In simple terms, these false ministers would come into the world confessing that Jesus is Lord and Savior, and they would use the name of Jesus in their ministries, yet they would actually be agents of Satan. Do you see how dangerous that is? What makes it even worse is that we have often interpreted this Scripture incorrectly. But the Lord said, “many will come.” He did not say a few would come. He said many. And notice that He did not say these people would belong to only one particular category—such as prophets, apostles, or miracle workers. Therefore, we should understand that He was warning about many different kinds of ministers: prophets, apostles, teachers, pastors, evangelists, miracle workers and those who do not perform miracles; those leading large churches and those leading small churches, and so on. I say this because there has been a deception among people who think they only need to fear miracle workers, false prophets, large-church leaders, or apostles. But beloved, let me tell you something: in my experience, one of the greatest forms of deception I have seen in the Church is being under a false pastor. And may God help me as I say this! Deception does not exist in only one place. Everyone can be prepared for a particular kind of deception—according to what they believe, what they understand, and what they are looking for. There is no weapon that is always used from a distance. Scripture says: > “A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.” Matthew 10:36 If you fear today's miracles, false prophets, apostles of anointing oil, and similar things, you are certainly right to be cautious. But understand this: those may be weapons that are too distant for someone like you. Satan, who is full of cunning and deception, a master of lies and the father of much deception, may never use such obvious weapons to trap someone like you. Instead, he may send you a false pastor who performs no miracles at all, someone whose ministry perfectly matches your beliefs, so that you can trust him completely. Then you may gradually be fed false teachings that have no life—teachings that have an outward appearance of godliness and reverence for God, yet are built upon false wisdom that contradicts the power and priorities of the Holy Spirit. That, my brother and sister, is where you can truly become lost. Also understand clearly that the false ministers I am speaking about can be of two kinds. There are those who have consciously made an agreement with Satan and therefore know exactly what they are doing. And there are those who do not even realize that they are false ministers. They themselves have been deceived by false teachings. They are also products of false teachers. Many of these are the religious leaders of our time—the Pharisees of the Pharisees of this generation. And these can be among the most dangerous people, because they were the very kind of religious leaders who even participated in the rejection and crucifixion of the Lord. Therefore, submitting yourself blindly to such ministers is a truly frightening thing. May Almighty God have mercy on us all. Amen! #ToBeContinued... Mwl. Ernest Nyalula +255752057664 #LostInTheChurch #Discernment #ChristianFaith #TruthOfTheGospel #JesusChrist #SpiritualDiscernment #BiblicalTruth #Christianity #FalseTeaching #KnowTheWord

LOST IN THE CHURCH [GETTING LOST IN CHURCH] Part Four Keeping the Law No one will enter Heaven by keeping the Law. For no one can keep all the Law without stumbling even in one point. And whenever you break one law, you have broken all of it. Essentially, the Law was not given to the world to save people. It was given to reveal the sin that exists in the hearts of human beings and then show them that humanity needs a Savior—Jesus Christ! So, it is strange that Jesus has come, yet people have refused to go to Him and instead have gone back to the Law. If the Law could save, then what was the purpose of Jesus dying on the cross? It would have been enough simply to send the Law into the world, and it would have accomplished everything. My brothers and sisters, sin is not merely an action; sin is a condition of the heart. For example, when someone steals, people immediately judge the action. But they may fail to understand that the action has only revealed the sin that already existed within that person's heart. Therefore, before God, that person is a thief even before the actual act of stealing, because God looks at the heart. For instance, if you give a person a law that says, “Do not steal,” and that law succeeds in preventing him from stealing 100% of the time, you have only succeeded in controlling his body from expressing sin outwardly. You have not removed the sin from his heart. Therefore, at its very best, the Law cannot make a person's heart pure. And Scripture clearly says that no one will see God without a pure heart. Matthew 5:8 Therefore, anyone who approaches the Law in order to become holy has been seriously deceived. I compare such a person to someone who goes to a traditional healer to have a demon removed. What the healer may do is not remove the demon but merely suppress it—controlling it so that it does not cause trouble while it remains inside. Jesus alone is able to transform you when you come to Him. He can change your very nature. My brothers and sisters, the Lord did not come into the world looking for good people, perfect people, people who never sin, or people who are capable of perfectly keeping the Law. He came looking for people who recognize their need for His help, who will believe in Him, and above all, who will love Him. Keeping the Law Under the New Covenant Whenever people hear about keeping the Law, the first thing that often comes to mind is the Old Covenant and certain churches that emphasize the Law. Because they consider themselves churches of salvation, they may think this message does not apply to them. But from the perspective of “Getting Lost in Church,” this message may actually apply even more to spiritual churches than to others. There is a great danger in reading the New Covenant through the mindset of the Old Covenant. Someone may think that perhaps praying for a long time, fasting frequently, or performing many religious activities will make God accept them. Someone may think that because they attend church every day, do not commit adultery, do not lie, give generously to God, help the needy, serve in church, sing in the choir, preach, or have a good relationship with the pastor, they will automatically be allowed into Heaven on the last day. Many people in church have been deceived by these things. They even look down on others because they believe they themselves are safe. Now, I am not saying that doing these things is wrong or unnecessary. Not at all. Rather, a person should do these things after they have already encountered the Lord. Keeping the Law without encountering the Lord or being born again is an insult to the cross of Calvary. If someone could enter Heaven simply by doing all these things, then why did Jesus have to die on the cross? So, salvation is not primarily about what we have done, but about what the Lord Jesus has already done on the cross. Outside the cross of Jesus, there is no true love, no holiness, no righteousness, no relationship with God, no Christianity, and no salvation. Therefore, when we look at the cross with grateful hearts and connect it to everything we do, we enter into His love and develop a relationship with Him. And we know that the life of every relationship is communication. Without communication, there can be no genuine love or meaningful relationship. Have you ever had a relationship with someone you love who was far away from you, while the two of you stopped communicating? Even in English, we say: “The more the communication, the stronger the relationship—and vice versa.” This means that the degree to which a person hears from God and communicates with Him determines the closeness of that person's relationship with God. For the Word says: “My sheep hear my voice.” John 10:27 #ToBeContinued... Sir. Ernest Nyalula LostInTheChurch #JesusChrist #GraceNotWorks #TheCrossOfChrist #NewCovenant #SalvationByGrace #BornAgain #ChristianTruth #BiblicalTruth #KnowTheWord #FaithInChrist #KingdomOfGod #LordBook #Christianity #SpiritualGrowth

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Whether it’s been a tough week or a peaceful one, our midweek gathering is the perfect moment to refocus on what really matters. 📖🔥 Let’s worship, pray, and grow together 🙌 📞 Call today: +256772 995241 🌐 Visit us: freedomchapelfellowship.org #KnowTheWord #LiveTheWord #FreedomChapelFellowship #FaithInAction #BibleTruth #WalkingWithJesus #DailyDevotion #GospelLiving #ChristInUs #UgandaMinistry