Crosswinds Today  

"A Ministry of Crosswinds International" 

     Dr. Ronald Powell

Today's Message 

Mediocrity

(The Beginnings of Apostasy)

Do you give your best or do you accept mediocrity?

Mediocrity In the Church Today 

What does Mediocrity Mean?

• Biblical Words for Mediocrity are Luke warm or Savorless.
• Defined: lukewarm - feeling or showing little interest or enthusiasm; "a halfhearted effort"; "gave only lukewarm support to the candidate"
• half-hearted, halfhearted, tepid
• unenthusiastic - not enthusiastic; lacking excitement or ardor; "an unenthusiastic performance ";

Mediocrity once accepted becomes a standard

• Mediocrity, once accepted doesn't just reflect itself in the classrooms or on our jobs; it shows in a variety of areas, even in service to God.
• There are many believers, both adults and youth, who believe that it is acceptable to give mediocre service to God.

      What does Mediocrity look like?

Mediocre service is just enough to get by.

• It's a show your face mentality that prompts believers to give less than their best in their areas of service to God, then make excuses to explain their lackluster service.
• The mediocre preacher never prepares what he will preach.
• The mediocre Musician or Vocalist rarely rehearses their songs to perfection.
• The mediocre deacon shows up but gives little service otherwise.
• The mediocre church member shows his face occasionally bur rarely gives any quality service.
• Mediocre Givers, tithe to the penny but never a penny over.
• Once mediocrity is accepted it becomes the standard and very little is expected otherwise.

What God Desires

• Mark 12:30 (NIV)
• ³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
• Mark 12:30 (AMP) And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment.

God Warns The Lack Luster Believer,

• Revelation 3:15-19 (AMP) ¹⁵ I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth! ¹⁷ For you say, I am rich; I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and you do not realize and understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. ¹⁸ Therefore I counsel you to purchase from Me gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be [truly] wealthy, and white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, that you may see. ¹⁹ Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].

Explanation of the Scripture

• In picture, this passage divides people into those who are cold, those who are hot, and those who are lukewarm.

1-    The Cold

• Those who are cold would either be the lost or the backslidden believers. Either way, they are so far from God that they simply need to be reached.
• They are the mission field.  They do not know the warmth of God in them. They do not rouse God's anger as much as the lukewarm because they make no claim on spirituality.
• They are cold and know it.

2-    The Hot

• Those who are hot are those who are on fire for God. They are full of zeal and vehement desire for God and His ways.
• (2 Corinthians 7:11 (AMP) For [you can look back now and] observe what this same godly sorrow has done for you and has produced in you: what eagerness and earnest care to explain and clear yourselves [of all complicity in the condoning of incest], what indignation [at the sin], what alarm, what yearning, what zeal [to do justice to all concerned], what readiness to mete out punishment [to the offender]! At every point you have proved yourselves cleared and guiltless in the matter. [I Cor. 5.]
• They have addicted themselves to the work of Christ.
• 1 Corinthians 16:15-16 (AMP) ¹⁵ Now, brethren, you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts and our first fruits in Achaia (most of Greece), and how they have consecrated and devoted themselves to the service of the saints (God's people). ¹⁶ I urge you to pay all deference to such leaders and to enlist under them and be subject to them, as well as to everyone who joins and cooperates [with you] and labors earnestly.
• They are sold out to God and the cause of Christ.

3-    The Luke Warm

• Those who are lukewarm know the working of Christ in their hearts. They want to be known as Christians and consider themselves to be adequately spiritual.
• However, they have never sold out to God.
• They continue to dabble in the world and hold on to the pleasures of this life.
• They are half-and-half Christians.
• They are lukewarm. Below are some verses that describe the lukewarm saint either directly or in type .

Below are some verses that describe the lukewarm saint either directly or in type .

• 1 Kings 18:21 (AMP) Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you halt and limp between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him! But if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.
• James 1:5-8 (AMP) ⁵ If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. ⁶ Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord, ⁸ [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].

Another Word for Luke Warm

• World English Dictionary Defines Backsliding
• backslide  (ˈbækˌslaɪd) - vb  , -slides , -sliding , -slid , -slid , -slidden ( intr ) to lapse into bad habits or vices from a state of virtue, religious faith, etc 'backslider
• Some Examples Referencing the Backslider:
• 1 Kings 11:9 And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice.
• Galatians 3:1-3 "You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" (NIV)
• Revelation 2:4 "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love."
• Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
• Galatians 5:4-7 You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor un-circumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? (NIV)
• Exodus 32:8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
• Proverbs 26:11 (NLT) As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.
• 2 Peter 2:20-22 (NLT) ²⁰ And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. ²¹ It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. ²² They prove the truth of this proverb: "A dog returns to its vomit." And another says, "A washed pig returns to the mud."

What The Bible Prophesy's about our Day

• "Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being assembled to meet him ... Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion [in the original greek: apostasy - 'great falling away'] comes first, and the lawless [one] is revealed, the son of perdition..."    2Thess 2:1,3 
• "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils..."   1Timothy 4:1
• "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord..."   Amos 8:11 

APOSTATES

•      Before Christ's second coming a GREAT APOSTASY or simply put, FALLING AWAY OF GOD'S PEOPLE... is prophesied to take place. 
•      Meaning, the True Church will denounce God's truth -  And turning to a false doctrine will institute a total abdication of its beliefs. 
•      It will be an abandonment of the Word unlike anything that has ever happened in the history of Christianity! 

What the Bible Says if one does not repent

• Proverbs 28:13 He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.
• Proverbs 28:14 Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.

How to Cure Mediocrity/Backslidings

• Revelation 2:4-6 (AMP) ⁴ But I have this [one charge to make] against you: that you have left (abandoned) the love that you had at first [you have deserted Me, your first love]. ⁵ Remember then from what heights you have fallen. Repent (change the inner man to meet God's will) and do the works you did previously [when first you knew the Lord], or else I will visit you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you change your mind and repent. ⁶ Yet you have this [in your favor and to your credit]: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans [what they are doing as corrupters of the people], which I Myself also detest.
• Jeremiah 3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
• Jeremiah 3:22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
• Jeremiah 3:13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
• Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Prayers of Repentance From Backslidings in Scripture

• Psalms 51:1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
• Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
• Psalms 6:4 Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake.
• Psalms 32:5 I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
• Luke 15:18-20 (AMP) ¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; [just] make me like one of your hired servants. ²⁰ So he got up and came to his [own] father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity and tenderness [for him]; and he ran and embraced him and kissed him [fervently].

Our Ministry to the Backslidden

• Show Love By Trying To Bring Backsliders Back To God
  Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
• James 5:19-20 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

Closing

• A warning to us all:
• 1 Corinthians 10:12 (AMP) Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands [who feels sure that he has a steadfast mind and is standing firm], take heed lest he fall [into sin].

A Call to the Church Remain Faithful

• Jude 1:17-23 (NLT) ¹⁷ But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ said. ¹⁸ They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. ¹⁹ These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God's Spirit in them. ²⁰ But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, ²¹ and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God's love. ²² And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. ²³ Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.
• Today, resolve to do your absolute best in everything. God will be well pleased.
• Be Excellent in all you do for God