One of the overwhelming, and greatest, themes of the Bible is that God can, will, and does use imperfect people. God somehow reaches through our hurts, hang-ups, fallings, and failings and uses an imperfect person to accomplish an awesome goal. A goal that person would have been helpless to achieve on their own with their own power. A goal greater then themselves. 

Sometimes these goals are short term quickly achieved goals, but most often these designed and divinely inspired ends take time; months, years, and even decades. Although a 16 year old girl may feel ready for marriage God will have to bring her through years of maturing to make her a "suitable helper". I have known plenty of 19 year old Bible college students ready to take on a full time pastorate or a 300 member youth group, yet find themselves for upwards of a decade in small country churches learning how to feed a few sheep before given a full flock.

When push comes to shove history has shown that when God's timing doesn't align with our own "waiting on the Lord" quickly becomes a rushed decision ending in an undesired consequence. Girls marry the first guy with two legs and an engagement ring no matter how wrong "Mr. Right" is. Young Bible College students jump at the biggest church they can find only to resign burnt out months later. 

Now, yes, the Bible shows us examples of men and women who waited on God to move through them, others, or circumstances like Noah who proclaimed for 120 years of an impending flood. Or Jacob who waited for decades to see God's ultimate purpose revealed after being sold into slavery by his brothers and thrown into jail on false charges of rape. However, patience isn't a Godly characteristic that we learn over night. Paul, in Galatians, referred to it as a fruit; something that will take time with the proper care, maintenance, and pruning to harvest. When we attempt to harvest the fruit of peace before it has reached maturation we have something that resembles patience, but lacks the true essentials of what patience looks, talks, and acts like. If you have ever bitten into a Persimmons that was still hanging on a branch you know exactly what I mean. 

Genesis tells us the story of God speaking to the old man Abraham about a nation coming forth from his loins and the womb of his barren wife Sarah. For an older man without an heir these words were gold, yet time had already passed him by and would continue to do so with no son being born for years to come after this initial word from God. Abraham did what most of us do when God's timing didn't come fast enough; he made a decision to speed up the will of God. Sarah gave Abraham her concubine in order to produce the long sought after heir (Ishmael). Sometime later Sarah would give birth to a son, Isaac, but the damage had been done. Sarah's concubine looked with contempt at Sarah causing a rift in the camp that would ultimately lead to the descendants of Ishmael feuding with the descendants of Isaac. 

1 Samuel tells the story of the imperfect king Saul who couldn't wait for the prophet Samuel to arrive to prepare and offer the sacrifice. After his patience runs out Saul offers the sacrifice himself only to have Samuel show up moments later. This display of impatience was so haughty in the eyes of God that Saul's place on the throne was removed that day. 

In both cases the consequences of these mens decisions weren't felt immediately. Although impatience may lead us to making a rushed decision that was not the will of God the due consequences may not be so fast. Abraham would not live long enough to see this sibling rivalry turn into war, however, Saul would reign long enough to see his ultimate successor come into his court before trying to kill David out of pride and fear. 

Although waiting for Christ to move in our situation is often tough it is always better then making our will God's. We can allow for time and let the fruit of patience to develop in our lives or we can lose faith and force the future to happen and live with the consequences that take us out of God's will. 

As Moses said, I have set before you life and death. Choose life. 

In case you haven't heard the Rapture is occurring this Saturday.(it's really a shame it couldn't have waited until Sunday. Imagine the sight when millions of people suddenly vanish in the middle of Church while the rest of the congregation sits dumbfounded). We have no choice; it's going to happen in 3 days whether we like it or not. And if you aren't lucky enough to get "caught up" then be sure to dot your "i"s and cross your "t"s before October 21st when God will destroy everything and anything on this Earth.

Forget Jesus said that no one knows the day nor the hour of his return. Push aside the idea that Jesus said he would come like a thief in the night. While we're at it let's not even think about how a rapture means Jesus would somehow having a second coming twice or how the doctrine of the Rapture may have been a convenient way for Dispensationalists, in the early 1800's, to jog around doctrinal problems.

Heck babe, we got insight and knowledge no one else in the previous 2000 years of the Church (wait isn't that how most heresies get started). It's called a formula! While we're at it let's use some Bible code repeat patterns to confirm it. 

None the less, if you want to be properly prepared for the Rapture this Saturday here are a few suggestions before you leave this earth:

• Since you won't have access to the internet after Saturday you better 
• shut down all social interaction websites so someone doesn't hack into your account and falsely lead people into believing you were left behind because you tweeted or checked in at Red Lobster
• go to this website and fill out the forms so your non-believing friends will know why you're gone
• find somebody willing to run your fantasy baseball team. It's one thing to be raptured; it's a whole other issue to be raptured and have your fantasy team in last place. 
• Because we know the day, but not the hour you had better find your self in a safe solitary place. Don't make any plans. The last thing we want are cars, trucks, boats, and planes operating recklessly without a driver if you were suddenly raptured. I would suggest sitting in the recliner in the living room, and while you're at it you may as well have your Left Behind books and movies out to pass the time until the inevitable happens. Somewhere Kirk Cameron is nodding approvingly. 
• If you have a service, prayer gathering, home group, etc... before Saturday be sure to bring up the idea of selling the church. You sure won't need the building Sunday!
• In case you haven't written a will do so now. With you gone family members will bicker and fight over your possessions. Save them the headache now. 
• Make plans for pets, and loved ones who will still be here. Your dog can not feed itself, and your mother-in-law can't get her mail without someone picking it up at the post office. 
• Finally, be prepared to wake up Sunday and act like yesterday never happened. Life will go on, this prediction will soon be forgotten, and we can patiently wait until this formula is accurately corrected and we have the real date of the rapture. Whenever that is. However, don't lose the fact that one day Christ will come back for his Church. It took 120 years, but eventually the flood Noah spoke of happened.  

When we think of judging their is one verse that always comes to mind. Heck, people who don’t even read the Bible know this verse. 

Mat 7:1 Judge not lest ye be judged…

When such issues as smoking, drinking, pre-marital sex, homosexuality, gambling, and other controversial issues arise this is the verse that many use or refer to as they defend their actions or the actions of others. However, realize the Bible was not written in English (by the way Jesus didn't speak in ye olde English either folks), but in Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew. Matthew was written in Greek, and thus reads and translates like this… 

κρίνω μή ἵνα μή κρίνω, Krino me hina me Krino 

Which literally translates into, CONDEMN NOT AND YOU WON’T BE CONDEMNED.

So is their a real difference between judging and condemning? Yes there is. A judgment is a decision based upon the presented facts. Condemnation is a decision based upon nothing but pure emotion and feeling. Judges make a judgment after hearing both sides of the argument and all the evidence. We condemn others or things based on how or what we feel. No where in the Bible are we given permission to condemn others. No where does God tell us to go out with posters and banners and yell, “God hates fags”. We as people are freed from condemnation as it states in Romans 8 because of Christ’s death for our sins. 

Now what did the apostles and other New Testament writers say about judging. Is it good, bad, either or? Paul speaking to the mixed up church at Corinth speaks about a report he hears of a man sleeping with his mother in law. The Corinthians think they are doing something good because they are not judging the new couple and loving on them. Paul tells them…

1 Corinthians 5:1 Now, it is actually being said that there is sexual immorality among you so terrible that not even the heathen would be guilty of it. I am told that a man is sleeping with his stepmother! 2 How, then, can you be proud? On the contrary, you should be filled with sadness, and the man who has done such a thing should be expelled from your fellowship. 3 And even though I am far away from you in body, still I am there with you in spirit; and as though I were there with you, I have in the name of our Lord Jesus already passed judgment on the man who has done this terrible thing.

Paul speaking to the church tells them that he has passed a judgment on this person for what they have done, an authoritative judgement by the way, his judgment in verse 5 is to ask the man to leave the church so he can get his priorities together. Paul saw a problem in the church and wanted to address it as quick as possible before it got even worse. Paul saw a slippery slope and wanted to avoid it even at the cost of asking the man to leave for a time. It may sound harsh but Paul was looking out for the welfare of the church. Even if it offended a man and his mother in law. 

Do we have any other instances where Paul judges or calls out someone? Numerous times in fact. While writing to the church of Galatia he talks about an encounter he had with the apostle Peter in which he called him out and, judged him in front of a crowd about his hypocrisy…

Galatians 2:11 When Peter came to Antioch, I told him face to face that he was wrong. 12 He used to eat with Gentile followers of the Lord, until James sent some Jewish followers. Peter was afraid of the Jews and soon stopped eating with Gentiles. 13 He and the other Jews hid their true feelings so well that even Barnabas was fooled. 14 But when I saw that they were not really obeying the truth that is in the good news, I corrected Peter in front of everyoneand said: Peter, you are a Jew, but you live like a Gentile. So how can you force Gentiles to live like Jews? 

The last Apostle to die, John, while writing to the church leader Gaius states…

3 John 1:9 I wrote a letter to the congregation. But Diotrephes, who loves to be in charge, won’t accept us.10 For this reason, when I come I will bring up what he’s doing. He’s not satisfied with saying malicious things about us. He also refuses to accept the believers we send as guests. He even tries to stop others who want to accept them and attempts to throw those people out of the congregation. 

John states that when he is there he will bring full attention to everyone about what this guy is doing.

The next thing we look at is what did Christ have to say about judging? We have already discussed his words are not to condemn rather then judge. What else did he say about judging? 

After healing a man and giving him his sight the Pharisees accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath. Jesus states…

John 7:24 Stop judging by external standards, and judge by true standards.”

Look at the heart of the matter and see what’s really going on. Not what you think is going on. 

Also, Jesus talking about if you see someone close to you doing something wrong then you…

Matthew 18:15 “If your brother sins against you, go to him and show him his fault. But do it privately, just between yourselves. If he listens to you, you have won your brother back.16 But if he will not listen to you,take one or two other persons with you, so that ‘every accusation may be upheld by the testimony of two or more witnesses,’ as the scripture says. 17 And if he will not listen to them, then tell the whole thing to the church. Finally, if he will not listen to the church, treat him as though he were a pagan or a tax collector.

As we can clearly see we are told to judge. In our politically correct, lets be tolerant of everything and everyone in an effort not to offend, United States we can see we have a clear objective to weigh out the evidence and speak out and against what’s going on. If you haven’t noticed a pattern, here with all of these writers, a pattern follows that Paul establishes that we are to keep today…

1 Corinthians 5:12 After all, do I have any business judging those who are outside the Christian faith? Isn’t it your business to judge those who are inside? 13 God will judge those who are outside. Remove that wicked man from among you.

Our judgments are to be made against people inside the church. How foolish is it of us to expect people who don’t know God to live like they do. Paul tells us to worry about those who claim to be Christians because God will take care of those who aren’t. 

Now before you start handing out judgments to those around you realize 3 key things. 

(1). Before you start trying to tell people what’s wrong with their life look at your own and see what needs to be done for yourself. Their is nothing worse then an alcoholic getting mad at people who go to the bars and get drunk. Their is nothing worse then self righteous snobs who see the problems in every one elses life but fail to see their own failures. Jesus speaking…

Matthew 7:3 Why, then, do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the log in your own eye? 4 How dare you say to your brother, ‘Please, let me take that speck out of your eye,’ when you have a log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite!First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

(2). Realize the intent of judging isn’t to make people feel horrible about their sin, to shame them, or humiliate them. However, its in a hope to help lead them back into righteousness. Though they maybe too blind to see it; your help may point it out to them. Although it may hurt telling them, a true friend helps their friends see the truth. No matter how ugly it is. Paul talking about the man sleeping with his mother in law…

1 Corinthians 5:5 You must then hand that man over to Satan. His body will be destroyed,but his spirit will be saved when the Lord Jesus returns.

Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 18 that we talked about earlier. You talk to the man or woman about their sin in a hope to restore fellowship and bring about reconciliation.

(3). Even though we are told to leave the unbelieving world alone as in a judging sense we are still told to warn others those inside the church and outside about it. Speaking to the young pastor Timothy…

2 Timothy 4:14 Alexander the metalworker did me a great deal of harm. The Lord will pay him back for what he did. 15 Watch out for him. He violently opposed what we said. 

When we as Christians, or I frankly, speak out against porn, homosexuality, or any other sin we don’t do it in a judging way where we condemn the people to Hell because of their actions. But rather we bring to light what is done in darkness in a hope to restore people to a God who loves them no matter what they have done or will do in their life. If you have felt condemned by mine or any other believer’s words I apologize for us all. Our intent is not to hurt but to help lead you to the cross. Once you arrive it’s your decision to follow Jesus or walk away. It will not be said of me that I forced Jesus down your throat. Jesus wants us to come to him by our own free will, not out of religious duty or by subversion. 

If you are a Christian I hope this helped you better understand our roles in calling things out and warning others about what’s going on in this world. If you are not a believer in Christ as the son of God and as the sacrifice once and for all for our sins then I hope this helped you to understand the word and our (us as Christians) position better when it comes to things like porn, alcohol, drugs, sex, homosexuality, gambling, and other worldly things