Crisis Of Faith 2 by Apostle Femi Lazarus: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Bible Does Not Hide the Imperfection of the System

People have pain. If they start talking, it would make anyone shiver. What about those who were sick, or those who lost loved ones — people too good to die, people who served God all their days — and the question arises: where is God in this? Those questions must be brought to the table honestly. And in the areas where the church has been wrong, it must admit it was wrong.

Some people, when sick, are locked up in a church or hospital while others claim to be praying for them — until they become emaciated and die. That is not faith. That is abuse of faith.

Philippians 1:15

Paul himself addressed this. Some preach Christ out of competition and controversy, jealous over the way God has used others. Others preach with grace and love, knowing they have been destined for the purpose of defending the revelation of God. Those who preach Christ with ambition and competition are insincere.

The Bible is not hiding the fact that someone can come with the Bible and intend to do something bad. There are those who preach Christ with ulterior motives. They have something else in mind, but they have learned that the best way to reach people is to come in the name of Jesus. Some have seen ministry as the fastest way to make money. They have motives and do not even know the work.

The Word Can Be Weaponized

The Bible is the word of God — but it can be weaponized against people. The issue is in the hand that holds it, not the object itself. A journal is a journal. In the wrong hands, it becomes a weapon. The same is true of scripture.

Most problems are not about who God is — but about how badly those who represent him have behaved, using the same word that should give life to kill instead.

They come with bad intentions dressed in suits and ties. Once people hear God's name, they soften. That is the access point. And they exploit it.

The Church Can Be Hacked

Revelation 2:1-2

To the church at Ephesus, the Lord said: "I know your works and your labor and your patience, and how you cannot bear those who are evil, and you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars."

Revelation 2:8-9

To the church at Smyrna: "I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews but are not — they are the synagogue of Satan."

The Bible did not hide the fact that what is called church can be hacked — by the ignorant, by the wicked, by the vile — and hacked for their own purposes. It does not take much to hack it.

Here is the balance: bank tellers learning to identify counterfeit money are not given bad notes to study. They handle the genuine article long enough that anything false stands out immediately. If a person keeps focusing on what is bad, it will carry them away like a river — sinking deeper into despair, going down and down until they cannot come up again.

The Bible is complete. It tells you there will be false apostles, false prophets, false teachers. God did not hide from his people the fact that the system is imperfect. Pastors should stop pretending to be perfect.

Do Not Hang Your Faith on Men

The Bible said many will come in his name and lie, deceive many, swindle them, collect their money, rob them, exploit their families. These things are not a surprise — they were prophesied.

What is absurd is when a Christian says: "These celebrities were showing us marriage was possible — now they've broken up. I don't believe in love anymore." What a person says with their mouth matters. Faith built on watching celebrities is not faith built on Christ.

One of the major tools the devil will use in the last days is discouragement — using people to discourage other people, using events to erode faith.

The question that follows is: if this person fell, who am I? And from there, faith begins to waver. That is the exact moment to hold on to Jesus like never before and say: until the end, even if all men forsake you, keep me standing.

Luke 18:8 — when the Son of Man returns, will he find faith on earth? Because there will be shakings.

Do not make Peter's mistake. He said he would never leave or forsake the Lord — his confidence was in his own loyalty. When it got dark, he ran. He denied him three times. The confidence that comes from self will fail. The confidence that comes from knowing the one who is able to keep is different.

Jude 1:24

"Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy."

Personalize it: you are able to keep me from falling. You are able to keep me to the very end. You are able to keep me till the end of days.

The church is a big family. It is not a perfect one — that is a fact. But the answer is not to abandon it. The answer is to work it out together, by being different, by changing the narrative.

Jesus, keep me until the very end. Even if all men forsake you, let me be found standing. Not in my own strength — my own strength will fail like Peter's. But in you, the one who is able to keep me faultless before your glory with exceeding joy. When discouragement comes through people, through events, through the failures of those who claimed to represent you — let my gaze remain fixed on you and not on them. You are able. Keep me.