Completed Joy Sermon

Here is my sermon from 5/1/11: Completed Joy

To Acknowledge Christ Means...

Here is my sermon from last Sunday:  To Acknowledge Christ means...

Here is the slides to go with the sermon: To Acknowledge Christ

Sermon: In the Midst of Darkness 3/13/11

Here is the MP3 for the sermon that I preached last week.  It loosely follows this post: In the midst of dark times.

Do Not Judge?

This is a follow up to my previous sermon, "The Time is Now."

Audio: Do Not Judge

Text:

"I did one work, and you are all amazed," Jesus answered. "Consider this: Moses has given you circumcision-not that it comes from Moses but from the fathers-and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses won't be broken, are you angry at Me because I made a man entirely well on the Sabbath? Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment."
John 7:21-24 (HCSB)

Stop judging according to outward appearances rather judge according to Righteous judgment. After my last sermon I had some come to me to question the notion that teaching that God's word says that we are not to judge generally was evil. Today I would like to cover three areas. First I would like to clarify the idea that suggesting that God does not want us to judge is evil. Second I would like to pull from the Scriptures what unrighteous judgment looks like. Finally I would like to explore with you was righteous judgment looks like.

Teaching "Do not judge" is plainly evil in my estimation. First let me explain what I mean by evil. Something that is evil can be worthless in and of itself, a perversion of the original, degenerate, and/or destructive. Something that is evil can also be morally wrong, with intent to hurt others, violent, Atrociously wicked, and or/lewd. I think one could make the case for the latter list, but in this instance I am using evil in the sense of the first list. The teaching is worthless in and of itself, the teaching is a perversion from the original, the teaching is degenerate, and the teaching is destructive.

Do not judge is a worthless teaching because it self-contradictory. A person saying, "Do not Judge" is in fact judging. They contradict themselves if they mean by "do not judge" to be a moral imperative. Any teaching which contradicts itself is meaningless and worthless. It is like trying to drink water from a glass that has no bottom. I keep pouring water into the glass but when I raise it to my mouth there is nothing inside for me to drink.

Do not judge as a moral imperative is a perversion of the original. In my last sermon I explained that Jesus was not in fact teaching the moral imperative to not judge, but rather dealing with the issue of hypocrisy. I will cover hypocrisy more later in the sermon. The phrase "Do not Judge" occurs a handful of times in the Bible. Yet the command to judge accounts for more than 50 references in the Bible (based on a quick count) including more than 20 in the New Testament. If Do not judge is a moral imperative then why would God include the command to judge. Why would God appoint Judges in Israel's history, why would there be an entire book of the Bible dedicated to this period talking about those that judged righteously and those the judged unrighteous. The answer is that in the cases that the phrase "do not judge" appears, the command is conditional and not absolute. That is to say do not judge hypocritically, do not judge unbelievers, do not judge with condemnation, do not judge with unforgiveness, do not judge according to flesh, and so on. The imperative to not judge has more to do with the heart and motive of the person doing the judgment than for the act itself. To suggest otherwise is really a perversion from the original Word of God.

Do not judge as a moral imperative is a degenerate teaching of judging righteously. It focuses exclusively on the things to avoid in judging righteously and completely throws out the rest of the teachings. It has a form or godliness, but denies the moral imperatives of God to act righteously toward others. For example how can one defend the orphans and widows unless one has perceived and judged that there is one that is doing them harm? "Do not judge" is an abandonment of of our moral responsibilities to the world around us. "I cannot help, because I judge no one" is morally reprehensible to me.

Do not judge as a moral imperative is destructive. When church which is the body of individuals coming together under the headship and authority of Christ lose their ability to stand strong in times of moral chaos both the world and the body of Christ suffers. I think of:

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It's no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled on by men.
Matthew 5:13 (HCSB)

We are salt 1) To arrest the decay of an immoral society, and 2) That we can bring goodness and light to a lost world. "Do not judge" is about as bland as one can get. It only requires one thing, to do nothing. There is no saltiness in such a teaching and so it is no longer good but to be trampled on by men. Perhaps that is why there is no reverence from society regarding the things of God; We have lost our saltiness. With the moral calling removed then decay and hopelessness set in without the possibility of redemption. "Do not judge" conceals sin by saying nothing about it.

The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
Proverbs 28:13 (HCSB)

I wonder how one would possibly come to a knowledge of sin without another first proclaiming what sin was. Yet the "do not judge" teaching prohibits such proclamations. They are after all passing judgment about the morality of others' behaviors.

Let me be clear, a gentle kind person with great sincerity could possibly bring forth the teaching of "do not judge." They could be very pious in every way. They could possibly even be a gentle and loving soul toward others. However, if they hold to the teaching "do not judge" they will destroy themselves and those that listen to them. In the end my assessment of such a scenario is that the teaching is evil.

With that being said, I do not believe nor does the Bible teach that all judgment is good. In fact the Bible has much to say about unrighteous judgment and we would be wise to learn what God's word says about this type of judgment. Let's take a look at that next.

Do you really speak righteously, you mighty ones? Do you judge people fairly? No, you practice injustice in your hearts; with your hands you weigh out violence in the land. The wicked go astray from the womb; liars err from birth.
Psalms 58:1-3 (HCSB)

"Do you really speak righteously?" That is among of the most important questions you can ask in this life. Our words really do matter and how we use our words reveals our heart:

A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart. An evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart.
Luke 6:45 (HCSB)

When we judge it has to be in a righteous manner. It must be in accordance to God's righteousness and not with our thoughts of what is right. God is the standard and we set ourselves to play God in others' lives when we ignore this fact.

The first way that we can fall into unrighteous judgment I have already covered, but it bears repeating. God hates hypocrisy.

Smooth lips with an evil heart are like glaze on an earthen vessel. A hateful person disguises himself with his speech and harbors deceit within. When he speaks graciously, don't believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart. Though his hatred is concealed by deception, his evil will be revealed in the assembly.
Proverbs 26:23-26 (HCSB)

Do not drag me away with the wicked, with the evildoers, who speak in friendly ways with their neighbors while malice is in their hearts. Repay them according to what they have done- according to the evil of their deeds. Repay them according to the work of their hands; give them back what they deserve. Because they do not consider what the Lord has done or the work of His hands, He will tear them down and not rebuild them.
Psalms 28:3-5 (HCSB)

Jesus reserved his harshest words for those that dealt with others hypocritically.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and every impurity. In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Matthew 23:27-28 (HCSB)

And later in the passage he says:

Snakes! Brood of vipers! How can you escape being condemned to hell?
Matthew 23:33 (HCSB)

When we judge hypocritically we become the object of God's displeasure. Paul in speaking to the Romans and to us says:

Therefore, any one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. We know that God's judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. Do you really think-anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same-that you will escape God's judgment?
Romans 2:1-3 (HCSB)

Some might say then it is better not to judge then to fall under the severity of God's judgment. I say no. It a lukewarm response from a lukewarm Christian that says, "I do not judge, because to judge is hypocritical." and then does nothing. The first part to avoid hypocrisy is true enough, but the second part to do nothing is completely against God. Sometimes we see the sins in others, but what we really see when it is spiritually discerned is the sins in ourselves. Our response to sin in our own lives ought to be repentance. We need to deal with sin in our lives that we would be effective in ministry for God. Without repentance we are disqualifying ourselves from the Lord's work. I do not suspect that God will say, "well done, you really did nothing to Glorify Me, but at least you avoided hypocrisy."

The second class of unrighteous judgments is with partiality. The most common way to show partiality is with money. In it's most gross form unrighteous judgment occurs when a person takes a bribe to pervert justice. However, it can also occur when we give personal preference based on social class or some other outward measure of a person. We can be guilty of judging with harsher judgment those that are unlike us without really examining the facts and discerning righteously. God shows no partiality and desires that we do the same. When partiality comes into play it distorts our judgment and perverts justice.

A third class of unrighteous judgment is according to outward appearances. Jesus said:

Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment.
John 7:24 (HCSB)

He was responding to the Pharisees for criticizing Jesus for "working" on the Sabbath. His work was healing a person. We can become so consumed in our judgment that we allow our judgment to blind us to the good that is going on. In this case Jesus is saying is it more imperative that we follow the letter of the Law or that we follow the spirit of the Law in order that we might do good. This is not an excusing of sin, but at times we have many things at play and judging for the higher good sometimes means that we need to look beyond the appearance of things.

The forth class of judgment would be judging according to the flesh. Jesus said:

Ye according to the flesh do judge; I do not judge any one, and even if I do judge my judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent me;
John 8:15-16 (YLT)

When we judge according to our own flesh or according to human standards and leave God out then we judge unrighteously. This type of judgment is looking at a situation or person through the lens of human judgment. We can fall into this trap when we allow our personal preferences, or our personal ideas of the right or wrong way to do things to become the standard for our judgment. Yet Paul clearly explains:

For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it.
Romans 7:18 (HCSB)

and

For the mind-set of the flesh is hostile to God because it does not submit itself to God's law, for it is unable to do so. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 8:7-8 (HCSB)

When we judge according to the flesh it is my understanding, in light of Romans 7 and 8 that we cannot please God and are hostile to God. We must keep our flesh in check if we are to judge righteously.

A fifth type of unrighteous judgment is judging according to ascetic practices, foolish debates, or according to doubtful things. Paul says:

Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things.
Romans 14:1 (NKJV)

Oh how often we are led into great disturbances over doubtful things. Sad really it seems that as I survey the landscape of Christianity including my own life I find that we pay far more attention to doubtful things than to the things of God. When we judge a brother on doubtful things then we judge unrighteously. We also become a stumbling block to our brother or sister in Christ. Our judgment becomes their downfall. This type of judgment is unrighteous then on two counts, first that we are placing importance on doubtful things and two that we cause our brother or sister to stumble. In Romans 14 Paul lists food, drink, and day that is observed to the Lord as doubtful things. To this we can add to the list: particular religious observances, ascetic practices, severe treatment of the body, foolish debates, arguing over words, genealogies, jealous quarrels. These are promoted by a false sense of humility and righteousness, but have no power in and of themselves to curb our sinful nature according to Paul's letter to the Colossians 2.

I wonder though if there could possibly be other doubtful things that we pass judgment on and become a stumbling block to others. I actually have many things that come to mind as I reflect on this. I do not want to share them keeping with Paul's admonishment to not enter into disputes over these things I believe it is better in this case to keep my opinion to myself. One way I believe that we can determine if a thing is doubtful is whether or not the Bible specifically addresses a topic or there is a principle that is taught in the Bible that can be brought to bear on that situation. The specific topics and principles of the Bible cannot be doubtful and must be upheld. All other things are doubtful and it probably best that we do not dispute over these things. Not that we cannot appreciate or even enjoy doubtful things, but to argue with a brother or sister over it is destructive.

The final class of unrighteous judgment that I would like to cover is speaking evil of others. This evil speaking is a type of judgment that is condemning and against the other person. This type of judgment has very little if any grace and it not really with the intent of restoring a brother or sister. It is raw running a person down condemnation. This is evil speaking. It is often slanderous and derogatory. Speaking evil can also be about someone and not to someone. However, speaking evil of someone behind their back is not any better than speaking evil to their face. In one way it is worse, because you add the sin of gossip to the sin of unrighteous judgment.

So what then? With all these types of unrighteous judgment it would seem that it is better not to judge. However doing nothing in the face of great evil does not seem to be an admirable quality. So how is it that we can judge righteously? Righteous judgment is accomplished by upholding God's Righteousness, in fairness, with wisdom, with forgiveness, redemption, and reconciliation as motives, and moved by the Holy Spirit.

The action of our judgment will change based on who we are dealing with as well. Whether we are witnessing to unbelievers, dealing with hostile unbelievers, confronting false teachers, addressing self-proclaimed believers that continue in gross immorality, or a brother or sister that has recently fallen into sin. To address all the nuances that each of these situations would bring up would take quite a bit of time and possibly several sermons, but for the sake of time let me just briefly go over what generally constitutes Righteous Judgment.

We must first and foremost hold up God's righteousness. Injustice under God's law is a threat to justice everywhere. We have to recognize that God's justice is higher than our justice, God's law is higher than our law, God's righteousness is higher than our righteousness. In the end God is higher than any feeble attempt on our part to accomplish anything of worth. That is why we need to judge righteously according to the righteousness of God. The standard for this righteousness is the very word of God. Before we start casting stones though we must understand the complete record of God both New and Old Testaments and how God is calling his church to manifest His righteousness which is quite different than the way that He appointed Israel to manifest His righteousness. This will require regular study of the Bible.

We must examining our own self first. If we judge without a serious self-examination then we will become like the hypocrites that God despises. But if we have an attitude of,

Brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so you also won't be tempted.
Galatians 6:1 (HCSB)

Then we will judge righteously.

We must be fair and impartial. The moment we become partial and do not defend the defenseless and make our judgment conform to our personal preferences we pervert justice and our judgment is not true.

We must be wise. The beginning of wisdom is the respect and honor and fear of the Lord. Judgment is not to be rushed into as fools are known to do. But rather is to be graciously weighed out and contemplated. Not that we stand in indecision. We have whole body's of believers and denominations that in the effort to weigh things out put off making a judgment on issues that are plainly addressed in God's word as if were not clear. Indecision is not wise.

In judgment forgiveness, redemption, reconciliation, and health of the Body of Christ (Church) must be central to our motivation. These can be summed up in that we are to love others. At times love requires judgment. In fact not judging can be one of the most unloving acts one can do. Simply stated if I am unwilling to let you know you are about to fall into a pit for fear of do not judge and let you fall into it then I have not loved you. Love in this case requires sound judgment. On the other hand if condemnation is our way then we put ourselves in God's role of judge, become self-righteous, and God's grace is not in us. We should always speak in a since desire to see reconciliation. Even when we have to move to discipline.

And if anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take note of that person; don't associate with him, so that he may be ashamed. Yet don't treat him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother.
2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 (HCSB)

Finally, but certainly not least our judgment must be moved by the Holy Spirit.

Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. But the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God's Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. For who has known the Lord's mind, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
1 Corinthians 2:10-16 (HCSB)

In the end to judge moved by the Holy Spirit is to have the mind of Christ.

There is much more that I desire to share with you, but I fear that if I continue you would not hear what I have to say. This has been a longer sermon so let me just sum up a few points before we move to a time of invitation and commitment.

First "Do not judge" as a moral imperative is evil because it is self-contradictory, perverts the original meaning in God's word, it abandons our moral responsibility to the world, and becomes destructive to the world around us as well as the church.

Second, we judge unrighteously when we judge with hypocrisy, with partiality, according to appearances, according to the flesh, in deputes over doubtful things, or to speak evil to or about others.

Finally if we want to judge righteously then we must judge, according to God's righteousness, examining our own self first, with fairness and impartiality, with wisdom, motivated by redemption and love, and moved by the Holy spirit.

Dear friends we live in a time that the world will label us intolerant and judgmental. To escape this label our natural tendency will be to either not judge or to judge unrighteous. We must on the other hand chose to stay the narrow course of Righteousness.

Let me close with this

I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of His appearing and His kingdom: Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, be serious about everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
2 Timothy 4:1-5 (HCSB)

And now let Paul's Charge to Timothy become our charge that we might fulfill the ministry that God has set out before us. Now is not the time to shy away. Let's pray!

Sermon: The Time is Now (7/11/10)

Here is my sermon from last Sunday.  I am working on some posts about anger.  But it is taking longer to develop than other posts.  I expect I will have some of them out by the weekends.  God bless you all.

Audio: The Time is Now

Text:

A recent letter to Reverend Billy Grahm reads

DEAR BILLY GRAHAM: Does anybody really believe in the devil anymore? You wrote something in your column recently that made me think you did, but I thought that kind of thinking went out with the Middle Ages. — R.C.L.

DEAR R.C.L.: It has been said that one of Satan's most successful strategies is to convince people that he doesn't even exist. Another surely must be to make people believe that he is simply a harmless, comic character (with, for example, a pitchfork and a red suit)...

...Yes, Satan is real, and we see evidence of his evil workings every day. How else can you explain the irrational acts of violence and terrorism that ravage our world? How else can you explain the way we fall for his temptations, although we know they'll only bring us disaster?

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/09/2073663/billy-graham-satan-is-real-and.html#ixzz0tNoq6t49

Evil Exists

We should not be surprised when we hear of evil things and evil people. We are often shocked and terrorized by evil. However evil permeates our very existence. Laws are not made for people who keep the law, but for those that break the law. The reality of evil is so strong that we do not even need to get beyond ourselves to come face to face with the reality of evil.

So I discover this principle: When I want to do what is good, evil is with me.
Romans 7:21 (HCSB)

However Paul gives a cure for this:

All those led by God's Spirit are God's sons.
Romans 8:14 (HCSB)

Being led by the Spirit of God is our cure for evil. However, there are many who reject the offer of salvation through Christ that do not have the Spirit of the living God. For them evil is a very present reality that holds the the distinct possibility that their actions will be at least influenced by, and often controlled by evil. Over time we are lulled to sleep by those in power making us unaware of this very present evil that touches us everyday. The evil exists. It exists in many forms! We can not be unaware of this fact.

We also cannot be fearful of this fact. That evil exists there can be no question, but fearing evil can be equally damaging to our calling and mission. If you fear evil you will be sidelined and ineffective for God. God has a plan and purpose for your life. If you fear evil you will never accomplish that purpose in my opinion. Ours is fearless pursuit or at least it should be.

Don't get me wrong there is fear, but not of evil. We ought to fear God. God is awesome in power. He strengthens the feeble. He appoints the rising and falling of nations. His power sustains our very existence. We are held in the palm of His hands. We are here out of the goodness of His grace. The blast of His breath would completely annihilate all of existence. His power, His Majesty, His righteousness, His piercing knowledge is what we ought to fear. These minor evils that so hold our attention are nothing absolutely nothing compared to the awesome power of almighty God.

Jesus said:

Don't fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:28 (HCSB)

Yes we ought to fear God and not evil.

So how can we deal with evil? First we must realize that there is not only evil, but there are evil men as well. That is not to say all that do evil are hopelessly evil there is time to repent and turn to God. There are a class of men that have given themselves to evil. That is to say they have embraced evil with the full knowledge of evil. They are not deceived as much as they are simply rebellious. These men and women come from all walks of life. Some are poor, some are rich, some are pleasant and nice, some are mean and gruff, some will flatter you with pleasant sayings, some will curse you with vulgar words, Some will look like the very image of perfect love, some will pour out venomous hate. These men and women are destined for destruction. They have an appetite for violence. This violence is not always physical, at times it is emotional, psychological, but it is always spiritual. Spiritual violence is there creed. They twist the goodness of God in order that God would be seen as evil and man as good. At times they are very stealthy and proclaim God, but upon closer examination the God they claim is not really God, but simply and extension of the evil that is in their souls.

Sometimes this special class of evil humans penetrate the very walls of our churches.

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their unrestrained ways, and the way of truth will be blasphemed because of them. They will exploit you in their greed with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced long ago, is not idle, and their destruction does not sleep.
2 Peter 2:1-3 (HCSB)

These false prophets and false teachers will lead many astray. It is not those lead astray that bear the greater guilt of evil committed, but those that are especially evil and false that will face greater destruction in God's judgment. It is hard though, because at times the false teachers and false prophets seem like the nicest people in the world. How could they do so much good and yet be false. Their intent is not on leading others to the Lord, but rather on a personal lust for money, power, or praise of men. It looks good on the surface, but in their hearts is a great wickedness. We cannot be for one moment be held in the captivating speeches of these evil men and women. We must be with great clarity of thought, strength of wisdom, recognize the very lies that pour from their mouths. The sewage that is their teachings cannot be tolerated no matter how sweet they make it sound. Sewage is sewage no matter how sweet.

We must at first be willing to break with all that is false in ourselves. But there is a great lie, great deception that seeks to destroy the very core of God's Church, to destroy the foundation of this living body, to soil the wedding garment of the Bride of Christ. My dear friends if you did not know it already we are are war with this evil. Its desire is to destroy us. Evil knows that if good is out of the way then it will reign. The deception is quite simple. It is a dagger pulled from the very scriptures themselves. It his put on by these hateful, deceiving lying murderous evil men and women. Yet is sounds a pure as the whitest of whites. Do you want to know what it is?

God teaches us to not judge others.

If you have sympathy for this statement, then let me tell you as plainly as I can, "Repent or be destroyed by this utterly false belief." If you do not feel a sense of revulsion at the belief that "God teaches us to not judge others" then I say it is time to wake up, open your eyes, and get angry! The devil has had a great sway over the church in this one belief. It has become the center piece of Christianity in the United States. Yet the premise to not judge is completely illogical. I would go so far as to say the only way to not judge is to be dead. Our brains are completely incapable of not judging. You might find a few Buddhists that will claim that they have achieved this state, and yet if you spend any time with them at all you will find they too judge. Judging is a very core of conscious awareness. So why would Jesus make such an outrageous statement to not judge? The plain truth is that he did not. In fact the passage that is most often quoted as the central teaching of "do not judge" is not really about judging, it is about hypocrisy.

This is what the false teacher will say to you:

Do not judge, so that you won't be judged (Matthew 7:1).

Seems pretty straight forward. It is Christ saying plainly to not judge. What the problem is that the verse has been taken out of context. What these false teachers will conveniently leave out is in verse five.

Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
Matthew 7:5 (HCSB)

Jesus was not condemning judging. It was hypocrisy that was his focus. Jesus is plainly saying that to judge others you must have first examined your own life and got that right. Once you have examined and removed sin from your own life, then you will be able to help others with sin in their own lives. You see Jesus turns judgement into a loving act in which you take care of your sin in order that you can help others. Strange that we do the exact opposite. In our effort to avoid being judgmental we avoid helping others. You see that is the trick. If you do not judge, you do not see, if you do not see, you cannot help, If you do not help you cannot love. Love is the way. Jesus loves you too much too leave you in sin. We ought to do likewise.

Shocking isn't it. If you are brave enough can you raise your hands if at any point in your life you believed that the Bible taught us to not judge others. I know I have. Yet this is just one teaching among many that these evil false prophets and teachers are pouring out into mainstream Christianity in the United States and around the world.

I want to draw your attention to one more thing before moving on. In this same passage that is often quoted as saying God teaches us to not judge Jesus says:

Don't give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.
Matthew 7:6 (HCSB)

Two things:

One, if God teaches us to not judge then how in the world can we determine if someone is a dog or a pig. The teaching contradicts itself and is therefore complete nonsense.

Two, Jesus seems to be saying that our judgment ought to be reserved for those that are like us seeking to get sin out of our lives. Those that are dogs and pigs ought to be avoided all together.

Evil can also manifest itself in government. You see government is the power over people. And evil power hungry people will use government to carry out their evil plans. We need to recognize that it is not the government itself that is evil, but rather becomes evil when disreputable men usurp it's authority. When these men and women hold positions of power we are not to fear. We are called to witness.

You will even be brought before governors and kings because of Me, to bear witness to them and to the nations. But when they hand you over, don't worry about how or what you should speak. For you will be given what to say at that hour, because you are not speaking, but the Spirit of your Father is speaking through you.
Matthew 10:18-20 (HCSB)

When evil men use government to destroy us their intent is overcome. Why? By bringing us to the public square we have been given a greater audience than if we simply remained quiet in our homes. Government is the servant of God, so when evil men use it to advance their agenda it will always fail. Our job as believers is to stick to the message and not be turned. We do this by trusting in God. I think of the Prophet Daniel at this point. There were evil men that intended to use the government to destroy him by setting him up. How did Daniel respond? He kept on doing what he had always done and trusted God. As a result he was given a platform to speak the words of God that was much wider than he had before these evil hateful murderers started. He even may have had the opportunity to witness to the king in the process.

The wonderful truth in all of this is that the Holy Spirit of God is there with us giving us the words to speak when that time comes. We are simply a vessel that carries God's message to the nations. He never leaves or forsakes us. If they mock us then we will draw the attention of others, if they fine us we will see a flood of financial support, if they take us to court Christ will be our attorney and they will stand condemned. If they imprison us our followers will grow in number. If they murder us our voice will scream from the grave robbing our enemies of sleep and encouraging the faithful to greater works that we could imagine doing on our own.

Do you get it dear friends? There is nothing that evil can do to triumph over us when God is on our side. There is no thing that can silence the Holy Spirit of God from taking the message to the world. We have nothing to fear. However:

If you do nothing in a difficult time, your strength is limited.
Proverbs 24:10 (HCSB)

Doing nothing is limiting according to God's Word. He has a plan for us we are to:

Rescue those being taken off to death, and save those stumbling toward slaughter.
Proverbs 24:11 (HCSB)

We are on a mission to rescue lost, dying, deceived souls. We have a responsibility to love hurting and suffering people. Their very lives depend on our faithfulness to the cause. We have a high responsibility to accomplish the task. Ignorance is no excuse:

If you say, "But we didn't know about this," won't He (God) who weighs hearts consider it? Won't He who protects your life know? Won't He repay a person according to his work?
Proverbs 24:12 (HCSB)

Brother's Sisters it is time to get out of our complacency, our comfort, our easy living. Wake up there is a war going on here and our time to act is now. No excuses.

"No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."
Luke 9:62 (HCSB)

What is to be our response to evil? Jesus said:

Therefore be as shrewd as serpents and as harmless as doves.
Matthew 10:16 (HCSB)

The serpent always symbolizes Satan from the beginning of the Bible to the end. It seems a strange thing for Jesus to say that we need to be like Satan in some way. However, if you have any military background at all you will understand that Jesus is saying that we must think like our enemy. It is not a pleasant exercise, but we must begin to think if I was evil, what would be the best way in infiltrate and destroy my life, the life of my family, the life of my church, the power structure of education, government, religion. You many not want to bear the thought, but the fact is that the Satan and the forces of evil in this world are planning your, our destruction. He is actively looking for a way to either destroy you, sideline you, or render your walk with God ineffective. When Jesus says to be as shrewd as serpents" He is plainly telling us to think like the enemy. We need to understand his ways. Why? If we do not then we will be caught unaware in evil's trap.

Yet harmless as doves. The Dove in the New Testament is a very obvious symbol of the Holy Spirit. In our understanding the enemy and nature of evil there is a risk of becoming like them. Our protection is the connection to the Holy Spirit of God. We cannot fall into using evil to overcome evil. That also is a trick of the Devil. If evil can sway you to act evil then it will gladly sacrifice itself for the greater victory of having you destroyed, sidelined, or ineffective. We must allow the love of God to flow through us by His Spirit. Our understanding needs to be as wise as our evil enemy, yet holding on the righteousness of God. Our knowledge of good and evil needs to be an awareness of evil yet unmoved to join it, but rather be in the place of guidance by the goodness of God. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives. The word harmless in the Greek is a-ke-rai-os. The "a" prefix means "not." The keraios means mingled or filled. So in understanding this statement Jesus appears to be saying to understand evil as Satan understands evil, not mingling or filled with it even as the Holy Spirit understands evil yet is not mingling with or filled with it.

My dear friends. We cannot miss this point. That we are to understand evil yet be separate from it is of highest important. We can lose the battle at two points. If we do not understand evil then we will be ambushed by it. When we understand evil then we can see it coming and plan a Holy Spirit directed counter attack. We can also loose this battle at another point. We cannot We must not we have to determine in our hearts that we will not mingle with or be filled with evil. We need to turn from, remove, kill, destroy the evil that is in our lives.

Are you ready? Are you willing?

If this sermon seems militant to you it is because it is militant. I will not apologize for the forcefulness. If this word is too hard for you then please try to stay out of the way. We have precious little time to be spreading the gospel of God accepts you just the way you are and God teaches us to not judge other. Don't you get it? There is no power in that gospel. Those that preach it do so to there own destruction. The true power of the Gospel is in trusting in Jesus Christ turning from your wickedness and getting active in advancing the kingdom of God. Jesus' loving sacrifice was for you. He died that we might live. We do not fight a battle of flesh and blood, but we do fight a battle that seeks to destroy the spiritual forces of darkness. This sermon is a call to arms to any that would listen to it. Even if no one in this room will stand with me I will stand for the Lord our God. I am tired of seeing the enemy and evil men taking territory in our lives. We have to have the love of God that overcomes the dark evil days that we live in. Will you shine that love before men? Will you stand with me?

Don't Wait, Go!

Image by Dave Siberia via Flickr

This sermon was given on April 25, 2010. The audio version does not match exactly with the written text.  You can listen to the sermon by clicking the play button Here

This morning I am going to be expounding on Matthew 10:11-15. There was a man that had an acquaintance that was in the hospital for bronchitis. He felt a distinct prompt from the Holy Spirit to go an talk to that man. He thought he would go see him after the man recovered from the hospital. He again felt the distinct prompting. At this point he determined that he would go. Life got busy as it often does and he forgot about this determination. The man's acquaintance was dead in the next week. He did from complication of pneumonia. He now carries the grief of not going and sharing the gospel with him.

It seems that in order to receive a message you first have to receive the messenger and then you have to listen. This may seem very obvious to some, but it bears repeating. In order to receive a message you first have to receive the messenger and listen to the message. Now in this case Jesus is not addressing those that would receive the message, but rather the messengers themselves. By extrapolation then we can say that this instruction is for us as well when if comes to the spread of the Gospel.

The first command is to Go! In Matthew 10:7 Jesus says, "As you go..." We are to go into the world, ministering to the needs of others, while sharing the all important message of "the Kingdom of Heaven."

In this section (Matthew 10:11-15) Jesus is telling his disciples what they are to do when they arrive. The first order of business was to find a worthy person to stay with. I struggle with this part because I am not sure what method or measure we are to use to determine worthiness. It seems that the disciples were to ask around to find this worthy person, but worthy for what? I think it is directing us to a person that hospitable and open. This seems to make the most sense to me. I have in the past attempted to share the Gospel with those that were inhospitable and closed to hear anything about God. The danger of this type of interaction is that it rarely leads to a change and often just reinforces what the unbeliever already stereotypes Christians as being. In that sense then a worthy person is one that is welcoming, and open to hearing something from you. I can think of Paul's trip to Athens (Acts 17:16-34). In that passage we find that Paul first went to the Synagogue (Acts 17:17), next the market place, and then Areopagus. In each of these circumstances Paul was sharing with those that were open to hearing him out. It does not appear that all agreed with him though. Some ridiculed him, some said they wanted to hear from him again, and some believed. It is also interesting to note that Paul left the presence of those that ridiculed him. Another time when Paul traveled to Corinth to start a church in that city he found a couple Aquila and his wife Priscilla (Acts 18:1-3). They took Paul into their home and gave him work to do. It would seem that Paul determined they were worthy and he stayed with them throughout his time in Corinth.

Once a person was determined to be worthy then the disciples were to offer a peace blessing on the home. It is interesting to me that often we easily fall out of the command to offer a blessing of peace to the people that are the recipients of the message of Christ. All to often we debate, deride, ridicule, dismiss those that do not believe as we do. In some sense it is a gospel according to the flesh. "I know I am right and you are wrong so don't challenge me, don't fight me, just listen it is for your own good. Jesus died for your sins after all." I must admit I have been there myself. God grant mercy to those that I have been a stumbling block to. A blessing of peace is quite a thing. If we are to bless then it seems that we selfishly keep it for ourselves. We bless those that bless us. Jesus was saying something quite different here. He was suggesting that we speak blessing and peace without regard to where the person stood at the end of our encounter.

How does one bless another's home? Prayer certainly can be a good place to start. Sharing the Gospel without prayer is a real good way to ensure that you are arguing with the mind or the flesh. Our weapons though are not soulful or fleshly. They are spirit. If the message of the Cross is a spiritual message then it would seem to me that being in communion with God's Spirit would be a requisite part of the process. Pray for the peace of God to fill another's home then. What is more we can bring a blessing of peace by being good guests so to speak. I think American's have a difficult time with the concept of being a good guest. We expect as guests to be served and waited on. Not so with Paul. Notice that Paul promptly went to work with Priscilla when he stayed with him in Corinth. Paul the missionary of missionaries there making tents to supply for his own need. I must admit I struggle with this as well. We can be a blessing by speaking peaceably. There is a time for forceful presentations to be sure, but by in large it is the peaceable person that will lead another person to the Lord. We can be a blessing of peace if we speak in such a manner that others are likely to listen to us. Being vulgar or abusive is not a blessing and it certainly is not peaceable. I would also say that keeping passions in check is important to being a blessing of peace to others. It is often our passion (fleshly ones at that) which lead us astray into paths of defensiveness, hurtfulness, strife, and destructiveness. Keeping passions in check is no easy task when it comes to sharing the Gospel. We cannot expect others to be so kind to us. In fact there will be those that we do not reach.

When we strive to be a blessing of peace though our peace returns to us when the other person is not willing to receive that peace. At this point unworthiness is defined by not reciving your nor the message. We are not to take this personally. Jesus said, "If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me before it hated you." (John 15:18) We are to realize that the peace which we offered has been rejected and returns to us in that instance.

Now some time passes and it becomes clear that the town is not going to convert to Christ. I am not sure how much time passes (God knows), but it has become clear that the audience for the message is either rejecting the message outright or not willing to listen at all. I think the hardest thing in the world is to make a break with someone when it becomes clear they are not ready to receive the message. One hopes beyond hope that a person will see it my way. If we continue down this path it is likely that the only way of conversion is by manipulation or by way of force. However, true conversion is by faith and faith alone. If a person cannot come to that place then manipulation or force will not save them. So break we must.

As a symbolic gesture of that break Jesus commands his disciples to shake the dust off of their feet. In order to understand this gesture you have to understand a practice of Jews at the time of Christ. To the devout Jew Palestine was Holy. Not just the place, but the very dust of the ground was considered Holy. When a Jew returned from a foreign city they believed that unholy dust clinched to their feet. This would lead them to shake their feet to rid themselves of the unholy dust so as not to pollute the holy dust of Palestine.

Was Jesus introducing a superstitious practice here? I do not believe so. I believe that Jesus was going with a more symbolic meaning. In the other gospels that record this event it is said that the disciples were to do this as a witness against them. In that case then it is saying we have brought a message to you and you have neither welcomed us nor accepted the message. We are not responsible for your rejection of the message. They are also making a break in fellowship with them. You see these were Jews and the Disciples were fellow Jews.

It is a sad case that there will be those whose hearts will not be changed. It is their hardness of heart that keeps them from being changed by the power of the Gospel. Making that choice hardness begets more hardness and leads them further down a path of disbelief. Arguing with a person that is on this path only chases them further along the way. That is why a break is needed.

It will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of Judgment than for those that reject the messengers and the message. That seems like quite a statement. God rained down his judgement on Sodom and Gomorrah for several sins. They had a complete disregard for God and the things of God that they were judged. They were in full on rebellion against God that they were judged and condemned. They Bible explains that they were sinning against God (Gen 13:13), guilty of moral corruption and rejecting God (Deut 32), engaged in full on sinfulness with no shame (Isa 3:9), guilty of adultery, falsehood, helping evil doers, and lack lack of repentance (Jer 23:14), promoted idolatry, prostitution, a lack of social justice (Ezek 16), and given themselves over to sexual perversion (Jude 1:7). That only to say that for these towns that rejected Christ's message for which these disciples were ambassadors are worthy of greater punishment. In my mind that is quite extraordinary. Yet there is is. Let me read it. Jesus said,

I assure you: It will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town
Matthew 10:15

The first phrase in this first sentence is "Amen I am saying to you." Jesus is removing any doubt about where He stands on this issue. His resolve is certain. There is no grace for those that reject the Gospel. And in the day of judgment they will face certain punishment. We tend to sugar coat the Christian message. I used to think that it was because we don't want to scare people off. I have come to the realization that so few Christians are engaged in witnessing that we sugar coat things we don't have to consider the responsibility we have shirked when it comes to spreading the message. To be sure those that do not accept Christ as their Lord and Savior will face eternal judgment and separation from God and loved ones who have gone on before them.

This judgment is a terrible fire (Matthew 25:31). It is a time in which we all will have to give account for our deeds whether good or bad, every careless word will come under the scrutiny of our Lord (Matthew 12:36). As Christians we will not escape Judgment.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 says: For no one can lay any other foundation than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on that foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one's work will become obvious, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one's work. If anyone's work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, it will be lost, but he will be saved; yet it will be like an escape through fire.

So for the Christian the terrible fire of judgment is a purification process leading to greater purity. The unbeliever on the other hand it is something much worse:

Revelation 20:13-15 says: Then the sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead; all were judged according to their works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

If your name is not written in the book of life in the day of judgment it means that you have rejected the Gospel. I believe that every person's name is written in the Book of life . As long as that person has breath they have an opportunity to receive Jesus Christ as their Savior. Once they die if they never repent of the rejection of God's Grace their names are blotted out (that is erased) from the book of life (See Exodus 32:30-35; Ps 9:3-5; Ps 69:27-28, Rev 3:5). Having your named erased from the book of life means that you will face everlasting punishment (Rev 20:15).

I hope that is not true for anyone here this morning. I would be naive though to believe that everyone here has a relationship with Christ. If you have not made that step. Then I ask you, I implore you, take that first step. Enter into a loving relationship with the one that loves you enough to give his life for you. That is good news we can be free of sin and eternal death. If you are in a saving relationship with Christ then I have a question. Are you going to a lost world? If not then why not? When we go we need to find those that are open to the message. We need to be messengers of peaceful blessing. We have to acknowledge that there will be those that do not accept what you have to say. There are some that you may need to make a break with who refuse the gospel. The point is that we need to get involved in our mission to reach lost souls for Christ. We have to do it now. If we don't then we risk becoming like the man who waited too long to speak to the acquaintance in the hospital. That man caries that grief. That man was me. Don't wait. Let's Pray

The Devil's Grammar Lesson

1 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You can't eat from any tree in the garden'?"

2 The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, 'You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.' "

4 "No! You will not die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate [it] ; she also gave [some] to her husband, [who was] with her, and he ate [it] . 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

The title of my sermon this morning is "The Devil's Grammar Lesson." As I have already mentioned this morning's sermon is going to be a bit technical so if it feels more like a lecture than a sermon than forgive me. I do have a purpose in tackling this passage in this way though. You see our biggest barrier to personal holiness is sin. I believe that looking at the original sin that we can learn something about the nature of temptation and falling that we then can apply to our own lives and work on the sanctification (that is personal holiness) that God desires from his children.

This is of course the dialog between Eve and Satan in the garden of Eden. This conversation though only a few verses in length has had a profound affect on the whole of creation and the lives that we live today. At this point in the account of God's creation of the world we have seen that God has created everything and that it was good. Sometimes that word good seems so plain. I think that in the age of super, fantastic, perfect, outrageously fun, hot, excitement, wonderful, superb, blowout, greatest things competing for our attention and for the money in our pocketbook, we miss out on the good that God has to offer. Frankly God's goodness is incomparable to the wealth and wonderment that this world has to offer, and blessed are those that find it. So His creation was good. We also have seen that God has created a woman to be with man and that they have a perfect bond of love with no shame. Then enters the serpent into this land of God's goodness.

Here is an aside. Isn't interesting that the Devil and the angels that follow him seem to insert himself into our lives when we are experiencing God's goodness. Have you ever noticed that. The scriptures rightly call him a thief. He does in fact come to rob, kill, and destroy. His target is God's goodness.

So we have the devil enter this scene. I am going to use a word for word translation from Greek to aid in our discussion. Word for word translations are useful when looking at the grammar in Greek since English translations do not always capture the nuances of the original languages. The draw back of word for word translations is that they sound very choppy since we are not accustom to the grammatical structure of Greek.

The devil starts out by saying, "Indeed! that He Elohim said.." There was no formal introduction, no building up to the presentation. No chance to warm up. He right out of the gate begins his criticism of God's word. Indeed. "Af" in the original language. My interpretation would "Aw, Did God really say..." His criticism was not really from a place of understanding what God had said, but rather the intent was to call into question what God had said. We have this happening with regularity in our modern times. Every where we look we find people actively criticizing the Bible and what it says, not because they want to understand it better, but rather because they want to call it into question. There is a process of understanding the Bible called textual criticism which the primary goal is to challenge the text and press to see if the text is really saying what we think that it says. Don't get me wrong. I believe that we should wrestle with God's word until though His Holy Spirit we arrive at a deeper and more meaningful understanding, but when we call into question the things that are plainly understood in the Bible then it is not a new understanding, it is the old rebellion that was initiated by the devil himself.

He says next, "Not you shall eat from any tree in the Garden." I would like to compare this to what God said and note how the Devil works in distorting the word of God. Remember the power of Satan is not is some magnificent awesome forcefulness to inflict pain and suffering, but rather deception. Deception is the most powerful tool that the devil uses against people. What God really said was "From any tree in the garden to eat you shall eat." Notice that the serpent states God's provision in the negative. I believe that the serpent is trying to get Eve to look away from the generous provision that God has given. God said that from any tree to eat you shall eat. This double eat is a statement of abundance and blessing. God's goodness was an abundant blessing, but that is not what the serpent wanted Eve to focus on, so he starts out by saying God's provision in the negative. If she were facing some uncertain medical crisis he might say, "Surely God didn't say he would heal you?" If she were facing some finical crisis he would say, "Come on, God couldn't have said that he would give you abundant life." If a person was facing a relationship crisis he might say, "Surely God does not intend for you to love him?" The devil loves to state God's provisions and commandments in the negative. He causes Eve (and us when we buy into his lie) to question our own understanding of what God has said.

Notice Eve's response. "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we are eating." She nailed it. Her understanding of what God had provided was right on target. Notice she said "we are eating." This makes me believe that Adam is right there with her. Often times much is made of the woman being the first to sin, but Adam actually made the first mistake by not protecting his bride from this deceiver. Anyway, if she got it right then what happened? For starters she did not state the double provision that God had given them. That is to say she missed that God was not only fulfilling her need, but he was doing it abundantly. But her straying from what God has said goes further.

Notice what she says next, "but from the tree which in the midst of (literally center) the garden he said Elohim not you shall eat from it. Let's compare that to what God really said. "and the tree of the lives in the midst of (center) the garden." Notice how by introducing the thought of what God was withholding from her by stating his provision in the negative, how the devil has replaced the center of attention from the tree of life. God says that the tree of life is at the center of the garden and mention the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as being there. Eve now refers to to the tree of knowledge of good and evil as being the center of the garden and does not mention the tree of life.

How often we focus on the one thing that God has not given to us. We are unaware of the wonderful blessings that He has poured out in our lives and we choose instead to center our attention on the one thing we do not have, or that God has told us in not for us. Every tree was available and the tree of life was at the center, but now the center of her universe was the forbidden tree. Sad really to think about how much of our joy is robbed from us when we choose to focus on the forbidden. In short the devil's deception has worked. Eve is no longer has a clear understanding of what God has said; instead it has been replaced with a distorted understanding of who God is, namely He is withholding something from you.

Continuing on she says, "and not you shall touch it." No where did God say that Adam and Eve were not to touch this tree. Eve is adding on to what God said. You see adding on to what God has said can be as dangerous as taking away from what He has said. In some respects we see the roots of legalism in this statement. Legalism is a set of rules designed to keep a person from offending God by preventing unholy action. It sounds like a good idea at first, but the reality is that Legalism does not produce holiness. The only thing it accomplishes is a sense of self-reliance in that it creates a false belief that we through our actions independent of God can please Him.

Next she says "lest you shall die." When we compare what she is saying to what God has said we find the other mistake of taking away from God's word. God said "in the day of to eat of you it to die you shall die." The difference is subtle but it is very important. God states the certainty of death by saying "to die you shall die." Eve on the other hand state the likelihood or possibility of dying. I mentioned last week that we do not fear the God of the New Testament and that in fact God is the God of both Testaments. He has not changed. Like Eve I think we toy with the possibility of judgment rather than the certainty of it. Let me make this clear unless you repent of your sin you will face God's judgment! That is a certainty not a possibility. Parable?

Next the devil says, "Not to die you shall die." This is a direct contradiction of God's words. He goes on to say that if she eats of the fruit that her eyes will be opened. Open your eyes. This reminds me of the arguments that people give in protecting our children. You might hear things like, "You can't shelter them forever." or "That is old-fashioned." Don't get me wrong opening your eyes is a good thing, but what is it that you are allowing into your soul? Luke 11:24-36 says

34 Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light. But when it is bad, your body is also full of darkness. 35 Take care then, that the light in you is not darkness. 36 If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, the whole body will be full of light, as when a lamp shines its light on you."

That phase take care then that the light in you is not darkness. This tells me that there is false light. In this case there is false openness that leads to your whole body, your whole life being filled with darkness. The devil was not lying when he said your eyes will be opened, but he was deceiving her by making is sound like a good thing.

Satan goes on "that one knowing Elohim that in day of to eat of you from it and they are unclosed eyes of you and you become as Elohim ones knowing of good and evil." Interestingly the devil is not lying here technically, but he most certainly is deceiving. The serpent is hinting at omnipotence (that is knowing all things). They will become like God knowing all things. In fact what was the truth is that they were already made in the image of God. They were already like God. However they had not yet experienced evil.

The difficulty of this passage arises from the issue of God's sovereignty versus man's free will. God placed in us an ability to chose for ourselves moral right and moral wrong. It was not until Adam and Eve chose the moral wrong that a full understanding of good and evil really comes into awareness. Think about opposites for a moment. Let's say you are from a desert where it is always hot. If you only know hot and never experience cold then your awareness of cold being the opposite of hot is not full. You might know something of warm and hot. In this case warm would be your idea of cold.

Up to this point Adam and Eve only experienced good. God's creation was good, His provision was good, His fellowship was good, His word was good. There was only an understanding of good. That is to say an knowledge of good. By choosing that which God had prohibited using their free will they awaken a conscious awareness of evil that was not understood before. The possibility of evil existed in man's ability to chose something that God did not want them to have, but the awareness was not. Using the hot cold example; we have the ability to feel extreme cold, but until we experienced it then we do not have an awareness of cold. Interestingly this awakening aroused a moral sense of right and wrong that they instantly reacted to. The shame of evil can be quite profound.

I think that if we could have full awareness (and then not be distracted) of the consequences and destructive nature of sin before we acted I think that we would not choose it. Distracted by what? The belief that sin holds something better than what we already have in Christ, the belief that we are missing out on something when we choose not to sin, the desire for the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the desire to be great.

These last three are seen in the text. Back to the word for word translation it says "She is seeing, the woman that good the tree for food (lust of the flesh), and that yearning it to the eyes (desire of the eyes) and being coveted the tree to make intelligent of (Coveting greatness)." When we move beyond God's word, when we are unrestrained by His truth, When we cast off the desire of right living when we become a slave to lust of the flesh, desires of the eyes, and a coveting greatness. Eve had reached a point were her focus was no longer on God's provision, life, or His word, but rather on the forbidden, lust of the flesh, desire of the eyes, and coveting forbidden wisdom. Sin had a death grip on her and so she ate. I could continue on about the consequences of sin, but I do not need to. We live it every day. Sin is the most destructive force in our lives today.

So how can we apply this lesson to our lives today? First we must recognize the power of Sin rests squarely in the deception that God is not really good, nor does he have our best interests at heart. The reality is that God is abundantly good. Secondly there is a danger in adding to or taking away from God's word. I believe that the best prevention for this is regular and intentional Bible study. If you are not reading your Bible then start, if you are occasionally reading your Bible then make and effort to start reading it every day. If you are in the word everyday then continue with consistency. Understand the Word of God like prayer is essential to the Christian walk. Third, the tree of life (Christ) should be the center of our garden. True the forbidden fruit is available in our lives, but when the forbidden becomes our focus over Christ then we are more likely to fall into sin. On the other hand when Christ is the center of our life we are protected from sin. Forth, we need to have a healthy fear of and respect for God's judgment. We presume too much on His longsuffering. Fifth we need to be very careful what we allow into our lives especially through our eyes. God's word says, "Take care then that the light in you is not darkness." If we do not protect then our lives will be filled with darkness. Finally if we are waiting until it becomes and issue were we are fighting against the lust of the flesh, desires of the eyes or the coveting greatness, then we will lose to sin every time. If you are at the point of wrestling with desires this morning there is only one cure. Repent and turn fully and purposefully to Christ. If you have never given your life to Christ and are wrestling with the possibility then in a moment while I stand up front, come forward and I will share with you how you can enter into this relationship. If you need to commit to reading the Bible and Praying daily please do not wait another day start now. If you find yourself caught up in sin's grip, then please seek God.

The Lord of the Harvest

I would like to talk with you this morning about something that deeply stirs the heart of Jesus Christ. I pray that we are ready to be moved by what moves our savior. I hope that we can share in his compassion that he feels for a lost and dying world. I pray that if you don't have a relationship with Christ that you would consider today whether Christ may be holding open arms ready to receive you and heal your physical, emotional, and spiritual brokenness. Lets read from Matthew 9 verses 32-38

32 Just as they were going out, a demon-possessed man who was unable to speak was brought to Him. 33 When the demon had been driven out, the man spoke. And the crowds were amazed, saying, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!"

34 But the Pharisees said, "He drives out demons by the ruler of the demons!"

35 Then Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. 36 When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, "The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest." Matt 9:32-38 (HCSB)

I was moved as I learned what moved the heart of our Savior. Looking at verse 36 we can see into the heart of Jesus. He say that he was moved with compassion. Compassion is a wonderful emotion that we do not often experience. We are not moved nor do we typically see it as a quality in others. There is something deeply spiritual about compassion. There is a strong connection between the person feeling the compassion and the object that compassion is felt for. Jesus looked out at the people as he was traveling from village to village town to town city to city and was moved with compassion.

Jesus saw how they were weary, worn out, and like sheep without a shepherd.

Weariness is a hard place to be. The Greek paints the word picture of being flayed, troubled, or harassed. Life is filled with conflicts that lead a person to feel weary. At times it may feel like you are being cut up by the world around you. Maybe some other person is tearing you apart. There is trouble in this life. We all face difficulties (some more than others), but I think that we all can understand trouble. Harassment is weary when it does not stop. The devil likes to harass. He continues on and on and on. He gets a foothold in your life and mounts a harassing attack that is difficult to recover from. Sometimes other people can harass. They keep on bugging you with distractions, interruptions, or with words you do not want to hear. We all can relate to the weariness. I have good news for you Jesus sees your weariness.

As if weariness is not enough then we can become worn out. There are some here this morning that are worn out by life. It has become "too much" You are cast down, flung out, and tossed about in this life.

Jesus looked out and saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd. I know this is not going to sound pleasant, but I become more and more convinced that people are like sheep. We need a shepherd to guide us through life. Give us freedom and we certainly make the worst of it and get ourselves into all kinds of trouble. The people were starving for Spiritual truths with no one to guide them to green pastures. They were lost without hope. And this moved the heart of our savior. He did not say pitiful creature. He was moved with compassion. Pity and compassion are similar. However pity is the sorrow and regret that is felt toward another's misfortune. It is possible to feel pity and not be moved. It is possible to feel pity and keep on walking by. It is possible to feel pity and do nothing. Compassion is different in this way. Compassion is an awareness of another's suffering with a deep desire to relieve the suffering. You are moved with compassion. It is not possible for compassion to walk on by. It is not possible to feel compassion and do nothing.

Jesus felt compassion for these that were weary, worn out, and like sheep without a shepherd. This morning Jesus feels compassion for those that are weary worn out, and like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus does three things when he is moved with compassion in this passage. First he heals. There was a man possessed by a demon. This demon caused the man to be mute. When the man was brought to Jesus he cast out the demon and the man talked. The ailment was cured. Jesus also would heal various sickness and diseases. His compassion led him to act and bring healing to those people. I have recently come to understand that miraculous healings are given to us as a sign of authority of Christ. These healing were no doubt amazing to behold, but they were not an end to themselves. They were a sign to give audience to what he was saying.

Jesus taught. Everyday Jesus was teaching the Word of God. He was enlightening the people with wonderful and uplifting teachings. He also was confronting error and sin with his teaching as well. Jesus brought hard teachings as well as explaining that His yoke was easy. At first this might seem a contradiction. It has to be received by faith. You see everything that Jesus taught was hard if it was not received by faith. But if it was believed then it becomes the most glorious truth that one can experience. It brings peace and comfort to the weary, worn, and lost soul. The whole of this book the Bible is filled with the wonder of God and if we receive it by faith then we ourselves will certainly be blessed.

Jesus preached the Good News. The good news is the Gospel. It is the message. It is the path from this life into eternity with God. Good news is the path of peace. Good news is the power of spiritual victory and life. Good news is to all, but only some will receive it. Like Jesus' teachings it also must be received by faith. It is Good news to those that receive it. Jesus preached the Kingdom of heaven when he shared the good news. John 3:16 is the good news summed up.

For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16 (HCSB)

God loves you so much that he sent his son (Jesus) to die for you. Why did Jesus have to die? Sin. Your sin, my sin, the world's sin. Sin means that we miss the mark. Let's face it we all miss the mark. We cannot even live up to our own standards let alone God's standards for life. We fall short. When we fall short then we are helpless without any hope of entering into a relationship with God. That is until God sent His Son Jesus Christ. It is not enough that He sent Him though. There has to be a response. We have to believe in Christ to be saved. When we believe in God's son Jesus then we have eternal life. We will live on with God in Heaven in His Kingdom. What must one do to believe in Christ. We have to turn our lives over to Him. We are sheep without a shepherd at best, but we are sheep with doubting, hateful, hurtful shepherds at worst. We need a shepherd. You may not want to admit it, but we need to be shepherded in this life. Believing in Jesus is allowing Him to be the Shepherd of our live. If you have never submitted your life to Christ as the shepherd of your life would you be willing to do that today. He is moved with compassion for you and is willing to bring you peace. Are you willing to receive it? Jesus preaches the good news.

So how did the people respond? Some by faith! The people that witness the miraculous healing of the mute man were amazed. The recognized that nothing like this had ever been done before. I have to say that in my work as a counselor I have the opportunity to be amazed. Jesus now works through the Holy Spirit of God to bring healing into people's lives. I see it every day where God is working to bring some kind of healing. Unfortunately not everyone was amazed. The Pharisees doubted. Some respond by faith others by doubt. The Pharisees took their doubt to the next level. They accused Jesus of casting out demons by the ruler of demons. Their doubt was not a lack of faith, but rather an out and out rejection of the person of Jesus Christ as well as profaning the power of the Holy Spirit to bring about these miracles of God. They were rejecting the sign of Jesus' authority given by the Holy Spirit's Power!

Jesus asked the disciples to pray. He was a man and could only be in one place at a time. As he looked out at the people he saw a task that was greater than his humanity. While on earth Jesus limited himself to dwell in the flesh as we are in the flesh. Imagine a God sized compassion bound to live with the limit of the flesh. The sheer agony that he must have felt as he looked upon those people. So he asked the disciples to pray that the Lord of the Harvest would send out workers. So they prayed.  Consider this story.

One Sunday morning after preaching, I was standing at the exit of our Church shaking hands and thanking people for coming. A young man who was a first time visitor began to exit with tears in his eyes. He paused as if to ponder something over deeply and then walked in my direction. He extended his hand towards mine and with a firm handshake began to tell me that he had made a decision to take a different course for his life. "I know that I will be all right now," he said, "I have carried this too long and now I have made up my mind to live." He did not want to speak more . . . just thanked me and shook my hand once more as he left.

I have often received things in a hand shake. People have "palmed" me money for special needs within the church. But, I have never received anything like what that young man gave me as he shook my hand and left the church. Inside a folded up one dollar bill was a live round from a 38 caliber hand gun. The young man had been pondering committing suicide and with the encouragement found in God's word -- had changed his mind.

Every now and then, I take out this little "treasure" that I keep in a drawer of my desk. It helps me to focus on how important the work of the Lord is. My prayer is that each Christian could realize the impact that they can have -- and treat each day as if it might just be -- somebody's last. (My Little Treasure, Rev Shelton Cole, http://www.sermon.org)

Is it possible for us to be moved, filled with the compassion of Christ to make a difference in somebody's life?

Some responded with faith, Some responded with doubt and some looked on with compassion and awareness of the size of the task before them.

We have the same choices this morning as the people present before Christ did on that day.

Are you weary this morning? Have you been flayed by the circumstances of your life? Good news Jesus sees and is moved with compassion!

Are you worn out, cast down? Have you been flung out like trash? Do you feel tossed about? Good news Jesus sees and is moved with compassion.

Do you feel lost? Has your life lost direction and purpose? Are you looking for something someone to believe in? Have you become hardened by the lies and deceit of the politicians and grieved by the infidelity, lack of morals, absent integrity of our leaders? Good news Jesus sees and is moved with compassion.

So how will you respond? Please do not harden your heart as the Pharisees did. Jesus wants to bring healing and hope into your life, but he cannot do this unless you receive him by faith. You need to turn your life around! Why not make today the day you turn around and received the gift of salvation that God is providing right now. Don't wait. We don't have any guarantees of how long we might live. Tonight your soul may be required of you. Can you meet Jesus knowing that you have trusted in him? Please do not wait until it is too late.

The workers continue to be few. As I look at the task of rescuing souls I am personally overwhelmed at the task. One of the reasons I feel it is so important to teach faith evangelism class is because I see a harvest of souls that is way beyond anything I could hope to reach in a billion life times. And I only get one. We need workers. We need them now. We are nearing one of the saddest times in the life of the Body of Christ. If we continue the path we are on now there will be a tipping of Christians here on this earth. That is to say more people will be going to meet Jesus in heaven than those who are being reborn by faith. This is a desperate time. Every generation of the churches has experienced growth in the Body of Believers. Ours is a time of decline. In the last decade in the United States there was a 9% decline in church membership. There was an 11% growth in the population over that same period. Taken together that would a 20% total swing in just the last ten years. Could it be that we now stand at one of the most infamous moments in church history a decline in the Body of Christ? I say no! I say we take our stand here! I say no more walking though life with pity and no compassion! I say no more lost souls never hearing the Gospel on our watch. Will you stand with me. Will you look on the people with the eyes of Christ. Will you dare to be moved with compassion to reach the weary, worn out, lost souls. The harvest is ripe! Pray that the Lord of the harvest would send out workers to bring in the harvest. Pray that God would fill your heart with compassion, that he would move you, that you would take action to bring light to a lost and dying world. The time is now, the harvest is ripe. Let's pray!

The usefulness of Happiness:

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This is another sermon I preached a little over a year ago. It is a follow up to the usefulness of sorrow.

God has a mysterious way about Him. Amen. I cannot quite tell you why, but He has put it on my heart to preach about Happiness. It is unusual, because the last few weeks for me have been some of the most stressful that I have had. Maybe you could relate to this. I have over extended myself and have more to do than it humanly possible in one day. I have been grumpy, sorry babe, worried, stressed, depressed, and frustrated. My stress level has been so high that I have forgot about important things that I need to do. I would consider you fortunate to even have me here this evening, because the way that the last few weeks have gone it would not have surprised me to forget about this evening. Yet through it all God has put it on my heart to share with you about Happiness. I am certain that He wants to share this message with me as much as he does with you.

For those of you who were present the last time I was here you will recall I shared on the “usefulness of sorrow.” We contrasted Godly and worldly sorrow. We learned that worldly sorrow leads to death. That is contracted with Godly Sorrow leading to repentance and life. This evening I would like to share the “usefulness of happiness.”
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, because they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the gentle, because they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, because they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 11 “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. 12 Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matt 5:3-12 (HCSB)
Jesus was establishing the kingdom life. He shares that there is blessing, gladness, and rejoicing. Often in this life it is so easy to get caught up in the circumstances of life that we are robbed of the Joy that God wants us to have. I am guilty of this as I have just shared with you. In Matt 6:25 Jesus asks a very hard question, 25 “This is why I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?

It is so easy to become so consumed with the worries of this life that we lose sight of the fact that God desires for us to have a Joyful happy life. What blessing we miss when we lose sight of this great truth.

There are other situations that rob us of our happiness. When we pursue happiness according to the world we trade the abundant happiness that God offers for hollow happiness. There are two examples given to us in the scriptures that I would like to share with you.
16 Then He told them a parable: “A rich man’s land was very productive. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What should I do, since I don’t have anywhere to store my crops? 18 I will do this,’ he said. ‘I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there. 19 Then I’ll say to myself, “You have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy; eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.” ’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared—whose will they be?’ Luke 12:16-20 (HCSB)

This man’s life was successful. By the worlds standards he was rich and productive. His life was a huge success. Why did Jesus call him a “fool?” This man had a focus on building a bigger worldly kingdom for himself. He was prepared to build bigger barns, store his wealth, and live the good life. Yet he was not aware that his life was going to be over that night. Think about this man no doubt had spent many hours amassing such a wealth and tonight his life was going to be taken from him.

We can be guilty of building worldly kingdoms for ourselves. We may never be as wealthy as this man, but when we seek after material gain, when we look for happiness in the world, when we pursue the “good life,” then we are not really any different than this man. This is not a proclamation against building wealth or being rich. However, a person that is rich according to the world, but bankrupt in the heavenly kingdom is a fool. Let’s look at another example:

19 “There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day. 20 But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was left at his gate. 21 He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores.
This man like the other example had the “good life.” He had the finest clothes and dined on the finest food. If he were alive today no doubt he would have had a fancy sports car and a fancy luxury car, boats, and a nice house. This is contrasted with Lazarus who had nothing. He sat at the Gate every day longing for someone to give him food.

The fact that Lazarus is sitting at the gate leads me to believe that the rich man would have seen him every day when he walked in and out. He passed him seeing his broken down condition and did what? Nothing. He was more interested in fine clothes and fine food than he was in helping others. Both of the men die. Lazarus because of his faith and trust in God is taken to Abraham’s side. The rich man was taken to a place called Hades. This is a place of holding for those that are separated from God. In Luke 6:31 it says, “But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’ ” This is a very clear reference of the New and Old covenants of God. You see this man had the opportunity to come to God and apparently had access to or heard the Old Testament law and prophets. He heard God’s word and yet failed to respond. The evidence is in his lack of compassion for the situation of Lazarus. When we hear the Word of God and fail to act we become like this man and fail to enter into God’s rest and happiness.

Perhaps you are sitting here this evening and you have never heard or understood that Jesus God’s son died so that you can enter into God’s rest. If that describes you then I ask that you do not leave tonight before asking God to come into your life and share that decision with someone else before you leave.

One more thing before moving on: The Bible is filled with examples of men who where wealthy and righteous. I would like to share a few with you: Abraham was very wealthy, Noah must have had some wealth to take on such a huge building project on his own, Jacob was wealthy and became the father of all the Israelite tribes. Job was wealthy and was consider righteous by God. Boaz from the story of Ruth was wealthy and because of his faithfulness God used him in his redemption plan for all of humanity. My point is this. It is not money that is the problem. It is the love of money that leads people astray. Let’s face it we live in a time where the main message being sold to us is that happiness comes from building up wealth. If you only build wealth and are not rich toward God then you are bankrupt. If you are dirt poor and are not rich toward God, you are still bankrupt. So how do we become rich and happy according to the kingdom of God? Let’s turn back to Matthew 5.

I am going to go through these in very quick order. The reality is that there is a lifetime of blessing in these verses and the truth that they contain must be discovered and rediscovered over the course of our lifetime.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
Happiness in God’s kingdom begins with “poverty of spirit” we must think less about ourselves than others. We must decrease that God may increase. We have to humble ourselves before God. If we do then the “kingdom of heaven” is ours according to Jesus.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, because they will be comforted.
Mourning is blessed. That may be a hard one to swallow. Interestingly I had to take a nap when I got to this point. What can possibly be blessed about mourning? And what does mourning have to do with happiness. Typically we think of mourning about the loss of a loved one. I believe that we can all agree that there is time of extreme loss that God has comforted us. His presence has uplifted our spirit in a time that we were down. Could you imagine how gloomy life would be if he never gave that comfort. It would be robed of joy and happiness.

We can also mourn bad things that have happened or bad things that we have done. When we mourn over the circumstances of other people it draws us into a more intimate relationship with them. Those close relationships can be a blessing. We also can be come a ministry of comfort, that is to say that God can use us to comfort others. When we mourn over the sin of others we encourage them to repentance. We also watch out for ourselves so that we do not fall into the same sin. James chapter four teaches us to mourn over our own sin, which leads to restoration with God. He is saying that we should be grieved over our sin. This is an important step to spiritual freedom.

Let me just say spiritual freedom is a blessing and happiness. So mourning leads to happiness.

Blessed are the gentle, because they will inherit the earth.
Jesus is a perfect power through gentleness. Through his submission he conquered sin and death!
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled.
This verse is very important. The greatest path of fulfillment and happiness lies in the hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Here is the great truth in that verse. If I will, He will; If you will, he will; If we will, He will.

A Slice of Infinity: Ravi Zacharias International Ministries;

Not long ago I was in a store standing in a line that snaked its way through rows of candy. A young couple waited behind me with their daughter. The little girl seized upon some candy and asked excitedly, “Ooh, can I get this?” She was holding a tube of goo that had been colored fluorescent green. The candy makers had thoughtfully designed it so that kids could squeeze the goo right into their mouths. I have to say it was one of the least appetizing things I have ever seen. Her mother quickly responded, “No way, all that is, is sugar.”

There was a time that the sugar in a tube would have appealed to me. As children we quickly learn that sugar satisfies an appetite immediately and provides a burst of energy, not to mention a pleasing taste. We learn to recognize that sweet things are brightly colored and cleverly packaged. When we are hungry, we want whatever will satisfy us right now. It may confuse a child to hear, “That will spoil your appetite for supper,” because isn't the point of eating to satisfy your appetite? Why not just eat candy and forego supper? Anyone who has done this knows that the quick satisfaction of candy wears off just as quickly, leaving one even more hungry and weak. It is only after we learn the more lasting satisfaction of a healthy meal that we may find candy less appetizing.

But children in a checkout line rarely want to hear this and are likely to accuse their parents of being mean or stingy. I know it is tempting for us to accuse God of the same things when he denies us what we want.

It may be that there is something that you know — absolutely know — would bring you happiness. It may be hard to understand why God is denying you what you want. It may be that although God knows it would bring you a rush of happiness, he also knows the happiness it would bring is not the lasting kind. Ravi Zacharias has said, “The loneliest moment in life is when you have just experienced what you thought would deliver the ultimate, and it has let you down.” (1)

Sometimes God refuses to satisfy our hungers because if we live from sugar fix to sugar fix, we will never learn to hunger for food that satisfies. If a child is allowed to live off of candy, she will never learn to appreciate a steak dinner. That tube of goo would have been as sweet as the little girl expected it to be, but it would probably have left her sick to her stomach. If you are gazing longingly at something out of your reach, it may be that it would only spoil your appetite for the very best that God wants to offer you.i

Blessed are the merciful, because they will be shown mercy.
Recall the story of the rich man and Lazarus. In that story the rich man I said likely passed Lazarus as he sat at the city gate. This man missed the opportunity to minister to this man’s needs. When we see a need and fail to reach out to meet that ministry need then we miss the blessing God has for use. Whether it is because of business or lack of compassion we miss God plan for happiness.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, because they will see God
“Give us clean hand, give us pure hearts, let us not kneel down before another.” We know that purity comes from the forgiveness that is in Jesus Christ. That pure heart is maintained through living a life that is honoring to God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God.
Do you want to pursue happiness in God’s kingdom? Then pursue peace with others. Happy are the Peace Makers.


Do you believe that we are in a spiritual battle? Well it is clear to me that we are locked in a battle of good versus evil. There is one thing that you can be certain of and that is if you start to pursue wealth and happiness in God’s kingdom you will be attacked. This list of blessings in God’s kingdom is followed by a dose of reality. Jesus says:
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 11 “Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of Me. 12 Be glad and rejoice, because your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
I was talking with a friend once after we had just helped out another member of our church. He said “BJ I am not sure that I can keep ministering. Every time I do something good it seems as if there is someone there to kick my teeth in.” Well it does feel like that sometimes. I think that Jesus knew that if we started living for him then the world and the spiritual forces of darkness would try to lead us away. He does this by either by making us miserable in a worldly sense or drawing us in to sin in the disguise of happiness. Either way the result is the same lost fellowship with God and loss of true happiness that comes only from Christ. The cure: Focus on the prize. Someday those that follow Christ will be with him in heaven. We will receive a heavenly reward that is beyond anything we can possibly comprehend. It is better than anything that this world has to offer. And is worth every hardship that we face a hundred times over. When we reflect on the greatness of the reward that awaits us in heaven then we can maintain our joy, happiness, and blessing in the midst of any circumstance this life throws our way.

God’s 8-point plan for lasting happiness is simply this:

1. Poverty of spirit
2. Mourning over losses and evil or sin
3. Gentleness
4. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness
5. Mercy on those longing to meet our savior
6. Living a life of Purity
7. Pursuing peace with others
8. Enduring the spiritual attacks for the sake of the kingdom and the heavenly reward.


Are you living out this plan? If you are then press on for great is your reward in heaven. If not, why not? Are you ready for this life altering happiness that God has in store for you? Make the commitment to live out this life tonight and you will be blessed. Lets pray.