He Who Loves Follows

1 John 2 somewhat continues that thought that we looked at yesterday. The progression is this: the more a person knows Jesus, the more he will love Him. And, if we love Jesus, we will follow and obey Him. I personally believe that this gives the lie to most people who claim to be Christians in the world. It's easy to say, "I love Jesus" especially on Sunday morning at church, but this passage explains that it takes much more than that. It takes walking with Jesus 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. There are no exceptions. Following Christ is a total commitment. It can't be an on again, off again experience. It is a daily duty that we fulfill because we have the love of Jesus in our hearts. It's so much more than saying the right thing. It's obeying the Bible in every detail all the time. There's nothing in the New Testament that doesn't apply to us today. There are no passages that we may consign to the church back then that are not also for us.

 
 

Lord, help me, with Your help, to make my walk line up with my talk. Help me to show my love for You by my life of service for You. Help me not to be distracted by the things in this life that won't be important in eternity. Help me not to be deceived by all the people in the world that are saying right things but doing wrong things. Help me to be a shining light to those that are around me. Help me to never give up until I reach heaven.

Walking in the Light

1 John 1 tells us exactly what we need to do to walk in the light. We all have sinned and are in need of a Savior. Jesus has died to save us from those sins, but it is not automatic. In order to be cleansed, we need to acknowledge our sinfulness and repent of our sins. Jesus will then forgive us and wash us from sin. But, it doesn't end there. Jesus requires a life of discipleship. After we have been truly saved, we will desire to give the rest of our lives to Him. If we say that we are have been saved, but we are walking in darkness, we are deceived. A life that has been saved and cleansed by Jesus will be walking in the light.

 
 

Lord, help me to walk in the light. Help me not to be deceived by all the evil in this world. Thank you for saving me from my sin. Help me to faithfully serve you in return. Help me to reach out to others to help them find You. Help me to serve You until You call me home to heaven.

Jesus Died and Rose Again!

I've just read the last chapters of Matthew (Jesus' death and resurrection), and I am just overwhelmed by what Jesus did for me. He endured the agony of knowing what was about to happen to Him. His disciples didn't understand. He had no earthly friends who truly sympathized, but He trusted in God, His Father. One of the twelve betrayed Him to be killed. At the most crucial moment His disciples all fled. Peter denied that he even knew Jesus. His own people, the Jews, had Him condemned to death. After an extremely cruel trial, He was hung on a cross to die. What love! What sacrifice for me! Jesus went through all this so that we could enjoy the joys of heaven and be saved from our sins. But, this isn't the end of the story. Jesus was put in a tomb. After three days, he rose again. He had allowed the Roman soldiers to take Him, but this time He showed His real power. The soldiers could do nothing to keep Him in the grave. With that same power, we can have victory over sin. No one can keep us from reaching heaven if we make use of God's awesome power to live a life of victory over sin. Praise the Lord!

Households on Fire

http://www.charityministries.org/audio/GH14B.mp3

The Parable of the Talents

Jesus continues with His parables telling us how to live as we wait for His return. He tells us of three servants who have received money from their master while he is on a journey. The master entrusts different amounts to each servant based on each one's ability. The first two servants do as they should. They invest and trade with their master's money, but the third servant buries the money for safekeeping. When the master returns, the third servant is punished for his failure to use his master's money properly.

 
 

The same is true today. God has entrusted us with many things. He has given us abilities, money, our church, brothers and sisters in the faith, and much more. He expects us to use these things for His glory. We may not bury these things or even worse, consume them on ourselves. God expects us to use His blessings to reach out to others who don't know Him. He wants us to share with those who have less than we do. Ultimately, we should do our best to get to heaven and bring as many people there with us. Let's live for the glory of God!

Watch Therefore

In the same vein of thought as what He had just been saying, Jesus continued with a parable about 10 virgins. Five were wise and five were foolish. The wise had brought extra oil with them in case the Bridegroom did not come immediately. The others had not, and it came back to haunt them later. The Bridegroom did not come immediately. He tarried until midnight. Then, when he came, he found them unprepared. Their lamps had gone out and they had no more oil.

 
 

Which group of people are we like today? Have we gotten tired of waiting for Jesus' second coming? He has not come for almost 2,000 years. Many people around us live in a constant state of not being prepared. Will we give in to the temptation? Will we let our lamps go out, or is our Christian life up to date? Are we in constant communion with our Master and living for Him even though we don't know when He will come back? Let's be challenged by these virgins and remember to always keep our lamps burning and ready for His return.

He That Endures Will Be Saved

Jesus was foretelling all the terrible things that would happen around the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and also the end of time. He paints a very dark picture in our minds. All kinds of terrible things happen. Many people are deceived and drawn away from the faith. Yet Matthew 24:13 is a bright spot amid all this trouble: "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." It would appear that we are living in the end times that Jesus prophesied. Many of His prophecies are coming true. There are wars and unrest in many places. Earthquakes and natural disasters are becoming more frequent. Apostasy is rampant in churches around the world, but we don't need to be troubled by all this. We can have confidence that if we endure, we will be saved. We cannot do it on our own strength. There is no way we could endure without the Holy Spirit in our lives. So, let's keep our eyes focused on heaven and remember to rely on God for strength to endure to the end.

Setting Our Hearts on Things That Endure

In the first three verses of Matthew 24, Jesus is leaving the temple for the first time. As they were leaving, the disciples called Jesus' attention to the amazing building that the temple was. But, Jesus reminded them that they were placing importance in the wrong thing. He told them that the temple would be utterly destroyed. Just before this, Jesus had wept over the people of Jerusalem who had not accepted Him. Yet, He doesn't shed a single tear for the destruction of the temple. In this we see what Christ really values. The pomp and show of this world will not last. It amazes us, but it has not eternal value.

 
 

We should follow Jesus' example in this. We must remember to refocus our priorities periodically. When we go to work every day to make a living, we can tend to forget the truly important things in life: lost souls around us, time with our family, fellowship with the saints, and more importantly fellowship with God. Whenever we are tempted to be attracted to things that glitter in this world, let's remember to match our priorities to those of the Master.

The Mercy and Judgment of God

In the end of Matthew 23, Jesus had just finished His scathing rebuke of the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy. He ends His rebuke on a note of mercy and judgment. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" Jesus really, truly cared for these people. He wanted the best for those who had made His ministry so difficult. He wanted them to be saved. He mourned their obstinacy. It pained Him to see all those people rejecting truth.

 
 

Yet, even thought He was sorry for them, He is also just. He warned them of the destruction to come, "Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." In about 40 years, the city of Jerusalem would be completely destroyed. We need to remember that the same is true for us today. God allows us to make our own choices, but we will suffer the consequences of our choices. We have so much going in our favor. We live in a land where we have freedom to worship God. We have the Bible that we can study as much as we like. Yet, what would Jesus say to us? Have we rejected His teaching or are we obeying the Bible as best we can with the aid of His Holy Spirit? What we He say to us on the great Judgment Day?

Jesus Thoughts on Hypocrisy

Probably nowhere else in the record of Jesus' life on earth do we find more scathing rebukes than those He reserved for the religious leaders of His day. This does not at all mean that Jesus despised religious leaders. It only speaks to the corruption and hypocrisy evident in the lives of the Scribes and Pharisees. This is a problem that has plagued many churches throughout history. When the leaders forget that they are the servants of God and the congregation, they become corrupted by the power that God has given them in the church. How can we avoid this in our churches today? Here are some suggestions:

 
 

1. Ministers in the church should labor to support themselves as much as possible.
   
2. We must remember to give glory to God for any accomplishments.
   
3. Remember that all of us and especially our ministers are servants of God. Their first responsibility is to please God, not their people.
   
4. The Word of God needs to be the first authority in our lives, not the word of our ministers.
   
5. We should respect our ministers as leaders.
   

    
    

   Lord, help us to live our lives in service to You. Help us to respect our leaders as we should but not to hold them higher than You. Help us to have wisdom. Help us to keep our words and actions in alignment with the Bible. Help us not to live one thing and say another. Help us to live our entire lives to Your glory!
   

Youth, Annointed Disciples of Jesus Christ

http://www.charityministries.org/audio/GH14A.mp3

Love

This week is Valentine's week. So, everyone seems to be thinking about love. In Matthew 22:37, Jesus tells us that love is very important. In fact, He tells us that the most important commandment is to love God. The second is like it: love your neighbor. So, what kind of love is Jesus talking about? Is this the love the gives flowers on Valentine's Day? Is this the love that comes out on birthdays and anniversaries? I think not. This is true sacrificial love. This is love in action. This kind of love does the dishes even though you're feeling tired. This kind of love rocks the baby when your wife is feeling sick. True love reaches out to the homeless person and gives them a meal. Christian loves shares the Gospel even when you feel like you don't have time. True love for God is a life dedicated to His service. This kind of love flows out into every area of our lives and blesses the lives of those around us, and that may mean getting flowers for your wife on Valentine's day, but it's much more than that. It's a daily experience. It's a selflessness and a willingness to help and support each other.

 
 

Lord, help me to live a life of love. Help me to have a true, deep love for You and for my friends and neighbors. Help me to be willing to sacrifice for the good of those around me. Help me not to be selfish. Help me to live a life that honors You in every way.

Should We Pay Our Taxes?

The Pharisees were constantly trying to trap Jesus in His words. So, they sent their disciples to ask Jesus yet another controversial question: Is it lawful to pay tax to Caesar? Jesus, knowing their deceitfulness, deftly handled the question. He told them to bring him a piece of money. Then, He asked them whose picture was on the coin. They answered, "Caesar's." He said, "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's." In another passage, we have Jesus example of paying His taxes.

 
 

Christians should willingly and gladly pay their taxes even if they feel they are unfair. We are not to be part of the government. Yet, it is our duty to pay our taxes. It is not our responsibility to see that the taxes are used wisely, only to pay willingly. Jesus lived under the Roman empire and that was a corrupt heathen government. Yet, He still directed the people of His time to pay their taxes. We can take from that a directive to pay our taxes today.

Joining the Next Generation

http://www.charityministries.org/audio/GH13B.mp3

Many Are Called, but Few Are Chosen

Next, Jesus tells the parable of a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son. When all was prepared , he sent his servants to call the guests, but the guests made light of it. They continued going about their work and even killed some of the servants that had been sent to call them. When the king heard that, he burned the city of the those people. Then he sent his servants out to find people in the highways and byways to fill his tables.

 
 

So, what can we learn from this parable? Many of us are just like those people who have been called. We have Christian parents and churches. Everything has been done so that we can be a part of the kingdom of heaven. Yet, sometimes we make light of it. We are too busy with our work, family, or recreation to give our lives completely to God's service. Let's not be like these people that despised the King's invitation. Let's gladly answer His invitation and give our lives in His service.

Rendering Fruit to God

Following this, Jesus told another parable with a similar meaning: a man had a vineyard and he hired people to take care of it. Then, he went a way. When the time of fruit came, he sent servants to bring him some of his fruit, but these men repeatedly beat or killed the servants he sent. Eventually, he sent his son thinking that they would regard him. Instead they killed him, hoping that they could then receive the inheritance. Of course, when the man returned, he got rid of those men and hired others.

 
 

Jesus reproved the Pharisees for disregarding the messengers that God had sent to them. But, we can be just like those people if we are not careful. God has given us much. Are we giving back to God. We are so blessed. Are we hoarding all the blessing or are we sharing with those around us? Are we giving praise to God for all He has done for us? Is God receiving the fruit of His vineyard, or are we stingy with what is not even ours in the first place? Lord, help me to willingly give back to You in gratefulness for all You have given me. Help me not to be selfish. Help me to generously give to others whenever I have an opportunity. Help me to live a life that bears good fruit for You.

 

P.S.

I apologize for not keeping up with my posting. We had a baby four weeks ago. So, life has been a little more hectic. I'll try to keep up with my normal six days a week from here on.

The Parable of the Two Sons

Jesus spoke this parable in relation to the Pharisees. They were the religious elite of the day, but yet they were hypocrites. They said one thing and did another. This parable is very applicable to us today. We are Christians who have had Bible training since we were young. Which son are we like?

 
 

A man had two sons. He told each of them to go work in his field. The first son refused to go, but later reconsidered and went after all. The second son willingly consented to go work, but he never actually went. Obviously, the first son was the one who obeyed his father.

 
 

We, too, can be like the second son. We know how to say the right things and look right to those around us. Yet, how often do we not live up to what we say. May the Lord give us grace and strength to overcome this temptation.

Godly Men Have Radiant Wives

http://www.charityministries.org/audio/GH13A.mp3