Saturday, May 21, 2011

God's Disciples?

God has given me a message to tell to you today, In my time as a teenager and as a youth pastor I have met a lot of disciples of God people supposedly chosen to spread the good news that has been put in all of us.

But one thing troubles me where are these disciples? Because every time I go to Church and meet a pastor or go somewhere and meet a minister, I see either a hypocrite or a self-righteous man or woman. Granted there are some pastors and Ministers that do what is right in their walk with God.

Then I meet someone that is still looking for answers, still looking for a purpose in life and even though they do not know it God is already with them in their walk. These kind of people have such peace and compassion for more people than most so called disciple’s would ever have toward another human being.

Why have some servants of God walked away from what they are supposed to be doing? When did we start thinking ourselves as Godly people? God is God and no one else. Disciples are servants and ambassadors of Heaven and nothing more.

We are not here to be Idols for the Lords people. We are here to be a light of hope in the darkness. We are here to tell people of what God has and will always do for us.

I have seen people that we call sinner’s help others in their time of need. And when an opportunity comes for us to do the same we ignore it.

Why do we see ourselves better than sinners just because we know of God. It is one thing to know of him it is another thing to follow in his footsteps. Even though we try hard to be perfect in our walk with God we tend to make mistakes such as these. I am not saying that all of God’s people are this way, but a lot of us tend to make these mistakes.

Those familiar with the life of Christ know that He did not get along very well with the religious sect of the Pharisees. One interesting thing about this is that when it came to many of the controversial questions of the day, Jesus and the Pharisees were in agreement! Both Jesus and the Pharisees believed in angels, but the sect of the Sadducees did not. Also, Jesus and the Pharisees taught the resurrection, but again, the Sadducees did not (Matthew 22:23-33). Not surprisingly, the Pharisees really liked it when Jesus put those Sadducees in their places! But that is about all the Pharisees liked about Jesus. Jesus did not care for their religion either. What this means for us, of course, is that we do not want to be either like the Pharisees nor the Sadducees when it comes to our worship, beliefs and practices. Jesus began a long treatment of what was wrong with the Pharisees' religion with the following words: "The Scribes and Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore, all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them." (Matthew 23:2,3). Right away, we see something drastically wrong here. When Jesus spoke of the Pharisees having sat themselves down "in the chair of Moses", He was simply saying that when they instruct you from the writings of Moses, listen to and obey those instructions. Just because it is a rascal who is speaking the truth does not mean that is an excuse to reject the truth. During His lifetime, Jesus taught His disciples to obey the Law of Moses. This was God's covenant with them. Soon would come a new covenant that would replace the first one. We are now under the covenant of Christ (Hebrews 8:6-13; 9:15-18; Galatians 3:23-27; 5:1-6).
Something else we notice here; the Pharisees expected others to obey the Law but always found reasons as to why they did not have to themselves. Jesus said that "they say and do not." They were great at excuse making. They were more interested in appearing that they were righteous than in really living righteously. This is why Jesus calls them hypocrites. This is why we want to be sure that our religious life is not like that of the Pharisees!

They Do Deeds To Be Noticed By Men

"But they do their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries, and lengthen the tassels of their garments." (Matthew 23:5). them.

They Block Entrance Into The Kingdom

"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men; for you do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in." (Matthew 23:13).

They Convert Others To The Wrong Side

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." (Matthew 23:15).


They Lie

"Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated." (Matthew 23:16).

They Neglect The Weightier Matters

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the Law; justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you ought to have done without neglecting the others." (Matthew 23:23).

They Are Hypocritical

"Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." (Matthew 23:26).

They Reject The Prophets

"Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city." (Matthew 23:34).


All I have left to say is why do we preach these stories about Pharisees and what Jesus said to them, and yet we do not take this word and apply it to our own beliefs, This is something we must change.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

God is Just!

I noticed yesterday that many people felt torn as to how they should react for the death of Osama Bin Laden, but I want you to know God is not passive about Justice and his Love, The Bible says God is a jealous God. The Bible says God’s love is like fire that cannot be quenched.

The Bible Says that love protects. By the description of the characteristics of God, you can see that he is not passive.

King David rejoiced every time he went to war and won. He did not rejoice because he killed many, he rejoiced because he was able to protect his nation from being killed themselves:

Now a lot of people, including me, would think that the death of this nations enemy would be good, one less troublemaker to worry about. But there is another thing to think about, it is also a time for grief because Osama is a lost soul; now that he is dead he will not be going to heaven.

But since he went to hell it was his own fault, he did the crime so he is reaping what he sowed. In exchange for all the lives he took, his life was taken from him.

Now this was not wrongly done, even the Bible says that when dealing with someone that is without God (without Jesus as Lord & Savior, which is the only way In) you should treat him with the Law. The law says, “The law is for the lawless”. (An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, etc.)

Now there is still one issue with his death- did he bring it upon himself? (Both his nation and our own nation is known for covering up the truth.)

Did we bring it upon ourselves? Did we do the right thing?

The difference between Justice and Murder/Killing is, Justice is done with the conscience of what it is right & wrong and holding someone accountable for their own actions. Murder and Killing is done with the conscience of what is right from wrong, and choosing the evil of wrong.

Whether we as a nation did what was right, I think with the little information the government tells us, the right decision was JUST: Ultimately, God, who is Omni present and sees all things, He will have the final judgment on that day.

On a personal note I think this is what I believe, God in His love, grace, and mercy is Just!