It’s easy to get angry with others who mock God or take the Bible out of context in order to portray God and religion as evil.
But really it’s sad.
Some of these people will never know the love of God.
Even sadder some people go church their whole lives and don’t know His love.
They will behave in a way that is the opposite of God’s teachings. Judging others, turning away from the poor, acting bitterly and angry at those around them, closing the doors to their hearts and sometimes to the churches, in order to keep certain people out.
Because of this non-believers may reject God because what they see in us as a church.
We need to be the bridge to God, not the barrier blocking the bridge.
7 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”
This teaching Jesus taught us is often quoted, depending on your translation it may read “plank” instead of log.
This is a very good (and some what humorous) illustration Jesus uses to teach us to work on our own sin and faults before we attempt to point out others.
The truth is a log or a plank blinds you and is obvious to others. It is easy for us to not even see our own sin and faults because we are not only blinded but the little we do see is others and unless we can see our own reflection.
This is why we must be self aware of our actions in order that we do not fall into hypocrisy.
Now of course that doesn’t mean we can’t talk to others about their sins or faults but it does mean we can’t make them our main focus.
We must work on our own sins and unrighteousness. We must go to God in repentance.
One of the Easiest things a Christian can do is only focus on others sins and faults, in that case it is not up to you and you do not have to change anything. You just tell the other person what they need to do and that’s that. Many choose to do this and boy is it easy.
One of the hardest things a Christian can do is to focus on their own sins and faults. In this case it is up to you, you have to change. But the good news is its not ALL up to you. God can help you. But we have to take up our cross and follow Him. We must crucify the flesh and we must let go of what needs to be let go of.
Remember if you do wish to talk to others about their issues no one will listen to the hypocrite with the log in their eye. Remove it or at least show the person that you’re aware it exists and are trying to remove it.
Be humble, submit to the Lord and be a servant of God.
I was listening to podcast on Mishandling Prophecy by The Remnant Radio and one of the hosts said a quote that really stood out to me from a Pastor named Matt Chandler. The quote is, “People want the Kingdom, but not the King.”
Sadly this is true.
You hear prosperity Gospel preaching which will tell us that God will make you rich and in order to do that you have to give your money to the Pastor.
Others will preach on TV and promote false doctrine and prophecy and unfortunately sometimes a different Gospel.
This is of course does not mean anyone on TV is a false teacher. I am saying the wolves who are in sheep’s clothing* promote false ideas that benefit themselves. Sometimes they do so by saying things about God that sound nice but they’re actually false.
So what do we do? We do what Jesus said in Matthew 6:33 (English Standard Version), “33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
But how do we do that? How do we know the difference between false teaching and the truth?
Get in the Word of God, read the Bible, learn to understand it and pray. You will learn to use discernment.
Sometimes just because something sounds good to you and meets your opinions or personal beliefs doesn’t mean it is Biblically accurate and sometimes because it sounds bad to you or goes against your opinions or personal beliefs doesn’t mean it is Biblically inaccurate.
Read and (this is very important) submit to God’s Word, seek the King and His Kingdom, not men and their kingdom.
Jesus was a first century Jewish Rabbi who was a son of a carpenter. He is also God.
You who are reading this are neither of those things.
Stop trying to fit Jesus into your world view, instead make Jesus and the Bible your world view.
If you try hard enough you can make the Bible say anything you want, instead of doing something so foolish, how about you take the Bible as it is written?
Take Jesus as He is.
It is not your job to manipulate scripture to prove why you feel a certain way or do a certain thing.
It is your job to submit to God and His Word.
This is not directed at one particular group or thought process. I don’t care what your theological, political or moral preferences are.
If you truly claim to follow Christ, than follow Christ. Don’t use the Bible and Jesus’ words to fit your lifestyle or world view.
Let God and the Bible form your world view and mold your lifestyle around it.
Anyone else feel they’re hearing a lot of “fear not” scripture quotes but not enough, “don’t test your Lord your God” quotes?
In the world there never seems to be enough, people always want more and more while not focusing on what they do have.
I can be that way.
But for me from a Christian perspective there seems to be a lot of certain messages but not enough of other important messages, messages and requests that are from God and the Bible but are hard to hear and harder to execute.
We hear a lot about loving ourselves but not enough about loving others.
Others might say to pray for friends and loved ones but not enough praying for your enemies and those who hate you or think differently than you.
We hear people point out they must provide for themselves or their family but not enough that God is their provider.
We hear the world tell us to do you but not enough do what God intended for you to do.
There is a lot of condemning sin, there is a lot of condoning sin but not enough correction of sin directed at ourselves and others.
There is a lot of Sheppard’s but not enough sheep.
There is much focus on human forms of government but not enough focus on God’s Kingdom.
The list can go on and on.
My Pastor this Sunday preached about Jesus’ response about paying taxes, towards the end he pointed out what belongs to God is everything.
Everything is God’s.
And God is love.
So love everything.
Remember that in every circumstance and that will be enough.
Finger pointing is in fact a major issue in the world and of course in America.
It is not just in politics or sports or the work place but personally too.
Think about it, if there is in an issue what to we have a tendency to do?
Blame the other person or group for the problem, if they point out what you or your group has done then the counter many times is to point out what they themselves or their group has done wrong.
People attempt to justify their own mistakes by pointing out that others make worse mistakes or given reasons and excuses as to why they made a mistake.
The burden of blame is passed around over and over.
Is this a new problem?
No.
When Adam was confronted by God what did he do? He told God it was the woman who GOD had made that caused him to eat the fruit.
The woman of course blamed the serpent.
God did not take sides He held all accountable for their actions.
He will do the same to us.
The truth is here in America we have failed each other, our nation and our God by passing around blame.
We are so unrepentant for our behaviors and it is easy to be so. After all look what many others are doing? Look how ungodly many behave.
But does Jesus say to do that?
No.
Jesus told use to remove the plank from our own eye than we can removed the speak from our neighbors eye.
You may say you have removed a plank and now you can focus on your neighbor but don’t we all have so many planks in our eyes?
Of course I am not saying that you can’t confront others for their sins as a matter of fact the Bible does instruct us to do so. What I am saying is often we get so distracted about other’s sins and transgressions that we forget to work on ourselves.
This has been a big problem for me as of late.
Has it been for you?
I pray that we all can do better at being the light of the world, the hands and feet of Christ and of course accepting our blame and repenting.
One thing that is very hard to see is when a brother or sister lashes out in a non-Christian manner. When seeing this it may make you angry, maybe even make you act in a non-Christian manner as well.
Or maybe we are the ones who are behaving non-Christian first, sometimes it is a struggle to behave the way God tells us.
The truth is if something you are engaging in causes you to behave in a manner that violates your Christian values than change your behavior or walk away from it.
Whether it be a fun activity, a place you go, or a political or even a theological discussion. If you behave in a non-Christian way than it is time to step back and reevaluate the situation. Get in your Bible and pray.
If you find that despite everything you do that you still are behaving in a non-Christian manner then walk away from what it is you’re doing.
Remember Jesus said in Matthew 15:18-20 (ESV), “18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
We cannot tell the world we’re like Jesus but speak like the Devil.
We must be slow to anger, loving in our responses and speak the way God wants us to speak.
The World will tell you put yourself first and, “Do you.” But God says put other’s first.
The World says you are the provider for yourself or family but God says He is the provider.
The World says to make sure you make strong financial investments and get yours but God says one can only worship Him or money.
The World tells us that law documents written by men are sacred but God tells us the Bible is sacred and to trust in His Word over all others.
God tells us you are not of the World. So we must go by His will not the world’s.
Put other’s before ourselves, trust God to provide, worship Him and His Word alone not man or its money.
Put God first in your life.
God cares about how you feel and your thoughts, He is willing to listen and hear your side but in the end it is about His will being done on Earth as it is in Heaven.
The truth is your likes and dislikes, your feelings, your thoughts and yes your political opinions mean nothing if they don’t align with the Word of God and His Will.
Get off the websites, put down the books and the newspapers and pick up your Bible.
Read what the Word of God says and base your views on the Bible, don’t use the Bible to select verses that match the views you already have.
Toss everything aside and follow Him, follow your King, follow the Most High God.
I was reading a sad news story and decided to do the unwise thing of looking through the comment section. And naturally there began a chain comment mocking God.
This time it was an attack on prayer. The person said, “Instead of praying, why don’t you do something that works?”
A foolish statement.
I thank the Lord that He granted me the wisdom and the maturity not to respond. He helped me not to get upset and respond to this man’s comment. This man was trying to hurt believers and get them angry but instead of that he actually received many replies from Christians who did not respond with anger but instead corrected him with love. Hopefully some see the loving replies he received and realize the Light that comes from Christianity when someone tries to be hateful and dark.
When it comes to his effect on me he ended up inspiring me to write this blog so it appears his comments have done the opposite of what he intended.
One mistake people make is they act as if prayer is an “instead of” option. If a fire breaks out no Christian is saying pray only and don’t send the firemen. We are praying for the fireman and the victims of the fire. We are praying for strength, protection, comfort and guidance. We are praying to the Lord for help.
It’s a silly thing to mock, besides I’ve never heard someone say in response, “Thank you for mocking those who prayed.”
Instead you hear, “Thank you for all the thoughts, kind words and prayers.”
Prayers uplift a person, telling someone they’re being prayed for shows that people out there care.
So why do these people mock prayer?
Because if God isn’t guiding their heart, satan is, he knows the power of prayer and wants the believer to stop it and give up a crucial part of our relationship with God.
Truth is there wasn’t much of a point for me to respond to that man, he had taken it upon himself to ridicule those who did respond to him. In this moment his heart and mind are made up he was enjoying mocking Christians and God. Our brothers and sisters had planted a seed in his brain but by his own free will he rejects God and refuses to open his mind and heart to the Lord. Sadly he and others like him think these thoughts are their own but truth is they come from satan and they’re being used by him.
The skeptic presents an argument where they attack the effectiveness of prayer but no believer has a chance to win that argument. Because the skeptic has placed unreasonable demands on the believer.. They refuse to believe the testimony of the believer but they themselves cannot test the power of prayer because they lack faith, so therefore the argument by human standards in unwinnable. That doesn’t mean you should give up, talk to them and share your story, treat them with love. The argument possibly could be a pointless endeavor but your story is not.
God knows your story and wants you to tell it, He loves you and sees what you’re trying to do. Keep up the good work.
Now the skeptic may also bring up a time in which they did pray and the prayer supposedly wasn’t answered. But the truth is ALL prayers are answered. But sometimes the answer is “no” or maybe even “not yet.”
Just because you did not get what you asked for doesn’t mean your prayer was unanswered.
God is our Father and just like any good parent He doesn’t give His children everything they want.
God knows what is best and that is why we pray by God’s will not our own.
So that leads to the question what do you do with a person who mocks God and rejects the Gospel? Someone who refuses to have an open conversation and talk with you?
You do what they mock, you pray.
You pray and continue to be the light in the darkness.
Who knows that person might accept the Lord into their heart and they could be praying for you someday.
Wouldn’t that be something?
So how do we end this entry? What better way than the Lord’s Prayer…
Matthew 6:9-13 New King James Version (NKJV)
“9 In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
13 And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
[a]For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter. This week I am posting the Luke 24 Chapter and two videos, one from the Bible Project on Luke 24 and the service from Heritage Baptist Church. Note if you would like to see the entire Easter story I will post a link below from a great article I found that shows all of the story from the Bible in order.
Have a Blessed Week,
Chris
Luke 24 New King James Version (NKJV)
He Is Risen
24 Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, [a]and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. 2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 Then they went in and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And it happened, as they were [b]greatly perplexed about this, that behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, 7 saying, ‘The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’ ”
8 And they remembered His words. 9 Then they returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them, who told these things to the apostles. 11 And their words seemed to them like [c]idle tales, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; and stooping down, he saw the linen cloths [d]lying by themselves; and he departed, marveling to himself at what had happened.
The Road to Emmaus
13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was [e]seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.
17 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you [f]walk and are sad?”
18 Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?”
19 And He said to them, “What things?”
So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. 22 Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”
25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He [g]expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
The Disciples’ Eyes Opened
28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He [h]indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.
30 Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.
32 And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was [i]known to them in the breaking of bread.
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
36 Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” 37 But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. 38 And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”
40 [j]When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. 41 But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” 42 So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish [k]and some honeycomb. 43 And He took it and ate in their presence.
The Scriptures Opened
44 Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
46 Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, [l]and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 And you are witnesses of these things. 49 Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city [m]of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
The Ascension
50 And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple [n]praising and blessing God. [o]Amen.
The Good Word 