Tag: Are You In Need of Cleansing?

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and He overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, ‘It is written, “My house shall be called a house of prayer,” but you make it a den of robbers.” ~ Matthew 21:12–13

Matthew recalls Jesus riding triumphantly into Jerusalem and heading straight to the Temple. Mark places this event on the next day, Monday. Either way, Jesus had just entered Jerusalem on a donkey, accompanied by a very large crowd. Only two or three days earlier, He had raised Lazarus to life after four days in the tomb. Now, whether Sunday or Monday, Jesus strode into the Temple, angry at the chaos unfolding there. He overturned the money-changers’ tables, drove out the animals, and shouted, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers!”

Why the focus on pigeons? Because the poor offered pigeons. If they couldn’t afford a lamb or goat for a sin offering, God allowed a pigeon or turtledove (Leviticus 5:7). It seems the money-changers, backed by the religious leaders who profited from this trade, were cheating the poor. The rich had servants to bring their lambs, bulls, or goats, but the poor rarely had advocates. They were taken advantage of, cheated, oppressed, and often overlooked, while the rich were exalted and frequently did the exploiting.

Jesus was outraged by this injustice. His heart burned for righteousness, justice, and fairness (Proverbs 1:3). It angered Him that the religious leaders, entrusted with God’s Temple, allowed such corruption in the House of Prayer. He hasn’t changed, nor have His apostles. In his letter, James, the brother of the LORD, speaks boldly about the rich, even accusing them of dishonoring and oppressing the poor (James 2:6-7). Wealth isn’t wrong—many rich people are godly—but it’s a problem when the poor are trampled in the process. So, Jesus overturned the tables, scattered the money, and drove out the animals to cleanse the Temple.

What about you? What mess lingers in your temple? Paul reminds us,

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Have you cleaned lately? Clutter defiles our hearts—greed and apathy cheat us of holiness. Anger and malice disrupt our worship. Distractions and busyness steal our prayer and worship time with God, turning our temples into dens of thieves. I urge you to overturn the tables of your money-changers and drive out life’s distractions. Don’t let these thieves and moneychangers defile your temple.

Heavenly Father, You are the vinedresser; please come and prune the branches that are producing fruit so that they can produce more fruit. Please cut out the branches that are not producing fruit at all so that I can produce even more fruit. Let this Easter week be a week of pruning and cleansing so that I may live a life pleasing to You, in Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

Acts 17:10-11^NIV

[10] As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. [11] Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

Lately, one of my favorite things to do is debate different topics with ChatGPT. I’ll ask it a question, it’ll respond, and we’ll go back and forth. One of the main reasons I genuinely enjoy doing this is because it helps me remember things I have learned, as well as helping me better express and defend my own beliefs. Peter tells us to always have a defense for our faith and why we believe what we do.

The more I do this, the more I realize that many traditional beliefs that I no longer hold to, aren’t rooted in the early Church but are more recently developed than I was led to believe when I was taught these beliefs. When we take peoples word for things, instead of searching and researching for ourselves, we become blind followers. Christ never calls us to be blind followers, yes, we live by faith not by sight, but we aren’t blind followers. Jesus said,

¹⁸ Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?

Mark 8:18

We follow Christ with faith, meaning we trust God regardless of how difficult, impossible, hard it may seem. But when it comes to our faith. Our beliefs. What we build our lives on, we are to test those beliefs/teachings against Scripture. We aren’t to just blindly follow. How many of us today can say without a shadow of a doubt that our beliefs are all rooted in the Bible and did not come much later? I’d say, very few of us. Why? Because when a preacher or teacher we like says something we like, we agree with it and hold it as law instead of testing it against thr Scriptures.

So, what should we do? Seek the Truth by putting every belief and idea to the test. We should be in the Word, studying it, meditating on it daily. It should be written on our hearts influencing every aspect of our lives. That’s the goal each of us should have set for ourselves. It should the goal we are each actively pursuing and chasing.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for each time I have believed man without checking Your Word first. Please open my eyes to any false beliefs I have claimed as Truth, no matter how insignificant they may seem. Uproot every lie, deceit, or misunderstanding I have clung to. Open my eyes to Your Truth. Allow Your Word to speak to me, guide me, and direct my path. Help me to build my faith on You and not on the words of man. Teach me to follow You with all that is within me, in Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

⁴³ No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. ⁴⁴ Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. ⁴⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. ~ Luke 6:43-45 ^NIV

The other day I saw on social media that a pastor had passed away on Monday. He was 67 years old. What caught my attention was that he was called the Cussing Pastor. In the comment section of the post that I saw, were two groups of people:

One group consistently said, “Only God can judge,” “Ye without sin cast the first stone,” “Judge not lest you be judged,” “God is a forgiving God,” “God judges the heart,” and so on.

The other group said, “I hope he got right with God before he died,” “I hope he took the time to repent,” “Why do we defend sin,” “God is fed up with foolishness,” and so on.

I think these comments showed the division that we have in the Church today. We have one side screaming at the top of their lungs “Only God can judge,” while the other side is screaming at the top of their lungs, “Sin is still sin.” And right now, one side is louder and more dominant in the Church today, and it isn’t the side calling sin sin.

Have you noticed the temperature of the Church in the last two decades? It went from faithful attendance. A belief that sin is sin. A respect for the pulpit to God isn’t barbaric like we were taught, so He won’t send anyone to Hell. God is love, so He understands. He wants us to be happy and enjoy this life. He knew us before we were born, so we’re not going to be sent to Hell that was never created for us anyway.

The two biggest issues in the Church today are that our pastors are no longer teaching the Word of God and our people are no longer reading the Word of God. We hear other people quote Scripture, but we don’t check to make sure that it’s right or wrong. Paul was checked by the Bereans, yet we don’t check our pastors today.

I heard another pastor quote Isaiah 29:13 and claim it for himself. He continued to claim his church members were his children and should be obedient to him like Jesus is to the Father. No questions asked. No doubt. Full faith in him. His entire sermon was, in essence, that he is their god.

I heard another pastor preach that Jesus often took the Scriptures (the Word of God) out of context. How can Jesus take the Word of God out of context when He is the Word of God?

I heard another pastor scream at the camera, “I don’t take Scriptures from Sodomites.” Another time I heard him say that if you wear a mask in his church, you will be removed. Another time he said that when he and his wife couldn’t cast a demon out of someone, they began taking notes of what the demon said because they told them who the witches were in their congregation. So you didn’t have the power or authority to cast out the demon, but somehow it told you the truth and not lies? How does that work?

Our pastors are going unchecked. Their mouths are full of blasphemies, yet they will be defended as if they are above correction.

Jesus told us to beware of false prophets. To beware of those who come to us in sheep clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. And you know how Jesus said you’d recognize them? By their fruit. You have to judge the fruit that they bear in order to know whether they are of God or not (Matthew 7:15-20). The biggest tell is their words. If blasphemies, cursing and cussing, false teachings, hate, and perversion are what comes out of their mouths, then that is what is in their heart. And if that is what is the abundance of their heart, then they don’t have a new heart and they should be seeking the LORD’s forgiveness, not trying to lead a flock. It will be the blind leading the blind and both will fall into the pit (Matthew 15:14).

I’ll leave you with this verse:

²³ But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

Matthew 6:23^NIV

Dear LORD, please forgive me for the words that have come out of my mouth. Please forgive me for following false teachers and believing false doctrines. Please give me eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand. Create in me a clean heart and renew in me a right spirit. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing and acceptable to You, LORD. Please search me and convict me of any sin that is within me. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and the spirit of discernment. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

⁹ Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ~ 1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Paul was writing to the Corinthian Church correcting some spiritual issues that they were experiencing. Amongst other infractions is this one, lawsuits against believers. Paul was trying to get them to understand that just having lawsuits against each other was a sign that they had been defeated already. He said, “Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded than to go to a secular court to sue a fellow brother in Christ? He went on to liken it to being unrighteous. He said, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?” Then, he listed about nine other offenses against God that will keep you out of the kingdom.

He said, “Do Not Be Deceived!” And the first on the list is sexual immorality. That will include sex outside of marriage. Sex with someone other than your own spouse. Sex with several people, even if it is the opposite sex. Sex between the same genders. I know that homosexuality is the law of the land. I understand that it is widely accepted and even celebrated, but God, who everyone must stand before and give an account to, said you must not partake in such actions, it is wrong in My eyes. Not just the sexually immoral, adulterers, and homosexuals, but idolaters, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, nor swindlers will not have a place or a portion in the kingdom of God.

You can’t get any clearer than that. It is God’s kingdom; therefore, He gets to decide what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in His kingdom. It is not up to us, and it’s not up to government and politicians. Do not believe those who present a Gospel that is different than the one we read in Scripture. Beware of teachers who preach a different Jesus than the one portrayed in Scripture. Jesus does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

So, let us leave off the old self with all of its sins, lusts, and deceitful desires that corrupt, and let us put on Jesus. It is to Him that we must give an account. Jesus died for the whole world. He died for you and for me. Therefore, let us love Jesus and serve Jesus because He first loved us. He came to seek us. He came to serve and not to be served. Heavenly Father, please help me to put off my old self and put on Christ. Help me to turn away from sin and cling to holiness. Give me the strength to resist the devil that he might flee as Your word says. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

⁷ When you brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in both heart and flesh, to occupy my sanctuary, you defiled my temple while you offered my food—the fat and the blood. You broke my covenant by all your detestable practices. ⁸ You have not kept charge of my holy things but have appointed others to keep charge of my sanctuary for you.’^CSB (Ezekiel 44:7).

This is an Old Testament law for sure, but it has a New Testament application. It is referring to the physical temple first built by Solomon, then destroyed by the Babylonians, rebuild by Nehemiah, refurbished by Herod, and later destroyed again by the Romans in AD 70. This verse is God Himself speaking to His people, the Israelites. They were allowing, but not just allowing, they were actually bringing uncircumcised, non-Jews into the Temple. The law only made allowances for circumcised Jews to come into the Temple. So, when they did that, they broke God’s covenant with them, because they defiled the holy Temple, where the presence of God aboded.

The Scriptures state that we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is, Himself, God. So, when we apply this law to our day, it looks like this. When you watch unwholesome movies with cussing, and excessive violence, nudity, and other ungodly stuff in it, or when you tell crude jokes, or partake in other unwholesome activities you are bringing uncircumcised things into the sanctuary. In so doing, you are in fact defining God’s sanctuary, which is us, our hearts, our minds, our body. We defile God’s temple while saying that we are worshiping God. We offer praise with defiled minds, and lift up defiled hands. Our worship is defiled when we watch porn on our computers, cellphones, or on TV.

Here is the problem. When we partake in such things, it is not just a one time thing. That thing comes in and occupies the sanctuary. It takes up residence in our minds, and in our imaginations, and they become corrupted. It will take only God and the blood of Jesus to sanctify them again. Therefore, God is not pleased with this type of detestable practices. He commanded us to be holy just as He is holy.

So, let us determine that this New Year we will seek Him with everything in us, and live holy, righteous lives. Let us forsake the detestable practices and seek the face of God, so that we might live and not die.

Heavenly Father, please help me to live righteously for You. Strengthen me when I’m weak as You lead me in the path of righteousness. In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.

¹³ Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. ~ Matthew 7:13-14^NIV

Jesus said there are only two roads you can travel through this life on: the narrow road and the broad road.  So, what is the difference between these two roads, and how do we get on one or the other? I’m glad you asked.

Jesus said wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. It seems to me that the broad road is the default road. In other words, it is where everyone starts from. You don’t have to do anything special, or different, it’s the default road. It is the most beautiful road. It is the easiest road. It is the biggest road. And contrary to what Texas might believe, bigger is not always better. Yes, it might be easier, you don’t even have to look for it, cause it’s just there, but it’s definitely not better.

There are huge lanes you can drive on, making it feel good. But Jesus said at the end of it is destruction. The world will promise you many things in this life that will feel good for the moment, everyone else may be enjoying it, but the end is death. So many people enjoy quoting Mark Twain saying, “Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company” not fully realizing what they’re saying. Though many travel the road to Hell, there’s no parties in Hell. There’s no company. It’s loneliness, fear, pain, suffering, and agony. That’s all Hell is. It’s the complete and total separation from God and all that He has for us.

Yes, the road is broad, looks fun, and many travel it, but in the end, it’s just destruction, pain, and suffering. Therefore, choose the road less traveled. Choose the road that may be difficult, few find, but that leads to Eternal Life, joy, peace, and company with the LORD God who created you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Choose Narrow.