Tag: Food For Growth

Matthew 21:12-17
[12]  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. [13] He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” [14]  And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. [15] But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, [16] and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” [17] And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.

Jesus entered Jerusalem Triumphantly. The crowds shouted hosanna. They laid down palm branches and their own clothes before Him. It was a joyous occasion, but when He entered the Temple the mood shifted. Righteous indignation filled Him. Why?

See, this was the day that Israel was to choose their Passover Lamb. When Jesus entered the Temple, He saw the sellers and the money changers. The sellers and buyers and He drove them out. Why would He do this? They missed the Passover Lamb. The one that would be the final sacrificial offering. The one that would finally wash them (and all who would believe) clean from all their sins. The one that would reconcile them to God Himself, and they missed Him.

They were caught up in the sale. The ritual, so much so that they missed the importance of the ritual. The very purpose and reason for the ritual in the first place. They missed the Passover Lamb entirely.

Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on a donkey 2000 years ago and the majority of people missed Him. Today, 2000 years later, we are waiting for His return. We’re waiting for Him to break that Eastern Sky and collect His Bride. His Body. His Church. The men and women of His generation missed the signs and the times. They were too busy with rituals that they missed the purpose of the ritual, the foreshadowing of the Messiah who was now before them. The times and signs are all around us today. We are getting close to the end. Are you ready? Are your loved ones ready? Are your friends, co-workers, neighbors ready?

Just as Jesus removed those from the Temple who weren’t ready for His Triumphal Entry, those who missed His coming, those who chose the animal over the Living God, so will He remove from His presence those who miss His Second Coming. Those who miss His Return. They will be forever removed from His presence. From His Temple.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Choose The Lamb.

Romans 8:14-15

[14] For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. [15] For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

I recently heard of a marriage ritual that is done by the bride to be. Her mother and sister shave each strand of hair from her head, leaving her completely bald. Why? It symbolizes leaving her old life and preparing for her new one. These girls go through a physical transformation to symbolize the change in their lives that is about to take place. We, as Christians, do something similar as well.

When we get saved, something happens in the spiritual, the old man dies, so we do a physical action to express it to the world. We get baptized to symbolize that we have died with Christ. That He now lives through us. That to is Christ, to die is gain. Baptism is not our salvation, it’s a physical, public declaration of our salvation.

Baptism is similar to these girls who shave their heads. Shaving their heads isn’t the marriage, just preparation for it. Baptism isn’t our salvation, just preparation for its fulfillment when Jesus returns. For our marriage supper of the Lamb. Our faith and salvation do not come from baptism. Baptism, however, is step towards the marriage supper of the Lamb. A step to our salvation being fulfilled.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fulfill Rituals.

1 Corinthians 1:25 ^NIV

²⁵ …the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Paul is trying to get the Corinthian church to see and understand that there is great wisdom in all that God does. What seemed like foolishness to the Corinthian Gentiles, because they thought themselves very wise, because the center of Greek wisdom…, the Areopagus, which heavily influenced Corinthian life, was just next door…

So, Paul is saying that the foolishness of God…, what appears to be foolishness…, is actually much, much wiser than “that” wisdom—Mars Hill’s wisdom…

Because it is the wisdom of Salvation, and there is no greater wisdom than that of the wisdom of salvation…, because that, my friends, is the greatest of all wisdom.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Love His Wisdom.

John 15:18-21

[18]  If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. [19] If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. [20] Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. [21] But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.

We got a very angry comment today on our message from Sunday. The person told us we were liars and it would be better for the world if we would die. Where did the hatred and animosity come from? From the fact that we are Christians who read and quote the Bible.

For me, personally, the hatred and distain doesn’t make sense based on his claim of being an atheist. Here’s what I’m getting at, if you don’t believe God exists, why do you despise Him and anyone who believes in Him with such intensity and passion? It makes no sense. How can you despise someone or something you do not believe even exists?

The true root of the issue? He doesn’t believe there is no God. He hates God. He despises Him with a passion. Why? There could be many reasons. He could blame God for something that scarred him, like a death of a loved one. He could feel God should’ve answered a prayer He didn’t. Or that his identity is blatantly called a sin by God. We don’t know the exact reason for his hatred, but it is evident that it is what fills his heart.

As Christians, it’s hard not to want to lash out verbally or say something callous and cold-hearted to him. But that’s not what we’re called to. We are called to be more. To turn the other cheek. To bless those who curse us and pray for those who persecute us. We are to be Christ to the world. Revenge, getting even, those things aren’t for us. They don’t belong to us. Vengeance is the LORD’s. And as Christians, we should never wish, hope, call, nor pray God vengeance on another person.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Learn To Turn.

⁶ Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? ~ 1 Corinthians 5:6

Bees are a lot more interesting than I thought they were. They have this thing called “guard bees.” When the worker bees return with nectar, they have to pass the smell test from the guard bees before they. An enter the hive. If any bees return with fermented nectar, they’ll be barred from entering the hive. Sometimes, they will be severely injured or even killed. Why?

Because nothing can contaminant the honey. The guard bees enforce the rules of the colony to ensure the safety of the hive and its honey. See, these Honey Bees understand that a little leaven leavens the whole pot. One Honey Bee with contaminated nectar will contaminant all the honey in the hive.

This is how the Church should be. We need to stop allowing sin into the Body of Christ. We are called to perfection, therefore, we need to strive for perfection. We struggle. We fight. But we do not give into sin. We do not dwell and remain in our trespasses. We have to stop making excuses for ourselves and others. We have to hold ourselves to a higher standard.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Guard Like Bees.

1 Peter 4:10-11

[10] As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: [11] whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

When we think of spiritual gifts from God, we often think of gifts we would deem mystical. Paul gives us a list of gifts that we most associate with spiritual gifts. Prophecy, word of knowledge, tongues, thing that sound and look spiritual. Peter, however, lists spiritual gifts that just sound regular and normal, but are no less spiritual and God-given than Paul’s list.

These gifts, listed by Peter, are more naturally born with. These are gifts that we showcase from a young age. Gifts that define who we are and direct us to our call. Even though these gifts are everyday traits, without them we could never fulfill our call. These gifts propel us forward towards God’s plan for our lives.

They aren’t meaningless, less than, or insignificant, they are like the one talent. They may look small now but if you use them, they will multiply. They will grow. And for all we know, give birth to even greater gifts than we could ever dream.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Use To Multiply.

Ezekiel 3:16-21

[16]  And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: [17] “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. [18] If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. [19] But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. [20] Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. [21] But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul.”

God gives Ezekiel a very difficult pill to swallow. A very difficult charge. He tells him that if He doesn’t correct a person living in sin and they then die in their sin, their blood is on his head. In other words, Ezekiel would be just as guilty as the sinner. What a difficult call. A difficult charge.

When we read that, we kind of breathe a sigh of relief thinking that now that we are under a new and better covenant, this isn’t for us. Oh what a deception we have been led into. The new covenant wasn’t about allowing or overlooking sin, but about overcoming and eradicating sin completely.

Jesus tells us to preach the Gospel. How can we do that without exposing sin? He tells us to be the salt of the earth. How can we be the salt if we don’t ever correct or teach? Jesus tells us to beware of false prophets. How can we do that if we do not judge their actions and words against Scripture?

No where in Scripture does God tell us we are free from correcting others. That we are to overlook and ignore or embrace sin. In fact, it says otherwise. Jesus condemned the Pharisees because they led others astray and made them even more a child of Hell than themselves, instead of leading them to God. This is the charge we were given “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Our pill is no different than Ezekiel’s.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Swallow His Pill.

⁸ He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? ~ Micah 6:8

Enoch walked and talked with God, then God took him. This is one of the very first examples of a spiritual walk in Scripture. In fact, I’d venture to say that it’s the first spiritual walk that ends with achieving the ultimate goal that is recorded in Scripture. That now begs the question, what exactly is a spiritual walk?

Our Spiritual Walk is our personal, individual journey with Jesus. Our personal connection and understanding of who Jesus is and what His sacrifice on Calvary did for us as individuals, and how we should respond. It’s personal.

Our walk with Jesus does not end when we say, “I believe, please forgive me, amen.” It is a lifelong walk, a struggle even. It is a seeking, searching, asking, knocking, a total dependence upon Jesus, it’s living by faith, walking by faith, talking by faith, and seeing by faith. Genesis 5:24 tells us that Enoch walked faithfully with God, or as the NLT puts it, walking in close fellowship with God. Do not begin to say to yourself that God is up in heaven, and I am here on the earth, so there’s no way to seek Him or to truly know Him.

God said through Isaiah, “…I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found…” (Isaiah 45:19b ^NLT). God has revealed Himself to us, so that we might find Him if we but diligently seek His face and call upon His Name. He can be found by anyone willing to seek Him. And when you find Him, He will walk with you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Walk With God.