Tag: Food For Growth

 ¹² This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father. ~ John 15:12-15^CSB

Jesus is often referred to as a friend of sinners, but that’s not quite right. Jesus says that the overzealous religious people of His generation accused Him of being a friend of sinners, as well as a drunkard and a glutton in that same sentence, but we never refer to Jesus as either of those last things. So, why do we refer to Jesus as a friend of sinners?

When I see this being used or referenced in today’s world, it’s being used by people justifying their own sin. They say Jesus hung out with prostitutes and deviants, but that’s not true either. Jesus was friendly with everyone. He spoke to and ate with anyone willing to listen. After being in His presence, one of two things happened: the person changed their ways, or they were left where Jesus found them.

For Jesus to be a friend of sinners is to say Jesus is a friend of the world. But this is impossible. Look at what the Scripture says:

⁴ You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

James 4:4

Jesus wasn’t an enemy of God; He was, is, and always will be God. Jesus was friendly with everyone but wasn’t a friend of everyone. Look at what He tells His disciples:

¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father.

John 15:14-15^CSB

This is after Jesus washes their feet. After the Last Supper and the LORD’s Supper. After Judas goes out to betray Jesus. It’s just Jesus and the eleven. They had been following Him for about 3 ½ years. Three of them had witnessed the transfiguration and saw Moses and Elijah with Him. They had all cast out demons and healed the sick. Nevertheless, they weren’t His friends until that night when He would be arrested before sunrise and killed before the next sunset.

If these men, especially Peter, James, and John, were not counted as Jesus’ friends, how can we say Jesus is a friend of sinners? Yes, it sounds good. Yes, it makes for a good talking point, but there isn’t any Truth to it. Jesus said if you are my friends, you will do what He has commanded. That means to allow Him to wash you in His blood and Word that you might no longer be a sinner but now a saint.

Therefore, don’t allow the twisting of Scripture to confuse you. Don’t allow your ears to be tickled by the deceived. Seek a true relationship with Christ, a true friendship that will change you. If your religion doesn’t change you, then it doesn’t save you either.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Strive For Friendship.

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¹² During those days He went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God. ¹³ When daylight came, He summoned His disciples, and He chose twelve of them, whom He also named apostles: ~ Luke 6:12-13^CSB

When we think about the twelve disciples being called, we think about them being Jesus’ only disciples, but that wasn’t the case. Jesus had many disciples. Many people were following Him because of the great miracles and healing He was doing. Because of the great wisdom and authority, He was preaching with.

Jesus didn’t just see them and instantaneously pick them as the Twelve. No. They were called to follow Him like many others were. Then, they followed Him like many others did. It wasn’t until Jesus spent all night in prayer, most likely specifically about this, that He then chose the Twelve.

Jesus called many people. There was a large crowd following Him, yet only twelve were chosen. James, the brother of Jesus, understood this when he wrote:

⁸ Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

James 4:8^CSB

James wasn’t one of Jesus’ apostles. James wasn’t even one of Jesus’ disciples. He didn’t draw near to Him, and he missed his opportunity. When Jesus taught that He was the bread of life and they must eat His flesh to be saved, many left because they couldn’t understand the teaching. When Jesus looked at the others, they asked them if they would leave Him, too. Peter replied:

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

John 6:68-69^CSB

Many are called, but few are chosen. Few hold on when they don’t understand. Few continue to seek when finding is hard. Few believe when they can’t see. Few stay strong when their faith is tested. Few run the race set before them.

Jesus said He’s knocking at the door, waiting for us to open our hearts to Him. He didn’t say He knocked on only red doors or blue doors. He said that He was knocking. That means He’s knocking at the door of all of our hearts. He’s calling all of us, but very few even accept the initial call. And even fewer continue to follow and carry their cross.

Which one are you? This earth is filled with reasons not to believe and follow Christ. It’s filled with distraction after distraction. Evil after evil. Wickedness and lawlessness rule our land. There’re so many reasons not to believe, but as Peter said, where else can we go to find the Words of Life? Words that redeem and Sanctify. Words that heal what is broken and restore what has been crushed. Only in Christ do you have a hero die for the villain to save his soul. There’s no other story like our story.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Chosen.

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¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” ~ Matthew 28:18-20

Many Christians believe that it’s not their place to tell others about their faith, religion, or relationship with Christ. When it comes to correcting sin, they forcefully say they weren’t put on this earth to judge. What, then, was the point of Jesus giving His disciples The Great Commission? Christians who believe they’re to keep their religion and beliefs to themselves and share Jesus with the world are Christians who don’t believe their own religion.

Paul touches on this in his letter to the Romans:

¹³ For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” ¹⁴ How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?”

Romans 10:13-14

It’s our job to go into the world and share the good news. It doesn’t matter your race, ethnicity, sex, or nationality. God calls both men and women. God uses all races, ethnicities, and nationalities. God has called all who believe to follow Him and spread the good news of Jesus Christ. For how can they believe if they have never heard?

If we, the Church, refuse to spread the good news, then we are refusing to follow Jesus. We’re saying that the world is better off not knowing about Christ. What we do and don’t do directly reflects what we do and don’t believe. Therefore, tell everyone willing to listen about Jesus.

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;

Matthew 9:35-38

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Make Disciples.

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²⁸ After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” ²⁹ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to His mouth. ³⁰ When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished,” and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. ~ John 19:28-30

Each Gospel describes Jesus receiving the sour wine while on the cross, but only John explains why this takes place. John states that Jesus knew all was now finished and then asked for sour wine to fulfill the Scripture.

The night before He was crucified, Jesus said that the cup represented the New Covenant. This is important to understand why Jesus said that all things were finished. Jesus wasn’t saying all prophecies were finished because He still had more prophecies to fulfill. In fact, there are still some prophecies and feasts that have to be fulfilled in the future. Therefore, Jesus wasn’t talking about fulfilling every single thing in this one action. Jesus was saying that He knew all things were finished. He sensed something in the Spirit.

We proclaim Christ’s death because in His death we died to sin, and because He raised to life again, will live to Him. In other words, we are no longer subject to sin, but sin has now become subject to Christ, who lives through us. And since we are no longer subject to sin when we die, death has no power over us, but instead, to be absent from the body is to be with the LORD (2 Corinthians 5:8).

The night before Jesus was crucified, Jesus spoke of a New Covenant for the first time. Before that Jesus never mentioned a New Covenant. Jesus waited til the last night before His death to mention the New Covenant because it hadn’t yet grown old and ready to vanish away. But after speaking of the New Covenant and making the old one obsolete and ready to vanish away, He went to the cross.

Jesus knew that the Old Covenant had grown old and was ready to pass away or vanish, not that every prophecy and law were fulfilled. This is why John added to fulfill Scripture (Psalms 69:21) right before He wrote Jesus’ words:

“I thirst.”

Jesus was fulfilling David’s prophecy that they would give Jesus sour wine to drink. Now, I want you to understand the importance of this. Jesus sensed in His Spirit that all things had been finished; in other words, the Old Covenant had grown old (Hebrews 8:13), so what did He do? He checks. How does He check? By asking for something to drink. And what do they give Him? Sour wine, and He accepts it. John specifically, in verse 30, says that He received the sour wine.

No longer are we under a covenant where sin uses what God created for our good against us (1 Corinthians 15:56-57). Now, we are under a new and better covenant (Hebrews 12:24) that isn’t based on works but on faith in Him (Ephesians 2:8-9). If Christ had not died on the cross that day 2000 years ago, the Old Covenant would have soured, and we would be without a covenant with God. We would be without hope at all. It is only through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus that we have eternal life through following Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Seek The New Covenant.

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⁹ The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. ~ 2 Peter 3:9

Peter said that some people don’t understand the LORD because they judge Him by their own understanding and by their own deeds. God is not slow in keeping, or fulfilling any of His promises, especially the promise of His return. He is patiently waiting for the last soul who will be saved to get saved. Believe me, at least believe the Scriptures, there is a time set for the return of Jesus, but all things must be fulfilled.

Remember that in the fullness of time, Jesus came as a baby to suffer and to die for the salvation of mankind. His return is no different. He is not slow to fulfill His promise of returning to get us. Just think about it, it may be one of your loved ones that He is waiting on. Or maybe it is you that He is holding up His turn, because He knows that you will accept salvation and He wants to give you the chance at all costs.

Have you felt a slight tug on your heart in terms of the things of God recently? Have you felt a drawing toward the Bible or toward Jesus? Maybe a dream or a series of dreams? If you feel the LORD leading in any part of your life, listen closely, it just may be your chance to get right with the LORD and receive His full pardon. Accept it and He will make you shine as bright as the noonday sun in all of its glory.

The LORD loves you and cares for you and wants you to come to repentance and receive eternal life from Him. He died to pay for it, and He will give it to you.

Heavenly Father, I come to You today in full repentance. I am sorry for straying from Your side and for refusing to listen. I am listening now, speak to me Jesus so that I can hear Your voice. Teach me to live for You so that I can be ready for Your great return. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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⁷ During His earthly life, He offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. ⁸ Although He was the Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered. ⁹ After He was perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him, ¹⁰ and He was declared by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. ~ Hebrews 5:7-10^CSB

Though Aaron was given the role of High Priest and then it was passed on to his descendants, because of Aaron’s sin, his descendants wouldn’t remain as high priests forever. The priesthood was given to the descendant of Judah, who didn’t fall under the order of the Levites but under the order of Melchizedek because of his faithfulness to the LORD.

The hand we are dealt doesn’t always seem fair; nevertheless, the same is true for our descendants. Our faithfulness to God will directly impact our descendants for either good or evil. Moses’ descendants aren’t remembered or even of high standing. Aaron’s descendants are the ones who had Christ crucified and the priesthood taken from them.

Our decisions on this earth matter, not just for our eternity but for the generations to come.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Recognize The Weight.

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¹³ Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him up hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ~ Matthew 22:13^CSB

Jesus describes Hell as a place of outer darkness. Paul explains that darkness has no light in it. And light has no darkness in it. He then explains that the fruit of light is doing what is good, right, and true (Ephesians 5:8-11). Therefore, the outer darkness that Jesus is speaking of has absolutely no light in it. This is now beginning to make a little more sense.

God is light (John 1:4), Hell is outer darkness. Therefore, Hell is outside the realm of darkness that has no light in it because to die in your sin would be to die without God.

If you die without God, then you will be without God forever. You will continue in darkness, the kind of darkness that has no light whatsoever. There isn’t even the hope of Jesus being somewhere in that darkness and you being able to find Him. This darkness is outside the world; it’s outer darkness. So, the Light of the World isn’t in this darkness. There is no hope there. None whatsoever.

Dear LORD, thank You for delivering me and saving me from this eternal punishment away from You. Thank You for making a way for me and shining Your Light into this present darkness so that we might find our way to You. Please open the eyes of all of my unsaved loved ones so that they might escape this coming destruction. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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⁹ Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, ¹¹ for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. ~ 2 John 9-11

I saw a man speaking into his megaphone across the street from a concert by a popular Gospel singer he didn’t agree with. Into the megaphone, he condemned the Gospel singer for not condemning the award show he attended in his thank you speech. The Gospel singer proceeded to walk over and then say they could sit down and discuss it at the end of his show. The man agreed to speak with him but refused to shake his hand because of these verses.

I’m neither a fan or supporter of either man, so I had no dog in this fight, nevertheless I found myself feeling annoyed with the man who refused to shake the other’s hand. We want judgment and condemnation so bad that we push away those whom we could correct and help return to the sheepfold.

Paul didn’t say don’t shake someone’s hand if they go to an award show and don’t condemn the entire audience; Paul said if they teach a different Christ than we taught you, don’t invite them into your home (meaning don’t have them speaking into your life, don’t have them speaking in your churches, don’t have them in your inner circle, don’t have them in your life) and then don’t give them any greeting. This word greeting is the Greek word chairō (χαίρω), which means rejoice; be glad. In other words, Paul is saying don’t encourage them in their lies. Don’t rejoice with them in their accomplishments through lies, not refuse to shake their hand because you don’t agree with them accepting an award.

Even if his problem was that the man previously said something blasphemous in a video or has been caught cursing multiple times or went to the award show in the first place, you could see his frustration, but not for his acceptance speech. When Jesus corrected people, it wasn’t until they brought it up. It wasn’t until they initiated that conversation. Jesus didn’t go throughout the streets shouting that all of those people who were in sin were gonna burn in Hell. No. Jesus taught those who followed Him. When it came to the Pharisees, He told His disciples to leave them alone because they were blind guides leading the blind, and both would fall into the pit.

The Church today is one of extremes, lacking balance between true love and correction. Either we condemn and hate, or we fake love and justify sin. There’s very few that can find the true balance of true love and correction. We’re to be the salt of the world but not the condemners of the world. We’re not to make others feel less than us, as if a handshake will somehow pollute us.

The love of God didn’t go out into the world screaming they’re all going to burn in Hell. The love of God showed its good works, the world saw it, and ran to the Light.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Find Balance.

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