Opening Thoughts: First off I wanted to take just a brief moment to admonish you all to dive into your Bibles. I can think of no greater treasure that we have been given on this side of eternity, outside of  salvation through Christ Himself, than God’s Word. How many people are currently busy running around trying to hear a word from God by way of prophecy or teachers? Yet, much of the time they can’t be bothered to even crack open their Bibles. Let us study to show ourselves approved. Don’t just take my word for it, if you’re not already doing it, please get in there yourself and study. God’s will for your life is revealed in its pages.

Main Text: Luke 12:4-7 ESV … “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.

The Fear of the Church: The church in Jesus day was powerful in the sense that if they did not like you or you if you happened to be a threat to the leadership in any way they had ways and means of getting rid of you. This is fully demonstrated in the very Crucifixion of Christ. So for Jesus to rebuke the Pharisees and leaders then warn the crowds to stay away from their teachings and hypocrisy was not only signing His own death certificate, but anyone who believed Him was in essence signing  their own as well. Many people were very excited to hear this revolutionary teaching and hung on every word that He spoke, while at the same time they feared for their lives to follow Him.

Getting Your Fear in Order: When I was growing up we lived in a house that was invaded with mice, to this day I still don’t like the dirty fur balls. My mother was terrified of these little creatures so much so that she would often times be standing on a chair in the middle of the kitchen holding a broom and screaming for my dad as one of the tiny squeakers ran past her. It wasn’t uncommon for us to catch several mice per night in the traps we set either. One particular night I heard squeaking in my bedroom only to open my toy-box and find a nest in the bottom with baby mice in it, hey, did I mention I’m not fond of mice?

The point I’m trying to make is that my mother had an authentic fear of mice, however if she had been in a situation where she was cornered by a hundred mice on one side and on the other side stood a huge Lion, she would instantly lose her fear of mice and literally trample them in order to escape the grasp of the perusing bear. In this fictional story the presence of the bear caused my mother to get her FEAR perspectives in the right order.

This is exactly what Jesus is saying in this text, will the Pharisees kill you if you abandon them and follow the truth? Probably. Will being crucified or suffering whatever it is they choose to do to you be painful? Yes of course, but it is so short lived it’s literally like a single tear drop in the ocean when compared to eternity.  But that kind of fear is nothing when compared to meeting God on the day of Lord. The emphasis that Jesus places on the fear of the Lord by vividly describing His wrath and judgement ultimately redirects the fear of His hearers away from the Pharisees, who are like the tiny little mice in my story who are able to do no more than nibble your toes, and rightly averts their attention  toward a Being so powerful that eternity itself is determined at his voice and command. He is a Judge who will rule with a rod of righteousness and no trace of sin will escape His examination. Every last unpaid sin, along with its owner, will be gathered up without negotiation and sentenced to an eternity in Hell. It’s imprudent to conclude that Jesus didn’t place an emphasis on Hell when he was preaching to His hearers. The truth is he warned severely of it and most times He was speaking to church folks like you and me.

Revelation 20:11-15 ESV … Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

READ the BIBLE: Like I said at the beginning of this post, it’s so important for us who have been given this opportunity so freely to get into our Bibles and study. There is nothing more important than your eternal soul. Ask God for the humility it takes to examine your life by His word, to detect if there is evidence of Christ living in you by way of fruit. We just read in Revelation 20 where God will open the book and see whose names are there, perhaps we need to get into the Book that He’s already given us and see for ourselves before we stand before Him.

Fear Not: This is likely the most important part of my main text to get right, the reason I say that is if one is to misunderstand the term “fear not” they may misunderstand the Holiness of God and the seriousness of the Gospel.  In a sense it almost seems as though Jesus turns right around on his first statement and refutes it. He doesn’t, He never tells us NOT to fear the Lord, but rather to those who Fear Him, they will have nothing to fear. For those who Fear the Lord will take refuge in Christ as their only Hope. The Day of the Lord is something to be Feared not because God is terrible, but because we are so totally depraved and He is so gloriously holy that as guilty criminals we wouldn’t last a split second in His presence. However, for those who lose themselves of their identity and pride, and hide themselves in Christ, He becomes their defender on the great day in court. He can defend us and protect us from God’s justified wrath not because we are innocent but because He also became our substitute when He hung on the Cross.  He took our sin, guilt and wrath and absorbed the full blow when He hung on the tree. The fear of the Lord continually reminds us of our unworthiness and of Christ’s sacrifice. Proverbs 9:10 “The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”.

If you have been trusting in yourself, or maybe you have been a church goer your whole life and have never given too much though about eternity, perhaps this is the day when you pay closer attention to Jesus words. I beg you to get into the word and see if how Jesus describes a Christ follower reflects your life. If not, get on your knees and call out to Him for salvation, repent of your sin and trust in Him alone to save you from what would otherwise be certain eternal loss. Grace & Peace.

Preparing The Way
~ Shane Martin

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Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out on the Day When All Secret Sin is Revealed

Caught By Surprise : Have you ever heard the term “Like a Deer in Headlights“? It refers to a situation when someone is so caught off guard by something and they are literally stunned, almost frozen in position.  A few years ago I read a title in the newspaper that said “Alaska stripper turned soccer mom guilty of murder”. The story started in 1996 when a woman who used to be an exotic dancer was being pursued romantically by three men. One of the men gave her a life insurance policy for one Million dollars as an engagement gift, so if anything was to ever happen to him she would be taken care of. The two were engaged until a short time later when the fiancée was mysteriously found shot to death. Two men were eventually tagged as the killers and were arrested, tried and sentenced to life in prison. Meanwhile the woman had gone on to marry a doctor, get some degrees of her own, and have kids. She was busy living her life filled with community events, soccer for the kids, you name it, when some eleven years after that deadly night new evidence was revealed and she was arrested for conspiracy to murder. Evidently, she conspired and paid two men to have her fiancée put away, cashed in on the policy and started a new life. You can well imagine what her family and friends thought. I mean, this was the friend that they had grown to love and here she is on trial for a very serious crime that she thought was stuffed away in her past.

Even if someone gets away with leaving skeletons in their closet their entire life, God promises us that there will be a day when secret sin will inevitably be unveiled, in which millions upon millions of people will stand before His holy throne like a “Deer in the Headlights”, stunned with fear and wishing it was all just a bad dream.

Luke 12:2-3 ESV .. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

Playing The Part of a Hypocrite: In this text Jesus is speaking with a very large crowd of people. He had just finished warning them of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and now He’s making it very clear to us that hypocrisy has a specific shelf life, a definite expiry date if you will, and that date is the day we stand before Him to give an account. One thing that the church has become very good at is softening Jesus’ graphic language. How many times have you heard the phrase “He’s such a hypocrite” or “That is so Hypocritical”, speaking of someone in the church? Often times this is viewed as someone who is a Christian but is just not living by the rules, or as they should be. This could be no further from the truth of what Jesus is saying. Every instance where Jesus uses the term “hypocrite” he is speaking of someone who professes to be a certain way when in reality they are not. Literal translation: someone who professes to be a Christian when in reality, they are not! Here’s what the dictionary has to say about the word, “A person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated-beliefs.” Notice the opening words to the description, “A person who pretends…”

What is your life like? Do you pretend to be sexually pure, condemn pornography and sexual morality, yet behind closed doors you look at porn, or mess around with a member of the opposite sex who you are not married to? Do you gossip behind people’s backs then to their face pretend to be very interested? Would you reprimand others for talking dirty then turn around and watch a whole season of “Friends” which is filled with every type of smut imaginable? Do you play the part of honest but steal time from your boss, or download music illegally off the internet? These aren’t a list of grey areas, they’re black and white. And Jesus promises that there will be an expiry date on your secrets.

Pretending to be a Christian: I was once a pretending Christian. Oh no, I would have never called myself that though. I actually thought I was just a struggling Christian, (I think those are the words we use). I would never have even considered myself a pretender, because that screams imposter right? Well, that’s what Jesus called it. One day everything you have covered up, said in the dark, and whispered in private rooms will be uncovered, brought to light and shouted through a megaphone.

The Bible says that anyone who is born of Christ is a new creation, meaning they have been born of the Spirit, new life is in them. This indicates that the old has passed on and new things have arrived. The Book of Hebrews agrees with Ezekiel and tells us that the new covenant is something that God does in us and is not something that we do; where He Himself removes our current depraved heart and gives us a new one that is equipped with His laws and desires, “I will give you the desires of your heart“. We need to be careful that our declaration is true and genuine and not based on a one time prayer. Paul admonishes us to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. Like the Pharisees, many people have served in the church for so long that they simply have too much pride to ever admit that they may not be genuinely saved, therefore they refuse to examine themselves and continue to STRUGGLE with their sin as hypocrites. I’m not talking about sinless perfection, I’m talking about about possessing the Holy Spirit of God, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead, and living a life dead to your old self but very much alive in Christ.

2 Timothy 2:19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

Final Thoughts: So please do what Paul says in 2 Timothy if you name the name of Christ. If you consider yourself a Christian then depart from your covered sin, your dark room activities and your private room talks, and walk in the light. If you are powerless to shake these chains of sin, perhaps you are still a slave to those passions and desires. My hope and prayer is that you would take this time to evaluate and examine your life in the light of God’s Word, and if you come out looking like the hypocrite that you would swallow your pride and cry out with a humbled heart for genuine sorrow, repentance and salvation. What a tragedy it would be to find yourself standing before a “Holy” “Holy” “Holy” God one day, and just like a deer in the headlights having nothing to say. As an ex-hypocrite I’m begging you to think about this sobering reality. If you have any questions please leave a comment, you can do that anonymously. I would love to pray with you and help in any way I can. Lord bless you all and thank you so much for taking the time to read this post.

Matthew 7:21-23 ESV … “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

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The Resurrection of Jesus Christ – Matthew 28:1-10

The Empty Tomb
In the cool of the early morning, before the sunrise, two women quickly made their way to the graveyard clutching a parcel of spices prepared for the body of their beloved Teacher and friend. Their hearts pounded with fear as they thought of the battle hardened Roman soldiers who stood guard at the tomb, and of the impossible mountain that sealed the entrance to where He lay. All the others were in hiding, fearful of the wrath of the ones who had crucified their Leader, yet these women’s love and desire to serve Him even in His death was greater than their fear for their lives.

As they approached the tomb, the morning still shrouded in darkness, a bolt of lightning cut through the sky and an earthquake trembled the ground beneath them. When all was settled they saw the soldiers, who feared nothing on the battle field, lying on the ground as though dead for fear of the great angel who was now seated on the large stone that blocked their way no more. The heavenly messenger delivered the news of the Resurrection and the women dropped their burial spices, turned, and ran “with fear and great joy.”

    Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

(Matthew 28:1-10 ESV)

The First to See Jesus
These two women were both faithful and very courageous to go to see Jesus’ grave only two days after his crucifixion. John 20:19 says that the other disciples were gathered behind closed and locked doors “for fear of the Jews.” No one really knew what would happen, they only knew that their Teacher was dead. Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” didn’t know what would come of it all any more than the others, and surely they experienced fear also; however, their actions in preparing the burial spices and going to the grave as soon as they were able to show their value for Jesus above their own lives.

Mary Magdalene had been delivered from seven demons when Jesus found her. She owed her life to Him and she knew it. So despite the risk, she went that morning, and as a result was the first one, along with her friend, to hear the glorious news of Jesus’ resurrection AND was the first to see him in person in His resurrected body. What a privilege!

I can’t say for sure that the reason the women were the first to see Jesus was because of their courage, God could’ve had other purposes for revealing it to them first, regardless they set an example for all believers of pursuing Jesus in the midst of their grief and even fear. Is there overwhelming circumstances in your life right now? Then prepare to worship the Savior as these women did when they prepared the burial spices. Although we all face seasons of mourning on different levels, we can worship Jesus through it all because we know that because of the Resurrection there is life beyond this one; life eternal, and that is our great hope.

Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
(Philippians 1:18-21 ESV)

How do Fear and Joy Mix?
When the angel was done speaking to Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, verse 8 says, “they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy.” Their response seems to echo Psalm 2:11,

Serve the LORD with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
(Psalm 2:11 ESV)

Fear and Joy are two emotions that do not seem to fit together in the natural, but in the presence of the Mighty and Powerful Risen Savior they are the most natural emotions to experience. Fear, because of His Sovereignty over all things including life and death, and Joy, if you take refuge in Him, meaning you realize He is your only hope. The above Psalm continues in verse 12,

Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
(Psalm 2:12 ESV)

This is an extremely unpopular verse. I say that because I’ve never heard anyone talk about it until I stumbled across it myself. It’s easy to find as it’s in Chapter 2 of Psalm, and many people read there, but I’m sure that the reason it’s ignored is because it’s uncomfortable. We do not like to picture Jesus being angry or wrathful, but if you read through Revelation you will discover that it is the “wrath of the Lamb” that will be poured out in the end (Revelation 6:16). Maybe it seems like I’m side tracked here but the fear of the Lord, and particularly of Jesus the Son with our text in Matthew 28, is a predominant feature of this passage. When the two Mary’s depart from the empty tomb they leave with fear and joy, and likewise is their response when they meet Jesus face to face for the first time after His resurrection.

At the Feet of Jesus
If someone you loved had been in a serious accident and you were told they had perished in it, imagine your grief. Now, what if three days later they walked into the room while you were still grieving? You had been misinformed and they actually survived the serious accident…..it would be like getting your loved one back from the dead. Amazing! What joy you would feel. You would likely grab them, hug them and hold onto them for dear life, but certainly you wouldn’t fall to their feet. Yet this is what the women who met Jesus do.

Jesus was a dear friend and teacher to these women before his crucifixion, but he was more than that, He was God in human flesh. While they believed in him before, his appearance to them now in the flesh after witnessing his death and burial, was proof of his deity. So rather than throwing their arms around him and hugging him as a loved one miraculously returned from the dead, they fall at his feet and worship him as God embodied as a man which was a fearful and wonderful thing.

Our culture is way too comfortable with Jesus these days. Not that he doesn’t offer comfort, but the comfort he offers is peace with God even though we are deserving of his wrath. He offers peace when we fear him, and there doesn’t seem to be much fear of God left in the world today. Everybody would like to hug Jesus instead of falling at his feet. We love the idea of “coming boldly into God’s presence” but we mustn’t forget why his presence is available for us to enter, it’s because of Jesus. God is pleased with Jesus, not us. He accepts us because of Jesus’ work on the cross. That should cause us to “serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.” God’s wrath was upon us and is lifted only because of his Son.

Peace through Fear
As the women worshiped Jesus in fear and joy he tells them not to be afraid. He gives them peace because of their fear.

    Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you
(Psalm 31:19 ESV)

    For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
(Psalm 103:11 ESV)

but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,
in those who hope in his steadfast love.
(Psalm 147:11 ESV)

Because of Jesus there is this beautiful and mysterious mix of fear and joy in our relationship with him. His is God and we are a sinful people, yet he became flesh, was killed at our hands, and resurrected for our sake and now he calls us brothers and sisters.

So be joyful in the Lord and tremble at his saving power, knowing that he’s not a fellow man to be “high fived” but a divine Savior to be worshiped, feared, and adored. To summarize I would say that as you walk through all the stages of life keep close to you the Fear of the Lord and the Joy of the Lord because with these two held close you will walk in both wisdom (Proverbs 1:7 “fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge“) and strength (Nehemiah 8:10 “the joy of the Lord is your strength“).

Preparing the Way,
Danae Martin

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Luke 12:1-4 – The Pharisees and Leavened Bread

Opening Thoughts: You know that smell of delicious home-made bread, the smell that can make a full person hungry all over again? I remember when I was a kid and my mom would pull a fresh batch of bread out of the oven, all golden brown on the top, once us kids caught a whiff of it the begging began. Mom usually had plans for it, but that didn’t matter to us we wanted it while it was still hot, I can almost taste it now. Turns out that the stuff that makes it all soft and fluffy is called yeast and consequently it isn’t that good for you. In fact as I learned a few years ago, there’s a type of yeast (candida) that grows very quickly in your stomach when a person is on antibiotics, or for people who feed on a lot of simple sugar. This type of yeast spreads instantaneously in the right environment, which can make you quite ill without even realizing it. Sometimes the symptoms are hard to detect, but over long periods of time as your body remains in an inflamed condition your immunity system begins be weakened. The longer you leave it un-dealt with the more chronically sick you can become. Here’s a little science on how yeast works.

Yeast creates chemical reactions on the starch and sugar in the bread dough. Yeast cells reproduce very rapidly no matter where they are. This replication goes on through a process called budding. In budding, each tiny cell swells, and soon the swollen part separates from the main cell. The new tiny cell then goes on to grow to full size on its own and the budding process continues to repeat itself. During this growth process, the yeast cells produce substances called enzymes. So when the yeast is added to cake or bread dough, one enzyme goes to work on the flour, changing the starch in it into sugar. Another enzyme then takes over and changes the sugar into alcohol and a gas called carbon dioxide. This gas spreads through the dough in the form of bubbles. As the dough bakes into bread and cake, the heat causes the alcohol to evaporate and the bubbles to break. This leaves the tiny air pockets in the final bread or cake, making it light and fluffy. Before yeast was manufactured commercially, women used to set a piece of dough out in the sun to ferment, then take the dough (leaven) and mix it into the new batch, which would work the same as modern day yeast.

People in Jesus time were well aware and actually cautious about leavened bread, as they had strict dietary commands from God to frequently eat unleavened bread. When Jesus speaks about the leaven of the Pharisees he was drawing a parallel of, like yeast, how fast acting and quickly their hypocritical poison spreads to the people they have under their care, and if it is left undetected is eternally fatal. Let’s read our opening text.

Luke 12:1-3 ESV .. In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

The Pharisees Leaven is Hypocrisy: We all know what hypocrisy is, I’m sure you have called someone a hypocrite in your lifetime and on the same token you’ve likely been called one yourself a time or two. Since divine nature is something that can only be lived out through genuine regeneration, made possible through Jesus Christ, and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:3), every attempt to please God through human effort ends in hypocrisy. Much of the doctrines that the Pharisees taught were man made commandments and inventions, some of which were the traditions of the elders, the free will of man to make right decisions, and justification by the works of the law which unavoidably infects people with a puffed-up sense of self-righteousness.

The pot calling the kettle black: Have you ever heard the term “The pot calling the kettle black“? It’s an old idiom used when someone is guilty of the very thing which they accuse another person of. Jesus calls the Pharisees hypocrites all throughout the Gospels. He accuses them of “Calling the Kettle Black” by the way that they judge others and yet are guilty themselves to an even greater degree. He likens it to pointing out a speck in someone else’s eye while having a log jam in your own. For instance, if as a man, you have ever said something like this, “I can’t believe that so and so lets their daughter leave the house dressed like that”, then later you look up porn on the internet or eye up other women when you’re out, do not be fooled, you are in grave danger of hypocrisy and it’s better you realize this now than later.

Seeing the fault in others while being entirely blind, or worse yet, unconcerned about your own sin is deadly. Let it be understood that Jesus was not making a suggestion that the sin of anyone is okay nor am I trying to say that, He was driving home that just because you can detect sin in someone else’s life does not mean you have spiritual vision. Here’s something you can do right now, take a look at your movies and I mean really look at them. Do they glorify murder, sexual immorality, cursing, adultery, divorce? Now, do you judge others for swearing, being sexually active, talking dirty, murdering? Maybe you say, “Yeah, but I’m just watching a movie, I’m not actually doing it myself”, if watching and doing are unrelated then it should be okay to watch Porn as long as you aren’t doing it! See the logic. It seems we see all the other commands as optional when it comes to just watching, except porn. It’s not okay to watch and enjoy things that our dear Saviour bled and died for. It’s not a matter of just changing our minds about this either, if you do enjoy those things you must seriously consider an examination of your faith (2 Corinthians 3:15).

The Leaven of Sin: If anyone calls themselves a brother or a sister in Christ yet they are unresponsive to heed the warnings to repent they are to be treated as an unbeliever. I have heard almost every self- justifying argument for this text, in fact I use to use them myself, so for accuracy I will keep it almost strictly to the text of the scripture.

1 Corinthians 5 ESV … It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, for a man has his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

I heard a quote from Paul Washer a little while back, “When people say, “Judge not lest ye be judged”, I always say, “and twist not Scripture lest ye be like Satan“”. Jesus tells us not to judge, the apostle Paul tells us to judge. The Bible can get fairly confusing if we don’t read it with the correct vision. The idea of judgement is not to condemn people, it’s to help people and to protect the bride of Christ. We as the church have it severely backward in today’s modern society, we tend to judge the outsiders for their actions and let everything slide within the church. That’s not what Paul is saying here, please read it again if you don’t believe me. The leaven he is referring to here is also hypocrisy, where someone calls themselves brother yet they are disregarding the commands of God. Attempting to obey the commands of God alone will no more make you a Christian than an atheist is. When Paul tells the body to expel this man and treat him like a heathen it is for his own good so that he will come to the realization that he is not indeed saved, and that he may come to his senses and be restored to genuine salvation. We need to understand that the sexually immoral, the greedy,  idolaters, revilers, drunkards, and swindlers are not people who are demonstrating the characteristics of a genuine believer. A genuine believer is someone who simply believes on the Lord Jesus Christ as their only hope of salvation. He then puts in them a “Clean Heart”, which is and new heart that came with new desires. God has personally branded that new heart with His law (Hebrews 10:16). This is an inner working of the Holy Spirit that produces godly fruit.

Luke 13:20-21 ESV … And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

The Leaven of Christ: So, just like we spoke about how the leaven (yeast) of hypocrisy and sin is like poison that spreads and destroys, so is the leaven of Christ quick to act, but brings life and new fruit. Jesus is painting a picture of when someone is granted the wonderful gift of salvation. It’s not a matter of striving for right living, the gospel takes hold of you like yeast and permeates through your entire being. The text talks about a woman hiding a little leaven in three measures of flour (which is about 50 pounds), in other words it was out of sight. The flour spoken about was enough to feed about 100 people, yet the amount of yeast was undetectable. Though the yeast was undetectable the evidence was obvious. The leaven of the gospel will always produce genuine visible fruit of salvation, and while the exact moment of your conversion may not have been filled with fireworks, the evidence will quickly appear in your life.

A Look at Yourself: Maybe you have seen evidence of sinful, hypocritical judgement in your life. Maybe like the Pharisees you have put stipulations on other people yet you are guilty of the same sins, you’ve been “Calling the Kettle Black“. Or maybe you are like that person in the Corinthian church who is involved in drunkenness, sexual immorality, idolatry, greed. Whatever the case may be you may have the leaven of the world in your life. If God has revealed this to you through His word, what you need to do right now is call out to Him and repent of your sin. Who cares if you have been in the church your whole life, the Pharisees were and they were too arrogant to see they were lost. Don’t fall victim to that trap, trust in Jesus alone for your salvation and don’t look to your ability to change, but look to His righteousness alone for your right standing with God. Once you do that the leaven of the Gospel will penetrate your entire being and you will begin to produce fruit of righteousness.

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Preparing The Way
~Shane Martin

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Jonah
It’s interesting how most of the stories in the Old Testament have been deemed children’s stories by the world and the church alike. Of course, those of us in the church would say that we absolutely believe that those stories are true, but honestly when you think of the Story of Jonah (a.k.a. “Jonah and the Whale”) do you see something like this,

In actuality, can you envision sinking down into the dark depths of the ocean after being cast overboard into the most violent storm imaginable, and seaweed coiling around your head, unable to breathe, and hearing the sound of a massive fish (maybe a whale) descending upon you with an open mouth?

What happened to Jonah was significant for his time but also was ordained by God as an illustration of what would happen to Jesus. Jesus was buried in the earth for three days (just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days), he was then resurrected from the dead (just as Jonah was released from the fish after what should have been certain death), and just as Jonah’s obedience to go and preach to the Ninevites resulted in a great outpouring of God’s mercy at the city wide repentance, so Jesus’ obedience in going to the cross results in an even greater outpouring of God’s mercy upon those who would repent and believe the gospel. Jesus is the greater Jonah.

Matthew 12:39-41 ESV … But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Noah

Another example is “Noah’s Ark”. We decorate our babies nurseries in this theme and you can buy Noah’s Ark piggy banks, Noah’s Ark picture frames, Noah’s Ark blankets, etc. I don’t have anything against these things, but think about the story for a moment. God’s wrath is about to be poured out upon the entire earth. Only 8 people from all humanity were saved. Noah and his family are inside a boat with every kind of animal created, and this is after the fall so these are not typically tame animals, that alone must have been frightening.

Luke 17:26-27 ESV … Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Jesus said that when he returns the world be like it was in Noah’s day. So the story of Noah directly parallels Christians today who are preparing the way for Christ’s return. God spoke to Noah that he was going to destroy the earth and save a few (God has spoken to us through His Word that he will destroy the earth again and save a few, Matt. 7:14, Matt. 22:14), He gave Noah a difficult task to do to prepare for the flood in building the ark (He gives us the task of evangelism to prepare for Christ’s return, Matt.28:19), Noah was mocked (We are mocked, John15:20), it took Noah a long time to build the ark and because of the many years that passed people around him did not believe anything would ever happen (It appears to the world that Christ will never return and so they do not believe, 2 Peter 3:9), God shut the door of the ark and it was too late for anyone else to enter (When the day of judgment arrives it will be too late too share the gospel with one more person and it will be too late for anyone to repent).

Luke 13:22-25 ESV … He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’

Jesus the High Priest
Nearly everything in the Mosaic Law (the law of Moses) was a foreshadow of the gospel and Christ’s ultimate triumph over its imperfections. Moses established a high priest (Aaron & his descendants) at God’s command, and this was a foreshadow of Jesus as the ultimate high priest. Jesus position as high priest wasn’t for the same purposes as earthly priests who bring many sacrifices for sin, he needed only to bring ONE sacrifice; himself. It looks something like this:

Physical                                                      Heavenly

• High Priest                                                  Jesus
• Tent (Tabernacle)                                    Heaven (God’s presence)
• Sacrifice of animal blood                     One time sacrifice of Jesus’ blood
• Many sacrifices needed                        Once for all eternal redemption because of Jesus

Hebrews 9:11-12 ESV … But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

Jesus the Passover Lamb
When God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt He instructed Moses to have His people take the blood of a lamb and paint it on their door posts and then for each family to eat the lamb. Then when the Lord went through the land of Egypt He “passed over” the homes that were marked with lamb’s blood, and the first born of all the Egyptians died that night, but the Israelite homes were spared because of the blood.

In the same way, Jesus is our Passover Lamb. It is no coincidence that he was crucified during the Passover and that Isaiah 53:7 says that he was “like a lamb that is led to the slaughter“.  Like the Israelites we have been given warning of God’s coming judgment for sinners, and likewise we have been given the instructions for salvation; be washed in the blood of the Lamb through repentance and faith, death will pass over you, and you will be granted eternal life.

John 1:29 ESV … The next day he (John the Baptist) saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

The Curtain and The Cross
This passage in Matthew is where my devotions actually found me and is what led me into thinking about how each and every book of the Bible magnifies the gospel.

 Matthew 27:50-51 ESV … And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earthshook, and the rocks were split.

When Jesus gave up his spirit on the cross and died, the literal curtain in the temple in Jerusalem was torn in half from top to bottom. Solomon’s temple was 30 cubits high, but Herod had increased the height to 40 cubits, according to the writings of Josephus, a first century Jewish historian. That means that the curtain was somewhere near 60 feet high and was known to be 4 inches thick, also according to Josephus. Look at the example below to help you picture what 60 feet high looks like.

This was a massive curtain, impossible to tear no matter how big the earthquake. Its destruction was an act of God and a significant symbol of the new covenant where man would now have direct access to God through Jesus.

Hebrews 10:19-22 ESV … Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Jesus flesh was torn apart at his death (the curtain was torn apart at Jesus death), the curtain was the only entrance into God’s Holy Presence on earth (Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6). Jesus body was torn so that the curtain could be torn to make a way for us to draw near to God, and we are pleasing to Him because of Jesus, He forgives us and accepts us because of Jesus, He answers our prayers for Jesus’ sake, He delights in Jesus and therefore delights in us when we come to him bathed in the blood of Jesus. So like the author of Hebrews says, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith..”

Do you have full assurance of faith today? If you are unsure about where you stand with God, or even if you are a professing Christian yet you’ve never examined your faith, please read through the book of 1 John in the Bible and beg God to help you see if your life is painted with the blood of the Lamb or not. Repent and believe the Gospel, read the Bible and obey what it says. May the Lord bless you and grant you faith.

Preparing the Way,
Danae Martin

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Pharisees and Scribes set Traps for Jesus – Luke 11:53-54

Opening Thoughts: After several months in Luke 11 I am finally closing this chapter. The Bible is so packed with information that is so easily missed if we simply treat it like some type of daily duty, spending 30 minutes slamming through our four chapters, simply to make it through our “Bible in a Year” program. I’m not entirely dissin’ the Bible in a year idea, but if we are not stewardly with our time spent in God’s Word, we incur the risk of coming to false conclusions, getting caught in traps set for us, and ultimately we take the chance of misunderstanding the Gospel all together. Instead we can end up mistaking it for more of a self help guide for “your best life now road map, with a twist of  see you at the top because I’m a kingdom child” attitude, rather than a “first shall be last, cross bearing, self denying, suffering servant of all, who is grateful that God has delivered us from blindness, restored our sight and relinquished from giving us what we justly had coming to us” mind set. Paul says in Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me….” In other words my end is His beginning. My number one goal for the remainder of this “life I now live in the flesh“, is to “live it by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me“. That means that since I am not my own anymore for the reason that I have been bought with a price, which also means that I will not be very well liked at times by the world, in fact Jesus says I’ll be hated! And that’s a promise we tend to overlook.

In tonight’s passage we see the haters of Jesus trying to set traps for him, but before I look at our text I want to recap on a story I recently heard of a young pastor in India who was seriously beaten after falling victim to a trap.

Pastor Falls Victim to a Vicious Trap: Hindu extremists entice preacher into house, beat him unconscious. NEW DELHI, October 21 — A group of Hindu extremists in Madhya Pradesh earlier this month beat a pastor unconscious and chewed off part of his ear, pelting him with stones after he fainted from the pain.

Paasu Ninama told Compass that the six attackers first lured him into a house in Malphalia village, Jhabua district with an offer of water on Oct. 4. The 35-year-old resident of Pipal Kutta village said he was on his way back from his regular Sunday service in Malphalia at 4 p.m. when six men sitting outside a house invited him in for a glass of water.

When he saw a photograph of Jesus Christ in the house, he knew they had set a trap for him – Pastor Ninama said he knew they would accuse him of providing the photo and trying to “forcibly” convert them. “I immediately turned to escape when they all jumped on me and started to beat me, accusing me of luring people to convert,” he said. They badly beat him with wood on his hands, legs and back. “I joined my hands and begged them not to beat me and let me go, but they mercilessly continued to hit me black and blue,” Pastor Ninama said. One of the Hindu extremists chewed off Pastor Ninama’s left ear, which bled heavily. Pastor Ninama fell unconscious. “A piece of my ear was in his mouth, and it went missing,” said Pastor Ninama, in tears. The attackers started pelting the unconscious pastor with stones until villagers intervened. There were two eyewitnesses who will testify in court of the attack, said Pastor Bahadur Baria, who lives in a nearby village.” source: compassdirect.org

Paasu Ninama’s story is just one of thousands of such events that are going on as we speak. There are men and women all over the world who have been so flabbergasted by God that when He saved them they could not help themselves from preaching the gospel, even if it means their lives. In North America, we are soft, Danae and I sat on the couch slightly stunned after reading about our dear brother Paasu. To think that he walks miles and miles to pastor a church every Sunday and on his way home in the heat of day he is lured into a trap by a glass of water. Paasu likely thought that this would be a great opportunity to share the gospel with the these men, only to be brutally attacked. We are called to preach to our haters regardless of what they intend to do to us. Brother Paasu serves as an example of what genuine faith looks like.

Luke 11:53-54 ESV .. As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

Craftiness of Lawyers: I used to really like watching legal movies where someone who’s as guilty as sin is on trial. They’ve done a good job so far of bold faced lying and no one has been able to nail them, that is until the hotshot lawyer starts to ambush him with a series of clever questions. The questions are crafted in a slightly inaccurate manner, and are dished out as quickly and aggressively as possible so the accused has very little time to respond. After several minutes of these questions and accusations the alleged criminal blurts out the truth of his felony without even realizing that he essentially just hung himself.

Like Paasu Ninama, Jesus was invited into the home of one of the Pharisees. Although Jesus wasn’t beaten on this occasion, He was invited over for one purpose and that was so that the Scribes (Lawyers) and Pharisees could catch Him saying something in which they would be able to condemn Him.  During the course of the dinner Jesus had rebuked them six times about their hypocrisy which infuriated them as He hit them with both barrels right between the eyes. On His way out the door, from this most relaxing meal, He was followed by a posse of lawyers and teachers who began to press Him hard in an effort to provoke Him. They asked Him question after question much like a trial and gave Him little to no time to respond. It was a tactic to build frustration so He would lash out in anger. However, Jesus was never out of control because His life was completely surrendered to the Fathers will and He was entirely led by the Holy Spirit.

1 John 2:6 .. Whoever says He abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.

Our Calling: A genuine believer is called to walk in the same footsteps as Jesus did, to skate on thin ice, to eat with enemies, to reveal Pharisaical type Christianity , to preach the gospel to the lost. All this is  to be done out of legitimate concern for their souls. We are called to be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). My challenge to all of you who are reading this is to shoulder your cross today, and follow after Jesus. Remember brother Ninama? That wasn’t the first time he was beaten, but rather the 3rd time in just a few months! Can you imagine that? What kind of faith is that? I think that’s the kind of faith, as I mentioned earlier in this post, that Paul was referencing when he said, “I have been crucified with Christ”. So let me ask you, “Have you been crucified with Christ?” When you are verbally attacked the next time you get out there and share the gospel will you lash out in anger, or will you be wise and gentle with those who hate the gospel? Do you really even love the lost enough to share it with a stranger? Do you actually love Jesus enough to obey His command to do it? Have you really been crucified with Christ? If you haven’t you will not be raised up with Him, and that’s a fact. Now is the day of salvation, in the words of Peter ” Be diligent to Confirm your Calling & Election”.

2 Peter 1:3-10 ESV … “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to CONFIRM YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.”

Preparing The Way
~ Shane Martin

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When Pain Paves the Way for Salvation:
Several years ago I sat and wept as I listened to Pastor Bill Wilson of Metro Ministries share his testimony, and the stories of the many children they serve through his “Sunday School church” in Brooklyn, New York and around the world. As a child, Bill Wilson was abandoned by his mother on the streets of New York. One day, as they walked down the street together, she instructed him to sit down on the curb and wait for her to return. He sat and waited for three days and she never came back. A Christian man noticed Bill alone and stopped to find out if he was okay. He picked him up, brought him home, and paid his way to a Christian summer camp where Bill heard the gospel and was saved by God’s grace. He now runs Metro Ministries which serves more than 42,000 children world wide with the gospel and is known as “the world’s largest Sunday School.”

Bill Wilson’s story is agonizing but beautiful. Someone who suffered much as a child, and has continued to face persecution today, is saved by “the Way, the Truth, and the Life”, and what he went through was worth it for the sake of his eternal life. What Jesus suffered on the cross was worth it also, for the sake of his children who are rescued because of his sacrifice. Sometimes God’s will is easy to bear and just what we would hope for, but more often than not it can be agonizing and even painful. If God allows us to suffer so that we might be saved and/or for our sanctification, it is worth it. And when we are yoked to Jesus the burden is light because of the joyful hope of glory we find in Him.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 ESV

The Will Behind the Cross:
I have been working through the heart of gospel in my devotions lately, the Cross. The crucifixion of Jesus is not something to be rushed through. I’ve had a lot of things vying for my attention this past week and I think it’s a real picture of what can happen with “the story of the cross” to many of its hearers. Other things can easily overshadow the simple message of the gospel in hearts and the enormity of it might be missed because we feel like “we know it.” As I read though, and picture the situation, and I’m trying really hard to listen, I’m amazed at the underlying message of suffering and the sovereignty of God. It can’t be escaped. The heart and soul of the gospel is Jesus atonement for the sins of his people through his life’s blood and then his victory over death and the grave, making a way for sinful people to have righteous standing with God for Jesus’ sake. The message of God’s will in it all, from the betrayal to the spear in Jesus side, cannot be missed though when you take the time to read it slow. Here’s where I’m at tonight.

And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. Matthew 27:35-44 ESV

As Jesus hung on the cross, making payment for his lost sheep, the people continued to mock and blaspheme him. Their accusations and statements might sound frighteningly familiar if put into different words though. Let’s look at the four examples from this passage in Matthew.

1. “If you are the Son of God, come down…”
The passersby were likely many of them Jewish travelers who were on their way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, which may very well be the most relevant parallel in this passage to our modern church. Religious people in such a hurry to take part in their religious ceremony that celebrated the night death passed over their ancestors because of the lamb’s blood on their doorposts, and they disregard the Lamb that is hanging on a post in front of their very eyes so that death might pass over them. How often does our religious activities focus on our ideas rather than God’s? Let’s ask ourselves, “What am I involved in with the church right now, and what is my reason for doing it?”

They also said to him, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” This is a whole new ball of wax. Where have we heard those words before? Oh yeah, the Devil when he came to tempt Jesus in the wilderness.

And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
Matthew 4:3-6 ESV

This mentality that says to Jesus, “If you are…” is a “prove it by blessing me” mentality that has a lust for the things of this world and no interest in the Savior. And it’s easier to get caught up in than you might think. Some might be wondering even as they read this why it seems that God is not intervening in a difficult situation in their life. Could it be that he is, but just not how you want him to? The people in Jesus time were waiting for a King sent by God to come and lead them into abundant life on earth, not a bloody Savior who refused to come down from the tree he was nailed to. This was not the kind of intervention they were looking for, so they missed what was happening. They said, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself!” and he could have been thinking, “I’m doing just that and more.”

2. “He Healed Many People, but Can’t Save Himself”
The chief priests, scribes and elders, said, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.” A common question that we’ve all heard, or maybe even asked, is “Why does a good God let bad things happen?” It’s a good question and a big one. I’m sure I won’t be able to cover even a portion of the full answer to it here, but let me ask this, Is what happened to Jesus on the cross good or bad? Hmmm… Is that a trick question? Maybe it is. I think the answer is, yes and no. It was bad. In fact, it was the pinnacle of evil and depravity, but it was also good because it was allowed and controlled by God. Read what Jesus said about it.

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” Matthew 26:52-54 ESV

and,

For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” John 10:17-18 ESV

Is what you’re going through bad? Peter, Jesus disciple who suffered much persecution for the gospel, said this,

    In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:6-7 ESV

I know it’s not the kind of encouragement you want to hear when it feels like the walls are closing in around you, but if it’s possible to catch a glimpse of the great glory and joy that may result from it, it can help you to see the value and worth in the trial. For example, would it have been better for Bill Wilson, mentioned at the beginning of the post, to have grown up in a well off home with two good parents who never taught him the gospel and to go through life very comfortable and full only to die without Christ? No, his suffering served God’s good purpose to save his life through the Christian love of a stranger who found him alone on a New York street corner. So, are you willing to trust God that he is in control and what feels like agonizing right now could be for your sanctification and because he loves you?

3. “Let Him Come Down Now from the Cross, and We will Believe in Him”
Do you think they really would have believed in Him if He came down from the cross when they asked?

While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”
When Jesus had said these things (he just finished speaking of his impending death), he departed and hid himself from them. Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
“He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
and understand with their heart, and turn,
and I would heal them.”
John 12:36-40 ESV

They wouldn’t have believed in Jesus even if he miraculously climbed down from the cross and healed himself right there on the spot. They didn’t believe when Lazarus was raised from the dead, in fact, they plotted to kill Lazarus again. They didn’t believe when Jesus cast a Legion of demons from a depraved man. They didn’t believe when he healed the blind and the lame right in their presence. As Matthew puts it, “Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him“. And when we read beyond those words we see that again, this was God’s will. It might be a hard pill to swallow, but it’s there in verses 37- 38, plain as day, “they still did not believe in him so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled...” Read Isaiah’s prophesy again if need be. He  blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts.

God’s will always trumps our will, and we cannot put conditions on God. It would be like an ant saying to a human, “If you get me a nice big watermelon to eat I’ll let you walk on my grass.” What a joke! A human could crush an ant with one toe. How much more is this true of God and people? Listen to what King Nebuchadnezzar said of God and His will after God caused him to act like a wild animal with hair as long as eagles feathers and nails like bird claws (read about it in Daniel 4) He had been full of himself before and after being humiliated by God he was restored to sanity and his position, but with a whole new outlook on God’s will.

    At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
        and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
    all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
        and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
        and among the inhabitants of the earth;
    and none can stay his hand
        or say to him, “What have you done?”
Daniel 4:34-35 ESV

Let’s not be proud or think of ourselves as good. God alone is good and therefore we can trust Him with our lives if we come to Him through His Son.

4. “Let God Deliver Him Now, if He Desires Him.”
The final insult, hurled at Jesus by the church leaders, was a statement that they felt proved that God was obviously not with Jesus because He was not delivering him from the cross. Again, this echos the past when Job’s friends tried to accuse him of being in sin because of all the outward appearances of what was happening to Job. But as we know from the beginning of the story, God allowed the Devil to strike Job, but God was still in control. He put the parameters on what Satan was permitted to do to Job.

And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Job 1:12 ESV

God was pleased with Jesus, but it did not (and could not) result in deliverance from the cross.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Isaiah 53:10 ESV

“All is well” does not equal “God’s favor”. Throughout the Bible you will find references to the wicked prospering and the righteous suffering. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the wicked never suffer and the righteous never prosper, it’s just all that to say that everything hinges on God’s will and plan. And we should never measure  success and prosperity as God’s favor and blessing.

I don’t know a lot about singer/songwriter Laura Story, but I heard her new song “Blessings” on the radio today as I was driving with my kids, and I’d like to share the portion of the song that stood out to me the most because I think it fits in really well with this truth that we’ve been looking at of God’s blessings not always coming in the form we feel comfortable with.

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

‘Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It’s not our home

It’s Worth It:
I’d like to leave you with this thought: If you were able to see your life from beginning to end as God sees it and  you could see that everything you’re going through, or will go through, that is difficult will all turn out for your good and eternal joy in the end, would it comfort you? Now, here is the definition of faith: Even though you cannot see your life from beginning to end as God sees it and you don’t know how your difficulties will work out for your good, can you trust God that everything will turn out for your good and eternal joy in the end?

Let me encourage you friends, as my husband Shane and I walk through trials ourselves, even today, that while there are moments when God’s will feels agonizing, as I’m sure it did to Jesus as He hung on the cross for me, the trial will end and by God’s grace we will be full of joy in Him alone.

   …I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:11-13 ESV

Preparing the Way,
~ Danae Martin

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Luke 11:52 – The Scribes and the Key of Knowledge

The Wrong Key: Recently I locked myself out of an office space and when I went to retrieve the key they gave me something that resembled a rats nest wrapped around a ring. There were literally a couple dozen keys on there. Since the building owners hadn’t used the internal keys for a couple of years it was my job was to go upstairs and try every single key in the door. Long story short, I tried all the keys and not a single one worked. What’s even worse than having keys that won’t fit into the key slot, is finding one that seems to fit but when you turn it the door won’t open. Regardless of whether it fits in the door or not, if it doesn’t open it you either have the wrong key or wrong door.  In Luke 11:52 we find ourselves listening to Jesus as he rebukes the Scribes one last time. This rebuke was for taking away the only key that would open the door to everlasting life. Let’s read…

Luke 11:52 ESV .. Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”

Matthew 23:13 ESV .. “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

Shut the Door in Your Face: I love the picture Jesus paints for us here, and He never embellished a story for the sake of making a point, for it was impossible for Him to lie. Jesus was giving us comparative imagery of what false teachers literally do to people. The last woe finds fault with how the lawyers are interpreting the Scriptures, which is ultimately holding people within their care back from obtaining the key in which to unlock the door to God’s plan of salvation. Not only do they refuse to enter, but their distorted interpretations keep others from knowing God. As Jesus puts it, they were slamming the door to salvation in their face, and if you’ve every been the recipient of that you’ll know all too well it’s not very pleasant.

Matthew 5:20 ESV … For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Treating The Symptoms & Masking the Problem: I doubt whether there’s ever been a person on the planet who has lived their entire existence without coming down with at least one sore throat. You know the kind that brings tears to your eyes when you swallow? All you want is to ditch it as quickly as it came on, so you head to the pharmacy and they sell you something that says this on the side of the bottle, “temporarily relieves symptoms for up to 4 hours“. If you’re anything like me you’ll read it and know that even though the bottle makes an exaggerated claim of symptoms vanishing for 4 hours, 15 minutes later you’ll be spraying your throat again and that’s a fact. Sore throats are a symptom of a greater issue, which is your body’s immunity system. There’s been excessive wear on your body; through stress, too much sweets, eating the wrong foods, whatever the case may be your body has lost its ability to fight, leaving you a vulnerable victim to every virus that comes your way. Your only hope of getting rid of the symptoms is to build your body’s immunity back up once again which will deal with the root of the problem.

We read above in Matthew 5:20 where Jesus tells the people who were under the teaching of the Pharisees, that unless their righteousness was infinitely greater than the Pharisees righteousness appeared to be, they would not see the kingdom of heaven. Can you imagine what was going through their heads? This is so important that we must force ourselves to ponder on it for a minute. Picture in your mind the most well thought of Christian leader you know of, someone that you admire and see as a great spiritual leader, perhaps Billy Graham, Charles Spurgeon, or Jonathan Edwards. Now picture Jesus walking into your living room as you are watching a podcast of your favourite preacher and He says, “Unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness  of _____________, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven”. He was driving home a serious fault in the religious system which was that eternal life could be achieved through righteous living, or lost through the lack of it. The Pharisees had been treating the symptoms of sin for years, they’d become amazing at masking the internal issue of sin through added traditions and extra programs. Their self righteous efforts to keep themselves holy was only fuelling God’s wrath for their future punishment. They were blind guides who believed they could see, leading other blind sheep away from the truth. Jesus was calling them to an entirely different type of righteousness than what the scribes and Pharisees had been teaching.

You see, if you take pride in the fact that you have been a faithful church attender, or that you have been able to stay clean for x-amount of years, or you haven’t looked at porn in 6 months, or you have never drank a drop of alcohol in your entire life, or maybe that you have never done drugs or smoked weed, or had sex outside of marriage, simply put you may be building a self righteous façade that will one day fail when you stand before a holy God. I was once that person, I took pride in the fact that I had never touched alcohol or smoked and would frown on people who did. My self righteousness had a rancid smell to God and I was headed for an eternity where I would never see the kingdom, an eternity in hell. Any effort you could possibly make at keeping rules, staying away from sin, or cleaning up your life, could never in a million lifetimes make you right with God. God demands perfect holiness and as long as you have even sinned insomuch as once, you are officially an enemy of His kingdom. He’s pronounced you dead in your sins, and your are labelled a subject of His wrath according to the Bible.

Christ Attributes His Righteousness: Have you ever seen a Music Awards show on TV? I’m not sure that I have actually watched one all the way through before, but I do know that they have security at all those events and that if anyone tries to go back stage uninvited they will be escorted off immediately. The person may have even met one of the singers before at one time in their life but it still doesn’t mean that the singer knows them or that they have permission to go backstage.

We see this all too often in the church, people hear about the amazing things that Jesus can do for them and they quickly line up at an altar to meet him. After they are formally introduced they are lead in a recited prayer and initiated into the church with five people to follow them up making sure they stay saved and don’t backslide. They are given books on how to fight sin, and if they struggle with drinking or porn we enrol them in accountability groups subtly teaching that if they can just sanctify themselves and stay clean they will please God and be welcomed into heaven one day. It’s important to notice that it’s just the very outward obviously “dirty” sins that are often ever dealt with. I mean you don’t see any accountability groups for envy do you? Yet Galatians 5:18-21 tells us that anyone who has envy will not enter the kingdom… Check out the list for yourself.

Galatians 5:18-21 ESV .. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Kingdom righteousness works from the inside out, it first produces a changed heart and new desires so that the actual conduct of genuine Christians in fact does exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. In and of ourselves you will never please God, you will forever be kicked out of His backstage. The only hope of you ever getting into the kingdom is not performing like a circus monkey but to be found in Christ. Jesus was the Only human whoever pleased God. He said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. Spiritual blindness is so deceptive that it can even fool you into thinking you are able to see (Luke 11:35). Our hearts by nature are wicked and dead, we have no hope in ourselves (Jeremiah 17:9). Our only hope is to be like blind Bartimaeus who cried out to Jesus in the midst of his blindness pleading for sight. Bartimaeus exemplifies someone in humility who recognizes that without divine intervention from Christ he is trapped in blindness forever. When it seems that Jesus is about to pass him by He cries all the louder until Jesus stops and responds to His call and opens his crusted blind eyes. God draws the ones who have recognized their inability to save themselves, the ones who are trembling at His holiness, and the ones who, in humility cry out “I’m blind, I’m a slave to sin, I deserve your wrath, please remember me when you come into your kingdom”. He grants them godly sorrow, He grants them repentance, and He saves them. You see a person cannot make Jesus Lord of their life but rather it’s He who makes a person His child. Jesus is Lord of your life whether you bow your knee here or later.

Philippians 3:9 ESV … and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV .. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

Jeremiah 32:40 .. I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.

Hebrews 8:10 ESV .. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Conclusion: We just read how if a person is in Christ, meaning they are His, they belong to Him, they will produce the fruit of righteousness, they will no longer be a slave to sin, they won’t need 15 accountability groups and a dozen net nannies on 12 different computers, why? Because when God saves us He put a new heart in us, this one actually wants to do His will, this one comes complete with His law engraved on it, and the new mind He gives us has His laws seared into it. We no longer fear losing salvation but continue to trust not in our own works but in His finished work. We no longer are slaves to sin nor do we love it, we abhor evil and are free from its grip.

Take 10 minutes right now to examine the fruit of your life, do you fear God? I mean genuine fear and trembling, do you hate sin, or do you kinda like some of it, does it still please you? Are you actually a new creation or the moment you slip away from your accountability group do you do you fall back into your old habits? If you do, you may have been headed to the door of eternity with the wrong key in your hand. There is hope, and it looks like a blind beggar on the side of the road and a condemned criminal hanging on a cross. Jesus will never leave a humbled man on a cross and never a man on the side of the road begging for sight. Stop treating the symptoms, look to Him and Live. Call on the Name of the Lord and be saved!

Preparing The Way
~Shane Martin

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Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus, Spoken Word, Jefferson Bethke

What if I told you Jesus came to abolish religion,
What if I told you voting Republican really wasn’t his Mission

What if I told you Republican doesn’t automatically mean Christian,
And just because you call some people blind doesn’t automatically give you vision.

I mean if religion is so great, why has it started so many wars?
Why does it build huge churches, but fails to feed the poor?

Tells single mom’s God doesn’t love them if they’ve ever had a divorce,
But in the Old Testament God actually calls religious people whores.

Religion might preach grace, but another thing they practice,
Tend to ridicule God’s people, they did it to John the Baptist.

They can’t fix their problems and so they just mask it,
not realizing religion is like spraying perfume on a casket.

See the problem with religion is it never gets to the core,
It’s just behaviour modification like a long list of chores.

Like let’s dress up the outside make it look all nice and neat,
It’s funny that’s what they used to do with mommy’s while the corpse rots underneath.

Now I ain’t judgin I’m just sayin quit puttin on a fake look,
Cause there’s a problem if people only know you’re a Christian by your Facebook.

I mean in every other aspect of life you know that logics unworthy,
It’s like saying you play for the Lakers just because you bought a Jersey.

See this was me too but no one seemed to be on to me,
Acting like a church kid while addicted to pornography.

See on Sunday I’d go to church by Saturday getting faded,
Acting as if I was simply created to just have sex and get wasted.

You see I spent my whole life building this facade of neatness.
But now that I know Jesus I boast in my weakness.

Because if grace is water then the church should be an ocean,
It’s not a museum for good people, it’s a hospital for the broken.

Which means I don’t have to hide my failure I don’t have to hide my sin,
Because it doesn’t depend on me, it depends on Him

You see because when I was an enemy and certainly not a fan,
He looked down and said, “I Want that Man”

Which is why Jesus hated religion and for it He called them fools,
Don’t you see it’s so much better than just following some rules?

Now let me clarify, I love the church I love the Bible and yes I believe in sin,
But if Jesus came to your church would they actually let Him in?

See remember He was called a glutton and a drunkard by religious men,
But the so,me of God never supports self righteousness not now, not then.

Now back to the point one thing is vital to mention,
How Jesus and religion are on opposite spectrum’s.

See one’s the work of God and ones a man made invention,
See one is the cure, the other is the infection.

See because Religion says do Jesus says done,
Religion says Slave Jesus says Son.

Religion puts you on bondage while Jesus sets you free,
Religion makes you blind but Jesus makes you see.

And that’s why religion and Jesus are two different clans,
Religion is man searching for God, Christianity is God searching for man.

Which is why salvation is freely mine and forgiveness is my own,
Not based on my merits but Jesus’ obedience alone.

Because He took the crown of thorns and the blood dripped down His face,
He took what we all deserved I guess that’s why you call it grace.

And while being murdered He yelled “Father forgive them they know not what they do”,
Because when he was cancelling on that cross He was thinking of you.

And He absorbed all your sin then He buried it in the tomb,
While kneeling at the cross saying “Come on there’s room”

So for religion no I hate it, in fact I literally resent it
Because when Jesus said “It Is Finished” I believe that He meant it.

Poem by: Jefferson Bethke

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Jefferson Bethke - Sex, Marriage, Fairytales || Spoken Word – Lyrics

Sex Marriage and Fairytales Words: When a video like this comes out many people will want to be able to read and evaluate the words. Here are the words to Jefferson Bethke’s new spoken word poem called, Sex, Marriage, &  Fairytales.

Disney Movies and Chick Flicks they put us in a weird position,
They’ve distorted our reality because we forget they are actually fiction.

Because in marriage we either get better or bitter, either joy or remorses,
What we’re doing isn’t working just look at the rate of the divorces.

So how’s your marriage? I mean common let’s be honest,
It seams more like a prison than the paradise they were promised.

We thought marriage was supposed to fulfil us and make us happy not lonely,
But the truth is God’s main purpose is making you holy.

You say, no one told me, it feels so odd,
Where dating feels like a vacation, while marriage feels like a job.

Yet the secret of joy if we just pull back the façade,
is realising most problems arise when we elevate our spouse to God.

Without knowing it we’ve fulfilled Romans 1:25,
By our actions exchanging truth about God for a lie.

We exchanged God for lesser created things,
It’s like a husband trading his wife for a 2D image on a screen.

Hoping it will set us free just to find out in the fumes we’re chocking,
Because if your marriage rests on anything but Jesus it’s resting on something broken.

Yet guys continually sacrifice their marriage on the alter of sex and lust,
I mean if our dollars were honest they’d say “In Pleasure We Trust”.

So men grow up, put down the controller,
How bout you lead her with grace instead of trying to control her.

Now I’ve never been married but I’m a product of one that was non existent,
So don’t tell me I don’t understand the pain, Don’t tell me I don’t get it.

So to the singles, become friends first before you ever become lovers,
Peruse Jesus as your foundation, before you get under the covers.

Because believe me a strong friendship before marriage will make a good marriage after,
Marriage isn’t just sex, it’s converstation and laughter.

I mean some spouses barely even like each other and the marriage seams like a dead end,
You might share a check-book and house but are you actually friends?

I mean if marriage isn’t a commitment then what’s the point of the vows we say,
Till death do us part really means until the feelings go away.

Like I’ll stay with him, but only until it gets tough and my love shifts,
But I say imagine if a parent took that perspective with their kids.

Can’t you see it, the minute the kid spills something on the floor,
the mom saying forget it, I don’t even love you any-more.

No it’s just like marriage to last you need the strength from above,
Because it’s not the love that sustains the promise, it’s the promise that sustains the love.

I mean think about it, out of anyone who has actually had the right to leave,
God had every reason in the world but he came for you and me.

And on the cross he paid it all took our shame and set us free,
when He could have called down legions of angels, He chose to stay on that tree.

From the cross he looks at you in the eye and says I’m taking this for my bride,
When you trust in Me, you no longer have to hide.

Because of Me it is finished, you have been made new,
You’re spotless you’re blameless there’s no sin in you.

Because His death was a proposal he wanted you no matter the cost,
Where some guys propose on a knee, Jesus proposed on a cross.

So read Ephesians 5 whether husband or wife,
wife honor your husbands, husbands give up your life.

Just like Jesus gave Himself up for His bride the church,
So men lead by serving, by putting her first.

So die to self put your flesh on a life sentence,
Because you don’t fall out of love, as much as you fall out of Repentance.

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