Replies to post #1217 on ~*~ The Heaven of God ~*~

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~*~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ~*~ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never grives up, never loses fiath, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

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John 12:20-26

(20) Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. (21) Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." (22) Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn Andrew and Philip told Jesus. (23) But Jesus answered them, saying, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. (24) Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. (25) He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (26) If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.



This catches the essence of what Christian life and overcoming are all about. We have often heard that, if God repeats something twice, we need to pay the strictest of attention. How important is it if He repeats it six times? Though the same wording is not used in all six passages, the same sense appears in each.

Notice the setting here. A small group of Gentiles ask Philip for an audience with Jesus. John does not record one word of what they said, and the context distinctly suggests that Jesus speaks before they ever say a word. He responds to the fact that they want to see Him.

Two thoughts must have exploded into His mind simultaneously. He first recognized that the people who wanted to see Him were Gentiles. He must have envisioned across the expanse of time the huge multitudes of their populations being converted, growing, overcoming, and entering the Kingdom of God.

At the same time, He anticipated their questions. "What must I do to be saved? What must I do to have eternal life? What must I do to be in Your Kingdom?" How does He answer them? He tells them, "You must quit living your life the way you do." He was not, on this occasion, concerned about specific behaviors but rather the overall principle—the force that drives carnal human life: self-centeredness. So important is what Jesus says that God's voice thunders in agreement out of the heavens:

Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have glorified [My name] and will glorify it again." Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to Him." Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake." (verses 28-30)

Notice, beginning in verse 24, how Jesus' response unfolds. He uses a simple, understandable illustration: Unless a seed is planted in the ground and dies, it bears no fruit. Only when its life is sacrificed does it bear any fruit. This applies both to Jesus and to any of His followers. He sacrificed His life, and its fruit until now is the church, but multitudes more will be added as God's plan unfolds.

The same principle holds true in our lives. The fruit that leads to eternal life is produced when the individual sacrifices himself in service to others, God and man. In verse 25, Jesus teaches that the person who attempts to preserve rather than sacrifice will end up losing what he spent his lifetime attempting to preserve. Meanwhile, those who readily sacrifice their lives keep living right on into the Kingdom of God.

It is interesting to note that John uses two different words, both of which are translated as "life." The first is psuche, usually translated "soul," which simply means physical life. The second is zoe, and John usually attaches it to the adjective "eternal," causing it to mean the spiritual vitality of God.

In verse 26, He reinforces His instruction regarding sacrifice by commanding us to do as He does. In this case, this is what "follow Me" means. It is not merely walking behind on the same general course but completely "aping" or imitating Him—doing exactly what He is doing. In this particular teaching, it points to the sacrifice of our lives. He was already living this way, and He would complete His life of selfless service by sacrificing it in death. "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends" (John 15:13). However, we must understand that laying down one's life is a continuous process. He expects us to follow in His steps, do what He does, bear what He bears, love what He loves.

To most of those who call themselves "Christian," Christianity is a theory to be accepted rather than a life to be actively and daily lived out. Many apparently have the vague idea that what Christ does for us and offers to us enables us, while remaining what we are, to evade the consequences of being what we are and to reap a destiny that is not naturally ours. If we believe this, we must seriously consider II Corinthians 5:10: "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." At the end of our lives, we will receive from God what we are living! God wants to see us living like Him, and He will honor those who do.

However, making the sacrifices to live His way is costly to human nature, which resists strongly. Jesus says in Mark 8:34-38:

Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.

Why does Christ have to say things like this? Because human nature is driven by the impulse that the only way to the things a person deeply desires is through self-centered, assertive, competitive concentration on getting what it wants. We all have this drive; however, individuals differ in the strength of human nature in them and the methods they employ to achieve their goals. Jesus says the self must be denied because human nature is driven by pride and covetousness.

Of course, the Bible is not urging us to court martyrdom. It is speaking of a general approach to life, of crucifying the self-centered impulses of human nature. This means subordinating a clamoring ego with its preoccupation with "I," "me," and "mine"; its concern for self-assertion; and its insistence on comfort and prestige. It is denying the self for the sake of embracing Christ's cause. To be ashamed to live this way of life is equivalent to being ashamed of Christ Himself.

The Bible frequently emphasizes the way God lives as exemplified by Christ's life. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16). "As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep" (John 10:15). "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).

In addition, God gives His Holy Spirit, forgiveness of sin, mercy, kindness, correction, rain in due season, prosperity, spiritual gifts, healing, protection, and much more. He gave us this earth on which to live, and He daily supplies life to billions of people. The list of things His Word says He gives is long indeed. God lives to give. As Herbert Armstrong often said, there are only two ways of living: We can live the way of human nature, the way of get, or we can change to live God's way of give.

We can never be in God's image until we live as He does. If we understand and believe in the purpose He is working out, we will use our faith to yield to His way in developing His character image. This is what overcoming and growing in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ are all about.

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Happiness Is... http://www.gty.org/AudioPlayer/Podcast/947
Matthew 5:1-2
Code: 2197

We're looking at Matthew chapter 5. Obviously, it's going to take us some time to get through all of this. The Sermon on the Mount takes up chapter 5, chapter 6 and chapter 7. And I believe that all of this was delivered by our Lord as one sermon, at one particular time. And, of course, these truths were again taught by Him at different points, at different intervals in different locations but there is a tremendous strength and power to putting this all together as one great sermon. And we're going to take a long time to study these revolutionary truths, these truths that, hit the world like some kind of a bomb that exploded on the minds of those who heard them.

Let me begin our discussion of this wonderful section, a discussion that will, no doubt, range over many months to come, with this statement; Jesus is in the business of providing people with happiness. And that's why we've entitled this opening message, Happiness is ... Sadly, not everybody really understands that, not everybody really believes that, in fact, there are many Christians who aren't too sure that they really experience the reality of true happiness but Jesus is in the happiness business. Happiness is His concern. Now this is very evident to us because here in the very first sermon ever recorded as having been preached by Jesus Christ, as we enter into the gospels the first time we meet a sermon of our Lord it is a sermon that begins with the constant ringing theme of happiness.

If you'll notice in verse 1 and. following you'll see the word blessed used 9 times. The word simply means happiness or happy and we may read these that way. "And seeing the multitudes He went up into a mountain and when He was seated, His disciples came unto Him and He opened His mouth and taught them saying; Happy are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy are they who mourn for they shall be comforted. Happy are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Happy are they who do hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled. Happy are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. Happy are the pure of heart for they shall see God. Happy are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons of God. Happy are they who are per­secuted for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted the prophets who were before you." Nine times we see the word blessed, the word happy. And I say it again, the Lord is in the happiness business. The Lord is in the business of giving men and women blessings. The ulti­mate end of it all in verse 12 is that these points of happiness should result in rejoicing and exceeding gladness. And so I say it again, God is in the business of making our lives full of joy, full of gladness, full of happiness.

Now this is only the introduction to the sermon. Having stated that basic goal of His teaching to bring about true happi­ness, and I'm not talking about the world's happiness based upon happen­stance or circumstance. We'll get into that in detail as we go. But true happiness is the goal and like any good preacher He states His objective at the beginning. The very beginning of the Sermon on the Mount tells you the whole point of the Sermon on the Mount and that is that we should know real blessedness, real happiness, real joy, real gladness, genuine divine reward and then from there on He goes to talk about how it is that that becomes possible. What kind of life style it is that produces this kind of happiness. That becomes the running theme through chapter 5, chapter 6 and chapter 7.

Now we have to get the basics before we can understand this absolute fantastic sermon. I think, the greatest single sermon ever preached. We have to get the foundation. So tonight we're just going to lay some ground work and we're going to give you a little bit of teaching approach to it rather than a preaching approach but we've got to get a grip on these basics so that the rest will be meaningful to you.

First of all, I want to set for you the context. I want to give you a little bit of a backdrop, a little bit of background. I want to frame it a little bit if I can so that you'll understand the significance of these words to the people to the point in time at this juncture biblically; it all needs to fit together. We need to understand context a little bit. First of all and there are several contexts to look at. First of all we have to get a biblical context by that I mean a biblical background. Where are we in the Bible? Where are we in the flow of God's revelation? Where are we in God's plan of revealing His truth to man? Well, this is a new point. This is a dramatic change. This is an incredible transformation.

Just to show you what I mean I want you to look at the very last message of the Old Testament. The very last message is in Malachi chapter 4 and verse 6, this is the way the Old Testament ends. This is what it says, Malachi the last book and the last verse of the last chapter; "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers", now listen to this, "Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse". How interesting. The Old Testament ends with a curse; the New Testament begins with a blessing. Now that's a dramatic change. The last words of the man of God, "a curse". That's the last words. "A curse". The first words of the man of God, the living Christ, "Blessed". Blessing and cursing. The Old Testament, the law, Sinai, thunder, lightning, judgment, cursing. The New Testament, Zion, grace, peace, blessing. A dramatic change. The word blessed, MAKARIOS, in fact, that's a common name for people who are Greek. You may remember the Bishop Makarios of the Greek Orthodox Church. Makarios is an adjective that simply, basically means happy or blissful. That's really what it means. But I want to expand that a little bit so you'll understand the significance of this new message. The word basically comes from a root MAKAR, that root means to be happy, real happiness. Not in the world's sense of happiness based upon positive circumstance.

Both Homer and Hesiod spoke of the Greek gods as, now note this because this is a very important point, they spoke of the Greek gods as being blessed in themselves and they said it was a state unaffected by the world of men who were subject to poverty, weakness and death. In other words, the ancient Greek concept of MAKAR and MAKARIOS is the idea of a kind of happiness and a kind of blissfulness and a kind of contentedness and a kind of blessedness that is unaffected by circumstance. That's really what they were saying. The word, then, has an idea of an inward bliss, an inward happiness which is neither the result of circumstance nor subject to change on the basis of circumstance. This is the basic New Testament meaning of blessed. It means an inner peace, an inner bliss, an inner happiness, an inward joy that is not produced by circumstance or is it affected by circumstance. It is a state of happiness, a state of well‑being in which God desires His children to live.

Now let me take it a step further. It is a word that indicates character. It is a word that talks about character. It is touching man at the very base of his existence. It is a character word. And the reason I say that is because it is used to describe God. For example, we find many times in the Bible the statement, "Blessed be God". For one,Psalm 68:35 says that, "Blessed be God". Psalm 72:18 says, "Blessed be the Lord God". Psalm 119:12 said, "Blessed art Thou 0 Lord". I Timothy chapter 1 verse 11 says, "The blessed God". In other words, whatever, get this, whatever this state is it is true of God. Do you understand what I am saying? Whatever it is it is true of God. Whatever it is to be blessed it is true of God.

Now since this word is used of God and by the way it is also used of our Lord Jesus Christ. It says in I Timothy 6:15, "The Lord Jesus Christ who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords". So this blessedness is a character which is true of God, a character aspect which is true of God and of Christ. Now that makes it something we need to take a step further. If whatever this blessedness is, it is true of God and it is true of Christ, now watch this, then the only people who will ever experience it are those who partake of God and partake of Christ. O.K.? There is no blessedness apart from that. But Peter tells us in II Peter 1:4 that, "We who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ", watch this, "are partakers of the divine nature Right? We are partakers of the divine nature, the upshot of that as applied here is we can know the same bliss, the same inner state of contentment, the same happiness deep down within us that is known by God and the Lord Jesus Christ themselves. What a marvelous thing that is to realize. MAKARIOS, then is fundamentally an element of the character of God. And man willonly know that element insofar as he is a partaker of the divine nature.

So, watch. From the very beginning it is established, the Sermon on the Mount has nothing to say and nothing to offer to someone apart from faith in Jesus Christ. That's basic. But for those of us who know and love the Lord. Jesus Christ, for those of us who by faith in Christ have become partakers of the divine nature, the same bliss, the same contentment, the same happiness, the same sense of blessedness is known by God of Himself and Christ of Himself can be known by us of ourselves. The tremendous thought. Once a person knows God through Christ, blessedness becomes available to him or to her. So to begin with, note this people, that when we talk about happiness or we talk about blessedness it is in a biblical concept and it is not talking about a superficial attitude based, on circumstance it is talking about an inward attitude based upon the very indwelling of the character of God Himself.

So we see, then, that this is a tremendous thing that God is saying. That whereas the old covenant ends with a curse the new one ends with the potential of the very character and nature of God indwelling the believer. So there would be a blessedness that is only true of God Himself. I don't know if you get a hold of that, that is an absolute, mind‑boggling thought, that you and I could be such partakers of the divine nature as to know the very bliss that the eternal God knows in His own mind. That's the kind of contentment God wants for us. The Old Testament is the book of Adam and Adam and his story are the story of the Old Testament. It's kind of a sad story. The first king in the earth was Adam and it was said by God to Adam that he had dominion over the earth. He was the first monarch but he fell and since he fell the Old Testament had to end with a curse. But in the New Testament there's a new king and that's why Matthew starts the New Testament because he is the one who presents the King. The King is immediately presented. The last Adam, the second Adam, the greater than Adam and He is a King who does not fall. The first king fell and left a curse, the second King reigns and leaves a blessing. One writer put it this way, the first Adam was tested in a beautiful garden and failed; the last Adam was tested in a dangerous desert and succeeded. Because the first Adam was a thief he was cast out of paradise but the last Adam turned to a thief on a cross and said, "Today, shalt thou be with Me in paradise". The book of the generations of the first Adam ends with a curse, the book of the generations of Jesus Christ ends with a promise, "There shall be no more curse". That's how Revelations ends.

So the Old Testament gave us a law to show man in his misery and the New Testament gives us life to show man in his bliss. Big difference. So Matthew introduces to us immediately as we've been studying in our study, immediately introduces us to the King, doesn't he? Fantastic new reality dawns upon human history. There is a new King. There is one who can reverse the terrible curse of Adam and immediately as we hit the New Testament we face Matthew's presentation of the King. And we have already studied the ancestry of the King, and we studied the arrival of the King and we've studied the adoration of the King, and we've studied the prophetic anticipation of the King, and we've studied the announcer of the King, John the Baptist, and the acclamation of the King and the advantage of the King as He won in His temptation, and the activity of the King, and now we come to the address of the King. The manifesto of the monarch Himself. The sermon on the mount is the great statement of the King as He opens His mouth and gives blessing instead of cursing to those who desire it. That's the general biblical context which this sermon is delivered. A new age, a new King, a new message.

But there is also the fact that as you look at the beatitudes as this blessed message is given it seems somewhat paradoxical. And Matthew is presenting a kingdom doesn't really fit what most people would have anticipated. You see, happiness as Matthew outlines it here in the words of Jesus isn't exactly the way the world would do it. In fact, it says here that the happy people are the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the hungry and the thirsty, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the persecuted, the reviled.

Now you say, ‑ Wait a minute. I'm not sure I want that kind of happiness. Sounds like misery with another name. You've got to be kidding. Well, that's the point. There is a paradox because all the way down connected with happiness is misery and I'm going to say it right here and you'll see it as we go misery is the key to happiness. You say, ‑ Now, wait a minute; misery is the key to happiness? That's right. We'll see that as we go into detail but to most people the whole thing seems absolutely absurd. One writer said this, "It is as if Jesus crept into the large display window of life and changed all the price tags".

It's all backwards, what do you mean happiness comes out of misery? What are you saying? Why the world says man, look ‑ happiness is, we have books on that, happiness is ...... you know, we work on that a lot. Happiness is the go‑getter, the guy who can push everybody out of his way and the guy, who can get what he wants, when he wants, where he wants and how he wants, that's happiness. Happiness is macho. Happiness is doing your own thing. Happiness is grabbing all the gusto you can get. That's happiness. Happiness is acquiring the world's things. Happy are the rich and happy are the noble and happy are the famous and happy are the popular. But that isn't it. The message from this king doesn't really fit the picture. Matthew is so dynamic in his presentation because his message just devastates worldly attitudes even of the Jewish people themselves who would have read Matthew, first of all. Even Seneca, the Roman philosopher, tutor of Nero in the first century said this, quote, "What is more shameful than to equate the rational souls good with that which is irrational", end quote. What he was saying was any fool knows you can't fill up a man's empty soul with external things, you can't feel the rational need with an irrational object. That's what the world tries to do. Jesus comes into the world to announce that the tree of happiness doesn't grow in the cursed earth. Have to tell you that, folks, the tree of happiness doesn't grow in the cursed earth. But so many seek it. Think about Solomon. Solomon was the most magnificent king that ever lived. If anybody should of been happy according to the world's standard, he should. He had nobility.

Listen, his parentage was the royal line of David through which the Messiah would come the most royal, noble line in the history of the world. There was nobody with more nobility than Solomon. His palace was the paragon of the earth and. it was located in THE city, the city of God, the city of Jerusalem. His wealth was so immeasurable and his treasure was so vast that the Old Testament said that silver was as common as rocks. His pleasure was fabulous food, incredible stables. I was in Solomon's stable up in Megiddo, incredible literally thousands of the finest horses found in the world. He had the buildings and the servants and the vineyards and the fishponds and the gardens, women by the hundreds, his intelligence? Why he was the most intelligent man who ever lived. He had it all in the world's evaluation, he had it all. He should have been an infinitely happy man and all he had to say about it is this, "Vanity, vanity all is vanity", the word means emptiness. And the New Testament put it this way, "A man's life consists not in the abundance of things which he possesses".

Listen, if you're looking for happiness in the world's goods, you're in the wrong place, the tree of happiness doesn't grow in the cursed earth. It's not there. Physical things don't touch the soul. Did you get that? It's a simple point but I want you to think it through. Physical things don't touch the soul. You cannot fill a spiritual need with a physical substance, it can't be done. But people try to do it.

You know, if you're really in misery in your marriage, go out and buy a new car. Or if you had a rotten argument with your wife, go out and buy a new suit. You'll feel better. You cannot fill a spiritual need with a physical substance. That's foolish. You can't do the other either. When you're hungry you don't want a lecture on grace. You want your dinner. And when you're out on the desert and you're dying of thirst you don't want somebody to talk to you about the wonderful mercy of God, you want water. You cannot fill a physical need with a spiritual substance; it's just as ridiculous to think you can fill a spiritual need with a physical substance. It can't be done. Things which cannot quiet the heart in a storm cannot provide any kind of blessedness. You can't pour oil on a wounded spirit. I think about Saul when he was sore distressed, all the jewels of the crown couldn't do anything to comfort him. I think about king Belshazzar in the book of Daniel, he was carousing and drinking and living it up and they were having a wild party like few in the history of any nation then all of a sudden while he was there Daniel 5:3 says he was drinking wine in the golden vessels of the temple and he was really draining it down and everybody's cup was gold and then a figure of a man's hand appeared on the wall and wrote MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN, you are weighed in the balance and found wanting and all of a sudden the Bible says his countenance changed and you know what happened? The wine went sour and the food was like a rock in his stomach. One of the great Puritan saints who has written wondrous things that really touch the heart of anyone who is a student of the Bible is a man named Thomas Watson and Thomas Watson said this, quote; "Things of this world will no more keep out trouble of spirit than a piece of paper will stop a bullet. Worldly delights are winged", he says, "they may be compared to a flock of birds in the garden that stay a little while but when you come near to them they take their flight, so riches make themselves wings and they fly away as an eagle", Proverbs 23:5 says, "they are like the meteor that blazes but spends and annihilates itself, they're like a castle made of snow lying under the torrid beams of the sun" end quote. External things do more to discomfort the soul than to bless it.

Ecclesiastes 5:13 says, "Riches are kept for the hurt of their owners". Did you get that? Riches are kept for the hurt of their owners. There's no satisfaction in what the world offers and when Jesus came into the world, listen to me people, He wasn't offering the world stuff. And there are some people passing themselves off today as Christians who are offering the world stuff. They're promising financial prosperity, money, success. Jesus never offered that. That's never in the sermon on the mount. The opposite is here. In fact, the things of the world become fuel for pride, they become fuel for lust and they become a snare and Jesus Himself said, the things of the world, the cares of the world, the riches of the world will rise up and choke out the word. They are thorns and will do to your soul what thorns do to your shirt or your dress.

Listen, what God is saying in all of this marvelous and incomparable sermon in these beatitudes is simply this, people, you will never find happiness in this world, never. You might as well learn it. That is like seeking the living among the dead and the angel said He's not here He's risen. And I want to just borrow that concept and say if you're looking for the living reality of real blessedness in the earth you're looking among the dead for the living and it's not there you've got to ascend to another level. Paul put it this way, "If ye be then risen with Christ seek those things which are", what? "Above, set not your affections on things on the earth." John put it this way, "Love not the world neither the", what? "Things that are in the world." There's no satisfaction there. Happiness is not here, blessedness isn't in the cursed earth it's on another level. And the Sermon on the Mount is going to take you to that level. Are you ready? It's going to counter everything you hear by the fast‑pitch salesman. It's going to counter everything you see on the billboards; everything you read in the magazines it is going to give you an entirely different standard of life. Totally opposite of what the world tells you so you're going to have a tough time really living it if you don't learn it well because it's going to be bombarded by everybody coming along in the world system.

Now let me take you to another thought about context. There is a political context here too that's just fantastic. The Jews were looking for a Messiah only their definition of a Messiah was a political ruler. Right? They were looking for somebody to come, you know, riding into Jerusalem on a great horse and zap all of the Romans and they'd all fall over dead and Held lead a great revolution infinitely beyond anything they'd ever heard of even that of Judas Maccabees and his sons that had overthrown Greece temporarily. Boy, they expected some really whirlwind deal to happen when the Messiah arrived; they were looking for political things. They tried to make Jesus a king there in Galilee when He first began His ministry, John tells us, because they saw a welfare state. He fed the twenty‑thousand people and they showed up the next morning for free breakfast, they thought it was the greatest thing they had ever seen. This guy was going to feed them, there was going to be constant welfare, never had to work again, He just makes food.

They were looking at the politics of it; they were looking at the accommodation to their own humanness. And the Lord passed through and left them and didn't want to be that kind of king. Listen, the Jews were looking for a political kingdom but Jesus never offered one. He looked at Pilate that day when He was going through the mockery of a trial and He said, Pilate said, "Are you a king?" And Jesus said, ‑You said it. And Pilate said, in effect, ‑ Well, what in the world kind of kingdom are you? He said, ‑ I'll tell you something, My kingdom is not what? Of this world. My kingdom if it were of this world My disciples would fight but My kingdom is not of this world. Jesus never brought about the issue of politics. He wasn't so concerned about changing the structure as He was working on the inside. And this is what He says in this first sermon.

There's no politics in the Sermon on the Mount. None. There is not one reference to the social, political aspect of the kingdom made here, not one. The Jews were so concerned about the politics and the social life, Jesus makes no reference to that at all. The stress, I want you to get this, the stress is on being. That's the word you're going to have to see. The stress is on being. It's not on ruling or possessing it is on being. In other words, He's not after what men do, He's after what men are. Because what they are will determine what they do. All of the ideals that are given in the Sermon on the Mount are contrary to human ideas about government, human ideas about kingdoms. In fact, the most exalted people, the most exalted people in Christ's kingdom would be the lowest of the low in the world's evaluation. Do you know who the greatest man who ever lived was? Up until this time, who was it? John the Baptist. As far as the world was concerned he was nothing but a raving maniac, running around in a modified Tarzan suit eating bugs. I mean, he wasn't even a part of the religious system. Jesus said he was the greatest man who ever lived. And then He went on to say but there's one greater than he. Do you know who it is? The least in My kingdom. The poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, those who hunger and thirst, feel empty inside, those full of mercy, those pure in heart, those who make peace, those who are persecuted, those who are reviled, those who have all manner of evil spoken against them. You know, that sounds to me like the biggest list of losers I ever saw. Well, by the world's standards they are. The world says, exert yourself, demand your rights, be a big‑shot, push yourself up, hold on to your pride. This is a different kind of a kingdom. It even advocates persecution without retaliation and blesses those who live that way. It's a spiritual kingdom.

So the political aspect of this message is devastating. It was absolutely everything that was the opposite of what they expected a Messiah to say.

Now, I want to talk just one more area, the religious context. Then you'll have a general idea of the thrust of the Sermon on the Mount. We've seen a little of the whole biblical context, we've seen a little of Matthew's perspective, something of how the world would view it, something of the politics of it but now I want you to know the religious scene and it's really fascinating. Jesus was confronting a very religious society. In fact, a whole society full of religionists. They were professional ritualists. And that's an important backdrop. Let me just divide them into four groups. There were four main groups within the religion of Judaism. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes and the Zealots. We've talked about them at other times.

First of all the Pharisees. Now here you go. The Pharisees believed that happiness was found in tradition or legalism. They were hot on the past, big on the past, real big. They believed that real happiness came through obeying the traditions of the fathers.

Then there were the Sadducees. And the Sadducees believed that happiness was found in the present, modernism, liberalism, can the past, man, we're here. We got to do it now. An updated religion, brand new liberalism, chuck the old stuff. You know, in a sense, they both had a little bit of truth. The Pharisees were right, true religion has to be based on the past, the Sadducees had a little bit of truth because true religion also has to work in the present.

And then there were the Essenes. And the Essenes said, ‑ No, happiness is in separation from the world. Oh, that sounds good, doesn't it? Only they were talking about geographical separation. They just moved out of town. Years ago there was an ad in a Christian magazine put in by one of ourvery, very fundamental Christian colleges that said, the school was located 15 miles from the nearest sin. Just off‑hand, I'd say, that's wishful thinking. But the Essenes believed they had to get out of town where there's no sin. So there were the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes.

And then there were the Zealots. The Zealot said happiness is found in the political overthrow. Happiness is found in revolution. Happiness is found in knocking off Rome. So you see the Pharisees were saying, Go back. And the Sadducees were saying, ‑ Go ahead. The Essenes were saying, ‑ Go out. And the Zealots were saying, ‑ Go against. And the Pharisees were the nostalgia buffs. And the Sadducees were the modernists. They were buying Danish furniture. And the Essenes were the isolationists. They were stashed up in a monastery somewhere. And the Zealots were the so‑called religious, social activist. What a mess. Sounds just exactly like 1978 to me. We've got religionists living in the past. We've got liberals trying to invent new religions for the present. We've got people who think holy living is an issue of geography and they just want to make sure that they don't go near anything that looks like sin. And then we've got the people who think religion is a matter of leading a parade and you march on somewhere.

Jesus was confronting a whole society full of religionists. They all had their own little thing going and the point that Jesus was making is ‑ Hey, you know, you're all wrong, every one of you. For the Pharisees He was saying religion is not a matter of external observance. For the Sadducee He was saying religion is not a matter of human philosophy invented to accommodate the new day. And to the Essenes He was saying, believe Me, religion is not a matter of geographical location. And to the Zealots He was saying neither is religion a matter of social activism. What He was saying is this, My kingdom is inside. Do you see? It's inside. That's the whole point. That's the whole message of Jesus to the world. That's the whole basis of the Sermon on the Mount. It's inside not outside. Not outside rituals, not outside philosophy, not outside location or monasteries or anything like that, not outside activism, it's inside. What Jesus is saying right here, I believe, is cracking open the door of the new covenant of which Jeremiah said, "God would write His law on their inward part". Do you see? Going inside. And so Jesus summed it up by saying to them, ‑ Look, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, the Zealots and everybody who was either a conglomerate of all of that or stood underneath those four areas, I want to tell you all something, unless your righteousnessexceeds that kind of righteousness you won't, no case, enter My kingdom. Do you see? Unless you've got more going for you than that external stuff you've got no part of My kingdom Because as I've said before there is no source of blessing in the cursed earth. It's beyond that. All that religion was dealing with external and the Sermon on the Mount invades Jewish thinking with a blast that true blessedness comes from the inside not the outside.

The same is true today. Don't comfort yourself in the fact that you've got the right theology. The liberals can't comfort themselves in the fact that they've spun off this great new theory or the Bible is not the word of God, they've really up‑dated it, boy, they're really contemporary, they're flowing with the age. A man cannot comfort himself in the fact that he's moved away from the world and moved into a monastery and he sits there and contemplates God, undistracted by the things of the world. Nor can a man comfort himself because he thinks he's a social activist and he's running around all over the place trying to straighten out society. These are not the things Jesus is after. Oh, ultimately, all those things have a corner on a part of the truth, don't they? We need to be socially involved and we need to be set apart unto God and we need to be contemporary and we need to be based on past but in and of themselves they're external and God is after what's on the inside. Way back In I Samuel 16:7 the Lord laid it out when he said the Lord looks on the heart. And Proverbs 4:23 says, "Keep your heart for out of it are the issues of life".

Boy, you better guard your heart that's the issue. Boy, you know, if you took care of your spiritual heart like you take care of physical heart it would be amazing wouldn't it? People today are literally going crazy over protectingtheir heart. Joggers everywhere, people riding bicycles, running up and down hills got to take care of the heart. You can go in to the shopping center and stick your arm in a thing now, Put 50 cents in there and it will tell you how your heart's doing. Have you ever done that? A little deal reads your blood pressure. Boy, take care of that heart. Guard that heart. And if you've got a little bit of a problem, boy, lay off the fats and the cholesterol, watch your triglyceride count and on and on. And, you know, the Bible says you better guard your heart that's the real issue, that's the real heart. The Hebrew thinking was it was the seed of all your knowledge of God, the mind.

Listen, if we did as much to protect our spiritual heart as we do to protect our physical heart we'd be in great shape spiritually. But sometimes we just ignore that area and that's what Jesus is after. In Luke 11:39, Williams translation is great on this passage. Listen to what it says, ‑ Jesus said, now you have the habit of cleaning the outside of your cups and dishes but inside you yourselves are full of greed and wickedness, you fools. Did not the one who made the outside make the inside too? Dedicate once for all your inner self and that once you will have everything else clean. See? That's what Jesus' message was. That's the heart of the Sermon on the Mount.

Now, on the basis of that context and that overview I want you to know it's important to study this. You see? Really important. I believe that there are at least five reasons why it's important. I'm just going to give them to you real quick. Number one, because the Sermon on the Mount will show you the absolute necessity of the new birth. The Sermon on the Mount will show you that you can never please God on your own, in your flesh. Never. And. as I said at the very beginning, the only people who will know blessedness are the people who know that blessedness insofar as it is an attribute of God and insofar as they are partakers of the divine nature, they can know and experienceit.

Listen, the Sermon on the Mount to me goes way beyondthe law of Moses in showing us the need for salvation. You can't live one day in a blessed condition apart from the new birth in Jesus Christ. It is the greatest thing in the New Testament to show man the desperate situation he's in without God.

The second thing. I think we ought to study the Sermon on the Mount not only because it shows the absolute necessity of the new birth but because it clearly points to Jesus Christ. It is perhaps the single greatest insight into the mind of our dear Lord Jesus Christ. You want to know how He thinks? Study the sermon. You want to know where His heart really beats? Study His sermon. You want to know what He really feels about living and about the standards for life? Study His sermon.

Third thing. We ought to study the Sermon on the Mount because it's the only way to happiness for Christians. If you want to be happy, if you want to be really filled with the Spirit, you don't go seeking some mystical experience, you don't go chasing some elusive dream, you don't go popping from meeting to meeting trying to catch it in the air. If you want to know happiness and blessedness and bliss and joy and gladness then you just study the Sermon on the Mount and put it to practice.

I'll add another thing. I think we ought to study it because it's the best means I know of evangelism. You say, ‑ What do you mean evangelism? I'll tell you this; if we ever live the Sermon on the Mount it will knock the world over. It's the greatest tool of evangelism there is ‑ to live this kind of a life.

And then lastly, we should study the Sermon on the Mount because it pleases God. And you know,that's a privilege, that sinful John Mac Arthur, just plain old me, like Paul was singing, just ordinary me could please God, what an incredible thought. Plenty of reason to study the Sermon on the Mount. Plenty of reason to give ourselves to it.

Let me have you look as we close at the first two verses just to take it a step further. The occasion, we've seen the context; I just want to share some other points just very briefly. The occasion, verse 1. "And seeing the multitudes", we'll stop there. Jesus always cared for the multitudes. And you know it says in Matthew 9:36, Matthew 14:14 and Matthew 15:32 that when He saw the multitudes He had compassion. Jesus saw that multitude of people; the multitude is described in verse 23 to 25 of chapter 4'. "Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, healing all manner of sickness, all manner of disease among the people. His fame went throughout all Syria and they brought unto Him all the sick that were taken with divers diseases and torments, those which were possessed with demons and those who were epileptics and those who had the palsy and He healed them and there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, from Decapolis and from Jerusalem, from Judaea and even beyond. Jordan." Here is this mass of humanity coming from North, South, East and West following Him and when He sees them as always His heart is broken.

You know, when He saw them hungry He gave them food. And when He sees the spiritual hunger of their hearts, the deepest thing that is in Him is God reaching out to give them what they need. There was a wonderful attraction to Jesus Christ. Crowds Just surged after Him. Sick, demon possessed. Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, ritualists and harlots, Pharisees and publicans, scholars and illiterates, refined and degraded, rich men and beggars, a motley bunch but Jesus Is always the attracter of men and there's some strange attractiveness in Jesus Christ that knows nothing of class, knows nothing of money and I think it's so beautifully summed up in the words of the apostle Paul, 'That in Jesus Christ there is neither male or female, Jew or Gentile, bond nor free, neither Greeks nor barbarians". So there was a general thrust toward Christ of the multitude. "And He saw the multitude and He spoke", and I add this. His message really wasn't to them even but He wanted them to hear it. They couldn't live it out, they couldn't know this blessedness but they could at least know that it was available. And. so they were the secondary audience. They were what prompted the message because He wanted them to hear it and be attracted to it.

So we see the context and the occasion. And then a word about the preacher. Who is the preacher? "He went up into a mount, He was seated, His disciples came to Him and He opened His mouth and taught them saying." Folks, the greatest preacher who ever lived, that's who the preacher is. "Of whom they said never a man spake like this man", of whom they said, "He spoke as one having authority not as the scribes and the Pharisees", you know what they meant? He didn't quote any sources. He didn't quote any old rabbis; He spoke like He had authority on His own. Of whom the woman of Samaria said, Come see a man who told me all things whatsoever I've done.Oh, what a preacher. This sermon is one of the greatest illustrations of homiletics I've ever seen. It's got three points; it can't get any better homiletics than that. A fantastic introduction, the introduction and then the first point, the citizens of the kingdom. And then the second point, the righteousness of the kingdom, and then the third point, the exhortation to enter the kingdom and then the last part of chapter 7, the effect that the sermon had. It's homiletic, it flows beautifully, it moves from one thing to another, the transitions are magnificent. The master preacher.

He had structure, He had power, He had a divine commission. To one of the Old Testament prophets God had said, "I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, thou shalt be dumb and not be to them a reprover", Ezekiel 3. But later on God came back to that same prophet in chapter 33 and said; "Now the hand of the Lord was upon thee in the evening, my mouth was opened and I was no moredumb and then the word of the Lord came unto me". You know, our Lord Jesus Christ with all the power that He had, with all the intellect that only God could have to develop a sermon like no other sermon yet restricted His mouth until God's sovereign will and timing opened it. He had not only power in structure but a divine commission.

The context, the occasion, the preacher, the setting look at verse 1 again, "He went into a mountain". He found a pulpit. By the way, it's beautiful to note that the Greek adds the mountain, the mountain. What mountain? Oh, no mountain in particular. As Jerry said it's just a slope that slopes right down the north shore, the sea of Galilee right to the water, lovely, beautiful green sunlit, one of the most magnificent scenes you'd ever see in your life to sit right there on the mount where Jesus gave this tremendous sermon and just look down to the rippling waters of the sea of Galilee. Surrounded by the gentle hills of Galilee on the right and the golden heights on the left and at the beginning of the Jordan river ascending down the Jordan valley until it finally comes to the Dead Sea, to the right and over the hills to the west the valley of Sharon and then the Mediterranean and there on that little hill sat Jesus and spoke. And it wasn't anything but a mountain but the Greek says the mountain. And it isn't the mountain because of what mountain it was but of what mountain He made it to become. It wasn't the mountain till He gave the sermon and then it was the mountain. It was the mountain when Matthew wrote it and it was the mountain because that's where Jesus taught. He made it the mountain. He had a way of sanctifying the very insignificance of the place and setting it apart as the mountain and throughout all the hundreds of years since the Christians have always remembered where that mountain was. It's just a little slope but it's the mountain. Why? Because He made it the mountain.

And the style? What of the style? Not Just the context, the occasion, the preacher, the setting but the style. He was seated. "And when He was seated He opened His mouth and taught them saying." He sat down because, you see, that was the traditional way a rabbi taught. And when a rabbi was just talking and standing and walking around it was unofficial but when he sat down bang‑ that was official. We even have that today. When a professor is given an assignment at a university we say he is given the chair. And. from the chair he teaches. The Catholic Church tells us the Pope speaks ex cathedra. You know what that means? From his seat, from his chair. When a man sat down to teach that was authoritative, it was official. And what Jesus was saying was not some random thought it was the official manifesto of the King. He opened His mouth is a colloquialism In Greek, beautiful colloquialism; it is used of solemn, grave, dignified, serious, weighty statement. This is not just off the cuff, this is dignified, solid, grave teaching. And also this phrase ‑ He opened His mouth‑ is used in some extrabiblical references to speak of somebody who really shares his heart intimately. So it was official, it was solemn, it was serious, it was dignified and it was His heart. And who were the recipients? Oh, it's right here in verse 1, His disciples came to Him.

You see, they were the primary target because they were the only ones whocould know the blessedness of which He spoke. They were the only ones who could live the Sermon on the Mount; they were the only ones who could follow it through. They were the only ones who could carry it out because they were the only ones who were partakers of God's own power and presence in their life. It was only possible for them. And by the way, beloved, let me add this. It's only possible for you as you know Jesus Christ. It's only possible as you are a partaker of the divine nature. The late archbishop McGee, England once said, that it was impossible to conduct the affairs of the English nation on the basis of the Sermon on the Mount because the nation was not loyal to the King." He was right. You can't live the Sermon on the Mount unless you know the King. And many people have tried to take the Sermon on the Mount and turn it into a social gospel, try to make it into a social gospel. But that doesn't make it. By the way, that effort doesn't happen much anymore because the two world wars kind of rattled us out of that thing. Making the Sermon on the Mount the social gospel was hit pretty hard by world wars. Will Durant the world known historian said, "In any generation there may be eight or ten persons who will be alive in the sense of continuing influence three‑hundred years after.

For instance, Plato still is and Socrates still is but in all of western civilization, says Durant, who is not a Christian, the person who stands out above all others is Christ, He undoubtedly was the most permanent influence on our thoughts but not on our actions and that's an important modification. Our actions are very seldom Christian but our theology often is. We wish we could behave like Christ". And what Will Durant is saying, and this was in the Chicago Tribune about a month ago, what he's saying is, you can't live the Sermon on the Mount. His teachings are great we just can't make them work. And the reason is because He's not a partaker of the divine nature, there's no resource. So Jesus taught His disciples cause they alone could live it out. They alone could fill it out. They alone could carryit out. And you and I whoknow that same Christ can know the same blessedness.

Finally, the teaching Itself comes in verses 3 to 12, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed. Oh, it's a tremendous lesson people. What He has to say to us here is profound. Life changing. I believe our church will be different when we get through this. I don't believe you can study the Sermon on the Mount and be the same. I can't. God's already been doing things in my heart. Let's commit ourselves to be the kind of people God wants us to be. Remembering this, that we have the capacity if we know the Lord Jesus Christ to see this a reality in our lives to His glory and our blessedness. Let's pray.

Father, it's with great joy that we embark upon this adventure of studying this marvelous truth. We thank You, our Lord for bringing us this far to the place where our hearts are open and ready to receive it. Father, we know that the reception is only for those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, only those who have living within them the very life of God. could know the blessedness of God. Teach us, Father, the power of this message in our lives and in our world.. We'll praise You in Christ's name. Amen.

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~ a God's miracle ~
http://www.wretch.cc/video/ritahsia&func=single&vid=2282608&rpage=2&p=0

~*~ Praise God for He knows all our thoughts and hearts as we are wonderfully and fearfully made by Almighty GOD who created the universe and all the beautiful and awesome creatures on this earth. Praise GOD and we are thankful for His Mercy and Grace for He loves us. His grace is sufficient for us for our lives on this earth are like early morning dews quickly passes by.

Lord, Jesus Christ, help us to shine your light and to be salt on this earth to give you all the glory and honor in our lives. Because we are weak, we often fall into temptations of evil as Jesus was tempted by satan, but with the Spirit of GOD resides in our hearts and minds, our spirit follows the Spirit of God when we yield ourselves to GOD, praise GOD, He always loves us. Lord, help us to be thankful for all circumstances, and most of all, give you all the glory and follow your will. Praise GOD! Amen

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~*~ Worthy Is The Lamb ~*~

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Turning to the Lord in prayer is always the best way to respond in a crisis. As we do, we can ask for Him to provide:

• Spiritual discernment. God understands perfectly the source of the problem, and He can enable us to comprehend it too. Perhaps there has been a communication breakdown, a feeling of jealousy on the other person's part, or a mistake on ours. With the Spirit's assistance, we will gain insight into the situation.

• A quiet spirit. Our human nature will want to react quickly so that we can defend ourselves. Before we act, we must deliberately focus our attention on God and experience the inner peace that He promises (John 14:27).

• Wisdom. The Lord told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would give them wise words to say when they faced hostile authorities (Luke 12:11-12). He will do the same for you. If tempted to speak hastily, ask the Spirit to put a seal on your lips until God gives you the words to say and tells you it's time to respond (Ps. 141:3).

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Praise the Lord, thank you for Your Grace and Love that sustains our strength. Even though we are weak, we can still trust in you even we are faced with betrayals going through enormous pain and difficulties. Thank you Jesus that we can find hope and peace in You even though all can fail us, you never fail to love us and to give your peace and hope.


Through it All - Hillsong

Genesis 19:14

(14) So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, "Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!" But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.


In Lot's family was a measure of contempt. Lot seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking. It is as if they said, “Who cares for anything you say?” Was Lot’s wife different? She looked back. Lot’s daughters? They escaped, and then proceeded to involve Lot in one of the vilest sins in the entire Bible, incest. Contempt is not unusual for a lingerer, for they are despised by their families, who cannot deal with the person’s inconsistency. They are hot, then cold. They blow this way, then that. They command, “Do this,” but they do something different. Their lives do not live up to the words that they say. Lot was a man whose works burned, but he himself was saved (I Corinthians 3:15).

This is not a way that God wants His children to live. Even though He mercifully intervenes and saves, He wants His children to enjoy the best of the abundant life and to be prepared for His Kingdom.

Most are familiar with Herbert Lockyer’s series of "All" books: All the Prayers of the Bible, All the Parables of the Bible, All the Women of the Bible, All the Men of the Bible. In All the Men of the Bible, he says that Lot is the representative man:

Perhaps there is no figure in the Bible who represents so many men of today as Lot of Sodom. Where you will find one Abraham, one Daniel, or one Joshua, you will find a thousand Lots.

Lot had much wealth, but he did not have the abundant life of God because of his choice to coexist with the world, whose constant degenerate pressure virtually destroyed his true spirituality. Lot was not a sinner in the normal sense, but a spiritually small and lean man.

There is an interesting contrast between Abraham and Lot. Abraham was probably exceedingly wealthier than Lot. But Abraham lived in a tent, while Lot lived in a house. This clearly shows that Abraham lived his life in such a way that everybody understood that Abraham was just a pilgrim. He did not put roots down in this world, while Lot, his nephew, did.

Lot was converted, but carnal. He was a man of weak faith. His hopes and dreams were in the world, and his interest was in the things of this world. Lot had the same vision as Abraham, but by choice, he was firmly anchored in the world. All of Lot's goodness was virtually wasted because his spiritual life was going nowhere.

One might say that, because Lot was "saved," there is more than one way to skin a cat. There might be many poor ways of skinning a cat, as well as some good ways, too. But there is only one best way to skin a cat. Why not choose the best way of doing it? That is the lesson of Lot's life. Why let our works that we have built burn up? Instead, why not do things the way God says?

God was not in all of Lot’s thoughts (Psalm 10:4) because he was living by sight. Lot might very well be what we might call the quintessential second-generation Christian. He believed, but all of his passion was spent pursuing the amusements of this world. Lot, whose faith was weak at best, was not committed like Abraham was. The whole aim of Abraham's life was to give glory to God, while Lot, though righteous, lived by sight. His aim was essentially to grasp at life, to do it now and enjoy it, rather than work to develop his relationship with God.


The Berean

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The Lord's Prayer~

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ALMIGHTY GOD, pour Your Spirit on us, transform many who say they believe in You, but they are worshiping demons, idols, and money. Your HOLY SPIRIT knows all our deeds and intentions and many think that they can play smart with you -- YOU ARE MOST HOLY and MIGHTY GOD who pierces through our inner most being and who can slice very small parts of our being dividing our souls from marrows.

Many are dying in eternity because they choose to serve idols following this world rather than following the Will of GOD. Purify us, O GOD, as You are the Most Holy GOD and wants to follow You.

Praise GOD, HOLY SPIRIT, turn all those who claim to be Christians, but in their deeds are nothing but shallow and deceptive fallen into satanic temptations and deceptions. The FIRE of HOLY SPIRIT, turn all those who think they love you, but as You said, unless we do the Will of GOD, we will not enter the Heaven. Revive Your Spirit in our nation and in the world -- as this world is dying under the satanic greed mammon power.

ALMIGHTY GOD, show Your Holy Power and MIGHT so that many can turn away from their wicked ways.

PRAISE YOUR HOLY NAME, GLORY to GOD ALMIGHTY!!!

_____________________________________________________________


The mammon >> Officials: U.S. to demand access to Iran's nuke facility (((~~~ the deceptive mammon spiritually killed many Americans by defiling the nation with satanic lures and immorality. That is eternal spiritual death. God will judge their greedy evil deeds, so, those who defiled U.S. during the last 100s years should face God's condemnation when He returns SOON!!! Those who defiled and corrupted U.S. will face God's condemnation in eternity -- the evil greed will face GOD's JUDGMENT sent to eternal hell -- yes, the Words of GOD say so!!! Praise GOD!!! ~~~))))))))))


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A recently revealed nuclear facility in Iran will be the centerpiece of talks that began in Switzerland Thursday among representatives of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, Germany and Iran's nuclear chief.

"These will not be easy talks," warned one senior U.S. administration official.

The first task in Geneva will be to test whether Iran is ready to engage on the nuclear issue. The question will be: "What steps are they willing to take to build confidence with the international community," said one official.

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Praise GOD, let all seek the LORD and repent many turned to materialism, idol worship, and moral corruption. PRAISE GOD, May the LORD restore America to seek HIM rather than this world pleasure and glory. May GOD lead and direct us to seek HIM -- may the Lord chastise us to turn away from many kinds of idol worship and restore us to worship HIM! Let all repent before GOD. Praise the LORD, deliver us from the demonic mammon's deception as they are defiling the nations to serve mammon instead of the TRUE GOD!! ALMIGHTY GOD, let Your GLORY shine on the earth so that we worship you!! PRAISE THE LORD!!

LET GOD SHINE FORTH HIS GLORY and smite all false faith so that HE shows HIS POWER and MIGHT which created the Universe!!
((((( Praise the LORD )))))


Solving Problems Through Prayer
2 Chronicles 20:4-15

http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2009/10/01/n_detroit_god_jobs.cnnmoney

Detroit residents turn to God
Oct 1, 2009 filed under Business News
'God's reasoning I don't have a job' says as an attendee at the National Baptist Convention in Detroit.


When the king of Judah called for a nationwide fast to seek God's help, the people from every town responded and came together to pray. Jehoshaphat's actions and words teach us some important truths about solving life's problems through prayer.

Our Father is bigger than our problems. The king stated God was the all-powerful ruler of nations against whom no one could stand (v. 6). While many difficulties are beyond our ability to solve, nothing is impossible for Him (Matt. 19:26). If we pray while focusing on His greatness, our troubles will shrink into proper perspective.

God often wants to involve others in praying with us. Whole families from all over Judah answered the king's call and came together before God (2 Chron. 20:13). Prayer had a central role in the life of the early church as well (Acts 2:42).

Through prayer, the Lord will give us a solution to the problem. His answer could be just what we asked or something entirely unexpected; He might tell us to wait in our current situation instead of taking action, or He could direct us to become involved in something new. In any case, God's direction will be according to His perfect will. What's more, He may ask us to take a step of faith. God uses every opportunity to strengthen our trust and grow us in righteousness.

We don't know how long the people had to wait for an answer, but they didn't act until they heard from the Lord. He told the nation not to be afraid or discouraged, but to trust in Him. Through prayer, we, too, can enter into His presence and receive strength and direction for life's challenges.

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Confronting Error with Condemnation, Not Conversation

Luke 20:45-47
45Then in the audience of all the people he said unto his disciples,

46Beware of the scribes, which desire to walk in long robes, and love greetings in the markets, and the highest seats in the synagogues, and the chief rooms at feasts;

47Which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long prayers: the same shall receive greater damnation.

http://www.gty.org/AudioPlayer/Sermons/42-250
http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/42-250

And now we come to the Word of God again, and Luke 20 is our text...Luke 20. We have arrived at the end of this chapter and we’ll look at the final three verses...Luke chapter 20 verses 45 through 47. Let me establish them in your mind, follow as I read. Luke chapter 20 beginning at verse 45.

“And while all the people were listening, He said to the disciples, ‘Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes and love respectful greetings in the marketplaces, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses and for appearances sake offer long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”

Strong words. Unmistakable words. Backing up a little bit from this text and approaching it from afar off, we need to be reminded that the Bible warns us about false teachers from beginning to end. There have always been and there always will be false religious leaders who operate for Satan. They operate out of the kingdom of darkness, but they operate as if they are messengers from God.

In the twentieth chapter of the book of Acts, the Apostle Paul met with the Ephesian elders and he said to them this, “I have not ceased to warn you night and day with tears for three years.” Warning you about what? “Savage wolves who will come in not sparing the flock and of your own selves perverse men who will arise to do destruction with their heretical teachings,” is the implication. “Expect it from the outside and from the inside.”

In 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 13 to 15, the Apostle Paul said that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. That is to say he comes as if he represents God. So don’t be surprised if his messengers are also disguised as angels of light.

False teachers robe themselves in the garments of God. They want people to believe that they represent God, that they know God, that they have insights into spirituality and divine truth and divine wisdom, even though they are the emissaries of hell itself. The Apostle Paul in writing to Timothy, helping him to understand ministry in the church said this in 1 Timothy 4, “The Spirit explicitly says that in later times, these times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons by means of the hypocrisy of liars.” Demon doctrine energized by demon spirits in hypocritical false teachers who lie.

Peter...2 Peter chapter 2 verse 1....says, “False prophets also arose among the people just as there will also be false teachers among you who will secretly introduce destructive heresies. They will bring swift destruction upon themselves, many will follow their sensuality. Because of them the way of truth will be maligned. In their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle, their destruction is not asleep.”

And you remember, of course, the words of Jude. “I make every effort to write to you about our common salvation, but I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith.” Why? “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny the only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Beware...beware...beware of false teachers. As we read in 1 John chapter 2, there are many antichrists. They are everywhere and you who know the truth must protect yourselves from them.

Never were false teachers more aggressive than during the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was as if hell amassed its heaviest assault on any one person on the Lord Jesus during those three years. And we would understand that. We would understand that. To thwart the gospel purposes of God, Satan unleashed everything he had on Jesus Christ. And when we ask...Who were the agents of hell? Who were the agents of Satan who attempted to thwart the purposes of God? Were they the criminals in the culture? Were they the tax collectors, the traitors? Were they the prostitutes, the thugs, the thieves? No. The emissaries and agents of Satan were the most devout, the most religious, the most respected religious leaders in Israel...the scribes and the Pharisees, along with the Sadducees and the Herodians. They all came together against Jesus Christ. They amassed all their ability, all their demonically designed spiritual ability to attack Him, to bring Him down to thwart the purposes of God. Keep it in mind, the enemies of the gospel were and always are most formidable when they are religious...especially the Pharisees and the scribes because they controlled the dominant religion of Judaism at the time. They are relentless in their assault on Jesus.

They didn’t get along with the Sadducees because they had very different theology. They didn’t get along with Herodians because the Herodians were political and they were attached to Herod who wasn’t even a Jew. They had great differences with one another, did the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Herodians, but on one thing hell brought them all together and that is on getting rid of Jesus. And on Friday of Passion Week, they succeeded by the purpose of God, they succeeded in having Him crucified.

As we come to Luke chapter 20, however, it is Wednesday of Passion Week. It is Wednesday. It’s been a long day, a long day in which Jesus has been in the temple moving in and around the masses of people in the temple, He has been teaching the crowds. And He has been engaged in confrontation with the Pharisees, the scribes, the chief priests, the Sadducees, and the Herodians who all have made their assaults on Him trying to discredit Him publicly so they would have a just cause to have Him executed because He was such a threat to the kingdom of darkness and to their own earthly position. They’ve tried everything they know and they have not succeeded.

So we read in chapter 20 and verse 40, they didn’t have enough courage to question Him any longer about anything. They were done. They had exhausted all their options. It was over. They asked Him no more questions. And then we said in verse 41, Jesus begins to ask the questions and mercifully, compassionately, kindly He brings up the issue again of the identity of Messiah as not just a Son of David but a Son of God, THE Son of God.

In verses 41 to 44, you remember from last week, He takes them back to Psalm 110 in which David calls Messiah, “My Lord.” So Messiah is both David’s Son and David’s Lord, and therefore He is a man yet to be born, but He must also be God who was alive at the time David spoke. So in one more compassionate effort, Jesus affirms again His deity and the necessity of Messiah being both God and man. That is an act of compassion. In a sense, it’s a final act of compassion, one more time to speak of His identity as the true Messiah, Son of David, Son of God.

And now He is done. He’s done talking to the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees and Herodians except by necessity at His trial. He is done speaking to the crowds, the people and verse 45 says, “While all the people were listening, He said to His disciples...” This is a transition. People are still listening but He turns to speak to the disciples, this is what He will now do from here on. No more messages to the crowds. From now on He speaks to His disciples. Very important transition. He said all there is to say, nothing more can be said. He’s answered every question that could be raised. He will turn and give instruction to those who are still following, still showing interest, still wanting to learn from Him, still following Him. The attackers are gone and the crowd fades away.

But there’s one final message for everybody to hear, disciples and people. And it is the message of verses 46 and 47, “Beware of the scribes.” He goes out with a warning. The final message, any time somebody gives a final message, it’s got to be an important one. What is the last thing Jesus has to say to the crowds? We want to know what that last word is, it is a word of warning. Not only a word of warning, but a word of condemnation. Beware of them, they are dangerous and they will receive greater condemnation...end of verse 47. So He warns the people about them and He pronounces damnation upon them. Very strong words.

Now before we look at this, let me frame the importance of this text in a current context, okay? Some months ago I wrote a book called The Truth War. It is the latest in a series of books through the years that I have written to address what I think are dangerous errors that exist in the church. I wrote the book, The Truth War, to expose and to bring the judgment of the Word of God on the aberrations and the dangers of a new movement called “The Emerging Church,” or “The Emergent Church Movement.” It is really post-modern relativism corrupting the church. It has moved in among so-called evangelicals who now reject doctrinal certainty, Scripture-clarity, and gospel exclusivity. I’ll say that again. The mark of this movement is a rejection of doctrinal certainty, Scripture clarity, and gospel exclusivity. It is neo-liberalism. It’s just the old liberalism that destroyed the major denominations in this country, the old higher critical theory, it’s the old liberalism back in a new dress, if you will, calling for comradery, collegiality, tolerance with those who do not believe the gospel, do not even believe Christianity is the true religion. Extols the virtues of generous, open dialogue rather than dogmatism. Calls for respect, tolerance and diversity. And just to pull it all down, they have found a buzz word to define what marks the movement of the emerging church, it’s the word “conversation.” That’s their word. They want to engage everybody in a conversation so that we can all contribute our spiritual insights.

One of the leaders of old liberalism was a man by the name of Harry Emerson Fosdick. In 1928, Fosdick said this, “Many preachers indulge habitually in what they call expository sermons. They take a passage from Scripture and proceeding on the assumption that the people attending church that morning are deeply concerned about what the passage means, they spend their half hour or more on historical exposition of the verse or chapter, ending with some appended practical application to the auditors. Could any procedure be more surely predestined to dullness and futility? Who seriously supposes that as a matter of fact one in a hundred of the congregation cares to start with what Moses, Isaiah, Paul, or John meant in those special verses, or came to church deeply concerned about it? Nobody else who talks to the public so assumes that the vital interest of the people are located in the meaning of words spoken two thousand years ago.” So Fosdick makes a prophecy in 1928. “The future...he says...belongs to a type of sermon which can best be described as an adventure in cooperative thinking.” Conversation...an adventure in cooperative thinking...1928.

Just recently, 2005, Doug Pagitt, one of the leaders of the emerging movement says, “Our sermons are not lessons that precisely define belief so much as they are stories that welcome our hopes and ideas and participation.” Let’s have a conversation. Conversation with those who disagree, conversation with those who have another religion. No more dogmatism. We set aside condemnation for conversation.

Brian McClaren(?) who is one of the leading, if not THE leading writer in the Emerging Movement has a new book called The Secret Message of Jesus. That’s always scary. Jesus doesn’t have a secret message, He revealed His message. But anyway, he says in The Secret Message of Jesus, “In an age of global terrorism and rising religious conflict, it’s significant to note that all Muslims regard Jesus as a great prophet, that many Hindus are willing to consider Jesus as a legitimate manifestation of the divine, that many Buddhists see Jesus as one of humanity’s most enlightened people and that Jesus Himself was a Jew.” Hey, he’s saying, “Isn’t it great? We all like Jesus. Let’s start the conversation.” He goes on, “A shared reappraisal of Jesus’ message could provide a unique space or common ground for urgently needed religious dialogue. And it doesn’t seem an exaggeration to say that the future of our planet may depend on such dialogue. So we’ll set aside all our doctrinal differences to save the planet, let the people go to hell.”

His last comment, “This reappraisal of Jesus’ message may be the only project capable of saving a number of religions, including Christianity.” So we all have to find the secret message of Jesus which no doubt is hidden in our own spiritual psyches and have a conversation. Instead of condemning these other religions, we need to sit down and have a conversation and learn from their spirituality, learn from their spiritual experience, learn from God in them.

Another prominent advocate in the Emerging Movement is a somewhat familiar name, Tony Campollo who is a very popular speaker. Here are Tony’s own words that give you some idea of where this movement’s going. Don’t normally read these kinds of things but I think it’s very helpful to know what’s happening. This is what he says, quote: “What we have to do is show respect to one another and to speak to each other with a sense that even if people don’t convert, they’re God’s people. God loves them and we do not make the judgment of who is going to heaven and who is going to hell. I think that what we all have to do is leave judgment up to God. What Muslims will not do is condemn Jews and Christians to hell, if in fact they do not accept Islam. Islam is much more gracious toward evangelical Christians who are faithful to the New Testament than Christians are toward Islamic people who are faithful to the Koran.” Now there’s an interesting spin. Obviously he hasn’t been reading the papers about the massacre of Christians in Islamic environments.

But the idea is, we just have to be generous with everybody. He goes on to say, “Mohammed was very understanding that there was great truth in Christianity. He differed with us in that he felt he had a more complete truth and Islam would hold to that. But Mohammed contended that we would ultimately be judged in terms of the truth we had at our disposal. I think there are Muslim brothers and sisters who are willing to say you live up to the truth as you understand it, I will live up to the truth as I understand it and we’ll leave it up to God on judgment day. I’ve got to believe that Jesus is the only Savior, but being a Christian is not the only way to be saved.”

Further he says, “Our Muslim brothers and sisters can say Islam is the only true faith, but we’re not convinced that only Muslims enjoy salvation. I’m not convinced that the grace of God doesn’t go further than the Christian community.” Here’s another sentence, “What we have to do is say that we believe different things. But there’s so much goodness in the Islamic community, it cannot be ignored. It seems to me that when we listen to the Muslim mystics as they talk about Jesus and their love for Jesus, I must say it’s a lot closer to New Testament Christianity than a lot of the Christians that I hear.”

In other words, if we’re looking for common ground, can we find it in mystical spirituality even if we can’t theologically agree? Can we pray together in such a way that we connect with a God that transcends our theological differences? This is the conversation. You can have it with anybody and everybody because we don’t have doctrinal clarity. We don’t know what the real interpretation of Scripture is.

January 2006, the Emergent USA group met with Synagogue 3000, 24-hour inter-religious conversation centered on themes of sacred community learning and worship. A Jewish Blog(?) called Cineblog(??), sounds like a bun you buy at the airport. Cineblog reports on what happened. “Synagogue 3000 has identified a contemporary Jewish religious phenomenon that is called Jewish Emergent. This week Synagogue 3000 convened for the very first time a working group on emergent sacred communities, visionary Jewish leaders committed to the establishment of transformative sacred communities unbound by conventional expectations about what a synagogue is supposed to be.” So the Emerging Church, that’s their motto, that they’re going to come up with churches that aren’t bound by the conventional idea of a church, now the Jews are joining, they’re not going to be bound by conventional ideas of the synagogue. To enrich the conversation, Synagogue 3000 invited members of the working group to exchange ideas with forward thinking Christian leaders from Emergent US, meeting of the working group on Emergent sacred communities mark the first time ever that Emergent US had met with any religious group outside the Christian faith. It was exciting, inspiring and historic. And emergent people, it’s a perfect environment, you go there, you learn about their spirituality and their knowledge of God. And you have a conversation. And out of that conversation comes some kind of enlightenment with those of Judaism or Islam, or Mormonism, or Roman Catholicism, Greek Orthodox religion. Or Jehovah’s Witnesses, whoever.

Now all that to say this. When I wrote The Truth War, the book, I was curious to see what the response would be. The response from the Emerging church people was they did not like it. I was not shocked. And the response was this. “The book is divisive. The book is unloving. The book is intolerant.” And they said, “If I really cared about people and if I really had the Spirit of Jesus, I would humbly join the conversation and openly embrace the useful spiritual insights in other religions.”

Conversation, huh? Not condemnation. And besides, as is becoming very, very popular nowadays, Jews don’t have to believe in Jesus any way, they have a different way of salvation.

Well in response to this criticism, why don’t I join the conversation, I only have one question to answer, it’s this...How did Jesus deal with those who didn’t believe the truth? How did Jesus deal with those who didn’t believe the truth who were totally religious? Who set spirituality at the pinnacle of human experience? How did Jesus deal with people in religion, religious leaders? Did He have a conversation? Or did He issue a condemnation? Cause I just want to do what Jesus did.

Well clearly Jesus did not engage in post-modern conversation. He did not deal in some abstract relativistic dialogue on the themes of spirituality, throwing around ideas about God and ideas about Himself as Jesus that were as flexible as rubber. Here are our Lord’s final words about religious leaders, not irreligious, religious, Jewish religious leaders. And what He says here frankly is not new. Go back to chapter 11 of Luke, it’s not new. Verse 37, “When He had spoken a Pharisee asked Him to have lunch with him.” Now there’s a perfect opportunity to have a conversation. This isn’t even a formal setting. This isn’t even a synagogue, a sermon or public meeting in the temple. This is lunch at the Pharisee’s house.

So He went in and reclined at the table. And the Pharisee would have had a lot of other Pharisees there as well. And when the Pharisee saw it he was surprised that He hadn’t first ceremonially washed before the meal. He didn’t follow the Pharisaic prescription for some ceremonial washing, He just sat down and ate. And here was the Lord’s word to him.

“Now the Lord said to him, ‘Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the platter but inside of you, you’re full of robbery and wickedness.” That is a short conversation. That is a go-nowhere conversation. And then to make it worse, verse 40, “You, fools, did He not who made the outside make the inside also? But give that which is within as charity and then all things are clean for you. Woe to you, that’s damnation, curse you, Pharisees, you pay tithe of mint and rue and every kind of garden herb and yet disregard justice and the love of God. These are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. Woe to you Pharisees, you love the front seats in the synagogue and the respectful greetings in the marketplace. Woe to you, you’re like concealed tombs and the people who walk over you are unaware of it. You’re being defiled...” That is some kind of conversation.

Chapter 12 of Luke, when this massive crowd comes together. Verse 1, so many that they were stepping on one another. “He began saying to His disciples, first of all, beware of the leaven or the influence of the Pharisees which is hypocrisy. And know this, there is nothing covered up, hypocrites cover things up, nothing they cover up that will not be revealed, nothing hidden that will not be known. I’m going to unmask their hypocrisy.”

Now the text before us in Luke 20 has a parallel in Mark 12...also a brief text. But it has another parallel in Matthew 23. Only in Matthew 23 it takes up an entire chapter. The full text of what Jesus says about the Pharisees and the scribes is in Matthew 23. And you can read it on your own, we’re not going to go through it today. But it is the full text of what Jesus said on that Wednesday of which Luke only gives us a small portion. It is a blistering denunciation...a blistering diatribe on the false religious leaders. No conversation, no collegiality, no dialogue, no cooperation, confrontation, condemnation. Without compassion? No. Remember chapter 19 verse 41, when He came to the city, what did He do? He wept. And we just heard again that He declared to them that He is the Messiah, Son of David, Son of God. That is a merciful effort again to declare who He is. These days are full of sadness on His part, and full of compassion, as He gives invitation to them to believe. But when compassion is exhausted and invitations have ended, you have condemnation.

Now let’s look at the text. Three points...a caution, characterization, condemnation. Any one with a corrupted view of Jesus Christ and the gospel is under condemnation. Anyone who doesn’t believe in the Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t know the Father. If you don’t know the Son, you don’t know the Father, 1 John 2. Let’s look at the caution.

Very simple, “Beware of the scribes...beware of the scribes.” In Matthew’s lengthy record of the Lord’s denunciation, it is “Beware of the scribes and Pharisees.” Scribes were Pharisees...scribes were Pharisees, they were the law experts, not all Pharisees were scribes, but scribes were Pharisees. There were non-scribal Pharisees, but scribes were Pharisees. They were th experts in the law, they were the legalistic self-righteous sect. In fact, the Jews had a saying, the saying went like this, “Moses received the law and gave it to Joshua, Joshua received the law and gave it to the elders, the elders received the law and gave it to the prophets, the prophets received the law and gave it to the Pharisees and the scribes. They were the treasurers of the Law of God. They were the ones given the trust. They were experts. They were the lawyers of Israel. Now remember, you’ve got a theocratic kingdom where all law is viewed as God’s law, not just biblical law, but the law of tradition, the laws that had grown up through the years. All that composite of law was viewed in a theocratic way. It was all the law of God.

So, those who knew the law of God interpreted the law of God and applied the law of God were the lawyers in Israel. They were not just giving Pharisees and rabbis and priests and others insight into the meaning of Scripture, they were also interpreting all the law, not only in its interpretation, but in its application. They were the lawyers in Israel. They cared for all matters legal. They were the dominant force in Judaism, not only religiously but socially. They handle all legal matters for people, property, estates, contracts, resolutions. All those things fell into the hands of these lawyers.

It was no different then than it is for us. All legal matters ultimately end up in the hands of lawyers. And so it did end up in the hands of the scribes. But from their viewpoint, everything was sacred. And every adjudication that they rendered and every position that they took was in fact supposed to be a representation of God and what God willed...a stewardship, if you will, from God. Because they then were the agents of God, they carried with them tremendous weight and trust. People had no where else to turn because there were no others than the scribes to handle all their matters. He warns everybody, both the crowd and the disciples to beware, prosechote apa(?), take heed, guard yourself against.

How you going to do that? How you going to do that? Because they are in to everything. How are you going to extract yourself from this theocratic environment where everything falls into the lap of the scribes and they render their will on everything? The last thing that Jesus would say to them is, they’re basically good guys, they have religious intentions, they have some spiritual insights, let’s have a conversation with them. Push them away, get away from them. Like Jude 23 talks about, “You’re going to get your garments stained, or you’re going to get burned if you get too close.”

Why are they such a threat? Because they are not godly. They do not know God. They do not have spiritual wisdom. They are destructive. They are agents of Satan sent to fight the purposes of God.

Do you understand? And this is such a basic thing and I’ve said it many times through the years, false religion never restrains the flesh. So these people all operate like the worst of the unregenerate, only it isn’t apparent on the surface. False religion can’t subdue the wretched heart. That can only be subdued by regeneration, and that only happens by means of gospel truth. So they are always going to be one thing on the outside and something else on the inside. Beware of them. They are not godly. They don’t have anything spiritually to offer. They can’t give you anything beneficial. They are destructive. They are deadly. They are dangerous. Don’t get near them, you’ll get singed, stained. Stay away.

That’s why Psalm 1, something as basic as Psalm 1 says this, at the beginning of the Psalms, “Lesson one, Blessed is the man that doesn’t walk in the counsel of the wicked., who doesn’t stand in the path of sinners and sit in the seat of scoffers. Don’t assemble with them.”

From the caution comes the characterization. Here’s how He characterizes them. Verse 46, “They like to walk around in long robes, love respectful greetings in the marketplaces, chief seats in the synagogues, places of honor at banquets, who devour widows’ houses and for appearances sake offer long prayers.” Wow. All that sums up in one word, hypocrites. All people in false religion are hypocrites. They don’t know God. They do not know God. You can’t get there except through Christ. Our Lord pulls no punches. The main element is that they are all spiritual phonies, they are all spiritual frauds.

Now His audience would be very familiar with these kinds of things that they did. Let’s just work our way through, six of them. First, they like to walk around in long robes, Greek word stole, from which the old word stole comes, a robe to the ground. And they began to develop robes that were very different than other people’s robes. They were robes that had certain little things on them, markings and fancy things. They became unique and fancy and expensive robes that would identify them as the holy people. They lengthened the tassels on their robes, Matthew 23:5 says. And that comes from the Old Testament. In the Old Testament, back in Numbers 15 verses 38 to 40, God had ordained that the Jews could put little tassels on the bottom of the robe and it was a really wonderful little kind of symbol to remind them of the law of God. Everywhere you go you see that, it reminds you of the law of God. Jesus had them on His robe, according to Matthew 9:20. It was what they did. But the scribes and the Pharisees lengthened the tassels, not for the sake of a better memory device, but for the sake of ostentation, appearance. They weren’t trying to bring attention to God and His Word, they were trying to bring attention to themselves as if they were holy. It was a way to position themselves, to posture themselves to achieve what they wanted. And what they wanted was to get into the lives of the people and abuse and use the people for their own self-will. So they wore special clothes.

I think about that every time I see somebody dressed in some ridiculous religious garment, parading around as if this is some indication of greater holiness. Instead of a little thing on the bottom of the robe to signify submission to God’s law, they had developed these kinds of robes that just brought status to them. Still the way it is today. People wearing religious robes.

Secondly, they loved respectful greetings in the marketplace. As they moved in and out of people in the daily life, public life, they expected to be addressed with titles of dignity. Back to Matthew 23 again. In that full treatment of Matthew 23, our Lord’s words about them, He does tell us the particular titles that they liked. It says in verse 7, they want to be called by men rabbi. We’ll use the English transliteration, rabbi. Meaning exalted teacher, excellency, most knowledgeable one, most wise. It would be tantamount to I suppose calling someone doctor today. They were at the top. In fact, they were so exalted, if you were called rabbi, you were so exalted that in the Talmud, Sanhedrin 88 is the location in the Talmud, it says that. “It is more punishable to act against the words of a scribe than the words of Scripture.” They wanted to be called excellency, elevated one, most knowledgeable one, exalted one. That’s what they sought.

They also wanted to be called father. Verse 9, “Do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your Father, He who is in heaven.” Father meaning source, not only are they exalted in their wisdom but they are the source of spiritual life, they are the source of spiritual truth. They want to be father, progenitor, creator.

So they want to wear fancy robes. They want to take exalted high and mighty sanctimonious titles. And they want to be called father as if they are the source of spiritual life. They want to be called leader, verse 10, “Do not be called leaders, for one is your leader, that is Christ.” Call yourself servant. They want to be leader. That is the one who determines direction, the one who determines destiny, the one who sets the course. False teachers are never humble. They wear the facade of humility. But keep it in mind. If you reject the truth, that’s the proudest thing you can do to set yourself against God and His Word, right? You reject the Bible, you reject the gospel, that’s the ultimate act of pride. False teachers are never humble. The proudest thing you can do is reject the Word of God, rebel against it. That’s what they do. Then they want to be exalted by title and by garb.

Thirdly, they love not only respectful greetings in the marketplaces, same verb, they love chief seats in the synagogues. They had elevated platforms on the front of the synagogue. The important scribes, Pharisees would sit up on that elevated platform, recognized as the experts in the law. Visiting scribes coming from their own place to another synagogue would expect to be ushered up to the elevated place.

Starting to get the picture? Now you know why I am not called doctor, why I don’t wear a robe, and don’t sit on the platform. It’s just a small way to keep from any of this.

And then, fourthly, they love places of honor at banquets. Any kind of a special occasion, they want the place of honor which is next to the host. They want to be the center of attention, the most honored of all.

This is what they’re after. It’s all about pride. All four of those things have to do with pride...elevation, that’s what they seek, religious leaders are after this...false religious leaders. It turns a corner with the fifth one. Verse 47, “Who devour widows’ houses.”

Now what is this? First of all, let me just tell you, the word devour is a very strong word. There is a verb in the Greek, esthio. It means to consume, or devour, or that’s metaphoric, literally it means to eat...the word for eating. But metaphorically, to devour or consume. This is not esthio, this is katesthio. Always when you add a preposition at the beginning, you intensify the verb. This is to totally consume, to plunder, to eat up. Hence, devour in the strongest sense. They go after the most defenseless. Like the false teachers of whom Paul writes to Timothy, they go after silly women. They go after the unprotected and the weak. They devour widows houses. Widows are the easiest ones to get to.

What do you mean? Well first of all, widows were to be protected, right? Back in the Old Testament, pure religion, says James, is to care for widows. Exodus 22:22, Deuteronomy 10:18, Malachi 3:5, and other Scriptures call upon the people of God to care for widows. God cares for widows. These scribes devour them.

How do they do that? Now keep in mind, that they were the lawyers of the system. So when a woman who was a widow needed someone to protect her, she would turn to the lawyer with the idea that he’d protect her home, her property, all of those things. Some interesting study has been done, some interesting research on the kind of behavior that was going on. Here’s just a brief look at it.

First of all, they would take support, money for themselves from widows although it was forbidden. Knowledge without price. Knowledge without price, that was the code of a true rabbi, certainly with regard to widows. They would disobey that and whatever wisdom they would give to widows, they would charge them and do so exorbitantly. What could a widow do?

Secondly, they would cheat widows of their estate by getting in to the legal machinations under the guise that they would provide legal protection. They would literally begin to eat away the estate of that widow.

Thirdly, they would leach on and abuse hospitality, take advantage of available room, board, food. There are some stories about gluttony and excessive drinking...taking that from poor widows.

Another way, by mismanaging the property of widows so that out of complete carelessness a widow was absolutely made destitute. One of the popular ones was to take money from older widows with deficient mental powers, take advantage of those who were unable to defend themselves mentally.

And maybe the worst, they would accumulate debts the widow would owe them and owe them and owe them and be unable to pay and so they would take the widow’s home as pledge for the debt...and thus devour the house. When the widow couldn’t pay, they threw her out. That is why they are characterized in the words of Jesus, I’ll read it to you again, Luke 11:39, “You are full of robbery. You are full of robbery and wickedness.” Or the words of Jesus in Luke 16, or the words of Luke, I should say, in Luke 16:14, “The Pharisees who were lovers of money.” Proud and greedy, that characterized them, that’s typical of false teachers. They do what they do for filthy lucre. They elevate themselves. They put on a facade of spirituality. And they bilk the most helpless defenseless people.

Now there are lawyers who do that. Thank the Lord for Christian lawyers and lawyers with integrity who don’t do that. But there are lawyers who do that. But you know something? There are evangelists that do that, false evangelists, false religious teachers take money out of people’s pockets. And false religions prey of people in third world countries who are already impoverished to start with. The newest episode of that is happening in Africa, by the way. As the health, wealth, prosperity purveyors have now gone to Africa with great success. You’ve got a population of people who are hopelessly poor, who can’t see any kind of a future, who live on a meager amount of money, who are in a sense defenseless, living on the edge of hopelessness, you promise them health, wealth and prosperity. This is so successful.

I’ll just give you one illustration. In Logos(?), Nigeria there is one church where this stuff is being proclaimed with 54 thousand people in the church. And in order to get the health, wealth and prosperity, you have to give the leader one month’s salary. This in the name of Jesus, fleecing the abused, fleecing the poor, fleecing the defenseless. And this is spreading across Africa. They’re building the biggest churches on the planet in Africa in the name of the health, wealth, prosperity gospel, preying on poor people who have no hope. It’s a scheme that makes the guy at the top rich.

So, false teachers are proud and greedy...not all to the same degree. And then sixth, for appearances sake, they offer long prayers. Nothing wrong with a long prayer. I’ve prayed a few myself. But something wrong with praying one for pretense, praying just to be seen. Remember Matthew 6:5 and 6 where Jesus condemns that kind of praying in the Sermon on the Mount which was so characteristic of these false leaders. He says this, “When you pray, you’re not to be as the hypocrites. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners in order to be seen by men.” Spiritual frauds, spiritual phonies taking advantage of people. They do it under pretense.

By the way, the word “under pretense” interesting word, prophasis is the word. That which is put out in front to hide the true state of things. That’s what it is. They hide the reality of what they are. It’s a specious cloak that they wear, long prayers. It’s a game false teachers play. Again in Matthew chapter 23, the Lord describes this kind of hypocrisy. “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees,” verse 25, “hypocrites. You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you’re full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and the dish that the outside of it may become clean also. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, you’re like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. And even so, you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you’re full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Those are the most religious people in Israel. You have evangelicals today who are saying we need to cooperate with Israel. We need to link arms with them because they’re the people of God and share our spiritual insights. No...no. Jesus didn’t have a conversation with the most religious in Israel. He issued a condemnation. That’s why Matthew 23, again, as long as you’re there, look at it, verse 15, “Woe,” that means damnation, cursing, verse 16, “Woe,” 23, 25, 27, 29...woe, woe, woe, woe, woe...pronouncing horrendous, horrific judgment on them. Verse 33, “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell?” That’s a condemnation, not a conversation.

Now let’s go back to Luke and we see the last words of the chapter. We saw the caution and the characterization. Here’s the condemnation. “These will receive greater condemnation.” The key is greater, not lesser because they’re religious. The Lord isn’t going to like them all of a sudden because they’re religious, because they’re good, because they’re moral, because God loves all religions, and all religions love God and Jesus loves all religions, and all religions love Jesus. This is wonderful. No. He pronounces on them a more severer damnation. Greater, perissoteron, it’s a comparative, krima, judgment. Perissoteron, a far greater, an excessive, a more abundant. Or if you will, an extraordinary condemnation, more than the usual. Religious people get a greater damnation, not a lesser one. Far from pleasing God somehow because they’ve lived up to whatever truth they had, they receive a greater condemnation...especially if they’ve trampled underfoot the blood of the covenant, counted it an unholy thing, Hebrews 10:29 to 31...rejected Christ.

The idea is clear, if you’re in the wrong religion, you’re going to be condemned. If you’re a purveyor of the wrong religion, you’re going to receive a far-greater suffering and damnation in hell. They’re dangerous, be warned. They’re hypocrites, they’re worthy of condemnation. Compassion...yes, gospel, give them the gospel, pray for their salvation, have a sad heart, but in the end, we have nothing to learn from false teachers and false religions. And they must know that they are under sentence of divine condemnation. They must know for their sake and the sake of those who need to be protected from them. Let’s pray.

Lord, we can only thank You that this is in Scripture. Were we to speak like this independently of clear teaching of Scripture, it might be more than people could bear. But we know it’s Your mind and Your will because You put it in Your Word. Yes we are sad. Yes we weep over those who are part of these false systems. Yes we desire mercifully to give them the truth, proclaiming the truth, even this message is a mercy to any false teacher who hears it. But we must warn them of their coming condemnation and we must warn those who might be seduced by them and fall into that same condemnation. Thank You for this gracious and merciful warning. And we thank You, Lord, for the truth. We thank You that we who know You have come to the truth because of Your power and Your Spirit. We do want to come together and find out what Moses and Isaiah and Paul and John meant by what they said because it’s You speaking in Scripture. We don’t want to have a conversation with anybody but with You and we don’t want to even answer, we just want You to speak. We have nothing to say, we have nothing to offer. We can’t improve on Your Word. We’re not going to find a better understanding in a conversation with anybody anywhere, especially with those who are dead in trespasses and sins and void of the truth. So, Lord, may we bow only to the Word and joyfully to the Word cause it is the truth and the truth sets us free. We thank You for it. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.

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~*~ Justice and Grace ~*~

Genesis 18:23-25

God's justice is according to His righteousness, His holy character. Psalm 119:172 defines righteousness, stating "All Your commandments are righteousness." Those commandments reflect in writing the character of God.

What God does is always consistent with who and what He is, and what He has written. His righteousness is absolute purity. He is utterly incapable of an unholy, unrighteous, unjust act. For God to act unfairly, He would simply have to cease being God. It is totally impossible for Him to commit an injustice.

When Abraham uses the word "righteous" in verse 23, he is not saying, "Would You destroy the sinless with the wicked?" He means people who, through their fear of God and being conscientious, have kept themselves free from the iniquity of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham's concern was that there were people in the city we might consider to be really good citizens. They were not sinless, but if there was a fear of God in them, maybe they were trying with all their might to obey God, but they were caught up simply in being in the environment which God had decided He was going to destroy.

God does not always act with justice; sometimes He acts with mercy. That is what He did with Lot and his family. God acted with justice against the city because it was so corrupt, so evil, so filled with sin that it even offended God's sense of what is right and wrong. It even offended God's patience, His longsuffering. And so in justice He wiped the city off the map, but in grace and mercy He spared Lot, his wife, and two children.

Mercy is not justice, but neither is it injustice, because injustice would violate righteousness, and God always acts according to His holy character, which is total righteousness. Therefore mercy, which manifests kindness and grace, does no violence to righteousness, and we may see non-justice in God-- which is mercy--but we never see injustice in God.

John W. Ritenbaugh

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re Swine Flu: An End-Time Vision...

August 27, 2009
Pastor Joh. W. Matutis

While trying to prepare my message, the Lord showed me a vision.

I saw a large pasture with very many sheep. All of a sudden, from every direction and from all over, came wolves upon the herd, mixing themselves amongst the sheep. Neither the shepherds nor the shepherd dogs (of utmost importance) sounded any alarm. They lay on the floor as if hypnotized. There was just a bit of panic within the herd. The sheep did notice that something was wrong, but they took no serious note of what was happening. They just continued grazing in a relaxed manner. The shepherds and the shepherd dogs on the other hand noticed nothing.

As I observed closely, I saw the wolves, which had fangs like snakes in their mouths, tweak (pinch or prick) the sheep on their buttocks. These twitched briefly, and then continued their relaxed grazing. After a short while, the wolves ran from the herd, withdrawing themselves again into the mountains, without having stolen a sheep or inflicted any visible harm on them.

On seeing all these things, I thought to myself. 'This is not at all possible, that wolves would come amongst sheep and not harm them. This is out of character!' Then as the wolves left the sheep, I saw all of a sudden the leader of the wolf pack, together with his whole wolf followership on a high cliff. It was like a great beast; a monster. Then the wolves began to howl and yelp. The shepherd, shepherd dogs and all the sheep were terrified, shivering and shocked.

And the leader of the pack began, like a demon, to speak with a deep human voice. “My dear shepherds, dogs and all my dear sheep. You now belong to us. We have you completely in our hands. We were amongst you, without your noticing anything. We worked amongst you in disguise. We even inoculated you with a 'serum' that makes you now ours. You are all, as at now, bearing our 'mark'. We have also inoculated you with our spirit and data, without your having been aware. There is now no more escape for you. The whole flock is now under our control.”

I then said in my spirit “No! The Lord is my shepherd. I will have nothing to do with the devil and his demons. I will not have them as my shepherds.” Then spoke the leader of the wolf pack even further with a sneer on his face, saying “The sheep here ate and slept. Your bellies and welfare was more important to you.”

Now hear what this demon said to me very clearly: “We have now come to take revenge for our man of the Gadarenes. (See Matt 5:1-17) Back then, your Lord cast us out of him, and we had to flee into swine and spring into the abyss. Now though, we have recovered and are strong enough to leave our cursed dwellings again. We have therefore returned from the abyss to take revenge against him (Jesus) and his works. These sheep all grazing here have been infected by our demons from the abyss. They can no longer escape. They belong to us absolutely.”

I was shocked!


Here, God spoke to me saying 'my son, every person will be asked to compulsorily take immunization against the swine flu in the next few days. This is a disguise. They will in the process be infected with demons from the abyss; all who do not have my spirit and my seal upon them. Yes, it will be such that that they will receive a deadly spirit inoculated into them. This will allow the wolves do with them what they like. Whoever does not follow them, antagonizes or stands against them in any way, will be eliminated at the touch of a button.

'For such will there be no more escape from them. Yes it is true, my son,' says the Lord. 'These cursed spirits will arise again out of the abyss and return through the “swine” to continue their mischief amongst the people who neither know nor follow me. I however, with my church will do same as then. We will depart from that area. So will those demons from the abyss exterminate one third of humanity.'

Then said the Lord to me further, 'But you, my children, who follow me, must be bold and brave, and say NO! Do not allow yourselves to be pricked and inoculated. You must consistently trust me. I will take you with me to the other shore, and we will continue there. For you my children, life goes on quite normally. You are my sheep. You hear my voice and follow me. And I send you as sheep amongst wolves. Warn all my children and all men of good will against this worldwide compulsory inoculation. It appears harmless. It is not!

'It is more the return on the ancient demons of the abyss. Warn everyone! Even when you are termed “paranoid” and “terrorist”. You are my children, and my people. You are holy. You should therefore have no other “stigma” in your bodies. Your body is a temple for my holy spirit, and not a secret dwelling for demons, which had been cast out by me, from which I delivered you,' says the Lord.

I am passing on this message as it was given me.

Dear friends, we are right in the end times. Watch quite carefully, what happens to you and your children. The devil is, and remains a liar. And he has no good intentions. I was shaken, when God showed me this vision with the swine, in connection with the whole thing about immunization against swine flu.

The believers are about to undergo the end times test, where will be shown, whether we have enough resistance power, enough to say NO. You are not defenseless. God gave you his Holy Spirit and the whole armor (see Ephesians 6: 16-17). These you will now need and must soon make use of. If you are not yet a true child of God, repent! Be baptized and be filled the Holy Spirit, so that the seal of God will be upon your life (Ephesians 1:1,13, 4:30 and Revelations 7:3&4) and you cannot be touched for the devil.

Do write me a few lines.
I would like to keep praying for you.

Pastor Joh.W.Matutis.


http://www.stevequayle.com/News.alert/09_Prophetic/090728.swine.flu.dream.html

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~*~ Praise the Lord ~ You are the True Lord.

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The Holy Spirit of GOD working in our lives.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+12&version=KJV

1. Apostle (Greek: apostolos). One sent forth---as God sent forth his Son, Jesus---into the world with the message of salvation (Heb. 3:1). Jesus, in turn, sent forth His twelve apostles, empowered by the Holy Spirit with the good news of salvation (Matt. 28:19-20), and universal authority in matters of doctrine for His disciples. These twelve apostles became the first building blocks to be placed on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:20: 4:11,12). They were also given the responsibility to equip saints for ministry within the church as well as minister to their surrounding community. Each new generation has submitted to the authority of Jesus Christ, His apostles, and their writings up to this very hour. Paul was the last apostle to be placed on the foundation of Jesus Christ eliminating any need for new apostles (1 Cor. 15:9). He became a prime example of a man who discovered his gifts and wrapped his life around them; "...1 was appointed a preacher, and an apostle and a teacher" (2 Tim. 1:11).

2. Prophecy (Greek: propheteia). The spiritual ability to speak forth the mind and counsel of God. Prophets in the Old Testament were used by God to speak to Israel about current and future events. Jesus was the prophet to come(Deut. 1:8-18; Acts 2:22-23). The prophets in the body of Christ were called to speak forth the word of God about present and future events (Acts 2:17-18; 11:27-28), equip the saints for ministry (Eph. 4:11,12), as well as edify, comfort and encourage believers within the body of Christ and reveal the secrets of men's hearts (1 Cor. 14:3, 23-25). Agabus (Acts 21:10-11) and the four daughters of Philip, the evangelist, were given the gift of prophecy among so many (Acts 21:9).

3. Evangelist (Greek: eulangelistes). The spiritual ability to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ's redemptive story to a dying world lost in their sin and shame (Romans 3:23). Jesus modeled this gift of evangelism with Nicodemus (John 3:16). The good news is, in the words of Paul; "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved" (Rom. 10:9,10). The evangelists were also called of God to equip others to develop their spiritual gifts (Eph. 4:11,12). Philip was known as an evangelist (Acts 8:4-13, 21:8).

4. Pastor-teacher (Greek: poimen didaskalos). The spiritual ability to shepherd the flock of God (guarding, guiding, encouraging, warning, etc.), feed them the Word of God, and equip them to find their gifts so that they, too, can do the work of ministry (Eph. 4:11, 12). Peter (John 21:15-17;1 Peter 5:1-15).

5. Serving (Greek: diakonia, the root for deacon). The spiritual ability to meet the physical needs of people within a given community of believers or unbelievers. One of the first examples of the serving gifts in action was re- corded in Acts 6:1-6 when the apostles selected seven men out of their group to minister to the poor Hellenistic Jewish widows who needed food. This in turn set the apostles free to minister with their spiritual gifts Phoeba, Acts 16:1).

6. Teaching (Greek: didaskalos). The spiritual ability to take the truth from the Word of God and explain it clearly so that the flock of God can under- stand it and apply those spiritual truths effectively to their daily lives. It appears that one can have the spiritual gift of teaching without being a pastor- teacher, but one cannot be a pastor without being a teacher . The natural gift of teaching can communicate any subject but yields just understanding of that subject. The spiritual gift of teaching communicates biblical truth and motivates men and women toward a life of godly obedience to that truth. Apollos and Paul had the spiritual gift of teaching (Acts 18:24-28, 2 Tim. 1:11).

7. Encouragement (Greek: parakaleo). The spiritual ability to come alongside a person who may be hurting spiritually or emotionally and offer them a word of comfort concerning the past and a word of encouragement, admonishment (truth in love), and challenge so that they will be able to walk in the steps of the Spirit in the future. A man named Joseph was renamed Barnabas (son of encouragement) by the apostles because of his ministry to the early church in Jerusalem (Acts 4:36-37).

8. Giving (Greek: metadidomi). The spiritual ability to give financially or materially to the needs of others within the body of Christ or the community in which they live. They express this spiritual gift in simplicity to the glory of God without drawing attention to themselves. Barnabas sold a field and gave the money to the apostles for the good of the church (Acts 4:36-37).

9. Leadership (Greek: proistemi). The spiritual ability to stand before a group of people and lead them in a deep walk with the Lord, or mission project, the building of a new community of Christians, or an elders meeting, etc. The apostle James gave leadership to the council of Jerusalem (Acts 15).

10. Mercy (Greek: eleos). The spiritual ability to manifest pity and give aid to those who are physically, emotionally or spiritually help- less. The ability to express compassionate loving action and lift up the one who is downtrodden and to do it joyfully. Tabitha---"...this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity, which she continually did" (Acts 9:36f).

11. A word of wisdom (Greek: sophia). The spiritual ability to perceive life and truth from God's perspective and then apply that wisdom to specific situations. Wisdom can be discerned by its fruit. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere (James 3:17). James used his spiritual gift of wisdom at the Jerusalem council (Acts 15:31-21). was given a vision, while living in Asia Minor, to preach the gospel in Europe (Acts 16:6-10).

12. A word of knowledge (Greek: gnosis). The spiritual ability to communicate spiritual truth which has been acquired through the investigation of God's word. Stephen was a great example of a man of spiritual wisdom and knowledge when he spoke before the Supreme Court and broke open the scriptures to show them that Jesus was their Messiah (Acts 7:1-53).

13. Faith (Greek: pistis). The spiritual ability to see what isn't, believe it to be, and trust God to do it in His way and time. Faith to move mountains. Paul was given a vision, while living in Asia Minor, to preach the gospel in Europe (Acts 16:6-10).

14. Healings (Greek: iaomai). The spiritual ability to heal one who is sick. Note that Paul called it the gifts (plural) of healings which may mean this gifted person could make one who is sick whole---either spiritually, emotionally, or physically. Physical healing is a symbol of how God wants to heal all of us spiritually. An example: Peter and John's experience with the lame man at the temple gate (Acts 3:2-10).

15. Miraculous powers (Greek: dunamis). The spiritual ability to do works of a supernatural origin and character, such as could not be produced by natural agents and means. Philip (Acts 8:13), and Paul (Acts 13:9-12).

16. Discerning spirits (Greek: diakrisis). The spiritual ability to discern from God's word between the spirit of evil and of God, the flesh and the spirit, and truth and error, before the fruit is evident. Paul had this experience with Elymas the magician (Acts 13:9-12).

17. Helps (Greek: antilepsis or antilempis). The spiritual ability to come alongside others and support them and their ministry in physical ways. See Paul's list of friends in Romans 16:6,12.

18. Administration (Greek: kubernesis). The spiritual ability to give guidance, pilot, or steer. The spiritual ability to be a helmsman for a local church in helping direct its life and order. One who deals with people and not paper. The idea of governing as seen in the ministry of Stephanas (1 Cor 16:15-18).

19. Tongues (Greek: glossa). The spiritual ability to speak an unknown foreign language without learning it beforehand. The gift of tongues is to be used publicly to bring praise to God (1 Cor. 14:2), to edify the body of believers (I Cor. 14:5), and to be used as a sign of judgment against unbelieving Jews (I Cor. 14:21-22).

20. Interpretation (Greek: hermeneis). The spiritual ability to translate the foreign language of the person speaking to the audience listening. The one who does the translation of that foreign tongue would be able, by the spirit, to interpret without learning the language beforehand (1 Cor. 14:27)

http://ldolphin.org/rrrgifts.html

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Praise To God - The Importance of Praise

Praise to God is what we offer in acknowledgement of God's excellent being. You might think that praise is the same as saying "thank you," but there is a difference. Thanksgiving describes our attitude toward what God has done, while praise is offered for who God is. Psalm 18:3 says "I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise…"

All believers are commanded to praise God! In fact, Isaiah 43:21 explains that praise is one reason we were created, "This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise." Hebrews 13:15 confirms this: "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name."

Praise originates in a heart full of love toward God. Deuteronomy 6:5 says, "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." Are you a Christian today? If so, you know that you love God because He first loved you! Without God's love, any praise you can offer is hollow. Love, born from a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, is an essential part of your praise.

Praise To God - How to Praise God

How can you bring praise to God? What can you do to make it an integral part of your life? Praise can be expressed in song, in verse, or in prayer and it is to be done continuously! Psalm 34:1 instructs, "I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips." Psalm 71:6 says, "From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother's womb. I will ever praise you."

Praise to God is expressed outwardly through our everyday actions, as well as inwardly in our thoughts. Praise is an act of Christian worship.

"Where do I begin?" you may ask. "How do I start praising God?" If praising God is new to you, try praising God for who He is to you, personally. Proclaim that God's goodness is without measure; it is abundant and overflowing! Here are some ways to get started:

* Praise God for His holiness, mercy, and justice (2 Chronicles 20:21, Psalm 99:3-4).

* Praise God for His grace (Ephesians 1:6).

* Praise Him for His goodness (Psalm 135:3).

* Praise God for His kindness (Psalm 117).

* Praise God for His salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Praise to God can be offered anywhere! In time, it will become as normal as taking a breath. Sometimes we praise God inwardly as in Psalm 9:2, "I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High." Other times we have opportunity to give glory and praise to our God publicly. Psalm 22:22 says, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the congregation I will praise you." Search out opportunities to bring praise to God!

Praise To God - Who Praises God?

Praise to God, while offered particularly by His children as the freewill expression of grateful hearts, will one day be offered by everyone! The Bible says that when He comes again, all mankind will praise Him and acknowledge Him as Lord. He is King over all the earth. When we know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, our hearts long to praise His name. Philippians 2:9-11 tells us His name represents His being, describing who He is, "Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

The Bible also records:

* All nature praises God (Psalm 148:7-10).

* The sun, moon, and stars praise Him (Psalm 19:1 and 148:3).

* The angels praise Him (Psalm 148:2).

* Even the wrath of men is used by God to praise Himself (Psalm 76:10).

* Children are to be taught to praise God (Psalm 78:4).

Praise To God - Do You Proclaim His Praise?

Your praise to God is evidenced through your salvation. 1 Peter 2:9 says, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."

How are you offering praise to God today? Do you know Him as your Lord and Savior? If not, why not begin there. Learn more about salvation. When others look at you, do they see a reflection of God's praise? Psalm 113:3 declares, "From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised."

http://www.allaboutprayer.org/praise-to-god.htm

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Praise GOD,

We can imagine how the mother of the child would feel as she is looking at her child. God as our heavenly Father and the creator, He created us to praise HIM.

Hosea 4:12

(12) My people ask counsel from their wooden idols,
And their staff informs them.
For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray,
And they have played the harlot against their God.

Hosea 5:4

(4) " They do not direct their deeds
Toward turning to their God,
For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst,
And they do not know the LORD.

Undoubtedly, the fount of Israel's despicable behavior is what Paul concludes in Hebrews 3:12: "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God."

Israel, despite the fact that God voluntarily revealed much about Himself to her, simply does not believe what He says. The fruit of unbelief is betrayal expressed as departing from the relationship. However, an "evil heart of unbelief" is quite general. To begin, we need to explore one particular step in the process of sin beyond the "evil heart of unbelief."

In addition, we need to understand that our subject is not women who have been forced by their cultures into prostitution. Such a circumstance is far more understandable; women trapped in such a situation are truly victims and elicit our pity. We will be exploring those women who were free to pursue other courses in life yet deliberately chose to prostitute themselves, whether in service at a pagan temple as part of the worship of a god or in making a living. Israel deliberately chose to prostitute herself.

A prostitute is "a person, usually a woman, who provides sexual activity in exchange for material security." Dictionaries also define prostitution as "debasing oneself for personal gain," and this usage applies to either gender. Additionally, it is "a misuse of one's gifts, talents, or skills," and this too applies to either gender.

Because of these usages, in its broadest sense, prostitution is not confined either to sexual activity or to women alone. The selling of sex by a woman is only its best-known form. A prostitute is anybody who, as we would say today, "sells himself out" or makes compromises for personal gain. The gain does not have to be in the form of money. However, biblically, its descriptions and examples are confined to the illicit sexual activity of women because of Israel being symbolized as a woman.

A female prostitute is generally distinguished from an adulterer due to her lack of discrimination in choosing her partners. This lack of discrimination is important because it reveals a mindset, an attitude, that approaches what we today might call an "airhead," one who seriously ignores the harsh realities of sin. The attitude also exposes a stubborn addiction to gambling on sin's outcome. The prostitute usually justifies the sin because of her immediate needs.

All sin follows a pattern. The actual act is the next to the last step in a process that, once it starts, often does not take a great deal of time to complete. James 1:13-15 shows:

Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

Here, simply stated, is the process of sin:

1. Temptation triggers desire.

2. Desire stirs the yearning for gratification.

3. Failure to consider the end and to discipline oneself prompt the sinful act.

4. The sinful act brings forth death.

Repeated frequently enough, this process becomes habitual. The Bible pinpoints the source of sin in another way in Matthew 15:18-20:

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.

This is another way of saying that it is within mankind's nature to sin. However, this does not justify sin because man's nature can be disciplined far better than mankind exhibits.

If sin is to be stopped, these two areas simply must be dealt with, or sin will continue unabated. The carnal mind—man's normal nature—is at war with God (Romans 8:7), and it is not subject to God's law because, out of sheer unbelieving stubbornness, it will not permit itself to submit completely. This is why God says that He will give us a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26).

The Bible uses the word heart to represent all the internal intangibles of human personality. Today, we might say this heart is what makes us "tick." It is the spirit in that heart that lures us—indeed, drives us—to conduct ourselves in a way that is hostile to God. The Bible shows the prostitute having a specific spirit or heart driving her.

God says in Hosea 4:12: "My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, and their staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, and they have played the harlot against their God." He adds in Hosea 5:4, "They do not direct their deeds toward turning to their God, for the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, and they do not know the LORD." In a context like this, the Bible uses spirit to indicate an immaterial force or power, an attitude, leaning, inclination, outlook, position, propensity, or proclivity to move, act, or conduct oneself in a certain manner or direction.

In Hosea 5:4, the conjunction "for" shows the direct connection between the people's sinful, idol-worshipping conduct and "the spirit of harlotry." This spirit is one of the intangibles that comprise human nature, and its direction of conduct is to be disloyal and unfaithful to her commitment to God ratified in the Old Covenant, in which she vowed, "All that the LORD has said we will do, and be obedient" (Exodus 24:7).

Remember, what we are considering is something the entire nation is guilty of, both men and women. We are looking at the streetwalker-type of prostitute only because the Bible provides a clear picture of what motivates her. Once we grasp her motivations, we can extrapolate them to illustrate the whole nation—and ourselves individually because we have participated in the same system, and its drives linger in us.

This, of course, is not to accuse anyone of being a streetwalker. Recall that two of the definitions of prostitution are "abasing oneself for personal gain" and "abusing one's gifts, talents, and skills" for the same. For instance, biographers of famous personalities, especially of artists, occasionally write that their subjects felt they had prostituted their gifts to become wealthy.

This is what God implies in Amos 3:2: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." He expected more and better from them than from any other nation. In terms of the knowledge of God and their access to instruction in the way of life that would produce the most and best toward physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, no other nation came even close to what Israel had because God had chosen them to be His people. Nevertheless, in following the examples of pagan nations who did not know God, Israel frivolously prostituted herself for what she considered personal gain.

Have we not all debased ourselves by indiscriminately accepting the personal gain of the immediate gratification of an unlawful desire, and in the same process, ignored or consciously shoved aside our knowledge of the truth of God? Once we have knowledge of the truth, thus removing our ignorance of God, His way, and His law, if we did not prostitute ourselves, there would be no sin in our lives. The sad truth is that we do not discipline or control ourselves, but instead, we indulge ourselves, and sin occurs. We have prostituted ourselves. We must do better

John W. Ritenbaugh

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Michael W. Smith - I´ll lead you home

1 Corinthians 13

1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

4Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

5Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

6Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

7Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

8Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.

9For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.

10But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.

11When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

13And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

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My Redeemer Lives - Team Hoyt

Thinking Our Way to Success
Philippians 4:4-19

Healthy thinking is a key contributor to godly success. And the Scriptures have a lot to say about what a believer's mind should and should not dwell upon. That is because every choice we make, every word we speak, and every action we take begins as a thought. So we really need to have our heads on straight, so to speak.

The Bible contains long lists of activities and thoughts that may have been part of our old existence but aren't suited to a victorious life in Christ. We are to lay aside attitudes like anger, jealousy, and self-pity. Negativity held in the head and heart can work its way outward like spreading poison, tainting conduct, conversation, and character.

God's Word also offers right ways of thinking to keep grace and love flowing. Setting our minds on heavenly things is a choice (Phil 4:8). Consider Paul, whom the modern church surely sees as successful. But his contemporaries would have seen a man repeatedly beaten, jailed, and persecuted.

He was often impoverished and friendless. And yet, during one of his many prison terms, Paul wrote of his joy, contentment, and unshakable faith in God (vv. 10-19). His life is an awesome expression of a positive faith attitude. He was a man committed to thinking godly thoughts whether his life was marked by blessing or adversity.

Proverbs 23:7 sums up the profound effect of our thought life: "For as [a man] thinks within himself, so he is." Paul believed he was the beloved servant of almighty God, and he acted like it! Perhaps it's time for you to claim the healthy, fulfilling thought life available through reading Scripture.

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John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;