A Lost Love: Ephesus and The Church Today

A Lost Love: Ephesus and The Church Today                                                       By Kelly Durant

Revelation 2

2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things said he that holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

2 I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.

4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.

7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

2. How many of you have heard the words, “I don’t love you anymore”? Those words really hurt! These words create broken hearts, and broken relationships! I am very sorry if you have had to deal with another person who has said this to you before! I know after several years married many couples may doubt, and ask the question inside, do I really love like I did in the beginning? To speak this is damaging! Never forget that real love, God’s love is more than a feeling! God’s love keeps on loving no matter what! God’s love forgives, heals, and sacrifices!

The current lack of love in people is a sign of the times, Matt 24 “the love of many will wax cold”. Anti-Christ like people of the cruel world only live for their selfish up and down feelings in reference to love. This is why a dedicated Christian should never be unequally yoked with an unbeliever because over time the unbeliever will feel entitled to satisfy their desire for love (lust) by whatever means possible instead of trying to invest their energy into the one they married and swore a lifetime commitment to. The best way to live is to choose to live “in love” everyday! In love with Jesus and those He has put in your life! Pray for love to fill you and it will! Pray, Lord, make me live “in love” with my mate and all humanity! And to love the lost and needy as you did!

Today we will continue our study of the modern day church in reference to the sins exposed in the first 7 churches in Revelation. We covered the Church in Laodicea before, today we return to the first one mentioned in the context of the seven in Revelation, Ephesus. Sadly, isn’t it obvious compared to a generation ago, that the church of today has lost its passion to win souls to righteousness, lost its love for Jesus, and lost its mission? The church has allowed apathetic worldly people inside to subvert it with the corrupt culture of the current trends. It is urgent that each Christian must evaluate their own self and get back to their first love for God!

3. I love how Jesus is described with the seven spirits, the stars and the candlesticks. Jesus is ascribed to being the light which extends throughout the universe in the stars and also as the light in front of you as a candle in the room. Do you recall His words, Matthew 5:15 “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house”. Jesus is our light! His light is life itself! Many candles make the church shine if they are lit!

Go to Verse 2, “I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:” Jesus is praising the true ones in Ephesus! They are working hard, have good works, and they have patience with others. We all fail and it is important to put up with each other with love and forgiveness, and here we learn that they are mature in several ways.

Jesus is also praising them for not tolerating in their fellowship those that are pretending to be apostles (which are ones who claim they follow Jesus) but instead they are false, hypocrites, and liars. This means they are praying, singing hymns, listening to the Word studied together but they are doing it with false pretenses having no intention of being a true Christ lover. Have we seen people like this in our churches? They seem to do what a Christian does, copying the actions, but when they are out in normal life, they are as crooked as a snake. Sadly, too many churches tolerate people who are false pretenders and hypocrites and these few bad apples causes others to get turned off and never what to come back! How damaging this is!

4. Vs3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. Interesting, Jesus once again praises them a second time for working well serving in His name, for having patience, and he highlights they have not fainted or given up. This implies they have had problems and resistance. Have you ever felt like giving up? I have a few dozen times! But after I pray about it and give it to Jesus, Jesus seems to always encourage me somehow and I keep on going!  Ask yourself, have I ever fainted? Do I labor as expected?

Jesus expresses Himself as any good teacher, He first praises the good, and then He comes down with the bad news. 4 “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love”.

What was I mentioning a few minutes ago about not being in love? A life without love hurts! The first love refers to how it is when you are first starting out enthusiastic, optimistic, and hopeful as a couple “in love”. You do anything and everything the other person wants because your happiness is their happiness! One who is full of love serves, respects, and has full focus on the needs and desires of the other. Is there evidence of you having a passionate love for Jesus?

When you lose your love for someone you do not care to make them happy anymore: in essence you pass from a selfless phase to a selfish phase! Losing love is tragic! The whole point of Jesus coming to earth was to teach us to love! A church or Corps should be the most loving place in the city! John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” So, a false follower does not love!

5. A Christian leader who has been around for a long time and loses their first love for Jesus also loses their love for their brothers and sisters in the church and for the lost outside the church. How is, or not, love? I Cor. 13: 3 “And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”  Do you know of Christians who serve the poor but with a bad attitude? They do it just because they are required to by their peer group or their job description but their heart is not really into it! They are not loving those a lot less fortunate than them! It is painful to put up with someone without love! It is also painful to observe many churches in America have lost their first love for Jesus!

You and I know people who probably started out loving Jesus but then they lost their first love so how do they act? The opposite of this: 4 “Love suffers long and is kind (they are impatient and mean to  others); love does not envy (they are jealous of those who have a better situation than them); love does not parade itself, is not puffed up (they are arrogant and proud of their power position and accomplishments); 5 does not behave rudely (they are rude and humiliate you and others), does not seek its own  (their self interests always come to light), is not provoked, thinks no evil (they get angry quickly and want to harm to those they don’t like); It is tragic how each of us suffer under those with no love!

Let’s continue to compare how people with love and those without love behave: 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth (they are happy when someone insulting and bad pulls a fast one); 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”(They are not tolerant of others claiming they are tolerant, they do not expect good outcomes and always bear bad news, they disillusion others and make them lose faith and hope, and they do not want to put up with anyone because only they know how to do everything) Sadly everyone else around them perceives them to be just ignorant, belligerent fools pretending to be good! 

6. Vs.5 “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; (of doing things with a passionate love!) or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Jesus is stating He will allow their fellowship to be removed and disbanded if they do not repent and get back to having the passion and love they once had.  Haven’t we already seen too many churches disbanded from a lack of love for God and others! The enemy today is attacking fiercely with apathy and dissention using divisive popularized controversial matters.

I can say in my lifetime I have seen several Christian ministries come and go! What happened? People may start off great, loving Jesus, and laboring for Him but then the light goes out if over time some problem gets in the way. It is usually these things that destroy Christian fellowships: false teachings, a lack of patient love replaced with a legalistic self-righteousness, or an apathetic laziness to keep up the good work loving and serving others. Also, the light goes out when a person or group of proud leaders in charge refuse to see their faults and their churches faults! The leader should be bringing everyone closer to God loving Jesus more!

Vs. 6 “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.” Despite the warning, Jesus praises them again for rejecting a group of false infiltrators. Notice that Jesus says He hates these people, the Nicolaitians. So Jesus loves, but He also hates those who are hypocrites and false to profane the will and love of God! If one of these Nicolaitians were to repent, I am sure God would have received him, but the subversion of Jesus’ teachings is an abomination!

7. It is speculated by theologians that the Nicolaitians were a local gnostic group that rose to power and faded away after a few years. “Nike” (first part of word “Nic”), in Greek means to conquer, and “laitian” refers to people (as in the word laity), so their name has the connotation of meaning “those who conquer people”. So how did they conquer? By deceit, they were liars and false ones infiltrating the brethren to abandon absolute faith in Jesus.

From history we know that the early church had a battle with those who claimed there was no resurrection. What conquered thousands of early believers was the conviction with which the disciples retold the story of Jesus resurrection! For a person or group to counter that and say that it is a lie is a huge offense and insult to Jesus’ life, death, sacrifice, and resurrection!  Any resurrection denier is in effect a liar deceived by Satan! Today there are too many loudmouthed disrespecters of Jesus! Jesus’ life and doctrine was pure love, so anything not of that is of Satan!

Possible other offenses were that these people being Greeks, thought that since in their worldview no God is pure and holy or capable of saving someone from Hades, (their Greek gods were definitely not divine in their behavior!) then they could justifiably live as hypocrites claiming one could be loyal to Jesus for certain moments, and then participate with the other Greek pagan gods as well. This false doctrine meant that they did not have to live a holy life, but rather they could participate in Greek orgies doing abominable things, thinking its fine to please your flesh in unholy ways since the other gods were of this nature. Do you know of any hypocrite person who partakes in all the things of the world during the week yet they go to a Sunday worship thinking its ok with God? Today we see many world pleasing hypocrites as were the Christians that were in Ephesus! The remedy is to repent, which means to leave it behind and never go back to it! It is all Jesus and nothing else! By observation we see that corruption and modern day Nicolaitian type behaviors have infiltrated every company, government, and church!

8. Vs. 7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Basically Jesus is commanding us to be spiritually attentive! We must listen to what He says about the churches, and since He is alive in the Spirit, Jesus still speaks to those that listen concerning the state of affairs of the churches. Those who study understand and see clearly.

Where do we read about the tree of life? It is the tree that God prevented Adam and Eve from eating from so they would not live forever.  Genesis 3:24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. But after we die and become spirit, we will be enjoying this tree again in heaven!

But we see a condition here to gaining this privilege, what is that? It is to overcome, “To him that overcometh”. In this case what is Jesus referring to? To overcome what? Within all the context it means to overcome the apathy and falseness He is exposing. What did they need to overcome? What do you need to overcome so God will be pleased with you?

9. The Christians in Ephesus, and all Christians today must overcome these obstacles:

A) To not lose one’s first love for Jesus

B) To not lose the ability to repent from their failures

C) To hate hypocrisy and evil workers as Jesus hates them.

Have you lost your first love? Some people come into our doors excited that they have discovered that Jesus is real, they have their eyes opened, and their hearts are on fire. But then due to their peers or family criticizing them, due to resistance from the world, they stop coming to worship and love Jesus, and they lose their “first love”. How tragic! Like the seed that was sewn and grew, but then died before it could flourish into a beautiful plant!

Jesus always offers us a chance to repent! Everyday, and not just on Sundays after the sermon, we should be examining our hearts to repent of any wrong behavior, of any behavior that was not done in love. It is a sin to live without a passionate love for God! Pray and love!

Respect The Older Ones: You May Become One, One Day!

Respect The Older Ones: You May Become One, One Day!                  April 24, 2016    Kelly Durant

Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?

2. Older people can be very funny! Thank God for humor and that we can laugh when we don’t hear everything said, or see things as clearly as we use to. Like the grandson who took the grandpa out to eat and he wanted to impress upon him that was educated and learning proper English. He asked him, “Did you enjoy an eloquent suffice”? The grandpa, paused and said, “What, did you say? That we were eating elephant and rice?!”

A healthy person will have love and respect for the senior citizens in society! As a matter of fact, those that do not respect and honor their parents and grandparents are breaking an original command of one of the 10 big ones that carried the death penalty for violating it: Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.”

Why does it say that your ‘days may be long’? Because rebellious, stubborn, know-it-all young people who don’t want to listen to the wisdom of their fathers usually live a hard-knock life, mess up, and end up dying young due to their own mistakes! Notice that it says ‘father and mother’, and sadly in many homes many young people do not grow up with the wisdom of them both, or they see horrible examples, so we must weight that honor is due to whom deserves it (If they are Godly or not).

3. On our calendar today is senior appreciation Sunday. Look how many seniors we have, quite a few, right? As a matter of fact, some churches seem to only be filled with seniors! Seniors who are faithful to God’s work deserve respect! I appreciate them! I hope you do special things for those who are up in years in your family and in your church! The mature ones with experience can teach you many things!

They say as we get older we become more childlike, well that may be a good thing! Most children I know just want to hang out with you and have fun, and you get to have your day brightened by them! Many people up in years have lived through many hard times and they have suffered a lot so we must treat them with care. Think of them as a person with wounds, we must be careful not to bump into them because we do not want to harm them even more.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 “Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all”. When you have lived a long time it is easy to become faint hearted. And when we see someone weak, we should want to uphold them, encourage them, and help them to know they are loved and supported. In our patience we pray for those who are hurting! After a number of years you never know when the shoe may be on your foot one day!

4. When is the last time you visited someone up in their years? For me it was last week, and as a matter of fact I know many of you visit the elderly in the rest homes at least twice a month. God bless you for that! It is sad that many that you visit are in wheelchairs and in worse shape than what you are. 

Many people up in years have lived through many hard times and they have suffered and we must treat them with care. Think of them as those who have been though a war, and now they need some rest and recuperation. Thinking of the war, I had uncles and Sunday school teachers that fought in WWII. They could tell you stories! When you realize how much they suffered physically and mentally your heart goes out to them! Sadly today they are not honored as they should be as many youth who never have suffered do not understand or respect what their grandparents and great grandparents did to prevent all humanity from become extinct under the dominion of Hitler! They should be listened to in our society, as their authority to discipline is well earned.

5. Most of the older ones amongst us deserve our utmost respect because all their lives they have sacrificed for their children and grandchildren helping them to study and become successful in life. And here is a paradox, something difficult to understand is this, how is it that the former hippie generation which are the elderly now (my generation of baby-boomers), are the more responsible ones, more responsible than their spoiled children in their 30s and 40s? Maybe now some of us are wiser and understand why we should adhere to the teachings of our grandparents and parents. 

The statistics show that many seniors today are raising their grandchildren! And the dynamics of that is the children are getting all their physical needs met but inside they still have a wound due to the rejection of the ones who created them. They are getting a mixed signal, that they are loved and spoiled, but also that they are unwanted.  They grow up to be confused. Young people today are confused about who they are in their position in their family and society. They are confused emotionally, even about who they are genetically as male or female. This confusion is provoking abnormal acting out either sexually, abusively with substances, or violently, as they take on ridiculous causes just to stir up invented conflicts.  A fatherless society has proven itself to be creating criminals due to no discipline in the home.

The young need the old and vice versa. The problem though is respect! Often the command of God to honor father and mother is broken. I have known of many cases of young people who have bitten the hands that fed them. They stole from their parents or grandparents and they not only left them poor with no more physical strength to work and recuperate what was lost, but also hurt them so bad emotionally and spiritually that they lost their desire to live. Some people curse their own self! And then they remain cursed with eternal punishment!

6. The older wiser persons have always been the ones through whom advice and correction was given. Look at the patriarchs in the Bible, Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Moses and practically all of those with authority were elderly. Also, take for example the Native Americans, the elder ones, the most experienced ones, were always the leaders in counseling the tribe on what was best.

We need to get back to common sense and how nature has established things from the beginning allowing correction and authority to come from the wise ones. The elder ones, which are usually in the most productive phase of the lives, deserve their respected and esteemed place in the home, church, and society. When it comes to council and wise advice, we must count on them.

I am referring to those older ones who are worthy of it though. There is the case of some older people who are not good examples to others. Ecclesiastes 4:13 “Better a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who will be admonished no more”. People who have really screwed up their lives and the lives of others with their bad choices and selfishness are condemned to reap what they have sewn.

7. It is okay to disregard certain old people who are being loudmouthed supporting damaging and foolish causes. I am referring to older ones who are senile to historical facts, who promote false ideologies, doctrines, or pretenses, such as those who push their political or religious views that have caused millions to be murdered in recent history. Some old troublemakers will boast that their lives and works are beneficial and wonderful, but when everyone sees the ugly facts, that they have a record of being one of the worst of hypocrites, as selfish and false as they come, then we should tune them out!

Many times the elder ones are the leaders in society, be it in the church or the state. People work all their lives to reach the top and some reach the top but power and position only endures for a short time. When I see some people so ambitious of power I am reminded of Mark 8:36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? 37 Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 38 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.”

In the world of today we must discern what is appropriate as not all older ones are good. Isaiah 5:20 is our reality, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Some older people age like wine, more fine with the years, but others sour like vinegar!

8. The elder ones who should be getting respect, the ones who speak honestly, frankly, and of common sense values, along with the ones who are church leaders because they have wisely guided many through Biblical wisdom, should be the ones whom everyone of society should consider as valid and worthy of respect. Atheistic, hedonistic, hypocritical, and confused people deserve no respect, but rather they deserve a rebuke and correction and it does not matter their age!

Proverbs 26:5 “Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own eyes.”  Don’t put up with it, rebuke anyone disrespecting the elders! At one time in our society after WWII there was a great deal of Christian respect for the elders. Today being rude to elders, teachers, and Christians is the norm. Shame on the teachers in government schools in the 1960s who removed God’s values which establish order and prosperity and replaced them with values creating anarchy, anger, and disrespect of persons! We can thank them for all the gang and drug activity destroying our communities everywhere!

Satan got in all systems in the 1960s, and convinced the youth that their problems and the problems of the society were due to the fault of the elders. It was the older generation that was taking us into war for their own big money profits. It was the older generation preventing us from smoking pot and doing all that we pleased! The older generation was disrespected at that time (some were guilty, but a large margin were not), and these hell raisers have been degrading America ever since then. Today those who sewed these disrespectful seeds are having to reap the bad fruits of them in their own lives in their later years.

9.  It is a shame how the older Christian people are mocked by the liberal news groups, colleges, and government officials. Today, only those who understand God’s laws respect the elder people! And anyone who disrespects Christians, especially mocking with their fabricated stereo types, that the ones who are evil are  ‘the old conservative Christians’, need to be shamed and corrected for their evil false defamations of God’s people who do many good deeds in society.

According to the verse of today in Hebrews 12:9, the younger ones need correction from the older ones in order to understand all the aspects of God’s nature. We pray, “Our Father, which art in heaven” but how many young people out there with 50% coming from broken homes really understand what a father is? Kids are not taught respect in the schools anymore, so the church is the last community resort! We must teach it here.

Today you and I must honor the elderly more than ever! There is a lot of discouragement, depression, and elderly abuse out there! Those that harm and rip off the wealth of the elder sadly have a place reserved in hell for violating God’s law of disrespecting their position and rejecting their wisdom and correction. Let us pray to encourage, esteem, uplift, and honor our elder ones. Proverbs 16:31 The (white) hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness. Give honor to whom honor is due!

Beware of the Rich Churches: AsThe Laodicians Were

Beware of the Rich Churches:.: The Laodicians                      Capt. Kelly Durant

 

Rev 3:17-19

17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent

2. Have you ever watched that show about remodeling homes? The DIY Network or one of them? The people on the show think they got a good buy getting an old house to fix up and resale but then after they start tearing down the walls they find rotten wood and leaky pipes. What seemed good at first only needing a touch up is later revealed to be rotten and in great need of repair. This analogy we can apply to a government, a church, or even to each individual person. What is under the surface of the exterior? Appearances do often deceive!

An observer may see the outside as painted and only in need of light repairs, but once inside you and I can see the reality of the flaws in the internal structure. History is always repeating itself with the cycle of people starting out poor and oppressed under an old and rotting structure to achieving freedom to build a new system, but then after the prosperity and wealth, they degrade and rot as well. Britain became greedy and oppressive after it became wealthy from colonization. Those who wanted freedom realized they had fight for it, the price was high, but freedom from oppression is always worth it! The men in the Revolution War established the United States of America to build the new to replace the old but that they were in always in danger of losing their lives. They lived by the code of “Give me liberty or give me death”. Christians always still have this plight! If not free from sin and oppression, it is not of God!

With the first church in Acts 2, the disciples that got the fire of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room were so on fire for God that they got persecuted by the ones trapped in the web of the rotten, failing hypocritical systems of their day. Many of them later got martyred for preaching Jesus Christ, for establishing a new way with Jesus, for bringing the Kingdom of God to us in real life. The first generation who fights has the zeal and power, while the second and twentieth generations live enjoying the comforts, wealth, freedoms, and security they fought for! The second generations sadly seem to always degrade into unthankfulness from not having lived at the time to know what blood it cost to set up the new system.

3. Everything is a work in progress. Have you ever asked yourself, how does God see our church? How is our Corps doing in God’s eyes? Is God content with me and you in what we accomplish here? A church, in the end, is only a reflection of the spirit of the collective members, the ones who build, lead, and show up to do what needs to be done.

So does God judge and evaluate his people and his churches? The conclusion by reading Revelation is a resounding yes! Over time I will be doing a series to study one by one each of the 7 churches mentioned in Revelation. Let’s take a closer look at Revelation, chapters 2-3, books where Jesus compliments each body of believers for the good they are doing, but also He rebukes them for their faults. I am not covering verses 15 and 16 about being hot or cold, that needs to be a whole separate message! But for your info the cold water would become lukewarm in the sun aqueducts. So, in general, lukewarmness is a common sin of the rich!   

It is in these chapters Jesus Himself calls out the sins of the different churches in the region. Six out of the seven had some major flaws! When did this take place? It was in the time of John when he was old, so around 70 AD. Only 70 AD! The church was just beginning and only one generation away, or 40 years, past it’s founding in 30 AD when Jesus preached the Kingdom.

Knowing how Jesus rebukes a body of believers, an important thing to ask Jesus is what are my personal faults? You, and each of us, are a reflection of God’s work and each person here is of an important influence. So depending on your dedication to do God’s will or not reflects on the greater Kingdom of God, Christianity, and the Salvation Army. Your individual influence is extremely important. No one is an island and you are making waves that others are watching.

4. Many churches in the Western World today I believe could be compared to the Laodicean’s church as described in the scripture of today’s focus. Many Christian churches in the U.S.A. are very blessed to have a lot of material wealth but material riches does not reflect how spiritually wealthy they may be! As St. Augustine told the Pope in his day after he showed him the basement of the Vatican full of gold artifacts and boasted, “We cannot say as Peter, silver and gold have I none,” but Augustine replied, “But then that you cannot say in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk!”  Sadly, riches have proven to corrupt even many of the chosen. God’s power leaves at that point! Jesus in Matthew 6:24 “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon”.                                                                                                                                                                                                          Wealth and comfort, as suggested in Rev.3 vs. 17, will greatly interfere with a person or church’s spiritual walk. Ironically there are some churches that preach a doctrine that God is in favor of the rich only and that He will bless you or me with wealth if we attend their church, giving them money, and following their leader! Again I repeat today as I have said in the past, we are observing too many examples of rich churches with an impoverished spirituality!

Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor”?  God cares not for rich temples, he cares for the heart! Acts 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,                   The misguided prosperity preachers always ignore Rev. 3. Many churches ignore Revelation altogether as it is too convicting! Who being rich wants to entertain the idea that they may be poor spiritually? If you step foot in one of the opulent mega-churches, and you are a poor nobody as you and I are, you will be judged contemptly as a worthless unblessed nobody! You will be considered as a sinner who needs to repent because being poor means you are in sin!?

                                                                                                                                                       

5. In modern day Laodicean Churches a church member is looked upon as a product, or a piece of merchandise which must be generating for them tithes and riches. Read 2 Peter chapter 2 later! These condemned abusers which will abound in the last days want to reap your riches for their exuberant lifestyle! When the Salvation Army was founded in the 1800s, many churches had a discriminatory attitude against the poor and you and I witness a resurgence of this today.

What a contrast to the Salvation Army where we are theologically required to welcome and serve the poor! We are a rather poor church compared to many others in the U.S but I would defend that as long as we are reaching out to those who are in need, and as long as we preach Jesus, then this obedience will make us rich spiritually.

 Proverbs 13:7 There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches. But also I believe it is possible to have some wealth and yet stay humble and close to God. Moderation is the key. However, there are very few examples in history of the wealthy fully sharing all to help others as Jesus commanded the rich young ruler.

 

6. Here is a challenge for you: to love the poor! Proverbs 14:20 “The poor is hated even of his own neighbor: but the rich hath many friends” Well, some rich have few friends because they are so mean! In Bolivia I was angered and shocked many times by how the rich class mistreated the poor class. One lady, whom I had as a landlord, owned a store that produced great wealth for her; she went from rags to riches. She told me she grew up very poor but later in life she worked her way up in wealth. She was proud and arrogant and proudly proclaimed belonging to the predominant church (which obviously never taught her to share her blessings with the poor, but only with them!). I taught English and guitar to several millionaire families in many private mansions and the coldness, paranoia, and fearfulness of the rich is disturbing!

I would get disgusted by my landlord as she would run the beggars out of her store yelling at them as if they were stray dogs. She could have easily given away .05 cents to each one and only be giving away $1.00 by the end of the day and could have made them all happy, but no, she had forgotten her own suffering and poverty and was cold and hard-hearted.

God says that people who close their ear to hearing the poor will one day cry themselves, and God will refuse to hear them! Proverbs 21:13. If you or I are able to help a person in need, someone poorer than us, why not? God will bless the giving soul! Proverbs 11:25 The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.

7. We all need to be careful as semi-wealthy Americans to not become corrupted and spoiled by our own riches. What you and I see going on today internally in many churches is that the rich people want things to be their way using their money as a leverage. What misery it brings when people think their money should buy power and position and they want others to do what they say! If a person gives money to God, it was for God’s work as needed, not to buy influence as in the political world!

Also, often the rich prosperous and pampered people are too quick to criticize things they don’t like, because it gives them the excuse to change things to their way, and to not have to be committed to actually sacrificing or doing anything for the Lord in the way the church needs it! We are saved to serve but we must be doing everything God’s way, never thinking money has any influence in the matter.

The church is where you and I come to get spiritually enriched and enjoy fellowship, but it also is a place where you serve and work and do your part to obey Jesus laying down your life for the brethren to win lost souls! Those who come to be served don’t last too long in this church! As a matter of fact, there are many people that the reason they move on from church to church is because they don’t want to stay long enough for anyone to figure them out, to see through their selfish motives for showing up. Jesus said to take up your cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23) but not too many Christians ever pick up His cross! Those who want all the privileges without the responsibilities will be in for a big shock one day when facing Jesus. Heaven cost Jesus life on the cross and He expects us to give our life for Him!

8. What we see in certain churches today can make you disappointed and angry. It is a carnal human nature to want benefits without the responsibilities of obedience. Sadly, more and more, the current corrupted Christian culture is designed to cater to people who would prefer to be surrounded by a huge wealthy building listening to a poor Biblically teaching rather than to be in a more poor and humble church but with more excellent teachings serving others in obedience!

When people see rich preachers on TV with $3,000 gold Rolex watches they think that is the norm, and that is the life for me. How ridiculous it is to dream for money, spiritual power, and a congregation to worship and serve you when that is the antitheses to Jesus teachings. A Christian can forget Rev 3:18 “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear”. My wife on a flight one time actually met a team member of a mega TV church and instead of talking about Jesus to her he wanted to talk about his expensive Rolex watch!

Power and wealth appeals to the desires of the flesh, but real service to God is a cross, a crucifixion to one’s self, a cross which has no praise or glory, serving the dirty poor sinful abused souls who long to see Jesus in you! A clean white robe is what we need; in Laodicea the people were producers of fine robes from the abundance of sheep, but often the robes were of black wool not white. The rich people of this world need to clean the clouds off their eyes so they can see the need that is out in the community! Laodicea was also known for its medicines and eye salves. Misguided Christians today are choosing entertainment in plush buildings over God’s service and preaching Jesus in impoverished neighborhoods! They have lost the vision for what their purpose is!

9. The Salvation Army has done an amazing job of serving the lowest of the low in society and truthfully that is why not so many people are attracted to us! It is because we are not rich people catering to the whims of the rich members but rather we are composed of a majority of moderately poor people reaching out to the poor spiritually serving them materially with needs.

So decide what kind of Christian you want to be, one that is ashamed and naked, or one that is dressed in pure raiment. Have you ever seen a person arrested with no clothes on? Most people naked are not so pretty! Nakedness is comparable to the people who have done nothing for God and in the verses the rich are described in this context… of being shameful creatures. 

God does take each person individually into account and He also collectively does it concerning the church; the evaluation, rebuke, or blessings come as individual and collective. Are you willing to be obedient and have His blessings in your life and in our church?  Let’s pray we are always humble and that we do not have any of sins of the Laodicians displeasing God to the point He will rebuke us and we will not be purified as gold worthy of inheriting robes of white to cover our nakedness when we face Him. We can only be clothed in His righteousness!

Rev. 3: 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith

unto the churches.  Let’s pray….

Are you a piece of Merchandise?

Are you a piece of Merchandise?               Capt. Kelly Durant  7-06

The fleecing of the sheep by deceiving pastors!

2 Peter 2:3

3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

John 10:10-12

10The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

What do you see here? I have a sheep in my hand but it is no ordinary sheep, it is a sheep that has been fleeced! You see it all naked and unprotected, right? Did you know there are pastors in churches that have no communication with God but their goal is not to save souls for God’s kingdom in heaven, but to get all they can materially out of their sheep?  Their objective is to fleece their sheep and use the Word to justify it!

The position of a pastor and a religious movement is a very important and dangerous one, because they can use the Word of God in a correct way which will give you life, light, wisdom, and encouragement and salvation through Jesus Christ. But if they are false, they can use the Bible distorting the Word of God just to make you feel guilty in order manipulate you and get you to give him money and serve their perverted cause to grow big.

The word in Peter states that God will punish those that use the word for their own gain, those that believe spiritually hungry people are just dumb sheep that need to be used by them for their gain and look again at the scripture “and their damnation slumbereth not”.

These false pastors with their wealth and air of importance will intimidate you and preach with sweet words and the people shallow in their faith admire them and their big rich church, and be deceived!

 God put it on my heart to warn you about this because we are living in the final days of our earth, and Jesus will return, and His Word warns us of these rogue pastors, many stating that they are the ones with the real Christ. You may say, well how will we know who is false?

A few weeks ago in California there was a Salvation Army Sergeant that left the Army and took his whole church o Soldiers to join a group from Colombia. It is a movement that was good in the beginning with cell prayers groups, we believe in cell prayer groups but this group as become aggressive. They have become a corrupt tree with corrupt fruit. Their cell groups are called the G-12. They invade the Hispanic churches and target the pastors and leaders and convince them that their methods are better, that other churches don’t have the power, that they have the real power of God, that you are weak and have a bad spirit in your life and only they can free you from your past family generational curses and that’s why you need them. They first demand your 10%, then your 40%, then 100% and then they control your whole life! The steal you away from your church!

These are pastors that spend most all of their time with the richer leader people in the church so they determine how to get them for theirselves!

We just read how Jesus warned that the false shepherds come to deceive, to steal, kill, and destroy and this is happening today within many of the Christian churches because this group and others like the Iglesia Unversal have one agenda, to steal people’s loyalty from their church, and then get you to obey all of their false teachings above the Bible so they can exploit.

You may ask yourself, well, how does it happen? How do people get fooled and let others control them? How can I be prepared to resist the false teachings from the false churches and teachers?

Point 1

Do not be ignorant! Ignorant of their devices and ignorant of the Word of God!

How do you know how to distinguish between the false and the real?

If you have any money on you take it out of your wallet. That’s right, here, hold up a dollar bill in the light. Now look at it, study it. The way you will recognize the false and counterfeit is by comparing it to the true. If you actually read the word of God alone in your house and, know what it says, then you will not be fooled buy false teachings. This implies you must be constantly doing your homework, even proving all of what I teach! 2 Tim

15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Remember also how Jesus pointed out that His sheep hear His vice and they will not follow a stranger.

God will not forgive those who willingly choose to remain ignorant of His truth.

Point 2

Do not be comfortable… in your culture, tradition, and customs. Jesus wants us to fight for the correct standard and not be conformists! Romans 12:1-2

Some people conform to their own feelings and habits more than they obey the teachings of God. I will give you and example and keep in mind this example is a real one that has repeated several times. Compare what I am explaining with your spiritually walk with Christ.

The best way I can describe why people accept false religion is like this, with this example. Imagine an abused woman or man. She comes and cries and complains, I live with an abusive man. He puts me down all the time to make me feel guilty, like I am nothing, to get what he wants; then he then sweet talks to manipulate me. I work long hours and he takes my money away and buys things for himself, and I don’t even have enough left over for my food sometimes. He is never there when I need him. He tells me that if I ever leave him that he will find me and hurt me, and that God will send me to hell, because God doesn’t permit divorce. I am miserable, and I want to die!

So what can I say, well, I say don’t kill yourself, leave this devil and God will provide and take care of you, don’t be afraid, let Jesus be in control. The Bible doesn’t teach you will go to hell over this but the contrary in 1 Corinthians 7! So then she leaves him and I encourage her to have a relationship with someone in the future who is a real Christian, who is healthy, who loves God, someone who will say beautiful things to her, who will love her and not oppress her.

So what does that sister do? She does go out and find a good Christian man, and God answers prayers and everything is wonderful, there is love, she can talk and open up, she is valued and loved; It looks like she went from hell to heaven. But then she starts thinking, the devil gets in because she does not thanks God for her blessings of liberation. She says to herself, you know I don’t think Christian (her new man) really loves me? He doesn’t scream at me and hit me like he is jealous of me when I go out with friends. I don’t feel like he loves and needs me because he doesn’t take all my money. So what does she do? She leaves the good Christian for another worldly man, but for another man that is just like the first one, one who beats her up, one who takes all she makes, and one who prohibits her from going anywhere. Believe it or not I have seen this happen in real life many times! But I am telling you this story with the comparison of the churches in mind.

Regina and I have seen many people come here to our church and receive nothing but love and material help, and encouragement, and we have even spent many days with people in the hospitals, days helping people move their furniture, days helping people with the courts and papers and problems when no one else would… only to see later they would decide that they wanted to go to another church there they could give their time and 10%? What is that? People come to Regina and I because they know we are available, but these other pastors are never available! Abuse doesn’t come from just pastors; it also comes from people who abuse the pastors. Regina and I have been heartbroken by these Judases who only came to steal our time and money however they could. We have cried many times for people who have not stayed under Jesus true authority in their lives but they preferred to go back into their old habits and another comfortable church.

 Let’s look up …2 Tim 4:3-5

3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Do not be conformed to circumstances nor customs of the world. Those that abuse and those not stopping abuse both become guilty.

Point 3

Those that come to church not to worship God but only to get material gain are the ones that usually end up being exploited and getting what they have taken away for their wrong ambitions.

Jesus compares himself as a Husband in relation to us, and we are His bride. We should be faithful to Him, dedicated only to Him, but there are some people that are not dedicated like a wife, but are like lover. They want to give only a little time to God, or a little money with the hopes that they will buy what they want in return. It does not work that way. God is not a man to get fooled. People reap what they sew. Those that get into the Christian life in order to try to get what they can from the church usually end up letting some false church use them with the idea they are actually getting something! There are lots of business scams and now church scams. When you see a sign that says, “Work from home, make thousands a month”, do you believe it? There are dumb people, like sheep to the slaughter who contact theses places. They say, well, you need to send us your money and then you will get our products. Then you, after trying to sell products day and night and making almost $100 a week and seeing that selling 10 times more is almost impossible, you suddenly realize you got into the wrong business. I would almost bet that most of us here have lost money on some strange business that really was not a legitimate one sometime or another, right? False churches too promise great things but it is all a lie.

Do not be ambitious for gain.

Do not let another convince you that could be having more prosperity with them. If you do then you are being motivated by greed and God will reward you with poverty by allowing the greed of others to take away the little that you have!   

It is enough hardship that many people, especially Hispanics, with being able to pay their bills and have enough money left over for food, but when I learn about Hispanic pastors that want not only the 10% but even a lot more so they can be richer and leave their people in poverty, I get angry! They are not showing to the world a loving, caring uninterested in gain God, they are presenting a self seeking God who wants to oppress you playing on your guilt in order to manipulate you!

This is a concept of God that has plagued and destroyed us for centuries and kept us oppressed in the dark ages and it took many martyrs and burnings at the stake in order to free us from those people! We all must fight to expose abusive pastors, but the irony is most of the time thousands of dumb sheep follow them! Why is that? They are showing to the world a cruel God like that of the Muslims, one where everyone is threatened, intimidated and oppressed; one where only they claim to have the truth, and all others are wrong, and if you leave them and their church, then you are considered a heretic who will burn in hell! As for myself, after having loved and lived amongst the poor like I have seen in South American, I have a passionate dislike for false pastors who fleece the wool from the poor! Lets look up.. Prov 22:16-17

16 He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want.

These are hard realities that we as Christians cannot be ignorant of. Remember in John 10…The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly Right here in Atlanta there are many churches where people are members that are just as domineering as the sects, and I never want to see any of you deceived by them; but rather I want you to be liberated from those that are oppressing! And you have a duty to educate them on the scriptures or the Lord will hold you responsible for not warning them of being deceived. Jesus came to give you life, not oppression!

There truly is the love of God here in this church, and His Holy Spirit is here, we have seen it and heard it from the testimonies of the miracles many times! Honestly, though, it does hurt me to know there are people who have the wrong idea of what Christianity is and a lack of an ability to discern between the false and the true and a lack of an ability to stand up for what is right!

As yourself, am I vulnerable? Am I weak in my walk with Christ and ignorant of the Word? Am I conforming to the practices of this world or am I interested in something for my self? Hear the conclusion…

Romans 12:1-2

12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

I love this church and I believe it is one of the few churches that are still true to the gospel! We would not be here serving people day after day if we did not love the sheep. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep, he doesn’t try to find how the sheep can make him rich and numerous by exploitation. The example Jesus gave us who went out amongst the people and did loving acts of kindness, and each of you need to ask your self are you storing up treasures in the bank of heaven by doing God’s will serving in your Corps and church? or are you coming to church for the wrong reasons and at risk to be deceived in the future?

Let’s pray…Lord help us to not be ignorant of the enemy’s devices, to not be a conformist to abuse, and to not be motivated by greed.  God keep us from the wolves in sheep’s clothing, from the shepherds who are in it for the money, from the shepherds that oppress.  God free us and make us submitted to You, the true shepherd.

The Ones “Go” and The Ones Who Don’t “Go”

The Ones “Go” and The Ones Who Don’t “Go”                    Kelly Durant 

Matthew 21:28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29 He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to Him, “The first. ”Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.

2. How many of you have ever asked someone to go to the store for you. You tell them, here is $20 so go and buy bread, milk, peanut butter, and eggs. And then what happens? They come back only with peanut butter, jam, and bread and then they tell you they did not have money for the rest of the things?  So you have coffee without milk that day!

And there are other people you give them $20 to buy just bread and they buy it but then they do not return the $15 change! Both of these cases make you a bit angry right? These cases happen frequently and these are people who fail in their mission. These people who cannot show their selves to be faithful in the small things. This makes you think they would not be faithful in the bigger things, right? Luke 16:10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Some people are like in Proverbs 25:19 Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble Is like a bad tooth and a foot out of joint. I know if I see a person fail a few times in doing a simple job, I no longer count on them to do a job, and this is a Biblical standard to live by.

3. What was the point of Jesus concerning the two sons in the verses today? The first application applies to the context in which he was speaking which was to the Jews in His audience. But this principle applies to all! The reason Christians affirm scripture is living is because it is timeless and it can be applied to one certain circumstance, and then it can also be applied to other circumstances in our current day.

In this first context Jesus is addressing the previously chosen ones back then, the Jewish people. He is pointing out God had a mission for the Jews, to obey or to “go work in God’s vineyard” and they, for many years already claimed to be doing God’s will but in the end they were not. Going to do God’s will infers obeying God’s commands as He defines them, and Jesus taught clearly, and that is to love God and their neighbors as their selves. If they were doing God’s will they would have recognized Jesus as God’s son and obeyed His commands as Jesus pointed out.

But the people in Israel were simply not willing and were unwilling to have a change of heart. Before Jesus was John the Baptist and thousands daily for several years were given a chance. These unrepentant people, and others you may know, remind one of the verse Isaiah 29:13 Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, 14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid”.  This marvelous work was Jesus Christ’s miracles and testimony to them!

4. These people agreed to follow the law, but they failed to see that they were failures in keeping it, not recognizing that God is more than just law. God wanted them to “Go, into all the world and preach the gospel” serving in the vineyard bringing salvation and love. Jesus illustration is to ‘work in the vineyard’, or symbolic of harvesting souls. I think some Jews at first thought that Jesus could be in line with their ways and traditions, after all he was a Jew, but in their minds they were already obeying God so how is He accusing them of being unrepentant and unwilling? The factor was they could not see their sin of not doing God’s will and they became murderously furious when Jesus revealed their hypocrisy and sin to them.

In their pride they believed that they were God’s good children and sons of Abraham, so they were not going to have any part of Jesus commands to repent, stop being hypocrites, and join His disciples to work in the vineyard preaching the kingdom of God to all the world. They blindly thought they just automatically had God’s favor and inheritance just by their race and religion. After all they were through the years maintaining doing their rituals, sacrifices, fasts, and repetitive prayers. They began well over a thousand years ago before Jesus came but then they lost it. Jesus told them…

John 5: 39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. 

5. The other instance is of the person saying he was not willing to go (but later went) can be applied to those who in the beginning did not want to obey Jesus but later they “saw the light” and obeyed and went on to do God’s will. There are good examples of Jewish leaders in this case that did repent and obey such as Nicodemus, Zacchaeus, and even Saul of Tarsus.

Jesus commands to work for God may appear hard but in the end they are less harsh than the world’s demands in secular jobs. Jesus said, ’My yoke is easy and My burden is light”. I think many people react with the “not me, Lord”, I can’t go attitude and become afraid when they learn about Jesus commands to go work and serve and preach to everyone! I know when I was young and prideful the last thing I wanted to do was to give up my ways to serve Jesus! To preach the gospel back then one was expected to go and pass out tracks and preach Jesus to those in the streets and pray with them?! I thought, how embarrassing, I will be taken as a weirdo! How could I become one of those ‘Jesus freaks!’ At first I felt embarrassed, I was very resistant to serve God pondering and not sleeping well for several months, until finally after saying to the Lord, ‘Not me, I won’t go’, I decided I would go! I forsake my music collection, creative hippie clothes, cut my long hair, and not decided to not be who I thought I was anymore. I became a ‘new creature’ as in I Cor. 5:17, moved to Brazil and now, exactly 40 years later, I can testify I am so thankful I did it! Beautiful people have been here all along the way.

What caused me to obey Jesus against my own will was the Holy Spirit! I sincerely wanted to do God’s will deep inside but what an internal war I experienced in my head and heart! I wanted to do God’s will but doing it my way, but after the Holy Spirit touched me inside, I could see I had to change everything about myself to become useful to God. John taught repentance preparing the way for Jesus and Jesus did as well, and that is from that point where everyone must begin.   

6. Here is what those who do God’s will have in common, they see their sin for the horror it is, repent and do a 180 degree turn, and then they start loving and serving Jesus much deeper and sacrificial than those around them.  Luke 7: 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. Who was forgiven much? The prostitute!

What we learn from the scripture in focus is that God does not really count on what you or I say, He cares about what you do for Him! Actions, not words, are what matter!  Notice also that God also does not punish a person in his anger for not obeying Him immediately either. He gives people a space and time for a change of heart. We have witnessed recently that there are world religions that will not forgive a person for a lack of submission to them and they will end your life quickly! That is Satan’s way for not obeying Him. To hell with Satan and His people’s ways, it’s obvious you and I are blessed to choose God and His love and salvation!

Thank God He is a God of love and mercy desiring all to come to Him and He allows a time for conviction to take over, but we must take Him seriously before some major event prevents us from doing His will. Genesis 6:3 And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: (yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years).

7. Let’s reflect on those who serve God in this church Corps. There are many people who say they will come and help and do many things around here but then do they do not show up as planned? I would be rich if I had a dollar for all the times a person said to me that they would come to serve in the church or help or volunteer but did not show up!

Erroneously people take it light when they say they swear they will do something for God and they do not but God sees all. Some people swear, I will serve God but then they harm their selves by offending God. Matthew 5:33 Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:  34 But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:  35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.

Contrary to this though, there are those who just show up and volunteer who never swore and promised that they would come. Some volunteers here do have court hours to serve, but many volunteers are just doing it from the heart and they have really helped this work move forward.

I will be honest, when someone says to me, next week I will come and do something for God or the Corps my natural response after being let down a few thousand times is to let it go in one ear and out the other. If I take people too seriously I am setting myself up for a big let down, anger, and disappointment. So I just take serious the ones who show up! And Local Leaders in the church, by the way, should always keep their word if they say they will show up they must show up, because if not they should relinquish pretending to be a leader.

8. Jesus says it and I have seen it that people from really bad sinful pasts, who have tuned their lives around, make better servants of God than those who think they are so good growing up in the church! I love the willingness, fire, and passion of some of those out of rehab, of those out of bad lifestyles! These are people who burn the candle at both ends for God and the people in darkness are drawn to their light as they come out to see what all the action is about as they burn brightly for Jesus!

And I will give you an example, without using names, of a case we had in Atlanta of how we have had to turn down a person who said they would and could do everything (having grown up in TSA) but never followed through.  We hired a person in the Corps and he did a fine job and then he wanted us to hire his wife as well. We actually had the funds to hire her but I chose to let the process take 2 or 3 weeks to see if she was worth it, if she would volunteer while we started the paperwork. I kept inviting her to please help us and that if you have nothing to do but be home alone, please come and help us in the office a few hours. Guess what?

She never chose to volunteer for hardly anything and my wife and I chose not to hire her! How can one hire a person unwilling to do good knowing there is a need? She never learned of the fact that we were almost hiring her but we backed out seeing she had no goodwill to be useful when she could have been.

9. The message today, as always, is not aimed at anyone in particular but when I share a matter it is to bring God’s word into our reality, and also to bring about conviction if someone is lacking in it. I decided to share this as often times we see those who as the Jews, misinformed Christians that just expect to inherent everything from God without following through working in the vineyard.

There is no way around it, our motto in the Salvation Army that we are ‘saved to serve’ and this is Biblical. Jesus wants us busy in the vineyard winning souls to Him. All our lives we see those who say they will go and do not, and then there are those who say, “Not me, I will not go”, but then later go. Only those who go store up treasure in heaven!

All of you as Soldiers in this volunteer army have chosen the path to do all they can in some manner to serve in this part of God’s kingdom! Thank God for Soldiers, amen? And if you are here and have never really dedicated yourself to “do something” for God then today is a good day to tell the Lord you are willing to go. And let’s go! Let’s go in the world, in the highways and byways, and get people busy serving in God’s work.  There is a lot to do in this troubled world, as too many people are in pain from the sin of their bad choices. Jesus saves by giving “whosoever will” a new start and a new mission, I’ll love Him forever for that! And you?