God’s Way: Will You Pay the Price to Follow Him?

God’s Way: Will You Pay the Price?                                          By Kelly Durant

Mark 10: 17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” 18 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ 20 And he answered and said to Him, “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.” 21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” 22 But he was sad at this word, and went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

2. There was a strict dance school where young teen girls would try out to get trained in ballet or a modern dance hoping to be one of the few to get selected so they could prepare for stardom. The teacher who was the judge was so strict it seemed that every girl was lacking in ability and she would only approve of a few to train. 

After attending a public presentation, one girl Mary, who had tried to get in the school 5 years before but was rejected! saw the incredible ability of the dancers and cried for joy and frustration. Oh, how she wanted so bad to be a dancer but she gave up on the idea because the teacher said she was not good enough. She spoke to this same judge and teacher after the show and told her, “You, Mrs Stienberg crushed my dreams in life because you told me I did not have what it takes a few years ago!” She replied, “Well. why did you give up? I say ‘you’re not good enough’ to everybody and the ones that insist and try again are the ones I know have the spirit to fight to succeed!”

It is sad how many people give up too soon in life on their aspirations, dreams, and passions! It’s like the man digging a tunnel for hundreds of feet and then he gives up just a few feet away from reaching the other side! So many people in life do not pass the tests that God allows them to have. It is painful to watch! All of us love to see others succeed but only the persistent fighters win the battles. 

3. Today we are looking at the rich young ruler that was not willing to obey and trust Jesus. Each and every disciple was put to the test to see if they really honestly wanted to follow Jesus and we know a few of the many made the grade. Some had to give up their family business of fishing, another gave up the security of working for the government collecting taxes. All of them left a stable situation for an instable one. This is the case for those who decide to be Cadets and then Officers, or anyone serving God. It was that way with my life, but I do not regret it at all! 

Why does it appear that Jesus was picking on the rich young ruler? He wanted to make it clear that to serve Him it would cost you everything! Jesus was going to give up everything on the cross and He needed followers who would be willing to forsake everything in life to follow Him for the spreading of salvation to the lost.

In life you must forsake all! Luke 14:33 “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” To a certain degree, many of us are comparable to the rich young ruler, in our minds we are already doing God’s will, but we must take a deeper look into Jesus commands. There is no glory or reward without obedience and sacrifice.

4. To gain much you have to invest much! Matt 13: 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, 46 who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Successful business people know about that! All things that are not mediocre in life involve risk, adventure, danger, and total investment and dedication! Some risk all for worldly gain, but we as Christians give up all because it is the only way to make real progress in our life of faith and obedience to God’s Word. 

The problem is too many people do not have enough faith in God to step out on the water! (Remember Peter walked on water to meet Jesus?) But fear kills faith!  What was holding the young rich man back? There were several factors. Pride for one, as the way He responded to Jesus was about how He had kept the law since His youth and this revealed pride on his part.  He thought he was so good that he deserved to be a follower of Jesus. To follow Jesus everyone must repent and leave all things at the altar to start a new life.

Here we learn that one cannot qualify to be a disciple because you are a Jew, from a certain wealthy family, or because you are faithful with your God blessed investments, or for being meticulous in your religiosity. Success and wealth often are stumbling blocks as pointed out here because they keep one away from the humble position of needing God daily to help you in all things! You must pay the price of becoming vulnerable not trusting in the things of man (such as money, religiosity, tradition, and your own knowledge) to save you.

Take into account Jesus made examples of several of his prideful disciples that thought they were strong and good. Peter got humbled many times by Jesus when he was being a show off, being boastful, or arrogant confident in his own flesh.

5. Pride causes too many people to give up when they actually have the potential to succeed! Pride makes people do big mistakes and lose their patience. If someone criticizes a person that they make a trombone sound like a dying goat, then the average Joe puts the instrument in the corner and gives up on it! But you must realistically look at all situations, some people have some talent for certain things while others don’t, but when serving God, the power for the hour will come if you are humble. 

Many people cannot stand to not be seen as less than the best in the group; Embarrassment and anger often over-rides our human aspirations and goals but anything worth anything requires a lot of sacrifice, humility, and work! It is sad but not being humble enough causes too many to give up on many things in life and in particular on serving God! Pride is Satan’s tool!

James 4:6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. 

6. God’s peace, love, and trust will override our weak human nature to do what Jesus calls us to do if we ask Him to do it for us. The complete dedication and service to Him requires the giving up of our own trust in our own security and pride, and way of doing things. It is a great release to ask for God’s help instead of stressing and worrying over how to accomplish the seemingly impossible. 

Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Jesus is so wonderful; I feel His love and His words are true!

I think all of us are often scared by the thought of committing to a total dedication as Jesus wants because we know His calling requires us to be faithful in all things and even remain faithful if we are called to die for him. Luke 9:23 Then He said to them all (not just disciples but everyone, including you here), “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

Even though some have been martyrs, the majority of Christians around the world have lived blessed and peaceful lives with ups and downs like all of us. John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” 

7. Several things stand out to me concerning the rich young ruler. He knelt down to Jesus showing Him respect so what we learn is respect should not be just a show of piety but rather an authentic respect doing all that God asks of you.

Another, he called Jesus good, which in some ways was a sweeting of the ear, and too many times people praise from their lips but not from their heart but Jesus called him out on it. Jesus truly was good, but He was pointing out that all things good are for the glory of the Father in heaven and we can never praise goodness as a virtue in people but rather goodness must always be associated to God.

And also, Jesus was moved by the fact he really had tried to be good all his life affirming obeying the law. He was not a hypocrite and deceiver as the church leaders in Jesus day. This young man was trying hard and he thought he would be qualified to be a disciple by all of his previous obedience as stated by the law.

8. And notice this part in verse 21, Jesus looked upon him and loved him. In other words, Jesus love extends to all and maybe even in extra measure to those who try hard to please God.  But this rich young man’s way of pleasing of God was his way, not God’s way. Jesus ushered in a new covenant, a new way to obey.

God’s way includes leaving it all behind to follow Him. It means blessing others with everything you have. Now that is the love of God! Imagine if this man would have given it all to the poor? What a testimony that would be to God’s love!

The people of the world would have noticed that act throughout all the land and he would have been taken as a hero to many, as a crazy person by the worldly, but most of all it would have been noted that Jesus had touched Him for real!

9. We cannot appreciate the good that others decide to do for God unless we compare it along-side the wrong choices that other’s make. The disciples, along with preachers, missionaries, and Cadets all choose to follow Jesus no matter the cost so they are sort of like the opposite of this man; they are like a rich ruler that obeys and does give it all away.

But there are too many in this life like this rich young man, probably millions throughout history, who chose not to follow all the way and they ‘go away sorrowful’ (as the rich young ruler). Each of us lose it all when we die anyway, why not chose to trade all our treasures and junk in for God’s eternal rewards? 

All of us are called to take up the cross and deny ourselves to obey Jesus. But just how far one obeys and gives up has to do with their ability and availability and in part this depends on their age, position, and location in life. But eliminating false humility, pride, flattery, & self-salvation, and trust in power and money is a must! Matthew 22:14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.” How much have you given to Jesus and His work? Is your love for Him enough that you will do all you can for Him? Let’s pray…

God’s Laughter, & Ours

God’s Laughter, & Ours                                                 by Kelly Durant  7-27-14. Re 7-23-23

Psalm 126:2 “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.”

2. A little boy opened the big and old family Bible with fascination, and looked at the old pages as he turned them. Suddenly, something fell out of the Bible, and he picked it up and looked at it closely. It was an old leaf from a tree that had been pressed in between the pages. "Momma, look what I found," the boy called out. "What have you got there, dear?" his mother asked. With astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered: "I think it's Adam's suit!" 

How many of you like to laugh? We don’t usually think of the Bible as humorous but from all the different stories, we can conclude God often did some humorous things to get our attention! I think God must laugh at our feeble attempts to understand the mechanics of the universe!  

God made us to laugh and to want to enjoy life! What is the Christian conclusion of the purpose of mankind? “To enjoy God and love him forever!”

3. God seems to have made us with an appetite for laughter! Science cannot explain laughter, it is involuntary. Think about it, can you premeditate laughter? Ok, in 10 seconds I am going to laugh! Hum, it didn’t work! Ha! Maybe it is because we need our internal organs massaged a few times a day, right? Little kids and even teenagers laugh a lot more than us as adults. Sometimes the teens in back laugh during the sermons and I have no clue as to why! It is sad, that many stop laughing with age! Laughter is all about connections and the people we love.

Most laughter is not even sparked by a joke. For example, Olga may be telling me about where to buy some shampoo that makes the hair fluffy, and how everyone could all use some of it, and I answer, ‘that’s how it is’, and she tells me more and when I say it another time, ‘that’s how it is’, we both laugh out loud because we both know I say that when I really don’t know what to answer back on that subject, ‘Isn’t that how it is?’ When I am lost for words I also love other sayings in Spanish (English too) like, “Oh, don’t tell me that!” Say that 3 times and that’s funny too, right? Well, you can see how what’s funny relates to the relationship you have with person! With some people, one can never be funny though! That’s scary!

So how funny is the Bible? Some parts have funny expressions; did any of you ever finish reading Song of Solomon?  However, other parts are very sobering with heavy lessons. We might actually conclude God matures us more in the sobering trying times than in the fun times in our lives, but the balance is found in Psalm 127:2 “It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.” Laughter, seriousness, and sadness all have their time and place in our lives and we must pray to have discernment. 

4. There is a time for everything, and the Bible teaches us to be connected to our family of brothers and sisters as in one collective heart! James 5:13 “Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms.” What we can conclude is we will laugh and sing when the mood is right, but if a brother is down or sick, we will be serious and pray for him or her.

There is nothing more irritating than some kid or adult laughing when everyone is trying to get everyone quiet for a serious message, right? And also when everyone is happy and singing “Happy Birthday” laughing that one of our teens is wishing for a new Porsche, how out of place it would be for someone to be hanging around with a bored ugly angry face, right?

Kids seem to help us laugh the most! This is why the Bible mentions children as a blessing!  Psalm 127:3  “Children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward”. Our kids do so many funny things! They even make TV shows on the funniest home videos with kids and people in funny situations. My mother told me that when I was little I was putting ice cream from my bowl into my pocket. When they asked me what are you doing I told the babysitter that I liked this stuff and that I wanted to take some home to eat it later, ha!

5. You can read the Bible and even laugh out loud at times. For example, do you recall Balaam’s ass that argued with him? To begin with, an ass or donkey is an ugly, funny, and temperamental creature. Balaam beat him 3 times to make him go straight but angels were in the way. Imagine, instead of Balaam passing out from fear when the ass spoke to complain about being beaten, Balaam argued back! Isn’t that funny? Many things are humorous in the Bible!

And speaking of funny, just think how silly Jesus looked riding on an ass through Jerusalem? The Romans would ride in chariots or on powerful stallions, and yet Jesus, the King of the universe is on this silly little colt! A big guy on a little animal!

Sometimes we laugh after we have been frightened to death, has that ever happened to you? You fall down playing basketball and everyone thinks you broke your back and is quite and serious but then you jump up and laugh to make the pain go away! Can you imagine the disciples laughing after Jesus calms the sea? They probably could have said, “We were like (terrified face) during the storm and then we were like (mellow face) afterwards!”

6. Certain false churches even included long sessions laughter in their services in the 1990s in the Neo-charismatic churches teaching that ‘holy laughter’ was a Third Wave of the Holy Spirit. It was funny for a few sermons but then the fad passed. Laughter is mentioned in the Bible, KJV, seven times and of those 7 most of the time laughter is put in the context as something not of much value. Ecclesiastes 7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.

James 4:8-10 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

The conclusion here is that God is not happy with people that entertain their selves with laughter while they ignore cleansing their selves from their own sins indifferent to recognize the suffering in the world and how each of us need God. Some people pay big money in big cities to go to big comedy clubs to hear some stand-up comedian tell foolish jokes, even offensive and vulgar jokes and why do they laugh? I can only stand to watch one of these over-rated comedians for about 1 minute when on a show on TV! I think most of the audience laughs because they are embarrassed for the stupidness of it. Is this really a good time? People seem to have to be drunk in order to laugh, how sad! Most all of the mocking is not funny but rather degrading. They laugh, then what? Nothing! Ecclesiastes 2:2 I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?

7. There will come a day when we will be able to laugh as much as we want! For the moment, however, laughter helps us forget about how our earth’s basement is on fire and how at any moment of the day an earthquake, a war, or someone’s accident can provoke a sudden life of suffering! As compassionate sympathetic people we always will suffer after some news channel announces another disaster, another plane down with hundreds dead, or another 300 more school kids captured by extremists into slavery! How much evil, and how much more scandal can we take?  Lately most people are not laughing at what is happening in the world, they are angry at the injustice and apathy, at the lack of resistance to the violence and abuse, and at the fact that their privacy and legal rights are being mocked by officials. The Romans rulers had servants to follow them around and repeat in their ears, “You are a man and not a God”, we need hire a few thousand of these types of servants again to speak to our leaders as blatant disrespect for the law and abuse is at an all-time high!

People when in a crisis will cry in despair and that can haunt and depress you! No one with a heart like God’s heart likes to see any other person suffer. Most of us feel the urgency and the need to help those who are in pain! But many times we are on the other side of the world and we are helpless to act, all we can do is pray, and keep on praying, prayer does do great things! Locally you can do something though by investing your time, talent, and treasure.

So if I, or someone, were to laugh all day while living on this earth in this miserable life we would either be considered as vain and shallow, high on drugs, or out of our minds and mentally insane! The truth is laughter is a gift and a commodity that lasts only a few minutes of every day! We should appreciate it more! 

8. There will be a day when we will be able to laugh all day in heaven! But until then, let’s try to create more laughter (like our creative brother German)! The world knows enough hell, let’s show them a little more heaven!

And finally I am reminded of what the Lord will laugh at. He will laugh at the evil people and fallen angels when they think they have conquered Him in the final battle. Listen to this prophetic Word and what the Lord answers to those who think they will usurp Him, Psalm 2:3-5 “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 4 He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. 5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.  God, who laughs last, will laugh best!

God will separate the evil ones from the good ones and put us under His protection where we will laugh and the evil doers will be punished! 

9. Listen to this prophetic word, Psalm 126:2 “Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them.” 

In order to laugh, you have to have joy and Joy comes from obeying God's Word.  A person at peace with God will have a happy, free, and forgiven spirit and heart right with God as He brings joy, peace, and the conditions to permit laughter" John 13:17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them

Do you have Jesus in your life? Jesus can help you laugh with real joy because of the purity you will have in your heart by being in God’s will! Every one of us has to pass through a repentance, a breaking process, an uncomfortable unhappy time period, like going through an operation to extract the sickening infection of sin. But then, after the storm comes and goes the sunshine of happiness comes out and you suddenly feel elated, happy, and laughter will fill your voice! 

Selfishness…The Current World Trend Killing Love & All of Us!

Selfishness…The Current World Trend Killing Love         Kelly Durant 8-28-13

1 John 3:17 But whoso hath this world's good, and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him?

2., 3. (Picture of the 2 tied horses trying to eat 2 piles of hay) Each horse here is pulling the rope to his side, but they cannot reach his pile of hay to eat, but then finally they agree to eat together on one side at a time, then they can eat both piles. A visual of how selfishness doesn’t allow for anything good to happen!

Selfishness is placing concern with one’s self or one’s own self-interests above the well-being or interests of others. Doesn’t that describe many people you and I know! The goal of the Christian is to die to our own flesh and from the death of our ego and self, allow Christ to live in you (and me!) As described by C.S. Lewis, one of the greatest Christian apologists and former atheist of our modern day, “Selfishness is the opposite of altruism or selflessness”. Our goal is to have a love that is so sacrificial, so dedicated, that it has no limits to what it will give for the good of others in our church and community.

To define selfishness in psychological terms, it points to a lack of empathy. People who don’t care for others well-being or feelings are capable of ugly manipulation and they might even be a psychopath who have no behavioral controls, empathy, or remorse, and these anti-social unChristlike behaviors are very damaging to family and social relations.  

4.I researched in Wikipedia and found the “Game Theory” outcome of social interaction.“Given two actors, oneself and someone else, there are four types of possible behavior directly impacting the welfare of the actors: selfishness, altruism, spite, and cooperation. Selfishness is harming someone else in order to help oneself; altruism is harming oneself in order to help someone else; spite is harming oneself in order to harm someone else; cooperation is helping someone else and also helping oneself.” 

We conclude in the cartoon picture that our horses learned cooperation, are we any smarter than horses? Some people are, yet some are stubbornly selfish! Psalm 32:9

Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you.

5. Today in the entire world we in observe governments, religions, and authorities in community clubs, sports teams, and all groups plagued by a small select group of callus and calculating people who are prideful and corrupt. They are participating in the group functions, not for the common good of all, which is the premise of the existence of the group, but they are participating in the community entity for their own personal selfish interests. In the press we hear about their scandals daily!

The current unprecedented corruption, which is pure selfishness, is at an all-time high in all sectors of the community in all countries. Selfishness foments hate and division in communities and in relationships of any kind. Selfishness is an abomination to God because it is an indifference to the suffering and destruction of our fellow human beings. It is in the end selfishness is the absence of love which is an absence of God, for God is love! (I John 4: 8) We live in a world headed for the apocalypse due to the absent of the knowledge of God! 

6. The attitude and trends today in the world are functioning on the worship of materialism and greed within an essentially spiritually devoid social environment. There is the increasing antichrist spirit out there that projects itself through the main media, movies, popular music, and polished advertising. The message is if one can’t get all of what one wants, then one is justified to get it however means possible disregarding the abuse done to others. (to sin horribly is obviously no issue!) What a nobody you are if you are not living the romanced stereotypical high-life of the Hollywood role models, drugged, divorced and in and out of rehab centers! 

The current abominable and accepted attitude is that somebody is going to have to pay for your unmet selfish expectations! What sick self-serving-ness! Theft, perversion, and abuse within society and even some family members is killing our previously healthy society, and Christians need to rise up and confront the self-serving evil doers! Get involved! If not stopped, we will see more and more people joining in the organized crime destroying you and me to get what they want!

The unrealistic lifestyles of the extravagant few plant the seeds of selfishness and dissatisfaction within the common populous. The lifestyles of the top 100 politicians, sports and movie stars are offensive are unattainable by the 99.99 % of us. This dynamic of extremes seems to give some people the idea that they have the right to disrespect those around them and use you for their ambitions; it’s the callus idea that is okay to grab whatever they can from you or someone a little better off than what they are because you have more than what they have and they deserve what you have just for the taking! It started in Russian in 1917 and spread to a dozen places like China, Cuba, Latin America, and now it’s in our society here! Don’t forget the commandment, Exodus 20:17

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

7. Extreme selfishness, or narcissism, is increasing in our society and, like gas on the fire, the media loves to provoke the class warfare, race warfare, the ‘fight for your own’ divisive messages. This is Satan’s old plot is to divide and conquer! Jesus describes our current day in Matthew 24:12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. 

We are in this terrible situation as a society due to a lack of love. God is love and love is not an option: it is something you should just do because God commanded it! Sadly, selfish unloving people of laugh and joke that they will party with friends in hell, but the reality is hell is a place absent of God, and the fire of pure darkness is on souls in solitary confinement being a perpetual torment. I do not wish hell on anyone! I want to save them with Jesus! In Jude we read that there are souls in chains in perpetual darkness, that the punished eternal souls will remain there without love. Hell is the product of a selfishness!

You have heard the phrase ‘live and let live’, that is what love does with no self- motivations. The highest law of God is to love Him and your neighbor yourself, but few people, we deduct from observation, really learn in this life: how to love another as much as they love their own self! Most people, sadly, are just selfish!

8. I recommend that you (myself included) personally cry out to God and ask Him to give you and me more love for others! If you love as he commanded, everyone around you will feel it, people will see your authentic-ness and get a blessing from you, and you will have good works to back up your proof of love. A Christian that does not love is not a real Christian and is a person living in sin! People see others sins but usually do not see their own. Selfish people are actually insane, blinded by their own ambitions!

The people in the world are without excuses today for their unloving, selfish behavior! Before Jesus walked the earth, people might have said, well, no prophet or man of God has given us an example of total love and sacrifice so I don’t have to love and sacrifice. But when Jesus came and freely performed miraculous healings, gave us life transforming teachings, and the example of laying down his life and dying on the cross, no one can deny anymore that that was not pure love!

Sadly, there are too many people out there who are too quick to complain about sacrificing a few hours, or a few dollars to help a needy cause or the church. It is up to us as Christians to change this selfish attitude by being an example ourselves of love and sacrifice. The selfish unloving people will eventually be ashamed and we, in contempt, will observe the reaping of their consequences. God expects each one of us to do our part to shine His love!

9. Remember the rich young ruler that claimed he was perfect and obeyed God in every way? Jesus challenged him to not be selfish and to give it all away to the poor. Matt 19: 20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? 21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. 

Jesus on purpose made an example of how not-to-be out of this young man who probably lived out the rest of his life feeling guilty to prove that you cannot boast “I am in good with God” for all my obedience without a total commitment which will love until it hurts. Luke 16:13 No servant 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. You can’t serve God and riches. Jesus made it clear that you are either selfish, or selfless, and to prove you are identifying with His love, He requires proof of it, proof of a life that you sacrifice for God’s use.

Jesus knew that the world would always be plagued by successful & rich selfish ambitious people who are good intentioned (but ineffective), un-sacrificial, and self-centered, so he brought to light that God will not tolerate selfishness and a lack of compassion on the suffering. Compassion is love and God requires it.

 10. What has caused Christianity to be rejected by some people today? Some of the disdain is from jealousy of the church’s combined wealth, power and influence, some rejection comes from a clash of worldviews from another religion’s belief system, and some rejection has some justifiable roots because Christians have not been loving, sharing, and compassionate with others. 

Like it or not, quite a few people have had a bad experience with the Christians; this is due to someone being rude to them when they tried to connect, or someone was indifferent when they were suffering needing help, or someone did some selfish act proving to them that Christians are false and hypocrites. How sad! Never let yourself be guilty of being a stumbling block for others!

The churches of today should do what Gideon did when he chose his army of 300. Judges 7: 6 Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink. 7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.” 8 So Gideon sent the rest of the Israelites home but kept the three hundred, who took over the provisions and trumpets of the others. 

As Christians maybe we should just count on the generous and dedicated few to get things done! Often times you can accomplish more with less and we don’t need massive mega-churches, mega-governments, or community groups that are infested with selfish self-serving, unproductive, unloving, non-soul-winning people. Christianity gets a bad rap over the prideful selfish unloving uncompassionate people who boast their own goodness yet they refuse to surrender all to Jesus proving their love and compassion. Expose it: change it!

11. Here is what is making everyone fed up and sick with all the entities in society: the deduction that selfish people are doing things not the right way, but in their own comfortable and unproductive way being out-of-touch, with no accountability rendered for what they do. God has entrusted each of us who are Christians with talents and treasures and if we are selfish with them we will always be spiritually immature, deficient, and without rewards in heaven. 

This verse is important in Proverbs 11:24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. 

Are you sharing your love and your personal things when necessary? 

Ask God if you have been heeding the conviction of the Holy Spirit to give more of yourself, sacrificing more for God and others as time goes on. The only way to change the world is to be the change yourself! 

When someone hears about how you sacrificially served another in need with food, or something, it brings conviction and then others want to get on board too! Selflessness breeds more selflessness and this means simply catching the love of Jesus and transmitting it on to others who will do the same! Are you a selfish psychopathic condemned reject …useful to no one not even God, or are you a loving, serving, generous imitator of Jesus generous love and compassion?   

Disillusionment: With God and Everyone Else! But He is the solution!

July 9, 2023

Disillusionment: With God and Everyone Else!    Kelly Durant   7-9-23

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.” Jeremiah 17:9-10

2. Ever see a toddler in a store fall on the floor and scream when the mom puts the toy back on the shelf? The toddler child is angry thinking, “How could mama let me down! She’s gotta do what I want!” How many of you have ever been disappointed in someone? Most of you right now are probably disappointed with someone in your life! It might be with a relative or friend, with a parent, with a son or daughter, and some of you may even be disappointed with God! But it is not human nature to want to confess that! You might also be disillusioned with yourself as you have not been able to fulfill your dreams of having your idea of a perfect life! Disillusionment, bitterness, and anger is making people sick and killing many people today! As Christians we must conquer our disappointments! 

Disillusionments are a reality in the life of everyone! Some are your fault, and some are other people’s fault. We can either face them, or deny them. Today I want you to identify which disillusionments bother you most in life.  Why do we as people experience them? Do all of us suffer from unrealistic expectations?

According to the dictionary disillusionment is “A feeling of disappointment, akin to depression, arising from the realization that something is not what it was expected or believed to be, possibly accompanied by philosophical angst from having one's beliefs challenged.” People often become competitive and proud trying to conquer their feelings of disillusion by deceiving their heart that they are better than others. This is why we must weigh our deeds because as humans we exaggerate, placing ourselves either too high or too low. We need God’s strength, or we lose the battle in our own hearts and minds! 

3. The heart, as the Bible describes it, is the seat of emotions, the source from where all feelings come. Why is it as humans we never learn how to dominate our feelings, which include pride, ambitions, expectations, and disillusionments, and we seem to always be deceiving ourselves with our own personal dreams and expectations in life? 

The verse today in Jeremiah confirms that we as people are beyond comprehension, we often don’t even understand our own feelings within us, nor do we understand others as people seem to always “let you down”, sooner or later. After a certain amount of inflicted disappointments, the average person becomes bitter, angry, or disconnected, and puts the blame on others. Many people try to deal with their intimidating feelings of disillusionment but without depending on God, even trying to deny that these disappointments exist in life, but this is dishonesty with God and one’s self.

You and I are motivated by our thoughts and feelings, which become our passions and expressions. This transfers into good or evil, depending on the person’s relationship with Jesus. Jesus can motivate you and me with an amazing love beyond description, but few people practice the true love of Christ to its fullest! Imagine even loving your enemies! Sadly, the vast majority of humanity are motived by negative stimuli, by what they hate! And why do they hate? Did something tragic happen sometime in the past? Or is a person’s hate infused into them by the influence of other haters? 1 John 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Nazis, Communists, politicians, and certain false religions are experts at imputing hate into the minds and hearts of vulnerable people, and murder, self-destruction, and more hell on earth is the result!

4. A reaction to some disillusionment might cause a person to become an “activist” type, connected and involved in the community to make a difference fighting for better conditions and a better world. There is a place for righteous anger. God, however, will weigh our deeds. How have you dealt with your personal issues in the end? We will get the “deeds we deserve” as in Jer. 17:10.

What I observe that is most deceitful about the heart is that most people are setting their selves up for failure with passions and feelings that are from the false expectations of the world and not from God. (repeat) In the materialistic competitive climate of our society, how many people do we know who dream, not to live to please and serve God with all their heart, but rather dream to become rich and important and better than everyone else?! Disturbing, right? 

People set their selves up for failure when they dream to make millions, when they struggle for the wrong things, and when life hits them with disillusionments, the loss of a job, the death of someone, a divorce, they often change becoming cold, abusive, and insulting to others. James 4:1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

5. If you are disillusioned today and don’t see your surroundings being all of what you expected them to be, you are not suffering alone. Consider Jesus’ disillusionments. Matthew 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 

Jesus had only had 3 and half years to train a group of gruff misfits to fulfill God’s mission of spreading the Kingdom and look what happened! Jesus depended on them to establish this new way of life, a pure counterculture evangelizing community living as an example of God’s love and peace: the kingdom of God on earth! And up to the last minute it seemed they were just not catching on! When He was getting ready to die, could Jesus see his follower’s dedication and the volunteer laying down of their lives to the cause?

No! His right-hand man denied him, his treasurer betrayed him, all the rest of His followers abandoned him! At His cross was only his mother and possibly a few other faithful ones! How does the Son of God pour out his blood in tortuous pain and at the same time endure the pain of not being supported by those He taught, loved, and healed? Now that must be disillusionment to the “nth” degree!  

6. But was God or Jesus disappointed in the end with his investment in humanity? No! Peter rose up in power a short time later to preach and his message and saved 3,000 one day and 5,000 on another! And today 2 billion Christians exist! 

The rest of the disillusioned disciples transformed and radically changed and travelled far away to preach about the Messiah, the savior of the world, Jesus the Christ! Most of them got killed preaching Jesus as well! So, look at the good fruit!

Years later many people of the pagan murderous debauched Roman world renounced their false worship of worthless stone gods for Christianity. The world’s conditions did slowly get better over the centuries in many ways due to Jesus’ influence. The murderous Vikings slowly converted as well. Later, the Renascence years serve as an example of more of God’s truth awakening His intelligence in mankind through science, math, art, and theology. 

7. Our deception and disillusionment with human life cannot be compared to that of Jesus and of God’s! We have to conform to being happy with the little things and the faithful few that make life worth living! Consider how God is made happy by what Jesus did. Isa 53:10 (Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin), he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

Jesus focused on the faithful few who chose Him. John 17: 6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. 7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

 John 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

8. I have had to endure many disillusionments in my life. I have even prayed that God would take my life several times! Have you ever prayed to die? Be honest, life is hard! Sometimes we have to ask the Lord to forgive our desire to want to give up! Deep inside you and I know it is wrong and an attack of Satan to deceive us so he can get us to die to prevent all the good we could keep on doing for God.

Jeremiah preached his entire life never seeing any one repent and then he had to endure the consequences of this evil, the enslavement of his people as recorded in Lamentations. Read that and you will discover what discontentment looks like!  

Job is another one who prayed to die when discouraged by his afflictions. I have been down like him, and you? At times I have been EXTREMELY frustrated that the local people would not listen and convert to God. But every time I was discouraged, God helped me through the trials by inspiring something wonderful to happen giving me a purpose to live for. God gave me a wife when I was lonely and angry with the stubborn Bolivians; God gave me 5 wonderful kids as well. God gave me many beautiful friends when I needed and help to educate my son that was born deaf. God opened many doors and supplied many places for our family to live despite being in the midst of desperation with no immediate job or money.

9. So if in life you are disillusioned with people, disillusioned by your own expectations of greater things in life, disillusioned that God seems to not do what you want, cheer up to know God is about to do something good in your life! But you must surrender to Him! Consider how Jesus suffers alongside you! He will be your strength, He can be your hope, He can fill you with the Holy Spirit, so you want to live and face tomorrow. He gives you and I purpose, He clears our minds, and makes our hearts feel His reality, not the deception in our own hearts.

In the old days of Israel when God freed them from the oppressors, they were made glad. The day will come when you and I will pass on out of this world of oppressions, and we will see heaven and you will be elated with bliss! Psalm 126:2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them. 3 The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.

It is a fact, while on earth in this weak body, our flesh and circumstances can only offer us a limited amount of happiness. The human spirt will always be restless and frustrated so it is imperative we find rest in God, in His trust. Only Jesus offers us peace. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Let God replace your all that is in your heart and emotions with His plan! He encourages and calms, He gives us a purpose and reason to live! Let’s pray…

 

Our Independence as a Christian People! Re: 4th of July

Our Independence as a Christian People!   Re: 4th of July    

Kelly Durant          7-2-2023

 

John 8:36

36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Galatians 5:1

1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

 

3.How many of you here have celebrated the 5 de Mayo? Yeah! Yahoo! It is good to remember the day your country won victories or were liberated from the oppressors!

 

Here we have the 4^th of July! When do you celebrate? Name a few countries and dates…Venezuela, July 5^th! And more… Did you know it is Biblical to remember when you as a people were liberated? In the O.T. we see the clear example of the Jews remembering the Passover, the day that marked when they were set free. Liberation from oppressors is essential! Give me freedom or give me death!

 

4.That Passover Day highlighted the day that pharaoh decided to let those enslaved people go with Moses to the Promised Land. Even today, the Passover is celebrated as a very holy day for the Jews. We should always reflect on the O.T. because it teaches us parallels to the life of Christ. We learn about oppression and freedom. We learn how sins bring on oppression! 

 

God raised up Moses to be the liberator! And you may recall the 10 plagues of Egypt and allowing them to be set free came only after many heavy attacks on the Egyptians. The battle for freedom is always costly but we must battle in order to obtain it. The Jewish day is celebrated on April 5^th 

 

5. Easter for the Christians is our day of liberation, the day we celebrate liberation from death! And did you recall it happened the next morning after Day of Passover? Jesus’ resurrection brought freedom from death! The Jews then and even today still remember their freedom which was about 1,500 years B.C.. from their slavery in Egypt, and we as Christians also remember!

 

Christians celebrate obtaining their freedom from the slavery of death at the same time the Jews got liberated from Egypt, for us it was April 9^th, because we remember it the Sunday (1^st day of the week) after Passover. It is a total fulfillment of the shadow of God’s parallelisms in revelations! It is okay to be patriotic and share in the roots of your people. 

 

6. In English a famous saying is, “God and country!” and the supposition is that you reverence God first then your country. That is an ideology and it would make a more perfect world if every man reverenced the hierarchy in that order. We must remember these traditional phrases and teach them to the youth on how things should be.

 

Knowing the history Latinos have educated me on, I am very glad that Mexico, and South America did not remain under the domination of the Spanish. Spain freed the people from the slavery of the Mayans, Incans, & the rest but then Spain made them slaves as well! Bolivar and others liberated those countries and still they have oppression from the elected authorities! To have real freedom God must be at the top, if not, it is always a dog eat dog society! 

 

7. In the Salvation Army there were a few good men that after they got out of the service in WWII, they joined the Salvation Army. Many people have served country and then God. We are God’s Army, and there exists two totally different organizations and ideologies here. Our fight is to free and souls doing all the work we can to liberate the spiritual captives. The soldiers of the world keep us free from outside oppressors. But let’s look up a part in the scripture where Jesus gives his very first message in his mission: to give people freedom! 

 

8. Isaiah. Isa 61:1

61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

 

God and his Son are very interested in the liberty and spiritual freedom of each of us! When you first repented and received Jesus that was your Independence Day of sin, and death, and it was our rebirth into the family of God with eternal life!

9. Apart from everyone knowing the date from which your country was liberated from the oppressors, do you recall the date you personally were liberated from the oppression of the devil who would have destroyed your soul?

 

My date is the same as my birthday 3-24, because it was coincidently then when I was 21 that I began a training to go abroad with a Christian mission group, and I left 6 months later to serve the Lord in Brazil, and then in other countries for 14 years! I think God I did that instead of staying bound in the world of sin I was in!

 

So now let me hear about yours. When were you saved? Let me hear some of you, when was your Independence Day? (Others should speak out loud their dates) Romans 6:22

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

 

10. How many of you have read the history of countries that get free from oppressors? Liberation and independence is a gift from God! 

But how many people do you know who could be free, remain captive?

 

How many of you have known of a young woman who wishes to escape the heavy abusive oppressing control of her father or mother, only to marry a man that does the same thing, that is, oppress and dominate her as a slave? Or have you seen a woman leave a marriage from a dictatorial man, and with her freedom rejoice she could start again only to see her end up with another man who dominates her the same as the first one did? And men too, without Jesus, are propense to be slaves to addictions, carnal passions, and subject to evil people. 

 

Evil rules with dark spiritual forces. It can be coming from a coworker, a family member, a political group, or even your own mind! You can make your own self miserable when not fully transformed under the liberty of Christ! You can be your own cruel oppressor as in the case of addicts, those who allow in demons, or propagators of false religions or enslaving political ideologies.

 

11. Why does that happen in life? Why can’t we just live out the verse we read in the beginning, how if the son makes us free, then we are free indeed? Some time we will do an in depth study in Galatians; but what was happening here in 5:1 was that the common people who were being converted to being a Christians were that they were being told by the Jewish Christians in control that they had to now submit to all the Jewish laws and customs. That was not freedom but slavery to the law, which Jesus liberated us from!

 

In other words, Jesus came to free each of us from sin and to fulfill the law, and we are to obey His commands to love God and our neighbor and preach the gospel and serve others, but we will never be made perfect by legalism, be it Jewish or from some aberrant church of some strange denomination! With Jesus, for 2,000 years now, being “the way” to heaven it is clear that there is no other way or rules that will save you, or free you! 

 

12. In vain the church in Galatians was trying to obtain perfection by legalism, and what it turned out to be was a church full of oppression with hypocrite Pharisees! How many of you have darkened the door of Christian churches that are full of oppression? Over time they close up!

 

I have visited many of them and I have questioned this matter extensively, why do people choose to attend there if there most of what they offer is a dark, unloving, oppression? Is it fear? Is it that they are too weak to stand up and proclaim what is right? It is in ignorance of Jesus Words! Do you read the scriptures to know wrong from right? 

 

Another curse of churches losing their standing is due to anti-god politics that create laws to shut them down. Also, infiltrators & perverted people often oppress with doctrines of devils!

 

13. My conclusion is this; many people live years under the fear and oppression of Satan. However, when they accept Christ they experience a new strange experience, freedom!

This is true independence!

They gain freedom from fear, a clean conscious, and a warm strength within, but soon the Enemy comes back to tell them, this is too good to be true, this is uncomfortable, this is not normal! What a lie that security must come from some domineering and controlling devilish system. 

 

So since the devil often cannot persuade a person to stop believing in Christ, he persuades them to go to a church that is not a loving holiness Christian church like the Salvation Army, but rather a church where they will be dominated by fear and oppression! Those with false doctrines, those who are deceivers must be unmasked and shut down. Today we see apostacy everywhere!

 

14. Remember our salvation and freedom does not come by the completion of heavy works or rules, (Ephesians 2:8,9) and it is not by deceptive feelings either! So, if you feel uncomfortable that there is freedom in Christ that is a good thing! Get use to it! That is what Jesus came and died to do for you, to liberate you for now and forever! Venezuela, Mexico, Bolivia, and dozens of countries, were liberated in the past, but many have fallen back into oppression, either from a Satanic governments, or by the oppression of the rich. Examine your own life well. Powers come and go, but are you oppressed? Jesus’ truth can free you! 

 

Freedom is not anarchy; In our church, we need organization, and rules, in order to function, but those are for our own protection and good, but they are not our main message. Our message is Jesus Christ’s love! Amen? Let’s pray now for you personally to be free in Christ! Free from oppression & fear! Remember If Christ has made you free, you are free indeed!