Broken-ness: It’s Inevitable, But It Brings Us Closer to God

Broken-ness: It’s Inevitable, But It Brings Us Closer to God              Kelly Durant 

Psalm 119: 66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments. 67 Before I was afflicted, I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. Matthew 5: 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

2. One thing that has always bothered me about life was since I was a kid I noticed that when something breaks, it becomes worthless and trash, and that special thing is lost, if not able to be repaired, and it is gone from your hands into oblivion! When I was about 6, I recall I got an electric train for Christmas, and I was so excited. I watched it go in circles for hours, but that only lasted for one day! The instructions were to unplug the transformer when not in use and we forgot to do that, so it burnt up! The smell of the burnt wires, and the dead, once alive train, was gone. I was devastated!

All things break overtime, right? It is nice when you get a new toy, tool, some new shoes, but despite how much you like your new acquisition, it is bound and condemned to get old, wear out, and become trash, and be gone forever except for existing in your memory.

Because broken-ness and losses of all kinds hurts, few of us want to dwell on this subject. It really hurts when we lose a friend who dies. Notice that our own God created our psyche to be designed to make us forget our pain and bad moments over time. Our losses and humiliations of never having something forever gets buried deep inside; but those memories are there, like a scar that few ever get to see. 

3. There are many ways we as ordinary people respond to our pain. Often a loss, a breaking event, or a trauma totally reshapes our being and causes us to become someone very different from whom we once were.  We meet and observe all different kinds of people every day, all choosing to live in reaction to their past experiences of both good and bad.

When a person is overly aggressive, overly shy, or extreme in some way, we often conclude they are that way because something happened to them to make them become that way. Some people have gotten so broken in life that they just give up, they no longer care how they look, no longer dream to accomplish something inspiring, and it is as if they have died and are still walking around like a confused zombie. How sad, right?

But broken hearts, dulled brains, and sad indifferent cold personalities, mad at the world, are not in God’s plan for humanity! The plan to see us broken, suffering in pain, sick, and confused is what Satan wants for us! This is why Satan hates Jesus so much, because Jesus brings healing, restoration, and a new life out of the brokenness. He takes us like a dried-up dead looking seed, not good for anything, and waters with His wonderful Words of life and makes us spring back into life to produce good fruit! 

4. What we must learn through our brokenness, like it or not, is humility. People that have had losses, or been broken, intimidated, abused, and deeply hurt can respond in 2 ways, either they forgive, and God heals them, or they decide they want to be the abuser, not the abused, so that they have the dominion but then they repeat the painful sins done on them! 

What a sick evil abuse it is when a person who knows personally about a deep pain, that instead of wanting that for no one ever, they, in response, repeat the evil that they experienced on another. That is Satan’s demons getting passed from one victim to another! 

Just living life’s breaking realities will push you and me towards God for comfort, or these pains will leave us permanently wounded in a world where no love or sympathy is our daily bread, and prideful selfishness takes over.  Over time you and I either start getting more full of Jesus, or more full of ourselves, and people full of themselves, prideful like Satan is, are very destructive dangerous personalities! Their boastful stories are boring, and they do not see how others see them as they are blind to their sin, shamefulness, and pitifulness.

5. Here are some verses that spoke to me when I was lost in the world, surrounded by other lost souls. When I read Scripture, it spoke to me…It penetrated deep!

James 1: 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 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.

Like personalities in the movies, and by what I observed in people around me, I thought I needed to display myself with a tough façade, I needed to show myself to the world as strong, in need of no one, and arrogant so no one messes with me. But these verses convicted me to change! I was broken inside already, like most everyone when young, but to read I needed to be broken even more, that I should weep and be humble, well, I concluded the sooner I do this the better it will be for me!  I did shed tears when I prayed and sought God! True repentance is emotional, when God touches you!

6. Think of this, God’s heart is very broken over all the horrific sins in this world, and over our lack of love for Him, our creator, and the lack of love for each other. He needs us to be remade in His image, humble as Jesus taught us, desperate to share His salvation to this dying world that Satan is manipulating. Getting to know God’s heart will break yours!

There is a huge difference between humbling yourself, in giving your brokenness to God, and in getting humbled, intimidated, or broken by another. We must choose to let go of the past, to let the Lord do a new thing in our lives. God is in the business of taking broken lives and giving them a rebirth, but we must choose to escape the ways of the world and reset.

Jesus said we must deny ourselves, in other words leave behind all the pain, brokenness and baggage of who you think you are, and to take up the cross and follow Him. 

Luke 9 23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? 26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.

7. The way of Satan’s world is totally opposite of Jesus way! Broken people without Jesus usually seek positions of power; power is an obsession as it brings them pride and the feeling that they are in control despite their weakness. But it is for nothing! Once their sins are exposed, no one respects them anymore, they become hated and despised! Like Satan, they want adoration and worship, but they are not worthy of it lacking holiness and love! 

Satan knows how to break and hurt a person beyond repair. Jesus can heal but the fight to convert over to God’s side is real as demons do not leave quietly! In the secret societies they perform humiliation rituals on their unsuspecting initiates. The elites and ‘principalities’ of this world cruelly manipulate, by Satan’s design, their recruits by abusive power plays. Broken people become vulnerable for demons to take over.

It has been exposed of late that all high-level politicians, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs, and Satanic cult members get a humiliation ritual done to them. Their handlers make them participate in shameful acts such as making porn, consuming drugs, performing blood rituals, and worse! This creates a trauma from which it is very difficult to recover from! People become mentally insane puppets in their hands. Imagine the stupidity of agreeing to sell your soul to the devil for fame and fortune! How tragic! It leads to severe trauma, demon possession and those who want to escape it either go crazy or die (killed) young!

8. In conclusion, each one of us may have a good reason to justifiably be angry over being broken, over being abused, over being disillusioned of what one expected in life, but it did not happen. I have discovered in my years that almost every family is divided, almost every person hides their pain, and most every person will confess they feel lonely, rejected, and unloved! There are always hidden chapters no one wants anyone to know about!

Jesus came to love and heal us; He understands us as He Himself was broken! Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

If we have lost possessions, or family, been rejected and are full of pain and sorrow, those things are just temporary anyway, so we must learn to give them up for The Lord. Doing God’s work is what brings togetherness and undoes brokenness. Matthew 19:29 And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

9. By age 20 I saw through the world, how Satan has all the people here crazy insane over not being loved, over being rejected and broken. Most people have no one to turn to when they have an accident, surgery, or suffer a loss, like the loss of a loved one. That’s why as Christians we must be different from the people programed by the lies of the non-values of this world.

John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. In the end, He is the Potter, and we are the clay!

Are you broken? Do you need healing? Most of us are wounded healers by God’s grace! Do your family and friends let you down? Gain a new family in Christ by being a brother or sister to the hurting! Jesus was broken, everyone is, so let His love fill all the holes in your life!

Samuel Brengle: He taught us what Holiness is!

Brengle: He taught us Holiness!                    Major Kelly Durant. Re 3-9-25

I Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

2.You have heard of Prengles, right? Well, at the CFOT in Chicago we had Brengles! (show can) Ha! Actually, most of us remember by association and this helps, right? Well, you do need to take in, or digest, the holiness teachings! And then practice them!

It has only been about a few years since a talented Major Eddie Hobgood did reenactments at a commissioning on the life of Samuel Logan Brengle. I was reflecting on that and realized some of you who were not there may not have a clue who this man was that the Salvation Army honors for his teachings. When I told everyone that I was going away to a sabbatical at the Brengle Institute in Chicago everyone was like, well okay have a good time, not knowing anything about him and his writings on holiness. The two weeks there were like a refresher course, a refilling of the Holy Ghost, a resting and a calling to live my life in holiness; to live full of the Holy Spirit! Do you want a life full of God’s spirit as well?

3.Samuel Brengle lived in the time that the Salvation Army was at its beginnings in the late 1800’s. He had gone to the University in Indiana and was so well educated that he enjoyed showing off his college education to his colleagues. He was a circuit preacher for the Methodists here in the U.S. and learned about holiness in Boston studying with them. He wrote in those days of his holiness experiences of how the Holy Spirit would touch him praying and he would end up just crying for joy over God’s love and he just wanted to love the lost souls in the world! 

He came to the Salvation Army in an open air in Boston and decided to join the Salvation Army but he wanted to travel to meet General William Booth himself in London.  And as all godly men would do, General Booth evaluated well how to use the young willful Samuel Brengle. Instead of placing him in authority for his university education as Samuel Brengle had pridefully expected, he asked him to first be in charge of shining the shoes of the Cadets that would go out daily to preach in the streets. In other words, he had an idea that he was a cut above the rest and for sure he was not ready to just serve God. Have you ever met people like that? 

4.First, consider what kind of mud and gunk there was in the streets of London at that time? Most people threw away their bedpans in the streets, horse and carriages passed by leaving their business behind, and the smell and appearance of the mud on the shoes was not pleasant at all!

Samuel Brengle was told he could have the job of shining the approximate one hundred shoes every day, day after day. While he would shine them, he would ask himself, what is God showing me? Why can’t others see my value to use me in a better way? How long will I have to do this ridiculous and humiliating job? Shouldn’t I just quit the Salvation Army? Is it worth it? But God showed him that if Jesus washed the disciples feet, he could also do his job with joy. He made the right choice and persisted and God did use him in a way he did not expect! 

5.The next life event that happened to him brought Him close to God for sure. He was sent back to Boston after training and while out in the streets coming from on top of a building someone threw a brick right on top of his head! It was such a serious injury that he needed one year and a half before he was fully recuperated.

That was a horrible attack and injury from Satan, right? Imagine, this man was already giving his all to God, and now this? Well, it was in that year and a half that God came to him in a marvelous way because he became more and more connected to the Holy Spirit because day after day he was taking time for prayer and the study of God’s word and a transformation of holiness occurred in his life. 

6.He experienced a new level of a connection with God that he never knew, holiness and purity beyond the usual and he felt like he wanted to love everybody, even the dogs in the street! After spending much time with God, as he describes it, colors were brighter, things were unexplainable more beautiful and different! This was His authentic experience that he had a burning to share!

In the end, by reaching a higher level of victory against sin, or what we define as living the holy life, he became inspired, being empowered to his maximum potential and he wrote more than 10 books on the subject of holiness. He researched Wesley’s original contributions and practiced staying pure and his writings and contributions have continued to be a great guide for every Christian who has the duty to go deeper with God in their Christian walk.

Some people never in this life experience the bliss of gaining the blessings of the great joy and peace the Lord wants to give! Any Christian can have joy no matter what is happening in their lives. While there I heard the life testimony of over 72 Officers and you would be surprised how many have dealt with recent deaths in the family, cancer and long term sickness, horrible broken-nesses from substance abuse, abandonment, or even sexual abuse when they were children, or some were opposite having grown up protected and blessed in a Salvation Army home and dedicating their lives to Jesus at age 14. Each story was fascinating, and each person was dedicating their life to Jesus as a calling with heavenly rewards disregarding the cost of the earthly sacrifice. “The Holy Spirit, dwelling within, turns our eyes from that which is temporal to that which is eternal; from the trial itself to God’s purpose in the trial; from the present pain to the precious promise.” —Samuel Logan Brengle

7.How many of you want more of Jesus so much so that the Holy Spirit fills you moment by moment to experience God’s love as never before? It makes you happy inside, full of love, and so thrilled about life that you just overflow it from your heart onto others in pure love!

In the future we must study on how to gain more holiness because you and I have an immense need for it, but for today, I will just give you a few illustrations to make it more understandable. 

God is holy and he commands that we be holy. (see verses of sermon) What does that mean? It means that we must obey, and we must work at renewing ourselves with the Holy Ghost deepening our relationship with The Lord day by day. Think of all the muddy shoes, they are ugly and undesirable and they had to get cleaned from day to day, but afterwards they shined as new, as if they had never been dirty! You and I and the Lord need each other otherwise you just remain dirty full of your own self filthy and undesirable. But God makes us shine His glory!

8.Think of your faith as a glass of water. You were dry and empty but when you invited Jesus to come into your life, you were full and felt satisfied. But left alone without refilling, the water evaporates; this means you must refill it with your connection to God by worship (not just on Sunday but daily), reading and absorbing His word, and by obeying his commands to love Him with all your heart mind and soul and love your neighbor as yourself. Let’s review doctrine 9 and 10 that reflect on this.

We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ. We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9.How many of you are saved and have Jesus in your lives? (hands up) Great! There was given to you a prevenient grace, you could think of it as a special gift of illumination in your heart and mind from God, a Holy Spirit pull on your heart, and you accepted it and had an experience that made you feel a warmth or peace. 

When a person accepts Jesus, they gain a small measure of holiness (which is like a touch of the breath of God), like getting a seed planted, the first getting to know Him meeting took place and the spirit provoked in you or in the person accepting Jesus a will to want to be clean, to not sin anymore, and know more about God and become like this pure loving being… Jesus, God’s Son, to save you from your sins or destructive habits that separated you from God.

Then over time what happens? Well, as you know with the parable of the seed that Jesus told, the seed can either grow up partially, fully, or just die. You are the one who decides. If you water it with God’s word and pray to obey and grow in faith, the product of holiness takes root in the love relationship that grows. You grow and mature and you produce fruit for God. His grace in you then becomes prevalent.

You then have passed on to the phase of having a prevalent grace, a continuing grace, a Holy Spirit power that helps you in the process of growing even closer to God, of helping you to be like Jesus himself! It is a second measure of God’s spirit!

10.Imagine yourself right now as being a pure holy person, a person full of love and Jesus’ love, a person that has lost all desire to sin because you are free from sin, a person who lives every moment guided by God’s spirit. Imagine now a happiness and joy which is more than anything you have ever experienced! 

I know some of you have experienced the Holy Spirit, and felt so wonderful you thought you could fly off to heaven! The infilling of the Holy Spirit which occurs when your heart and mind are clean for the Lord is an amazing experience but it is one that lasts only while you keep the connection alive. Renewing it every day will mean to be faithful until the end! 

Holiness and purity are possible with God and everyone should pray for it, accept it, and allow the lead of the Holy Spirit, and then live moment by moment hearing from the Lord!

The fullness of God comes from abiding in Jesus, God’s word, as the vine in John 15. Imagine every person is comparable to a plant, or the vine that grows, but some give fruit and some don’t. The scripture says, the ones without fruit are thrown away to be burned, but the other ones that stay connected to Jesus absorb all the nutrients and over time mature to grow many grapes. Some of you here have little green grapes, and some of you have large grapes, all of you are in different phases of growth.

11. What does the fruit imply? We know from Gal. 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,²³ Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

If you mature in pureness and holiness you will have these qualities for your continued working at being close to God.  And holiness just keeps on progressing and you feel much less temptation to sin, and you are holy because you have been passing time with the one that is holy! But if not you become lukewarm and neither hot nor cold for God and useless.

You are commanded to be holy by the scripture we read today. Do you think you are prideful and need to improve? Well, just tell God you’re sorry and repent and start right now with a new dedication to Him! Pray for a lifestyle change so you have time for God daily. Pray for a change in character too! I know you and some of you do not yet have the fruits mentioned here in Galatians.  

12. Ask yourself, could I pass the test of shining shoes all day for Jesus? He may have a task for you of helping here, a humble job others will not do. God wants to use so many of us, but we are not cleaned up in holiness as much as God would like. 

Pray Psa 51:10-12 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.   Remember it is a command to be holy as He is holy! Trust and obey, seek holy living, and discover a joy you have never known!

Christmas Is About Bringing Unusual People Together!

Christmas Is About Bringing Unusual People Together! By Kelly Durant Re12-15-24

 

Psalm 68:6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land.

 

2. Sometimes I feel very sad for many people! You and I can all observe that there are a lot of people out there that have very few friends! They often don’t have any family nearby either! At times my wife and I get a call from someone, can you take me to the hospital, can you take me to work? Can you help me move because I’m getting evicted!? Too many people are very alone in this world! We have helped dozens of people move, but I’m getting too old to do that anymore!

 

We are here to serve one another in love and not let our right hand know what our left had is doing, but I am shocked and saddened over the poverty of many people! It is a poverty not so much of a lack of food or money, but a poverty of having no friends or family! It’s sad when no one is willing to do anything for another, right? But God makes us meet people we normally wouldn’t meet!

 

Thank God Christmas can change this! Christmas is all about giving and receiving, and in supporting each other, in supporting strangers you may never even meet either! This happens when people buy gifts to donate to children. The kings gave gifts to Jesus but the gift of Maria and Joseph getting to make friends and meet new strangers such as the kings and the shepherds was what made it all special! 

 

3. The first strange encounter that Mary had was with the angel that told her she would bear a child by the Holy Spirit. Of course, messengers, such as angels, do not stick around for you to make friendships with, but Christmas would not be what it is without the sudden appearance of the host of angels. Christmas connected us humans with God’s angels, and that is a rare thing we must value!

 

The shepherds got to see all of the angels in heaven as well.  13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:  Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” 15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”  

 

So, the first ones on the first Christmas got to meet angels! Have you ever wondered how many people have been ‘angels’ doing good to people they didn’t know at all? This happens at Christmas time. Christmas has inspired many people to act as angels, to be messengers of the good news of the arrival of Jesus, and be generous to help people with gifts, and often they are helping people they do not even know. All, even non-believers, see lights, manager scenes, exchange gifts, and hear about Jesus.

 

4. One unusual uniting of people was that of the shepherds meeting Joseph and Mary. This divine holy couple was chosen by God to raise the Savior of the world, but they were nothing more than small town folks whose friendships probably did not extend any further than with their neighbors and family nearby.

 

So now they are making new friendships with the shepherds who live outside the city. Imagine a bunch of strangers arriving after your baby is born saying we have come here to this barn, no hospital back then, to meet you 3 and to worship the newborn child! What? It must have surprised them for sure!

 

Mary and Joseph made new friends that night! The humble shepherd folks, met up with humble servants of the Lord. What they had in common was they both experienced something heavenly and supernatural, and they both were aware that a chosen special child was born, Jesus, the Christ.       

 

5. The next characters to appear on the scene were the kings of the Orient, the wise men. Think about this, these men were strangers and did not know each other until they met each other in Bethlehem after their long journey. They probably did not speak the same language, but they did have the same purpose in common, to meet Jesus! Here we see it again, Jesus is uniting people together.

 

They then went on to meet Mary, Joseph, and Jesus by following the unexplained phenomena of the star over Jesus’ temporary residence. These kings would never have left home and travelled for months had they not been on a spiritual mission to see the mystery at the end of their journey. They wanted friendship with the King of kings whose presence was foretold, even foretold in the stars! All of their entourage witnessed seeing Jesus as well.

These wise men knew to bring gifts, but how? They knew the star was leading them somewhere special, they knew they would meet someone special, but I suspect they really did not expect to find some common folks with a baby so small! What we observe here is that when you have Jesus with you, you can expect kings to come, pay respect, and be generous to support the mission of God’s work! Common people make friendships with the rich to do Jesus’ work!

 

6. I love the verse of study today with God’s promise of “God sets the solitary in families”. This is what Jesus was all about, to bring together you and me and all kinds of groups of people together that never would meet under ordinary daily circumstances. With Jesus we become family! Your flesh, or blood family, may often let you down, but Jesus gives you a real family in God!

 

I observe most everyone, either rich or poor, live quite isolated from each other. But Jesus wants to bring us all together over Himself! Jesus is the supernatural uniting force that causes you and me to meet and to be friends with each other!

 

The people of the Christian faith travel to do mission work and make friendships that last a lifetime. Christians make deep friendships with unusual characters far and wide because it is all about Jesus! Jesus was the first one to get poor shepherds and rich kings to come together and be in awe at the work of God. With Jesus, and your Christian family, you should never be alone!

 

7. Here is something to ponder, Jesus not only united odd people together, He was the first to unite everyone on all levels, a socio-economical-racial-&-religious one! He united the uneducated with the educated, which was Mary & Joseph with the shepherds, Jesus was with the kings and wise men, and He is with you and me! 

 

Jesus united the rich and powerful with the common folks, Mary and Joseph with the Orient Kings. And here is another factor, the kings were of different races too, Jesus unites us all from different races!

 

And what about religion? Jesus unites those of other faiths to Him! The kings had a religion that included astrology and who knows what else, they were not Christian before meeting Jesus. God loved them anyway and revealed Himself to them. Jesus and God brings us all together when often our own people will not be close to us. Spiritual brothers and sisters are formed over our common faith in Jesus, and we should value each other as family.  When Jesus called His disciples, they too were from very diverse backgrounds; Jesus was iconoclastic to the established set of societal customs. He was counter-culture!

 

8. Psalm 68:6 God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity; But the rebellious dwell in a dry land. So, we see now how God unites us, an odd family, over Jesus but what about the rebellious, the faithless, the haters and the ones who refuse to honor Jesus?

 

The rest of this verse makes it clear, if you have God with you, and His Son Jesus as your focus, you can expect prosperity and the blessings of God. It is an observable truth that many of the children of poor immigrants, or people in poverty, have risen above their level because they received the support of their family of friends, those from the Christian church community.

 

“But the rebellious dwell in a dry land”! In all families, and throughout the world, there are so many that seem to go from bad situations to worse ones and why? Often because they are just brute beasts, living selfishly to survive, never thinking of helping others, never considering making friends with people unlike their own selves. If a person doesn’t have Jesus, either by ignorance or flat-out rejection, then this person will not learn the beauty of being made rich with friends and family that are near them everywhere   

 

9. Christmas is about family and new friends, and the sharing of good experiences together, even with people very different from you. Giving gifts and getting gifts can reveal to you that there are good people out there! Who knows, you might even make new friends this Christmas.

 

Take advantage to tell others about Jesus this Christmas, that is the best gift you could ever give anyone! Giving Jesus to another means you are opening up the door for them to learn a new way of life, one where God is in control, one where God forgives, and one in knowing you are loved so that you will go to heaven in the end! 

 

Because of Jesus, life is worth living! Because of Christmas we can all meet new people! I have made friendships with a few thousand people in my lifetime, and this never would have happened if it were not for Jesus telling me to go into all the world to preach the gospel to every creature. Some people are creatures too! I have been to more than a hundred cities in my life preaching Jesus and Jesus has blessed and protected me beyond my wildest dreams!

 

I thank God I have met you, you who are here today, and I met you because we share in the same faith, that of having Jesus! And I thank God you are in the Salvation Army serving God as well! What a great organization, a type of end-time church, that includes rich and poor, and all races, and all countries (Up to 134 now!) so everyone can know the power of Jesus’ name!

The Palm Sunday Prophecy (Fulfilled)

The Palm Sunday Prophecy (Fulfilled)                                                By Kelly Durant 3-24-24

 

Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.

 

2. How many of you have been around young people when they get excited about their favorite group coming to town? I recall Renee a few years ago talking all the time about the British band ‘One Direction’, how I had to take her to see them, how they were the greatest, and on and on! (She will probably hate me now for mentioning it since that was ages ago in her mind!) The visit of a rock star, a movie star, a sports star, or of someone of political fame seems to always draw cheering crowds. People love to celebrate those that bring them some kind of inspiration or some kind of words of hope in this life! Isn’t that true? The sad part about praising people though is often people cheer only to get a huge let down once their true self is exposed!

 

Let’s go back about 2,000 years, who were the rock stars then for the people of Jerusalem? It certainly wasn’t any political leader with ties to Rome! They were the enemy, the cruel oppressors! As with many of the world leaders today! Music, sports, and movies were not marketed so what was left? Any prophet or teacher that could bring them hope, a hope of establishing them into power, to be free from the dominance of man, a supernatural person that could bring them honor, salvation, and healing! That was Jesus for them then but He still brings hope, happiness, and inspiration not only just to Jerusalem but to all in the world! The final fulfillment of a world full of love and peace will be in the New Jerusalem Kingdom of God when Jesus returns! 

 

Like an urban legend news about Jesus in Israel had spread from town to town and it spread into Jerusalem that He was the new savior, an amazing miracle worker, a wise teacher, and He even was fulfilling the prophecies of being the expected Messiah! For years and years the Jews were desperate for the Messiah to come and the Rabbis combed over each and every prophecy and the common man got the news that Jesus fit the description of what Zechariah prophesied! And Jesus was arriving in Jerusalem, how world-changing!

 

3. Every Palm Sunday year after year we face the reality that Jesus through His birth, life, and death fulfilled many dozens of prophecies! This is why I could never be a non-believer: the dead Sea Scrolls and unexplained fulfillment of prophecy prove there is a supernatural God behind the scenes who cares for each of us. The prophecy I am focusing in on today is a little one in Zechariah 9:9 but it has great implications.  The Jewish Rabbis and students were familiar with all prophecy; throughout the ages they each learned that the Messiah would fulfill every detail mentioned by every major and minor prophet throughout all the sacred scrolls recorded by their ancestors.

 

So what can we do with this one verse today? Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey. 

 

This is a very specific verse with 5 points of fulfilment. For those who think the Messiah has not come, then they should rethink how difficult each of these points are to duplicate in concert with one another, especially if you were to try to replicate it in today’s world. The prophetic points are 1) Rejoicing, a shouting and worshipping of happiness for His arrival 2) The entrance of the awaited Messiah specifically going into Jerusalem 3) He is exalted as the King, an implication that He is recognized as the King of the Jews, the chosen Messiah 4) He is just, having salvation, and lowly, all of which means He is a humble man who is fair to all bringing salvation of the soul 5) And finally He is riding on a colt, which is a very unusual specific action strange for an honored King. 

 

4. Let’s explore this more in depth. Matthew 21:1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me. 3 And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.”4 All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: 5 “Tell the daughter of Zion,‘Behold, your King is coming to you, Lowly, and sitting on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey.’

6 So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him[d] on them. 8 And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

“Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’

Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?”

 

This report written by Matthew includes the prophecy we are focusing in on today. It is the record of how Jesus obtained the colt (notice that no one yelled out, ‘hey you are stealing my colt’! I doubt that today any person would even be able to go into modern day Jerusalem on a colt with all the traffic! Before I get into the 5 points, let’s consider all the details here. 

 

A separate prophecy was being fulfilled here as well, the one of shouting “Hosanna” at the sight of Jesus. That was a praise to Him and a recognition that He was of the required lineage of David. (Psalm 118:25) Amongst the studious Jews there was no doubt, Jesus was the Messiah. 

 

5. One more thing before getting into the 5 points in the verse. Stand up everybody, yes get up, now take off your tunic or coat…now imagine spreading it out in front of a man on a colt! What an expensive and radical gesture to show honor, right? The rocky and muddy streets of Jerusalem were not too pretty! I doubt the dirt would have even washed out after the tunics got hoof prints and mud embedded in them. 

 

Now imagine laying down the palm branches…this was a gesture of bowing down to share a small gift, a token gesture of honoring a person with the green carpet treatment (before the red carpet came into fashion, ha!).  The entire city was there to see what was going on!

 

As mentioned here in verse 10, “all the city was moved, saying, “Who is this?” The ones who knew “who He was” were shouting and praising God with all their lungs! The rest of the city had never seen such a welcoming! The welcoming of a Roman leader was done out of formality and obligation, but never had people seen such a positive welcoming like this one!

 

6. So the rejoicing of the people of Jerusalem was unprecedented! This praising is the first point, now on to the second one, how is it that this explosion of praise happened in such a small city as Jerusalem? Why didn’t God and His Son not decide to enter into Rome, the capital of the world at that time?  First of all, Jesus was a Jew who came to reach those of God’s own house first, but we know now that His love was intended to extend into all the world, to every tribe, tongue, and race as well. (As it soon did and continues to do) Jerusalem historically is a sacred city, a chosen city, the City of David, the place of peace and blessings. 

 

There were many prophecies over Jerusalem, one is that they were being like a rebellious chick that the Father wanted to protect under His wings but they refused and rebelled (Psa 91:4). Jesus knew the Jerusalemites would reject Him despite their initial praise and acceptance. Notice what Jesus cries out here,Matthew 23:37  “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”  God wanted them to see the light! They were given the first chance with the sign of loud rejoicing.

 

Jerusalem was where the blessings flourished with God’s chosen bloodline, but it also was where God’s blessings of peace (Salem=peace) ceased. Jerusalem about 40 years after Jesus entrance fell to their enemies, and then many times over were invaded and occupied by others dozens of times over in the past 2,000 years! Jerusalem has seen more war than peace and this conclusively is connected to their rejection of the King or Prince of Peace! (See Isaiah 9:6)

 

7. Now on to point 3, (‘Behold your King’) He was exalted as the King of the Jews there on that first Palm Sunday. The whole city proclaimed it! What was written on His cross by Pilot? Matthew 27:37 “And they put up over His head the accusation written against Him: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.” At first they accepted Him as King in truth, but later they retracted their praise accepting the lie of the false leaders instead!

 

The act of crying out the word “Hosanna” was special as it was a Hebrew word to express a deep worship and praise. No Hebrew should have worshipped any man this highly, only God, so the fact that all shouted “Hosanna” to Jesus indicates that they knew He was the true anointed Messiah or King. Otherwise, what they were doing would have been considered blasphemy!

 

We know today that Jesus, by His life, death, and resurrection is the King of Kings, and the Lord of Lords! In Jerusalem they worshipped Him as King fulfilling prophecy, recognizing Him for the fulfilment of the prophecies and for the miracles He had done. For a moment they instinctively knew He was King! But Jesus was not finished in demonstrating His power and authority. The ultimate miracle proving His worthiness and Kingship was His resurrection!

 

8. Point 4, The Messiah needed to possess certain characteristics, those of being just, having salvation, and being lowly. For one, Jesus was not elitist, claiming to be of blue blood, or of a special class imposing His superiority and arrogance (contrary to the world’s rulers back then and today). He was the most fair and loving person ever offering justice and equality of salvation and healing to everyone without discrimination. How shocking He was as He even offered healing and salvation to the despised Sumerians and gentiles!  Today he still saves “whosoever will”; all one needs to do is worship and accept Him as savior and as the Son of God, as the King of Kings! 

 

Lowly means humble and Jesus was the ultimate example of it! It hurts me to observe some Christians today who desire riches, praise, or arrogant power. They are damaging the cause of Christ and in my view do not know Jesus! Jesus served all without discrimination not just Jews. He mixed with publicans and sinners, forgave prostitutes, washed the feet of His followers and did unprecedented acts of humility that no other priest or man of God had ever done before. 

 

For me any follower of Jesus must exemplify humility! Some pastors will not even take out the trash!  Serving one another in love to me proves the authenticity of Christlikeness in a person!   

 

9. The final 5^th point, Jesus rides in on a colt to fulfill this prophecy. How many of you ever rode on a colt, raise your hand? We all know that donkeys have a reputation for being stubborn, right? They will buck you off!  How would a small colt act then with a big 180 pound body  (about Jesus size?) on it? The expected is for it to kick and fight don’t you think, especially if no one had ever ridden it. 

 

The Roman rulers would ride into cities on elegant horses or in carriages so to imagine Jesus, who is being hailed as King to be on a humble small colt is actually laughable! What humility he had! Jesus didn’t need to always use words to teach with, His actions taught us volumes as well.

 

The other lesson here is that Jesus obviously was not wealthy to purchase a nice horse or animal, but rather He got this colt by appropriation and it appears by the verses the appropriation of the colt was by divine design. Matthew 21:3 “And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord has need of them,’ and immediately he will send them.” No one said, “Hey you’re stealing my colt!” When God has a job for you, it will all happen in His design, He always supplies by surprising ways, and it may be with something that ministers to your humility.

 

10. As we celebrate today with our palm branches as was done over 2,000 years ago, let’s focus in on what it means for us personally. We are to obey Jesus in all His ways. Here are some questions I have for you just based on the 5 point prophecies in Zechariah.

1) Do you get excited, worship and rejoice when Jesus becomes the subject matter of attention? All nature praises Him! Luke 19:40 But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

2) Is the spirit of the true Jerusalem worshippers where there is unity with others, present in your heart? Revelation 21:2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (a future Heavenly Jerusalem awaits as we learn here from Revelation)

3) Is Jesus the King of your life? In other words, are you not ‘living as you please’ but living to please Him with Him ruling all things in your life? Romans 14:11 For it is written: “As I live, says the Lord, Every knee shall bow to Me, And every tongue shall confess to God.

4) Are you fair to all? Do you serve in humility without discrimination? Do you offer others salvation as Jesus did?  How humble and lowly in heart are you? Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

5) And finally, to suggest you mount on a colt to imitate Jesus would not serve much of a purpose!  But think of it this way, do you do actions that may put you a position to appear ridiculous to the world? Will you do that if your deeds are humbly fulfilling God’s purpose? 1 Peter 5:6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time

 

Jesus entry into Jerusalem brought us all these lessons! Let’s pray that we can be as He wants us to be on this Palm Sunday and for the rest of our lives! Praise Jesus, and love Him for His Kingship, salvation and humility! Do you know Him? Let’s pray…

Feel Weak? You Are Useful to God! (En Espanol tambien)

Feel Weak?  You Are Useful to God!                                   By Kelly Durant   1-7-24

1 Corinthians 1:26-28

²⁶ For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:²⁷ But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;²⁸ And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are:

2. How many of you have known of disabled people serving in The Salvation Army? I have! All people in life feel a need to be used by God, we are inherently born this way! You have seen this video of the man with no arms and legs, Nick Vujicic, right? Imagine, with his condition, he does great things and is an inspirational speaker! Most people imagine that someone in his condition would never leave home! But he is full of life and inspired, happy and used by God, talking in public places and travelling. What an amazing man of God used by God despite no arms and legs!

Acts 14: 8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked: 9 The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

There are many examples in the Bible where we see God’s mercy was on the ones who could not walk. I know some that come to the Corps have that difficulty but they should never give up and do what they can by faith.

3. One of the first things I noticed and liked about The Salvation Army when I first got involved was that they had a variety of unusual characters (even bearded ones) serving in disasters and as volunteers. Then, after visiting their church Corps, I saw many characters out of rehab. No matter the age or health problems, people were serving others and each one was happy to help. I love seeing others get a second chance with Jesus, how about you?

For example with Hurricane Rita while in Lake Charles, right after serving in Katrina, I met a man that had metal rods in his entire back because all of the cartilage of his spine had degenerated. He walked rather straight like this (rigid). He had been through a rehab for heavily using cocaine and he said to not be depressed he would find ways to volunteer his time. In disaster service you can find people with all kinds of personal problems, but they are made happy while serving others, making new friends, and hearing about the gospel. God will use anyone willing, no impediments matter!

4. The way to be happy is to make someone else happy! You have heard that simple formula, right? But do you know what makes people happiest? It is to find out that no matter how ugly they may look, no matter how bad their physical problems, weaknesses, or handicaps, there is a God of love that loves them and can still use them despite their conditions and faults! No one wants to feel like life is over, that brings mortal depression! Give people opportunities to serve God and watch them come alive!  

I have always believed that God is a God who cares for the weakest of the weak, and in the world there are a lot of hurting and weak people! We are here as representatives of Jesus to help heal and give meaning and purpose to the lives of everyone we meet. That is what the kingdom of God is about! In the Salvation Army we, and it should be this way with any Christian, carry out activities in which everyone is valued and included with no discrimination of any kind. We must fight to maintain this standard!

5. But for work in society, you are discriminated against considering you past training, capacity, and education amongst other factors. We are an Army but of volunteers and we are made up of wounded healers; But the military Armies of the world, only accept young fit men and women to serve. These requirements exclude about 70 % of the population! God’s word makes it clear He rejects no one, rather he specializes in the rejects!

When you look at the population at large in the U.S., the majority of the people are either weak, older, or disabled. Even worse they are often depressed and spiritually incapable or unwilling to do anything for anyone else due to embarrassment, or impediments, from allergies or whatever, not to mention laziness or selfishness! In this country currently about 65% of the people get government support for being either retired or incapacitated somehow. That is a lot when you think about it!

So when we read… 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;… what can we conclude? 

6. What God needs on this earth a people group, an organization, a movement, (or a kingdom of God as Jesus phrases it) that is made up of anyone who (whosoever will theology) will serve! And if you are not in such good shape mentally or physically, be happy and encouraged! God specifically wants you to serve and be of value! God loves misfits!

When we consider the foolish things, not many people here are scholars that can discuss the pious platitudes of philosophy or theology, so it is a comfort that God is not concerned about our education level, or even our physical condition, he just loves us and wants us to be useful and active for Him. In the end we are taking in breath from day to day to serve in the mission to win souls to Jesus, otherwise our lives are just wasted not preparing for eternity. 

God created all people, and He loves all people, so this implies that all races, weak, strong, tall or short, talented or not, are of no difference to Him, He only wants us to love Him and others and do what Jesus commanded.

7. How can we not be proud of the Salvation Army for being willing to work with the lowest of the low, the homeless, the addicts, and the ones with HIV? In other countries our line of service includes taking into refuge homes orphans and prostitutes. Your upper class suburban churches do not make these types of people their focus or specialty! But Christians should focus on the despised and the weak, which is where God’s blessings are at!

My wife and I visited several of the rich mega churches in Atlanta and some boldly proclaim they are called to reach the rich middle upper class baby boomers. Hispanics, blacks, and poor (sinners) seemed to not even be in their radar! What a poor and ignorant vision! Ultra-rich churches intimidate the weak and poor. When something is so big you lose the sense of family, I think it is time to break it down into more manageable groups as Moses did in Joshua 14:4-6. Delegation and division allows more attention to each one.

So when we read in vs. 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: Can we not conclude that some Christians do not have the right focus since they are targeting the opposite people of the verses we are studying today? Is the exclusivity to one group the non-discriminatory attitude a Christian should have?  Obviously not! Too many people live in a comfort zone that has them stagnant and being ineffective!

8. There is a serious problem within Christianity, too few Christians are actually reading the Bible and obeying what it says, to seek out the low base things of the world and then empowering them to serve in God’s Kingdom.

See Barna Research Group (http://www.barna.org/culture-articles/101-americans-are-misinformed-about-poverty-but-widely-involved-in-helping-the-poor?q=poor) Three out of every four Americans see poverty as a big issue. Christians interviewed only showed 1 out of 2 believing it concerned them, yet about 83% of evangelical Christians claimed to be involved in helping the poor. What is wrong is that 2 in 3 Christians believe the government should take care of the poor, not them! God called us to care for the widows & poor, and even give them place to serve: The low are the despised, the rejected, the weak, these are the ones God can use!

For the most part we can be proud of our Corps everywhere as everyone who comes here regularly does what they are capable of doing, here or in the community, teaching, cooking, and sorting donated food for the poor, visiting the rest homes and the sick as well. But we have a long way to go yet to get the community people to do that as well! This community is a challenge, what can we do to get them more involved? Volunteers are so few! I have often wondered; what do disabled or retired people do all day? Wal-Mart’s are full night and day, but where are people all day? Home? Did it ever occur to them they should do something for God and their neighbor?

You may know a few people who have government or a supplemental support, so tell me what do they do all day? God wants to use them for something good but I have a feeling many people are just deaf to this calling. They have ears to hear but they do not hear how God loves them and wants them busy with things that make the world better. Those indifferent are wasting their time giving them a meaningless life. We must invite them to serve since God uses the weak. 

9. Like it or not, we should confront those who waste their time! Our society and Christian heritage was built with an attitude and spirit of great sacrifice but more and more people are failing to maintain the volunteer spirit of sacrifice and pureness and of love for their neighbor and community as they should. Being unproductive in the work of God is a sin, especially when you know you should be doing good and you are not doing it.

Consider these verses that are basic warnings to the people (even Christians) that are excusing their selves for not giving their time in something for God because they think they are too busy or too old, too sick or too handicapped, or living in denial that they are just plain rebellious, selfish, and lazy. 

1 Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.       I Tim 5: 12 Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith. 13. And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not.   Ephesians 5:16  Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

10. Never think there is nothing to do for God! Invite your friends! Do you realize how many people have started coming to church because they first volunteered? I think I told you I came to know the Salvation Army by volunteering for disaster service. 

People in these past few decades have become self-complacent, people with nothing to do are not giving their time for something noble, they are living a wasted life! This is a sad new cultural trend! It is up to us to be salt and light and to teach others to serve God, and God wants to use those who are weak in their own eyes, the sincere humble ones. Here is a truth: you cannot make yourself better without first investing in someone else.   

In the end, everyone you know that is weak, everyone that seems not-so-pretty, to be of the nature most people would think they are nobodies, these are the very people God wants and uses! God specializes in using the low, the base, the ugly, the despised, and the not-so-bright. So if you think you are not worth much, cheer up, you are wrong, you are one of God’s chosen! KD

¿Te sientes débil?  ¡Eres útil a Dios!                                               Por Kelly Durant 5-19-13

1 Corintios 1:26-28

²⁶ Porque veis, hermanos, vuestra vocación, que no muchos sabios según la carne, ni muchos poderosos, ni muchos nobles son llamados^;27  Mas Dios escogió las necedades del mundo para avergonzar a los sabios; y Dios escogió las cosas débiles del mundo para avergonzar a las poderosas;²⁸  Y las cosas viles del mundo, y las despreciadas, escogió Dios, sí, y las que no son, para reducir a la nada las cosas que son;

2. ¿Cuántos de ustedes han conocido a personas discapacitadas que sirven en el Ejército de Salvación? ¡Tengo! Todas las personas en la vida sienten la necesidad de ser usadas por Dios, ¡nacemos inherentemente así! Has visto este video del hombre sin brazos ni piernas, Nick Vujicic, ¿verdad? ¡Imagínese, con su condición, hace grandes cosas y es un orador inspirador! ¡La mayoría de la gente se imagina que alguien en su condición nunca saldría de casa! Pero está lleno de vida e inspirado, feliz y usado por Dios, hablando en lugares públicos y viajando. ¡Qué asombroso hombre de Dios usado por Dios a pesar de no tener brazos ni piernas!

Hechos 14:8 Y estaba sentado un varón en Listra, impotente de sus pies, lisiado desde el vientre de su madre, que nunca había andado. 9 El cual oyó hablar a Pablo, el cual mirándole, y viendo que tenía fe para ser sanado,10 dijo a gran voz: Levántate sobre tus pies. Y saltó y caminó.

Hay muchos ejemplos en la Biblia donde vemos que la misericordia de Dios estaba sobre los que no podían caminar. Sé que algunos de los que vienen al Cuerpo tienen esa dificultad, pero nunca deben darse por vencidos y hacer lo que puedan por fe.

3. Una de las primeras cosas que noté y me gustó del Ejército de Salvación cuando me involucré por primera vez fue que tenían una variedad de personajes inusuales (incluso barbudos) que servían en desastres y como voluntarios. Luego, después de visitar el Cuerpo de su iglesia, vi a muchos personajes fuera de rehabilitación. No importaba la edad o los problemas de salud, las personas estaban sirviendo a los demás y cada uno estaba feliz de ayudar. Me encanta ver a otros tener una segunda oportunidad con Jesús, ¿y tú?

Por ejemplo, con el huracán Rita, mientras estaba en Lake Charles, justo después de servir en Katrina, conocí a un hombre que tenía barras de metal en toda la espalda porque todo el cartílago de su columna vertebral se había degenerado. Caminaba bastante recto así (rígido). Había pasado por un programa de rehabilitación por consumir cocaína en exceso y dijo que para no deprimirse encontraría formas de ofrecer su tiempo como voluntario. En el servicio en casos de desastre se pueden encontrar personas con todo tipo de problemas personales, pero se les hace felices mientras sirven a los demás, hacen nuevos amigos y escuchan acerca del evangelio. Dios usará a cualquiera que quiera, ¡no importan los impedimentos!

4. ¡La forma de ser feliz es hacer feliz a otra persona! Has escuchado esa sencilla fórmula, ¿verdad? Pero, ¿sabes qué es lo que hace más feliz a la gente? Es descubrir que no importa lo feos que se vean, no importa lo malos que sean sus problemas físicos, debilidades o impedimentos, ¡hay un Dios de amor que los ama y aún puede usarlos a pesar de sus condiciones y defectos! ¡Nadie quiere sentir que la vida se acabó, eso trae una depresión mortal! ¡Dale a la gente oportunidades para servir a Dios y míralos cobrar vida!  

Siempre he creído que Dios es un Dios que se preocupa por los más débiles de los débiles, ¡y en el mundo hay muchas personas heridas y débiles! Estamos aquí como representantes de Jesús para ayudar a sanar y dar sentido y propósito a las vidas de todas las personas que conocemos. ¡De eso se trata el reino de Dios! En el Ejército de Salvación nosotros, y así debe ser con cualquier cristiano, llevamos a cabo actividades en las que todos son valorados e incluidos sin discriminación de ningún tipo. ¡Debemos luchar para mantener este estándar!

5. Pero para trabajar en la sociedad, se le discrimina teniendo en cuenta su formación, capacidad y educación anteriores, entre otros factores. Somos un Ejército pero de voluntarios y estamos formados por curanderos heridos; Pero los ejércitos militares del mundo solo aceptan hombres y mujeres jóvenes aptos para servir. Estos requisitos excluyen a alrededor del 70 % de la población. La palabra de Dios deja claro que Él no rechaza a nadie, sino que se especializa en los rechazados.

Cuando se observa la población en general en los EE. UU., la mayoría de las personas son débiles, mayores o discapacitadas. Peor aún, a menudo están deprimidos y espiritualmente incapaces o no están dispuestos a hacer nada por nadie más debido a la vergüenza, o impedimentos, de alergias o lo que sea, ¡sin mencionar la pereza o el egoísmo! En este país, actualmente, alrededor del 65% de las personas reciben apoyo del gobierno por estar jubiladas o incapacitadas de alguna manera. ¡Eso es mucho cuando lo piensas!

Así que cuando leemos... 27 Mas Dios escogió las necedades del mundo para avergonzar a los sabios; y Dios ha escogido las cosas débiles del mundo para confundir las cosas poderosas;... ¿Qué podemos concluir? 

6. ¡Que Dios necesita en esta tierra un grupo de personas, una organización, un movimiento (o un reino de Dios como lo expresa Jesús) que esté compuesto por cualquiera que (quienquiera que quiera teología) sirva! Y si no estás en tan buena forma mental o física, ¡sé feliz y anímate! ¡Dios quiere específicamente que sirvas y seas valioso! ¡Dios ama a los inadaptados!

Cuando consideramos las cosas tontas, no muchas personas aquí son eruditos que puedan discutir los tópicos piadosos de la filosofía o la teología, por lo que es un consuelo que Dios no se preocupe por nuestro nivel de educación, o incluso por nuestra condición física, simplemente nos ama y quiere que seamos útiles y activos para Él. Al final, estamos tomando aliento día a día para servir en la misión de ganar almas para Jesús, de lo contrario, nuestras vidas se desperdician sin prepararnos para la eternidad. 

Dios creó a todas las personas, y Él ama a todas las personas, por lo que esto implica que todas las razas, débiles, fuertes, altas o bajas, talentosas o no, no son diferentes para Él, Él solo quiere que lo amemos a Él y a los demás y hagamos lo que Jesús ordenó.

7. ¿Cómo no vamos a estar orgullosos del Ejército de Salvación por estar dispuestos a trabajar con los más humildes de los humildes, los desamparados, los adictos y los que tienen VIH? En otros países, nuestra línea de servicio incluye la acogida de huérfanos y prostitutas en hogares de acogida. ¡Sus iglesias suburbanas de clase alta no hacen de este tipo de personas su enfoque o especialidad! Pero los cristianos deben enfocarse en los despreciados y los débiles, ¡que es donde están las bendiciones de Dios!

Mi esposa y yo visitamos varias de las mega iglesias ricas en Atlanta y algunas proclaman audazmente que están llamadas a alcanzar a los ricos baby boomers de clase media alta. ¡Los hispanos, los negros y los pobres (pecadores) parecían ni siquiera estar en su radar! ¡Qué visión tan pobre e ignorante! Las iglesias ultrarricas intimidan a los débiles y a los pobres. Cuando algo es tan grande que pierdes el sentido de familia, creo que es hora de dividirlo en grupos más manejables como lo hizo Moisés en Josué 14:4-6. La delegación y la división permiten una mayor atención a cada uno.

Así que cuando leemos en el versículo 28 Y las cosas viles del mundo, y las cosas que son despreciadas, ha escogido Dios, sí, y las cosas que no son, para reducir a la nada las cosas que son: ¿No podemos concluir que algunos cristianos no tienen el enfoque correcto ya que están apuntando a las personas opuestas a los versículos que estamos estudiando hoy? ¿Es la exclusividad para un grupo la actitud no discriminatoria que debe tener un cristiano?  ¡Obviamente no! ¡Demasiadas personas viven en una zona de confort que los tiene estancados y siendo ineficaces!

8. Hay un problema serio dentro del cristianismo, muy pocos cristianos realmente leen la Biblia y obedecen lo que dice, para buscar las cosas bajas del mundo y luego empoderarlos para servir en el Reino de Dios.

Ver Barna Research Group (http://www.barna.org/culture-articles/101-americans-are-misinformed-about-poverty-but-widely-involved-in-helping-the-poor?q=poor) Tres de cada cuatro estadounidenses ven la pobreza como un gran problema. Los cristianos entrevistados solo mostraron que 1 de cada 2 creía que les preocupaba, sin embargo, alrededor del 83% de los cristianos evangélicos afirmaron estar involucrados en ayudar a los pobres. Lo que está mal es que 2 de cada 3 cristianos creen que el gobierno debe cuidar a los pobres, ¡no a ellos! Dios nos llamó a cuidar de las viudas y a los pobres, e incluso a darles un lugar para servir: los humildes son los despreciados, los rechazados, los débiles, ¡estos son los que Dios puede usar!

En su mayor parte, podemos estar orgullosos de nuestro Cuerpo en todas partes, ya que todos los que vienen aquí regularmente hacen lo que son capaces de hacer, aquí o en la comunidad, enseñando, cocinando y clasificando los alimentos donados para los pobres, visitando las casas de reposo y también a los enfermos. ¡Pero todavía tenemos un largo camino por recorrer para lograr que la gente de la comunidad también lo haga! Esta comunidad es un reto, ¿qué podemos hacer para que se involucren más? ¡Los voluntarios son tan pocos! A menudo me he preguntado; ¿Qué hacen las personas discapacitadas o jubiladas todo el día? Los Wal-Mart están llenos día y noche, pero ¿dónde está la gente todo el día? ¿Hogar? ¿Se les ocurrió alguna vez que debían hacer algo por Dios y por su prójimo?

Es posible que conozcas a algunas personas que tienen apoyo del gobierno o un apoyo complementario, así que dime ¿qué hacen todo el día? Dios quiere usarlos para algo bueno, pero tengo la sensación de que muchas personas son sordas a este llamado. Tienen oídos para oír, pero no oyen cómo Dios los ama y quiere que se ocupen de las cosas que hacen que el mundo sea mejor. Los indiferentes están perdiendo el tiempo dándoles una vida sin sentido. Debemos invitarlos a servir, ya que Dios usa a los débiles. 

9. Nos guste o no, ¡no debemos enfrentarnos a los que pierden el tiempo! Nuestra sociedad y herencia cristiana se construyó con una actitud y un espíritu de gran sacrificio, pero cada vez más personas no logran mantener el espíritu voluntario de sacrificio y pureza y de amor por el prójimo y la comunidad como deberían. Ser improductivo en la obra de Dios es un pecado, especialmente cuando sabes que deberías estar haciendo el bien y no lo estás haciendo.

Considere estos versículos que son advertencias básicas para las personas (incluso los cristianos) que se excusan a sí mismos por no dedicar su tiempo a algo para Dios porque piensan que están demasiado ocupados o demasiado viejos, demasiado enfermos o demasiado discapacitados, o que viven en la negación de que son simplemente rebeldes, egoístas y perezosos. 

1 Tesalonicenses 5:14 Os exhortamos, pues, hermanos, a que advirtáis a los rebeldes, consolad a los débiles, socorráis a los débiles, tened paciencia para con todos.       I Tim 5:12 Teniendo condenación, porque han desechado su primera fe. 13. Y con ello aprenden a estar ociosos, vagando de casa en casa; y no sólo ociosos, sino también charlatanes y entrometidos, hablando cosas que no deben.   Efesios 5:16 Redimiendo el tiempo, porque los días son malos.

10. ¡Nunca pienses que no hay nada que hacer por Dios! ¡Invita a tus amigos! ¿Te das cuenta de cuántas personas han comenzado a venir a la iglesia porque primero se ofrecieron como voluntarios? Creo que les dije que llegué a conocer al Ejército de Salvación al ofrecerme como voluntario para el servicio en caso de desastre. 

La gente en estas últimas décadas se ha vuelto autocomplaciente, las personas que no tienen nada que hacer no están dando su tiempo para algo noble, ¡están viviendo una vida desperdiciada! ¡Esta es una nueva y triste tendencia cultural! Depende de nosotros ser sal y luz y enseñar a otros a servir a Dios, y Dios quiere usar a los que son débiles a sus propios ojos, a los humildes sinceros. Aquí hay una verdad: no puedes mejorarte a ti mismo sin invertir primero en otra persona.   

Al final, todos los que conoces que son débiles, todos los que parecen no tan bonitos, que son de la naturaleza que la mayoría de la gente pensaría que no son nadie, ¡estas son las mismas personas que Dios quiere y usa! Dios se especializa en usar lo bajo, lo bajo, lo feo, lo despreciado y lo no tan brillante. Así que si crees que no vales mucho, anímate, estás equivocado, ¡eres uno de los elegidos de Dios! KD