God’s Couples: Love & Suffering

God’s Couples: Love & Suffering. Love Never Fails!                                           Kelly Durant   2-9-14

I Corinthians 13: 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.8 Love never fails.

2. This time of year people think about flowers and chocolates. It can be a time that is beautiful for some and frustrating for others. Love is powerful! It is a fact that love is the principle need of man (and woman)! As humans we will die without water and food after a few days or weeks, but what happens to people without love? They dry up inside and die slowly! We all need a family of friends you can trust, depend on, and lean on in hard times. This describes the Christian friends I know!

The very first commandment of God is to love. Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it”. Love, and the desire for intimate love with your mate, is God created. He wants people to enjoy each other and have children. But if you are single, don’t feel left out, Psalm 68:6 “God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.” Are you loving or in the desert?

Adam and Eve, the very first couple, were probably in love at a level beyond what we can understand today! Imagine having the perfect body and mind and all the time in the world for just each other! They were beautiful but soon their world was shattered, not just by disobedience having to leave the garden but by other heart breaks. Think about how much love it took amongst their selves to recover from the loss of their murdered son Able by Cain killing him? Cain was banished, so they lost him too! Couples that have gone through a lot of suffering together usually become more united in love and closer to God, than those who suffer less! And never allow suffering to cause you to play the blame game!

Why do love and pain seem to always cross paths? In all couples it is almost certain some sad event of some kind will happen between them. So you and your mate, or someone else close to you, will face a few big challenges one day. Love will go through the fire of testing! But real love overcomes any test, any trial, and any difficulty! To prevent even more pain amongst yourselves, do not bring up the wrongs and offenses of the past and accuse one another. Love forgives and is kind. God’s love never fails, but what is yours like?

3. Today we see many people disillusioned with love from frustrated relationships. But some people without love may be not the victims at all but instead the ones at fault for not giving love because they choose to shut out another one.  A person’s sins creates pain, barriers, and separations from others. Here is the great misunderstanding about love: Everyone wants to get love, but few know how to give it!

Love is like the mechanics of the sun: it must re-feed itself like converting hydrogen to helium and back in order to stay energized. Love must reciprocate back and forth and communicate and serve with a give and take, if not, it’s warmth and light goes out! It is not God’s fault if we coldly die out without love, He has always loved us and always will, and He never fails!

All the time we hear people say, ‘I need someone who will love me for myself, for who I am!’ What we forget is love is like a plant that grows, but if it is in toxic soil, it will not grow but rather die! The toxic, self-centered, ‘I-am-who-I-am love-me-anyway, prideful, unrepentant, unforgiving, faithless, cruel stance is what kills love relationships! Half of all marriages today end up in divorce, and these stats are about the same for Christians or non-Christians. We live in the time period ‘that the love of many has turned cold.’

4. Today we are studying I Cor. 13, which is often read at weddings, but here is the problem with people, it does not matter what they hear, or what they say they agree to, what matters is how much they have absorbed so that their behavior is strictly governed by their love for God to obey every detail of His Word. God is love, so if there is no love for God, then love for another person is impossible!

Let’s look at ‘love is patient, love is kind’ first. How much patience and kindness do you have really?

There are certain couples in the Old Testament we will study today and the depth of these words will take on a new meaning. Let’s look at the situation of Abraham and Sarah, what was that strange situation that happened after Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed and they had to travel south.

Gen:20 Now Abraham moved on from there into the region of the Negev and lived between Kadesh and Shur. For a while he stayed in Gerar, 2 and there Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” Then Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her. 3 But God came to Abimelek in a dream one night and said to him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman.” Want your patience tested? Try lending your mate to the king!

5. It was the custom of kings to take for their selves any of the women they desired that came into their lands. Maybe Abraham and Sarah feared that if they said they were married that King Abimelek would just kill Abraham so he could have Sarah. It seems as a couple they agreed to this deception in order to be able to live on the land to supply for their animals and family. Imagine your wife going to live in the harem of the palace of a king and she might be there for quite a long time, would you agree to that? What a trying time! So Abraham, the man of faith, had his difficult moments as well!

But God revealed to the king he was in danger for doing something unethical, and that was of having someone else’s wife! God told the king that he and his family would die if he continued with that relationship and he was wise to give her back to Abraham! Imagine, a pagan king had more morals than many people today! Sadly, today many people live cursed by God because they are in a relationship that they should not be in and they cannot understand all the mishaps that come to them. Even in churches, some Christians think dropping one mate for another is fine by God?! Certain principles of respect within love relationships are expected within the universal laws of God, no matter the time period, culture, or race.

So, couples, would your love be that strong that you would give each other up for the greater good and survival of your family if need be? This is patience on a whole new level!  What couples out there have to endure long separations and risk losing the other? Missionaries, military personnel, immigrants who work travelling back and forth and dozens of other life situations put stress on the patience of couples who endure being separated. This is only an example of one type of trial, thousands more exist!

A requisite for love: It has patience! To know all will heal (even after a separation, or any other circumstance).

6. I Cor. 13: 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking.  In my life I have meet many couples where one was betrayed and dumped for another for some reason: usually for another whom they could use because they believed they had more money, better looks, or status. People who think love relationships are just to satisfy their needs may not have a maturity greater than that of an animal.

Love should never boast either. People in relationships often want to show off who they caught. I was all proud one time that my bar tending girlfriend was so pretty that she had had 2 husbands and been widowed twice?! But I was short sighted to realize that soon I would be ex-boyfriend number 5!

I hate love betrayals with a passion, they are acts of whoredom. Gold-digging, betraying, selfish heart breaking ‘users’, have been a horrible scourge on vulnerable humanity since the beginning of time! Since the beginning of time unfaithful law breaking love abusers were not tolerated by most cultures and the sentence on a guilty person was severe (even death by stoning, which is still practiced in some Arab countries!)

How many people today have had their broken spirits totally shattered by an unfaithful love who never loved, but only used you? ‘Love is kind’ (should be), but obviously some people in this world never practice kindness nor do they ever love anyone but their selves. They are self-seeking and their self love is no love at all but darkness. The world calls these unloving, un-natural dishonoring people psychopaths, rapists, and perverts (and more), but actually they are just Godless heathen or demon possessed abusers! Sadly they are condemned to insanity and hell now and hereafter. (Unless they repent, change, and obey Jesus way of a life of love, of course!)  

7. This brings me to the next couple in the Bible that suffered. This couple, Samson and Delilah, was never meant to be, he disobeyed God. He loved her, but she didn’t love back. It is a pity that Samson was not attracted to some woman of his own people, to a woman who obeyed God’s commands of love and respect. He could have been loved but he paid dearly for choosing to love the wrong pagan worshipping person! If you see a person in too much pain, maybe God did not ordain the relationship because a loving forgiving Godly person can never unite as one in heart with a cruel vindictive one.

There is a verse, 2 Corinthians 6:14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? The sad part is many Christians never obey this command and they get blinded in love, as Samson did, and they make of their lives a total failure! Don’t fail God, it is never too late to make things right with God!

Samson loved Delilah too much to the point he broke his promise with God to keep his secret. She only loved herself and her cruel Philistine people. Imagine Samson was the one she lied down with in bed every night, the one she shared food with year after year, but she was cold not caring that he would be caught and tortured, blinded, mocked, and made to walk in circles to grind the mill as an ox. What a betrayal of love! Judges 16:15 “And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth”. What deceit! What a lesson as a warning for the men of God to never be involved with a woman that has no respect for God! Or vice versa with a godless man! With no Jesus, there is no love, and pain will afflict you over and over!

So another requisite for love is: It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking.

8. Let’s look at Moses & Zipporah. I Cor.13: 5b “It is not easily angered”. Anger at times is justified, but it must be controlled and applied for the right motive. Moses married a woman that was from a tribe that was of a much darker colored race. With this choice, God’s man illustrated that love has no discrimination of race. Thank God for that! She must have been respectful to him and of course we all imagine Moses was kind to her, he was God’s valiant man of his era but he still had a fault.

But in the end the character flaw of anger which Moses had from time to time cost him his privilege of entering into the Promised Land. It is a pity that Zipporah suffered the consequences of this fault as well. God puts people together to learn from one another and to correct one another in love. I can imagine she tried to reason with through the years, as all couples usually discuss each other’s faults. What we learn is you had better tell your mate their faults and you must listen to your mate when they tell you yours! Consider the consequences: Both suffer when one sins! Especially with anger!

Vs.6 “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth”. When you are told the ugly truth about yourself it can often hurt, but as we are learning. ‘Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth’. Without truth in a love or friend relationship there is no love! The absence of truth is a life of confusion, lies, and pain with one lie after another; and if you have dealt with a person who tells you one lie after another it becomes so painful you never want to see them again ever! Liars curse their selves with insanity and they separate their selves from God in heaven, who is absolute truth, and He cannot support un-holiness and liars in his presence!

9. So now the final verses of love today are, 7 ‘It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres 8 Love never fails.’ Do you want to do a litmus test to know if your love is real? Ask yourself these questions, ‘Does this person close to me always seek my good to protect me? Can I always trust this person? No matter the hardship, does this person keep on keeping on with me giving me hope? Does this person reveal a perseverance that is of absolute loyalty and faithfulness?

Any person can say, “I love you’ to another but for that to be meaningful, real and not a lie, it must be backed up with the money in the bank of character and acts of kindness coming from a sincere mature person in God who has evidence of time endured trust, hope, perseverance and a faithfulness that never fails!

Love never fails! God always comes through for you and me in one way or another: in the way He knows is best. His love is unfailing and his love endures forever! What a challenge it is for us to act the same way with God and with those closest to us.

10. For love to continue to live on we must try not to make the other person be perfect but we must make ourselves to be the perfect person. Answer this question, Am I loveable? Most people think they are and they really have a lot to work on! Also, to think one can get any love they want just because one is attractive is very faulty reasoning. Plastic surgery does not exist for the beatification of the heart! The pride of the flesh fades and wrinkles over time. The flesh is just the outside, the inside attitudes and qualities, if they are Godlike or Godless are what you have to live with from day to day. If the character of a person is aligned in holiness with God, then that person (you) will overflow with love!

So the Bible reveals to us stories of couples whose experiences is one that is full of challenges or failure! It tells of enduring love while in suffering, and of a love that should never have happened, showing the consequences for choosing the wrong cruel Godless mate. Even with the right love in our lives we still always will be faced with painful situations and only a strong connection to God can give you faith, hope, and love that will help you survive and keep on going! Love will never fail! God’s love never fails to take you back, and our love must never fail others either!

You may not ever have to be in the situation Abraham was in, but you might be faced with another type of challenge if someone tries to flirt with and conquer your soul mate for their selves. Do you always make yourself attractive? Do you have a good attitude, and always appear desirable for your soul mate? Never take them for granted! People get tempted by others when they are ignored, put down, or not cared for! Love has to be maintained like a fire in a chimney, you have to keep putting wood in!

11. As Christians we love everyone! But the special love you have to live with intimately needs to be one that is compatible with your faith, values, attitudes, and unquestioning sacrifice. If not, you will end up like Samson, broken and punished, and too many men live like him today going in circles with no love because they chose wrongly. They can let Jesus change it all, or if they chose poorly and are suffering they may turn to drugs, alcohol, and other sins for comfort. But these things will serve only to destroy them before their time and shame them before God and others! Too many millions have fallen into this trap! Women, as well, must not accept defeat but rather hold on to Jesus first who will fill up all their emptiness if they spend time with Him and seek to serve Him by staying busy serving others.

Basic old school Christian theology says that the purpose of man is, ‘To love God and enjoy Him forever!’ How do we enjoy God’s creation? By loving love each other and serving one another in love! Married or not we all have the same ability to live life loved, fulfilled, and happy! So never give up on love! Love practiced as in the context in I Cor. 13 is a formula that is time proven. Do you want more love in your life? Purge yourself of your own ways and become pure practicing these I Corinthians 13 values of love; then you will live happy and healthy giving and receiving more love that will just keep on growing!

Demons: They Are Amongst Us, But Jesus Defeats Them!

Demons: They Are Amongst Us, But Jesus Defeats Them! Kelly Durant 2-2-14

Matt 8:28 When Jesus came to the territory of Gadara on the other side of the lake, he was met by two men who came out of the burial caves there. These men had demons in them and were so fierce that no one dared travel on that road. 29 At once they screamed, “What do you want with us, you Son of God? Have you come to punish us before the right time?”

2. I recall when I was younger there was a movie of a 12 year old girl that was demon possessed called “The Exorcist”. Considering that people were more pure minded and church going in 1973, it was a very shocking and disturbing movie! It still is, don’t see it! It was the highest grossing film ever in history until “Jaws” came out over a decade later. It really was repulsive and frightening so why was it so popular? Why are people so fascinated with evil and demon possession? Is fear really entertaining?  Without Jesus demonic power is overwhelming!

 Just mentioning demon possession as a sermon topic, I am sure is making some of you uncomfortable because you have had some bad experiences in life already with evil spirits and I have too! It is not a subject I mention very often at all, but every person does have to deal with it sometime or another (especially in Miami). Considering the study we are doing on ‘spiritual battle’ and Jesus in one of His commands in Matt 10:8 says to cast out devils, then we must learn something about it. Last week the Grammy awards included a lot of Satanism, so it is time we learn more about how evil is affecting the world around us! People near us have demons!

The culture today accommodates demonic practices and we as Christians must be aware of this and be sure that not one of us permit any occult or demonic influence to destroy our communication, joy, and peace with God. There are some evangelical churches that see demons in everything and they are every Sunday talking more about Satan and his works than Jesus himself. Some churches do exorcisms every Sunday; have you been to a church like that? It feels like the occult was more exalted than Jesus Christ! On the other extreme, we cannot be silent on this issue either or we will not know how to deal with it. How can each of us conquer demons then? First, start with yourself…

 3. For an outside influence to not have a dominating power over you, you and I must recognize our own weaknesses, and before anything else free ourselves from any sin, fear, temptation, bitterness and in particular pride where demons come in. Jesus spent 40 days tempted in the wilderness and He conquered Satan’s same old tricks through the ages of trying to get him to succumb to the desires of the flesh, to abuse his power, and to get Him to worship him.

So first, how do you cast out any demons you may have? Think of it this way, can a drunk help another drunk to stop drinking? Can the blind lead the blind? One has to abandon all bad friends and start over! I left all my bad friends when younger. No person can ever have power over a demon unless they have replaced their emptiness with the power of Jesus Christ living in them! A demon may grant a person a little temporary power, but Jesus is a power above all powers! With Jesus you can grow your spirit powerful in a position of holiness, which is God’s pure power, into a position of having full control over any weaknesses of the flesh or spirit. To conquer spiritual powers another person who is full of the spirit walking in holiness must pray with you with you asking to be free! Jesus is there where 2 or 3 gather.

Would you not agree that many church going Christians have never taken this first step of ridding their own selves of their own demons? My experience as a young man, getting corrupted a few years by pot and drugs, when I gave my life to God, I had to cry out to God desperately, repenting saying, “Forgive me!”  “Never again do I want to offend You by harming my body that You created, the temple of the Holy Ghost!” I knew that any un-submitted area of my life, any area that caters to the desires of the flesh, allowing any abuse of power on my part, and any fascination with evil which is an unconscious worship of Satan, would be the gap where the demons could get in and overpower me.

Some of you here may know, people with demons lose control in being wild, and they have fits of rage, become addicts, become obsessed and destructive, and in the end suffer mental and spiritual torment which they overflow on those around them! Families suffer greatly due to demon possessed relatives! Total repentance and a concentrated spiritual effort with fasting and prayer is a must for ever new Christian to be free from spiritual oppression!

4.  Satan always jumps in and tempts you and me through pride for power and success. I will use myself as an example again. At age 18 I dreamed of being a rock star and voices in my head told me that if I wanted to be a star, I needed to first sell my soul to Satan, worship him, and then I would become great as the other bands that had done this?! To make it to the top you have to ‘make a deal with the devil’?! Everywhere people always talk about making a pact?!

The Doors, Led Zepplin, The Rolling Stones and dozens of others had done this and they overtly practiced the occult and their lyrics and lives reflected this, and of course drug use was a central part of connecting these persuasive deceivers to the spirit world.  The spirit world is dangerous: I have even heard voices tell me, ‘Kill yourself! Die in glory! Show your power!’ Think, How absurd is that! Drugs, alcohol, and certain repetitive beats of psyche-cracking music open the channels for demonic possession! Avoid all substances and evil music at any cost!

I use to be a very proud and contaminated by the world as a young man. My hippie clothes always had to be just right and cool, my philosophy of life was in agreement with the trends of the culture following Oriental philosophies, and I believed my creativity and empowerment to ‘do as I please’ made me superior to the stupid ones out there in the world around me. But what happens when you are empowered by demons of pride? You have fears, a fear of ‘I will go to hell if I don’t change’. I got tired of the torment so thank God I chose to change because other Christians loved me with the gospel and exposed my shallowness, ignorance, and fears!

5. I love Jesus and I think Jesus is amazing in His power to overcome everything! He was tempted and He overcame! When I compare myself to Him I think, how stupid and how wrong I was to do just the opposite of Him. I did every wrong mistake! I gave into the desires of the flesh, I gave into being immoral and abusive, I was fascinated by musicians who worshipped Satan. I was destined for hell but God’s spirit shocked me and woke me up and Jesus saved me!

All I do now is thank God every day that He rescued me from myself! The old demons are long gone, but still Satan will reappear from time to time to tempt, but after having Jesus love, peace, and power, I would never trade that for anything! I think my experience of ‘doing as I pleased’ is typical of the lives of many youth and adults today as it was back the 70s. The old deceptions and temptations of Satan are still the same today.  

Satan’s demons are very effective in controlling the mind and producing bad behavior, and only a supernatural power, like that of Jesus, can free anyone from their sins of the flesh, abusive nature, and horrific pride. So to be qualified to practice Jesus power of ‘casting out demons’ one must have the testimony that Jesus cast out the demons in yourself first! What is your testimony? When did you conquer your demons? What were they? How did you do it? Lissette got free from oppression, how many do you know into the dark arts that got liberated?

6.  Let’s go back to the verses of today in the part where the demons say to Jesus, “What do you want with us, you Son of God? Have you come to punish us before the right time?” When you or I are a clean vessel, a Christian that is filled with the Holy Spirit, one that walks in righteousness and holiness, the people around you see that and they recognize your authority. The people with demons can see Jesus in us as well, and they fear Him and avoid us. Don’t forget that Jesus said that all authority is given to Him over all creation.

So when a person wants to practice something deceiving, or tempt a person, or practice occult arts such as voodoo, sanitaria, or the conjuring of demons, they can never do it if you as a practicing Christian are present because your light penetrates their darkness! Going to where the demons are, and praying in Jesus name is all that it takes for the demons to be cast out! Spiritually you and I are like the police, we expose deception, invoke guilt and fear and with the need to escape and hide; so when we show up in Jesus name the demons flee.

I have learned this as a Christian, when some people avoid you, it is because they may actually have a demon or they are into something they know is wrong and they do not want to be exposed so they would have to stop their sinful habits. People even can get violent about how they do not want you to visit them or talk with them just as these demons did when Jesus came! Demons torment and yet they accused Jesus of coming to torment them, how ironic.

7.  I recall my biggest fear when I started with a clean slate with Jesus was that of having fear of evil people. When one meets demons that are loud and aggressive and screaming at you, you are tempted to fear! Doing mission work I met for the first time some serious demons in the streets of Rio de Janeiro.  Many times while preaching & praying in the streets demon possessed street people have screamed at me in my face, insulted me, wanted to fight me, and torn up the Jesus tracts I was passing out! If you have ever had a red screaming demon face in front of your face you know well that it invokes a great need to pray for God’s protection!

So how did I conquer the fear? Through the word of God! One of my favorite verses is 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” So I pray, Lord make me perfect in your love! I recommend you memorize this verse and repeat it often!

Another favorite verse of mine is Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You”. Trust in Jesus is the victory!

8. Never does a compromise with Satan ever turn out good! Jesus exposes that demons will always get a death sentence and then thereafter darkness and chains in hell! People that accept demons may be freed and healed but only if they chose to be! There have been exorcisms that have not been successful you know, because God respects everyone’s free will. People who want demons in their lives will suffer the same punishment of the demon! Doctrinally most Christians agree, hell was made for demons, not people, but people will go there having one!

 Jude: 5 But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day; 7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

And the people who play with fire and think they will not get burned, what happens to them? In the case of the producers of the movie “The Exorcist”, they paid a high price for making such a frightful movie that in the end, made demonic possession appear more powerful than God. The set burnt down while in production, the men who played the Fathers had their mother’s die when the movie was released. The movie was considered cursed due to so many other mishaps. . Many musicians and actors have died young with drug overdoses! And everyone I have ever known who plays around with demons usually ends up physically sick, depressed, and is tormented mentally, and random bad things happen to them. They are cursed now and later!

9. You are responsible for your own salvation. Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

No one can say one day, oh, it’s some Christian relative, or some Pastor’s fault that I never did an exorcism on me to be free from my demons. Being free from spiritual oppression is something only you and Jesus can do but usually you cannot do it on your own so that is when a Christian strong in the faith can get involved in helping you with prayer and fasting.

Jesus gave us the warnings: each of us must free ourselves from demons and evil! Mark 9:43 And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:

10. Ask yourself today, am I proud? Am I violent at times? Am I addicted to something my flesh cannot control? Do I say things that harm others because I am angry? Am I attracted to occult or Satanic practices in movies or music, or do I accept people who practice these things? If you answer yes to any of these questions you may have a demon inside you deceiving you! Does your life revolve around the things of the flesh or the things of God? Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

All it takes is Jesus presence to make all the demons run away in fear! Have you invited Him in all the secret dark places of your life? Some of these questions make some of you think, well yes, I have, I know Jesus is there and I feel no condemnation. If so, then you are blessed! 1 John 3:21 “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.” If that is true in your life then you should be one of the strong ones who stands up to battle to help a weaker person who needs prayer and help to cast out any demon(s) they may have.

Not all demons make people vomit and scary looking as Hollywood presents it. And I am appalled at the volume of the horrific violent demonic movies that are produced each year! Don’t let the enemy trick you into comparing Hollywood’s idea of exorcisms to the way a demon possession actually appears. Jesus made it simple and showed us by example in the desert that if a tormenting spirit or demon does not leave you alone and you feel powerless, then you should do what? Fast and pray and quote the word of God to the evil voice attacking you! If you keep repeating that you will make the demons flee.

See the world through the lens that there are not just mentally ill people out there, there are people who have opened up their hearts to evil spirits. James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  I pray that no one here suffers any torment any longer; pray with someone now if you need the Holy Spirit to clean you and make you strong in Jesus. 

Live and Let Live: Do Something! (for God)

Live and Let Live: And Do Something! (for God)        Kelly Durant      1-26-14

1 Corinthians 3:13-15   Whatever we build on that foundation will be tested by fire on the day of judgment. Then everyone will find out if we have used gold, silver, and precious stones, or wood, hay, and straw.¹⁴ We will be rewarded if our building is left standing. ¹⁵ But if it is destroyed by the fire, we will lose everything. Yet we ourselves will be saved, like someone escaping from flames.

2. There were two friends that were proud in nature and they got together for a cup of tea. The one getting served said, “I should have the pleasure of serving you!” The one serving said, “No, The pleasure is mine to serve you!” Not to be outdone, the one served said, “Well, no the pleasure is mine, to be here.” The one serving said, “But the pleasure is mine you are here”. The one getting served said, “No, the pleasure is mine that you serve me.” The one serving said, “Well, I am serving, so more the pleasure is mine. “ “The pleasure is mine” argument went on for the rest of the afternoon, ha!

As humans we are often too competitive to show off our humility, right? I really wish people here would argue over who gets to serve! How concerned are you about how others see your humble service to God? Some a lot, some nothing! What should concern us all is how God sees us! Are we serving one another in love only concerned that Jesus’s work gets done?

No one here can give God any excuse for not serving God, the Word is clear that we are to serve God and one another in love. (Gal 5:13) Hebrews 12:28 “Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:”

3. When we consider what serving God is like and how we all perceive it, I try to describe it as others would see it that come in from the outside to church. Picture this analogy: Think of church as a huge unconventional classroom where you have a great variety of mixed ages and grades, all different intellectual levels, all different talents, and people with all different commitments apart from the study that they are committed to. The classes are from Pre-K all the way to college, some are still illiterate and ignorant while others are honor students and giants who have done their homework and accomplished great things.

Some of the people in the group have served God for decades and are on the master’s degree level in college, and some have served off and on and are comparable to being in elementary school. There is another group of people or ones that have never listened or served and years and years have passed. They have remained in class but not with the intention of learning or obeying, so they remain in the pre-K level. They do not know anything about what it means to be in the program denying yourself for Jesus, sacrificing their time, talent, and treasure for the use of God serving others with their God given capacities.

This dedication to God gap dynamic is in all churches, and it is very hard to manage! Usually a very small group of people will serve until they drop, until they are way too exhausted and the pastors have to intervene and say, “Stop!” In the meantime, others sit quietly by and do nothing and they don’t feel any guilt about seeing others killing their selves working so hard! This is not a very fair work distribution load, right? You have heard the phrase, ‘share the wealth’? Well that has already been done by God, Jesus gives everyone or “whoever” that accepts and obeys him the wealth of eternal life. But what about ‘sharing the work?’

4. The reality is in all community groups, be they people mixed together in churches, governments, civic groups, schools, or clubs, there will always be a disparity within the group of who pulls the weight and who does not, of whom is respected for leading and who is not. Don’t think doing nothing goes un-noticed!    

Jesus was aware of this work load disparity and He never let anyone off the hook! He never allowed for an elite few to be a ‘do nothing’ class within his disciples. They all had to do the Father’s work as Jesus himself did it, preaching, praying, and serving. When He sent them out each one did as He had taught them.              

Matt 10: 5 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.

5. An important lesson Jesus taught about serving was that He led by example, He did not just say, “You go and you do, He went and He did, to show His followers (us) how to do it.” In the end His obedience cost Him everything, and it cost the disciples as well but the results are that His works, His glory, His worthiness of adoration to sit on the right hand of God, has never been outdone by any other because He was the true Son of God! And try to absorb what love God has for you and me to have come down to our level to be one of us and then die for us!

So what happens in the workplace when someone does not carry their load? They get fired, right? Definitely yes! But often people in power in the nations of today who do nothing, make horrible mistakes, and waste the country’s resources don’t fire their selves for a lousy job!? Today, disparity and the wrong message abounds! It’s embarrassing and infuriating when we experience people who are working but not doing their job just because they think they can get away with it!

6. I recall one time in Atlanta a friend got a minor infraction and was in jail and needed my help to get him out with only $180. (He repaid me, ha!). I arrived at 10:00 pm and guess what time I got out? 3:00 am?! I paid at one window and then had to go to 5 different windows and they would take the paper and disappear for an hour or more, and sometimes I could see them just talking doing nothing in the back office. And these are my tax dollars at work, yeah right! And if I complained a little the attitude was, oh, complain or not you are just going to have to wait because I am in charge! How inefficient! How unjust and frustrating!  

People with the lazy proud, don’t-tell-me-anything, I-am-in charge of my life, I-am-an-untouchable attitude are destroying this society! They are everywhere, in authority positions (undeservingly), in unions, in companies, and even in churches. No wonder sloth (or laziness) is historically listed as one of the 7 deadly sins that will take you to hell! It is a sin from hell when someone remains uninvolved in the things of God. People forget all will be lost when death comes!

Do nothing people with zero initiative for Jesus & church will be very embarrassed on judgment day. Luke 12:47 “And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes”. In other words, those that have heard that they need to obey Jesus week after week, year after year and do nothing will suffer a hotter hell than those who never knew. How much do you really fear God? Honestly, not everyone does!

7. What did Jesus say to the good servant with the talents when he invested his time like money for God’s use? Matthew 25:20-21, 20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou delivered unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. 21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

But the one that did nothing for God, what happened? Matt 25: 26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: 27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. 29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Not applying your life to Jesus use when you know deep inside you are called to do it will cost you a punishment that is horribly beyond imagination!

8. Referring back to the verses of today in I Cor.3:13-15, Paul warns Christians not to be building personal kingdoms that are like straw that will be burnt up but rather be investing in God’s work.  Doing God’s work serving and sharing the gospel is like investing in gold and jewels, the souls saved are the jewels and only the things done for God on earth will last in heaven.

On the History Channel or in Science Journals we discover the speculation of how the earth would be destroyed in the future. They all point to fire! It could be by a solar flare, a massive earthquake with lava, a massive volcano, a comet strike, a nuclear meltdown, WW III, and a dozen other ways (which we can read about in the book of Revelation).  Prophecy is real and we can see it here…2 Peter 3:12

“You should look forward to the day when God judges everyone, and you should try to make it come soon. On that day the heavens will be destroyed by fire, and everything else will melt in the heat.”

There will come a day when everyone will lose everything and everything ever built on earth will be burnt up on that day, but soul and life energy are eternal. So saved people who worked so hard for the materialistic things of vanity, and invested little in God’s work, they will be saved, but like a person running out of their house on fire! They will have their life saved, but no valuables. Those who work for God though, will have their souls and works invested in the new heaven!

9. Another problem with the group dynamic of some people doing good and God’s work is that others not doing much are provoked to jealousy. When there is a person who shows up often to do the work, the others who do not want to appear as not doing enough start criticizing the ones who are doing good?!  

Gossip happens at the workplace, on the news, and in the churches from those who put down others so they appear more than them. People will say, “Oh they work so hard here because they are interested in some personal gain. Oh, I don’t trust them, and people murmur, why are they recognized, I have been here longer and these new ones should not have so much access and merit”.

10. It is not a Christian value to put others down in order to lift yourself up. When someone does something good, something of value for God, we should all praise them and share the glory with them. Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. In other words, be thankful others help and do God’s work, recognize them and honor them!

But in the end, no one answers to the Captains, or to anyone by God for all of what they do! None of us are wise enough to judge motives and who is the most dedicated. So, if someone is doing something that helps God’s work, then my philosophy is ‘More power to them’, and ‘Live and let live!’ 

Like in the verses of the message theme from Mark 9:38, the disciples were concerned that some people were doing what they thought only they could be doing, and that was casting out devils, and what did Jesus say? 39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. 40 For he that is not against us is on our part.

11. William Booth coined the phrase, “Do something!” Everyone that is doing something good, something for God, something in the way of helping others as a testimony so they learn about God’s goodness, is doing God’s work; and the only feelings we should have for them is gratitude that they are serving God and humanity in need. Agreed?

The main attraction of our Corps, and of the dozens of ministries in The Salvation Army, is that we are people who serve, we serve the needy with food, shelter, with relief in disasters, and most of all spiritually with council, prayer, Bible classes, camps, and rehab. People who love churches with the main focus on the praise band, or on the pastor, or on how to get rich quick, who never do anything for others except their selves for their own recognition are not attracted to our serving ‘others’ focus and our uniform wearing ‘Heart to God, Hand to Man’ calling.

12. To do work that goes unnoticed and ignored by the vast majority in society, ignored by the anti-Christ press, ignored even by Christian brothers who are friends is a humbling discouraging thing. Not everyone can survive doing good works year after year doing what could appear to be unappreciated and ignored. But, if you are doing it for Jesus, you do not care for what the world thinks or says, you just do it because ‘you love Him because He first loved you!’

We are in a tug-o-war against serious evil and the enemy is gaining strength because many Christians who ‘know to do good and are not doing it’, and they are not pulling their weight here in the Church (Corps), or in the community. So by disappointing God, they (possibly you) are storing away for their selves judgment and a punishment for their proud selfishness, lack of commitment, lack of obedience, and unashamed ‘do nothing’ laziness.   

Do you feel conviction today to do more for God? It is a decision day today, you must choose Jesus as your Savior first and then trust God that He will give you the strength to do things you normally wouldn’t do. Don’t let your life pass by and be like the one who escaped a burning house with only his life. Invest in heaven now! 

“I Have A Dream…” Is Jesus in Your Dream?

“I Have A Dream…” Is Jesus in Your Dream?             By Kelly Durant          1-20-14     John 3:16

2. You have heard the words “I Have A Dream…”   taken from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous speech, but can you continue the rest of this phrase?  Most people cannot.

Ask around, maybe only 1 in 50 people you know can state any more of the “I Have A Dream…”, MLK’s famous speech. It has only been 50 years and 5 months since he delivered it at the Washington Capital with a few hundred thousand civil rights protesters present.  Why am I reminding you of this? Because tomorrow is ‘Civil Rights Day’, and few people render importance as to what this means to us as society. For many people it is just another day and they give it no reflection at all. Only those who fight in the battle appreciate the victory!

In general, all of you here know it is the Christian way (of authentic Christians) to treat other races and people from other nations with love, equality, and kindness. This is one of the Christian founding fathers principles of this nation that makes it unique and better than other nations in the world, that here there is supposed to be “liberty and justice for all.” But are these values practiced fully? MLK said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”.

3. MLK was a preacher and in Atlanta many times I passed by the relatively small Ebenezer Baptist Church (Historical Site) where he served. His ideas of dreams of equality were not just His own but God’s as well, this is why these dreams resonated and woke up a new generation to support the civil rights of everyone.  What Jesus had in mind was the salvation of all races!

Herein is MLK’s legacy, when someone like him is brave enough to rise up and expose injustices, remind the masses of God’s truths, organize and get followers, then what will happen?  What happened to Jesus?  We will always witness that a certain group of people will either love them deeply and stand by them while there are others, who feeling they are losing power and control, swelter a pure hatred, and that hatred almost always leads to murder!

After MLK’s murder took place, it was so appalling that it was counter-productive in stopping the civil rights movement; it advanced the cause of the minorities more than possibly all of what MLK could have accomplished had lived and then just been ignored and shunned by the governing powers! Outstanding results require a total sacrifice; ‘The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church!’ Jesus gave it all, and his followers must be ready to give all as well!

4. Was Jesus pro civil rights? Everyone who is Christian can repeat the most famous verse of the Bible, John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”, but few people realize the radical implications of this verse! In theology one is taught to study in depth all key words in scripture.

The word “whoever” has a profound positive, often unnoticed implication. It means that God, through belief in Jesus, includes “everyone everywhere throughout all time”, so “whoever” by their choice may be saved and have eternal life in heaven! “Whoever” is God’s confirmation of His undiscriminating love to everyone everywhere for perpetual generations! Revelation 7:9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,”

Contrary to man’s evil ways, the love and equality of God has always been for ‘whoever’, but only through Jesus’ life and sacrificial death could we understand it practiced as it should be:  with love for races and nations even those hated by others, and love in particular for the wounded, rejected, and despised.

5. Inclusive love, respect, and equality we learned from Jesus in the Good Samaritan account, so His love was not just for the Jews but also for the non-Jews and the lawbreakers (the sinners and prostitutes). His acceptance was so deep that He forgave them, healed them, and He even in the end gave up His life on the cross for ‘everyone’ which is a salvation for all people.  

Sadly though, even today in 2014, few Christians of any race have fully grasped the equality of what a non-discriminating inclusive love practicing civil rights should be because Sundays are the most racially divided day of the week. The vast majority of churches are not racially and social-economically mixed as ours is (and we still have work to do), but instead the majority of churches are divided up in worship in churches of like race, culture, social class, and doctrine.  

To mix races and cultures goes against the current of our nature don’t you think? True, everyone wants to feel comfortable. It seems natural for ‘birds of a feather to flock together” but the question would be, do you and I love all birds equally as God intended for us to love them? Jesus said Luke 6:32 “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” Take conviction, everyone needs improvement!

6. In the Salvation Army we usually have racially mixed Corps just from the dynamics of the neighborhoods in which we serve. But does it make you angry like I get when you learn of churches that out of personal interest give Christianity a bad name because they only target one certain race, one certain socio-economic class, and then preach that only their one doctrine, (with their aberrant interpretations usually on prosperity and superiority), will get you into heaven? These false churches with false teachers be they black, white or brown, yellow, or red are fulfilling end-time prophecy of the increase in false teachers.

2 Tim 4:2 Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

Here is the crux of the matter; it is the nature of people (the unspiritual, uneducated and Biblically ignorant) to basically not accept equality. Equality and civil rights may be noted in history books, it may be somewhat enforced with laws, but many people in the depths of their minds don’t believe it really works in society and that it is not fair. The truth is the aggressive false people always want dominion so they can have their pride and ego inflated. Truth rejecters create governments and churches with leaders and teachers (false ones) that will piously exalt them as a race or class, so that then they can flaunt that they are better than the rest of the common folk because only they are members of royalty. Their fables are their conceived “so called” testimonies that always exalt their personal pride and agenda.

7.  These kinds of unconverted “so-called” Christians when exposed to healthy Biblical teachings on inclusive love and spiritual things sadly usually do not repent of their sin of pride and start loving God and their neighbor as their self. Instead they flaunt that they are superior to everyone else around them, that they are a, “chosen”, and “royal class” and what they say “goes”. So where did Christianity go wrong to accommodate discrimination ignoring Jesus inclusive love for all? I am just speaking from what I have personally experienced in white, black, Hispanic, and Asia churches and I have been to hundreds! Christians actually are “chosen” and “royal” but “elect, or chosen” to be submitted to a loving holiness, an absolute humility, and to a faithful obedience to the Holy Scriptures. So where does the confusion originate from that Christians don’t see their own prejudice and sins in this area?

In part it is due to the fact that Christians have not been taught well about the ‘old pact’ of the law of God contrasting with the ‘new pact’ in Jesus Christ. Some Christians today want to think of their selves as the powerful old Jewish priests who were the ones that controlled the community, spiritually, legally, and economically. But isn’t it obvious, that system passed away with Jesus! The old pact could have served its purpose better if God’s “chosen” had not become so legalistic and hypocritical, cold and discriminatory murdering Jesus and countless others. The priesthood monarchy served its purpose for a time but all things changed with Jesus. (read the book of Hebrews!)

In Jesus day the priests were so full of pride, so secure of their connection to God, so discriminatory against other races and full of hatred, that Jesus exposed them as vipers, murderers, and as the stench of someone rotting in a tomb! Absolute power corrupts absolutely! The ‘new pact’ for eternal life is in Jesus who was sacrificed for all time ‘to take away the sin of the world’ and we no longer need priests to sacrifice and mediate for us; Christians with the Holy Spirit have a direct connection with God! You are responsible now!  

8. Since Abraham was called to be a special man of faith and start a new ‘faithful to God’ race, one might erroneously assume then that God could be considered racist due to the fact that He chose in the past just one race to be “chosen” and the others were not accepted (unless they converted and submitted). Why is that? Don’t forget, human sacrifice and horrors dominated.

Historically God has been at war with sin and man’s evil injustice to man which imposes slavery, sacrifice to false gods, and war. God hates abuse and violence, and mega-millions have been murdered by every world dominate power that never submitted to worship Him, their Creator; such as the Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Europeans (and hundreds more!) The idea was for there to be a special people who would be the exemplary ones on how to live in peace and love as “it is in heaven”. Christians today have this responsibility to impart!

Cultures and races that oppose God’s people, that oppose His worship and love, are destined to be obliterated and be conquered. In the Bible we know God’s people dominated over the evil tribes. Exodus 23:23 For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.  And in the ‘new pact’ Jesus reaffirms domination by God’s people because the ‘meek will inherit the earth’. This will be after the great tribulation and His return though.

9. Historically God has always been on the side of the minorities, of the weak and oppressed, and usually that is the category under which God’s people fall. But when God’s people, be they black, white, brown, yellow, or red become prideful un-submitted oppressors and bullies, and do not follow and teach His holy ways of love, they then open the door for severe punishments from Him, to become the slave oppressed class again. It is cycle after cycle of up and down.

Israel fell into this over and over. Judges 10:6 Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the Lord and did not serve Him.  Israel, the dominating minority, was taken captive by their enemies many times!

Apply this historical repetitive principle to today and it will make you fear for God’s judgments! Do you not currently see in this nation black, white, brown, yellow, and red oppression from within and extending out happening? Contrast the folklore music pre MLK with the hip-hop of today and we hear words of beauty and suffering from the culture decayed into rude vulgar disrespect! The Civil Rights Movement still has a long way to go because there still exists repression and oppression by those on the inside, by the governing powers, by the pseudo-Christian (false) churches, by the mafias, by the multitudes of local gangs, and by racist groups of all colors. This is worldwide! Only a change of heart with Jesus can correct any part of these injustices rooted in prideful violent behaviors because only Jesus’ follower display proof that they can bring about a real change of heart within and without influencing a brother and sisiter love for a better community and loving peaceful world!

10. The world’s historical long standing divisions of races (racism), cultures, and beliefs, are mended by the word, “whoever” in John 3:16! Jesus has been the inspiration of countless leaders who stand up in God’s power to demand fairness, freedom of the slaves, equality, and healing. And they have accomplished beneficiary and noteworthy feats!

All people are born to a certain race and culture (we have no control over that) and the behaviors and religious affiliation of our certain race is influenced by the good and bad of the past forefathers.  In the case of the Afro-Americans, historically they have the baggage of their past forefathers practicing the dark arts and magical incantations which spread to the Caribbean Islands and the American continents, but MLK, however, represented a new generation of Christians that were free from those past sins through Jesus.

Today I observe that all races (and I have lived in communities of races very different from my own for decades) always have those within their group certain ones that will remain unashamedly racist.  A certain percentage of unconverted people will always discriminate while in their carnal ignorant state. However, wise others will learn and understand God’s ways and love everyone no matter the race, culture, or class. It takes righteousness, persistence, patience, and suffering to win battles and many years of spiritual battle to undo the hundreds of years of evil we have inherited! It takes authentically converted individuals with Jesus on their side to have God esteem their worthiness of victory!

11. In order to demand justice and a higher standard one must be an example of it! The situation was that MLK and his followers were a people empowered by the Lord and free in spirit, but they were not free from the past sins of the other people in their cities that accepted unjust laws, racism, and oppression in the 1960s.

We conclude that when things are oppressive and unfair in a nation, when little or no justice is served, God through his servants changes the course of history and his grace overpowers the sin but only if His people will humble their selves, repent, obey, and fight for the right. The types of sins in all cultures shift and change though out the ages, but we know well the enemy does not sleep. He will use racism, the economic divide, religion, different doctrines, sexuality, and anything to divide Christians and the people of the world. Don’t get tricked! Watch and pray!

If you take a stand with Jesus, love others and convert them to His way you may get to watch the oppressors, haters, and false teachers and warmongers fade away into oblivion under the light of His truth! His Kingdom will reign one day forever and ever, and then we will forever be free and then be able to shout, ‘Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, free at last!’ 

Run Away From Adolescent Cravings!

Run Away From Adolescent Cravings!                                                    By Kelly Durant    1-12-14

2 Timothy 2:21-22, 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

2. There is an old saying, and even a pop hit was made out of it, that says, “I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was younger,” What a truth that is! I think all of us who are older wish so much we had made wiser decisions when we were younger! How many of us wish we had been more mature and not been such a know-it-all missing out on learning things we needed to know about life when we were younger?

Have you ever tried to get into the mind of the youth today? As Christians we should always desire to adapt and understand to win souls, especially the young ones!  1 Corinthians 9:19-23 For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

So, for all of you here, to win the youth for Jesus, you and I must try to become as a young person living what they live today! Young people, you should try to mature understanding the older ones! My wife and I even had to get a Smartphone so we could understand and communicate with our daughter!  At home in the house she will text us from the bedroom, ha!

So how do we relate when the world changes so fast? Here is a common ground; Young people want to have fun and be entertained, agreed? They, and all of us, want to laugh and see everyone happy! The reality is all of us need more comic relief in life! We all have already experienced pain, embarrassments, and difficulties, and we don’t want more of it if we can avoid it. So young or old we all can relate that we desire more understanding, happiness, and sympathy in life and receive less criticism, pain, and judgementalness!

 3. Since my wife and I live with a young person that is 14, we try to get into her world and understand her and find ways to inspire her to listen to the things of God more and it is not easy in today’s high tech society. Never before have we as parents had so much competition for attention with dazzling outside sources! From texting some young people don’t even look up much are even having back problems from being bent over on their smartphone all the time!

There is enough material on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and dozens of others, along with homework and online classes, news groups, blogs, and everything on the web to keep a person busy reading and typing for 1,000’s of years! There exists hundreds of millions of hours of video and music and hundreds of billions of pages including online books, business inventories, government info, and info beyond possible calculation! And that is just in English!

We all have information overload! I think you and I don’t mind watching a dog do tricks on YouTube for a few minutes, you or I don’t mind some pop songs, but in the end, but discernment is needed more than ever! If I had to be young again and had to compete with the peer pressure and image status of the famous attractive talented people, do homework on time, show up for practice at sports and music events, respond to texts with friends or lose them, I would consider it very difficult to fit into my day prayer and Bible study time. Young people today are often as busy as a CEO or a pastor! No wonder they want to sleep until noon on Saturdays!

4. But no matter how difficult it is to fit God in whether you are young or old, it must be done, God must be first! No one can claim to be a Christian and not spend time with Christ! Agreed? Do you do that? As difficult as it may be to fit in your day time with Jesus, it is a life and death matter of your soul that you do it! This applies for both for young and old people! The options of how you spend your time with Christ are many: It can and should be done alone in silence, by reading the Bible, or listening to web sites of preaching, and most importantly for us as Salvationists, we must tune into Salvation Army publications and websites! Do you read them? There is a lot of good stuff here! I personally really love listening to the audio Bible! 

Without reserving some special time for God, you or I will become vulnerable & weak spiritually and full of the world’s poison and not have a sharpened sword to fight temptations and lusts that the enemy will attack us with. Without Jesus daily, Satan’s earthly demons will outsmart you and trick you to fall into one of his lies: Lies that happiness and excitement comes from ‘doing all you please’ embracing the antichrist postures of the world, and rejecting the Bible. One big lie is to get you to believe that your life is miserable and that you are a loser unless you get on aboard with the rest and enjoy sinful lusts! Never accept the lie thinking, ‘My life is horrible because I was not born in the home of a rich superstar, and I am nothing unless I become scandalous’.

Recall the old Indian tale that you have a good wolf on one shoulder and a bad one on the other and the one that grows the strongest is the one you feed and pay attention to!  What are you tuning into, the world or Christ? C.S. Lewis says, “The world is too much with us!” I agree!

The wolf on your left shoulder tells you, you are young, if you could only sell your soul and body to the right Disney or Hollywood insider, then you could get adoration and be rich and famous! If only the NBA would recruit me! But how do corrupt lifestyles work out? Remember Madonna who owns a home here on Brickell Ave.? Who boasted she slept her way to fame? Multitudes follow her path but never make it and they get abused by scum and scarred for life! Look at her now, (or any other corrupted star) she is a mental case, phobic and a has-been; we pray she can receive Jesus one day and follow Him and not follow her own mixed up ideas of spirituality which helps no one, not even herself!

 5. As parents 10 times a day we ask our young person at home, what are you looking at, what are you listening to? You know about that, right?  In reality this is the question for all of us, young people and adults, what is occupying your time and mind? What is influencing you? Evaluate, what is getting your attention for one entire day? You may shock yourself to discover what you feed on! Some people are shallow, vain, and spiritually anemic and don’t even see it!

Whatever you eat affects your body, right? Too little of the right things and you are anemic, too much sugar and diabetes will attack, too many monster drinks and nervousness attacks, right? We have to ask ourselves is our daily food too much from entertainment sources of people who are full of vanity and pride (and often they even worship Satan). Could they be leaving you feeling frustrated that you are just a nobody, not rich enough, not handsome or pretty enough to be successful or liked by anyone? Remember you are God’s child worth everything to God!

In Miami there is a horrible spiritual oppression that you must have a super body and money and the culture of vanity and pride of the flesh is scarring and even killing us! Miami has the highest amount of plastic surgeons in all the nation! Last year over 14 Billion dollars was spent on plastic surgery! That amount could feed all the hungry in many countries in Africa! God must be furious with people’s cravings to appear young feeding their selfish dark side of sin, pride, vanity, and selfishness, right?

1 John 2:15-17, 15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever

6. Let’s focus back on verse 2 Tim 2:22 of today where it says, “Flee youthful lusts” (or the more modern English), ‘Run Away From Adolescent Cravings’ , what are these things? Timothy was a young man and Paul is teaching him (and everyone) how to be honorable and used by God.  To be used by God one must be holy, and run away from the appetites and cravings of the world escaping the wide roads that lead to destruction!

What historically have these cravings been? Can you identify the ever repeating powerful distractions that invade the soul and subvert the mind? The glamorized sins of cultures for millennia seem to be the lust for adoration and pride, and for beauty, riches, drugs, alcohol, and sex.  Cravings like these have led many a young person into Satan’s trap and slime pit of guilt and shame. Multi-millions of people spend the rest of their lives trying to recuperate from their past mistakes, police records, and shame! Sadly there are some young people that just give up and they think they do not have a future in this unloving world! Teen self-mutilation (cutting), depression, and suicide is at an all-time high in this nation! Not enough older ones listen to or about them in order to help these suffering young people through their crisis.

After the consequences of sin take effect, then always that young person, their parents, and many other people involved have to pay the high price for their sins. The wrecked car, the jail time, the unplanned for baby, the addiction problem, and maybe even a funeral happens just because someone got involved with wrong things of the world. Trying to be cool imitating some famous self-destructive actor or artist always produces bad results. In my youth many famous people died from drug overdoses.

7. Everyone young or old must always fight to “Flee youthful lusts”! We must obey as in verse 22 says to “follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart”. Those that learn this early in their Christian lives progress greatly because God blesses them! Psalm 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Young people, obey God and you will never be tossed away as trash like a beggar; instead you will become a glorious unique leader walking in God’s holy ways!

Many people that I have known personally in my life that have tried to live glamorous in their own way without God, who pursued dreams of happiness with drugs, sex, and rock ‘n roll in the pride of life, have all ended up miserable with many deceptions, bitterness’s, and depressions! I lament greatly that I fell into youthful cravings for a short time when young, but thank God Jesus saved me and I escaped that lifestyle at age 21! I put myself in God’s hands and He has never failed me yet!

8. So I challenge young and old today, don’t criticize too much, but have mercy on others! The youth in today’s Generation of “I”, due to the abundance of sin of the world have been forced to adapt to living in their self-protective “I-”worlds where there is fierce competition for everything; for friends, study, sports, or jobs.

Don’t judge young people too harshly as they have to often deal with getting their character trashed on Twitter, Facebook or on the web usually for taking a Godly stance on some issue. All Christians live in conflict with the values of today’s issues concerning abortion, sexuality, and politics and it is mesmerizing the righteous because the ‘political correct’ proselytizers from hell pressure people at schools, in colleges, and at the workplace to conform to, indulge in, and promote the evil hypocritical anti-christ corruptions.

And sad to say, a majority of adults out there, instead of being good role models, are giving the youth bad or hypocritical examples of immature self-centered worldly behavior. Let’s review a warning about that Matthew 18:6 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea”. Please protect, love, and encourage our young people! Only 4% of the youth of today attend church and we need to make it as pleasant as possible for them! Many of the problems of the youth in the world today, sad to say is the fault of the adult’s bad examples. May the Lord help us as Christians to be adapting and living an example of peace, holiness, and love contrary to the people of the world!

9. Considering the cruelty in the world, I think all of us can relate to wanting to be more like how young people are. We all want to laugh, as it helps us forget for a moment about the horrific painful realities of life. Everyone feels sad and powerless to change such things as domestic abuse, violence, sickness, poverty, and war. But when maturity and the Holy Spirit takes charge in a person’s life (young or old) then that person (you and I) begins a new chapter and starts trying to alleviate the suffering of other people the best way possible in our community. Only by bringing the gospel of Jesus to others can we change the world.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could be like children partying and enjoying life all the time?  Matthew 18:3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven”. Well the good news is we will party forever when we get to heaven in the, “Marriage Supper of the Lamb’, but until that day comes we must flee youthful lusts, preach the gospel adapting to the age or language of the people, and get dirty in the world’s slime pits of sins in our communities to save souls for Jesus!

Young people love mission trips. Young people want and deserve opportunities and chances to serve and to “follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace”, so may we as adults be ready to help, support, and serve them! Remember the perspective that there is a time for everything in the seasons of life, and God has His timing for each person according to our will being ready. Consider this: maturity in God comes not with age but from spending time with God!

So I recommend that young people (and for the older ones as well!) to choose to follow daily righteousness, faith, charity, peace. Let’s pray…Lord Jesus, could it be that I need to repent of being caught up some in some damaging craving that is offensive to You? Ask, “Lord, have I walked a mile in the other pair of shoes (be it of the young person, or of the old) to be able to love and understand them?  Do I have any sin of being intolerant and/or judgmental”? In some ways most everyone is guilty of not following in “righteousness, faith, charity (love), peace”. So let’s pay close attention to the Holy Spirit’s voice on our shoulder! Enjoy God, who is an eternally young and fun while you are serving Him and others.  Pray to relate to the “I” gen better and win them for Jesus! “I” gen, and pray to mature in Jesus!

The New Year 2014 Have Faith within the Decay! (2+0+1+4=7)

The New Year 2014 Have Faith within the Decay! (2+0+1+4=7)               1-5-14 By Kelly Durant

Mark 11:20-22, 20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

2. We are all creatures of habit. Studies show that if you can make something a habit for 2 weeks then probably you will be able to keep on with the good habit for the rest of the year. So what new habits do you & I need? Are our priorities really in order?

Often for the New Year we hear of people starting a new diet, or getting into an exercise program while others create a strict budget. These things are good but they are only personal and benefit the body. These things are just things of the flesh, and in general as humans we get bored with the flesh easily. John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. Try making a goal centered around spiritual growth and getting closer to God: that goal will last you as it is invigorating!

The truth is we all must review the bad news of the past as this can be a motivator to get you and me to react! Like when a king gets news of losing a battle, the news makes him and everyone disturbed and upset so they unite, work hard, get fired up, prepare tools and supplies, and then go on the attack so they can win the next battle! God wins battles through people and he needs you to be in action for Him in benefit of yourself and others in this New Year of 2014!

3. Every year many of us make new goals but to our own frustration! A 2007 study by Richard Wiseman from the University of Bristol involving 3,000 people showed that,”88% of those who set New Year resolutions fail, despite the fact that 52% of the study's participants were confident of success at the beginning.

Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, (a system where small measurable goals are being set; such as, a pound a week, instead of saying "lose weight"), while women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.” In other words any one of us will succeed better if we plan to how to make our goals and then make our goals public and then get support one from another to be accountable!

But Imagine how different the world would be for you and for me if people’s goals (yours and mine) were to be centered around growing spiritually having more faith, to respond more maturely to life’s difficult events, to pray more, to study the Bible more, to get involved and become more useful to God and more active in the Corps!  I wish each one of us could say as John the Baptist said, (John 3:30) “He (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease”.

4. Don’t get discouraged but setting New Year goals seems for the most part in vain because usually they are left unaccomplished! Man proposes but God disposes! The factor is people have pride and a lazy sinful flesh that gets in the way so most people put forth very little interest in their own physical or spiritual development: but this we must change. People in general are undisciplined and do not pay attention to their inner voice of conscious of right and wrong, and then take the conviction to do what is right for God no matter the cost & sacrifice!

To please God you and I must produce fruit for God’s kingdom and that requires seriousness, dedication, work, sacrifice, discipline, humility, and a resilience to the resistance, mockery, and persecution that others will lay on you for doing what’s Godly. These attributes mentioned do not appear to be attractive qualities at first since you must put forth so much effort but in the end, these are values that will invoke respect from others (of high caliber people anyway) and this will produce respect for one’s self, not to mention God’s respect!

5. One simple doctrine of the Salvation Army is to live a Holy life. Today, because so many people have lost their holiness and failed to live as a real Christian should, there exists an increasing overpowering subliminal Satanical passiveness to just let things go in everyone’s mixed up world.  Every year more indifference dominates. The promoted politically correct posture that no one should ever have feelings of guilt or remorse over any sin, scandal, or damaging failure is destroying us!  People are not being punished with appropriate consequences and they have no shame.

A true Christian, however, does not live as a brute animal that falls into any simple trap repeatedly but instead will have the Holy Spirit as an inner voice to correct them to do what is not right in their lives and not be as the cursed decaying world but instead progress in holiness from year to year sincerely evaluating what was done right and what was done wrong.

Due to an increase in the amount of people who rationalize, legitimatize and endorse sin in the world, the world is decaying beyond repair, like a losing battle with a deadly disease! Only a rise in reactionary moral movements could swing the pendulum back to the other side, but these types of movements always get heavy ridicule and persecution by the media and the powers that be. Individuals in collective groups in society have in general lost their desire and legal ability to fight-for-the-right to uphold Godly standards in leadership; however, the church should be the exception to this trend and be a light in the darkness! We must live what we pray when we repeat as Christians’ “thy kingdom come!”

The trend is ‘more of the same’ for this year and it is not good! Unless Christians wake up, pray and do their part to bring God’s holiness back into all areas of establishments, which includes within the home, the workplace, the government, and in the churches, the world’s systems will continue on with their rapid decay.

6. Do you remember when Jesus was walking with his disciples and he was hungry and they came upon a fig tree that had no fruit and Jesus condemned the tree and it withered up that same day? Mark 11:20-22 The message of eliminating the useless is affirmed by this act. This we should do at the end of a year to begin a New Year: eliminate the fruitless things quickly!

The way God assesses the useful and non-useful is collectively and individually as He takes into account that you and the group are either going up or going down in your walk with Him.  The Christian life is kind of like a roller coaster ride, you are getting higher, lower, going back up again, or slowing to a stop! Where are you on the growth track? 2013, was it an up, or down experience in your walk with God? And your spiritual fruit?  So where are you headed in 2014, up or down? Your free will is in control and you must make serious commitments to see fruit.

The entire chapter of Mark 11 teaches us a lesson on having more faith in our prayers, and the final line of verse 22 is of great importance, “Have faith in God”. The disturbing part is that the tree without any fruit was considered by Jesus worthy of quick judgment, of rapid decay and destruction, since its function of producing good fruit was not being exercised.

 7. The past for many was very discouraging and you read can read about it in the news from reports of the 2013 year. On www.drudgereport.com there was an article that 2 in 3 people who answered an inquiry stated that it was a bad year. Few people see hope or help coming, but the solution for hope is that you and I have to be one that brings it into being in our homes and community! You and I must increase our faith to bring about more good into being! Never underestimate yourself, you as a Christian living a holy life, offer the world much more hope than anyone else can! If you are doing good and producing you don’t have to worry about Jesus drying you up! The decayed dry ones of the world have the warning of what’s coming for them!

There is another verse that sends a severe warning to the decaying, to those who do not progress in their walk with God from year to year, to those who have no good fruit and little desire of His ways of correction but they instead continue in their sin. Revelation 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

8. This year of 2014 will for some will bring more growth in the things of God, more good fruit, more faith, more blessings and happiness. However, for others that are only concerned for their selves and the flesh, this year may be just as bad, if not worse, than the one that just passed!

The 2014 year, which for numerically interested people (but please restrain from superstations) adds up to number 7, and that looks good! But how you react to all the challenges that will come, whether you have faith and chose the “good and eschew the evil” in your decisions, will determine how the year’s events will turn out for you. For some the future will sadly bring more frustration, more dryness of spirit, and more bad news. But for us who are sincere Christians it will bring new opportunities to grow in faith, to get a new start to get closer to God, a new chance to climb higher with more fruit produced before the final day of the eternal solidifying of a being permanently good or evil.

Stay positive and optimistic by keeping your spirit wet with the water of God’s word so you produce fruit! The past year has brought billions of people disappointments, insecurities, frustrations, shock from scandals, feelings of personal violations, and more decay, but never under estimate the power of one person with God! A righteous Christian person accomplishes much!

May the Lord this year help you and me to make a real difference in our home, church, workplace, school, and community!  May the Lord help us to be busy this year “doing good” by getting closer to Him, growing more in faith, serving others more, saving souls for Jesus, and doing the most we can according to our gifts, calling, and potential! In Jesus Name, Amen.