Beware of the Rich Churches: AsThe Laodicians Were

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

 

Rev 3:17-19

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

                                                                                                                                                       

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

unto the churches.  Let’s pray….

Are you a piece of Merchandise?

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

The fleecing of the sheep by deceiving pastors!

2 Peter 2:3

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

John 10:10-12

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Point 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

Point 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Let’s look up …2 Tim 4:3-5

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

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

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

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

Point 3

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

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

Do not be ambitious for gain.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Romans 12:1-2

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Easter: The Uncomfortable Reality!

Easter: The Uncomfortable Reality!                               Kelly Durant    3-27-16

Mark 16: 14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

2. How many of your went to see the recent movie “Risen”? I thought it was extremely well portrayed with much detail as it was in Jesus day. It was about the story of the resurrection from the point of view of a Roman Soldier that was sent to investigate what happened at the tomb. Try to rent it or see it, it is well worth it!

My favorite part was when the Roman Soldier found the ropes that sealed the rock frayed from being burst open. This Roman knew what a cut rope would look like, but ropes burst apart? I am sure many people in Jerusalem experienced revelations that caused them to believe in the resurrection as in the story of this soldier!

The truth is no one will respect or follow a leader once they are dead if they were an oppressor, liar, or a con. However, Jesus teachings still rules over thousands of millions even today because He was love and truth! When an evil person dies, as in the case of King Herod, the whole town celebrated! When Jesus died, many mourned but few, we observe by scripture, really expected Him to rise up out of the tomb. The first Easter, His resurrection, transformed humanity into a celebrated victory over death! But the first Easter did not exactly start out as a celebrated moment though.

3. Let’s go more into depth of the verses today. It says in Mark, “He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen”. I don’t know how you feel after getting rebuked for doing something wrong, but personally I feel embarrassed and humiliated! I would not feel too festive and happy. We celebrate Jesus resurrection today but the first encounter with Him made everyone feel afraid and ashamed of their selves.

Imagine witnessing a person die in such a horrific manner as Jesus did, and fearing the Sanhedrin might come to kill you now, but then you see the crucified Son of Man walking around with holes in their hands and feet, I think it would make any one of us so scared we would faint. It is like when you see a ghost, you feel mortified because you know it is a creature with supernatural power. Jesus showing himself to be supernaturally alive contradicted what is understood concerning reality, logic, and the physically possible!

So to prove it is Himself, Jesus appears out of nowhere to sit down at the table with them to talk. In another instance, He also ate fish with them on the beach. He took time with them but despite being undeniably in this world, they doubted in the beginning. Jesus does not like to see people afraid and doubtful and many times he repeated to all who saw Him the word, ‘peace’! For the doubters and unrepentant Jesus presence brings fear, but for those who love Him His presence brings peace! John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid”.

4. To illustrate it was not such a celebrative moment at first, recall that the disciples when they first saw Jesus they were full of fear. Jesus had told them all several times that He would be killed and then come back, but it almost seems as if none of them really believed Him. Mark 8:31 “And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again”.

Imagine seeing all the miracles the disciples had seen and then still not believing that He had resurrected! Remember these are dedicated followers that had given up everything to follow Jesus, they had no hopes to go back to their old life, and they saw dozens and dozens of miracles and yet they still doubted?!

It just goes to show how we cannot depend on all those who say they have experienced Jesus power to remain totally faithful and doubtless through every moment of their lives. Even the most dedicated have their weak moments but the comfort is that Jesus will still love you and receive you even though He may have to rebuke you and correct your lack of faith.

5. So take it to heart, if Jesus rebuked the disciples who were in it all the way until their own martyrdom, how much more you and I should expect to get rebuked by Jesus for our lack of faith, unbelief, and obedience! John 5:21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

Our world today is the same as it was in Jesus time, there is a vast majority that will not even believe though there is proof that one was raised from the dead. And then there is also a large group that will not believe because they have not personally seen it. Both are hopeless doubters choosing death over life because they love darkness rather than light.

So what are we left to work with? Christians or believers that believe… but have doubts! But the hope is they will come around to have real faith and trust and obedience to what Jesus taught because the Holy Spirit will convict them.

6.  Easter then, in many ways, is an uncomfortable rebuke to the world! It is a mortal blow to Satan and his followers who can no longer reap dead men’s souls when the souls have been cleansed in the redeeming blood of Jesus. Jesus resurrection stripped away Satan’s power of maintaining a spiritual death over humans; that is if the human is repentant, believes, and obeys.

Easter, being a supernatural event, puts to the test every human mind and heart. A test usually provokes fear but after passing it, relief and peace come. It is amazing to me how many people in this life chose foolishly what they will believe in, thinking they will never answer for their actions. Read the Proverbs, they teach much about fools who refuse to fear and honor God, and their own destruction comes by their own choices.

Easter is a reminder that Jesus rebuked the doubting followers! Year after year during these special moments of celebration we must face the fact that some of our Christian brothers are not living pure repented lives displaying that they truly fear God, believe His word, and obey. Once you realize Jesus is alive and present in the here and now through the Holy Spirit speaking in your mind, it will make you be afraid as the 11 disciples at first were!

7. The most foolish thing one can do in life is to doubt something that gives you a win win situation such as is the case in believing in the resurrection of Jesus. If you and I simply accept and believe then we can be sure that we are saved by faith: saved meaning saved from the judgement for the wrongs we have done and also saved from a second death (spiritual one) and be resurrected. Romans 10: 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

What have you got to lose by proclaiming Jesus as risen except losing a dozen worthless prideful friends who are materialistic atheistic self-lovers? Start talking about Jesus to everyone you know for a week and see how many still keep you as a friend! They will be a good friend indeed if they are brave enough to allow your light of Jesus to shine in their darkened heart. I lost a few dozen so called friends at age 21 when I got on fire for God, yet I have gained thousands of trustworthy loving Christian friends in dozens of cities in return! You here are my friends that I never would have met if I had not taken the path of proclaiming Jesus risen.

The resurrection is real as 2 billion Christians proclaim today! However, if one were to entertain an idea that it were not real we would be as Paul states in I Cor 15: 16 “For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” But I KNOW we will not be disappointed!

8. You and I have full trust that these ancient records in the Bible are truth and come from God’s anointed; that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and all the 11, plus the hundreds of other men and women, had a supernatural experience witnessing Jesus’ presence in His resurrected body. This is an experience you and I have not personally had but choosing to believe their story will unexplainably fill your spirit full of hope, peace, and a sense of eternity. When you believe, you inherently know it is truth and you will even die for it!

I also trust the testimonies of the millions of Christians that have lived before me sincerely having convictions of the truth of Jesus resurrection. If His resurrection was not something real, then what miserable lives Christians have lived being martyred and humiliated by most every evil government that has ever existed!

Here is a personal belief, I think that people who ask God if Jesus is really who He says He is or not, that God reveals His truth to them. Jesus in a dream revealed to me I had a mission to stop being who I was and to go into the world and save souls. And I obeyed the call! I have been reading testimonies from Christian news sources that many Muslims are getting revelations that Jesus is the Son of God.

9. Now back to our verses of today. Did you catch how Jesus rebuked the 11 for not believing (vs14) “those who had seen Him after He had risen”. Who is He referring to? That was Mary! Jesus showed his resurrected body first to her. What does that mean? It means He trusted her to be the witness to all the others and it seems they thought that she was just a woman being emotional and delusional. 

So Mary was in essence being praised while they were being rebuked. The pride of man is an evil thing. Then the next uncomfortable part is vs 15. And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature”. This verse, in my opinion, has been one of the least obeyed verses in the Bible. Very few Christians, dedicate their lives to travel in all the world just to preach Jesus. Thank God every first disciple obeyed! Soon afterwards every believer obeyed and went out preaching Jesus after gaining power from the Holy Ghost as we read in Acts 1. 

So doubting resurrection and not recognizing the first Easter as a reality will get you a rebuke from Jesus! Not listening to those who make you uncomfortable with the good news will get you a rebuke from Jesus. But being spiritually uncomfortable is the way God gets you and me to move out into action!

10. And the final inconvenient uncomfortable reality is vs16 “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” How clear is that? If you believe that Jesus lives, you will live as well! If not you will be condemned to let nature’s death take its course; it’s as simple as that.

And the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is a must! John states in Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. Do you feel uncomfortable? Let Jesus peace in!

The fire is what purifies our hearts and minds of all sin. It brings on the full repentance bringing us into holiness, obedience, and most importantly, living our lives motivated by God’s love! The Salvation Army’s mission statement makes it clear; we are “motivated by the love of God!”

Today, if believing that Jesus is as alive as He was over 2,000 years ago has not penetrated your doubtful heart, come and pray to accept Him in your heart and then Romans 10:9-10 will be a reality for you. You will be saved and resurrected when He returns. John 6:40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” Pray!

The First Palm Sunday and The Purge

The First Palm Sunday and The Purge                                  Kelly Durant

Mark 11:1-25

2. How many of you like crime stories? It usually begins with a piece of the evidence in front of you, but all the pieces you have to put together so you understand all of what happened. What led up to the incident? Who are the suspects involved? Often the initial evidence makes you think only one event happened, but later when you piece together all the events, things look quite different. The guilty ones at first might appear as good until we discover the bad things they were doing. Many unexpected things come out!

Today is Palm Sunday and it is a special Sunday celebrated by all Christians worldwide! At first glance praising and palms in the road seems all good, most everyone in Jerusalem was praising Jesus. Isn’t that beautiful? In places where church members cannot get palm branches they use other types of branches, or at least they do a special observance of some kind. Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem was something outstandingly phenomenal and this is why all Christians everywhere keep this tradition alive. It is a way for all Christians to relive the honoring of Jesus as the King of Kings, as the King of Jerusalem (the New Jerusalem), and as the promised Messiah from the linage of David.

Let’s follow the series of events as Mark records it in Chapter 11. There is first the grand arrival into Jerusalem, but then there is fig tree that gets cursed because it does not have any fruit? What does that have to do with anything? Soon we will see.

3. Jesus takes the initiative in preparing His entry as His instructions to his disciples were that they should bring Him a colt not ridden before. It was not customary for pilgrims to going into Jerusalem riding an animal, they generally completed the trip to the temple on foot. But Jesus always did things differently!  Zech. 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Jesus fulfilled all prophetic scripture as He is the King, and the people are jubilant, He rode upon a donkey, and humility and purity were represented. At that time, Jesus knew the messianic significance of his entry and later all could see it for what it was.

The fact that the people shouted, “Hosanna!” or Hoshana (Heb) implies that they knew they were honoring Him as the Lord, as that word of praise was applied for one who would “save”, so they were recognizing His messiahship as the “Savior”! Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!

4. After all that praise and excitement Jesus and his disciples were hungry and you would expect good spirits, right? But they came upon a fig tree that made Jesus mad because the tree was barren, and Jesus cursed it! Why? If you take into account the Old Testament you can discover how the fig tree and bearing fruit is symbolic. Jesus spoke clearly about bearing fruit comparing it to spiritual fruit. We as Christians must have fruit good or we will die dry and cursed. Those connected to Jesus should be as a flourishing vine that produces good grapes, healthy saved souls.

Jesus was letting the world know that Israel in His day was finished; it was as a dried tree yielding no fruit for God. Look up Jeremiah 8:13 “I will surely consume them,” says the Lord. “No grapes shall be on the vine, Nor figs on the fig tree, And the leaf shall fade; And the things I have given them shall pass away from them.” That is a very clear prophecy! Matthew 21:43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.”

The O.T. prophets used metaphors to illustrate what God was going to do for or against the nation of Israel. Here Jesus does the same; this event has meaning beyond its face value. When Jesus says to the tree in vs. 14 “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.”, he basically was affirming that no one would ever get fed spiritually ever again by remaining with spiritually barren Israel. Jesus was the new Israel bearing fruit, and Jews, gentiles, and all nations now were the fruit God accepted through Jesus as the Messiah.

5. The destruction of the fig tree is associated with judgment as we find in Hosea 2:12 “I will ruin her vines and her fig trees, which she said were her pay from her lovers; I will make them a thicket, and wild animals will devour them.”

John chapter 15, which was a message after the last supper, makes it clear that we as followers of Jesus are not to be fruitless as Israel was or we are worthy of a fiery judgement. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. Jesus warns there is a purge, a purge for those who have no fruit for God.

I see a contrast here of signals here. For one, Jesus is praised in the streets as never before and Jesus instead of mentioning it or elaborating on it, makes a symbolic point that He wants to be honored not by loud praises, not by coats and palms in the street, but rather by real fruit for God! It reminds me of his words to the Samaritan woman in John 4:23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” The ones of Jerusalem were not worshipping Him in truth as one week later the Jerusalem crowds yelled to crucify Him!

6. So you may by now see why I connote Palm Sunday referring to it within the context of a purge. We just covered how the next event of the fig tree was a symbolic miracle event to show God’s purge on the fruitless establishment (trees). Now let’s notice, it was right after all that praise going into Jerusalem that Jesus went into the temple of the Jews to purge it of its greediness and worship of money over worship of God.

Jesus was angered that the temple of God, where believers gathered supposedly with the intent to worship, pray and learn from God’s word, had made God’s house a lucrative endeavor. They were there not to worship God but there for the money!  He took a whip to the money changers and overturned tables and what did He say?  Mark 11:17 (b)“Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves. ” 18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.

So this is why here in our Salvation Army we don’t allow people to come in and sell merchandise on Sunday! Some churches sell DVDs and books written by the pastor on Sundays, but we don’t allow any of that. If I write a book now, it is TSA property and no royalties go to me but to TSA. This modern materialistic trend is making merchandize of the people. 2 Peter 2: 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Some mega churches ask to see your W-2 to be sure you will give 10% of that and your membership is just to finance their luxuries! In John 15 Jesus was speaking to His followers so Christians are forewarned of judgement as well for worshipping money using the name of Jesus! He will say one day to their spirit in the judgement say to them, “I never knew you!”

7. Jesus’ purging out of the Temple is a prophetic sign that the Temple of the Jews, being corrupted, would no longer be needed or relevant. Why? Because in a short time, Jesus was going to die and be resurrected and Jesus’ sacrifice of atonement is a sacrifice that is effective for all time, past, present, future. Heb 7:27 Who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he (Jesus) did once, when He offered up himself.

No longer would there be a need for the animals to be sold at expensive prices and sacrifices be made in their Temple anymore, because Jesus was going to be the sacrifice for all nations forever! And believing on Jesus, praying, worshipping, and studying is something anyone should have cost free! Many people come to our Corps with no money and always our doors are open to anyone, and those who know me, know that I treat those who cannot support with us money get the same respect as those who do!

This purging act has another meaning as well. It is to remind us how God is a jealous God and we are to gather to worship only Him with no other interests! Through Jesus reactive actions we get a confirmation that God violently hates people who are in a temple for any reason other than to pray, worship, and study. Making money is what most everyone does 6 days a week, so to continue to desire profit on the 7^th day instead of a time out with God is an offense to Him breaking the law to keep the Sabbath holy. We are not legalistic, but God had reason for all his commands.  

8. So the initial evidence, the first event of Jesus going into Jerusalem at first appears to be the highlight of His ministry. He is finally recognized as the promised savior and messiah fulfilling prophecy being a descendant of King David. You would think that going there to get honored with palms and coats was all the picture you needed to see. The disciples and all of us forgot this: Mark 10:33 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles

But as I mentioned like in a crime scene, one piece of evidence is not enough, you need all the pieces. The next two events of Jesus were those of judgement and purification. After all, Jesus multiplied fish and bread, He could have just caused figs to grow instantly on the tree but He didn’t. He wanted those who knew the words of the prophets to bear witness to the fact God will totally dry up a fruitless tree. The tree is symbolic of an organism with a central trunk and branches of followers, of a nation, or even an individual life. The disciples were astonished at how quickly the unfruitful tree shriveled up. Remember also Jesus Laments over Jerusalem.  Luke 13:34  “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 brood under her wings, but you were not willing!

9. And after the frustration of going hungry over those who produce nothing, Jesus let explode His Godly wrath against those who were starving others spiritually using the Temple of God for their monetary personal gain in a final act of upsetting the money changers. The temple teachers were useless being, “Blind leaders of the blind” (Matt 15:14) seeking wealth from the people that they were exploiting in the name of God instead of teaching everyone about the love of God.  

Not long before Jesus crucifixion he said this to the hypocrites: Matt 22: 15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Jesus hates hypocrites who rob God of souls!

So on Palm Sunday here is what we understand: 1) that Jesus is the Son of God, the savior of the world that takes away all sin and praise and submission is due Him; 2) that Jesus will not tolerate and will judge those who produce no good fruit for God, 3) that Jesus gets violently angry when the supposed people of God exploit others for their own material wealth profaning intended places of worship.

10. In conclusion, we know now that many of the praises heralding Jesus were hypocritical as they cried out to, “Crucify Him” a week later. This type of hypocrisy is hard to deal with as the false worshippers sing praises while in church and then they will curse the person who will not let them turn out of the church parking lot! Ask yourself, have I ever been a hypocrite in my worship of Jesus? Do I praise Him always no matter the circumstances, good or bad? Do I praise Him with a clean and honest heart? Praise is not just a “hallelujah’ or a ‘Hosanna’, praise to Jesus is a lifestyle of love and service to God!

We can observe today that many churches and religions do not have sweet fruits to feed the followers, but rather they gather thorns with rude and arrogant personalities. Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Matt.7:20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Each individual must bear fruit but that only comes if they are infused with the sap (the Holy Spirit) from the true vine, Jesus Christ. Ask yourself, am I sweet with good fruit, or am I like a thorn and a dried up tree? Tell us, what are your good works?

And finally, Jesus violently hated the hypocrisy of those whose God was not the true God of love, but rather Mammon, the God of money. Are you angry with the hypocrites and thieves?  You should be! There are many out there today! Imagine people not going to a temple to worship God but rather to admire and show off wealth or position and to gain wealth from church members. The replacement of God with the worship of Satan for material gain will not go unpunished. Palm Sunday brought on a purge! Ask God examine your heart and to purge you! so you worship Him in spirit and in truth, bearing fruit for Him in your life, getting clean of hypocrisy loving Him above any riches. Let’s pray… 

Lazarus Proves Life…Judas Proves Death

Lazarus Proves Life…Judas Proves Death                                               Kelly Durant    3-3-16

John 11:1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. 2 There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. 3 Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 4 But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, 5 “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. 7 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. 8 For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.”

2. Have you ever passed out? Have you ever blacked out and later they tell you all the things that happened to you? It is kind of scary knowing you were not in control, right? But sometimes people still have a consciousness and they saw their body while they roamed around watching what was happening. It is something unexplained like the articles about people who have died and then come back to life. Are you aware that your brain will die only after 3 to 7 minutes without oxygen since the cells of the body need the blood flow? We really are delicate creatures and God is keeping us alive for His purpose!

Today anyone can find thousands of stories and books about people who have died and come back to life. (Here is only one link…http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/29/us/to-heaven-and-back/) I find each story very fascinating! The factor though is most of them were dead several hours and then came back, but according to science this is impossible and is a modern day miracle that anyone could ever revive! And today it is unheard of for a person to be dead several days and then come back to life.

Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after 4 days and that obviously was an amazing and frightening miracle! Imagine seeing a corpse walking like dead zombie coming out of the grave and taking off the wrappings on his body that for sure stunk horribly. And then after a few suspenseful minutes after Lazarus unwraps his body everyone starts to see the person they knew and he is well and in his right mind! After that miracle many believed on Jesus! John 11: 45 Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. (But also note the non-believing Jews wanted to kill Jesus?!)

3. Have you noticed that Jesus did this miracle of raising up the dead a few days before He was to be crucified, buried in a similar manner as Lazarus, be resurrected? Jesus wanted to show that His power of giving life to the dead could extend to anyone. He also did this miracle out of love for Lazarus and his family! And imagine this, Jesus felt Mary and Martha’s pain so much over this loss that it is here we find the shortest verse in the Bible, John 11:35 “Jesus wept”. Reviving a dead person is something shocking and no one had ever witnessed this before and you would think all the townspeople would have wanted to honor and protect Jesus so He could heal and resurrect thousands more! But it was not that way, later in Chapter 12 it tells us that the Jews were trying to find Lazarus so they could kill him! Imagine the gall to want to kill a man who came out of the grave! They wanted Jesus dead too!

So with miracles some believed He was the Son of God, yet others only got irate and felt threatened. Imagine those being so full of Satan that they refused to recognize Jesus’ miracles! Plotting to kill Lazarus in order to stop other Jews from believing on Him to me seems beyond cruel and audacious. But the same reactions concerning miracles continue today; those that believe simply believe by faith alone despite not reconciling the facts that a miracle is simply from God! And Jesus also said in John 20:29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Most of us have not seen a direct miracle yet we believe. But those who reject Jesus and miracles get full of Satan and get murderously angry against those who believe!

John 9:9 Now a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 10 But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also, 11 because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

4. So Jesus showed off to the world that He had the power to resurrect the dead! How great that was, so everyone wanted to celebrate with Lazarus! Once together at the dinner party, Mary decides she’s wants to be special with Jesus and washes his feet with and expensive perfume and with her tears.

That act of love in itself requires a whole another in depth study and a message for another day! How many of you have heard sermons on the washing of Jesus feet? What love, compassion, appreciation, passion and inspiration! Mary felt the need to show love in an outstanding way, to give back; she wanted to give up all her savings and life for Jesus! This is the epitome of love and generosity! Everyone could smell the sweetness of the perfume and witness her great love!

But always when something wonderful takes place, there will always be those who think they know more than others to counter it. How many times must all of us experience the opinion of the naysayers? Hearing the opinion of those who do little, but they are always ready to criticize the good of others gets old fast. Invalid opinions are the plague in the news today! One of Satan’s tactics is to downplay the facts and the evidence of the good in a person and attack with a counter alternative so that the evil one can appear better than the truly good one! (This is self-declared goodness, not a goodness by merit). Satan has always been playing politics confusing who is better than who!

5. So Jesus, like many of us who love Him, never get a break from hearing those who want to criticize and downplay the good getting done. Jesus raised Lazarus and then the news is the priests wanted to kill Him and Lazarus! The priests wanting to kill?! Jesus must have just arrived at this wonderful supper to be with Lazarus and family, and coming in the door everyone’s feet needed to get washed and Mary chose to wash His feet with a perfume and to dry his feet with her hair, radical and shocking, right? So now the next criticism now comes out of the mouth of one of His own supposed followers, Judas. Everyone should have said, “Wow, look how she loves Him!” but instead, as usual, the critical comments overtook the stage ignoring the passionate good happening.

What did Judas say? Vs. 5 “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” Let’s analyze this a minute. Judas is seeing something worth the salary of 300 days of work being applied to Jesus feet. What we know today is that Judas did not value Jesus feet or anything Jesus taught for that manner! He was the weak link through whom Jesus was betrayed. Jesus had done miracles to feed the poor in the past and everyone knew Jesus was in control of all situations. Jesus in the past had already showed that He cared for the poor feeding them, but in this case He knew that she was preparing His body with this special perfume as if He were already a dead corpse! It was for His burial and I doubt anyone at that moment perceived it as such, maybe not even she knew it. (Amazing all the pieces that factor into Jesus life!)

Jesus did not need a coach, someone thinking they knew better than Him telling Him what he should or should not allow. It is the same in the church, some leaders are anointed and take wise decisions but just because it was not the decision some less involved person wanted, then all hell breaks loose with criticisms and, “He should be doing it differently” and “This is so wrong” spreading around.

6. So let’s compare the righteousness of Jesus with the self-righteousness of Judas and then think about how we too might be affected by the same Judaistic arguments today. Just think how unfair it is; many people sacrifice their selves and give up much if not all as Jesus did, yet there are those on the sidelines who are not giving up much of anything criticizing them and how things are done.

The pretext here was that Jesus did not care enough for the poor to give the money to Judas to administrate it so he could distribute it to the poor. So the first thing we notice is that Judas, the bag holder, had a self-interest, he wanted to give it to the poor. Why, we need to ask? Did Judas really love the poor that much? Or maybe we should ask what was going to be his cut of the deal? The scripture tells the truth on character and it is for us to learn by.

Vs. 6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it. 7 But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. 8 For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.”

7. In the world today there are many who pretend they will care for the poor better than others, but could they be full of Satan as Judas was? Their solution is that they want to take away from the rich, and the church, and even the from the middle class to redistribute to “the poor”. The problem is all of them are like Judas, after forcing others to hand the goods over, they do not give it all to the poor as they said they would, but rather they keep half or more for their selves! All the communist dictators who torture, steal, and commit mass murder always live a life of luxury and so do the thug leaders of their party. They control all the land, factories, military, and money and they only let their pawn countrymen live off the crumbs of the spoils. Judas was the perfect example of the first religiously hypocritical militant socialist.

Look at modern day communism as in Russia, China, Cuba, Venezuela, and any place where socialism/communism has been implemented; what happens when proud men without respect for God are in control? There is created a repressive, oppressive, corrupt Kingdom of Satan! Jesus prayed for God’s Kingdom to come, and we can see why He prayed that with all with all the murderous injustices man does. Jesus warned in John 10: 10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Here in the U.S. you may still have a little freedom of expression of faith and a little retention of wealth, but this is not so in 4/5ths to 5/5ths of the world today run by Satan!  Satan is always trying to convince others that He does not exist but He is the one who inspired Judas to betray Jesus and vocalize how He was more compassionate than Christ wanting to help the poor! It was all a lie! All self-righteous Jesus hating ‘accusers of the saints’ live to tell lies to others and they are totally deceived thinking that they are more compassionate, fair, and just than God’s people! Never believe them and expose their evil deeds! And remember, Psalm 118:8 It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man. The facts prove evil men with or without religion always use their power to abuse and destroy but to live in the fear of God, to live loving Jesus brings life, freedom, and blessings!

8. Have you ever know people who joke about their self, like the amazing concert pianist who says to you, well you know I can’t really play so good? Jesus reveals this sense of humor with Mary when He says Vs. 8 For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.” Jesus was not going to be there anymore? Say what? That was only true in part, as later He came back proving differently.

First point, for the words in the first half of the verse, Jesus is revealing to Judas and to everyone, that no matter how much you might give to the poor, the poor will always continue to exist, and why? Because the money box controllers will always hoard more than their share and let the poor suffer. Because the poor are often comfortably stuck in a poor cultural lifestyle! Also, the radical rebellious zealots against the establishment like Judas always try to manipulate your emotions saying, “Look! The Romans steal so much in taxes from you! You need to let me be in charge!” But the reality is zealots as the replacements, as the next controllers of the coffers, usually come in and steal all of what is left that the previous ones did not steal! I have personally seen this cycle over and over in the governments in South America. It is here as well, and worldwide!

History reveals that a true Kingdom of God system has never been established on earth (except amongst Christian communities as in Acts 2:44-45) so the conclusion is that the more poverty, the more oppression, and the more Satanic is the system is governing. Check the corruption scale worldwide, poverty and corruption goes hand in hand! A true sharing of the wealth will only happen in heaven!

9. So after Jesus resurrected, how is it Jesus says this before ascending into the heavens? Matt 28:20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. This contradicts what he said to Mary that “Me you do not have always”. The obvious to me is that He was doing a word play with her. What He said at the time of the supper was a reality, that that particular body of His was not going to be around anymore, but His person, His presence, and His Spirit is now for always with her, and everyone who loves Him!

So what is the challenge today? To believe on Jesus power to give eternal life! To face the reality that you are going to die one day like everyone! You will not get the chance to come back as Lazarus did, but you will come back in a more glorious body on the last day of earth! John 6:40 “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” So the beauty of dying is that if you are friends with Jesus, Jesus will resurrect you from the grave no matter how many days or years dead you are!

Another reality in life while proclaiming this faith of Jesus and of the resurrection is it is going to bring on anger and persecution from the demon controlled people nearby! Many Satanic people today are just as vicious, just as murderous, as the Jewish priests were in Jesus day towards Christ believers! And they attack you for doing good in Jesus name! You have to always be ready for attacks from the self-righteous pretenders to defend the faith and what is rightly God’s. Are you praying and reading each day?!

10. And a final word of warning is that as a true Christian you need to be prepared to defend yourself from attacks from the people of the world or that come from within the fellowship as Jesus had to deal with. Many Christian churches today are sadly caving to the evil criticisms of Judas(s) invaders attacking how things are managed and even attacking the established Christian doctrines. Observe how many church denominations are getting divided and destroyed recently! Judases attack the Christian foundations or the way things are managed from within, and then they attack how the money is spent wanting control of that, and all because they have a pretentious pride that they could do things better.

Jesus raises the dead and he holds the keys to eternal life! Matthew 10:28 “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”. (Jesus has this power) Watch out for people who criticize good leaders just as Judas criticized Jesus. Judas represents death, and he even killed himself! Judas like all zealots are out for their own worthless agendas (the zealots wanted the power over Rome) and we need the Holy Spirit to discern the characteristics and motives of those who seek their own gain instead of contributing to Jesus cause and contributing to the church which serves others in love for the salvation of souls unto life eternal.

I am not sharing this message because division is happening here in our Corps church, I am just warning everyone that division and harsh attacking words in general are dividing the people in society, and Christians amongst themselves, and we should be aware and forewarned of the enemy’s tactics. Always fight against the discouraging divisiveness people bring, it is like death, the death example of Judas!  

Come and pray and ask for Jesus to give you eternal life if you have never done it before! Don’t you want to come out of the grave like Lazarus? Come and pray and ask Jesus to give you the passionate generous love that Mary had for Jesus! Are you full of an intense love that just gives up all for Jesus? Come and confess it if you think you have ever been a mouthpiece of criticism against a good leader. Much was taught and needs to be learned from these days just right before He gives His life on the cross, but ‘remember’, then He came back to life with the power of resurrection and eternal life to grant it to anyone who seeks Him and He is with us always! Even to the end of the world!