Bondage or Liberty? People and Nations Decide: But Christians Are Free People! 4th of July

Bondage or Liberty? People and Nations Decide: But Christians Are Free People!  

4th of July   by Major Kelly Durant    7-5- 2015  Re: 6-30-24

 

John 8:36 36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Gal 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

 

2. How many of you here celebrate the 4th of July? And when is the Independence Day of your country of birth?  It is good for people to remember the day their nation was liberated from their oppressors! If we forget history, we are doomed to repeat it!

 

The 4th of July is celebrated by many people with fireworks and bar-b-ques! Did you know it is Biblical to remember when you, as a nation of people, were liberated from oppressors? In the O.T. we see the clear example of the Jews remembering the Passover. The Passover highlighted the day that pharaoh decided to let the people go with Moses to the Promised Land and be free from Egypt. We should always reflect on the O.T. because it teaches us parallels to the life of Christ. (and of the consequences that occur within nations)

 

Easter for us, as Christians, is our day of independence: It is symbolic of our liberation from our own sinful selves and death!  The Jews at that time when Jesus was resurrecting were remembering their freedom from the death angel in Egypt! And now over 3,000 years later for Jews, and 2,000 for the Christians, people still celebrate these liberations! Easter for the world’s 2 billion Christians is a big celebration of victory! 

 

3. It is aright to be patriotic and share in the roots of the people you live with and grew up with!  We must learn history! All of us can be very glad that Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean Islands did not remain under the domination of the Spanish and the oppression of the slave trading countries!  

 

But being Patriotic does have its limits. In American history a famous saying is, “God and country!” and the supposition is that you reverence God first then your country! Imagine if every man reverenced the hierarchy in that order, our world’s nations would be more like God’s Kingdom! What is evil is to make a god of the country, or of a despotic leader!

 

The problem today is the celebration of nations is under attack by those applying a guilt trip, that our nation because of its past sins, is not worthy. More and more the displaying of the American flag is protested and prohibited! The anti-Christ media and corrupted government officials are trying to prepare the world for a one world government, and they cannot do that if each person demands respect for their own flag and nation. The world could still have peace with individual nations if more effort were applied! Satan’s plan is to divide and conquer every nation internally so in their weak moment of turmoil, he can subdue them with an even more evil power, and not even a power of the ones engaged in the fighting.

 

4. There is a well-known image of the cycle of nations. This cycle has repeated itself with ancient Israel, with most every country, and it can be applied to the lives of certain individuals as well. At first a nation starts out in bondage, then they grow and gain strength with spiritual faith, and with faith they gain courage; they then fight to gain liberty. With liberty they then progress with abundance and blessings. But then that often leads to selfishness, complacency, apathy, and finally dependence, which is the stage where a majority people see the U.S.A. in currently! The next step is bondage again. But bondage usually comes not from the same original oppressor as was the case of Israel who were first under Egypt, Assyria, then under Babylon. Rome also subdued them horrifically causing the great dispersion, or ‘diaspora’ so they lived without a country until 1948. 

 

Today we have witnessed a dozen nations or more that have fallen under bondage within the past recent years! The oppressors are Isl*mic and Communist and these cruel heartless systems murder with no discretion. They are a plague from the Adversary that have murdered over a 100 million lives over the past 100 years! And centuries past mega millions more!

 

We keep hearing about how the world is over populated. How the U.N. has a depopulation plan, and even the Catholic Church spokespersons says climate change is due to overpopulation! http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/06/12/vatican-speaker-on-climate-thinks-there-are-6-billion-too-many-of-us/      Not all Catholics and evangelicals agree on this matter but too many Christians are confused over depopulation.         

We are being propagandized to hate our world, country, and ourselves! They say we should just accept our fate of doom and destruction! But it is God that creates life, and technology has allowed us to feed 2/3rds of the world with modern farming and if nations put forth more effort, then the other 1/3 in poverty could acquire enough food within the next decades. Yet greedy governments, corporations, and oligarchs are the main problem behind this push for us to accept our self-elimination.

 

5. Today’s liars and deceivers perpetrating bondage always speak of the need for a big-government to control of everything out of control. These all have much in common being they are pro-abortion, and pro everything immoral and anti-Christ. They wish to shift billions of dollars to select groups under new laws so in the guise of safety & liberation, but they are bringing their bondage and control over the masses (for others, not themselves). Only a degenerated populous can be controlled! Don’t be deceived these agenda pushers are extreme haters of humanity being Satanically inspired and they use fear, drugs, strange sex, and anything to weaken and win people away from God’s wisdom and blessings! These haters have a death wish like for some horrific plague to reduce the population of useless eaters on the earth. They see armies and religions that kill entire populations as useful and needed since these ‘necessary evils’ eliminate those who resist them from gaining their absolute power! 

 

The mass populous ignoramus is being crushed by progressive lawlessness, lying media outlets, with anti-Christ schools and colleges, indoctrinating young minds as putty to mold into their impending doom and destruction schemes. Don’t live in ignorance, expose evil agendas!  According to the prophecies in the book of Daniel the anti-Christ will show up as a hero to offer peace and safety to solve all these man-provoked social status racial religious conflicts, but it will be a false peace. Soon the new despot (Satan incarnated) will be demanding worship and bondage to him! Satan creates the problems through his minions, then he plans to show up as the savior of the problems he created! 

1 Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

 

6. The yoke of bondage the entire world experienced just 90 years ago was horrifyingly frightening! The Japanese soldiers controlled one half of the globe and the Germans soldiers controlled the other half. Thank God for our forefathers that fought for liberty!  In the Salvation Army there are quite a few good men that after they got out of the service in WWII joined the Salvation Army to be a "saving soldier" for God.  Many people have served country and then God!  We are God’s Army, and there must exist a loyalty to country in all nations, but God must be first! The evils of mass slaughter, rape, slavery, and pillaging was semi conquered then, but today once again these evils are furiously and rapidly on the rise spreading Satan’s chaos and confusion within dozens of countries including ours!

 

The Salvation Army’s day of inception is recognized as starting on July 2nd, 1865, and it is important to keep this celebration alive today! Our fight is to free souls doing all the work we can to liberate the spiritual captives, those who are slaves to sin and darkness, slaves to bondage, to mental problems and demons, to drugs, perverse sex, fear, and to anything not of God. Let’s look up a part in the scripture where Jesus gives His very first message in his mission: to give people freedom! Jesus came to liberate! 

 

Isaiah. Isa 61:1

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

 

7. Jesus is very interested in the liberty and spiritual freedom of each of us! He wants you and me to have an Independence Day celebration!  When you first repented and received Jesus that was your Independence Day of sin and death and your rebirth into the family of God with eternal life! 

 

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

 

My date is the same as my birthday 3-24, because it was coincidently then when I was 21 that I began a training to go abroad with a Christian mission, and I left 6 months later to serve the Lord in Brazil, and then in other countries for 14 years!  I thank God I chose that instead of staying bound in the world of sin I was in! When you are in the University smoking marijuana acting proud, ugly sinful people praise you, but when you free yourself from sin and seek God and purity, people run from you like you have the plague! Oppression and bondage is comfortable for the unsaved majority but the consequence is eternal bondage (hell) if one is not freed!

  

8. Just like the 13 Colonies of the US had to choose that they would no longer submit to the oppression of the King of England, we too must value independence and liberty as a thing of high value and price! It requires a heavy battle, and you will lose friends, family members, personal things and you will suffer, but the end liberating result is worth it! As in the US history books, Patrick Henry said, ”Give me liberty, or give me death!” We must fight the world & its corruption of sin, or the result will be our spiritual bondage and death!

 

What’s your story of independence from sin? When were you saved? Let me hear you, when was your Independence Day when you were freed from the bondage of sin? (You may speak out loud the dates!)

 

How many of you have watched the news and seen the happiness of someone who was captive but then liberated from their guerrilla or terrorist captors? Liberation and independence is a gift from God that only God can provide for in His time! Most all of the world is under the oppression of cruel governments or religions! Women and children in particular suffer extreme abuse! We must fight to the very end! Lost souls need Jesus!  Several billion people live with no hope of escape, this is why sharing your faith about Jesus is urgent! See Mark 16:15.

 

9. How many people do you know that could be free, but instead they choose to remain captive in abusive homes? Pray for the oppressed people you know nearby to be liberated!

 

Why does oppression keep happening all around the world? Why can’t we just live out the freedom we read in the Bible verses in the beginning? How is it that if the “Son makes us free, then we are really free indeed”? Once free, we must stay free!

 

Sometime we will do an in depth study into Galatians but what was happening here in 5:1 was that the common people who were being converted to being a Christian were being told by the Jewish Christians in control in that city that they had to now submit to all the Jewish laws and customs but this was taking them back into bondage and oppression.  

 

In other words, Jesus came to free each of us from sin and the fulfilling of law and traditions, and we are to obey His commands to love God and our neighbor and preach the gospel and serve others. We will never be made perfect by being captive to legalism, be it Jewish or be it from any person, or religion, or government; no organization with strange mandates, presuppositions, and traditions can free anyone! Colossians 2:8

 

In vain the church in Galatians was trying to obtain perfection by giving up their freedom in submission to the laws of the Jewish customs! Paul rebukes them of being deceived as by witchcraft! Only God’s word frees us! Some people are too weak to stand up and proclaim what is right for their selves and others! We must fight for them! That takes boldness and a fight! Jesus fought to free us and we must fight to remain free and free others!  

 

10. Here is a sad reality; many people live years under the fear and oppression of Satan (even in free countries under a subsystem as in a cult, or under evil overlords) and when they accept Christ they experience a new strange feeling, freedom! Freedom is a true authentic independence! If you feel freedom from fear, a clean conscious, and a warm strength from God within keep claiming it and living it! Live free!  Do not let the Enemy come back to tell you, this is too good to be true, this is uncomfortable, this is not normal! Don’t listen when Satan says, ‘Go back to the old way!’ Rebuke Satan in Jesus name! Christians are free indeed!

 

Since the devil cannot persuade you or I to stop believing in Christ, he tries to persuade us to stop being free!  People without the independence God wants to give them fall back into bondage, under fear, oppression, or legalism! We need God’s word daily! So if you feel uncomfortable that there is freedom in Christ that is a good thing! Get use to feeling uncomfortably good! That is why Jesus came and died to do for you, to liberate you! 

 

Look at it like this, Jesus has set in motion the real New World Order! (which in the near future will be His victorious government or Kingdom of God) This will occur soon after an independence war against the anti-Christ and his armies, Jesus will be the victor. Oh, victory in Jesus! You owe to Him everything! You're owe to Jesus every bit of your loyalty, love, soul, worship, service, and everything because He is the One in eternal power! John 8:36 36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

 

11. Many countries have been liberated in the past, but many have also fallen back into oppression by abusive governments and ambitious rulers. In other words, freedom from Spain or England’s oppression did not guarantee freedom forever from new local oppressors! Do you see the point? Even here today our freedoms are in great danger of being eroded into bondage! On earth there is no real liberation or independence except through Jesus! Only Jesus frees each individual, never can man’s systems give you what they promise! And we see what too many broken promises by man’s failed systems do, do we not?

 

Examine your own life right now... Are you being oppressed by someone or by your own guilt for not obeying Jesus as you should? Do you really have freedom and independence and celebrate it? 

There could be a dark spiritual force oppressing you: a coworker, a family member, or even your own mind could be making you miserable because it is not fully transformed under the liberty of Christ! The outcome will always be bondage and oppression when you submit to anything other than Jesus Christ the liberator!

 

Don’t misinterpret freedom to be an excuse to do whatever you please though. We need organization and certain rules, an order, to function by but those are only for our own protection and good. But the rules or laws of a nation or a church is not providing our purpose or message, our main message is Jesus Christ’s liberating and soul saving love! Amen? Let’s pray now for you personally to be free in Christ! Free from oppression & from fear! Remember Christ will make you free indeed!

Jesus' Truths: How Scandalous! But the Truth Makes You Feel Good!

Jesus’ Truths: How Scandalous! The Truth Makes You Feel Good!                                   Kelly Durant    8-21-16. Re: 6-23-24

John 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

2. Have you ever thought of Jesus in a way that on a few occasions He was coincidentally a comedian with His actions and statements of truth? You and I should always try to put ourselves in the middle of Jesus stories and try to see the whole picture, and then we will be able to see that Jesus’ teaching more than just what you first take note of. He was the ultimate divine teacher who often applied double meanings, inferences, and other connotations to make His points.

For example, the story of Jesus healing the girl that was already dead. Matthew 9:23-25  23 And when Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise 24 He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn 25 But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.

What’s happening here? The singers and everyone are trying to cheer everyone up because the young girl was dead! How sad, right!? And I assume all the noise of the singers was not alleviating the pain and sorrow very much either! So Jesus shows up and he says, ‘She is not dead, she is sleeping’. Everyone knows the difference between a cold dead, breathless body and a sleeping one, so how is it that this healer with great fame shows up and makes such a stupid statement as this?! What, the healer is an ignorant fool!? He can’t discern between sleep and death? (We see Jesus does not mind a laugh, even if the laugh is on Him!)

It says they, ‘laughed him to scorn’. In other words with one sentence, Jesus brought on laughter that may have lasted an hour and helped them get past their pain! But I am sure they did not laugh when he made her come back to life again! They were probably scared, trembling, and in awe, yet very ecstatic at the same time that she was alive again! 

3. Most people focus on the miracle of the healing but what can we conclude observing these unusual words of Jesus? We might conclude that He liked to captivate the listeners with every word He spoke! I find that to understand this from various angles, you must look into the context of the culture and people.

For example, when a comedian tells a joke about anyone, say Latinos, you must know what words that group uses, and how they express their selves in their culture for it to be funny to you. Like the Latino ordering a meal from his car in McDonalds and the young Latino from inside asks, “And what fountain drink do you want?” But there is silence, then the question, “What, what do you say I want?” Reply, ‘Fountain drink’? Silence…What is fountain drink? And the young man inside says, “Es una soda, chico”! And the man in the car says, “Que idiota eres! Why didn’t you just say ‘soda’, stupid? (Soda is always used in Spanish, never fountain drink, which does not translate into anything near the meaning of a ‘gaseous’ drink)

So let me tell you more about how certain things are inferred on the first sermon of Jesus, the one on the Mount. Matt. 5:3 ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’. Consider this, much of the populous then had the same mindset as many today recognizing what was being said was controversial and they questioned, “What?” The poor are blessed, not the rich?! Wow, alright, finally, a man of truth! Keep it coming Jesus! Sock it to all the evil loudmouthed arrogant oppressive rich people! Remind them that they are not going to get into heaven! That’s right, if a person wants heaven they need to be humble, meek, and poor like us! Praise God! You see? All you rich aggressive governors, Romans and priests don’t qualify for heaven! (unless repentant) This is the inferred and this brought them inner joy that real justice did exist! The same as today, we long for humble leaders! We long for words from God that make us happy and free.

4. Vs. 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. The Romans were extreme in being macho and flint faced. In that culture you were expected to hide your pain and feelings because you were a proud leader! And thinking of the Romans, If a battalion failed in battle, one in every ten Soldiers were killed as a punishment to provoke fear, and forget expressing tears for your friends being murdered! The climate was that no one of authority should mourn death! But this is very unhealthy! So, Jesus granting liberty to express one’s feelings of sorrow, was liberating and healing! He says by mourning that you would receive comfort…meaning from God…what good news! These words of truth brought inner joy and comfort!

Now here is a strong one, vs. 5 “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth”. If I were a poor nobody in that crowd, I would be rejoicing thinking, ‘Jesus you are God’s man for real!’ Jesus was, in an inferring way, insulting all the terrible aggressive political and religious oppressors! He was disqualifying the powerful, the strong, and the proud city leaders by qualifying the little meek ones as those who are exalted by God! 

The inner joy of the listener is this: Finally someone speaks what we needed to hear, that those terrible corrupt people would not keep dominion in the world but rather lose it all! How amazing, Jesus knew how to speak in such way that one could read through the lines and understand the inferred. And as always, in a climate of lies and deception, of religious and political deception, and of manipulation, by default the truth of God becomes the enemy and it is hated! So what was going to be the reaction of the evil people who were going to persecute Jesus? They schemed to punish Him for being the messenger of truth! Jesus made many feel good, but a few evil ones were furious and wanted Him dead!

5.  Jesus continues on and answers that in verses 10-12. Jesus knew that people will persecute you for being righteous and for speaking the truth! 10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

What is strange and ironic is that getting persecuted for the truth will make you feel glad and good! Usually when we see an authority or some angry person out to punish, persecute, and mistreat someone we assume the person attacked deserves it because they must have provoked it. This misguided deducted logic comes from our flawed carnal human nature. Jesus’ words must rewire each person’s brain totally to see the truth clearly, because only His Words and virtues are the ones that redeem, save, and purify the soul. We all need to ask for more of the Holy Spirit’s discernment when it comes to all information we hear!

What Jesus wants us to perceive when the truth is spoken, is that you and I will know which group of violators it is intended for, as it is the ‘hit dogs will howl’! The truth on the ears of the righteous makes them happy and even laughing, but to the contrary, those who come out of the woodwork to persecute, defame, hate, and harm the truth bearers are the demonic ones who cannot take the truth of God! Ironically God’s truths, that offend one group of shamelessly guilty people, liberate and bring joy to others who receive them!

6. So did anyone in the crowd get up and say, ‘Shut up Jesus!?’ No, the crowd felt conviction that Jesus was totally right in all that he had to say, the factor was no one had ever said it as concise and as powerful as Jesus had! At that time everyone read from the prophet’s writings, but the ones reading these writings to the people did not practice them; so the truth when communicated by hypocrites brings mockery. And the truths of God repeatedly apply from one generation to the next; we all note that Jesus often quoted the prophets.

The truths of God are universal and they bring liberation and happiness to those who hear them. “The truth will set you free!” John 8:32 And as in the verse of today from John 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. What happens is Jesus brings us inner happiness and joy because His words are God breathed and they encourage, liberate, and strike a chord in our being. While uplifting the humble, weak, and suffering ones, Jesus at the same time was exposing the evil that other leaders at the time feared to expose. This was scandalous! He exposed the uselessness of being so caught up in the proud, heavy, disgusting dry sorrow of the world where one loses focus on the joy and heavenly relief, and even laughter, that can be right there in the midst of us.

7. Here is a verse I love: Psalm 126:2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for them. This verse I believe is intended to be applied to Jesus! Can you imagine Jesus laughing with His disciples? It will be this way in heaven! So many things that Jesus said and did have a funny side to them, if you look for it! And yet so many Christians we know rarely laugh because they are self-focused instead of kingdom of God focused so they are usually upset about something! 

Don’t we all just want to be happy in God? Don’t many people come to church so they can hear the Word of God and just see their brothers and sisters and forget about the problems in the world and at home? When you and I reflect on Jesus the things of earth grow dim in His glorious light! Coming to church for the fellowship melts away that heavy spirit, it makes go away that headache you woke up with, and God’s word brings you and me inner peace, joy, and good feelings! We can catch the joy if we just connect to Jesus’ Word. You should be tuning out the ever present problems suffocating you and getting a fresh renewal of Jesus when you seek God, amen?

C.S. Lewis expressed it well that, “The world is too much with us!” The inferred truth here is that often we as humans have a tendency to pay too much attention to news, gossip, hearsay, rumors, and ungodly people with ungodly agendas and consequently we get depressed, angry at others, and de-syncopated with God. Better it is to spend time reading the scriptures that bring happiness and joy rather than to let the sound of your own wheels (or those of the grind of the world) drive you crazy!! 

8. Try to start making an effort today and from now on to just totally empty yourself and quiet down your own spirit daily. How great you will feel if you can just capture the full joy and emotional intensity of Jesus words which can make you feel like laughing at times. Let His joy and the Holy Spirit will take over your mind, heart, and spirit. Feed the good wolf, not the bad one, on your shoulder!

Do you want to know how good you should be feeling when in God’s will? Open to, Acts 2:15 ‘For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.’ (9 am). What is inferred here is Jesus followers are laughing and having a good time as if drunk! This is the joy Jesus wants you and I to have, like that of a drunk person! Have you ever been drunk? Better yet, let me ask have you ever felt so good talking about Jesus that you were ecstatic and bubbling over with Jesus’ Truths!with this kind of joy? I have! But if not, then you need to start preaching Jesus because this wonderful feeling comes when you preach His gospel! 

I can pray for you to be happy, for you to lighten up and laugh, for you to see the humor in Jesus, for you to laugh at yourself, but as always, God’s will and your will must line up together or nothing wonderful will happen! I can’t give you joy or make you laugh, and not even Jesus can give you HIs joy unless you are willing to do your part to fully absorb God’s word of truth and its implications and then obey them totally. It requires repentance. Jesus’ joy will remain in you if you keep on connected to Him! Otherwise, with no change of heart, with no Holy Spirt purge, with no seeking after holiness, you will remain as your same old grumpy dry self that neither God nor those around you are able to put up with! Let’s pray…

REAL FATHERS, ARE MEN OF GOD!

         REAL FATHERS, ARE MEN OF GOD!

 

Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:

5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

 

2. The famous author Mark Twain said that when he was 14, he could not stand to be around his father because he was so dumb, but by the time he was 21 he was amazed at how much smarter his father had become in only 7 years! To be a father requires maturity and learning many things, ha! Who is learning the most?

 

They say that a woman has to prepare for 9 months and then spend the rest of her life taking care of the child that the man made in only a few minutes! But today we are talking about fathers, not mothers even though mothers have a high place of esteem.

 

There are many cultures that treat the role of the father in different ways. Almost always the man is looked upon as the one who provides for the family, and he must be a moral and spiritual leader. Our Father, in heaven, Jesus describes as the One who provides for us our daily bread. He is the one who cares for us. He loves us. He also corrects us when we go the wrong way. 

 

3. God is the One who created the idea of families and he intended for the man to be very involved in the life of his wife and his children. The men who are not involved and communicating and being responsible usually end up with a lot of problems as you reap what you sew, or you don’t sew. 

 

The first step for a man to be capable of being a good father is for him to recognize that he has a Father over him, who is God. If he gives honor and respect to someone over Him, he becomes a good example to his children, and they will in turn honor and respect him. 

It works both ways, if he doesn’t honor God or his father or anyone, his children will not learn honor and respect him, and men reap what they sew by the example they set.

 

And we should always remember that we as men should always take for a good example, God as our Father, because there are many many people out there who are like me, who grew up not having a physical father present in their daily lives, and there are plenty of people who have had bad and abusive fathers, and it is hard to distinguish which situation is worse! 

 

4. Let’s take an example of a man of God, Samuel, who was dedicated by Eli to the Lord, and he became the next prophet of the nation of Israel. He was an outstanding man of God. Also, remember father Abraham. God tested him to see if he would give up his son and sacrifice him and the amazing thing is that he was ready to carry it out. But God did not make him do it, it was only a test, but later God gave up his only son for us! 

 

So, we can conclude that the next thing a good father does is that he dedicates his children to God. But dedicating is really not enough, a man needs to take charge and be the spiritually leader as often as he can in the evenings when he is back from work so he can teach his kids Bible stories and all about the Lord.

 

Another important thing that a good father will do is pray often with his family and pray for his children and pray God’s blessing on them. I really hope you fathers out there are doing that. You will see a difference in your kids!

 

5. Let’s take a look at the consequences of our society not holding on to their values and letting the men get away with not being fathers. Isn’t it about one in 2 people divorce in the USA today? And the sad part is that Christians too have about the same amount of divorce! We haven’t even begun to see the all the bad effects of this in our society. But even now, juveniles commit many crimes, and statistics show that most of the problem makers, who are those who really are love starved, and wanting attention, and are inventing bad ways to get it, are those who do not have a father.  

 

And here is another problem in the factor; fathers are under attack in many areas of our current degenerate society! Many news articles I’ve read claim that for the past 3 decades there has hardly been one good role model of a Dad on TV! All the novellas have single parents, and the fathers are often made out to be as stupid nobodies that no one respects. There is nothing that hurts a man more than that, than to not have dignity and respect by those of his family, community, & church. 

 

6. That is why some men just give up. They try to be good and give their all, all their time and dedication, and paycheck to their home but if they have a wife and kids who are corrupted after following the disrespectful ways of the world and not after the ways of Christ, then some just get discouraged and call it quits! How horrible the new norm is to just live undedicated to the wife and kids and people split up damaging their kids and whole family!

 

It takes a man who is close to God to keep on going even when times are very difficult in his family. Role model fathers are ignored on TV. I think the producers in Hollywood do not like families, fathers, and good people because usually good family values are trashed as passe, old fashioned, & ignorant. They want men to buy into the sterilization agenda and this cheats them out of being a full man, a father. God’s first command was in Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. Satan has been attacking God’s plan of reproduction ever since!   

 

Traditionally Hispanics, Italians, and other minorities in many countries have had centuries of stable families and they value each other and value their children. Many men also work 12 hours a day to support their homes! It is a pity that even despite their good family values and those years of a good solid foundation that there are many homes losing their men to not being responsible fathers. The world says you can “do as you please” and “move on” but God’s commands don’t allow for that. Bitterness, disrespect, loneliness, and despair affects way too many people! 

 

7. There has always been a large group of immigrant men here in the US who have come over for work and they leave their wives behind in their country. It really does make life very hard and as we already know from past experience, it is not good for a bunch of men to hanging out together for too long a time as they often drink too much, gamble, and get into trouble! However, if they were forced to be near their wives, they would not do so much wild stuff out of respect for their woman or out of fear for the chewing out they would get at home. 

 

God made us to need each other! It’s like a “checks and balances” system. Also, the roles of the mother and father are different and the child needs both as the mother is soft and caring, while the man must usually deal with the lessons the child needs to learn. 

 

The children too must be taught how they should respectfully respond to their father and mother. Abuse by the father, the wife, or the kids is inexcusable!

Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

2 Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise;

3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth

 

8. So, let’s review the 3 main points a man needs to be a good father.

1. He himself must love, honor and respect God his spiritual father. Also, respect his earthly father as even in the 10 commandments require as God commanded for everyone to honor our father and mother. The consequence back then was one could be stoned to death for not doing so!

 

2. A. father must be willing to give his kids up to the Lord’s service. I know in most every church they dedicate their children to God when they are babies. This is good as you are making a public declaration that you are dedicating them to God. but it doesn’t stop there. The father and the mother have the job of teaching their children daily about the Lord.

 

3. Real fathers will pray for their families and be spiritual leaders. Children, young men and women need to see more role models of integrity, faith, and righteousness. 

 

Let’s pray for our fathers! Those here in the church and for those out in the community. Our world would be so much better if men fulfilled their Biblical roles and took on responsibility, the work load, and the joy of being a father. A wife is amazing, and kids are too, but a man must do his part to create the happiness needed. 

There's too much pain everywhere! Comfort/Consolation: Give It & Take It!

Comfort/Consolation:  Give It & Take It!                    By Kelly Durant 8-10-14 Re 6-9-24

Romans 1:11-12 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; 12 That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

2. How many of you have ever heard the story about the person in the mental hospital that bangs their head on the wall, and they do it off and on all day? The professionals and doctors decided to go in the cell and interview the crazy man, “Why do you bang your head on the wall?” The man looks at them dumbfounded and answered, “Don’t you know? Because it feels so good when I stop!”

Believe it or not, this pattern of seeking pain, then relief, is a reality for many people in this life who live without a connection to the Lord! People live on a treadmill of up and down because they have never known real love, healing, and comfort from God! I have known people who seem to thrive in life, not on encouragement and comfort, but thrive on discouragement and bad news! They seem to be energized running from one crisis to the next just to get attention!

Real life examples: I have dealt with a dozen or more people in my past who from week to week always have a life and death emergency crisis and they’d say “Oh pastor, you don’t know what happened to me now!” That phrase meant I was going to be busy doing something unplanned for. I am not complaining about serving others, this is what I am here for, but my concern is how do we fix this situation that certain people have so many problems non-stop and seem energized living in the crisis mode? They need an extra dosage of comfort and Jesus!

3. All of us confront problems in life, but it is how one handles them that matters! Crisis situations are not the whole problem, how one reacts and handles them determines if matters will calm down or if they will get worse! The reaction of most Christians is to ask for prayer and help from a brother or sister, and this is the way it is supposed to be.  We are supposed to help one another. Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.  In other words, don’t abuse, but serve, or be served, and with love.

The issue is many people without the Lord in their lives are weak and obsess over things. There are many TV shows on people’s addictions such as drugs or alcohol, or an addiction to hoarding things which is idolatry and materialism, or to eating, or politicians addicted to power, or to botox, or obsessed with music, exercise, or to anything which actually can become an obsession which is idolitry! People become extreme and crazy to lust and want and get, and to get attention, and why? It is because God’s love and Jesus does not fill their empty hearts, so they get crazy trying to get satisfied with something, or just anything! They crave one more bite, one more drink, one more relationship, one more person helping them as a victim and yet nothing soothes their soul! 

It is like that old frustrating song by the Rolling Stones (a song deemed #1 of the century?!) ‘I Can’t Get No Satisfaction’. When I was about 10 years old, I played that miserable song over and over non-stop for hours and days on a 45 record (making my mother crazy!) and I thought to myself, you mean he is a rich and famous rock star and he is not happy? No satisfaction in life?! Well, it is true, people without God, whether rich or poor, are never content, they are always obsessing, stressing, and creating drama if no drama is coming to them! It is a lifestyle! And a stressful one at that!

4. So if we look at the scripture today, Paul in Romans 1 is expressing that no matter how dark this world is, no matter how many horrible sins are taking place around you (see the rest of the chapter), our comfort is in the encouragement and comfort we can give each other and get from God through the Holy Spirit!  Paul mentions “impart a spiritual gift” and what does that mean? Paul wants to empower every believer against the evil ones, problems, and hardships that attack each one of us as a Christian.  

The gifts of the spirit we have learned are in I Cor. 12:8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

So basically, the Word of God encourages and comforts us, it tells us to seek the Spirit and no matter the problem we face, God will make a way for us to get by without us worrying, obsessing, or becoming crazy!  If we are ignorant on matters, God increases our knowledge, if we doubt the faith or need faith for our needs, God will supply it. When we are sick, God will often heal us and even do miracles! God’s Spirit can help us to discern between the true and false, and even help us to learn languages, or understand people speaking in the Spirit.  These are all Spirit gifts we share, and they are all done within the context of us helping one another by praying and sharing them, practicing them within our community of brothers & sisters.

5. So why do we have such an abundance of craziness, obsessiveness, and drama in the world today? It is in great part because of the lack of (or rejection of) the knowledge of God (which Romans 1 makes clear), but also according to the verses today, we could conclude it is a lack of us comforting one another in hard times as we should be.  Paul says, “that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me”. Let’s look at comfort a bit deeper.

Paul is clearly saying here that it is our faith in Jesus that brings us comfort and we must comfort one another, He wants to give comfort and he wants to receive it. How do you comfort another person? That depends, right? Comfort is a personal thing, you have to be with the person, you must communicate and share the faith together which implies praying, studying, and listening to what that person’s needs are. You may not have the answers to all their needs, but when you pray for them, God will answer somehow, right? The biggest problem is many people do not know how to express what their needs are because their life is comprised of carnal things, and not spiritual things. The people ask for the carnal things, rent or bill money, but the greater need they have is spiritual. People do not see that it is their way of life and habits that are impoverishing them. The wounded person must first be healed, soup, soap, and then salvation!

6. God comforts us to be encouraged and consoled but not for us to get comfortable! In carnal people’s ways (Romans 1 describes quite a few!) there is the selfishness factor of some people that they start wanting all your time and attention, or too much comfort. To the contrary, I think none of us get tired of serving a Christian brother or sister because if they are true, they will always appreciate it, and they serve you back when you need it! I personally have had to learn a balance to spend more time with our leaders, planning and doing, instead of too much of my time with people who are always going to keep having one crisis after another!  If I help a person 5 times, then maybe it’s time that I choose a different person to help them. But what can we do for the poor, old, single ones with no relatives in this country, and no welfare check?

The frustration is one is always trying to win someone to Christ, and you serve them in their crisis, but then they may not even appreciate it! Often people want more and more and are abusive! I have had my kindness interpreted as stupidity a few times! Imagine a person almost homeless, you help them, and then they judge you as a dumb person?! As I mentioned before, my commitment is to serve people with love and this implies doing things not very pleasant at times like going to represent them in the courts, helping pay late bills, visiting them in the hospitals, taking them to apply for jobs, and on and on. The factor is, neither you nor I can afford to get discouraged from dealing with the sufferings brought on by someone’s sin! Sin brings pain and when in pain it’s an emergency! Life is like a battlefield and as Christians we are the only soldiers still well enough to go out and rescue the fallen ones!

Remember the 10 lepers that Jesus healed, and only 1 came back to thank Him! The general mission of all of us in life is to preach the gospel and do good matter what and that includes showing God’s love by comforting, healing, and helping! We cannot focus on ourselves and any reward in this life, we just must simply comfort each other however needed whenever needed! 2 Corinthians 1:4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 

7. All of this to get you to think about the following, do you know what the greatest human need is? It is to be loved! Everyone is hungry for love, each one of us wants comfort, we all want connectedness and a feeling of belonging! As Christians we have a lot of work to do to be able to have confidence amongst ourselves to build up trust and feel free to confess our weaknesses and needs to one another. Can we trust that the other person will listen, care, pray, and comfort us? We all need comfort in our pain, and we should be able to get it!

The problem with ‘help’ is the following, those immature in the faith are like little children, they are selfish, they have no consciousness of the needs of others, and they are not aware of their own carnality and abusiveness of what they expect from others. They want to get help and comfort, but they do not give any! They obsess only over their own self! With some you may help them 2 dozen times, but that one day you cannot help them then you suddenly become the bad guy! In the end, our help is for the needy, not the greedy! But we focus on the good ones, some people really do change with love and Jesus, and this is our COMFORT to keep on ministering! The thankful ONES make our day!

Love, which entails comfort should work like this: we as Christians are tapped into God’s system, like a water system that never runs dry, and the Holy Spirit fills us and refills us again so we just keep pouring out on others. Those that are empty and receive God’s love get filled up, and if they allow God’s healing, then they become whole, and instead of remaining broken and leaking out the love given them, they retain it, appreciate it, and then after getting full, they too start overflowing on others as well. This is also a way of observing how holiness works, God’s Spirit of purity fills us up until there is no more emptiness and then we overflow on everyone!

8. Referring to whom to comfort, as a pastor I always try to focus in on the neediest persons in the group, the weakest and most vulnerable, the ones suffering most.  A church should be a place where people arrive for love, comfort, and mercy! The mature are here to guide the immature; the strong are here to help the weak without a judgmental attitude. As believers we have all things common, and we share with each other so that no one is suffering from a dire need. (Acts 2:44,45) It is the job of all Christians to know how everyone is doing spiritually and materially, and everyone should serve to show love, and this brings comfort knowing that all areas are covered in our fellowship! 

Comfort is an expression of love, and it is shown in many ways: it is a human need! Without natural affection babies have been known to die, so what about people?  Ask yourself right now, do I have the confidence to seek advice and comfort with a brother or sister near me? When is the last time you comforted another person who had a problem, something secret no one could know about?  Seriously, how do you serve others if you are not alleviating their distresses? It should be with acts of service and that is love in action! We need to establish closer relationships amongst ourselves, so we have more love and confidence, and God gives us our talents and the Holy Spirit to be used and shared.

All of us should do a better job of listening, understanding, and comforting others!  John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.  This love implies that your whole life is wrapped around others!

9. Do you know of anyone suffering or of anyone who gets into crisis often? Do you know of anyone who obsesses over things because they don’t have the peace of God in their heart, and they are trying to fill a void?  Someone with no satisfaction with anything?  There is a cure!

Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” And this next verse is a promise I have claimed often…

Isaiah 26:3 “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you”.  Also, with the Holy Spirit anyone can access the gift of having a comforter or obtain the power needed to get through a trial… John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever;”

10. Despite God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit comforting us we still need each other for comfort! We love God but equally as important, we must love our neighbor as ourselves! Comfort may be expressed with encouragement from sharing God’s word, through prayer, through serving or giving or providing in the time of need, through hugging someone who needs it, through loving care and concern, and even just by your presence by being there for them when they need you most! Do you allow yourself to be available? Break down your defensive walls and connect with people on a human level! 

Jesus warned us how it would be in the last days. Matthew 24:12 “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” Ask yourself, am I an indifferent, a self-protecting stagnant water type of Christian? Or do I overflow the Spirit on to others? Do I obsess and worry too much and live in the crisis mode? Or am I one that pours out the love and comfort of the Holy Spirit freely onto others? The formula of God has always been that to receive you must give! People are dying for a lack of love and comfort, so DO SOMETHING! 

Do you know of anyone who really does have a need to be comforted? If you do, then just act! Call them, visit them, spend time with them! Don’t worry about how much Bible you know to share; people are comforted just by knowing you care! You are a living Bible representing the Holy Spirit and Jesus to them! Break your old habits, learn to comfort or you will suffer, and many others will continue to suffer as well! 

Leadership Jesus Way: What You Need

Leadership Jesus Way: What You Need     BY Kelly Durant Re: 5-26-23

I Tim 3:1-7  

2.Forest Gump! Who saw the movie? There is a part where he starts running across the U.S. from state to state and everyone that saw him running thinks he is a wise guru of some kind and that they need to follow and run with him. So from place to place he picks up more and more people following him expecting wisdom. But then after many months, and many people questioning… What are we running for, where are we going...he breaks down and his words of wisdom are, “I’m tired!” He wasn’t going anywhere! People wasted their time for nothing!

Believe it or not this stereotypes many people recognized as leaders in the world, who run from one cause to the next to support any old thing but in the end the followers discover that these leaders weren’t really going anywhere nor, was their cause worth what the public was sold! Like what happened to Lance Armstrong.  

Leadership today is very important! I am very pleased with most all of our Local Leaders! Leaders have followers, but have you ever asked yourself, what are my attributes that makes me worthy of having followers? 

Let’s review some principles of leadership that can help guide us on what can make us worthy.

3. Paul in the scripture of today tells Timothy what qualities leaders must possess. These are the basics of holiness, and we need more leaders in all areas, but we need leaders with good qualities and with the same vision as Jesus.

In the scripture we see what qualities a leader, or a bishop, or a Local Officer, (same position) needs with these words, and make the personal with each characteristic looking at yourself:

To be blameless, Can anyone accuse you of a wrong doing?; 

Faithful to his mate, Are you still there despite temptations?;

Vigilant, Do you worry about what could endanger others and the church?;

Sober, Do you confront with seriousness matters of concern?;

Hospitable, Will you receive and attend to visitors when they are here?;

Apt to teach, Are you training others for your job?

Not a drinker, Do you always remain without intoxication?;

Not violent, Do you have control over your anger?;

Not greedy, Do you want to be rich and that is your main focus?;

Patient, Can you endure the mistakes and problems of others with kindness and patience?;

Not argumentative, Some people love conflict and always speak the contrary, do you do that?;

Not covetous, Are you happy when someone prospers, or envious and hate them?

Controls his children, Are you involved with your kids to make them be courteous, respectful?;

Not a novice, Are you inexperienced in something but yet you want to be in charge?;

And with a good report with all, How many people like being with you and do they like you because you are an example of a servant?

 

These are some challenges from the scriptures. Do you possess these qualities as a leader? Most of you do have potential, but there are always some areas in which we all must grow. I personally believe in giving people a break, if most everything is good, say passing with a D or C grade, then there is potential! So, look over this list and let the Lord speak to you where you could grow. 

4. Regina and I have seen all kinds of leaders in our lives and all kinds of styles & personalities. In the scripture we see that the good is mentioned along with the negative not to have and I will give you the most common 3 bad examples we have seen in our experiences and then 3 positive points on how Jesus taught us to be.

1)      There is the leader who lacks respect to authority to the pastors, the Officers, the leaders in general, or the church to which he or she says they belong to. These are leaders who tell others behind your back they do not agree with things but in front of you they are silent because they know inwardly they are wrong. These are the argumentative and conflictive ones. Have you seen this kind?

We have heard that good followers make good leaders and that is because they listen and learn, but those who never follow never really learn anything to lead anyone with! Do you respect others?

2)      The prideful leader. This is the one who always thinks he or she knows more than you. They are like the taxi driver that you tell him the shortest way home, but he insists he knows better than you and takes you on a long route, has that ever happened to you? It did to me all the time in So. America! With no humility this kind of leader will never be useful nor train others because they always want others to see them as a great leader since they know everything, and they are selfish with their skills, knowledge, and delegation.

3)      The novice leader who doesn’t know what he or she is doing but is greedy with the power or position. Regina and I have been shocked sometimes when we have given a person a little power of authority in the church and then this person starts ordering everybody around to be serving them as if they were a slave driving boss! How sad it is when a person can seem nice but then with a title they have a personality change and tell everyone what to do. Have you seen that too?

5. So, what were Jesus’ principle ways of managing things as a leader? He chose some shady characters didn’t he? Fishermen, & tax collectors! He often stopped walking down the street to attend to the people who needed healing. He seemed to be ready for any situations that came up to use it as a teachable moment.

He even took time with the children when preaching. His style was very unique

6. -First point, Jesus called his 12 disciples from very different backgrounds. He formed a diverse teamwork! I want to work with each and every one of you as each person has a unique perspective, and all good leaders include everyone for decisions on their team. You are my team, the only one I have! Do you believe that each person here is valuable even though they may be very different from you?

 If we were to compare you to the disciples in this Corps I think we could see some here that are like John, Peter, and or Matthew, and there are faithful women followers too like Mary and Martha.

7. -Second, Jesus gave an example to his followers on how to bring the message of God’s Kingdom and salvation to the masses and to the individual people. He starts off in the synagogue reading from Isa 61, how He is the Messiah, God’s chosen, and then He goes on to preach the sermon on the mount to thousands. Later He travels and talks to only one woman at the well, and then to one lone rabbi, etc.

What we see is Jesus shares the message to everyone, anywhere, anyplace, and anytime! A leader is not just a leader in a group but also he is one to individual people as well! He teaches his followers how to adapt and be ready all the time as the scripture says,” Be instant in season out of season.” Do you share what you know with others? 

8. -Third, Jesus is the great Rabbi or teacher, so he is constantly teaching his disciples about the kingdom of God, preparing them for their mission of preaching and teaching the gospel to every creature to repeat what He did. 

We conclude that if you follow God, He expects you to learn to work together with others of the same mission in teamwork, even though they have their faults; observe and learn teachings while serving; and finally you get equipped to prepare others so they too will understand God’s plan in their lives and obey it and do the same.   2 Timothy 2:2

2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

9. Now, after Jesus has gone in the clouds, what did the disciples do? The waited on the power of God in order to do the job!  Later they all eventually went in different directions to preach the gospel with their own leadership style! After the day of Pentecost, after Acts 1:8 God gave Acts 8:1, to get the mission done in all places so they hear the preaching of the gospel. And in the end each disciple ended up as leaders for Jesus in many different faraway places!

10. You may not end up getting killed for the mission as the first dicsples did but what did they do that you can do too? You can each fulfill the mission that God called you to! Don’t wait until the persecution either!

 11. 3 simple points: Jesus formed a team, Jesus shared the message to everyone along his way, and Jesus taught or prepared his team on what to do to repeat the mission after He was gone. 

Something great and wonderful is God is raising many of you up as leaders here to take care of all the new people that will be coming in as new members! Don’t forget, your job as leader is YOU must train others! 

 You may ask then, well we are to imitate Jesus, to be more like Him, so how are we doing that in the Hialeah Corps? Well, first of all, all of us as a team must continue on empowering each other as better leaders by sharing our talents and skills. Also, always we need to get you signed up and get qualified on paper to be recognized.

Think of how you will be spending time to be getting preparing for your individual tasks. By now most of you have gotten the Local Officer’s Job Descriptions and if not we will give you copy. Many of you have many talents and we just need to get you prepared and get you more busy! 

12. Each of you should be taking care of each other. We had a list of who would be in touch with who, so after one year, did it help? Do we need to revive it? You have already been learning Bible from each other and you time will come for you to have your own band of 10 to 12 followers that you will be training in the Word, in doctrine, and how to keep on doing your job after you go.

Let’s imagine this Corps only 10 years from now. Where will you be then? It will be the ones in their 20’s and teens that will be best equipped to take over, don’t you think? If today you can go back 10 years and remember what it was like here, some of you were here, but you can name only a few that have been here even that long! So, time always implies a changing of the guard and a new set of leaders and members, and do you think we have people who are prepared enough to handle the jobs then?

 When I am not here on a Sunday, there are several of you that are very capable of preaching and running things, I hope that when any one of you is absent too, another person here will be trained by you in your job position to replace you too.  Have you prepared someone?

13. So let’s review, leadership is all about being worthy, holy, qualified, and trained, prepared, and then passing all of that on to the one behind you! In the Salvation Army, do you wear the uniform, be faithful to inform another when you cannot attend to something, and do you volunteer to do what you are capable of doing as much as possible?

Jesus was the model leader to his followers, showing love for all and he took time for the masses and each person who had a need! Jesus taught them, and Paul taught Timothy and the ones after them taught others. 

Ask yourself, am I being faithful to train another? Am I being a good example and good mentor? Young people, who do you want to be your mentor to be amongst the more experience ones? We need to make ourselves more likable, more patient, more willing, and more like Jesus, are you ready to lead?  Let’s pray…

Appreciation: For God and Others Who Honor God

 

Appreciation: For God and Others Who Honor God   Re 5-19-24 Kelly Durant

John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. Proverbs 21:21 He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honour.

2. Do you want to know about the character of a person? Ask yourself, who do they love and appreciate?  Who do they talk about and spend money or time on? Are they the vain type of person that idolizes mere men or women in high places of power? Ask, who are their favorite performers, movie stars, or rich and famous ones they look up too? Or do they (or you) speak of what God is doing in their lives or in the lives of others having their pleasure in those who inspire by good works? Who we honor says everything about who we are as a person! 

Basically, to appreciate is to reciprocate! Appreciation is a reaction, something was done for you, and now you seek to return a favor or gesture to reveal your thankfulness. Often you and I cannot return the same value of what was given but to do something reveals an honorable heart. Friends are often those whom we appreciate most but often you or I do not get a chance to thank them appropriately! Tell others, “Thank You!” more often!

Appreciation can be shown in different ways but one must always be a support to the person. This may also include being an imitator or admirer of their goodness. Appreciating a person by sharing with them something of value like a gift is a good thing but simply spending time with someone may reveal that you appreciate their presence and value them as a person. But too often today people do nothing, and they do not even say, “Thank You!” In today’s world too many people do not appreciate anything! Sad, right?

3. Let’s start with priorities, how do you show appreciation to Jesus for His love to you by dying on the cross to give you eternal life? The verse of today are Jesus words, He gives us eternal life and the blessed assurance that no “man” can ever take it away. Eternal life? How amazing! How incredible! Jesus had appreciation for His followers so much so that He granted them (from the present and the future) life after this life in a perfect utopian heavenly world!

How can you or I ever thank Jesus enough for saving our soul? Eternal life in heaven is something that no amount of money can buy and there is no way to earn it! Eternal life has been the obsession of all cultures since mankind’s inception and is usually the basis for all religions, disciplines, and sacrifices throughout time. Before Jesus, the Hebrews, the Hindus, the Egyptians and all humanity have sought ways to gain eternal life and earn position by purification and respect by following Godly standards (laws) which would carry over in the next life. But mankind’s attempts at being worthy and clean are never enough to gain a purified soul acceptable enough for a Holy God who is the embodiment of pure holiness and love.

So how do you and I show appreciation for eternal life? Are you taking it serious how much God loves you? What can you give back to God?  The gift of God, is eternal life, but it cost Jesus His, to give it to you, And it will probably cost you yours, to live it too! You are no fool to give a life you cannot keep, To gain a love you’ll never lose!

4. For the gift of eternal life, a chance in heaven, people will do anything! Some religions teach you must earn it by being selfless, sacrificial, ritualistic, and generous to their church, or even live separated from society. Some religions also teach that you must kill others who are unfaithful to God (what they think God wants as described by their false prophets) so people will also even commit murder and violence. Until when will this type of horrible radicalism dominate mindsets submitting people to a misrepresented idea of god?! The only way to conquer is with Jesus! Violence and the murder of the unfaithful brings no justice to any God or to anyone. It is the system of Satan and only serves to satisfy man’s lust for power, wealth by robbery, and sexual domination and it is the total opposite of what we know our God of mercy, compassion, and love to be!

 

Imagine such a perverted way of thinking that in order to please God, to show God appreciation and in order to gain eternal life with rewards you should murder another human being who does not agree with your god as defined by these ideas?! John 16:2 (b): “Yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service”. Appreciation and how it should be expressed has always been misguided by those carnal and dead towards God. God sent Jesus as the ultimate example of how we are to live and love. God Jehovah is the only one who taught us how to love through Jesus granting obedient ones eternal life and God will honor them with crowns and rewards in heaven.

 

5. What I can witness is this, once Jesus really touches your spirit, you will be changed, you will understand that your life is not yours anymore and that you owe Him everything! To show Jesus appreciation I chose as a young man to give up everything to follow Him. I gave up (sold) all my possessions, I gave up comfort for poverty in poor nations for 14 years, and I still am giving up all my years in service to Him, I can never pay Jesus back so all I can do is to show Him I love Him by obeying and following Him and winning news souls to Him! Appreciation for Jesus requires being His disciple full of love for every person, appreciating every soul you meet as a potential future lover and servant of Him!

 

We know how we all should appreciate God by living for Him worshipping Him, but who should we appreciate in this life? Should not appreciation be shown to those who do the most for God and Jesus? Think about who you know here in the Corps church, who are the ones obeying the Lord, sacrificially “serving one another in love” as Jesus commanded.

 

Each person according to their talents do what they can for the Lord and sometimes amongst ourselves we are unaware of what the other is doing for God or the Corps because not everyone is here all the time to be informed about who does what. But in general, you and I should try to not judge who to appreciate more than the other, but instead just take an attitude to appreciate and love everyone that we know are here for God! It is God that keeps a record of words and deeds. But by our fruits, God knows who we are!

 

6. Many times others do many good things for the Corps church that you may not be aware of and often these are things you could not do yourself. For example, some people have a talent to raise several hundred dollars every time they go out ringing the bell for the red kettle and others do not. Some others of you can repair broken doors and locks; others can decorate amazingly while others know how to cook and provide great meals for a hundred people. Each person has value, and to appreciate that try switching the tasks and ask the decorators to repair the sound system!? We all must show honor and respect to one another! All have value! Always esteem the humble poor ones, God does!

 

Someone asked me one time, what did the shepherds give Jesus on Christmas? (Assuming they gave Him a sheep) The Bible does not record that they gave Jesus a sheep, but they did run to admire and worship him! Maybe they did give Him a sheep, I don’t know, but the important part is they gave Jesus their heart, praise, and worship! That surrendering of the will is what anyone can give and is what God wants! We should not expect people to give what they may or may not be able to give, but we must show appreciation to those who do something for God.

 

7. Do you want to know what has been a hard lesson for me in life? It is to appreciate broken-ness and to just work with broken people! We have volunteers that have had bodily injuries and cannot lift more than 10 pounds, some of them are homeless, some of them are not very solid emotionally, but do I reject them? No! I appreciate them! At least they are serving God in some manner as best they can around here. Some Christians are too good and too proud to work with a motley crew but not me because I know Jesus disciples were a mess, and I know I am still a work in progress! Being a Volunteer Army, we take whoever will serve!

 

In this life our Corps church will never be perfect with perfect people altruistically loving and sacrificing for each other to the level Jesus expects. Some of you sometimes I perceive are not happy with each other and you don’t like the way some show or don’t show appreciation to the Corps church as you think these people are benefiting more than giving and in some cases this has been true. 

 

Reality is, like it or not, all people always are measuring who does what and they comment about it so try to examine yourself well in what you do for God. Also, remember none of you are ever seeing the whole picture of all that goes on behind the scenes. Some people with rough edges that may appear undesirable may actually be doing God’s work and going out and visiting the sick and helping the helpless while others stay back and clean, serve food, decorate and repair and even provide a gift for someone in need without calling attention to it.

 

8. Concerning the things of God, you and I should concern ourselves with own ourselves first, so ask yourself, do I actually give enough to God as He wants to my Corps, family and friends? Do I do all of what God expects of me? Do I show the appropriate amount of appreciation to God and others? Do I, as in the Proverb of today, concern myself to be full of “righteousness and mercy” which invokes life and honor?

 

The reality is everyone should take conviction to be more appreciative to Jesus, to their brothers and sisters, and to their Corps church which should shine like a light in the community with the evidence of the love a God present in each person. In order to please God we must appreciate every act of kindness, appreciate every visitor, and appreciate and love each other!

 

There are different types of appreciation. You may appreciate a person who feeds you once, but what about someone who over a course of more than a decade has fed you hundreds of times? Now that is where a deeper appreciation takes place! It is obvious some of the people of this Corps have provided service, food, and acts of kindness for the people of this Corps and for those of the community many hundreds of times. Now that is truly worthy to be admired and appreciated on a deeper level! Each one of us will reap what we sew! Sew in a big way!

 

9. As human beings and animals of habit we often take for granted the good that others do for us through the church or on their own and sadly we later only take notice of it once it is gone! It is sad reality that ‘you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone’? We should all wake up and notice all the good that each person does and thank them, whether they be a driver who picks up people on Sundays, or whether they be a cook, or a Bible teacher who brings clarity to God’s word. 

                                                                                                             

My grandmother use to say some people would not do things neither for ‘love or money’, and it is true, many people are motivated or not motivated to do things as it affects their personal gain, but with God things works to the contrary. You are expected to love, give, and serve expecting nothing in return! Just be a faithful humble servant! The reality is, however, that by being obedient to Jesus, sacrificial, and generous you do gain things that money can’t buy such as honor, respect, righteousness, and love! And most importantly, Jesus will grant you eternal life and rewards in heaven when you do these things in His Name!

 

Let’s ask God to forgive our past failures and ask Him to give us a love and appreciation for Him so deep that it will sustain you and me to do greater things for Him, for our brothers and sisters, the Salvation Army Corps, and for all others out there in the community! Appreciate everyone, always, and thank them!