The Storms in Life: What Action To Take

The Storms in Life: What Action To Take         Major Kelly Durant  7-21-24 Psalms 61:8, Jeremiah 4:1, Matthew 7: 24-27

2. Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, volcanoes, are all termed in the legal books as ‘Acts of God’. Why? Because these are powerful forces that no human being can produce, manipulate, or control! 

As humans, we are, in the end, weak tiny creatures and often all of us get reminded by massive catastrophic events how defenseless we really are! Also, we get reminded that we should build on the right foundation, that we need God!

3. Catastrophic events humble each of us. As Jesus reminded us that we are not like God, we cannot even make one of our hairs black or white. No one is a match to stop the pain of the massive catastrophes or ground shaking events that happen in our lives! 

Nature destroys at times, but how sad it is when evil human nature destroys! These are not acts of God but acts of men! These events are out of our control!

4. I was in New Orleans on 2 different reliefs. Most everyone knows that it is famous for its mix of French and African cultures with the Catholic one. These combinations are similar to Central and South America. New Orleans is known for its wild partying in the streets, creative jazz music, and distinctive Cajun culture. I experienced a variety of different accents, and spicy sea food.  It is a place where the football team has the name “Saints” and the restaurants have the name “Voodoo”!? 

It is very coincidentally disturbing that the storm, Isaac, hit New Orleans exactly 7 years to the day as Katrina. If you are superstitious or not, no matter how you look at it, God is in control, and He allows everything for a purpose. No one died this time though; thank God he protected life! This is God’s love and mercy to all! But when life fails, consider this:   Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

5. No one should be surprised by these events since we who live on this earth know that man, and all creation, fell from perfection several millennia ago and came under a curse. Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 

Physical storms and floods invade the lives of millions every year. This is a product of creation’s fallen nature. Devastation, even without nature’s forces, comes into our personal lives as well. Destructive events provoke great losses, and we wonder, what is God’s purpose in this? God tests our compassion, for one.

6. I, with The Salvation Army teams, fed the victims from the canteen trucks serving the suffering. The people often expressed appreciation for the food that we were providing since they had no electricity for many days. We also gave out cleaning kits and Wal-Mart gift cards.  It was amazing to find most everyone expressed gratitude, even after having lost all furniture and everything, people were still thanking God that they were going to get through it all that and they were glad just to be alive! 

7. Pain, apart from making us seek God, should bring us closer together to each other! In my experience in the past, I discovered, by hundreds of conversations that many of the people who lived in the suburbs, that were flooded were quite neighborly, looking out for each other, and the elderly. The lesson of the pain of Katrina taught the people of New Orleans to be more united.

Before, in the days of Katrina the situation was much more hostile, but the conclusion that can be deducted is that many people have learned better ways of dealing with crises; by looking out for each other, and applying prayer, positive-ness, patience, and persistence! As Christians these are the qualities we promote!

8. Now, let’s compare the hit of one of the massive storms to our personal lives. There are times that, due to the sins of others in the world, or due to our un-submitted to God nature, we suffer from bad choices. Adversity, loss, and the stripping away of all that we thought we had, may overwhelm many of us at some time or another in our life.    

The experience of people who lose everything by a disaster is not unique in many ways as it is a majority of the people who pass through some life-changing crisis sometime or another.

The storms of life are inevitable. Everyone goes through a storm of some kind. Some people lose everything by bad relationships or break-ups, or the death of a family member or a serious health problem. Other ones, like Job in the Bible, experience devastation due to invading events from the outside. Job kept his faith. Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.  Sadly, however, some people get bitter and blame everyone and God for their bad times. Recovery will not come with this attitude.

9. The frightening reality is that any one of us could lose our property, family, friends, and/or our health, overnight! It is in these painful times that we must exercise even more our faith to get us through. And, if we pray, and allow friends to be there for us, we will come out like pure gold refined in the fire as Job.

Some storms, or turmoil, come from the consequences of us having made bad choices. Why would anyone choose to build in flood area is always a question that reoccurs. Some people are just unwilling to give up their way of doing things to move to safety. But most of all, why would anyone choose to live without being close to Jesus, without establishing their life on the rock foundation, is the question that should disturb us.

10. Jesus points out that some are wise, and some are foolish. Matt 7:24-27   24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

The sand is the world and Jesus is the rock. Without faith and God’s strength, all we have collected over time, our efforts, our productions and goods, all will be washed away without supporting our lives on God’s salvation. People that lose all but have God, remain strong; those who don’t have Him usually go crazy.

11. And consider what Paul writes…

I Cor. 3:13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

God is the fire. Deuteronomy 4:24 For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. In the final presentation of our souls returning to our Creator, it will be like a person running out of house on fire. He or she will escape alive, but everything that is not of God in their life, or in your life, will vanish into smoke! But what you did for God; that you will get to keep forever!

12. Many people in life have had to start over. What you as a good Christian will not lose, if you are firm on the foundation of God, is your faith, and your place in heaven with your rewards for the works you have done on earth. 

In this country, and all around the world, most people are not right now rebuilding their houses due to a physical storm that has devastated their property but rather they are recovering from a personal loss, a heavy spiritual battle that has hit them hard. Many people do want to rebuild on Jesus, but they need help. 

We are living in hard times and those not experiencing pain must help those who are in pain. After experiencing a loss, after a deep injury, the biggest question by them is, where do I start to rebuild? We must help and guide one another. 

13. Sin, like a storm, destroys not just the one who practices it, but all the ones close by as well. Never is just one house flooded, it is entire neighborhoods! 

In society today, when you consider bankruptcy, divorce, addictions, and selfishness, it is more than one in every two homes that has suffered destruction of some kind. Devastation may have come by an act of God, or by an attack of the enemy, or it may also have been brought on by someone’s sin, even your own sin. 

It is sad reality that many of our Corps members, amongst everyone we know, we conclude that the storms in life have caused many to end up with broken dreams, broken relationships, and broken hearts, and also end up with no money as well!

The effects of sin we can compare to the destructiveness of a storm. At first it seems far away, and few believe it may cause any danger. The reality is very few people ever prepare for a storm with survival goods.  God’s Word, our faith, and His strength in us made perfect in our weakness… is our survival equipment! 

So how do we escape the pain of losing it all? Why not just give it all up all to Jesus today? The disciples gave up everything. Do a preemptive offensive.

14. Matthew 4:19-21  19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. 20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. 

When Peter, James & John abandoned their fishing business to follow Jesus they appeared to have lost everything. It was the same as if a storm had blown their ships away. But they gave it all up for Jesus, the One who would reward them forever in heaven for following Him! And they gained the status of being one of the first of the faithful. Multi-millions of Christians have admired, studied, and respected the disciples ever since, and in heaven they have honored seats. Ask yourself, am I willing to give up my ship, my life, everything for Jesus?

15. To gain something better than what you will lose there must be a step of prevention. How do you prevent a fire from burning down a forest? You do a controlled burn, so that no dry leaves on the ground could burn hot enough or high enough to catch the limbs of the trees on fire. This is done in most national parks in the U.S. This is the lesson from the verses in I Cor.3:13.  Are you ready to do a controlled burning up of the things not of God in your life? Purge out the sin!

How do you escape a loss from a flood?  You build in an area where there is no flooding, on a higher ground with a solid rock foundation. 

16. Many people in the world, not just in New Orleans,  are in the phase of rebuilding what they have lost. In many places you see torn out carpet, cabinets, and drywall making huge piles of rubbish near the street. 

Don’t worry if people see your trash. You cannot stay alive in a house and not get sick if you do not remove the rotting wood, the slime mold, and the mud filled mattress! A pile of your trash out front is a healthy indicator that you have decided to no longer live with filth! 

Burn away the trash! Move away from the flood area! Rebuild your life on Jesus today and nothing in the future will affect you!

Let the old be burned or buried and replace it with the new. The physical things can be compared to the spiritual things in each of our own lives. Start building as of right now a strong foundation of faith in The Lord. Connect more with others of the faith, read & study the Bible more so you will know better how to save and help your own self! Soon afterwards, you will be able to help save others as well!

Christians are survivors! They have endured 2,000 years of losing it all due to persecution and torture and this continues today! If you have gone through a storm or you are going through one now, remember, where there is life there is hope.

Don’t just not do anything and lose it all when you die either! That would be a total loss! Starting today, get rid of the things and people in your life that are worthless, selfish, and self-destructive, in other words don’t tolerate “sin”. 

Do what you have to so you will never have to worry about future storms. Storms will come and go but you will be just fine, strong and prepared, because your treasure consists not in the things of earth, but in the heavenly ones. 

 

The Christian Saints of 100 Years Ago, We Need Them Again!

The Saints 100 Years Ago, We Need Them Again! Kelly Durant Re 7-14-24

1 Peter 2:5

You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  John 4:35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!  

 

 

2. You may have heard that the farmer was doing a fund raiser, and the chicken and the pig wanted to help. The chicken piped up, “We can sell a breakfast!” What a good idea all agreed. The chicken then said, “We can do ham and eggs!” There was silence. The pig said, “Well, for you that only requires one day of work, but for me it is a total sacrifice!” How much do you sacrifice for God? 

 

Some of you may have a good imagination, but I want you to try to imagine what it was like around 100 years ago when this Corps was founded. What did the first couple go through? How did they arrive? What conditions existed? What was life like then, was it hard or easy? 

 

I can tell you this, they did not arrive to a nice house and church as we did, they were sent here to open up not just a church and their own living quarters, they also needed to raise funds to create a shelter and do social work to serve suffering humanity. What an example of being dedicated to God! They needed to have a great faith and God blessed them.

 

3. Let’s explore three aspects of what was happening back then, what was happening in the world, what was happening in the Salvation Army, and what was happening to these first set of Officers in Oklahoma. In all honesty we owe them our deepest respect as they gave of themselves as a total sacrifice for God. What amazing dedication! Where are young people valiant and dedicated as they were today? Times are better but few will dedicate!

 

How hard life was back then! Most people in the United States lived on small farms, raising pigs and chickens and they had no electricity, few cars existed, and washing clothes, preparing food, and doing daily chores including transporting oneself around town by foot (or horse) and it was laborious and time consuming. Life in the 1920s was rustic almost like living as in the time of Jesus!

 

Just trying to make a living was hard back then and everyone in the family chipped in. Read history, the usual story was that the young sons started working at age 10 or 12 to help support the family. Many went off to fight in the war (WW1) at age 16 like my own uncles, and they sent home most all of their checks to their mothers so they would have enough food, wood for the fires, and clothing to survive.

 

4. The world was a horrible mess back then! Satan is always trying to destroy people with mega death in wars, disease, and starvation. He drums up hate and division, greed and a lust for power to the point leaders become obsessed with killing their foes. World War 1 had just finished in the 20s but the Corps was opened 10 years before then and there were many homeless Soldiers returning needing jobs in the cities plus a place to live.  Soup kitchens were needed to provide a bowl of soup from day to day for them, and for the widows and children.

The Spanish flu pandemic had hit and 500 million died worldwide! Mega death continued around the world as the Bolsheviks took over Russia in their 1917 Communist Revolution. Despite almost every family having lost a relative in the war, there was optimism that everyone had a chance to prosper as new machines, a new railroad system, and a faith in God offered people hope for a good future. 17 million in the U.S. alone died from being in that war which was about 1 in every 5 American people! What horrible suffering, right? What dark times and it was only about 100 years ago!

 

The good news is most everyone went to church back then and read their Bibles and prayed at home. I recall my grandmother’s thick old Bible with many notes in it. Before many public records were kept only in the family Bibles on the death, marriage, and birth pages of the first pages in the Bibles! 

 

5. The Salvation Army began in London in 1865, precisely during the time of the Civil War in the United States. It did not take long for the popularity of the street preaching to be popular, and Army marching bands prospered and expanded into many countries worldwide. In 1878 Eliza Shirley at age 17 started the first work in Philadelphia and within just a few decades the work opened up in many dozens of U.S. cities with thousands of new converts nationwide with just a few hundred Officers to start it all up. Imagine arriving from England, after over a month on a ship with nothing but a suitcase, a uniform, and faith in God!

 

One reason the Salvation Army expanded so quickly was due to the persecution in England in the 1880s as Officers became so numerous that many of the drunken sailors and jealous dead established church leaders wanted them gone. Their Biblical preaching of holiness begging the sinner to repent was too much for the sinful crowds who overindulged in the prostitution of 12-year-old girls, unrepentant thievery of all kinds, and massive drunkenness in all the pubs. It was an Acts 1:8 to an Acts 8:1 all over again!

 

The conditions of the world were very violent, abusive, and exploitive and to confront this evil The Salvation Army decried war on it all! These pioneers fought for the truth and for the salvation of souls and facing our reality, we can observe the world still remains violent, abusive, and exploitive. Each generation has its own mission to do and to fight for the healing of the suffering ones. There is always a new breed of weeds growing amongst the wheat and no person should ever delay in obeying the call of God to be preaching love, righteousness, and salvation.  John 4:35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! God wants us active for Him from harvest to harvest!

 

6. Now, put yourselves in the shoes of the arriving Officers in Oklahoma. These are people on fire for God sent to open a work with no money, no horse and buggy, no home, and no idea of what will happen. Will the people receive them, or will they run them out of town? What faith they had! What obedience and conviction they displayed!

 

Obviously, it went well for them as within a few months churches and good people supported them to open a house where they could live, conduct church services, serve soup to the public, provide a room for a men’s shelter, and even be able to resell donated items. No other churches did social work back then, and it seems they got good support as other churches got convicted that they should be doing what we were doing to feed the multitudes and help the needy as Jesus described it in Matthew 25. Obedience will bring on the blessings of God!  

 

Would you do all these ministries from your rented home? Only in America are we now so comfortable to not do them. Around the world in poor countries many Officers still work as these ones did 100 years ago. They do all ministries from their own homes, even running schools and I can testify this is what I witnessed in Jamaica, Mexico, and even in some small poor American cities here. 

 

7. We must live with the same conviction they have and as others had in the past! For evil to prosper in the world all that is needed is that good people do nothing! If we have a comfortable job, a roof over your head, maybe even a car, and food on our table every day, we must remember we are a part of the world’s top 10% of the wealthy. You and I are so blessed we must share the blessings to bless others with the good news of Jesus!

 

In Cuba the Officers ride bicycles, and in most all the world few own their own vehicles. We can observe that despite millions dying of hunger in dozens of countries, I have never seen Officers forsaken with nothing, God supplies! Psalm 37:25 I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread.

 

Jesus sent the disciples out with just the shirt on their backs and God provided! Matthew 10: 7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9 Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts, 10 nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food. 11 “Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. 12 And when you go into a household, greet it. 13 If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!

 

8. When my wife and I were first married 46 years ago we travelled around the south of Brazil, in Rio Grande Del Sur, as described here, with no money. I had my guitar and 20 Portuguese songs and Bible verses memorized and we sang in rest homes, jails, and orphan homes, took pictures, and then requested donations from hotels, restaurants, and banks. By a miracle, living this life of faith, God always provided enough! 

 

It was one of the most exciting times of our lives! We prayed with thousands the “sinner’s prayer” and we felt the Holy Spirit’s joy in a manner I think few ever experience! We were living in the clouds! I will compare our experience to this episode where the disciples were so happy the people thought they were drunk. Acts 2: 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day (9 am). 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 17 ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

 

There is an unexplained euphoria that happens when you preach Jesus to strangers and Jesus comes into their lives! When a person accepts Jesus and cries out loud with tears asking God for forgiveness, there is an overwhelming happiness that soon takes over and it is the Holy Spirit’s fire! And this is our logo for salvation: Jesus’ blood, and the Holy Spirit’s fire! 

 

9. All a person needs to do is to open their mouth about Jesus and the Lord will fill it with the right words at the right time, and even in another language when necessary! It does not matter the time period, whether a person lived 2,000 years ago, 100 years ago or 100 seconds ago, the Holy Spirit is ready to do a great work through you! Are you letting God use you as He wants to? We observe today that too few put their selves at God’s service not caring about the material comforts, or not worrying about how big a sacrifice they will have to make.  

 

I am sure the first arriving Officers here in Muskogee experienced many challenges! But they must have felt the euphoria of winning souls on the street corners, and they felt the love of others as they shared with them their homes and goods and a way to start up the first Corps. Take into account they also felt the fear of the unknown, and the sadness of getting to know people who had lost loved ones in all the world’s battles and tragedies. 

 

Before it seemed that it was outside enemies that destroyed lives, but today we see an increase in dark forces inside destroying those in our community. We observe lives destroyed by debauchery, by illicit sexual activity, by the addiction of drugs and alcohol, by the poverty augmented by absent fathers, and by the cruelty of exploitations and abuse in the home.

 

10. Don’t think that just because the Salvation Army fought the good fight of faith in the past that we can ride on our past accomplishments and be comfortable now! Every generation has a new calling to obey God and every generation has new evils to battle against and the evil today of Satanic cults is on the rise! Practically no music or movie is produced anymore without the Luciferian illuminati symbols being present! Thousands give testimony that the elites are involved in Satanic rituals! And when a Satanic human sacrificing slave owning person gets exposed as being connected to all the corrupt leaders of the world, they get suicided! (as in the case of Jeffrey Epstein & others!) 

 

We should be appalled at how sin is flaunted before our innocent children’s eyes on TV, in June parades, and in public schools and libraries! How is it that anyone can google millions of pages of Satanic perverted porn while at the same time these high-tech elites censor the name of Jesus as offensive? Our rights and constitution are being replaced by technocratic supremacies who are spoiled millionaires mocking God and censoring His people!

 

Are our current youth programmed and brainwashed as the youth of Hitler were being conditioned to hate certain people and groups while praising others that only contribute to the divisiveness and hate in society?  Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  

 

A great judgment is coming! Another cycle of evil is returning soon as history proves but this time it appears Satan is ready to take over everything for world dominion! In the end the Bible is true and all of Revelation will come to pass. For the New World Order to dominate we see the technology is already existing, many dictatorships are already in place, and all that is needed is for them to eliminate the ones who expose it and give it resistance. Jesus’ truth is the resistance! Stand with Him and you will win battles and free souls until your and my time is up! You are Jesus’ priesthood! Stand with Jesus and gain rewards in heaven for all your sacrifice and labor of building His house! See what it cost our forefathers and show yourself to God to be as dedicated as the past ones were so that you are counted with those honorable faithful few!

 

 

 

 

 

True Christianity Vs. the World’s Deceptions

True Christianity Vs. the World’s Deceptions  Kelly Durant 7-7-24

 

Colossians 2:6-8

6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

 

2. Haven’t you always wondered about cults? People who follow a leader so much so that they will die for them? A few cults emerged in the past decades and centuries, but what about the cult mentality today? Are people any different today in blindly accepting any information the world feeds them and then they are fanatical to promote it? Do we see people today following illogical, radical, and destructive ideologies? A resounding, yes! The world has gone in the way of hate with riots and burning all in their path just because they don’t get their philosophy, laws, agendas, politics or person in power! 

 

What comes to most minds when we think of unChristlike worldly deceived people (as in Col. 2:6-8) are the radical terrorists who are willing to kill their own selves so they can kill a few others as well hoping to impose their way by fear tactics! It is a clash of religion, politics, and philosophy as they classify as enemies those who disagree with them. The practice of having a radical dedication to a perverted leader or ideology, a rudiment of the world, has been around ever since the formation of empires and monarchies, such as the case of Egypt, Babylon, Rome, and the rest. Could it be people are the same today and are blindly enslaved supporting erroneous leaders and precepts presented to them by the perverse powers of this world? Sadly, yes! 

 

What causes people to become loyal to an evil power and cruel positions? To me the answer seems very obvious: any person not worshipping the true God Jehovah and His Son Jesus Christ will always have their worship directed to another, and that almost always is for a demon or a political authority! Most all governments claim to have some supreme spiritual power connected to them, so the common people get deceived easily as they have no discernment being blind to the depth of the evil they follow. Evil is always masked to the ignorant masses as a noble cause of ‘social justice’. Helping the poor, or defeating an oppressive race or power, is often the subject to entice a person to malignantly label and hate another. Next, loyalty to an evil entity ensues and destruction is carried out in word and in deeds! 

 

3. People that become radical and worship despotic leaders are often forced or bribed into it. Usually, the punishment for not hailing the current Cesar as your god is severe, such as disenfranchisement, blackballing, or even execution. Under Communist regimes, under theocracies, and under all dictatorships, which covers most all of the world throughout time, the punishment is imprisonment or death for not respecting and worshipping the governing authorities and their senseless rules. When you are converted with Jesus, you no longer desire these traditions of the world and these abusive pollical systems.

 

In Nazi German, Adolf Eichmann devised a psychological system (with electric shocks) in which people were willing to harm others if only by being pushed by voices from peers to do so. He discovered that people would over-ride their common sense, violate their own principles of morality, and do horrific damage to another human being, and all it took was an outside person egging them on. And we know what horrors the Nazis accomplished! Today we have the same type of evil climate influencing our people today and the evidence of this is seen by all the violence and hate coming out of the news outlets and rioters. Colleges no longer debate including all ideas and philosophies which should include Christianity. They vehemently discriminate against Biblical moral principles, so the result is Satan’s practices incrementally keep on dominating. We need God’s traditions, not the destructive divisive ones of man! 

 

This is the world, and the people of the world that we know will always go along with the most animalistic and carnal of human emotions which includes vices, hate, envy, violence, and pride.  So, what do we do about these influences and those affected by them? We must resist and expose evil with God’s truths, ‘Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye(we) have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving’. Pray to not get your emotions played upon! Because these people have no moral or logical arguments, they use emotions!

 

4. If you are a Christian you are aware that you are in a battle (we express it as a “war cry”) to not conform to this world, but rather we are transformed by the renewing of our minds in Christ. (Romans 12:1, 2) The verses that speak the loudest about this are found in Ephesians 6: 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

 

How is the way of the rulers of darkness of this world? The world offers us leaders participating in all kinds of perversions, liberalism, thievery, and abuse of power. The leaders of the world will do whatever it takes to keep their position and power, even killing anyone exposing their injustices and exploitations. In our country we witness this! So, our concerns are against these dark spiritual powers that rule in this world. Jesus offered us the kingdom of God as a way to free those captives with Jesus Christ!

 

And this leads me up to churches and sects that are spiritually oppressive as well, the ones that are compromised in their traditions and practices. We should be concerned to expose and resist those that are leading others to hell instead of to heaven by their practices, doctrines, and philosophies. They appear authentic but they are not!

 

5. It is sad that as much good as our Salvation Army church offers that there is always a majority group of people that will come and go and not appreciate the goodness, the holiness, and the blessings they could obtain if they would stay and learn of God’s love and then start doing their part for God and others. The deceptive notion is that one can take all you want and never ask yourself if it is moral, fair, or pleasing to God. People often manipulate sympathy and have souls unconverted.

 

Just think how many people have taken advantage of the Christian systems throughout the years, they come for material gain, which God gives to share, but then they take things and run trying to be sure they will not have to have any commitment to anything. Sadly, these types of people could have many more blessings learning God’s Word, but they miss the mark. They are deceived to believe they do not need God. 

 

Those that take ‘what they can’ attitude reminds me of Esau who sold his birthright for a bowl of stew! His father had a big blessing planned for him but before he would receive it, he despised it and offered to trade it away cheap for just a bowl of stew with his brother, Jacob. What an expose of the mentality and disloyalty of some people today as they prefer the material over the spiritual! What short sightedness, unthankfulness, and poverty! Do you see it? How people deceive their own selves? Also, self-deceived persons are easily deceived by another!

 

6. How sad it is that today in the world there are a lot of people that expect you to just do things for them, that you should just give them things, just because you are considered to be compassionate, and you owe it to them. I grew up learning that everything you get you must earn and work for. Didn’t Jesus compare serving God to working in the harvest?  (Lk 9:29) How ludicrous to think one deserves a reward or payment for nothing in return, to reap where you have not sewn.

 

What is disappointing about the vain deceit and attitudes of the world is how so many ignorant people disrespect the church and the honest Christians serving God. Imagine, being a part of one of the largest most effective charity in the U.S. and a majority of the people instead of wanting to share in the work of God are actually mocking God when they just take again and again thinking they never need to be thankful, faithful, honor God and be pure in heart to give back and help someone else. The deception to not honor God is from Satan’s vain deceit! 

 

Notice as well the contrasts between the humble and vain churches that deceive. Here people can contact the Officers/pastors to visit and talk with them when the please setting a time. But damaged by the world Christians often prefer the mega church pastors where one can hardly ever get to consult with the pastors when needed. Deceived by the world’s bad examples of the practices of Christianity these people think that if they can talk to the big shot, then they must not really be in a valid elite place. Yeah, right! Unavailable wealthy pastors with private jets and ‘feel good’ messages are the condemned hirelings Jesus warned us about! (See John 10)

  

7. The deception being taught in several churches today is philosophy, vain deceit, the traditions of men and good advice, which is not straight from the Word of God! People have become spoiled to believe their sacrifice for God is to have to show up to church on Sunday and give money. Worshipping together should be taken as a blessing but love must be practiced everyday 24/7 or our Christianity is in vain.

 

Vs 8 ‘Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ’. Apart from all things already mentioned, the traditions of men are the repetitive meaningless rituals, and this is what is killing people from worshipping God in “spirit and in truth”. Many are leaving the church, and this is why! Some indeed want His Spirit and truth and if they are not getting it…it is either the pastor, the people in the flock, or the doctrine at fault. May the Lord help you and me to be free from error, too much tradition, and modern-day practices of deceptions!

 

Christianity is a lifestyle of love, obedience, and service, not a feel-good club where one gets supported by the members no matter your sins and disobedience. So many bad examples exist that many people deduct that what Christianity is…is a self-serving entertainment club!

 

8. So for us that have studied God’s word, those of us who know better, it is on us to be the role model of what a true loving Christian is! I beg you, ask God if your faith is real? Ask yourself, am I deluded by my own ideas of what church and the practice of faith is all about? If you study God’s word you will learn the truth and not be deceived.

 

We must fight against deceptions, we should expose wrongdoing by the people of the world and by the people in the false churches. Only by doing God’s will can we provoke others see the light that we are proclaiming holiness, the opposite of them! The evil out there is real!

 

All people without God are first deceived by something or someone. It takes a miracle of God and the Holy Spirit power to wake up a person, so they see the reality of their spiritual poverty and their need for Jesus and His healing love. Pray for your friends and relatives to ‘wake up’!

(See 1 John 4, to try the spirits!)

 

9. And now for your conviction to be on guard I will leave you with a William Booth quote: "I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be .... religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God and heaven without hell."

 

You and I, being aware of Satan’s devices, must be aggressive and defend the real faith of Jesus Christ. We are in a spiritual battle that is getting more and more intense as each year goes by. Pray to be God’s instrument! Will you save souls from the deceptions of the world? Will you expose this world’s deceptions so others can see it is either God or the Devil one is serving? Do it for Jesus and the salvation of souls, He expects it of you! 

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…