How Much Will You Sacrifice For God?

How Much Will You Sacrifice For God?             Kelly Durant

Matthew 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls :46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

2. How many of you have ever wanted something really bad and you saved up for about a year to get it? For a special vacation, a car, or anything of value, it has to worked for and saved up for, and also even sacrificed for. I recall when I had a paper route I saved up for about 8 months to be able to buy the bike I wanted.

I already had a bike, but it was not special, it was ordinary. I am glad that when I was a youth I learned that you can get ahead and you can get what you want by fighting for it. As a matter of fact, I won a bike one year by selling the most boxes of candy for the Boy Scouts. My mother took me out every night for three months to sell door to door or in front of hospitals so I could win. I sold the bike I won and applied my savings and got the special Schwinn bike I wanted!

Most everyone in life is in the fight to progress or gain something of value. Who doesn’t want a good car, a good job, a good companion? To gain anything of value you have to have great patience and persistence. Here is the secret though, you have to have discretion to know what is worth fighting for! Here is a verse that will re-shift priorities. John 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

3. There are many examples of people in the Bible that fought to gain something of value and they got it.  Take Jacob for example. He wanted to marry Sarah and so Laban her father did a deal and he told him to serve him tending to his herds. He wanted him to earn the right to her and then he said he would give her hand to him when done.

Who knows how long he served him? Seven years! And to think that today there are people who are not even able to wait seven weeks or seven months to plan a wedding to get married and so they just shack up after meeting and it usually ends in disaster.

But guess what happened on the night of the wedding? Now here is a lesson about not drinking too much! After the party Jacob was so wasted he did not even notice that his father in law was marrying him to Leah instead of Sarah. It turns out the older sister had to be married first, so what did Jacob agree to? To work another seven years to marry Sarah! Now that is patience and persistence! Most people would have been livid and left but Jacob worked even another seven years in order to gain possessions from Laban. That is 21 years of servitude!

4. So when you want something you must count the cost of what it will cost you and you ask is it worth it? A spouse is something that usually takes a long time to plan for and invest in. A new car, well, it might take a year of savings, but in the end a car is only something material, but it is a very important part of our lives.

And just think how many people settle for much less than what they could have gotten. There are people who make the mistake of getting any old car instead of sacrificing and waiting for one that could be much better. So the cheap costs expensive as some people end up spending a lot of extra money in repairs and parts all due to the fact they make the mistake of not sacrificing to begin with getting something of quality.

If you and I do not plan well what is best to obtain in life, we will end up with a problem instead of a blessing! But here is something we cannot make a mistake on, and that is the faith we are going to follow. To follow Jesus you have to be willing to make some great sacrifices, because to whom much is given, much is required. But some people fail this test of sacrifice.

5. Take for example the rich young ruler that was not willing to obey and trust Jesus all the way. Luke 18:23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. 24 And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

All the disciples were put to the test to see if they really honestly wanted to follow Jesus and all of them had to give up something and they even gave up their lives. Some had to give up their family businesses of fishing, another gave up his secure job working for the government collecting taxes.  All of them left a stable situation for an instable one.

Does it appear that Jesus was picking on the rich young ruler? He wanted to make it clear that to serve God it would cost everything! Jesus was going to give up everything on the cross and He needed followers who would be willing to forsake everything here and now for the spreading of His Salvation to all the lost.

6. To gain much you have to invest much!  It is like the pearl of great price. Matt 13:45 Successful business people know about the cost of investment! All things not mediocre in life involve risk, adventure, danger, and total sacrifice and dedication.

In the Salvation Army we want Soldiers that will prove they are willing to be dedicated. The sad part is some people want to be Soldiers for the respect of belonging to the group but then they do not follow through with serving God and others, or in giving a tithe or showing up to volunteer when needed.

This is like being AWOL. This means away without official leave when referring to soldiers and this is the condition of many Christians in the church. No Corps or church needs any more comfortable Christians sitting around like the many millions that already fill church pews doing nothing to reach out to others! Some people get fed spiritually for years and then all is wasted and not reinvesting by the making of leaders that win new souls for Jesus. With all the investment in certain people, you would think we could get some dedication out of them to serve the hurting and to preach the gospel, right?

7. The problem is too many people are too selfish or comfortable to be willing to sacrifice for what God expects. With God it is invest it all, or don’t invest at all! What was holding the young rich man back? There are several factors that are common in many people.

For one, the way He responded to Jesus about how He had kept the law since His youth reveals pride on his part.  He thought he was so good that he deserved to be a follower of Jesus but no one can qualify by merit and their own self-righteousness to be a disciple. To make the grade you must be willing to pay the price of doing what Jesus commands to love, even love your enemies.

Another was selfishness, he was not willing to let go of his possessions. What we observe is Jesus made examples of the prideful ones that thought they were so strong and good on their own. This is a sign of not giving up your own character to God. Peter got humbled many times by Jesus when he was being a show off, being boastful, or arrogant but Peter had made the original sacrifice to be a disciple.

8. Pride causes too many people to give up and not sacrifice all the way for God when they actually have the potential to succeed. Pride makes people do big mistakes and lose their patience and they miss the mark with God and they do not get the best that God wants them to have in their lives.

Some people do not like to be put to the test but William Booth put others to the test and we must do it too sometimes. Do you recall how Samuel Brengle had to shine the boots of all the street Soldiers for several months in order to prove that he was not coming to the Salvation Army with his pride? He had a Theological degree but Booth perceived he had some pride still and he asked him to do a simple task instead of an important one being placed in a high position.

It is a problem if a person wants to be seen as the best in the group without submitting. If a novice person gets embarrassed and angry and these carnal emotions could over-ride the original purpose of just serving Jesus. Goals to advance require steps and sacrifice, work, time, and unlimited dedication. It is sad but many to give up on serving God because they can’t take the humiliation and test!

9. In the end there is nothing we give up for God that He will not recompense in heaven for the sacrifice. If things we sacrifice for here on earth are obtainable, how much more will be the reward for celestial things? There was Jacob who sacrificed and there was also King David and virtually every man of God.

King David said this when he could have made an offering without paying for it: 2 Samuel 24:24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing.

There is nothing we do for God that does not require a sacrifice and a fight. What is for God takes time, dedication, planning, and preparation. Each person is on a different time scale. God needed 40 years for Moses to be ready and Jesus took 3 and half years with the disciples. How long does God need to prepare you in order to use you? There is a calling and something great for every Christian and Soldier so pray and cooperate with God; with patience sacrifice, invest, and don’t run away from His preparation phase. The heavenly reward is worth sacrificing for!

Mourn! Or You Are Failing God!

Mourn! Or Your Failing God!                                                                        Kelly Durant

Ecclesiastes 3:4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; Ecclesiastes 7:2 It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.

2. How many of you have been in a funeral and everyone is sad sitting around in a room and then it was time for giving testimonies so then someone gets up to tell a funny story? Well, I remember what Joe did one time; One day he said he would cook for everybody but he came early that so no one would know he bought the food and he pretended that he cooked it putting it into a pot. Nobody knew he bought the food until months later!

Sometimes these memories help ease the pain, and I think it is our human nature to want to get people to see others happy and laugh when they are grieving and mourning but there is a time for everything. Sadness is not something that we enjoy, and most all of us want to run from it, but denying or ignoring pain is not what brings healing when there is a loss. Life has sobering serious moments and we must accept them.

Within all of God’s creation, what we must conclude is that sadness is a part of what we must go through in this life so we can learn certain lessons that are needed to prepare us to appreciate the joys we will have forever in heaven. Here is one of my favorite verses: Revelation 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

3. Today we are looking at Ecclesiastes 3:4 ‘A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn,’ and 3:2 ‘A time to be born, and a time to die’, and What does it all mean? Life has its cycles and we just have to accept them. There is ‘a time to be born and a time to die’ and we as God’s creations do not get to choose either of those times. What is important is to recognize that we must be ready all the time to leave it all behind because we do not know where we are on God’s clock. Are you at 6 pm or and 5 minutes to midnight? Only God knows. We fool ourselves into thinking that we may have a decade or three to live, but that is human nature denying reality!

When someone passes on to promotion with the Lord it usually makes most everyone sad and afraid. We are reminded that we are not in control of what God is going to do in any of our lives. You and I never plan at what age we will die.  No person, no matter their religion, power, or wealth can stop God’s timing and order cycle of life. The best thing we can do is to ‘fear God and keep His commandments’, and just accept His will knowing that all things are going to be alright taking place in His time.

How are things going to be alright? Because we can peace in the midst of the storms of heartbreak if we lean on God’s strength trusting in Him because we belong to him. Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

4. When in sadness and mourning all we can do is remind ourselves that God is good all the time! The sadness and the storm will pass. None of us ever fully get time to prepare to leave and it seems every time someone passes on quickly we are always surprised. When you consider some people do not get to live to be older we must always count each year as a blessing!

In the time of Jesus, with the Romans civilizing the world with brutality, most people died in their 30s! Life was that hard and dangerous! The Lord actually intended for us to live long enough to see grandchildren and to learn to become wise and simple like children in our old age. Psalm 90:10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

This verse says and ‘we fly away’, what a beautiful image! Our spirits leave behind this old, weak, and problematic body like a change of old clothes and we fly free of the weights of life up to unite with our heavenly creator.

5. So why does it say in Ecclesiastes 7:2 ‘It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting:’? Because God through sufferings brings us close together with Him and closer together to each other! Some families only get together when someone dies, how sad, right?

We need to accept God’s wisdom that he wants us to cry, grieve, and be sober and mourn when we need to! We are creatures, created to feel emotions, and we must let them be a part of who we are. The loss of a loved one is not just a family loss, it is a loss for the entire church (or Corps) and community! It is not just sadness for a few, it is a sadness for the whole interconnected body!

 James 5:13  Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.  When one person is grieving, it should make us all grieve. We are all like a tapestry, all the threads are connected, and when one is sad, we all are sad! Also when one is in trouble, or one causing trouble, it affects all in one way or another. 

6. I Cor. 12:26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. 27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

I would like to call attention to this, a person who is indifferent to the suffering of another in our fellowship, in our Corps, is separating their selves from being a part of our family! Anyone here unwilling to be serious, sober, humbled, and in a state of mourning when someone is mourning is showing their self to be selfish, proud, superficial, and insensitive to the Spirit of God!

All of us in our natural state are terrible! We need to get humbled by the natural things of life in order to learn to respect and fear God! Too many people in Miami, and around the world, have the spirit of wanting to have fun to forget their pain, when God wants them to stop with the laughter and fun and learn from the realities of the pain of life, and from the pain in His heart over the pain humanity produces.

7. Imagine right now you get a big cut on your arm while hiking in the woods. You have to keep moving so you are not able to attend to it as you should and then after a few days it gets infected. It is then very painful to clean out but no matter how much the pain is, you have to clean it or the infection will spread to all the body and kill you! This is why we must allow the pain and we must bear it. You fail God if you do not mourn and this is what is wrong with many people in the world and even wrong with some Christians, they are not blessed because they do not mourn. They never take the time to clean their infections, and they never get sober, serious, and sad to purify their sin out of their selves, they remain sick and are accumulating bitterness and judgement. We must learn to mourn our own death to self and let it go.      

James 4:8 ‘Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.’  Isn’t it true that too few of you have ever done this process knowing that this is what God wants?

In Bolivia I had an amazing Argentine friend, Lucho Ortiz. He was an amazing father of 3 girls and a son, a Petroleum engineer, and a leader in the Charismatic church La Mansion. I use to teach him English at home and one time he told me his testimony of how he received Jesus. He had been a communist, a stanch atheist, a Peronista activist that led rallies to change the government. But one day it hit him how evil he was, he stopped and doubted his self and all his aggressiveness. He asked God if He was real and God’s spirit took over Him and all he said he could do was cry for several hours! He repented many days for his sins and he changed into a totally different Christian person! I have cried many times too when actually letting God in to show me who I was. I think everyone who repents reaches this type of humbling and mourning. Have you ever broken down to let God purge you?   

8. If there is one thing I have learned in life it is that sooner or later you have let yourself break apart and be sad for all the suffering and death in the world! When you love someone as a brother or sister, you get affected very deeply when they go through a trial, a purge, a loss or a pain.

People who have empathy, people who cry with others, are healthy Godly people. The opposite are psychopaths, and these are people who are numb to anyone’s pain, these are people controlled by selfish destructive Satan! Jesus wept over the loss of Jerusalem, over the loss of the people who in rebellion would not repent, so they were dead to God by their own choice.

God’s heart grieves when people die. God hurts for us that we have to be a part of this evil system where there is an end to life. In the Garden of Eden we were created by God to live forever, and in our resurrected bodies, which Jesus has promised us for faithfulness to Him, we will live forever again! We know we will be united with loved ones in the future because God is amazing and He actually does not let die all the spirits that belong to Him!

9. So if we do not let Jesus break you and me and put us back together in His image, then we are of no use to Him or anyone! Luke 6:25 “Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.” But Jesus also said, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted!” So start mourning today if you want His blessings!

John 12:24 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit”.

Pain and death is just a part of what we inherited in this fallen world but God never intended for it to be that way! The wonderful thing is Jesus made it right and took the curse of death away! When we go with Him in heaven we will never die ever again!

So keep your eye on the light at the end of the tunnel. The dark moment is scary, real, and disturbing but it is only just a part of the journey; At the end of the journey is God’s comforting city of light and we live together in a new regenerated body and world full of love and peace forever! 

Pray Before You Say Or Pay (The Consequences)

Pray Before You Say Or Pay (The Consequences)                            Kelly Durant  9-11-16

James 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. 3 Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. 4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

2. When you were young did you ever hear this from a friend, “Look at that gal!” when they saw the most attractive person ever, with the perfect body, perfect hair but then when they went to talk to them just after a few minutes all the attractiveness gets disinflated? A person may look so good on the outside but by their speech you can discern if they are shallow, ignorant, arrogant, or offensive. People reveal who they really are by their speech, be it dumb, shallow, ignorant, or offensive! How do people see you? Are your words for extending God’s Word or for your own advancement?

What we speak matters! Isn’t it true that most of time we have small talk with others because we don’t want to get into another’s business to make them uncomfortable? For example, ‘It’s been raining a lot, don’t you think? It’s been hotter than usual, right?’  These are good conversation starters but if we only talk about the weather all the time people are going to think that you and I are either dumb, shallow, ignorant, or crazy, right? Or sometimes people do not talk to you because they may not trust you being afraid you might repeat something said and distort it and spread it around. And some people are too loud and aggressive so they are avoided.

As Christians we must discipline ourselves every day to become wise in our speech or we will come off as a hypocrite or a fool. We are the ‘salt of the earth’, and what we say should add a good flavor to any conversation. Some people instead, however, in place of adding salt they add too much of their own bitter lemons, or too many chili peppers and then that everyone leaves with a bad taste in their mouth! If you are a person that likes to pridefully show off, offend or humiliate, argue or be smart-mouthed then you need a serious repentance. Speech reveals the heart, and a Christian lacking in having a holy pure heart needs to ask God to break them and remake them, otherwise you are harming God’s work by making others stumble!

3. Do you think everyone here could all use more wisdom in what they say? That they need to pray before they say?  Some people bring unity and togetherness with their loving, inspired-by-Jesus sincere words, but then there are some others that with their words are like superglue remover, who seem to dissolve with negative comments the unity and love God wants us to have together.  Remember, it is better that people wonder why you did not speak, than to wonder why you said what you said!

Isn’t it sad when a person is saying to you, look at that person over there, they only come here to take advantage of what you give away, and you can discern they are saying it with the jealous motive of hoping you will stop giving to them so they can take advantage of you and get more for their selves? When people make any comments remember this verse, Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” When a person speaks of something and accuses of something, the first one you should try to analyze the person speaking, not the one accused.  

We all are commanded by Jesus to forgive one another as many times we all mess up by saying something wrong, we can being selfishly motivated or controlling at times, so admit it to yourself, I probably have said some dumb, ignorant, and offensive things to others!  You and I must learn to pray before we say or we will bring on suffering! The suffering of others and also the suffering of your own sinful guilt and rejection.  Ask yourself, ‘If my words were like those written from a pencil would my eraser get worn out before the pencil is too short?’  

Is anyone’s opinion always right? Sometimes you are right in your words and other times wrong, like any of us, but you must ask yourself, do I really pray before I say things?  Speaking all your mind is not wise because people react to what is said and it can get messy.  Proverbs 10:19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise. So when are you going to start making things right with God and your brothers by controlling your tongue more? 

4. When a person opens their mouth about something and the listeners know that it is not fully correct information, or it appears to be words intended to skew opinions, or it’s just an ego inflated exaggeration, the embarrassment boomerangs back on the person speaking.  Proverbs 6:2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.

The consequence of being wreckless with words is that the listeners will either start sharing in your opinions that may not be totally correct and this could bring discord, or the opposite, people start being angry at you for speaking something that you should have just left unsaid.

Words divide or unite us and if an offense is intended by any words you speak, then this lack of love gets embarrassingly exposed. The problem with offending with words is it is like road rage. When one person is rude, then the other one gets rude back and then it keeps escalating until there is a wreck! So Lord, please, please help each one of us here to learn to pray before we say so we do not pay the consequences in damaged relationships!  Proverbs 16:7 When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

5. James 5:4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. When we are in meetings, or just talking amongst ourselves please steer the ship into safe deep waters. No crew member should let the wrong person control the rudder and take the ship into turbulent waters, jeopardizing the whole crew!

James 5:5 ‘Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!’ It is not right that everyone has to stop what they are doing to run to put out a fire that someone started by opening their mouth when they should have kept it shut!

Aren’t some people are evil? They like to start fires and then run away! They think it is funny when everyone is excited, angry, and yelling over something they said! People who love to start fires and dramas and burn things dividing families and churches will have to face God’s judgment!  Matthew 12:37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

6. Here is another issue with words, people tell stories about others not knowing if they are true or not. Proverbs 18:8 The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. In other words, it does matter a lot what we say about others as we are figuratively stabbing them in the gut! The person who goes around spreading stories about another is causing wounds and God sees all. Telling stories to get followers and haters is what the corrupt political people do, and we are all so tired of it! But liars and people baring false witnesses are people condemned by God, and the contrast is we are supposed to be the opposite, “blessed peacemakers!’

Proverbs 20:19 He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips. Have you ever known people who just love to tell secrets? Do you know what this revels? It reveals that this person may be sick spiritually and weak inside and they get to feel powerful when they tell you something you did not know about another. The talebearer seeks pride for the power of manipulation and God hates the proud but gives grace to the humble. Proverbs 17:9 He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.

The words we circulate matter! A secret teller may be inventing something to discredit another or bringing up something in the past and it may be true but either way we must discern how to react. The problem is a secret from a person’s past, maybe even 10 years ago, may have nothing to do with their present such as, ‘Did you know so and so has been to jail?’ People who reveal these types of secrets about their repentant brothers or sisters are bringing division. Why bring it up? If a person already suffered for something, how is it that now you are going to betray their image and healing process? Most everyone has something shameful in their past and I assume we could talk about any one of us here but Jesus is not about highlighting sins (that’s what Satan, the accuser of the saints does). Jesus is about forgiveness, and the bright future He has ahead for us for our change of heart to live in holiness, and for our transformation of the mind and bridling of the tongue. Psalm 32:9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.

7. People reap what they sew with their words and I have seen some families with an exaggerated amount of hate, troubles, sickness, and division amongst their selves that they brought upon their own selves just for having offensive mouths! Most people are influenced by the world and think it is normal to continually mock, and poke fun of others. In my B.C. (before Christ) era I imitated the world’s speech and I used to mock and even use the ‘s…’ and ‘f…’ word in every sentence as the people of the world do, but when I changed my heart with Jesus my speech cleaned up as well.

I, like anyone, have also been guilty of pestering and provoking and I hope all of you know by now know that this is dumb and unwise. Proverbs 30:33 Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.

Satan loves to divide and offend by using you or me as his mouthpiece, and we see this in politics and business, but we should never allow it amongst our Christian brother! Jesus rebuked Peter when he was speaking for Satan! Haven’t we all seen offended people quit coming to the Corps (church), because someone said something ugly and they got mad at the person, or mother-in-law, and left?

8. Most of the time the reason a person does not want to come back to church is not because they have moved, but because someone offended them, did you know this is what I have discovered?  So why don’t we find out who is offending others amongst ourselves and pray they either change or take their mouth and spirit not-of-Jesus somewhere else? What is the motive for the rudeness anyway?  Can you think of a person right now who does not come anymore and you suspect it is because of something you may have commented? Before fully following Jesus we all were a terrible offensive mess, so if God was merciful to you, you had better be merciful to others or God’s judgement is coming to you.    

What a crime it is that someone’s big mouth may create big problems, right? A church and this Corps exists so that the family of believers can fellowship in love and receive blessings; so all of this Christian system exists so hurting others can come to hear the Word of God and get help however they need it and this brings them hope, healing, salvation, wisdom, rebuke and intelligence. But if someone says the wrong thing, it destroys all the good that was done!

How many people have you and I seen destroyed by offensive people with big mouths and manipulative words that have driven them to sickness and insanity?  And no one can stop these loosed tongued people, only Jesus can break and remake them! These kinds offend, and keep on offending  because they are not desperate to do God’s will so their fruit for God is not there. Often people don’t stop because they have not yet fully payed for the consequences of their actions. The consequences  to be reaped for ill spoken words include the feeling of a guilty dirty spirit, rejection by others, loneliness because others don’t trust them, depression, despair, sickness, and the knowledge that God’s judgment will be severe on them for creating hell with all their mouths!  

9. The consequences of offensive words is serious! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.  James had it right, the people who like to start fires with their comments will have to deal with the hell that comes with it.

Do you realize how many pastors or Captains have left the ministry because they just got tired of having to deal with horrible offensive people who would just keep hammering away with their crafty words at them or others? And it was usually behind their backs and it was all because someone had an embittered, jealous, angry, prideful unrepentant heart!

So how do you and I put out a fire? With water! The water of God’s Word! The most important prayer Jesus taught us contains this difficult part that says Matt 6:12 And forgive us our debts (other versions ‘offenses’), As we forgive our debtors.13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. 14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Like it or not you and I are commanded to forgive all things. God commands it for our own good, for our own freedom from anger, bitterness, and revenge. And it is not our place to demand a person ask for forgiveness either, that is pride and that is seeing the speck in your brothers eye while ignoring the huge log in your eye. Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger. Put water on the fire and pray before you say!

Jesus on Current Issues of His Day Which Still Apply Today

Jesus on Current Issues of His Day Which Still Apply Today          Kelly Durant

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.

2. Racism: The Good Samaritan Luke 10: 30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

What do we conclude from this example? Jesus made it clear that the one who does God’s will to help and heal, no matter the religion, position, or race is the one whom God favors because he chooses to show mercy. This is God’s all-inclusive love!  Then said Jesus unto him, “Go, and do thou likewise”. Do what? Love those whom you may hate!  God’s love is not limited by the differences or actual hate people have between their selves over race or religion. Samaritans were half Jew brothers to the Jews and they hated each other over the rude treatment which came from both sides. Religiously they did not see eye to eye either, but love is blind to color, race, ideals, culture, and past cruel history.

Infanticide and Pro-Life: Matthew 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus always exalted children, the innocent ones, the playful, joyous ones as the example of how we must be in our behavior concerning the way God wants us to live.

The implied here in Jesus statement is that children are wanted! In the Old Testament there were cultures that would practice infanticide and throw their babies into a fiery statue for sacrifice to the gods such as Molech. Here is a verse that proves how an Israelite stood up to this horrific practice. 2 Kings 23:10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.

Here is another thing Jesus spoke about not offending an innocent child. Matthew 18:6 ‘But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.’ Life’s heartbeat begins after a few days of conception and we must respect the creator of life and allow our society to be full of children which will mellow us as adults into being more loving, innocent, and happy creatures as they are.

Bearing Arms: Luke 22: 38 And they said, ‘Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.’ Jesus and his disciples at times carried weapons.

Considering that Jesus escaped getting stoned by the Jews several times before he was crucified, we can conclude that His approach was more ‘flight’, than ‘fight’. Obviously none of his disciples ever used their swords to attack anyone,(expect when Peter cut off an ear and Jesus put it back on) but Luke 22: 38 confirms they owned swords. In other words Jesus propagated the idea that defense is good but offense is not. His offense was always with words, penetrating words of truth. Jesus words are “sharper than any 2 edged sword” and yet they are comforting within the discomfort of the truth. They are enlightening, saving, convicting, and His words also expose the hypocrisy and false teachings of those who pretended to be of God but were not.

And finally, Luke 11:21 ‘When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:’ This verse implies being ready to defend from an attack but Jesus was not militantly aggressive. There have been some militant Christians throughout history but this is the wrong approach as Jesus made it clear in Matthew 26:52 Then said Jesus unto him, ‘Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword’.

Socialism: Luke 18:22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet you lack one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.

This command of Jesus seems to make a very strong case that the rich must share with the poor. Why? To alleviate suffering to as many poor as possible! The world is overwhelmed by the poor starving to death; it was that way in Jesus time and it continues on today as well. The solution is people dozens of thousands times richer that the poor have the social responsibility to provide for the dozens of thousands. We were born naked with nothing and we die naked taking nothing.

The first church, or group of believers, actually did obey Jesus command to sell all and share with all! Acts 2:44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. So socialism was God’s idea, but it works only when His love is motivating it! We have 100 years of history to see that man’s severe oppressive laws of socialism will never make it work. There must be a heart change for all greed and malice to be erased so there is a willingness to love your neighbor as yourself, materially and spiritually. 

Governmental Relations and Civil Disobedience: Luke 13:32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox (Herod), ‘Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.’ Jesus identified the politician’s character, as that of a fox. Ever since the beginning the jealous religious leaders of Satan have always been trying to stop Jesus by scaring the government into eliminating what Jesus or His followers were doing and saying by making the authorities believe they were a threat to their empirical control. The ‘government was on Jesus shoulder’ as described in Isaiah 9:6 but Jesus remained free because he actually was proven to have not broken any of their Roman laws nor did He defy and attack the authorities as the zealots and others did.

Jesus clearly answered Pilate on his stance when He said in John 18:36

Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.’ Our battle is in the spirit against the sources of evil, which is not always from the people in power in this world’s governments. Ephesians 6:12 ‘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’. Referring to voting, we should be civic participants and ‘render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s but unto God that which is God’s’.

 

Attitude Towards World Religions: Jesus, being the Son of God manifested in the flesh, established a new world religion by His presence, a new religion of worshipping God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus because of His life, death, and resurrection became the intermediator to get to God. John 14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Also, Jesus only has the power to give to us mortals immortality! 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.

In Jesus time, in His area, Judaism and Paganism ruled with oppression and people wasted their time and money worshipping and praying or sacrificing in vain often to idols made of metal and wood that were deaf and dumb which offered no salvation, healing, or love. Jesus also exposed that no place on earth is special or holy (places exploited by man) as some religions claimed and that the worshippers of God must do it ‘in spirit and in truth’ (John 4). Jesus’ grace and forgiveness clashed with the strict Jews, followers of the law, as they were cruel in their punishments and criticism and had no love for God in their hearts nor any love for others. 

Jesus presence annulled all world religions! Mark 1:22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. All world religions are comprised of teachings taught by men that have died, and some wisdom is to be gained from them, but the ultimate truth and life is in Jesus.  John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. May Jesus fill you with His way, truth, and life to the point that God’s Holy Spirit wisdom causes you to see that all other beliefs must fade into darkness under His glorious light!

Sick? Only Jesus Heals, But With Your Cooperation!

Sick? Only Jesus Heals, But With Your Cooperation!      Kelly Durant

Matthew 9:12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

2. When you serve on disasters as we do in the Salvation Army you see all kinds of situations with people after a tragic event. One situation is this, a person comes to you to do volunteer work and you think, great, more help. But then as they fill out the form you notice they have not had a shower in several days and that their eyes are red from a lack of sleep, and they are repeating the same phrases like, “I’ve been helping all this time, I just want to help, I just want to help”.

What is you assessment of this person? It becomes apparent that they are in shock and in denial of how they need a rest! In their mind they are there to do good because the tragedy is severe; there to serve and alleviate the suffering, but if they themselves need attention and are not perceiving it, then you and I have to convince them to just stop! They may refuse to hear that they should come back after a few days, that they first should attend to their selves, but otherwise they are in no sane condition to be of a help to anyone and you cannot work with them.

I am using this example as a parallel to what happens in the church. There are many people who come to serve, but they have not perceived how they are not ready to serve correctly due to living in denial of the sins they have, due to not being aware of their lack of being properly trained for the job, and due to a lack of not getting their own healing taken care of first so they serve while healthy.

3. When a Christian shares their faith, what is one of the first steps they must get another person to do? They must help them to see their sin and be aware of their condition so they repent of it. You and I must help others see that they are a train wreck disaster, that they have messed up and sinned and offended God and others, and that they are not able to fix it on their own. Can you still see your sins? Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Name me your past sins right now? Can you? If a person thinks that they are alright, that they don’t need your Christian opinion or God’s word to try and find fault with their life to correct anything, then they are rejecting salvation and they will remain as lost and will keep on damaging others and their own selves! The law is you reap what you sew, so no one escapes. Closeness to God means awareness of what is not right, not by your own definition, but by God’s word.

Proverbs 5:22-23(NIV) 22 The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. 23 For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.

4. So here is another analogy. You were sick, you got afflicted, let’s say you got a broken ankle; you were not walking with God but rather you were walking in places that were dangerous and risky and you had a fall and a wake up call. A common event that happens with most all of us as humans, right? Then what happened next? You went to the emergency room, got a cast, had some time out laying flat looking into the sky that God made, and then you were better but you were not totally well, so what did the doctor recommend? Therapy!

Have you ever thought of church and your time with God as your therapy? You have been healed for the most part of your broken spirit but you must have God’s word, and fellowship with other Christians to keep maintaining your health, like a medicine. Time with God is needed for all of us or we will not heal in the right way. If you do not heal an ankle in the right way it will hurt horribly and make you walk crooked until you die! But if you do God’s therapy you see positive results!

Fellowship with God’s people brings us joy and happiness and makes our hearts glad! Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.  God’s word brings wisdom and healing spiritually and even physically! Proverbs 3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. 8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

5. So why am I bringing this up? Because I am concerned that some people are more healed up in your broken-ness than others! Christian growth is a process and some of you are cooperating more with God applying your needed medicine and therapy than others!

In general many Christians (and think about how you do it) wake up and pray every day, they take time to read or study God’s word every day, so weekly they are getting 6 days or 6 hours of healing and then another 3 or 4 hours on Sunday so they are making good progress.

But there are others that wait until Sunday, and then they only come one or two Sundays a month, so how do they think that 4 hours a month is going to help? That’s only 1/10^th compared to the progress of others! This is why a person becomes weak, become prey to the enemy, and are not used by God as God would like. God has his will for us, but too often people let their will in the way!

6. Jesus always wanted people to do their part, like when He resurrected Lazarus, he told those near him to roll away the stone. Another example of those doing their part was when Jesus told the lepers to go show their selves to the priest. He did not heal them instantly as with others in the recent past, these lepers had to walk for some time to get to the temple and do what lepers never did, go into the temple!

Luke 17:  12 ‘And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:13 And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. 14 And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.’ It was forbidden for a leper to go anywhere near a priest so those that obeyed and went despite knowing that fact were healed! And all 10 went and were healed but only 1 came back to give thanks!

There are many people who get sick and then beg God to heal them but then soon afterwards they forget about the miracle. Consider this, the Lord puts the maintenance of our healing salvation on each us and He wants it to continue. Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

7. What the word makes clear here is that you no one is answering for your obedience to God’s word, not me, and not Paul of Tarsus. Only you are directly responsible for your own salvation and maintenance of living free from not committing further sins and progressing and growing into a spiritually healthy holy saint of God. The doctrines of the Salvation Army confirm what is stated here in the Word as well. Let’s review 7 and 9.

*7. That repentance toward God / faith in our Lord Jesus Christ / and regeneration by the Holy Spirit are necessary to salvation. 9. That continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.

So how are we going to keep well and on the right path? We have to have the desire, passion, and will to do the work to make it happen! But there is one thing here in Doctrine 7 that we must take a closer look at.

8. It is the regeneration by the Holy Spirit! That is our medicine and power that keeps us healed, walking firm and strong, not letting us fall down as we use to so easily as before. Titus 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

What brings us success is our connection to the Holy Spirit with our regenerated heart that has lost its desire to sin.  We know there are gifts of the Spirit and there are the fruits of the Spirit. Let’s review some of both.

I Cor. 12 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 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.

9. So how do we know if a Christian is healthy and healing, or not? Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. In the Holy Scripture also we can compare if a person is acting out of their own flesh, or matured and governed by the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

10. Everyone is at a different maturity healing level in their walk with Jesus. Some have not fully assessed what made them fall in the first place and recognized how much they need assistance to heal, or how important it is that they should invest a whole lot more into their spiritual well-being.

So many people who come so infrequently, who communicate so little, who may have too much pride, think they can do their own therapy with little council or guidance, but we observe it is not creating the needed healing. Our Church/ Corps fellowships are comparable to like having a classroom that accommodates toddlers, middle schoolers, and college students all in the same building, and it is a difficult situation but God has an individual plan for each person He loves.

The factor is we must be tolerant of each other, and accepting of each person’s level. Years in the Corps, or age does not necessarily equate into maturity. Maturity is a personal ongoing endeavor and others are here to guide, teach, and support but it is each individual that advances or regresses by their daily choice.

11. God loves everyone and the college student should not resent the High Schooler and no one should be a critic of who is where in their spiritual life, that is between them and God. At one point we all started out with the (symbolic) broken ankle. What you are doing to heal as an individual is what matters.

I recall when I was in a room with 5 other people who had broken their hip as my mother had at this time about 5 years ago and everyone was doing therapy. Some refused the therapy and preferred to stay in a wheelchair. Others did their best to get up and endure the pain and strengthen their walk and get back to normal. And others were told they were doing too little exercise on their own and that they needed to improve their self, allowing help, if they wanted to walk correctly and heal appropriately. This image describes the Christian walk and the dedication of people to heal and grow, does it not?

This is the situation here in this piece of God’s Kingdom, in the Hialeah Corps. No one is to blame for where you are at spiritually except yourself! The Captains and Pastors are not to blame for the immaturity of some as some would like to think. Jesus taught Peter and Judas the same things and one turned out to be a powerhouse for winning souls while the other turned out to be a traitor!

Where you are with God, mature or immature, with your fruits and gifts, has been the product of your own work! This church family has offered, and keeps offering plenty of training, sermons, Bible classes, and council but since the truth hurts as a therapy, many don’t want very much of it. Let’s pray that each of us will take conviction and take more imitative to mature and heal correctly so God can use you and me to the maximun for His glory in winning others to Jesus.     

Jesus’ Truths: How Scandalous! The Truth Makes You Feel Good!

Jesus’ Truths: How Scandalous! The Truth Makes You Feel Good!                                     Kelly Durant  8-21-16

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 you will see that Jesus was teaching more than just what you first take note of. He was the ultimate teacher who often applied double meanings, inferences, and opposite 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!’ This is the inferred and this brought them inner joy that real justice did exist! The same as today, we long for humble leaders!

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 later to punish Him for being the messenger of truth?

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 is that when you the truth is spoken, 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 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 that one loses focus on the joy and heavenly relief, and even laughter, that can be right there in the midst of it.

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 focuses 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 desyncopated 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 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 yoy 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 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 it totally. His 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 and neither God or those around you will be able to stand you! Let’s pray…

  

Patience: Without It You Pay A High Price

Patience: Without It You Pay A High Price                    Kelly Durant  8-14-16

Luke 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls James 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

2. Have you ever known people without any patience? We see them all the time in Miami! I was at a gas station a few days ago and the clerk was counting money with the door locked and I waited outside 10 minutes, along with about 8 others but 3 people took off mad and in a hurry! So the implication is those folks will waste 10 or 20 minutes more driving to another gas station. Impatient people lose more time and have to repeat things again and again all the time!

We live in times that make too many people too comfortable and it is not realistic to expect things to happen instantly all the time. God takes his time to grow a flower, 9 months to make a baby, and season changes happen but slowly. But as humans we lose patience all the time when God is trying to teach us patience. All things must happen in God’s time!

Information and communication happen almost instantly in the news channels. Computers and fast food have us spoiled you and me so we race through the day doing dozens of things asking where did the time go?

3. So today, I want to ask you, how much patience do you have? The reality is we need to work on that, don’t we? Within the context of Jesus message of a future world in tribulation Jesus said, “In your patience possess ye your souls”. When you do a word search in the Bible on “patience” you find dozens of references so you and I must consider it important! We must ask God to cultivate it in us!

Everyone knows about the life of Job, that no matter all of the things that happened to him, he still had the patience to trust God and to believe that his faithfulness to God was going to pay off, and it did. He got back all of what he lost, even double! But at the time he did not know that! He thought it was the end!

 James 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

In the New Testament we see the need for patience not just for getting us through the coming persecution and tribulation, but for our own spiritual day to day development. Patience in the Bible is within the context of putting up with terrible trials and conditions, putting up with each other, and putting up with what God is doing in your life to teach you lessons you don’t really want to learn! Few people ask God to teach them patience because they do not want the trials that go with it to learn it!

4. Here is what I observe about patience: you are going to learn it or else! God often will allow you to pass over the same trial over and over until you learn to be more humble and more patient. Compare patience to some of the students I had when I taught English. Some would do good for 3 months and then right before the exam they would quit! They did not have the patience to prepare just a little bit more for what they already had learned for the test. So what would happen? They would end up repeating Level 1 two, three and sometimes even five times! It is like an old movie, ‘Groundhog Day’! In the movie at 6:00 am the day would be the same day over and over until one day love broke the curse. To repeat and repeat leads nowhere because the lesson is not learned due to impatience!

Church members, be they here in the Salvation Army or in some other Christian work on the other side of the globe have the same challenge, to learn to let God do the work He is doing in your life and not get impatient about it. The lesson is to not lose patience and have to start all over again! Some people with a lack of patience appear like a child in a grown up body making mistake after mistake and it is embarrassing to watch. Without patience we are losing time and progress.

2 Corinthians 6:4-5 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings.

5. So in the scripture of today where we read that when we are in a major crisis with no food or money, being in jail, or being persecuted we must keep on with the faith in patience fasting if we need to. That is extreme and that was 2,000 years ago but even today millions of Christians live lacking in necessities and in terrible affliction! In today’s world a knock on the door by some anti-christ officials (atheists or religious) could mean imprisonment, death, or the permanent loss of contact with their beloved family members! Cubans, many Latinos, Chinese, Russians and Arab countries live with this horrible injustice! Being unjustly imprisoned, beaten up and being destitute and miserable up until death is what tries the patience of millions of Christians! Never forget to pray for them!  

Comparing how cozy, comfortable, and how (only for this moment) non-life-threatened we live in the USA, we must have appreciate how having ‘patience’ here compared with how the early church and other nations have to have it, puts us into a diminished perspective. In our modern day world I have heard of people not having patience for little things and leaving the church over their inability to resolve trivialities. For example in our day of whiners, spoiled so called Christians may leave the church over simple things such as a change of pastors, over a change of paint color in the building, over a brother they do not like, or over not getting to hear the music they want to hear.

How pampered and impatient are many Christians!  This immaturity is a scourge! We live in a shamefully spoiled generation that is going to have a rude awakening when it comes time to having real patience in tribulations. Not practicing patience now over small things could mean the loss of one’s soul, because with no purification, with no maturing, all can be lost.

6. Impatient people are hell to put up with! They expect to receive perfection without giving it. Like a few old girlfriends I had for just a few days back in High School who would say they expected their man to bring them flowers, and their man had better have money, and their man must have this and have that. How is it some people want to demand perfection and yet they are very imperfect, demanding, and selfish their selves incapable of offering perfection? With patience we learn to purge ourselves of our faults!

James 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

We must note here that in the world nothing will ever be perfect, and due to that fact, we will always be faced with the need to have patience. And we must let patience remold, rewire, and remake us into a humble patient loving servant of God! What needs to become perfect according to the scripture is God’s love in you and me, as you and I will never make the world and everyone else perfect!

7. And lately people have commented that we must not expect to have the perfect church either but we must learn to have patience with all the normal trials of life. Was it German that said that one time he went to the perfect church and all was perfect until he started going there! Perfection in people does not exist, but on our path to holiness we do strive for it, but only God’s love practiced in our life will make it happen. What is repeated is that we are to be perfect in love!

Put into perspective I feel honored by God and blessed to not have to go through more trails than what I have to in this Corps (church)! Believe me putting up with people and their imperfections is not near as hard as being in situations where you have no rent money, no food, and you fear that the government will imprison you deport you for preaching the gospel. And yes, I have survived those situations I just described and millions of other brothers and sisters face these trials and much worse on a daily basis! Again, pray for those in trials around the world!

8. We must keep things in perspective and never allow ourselves to go crazy lacking in patience. What is madness? It is being obsessive and impatient! Obsessiveness is when a person makes a huge mountain over a mole hill. I recall in Georgia one time on the news a high ranking government official was trying to get fired a grocery store clerk who would lick her finger to get the plastic bags open for packing. This person was uncomfortable by this and demanded the person be fired and a war over nothing was started! Why didn’t she just shop at another store!? Why do we as viewers have to put up with abusive people in power inventing squabbles to distract us from the real issues of poverty, addiction, and violence? News outlets love to exalt those with issues and impatience! Don’t be a fool to play into their games of hypocritical accusations.

This is the world we live in today. A world where a bunch of impatient whiners want to make miserable an entire group of people over their preferences and ways of doing things! The abuse of power is killing us! Spoiled politicians turn into murderous despots because they have no patience to listen to those who come to them with legitimate grievances.

A lack of patience and love is making our world become a hell! The lack of patience with others is dividing and destroying societies worldwide. The love of many, and the patience we should be showing one to another, is becoming cold.

How sad it is that too few people in the world know the Word of God and practice it to the best they can. Jesus commanded us to ‘forgive others as we want to be forgiven’. Now that is an extreme example for an emphasis on the practice of patience if I ever heard one!

9. Ask God for patience! Without it you will be a failure at everything and be an angry, hot-headed, reckless, destructive, frustrated, stressed out soul! And we see too many of those kinds all around this city!

So the future of your soul is determined by your dominion over your spirit, whether you can make it learn patience and love or not when you are faced with a trial, confrontation, or persecution. Romans 5:3 “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience. 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:” We want faith, hope, and love, but they all are learned by having patience!

Pray to learn patience because the need to practice it our day to day experiences (and trials) is a must! People, will try your patience, but so will the weather, things that break, traffic and many other things! Our whole life sort of revolves around processes, and some go slow, so the need for patience in your and my life is imperative! The main process we should be concerned about is our spiritual growth and imagine how patient God has been with you! Prayer…