Use it or Lose It: What has God given you?

Use it or Lose It: What has God given you?    Kelly Durant.  1-29-23

Matthew 25:14-33

2. Many people set new goals for their life when a new year starts. Here at the Corps some do it with the case worker. Everyone should have goals and, if not you will be failing God making yourself an unwise steward of your life. If you are not having life happen as you plan it, if God isn’t getting His fair share of you, then who or what is getting in the way? Most always it is your own stubborn self to blame! Do you want blessings for hard work, then get busy! There is a lot to do! 

Notice that we all praise the honeybee for his busy work, but we hate the mosquito! The busy-ness you choose must be prayed over, planned and counseled about, and then executed. You don’t want to waste time and energy you can never get back! Many people choose the wrong activities and disregarding God’s will, they hurt others, and anger God.  

God keeps you and me out of trouble this way, ha! But King David, and anyone with too much leisure time may get into mischief! As Christians we must always be serving, studying, working and being productive in all good things!

3 Some people, however, would love to use your or my time to take them shopping all day or do errands for them! I wish we could spend more time with each other but if you and I do not plan our priorities for the day, we’ll lose all our time in the little the errands of everyone else and not get anything done that we should do! 

It is time to evaluate where your time, talent, and treasure are being spent and determine if you are dedicating enough of it to God or not. He is the judge, not me, but my role is to inspire you to use what you have for Him, or as in this parable of today, warn you of the consequences of not using what you have for God! All I want is for the Lord to tell you what you need to do to come into His joy!

4 In the parable of the talents, we can compare this to our lives. Think of it this way, some people may have 5 abilities while others may have one or two. Some people are excellent with math and money while others are average with it, some people are good with people for good relations and sales, or some people have a musical or artistic ability or sports talent. Everyone has the ability to do something, and everyone is needed!

The talents Jesus referred to were literally pieces of money. But in this parable the lending of the money implied a time value to it for an investment yield, or to spend it to make more by buying and selling, a work value of using your brain and talents to produce something worthwhile. 

God is expecting that you apply what you have naturally been given to make it better and more productive, and most importantly giving a return back to Him who gave it you. 

5 The modern problem we have today in the community is that people are not applying their time, talent, and treasure into things that are useful for God and they are wasting away. In the world some people are content to let the government support them all day to watch TV or sit around playing games on the computer and they do not care at all to progress to develop their selves, work or do anything at all because they don’t see the need to. These people have no goals, no ambition, and no future! The poor ‘we have with us always’, and some are poor due to a lack of the production of anything!

And some people who work so hard at things that will never be of any use to anyone, like the kid who plays video games 7 hours a day and they asked him, “How are you going to make a living at playing a video game that will be outdated in 5 years?” There is no response because it is all wasted time! Or from texting, or social media, maybe only 1 out of 1,000 people can make a living from that!

As in the parable of people who do not use their time, talent, and treasure to produce something for God, they always justify their laziness and self-created limitations, after all they are the victim that no one understands, and they want us to feel sorry for them for being so miserable when it is their own fault their situation!

6. In various Corps we have managed basketball, soccer, and afterschool programs and summer camps. To know what to do we should ask questions and then just listen. If you have not learned to listen to people, you will miss learning life lessons on how to progress in things for the benefit of yourself and others. The question in my mind was, what makes so many be willing to sweat in over high degree heat 10 hours a day, and often all summer long, to do a something that is not making them very rich really?

One of our coach friends explained this to us, that he had a supervisor’s job for several years and he just sat at a desk all day and often worked long hours, and he was making $18 the hour. But he was discontent since he had studied 4 years sports training and physical-therapy and he was not applying himself in what he loved to do. So, he took a cut in pay in order to do what he loves and apply his talent. 

He didn’t worry for the money; it made him feel good to work with kids, it was his show, his passion, his satisfaction, and he was finally able to do what he wanted to. Before we had 120 families involved and it became successful after 3 years of hard work! Our Corps gyms got used and not wasting away! 

7. I wish people would come to serve Jesus with this same passion being willing to sweat all day to preach the gospel! Only people with a passion for Jesus pass the test to gain a position of leadership in God’s service. All good things require sacrifice!

Our coach friend also expressed he even expected us to tell these families about Jesus because he shared that he as a kid he had played basketball in our gym and he recalled that the Captain then always shared a devotional about Jesus. Don’t you and I feel like giving respect to those who respect us and respect our Lord?

So, in order to gain something, you have to be willing to give up something! The man with the one talent buried it. Imagine, he was not willing to let it go and take the risk to apply it so he lost what was not his but could have been his if he would have been more willing to work, invest, and use his brains! But investing pays!

8. Not using your body, your mind, your talent, your money, and your time for God is a sin and crime against God and humanity! Some people serve in God’s work many hours a week, others a few hours, but most do not serve at all! In the end you are not the god of yourself to do as you please; you did not make yourself into being, you and I are God’s property out on loan! So, have you asked God in prayer yet, what you should do to win souls and how to help your community?

It was your mother that formed you into being by a miracle of God’s design and he brings everyone on this earth for a mission and a purpose; the problem is people are too lazy, too rebellious, and too selfish to do what God expects of them! Because people fail God, we have the world as it is! Can God be happy when we, his creation, disobey Him and even reject His Son! I heard a quote once that “people just want to find a comfortable spot and then “stay there until they die”. This sadly sums up the life of many people quite well and since people don’t include God in this life, sadly He will not be there after their soul moves. 

9. But the most dangerous place for a Christian is a comfortable place! When a person becomes so complacent with all the evil happening around them that they do not care anymore about the sin in the world and the exploitative abuses and extreme poverty and oppressions, and all the souls going to hell, then that person is like that one with the un-invested talent, useless to God! We are soldiers in a war on evil, so tell me about your plan of battle! God and all of us are expecting results!

A reality of life is the majority of people out of the billions that exist everywhere never leave their comfort zone, never leave far away from home to accomplish anything for God, for another, or for their own selves. The majority of people never even consider that they could live a life of adventure living out their passions. Only God can give you and me the vision of how glorious life can be if we will only put him first investing in Him, and most of all being faithful (‘til death)!

The problem is often people do count the costs or serving and after determining that it would come at a great sacrifice, then this person decides that they are incapable of making the investment required putting in all the hard work it. What a mistake to choose poorly!

10. No sacrifice for Jesus goes unrewarded.  Matthew 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. 

It is sad too few people are willing to have the patience to store up their treasures in heaven, but what I have experienced is just what this verse states, you gain rewards in this life as well and I do not regret serving Jesus despite how it has cost me a few things like suffering a few thefts, getting hepatitis for 6 weeks, and having to move a few dozens of times with 4 little kids but I would not trade this life for nothing else! I have learned to love the ultra-poor and minister to the ultra-rich which is what Jesus did!  

With God you are never allowed to be motionless and unproductive as all things are in motion and like a train, you either get on it when He calls you or you get left behind! God is a God of movement, and He expects production and movement from us! 

11. You can’t allow yourself to become like a stagnant pool of water or you will become poisonous form the bacteria generated from no inflow and outflow. What kills people spiritually, morally, emotionally, and physically is the lack of movement; when a person does not take in and then give out.  

And the bad part too is when someone gives their time to God others those who are stagnant immediately criticize them like they are crazy to invest and spend energy in something that does not give them an immediate payback. 

We have a Salvation Army today because millions have invested in God’s work voluntarily and this is a proof that is God’s work that does store up eternal benefits. William Booth and his wife Catherine were willing to leave the stagnant Methodist church and they lived out their passion to help the people in absolute misery and addiction!   Will the Lord say to you…

12. Matt 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

What are you planning on doing for God this year? God and everyone expects more from you. Have you even considered setting goals of doing more for God, in the church Corps and community? Today make a promise to God, and then keep it! You will be glad you did it when you are in heaven and your reward will be there for you!

Human Trafficking: It’s Worse Than What You Have Ever Known!

Human Trafficking: It’s Worse Than What You Have Ever Known!  

  Kelly Durant

 

2 Peter 2:2-4 (KJV)

2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

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

 

2. How many of you of think we are in better times, that in general slavery has been abolished? No longer are people wearing chains plowing in farm fields but is the era of slavery really over? This is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and we must all be instrumental in helping to rescue and heal those caught up in it. How sickening and sad to know many children are used and abused and many corrupt officials are getting paid off to let it keep happening!

 

I did a google search and this is what came up concerning slavery today…. Estimates of the number of slaves today range up to 50 million, depending on the method used to form the estimate and the definition of slavery being used. Slavery in the 21st century – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Slavery in the 21^st century’ 

 

Is that not shocking? That is like the entire population of Colombia, or Spain! And honestly, I think those numbers are low! Many of the persons trafficked are prostitutes. Here is web site for that info which states that 42 million are involved in that! About 2 million are in the United States and many of them are minorities. https://prostitution.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000095

 

3. How does God feel about people owning other people as their slaves to be abused, adulterated, and extortioned? He detests it and excludes these kinds of people from heaven! 1 Corinthians 6:8-10 (KJV) 8 Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren. 9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

 

But as you all well know, we live in a fallen world, taken over by Satan’s authorities which control religious, governmental, and entertainment organizations, and since we are in the endtimes, we can only expect more of these above-named evil activities to increase. 

 

It sad because so many young people, especially those of minorities groups or with single parents, fall into the trap of evil seducers who promise them big money and hob knobbing with influential people in exchange for committing crimes against God and humanity. After 5 or so years of abuse, they are then thrown away to the street like a sick ugly dog. These human extortioners, which range from street low lifers to billionaires control their naïve victims usually by getting them addicted to drugs, by enticing them with wealth and fame, by exercising over them extreme fear and intimidation, and by disorientation moving them to another city or country, or island. And you may recall as in the case of Epstein (with his Island), many employ mind control tactics. They evade the law usually because the victims are afraid for their lives, for the lives of their families, and consequently they suffer in silence never seeking help.

 

4. Okay, now that I have shared the shocking information about how massive this abominable soul condemning abuse is, we must now ask ourselves, how can we be a part of the solution to help save those victims suffering? To begin with, you and I can pray God will use you and me one day to see an injustice happening and then act to do something about it! If only one person in every hundred people aggressively tried to help a victim out, we could rid ourselves of this plague in a few years. We might need to quadruple the size of our jail space though!

 

Here is a problem I observe: Christians and most large churches are afraid to tackle this issue, but they should actually be the first ones to respond! It is a horrible moral, spiritual, and physical injustice! And sadly, for some huge churches worldwide, sexual and labor exploitation is ignored, covered up, and under Satan’s control, so it keeps on proliferating! Sexual sins are dividing and destroying nations everywhere! Christians must step up!

 

Millions of people commit the sin of omission for not denouncing this and doing something when they learn of someone being abused or falling into the hands of evil abusive people. I am very thankful that our church, The Salvation Army has safe houses for the victims in almost every State in the U.S., and we also have them in around the world where victims can get rehab, learn a skill, live in a new city, and start a new life. 

 

5. What is sad is that the world (Hollywood, music industry, some school systems) promotes sexual exploitation sins (porn, prostitution, etc) as if they are normal, legal, and acceptable. A friend of ours who ran to be Mayor of a (certain) City told us that the first ones to come to offer him money (in case he was the victor) were the owners of the strip clubs! Evil exploiters always work in the dark from behind the scenes, it is Satan’s secretive way. Being bought with a bribe is a huge sin!

 

The mafias in New York and L.A. don’t even need to pay off officials anymore to sneak in illegal drugs, all they have to do is find some rebellious teenager online that wants to run away from home! They get enticed by people they have never met and then after meeting up with them are trapped and enslaved just like in the movie 2017 ‘Trafficked’.  

 

These evil gangs can put her or him in a hotel room and make more than $1,000 per night, so one youth over time can make someone a million dollars before they are abandoned or killed! This is like having a chain on someone who is forced to labor. It is a hell with no freedom, no education, and no normal life like others. 

 

6. Have you ever wondered, what happens to all the missing children year after year? In the U.S. alone 800,000 go missing! That is almost 1 in every 100! Apart from exploitation many children are captured for Satanic ritual abuse (SRA)! The practice of abusing children and then killing them has been Satan’s game from the beginning of time! People who play with Satan’s crowd are commanded to perform acts that will guarantee them hell as a punishment for abominable works.

 

 The children of Israel were forbidden to offer their children to the false pagan (Satanic) gods who always wanted human sacrifice. Leviticus 18:21

And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.

 

This is why Satanic groups in society are nothing to play with nor respect! Due to their secret evil practices by blackmail and coercion, Christians must demand they never be allowed in our community schools, libraries, or clubs and organizations. Their statues in public must come down! They are parasite vermin destroying communities from within by their immorality, corruption, murders, and extortions.

 

7. Those of us who love God are often naïve to all the evil around us, while the people of the world think violence, disappearances, and exploitations are just the normal ways of the world. Those living a lie and partaking in evil hold the truth as the enemy! 2 Peter 2:2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.

 

The pattern we observe is that people who are evil, violent, vile and abusive, with secret sins having a double life, are the ones who are most outspoken against the people of God because we speak the truth, and the truth exposes their evil and lies! Christians usually are the only ones who expose their deeds as evil, so we are hated the most, maligned and under attack, either to be sabotaged in our fellowships internally by Judases, shamed by the media, or shut down by new perverse and illogical laws targeting us. 

 

After all the agendas are in place already, there is a now a new push to normalize pedophilia. Have you heard that some want marriage, or casual ‘you know what’, between an 8-year-olds and a 50 year olds be legal and normal? According to many people who support certain political or religious views our archaic laws need to be updated!? So, if the murder of a newborn is fine, then why not any s_x as one pleases with anyone? We are as in the days of violent Sodom and Gomorrah!

 

8. So we are on God’s side and what is He going to do about it? Vs 3. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.

 

God is going to judge, condemn, and lock into hell the demons and the dead souls who have practiced these abominable acts! The practice of demons is to own their host, to have them as their property or merchandise so they do extreme lude and offensive acts. They get them to recruit and entice others into a sinful lifestyle as well which will bring upon their souls and bodies horrible consequences and judgement. Beware that certain political parties, certain religions, and certain companies want to own you and me demanding our support of these atrocities! These dark powers in high places will punish you or even kill you if you do not think, act, speak, and support all the soul damaging agendas they dictate to you. 

 

Satan hates God’s beautiful creation of humankind and he wants all ages and races of people to be rapidly killed by extreme exploitation! What a crime and an outrage that people would destroy their own, even those from their own families and neighbors by trying to own another’s soul, mind, and activity in order to make money from them, or get them to do evil. 

 

9. So we need to warn everyone, even the children, and we need to do awareness campaigns to expose that this type of evil is an abomination to God and a crime against humanity. Human trafficking may include exploiting others for the drug trade, sexual abuse, and unpaid labor and an infinite amount of secretive sinful activities.

 

Take note that this abuse happens on a large scale in entire nations! In (fill in the blank) if you do not like their government and policies, and if you do not conform to their abuse of you as a slave to their leaders to labor in a factory, you will end up in a slave prison camp. There, your kidneys, or any body part, will be harvested at any moment they please so the state can then make a huge financial profit off of you! Atheistic political parties, or false Satanic domineering cult-like religions (those opposing the worship of Jesus), are murderous and abusive and never fulfil their promises to you for peace, equality, justice, and a god-like status. 

 

Watch and pray and be very cautious with certain organizations, gangs, mafias, and even your neighbor down the street, as Satan is always on the prowl, like a roaring lion seeking who he can devour. Pray that you and I can protect our own from being owned by another person who will make merchandise of them or of you. Save your own and save a stranger when possible! Jesus will guide you, be courageous! Let’s expose human trafficking so they cannot operate in our neighborhoods! 

       

You know you can expose suspicious activities when you see them, here is a website for that https://www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/identify-victim?utm_source=google.com&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=rg.search-fy20.broad-allcit&utm_content=human&utm_term=human%20trafficking%20statistics

Make Jesus Proud of You: Be Daring, Bold, & Brave!

Make Jesus Proud of You: Be Daring, Bold, & Brave!     Kelly Durant

 

Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.

 

2. Some people love excitement more than others. There are some people that love adventure, being in somewhat dangerous situations, while others are happy to just stay at home and be inside of their safe space wishing the world would just go away.

 

For example, I know of people, who love to drive their Jeeps on top of the Colorado mountains, almost flipping them over, having their hearts pump wildly for the thrill, and this is rewarding for them. This involves risk, but it is fun for them and I hope they have insurance!

 

And then I know some people like how my mother use to be that would only go to the grocery store and to church on Sunday and never wanted any excitement at all. The world has all kinds of people. But all of us take decisions ‘to do or not to do’ many things, but when it comes to our faith and Jesus, we must choose ‘to do’ as it’s known, “nothing ventured, nothing gained’ as God expects it of us.

 

3. People will do bolder things when they are with others in a group than when they are alone. I recall when I was young there were people who would not want to do anything, but if a group was going somewhere, they would go too, even if it meant danger.

 

Think about Jesus and the disciples, he only had a group of 12, not of 12,000 like some mega churches, and they later went on their own, going out two by two, and they accomplished great things spreading the gospel. Mark 6:7 And He called the twelve to Himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over unclean spirits.  Here we frequently only have a dozen of faithful ones!

 

We must never lose our vision of what we are to accomplish in life as Christians, and that is of the saving of the souls of the lost, of bringing love and comfort to the hurting, of obeying Jesus to love God and others as ourselves. 

 

4. Have you thought about it, The Salvation Army was founded on being risky and exciting! Every day the Officers and Soldiers would go out and preach on the smelly muddy street corners and sometimes a few hundred at a time would come forward around a bass drum to cry, repent, and pray to receive Jesus! How glorious that must have been to have witnessed that!

 

But at the same time, many of them got hit with tomatoes and other objects as they brought the good news to others. But did that stop them? No! Even after they knew about Samuel Logan Brengle almost dying from blow from a brick, they continued on, even going around the world to start up new outposts, missions, and Corps. They opened hundreds of new Corps in 40 countries within the first 40 years! Now we are in 130 countries!

 

Samuel Brengle spent about a year and a half in a hospital bed recovering from a skull fracture that some violent demon inspired person did to him with that brick. But his heart was for God, and he wrote several books on holiness, he used his time to learn about God and today we honor him by studying his theological contributions. You cannot stop a man or woman of God, wounded or impaired, they will continue on in the fight for good!

 

5. We have studied the book of Acts in the recent past. What did we learn of Peter, John, and of the other disciples? Many of them went to jail for preaching Jesus! And they were killed! The idol worshipping pagans, and the hypocrite Jews, did not want to hear about the love of Jesus. But did even being jailed stop them from talking about Jesus? No!   

 

Have you ever made Jesus proud of you by going to jail for Him? I got that opportunity a couple of times. Once it was in a small southern town in Rio Grande do Sur, Brazil. Five policemen stopped me with machine guns for passing out salvation flyers at some apartments. One policeman got really mad and was yelling in my face that I was preaching blasphemy and if he could have his way, I whould be locked up and tortured the way the Catholic Church historically use to do it! Imagine, if a Catholic wants to harm or kill you for preaching Jesus, then could Jesus really be their center of their worship? But they are made up of good and bad like most all organizations. 

 

He took offense because in the gospel pamphlet it mentioned that God had to turn His back on Jesus a few hours to allow Him to die for our sins. God allowed Jesus to die on the cross to be the ultimate sacrifice for us, but obviously this man did not know theology very well. I am thankful I was set free after being about 5 or 6 hours in that tiny facility. I have seen angry red hateful faces many times while out preaching a loving peaceful Jesus! God sees what everyone does. The world is a dangerous place and people are lost, ignorant, and really need Jesus! 

 

6. So when something bad happens, it sometimes scares you, or others nearby, to not want to be risky or carry out the mission of preaching Jesus. My friends, if you can ever learn something in life, learn this, never let anyone intimidate or belittle you for standing up for your faith! Remember, Peter and John had boldness, and God expects us to have boldness and the Holy Spirit power as well!

 

Let’s read on the reaction of the people to Peter and John’s boldness. Acts 4:18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”

 

Can you do that? Can you not do anything in life but proclaim the good that Jesus has done in your life? 21 “So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done”. It happened to them and may happen to us as well if we speak up for Jesus!

 

7. Later in this chapter we see they prayed for boldness, and they stood on God’s Word to give them strength. They quoted Psalm 2, one of my favorites, as it affirms the final destiny of the evil people of the world who hate Jesus.

 

 Acts 4:23 And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. 24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them, 25 who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things? 26 The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.’ Now look up Psalm 2 to hear the rest of it. Vs.3“Let us break Their bonds in pieces And cast away Their cords from us.” 4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision. 5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath, And distress them in His deep displeasure: (skip down to the final verses) 10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings; Be instructed, you judges of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fear,  And rejoice with trembling.

12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, And you perish in the way, When His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.

 

8. So it is clear, we must be wise and stand with Jesus no matter the cost, no matter how the red-faced agitated demons who hate us for proclaiming Jesus’ message yelling insults at us, hit us, or even jail us, we have God’s boldness and Holy Spirit power!  

 

To serve in this Salvation Army Church, when you serve Jesus for real, you need to be thick skinned, you need to be bold! You need to be a Soldier that battles! No one respects a wimp. I was at the International Market the other day and the young Hispanic cashier I knew went to a Hispanic church (because I had seen him with other Christians before) and I asked him about his faith. I said, “You are a Christian and you go to church, don’t you?” I was hoping to start a conversation.

 

He said, “Hum” and nodded his head about one inch to indicate yes. I thought within myself, how sad! He has no boldness; he is almost ashamed to admit he is a Christian! Then I had another terrible thought, ‘Could it be some of the people in our Corps Church are the same way?’ Are they also afraid to admit they love Jesus and come to worship here’? Please, let’s be bold and make Jesus proud of us! I try to talk about Jesus with every person I meet!

 

 9. The decision is yours day by day, hour by hour, will you be bold for Jesus? All day long we will meet people who were like the pagans mentioned in Psalm 2 who want to undo us, or like the hypocrite Pharisees who hate us for standing for Jesus who is righteousness, holiness, and God’s love. The government was on the shoulder of Jesus, (Isaiah 53) and the ones of the top too want your adoration and absolute dedication as they do not like a competitor controlling your spirit!

 

In the Christian faith, you had better get use to adventure, excitement, danger, risk, resistance, and the battle. You are not in a Salvation Army just to look pretty in uniform, you are here ‘to fight for the good’ and to be so full of the Holy Spirit that your glow attracts others to want to get to know the Jesus you talk about!

 

Is Jesus proud of you? Am I and your leaders proud of you? How long has it been since you have come with a testimony to talk about who you shared your faith with? Jesus expects it of you and if you get persecuted, it will motivate you even more as the Holy Spirit will be filling you up. Be sure you live to reach the poor lost souls out there who need the hope of salvation, or you will regret it after death in heaven when you arrive empty handed! 

Matthew 10:32-33

32 “Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

Let’s pray…

Facing 2023: Be prepared!

Facing 2023: Be prepared!

Proverbs 22:3

A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, But the simple pass on and are punished.

 

2. From conversations, I often see people do read or listen to the news and know what is happening with the weather, and that is important! But what about the rest of the news? As Christians we cannot be simple-minded anymore, we must search the scriptures, we must search the news that is suppressed, and we must discern what is happening!

 

In the past few years look at the disasters unforeseen by the masses in Venezuela, Central & South America and in China lockdowns and pandemics still happening?! Since 2020 it’s been disastrous and in 2022 the war in Ukraine began. Some informed people knew for a few years that something was brewing, something drastic was on the way, and some got out, while others ignored it, or they had faith in the corrupt system to save them, but now they live miserably with no way to travel out, often with the electricity often cut, and with little to no food!

 

Jesus said this in Matthew 16:3 …and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. We need to be ready because the stage is set, and by all evidence, the end-times is here. Be ready to go, ready to stay, ready to be with our Lord too!

 

3. We saw in the past 2 years, the government, the media, the professionals, and even some churches, all tried to scheme on how to get people to live in fear for their lives, so they would run and get the remedies they concocted as the only solution. Now the reports show these remedies, which made mega billions for certain companies and political parties, have not been so effective after all and last year we started having the “died suddenly” syndrome affecting even young hearts! The presupposition here is we must all be ready to die suddenly!

 

What did Jesus say about this fear and heart failure?   Luke 21:26 Men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. The real concern here is how to save the souls of the people who trust totally in the systems of man and do not have faith in God to save them from evil. Jeremiah 17:5 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord.”

 

We all must live and learn. We must learn that science is no longer respectable science, it is the combination of misconstrued data with the schemes of demons in “high places” who seek new ways to enslave and exploit the populous. God revealed truth in His Word, in the sacred scriptures, and Satan’s people at the top seek all means possible to make scripture look like a lie when they are the liars! By their fruits you know them! (Matt. 7:20) 1 Timothy 6: 20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge (science)— 21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. 

4. Christians are witnessing the “falling away” that we were told about 2 Thessalonians 2:3. Many recent articles have come out to show that after covid, those who thought they would die suddenly, did not even have a change of heart and repentance to start going to a church to get right with God! Imagine, almost dying and not even caring where your soul will spend eternity! 2 Thess. 3 “Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,”

 

It is sad, but lying propaganda works on those who do not pray and ask God’s Holy Spirit for guidance. Look how in Nazi Germany they got most all the people to target certain individuals to be hated, then killed, and tortured women and children! Hitler was a precursor type of the final “anti-Christ” to come; Hitler worshipped Satan and consulted spiritists summoning demons, the Vril, and these demonic channels for demons helped him develop weapons of war and horrific fear-provoking methods to control the people. Satan will use his same tricks again. 

 

Seeing how millions have lost their worship spirit, we should be shocked and on extra alert for our own souls! Philippians 2:12, (b) continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,

 

5. Fear is our adversary’s repetitive tactic! It is proven already that through our phones, internet use, and conversations that our phones record, the techys and the 3 lettered agencies know all about you, your faith, or lack of it, your habits, your politics, your bank account, and everything! When the “mark of the beast” comes out, which will be a complete control over all people with a new digital currency, the resistors & protesters, the Christians and the freedom fighters, all will become “targeted individuals”. We must be ready to die for our faith if need be! Or ready to disappear and live like the Amish in a small communal farm in the hills. With every year that passes, we know the end is getting closer.

 

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Speak this verse out loud when you feel afraid of the current events and the future! Most Biblical scholars interpret that some Christians will go through the “great tribulation”, but it seems many will hang on hidden in the mountains or somewhere to the end without submitting to the New World Order of Satan’s kingdom that the globalist powers are currently setting up. 

 

Christians need to stop being silent and going with the flow of our sick evil culture! Some Christians are so weak they fear rejection from the people in schools, in their jobs, or families; how absurd as the perverse, shameless, deceived people do not have anyone’s back in a time of need! These are ones on the highway to hell, and they want to drag you to die the second death with them! Never conform! Matthew 10:28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (God! Fear or respect Him)

 

6. We must fear God and obey His word even if it means total rejection or death if you want to inherit heaven. James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

Revelation 2:10 (b) Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

 

So, the way to prepare for any New Year is with spiritual preparation! Make a plan to pray your 10-15 minutes after you wake up, then in the day, a 20-30 minutes of reading God’s Word, so you learn and gain strength and assurance, then you will be assured you are connected to God in the time of trouble, and He will guide you when a major event happens.

 

Pray to have discernment! It is a gift of the Spirit, and we all need it in these days when people are so confused about everything! The enemy always uses the divide and conquer method, the hate one another propaganda. Remember to read through the lines of today’s information to discover that things are most usually the opposite of what these news outlets are saying!

 

Luke 16:15 And He said to them, (b) For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. Forsake all desire to support all the evil corporations who promote “woke” ideologies which are nothing but lies and divisive attacks on people with moral convictions.

 

7. The greatest threat to the human existence, this year, is not what the world tells you they are such as climate change, lab created viruses, war, discrimination, or an economic collapse, (all of which are man generated for obtaining more power!). The greatest threat we face is the persistent deception by Satan, who entices undiscerning people to buy into his misinformation while he unashamedly accuses truthful ones and God of misinformation! Unprayerful weak Christians are falling away swallowing up the flood of lies! Warn them!  Revelation 12:15,16.

 

People that believe lies and then go berserk when you disagree with their dystopian evil stances, people who propagate perversions and corruptions for their own personal gain, and people that disrespect God and His people as dumb and gullible for being righteous, holy, and spiritual, these mouthpieces, being demonically powerful ones, are the real threats to humanity’s existence! Expose their hypocrisy and warn others to shun them! World leaders are now more than ever guided by demons from hell, and they are hellbent on killing as many people as possible by all means possible because they hate God, life-creations, Jesus, and you and me!  (And they are, as revealed with the 4 horsemen in Revelation, destroying us by means of injustices, starvation, wars, and pandemic sicknesses).

 

We currently still have freedom to worship God in churches on Sundays, we still have money to buy food with (even though it is almost twice as expensive as a year ago!) so, we must be thankful for that, but the day may come when we may not have that freedom! Every year we pray for God to take care of us, and He does!  Philippians 4:19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

 

8. Jesus described the times we would be living in. Matthew 24:4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences (pandemics), and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

 

We do not have a very bright future in this world, but we have a very bright one in heaven! Revelation 21:4

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

 

What we want for 2023 is a closer relationship with God! Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

 

9. Without a vision the people perish, so we must have a vision, one of surviving and diverting anything the enemy throws at us! Make goals to get closer to God in prayer, in His Word, and to stay busy for Him while it is still the daytime, because the night will come one of these years when no man can work.

 

C-19 is over for 3 years now so invite people back to church! Church is where “the called-out ones” fellowship together, and as one candle gives light, many together can shine very bright in this dark evil world! Pray for discernment! So many Christians are getting deceived and falling away like the seeds without roots! Pray against laziness, lustfulness, gossip, divisive people, envy, temptations, and against trusting in the news of evil men who believe we are all just dumb lambs destined for slaughter and that we should be existing just to produce tax money for their lustful consumptions. The truth of Jesus will make us free, but without it people are destined to become slaves to evil men! 

 

Do not accept the salvation schemes of men. Remember in Job, Satan said Job 2:4

So, Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.” Do not accept remedies from corporations or governments run by evil men that claim you can be saved from mass sicknesses that later will prove to be destroying your humanity, your mind, and corrupting your soul.

 

Jesus called us out for a better purpose than to just go through the motions year after year, and a never-ending mission that is to win souls to Jesus’ righteousness! Pray to be a God-fearing, loving, holy person in Christ! Pray to keep resisting all the lies that all the systems hammer you with daily! Pray to daily prepare well, one day at a time with Jesus as your guide.

  

Mary’s Song: A Christmas Day Message

Mary’s Song: A Christmas Day Message  

12-25-2022 By Kelly Durant 

Christmas seems to always arrive with so much resistance! The “prince of the air”, Satan, seems to always blow in a storm, or always brings the focus away from Jesus by whatever means possible in the news. Christmas often comes with discouragement, family issues, greediness, sickness/pandemics, and breakdowns, loneliness, but still Satan cannot stop us from worshipping Jesus!   

In the past weeks I mentioned how we all should strive to be pure and Holy like Mary, but do you know in what way she was holy? We know she was willing to let God do with her anything He chose but look what it cost her emotionally! We know she followed in the footsteps of her Judah-ian predecessors from her family’s bloodline, but from her own words, what was she like?

Do not let the words of traditional prayers made up by other past church members be the only thing you know about her, pray to know God’s spirit in her. In her own words, what did she reveal?  Why do people not read her words more often? Let’s read below and learn how she thought, how she was inspired.  

 
46 And Mary said: “My soul ^[i]magnifies the Lord,⁴⁷ And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

Let’s start there, do you praise the Lord and lift the Lord up in your day-to-day activities? Do you get happy in your soul like she does in your spirit, and let the Lord be your joy, your everything? Her passion was God her savior! And how are you?

⁴⁸ For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;

What is a low state? It means she was not anyone important to the world, nor she wanted to be. She was a humble person. She called her own self a maid-servant of the Lord, one who serves God. Who here can say that? …Lord I am yours to serve and nothing else matters in life?
“For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed”.

Who gets blessed by God? Those that are willing to do anything God wants! The blessings of the Lord are for those who love and obey Him, but of course Mary was very blessed to be the mother of Jesus, that was special! She would not have wanted to be worshipped though. Not even the angels in heaven want to be worshipped! She is honored but it was her son, not her, that came to be the savior of the world, to be born, to live healing and teaching, and then to die as a sacrifice for our atonement.

⁴⁹ For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.  Every week I ask for testimonies. Do you tell of the great things God has done in your life? God has done something great for all of us and we must tell it, so others praise God’s name! We must always be reminded that God is Holy, which means pure, clean, and righteous. He wants those qualities in our lives reflected back to Him.

⁵⁰ And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.

This reveals that if you fear, or obey God, you gain His mercy! (In this context, through Jesus!) We know full well that God will punish every person for not doing right, for resisting His Holy Spirit of conviction. With mercy, however, you have a chance of correcting yourself with a total change of lifestyle, with the guidance of His Holy Spirit, repenting from your pride, wrong deeds, and lack of love for God and others. His mercy is for all the future generations of whosesoever will, meaning for everyone, for all generations; Jesus is the door for a clean slate. KD      

⁵¹ He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

Often God’s word speaks of how the “arm of the flesh” will fail us, how we in our own strength are nothing compared to God. But Jesus was different. His flesh, or human body made up of the mix of the Divine with the human, had a power no one had ever seen, that of doing miracles, of casting out demons, of being superior in all regards, a strength firm like a rock. His strength was also in His wisdom to respond wisely to not allow the bullying hypocrites and arrogant leaders out smart Him. He exposed their evil concocted schemes. He came to bring truth, salvation, and to tear down the proud.

⁵² He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly. Jesus chose common people to be His disciples, those who were low nobodies to preach the gospel. By empowering the humble, ordinary people like you and me, he has bypassed the arrogant ones in high places. People in power don’t care to be humble disciples of Jesus as they already follow Satan. They are usually corrupted and perverted condemned souls that are psychopaths having no love or compassion for God or anyone! His return will be the ultimate de-throning event! Jesus will set up a kingdom that will reign forever and ever!

⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty. The people who seek Jesus with a hungry empty soul find Him and He fills them up with His comforting Holy Spirit. Those that want to learn about God get filled through Him. But the people full of themselves, have nothing for God, you and me, or nobody. These are the ones that remain shallow, ignorant, arrogant, and ugly, ugly to be rejected by God because they are full of themselves.

 
⁵⁴ He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy, 

Jesus first preached to the Jews, so He did help Israel as many did believe in Him, while the leader Jews, wanting power and wealth, wanting the filth of this world, rejected Him. He spoke to them about how the merciful will obtain mercy, and all who believe may receive His mercy and love. But when His ministry began, how did He show you obtain mercy? By repentance, by washing away, or burning away your sins so that forgiveness and mercy from God could take place.

⁵⁵ As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.” This part implies that Jesus responded to the desire of all the past forefathers, that the Messiah would come and then His seed would be established forever. And Abraham had many children, not just from Sarah, but from Hagar as well. In other words, His salvation came for all the tribes and nations of the world. And everyone born throughout the ages are descendants from the seed of man and Jesus saves all who choose Him forever. His seed (His descendants) are the mega millions of followers who join Him on earth and remain with Him in heaven forever!

Who are Abraham’s children? Those who have faith in God! And with Jesus you must have faith for Him to work in your life! Without faith, without Jesus, without God’s mercy, we will not be with God in the future! A child of God must be one who is full of faith following Jesus all the way for all his/her life!

Mary’s song is a prayer! A confirmation of what Jesus would bring, of what standards we should heave, a fulfilment of prophecy, a new start for those of faith, plus it’s a warning that the proud would be humbled, and that His salvation by His birth and death on the cross would bring on a mercy that would last for all generations! Amen!

Christmas Controversies: It’s Been Scandalous from the Beginning!

Christmas Controversies: 

It’s Been Scandalous from the Beginning  

By Kelly Durant  12-18-22

                                                                                                                     

And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Luke 1:30-33 KJV

 

2. We have known for the past 20 years that many U.S. companies have created policies that do not allow greetings or signs with Merry Christmas in them anymore. Evil people want Christ out of Christ-mas! More and more the persecution of baby Jesus persists! How does Satan attack God’s people? Quite often he uses the scandal tactic! Satan and his followers are the ultimate guilty hypocrites seeking always to scandalize all the things of God. Satan empowers demons in humans to create conflicts, commit murders, start wars, spread disease and immorality with the goal to destroy humanity through the lusts of the flesh with pride while accusing others of being guilty of his or her own game. He hates the pure and innocent as represented by Jesus birth. The people of the world are already in Satan’s pocket but his target is God’s men and women who are active Jesus lovers, and sadly some fall from temptation due to their pride, adultery, theft, and scandal! Some abandon the Christmas tradition as well!  

 

Scandal is a violation of the society’s norms. Today the ruthless media uses a double standard to create scandal. For example, they steal information and then instead of paying for their crime of theft, they defame others with this scandalous information which often turns out to be outright lies. Both parties may be guilty and should be punished but only the one attacked gets condemned and that public condemnation comes with no trial or any proof of truth in the accusations. Satan is the ultimate hypocrite who accuses and condemns others while being totally corrupted himself! But God beat him at his own game by creating scandal for him with something wonderful, something we love and enjoy, Christmas!

 

The Nativity starts with an out of wedlock baby scandal! Who likes babies? Everyone, right? A baby seems to make even the hardest hearts warm and smile. Most people inherently want to give new life a chance in this world. Most everyone when they smile and talk to a baby will get a smile back! How controversial of God to send a baby to rid the world of evil! God controls countless legends of angels but instead of an attack on earth to right the wrongs he sends baby Jesus! God’s attack on evil and Satan begins with innocence and purity in a body weak and dependent on the father and mother for survival. Our lives in Jesus must start there too, in a rebirth of purity of mind, heart, and soul, with a total dependence on God.

 

3. All of the elements in Christmas and in Christians are controversial according to the world’s double standards! Have you ever noticed that? Jesus was a shock to the world and the world has never been the same ever since! Christmas keeps surviving by the efforts of all Christians! 

 

The next controversial Christmas principle, that for many philosophical types is an illogical absurdity, is that God could claim to have a Son that is born from a human, of Mary the virgin. This premise, that God can be the Father of an earth born child, was scandalous when He was born and is scandalous still today with many other world religions and is considered heresy. People are getting beheaded and killed daily even today for affirming that God had a Son whose name is Jesus and His name is above all names! That name, offensive to some yet dear to us who love Him, is Jesus Christ the Lord! His life of miracles and resurrection prove He was God’s son, supernatural, glorious, and worthy of our eternal adoration! 

 

The problem originates from the Greek agnostic line of thought that erroneously deducts that God is made up of pure good positive spiritual material, but that man and this earth is made up of all bad imperfect negative material so therefore the good and bad can never mix together for there to be a son of God. This is an absurd conclusion since the obvious is we as humans contain a spirit, a piece of the pure God, living in our degenerating material bodies. 

 

No evidence supports this idea, or premise, yet millions hold onto it. All things are made up of positives and negatives and common knowledge taught in science proves that matter in our material world, as in atoms, contain negative charged electrons and positively charged protons. God, however, is not containing Himself within or without the material physical systems of our simple universe operating solely within harmonious duality systems. We observe that His material creation is one huge conglomerate of mixtures, of the light and of the void, yet purity is refined out of the material earthly mixtures as one refines gold. Our spirits must be refined as well.  

 

God’s person is in fact pure holiness but God’s attributes are not paralleled succinctly into to His diverse created worlds. God is above restricting Himself within the world He created because He transcends His own creation of weak and great physical forces and spiritual mysteries. Satan desires that all people reject the fact that it is possible for purity, as in baby Jesus, to have entered into our imperfect world but the scandal remains that it did! Another fact is that because Jesus came, you and I too can become perfected by holy living as Jesus lived full of love, grace, and truth. God’s purity of heaven can exist within this hell of a world within our hearts if we connect with the source, Jesus! Christmas with its pretty lights cause many to imagine how wonderful heaven must be where Jesus is preparing a home for us!

 

4. The next scandal that many cultures have a hard time accepting is that God chose not a noble person but a humble woman, a simple pure person, a virgin, through whom to manifest Himself and fulfill all prophecies through in order to establish a righteous kingdom forever. God found only her to be willing and worthy enough to become the mother of the future savior of the world. It is obvious that this world is filled with evil, but for God to choose to combat evil with the weapon of a simple, respectful, obedient woman is too humiliating for many men of distinct cultures to accept. In general 9/10ths of the world’s men are macho with little regard for women and what they can do in the things concerning God’s mission.

 

Imagine, Mary was told not to fear over the fact that she would become pregnant by the Holy Ghost and she, contrary to an average person, actually trusted and did not fear! She knew that by trusting God she was risking rejection from her future husband, rejection and maybe a death sentence from her own Jewish people for a perceived fornication, or the possibility of living the rest of her life as an outcast in shame. Yet she obeyed and trusted God. How many people have this kind of trust in God today? In her shoes, would you accept a challenge similar to this one and be found worthy for your willingness gaining God’s favor on your life? 

 

So the scandal hitting Satan in the face was the fact that a pure, humble person, Mary, honoring God would actually accept anything that God wanted to do in their life. Satan lost this same battle with Job (trying to prove that humans will betray God if subjected to adversities or seemingly unfair requests). Satan is persistent and what he wants is for everyone in the world to believe that it is unfair and unreasonable to accept the controversial things God wants you and I to believe or go through for His high purpose. The truth is many Mary’s do exist in the world, and humble sweet, obedient to God people do suffer rejection by the world but God protects them supernaturally as He protected Mary! Take note: Mary did not fear rejection; she preferred God’s will above all! Are you close enough to God to not fear but to trust and accept whatever God wants to do with your life?      

 

5. Here is a detail we must not overlook in the verses of today, what is implied by the part of the verses of today in verse 33? “And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. 

 

Certain Jews were familiar with this prophecy and the local ones would also have known that Mary was from the house of David, a bloodline descendant. But the spiritual leaders of the Jews, the ones chosen of the 12 tribes to teach and live exclusively in service to God were the Levites. You had to be born within that family to grow up to be a high priest, leader, teacher, or guide. 

 

David was from the tribe of Judah so what do we conclude? The Levites must have been scandalized to discover that God would choose his Messiah from the tribe of Judah and not from their refined hierarchical spiritual ranks.  So Jesus came to establish a kingdom like David’s. Didn’t a form of this kingdom already exist within the Jews? The verses here indicate however that Jesus would reign over all the tribes of Jacob forever. This is in essence inferring a new kingdom that would be established over all people and His kingdom will be forever and ever. This was a scandal for the Levite bloodline!

 

6. Referring to a new kingdom presenting itself, scandals occur when the envious controlling people of Satan in this world get threatened by someone hinting that they may suddenly lose their power. Herod was scandalized when he found out through the wise men that a king was born in his region so decided to kill all the babies soon afterward! What a horrible way to prevent a new king from rising! In the 1980’s they found a mass grave of baby skeletons near Bethlehem in Israel confirming this account of what is recorded in God’s word. 

 

Imagine Roman soldiers pulling the babies from the arms of their mothers and fathers and killing them! The entire region of Bethlehem was scandalized by the fact that their despotic envious leader was killing all their babies over a jealous rant believing the prophecies were true, that a new king was born. But the infant king was protected by God and escaped to Egypt. Imagine Herod, a despotic man with absolute power to kill anyone and yet he was in fear of baby Jesus! 

 

7. So Christmas began with several scandals and true Christians that worship Jesus Christ still draw ire by those who will not accept the celebration of Jesus birth. When you declared that you had received Jesus Christ in your life and that you would serve Him, repent, and follow Him, did some of your friends or family get scandalized by your announcement? Mine did! Most everyone’s does!

 

The message of Jesus birth communicates that one who accepts Him must have a total change of mind, heart, and soul. The mind programed by the world, by Satan’s indoctrinations, refuses to accept the fact that God did send his perfect Son and that He is the savior of humanity in this disastrous world. It goes against our logic to believe in the virgin birth, but faith confirms to us it is miraculously possible.

 

Human hearts have to get over having pride to understand Christmas. Most people are shocked at how rich wise men and poor shepherds alike contained so much humility that they bowed to worship Jesus even when he was just an infant. To connect with Christmas one’s soul must merge with God’s spirit in obedience to become touched by the innocence and holiness which implicates one’s repentance. Mary’s heart was holy, so we get the message that it is imperative we too must submit to God’s will to bring about His plan for a new kingdom. The implication is that God expects that we let our lives get totally interrupted by Jesus birth and this creates an internal controversy that all of us must resolve. Scandal and all hell breaks loose when you speak up for Jesus and serve Jesus!

 

Accepting God’s kingdom means we leave behind our petty dreams of grandeur in order to adopt the kingdom dreams of Jesus, to bring about a new world with new loving people with hearts converted made new full of joy and love for God and their neighbor.

 

8. Jesus said that offenses (scandals) would come but he also said in Luke 7:23 And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. And imagine today some people refrain from even pronouncing the words Merry Christmas because it offends some people! They replace Jesus with only gifts and Santa too!

 

Concerning Christmas and its original message that some deem offensive we can conclude that the people without faith, that people with mental confusion concerning the mechanics of God’s creation, that the people who reject God’s miracles, that the proud jealous people in high places, that the people governed by their own closed-minded cultures and base carnality, that the people who believe they run God’s kingdom or Jacob’s house already… all collectively are rejecting Jesus until this day! Christmas to them is an offense! Christmas to us who love Jesus, however, is a beautiful wonderful time to celebrate and remember the fulfilment of prophecy that a savior was coming and He did. It is a story of dedication and humility. It is a happy celebration that reminds you and me to be thankful, humble, pure, giving, and loving. Christmas is where our salvation began! Culture has jazzed it up with lights and decorations, but each year there is a new chance to tell the wonderful story of Jesus to others!

                 

Is there a controversy happening in your life? Is it from God to use you for something great? This Christmas don’t let the date pass you up without thanking God and appreciating what it meant for God’s love to be expressed through baby Jesus willing to come down in frail human flesh to be one of us. Merry Christmas and may Jesus’ love flood your soul!