This message will be from Matthew 10:34-39
34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
What the message of these verses are about is? If we put anyone before Christ we are not worthy of Him. And Jesus did not come to make our lives rich and easy on this earth. As many prosperity preachers teach today. That is not what Jesus taught in the Bible. Jesus said, He came to set us apart from those who are unbelievers. How is that going to happen? We the body of Christ will be rejected because of Him. We are to put Jesus first in our lives, and no one else is to be first in our lives, Period!!! This is what Jesus is saying here, not me...
What does Jesus mean when He said, Take up your cross and follow Him. Jesus also went on to say, that if you don't take up your cross and follow Him you are not worthy of Him. What is Jesus really saying here?
What Jesus is saying here is, that every believer is given a cross to bear. It could be answering the phones for a prayer out reach ministry. Or handing out food to the needed or any out reach for the kingdom of God. What ever it is, every believer has been given a personal cross to bear. And we are to take our personal cross that God has given us and take it where ever we go for the rest of our life on this earth. We are to keep it with us at all times. 24/7, 365 days a year.
Then Jesus said a very strange thing. He said, if we try to save our lives we will lose it. What Jesus saying here is, if we would surrender our life to Him and trust Him only and trust nothing else. We will find our life and will not lose it.
What this means is, we must trust Jesus for every thing. You are not to trust your job or income. If for some reason you lost your job. God will bless you with another job. He will take care of you. Jesus must be first in your life and He will definitely take care of you and meet every need you have. But you must trust Him and nothing else.
What we need to learn here is the power of spiritual growth and truth. And that is, what ever Jesus allows in our lives is fine with us. We put our total trust in Him and Him along. And we trust no one else or material things what so ever. It's Jesus we trust even with our very life. There is no room for half hearted trust here, like our job first and Jesus second. It is Jesus all the way, not our job. This is the true faith that every true believer in Christ should have.
Now I come to the conclusion. That is, even if I die today I will trust Jesus. Because I know that death is only a door into the next life. Where there will be no more pain or tears. I know I will be in a place of total peace and happiness no more worries. For ever and ever...
It is kinda like a Caterpillar. See a Caterpillar spends all it's life crawling and never seeing the whole picture of the beauty that life has to offer. It lived it's life crawling searching for food (working) and trying to avoid the dangers of life that is all around it. Not knowing the full meaning of life. That there is a better life just on the horizon. And then one day it gets the call from within that something is about to happen. And it starts preparing for the future and starts building a cocoon. It is about to die.
And then one day it breaks out of it's cocoon or (casket) and low and behold. It enters into a glorious life that it never knew existed. Now for the first time in it's life, it can fly above the world it came from. And with all amazement it is not limited to crawling on it's belly. Now it is totally free to fly and travel with ease.
That is what happens to the Christians when we die. We will be able to fly above the world of pain and sorrow that we spent all our lives in. And now, low and behold we will see for the first time the beauty of what life was really meant to be. And the pain and sorrows of this life are gone forever and ever.
All the Caterpillar did was pass from one life into a better realm of life. Death is only a door way into a better life for those who are saved and have received Jesus as their personal Saviour and Lord. We will pass into a realm of life that is far beyond anything we could ever imagine in this life we know on earth.
Did you know that in the Bible it says, that we should weep for someone who is born. Why? Because of the pain and sorrow that they are about to go through in their life. And it says that we should rejoice when someone passes away who got saved and received Jesus as their Saviour and Lord. Because all their suffering is over and they will live eternally in peace and happiness with Jesus.
That is the reason that God will not bless us with so much worldly riches that we will love our life on earth more then we look forward to going to Heaven to be with the Lord. Because the love of wealth will soon blind us and cause us to become so comfortable here on earth. That we will soon forget to pray and thank God for His daily blessings that He gives us.
We read in Proverbs 30:7-9 where it says for us to pray for God to place us to be in the middle ground. Between being rich and being poor.
7 Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:
8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
We are to thank God that we are not rich and we are not poor. We are to thank God for placing us in the middle ground of not being rich but not being poor also.
Why are we allowing ourselves to be deceived by prosperity ministers? Jesus said, in the last days even the elect will be deceived.
Jesus did not come to give us riches on earth. He came to save us from our sins.
I don't care what these prosperity preachers say. That is not what Jesus died and rose from the grave for, Period!!! These prosperity preachers only teach their doctrine of men to those who have itchy ears for wealth on earth. These modern prosperity preachers want to sell the gospel by having you buy their DVDs Cd's and Books that they write from the minds of men not God. So they can fatten their wallets and live the life of kings and queens on earth. At the cost of their congregation.
And if that is not bad enough. They also try to take it one step farther if you don't buy their items. They say, send for their free book or Cd. The reason they do this is, once they get your address, now they will continue to send your their sales letters so they can continue to try to sell you their other products.
They have turned the house of God into a house of skilled marketing.
The Gospel should not be sold. Jesus never charged anyone a dime to save them and teach them. The Bible says, What you freely received, freely give.
The truth is, A wolf in sheep's clothing... Is still a wolf...
It makes me sick at my stomach that these prosperity preachers can not end their services without trying to sell everyone something. That is not what Jesus called us to do. I pray that God opens the eyes of these prosperity ministers and reveals to them their spirit of greed and that they turn back to their first love. And that first love was to share the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ without adding a price tag on the end of their message.
We all should go to church to hear the spirit filled message and bring our sins before God and repent of our sins. Not to place our money in the wallets of these prosperity preachers. We can not pay our way out of sin.
Remember, Jesus over turned the tables of the money changers when He walked this earth. The tables were in the house of God and these tables was over flowing with money that people gave to the prosperity preachers of their days. And I truly believe with my whole heart, that Jesus would do the same today to these mega churches that teach the prosperity message of men not God. John the Baptist told us what God told us to do and what these prosperity preachers should do today also. And that is, Jesus must increase and we must decrease. Not that our wallets should increase.
It is so bad today, that people who go to these mega churches feel guilty if they don't give some money to these church leaders. That is not the Gospel of the Bible. That is the deception of the devil taught through the mouth of men.
Remember, when Peter was talking to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane not to go to Jerusalem and be crucified. Peter was a believer meaning good. But what did Jesus say to Peter? He said, get thee behind me Satan. It was Satan speaking through Peter a follower of Christ. Peter a true believer in Christ and Satan was using him. And Peter did not know that Satan was using him at that moment. But Jesus noticed it right away. So it is with these Prosperity Preachers today. No where in the Bible does it say, we are to pay for the Gospel and fatten preachers wallets.
God will not bless you or me or anyone else, with the things of this world that will cause us to take our eyes off of Him. NO MATTER WHAT THESE PROSPERITY PREACHERS TELLS YOU!!! These prosperity preachers would only tell you different so they can continue their CASH FLOW. I will repeat myself here. A wolf in sheep's clothing is still a wolf.
We need to stand firm as the body of Christ and get our minds and eyes off of wanting the riches of this world more then we want Jesus. We can not serve two masters. And when Jesus spoke these words, he meant them. Jesus did not waste words. Everything He said, was meant for a reason.
What I am trying to say is? When we pray we need to stop praying for God to give us this and that. Instead we need to pray as Jesus prayed, when he ask God to remove the cup from Him. Jesus ask God for something and then He said (Not my will, but your will be done)... Jesus knew how to pray and how to get prayers answered. And here he gave us the true example of praying for God's will to be done, a total trust in God to give us what is best for us.
Some times when we pray we sound like spoiled brats wanting this and that. It's like we are in a candy store wanting everything we see. How sad, but true...
God knows what is best for us. And He will not answer any prayers that will wind up hurting us or someone else in the end. And He will not answer any prayers that will not Glorify Him. Period!!!
See God is so caring and He will not give us things because we like the things of this world more then we Love Him. We got it backwards. We must first seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness then and only then will these things be added unto us. It's not the other way around. That is what the Bible says, not me...
It's time for the body of Christ, all believers, to drop the whats in it for me attitude. And seek the things of God. Jesus did it and so should we... And in doing so, Jesus will meet all our needs and take good care of us. It's not about us. It's all about Jesus.
Jesus Loves You.
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