God or Money? (Luke 16:1-18)

Our American currency states, "In God we Trust," but the majority of us influenced by the world system place our trust in the money that statement is on. See, our worth according to the world's standards depends on what we own and what we accomplish. Even good deeds are done with an agenda in mind, as seen in Luke 16:1-7, where the shrewd manager did good to his clients only for the hope that favor will be returned to him.  The point to this parable as stated in verse eight & nine is that the children of the world do more with their resources though with a wrong motive than the children of light.  We may not have wrong motives regarding using our resources but it doesn't matter much if we don't use them for any good.  God has blessed us to be a blessing.  We don't own anything, it is all His to be used for His glory.  Who are we to hoard onto what is not our own.  We are supposed to use His resources to benefit others which goes beyond lip service to true loving kindness.

The majority of us make our decisions not based on if it is God's will but by how much money we have in the bank.  We will walk by faith in so many areas except for trusting Him to be our provider.  We argue over if the tithe is a New Testament principle, well it is not, that's just a portion of the principle now, it's no longer just 10% but 100%.  Meaning, He is to direct us in all we do with what is His.  If we want to have an overflow of provision we must walk by faith.  We can no longer limit our decisions to our earthly means.  God owns everything and as His children we shall never be in lack.  All we have to do is activate our heavenly bank account through faith.  Meaning when God says do something we do it no matter how things seem naturally.  

Our Father increases us depending on our faithfulness, as we step out in faith with whatever little He has given us more is added, our earthly wealth turns to heavenly riches (vs. 10-11).  I expect many of us have felt stagnant before, like their is no forward momentum, where our passion dwindles, and we feel like we are going nowhere in life.  This all comes because God cannot give us further direction and supply if we are not faithful to use what He has given us for His present purposes.  

Whatever we cannot let go of has a hold on us and that is why money is one of the biggest stumbling blocks regarding our spiritual growth.  God must be over our money for us to have unlimited supply.  It is impossible to serve God and serve money, we must choose whom we serve, dead Presidents or the living God (vs. 13)?  The spirit of mammon controls us by limiting our movement to what we have in our pockets.  The spirit of God controls us when we are not limited and move in faith despite what we have in our pockets.  For faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).  

Their are many modern day Pharisees who use God for their own personal gain. Those whom give their ministry only with a price.  This is highway robbery, taking God's power as if it was their own convincing people as if they were actually giving their money to God (vs. 15).  God's law judges us from the intent of our heart.  There are those who have mastered the art of deception.  God sees and knows all, He has a way to expose phonies and frauds.  Let us make sure we daily examine our hearts and repent when He reveals wrong.

Lost, Then Found (Luke 15:8-32)

Lost, then Found

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My wife often panics when something seems to be missing before she even really looks for it. Have you ever done that like totally lose something, panic, act like the world is coming to an end, to later find what you were looking for in an obvious place. I have lost stuff and I know that I know I looked where I thought it was, not finding it, but then looking again and it's there. When something or someone is missing like our own child, it is the worst feeling one can feel, we become overwhelmed with fear and dread inside of the thought that something bad might have happened.

Have you ever lost someone of importance not out of accident but through rejection, either through misunderstanding, believed lies, being disappointed, etc.? This by far the greatest pain people usually experience in life.

So imagine how God who has made us as His prized possession, the only creation made in His image, for the purpose of fellowship, whom redeemed and restored us after the fall through the death and resurrection of Jesus and yet many are still lost in ignorance or simply reject what He has done.

God made feelings so He feels the same things we feel. Imagine how it is when just one of your family members are astray, now God sees the whole world as His own, so He feels the pain of each person that is lost or rejecting Him. So in Luke 15:10 when it describes the joy that Heaven has when just one who is lost is found, you can now imagine the emotional celebration.

In the parable of the Lost Son we see the flight of many believers. We start well but as we understand the commitment of being a citizen of the Kingdom of God we step back a bit or we step away all together. We being selfish beings want our Heavenly Father to serve us rather than we serve Him. We want all the benefits without the commitment. We want to do what we want when we want to do it and when we mess up call on God to fix it.

I was so excited as a young person to go out and live on my own, but like many of us I was spoiled and not ready to handle what life brought me, so I ran home to my Grandma (who raised me) to spoil me once again, and she received me with open arms. We live in a culture that celebrates independence, self accomplishment, yet parenting and education at the same time is usually void of much life training, so few people are ready. We were never intended to live independent from God, we were created for fellowship, a daily partnership with Him of bringing forth His will on Earth as it is in Heaven.

As the popular song by Bob Dylan says "we all serve somebody", so what is it going to take to realize the best person to serve is Jesus Christ. Yes, it costs us our life, but we gain eternal life. It took the prodigal son experiencing complete humiliation before He returned to His Father. Why do we love to learn the hard way? Why do we think we can live separate from God and think things will turn out find? It might not be easy to follow God but it is the only way to experiencing true life.

The Father never rejects us, we run away from Him, but He is always waiting for our return with open arms. He does not condemn us, He already knows that we can't live apart from Him, and He understands that most of us have to realize that for ourselves before we finally fully surrender. It is not an easy thing to see our children suffer but it is sometimes necessary and the only way they will learn. Many kids are spoiled and therefore ungrateful and irresponsible because we fear them getting hurt. Don't we realize the greatest pain for God is His children living separate from Him. When we shelter them they never get a chance to realize how much they need God. So sometime we have to let our children go astray so that they will one day surrender to the Lord not from the traditions we established but truly from their heart. It sometimes takes getting lost before we can truly be found.

"Reaching The Lost" (Luke 15:1-7)

Chapter 48

"Reaching The Lost"

(Luke 15:1-7)

Isn't it amazing that we who were once so lost in sin now turn around and judge those who still are. We look down upon, ridicule, even despise those that don't think and behave like ourselves. Don't we realize that if it wasn't for the grace of God we would be just as messed up as anyone else. Have you ever experienced non-believers feeling completely uncomfortable being around you? 

Here in Luke 15:1-7 "the parable of the lost sheep", it is stated that tax collectors and notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. So why did they not feel uncomfortable around Jesus but actually wanted to listen to Him.

God's love is unconditional. He loves each individual on earth no matter what. He accepts us as we are with the hope that we will accept Him and therefore be transformed. People don't feel comfortable around us because the way we carry ourselves, the negative energy that we produce because of our judgmental thoughts. How can we say we love God and despise those He has created.

Yes, we are called to be holy as God is holy, and holiness means being set apart. But, holiness is a state of being, not a running away from something scared to get contaminated. Holiness comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit. This infilling gives us the power to overcome sin and temptation. It means we can be a bold witness of Jesus Christ in the midst of a lost sinful world. We can shine bright in the midst of the darkness.

Too many Christians live in their own Christian bubble, go to church nearly every night of the week, have their kids in Christian school, have only Christian friends. This is not why we are still here on Earth, we are here to save those that are lost, therefore we must go where they are, and draw them to God by our loving-kindness. We must believe in the power of God not just to save us but to keep us and stop being afraid of the world.

The lost sheep are not usually found in Christian circles we must be willing to say God here I am send me. I will go where ever you call me, I am scared of darkness, for I am the light of the world. The greatest joy in heaven is lost sinners repenting and returning to God. Will we make it our daily business to make Heaven rejoice.

The Cost Factor (Luke 14:25-35)

Have you ever heard a deal that seems to good to be true? In our consumer society we are constantly bombarded with sales pitches. Marketing is a multi-billion dollar business in which any measure will be used to get money out of our hands. The majority of us have been bamboozled so many times that we think there is a catch to every deal.

When it comes to salvation the bible says we are saved by grace alone. It is a free gift from God through believing in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet, how free really is it? A contract usually has words we overlook until it's too late and we are bound to the contract, they often our written with massive words in small lettering, so we skip by it, not realizing what we signed our name too.

Is there a cost factor that we have not observed in regard to being a disciple?

Salvation is sometimes pitched in a way to get people to buy in without knowing what they are really purchasing. See we live in a culture that holds quantity as chief important. That is why the main question people ask other leaders is how many people do you have? Like, we're playing a number game like Monopoly. So therefore church leaders often use methods to convince people to get saved, like Jesus will take all your problems away, just come unto Him and receive Him.

In Luke 14:25-35 Jesus states the true cost of following Him. The early Roman Catholic church made you basically buy your salvation. No it's not that, it costs more, it means all your money, all you own, all that you are, your entire life. It is an exchange, His life for your life. We are no longer our own. He purchased our salvation, He paid the price, but receiving it from Him, costs us our life.

In this passage Jesus has a large crowd following Him, the "American Dream." If He was like many of us He would have been careful what He said, to not offend anyone, to keep everyone together. That is not what He did, He spoke the hard Truth of what it really meant to follow Him.

“If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:26)

Wow, hard to swallow! How often is this said in a salvation message or altar call. We won't get as much as a response, we will scare people away. Well the question is are we trying to lead people to ourselves or to Jesus? If it's Jesus we must tell people the truth or we will mislead them. Some of the biggest frauds are so called ministers they are misleading people to think they have received something they have not.

Vs.33"So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own."

In verse 27 it says you must "carry the cross", meaning living a life of self denial, putting Jesus and His call above your own life. So as it explains in verse 28-31, we must "count the cost," are we really willing to make this kind of commitment. Are we willing to surrender everything? It takes all we have to follow Him. That is why so many backslide, not that it is there fault, they were given false hope, a sales pitch that did not explain all the requirements.

So now the question is have we really made a true commitment to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? Were we fooled, we just did not fully understand, what we were doing. It is time we make up our mind, there is no gray area, we cannot serve God and live for ourself at the same time. It is all in or nothing!

Now, the work of salvation is His work not our own, when we sincerely surrender our heart to God, knowing it will not be easy and it is a life long process, His grace will now change the desires of our heart, and the things we could never imagine letting go of will be made possible. For it is not "by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit, says the Lord."

Under A Microscope! (Luke 14:1-24)

Have you ever been in a room and you can just feel everyone's eyes are on you? You are being checked out, examined, put under a microscope!

It is certainly uncomfortable, the reasons could range from social status, age, race, religion etc. Most people long for acceptance and not to be the odd ball out, so in these moments do we compromise to fit in or do we keep our true identity in tact.

Jesus experienced this continuously especially from the Pharisees. Here in Luke 14:1 Jesus knowing their thoughts asks them a question, with the purpose of helping them see how ignorant they really were. The traditions we create to look religious usually if we think about it don't make much sense. The sad thing is many of us are too gullible to even realize it or just don't have much understanding of the scriptures or we are just too timid to point them out. The world has no problem pointing out our foolishness so why don't we? We give the world so many excuses for rejecting Jesus, yes they still will be held accountable but so will we.

Jesus was not moved by the Pharisees even knowing it was life threatening, He was obedient to the utmost. He silenced the religious folks, they did not know how to respond, because He exposed their ignorance. The bible says traditions nullify the word, meaning it makes it of no effect. These Pharisees were blind and they continued after Jesus no matter how many times He made them look like fools.

In Luke 14:7 Jesus exposes religiosity again. Religious people have to prove their spirituality, they have to be seen, so they sit in seats of honor, etc. True children of God don't need to prove anything, they simply just live to please God, not to gain man's approval. Things only have to be proven when they are not certain. When one truly knows God they are confident in His approval through Christ Jesus, and therefore can just walk in peace, not striving and conniving to try to be something they are not.

God has away as we see in this passage of embarrassing us, showing the world our true colors, humbling us when we think of ourselves more highly than we ought. Humility is the grace to acknowledge God as Lord of all. As it says in verse 11 "for those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those that humble themselves will be exalted." This takes putting God first in everything, so that He is placed before us, and not we leading ourselves.

We must not choose whom we minister too, disciple, invite to events, according to natural selection, the survival of the fittest, the strong and proud. God uses the downcast, despised, disenfranchised, to bring glory to His name. I find many Christians around me don't make any commitments, yes it's important to take care of family, job, etc. but I believe people make excuses because their obedience level only goes so far. I don't believe we are to be out every night at church events, we are to have balance, yet the early church did meet together often and were empowered greatly, signs and wonders were a common thing, and the church was added to daily.

There are banquets, love feasts, divine appointments that God wants His bride together, to receive from Him as His body. Many of us are not attuned with God's timing, He is not the author of our calendar, we dictate what we want to do when we want to do it, and God is there when we want Him. Where are the broken vessels that realize they are nothing apart from Him, that are desperate that He takes full control of their lives at all times.

The world watches us and comes to their conclusions depending upon their perception that is limited to outward appearance and lacking complete understanding, but God sees and knows all. He judges us by the state of our heart. His microscope is more powerful than any earthly device. We need to acknowledge Him in everything so that we know our heart is right, for God longs for hearts like David that are after His own heart.