Here Jesus gives the final benediction. Jesus demands and compels us to take the narrow gate, produce the right fruit and make the right choice! He required of us that we build on the right foundation. We are to examine ourselves and practice Holiness. Jesus repeats these requirements a second time because they are so important. Jesus was talking to believers not non-believers. The rain, wind and storms will come to us all. Good and bad days are ahead. The wise build on the rock and the foolish on the sand. If we build on the right foundation we will thrive through the storm. We have great days ahead! We can feel His Blessings! The disciples were passionate. They did great things! There were glorious days and there was also trouble. Eleven of His disciples were martyred! One was imprisoned on a remote island in a cave. John 16:33 — Peace and Tribulation? Jesus has come to give us peace. The world gives us trouble. Jesus has overcome the world! Stay strong and keep the Faith. Nothing shall shake you! The place of stability in Christ leaves no terror. The unstable world leaves us with fear. Love and fear are opposites. How do we practice words? We practice them by doing them. Action! Breath in His Holy Spirit. Get saturated with the Gospel! Breath out and go do His Word. Are you receiving but not giving? Gandhi said,” I like your Christ but not His followers! ” Christ’s followers cannot save Gandhi but Christ could! James 1:27– Pure religion is to take care of widows and orphans. Also keep your heart pure. Find some widows and orphans! Get busy. Do! Act! Along life’s path do His Word. Do you have a vision? That vision will deceive you if you are not doing His Word! A medical doctor is useless unless he is practicing his knowledge! Luke 8:15– There are four types of soil. The seed is the word. Good soil is a pure heart. Hear His word and do something about it. Hear it, retain it, talk about it and do it. Cares of the world will choke the word. Know the will of God and cooperate and do it. Good work does not earn our salvation. But the good works help to mature us. Put your hands and feet to His Word. The Bible is a living, breathing document. The Holy Spirit puts boots on the ground through you! Live out your revelation. Matthew 7:28– Jesus taught as one having authority. It is not about Plan A or Plan B. Make disciples teaching them to obey me! Christ will be with you always even to the end of the ages. Have a secure place and build on the right foundation. What are you building your life on? What and who is shaping and forming your life right now today? Source: Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Message given Sunday, September 15, 2013. Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Tag: john
Most Misinterpreted Scripture In the Bible! Matthew 7:1
A poll was taken among unbelievers and they were asked what word comes to their minds when they hear the word, “Evangelical Christian.” A overwhelming majority said the word that comes to their mind is; “Judgmental.” Most of them quote Matthew 7:1 to support their views. What is lacking here is for them to read the rest of chapter 7. It is always easier to be critical of others sin than our own sin. We treat others sin different from our own. There is a big difference between judging and evaluating someone. We get discernment from God’s Word! The Greek word used for judgment in verse one is the word,”Krima.” It means to judge, condemn and execute. Like Jesus was given at Calvary. We can say something is wrong without judging. We can take a moral stand without being a jerk. We need not be evaluator and chief. We do need to draw the line on impure thoughts and actions. Cool parents are bad parents! You are not your children’s best friends but you are in authority over them and responsible to God for them! We set boundaries in our family for their safety. Judgmental people are constant fault finders. They think your problems are because God is out to get you for your faults. They are always looking for the wrong and not what is right. They always remind others of their past mistakes. We all have flaws and need Christ. Following are a list of opposites judgment verses evaluate; Judge-emotional anger. Evaluate-restore them (kindness). Judge-Pride (better than you). Evaluate-I want to help (Grace). Judge-stay away (fear). Evaluate-restore them (Kingdom). Verse 2- Same way be judged. Give-away get back. Forgive-forgiven. Heal-healing. Pour out Grace abundantly! John 8:3-6. Woman caught in adultery. What did Jesus write on the ground? No one knows? Maybe the names of the ladies the Pharisee’s were seeing? They knew all about the law yet guilty. Older left first. Why? Maybe more to remember? Sometimes when we get older we forget how broken we were before we came to Christ. Don’t get over your salvation! Where are your accusers? Jesus asked her to leave her sin and stop it. Jesus gives us an invitation to take up our Cross and follow Him. We want to pray for two groups this morning. The worst kind of abuse is spiritual abuse. Spiritual leaders who abuse the flock. These people are hurt the deepest. We need grace not judgment. Forgive! We need ocean’s of Grace! New way of living. Judgmental people assume the worst in people. A product does not know it’s purpose. Only the designer or creator knows a products true purpose. Find your Creator and learn your true purpose in Christ! Source; Sermon notes taken from message by Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, given in Colorado Springs, Colorado on August 11, 2013. Thankyou.James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Being Awesome In Obscurity! Matthew Chapter 6.
Why do we do what we do? Motives! Great people of God always have seasons of obscurity! Jesus in the desert, John the Baptist, Apostle John and many more examples in the Old Testament. American culture counters the idea of obscurity with social networks, web sites, instant media flashes, ect. God has to prepare out hearts and will not let us go public until we are right with Him and our fellow man. Motive is the spiritual mirror of the heart. The truth of scripture divides the motives of the heart. No one can hide wrong motives from God. The religious leaders of Jesus day gave money to be honored by men. Jesus said to give in secret. Then God will reward you openly! You will notice Jesus mentions reward three times. You will notice in Matthew Chapter 5, verse 16 that Jesus says to let your light so shine. Is Jesus contradicting Himself or is He talking about two different things? Shine or do in secret? It is all about motive. Neither do we boast or hide. We are a peculiar people. When people ask about your Godly behavior share your story about how God has changed you! Jesus mentioned a reward five times when you do the following three things in secret! They are; Give, pray and fast. Jesus says when we do these things which means we do them regularly! All three of these things are costly! Giving costs us money. To pray costs us time. To some time is money. To fast costs us energy. Most people say they trust in God and few Christians will do these three things regularly. To do these things means we embrace weakness. Most Christian’s will want to tell others they are doing these three things. Why? Motive! The Pharisee’s were the religious super stars of Jesus day. They fasted, prayed and gave money openly for men to see with no effect or approval from God! There will be seasons of obscurity sent from God to you so that you get right with who you are and do not give up your identity to please men! In Luke Chapter 4, verse 14 we read He returned with Power of the Spirit! God will not give you a public platform until you are ready! When Jesus came up out of the water during Baptism His Father in Heaven said; ” This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased!” What is the reward Jesus is talking about if we do these three things? Some Christians especially in America think it is money, big houses, fancy cars, gold, land, stocks, bonds, ect. Some will even borrow great amounts of money to show the world they are Blessed of God? The reward Jesus is talking about is this; ” His Presence. ” His love for you! An eternity spent with Him both now and forever! Source; Sermon notes from Pastor Brady Boyd at New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado. July 14, 2013. Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Sermon On The Mount Series New Life Church
Matthew Chapter 5; The sermon on the mount is the most taught and least followed of all Jesus teachings! Jesus brings a new imagination ( image ) and a new people out of this sermon. Israel has a history of getting things wrong! They moved from holiness, sin, rebellion, repentance and back to holiness. The difficulty today is the church is just like Israel. Often we cannot tell the difference between the church and the world. Leviticus 18:1-4; God found us in Egypt! God did not want the Jews to be like Egypt or like Canaan. There are traps both in prosperity and bondage. Do not follow the practices of the world. The world is sinking sand. Build on the rock (Christ). The Jews wanted Samuel to give them a king. Why? Other nations had kings. We want to be like the world. God and samuel were greived. So they got Saul, David and a bunch of really bad kings out of forty. Ezekiel 20:6-8; It is possible not to lust, control your temper and live peaceably. Here is a summation of the sermon on the mount, “An invitation from Jesus to be like him and be set apart.” We are a covenant people serving a covenant God. As a mother feeds her baby through the umbilical cord so we are the branches attached to the vine. Moses could not follow the law! The sermon on the mount is not another set of rules. Jesus in you teaches you and enpowers you. John 15:5-6; Apart from me you can do nothing. Bare much fruit! Philippians 2:12; Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. God works in you! No individualism here but community. The disciples left the crowd but after Jesus changed their lives they went back to minister to the crowds! We are in covenant with God and the community. If we try by ourselves we will fail. Live with Jesus and others. No isolation from community in the covenant. The table of covenant is community. Together we servs the community. We serve each other and we serve Christ as He serves us! The Trinity of the covenant is serving community, each other and Christ! Source; Sermon notes, Pastor Brady Boyd, New Life Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Sermon On The Mount Series, 28 April 2013. Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Christ Saves And Secures! 1 John 3:6-9
In this passage, John examines the question of whether the person “Born Again” can commit sin? In verse six the apostle writes, “Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not”, and in verse eight, “He that commits sin is of the devil.” Furthermore in verse nine there is an emphatic declaration: “Whosoever is of God doth not commit sin…and he cannot sin.” If it were possible for a Christian to sin, there would be a contradiction in these portions of scriptures. In this instance, John says if it is not possible for those who are really born again to sin, there must be very few genuine Christians. Every believer still possesses a fallen, sin nature, as well as the indwelling Holy Spirit. Also the doctrine of eternal security is evident in scripture ( John 1:12, 10:28, Romans 8: 38-39 ). Though you may fall into sin, the believers eternal salvation is not affected. ( See note on 1 Thess. 2:3-9 ). Antinomians contend that the covenant of grace was not established based on conditions. The result of this belief is that no person can be held accountable to any moral law. It is only required that they believe, then they can live as they please. The perfectionist go so far as to say that the sin nature has been surgically removed. John was warning believers against these forms of thinking, that they not continue in sin, but abide in righteousness (v v. 8-9). Moreover, the apostle exposes these doctrines in the command, “My little children, these write i unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” ( 1 John 2:1 ) This is not the proper rendering of this verse. It should denote the mere action of a sin, not the idea of habitually sinning. John explains that even he is capable of committing sin, not in the habitual sense, but as one particular action. The phrase here in verse nine, “does not commit sin”, is in the present tense denoting continued action. On the other hand in chapter two, verse one John uses the aorist tense, speaking of one point in the past when a sin was committed. Furthermore there were those who taught that the mere intellectual assent to the Christian faith was enough to make one acceptable to God, even though he or she had impure lives. Therefore John reiterates in verse seven that only those who continued in righteousness, ( ho poion, Strongs 4160 ),a particple phrase meaning, “the one habitually doing”, were considered righteous. they were not only making the righteous and holy life of Christ the object of their trust, but also the pattern of their walk and practice. John’s idea of committing sin on a permanent, habitual basis is further explained in 3 John 1:11, “He that doeth good is of God, but he that doeth evil has not seen God.” There are two participial nouns in this verse, ho agathopoin (Strongs 215), meaning “the one being a doer of good, a benevolent person”, and ho kakopoion (Strongs 2554), referring to, “the one doing evil, a malicious person.” This is the same usage found in 1 John 3:7, “he that doeth righteous is righteous.” John does not imply that merely acting good will make one righteous. A person is an artisan who has acquired a skill and works at a trade as his calling or occupation. Hense the correct translation of 1 John 3:8 should be, “the one who practices sin.” The expression, “he cannot sin”, ( 1 John 3:9 simply means the true believer cannot sin habitually, deliberately and maliciously (e.g. Cain sinned out of hatred for goodness, 1 John 3:12. John does not ignore the existence of the sinful nature in the believer which exists as a mortal living in a fallen world. Consequently, John states in 1 John 1:8, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Source: Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible. Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Do Christian’s Sin? 1John1:8-10, 1John2:1-2
The Apostle John was writing to believers, saved people, born again people who were members of the churches in Asia Minor around 90 AD. Let us start at Verse 8; If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Verse 9: If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Verse 10; If we say we have not sinned we make him a liar, and his word is not in us! Comments: John goes on to say in Chapter 3 that who is born of God cannot sin? Do we have a contradiction here? We will discuss Chapter 3 and do Greek translations of key words next time. John makes it clear in Chapter 1 that we are sinners and need a Saviour everyday and forever! Jesus established ordinances in the church such as communion to examine ourselves! Do not let pride deceive you as did Lucifer into thinking we are above God and His Christ and have no need of a Saviour! Thankyou. James and Hamsa Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
The Elway Flop!
John Elway could not stand Tim Tebow and his Faith in God! So he decides money will replace faith and trashed Tebow after he took the Denver Broncos to the second round of the playoffs last year. A 70 million dollar deal with Manning could not even get Denver a first round win? When will the world learn that faith in God through Jesus Christ will take you further than you can ever go by yourself! The Bible says that God’s ways are higher than man’s ways! Tim Tebow knows this and also by his life demonstrates his faith in Christ and trusts his life and future with Jesus Christ! Thankyou. James, Hamsa and Anita Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Mansions or Mansion? John 14:2
The English rendition of the Greek word (mone), is translated mansions. The problem is the Greek word mone is singular not plural. Is this a big deal? it could be if it renders in your mind a different concept than the original Greek language intended! We have an earthly concept of mansions as individual houses like in our neighborhood block. If we think of one mansion where everyone lives then the concept is changed. Let us think about going to church on Sunday morning and parking your car in the parking lot with all the other cars. Now during the service i call a tow truck and pay to have all the cars towed away! At the end of the service the Pastor says do not go the parking lot because your vehicle is not there? We are now all going to live together in the church in one mansion here forever! Troubling? You are now thinking i cannot even get along with my spouse how can i get along with all these folks? I cannot divorce these people and move into my own mansion! Do we have the capacity to live together forever in the same house? Only God can give us this capacity! It is humanly impossible otherwise! If you go to John 14:23 you can see this from a different perspective. If by pre-conditions laid out by Jesus here then God makes his abode in individual believers. Then Christ dwells in many mansions(believers). He dwells in many mansions while we are on earth but one day we end up in the “Big House” together as we say down here in Georgia! Please do more than just read your Bible! Study it! James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Book of John Chapter One Verse One !
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The word beginning in the greek translates as Commencement! When we finish a degree and complete all the work we graduate and have a commencement service. God completed his work at creation and time began! The word, “Word” in the greek is Logos which means Divine Expression! What was God’s Divine expression? Verse 14 of Chapter one says, ” And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amoung us……..” The divine expression could include creation itself but it is more than that! The divine expression is Christ himself! Let us substitute Christ for Word in verse one. In the beginning Jesus was the word and Jesus was with God and Jesus was God. Remember Jesus last words on the cross! It is finished! Man’s work is never done but God’s work is finished forever! Thankyou. James Sasse. GodWhoisGod.com
Angels Revelation 22:8-9
You would think that John would have got the message when the other Angel rebuked him for falling to worship him. It should be apparent that angels appear as if they are Gods to men, as does Satan. In any case, it is clear that Angels are not to be worshipped and righteous Angels do not want to be worshipped! That should make it clear that we should not have statues of Angels around for luck or favor. That is idoltary and it is quite insulting to Angels. Angels in scripture are never feminine, never cute and are never to be idolized: they are powerful servants of God who carry out His will. The Angel in this passage calls anyone who keeps the sayings of this book a fellow servant. That is quite an honor for people of flesh! What a destiny the redeemed of the Lord have! Source: Don Koenig