JESUS SPEAKING

            For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him because he had done these things on the Sabbath.  But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”  Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God […] “For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom he will.  For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.  He who does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent him” (John 5: 16-23.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

            Jesus healed a man on a Holy Day, and instead of rejoicing, the religious leaders condemned him for ‘working on the Sabbath.’  This was a day of rest was for men and not God.  He continued to work when the Jews were at rest.  Jesus proclaimed himself to be God, and as such, was exempt from resting on the Sabbath.  (In this culture, if one was to call God their Father, there was no mistake; this meant the person was making a statement of equality in comparison to God.)  Only God could give life, only God could judge, only God was worthy of honor.  Jesus was claiming to give life, to be able to judge, and was also making himself worthy of the honor.  The Pharisees were seeking desperately to keep Jesus and God separate; they were supposed to be ‘men of God,’ but they hated Jesus because he saw their hearts and their hearts were wicked.  They couldn’t hate God because they professed to love him.  Jesus reminded them that to love God was to love him, and as such, their hatred for him constituted a hatred for God.

            For quite some time I helped feed the homeless in downtown Santa Ana.  I was blessed to be able to serve in the line, and as people would come through, I would engage them in short conversations, often saying, “God bless you.”  There happened to be one particular man who came through the line, who replied to “God bless you” with “Hare Krishna.”  He was a Hindu Hare Krishna (They don’t believe in Jesus Christ or the God of the bible, as I understand.)  The way the man would correct me each week, suggested that he didn’t want to acknowledge Jesus Christ.  It appeared that he was not pleased that Christians were feeding him (and therefore Jesus Christ was feeding him.)  He wanted the food, but he didn’t want the one who was providing it. 

            Today, people still want God, but they refuse to acknowledge Jesus, as if the two can be separated.  Many follow false religions while they sit and receive treatment in hospitals named after Christian saints, run by Presbyterians, or Catholics.   Many have devised spiritual programs based on the bible to overcome some addiction, but to mention church, or Jesus might bring scorn or resentment from others in such programs.  Many people want to teach their children good morals, so they drop their children off at Sunday school but refuse to attend the services themselves.  Today, we as Christians can put Jesus Christ back in to the places where he has been squeezed out; we can accomplish this by doing good works in his name.  Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of cold water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.”  We can give money to a homeless man and say, “This is from Jesus.”  We can do the same whenever we help a friend in need, or give our time to a good cause.  When other people thank us, we can remind them that Jesus Christ is the one who deserves the thanks.  Whenever we lay down our lives for Jesus Christ, we also lift him up, so others see him in our actions, and give him and the Father the credit they so greatly deserve.  Jesus said, “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven.”  Let’s make sure he gets the praise and the glory for the good he does through our lives.

            “Lord Heavenly Father, we come before You and we ask that You give us opportunities to give You and Your Son the credit for any good works that we do.  Help us Lord to be bold in making sure that we lift You up and honor Your Son.  Father, give us more of Your Holy Spirit and help us to continue on our path with You.  We love You Father, we praise You and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s name.  Amen.”  God bless all of you.

JESUS SPEAKING

            At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath.  And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat them.  And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “See, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

            But he said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:  how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?  Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?  Yet I say to you that in this place there is one greater than the temple.  But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you wouldn’t have condemned the guiltless.  For the ‘Son of man’ is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mathew 12: 1-8.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

            In the Old Testament God gave a commandment that read, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it Holy.”  God intended one day of the week be for rest; a day on which no work was to be done.  There were very few restrictions and limitations placed upon the activities of the day; God forbid plowing or harvesting, carrying heavy loads, or engaging in excessive travel.  The religious leaders, who were overzealous, created more detailed definitions of what constituted work, and expected others to adhere to these limitations (although God had not sanctioned them.)  They made a day of rest in to a day of restrictions.  Jesus made reference to an occasion when King David was fleeing from King Saul who sought to take his life.  David and his companions, wearied and hungry, entered a temple and ate the sacred bread from the altar.  David was justified by God in doing this, because he was God’s anointed king, and he was hungry.  Jesus also made reference to the priest’s violations of the Sabbath day.  The priests were allowed to break the Sabbath rest while serving God who dwelled in the temple.  (Serving God was then made a justifiable violation of the Sabbath.)  The Jews believed the temple to be Holy, and they revered it.  The only thing they reverenced more than the temple was God himself.  So when Jesus said, “Yet I say to you that in this place there is one greater than the temple” he was making himself to be God; he even went so far as to proclaim himself ‘Lord of the Sabbath,’ meaning he did not have to obey the Sabbath, but the Sabbath obeyed him; the laws served God’s purposes, and now they were serving Jesus as well.  He then quoted a scripture that overturned the Pharisees entire understanding of the priorities of God; he said, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.”

The most important characteristic of God was his capacity to forgive and show mercy.  The priority wasn’t what man could do for God, but what God had done (and was going to do on the cross) for man.  The heart of God was not a rigid thing that demanded complete obedience to avoid hellfire; rather, forgiveness was God’s preferred method of fellowshipping and relating to his children.  God dwells in the hearts of those who accept his mercy in the form of Jesus Christ.  The presence of God dwelling in you dispels guilt, and those who are walking with Jesus Christ are no longer under the harsh restrictions that cause people to trust in themselves rather than in God.  Mercy has replaced sacrifice.  “There is therefore now, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8: 1-2.)

            One day as I was traveling down the road, I came across a stranger that had fallen on the bike path.  I pulled over and picked him up.  He appeared to be mentally handicapped and had taken quite a fall.  The palms of his hands were badly skinned from his attempt to avoid colliding with the pavement.  We picked up some peroxide and bandages, and drove to a place where I could treat his wounds.  When we got in to the car, his hands were so bloody and the distance to go was so short, I recommended he not put on his safety belt, which would have been painful for him.  We made it to our destination, but not before a Police Officer noticed a broken tail-light on my vehicle, and a passenger not wearing his seatbelt.  As the officer came near to the car, he inquired about the seat-belt, and the young man showed him his damaged hands.  The officer was lenient; he could see that circumstances didn’t warrant putting on the belt.  Some place in his heart he knew it wouldn’t have been right to give me a ticket because a law was broken out of love and concern.  He overlooked the tail-light saying, “Just take care of your friend.”

            Today, there can be a tendency to focus on the wrong things.  Those who don’t know God will have a difficult time adhering to his statutes.  They have no conviction, they don’t have the Holy Spirit, and their minds have been darkened.  Placing rules between sinners and God is therefore unbeneficial.  Can you imagine going to a church and being met at the door with a ‘questionnaire designed to assess your level of holiness prior to entering.’  Jesus came to make fellowship with God the first stage in a transformed life, not the final stage.  There is an old saying, “First you catch the fish and then you clean it.”  In the Old Testament, the fish had to be cleaned first.  In the New Testament, the fish is made clean because it has been caught.  Rituals, rules, and cleansings were all replaced with the Blood of Jesus Christ.  The point of contact with any sinner then, is not adherence to the rules, but an experience with Jesus Christ.  This does not mean that God wants us to throw away His commandments and not adhere to His guidelines.  It pleases Him when we do His will and obey Him.  But love for others is the trump card.  The law of love is the only law.  And the first step in obeying that law is knowing Jesus Christ.  It is because he dwells in us, that we are able to submit our lives with joy, to serving God, and others, in love.

            “Lord Heavenly Father, we ask and pray that You help us to make Your mercy the first thing we present to others.  Help us to not place rules and regulations between Your message and those who need to hear it.  God, give us strength to serve You, and walk with You.  Fill us with love, and faith, and peace, and joy; that others might see who You truly are.  We love You Father, we praise You, and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s name.  Amen.”  God bless all of you.

JESUS SPEAKING

            Now it happened, on a certain day, that he got into a boat with his disciples.  And he said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.”  And they launched out.  But as they sailed he fell asleep.  And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy.

            And they came to him and awoke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!”  Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water.  And they ceased, and there was a calm.  But he said to them, “Where is your faith?”  And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be?  For he commands even the winds and water, and they obey him!” (Luke 8: 22-25.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

            The Sea of Galilee is the lowest (below sea level) freshwater lake in the world.  Because it is right next to the Mediterranean Sea, warm and cool air meet and create fierce storms almost instantaneously.  No doubt Jesus and his disciples were experiencing one of these storms.  Jesus slept while the disciples, fearing for their lives, were panicking.  This fear caused them to forget that Jesus had said, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.”  The words of Jesus were the words of God, and as such had to come to pass.  The disciples did not yet understand, or realize who Jesus actually was.  They didn’t know who was in the boat with them.  He arose, and with one command nature itself obeyed him.  Only God had the power over all of creation, but here we see Jesus wielding that same power.  So after witnessing this, they feared him, and they marveled; and they immediately questioned their own understanding.  We can also learn something here about the nature of fear.  Fear has done more damage and created more distress in people’s lives than has any other form of spiritual anguish.  Faith and fear are at war with one another in the human heart.  The presence of one signals the absence of the other, and vice versa; much as light dispels darkness, so faith dispels fear.  In Psalm 23, David writes concerning God, “I shall fear no evil, for you are with me.”  So to dispel fear a person needs only trust and know that God is with them.  The disciples feared the waves, because their faith in the one who was in the boat with them wavered.  There assessment of Jesus was incorrect.  The remedy was to correct their assessment.  He asked them, “Where is your faith?”  They reply to the question of “Where is your faith?” with “Who can this be?”

            There is a gentleman I interact with often at the coffee shop I frequent.  He is under a severe amount of stress; some days he appears visibly upset, unsettled, and distracted.  On one of these days, he leaned over to me and asked, “Can you give a scripture, or something from the bible that will help me to remember that ‘God will never give me more than I can handle?’”  My response was to quote this scripture of Jesus calming the storm.  Although it appeared as though they were going to sink, God wouldn’t allow it.  I reminded him that what is important is who is in the boat with you.  The size of the waves and the measure of desperation weren’t important.  Jesus was the one factor that would keep him floating.

            Today, our lives are like vessels floating on a sea as we travel towards our destination.  Sometimes the seas are tranquil, and sometimes the seas are stormy, but God has made a promise to all those who invite Jesus to accompany them on their journey.  He has promised that you will make it to the other side.  Jesus will not allow you to slip beneath the waves.  You will never sink, no matter how impossible the circumstances appear to be, because he is in control.  He will make your heart and mind as still as a motionless, windless ocean, when there are storms raging all around you.  He will give you a “peace that surpasses all understanding.”  When you feel fear, remember his promises, and know that the one who is with you “will never leave you, nor forsake you.”  Your faith will dispel your fear.  You will reach the destination, you will finish the race; you will keep the faith, because he is with you.

            “Lord Heavenly Father, we come before You today and we ask You for Your Son, and we ask and pray that he accompany us through this life.  Lord, please protect us from sinking; protect us from being overwhelmed by the storms that arise on our journey.  Help us to possess a faith that dispels all fear and produces hope.  Increase our faith, and help us to feel peace when the world around us is roaring.  We love You, we thank You, and we trust You, and we ask and pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s name, Amen.”  God bless all of you.

            (If you’ve never invited Jesus Christ in to your heart and in to your life, you can do that at any time, just by kneeling down in a quiet place and asking Him to be the Lord of your life.  Ask for forgiveness, and believe in your heart that he was raised from the dead, and that through him you have eternal life.  Ask him for his Holy Spirit.  Ask this all in His Son’s Name, and a miracle will happen in your life, and you will never again face the challenges of life alone.)