It is knowing Him and not just His Name that gets you into Heaven.

September 30, 2012

Matthew 7:21

Jesus was talking to a multitude of people. Young and old, lazy, enthusiastic, rich and poor and yet they all got a lesson from Him; so much so that they wanted more.

Jesus is setting them straight. It is not about religion but relationship.  Jesus is not talking to the Pharisees, the high-falootin’.  The Pharisees would never come to Jesus saying “Lord, Lord”. It is those in the trenches. Not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven. It is not about works or whatever people say it takes to get there. It is about what God says.

To get on the heaven bound train you need the right ticket and the ticket is Jesus. Doing God’s will is what gets us heaven bound. People think about heaven as being in the sky but Jesus is taking about the kingdom of heaven; becoming a part of the family of God.

Many will say to Jesus at the Day of Judgment, “have I not…” And HE will say depart I do not know you. Why? Because what is missing is that they have not walked according to the Will of God. It does not mean that they have disobeyed the law of this land. You may have lived a perfect life to the world’s standards but not embraced Jesus Christ which is God’s standard.

Jesus is saying, you are saying the right words but your allegiance is not with me. God wants us to know why we are here.

As we live our lives for the Lord we need to challenge people about their lives. No one wants to hear God say, I never knew you.

Pastor Pete

Eyes Open, Be Alert, Watch

September 23, 2012

Matthew 7:15-20

We must apply these verses to every aspect of our lives. We must examine those we are supposed to trust. Be alert. Keep your eyes open. Watch out for falseness.

Beware of false prophets that come in sheep’s clothing. Be careful when you watch the news on TV and the newspaper. Look for the truth in it but do not take it at face value.

Jesus comes to us talking about an influential group that is strong at this time, the Pharisees. They are making money off of the people. They look good and sound good but they are wolves with rabies. All they want is to rip you apart. We have Pharisees in our world today. They look good but they will destroy you.

The media is bought and paid for. We need to stop letting people persuade us with a lie. The Bible says that Satan will entice you with sweet words. V16 says that we will know them by their fruits. We know it’s an apple because it grows on an apple tree. Don’t just embrace someone who says trust me, look at their lives.

You have to look before you make a decision. V17-18 – Every good tree bears good fruit and every bad tree produces bad fruit. Nothing good can come out of something bad. A good tree means the roots are good. A bad tree means that the roots are bad. A tree produces bad fruit because deep down at the roots something is wrong.

V19: We need to open our eyes to what is going on in our lives at every level. Don’t make excuses for it. You can put a pig in a dress and pearls but it will still be a pig. We need to get rid of the stuff that is bad, that is not profiting us.

Keep your eyes open and be alert because you have to come to a decision. Do not let anyone think for you. Parents are supposed to get their children to the point where they can think for themselves. We never want our children to be dependent on us forever. We have to make sure that we plant in our children the knowledge to survive. That is what God has given to us.

God showed us his credentials. He didn’t have to tell people to trust him. He just said follow me because he had proven Himself faithful and trustworthy.

Keep your eyes open. Remain alert. Let’s be ready to make the judgment call with the right information.

Pastor Pete

It’s a Judgment Call

September 16, 2012

 



Matthew 7:1-6

 

First words people see in this text is judge not and we think that God is saying not to judge but that is not true. We make judgments every day.

Webster’s dictionary says to judge means to form an estimate about something. To judge just means to make a decision. We are called to make decisions every day. It’s easy to judge a light. Green means go, red means stop. But stop signs require judgment.

We make judgments at school, at home, at work. God has made us to make decisions. A sad thing is when one cannot make a decision or makes a decision based on another people’s opinions and not there own.

The text says the same meter that you use to judge someone else will be the meter you will be judged by. Be very careful about how you come to a decision about someone.

All Jesus is doing here is making it clear; do unto others as you would have them do unto you. As you see the splinter in someone’s eye remember that it’s broken off of the plank in your own eye.

We may not have all the facts when making final decisions about some one. Jesus is saying make sure you have all the facts.

We judge things from a point of prejudice. We take people’s opinions and how we’ve grown up as a frame of reference not considering that we could make the same mistake. Jesus asks us to put ourselves in that person’s shoes. We want to look at the person with fresh, open eyes. We need to take our time. We don’t want to be the jury that finds one guilty only to find out that they are innocent.

That’s why Jesus called us hypocrites. We don’t look at it from the other side. We don’t want to be at the mercy of man.

The first thing we need to do is look at ourselves, understanding the biases we have. First we must remove the plank from our own eye. We need to remove anything that would impede our judgment before we go to help our brother. We have to be willing to take care of our brother. We come with a quick response of judgment. But its not about quick response its about making your brother whole. Instead, we condemn.

The Pharisees always came with condemnation. Jesus came to make us whole again.

An unfair judgment or decision will come back to bite you. From one extreme to the other can condemn us.

Judgment evaluates before you come to the conclusion. Once something comes out of your mouth you can’t get it back. If you come with biases you are not going to get it right. A Christians we need to realize that judgment calls affect other people's live. Therefore, we need to use righteous, godly judgment.

God made a judgment call with Jesus Christ. We were guilty. He could have destroyed the world. God looked down the road and saw everything that man is doing now and will do. In that instant he could have destroyed the world but he saved us instead.

Let's do judgment God’s way so that in the end he is honered.

 

Pastor Pete

A Narrow Road that Invites Everyone to Walk it

Matthew 7:13, 14

We don’t want truth. We want to hear what we want to hear, even if it is a lie. The Bible says, the truth will set you free. We would rather be bound then be free.

So many people would rather join the group as it is going along; not thinking, not seeing until it is too late. Running aimless; they don’t know why and don’t know where they are running to.

To enter the narrow gate you must seek the gate. Then you have to examine it – where does this road lead me? Then you have to make a decision. Then you have to follow.

Don’t listen to anyone who says, “trust me” and they have no track record. Jesus has a track record of his goodness, his kindness, his faithfulness. He healed the sick. He raised the dead.

The narrow gate must be traversed one at a time. The wide gate can be passed by a crowd. The narrow gate calls for an individual decision. It’s a personal invitation.

A lot of people would rather walk the way that is easy but brings their death then to walk the narrow gate which would be a little harder but brings life.

The roads that are most frequently used will be paved. The road less traveled will have the bumps. The less traveled road seems to be the Christian life. You don’t follow the masses. Life is not going to be easy all the time. We will experience the same things someone in the world will experience. As we preserve through these difficulties in the Lord it will lead us to LIFE. You will recognize that God has brought you through and you can give Him praise.

The things in our world may not get better but we can KNOW that God is IN CONTROL and He WILL bring us through. He is always concerned for our welfare and our safety. Pray that our heart will be set to walk the narrow gate so that we see our values, what we stand for and what we stand on. Lets walk, calling on the name of the Lord not just walking aimlessly, not looking at what is going on around us.

Let’s be excited about the Word of God. He promises that if we serve Him, He will give us Life.

 

Pastor Pete

Communion - September

September 2, 2012

 

 

Jesus has experienced the pain, hardship, and disappointment of this world. As we take the bread, God wants us to understand he is not distant from us. He is with us and understands everything that is going on in our lives and our bodies. The cup is a new covenant. We are saved, not by the rituals of other religions but through Jesus Christ’s blood alone. As we take communion we need to know that He understands EVERYTYHING about us and we are saved through Jesus Christ.

Pastor Pete