But Nails Hurt!

If you really want to grow, it’s going to cost you. If you truly expect to be built up, there will be some pain involved. No growth ever takes place without pain. That’s a law of life. That’s not negotiable. No pain, no gain. No hurt, no growth. No rough edges, no building up. If you truly want to be built up, prepare to encounter pain.

When Peter speaks about spiritual growth, he uses a word picture. (1 Peter 2:1-7) The word picture is about a building. He says we are to let ourselves be built into a building. “⁵ And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple”. (1 Peter 2:5)

That sounds good. It sounds good until you read a little further, and you find Peter speaking also about sacrifice, rejection, stumbling. Those things sound rather painful, don’t they? Sacrifice and rejection and stumbling – painful experiences. (From 1 Peter 2:5b-8)

But remember: no growth ever takes place without pain. If you truly want to be built up, prepare to encounter pain.

I happen to enjoy woodworking, building things and repairing things.  I just got through repairing an exterior wall and foundation on bedroom at our old farm house.. There’s just something special about the whack, whack, whack of a good solid hammer hitting the nail right on the head. It feels like this is the real thing! Oh, skill saws whine, but saws cut things apart instead of putting them together. The sound of the hammer, driving nails into wood, that really says, “building”! Hammers nail board to board; hammers nail the frame together, hammers nail the roof in place; hammers nail the wallboard on. Hammers, nails, that’s what building really is.

And so, today, in order to help Peter speak to us about being built into a spiritual house, we’re going to pound some nails. We’re going to demonstrate some spiritual principles. Up here, I’ve got a board, I’ve got nails, and, “if I had a hammer …” – oh, I do have a hammer. I’m ready to show you what Peter meant. But I need your help too.

You have nails. You don’t have hammers or boards, but you do have nails. And as you handle your nails from time to time, you’ll be reminded of one important fact: nails hurt. Nails hurt. But again: no pain, no gain. No hurt, no growth. If you truly want to be built up, prepare to encounter pain.

First, if you want to be built up, you will have to endure some pounding. Somebody will hit at you. And not just once, but repeatedly. Somebody will find your weak spots and pound away at them. Just as if I want to drive a nail into this board, don’t look for the hard knots, because I won’t be able to get the nail through the knots, but I look for the soft fleshy part of the wood – in the same way, somebody is going to look at where you are not solid, where you are not secure, and is going to pound on that.

Is that a bad thing? Is it damaging for somebody to get on our case because we have flaws and failings? Is it bad for us to be told, repeatedly, where we are going wrong? No, it is not bad. It can be painful, but it is a good thing. Like the repeated pounding of the hammer on the nail, it can hurt to be told what you don’t want to hear. Nails hurt. But most of us have to be hit, over and over again, with the unpleasant truth about ourselves. We have to be hit, over and over again, in order to be built up. It’s painful. Nails hurt. But it is for our good.

Peter starts this second chapter of his letter in a very challenging way. He gets down to it. I guess you could say he “hits the nail on the head.” He says, “So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech.” 1 Peter 2:1

“get rid of….” If you want to be built up, there are some habits that you have to deal with. There are some things that get so deeply ingrained in us that it will take lots of work in order to get rid of them. But there is a way. There is a way. Evil behavior– how will I know if I am acting evil? I will know it if you will tell me about it. Deceit – the very nature of deceit is that we are trying to fool ourselves as well as other people. How will I know that I am being deceitful unless every time I do this, somebody hits me with the truth? How will I know that I am speaking insincerely, how will I understand my jealousy how will I get my unkind speech called, unless somebody stands up, in my face, and hits me with the truth? And since these negative habits die hard, hits me again and again and again. Pounds me! Repeatedly. Pounds me, like a hammer hitting a nail, until I learn the awful truth that there are things I must get rid of. If you want to be built up, you must endure the hammer pounding the nail, confronting you about yourself.

And remember, it is your true friends who will do this for you. Your sunshine friends will smile to your face and agree with you, but will then talk about you behind your back. Your true friends are the ones who will tell you, over and over and over again, what you need to get rid of. Your true friends are like hammers pounding nails into your weaknesses.

So would you take your nail? Hold it in one hand. Carefully now, we don’t want blood on the floor – carefully but repeatedly, several times, just poke at your other hand or your arm. Gets to hurting a little after a while, doesn’t it? Even if you are gentle, you feel it. Nails hurt. But if that nail, probing you repeatedly, represents a friend, a teacher, a pastor, convicting you of something that’s wrong in your life, be thankful. Take joy in this. It means that somebody loves you enough to get at you for the stuff you need to remove. Nails hurt; pounding hurts. But remember: no growth ever takes place without pain. If you truly want to be built up, prepare to encounter pain.

If you want to be built up, you’re going to have to endure having holes punched in your comfort zone. If you want to grow, you’re going to have to face the fact that the world is unforgiving, the world is not polite, the world is caustic, the world is going to punch holes in your comfort zone. And once those holes are punched, they can never be put back the way they were. That’s painful, but it’s part of building up. It’s part of growth.

Peter says that something like this even happened to Jesus. Jesus is called "The stone that the builders rejected”. (1 Peter 2:7b) They rejected Jesus. When Jesus stood to teach, they punched holes in His theology. When Jesus went to heal, they punched holes in His compassion. When Jesus tried to love Jerusalem, they punched so many holes in His motives that He looked out over the city and wept! It is not easy when people punch holes in everything you stand for. It hurts when they drive holes in your beliefs.

But give thanks when it happens! Give thanks. Because you will not know what you really believe until you have to defend it. You will not understand how precious your values are until you have to prove them to someone else. You will not know how right you are until you have to stand up for the truth. If you don’t have anybody trying to drive holes in your comfort zone, you’ll just sit here, fat and sassy, but you won’t grow. You won’t be built up. Somebody needs to punch holes in your comfort zone.

Take your nail – don’t get worried. I’m not going to ask you to drive holes in yourself. But now take that nail – press its point into your hand or your arm, just enough that it stings a bit. Now hold it there a moment. Bring it out. Now look at the place where you held it. What do you see? Some kind of mark. A change in skin color, a little indentation, maybe a scratch. A hole, even if a very small one, punched in your comfort zone. And it hurts!

But we need to be grateful for hurting holes. Because Peter says about Jesus, and how Jesus was rejected, "1The stone which the builders rejected, This became the very corner stone,” (1 Peter 2:7)

Jesus was despised, rejected, questioned, criticized; but because of that, God was able to use Him in a tremendous way. Jesus is now the “head of the corner”, He is the cornerstone of the building, He is the foundation of everything.

Paul writes in Ephesians 2:20-22, “²⁰ Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. ²¹ We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. ²² Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.’

When holes get punched in you, you get changed, but you grow. And God is able to fill you with something better. You are built up.

Nails hurt. Holes driven in your comfort zone hurt. But remember: no growth ever takes place without pain. If you truly want to be built up, prepare to encounter pain.

Now do you want the truly good news? The good news is that nails, used properly, join things together. Nails, hammered in by a skillful carpenter, join things firmly. Nails hold everything together so that the building will not fall. And that’s good news. It’s good news because in so apparently simple a thing as this nail, there is tremendous power to build.

Let yourselves be built into a spiritual house. We share a common pain: the pain is that we all are sinners, all of us. But we also share a common joy: the joy is that we are forgiven. That joins us together.

Let yourselves be built into a spiritual house. We share many hurting places: job failures, anxieties, health worries, family life struggles. You may think that you are the only person in this room that’s going through whatever. “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.” But I would guarantee you that someone here has seen it, someone here has suffered it, someone here has dealt with it, someone here has been delivered from it. We share many hurting places; but we also, by the grace of Christ, share salvation. We share experience, we share knowledge, we share a living, healing savior. And in the fellowship  of those who have been nailed together, built up, into God’s spiritual house, the good news truly comes alive.

For, again, no growth ever takes place without pain. If you truly want to be built up, prepare to encounter pain.

And yet, it remains true: no growth ever takes place without pain. Oh, one day they hurt Jesus. One day they pounded on His hands, His strong carpenter’s hands. They pounded, they pounded, until they put raw, red holes in those hands. Nails that hurt. On that same day they took nails, huge nails, and a hammer, and they crossed His legs and joined foot to foot and feet to timber. Nails that hurt more deeply than you or I will ever imagine. Despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

But it was for us. Folks, it was for us. It was for our forgiveness. It was for our growth. It was to join us together. Nails that hurt Him deeply!  “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”  (Isaiah 53.5)

No growth ever takes place without pain. If you truly want to be built up, prepare to encounter pain. But the pain of Jesus Christ will heal you. The blood of Jesus Christ will save us. And the heart of Jesus Christ keeps pounding, pounding, pounding with love for us. 

%&*#! What You Say Will Change Your Life!

%&*#! What You Say Will Change Your Life!

Potty mouth. Sexual innuendo. Cussing. Cursing. Smack talk. Smut. Swearing. OMG…Taking the Lord’s Name in vain!!! We have become desensitized to vulgarity.
 
“PG” ratings now use “R” language. What has happened to us? When did Christians tolerate such unclean language? Perhaps you don’t say those forbidden words…maybe you don’t say them in front of your children. But do you recoil when you hear them in the office, on your television or in the movie theater? Probably not.
WE CAN HAVE A BLESSED OR CURSED LIFE DEPENDING ON WHAT WE SAY.
Our words can change us. “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.” (Exodus 20:7) What does it mean to “misuse the name of the Lord “? Any misuse of God’s Name devalues His character and holiness. The Jews never even spoke the name of YHWH. Oh yeah-and God ALSO says that He will not let us go unpunished for using His name irreverently. It’s hard to obey a God we don’t respect. When we devalue Him, we will take His commands casually and flippantly disobey Him. This is serious stuff.
A pastor said he first noticed how pervasive the use of God’s name was when he watched a television show on HGTV. A safe enough show, one would think…..The designer transformed the ratty room of a client and then brought the fortunate family in for the “reveal.” To his shock and chagrin, EVERY person who viewed the transformation said the same three words. “Oh, my God!”
Now we don’t think this is a “big thing”, right?  Be honest.  Our grandson says this some times.  My response to him is this, “Son, do not use God’s name unless you are really talking to him or about Him”.
Come on, people! God has better things to do: creating universes, writing history, transforming lives. It is not likely that He spends a lot of time hanging wallpaper. Is our vocabulary so limited? Are our pea brains so small that we no longer have descriptors other than “Oh, my God?” Is He your God? If He is, then that statement is the most powerful declaration you can make. We are His and He is ours. Say it every day! All of the time! But say it because you love and worship the One who gave His only Son to die for your sins.
Also, if we call ourselves CHRISTians and don’t reflect Jesus through our 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, then we are misusing His name!
EMPTY PROMISES
Jesus warned about making empty promises and swearing in the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:33-37 reads:
³³ “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ ³⁴ But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; ³⁵ nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. ³⁶ Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black.³⁷ But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one”. (NKJV) Jesus included these verses in His most significant sermon. He said, “Don’t make empty promises you don’t intend to keep. Do what you promised God you would do.” The Message translation describes this passage in a very relevant way:
“Don’t say anything you don’t mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ and never doing it, or saying, ‘God be with you,’ and not meaning it.” You don’t make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’”
Here comes the kicker in Verse 37. ³⁷ But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one”.
Swearing comes from the Devil. He is the father of lies, the prince of darkness. We trivialize our empty promises, assuming there will be no repercussions for our insincere words. But guess what? We have just given Satan a foothold in our lives.
UNCLEAN WORDS
One man relates this story about profanity. His family reunion was in full swing.  Aunts, uncles and cousins gulped down boatloads of fried chicken, sweet tea and strawberry shortcake. In the midst of the fellowship, five-year-old Roger skipped into the kitchen yelling the F bomb at the top of his little lungs. He was simply repeating the words of an oldest cousin. His mom was appalled. She grabbed him by the arm, marched him to the bathroom and made him wash his mouth with Ivory soap until he puked. Her punishment was rather extreme, but Roger never said that word again. Now it is obvious that this occurred many years ago.  First you would probably be brought before DHR for child abuse if you did this today, but secondly, today most parents would giggle and give their kids an empty warning if they use unclean words.
Why should we clean up our speech? Because unclean words come from a smutty heart. We become crass, filthy people. Our light to the world is extinguished and no one sees Jesus in us.
¹⁰ Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. ¹¹ It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.” (Matthew 15:10-11)
Jesus also says that our unclean words lead us into depravity and sin. Our Christian purity is flushed down the toilet.
¹⁶ “Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked (of His disciples). ¹⁷ “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. ¹⁸ But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you.¹⁹ For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. ²⁰ These are what defile you.”  (Matthew 15:16-20)
James sums up the power of unclean speech in James 3:5-10.

⁵ ……….. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. ⁶ And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.^[a]

⁷ People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, ⁸ but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. ¹⁰ And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!

Notice the words that are underscored. Unclean words contaminate us and come straight from the pit of hell.
SO HOW DO WE CLEAN UP OUR MOUTH?
⁹ But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (1 John 1:9). God not only forgives us, he helps us clean up our act.
Stop talking. Let our words be few. Okay, Okay, I know this will be hard for me to do! J
That’s how you tame a horse. You but a bit is his mouth and attach to a bridle. So bridle our mouth and give the reins to the Holy Spirit.
Read the Bible often. God’s Words are like Ivory soap. They purify your heart and uplift your thoughts.
Filter the filth input in your life. Practice saying and thinking positive things. Follow Paul’s advice, and we will experience peace and blessing.
^“8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. ⁹ Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”  (Philippians 4:8-9)
And as the Psalmist wrote in this very popular scripture – Psalm 19:14, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you,   O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Start today and watch God bless your life!

IF JESUS CAME TO OUR HOUSE

IF JESUS CAME TO OUR HOUSE

When Dwight Eisenhower was president, on one occasion he vacationed in Denver, Colorado. There was in Denver a six-year old boy who had incurable cancer. The boy had expressed the wish that he might see the President. President Eisenhower heard the little boy's wish and on a Sunday morning he visited him. The Presidential limousine pulled up in front of the house. He walked up to the front door and knocked. The father, in blue jeans and an old shirt with a day's growth of beard, opened the

door. When he saw the president he was speechless. The president took the six-year old boy out to see the limousine and talked with him for a while. Then he shook his hand and left. Afterward, when the father would tell the story, he would say, "And just to think, there I stood with my blue jeans,

my old shirt, and a day's growth of beard. What a way to meet the president!'

Imagine one day you are sitting on your front porch and a car pulled up in your driveway. Three men get out, and immediately you realize that one of them is the Lord, and the other two are angels. How would you act? What would you do? What would you say?

If you can imagine such a thing happening then you begin to understand the scene before us in Genesis 18. Notice Genesis 18:1-2, "The Lord appeared again to Abraham near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day. ² He looked up and noticed three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran to meet them and welcomed them, bowing low to the ground.”

Abraham had a visit from God. God came to his house and spent the afternoon with him. Three times the Bible speaks of Abraham as being a friend of God, and here is a good indication of how good a friend he was with God.

Note: The Bible says that no one has seen God. “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” (John 1:18)  We could discuss this for the entire class time but for now let’s put this discussion on hold.

What if God, the Lord Jesus came to our house for a visit? Would we have to do some rearranging of things? Would we have to put up some things or put out some things? Would there be some magazines lying around we would not want him to see? Would you need to change the channel of the TV or change stations on the radio? Maybe delete some Facebook comments?

This is one of several Old Testament appearances of the Lord. This is what we call a pre-incarnate appearing of the Lord Jesus. As we know from the Bible the Trinity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit has always been. So this is referring to times the “Son” appearing before He came into the world as the Savior.  In other words it is a visible appearance of God in the Old Testament period often, but not always, in human form. 

Let’s notice this story and notice how this friend of God responded and reacted to this surprise visit to his home from God.

HE RIGHTLY WELCOMED HIS GUEST!

Notice Genesis 18:3, how Abraham greeting the Lord:  “My lord,” he said, “if it pleases you, stop here for a while. ⁴ Rest in the shade of this tree while water is brought to wash your feet.”

Abraham is taking a nap in the hot afternoon. He looks down the road and saw 3 men coming. We can imagine him saying to himself, "I wonder who that might be?" He looks, and suddenly he realizes that one of them is God. Notice how he re-acted.

HE EAGERLY WELCOMED THE LORD TO HIS HOME.

Imagine this scenario. There's a knock at your door and when you open a door, there stands a dear friend of many years. You haven't seen this friend in years. You would be glad to see them and maybe embrace them.

When Abraham looked up and saw 3 men coming, he saw them as friends to embrace.

Notice in verse 2, that Abraham "ran to meet them and welcomed them." As soon as he realized who this was, this 99-year-old man jumped up out of his seat and took off running toward them.

Abraham knew this was the Lord. He didn't say, "Oh, no, it's the Lord," but "It's the Lord!" This was someone he loved. This was his dear friend. He eagerly welcomed his guest.

There is a song, "Holy Spirit, Thou Art Welcome In This Place." The Lord is welcome to visit here anytime He so desires. He should be welcome in our heart and in our home. He is welcome to visit us on Monday and welcome to visit us on Sunday.

We fuss about people who just drop in unannounced. The Lord is One that is welcome to drop by anytime He wants to. He can show up anytime, anywhere, any day, and any hour. He is a welcome guest.

HE EARNESTLY WANTED THE LORD IN HIS HOME.

Notice again Genesis 18:3, "My lord,” he said, “if it pleases you, stop here for a while."

Have you ever had company that you wished would leave? There is an old story about one fellow who had company and they stayed and stayed and stayed, until it was getting late. Finally he said  to his wife, "Honey, we'd better go to bed so these folks can go home."

In Abraham's case, this was not company that he wanted to leave. His desire was for the Lord to stay for a while. He was not only glad to see Him, but he wanted The Lord to stay."

There is no way of knowing how we all feel but when the Lord shows up, we should not be anxious for Him to leave. Some folks on Sunday morning act like they can't wait until 12:00 so they can get out. Around 12:00 they start looking at their watches and about 10 after they are squirming. If it goes to 12:20, they are really getting into a frenzy. Lord help them, if it goes to 12:30.

If the Lord pays us a visit, we shouldn’t care if it's 1:00 o'clock. Wouldn’t we want to say, "Lord, please stay with us." There is nothing like being in his presence and being around Him.

He Rightly Welcomed His Guest!

HE REVERENTLY WORSHIPED HIS GUEST!

Notice in verse 2, that he not only ran to meet them, but was "bowing low to the ground." The word 'bowed" is the most common word in the Old Testament for worship. It means to bow down, to do homage, to show reverence, to worship.

if Jesus Christ entered the room would we all fall on our faces?

Abraham worshiped the Lord. What was he doing and why was he doing it? What is worship and why do we worship?

WORSHIP IS A REVERENCE OF GOD.

Abraham recognized that his visitor was God. This was no ordinary guest or just another person passing by. This was God. His actions were an expression of reverence.

Notice in verse 1, that it was the "LORD" (capital letters). This was Jehovah. Because of Who He Was, Abraham showed reverence and paid Him homage. That is worship: a reverence of God.

Have you ever noticed that some people refer to God as the man upstairs or some other name that really is disrespectful of God. Because He is LORD and because of Who He is, He should always be spoken of in terms that are reverent and respectful.

Abraham did not walk up and give God a high five and say, "Put it on me big guy." No he fell before Him in worship. This was God and the only response deserving of Him was an expression of reverence. God is always deserving of our respect and reverence.

WORSHIP IS A RESPONSE TO GOD.

Far too many Christians are only concerned about what they get from God, not what they give to God. Abraham was not getting something from God; he was giving something to God.

Worship is something you give to God. Someone has given us this definition of worship: "Worship is the giving to God the glory, praise, honor, and thanks due Him, both for Who he is and for what he has done."

What if Jesus came to our house? As a Christian He is a guest at our house. The issue is, how are we treating him.

 Our House

The Strength of our house does not lay within its foundation.

It has been built through the hands of man but is held together by the love and word of God.

With our security in Christ, each brick has been blessed by His touch.

The lock found at our front door is always open in His eyes.

Each friend’s visit blesses our lives, deepening the roots we have planted in our walk with Christ.

Our home is one in the neighborhood of many, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.  Joshua 24:15

Why Some Stop, Why Some Pass By?

There are stories in the Bible were we all cheer the hero of the story, go home rejoicing in what they had done, but then go back to our ordinary lives. One of those stories is the good Samaritan—the priest passes by, the Levite passes by, but the Samaritan stops, loves, heals, gives, and even goes the extra mile and says, whatever else they need, put that on my account. Jesus tells this story to show the difference between heroes and the ordinary, the difference between being religious or making a difference for God. So many churches are dwindling down in number, they are looking for the next great program or great marketing strategy to put them over the top, but it is really simple, become a hero, stop passing up the opportunity to make a difference in the world.

Parable of the Good Samaritan

³⁰ Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

³¹ “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. ³² A Temple assistant^[a] walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

³³ “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.³⁴ Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. ³⁵ The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins,^[b] telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

³⁶ “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

³⁷ The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”  (Luke 10: 30-37)

We have all passed by in our lives, we all have walked on the other side of the street. Many times we look for those to come to the church that are going to help support the cause, not be a cause for support. Do we want to be someone who stops, do we want to be a hero for God. Let’s look at who passed by in the story, why they might have passed by, the reasons we might pass by, and what could cause us to stop.

1. Who passed by—A priest and A Levite—this really stings since they are supposed to be “Godly” people, and they both represent something that really isn’t good about religious service. Jesus used these two to drive home a point to all those who want to serve God from a religious point of view.

a. they were both busy in religious service—this is a real problem, there is a difference between religious service and Christianity.

b. Sometimes in our quest for the good, we bypass the best. The goal isn’t theology, or spiritual recognition, our goal is to be like Christ.

c. They were in the ministry—it is true that there is a real danger that ministry can become what others can do for us, over what we can do for others.

2. Why they might have passed by—

a. they may have been in a hurry to get to Synagogue—religion can cause us to become churchy, to feel like ministry must go on inside the four walls under the steeple.

b. they may have decided the person had it coming to them. Many times the lack of effort in helping those in need is the predisposition we have of making the judgment that they should have been in church. Or I knew they would never amount to anything. Or they should have listened to us a long time ago.

c. Maybe they could just care less—as long as I am righteous, as long as I’m on my way to heaven, as long a my family is doing good. Religion has the tendency of making people self centered and self absorbed.

3. Why might we pass by?

a. one of the main reasons we might not care for the lost and hurting in this world is the effort required to help people. It takes time, effort, energy and sometimes money, and it is easier just to go to the weekly church service.

b. Maybe we don’t have as much of Christ in us as we profess. Maybe we are still worldly and given over to our own appetites and needs.

c. We might just not like people—people love the church, they love the ministry, they love the conferences, the councils, the committee meeting, they just don’t like dealing with problematic people. It’s like, if it were for all these rotten people, the world would be a better place. When we get out of the people business, we pass by.

4. What Could Cause Us To Stop?

a. have compassion—the Samaritan had compassion, Jesus had compassion on the multitudes, and until we get a good dose of compassion and love for sinners, the lost, the sick, the lonely, the hurting of society, we won’t ever stop.

b. To realize the church has lost its impact on society as a whole, and if we don’t start stopping, this old world is going to fall apart. The church can be the spiritual glue that can hold things together. We have the ability to make a difference by our love.

c. a fresh revelation of the cross—if we realize that Christ didn’t just die for us, but for this whole world, it could be the attitude adjustment that could cause us to stop, to help, to care, to listen. Maybe we will get burned a few times, maybe some will take advantage of us, but at least we are on the right side of the road.

In many occasions Jesus would tell a story and then say, go and do likewise. Jesus tells us to walk on the right side of the road. Anyone who is a giver, a helper, a person of love and compassion, is a true neighbor. So many people profess a great love for God, but 1 John 4:7-11 says that the love for God, who we have never seen, is proven by those who we do see.

⁷ Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. ⁸ But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

⁹ God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. ¹⁰ This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

¹¹ Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. ¹² No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

We have all passed by before, let’s pray God gives us a chance to stop. When we stop, we aren’t doing the people near as much good as we are doing ourselves. It is when we do real ministry we feel like we are doing God’s will for us by fulfilling this commandment: “…. through love serve one another. ¹⁴ For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:13b-14 NASB)

Good and Angry

Anger is like a river. A river controlled can generate enough electricity to power an entire city. But if allowed to overflow its banks, it can become a raging flood that destroys everything in its path. As surely as a river can be controlled, so can your temper. You can control your temper if you really want to, you just have to want too. Pastor James Merritt

Think of the last time you got angry. How did you respond to those around you? Did you say things you shouldn’t have or hurt your witness to another person? Sometimes we can really destroy our witness when we get angry. Is all anger sin? Is it possible to control my anger and express it? In the “church” (remember that the “church” is us not the building!) today we lose a lot of our credibility with those in our community, the unchurched and the unsaved because of our witness to them when we get angry.
A lady once came to Billy Sunday and tried to rationalize her angry outbursts. “There’s nothing wrong with losing my temper,” She said, “I blow up, and then it’s all over.” So does a shotgun,” Sunday replied, “and look at the damage it leaves behind!”

Getting angry can sometimes be like leaping into a wonderfully responsive sports car, gunning the motor, taking off at high speed and then discovering the brakes are out of order. We need to learn to control our anger.

James, the brother of Jesus, writes, “Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.  Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.” (James 1:19-20)

Anger defined - a God given emotional response usually tied to a goal, value or expectation. It usually ignites when we feel invalidated or rejected. It can
be expressed by exploding anger and imploding. A God given emotion.

One pastor says this about anger:  “Anger is a divinely implanted emotion. Closely allied to our instinct for right, it is designed to be used for constructive spiritual purposes. The person who cannot feel anger at evil is a person who lacks enthusiasm for good. If you cannot hate wrong, it is very questionable whether you really love righteousness. To not express anger is to not be human."

The answer isn’t to repress it, but to express it assertively. Even God gets angry. When Christ was in the temple turning over tables, He didn’t do it with a smile on His face. When He called the Pharisees a bunch of white washed tombs and a pit of vipers--
He wasn’t just trying to be politically correct. He was mad. It says though that God is slow to anger (“But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry”. Psalm 86:15). God’s anger lasts a moment, while his favor lasts a lifetime. King Solomon said “Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back.” (Proverbs 29:11)

Expressing Anger in a Godly Life

1. Admit we have a problem. “… if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (1 John 1:9). We

can’t receive what God wants to give us until we accept the fact that our holding on to some things God wants us to give up. Our problem is that we come to a point in our Christian life where we become comfortable and we stop surrendering all things to
Christ. Surrender means that we have given God permission to change, mold or to rid our life of anything that hinders us from becoming all that He wants us to be. We need to surrender our anger to God and allow Him to change us.

We have so many baby Christians in the church today because we came to a point of comfort and stopped allowing God to work in our lives. We are not totally surrendered to Him. “Of the seven deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back -- in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.” Frederick Buechner.

2. Ask God to set a guard over our tongues. ” And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.” (James 3:6) In our scripture it says that we should be "slow to speak", that means that we should be careful and thoughtful about what we say, especially when we are angry. Realize that the devil wants us to explode and lose our credibility. He wants us to lose our witness with the lost and Believers around us. We should mourn over the fact that we may have already lost our credibility with some people.

3. Anticipate problem areas. Consider how we can best prepare. What situations can we avoid? What people or situations do we struggle to control our temper in.

4. Commit any situation where we are beginning to feel anger to God. Paul writes to the church at Ephesus  “don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry..”  (Ephesians 4:26) Give God control.

5. Learn from past mistakes. Treasure hunt those bad experiences. Seek to learn what good things we can learn from the negative and then let it go. God wants us to learn from past mistakes. 

6. Learn to attack problems not people. We can deal assertively with others without disregard to others feelings. Christ got angry, but did so in a way that ultimately expressed value in others. Name calling doesn’t belong in a Believer’s household. Calling another person “stupid” or treating another person with disrespect shouldn’t even be a part of our lives.

There is a Chinese proverb that says “The fastest horse cannot catch a word spoken in anger.” Just like if we shook up a can of soda and then opened it. It would spray everywhere. It would be almost impossible to put the soda back in the can after it has sprayed all over the furniture and on my face. It’s also impossible to take back those angry words once they come out of our mouths. 

7. Practice the presence of Christ. Be aware that God is present and hears every word. Christ is not only present with us when we are in church building. He is present in our household and with us at work. He hears our every idle word and knows our every thought. If we realize this, we may choose our words differently and work to let the Holy Spirit control our thoughts.


What we need to do is to surrender our temper to God. Don’t believe the lie that we can’t change. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13) It’s a lie the devil would like us to believe that we can’t change and there’s no point in trying. Yes, we can change. God can change us from the inside out. We just have to give Him permission and surrender it to Him.

Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.  Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:31-32)

GOD’S SECRET SERVICE

As a child of God, we are being watched, and we are being guarded and protected, much more than we probably realize.

Have you ever noticed how much the candidates for president are being watched? It’s not always obvious when you see them on TV, but every where they go, they are guarded and protected by heavily armed men in suits and trench coats. Who are these armed men? They are the United States Secret Service, and their goal is to protect people who hold high offices in our country. Everywhere they  go, the Secret Service is there, watching them, guarding them, and protecting them. 

Would you like to be followed around like that – no privacy? As a Christian, you already are. We are being closely watched and guarded and protected, but not by heavily armed men in suits – that’s not good enough, in God’s eyes. We are being guarded and protected by something bigger and better – angels. They follow us everywhere we go. They watch us and protect us – there are probably some of them right here in this room right now, and we are not aware of it.

Do you know about these angels? Most people really don’t get the concept of angels. Lots of people believe that when we die, we go to heaven, we grow wings, and we’re given a harp, and then we become an angel. That’s not how it works. When we die, we’re not going to become an angel. People don’t turn into angels. In heaven, we’re going to continue to exist as a human being, but in a different way. Angels are a completely separate classification of living beings, according to the Bible, and we’ll see thousands of them in heaven.

So - do you believe in the existence of angels? We should because the Bible says that there ARE angels.  Did you know that angels are mentioned either directly or indirectly nearly 300 times in the Old and New Testaments? 

Angels appeared or spoke to Abraham many times in Genesis.  As Abraham was on the mountain about to sacrifice his son, Isaac, an Angel spoke to him twice: ¹¹ At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” …..  “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God.” (Genesis 22:11-12) And then still on the mountain, “Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven.  “This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that I will certainly bless you.” (Genesis 22:15-17)

 And we all should remember that an Angel appeared to Joseph and Mary – after Joseph found out Mary was pregnant, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph….” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” (Matthew 1:20) And in Matthew 2:13 an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said.”  And to Mary: “Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” (Luke 1:28) And Gabriel goes on to tell her about being chosen to be mother of Jesus in Luke 1:29-38)

And after Jesus prayed so hard on the Mount of Olives in the garden of Gethsemane “… an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him.” (Luke 22:43) And on Easter Sunday “an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it.”  (Matthew 28:2)

These are only a very few places Angels appear or are mentioned in the Bible.

There is a high probability that millions of angels are at God’s command and at our service. The hosts of Heaven stand at attention ready to do God’s will at any moment of any hour of any day. 

His angels are on call at all times. They don’t take vacation days. They don’t take sick days. They don’t take off for holidays. They never age and they are always ready and available to carry out God’s plans! 

These angels of God are here to help us and they are prepared for any emergency, and Satan has no firepower that can match the heavy artillery of God!

The Bible teaches us that God created angels. At one time no angels existed; there was nothing but the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul writes in Colossians 1:16  that “God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.  He made the things we can see Angels are indeed among the invisible things made by God, for “all things were created by Him, and for Him.”

The Bible tells us that angels have the ability to change their appearance and to travel instantly back and forth between the glory of Heaven above and the earth below. 

Hebrews 1:14 says “angels are only servants—spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.” They do not possess physical bodies, although they may take on the form of physical bodies when God appoints them to special tasks. God has given them no ability to reproduce, and they neither marry nor are given in marriage. (see Mark 12:25)

And we don’t need to picture them as cute and harmless little creatures. Sometimes we see little angel dolls – they look like red-cheeked toddlers with wings and diapers – cupid or tinkerbell – lovable, cuddly creatures. The Bible pictures angels as quite the opposite. In our Old Testament, one of the angels named Michael is described – a chief prince among the angels, a powerful and intimidating warrior. In Revelation, the Apostle John was so overwhelmed by the angel that had been talking to him that he fell down to worship him. But notice what the angel said to John, in Revelation 22:9: “No, don’t worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers the prophets, as well as all who obey what is written in this book. Worship only God!”  Do you see how the angel describes himself? As a “servant.” Angels are powerful beings created by God, to serve God with us!

And angels serve God in different ways. Sometimes they are messengers – they conveyed the message that Jesus had risen. Sometimes they are protectors, God’s secret service for Christians. We see an example of that in Acts 12. King Herod was persecuting the Christians. He executed the Apostle James, and he was planning to execute the Apostle Peter too, but not for awhile. Peter was put into a high security prison, and notice what the Christians were doing in verse 5: “… while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him.” God answered those prayers by sending an angel. The night before Peter’s trial, an angel appeared in Peter’s jail cell. He woke Peter up, caused Peter’s chains to fall off his wrists, and led Peter out of the jail. The whole thing seemed like a dream to Peter, as he walked with the angel right past the guards and out the front door. Verse 11 is a key verse: “ Peter finally came to his senses. “It’s really true!” he said. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me…….” Later, an angel struck down King Herod while he was giving a speech. That’s God’s secret service. Angels are sent to protect God’s people.

This teaches us how God works. When we pray for something, when we are in trouble, when we need something, God often responds by sending angels. They are powerful beings whose purpose is to whatever God asks, and often that means helping us. Our best friends are not who we socialize with. Our best friends are actually angels. We’ve never met any of them before, but they are with us everywhere we go. They especially watch over us during our childhood. They stand guard over us every night at the foot of our bed. If it weren’t for God’s secret service watching over us, the Devil and his evil demons would cause so many bad things to happen to us that would make our life unlivable!

Our problem, as sinful human beings, is that we underestimate God this way. We underestimate God when we’re in trouble, and we pray. We underestimate how closely God is watching over our lives, and how much he cares about us and wants to help us. We forget that God has millions of angels at his disposal, to send to our aid the moment we come to him in prayer. We underestimate God. We think that we’re on our own down here. “I’m by myself. It’s up to me to figure things out. It’s up to me to be strong. I’m down here on this planet, and I’m on my own.”

But God reminds us today, through his Word, that we’re not on our own down here. There are such creatures as angels, and God sends them into our life for all kinds of reasons, to do all kinds of things for us. As the angel reminded the Apostle John, they are our “fellow servants.” And if you ever wonder to yourself, “Why would God do this all for me? I am just an ordinary human being, an ordinary sinner. Why would God go through all this, and set up a special, “secret service,” just for me?”

Do you know what makes us so valuable in the eyes of God? It’s the fact that Jesus Christ died on the cross for us. The moment Jesus died for our sins and paid for our soul, we became incredibly valuable in the eyes of God. This is why God goes through so much trouble for us. That’s why God sends angels into our life who watch us very closely, who protect us, who do whatever God says in answer to our prayers. That’s why God saved the Apostle Peter. And that’s why God has set up a special secret service for us.

In closing, remember that the Bible says in Hebrews 13:2: “Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!”  Hmmm!