What Jesus Said About Himself

Surrendering to Jesus or Practicing Lawlessness

“’Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.”

“”Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

Matthew 7:22-23 NASB

Not doing the will of God HERE ON EARTH, even if it’s ministry activity is considered lawlessness. Lawlessness because they do it out of self will, they haven’t surrendered to Christ.

When Jesus is Lord, it’s his will being done, our wills, our ambitions, our wonderful vision for how things should be is dead, it requires a surrender, a yielding to the spirit of Jesus in all, Jesus’ will is revived in all, not the pro at the top of some heirarchy.

If one man must dominate and have his will done by all to keep a group of Christians united and together then it’s that mans kingdom. Take him out and things disintegrate. This is lawlessness even the group is doing noble ministry stuff.

I’ve seen this many when a pastor leaves or resigns, or is driven out, his loyal followers disband and leave in a hurry. He kept them united, he motivated their work, he united them in the struggle. It wasn’t Jesus because Jesus hadn’t left and doesn’t change.

It had always been that leader who was their mini lord, mini religious king, this is not the Lordship of Jesus or the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

This is wordily lawlessness and it’s everywhere, it won’t last.

Disregard Who …In Order To Hear Him

Resonate or Not

Christians can be led astray from Jesus in two ways, both of these ways are the flip side to the same coin. Often done simultaneously. We can hear Jesus Christ in almost every Christians. Hear him in those we like and dislike.

  1. Only following people we like and “resonate with” but who are often not following Jesus (for whatever reason, innocently or not innocently)
  2. Disregarding or resisting people we dislike who Jesus is using.

Sometimes we have to look past people to hear what they are saying.

The grumpy old man, the shrieking nag who has nothing nice to say, the clueless young man looking for a fight. The emotional flighty young person who normally is all over the map.

Be blind to who they are. Be blind to their history. Be ignorant to their motives or what you think their motives might be. If we like them… or if we dislike them it is no matter, disregard who they are momentarily to hear what they are saying.

Listen intently to every Christian for Jesus Christ. Is what they are saying from the Lord or not? the answer to that is all that really matters. We can see Jesus Christ in the faces of our brothers and sisters, of any age and disposition. We can hear him or see him in almost all Christians.

The person able to do this is protected from being led astray.

Read how a small church begins to hear Jesus Christ in one another here.

ease, comfort

“Follow Me” & Leave It Behind

“Follow Me” can be Difficult

Called my 2 year old to follow me this morning, he was headed for the cow manure part of our yard… with bare feet. Whatever it was he was headed for he had to forget it and head toward me. He struggled a bit turning to me then back to where he was headed. Then back to me, finally he came back.

It occurred to me that when Jesus asks us to follow him, he is at the same moment also asking us to leave certain things behind.

Leave behind what we are doing, perhaps leave behind our ambitions, our hobbies, our careers, our easy and comfortable way of thinking, that he does not agree with.

Depending on our past this can be difficult, leaving the comfortable and pleasant for…wherever he leads us.

We get him in exchange for our lives.

Only a repentant person can do this, it is not easy. An easy pleasant life can make following him more difficult. In this way a pleasant, wealth filled, easy lifestyle is a major curse. It hinders us from following the one true king, it delays us, it causes us to second guess our life path.

Sometimes I wonder that if when life feels difficult, it’s his mercy and may cause us to follow him more easily in the future. Because we just won’t follow him otherwise.

Anything in life that is easy, comfortable and entertaining look at with suspect. What is it’s source? if it’s not Jesus himself, rethink it.

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Matt 16:24

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