~~This is another blog I wrote four years ago, right after the last one about the 12 (disciples/apostles) mission. It IS a long read....It's good to be reminded of some things!~~
Luke 6:13 -- The Call to Apostleship
Vs 12 says Jesus was in prayer all night in the mountain. He called 12 out and named them Apostles.
Jimmy Swaggart defines apostle as: one sent with a special message; which will always be according to the Word of God; will set the standard (of the church).
After Jesus called the apostles, He modeled for them what they were to do. Listen to what HE preached after the commission.
Vs 17 - Jesus and His Disciples were out on the plain; met the masses who came to hear Him and to be healed. They were delivered from unclean spirits. The masses endeavored to touch Him; virtue flowed out of Him and they were healed.
Vs 20-23 - Sermons on the plains (aka the Beautitudes)
1) I like to call it the "Blessings and Woes Sermon"
First, apostles are to teach the people who and what is REALLY blessed and who and
what is REALLY cursed.
*Blessed be the poor - yours is the Kingdom of God
*Blessed are you who hunger - you shall be filled
*Blessed are you who weep - you shall laugh!
*Blessed are you when men hate you, they shall separate you from their company,
shall reproach you, cast out your name for evil for the Son of Man's sake.....
Rejoice in that Day! Leap for Joy! Your reward is great in heaven. They did it to the
prophets of old.....they will do it to you!
*Woe to the rich - you got your reward
*Woe unto you who are full - you shall be hungry
*Woe unto you who laugh - you shall mourn
*Woe unto you when all men speak well of you; for they also did of the FALSE
prophets!
2) Love Your Enemies
Jesus commands us to love our enemies. Not a milk toast message, or easy to swallow like pamplin. But this is kingdom. IF you're walking in the kingdom, you are loving your enemies. And there IS a specific way JESUS instructs us to love them...
Vs 27-30 says we are to love our enemies and do good to them that hate you. Bless those who curse you; give the other cheek after they slapped the first.
Give to every man who ask of you; and to those who stole from you don't ask for it back in return.
What? What kinda message is that? Surely God doesn't want us to teach the people to be weak, to be punks? This is agape love; a love that will keep putting ourselves in positions to be punked. The world's way is to avenge and protect ourselves. God's way, kingdom, is to keep putting ourselves out there. Seems crazy? Probably. But that's kingdom!
3) The Golden Rule
We all have heard of the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The scriptures says...for if you love them which love you what thank have ye? What does that mean?
Jesus is saying sinners have the capability to love those who love them. Many Adolph Hitler was in love with Eva Braun, his mistress. But what he had wasn't real love, it was lust. Because after he finished having sex with her, he would put his uniform on and go kill about a 1,000 Jews or more per day! If he had real agape love, he wouldn't have been able to exterminate millions of Jews!
That's the world's version of love. And if we only love those who we think love us, we are no better than the sinners. We are fooling ourselves!
Sinners also do good to those who do good to them. But Jesus says take it to the next step. He commands us to do good to EVERYBODY! Enemies, friends, family, jealous folks, and all.
He also says 'lend to those who cannot pay you back!'
What? What is that?
If we lend folks $5, we get all hot and backslide if we don't get $7 back by the end of the month! I have heard folks so many times, so called saved folks, belly ache over another saint they lent money to not paying them back. So now its been 5 years and you ain't spoke to Sis. Who Knows What because she forgot to or maybe couldn't pay back $5!!!!!!??????
That's CRAZY!!!!
Sinners operate like that. Banks do it every day (or well,maybe not so much these days now!)
We in the Church have gained the mentality, the spirit, of the world that says "I will be good to you only if you are good to me. If you look like me, sing like me, preach like me, believe as I do, etc.. If you fast as long as I do, then we can hang. If you hold onto my denominational standards, then we can fellowship."
Now e don't even want to help the poor. I'm talking about the church! I don't know where this spirit came from in the so called church today that says we aren't supposed to help the poor!!!!
When right here in the scriptures it says to lend to those WHO CANNOT PAY YOU BACK! Sinners do that; that's how we as a nation got into this economic upheaval we are in right now. Banks lending money, being greedy, thinking 'Hey, we will give you this loan and that loan and tack on 20% interest and get rich off your need!' Then the same banks get upset, give bad credit scores, and take people's homes because they haven't gotten rich off you. If that ain't charlatain, sinful, I don't know what is!
If these banks and financial institution were saved, kingdom minded, they'd forgive all these loans and stop seizing peoples' homes like they've been doing! God commands are made to be obeyed. God has cursed this nation with this financial crisis because these banks won't forgive these loans. They are being greedy and prey on those who are suffering financially.
No matter what Obama does -- and I pray for him -- this financial crisis won't subside until we as a nation get rid of this credit bureau devil that hold peoples' financial mishaps and mistakes against them for too many years. According to scripture, all debt is supposed to be forgiven after seven years.
Deuteronomy 15:1-2, 8-10
At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release.
And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord's release.
But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth.
Beware that there be not a thought in they wicked heart, saying, The 7th year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against that poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
Thou shalt surely give him, and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givenst unto him; because that for this thing the LORD they God shall bless thee in all they works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto.
Yet creditors will mark peoples' credit for debt that was made sometimes as much as 10 years ago! The companies where the debt was made a lot of times doesn't even exist anymore. They will sell the delinquent accounts to collections agencies and referred others to lawyers and spend all types of money to find debtors (called skip trace). All of this to collect on an old debt, one the debtor isn't necessarily running from but sincerely has not been in a position to pay.
Yes, the debtor is given options to pay minimal payments, sometimes as low as $20/month, which seems low to many of our standards. And while that is do-able, if you are talking about a $10,ooo deficit, how long will that person be paying off that debt? there is principle involved here...
God says to forgive ALL debt! Lend to those who cannot pay back. That's Word. And we are to do it with a GLAD heart, knowing we are not doing world business, but KINGDOM business!
When we do this, the Word says "he that lends to the poor lendeth to the LORD!" And trust, God will pay you back, WITH INTEREST!
And don't get angry with folks who don't-or can't-pay you back. Doing Kingdom Business isn't just a matter of doing, but the motivation and spirit behind what we do!
If you got an attitude of "Man, she asked me for such and such, and that devil never paid me back..." God will NOT bless you. If you do something for someone, and you go and tell it on the mountaintop what you did, you have missed out on your blessing. God says do it in secret, with simplicity...
Romans 12:8
Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
That's where you gain the greatest reward!
Do it expecting NOTHING in return!
When you do it this way, the Word says not only will your reward be great, but that you will be called CHILDREN OF THE HIGHEST! Sons of God.
Jesus is good, merciful to the unthankful, the evil as well as the righteous, HE rains on the just AND the unjust.
We are COMMANDED to be merciful--TO EVERYONE. Why? Because that is a characteristic of our Daddy! It's supposed to be in our DNA. Spiritual DNA! If you come across someone who lacks the capacity to be merciful to others, I'd question their Sonship.
Ask them...
"WHO'S YOUR DADDY?"
4) Judging Others (Vs 37-42)
I think its amazing that as soon as God points out that we are supposed to be merciful that He goes on to speak on judging others.
*Judge not - you won't be judged
*Condemn Not - you won't be condemned
*Forgive - you shall be forgiven
Take note--why would Jesus say these things in this order?
When one speaks of mercy, it lends to the fact that one has something they've done wrong, they've sinned, and need mercy.
That being said, when we come across someone who is in sin, who owes us, or God, has a debt to pay, yes, they did it and SHOULD pay!
They should die for their own sins. They should be put in financial prison (given a low credit score) because they have a debt they owe. They did wrong, and we shouldn't forgive them. Because they are GUILTY!
But Jesus came to take the guilt away! If we keep holding onto others' sin, if we keep judging them for past mistakes, if we keep taking folks to court for debt, keep marking up their credit reports, then what was CALVARY for? All our sin, our mishaps, mistakes, debt, our junk....ALL OF IT....was nailed to the Cross!
With the work of the Cross and the Resurrection, ALL sin, ALL debt, ALL junk, ALL drama is gone! Jesus' blood has forever allowed a way for it all to be washed away!
It's like there is a river of blood and there's a sewerage system availed to EVERY living soul walking the face of the planet. But if you don't turn on the FAUCET and let the BLOOD flow, the sin, the debt, the drama is still there! Staining up everything!
Has someone wronged you? Owes you? Turn on the faucet! Cover it up not with more lies and deceit, but with the BLOOD OF JESUS! How do you do that--turn the faucet on?
DON'T JUDGE! DON'T CONDEMN...FORGIVE. That's how you turn the faucet on!
When you do, the vale to that River of Life is released and where once a river of blood killed (in Egypt as one of the plagues) THIS river of BLOOD-if allowed to flow freely-will GIVE LIFE!!!!!
The Letter kills, but the SPIRIT GIVES LIFE!!!!!!!
I'm not saying don't preach against sin. Jesus preached against it; so should we.
But after we've shown the people their sin, we also have to show them the way OUT OF SIN! Point them to the Cross! The Empty Grave!
True spirituality is the capacity to see in, preach and teach against it, and yet almost simultaneously offer a way OUT of sin. It's the ability to show compassion and mercy to those who don't deserve it.
Vs 38 says if we give it will come back good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over shall men give to our bosoms. The same measure we give is the same way we'll get it back. This can be for good as well as for evil.
Vs 39 says can the blind lead the blind? They will ALL fall into the ditch.
The blind in this scripture are those who cannot see the Kingdom. The KOG is not meat, drink, but righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Ghost.
Kingdom is loving your enemies. Treating others the way you want to be treated. Lending to the poor and not expecting anything back. Kingdom is raising up the lowly and resisting the proud. Kingdom is healing folks, deliverance, showing the TRUE WAY of salvation.
Kingdom is doing what Jesus did, walking like Jesus walked, teaching what HE TAUGHT. We are supposed to be just like our Daddy.
If we aren't, He calls us hypocrites.
Funny how the world calls people hypocrites those who go to church and live another life outside of it. But that's just the surface of it....
Vs 41-42 says how can you notice the (mote) speck in your brothers' eyes and not see the beam in your own?
Do you know how hard it is to see a speck in another person's eyes? It's extremely hard to do. When someone gets something in their eyes, we might inspect the eye a little bit. But if we don't see anything what do we tell them?
God wash your eyes out with some running water to flush that thing out.
Then we ask that person "do you still FEEL that thing in your eye?"
They can feel it, the object that's not supposed to be there EVEN BEFORE WE DO INSPECTING THEIR EYE!
Sometimes we get things in our eyes, and just let it stay there. It doesn't bother us that much so we make no big deal about it. But if it starts bothering us and obstructing our view, we will seek to get that think out of our eye, maybe even ask someone else to help us out!
That's the way we are with sin.
You know, most of the time, folks know when they are wrong. It's not until that speck becomes a beam in our eye, our spirit, til it bothers us enough, that we try to get it out!
They're getting right, getting their vision right is NOT up to us, but to them!
We go around inspecting folks lives and no one ask us to. It has to be their quest to get right. that has to start with conviction ON THEM. They have to get sick and tired. Then they will seek help. Our job is to let them know, 'Hey, if you need help, I'm here. I love you. And Jesus Does, too.'
If we were walking around downtown, how many of us would run upon every person who passes us by and start inspecting their eyes? I mean, imagine it.
It's Christmas, so they got folks downtown. And because we thought they may have specks in their eyes, especially today because it's snowing and all, and we are like, 'Uh, excuse me. Let me inspect your eye to see if you got something in them...'
We would think to ourselves 'What is WRONG with that person?'
And how many of you know that that person just may run upon the wrong person and get beat down?
Well, we gotta lot of folks like that, who run upon folks, inspecting their eyes, their lives, their marriages, their children, etc., sniffing out the 'SIN IN THE CAMP!'
they say they SEE this, and SEE that, blah, blah, blah.
THAT'S not kingdom!
That's just like when they caught the woman in adultery..
Now, let's be real. IN order for the Pharisees to have caught them IN THE ACT, they had to have followed or stalked them. What???? When they got in the bed, they had to have their noses pressed up against the window, fogging up everything. What's amazing is that they didn't even get ashamed when they saw them get undressed. They STILL was looking!
For what??????
Were they like 'I wonder what they are going to do next?'
Well, duh! What do you think?
They had to have been watching whatever happened in that bedroom for awhile...but their nosey behinds were still up in the business!
Bunch of FREAKS! Peeping Toms!
But you gonna preach to me? Mote? Beam...HELLO?
But my point is in order for the religious folks to have caught the TWO of them in the act they had to been a bunch of Filthy McNasties, sitting by, watching them to see what they would do next.
So now because they felt guilty for not having run from the scene of 'the act'-and possibly enjoyed it-to defray from that guilt and deflect attention from THEMSELVES, they brought the woman only to be stoned.
I mean, where was the man? Come on! If the people saw the naked woman all in the street, they would KNOW she was guilty. And if the village people was too busy stoning them, they would escape being judged, being stoned by this open spectacle.
Mote? Beam???
We got many in the institution of church who love outward appearances of holiness. The long robes and what not, openly showing and exposing the sins of others. And what you DON'T know or see going on is what's going on underneath those robes while they sit in the best seats of the synagogues, behind the doors of the hotel room where that conference is being held, in the homes of the most prolific and profound teachers of our times, in the confession booths of our biggest rectories....ITS SIN!
Porn, rape, incest, theft, fraud. You name it! It's going on!
And these modern day preachers who preach against sin and yet offer no way of escape are preaching an incomplete, ineffective gospel.
They are NOT preaching kingdom, but religion!
That's a Pharisee spirit. That's why Jesus Christ of Nazareth called them 'hypocrites.' Because He knew they were pointing out and preaching something they were guilty of themselves!
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