Be The Few

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. - Luke 6:37-38 I like it when I read these two verses in their correct context, much different from what prosperity teachers say, when they separate the last verse from the first one, as if we should invest our money in God and He would give us many more in return. These verses do not speak about investing money; on the contrary, they talk about mercy and forgiveness. We are first told not to judge, not to condemn, and then given the order to forgive, to give to others with a generous heart. What comes next is about the measure that is gonna be used to us when the Lord pours unto us his mercy, his blessing and his forgiveness, which is the same measure we used before ...

In today’s society we tend to judge people harshly due to the circumstances we see them in. The rich judge the poor and call them lazy. The poor judge the rich and call them selfish. This is foolishness. Not only does the Bible tell us in several places to not regard people by their social stature, it tells us that circumstance can change in an instant. I call it the Job factor. Job was a good man. Job had everything a man of his time could even think to want. He had nothing to worry about. Let’s put this in today’s terms. Job was the head of a global corporation. He had a diverse stock portfolio. He lived in an exclusive gated community. He drove a Mercedes and his wife drove a Lexus. His children attended Yale and Harvard. He was a deacon at his church and did charity work in the community. He had the life everyone wanted. He got up one morning feeling happy and secure in the blessing god had placed on his life. The phone rings. His accountant is calling saying that his investments...

In Jesus' day (some time ago), there were no toys or balls to throw. There were no bikes or baby chairs, erector sets or teddy bears. No strollers rolled down dirt streets. No snacks to munch on for their treats. No marbles, checkers, kaleidoscope - yet every child learned to cope. They didn't have those spinning tops, nor ice cream cones or lolly pops, no toy soldiers, dolly names, movie shows, computer games. They never missed their favorite show. They never saw a night light glow. They didn't feel the least depraved when pizza wasn't micro waved. They didn't ski, go out for sports, have special shoes, designer shorts. Suspenders held their trousers up. They said, "yes sir" and never "yup". Words weren't written on their shirts, or on their shorts right where it hurts, but in their heart's most inner core, so non-existent anymore. They didn't own a motorboat - but had their cow, their hen, their goat. Our pets today eat so muc...

With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught. - Luke 1:3-4 This is the beginning of the book of Luke, the account of the life of Jesus the Messiah. Luke starts his narrative by saying that many people before him have described the life of Jesus but he would not just take their words as enough, his thirst for the Lord was so big he had to dig up everything for himself, he had to interview the key witnesses to all the major happenings in the life of the Christ. In this small fragment of the text we see that Luke himself did all the work and when we look back in the history of the church we learn that he did interview Jesus' mother, Mary, and the apostles who were still alive at the time (because some had already been killed in persecution because of Jesus), and many other people who...

I like the “Old Paths”, when Moms were at home. Dads were at work. Brothers went into the army. And sisters got married BEFORE having children! Crime did not pay; Hard work did; And people knew the difference. Moms could cook; Dads would work; Children would behave.. Husbands were loving; Wives were supportive; And children were polite. Women wore the jewelry; And Men wore the pants. Women looked like ladies; Men looked like gentlemen; And children looked decent. People loved the truth, And hated a lie; They came to church to get IN, Not to get OUT! Hymns sounded Godly; Sermons sounded helpful; Rejoicing sounded normal; And crying sounded sincere. Cursing was wicked; Drinking was evil; and divorce was unthinkable. The flag was honored; America was beautiful; And God was welcome! We read the Bible in public; Prayed in school; And preached from house to house To be called an American was worth dying for; To be called a Christian was worth living for; To be called a traitor was ...

On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. And as he taught them, he said, Is it not written: My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of robbers. - Mark 11:15-17 A den of robbers. That's what many churches today have been transformed into. Not a house of prayer, not a place of gathering and communion for the family of God to worship Him together. Every time I see someone selling stuff supposedly 'in the name of Jesus', I remember his words saying we should not do commerce in his house, we should not make a marketplace out of a holy place. But that's not what prosperity teachers, theologians and preachers do today. On the contrary, they are reliving the medieval times when people us...

Knowing that God loves unconditionally changes everything. If you believe this truth, fear will no longer have any hold on you. You may be suffering or in terrible pain and as a result feel unloved. But the fact is, you are loved--deeply and personally. I don't know why the Lord has permitted your trial, but I do know this: Pain never shouts that God doesn't love you. That's the Deceiver's voice. Did Jesus' suffering indicate that the Father didn't love the Son? No. There are hardships in life we can't always explain, but they can never cancel out or in any way diminish His unconditional love. Knowing this truth empowers our lives with joy. How wonderful to realize that, whether you're awake or asleep--no matter what you do or don't do--His love for you never changes. This knowledge also brings freedom. You no longer have to keep trying to measure up to some standard in order to be accepted. Since God's love isn't based on your performa...

There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him. After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly. - Mark 7:32,33,35 Two of the things that amaze me the most about Jesus are, first, that He never settled down for what was considered to be the 'right' way of doing things, He never played according to the book of rules imposed by the religious people of his time, and second that He knew the importance of a touch in the process of healing. Jesus was not afraid of what anyone would say about him, if they called him crazy or even demon possessed. Jesus didn't care if his doing was considered strange to the eyes of religion because of two things: He was constantly focused on his mission, thus having no time to spar...

The apostle Paul often wrote about perseverance. He urged believers not to tire of following Christ and doing good, even when persecuted. The reason was that in time, their faithfulness to plant seeds would produce an amazing harvest. If anyone had a right to say that, it was Paul. He'd been beaten, stoned, whipped, and driven out of town. He'd survived riots, shipwrecks, illness, and abandonment. He had a thousand reasons to be disheartened and want to give up, yet he knew his obedience to God wasn’t in vain. Some might surmise, Well, it doesn't look as if he reaped much: he was persecuted, moved from prison to prison, and eventually executed. But if we assume that rewards come only in material terms, we miss a powerful truth. Consider the awesome harvest that actually resulted from the apostle's faithfulness. For one thing, the gospel spread across the Roman Empire, and the early church grew far beyond the Jewish world. And the seeds Paul planted by writing...

It’s not in me. I cannot do this; it’s too hard. I don’t have the strength. I don’t have the patience. I can’t conquer this. It’s not in me to forgive. It’s not in me to love. How many times have you said those or similar things or heard someone else say them? What do you need today? Strength? Power? Patience? Love? A forgiving attitude? Courage to conquer an addiction or thought pattern? Or maybe something else? Whatever battles you face each day, I’m here to encourage you: you can withstand them. You can be an overcomer! You can win! You can conquer! You can be the victor! If you have welcomed Christ to live in your heart, then all you need is IN you. * The Truth is IN you. * Eternal Life is IN you. * The love of God is IN you. * The mind of Christ is IN you. * When all is dark, His light is IN you. * Through His Word, His joy is IN you. * If you believe, the word of God works effectively IN you. * When you abide in Him, His Living Word abides IN you. * “G...

And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. - Mark 1:4 One thing was common ground in the speech of both John the Baptist and Jesus, that everyone must repent of their sins in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God.  This was called the gospel, the 'good news', that God's love reaches out for everyone, but it had something in that message that though it was 'good', it was not actually 'new' since it was a recurring message since the prophets of the old testament, that one can not please God with an unrepentant heart, a heart that will not bow down in recognition that God is Lord and we are his servants. The thing about repentance that really touches the heart of God is our acknowledgement, by humbling ourselves, that we are not sufficient by ourselves, that our own efforts or merits are far from perfect, that we desperately need Him, his power, his presence, h...

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. - Matthew 27:5 In this verse we see the fate of Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus, taken by remorse he goes and commits suicide. But I'm not here to talk about suicide; rather, I'd like to mention two similarities between Judas' death and Jesus' one: they both fulfilled the prophecy of Deuteronomy 21:23 that whoever dies hanging on a pole is under God's curse, since they both died that way, hanging on a pole (in Judas' case, strangled, in Jesus' case, crucified) even though their deaths were completely different in almost every other reason; and they both died voluntarily, but I'll come back to this. When I say that they both fulfilled the prophecy of the old testament, I'm pretty shocked to see that even when we are most alike our Lord and Savior, even to the point of walking on His shoes down to the letter of fulfilling biblical prophecies, we have t...