Thursday, February 5, 2015
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Where is the Real Jesus and His Gospel?
I’ve seen all kinds of response on Facebook over the last few days from pure anger at Chick-Fil-A and Bible living and believing Christians to even people saying that we as Followers of Jesus should not go to Chick-Fil-A to buy a sandwich because it will be seen as offensive to “Gay” people, and that would make it harder to reach them with the “Love of God”, to even some saying that God is love and that what Chick-Fil-A owner, Mr Cathy stands for is not love, and that Christians should not judge anyone, for anything, ever. And this all came from people claiming to be Christians!
I think this is exactly what is wrong with Christianity today in modern America, we have made Jesus into a sissy with a “Victims Mentality”, that is more concerned with not offending anybody then setting them free from sin.
This is not the Jesus the same Jesus that is written about in my bible, to me the “nice, kind, do offend anyone Jesus” sounds like a lot of verses about Jesus is not being read or just deleted to include all of Jesus in the Book of Revelation. With statistics that show that 85% of Americans classified themselves as Christian but out of them, only 4 to 9 percent agree with what the bible say and have a Biblical word view, it leads me to think the American church is more concerned about not offending someone than setting people free from sin. We no longer believe in the Gospel or that the Gospel has any power to convict! We don’t want to anyone to be convicted of sin because we may offend them in the process. God help us we are more concerned about what sinners think about us than letting them know the truth and letting the truth set them free.
The statement “Jesus is Love” is thrown at any mention of sin, yes he is the fullness of God the father and the Father is Love, but this “Love”, this term we strap on Jesus, This “Love” box that we keep our Jesus in, so the the King of the Universe, is safely packed and is easy to swallow, pedaled for cash and Fame. This version of Jesus is closer to a get out of “hell/jail” free card, that he barely resemble the King of Glory, who is Leading the Armies of Heaven with a Sword on his side.
The Real Jesus that is revealed in scriptures, his first and main message (which happened to be the same as his cousin John the Baptist), was not “come here and give your Jesus and big hug, I just want to love on some people” But it was Repent!
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” – Matthew 4:17
Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. – Matthew 11:20
Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:31-32
Does this sound like “Free Hugs Jesus” or “Jesus is my HomeBoy”? And if people did not get the point that Jesus’ mission was to preach and teach “Repent or Perish” he makes sure to get the point across and says it twice, to really emphasize the point, in case they didn’t get it the first time, Jesus the Highest of Kings, the creator of the universe, repeats himself, (which can’t be a good sign)
Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Luke 13:1-5
Then not only did John preach repentance, Jesus taught repentance, Jesus taught his Twelve Disciple to preach the same message he was preaching, which was…… Repent!
Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
They went out and preached that people should repent. Mark 6:6-12
And even after Jesus was Crusified and raised from the dead right before he was going to accend his instruction to his disciples as Jesus explain the scriptures, what had happened and what still must happen.
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Luke 24:45-47
And what was the first sermon that was ever preached after Jesus left and sent the Holy Spirit? It was by Peter and what did he say, “Jesus is Love, I don’t want to offend any one today” No he said the opposite, he said, You all by your sins Crucified this Jesus, Repent.
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Acts 2:36-38
Even Paul continued to preach repent and taught the same as Jesus, where John the Baptist called Israel to repent Paul states and teaches that it is God’s will that all men repent.
“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31
“I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.” Acts 20:21
Paul even teaches the same a John the Baptist that repentance of the heart must also show in the actions and behavior of the person.
Pauls say’s
“First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.” Acts 26:20
Which is the same teaching of John the Baptist about repentance.
“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Matthew 3:8 and Luke 3:8
Paul is not even sorry that he “hurt” people or even “offended” someone because Paul, the Disciples, and the early church understood that “love – that kind that Jesus taught” is to tell the truth to so that people will be “cut to the soul” that they will be “most deeply grieved” even outraged. Paul even says he did not regret hurting people by telling them the truth – the Good news, the Gospel of Jesus Christ
“Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” 2 Corinthians 7:8–10
The question is, what is this Gospel that Jesus taught and instructed his disciple to teach and preach? The answer is in the name of Jesus.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
The Good news is not, Jesus saves you from hell, all though that would be some good news, but that is not the true Gospel, what is true is and is even better news, or the Best news, is that Jesus saves us from the Control of Sin in our lives. The true Gospel is not Jesus and his work on the cross and proven by his resurrection, modifies our behavior like a good psychologist can or even fixes our sinful and self destructive behavior with drugs and chemical cocktails that a Psychiatrist does. All the world and all the other false religions can offer is internal or external behavior modification, which still leaves sin in the heart of the person. They are sitting down on the outside but defiantly standing up on the inside, this Jesus called sin. Instead Jesus gives us a new nature, his nature, the Holy Spirit of God himself. We no longer have to be slaves to the self destructive nature.
It would be very BAD news if Jesus’s message was to “Repent or go to Hell”"Stop being bad and sinful or Perish in eternal torment”, when all of humanity could do nothing to change their nature, that would be a horrible God, and awful news, all of humanity would be dammed while Jesus hung “Repentance with proof by good Deeds” out in front of all us as the carrot on a stick that we could never attain to.
Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” John 5:14
Why would Jesus tell him and others to “Stop Sinning” if that where not possible for him? That would be a very mean trick to play on humanity. Jesus spoke life and truth, and the Gospel was for this man and is for us today, Jesus will save you from the power of sin and give you a new nature, his nature, by his Holy Spirit. And in your new nature you will have the will and desire to obey Jesus as Lord. And this is very very Good news. This news is also very offensive, because of two main reasons, one the person really want to keep their sin, that is they just don’t want to exchange their sin for freedom (and most will get very mad when you call there actions and nature a sin and say “stop judging me”), and the other is they don’t want to have to obey Jesus, they don’t want the new nature because it wills and desire to do the things of God and they don’t want to surrender to God ever, because they are mad at God and either fight God or deny He exist. Either reason when they are called to repent and surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and be free from their sin, they respond angrily and sometimes with violence. Most of the time when the true Gospel is preached it gets the same two responses and the early church, disciples, and Apostles got, there either got one or the other, riot or revival.
Where is the Real Jesus being revealed today by the Church, and why the Gospel is being preach correctly are we seeing riot or revival? Maybe it is time the American Church instead of trying not to offend anyone took up her cross and preached the real Jesus and his Gospel, after all in the end it got Jesus and the Apostles (except John) kill for preaching the truth.
All Scripture is quoted from NIV
I think this is exactly what is wrong with Christianity today in modern America, we have made Jesus into a sissy with a “Victims Mentality”, that is more concerned with not offending anybody then setting them free from sin.
This is not the Jesus the same Jesus that is written about in my bible, to me the “nice, kind, do offend anyone Jesus” sounds like a lot of verses about Jesus is not being read or just deleted to include all of Jesus in the Book of Revelation. With statistics that show that 85% of Americans classified themselves as Christian but out of them, only 4 to 9 percent agree with what the bible say and have a Biblical word view, it leads me to think the American church is more concerned about not offending someone than setting people free from sin. We no longer believe in the Gospel or that the Gospel has any power to convict! We don’t want to anyone to be convicted of sin because we may offend them in the process. God help us we are more concerned about what sinners think about us than letting them know the truth and letting the truth set them free.
The statement “Jesus is Love” is thrown at any mention of sin, yes he is the fullness of God the father and the Father is Love, but this “Love”, this term we strap on Jesus, This “Love” box that we keep our Jesus in, so the the King of the Universe, is safely packed and is easy to swallow, pedaled for cash and Fame. This version of Jesus is closer to a get out of “hell/jail” free card, that he barely resemble the King of Glory, who is Leading the Armies of Heaven with a Sword on his side.
The Real Jesus that is revealed in scriptures, his first and main message (which happened to be the same as his cousin John the Baptist), was not “come here and give your Jesus and big hug, I just want to love on some people” But it was Repent!
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” – Matthew 4:17
Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. – Matthew 11:20
Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:31-32
Does this sound like “Free Hugs Jesus” or “Jesus is my HomeBoy”? And if people did not get the point that Jesus’ mission was to preach and teach “Repent or Perish” he makes sure to get the point across and says it twice, to really emphasize the point, in case they didn’t get it the first time, Jesus the Highest of Kings, the creator of the universe, repeats himself, (which can’t be a good sign)
Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Luke 13:1-5
Then not only did John preach repentance, Jesus taught repentance, Jesus taught his Twelve Disciple to preach the same message he was preaching, which was…… Repent!
Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
They went out and preached that people should repent. Mark 6:6-12
And even after Jesus was Crusified and raised from the dead right before he was going to accend his instruction to his disciples as Jesus explain the scriptures, what had happened and what still must happen.
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Luke 24:45-47
And what was the first sermon that was ever preached after Jesus left and sent the Holy Spirit? It was by Peter and what did he say, “Jesus is Love, I don’t want to offend any one today” No he said the opposite, he said, You all by your sins Crucified this Jesus, Repent.
“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Acts 2:36-38
Even Paul continued to preach repent and taught the same as Jesus, where John the Baptist called Israel to repent Paul states and teaches that it is God’s will that all men repent.
“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31
“I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.” Acts 20:21
Paul even teaches the same a John the Baptist that repentance of the heart must also show in the actions and behavior of the person.
Pauls say’s
“First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.” Acts 26:20
Which is the same teaching of John the Baptist about repentance.
“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Matthew 3:8 and Luke 3:8
Paul is not even sorry that he “hurt” people or even “offended” someone because Paul, the Disciples, and the early church understood that “love – that kind that Jesus taught” is to tell the truth to so that people will be “cut to the soul” that they will be “most deeply grieved” even outraged. Paul even says he did not regret hurting people by telling them the truth – the Good news, the Gospel of Jesus Christ
“Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” 2 Corinthians 7:8–10
The question is, what is this Gospel that Jesus taught and instructed his disciple to teach and preach? The answer is in the name of Jesus.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21
The Good news is not, Jesus saves you from hell, all though that would be some good news, but that is not the true Gospel, what is true is and is even better news, or the Best news, is that Jesus saves us from the Control of Sin in our lives. The true Gospel is not Jesus and his work on the cross and proven by his resurrection, modifies our behavior like a good psychologist can or even fixes our sinful and self destructive behavior with drugs and chemical cocktails that a Psychiatrist does. All the world and all the other false religions can offer is internal or external behavior modification, which still leaves sin in the heart of the person. They are sitting down on the outside but defiantly standing up on the inside, this Jesus called sin. Instead Jesus gives us a new nature, his nature, the Holy Spirit of God himself. We no longer have to be slaves to the self destructive nature.
It would be very BAD news if Jesus’s message was to “Repent or go to Hell”"Stop being bad and sinful or Perish in eternal torment”, when all of humanity could do nothing to change their nature, that would be a horrible God, and awful news, all of humanity would be dammed while Jesus hung “Repentance with proof by good Deeds” out in front of all us as the carrot on a stick that we could never attain to.
Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” John 5:14
Why would Jesus tell him and others to “Stop Sinning” if that where not possible for him? That would be a very mean trick to play on humanity. Jesus spoke life and truth, and the Gospel was for this man and is for us today, Jesus will save you from the power of sin and give you a new nature, his nature, by his Holy Spirit. And in your new nature you will have the will and desire to obey Jesus as Lord. And this is very very Good news. This news is also very offensive, because of two main reasons, one the person really want to keep their sin, that is they just don’t want to exchange their sin for freedom (and most will get very mad when you call there actions and nature a sin and say “stop judging me”), and the other is they don’t want to have to obey Jesus, they don’t want the new nature because it wills and desire to do the things of God and they don’t want to surrender to God ever, because they are mad at God and either fight God or deny He exist. Either reason when they are called to repent and surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and be free from their sin, they respond angrily and sometimes with violence. Most of the time when the true Gospel is preached it gets the same two responses and the early church, disciples, and Apostles got, there either got one or the other, riot or revival.
Where is the Real Jesus being revealed today by the Church, and why the Gospel is being preach correctly are we seeing riot or revival? Maybe it is time the American Church instead of trying not to offend anyone took up her cross and preached the real Jesus and his Gospel, after all in the end it got Jesus and the Apostles (except John) kill for preaching the truth.
All Scripture is quoted from NIV
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
House of Nobles: Who are we preaching too?
House of Nobles: Who are we preaching too?: " It's been a interesting journey and sometimes tuff learning about how God see's the poor and how different it is..."
Who are we preaching too?
It's been a interesting journey and sometimes tuff learning about how God see's the poor and how different it is from my own view and thoughts. "The spirit of the Lord is on me, he has anointed me to preach to the poor,..." Have we been preaching to the wrong crowd of people? Even Jesus was found among the poor and unwanted. He was a "friend of Tax collectors and sinners" Is the Holy Spirit resting on those that are "preaching to the poor" but how long have we been preaching to the middle class or the rich or even Americans, when 1billion plus people in the world earn a non-living wage of less than a dollar a day, so that we in American can by things cheap at Walmart and our other favorite retail stores. Many dear friends of mine and I would pray and prepare for days to preach "under an anointing" but is not the "Spirit of the Lord" waiting to rest and eagerly longing to rest on those that are "preaching to the poor"? With so many working poor (those that work but don't make enough and have to choose between food and basics like rent, utilities, heath care, ect...) that are growing in numbers as the economy still struggles in America and around the world, they are even in the backyards of our communities and have never heard and seen the Good News, is the "Spirit of the Lord" there waiting on some one to go and preach?
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