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Luke 2:25-31 - And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, "Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart inpeace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,…"
First, living a righteous life has to do with the physical acts of a man and woman. A few weeks ago in one of my Pump Ups I focused on the text that said, "Jesus went about doing good…." When we do good for others we are living a righteous life and imitating our Lord. When we harm or hurt people we are unrighteous. There are a lot of unrighteous people in our world. In Matt. 7:15-16 Jesus said, - "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. "You will know them by their fruits." NASU My view about life is to be righteous and in order for me to be righteous I need to do good for others. I hope that you will likewise choose to be a righteous person. You will be known by your fruits according to Jesus. What type of fruit are we bearing? Second, living a devout life has to do with the spiritual acts of a man or woman. Simeon was in the temple worshiping God. He was looking for the consolation of Israel, Jesus Christ. How is our daily worship of God? Are we reading His Word, the Bible? Are we praying to or communing with Him? Have we been looking for the second coming of Jesus?
Joseph and Mary bring Jesus into the temple according to the Law . This shows they were devout people. When Simeon sees Jesus he knows he has seen the Messiah and he will be able to die peaceably. Did you notice what Simeon said about death? "Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace,…" Death is a releasing. Death happens when our spirit is released from our body. Simeon even says, "He is being released to depart in peace." When death comes knocking at the Christian's door, it will be ok. We don't have to be afraid or intimidated by death. It is a releasing so that we can depart and be in peace. Here is what the Apostle Paul had to say about death in 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 -Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord — for we walk by faith, not by sight — we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. When our spirit is released from our bodies it will get to go home and be with the Lord. What is your view of Life? What is your view of Death? Are your views from this world or from God's Word? Think On These: You will have a better life if you make the most of the best and the least of the worst. Let God have your life. He can do more with it than you can. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Share this Pump Up with others by Sharing on Your Facebook Page, Twitter or Forwarding to a friend.
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Luke 9:22 - "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day."
Why would Jesus have to suffer? It is a fact that He never sinned one time. So then why does this righteous man, this good man, this man who never sinned have to suffer? Heb 5:8 - Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. The Hebrew writer says Jesus was learning obedience from the things which He suffered. When you and I suffer it may have nothing to do with whether our actions have been good or bad and may have everything to do with God wants to teach us something.
He was lied about, falsely accused of things He didn't do, He was betrayed by a person close to Him, He was denied by a friend, He was forsaken by friends in His hour of need, He was misunderstood by those who should have known Him best, He was rejected, beaten and finally crucified. If Jesus learned obedience from the things which He suffered (and I believe He did) then He was in a constant state of learning.
Has anyone ever lied about you? Has anyone ever betrayed you? Have your actions or beliefs ever been misunderstood? Have you ever been rejected because of your beliefs? The answer is most likely "Yes" to at least one of those questions.
The answer is because this is the highway Christians have to travel in order to get to Heaven. Luke 9:23-24 - And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. NASU Jesus tells His followers you have to deny yourself pick up your cross and follow Him. If you picked up your cross in the 1st Century you were going to die. You were going to suffer. You need to memorize this: God is NOT mad at the Christian who is suffering. There have been to many times when good people were suffering and they were thinking that God was mad at them. If you are suffering today then tell yourself I am in the learning stages according to the writer of Hebrews.
2. Suffering is a Part of a Christian's Life. 3. God is NOT mad at the Christian Who Suffers. Think On These: If God is kept outside of your life, something must be wrong inside your life. God gives us our faces, but we must provide the expressions. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Share this Pump Up with others by Sharing on Your Facebook Page, Twitter or Forwarding to a friend. Acts 10:38 - "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good …" NASU
What good can you do for others? This is a question we constantly need to have in the forefront of our minds. In so doing, we will constantly be looking for opportunities to "do good" for others. James 1:27 - Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. NASU Galatians 6:9-10 - Let us not lose heart in doing good , for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. NASU James and Paul give us some ways we can do good in the previous verses. We should also remember the words from Edmund Burke: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." All of you reading this Pump Up are good men and women. It is time for us to wage war on evil by doing good. It is easy to see that evil is waging war on us.
Mt 4:24 - The news about Him spread throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, those suffering with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them. NASU Mt 12:15 - Many followed Him, and He healed them all, NASU Mt 14:14 - When He went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick. NASU Mt 15:28 - Then Jesus said to her, "O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed at once. NASU Mt 15:30-31 - And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them. So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel. NASU
The key is finding something that you can do and love to do for others, and do it. (Make sure the person you want to do a good deed for is in agreement with you doing the good deed.) So let's get started. Let us set a goal of at least one good deed for others everyday. If you can do more than one a day by all means do as many as you can. Think On These: The best way to escape evil is to pursue good. People seldom have dizzy spells from doing good turns. There is no limit to the amount of good a man can do if he doesn't care who gets the credit. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Share this Pump Up with others by Sharing on Your Facebook Page, Twitter or Forwarding to a friend. Luke 5:4-5 - When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing,…"
Jesus wants Peter to let down the nets. Peter immediately starts complaining. Look at the first words that come out of his mouth, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing…" The first thing that comes out of Peter's mouth is a complaint. Peter doesn't have a strong faith in Jesus at this time, but I want you to know that he had already accepted Jesus' call to come follow Him. So he has enough faith to begin to follow Jesus but not enough to completely obey His commands. Wow! Does that sound familiar to anyone besides me? If you have enough faith to begin to follow Jesus that is awesome and really that is all the faith you need to make it to heaven, but the longer you are associated with Jesus the more your faith should grow. Romans 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. This is why I tell people to read the Word of God. It will help you grow in your faith.
At first, Peter's faith isn't strong enough to get him to act without complaining, but once the complaining is through and he does what he is supposed to do look at the results. There were so many fish in their nets they had to call in reinforcements to help them. They filled both boats with so many fish their boats began to sink. Notice what Peter does next, he falls down at Jesus' feet and confesses that he is a sinful man. That was the smartest thing Peter could have done and yes that would be the smartest thing we can do, fall down on our knees and confess to the LORD we are sorry and we know we are sinful men and women.
Peter and all of his co-workers were seized by amazement. It is time we start displaying our faith so those around us can be seized by amazement also. When we have faith in Jesus, we are to display that faith so that others might come to faith or have their faith strengthened. So what type of faith do you possess? The type of faith that affects others talk about or the type others don't even know you have? Think On This: God doesn't call us to be successful, but He does call us to be faithful. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Share this Pump Up with others by Sharing on Your Facebook Page, Twitter or Forwarding to a friend. |
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