Luke 5:3-6 - And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's,… And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. 4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." 5 Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets." 6 When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break;…" NASU
Then failure comes crashing through our life and we are bewildered. We are perplexed and we sit in unbelief that this has happened to us. How could this happen to me? I was prepared. I had all the answers. I like what R. C. Foster said, "Their fruitless toil through the night gave Jesus His opportunity." Did you hear that? Their "fruitless toil" gave Jesus His opportunity. Your fruitless toil will give Jesus an opportunity to work with you like never before. It is always easier to work with some one who believes he needs help. At first, Peter didn't believe he needed any help. After all he was the fisherman. Jesus was a carpenter in Peter's mind. After Jesus performs the miracle and their boats are loaded with fish Jesus goes from being "Master" which also could be interpreted "teacher" to LORD (vs.8). When we do things the Lord's way like Peter and his crew did there will be success.
Then why not try doing it the Lord's Way?
You ask for His blessing on your endeavors. You ask Him to keep you from all evil and to protect you. You read His Word and in so doing you are searching for answers to your life. You have to understand that some times He may even protect you from yourself by not allowing you to accomplish some things that would bring great harm into your life. When Jesus sees that you are able to handle the successes that can come in life He will give them to you.
Think About These: Most failures are experts at making excuses. Failure is a better teacher than success, but seldom finds an apple on her desk. Failures are divided into those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Matt 8:1-3 - When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. 2 And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." 3 Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. NASU
It is now time for Jesus not to preach anymore but to put into action what He has preached.
Jesus taught His followers that they were to be the light of the world and to let their lights shine. Matt. 5:14-16 - "You are the light of the world.... Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." When Jesus heals this leper He will have displayed His good works, let His light shine and glorified His Heavenly Father exactly like He told the followers to do in His sermon on the mount. The leper is asking, seeking and knocking on the Lord's door, and He has already said if you will do those three things, the door will be opened to you. Matt. 7:7-8 - Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Jesus teaches a lesson on how we are to treat people. We are to treat them the same way we want to be treated. Matt. 7:12 - "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets." Can you hear the followers murmuring in the background? "It's a leper. Is He going to help a leper?" It was believed by many that you were cursed with leprosy from God because of something evil you had done. When Miriam sinned against her brother, Moses, God struck her with leprosy. Numbers 12:9-10 - "So the anger of the LORD burned against them and He departed. 10 But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow…." Now a leper is coming to Jesus to be healed. Jesus taught them to treat people the way you want to be treated. He didn't say unless they are Babylonians, Moabites, or lepers. When Jesus heals this leper He is letting the Israelites know the leper is a human and is in need of some kindness.
The leper knew enough to come to Jesus for help. When you pray you need to be like this leper. You need to come to Jesus and inform Him that He can heal you from whatever problem you are carrying in life, if He so desires. You don't want to miss what the leper said to Jesus. "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." The leper had faith in Jesus. He knew Jesus could heal him and he wasn't afraid to ask for it. Hebrews 11:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. If you want results in your prayer life come with faith believing that if it is the Lord's will you will be healed. Think About These: Prayer doesn't need proof, it needs practice. If you are too busy to pray, you are too busy. Nothing lies outside the reach of prayer except that which is outside the will of God. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Luke 14:25-26 - Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. NASU
The word "disciple" means to be a "learner". We are to learn from Jesus lessons about what is really important in life. If you will read your Bible you will discover what it means to be a "disciple of Jesus". The word in this text that causes a lot of confusion is the word "hate". Does Jesus really want me to "hate" my father, mother, spouse, children and siblings? NO and that is an emphatic NO! Can you hear me? I am yelling, "NO!". Well then what does He mean? If you want to be a "disciple" of Jesus then everyone and thing is going to have to be in second place and that includes "YOU". You have to deny your desires and Jesus is to possess first place. What does that look like? The easiest way for me to answer that question is if there is something you want to do and the Bible is against that action you don't do it. Let me give you an easy example. You go into a store and there is an item in there that you want. The only problem you don't have enough money to buy it. So you find a way to steal the item or steal money to come back in and purchase that item. Is the Bible against stealing? The obvious answer is yes, but you really want it. Do you want to be a disciple of Jesus? Yes, you say. Then you have no other choice. You cannot steal the item or steal money to buy the item. You have to deny yourself and this is exactly what Jesus is saying in the above text.
So now it is up to us to decipher His message for ourselves. In the book of Matthew Jesus uses that word "hate". Only thing is He tells us we are not to even hate our enemies. Matt 5:43-44 - "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' 44 "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,… In the 10 Commandments (Exo. 20:12) God tells us to Honor our Father and Mother which is the complete opposite of "hating" them. So how does one make these scriptures that seem to contradict one another agree? It boils down to this when being a disciple of Jesus is the motivation of your life everything else will be in second place. Your love for being one of His disciple's will be so strong that everything else would appear as though you hated it. What I have noticed if you will read this passage this way it may help eliminate any confusion you may have: "If anyone comes to Me, and does not love less his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple." You can't even love yourself more than being a disciple. Everyone has to be loved less and if you will do that being a disciple of Jesus will be a whole lot easier. Think About These: Happiness doesn't come from what you have, but from what you are. Happiness is in the heart, not in the circumstances. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Colossians 4:6 - Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned, as it were, with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person. NASB
Eph 4:29 - Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. NKJV
The Bible tells us our speech should not be used to gossip about someone, nor should we use our mouths to slander another person. As my mother taught me and I am sure many of my readers were taught the same thing: "If you don't have something good to say about that person then say nothing at all." It is better to say nothing at all then to sin by gossiping or slandering the person.
Your character is revealed by how you speak. Jesus explicitly states that what you are saying is coming from what is in your heart. Is your speech used to build someone up or edify them? Or is your speech used to defame someone's character? I have had people ask me where in the Bible it says cussing or using profanity is wrong. I generally would use Eph. 4:29 used above as a reference for why people should not use profanity. Although, Jesus does say, "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." My question would be is your profanity justifying you or condemning you?
1 Pet 2:21-23 - For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22 WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; 23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;… NASU Jesus took the high road. He didn't curse at them. He didn't call them names or threaten them. He simply prayed Father forgive them and yield up His spirit.
Michael didn't get into a word battle with the devil. He dismissed the devil with "The Lord Rebuke you." If someone is trying to get you into a word battle, do yourself a favor and take the "high road". Simply say "The Lord Rebuke you" and walk away. Think About These: Many a good idea has been smothered to death by words. Actions speak louder than words and are just as apt to be misinterpreted. Superior to a kind thought is a kind word; better than both is a kind deed. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Matt 6:19-21 -"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." NASU
People invested a lot of money in clothing in Jesus' day as they do today. What type of clothing articles do you have the most of in your closet? Some people have a huge collection of ball caps, tennis shoes or some other article of clothing. Guinness even has a world record for largest collection of tennis shoes. Your clothing according to Jesus is in constant danger. There are moths, thieves and let us not forget fires. Imagine if your house catches fire and all your clothing articles get destroyed by fire. The second place He informs us is a much better place to store your treasures and that is in Heaven. Everything that can destroy your valuables here on earth can't touch them if they are in Heaven.
So how does a person store their treasures in Heaven? The apostle Paul and James state it like this: Acts 20:35 - "In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Tit 3:14 - Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful. Jas 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. One simple question: Who are you helping at this time as you journey towards heaven? While Jesus was on the face of the earth this was recorded about Him - 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 and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. He went about doing good. Now I know we can’t heal people like He did but there are still ways we can do good. Look what the Hebrew writers says: Heb 13:16 - And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. I am not sure if you have thought about this verse lately but it actually tells us how we can please God. By not neglecting those who have legitimate needs and share with them. Think About These: Help people even when you know they can't return the favor. Strong people don't put others down…They lift them up. Giving isn't just about making a donation. It's about making a difference. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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