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Acts 15:36-39 - After some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us return and visit the brethren in every city in which we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are." 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, called Mark, along with them also. 38 But Paul kept insisting that they should not take him along who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there occurred such a sharp disagreement that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. NASU
He was welcomed into Christianity by Barnabas but no one else was so inclined to allow Saul to join their fellowship. I don't know why I have been shocked all these years to see Christians not allow people who have been converted to Jesus to be accepted into their fellowship. I remember being converted to Christ in 1975 and if you had long hair the older Christians would frown at you for your appearance. People today who may have tattoos most likely experience the same type of judgmental behavior from older Christians. The first century Christians didn't allow Saul to be openly welcomed into the Lord's church. Barnabas gave Saul a second chance if you will, but not just Saul.
Barnabas, Saul and John Mark had been on a previous missionary trip when John Mark leaves the group and goes home to Jerusalem. We are not told why he exited the group. We have no idea if there were a family emergency or what the reason for his return. What we do know is when Saul who is now called Paul wants to take another missionary journey Barnabas wants to take John Mark. He wants to give him a second chance and Paul is totally against bringing John Mark with them. No second chance for you is Paul's stance even though he was the one who had been given a second chance from Barnabas. Saul was a Pharisee in Judaism and they are known for being judgmental and we can see Paul is judging John Mark as unworthy of a second chance.
I am referring to someone like John Mark.You expected them to act a certain way and they didn't. You wanted your child to go to a certain college and they didn't go there. You wanted your child to work with you in your family business and they went a different way. Can you find it within your heart to give someone a second chance like Barnabas did John Mark?
John Mark is also called Peter's son in 1 Pet. 5:13- She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings, and so does my son, Mark. We would understand this to be his son in the faith. One other item of information for us is when you read the Gospel of Mark this is the same John Mark who was given a second chance by Barnabas. I would say beyond a shadow of doubt that John Mark was worthy of a second chance and because of Barnabas giving him this chance we have benefited greatly. Maybe you know someone like John Mark that is in need of a second chance. I hope you will do the right thing. Think About These: Men with clenched fists can't shake hands. Two marks of a Christian: giving and forgiving. It is far better to forgive and forget than to hate and remember. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Luke 12:35-40 - "Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps lit. 36 "Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes and knocks. 37 "Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes;…
38 " Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.… 40 "You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect." NASU
"Listen, everyone, be ready. On the 3rd hut, you hike the ball, and I am going to drop back and hit the open receiver and one of you guys better be open." Every kid who has ever played pickup neighborhood football is ready. We are looking at who is going to be covering us as we walk to the line of scrimmage. We know the mission. Be ready and get open. If you are a Christian, you know your mission. Be ready and stay that way until you here the knock on the door from our Master.
Sometimes your dog sees you out on the field and he does what he always does he runs out to you. He wants you to play with him. He wants you to throw him a ball or a stick. You are trying to get him off the field. The center hikes the ball and you are not ready. The quarterback sees you are not ready. You have become distracted. One of the other receivers is walking up to the line and his sibling yells at him and says, mom says it is time to come home for dinner. He is arguing with his brother that he can't come home right now, and the center hikes the ball. He is starting to run but the defense has now chased the quarterback out of position. You were not ready because you were arguing with your sibling. There are 100 other scenarios that we have probably all lived through. Why is it so easy to be distracted? Why is it so hard to Be Ready and stay that way?
You have been betrayed by a Christian brother or sister, and you have been left wondering is this all worth it? Everywhere you look all you see are evil deeds and evil people doing some of the most heinous crimes imaginable. You start to question yourself. Is Jesus ever going to return? Why it has been almost 2,000 years. He has missed numerous great chances to come back and put an end to all the wickedness in the world. If He were coming, He should have been here by now you might be thinking. What really has happened? You are not wearing the one article of clothing you should be wearing. The Lord said, "Be dressed in readiness,…" If you watch any war movies or police shows they all employee something known as "diversionary tactics" when they are going in for a big attack or bust. They use this because they are so successful in helping the military or police force to accomplish their mission. Well, guess what? The devil uses the same tactic to distract us from our mission. What is our mission once again? Be Ready For The Master's Return!
Think About These: Today's preparation determines tomorrow's achievement. Get ready for eternity. You are going to spend a lot of time there. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Micah 6:8 - He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? NASU
First, we are to do justice. We are to practice justice. If we see someone being denied justice we are to speak up for the person being denied justice. We are to uphold what is right in the eyes of the LORD. This may cost you a friendship, a position at work or it may cause you to be ostracized within the Lord's body, aka His church. Just look at how the Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees and Priests turned on Jesus in fits of envy and jealousy. Matt 27:17-18 - "Whom do you want me to release for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" 18 For he knew that because of envy they had handed Him over. As Christians, we must always remember being excommunicated from man's church doesn't mean one has been excommunicated from the Lord's Church. Second, we are to love kindness or as some translations say to love mercy. If we are to understand this verse completely we must go back to verse 6 and 7 and see what verse 8 is being compared to: Mic 6:6-7 - With what shall I come to the LORD and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Kindness and mercy is being compared to sacrifices and offerings. God expects the child of God to be a just person, a person who loves being kind to all people and especially to the ones who can never repay you. If you show them acts of kindness and mercy then you are pleasing the LORD of all creation. Third, you are to walk humbly with the LORD your God. In other words, you walk with God confessing He is the One you worship, love and adore. He is the One who can forgive you of your sins and allow you to be in a relationship with Him. He doesn't want any of your possessions (burnt offerings, calves, rams, oil or sacrifices). He only wants you and all you can give Him. The "all" that you can give Him is your obedience to His desires. In our text today He shares with us His desires. He desires we do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with Him. Now I ask you, do those three desires seem unreasonable to you?
Enoch walked with God. We don't know what they talked about as they walked over the years but we know one thing Enoch made a habit of it and it served him well. One day Enoch was walking with God and the next second he was gone from earth to live with God for all eternity. How cool was that? This is the greatest hope of the Christian to be walking with God while here on earth and then one day life as we know it is changed. We are now just a spirit separated from this body in the presence of God where we will await the end of this world as we know it. We will enter what is called the New Heaven and New Earth after the final judgment day. The question is why will we get to go to the New Heaven and New Earth? The answer is Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross at Calvary, we believe in His sacrifice, and we believe in the atonement of His blood for our sins. This belief led us to be baptized into Christ and resurrected from that watery grave to serve our Savior Jesus Christ. So if you want to please the Lord: 1. Do Justice 2. Love Kindness/Mercy 3. Walk Humbly with the LORD Think About These: It is just as well that justice is blind; she might not like some of the things done in her name if she could see them. If you were arrested for being kind, would there be enough evidence to convict you? A breath of kindness is more moving than a gale of flattery. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Luke 5:36-38 - And He was also telling them a parable: "No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. 38 "But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. NASB
Since it is a "New" year I thought I would write a Pump Up studying the word "new". In the verses above you will notice that three of the words "new" are in bold letters (vs.36) with an underline. The other three words "new" are simply in bold letters with no underline (vss.37-38). The reason for this is because two different Greek words are being used. The first new (bold and underlined) is "kainos" and the second new (bold no underline) is "neos". The meaning of "kainos" is something fresh or newly made. It is used to describe something that is new in quality, different in nature from the old or superior to the old. It can be used to describe something that hasn't been used before such as Jesus' "new tomb" (John 19:41). The meaning of "neos" is new in respect of time or that which has recently come into existence and sometimes these words can be used interchangeably.
It will not work. It would be obvious to everyone who would look at this garment that the materials don't match. Then Jesus takes this parable one step further when He says you can't pour "new - Gk.- neos" wine into old wineskins for the moment you pour the new (Gk. neos) wine in and it ferments the expansion will burst the wineskins. Again, Jesus' point is you can't put Christianity (new wine) into Judaism (old wineskins) to do so would to be a catastrophic loss of the wine.
Anyone want to take a guess which Greek word Paul uses here? If you said, "Kainos" you would be correct. If you are a Christian reading this Pump Up you must understand that you are a "new - Gk.- kainos" person. The old things or old ways you were living before giving your life to Christ have passed away. They are gone. So I ask you do you ever find yourself being more like the old you, the old garment or the new (Gk.- kainos) you? Have you ever been caught up in being judgmental, gossiping, slandering some one, jealous of another person's accomplishments or abilities and the list continues? In Paul's letter to the Galatians he writes these words for us in the fifth chapter: But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. In this fifth chapter Paul tells us what the deeds of the flesh are in comparison to the fruit of the Spirit. I would recommend reading over them a time or two and make sure you are being all you can be in Christ. I hope you have a Happy New Year by being the best possible "new" creation in Christ. Think About These: Every Christian has the liberty to do that which is good, just and honest. The most difficult thing to open is a closed mind. God still speaks to those who take time to listen. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word John 8:3-11 - The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. "Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?" They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might
have grounds for accusing Him…But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."… Straightening up, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more." NASU
No, I used the correct pronoun. Do you have your ears on and your eyes open? He didn't condemn "her" that is correct, BUT He didn't condemn them. The Scribes and the Pharisees weren't condemned by Jesus either. They should have been condemned by Jesus just as much as she should have been condemned, but that wasn't the scribes and Pharisee's plan. They didn't care about this lady one iota. What they wanted was Jesus. They want His head on the proverbial platter like John the Baptist's head. This was nothing but a fake case, a trap if you will that they brought to Jesus. They knew the law. If they were really interested in justice, they would have brought both parties involved, but they weren't interested in justice. They were interested in destroying Jesus. The One who made them look bad because He was Righteous. What they wanted was to catch Him in one of their traps. The only problem was they didn't realize who they were trying to trap. This was not some ordinarily person. This was Jesus Christ, The Word, Emmanuel, God in the flesh. These guys were in way over their heads and didn't even know it.
They were just as guilty as she was and maybe more so. They were trying to destroy an innocent man's life through fraudulent means. They thought they were so smart. They thought they had Jesus trapped in a corner with their "…what then do You say?" Can you see the look on their faces? They are so proud of themselves. They have brought this woman to Jesus and then slammed the Word of God in His face ("Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women;). They believe they have Jesus between a rock and a hard place. The text says they persisted in asking Him what He would do. They didn't ask once they "persisted" in asking Him what should be done to this woman? All the while they knew it was a trap so they could have some evidence to really accuse Him. So when He answers them. They are shocked, dumbfounded and stuck in their tracks. I can hear them now saying over and over again "What did He say?". They don't know how to answer Him. They slowly start walking away one by one from the oldest one on down until no one was remaining except Jesus and the woman.
When in reality if we were like Jesus we wouldn't want anyone condemned. We would want people to be saved from an eternity in Hell. This past year I witnessed a lot of people wanting former President Donald Trump condemned. I understand the worldly people wanting him condemned but what really bewildered me was listening to the rhetoric from Christians wanting him to be condemned. The people that brought him to trial weren't interested in justice any more than the Scribes and Pharisees were. They had an agenda but it didn't work. 75 million Americans saw through the hypocrisy and voted for Donald Trump. As a Christian I hope you will not get caught up in condemning people. We are to be like Jesus. We are to tell people "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more." When you think about it shouldn't we be condemned because we have all sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God? I know this for sure. Gary A. Serago should be condemned because he has sinned and has fallen short of God's glory on more than one occasion. So if you have never sinned then go ahead and condemn everyone, throw all the stones you want, BUT if you want to be like Jesus who truly never did sin you won't be condemning anyone. Think About These: No one should judge another person by what that person's enemies say about him. We usually judge things, not as they are, but as we are. Be sure to judge yourself before you judge others. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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