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Matt 21:28-31 - "But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ' Son, go work today in the vineyard.' "And he answered, 'I will not'; but afterward he regretted it and went. "The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, 'I will, sir'; but he did not go. "Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. NASU
My father use to say, "This world can take everything from you accept your word. You give your word you keep it." You make a promise you keep it that my friend is integrity. You keep your word when you would rather do anything else. My father's generation was known for sealing a deal with a handshake. In 1984 I got to participate in a land deal that was secured with a handshake with an old farmer, named Rufus Griffith. He agreed to sell the Lord's church 24 acres of property for $10K / acre. When he went to his lawyer's office to tell him to draw up a contract for the sale of his property, the attorney told him he could get him $15K / acre. Rufus told his attorney, "I shook the boy's hand." The attorney told him a handshake is not a binding contract in MD. Rufus said, "It is with me." There is a picture perfect example of integrity. There is honoring your word. Rufus could have made $120K more by listening to his attorney. But instead he listened to his dad who taught him "you give your word you keep it".
If you want to be a disciple of Jesus then you are going to have opportunities where you can display integrity and honor your word or renege on your pledge. As my children grew they had one rule when it came to participating in sporting activities and that was if you sign up you can't quit. You gave them your word and you had to honor it. You didn't have to join next year but you had to complete the year you signed to play. In our scripture text, a father had two sons one gave his word he would go work in the vineyard but never went. Some thing must have come up that was a lot more exciting than working in a vineyard or honoring his word. His other son said he didn't want to go work in the vineyard but then he had a change of heart and he went and worked in the vineyard. What changed his mind? Jesus doesn't say so anything we say would be pure speculation. Maybe he saw his dad in the vineyard working by himself and the sight of his dad working alone convicted him. Or maybe a pretty Jewish girl was working to help provide for her family and he noticed her. Anyways, when Jesus asked who did the father's will they all gave the correct answer the one who changed his heart and mind and went to work. So if you want to be like Jesus and you give your word to do something then by all means do it. It is never wrong to be a person of integrity. Think About These: Everyone makes mistakes, but only a person with integrity owns up to them. Integrity is making sure the things you say and the things you do are in alignment. Integrity is telling myself the truth and honesty is telling the truth to other people. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Gen. 32:24-28 - So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."
But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome." NIV
There won't be any of your teammates coming to your rescue, nor would you want them to interfere. This is between you and your opponent. Jacob wrestled through the night until daybreak, alone.
Who is this man that Jacob is wrestling? I have my thoughts about Him and will allow you to have yours, but I can tell you this much He was powerful enough to dislocate Jacob's hip with a touch. In the 1972 Olympics, Dan Gable, was head butted. His trainer wrapped his head to temporarily stop the bleeding. He continues to wrestle, wins the match and then received seven stitches to close the gash. In the 1998 Freestyle Wrestling Championships, Cary Kolat, dislocated his shoulder during one of his early matches. He continued to wrestle and won a bronze medal. There are hundreds of wrestling stories like these. When you get hurt you keep on going.
Jacob was wrestling with God. Notice what the verse says, Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God…" He was struggling or wrestling with God.
The apostle Paul informs Christians that we likewise are wrestlers and he even names our enemies that we will be wrestling against in this life. One passage of scripture we never want to forget is 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 - "…but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord." NASU Think About These: When God measures a man, He puts the tape around his heart not his head. Who is more foolish: a child who is afraid of the dark or a man who is afraid of the light? Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word 1 Kings 19:11-12 - So He said, "Go forth and stand on the mountain before the LORD." And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. NASU
God had Elijah go and stand on the mountain. The Lord passed by Elijah. Elijah saw a strong wind, earthquake, and a fire, but the Lord was not in any of them. Where does the Lord have you standing right now? Is the Lord trying to get your attention as He was with Elijah? In our world today we know that strong winds, earthquakes and fire all bring about destruction. God wasn't in the destruction. God was in the peaceful and refreshing gentle blowing. God wanted Elijah to really know Him. Could God have been in the strong wind, earthquake, or fire? Yes, He could have been in them. He was behind the wind at the time of the Israelite's Exodus from Egypt and He was in the fire that burned up Elijah's sacrifice. God wants all of us to see Him. He wants us to be His helpers. Elijah was helping the Israelites to be free from the false prophets and the lies they were expressing about God.
You will be able to stand where God wants you to stand when you know more about Him. The best way to really get to know God is by learning about Him through reading the Bible. God may have you standing right now in the fiery trial and tribulations like He did Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. They were being tried because they would not worship anyone or thing. They would only worship the Almighty God, Maker and Creator of Heaven and Earth. You may be standing in some fiery trial in order to help your faith become stronger. If God has you standing in a trial then you need to know that He is watching over you and it is your faith in Him that will get you through it. Wouldn't it be nice if we had a Heavenly GPS installed at our baptism and every time we got off course we could hear this voice tell us to make a U-Turn as soon as it is legally possible? Has God been telling you to make a U-Turn or stay the course you are doing great? God gave Elijah some work to do. He had to go and anoint three men. What is it that God wants you to do? Do you know some people that need to be anointed by the Lord today? The best way to forget about your own struggles is to get busy serving other people and that is exactly what God had Elijah do.
Think About These: The person who is all wrapped up in himself is overdressed. Failure is the path of least persistence. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Mark 5:31- And His disciples said to Him, "You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'" NASU
This woman had heard about Jesus and believed that if she could just touch Him she would be made well. All she needed was to "simply touch" Him. So she started out to locate Jesus and "simply touch" Him. She found Jesus and made it happen. She positioned herself to "simply touch" Jesus. When she touched Him she was healed. Can you remember when you touched Jesus and He healed you? We may not have been unclean physically as this lady but we were unclean spiritually because we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. When Jesus forgave us of our sins it is the same as being touched by Jesus.
I came in contact with Jesus when I was baptized into Him. In my baptism I was symbolically buried with Christ and I also resurrected with Him when I was lifted out of the baptismal waters. I have been touching Him for 48 years and as this woman's life was changed so has my life been changed. I believe we have been touched by the Lord to touch other people for Him.
If you will share the Word of God with others trust me when I say the Word will be able to do the convicting and converting of a sinner's hard heart. Go ahead and touch some one today. Just remember when the woman touched Jesus she was healed. Make it easy for people to touch Jesus, be a reflector of the true light Jesus Christ. Think About These: A person's faith isn't judged by what he says about it, but by what he does about it. Living without faith is like driving in the fog. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Heb 5:7-9 - In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. 8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. NASU
They have this view of God that He is sitting up in Heaven watching every move that His creation is making down here on earth and when they commit a sin He deals out retribution or punishment upon them. If you really think about this view of suffering God would not be doing anything except punishing His creation because we all sin and fall short of His glory everyday. There are some who also judge your degree of suffering. If you have a little financial set back then your sin wasn't that great and God is trying to get you back on the straight and narrow. However, if you are suffering to a great degree or something has happened to one of your young children then your sin must have been a horrible one as can be seen in this next scripture text: John 9:1-3 - As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" 3 Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents;…" HELLO! Did you read what Jesus said, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents;…" But you can see the disciples believed that this man's blindness was caused by someone's sins. What they wanted to know was this man being punished with blindness because of his sins or his parent's sins. Jesus answers their question with these words, "It was neither…" If you have ever read the book of Job then you realize this was the exact view that Job's friends all believed. Job was suffering because of some sin he had committed and if he would confess it then his sufferings would go away. Although, this is a popular view by many I believe it to be incorrect many times. It was not correct in Job's situation and it certainly isn't correct in our scripture text this morning.
Another scripture to help us understand this verse is found in Philippians 2:8 -Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. As a man Jesus was going to learn how to die on the cross. He was going to experience death as a man. He could never experience death as God because God can't die. God is life. We must always remember that Jesus was 100% man and 100% God, this is known as the "hypostatic union". One of the best things we can do when we are suffering in any way is ask ourselves this question: What can I learn from my sufferings? Do not allow yourself to get caught up into the negative cycle of asking yourself, "Why am I suffering?" How would you ever really know with 100% certainty if God didn't inform you? The purpose in my mind for suffering is to teach us some things we could never learn without them. I have spoken with many who have gone through some very severe trials. They would never wish them on anyone, but I have had them tell me that what they went through taught them some very valuable lessons that they could have never learned any other way. The best way to deal with sufferings of any kind in my mind is to ask yourself the question, "What can I learn from this situation?" The next time you find yourself in a suffering situation tell yourself over and over again "Let the learning begin." Think About These: We may not know what the future holds, but we know Who holds the future. A person who looks up to God will not look down on people. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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