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Prov. 27:5-6 - Better is open rebuke than love that is concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. NASU
If we will be honest we have probably all had some dumb ideas and very glad we didn't take it to the next step because if we had failure was right around the corner. A friend is one who looks you right in the eyes and challenges you or as verse 5 says, they will "openly rebuke" you. This Hebrew word for rebuke means to challenge, prove or reason. They will challenge you, ask you to prove it or ask you to reason with them on this?
Friends will challenge you and you may even feel like you have been knifed with their questions. One thing we can all use is a friend who tries to keep us from falling but if we do fall he is there to help pick us up. Your friends won't always agree with every choice you make but they will remain your friend. Friends listen to what you say and will not always agree with everything you say. But they are always there when you need them to listen. Hopefully, in your life you have at least one friend like this.
A friend shares with you the truth. They are not "yes" people. In other words, they will not tell you "yes" to anything you ask. They will listen to what you are saying before they give you any feed back. Most of us all ready know what I am saying is true, but still we find ourselves being surrounded with the wrong type of people and listening to the wrong type of friend. As Christmas gets closer give yourself the best gift possible, a Great Friend. Think About These: It is best to test new ideas on old friends. If you were another person, Would you like to be your friend? Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Philippians 1:1, 21-24 - To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi,… For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. NASU
He saw the Philippian Christians as "saints". The Greek word used here is "hagiois" and it has the meaning of being "sacred and pure" and the reason this is true is because of where they are located. They were in Christ Jesus according to verse 1 - "To all the saints in Christ Jesus…". They were not "saints" because they had done anything great. They were "saints" because they had been baptized into Christ. Paul said it this way in the book of Romans - Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? If you have been baptized into Christ then you should see yourself as a "saint". As I sit and write this Pump Up my mind shoots ahead and reminds me I will be leading a group of saints to Philippi next April. If you are interested our group would love to have you go with us.
Paul saw living as a good thing for the Christians or Saints who were alive because he could spiritually help them grow in their faith. But as for his own death he saw this as an advantage for him because he would be going to be with Christ. Paul stated it this way, "… For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." When you become a follower of Jesus Christ you can also consider yourself to be a "saint" and when "saints" die this is a good thing because "saints" go to be with Jesus. Paul says, "…and to die is gain." You will also notice Paul desired to depart or die and be with Christ because this was better than living here - "…having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;…" A person who follows or lives for Christ doesn't have to be afraid to die. We can have the assurance of Paul that dying will bring us to a place of great rewards. We can say, "I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, for this is very much better." I found the Greek word for "desire" to be interesting. It is "epithumia" and this word is translated 36 out of 38 times as "lust or covet" and twice it is translated "desire". Jesus "desired" to eat the Passover with His disciples in Luke 22:15 and Paul "desired" to die and go be with Christ. Have you ever thought about dying like Paul? When your time comes to physically die I hope you will see it like Paul as a good thing. Your death will actually be a "gain". I pray you will see your death as a time when you will depart and be with Christ which is going to be way cool. Think About These: It isn't death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live. Everyone dies, but not everyone lives. The apostle Paul said it best, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word 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 Lk 15:1-2 - Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. 2 Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." NASU
Let him hear! In other words, we should be paying very strict attention when one is teaching the Word of God. Is it the truth or is this a lie? The New Testament warns us very plainly that not everyone who teaches the Bible is from God.
The apostle Peter said it this way in 2 Pet. 2:1 - But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Peter gave testimony that it was true "false prophets" did come in among the people and destruction was the end result. When you read the NT you will notice that the apostles John and Paul likewise talked about "false prophets and teachers". If you will remember when the devil was tempting Jesus in the wilderness he quoted the Word of God to Him. I have been a Christian for over 48 years and I can tell you I have heard a lot men and women misquote the Bible and I have even read more false teaching in books.
Have you ever heard of the "Hallucination Theory"? The "hallucination theory" claims that Jesus' disciples all had "hallucinations" of Jesus being resurrected. In other words, they only thought they saw a resurrected Jesus. Dr. Gary Collins says, the big problem with the "hallucination theory" is that no two people ever have the same hallucination. In this situation we would have all the apostles plus more than 500 Christians (I Cor.15:6) who say they saw the resurrected Jesus. Therefore, over 500 people would be having the same "hallucination". I find it easier to believe the truth than lies. There are many people who promote "false teachings" from the Word of God. I can only say this, "It is your duty to check for yourself what you are hearing to know if it is the truth or not". I had one person tell me that water in a believer's baptism doesn't mean water. Years ago when I first became a Christian I would try to share with them how it did mean water and show them Biblical examples of people getting baptized. In Acts 8:38-39 - And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away;…" Now if they want to read that passage and tell me that the water is not water all I can say, "Is that is not my problem." There argument is with God not me. If someone wants to believe the wrong things about baptism I leave them with, "Tell me how that works out for you". Paul said in the book of Philippians, "…work out your salvation with fear and trembling;…" You will notice Paul says, "your salvation…" You are responsible for getting yourself to heaven and I am responsible for getting myself to heaven. If you want to believe everything you hear without checking it out for yourself that is totally up to you. Think About These: There are none so blind as those who refuse to see. People will generally accept facts as truth only if the facts agree with what they already believe. Andy Rooney Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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