Category: Preacher

“The practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform.” This is Google’s definition of hypocrisy.  Wikipedia defines hypocrisy as “the contrivance of a false appearance of virtue or goodness, while concealing real character or inclinations,” Both of these definitions imply that it takes effort to be a hypocrite. You got to practice or build up skills to be a good hypocrite apparently. I believe there are a whole bunch of people that seem to be very skillful in the practice of hypocrisy. I refuse to use this platform to speak specifics as can only speak for myself but I suspect in reading this message, examples of hypocrisy abound. I am sure anyone can watch the news and see hypocrisy at its finest. The skill of concealing real character is always at play when the video and microphone is live. Who is living true moral standards and who is living hypocrisy? We may never know.

In Mark 2 starting at verse 23, we have a perfect example of hypocrisy when Jesus contradicted the laws of the Sabbath. How dare he break the Sabbath law said the Pharisees by picking wheat from the fields to eat. How dare he continue to defy the law by healing the withered hand of a man at the synagogue. Jesus asked if it is legal to do good or evil on the Sabbath? Nothing has changed in over 2,000 years in my opinion. Hypocrisy still is practiced to perfection. I believe that regardless of what day you consider sacred there is no day labeled “non-humanity day” as every day was created for humans not visa versa.

When we have that moment of opportunity to serve, will we conceal our real character in a shroud of hypocrisy or will our real character shine out of darkness to reveal the light of knowledge? (2 Cor 4:6)

T

 

 

I have been accused of being selfish at times and for that I am sorry to those who believed I live based on selfishness. Selfishness leads to destruction as pointed out in Romans 8:13. On the other hand, I have been recognized as a teacher or facilitator helping others to gain understanding. Understanding will lead us to a greater purpose. My message this week is selfishness versus understanding. It is good to be motivated and agreed that it takes a certain amount of focus on ourselves to accomplish many things in our lives. I believe we get into trouble when we become focused on self and not on purpose. I believe we should let go of our selves and let God control our actions to accomplish our purpose. Read about Nicodemus and his process to overcome self to understand the bigger picture in John 3:1-17.

Jesus taught many people through small groups, large crowds or individuals. One individual taught was Nicodemus. Jesus explains to Nicodemus that, to enter the Kingdom of God, you must be born of spirit not of flesh.

Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a leader of the Jews, or as Jesus put it a teacher of Israel. As a Pharisee, the very thought of him conversing with this stranger from Galilee would have put him in an uncomfortable position. He came to Jesus at night, so he could avoid detection. Imagine him traveling through the back streets of Jerusalem avoiding contact with anyone that would recognize him. Nicodemus was totally out of character as he secretly met with Jesus under the cover of night trying to understand.

Jesus prepared Nicodemus to understand and accept salvation. Jesus explained the concept of being born again. The concept of being born from anything other than the flesh is strange to Nicodemus so he questions how can this be possible? He then uses an analogy that Nicodemus can understand. He uses the wind as an example of hearing it, but not knowing where it came from or where it goes. Jesus reveals his identity as the son of Man. He then prophesies his crucifixion by referring to Moses in the wilderness lifting the serpent. As Nicodemus follows the life of Jesus, the miracle is revealed to him at the cross. God prepares us for the miracle of salvation through the stories of Jesus.

Let the true meaning of God’s word shape our understanding.

T

What’s in a number? I believe all numbers are significant. There is a song that starts “One is the loneliest number”. This week, I would like to use twelve not for being lonely but for being so meaningful. It is a number equivalent to the product of 3 and 4. It is divisible by 2, 3, 4, and 6. Twelve is a number of greatest magnitude that has just one syllable. Twelve is central to many systems such as the Western Calendar, units of time and in old English money, the number of pence to make up a shilling. In Soccer called football in England and in American Football, the 12th man is the fans. Did you know the 12th man tradition started after a game won by Texas A&M in 1922. Interesting read in sports history.

The number 12 is found in 187 places in God’s Word. 12 is a perfect number and symbolizes completeness. Jesus had 12 disciples but what happened to one of them and why was it so important to replace the one to bring the number back to 12? Acts 1:21,22 tells us that they felt compelled to replace Judas as a witness to Jesus’ resurrection. They nominated 2 out of a family of about 120 believers. They cast lots and the lot fell on Matthias to be added as the new 12th disciple.

I believe like the loyal football fan, all of us believers are the 12th person. We may have not been present to see the resurrection but should remain in the game to see His victorious return. Until the game is over let us continue to bear witness to the truth, light, life and word.

T

 

If I may challenge your memory, I would like to remind my readers of the assignment to count the number of times the word love or loved appeared in my referenced passage last week. Also, I would like to correct reference to the word “lease” as should have read “least” as one reader commented last week. Thanks for the edit. My message this week again is all about love.

In order to write about love, I am constantly reminded of the one person who love me in spite of myself. She was my mother. I hope all of you had a chance this week to travel into the depths of your memories to enjoy those times you felt your mother’s love. I suspect if your mother was like mine, sometimes it was a hard love to teach me a lesson. I remember being so hard headed that I was convinced I should wear my football uniform to school as I thought the coach had required. Wrong! My mother tried to persuade me until finally I had to learn the hard way. This is one of my most embarrassing memories. My mother showed some hard love but backed it up with her soft love as she followed the bus to school with a fresh change of proper school clothes. I can laugh about it now but then was devastated. Can you remember memories of your actions as a child or young adult where your mother showed unconditional love? To me, it is all about love whether hard or soft or just being present to pick us up when we fell. What greater love is that?

1 John 5:1 reminds me of grand parents, who loves the child born to the parent. I suppose that is what makes those of us who are blessed to be grand parents so appreciative of our parents, especially our mothers. What we thought was hurtful actions preventing us from being ourselves are now in our memories as actions of love to teach us how to live. If we love Jesus, God loves us and our memories of His commandments serve as our weapons against this cruel world. Jesus even encapsulated all of God’s commandments into one commandment to love each other just as he loved us, as written in John 15:12.

I attended a funeral the other day of a loved Grand and Great Grand Mother and the memories flowed like water through our eyes and hearts. None of us are perfect except in our mother’s eyes. So as we grow and our actions turn into memories for our children and grand children, may we consider the foundation of love in all that we do.

T

Course is the route or direction followed. Course is a dish, or a set of dishes forming a meal. If the course is of a liquid, it moves without obstruction. All these definitions for course comes from good ole google. But I would like to consider the course or path of lease resistance. As a liquid moves without obstruction or sometimes around obstructions, so too can we move along the course of life to avoid resistance. That’s a good thing sometimes but all too often is an easy way out. It can lead to a dead end and no where else to turn as time runs out. As Mother’s day approaches, first off, remember your mothers and second, remember that mothers take a course of resistance to keep us safe and love us in spite of us.

Let’s take the words “love” and “hate” and consider the course these words take in our lives. Hate or hatred begins with conflict whether perceived in misunderstanding, or hurtful words, or physical action which results in a reaction. The course of hatred leads us to more conflicts, wars and destruction. The aftermath is a mess so we have to pick up the pieces and try to reconcile with a short term peace accord. Hatred is still the driving mechanism that leads us to do it all over again. The endless cycle continues until we run out of time for an ultimate reconciliation. The course of hatred is easy and can even provide some satisfaction for those seeking a win at all cost. The course of love is not so easy therefore some fail to take this course as it seems too hard.

If we take the course of love, we find ourselves in conflict with hate. Should we resist hate? If we resist hate, we have a slim chance for conflict resolution. It may take several iterations with failure as part of the final resolution but if we persist going down the course of love, the end result will be an ultimate resolution. The key to success is a two way communication with love as the driving vehicle.

A mother’s love is a close model to God’s love for all of us. Did God take the course of lease resistance when he sent his son to be sacrificed for all of us sinners? Did our mothers take the course of lease resistance when she told us time and time again no? She said no because she loved us and wanted to protect us. True love is not to be taken lightly. When we look back on our past, are we grateful for the good fruits we produced because of our parents love? In 1 John 4:7-21 the word love or loved is repeated ______ times. Your assignment if you so choose is to discover for yourself how many times repeated. I would appreciate your comments.

The repetition of love is the only way in my opinion we can counteract the natural human tendency to hate. Reference to the true vine in John 15:1-8 is another way of saying remain connected to true love that way when you produce good fruit, we prove that we are part of the ultimate solution.

T