If there was a world record for “easier said than done”, this statement would win. If Jesus had said, “Don’t kill your enemies,” I believe we would think that to be reasonable. If He had said, “Ignore your enemies,” I believe we would think Him to be a likeable guy who gave good, practical advice. But Jesus skips over those levels, right on past “tolerate your enemy”, and “like your enemy” and straight to “love your enemy.” How do I […]
One of Jesus’ sayings that must have seemed unreasonable to those listening was when He said, “Do not worry.” This is actually humorous if you consider the setting. He’s just told them they have to be holier than the holiest people they know to enter the Kingdom of God; being angry at someone is as bad as committing murder, and, lusting in your heart is the same as committing adultery. Then He says, “Don’t worry!”
You may be familiar with the Sermon on the Mount. In the midst of that message, we find some of Jesus’ most famous sayings. But if we tend to imagine Jesus surrounded by sunshine and rainbows, with bluebirds on his shoulders, we’re wrong. We’re going to take a closer look at the challenging, sometimes downright unreasonable sayings of Jesus, things that most people would ask, “How Do I Pull That Off?”
Everyone has a unique perspective on life. Your perspective becomes the foundation of how you behave, where you go, what you do, and the decisions you make. However, not every perspective is correct; some are flawed. What must we do to identify and correct flawed perspective?
Just as many of our ancestors came to the New World of America sailing by Lady Liberty, so we came into a New World through Jesus Christ. The entire weight of scripture is not only that God brings us out of something but that He brings us into something – the New World of our inheritance in Christ!
When you become a Christian, you become a member of a new race. The Bible only acknowledges two races on earth – the human race and the redeemed race. There are many ethnicities in the human race and there are people of every tribe and tongue and nation in the redeemed race but there are only two races of people.
When you become a Christian, you’re not turning over a new leaf or making an annual New Year’s resolution. You’re not receiving a “better grade” of natural life. You are receiving the actual Life of God that resides in Jesus!
Jesus gave a direct command in His Great Commission to “lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.” He evidently expected us to lay hands on the sick knowing that He would heal them.
The very same Holy Spirit Who did all of Christ’s miracles, raised Him from the dead is still in the Church and has all His life giving power.
All Christians believe Christ died on the cross. You can’t have Christianity without the cross. All Christians also believe that Christ died on the cross for our sins. That is the central theme of redemption. But I can’t say that all Christians believe Christ died on the cross for our sicknesses. Yet the fact is, Christ died on the cross to take away our sicknesses as well as our sin.