The word Christian has lost its true biblical meaning; there are lots of people who claim to be Christians today and they have no idea what it means to be a Biblical Christian or may be ignorant of whom were called Christians in the Bible. In a world of political correctness and relativism is hard to distinguish true Christians from nominal Christians or Christians by name.
The story of the preacher and the man: “Son you need to join the Lord’s army.” “I am in the Lord’s army already pastor” said the man. “Why do I only see you in church twice a year?” “Oh, I belong to the secret service.”
The majority of us are familiar with the term undercover cop or agent. One whose main purpose blend in while hiding his true identity. Undercover: done or working in a secret way in order to catch criminals or collect information.
What if I told you that for the rest of this week, in every text you send, every email you write, every conversation you have regardless who you talk to, you have to skip every third word. No matter what, you have to skip every third word. How do you think you you’d do that? How long do you think you would last? How helpful or productive do you think you’d be?
It would be awkward if not downright frustrating, right?
It would be so hard to get across the simplest of ideas
There is a phrase people like to throw out very loosely. “Only God can judge me” When people say this, this only partially true because in saying it, you ignore the great deal of judgment that takes place around you. The place where you live have authority figures who will judge your behavior; at work they will evaluate your effort and dedication (employee of the month) that is a judgment call;
Some of you who watch sports know that there are many advantages to being the home team. It plays in his home count, it gets the cheers of the crowd; the atmosphere favors it. When the OKC Thunder could not win game 6 at home, everyone thought they would lose because they would then face the Golden State Warriors in their home court where they were truly dominant.
You see when you are the away team, the atmosphere in the building is hostile towards you; you truly have to set your mind to play well because no one will be cheering for you.
Last week we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus. We talked about how the resurrection is truly the reason Christianity even exists. It is what gives us hope of eternal life. The apostles didn’t expect the resurrection, this is why they were amazed when they saw Jesus. Jesus began to appear to his disciples, to give them evidence that he was truly alive. This changed their sadness into joy. Imagine how joyous it would be to see the man who was killed talking with them again. John tells us that the evening of the same day when Jesus rose from the dead, the disciples were gathered, but Thomas was not there. Thomas is known my many as doubting Thomas, but I think we all could relate to him at some point in our lives.
Doubt is defined: as to be uncertain about something; to believe that something may not be true or is unlikely. To have no confidence in someone or something. Doubt is very common in us, it comes from the time the first humans doubted God.
Today is what is known in our times Palm Sunday, a week before Easter or resurrection Sunday. The Bible calls this time, the triumphant entry, the time when Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem, a week before his death. This story is told in the four gospels. Why is this significant? This is the only time in which Jesus openly revealed himself as the expected messiah to the world. We know that Jesus’ identity had baffled a lot of people, but a week before Jesus died, he showed himself to the world as the expected messiah.
There were lots of people in Jerusalem at this time for the Feast of Passover was near.
There are so many means of communications; people use all kinds of devices to communicate with others, radio, phone, letters, text, face to face communication. Communication is a very important thing; a relationship would not thrive if there is not good communication. Today you can communicate via skype, video chat with someone in a different continent. But nothing replaces face to face communication, to actually see the person in front of you.
There is a need to redefine our theology today; most of us grew up believing certain things that have been passed from generation to generation. We have believed them without questioning. There are lots of things people believe today just because it makes them feel better about themselves; however, that doesn’t mean their beliefs are accurate or true. Sometimes we believe things without applying logic or reasoning. We don’t research it ourselves to see if they are true. As disciples of Jesus we need to know what God has said and says in his book, the Bible. Our theology will be messed up if we don’t know the teachings of the Bible. For example, most people believe they are children of God just because they are humans and believe God exists. What does the Bible say? Who are the children of God? How does a person become a child of God?
Most people define peace as the absence of war or conflict. Webster’s dictionary defines peace as a state in which there is no war or fighting. It is freedom from civil disturbance; a state of tranquility or quiet; a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom.
This definition of peace that most people have goes against peace as described in Scripture.
We talk about love a lot in church; most church people know how much God loves them. We know this without a doubt. All we have to do is to look at the cross to see God’s love poured out for us. The question is not does God love? But rather, how much do you love God? Do you truly love Jesus? God demonstrated his love for us in this, while we were sinners Christ died for us. Therefore, love must be shown and Jesus said that we show we love him when we keep his teachings
