The house of prayer

Bible Reading: Matthew 21

Matthew 21:13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Jesus did not tolerate the merchandizing that was taking place in the temple! He turned over tables and cast out those that bought and sold in the temple. These people had turned the house of God into a place to make money. Jesus called them thieves! When I think of this I always think of a few things I see sometimes in churches. We need to think hard about these things.

First, I think of the multilevel marketing businesses and schemes. How many times does a new multilevel marketer decide to try to sell their product or service to the members of their Sunday school class? I have actually seen a person who was just going around to couple after couple at a church fellowship dinner trying to get them to buy something. I wonder what Jesus thinks.

Second, I think of this when I go into a larger church and see a bookstore in the building. I realize they are selling Christian books and products, but… Isn’t that what the people were doing in the temple? Well maybe they were charging too much for the animals and not giving a good exchange rate for the money. This may be true, but is the house of God really the place to conduct business? The church is obviously benefiting from the sale of these products.

Third, I think of bake sales and fundraisers for activities. The worshippers have come to worship God, pray, learn from the Bible and fellowship with other believers. They are bringing their tithes and offerings to place into the church treasury for the purpose of kingdom work and ministry. Then as they are leaving the building, they are accosted by the youth or children’s groups to buy their products to ‘raise money’ for a trip or activity. Please show me the chapter and verse on fundraisers in Scripture?

Money is a big test of discipleship. They way a church handles money is very important. Jesus does not intend for the house of God to be a place of merchandise. It is to be a place of prayer and worship. Please prayerfully consider these practices in light of the fact that Jesus threw some people out of the temple for what they were doing.

In Christ,

Rody

Great fear came upon all the church

Acts 5:11 And great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many as heard these things.

The things that the church heard were the events that transpired with Ananias and Sapphira. They fell down dead one at a time as they lied to the Holy Spirit about a piece of land they sold. They wanted to join with others in the church that sold things and gave the money to the apostles. There was a great need among believing Jews in those days and many people were trying to help. Ananias and Sapphira decided beforehand that they would sell this piece of land but they lied about giving all the money to the apostles. They could have kept all the money or they could have given just a part, but they lied and kept some saying they were giving all. The Holy Spirit made this known to Peter and he confronted them with their lie. They were then struck dead by God for lying to him!

In the early days of the church two priests were struck dead for refusing to regard God as holy. In the early days of the temple, two priests were struck dead for refusing to regard God as holy. Do you remember Nadab and Abihu? They brought strange fire into the Most Holy Place and were killed for it (Leviticus 10). In those early days God acted in a very strong and decisive way to show the people that he meant business about his holiness.

Can you imagine what that early church was like? They people were so shocked by what had happened that they knew that God knew their thoughts and hearts! He still does, by the way! The church should live in a constant state of reverence for the holiness of God. We should do as the preacher says in Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

Don’t lie to God or his people. Don’t lie at all! Let you yeah be yeah and your nay, nay! Have a holy fear of God and revere him as holy. Realize that Christ loved the church and gave himself up for it! The church is God’s family but he will chasten and disciple it’s members.

1 John 5:16-17 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.

Ananias and Sapphira committed a sin unto death. There was no prayer for them. Their time here on earth was over and God took them home. I am quite certain that they were believers who went to heaven, but because they did not revere God and treat him as holy they were taken home.

In Christ,

Rody

Every one that hath forsaken

Bible Reading: Matthew 19

Matthew 19:29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

It costs to follow Jesus. Make no mistake, salvation is free, but discipleship requires complete surerender to Jesus. The disciples had just heard the Lord tell the rich young ruler to sell his goods and give to the poor and come and follow him. It’s hard, Jesus had told them for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. It just can’t be done by man, but God can perform the miracle of salvation in any man.

Matthew 19:27 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?

For those who have forsaken all to follow Jesus, what about them? Jesus told Peter of what was to come.

Matthew 19:28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

During the Millennium, the apostles would sit upon twelve thrones and serve as judges over the twelve tribes! Now think of this small band of Galilean fisherman, tax collectors and zealots becoming judges! That was what Jesus was preparing them for. But not yet…

Not only that, but anyone who forsakes possessions or relations for the sake of Jesus can know that they will receive a hundredfold. They will be living out of the eternal life Jesus has given to them. Then Jesus said this:
Matthew 19:30 But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.

Some who have all these things now will have little or nothing later. Some who forsake all now to follow Jesus will receive these things later. The future glory of the followers of Jesus is something that we cannot fully comprehend. So don’t store up treasure on earth. Store up treasure in heaven. Don’t allow things to get in the way of the mission of Jesus now. Live for Christ and trust him to provide all that you need. Wait patiently for the Lord. In his time, the reward will be incredible!

In Christ,

Rody

Compassion on thy fellowservant

Bible Reading: Matthew 18

Matthew 18:33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

To refuse to forgive is to take the good gifts of God for granted. The story that Jesus told to illustrate forgiveness vividly accentuates this point. One servant owed a king ten thousand talents. There was no way he could repay this amount and he and his whole family were going to be sold to pay for a small portion of the debt. The servant begged the king for more time and the gracious king forgave the whole debt. This man who was just set free went immediately and started choking a fellow servant who owed him a rather small debt in comparison to what he had just been forgiven.

When the king learned how he had treated the other man, he called him back and threw him into prison until he paid the last debt. The king pointed out that he should have had compassion on the other man just as the king had compassion on him. This is the whole point. God has given us grace; we must give this grace to others. God has forgiven us, we should forgive others.

Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

We do not deserve the grace and forgiveness we receive. It is for the sake of Christ that God has forgiven us. Others may not deserve forgiveness in our eyes, but compare that to the way we look to God. No one could owe us as much as we owe God. He has forgiven and so must we. To not forgive is to take God’s grace for granted. To not forgive is to be locked in a prison.

Let us not take the compassion and grace we have received for granted. Let us show compassion to others for the sake of Christ.

In Christ,

Rody

By prayer and fasting

Matthew 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Some spiritual battles are harder to fight than others. That is the bottom line of what Jesus was teaching his disciples. They had grown confident in their ability to deal with the evil influences of devils. After all, they had already cast out devils on other occasions. They had success previously when dealing with these unclean spirits and now they were confused because they were not able to help this man’s son. Why could they on one occasion cast out devils and on another occasion they were not able? Jesus actually rebuked the disciples in this regard:

Matthew 17:19-20 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Jesus said the reason was their unbelief. They did not even have a mustard seed - sized faith or else they could have cast out the devil. This is quite a rebuke! What was it that made Jesus determine that they did not believe? They had not prayed and fasted. Jesus on the other hand had been up on the mountain with Peter, James and John. They had not eaten anything and he had been in prayer for some time when Moses and Elijah appeared to them. He was able to deal with the devil because he was ‘prayed up’. The disciples apparently were not.

What about you? Are you prayed up for the spiritual battles you will face today? Do you launch out into the day without spending time in prayer getting ready? Do you encounter situations that you take for granted and expect that you can easily handle them not realizing that they are spiritual battles that must be fought with spiritual weapons?

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

The disciples were in unbelief because they were trying to use carnal weapons to fight a spiritual battle. This will never work! God has given us the weapons we need. We must use them to fight the spiritual battles that we encounter daily.

In Christ,

Rody