Hypocrite

Do you know a hypocrite? Have you pointed this out to someone before that what they've done goes completely against what they have said to you? Has anyone ever pointed out to you that your actions fly in the face of the beliefs that you say you hold?

Oh really, no one?

Come now you must be joking. No one has ever pointed out that you as a christian should love your neighbour as yourself while you scream obscenities at those who have offended you. Maybe it wasn't that bad, maybe you only thought these things. Of course if no one knows how much of hypocrite you are does that still make you a hypocrite?

Of course it does. In fact it puts you in a good company with some pretty famous people. Also a few infamous people as well. In fact it puts you in company with every person on the face of the earth. We are all hypocrites. Its just that sometimes we just haven't had it pointed out to us, yet.

Consider it pointed out to you.......NOW!

Imagine if you could see yourself like some hovering camera that permenantly looks at everything you do at church (if you don't go to church try another place where you are at your best behaviour) . Then think of how that compares to the rest of your life.

Can someone look at you here at the place where you act the best and then take that as a measure of who you are everywhere else? Are you the same here as you are everywhere else?

Do you measure up? Honestly do you at you best measure up to the standards you believe in?

You don't do you?

Thats great cause I don't either. No human being ever has, apart from Jesus that is.

In Jesus time there were 2 kinds of hypocrite. The kind who realised they were and those who didn't.

Those who didn't were the Pharisees, the religious elite the ultra-orthodox super religious do everything by the boook dot the i's and cross the t's people. The scoffed at Jesus and treid their beest to bring Him down with their questions and tricks. These men professed to know God to understand Him and they did, in their heads as a list of laws. They did what they had to do and made sure others saw it. They also made sure none saw their faults and their sins.

In Luke 18:9-14 Jesus gives a story about those Pharisees.

Luke 18:9-14
⁹Jesus told a story to some people who thought they were better than others and who looked down on everyone else:

¹⁰Two men went into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee stood over by himself and prayed, "God, I thank you that I am not greedy, dishonest, and unfaithful in marriage like other people. And I am really glad that I am not like that tax collector over there. ¹²I go without eating for two days a week, and I give you one tenth of all I earn." ¹³The tax collector stood off at a distance and did not think he was good enough even to look up toward heaven. He was so sorry for what he had done that he pounded his chest and prayed, "God, have pity on me! I am such a sinner."

¹⁴Then Jesus said, "When the two men went home, it was the tax collector and not the Pharisee who was pleasing to God. If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honored."

Which camp are you in? Honestly, which one are you in? You better think about it cause a lot depends on this. This realisation of personal hypocrasy is required. Humble yourself, you will be honored says Jesus. Did the Pharisee humble himself or did the tax collector.

Tax collectors, Prostitutes, Theives, Leppers, the Blind, the Lame these were those who gathered round Jesus for the grace He was brining. Yet here we are professing to live His way and do we always? I know I don't do it always and my reaction when I finally realise my hypocrasy is the same as these outcasts and deviants those "greedy, dishonest, and unfaithful". I need Jesus and the Grace He has poured out for me.

There is more to the life we live than just the time we spend at church with everyone looking on. Jesus called the Pharisees white washed tombs. Pure and white on the outside but inside full of dead and decaying bodies. Is that how we live professing to be spiritual and Godly but not living in His peace and love troubled in our thoughts and relationships. Are we unable to love others and show the Grace that He showed us. Do you love your neighbours as yourself?

I don't, in fact my cynical and black heart has come up with some astonsihingly evil words about others and its only recently that God has shown this to me. People who don't follow Jesus have said "Phill for a Christian you're incredibly cynical." I also got "At first I thought you were nice, but you have a real nasty streak."

How do we do this? The same way the tax collectors and prostitutes and disciples did. They listened to His teachings, watched and learned His voice and who He is. They got to know Him personally, they had a realtionship with Him. This is the same for us there is contact to Jesus thorugh His spirit, through prayer, through the word He has left for us. We are free to do this to envelop oursleves into His open Grace ready to be loved beacuse we realise that on our own we can never get there. He is the one who gives the Grace to live the life He lived. The lie is that we can't, that there is no way to change our spots. Through Christ all is possible and as we grow in Him by getting to know Him through His word and His spirit these things will be passed.

Do you know this Jesus who is there for us Hypocrites?

Or are you a white washed tomb?

Back in 2009. Inside versus Outside

This hasn't been the most consistantly used blog for me at all. Of course you'll see that when you look at the fact that the other posts are all 2 years ago.

What happened thischristianguy? I hear you all ask.

Well I changed my way of preparing the messages I was going to give. I started just talking them out to myself while walking the dog. Of course now the dog barks in tounges - its just a joke.

So now I'm going to begin again posting my message preparations.

Its 2 weeks till my next deadline and I'm already playing around with the concept of inside/outside - Jesus versus The Law. You know the whole whitewashed tombs hypocrasy thing in Mathew 23.

Matthew 23:27-28
²⁷"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness.

²⁸"So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Jesus' teachings focused on the decisions you make, what you think and beleive, on your heart. Not on what people see you do and how you look. The people of Jesus' day had a way of seeing things that was skewed to the visual, only seeing the acts of a person and their physical state. This extended to the sick, ill and disabled. You can see it in the question the disciples ask Jesus about the Blind Man.

John 9:1

¹As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who had been blind since birth. ²Jesus' disciples asked, "Teacher, why was this man born blind? Was it because he or his parents sinned?"

Being pop culturaly minded I find myself thinking of another character who saw things differently. Jay from Men in Black.

Jay looks beyond the exterior appearance of the monsters in the shooting gallery. He sees that one of them is working out, the other is sneezing, and that the white girl in the ghetto with quantum physics books is "Up to somthing". This an obscure way of explaining what Jesus does with all of us, but thats just how revolutionary Jesus teaching is. It's a whole new way to understand the world. Before Jesus everything was external, everything to do with the Jewish faith was to do with your actions. Boys were circumcised, animals were sacrificed, purification and washing of the body was essential, the temple was in the city huge and larger than life. People struggled to keep up with the laws that the Pharisees had established. Of course for the Pharisees to keep ahead of everyone else they went to extremes. They tithed from their spices. This would be akin to thithing from your sock drawer, or teaspoons, or pens, staples, paper clips.

This kind of strict adherance is scary but its still done, yes its done by the religious right wing fantatics in every fait, but its not just Jews, Chrisitians and Muslims. Its done by people folowing trends and lifestyles be it Goth, Geek, Extreme Sports, you name it. We live our lives with a template which we have decided up on or have had decided for us. This is how we present ourselves. The Pharisees presented themsleves was as pious and clean,Jesus called them white washed tombs. How they looked was a facade, merely a mask which hid dead bones.

All of the external trappings we do only mask the fact that on the inside we are like the Pharsiees, dead bones. We need to look on the inside of ourselves and see this is true. Jesus looks inside us all and tells us there needs to be a clean up. Of course this clean up can't be done by ourselves we need purification but not just the washing of our bodies but out hearts as well. A kind of spiritual irrigation is needed. The Jewish customs and traditions all delt with the outside, markings of your body like circumcision, rituall cleansing, sacrifice and the temple. Jesus said he came not to destroy the law but to filfill it. Jesus came to make us Temples for His Holy Spirit. He is the one and only complete sacrifice who died on the cross and rose again, whose blood makes us clean washing away our sin. He asks us to circumcise our hearts and cut out the dead and decaying parts of us that are worthless that lead us into those old ways. Paul describes this best.

Romans 12:2

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

We need to realise that how we look on the outside isn't as important as how we are on the inside. We can change, we can do more than just what people expect us to be. Jesus is able to do this in us, if we are willing to submit to Him, becoming a Temple of His Holy Spirit. Then He will begin the job of transforming us into the person He wants us to be.

Yeah thats almost there.

God bless

Another Sermon...

Sermon ugh! thats not the best word to use. It has connections to Sunday's spent being bored to death by young men who didn't know what to say or old men who didn't know how to get my attention.
God I hope I'm neither of those.
Well I'm quite sure I may well be one of those to someone, someday.
I prefer to use the word message. It has a better emphasis. It gives me peace that I'm just giving a message, being God's messenger. The importance is on God and the message and I the messenger am merely the mouthpiece for a period of time. It puts the focus for me off myself and on to Him. So (hopefully) if I'm coming to this not trying to exalt myself and only Him then maybe others wont try to exalt me either. My ego does not need the stroking. Of course when I think of being a messenger I think of a Herald.

The first one that comes to mind is Montjoy from Henry the V.

I told you my ego didn't need any help.

But onto the message for the 10th of August which is a fortnight away and at the moment a fortnight is what I seem to need to find what God wants me to say.

I got the early seeds of the current message from listening to a podcast from the Times Square church of David Wilkerson. Yes that Dave Wilkerson who was played by Pat Boone in the movie version of "The Cross and the Switchbalde".
No I am not going to mention that Eric Estrada played Niki Cruz - bother! - I did. Lord please help me not to geek out anymore on a blog dedicated to you and not to the fact that I spent way too much time (and still do sigh!) on geeking out.

Now in this message given in the pod cast the bloke mentioned that "We don't know what God is doing." He was emphasising that we need to understand God from His point of view. We need to look past our current circumstances and look to God. We need to find out where God is leading us.

When I heard this I instantly thought of Joseph. You know Joseph and the Coat of many colours, who had all the funny dreams and whose brothers sold him into slavery. Joseph who by doing nothing but the right thing got thrown into Gaol. Joseph who ended up being raised to be second in charge of the Egyptian empire. Joseph who was able to provide for his family in abundance despite the famine in the land. Joseph who realised that even though what his brothers did they did for evil. God used it for His good purposes.

There are many stories such as these in the bible old and new testament. Ruth comes to mind, as well as Daniel. Also Paul and Silas in Gaol. But there are other ways God moves apart from saving people through circumstances manipulated by Him. Sometimes its ridiculous

In Mathew 17:24-27 we have a strange piece where Jesus runs into the officials again and deals with it in His own way. Its a real throw away part but I think there's more there than you can see straight away. It shows Jesus contempt of the religious authority its really offhand. I'd better include it here so you can all read it for yourselves.

The Temple Tax

24After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax^[b]?"

25"Yes, he does," he replied.
When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. "What do you think, Simon?" he asked. "From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own sons or from others?"

26"From others," Peter answered.

"Then the sons are exempt," Jesus said to him. 27"But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."

Because we are Sons we don't have to pay to use the temple. It leads to the new temple which God's Holy Spirit will live in (which is Us) and the fact that right now we don't have to pay for it.
What grabs me is that its laughable. In fact if you listen to the New Testament narration I have they have Jesus actually laugh.

Can you imagine what someone who was walking by when Peter was fishing for this one fish.
"Hey Pete whatchya Fishing for?"
"Ummm! Well the Rabi told me to catch a fish for Him" replies Peter not telling the whole story. Because its a bit stupid to be fishing for a fish which Jesus said would have money in it.
Then the line goes taught and Peter pulls the fish in. The passer bay expecting Peter to remove the hook and put the fish aside is taken by surprise when in the fishes mouth there is money.

Of course Peter is just as surprised as the passer by. I wonder if Peter got it then, He probably didn't. If your listening to Jesus and following Him, sometimes its going to seem really foolish to do what He's asked of you.
Its happened to me.
My parents packed my family up from the security of our own home (which was a year or two short for being owned by them outright) and moved our family to another part of Australia. They told me that they were following what God told them. My best friend told me not to go. I never heard what my Nanna said but I remember her crying as we left Perth in the bus. She must have thought my parents were crazy. I'm quite sure that my parents thought they were crazy. For me at the time it was a great big adventure.

Its an adventure that continues to today. At this moment I have a total of $40 or so dollars to my name. I am currently behind a month on my rent. There is money coming but its not coming as fast as I'd really like it too. However despite all of this the money is coming at the right time. Bills are being paid on time, except the rent but the Landlords knows Jesus too and is willing to trust Him and not me for the money. Is there panic? Yes I feel it from time to time. It scrambles at my emotions and tries to make me fear. The amazing thing is that there is this calm that I feel about it all too. I have a decision to make.
Do I
a) Freak out and scream and rant and rave about it all.
b) Pack up and move back in with my parents.
c) Exercise a little bit of faith and grab hold of that calm that God's Holy Spirit is providing me.

Of course its C. I have been grabbing hold of that calm for three months now. God has paid the bills and the insurance for the car on time. I don't need to worry. Jesus told us not to.

Matthew 6:31 (New American Standard Bible)
31"Do not ^(A)worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?'

32"For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for ^(AP)your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

33"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and ^(AQ)all these things will be added to you.

34"So do not ^(AR)worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

So whats the conclusion here?

Where am I getting to?

Well this is a message from God not a sermon so I guess I gotta ask God for the next bit.

I seem to be moving in the direction that leads us to not worry about our situation. That if we take our eyes off ourselves and look to Him. We find ourselves not worrying about these little concerns. We know God's track record with money. We know he wants to provide for us. I don't mean prosperity here I mean your needs. For you to be fed and clothed and housed these are concerns that He WILL provide for. He provided for Joseph, he provided for Ruth, Daniel and so many more. He WILL provide for you.

See it from His perspective. Realise you are not the center of the universe. You are not the star in your own personal sitcom. He is. Once you change your attitude and decide that He is the center of the universe. Then the universe will begin to make more sense. Things wont feel the way they felt before because you have changed your perspective.

I could go on here and I probably will when I give this message but for now I'm very happy with where I ended up. Well where He got me ending up at.

Thanks.

God bless.

The Single Christian Man

Its my experience that as a single Christian man things aren't the easiest. There seems to be only so many single Christian women of an acceptable age. I add acceptable age because being 34 I don't think its all that cool to be considering young girls 25 and under as possible candidates. This does make it hard, the fact that I've put certain conditions on a possible partner. I have many (unsaved) men telling me the only consideration is that they be legal. However I have known of Christian men marrying women 10 to 15 years their junior (I also know of the reverse happening too).

But all of this is beside the point and has little to do with what I'd like to address. Which simply is "are you putting certain standards on what God can provide in a wife or husband?"

Are you? No really search your heart and I'd be surprised that you don't have some pre-concieved idea about looks, earning capacity, age, ethnic background, intelligence. If its not this then it may be the fact that you have a senario in your head as to how it will occour. These are notions that you've either made up or accepted from the world. Even the ones from your Parents, your friends and even your Pastor. They are false. Only God knows the how, the why and the when. If you desire marriage and all that goes with it then I suggest you look to Him.

The world tells us if it feels good, do it. God tells us differently. Paul advises that it would be better if we weren't married at all and stayed single. Paul's advice is given in 1 Cor7:7-8 and is rather confronting.

1 Corinthians 7:7-8
I wish that all men were as I am. But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.
Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am.

At 22 I thought that I'd be married by now. Now at 34 I can tell you that there are things I can do for God that I could never be able to do if I had a wife and kids. Paul's advice is one that leads down the path of service.

1 Corinthians 7:32-35
I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord's affairs—how he can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.

Being single we can give our all to God to the point where we are available at any moment to drop what we are doing and follow His lead. To be able to have time to listen and pray and study the scriptures. To grow and let Jesus be the all in all of our lives.

That is a hard challenge, give up something that we have been taught all our lives to expect. Its something thats supposed to be given to us, we are supposed to find that certain someone that Eve to my Adam. I often feel that way "Shouldn't i get this, everyone else is". Yet we all know of Spinster Aunts and Batchelor Uncles. It happens. Therefore is marriage not for all of us?
No Marriage is for all of us, just not for some in this world.
All of us who get married and those who don't will as the Bride of Christ experience a marriage of a kind not see before. Jesus is the one true groom who waits expectantly for His Bride the Church. This marriage will happen at the end of this world and the begining of the next. But we can find rest for ourselves in the fact that we are a part of His bride now.

We can find in Him the centre of our lives as one finds it in a wife or a husband. It isn't a lead role like a husband its not as a servant too. We become heirs with Him just as a wife becomes a part of the husbands family we will become a part of Jesus family, the God head.
But for now we should look to Him for direction as a wife looks to her husband. You are loved by Him, and this love isn't the Eros love that we get from a spouse. Its an AGAPE love that is deeper and stronger.

So don't be sad if you are not married. You are promised already to the true Groom. Jesus will always love you, Jesus will never forsake you. Jesus is the perfect groom. You will get none better than He.

Cleaning out the Temple

Sometimes I feel like I need to do this.
Just get there on Sunday and go around knocking sense into people.
Jesus did it.
He rolled through the temple with a whip and kicked them out. All the peddlers and merchants selling their wares were abruptly sent out of the temple. They did good business in the temple. I'm quite sure there were kick backs to the priests so you got a good spot.

But all of that is merely an aside to what I'm really getting to.

Church would be so much easier without all those people in it. Then with just me and Jesus we could clean up this one horse town. I'd have no one in my face talking about crazy stuff and struggling with the fact the this person is not doing it the right way. There will be peace and I'll be able to relax and have a great time.

Of course I'm never going to do this. I know its just so stupid to do. Why do I want to get rid of everyone when the problem is that the temple I need to clean out is my own. My own understanding of God's grace is lacking. I have not accepted His peace.

The reason why other people annoy and frustrate us is because we believe they have problems that we hold ourselves. They also have other traits that are human and we see them when what we need to see is the fact that they are like us. Fallen human beings who have grabbed hold of the promise of Jesus Christ and His saving grace. They need to be loved.

Its pride that says to us. I know more than you listen to me. I know what you need to learn. Follow me and I will lead you in a deeper understanding of Jesus. You need to show love and care. You can't teach anyone if you think your better because you know a bit more. Its a fine line and you can fall into it so very easily.

If you find yourself in that situation you need to be patient and ask God what you need to learn from these people. Just because you have a bit more experience in one area doesn't mean that they are any less than you. It may be that these brothers and sisters have something you really need to learn. It also may be that Jesus is working stuff in you, so your squirming is a reaction to Him.

We are all going to heaven half a mile a day. Its a song by Johnny Cash and its just so true. No one gets to heaven any faster than anyone else. We have our walks and they are different because God made us individuals and he deals with us that way.

So when the rest of the Church are running this way and that and things look like chaos realise that they are like you. These people are loved by Christ, he died for them just like He died for you. If He loves them and can deal with them why can't you?

May His peace fill you to overflowing, always.

Preaching blues

I'm getting up this Sunday and preaching. Yep I'm giving a sermon. Its not the first time, but apart from God giving me a no brainer sermon that I know already I'm having to scratch this one out.

I do prefer it when God taps me on the shoulder and says Hey have this pot of gold and give it to everyone on Sunday. I love that. It's only happened once. The other time I've been up there I had an idea that I didn't research well enough and it didn't really fit in with the flow of worship before hand and I was feeling a bit out of place. I went and presented my findings on the armor of God (Ephesians chapter 6:10 and a bit further) but I felt it was a flop. Even after all the encouragement of the rest of the Church I still felt I was at a loss that time.

This time I want to get it right. This time I want to be prepared. So I prayed about what I should be doing, I'm sure about it. James 4:1-11. Thats a pretty hard piece. James calls the believers, murderers and adulterers. He doesn't mince words at all. He tells it as God sees it.

So I'm sitting here at my computer thinking about all of this and wondering if I'm right. Have I found what I'm supposed to be giving? This is hard stuff. Do I want to give this message?

There's a whole load of other things I could do, but God keeps on calling me back here. I can't escape it. There is no other passage of scripture that I can think about other than this one.

I think about my style up there which sort of like rabbit in the headlights at times. My hands shake cause I'm nervous and then I loose my place in my notes and I have to pause for a while and collect myself. I try and rehearse a few bit of it on my walks with the dog and that seems to work a bit. So I'm getting more comfortable with it. Yet I don't want to be copying someone else. I want to be me relating what God has shown me about this piece of very hard scripture.

There are things to explain here and I know I can't get technical. I need for everyone there in Sunday to understand it all. The words need to be simple and if they can't be simple then they need to be explained. I need to make it so that both believers and unbelievers can accept this message. It needs to be a call to those within the Church who are holding back parts of their lives from God and also to those who need to heed his call and come to Him for the first time.

Time passed between this paragraph and the previous on and God's given me a starting point as well as a structure. Praise God.

I should probably start here with the structure and then take it away and fill it out.

• Start with the passage. James 4:1-10 or 11 depends on how its going.
• Begin by explaining the journey this will take and how its supposed to come together
• Where we are now as believers and unbelievers in relation to God
• How we are adulterers
• That God's way out through the death of Christ and His grace is able to cleanse us of our sin and bring us into a new relationship with Him

That all sounds about right. Now all I have to do is write it up including all the side points.

Lean not on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.

Gotta hold on to that don't I.

Bible school

Yes that word does fill me with a bit of dread. Bible school where young Christians go to be infected with the leagalisim and negativity of the old and weary scholars.

Obviously thats not the case and is just a stereotype. But its one I've seen.

So yes as I commenced my little bible school (which if you do the testing it gives you a level of credit toward certain certificates and diploma's available) with some apprehension. I had heard the man who was leading the course preach before and was quite confident that He wasn't a jaded and weary scholar. In fact Tony Schmit is anything but jaded. He's alive and vibrant, you can see his love of the scriptures as he explains it through his own experiences.

I got a lot out of it and I really enjoyed myself. I can't wait till the next installment. The fact that its only on once a month is good but I wish it were on again this weekend.

Gee I'm a bit of a push over. Yet that just shows that my protest was just my snobbery. My experience had put my focus out and I am wary when being taught from someone I don't know. Now thats not all bad, provided you are using your knowledge of the scriptures and taking guiding from Holy Spirit. If you are merely testing the words and deeds of the person teaching you then thats ok. We are taught to check what is taught to us.

But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good;
1 Thessalonians 5:21

Now that context is about prophecy but I think it fits well when it comes to all things that are said to be from God. Whether this is something said in church, or outside church. Don't accept everything said is from God without checking this with the scriptures and also with Holy Spirit. Even Jesus proved himself not just by saying who he was he did things and said things and he can be tested and proven to be true in His actions and deeds. The same must be for all who preach and testify to speak the truth of the Gospel. The words they say may not be what you are used to and some things they do may be awkward. These things may just be tradition and how they are used to expressing themselves. When this occurs be patient, search beyond the way of saying things to the heart of what they are saying. Holy Spirit will confirm his presence in those who are true.

I had another situation this very Sunday at the evening service. Our pastor was explaining faith healing and for an explanation showed Benny Hinn's recent outing in Venezuala. Now Benny's way of doing his thing isn't they way I'd do it. The white suit, his style of speaking. It just grates me. But I cannot deny the miracles that occur when he comes to town. I cannot deny the work of God. I cannot deny the confirming Holy Spirit brings to me when I hear this woman describing the miracle he performed upon her. Have a look.



Benny still grates me though. Why the white suit Benny? Why the white suit?