Beware

Read Matthew 16:1-12

Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came,

 and hailing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.

He answered and said to them, 

“When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’;

“and in the morning, “It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’  Hypocrites!  You know how to discern the face of the sky,

 but you cannot discern the signs of the times.

“A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign,

 and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” 

 And He left them and departed.

Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.

Then Jesus said to them, 

“Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”

Then they understood 

that He did not tell them to beware the leaven of bread, 

but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

                                                                                             Matthew 16:1-6,12
Do you know what you believe, and why you believe it?  Is what you believe based on the Scriptures?  Can you support your beliefs from the Bible and not take verses out of context?  Is what you believe based only on what you have heard from pastors, priests, evangelist, and those on television?
We are not all Bible scholars, but we should all have a good idea of what the Bible says.  We should believe it, read it, as often as we can, from cover to cover, and ask God to reveal His truths in it.
Most Pastors, priests and evangelists are good people, they truly believe what they teach.  I know I thank God for some very well educated pastors, that have come into my life.
One in particular, couldn’t emphasize enough the need to read the Word of God.  “Study to show thyself approved.”  (2 Timothy 3:15) was a quote he used.  He always asserted that any teacher, no matter how good is “human”, therefore, imperfect and prone to make the odd mistake.  He noted that no church, no denomination has it all right, all make mistakes although, they do their best to get it right, for the most part.
It is therefore, up to us as individuals to read the Scriptures, to know what God is saying.  To know that we are in the right place with God.
Throughout the history, the church, has let the leaven of the Pharisees creep in, every now and then.
The Pharisees simply put, let traditions and man’s interpretation of Scriptures get in front of what God’s word actually said.  They covered the spirit and original intent of the Word of God with traditions and mistaken interpretations, thus changing it’s meaning.

Something to think about

Millions of books have been written, interpreting the Scriptures. Each writer with  a slight bias derived from what they were taught.
That is understandable no factual book has ever been written without some kind of bias. It’s the consequence of “being human” and the free will God has given us.
The bottom line in all of his however, is to be aware of what is being taught.  Read the Scriptures.  Question doctrines that you don’t understand.  If it is truly based on the Scriptures, it will stand to independent scrutiny, and those preaching it will not be afraid to have it questioned.

He who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

Read Matthew 23

“But he who is greatest among you 

shall be your servant.

“And whoever exalts himself 

will be humbled, 

and he who humbles himself

 will be exalted.

                                                                         Matthew 23:11,12
A subtitle in my New King James Bible for this chapter reads, “woe to the Scribes and Pharisees.”
Jesus made it clear that the religious leaders of his day, had placed so many rules and regulations in place around worship, that the meaning God had intended was being lost.  They were even being hypocritical themselves in how things were done.
God intended the laws to point the way to Him.  He wanted to have a relationship with mankind, not rule him like a slave.  The religious leaders of Jesus’ time had placed all these regulations around, that had to be followed so precisely, that it made man a slave to the law.  God had never intended it to be so.
God knows the heart of man.  He knows what we are like on the inside.  God knows if we bring a gift to the altar, whether it is from the heart, out of duty or to impress those around us.
He wants our faith and our love.  It’s really that simple.
God wants to be in our lives and His ways are not the ways of man.  God wants us to be humble, and He in His time, will give us the acknowledgment we deserve.
“But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.” States Jesus here in Matthew 23.
It is only when we have a servant’s heart, that we can succeed for God. Even those, most successful men and women in the secular world have a servant’s heart.  I’ve spoken to many, and they all say, “I provide a service people want.”
These people are successful because they find ways of providing the service better than anyone else.  They are constantly working on how they can improve that service.
As Christians, we must always remember that we are God’s servant and that we cannot do that if we are trying to exalt ourselves.
It is all about God and others, not about us.
Someone once gave me this analogy.  She said:
“Serving God is almost like being the manager of an exclusive hotel.  God is the owner.  He had put the investment into the place.
He has a plan and the best hotel in the world.
We are His managers and it is our job to go out there and implement the plan.  To bring people into the hotel.
In order for us to do this, we must first catch the vision that He has and then go out there and show the people how God can meet all their needs.
      We must show the people that we are willing to serve them for in doing so, we are serving God.”
Something to think about:
All too often, we loose track of the fact that even God humbled Himself and became a man.  That the creator of the universe came down to us, lived among us, served us, and died for us. That he became a servant setting the example for us.  Thus we should do the same.

Christ's Ministry/Our Ministry

"Then Jesus cried out, “When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only,

 but in the one who sent me.  

When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me.  

I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. 

“As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. 

For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.  

There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words;

 that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day.  

For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.  

I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” 

John 12:44-50

Points to ponder about what Jesus says about himself.
• when someone believes in Him they also believe in God who sent Him.
• He as come as a light to the world.
• Anyone who hears Jesus’ word and does not keep them, Jesus at least while on this earth dose not judge him, because he came to save the world.
• There is a judge that will judge in the last days
• Jesus spoke not of his own accord but of the Father
• The words of Jesus leads to Eternal life.

I hear a lot of preachers especially in the media condemning the world and those who espouse different beliefs or lifestyles. This aught not to be.
We as Christians are called to present the Gospel of Christ. To point people to heaven not to judge them. That is God’s job not ours.
I firmly believe that in screaming hell fire and brimstone at people you only push them away.
I have seen too many ministers in the media pointing to a persons or group of person’s sin and telling them that they are going to hell.
I at one time was heading to hell as was every preacher that has ever lived.
Fortunately for me I had a wonderful pastor who accepted me for what I was. He slowly pointed me in the right direction and let the Holy Spirit work in my life, showing me where I was going wrong.
The climax came for me at a Doug Oldham concert in Hamilton Ontario Canada when he was led to ask people who wanted to give their life to Christ.
I stood and while I didn’t go to the front, I became a believer that night and have never looked back.
That was close to forty years ago now.
Today when I look to the best way to present the gospel I look to the Apostle Paul when speaking in Athens, Acts 17:16-32.
He was invited by Stoics and Epicurean to speak in the Areopagus.
Paul simply started at a point they were familiar with and presented the unadulterated message of Christ for them to accept or reject.
He never once condemned them for their beliefs or way of life. As a result some believed some sneered but others wanted to hear more on the subject.
And I think the key here is some actually wanted to hear more of what Paul had to say. Which many times is all we can hope for.
Think about it.

The Strongest Bulwark

Faith in God is the strongest bulwark of a free society.  Human freedom began when men became conscious that over and above society and nature there is a God who created them...who fashioned them in His likeness, and that they are, therefore, possessed of intrinsic and independent significance and are endowed, as individuals, with original and irrevocable rights and authority.
                                  Abba Hillel Silver
All societies around the world believe in an afterlife, weather their governments or the intellectuals of their society believe it or not. Likewise the majority of people believe in God. Some in many god’s.
I wonder without God would mankind even be around today?
Think about it. In order to exist mankind needs a set of morals to live up to. A set of guidelines to live by.
I grew up in the “do your own thing” era. As long as is didn’t hurt anyone you could just do what you wanted.
Still even those who espoused this kind of lifestyle realized there was a basic of rules we had to live by. Do not murder for example, don’t bare false witness. Be honest in all you do.
Which begs the question where did our morals come from?
Was it possible for the cave man to write a universal set of morals? A moral code that even the most ardent atheist follows today thousands of years on?
It seems to me that the basic moral code all people live by is with us from the moment we are born. Perhaps proving it is part of our very make up as human beings. Psalm 139:13 hints at just such a thing,
“For you created my inmost being;you knit me together in my mother’s womb”
For me I cannot believe that all of what we have today is by chance or random acts in the universe that just happened to result in us. There has to be a creator.
As I look at what Atheist and many scientist believe I wonder who has the greater faith, them, or me?
I think it takes greater faith to believe there is no God or Creator of the universe than it does to believe.
I see the world as carefully crafted. Very much in the same way an engineer would build it.
Just looking into something as common as a tree leaf fills me with amazement knowing that beyond what I can see with my naked eye are intricate arrangements of cells. All of which work together to make the leaf what it is.
Such structure to me cannot be mere chance. There has to be a God.
It is my firm belief that given enough time and provided scientist keep an open mind they will one day prove there is a creator. That the universe is not just chaos and random chance.
I see such proof coming to light as scientist study fractals. Its something that has been around for several centuries but only recently, with the advent of modern computer capacity has it started to be studied in depth.
I have a definition of Fractal’s that comes from, what is .com, it states,
“The term "fractal" was coined by Benoit Mandelbrot in 1975. It comes from the Latin fractus , meaning an irregular surface like that of a broken stone. Fractals are non-regular geometric shapes that have the same degree of non-regularity on all scales. Just as a stone at the base of a foothill can resemble in miniature the mountain from which it originally tumbled down, so are fractals self-similar whether you view them from close up or very far away. Fractals are the kind of shapes we see in nature. ...
We find trees, mountains, rocks and cloud formations in nature, but what is the geometrical formula for a cloud? How can we determine the shape of a dollop of cream in a cup of coffee? Fractal geometry, chaos theory, and complex mathematics attempt to answer questions like these. Science continues to discover an amazingly consistent order behind the universe's most seemingly chaotic phenomena.”
I like that last sentence “Science continues to discover an amazingly consistent order behind the universe's most seemingly chaotic phenomena.”
Science is an on going process. It is not complete. All good scientist are continually asking questions searching for answers.
Much of humanity is looking for answers this is most prominent when they are near death or someone close to them is near death.
Sadly today all to many people are looking for the answer to life in all the wrong places.
They need to turn to the Bible and learn about Almighty God and the saving power of His Son Jesus Christ.

Eternal Consequences

Read Titus 2

But as for you, 

speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine:

that the older men

 be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience;

the older women likewise,

 that they be reverent in behaviour,

 not slanderers, not given to much wine,

 teachers of good things–

that they admonish the young women to 

love their husbands, 

to love their children.

To be discreet,

 chaste, homemaker’s, good, 

obedient to their own husbands, 

that the Word of God may not be blasphemed.

Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded,

in all things showing yourself 

to be a pattern of good works: in doctrine

 showing 

integrity, reverence, incorruptibility,”

sound speech that cannot be condemned, 

that one who is an opponent maybe ashamed, 

having nothing evil to say of you.”

                                        Titus 2:1-8
Take a good look at the words above in
* all things showing yourself
* to be a pattern of good works in doctrine showing
* showing integrity,
* sound speech that cannot be condemned
* having nothing evil to say of you.”
All too often, people do have evil to say of Christians, because the example they have seen is negative.
Some groups of people don’t feel welcome in our churches.  They feel they are being condemned.  As a result, they run the other way, when asked to come.
     The world sees self-appointed Christian leaders and speakers, pointing fingers in judgment at various groups. As a result they call all Christians hypocrites, and hate mongers or worse.
The world sees Christian businesses as a Christian version of the secular world.  They see no difference between us and the world.  How sad.
“Judge not” said Jesus.
While Paul here, tells us we should be an example of integrity, reverence, incorruptibility and sound speech that cannot be condemned.  (Titus 2:7)
Something to think about
  I think the key in all of this is that we should be vigilant in what we say and do. We should be very different from the world.
Our churches should be a place where all are welcome regardless of who they are or their lifestyle.
Our Christian leaders should be held to a much higher standard than that of the world. And we should be willing to stand up to those leaders who are in error and correct them in accordance to scriptural principles.
All to often this does not happen but it must.
For if we do not live up to the standards of God. If we do not make our leaders both in the churches and in the media live up to the standards God has ordained for them it will have eternal consequences.
Eternal Consequences for those who don’t live up to the standard and those who were turned from Christ because of them.
Think about it.

Think about it.

“He spreads out the northern  skies  over empty space; 

he suspends the earth over nothing.” 

                                                                                                        Job 26:7
You can think of the Bible what you want. I have always maintained that it is not a science book. It is a book calling people to have faith in the one true God.
Job obviously believed that God created the heavens and the earth as to do I. And  it matters little to me weather the world was formed in six days or six millennium or six trillion years. It does not affect my faith.
Throughout the bible however God reveals Himself to us. He takes a man like Job and inspires him to write the above statement.
On Christmas of 1968 as someone has put it “Apollo 8 discovers the earth,” taking the first ever photograph of earth from space as they orbit the moon.
God is very real and he shows himself in a myriad of different ways to us.
The Psalmist writes,

"The heavens declare the glory of God; 

the skies proclaim the work of his hands." 

                                                            Psalm 19:1                          Astronomers have a place they call the Goldilocks zone. It is the place they look for around distant stars. The place where the right conditions exist for possible life.
The place is like where we are located around the sun.

Our planet is exactly the right distance from the sun. It is exactly the right temperature, (a few degrees either way and we couldn’t live on earth). It has exactly the right balance of gasses, liquids and everything else we need to exist.
That is one of the reasons I firmly believe God exists and that he made the earth the heavens and everything in them.
I firmly believe it takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to be a Christian. I also believe that given time man will see that everything is connected and that connection leads to God.
One just has to look at the complexity of something as simple and everyday as a tree, a blade of grass or an ant climbing on them.
Intricately detailed bio-mechanisms that point to a divine creator.
                                                                                 Think about it.

Where’s your treasure?

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 

Matthew 6:19-20

The other day someone commented that my care was quote “ageing”. I drive a 1991 Honda station wagon.

They told me I needed a new one.
I noted that it’s still in good shape. That with just over two hundred thousand kilometres on it’s just about broken in.
I noted that I never buy new and that I hardly ever pay more than five hundred dollars for a car. With obvious repairs to pass the government’s mechanical fitness requirements the total cost of the car is generally around seven hundred or so.
Usually the cars last me a couple of years, five if I’m lucky.
Still the person thought that me buying a new or nearly new one would look better.
It was then I realized that we were at different ends of the spectrum as far as material things go.
He was very much upper middle class Canadian with a lot of the toys. The nice fifteen hundred square foot house. Manicured lawns, nice up to date cars, designer clothes, flat screen television, computers and so on.
In order to get them he worked long hours and while he  a Christian he quite often missed church on Sunday. Even during the week he would skip bible study in favour of work or looking after his property.
I on the other hand have an illness that at times prevents me from working. Still I own my own business and can choose when I work. Thus I schedule my work around what’s happening at church.
I did this even when I was employed in a so called normal job. I’m far from perfect but I firmly believe that God must come first in my life. It is something I’ve instilled in my children and both are very active in their churches today as adults.
While it would be nice to have millions of dollars. I’m happy with my ninety-one Honda and my tiny nine hundred square foot home that was built in 1949. My second hand lap top computer, a stereo record player, that plays real vinyl records. O and there’s a wind up and a small battery powered radio in case of emergencies.
It’s more than most people in this world have and my situation gives me the opportunity to serve my Lord better.
Isaiah the prophet wrote,

A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” 

“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 

The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” 

                                                                                                           Isaiah 40:6-8.
What we have in this world will wither and ultimately pass to someone else eventually turning to dust.
It’s only what’s done for Christ that will last.
Are you more into the “toys” of life or Christ?
Think about it.

Can God say no?

“After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.  
David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground.  
The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. 
On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, “While the child was still living, we spoke to David but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.” 
David noticed that his servants were whispering among themselves and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” 
Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.” 
                                                                        2 Samuel 12:15-20
I listened to a pastor not too long ago that said God always wants us to be healthy. I agree with that.
I think a loving God like any normal earthly parent wants their children to be healthy.
Unfortunately the pastor went on to say God will never refuse your request for anything.
This can’t be further from the truth. God does say no, again like any other normal earthly parent would. The above scripture proves that.
God said no to king David’s prayers when it came to the healing of his child with Uriah’s wife.
God also said no to Jesus. Matthew records,
“Going a little farther, he (Jesus)  fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” 
                                                                                                          Matthew 26:39.
God does say no. He knows what we can handle and allows us to go through many things we don’t necessarily want to go through.
I think we as believers and being human, cannot see the eternal reasons God allows us to go through something.
The child David prayed for, for example.
We have no idea what his living would do to the world around him.
Had he lived he may have come in conflict with Solomon the child David fathered after him (2 Samuel 12:24).
Instead God chose to call the child home to a much better place.
In the case of Jesus, his purpose in coming to the earth was to die for the sins of mankind. A fate he willingly accepted when God said no.
So the point here is that God does say no. He will not answer all our prayers in the way we want them answered.
God knows what is best for us. And if we are truly committed to God we must be willing to say as Jesus said “Yet not as I will, but as you will”
Think about it.

Draw near

Read Hebrews 10

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,

 having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience

 and our bodies washed with pure water.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,

 for He who promised is faithful.

And let us consider one another

 in order to stir up love and good works,

not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,

 as is the manner of some,

 but exhorting one another,

 and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

                                                                                                           Hebrews 10:22-25
This chapter of Hebrews covers a wide range of things.  It tells us, that the sacrifice of animals is insufficient.  That Christ’s death perfects the sanctified and the just by faith.
In the middle of it all, verses 22 to 25 makes the statement:
1. “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith
2. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,
3. let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good work
4. not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.”
We all have a need to draw close to God with a true heart.  We need to hold onto what we believe.  In order to know what we believe we need to study the Word of God.
We also need a free flow of ideas and to know there are others out there, that believe as we do.  We can only do this, if we come together as a body.
We may disagree with one another on various things, but that should not stop us from coming together as believers to worship and serve God.
We need to be encouraging one another to keep on going, until the return of Christ. To evangelize, to teach, and to grow in Christ.
Due to our need to earn a living and tend to the basic necessities of life, the majority of us, cannot this side of heaven spend the majority of our time in church or among believers.  Still, we should want to.
Our passion should be to serve God in whatever way He would use us.  We should also have a yearning to be around God’s people to praise God with them.  To learn and simply fellowship with them.
Something to think about:
We need to get passionate for God and let Him use us.  “Forsake not the assembling of yourself,” But let’s not limit that to church, let’s get together at various places, and invite unsaved friends and neighbours as well as Christians to the meeting.
Perhaps take a none Christian with some other believers to a sports event, movie, theatre or other event.
What have you to loose. At the very least in doing so you’ve had a good time and planted a seed for Christ.

Do not show partiality

Read James 2

"My brethren, do not hold the faith of our LORD Jesus Christ, the LORD of glory,

 with partiality.

For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, 

and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 

and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him,

 “You sit here in a good place,”

 and say to the poor man, 

“You stand there,” or “Sit here at my footstool,”

have you not shown partiality among yourselves,

 and become  judges with evil thoughts?

Listen, my beloved brethren:

 Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith

 and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

But you have dishonoured the poor man.

  Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?

Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?

If you have really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, 

“You shall love your neighbour as yourself, 

you do well:

but if you show partiality, 

you commit sin,

 and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

For whoever shall keep the whole law; and yet stumble in one point, 

he is guilty of all."

                                                                          James 2:1-10

We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal...” a quote from the constitution of the United States of America.
Long before that was written this truth was written down in Scripture.  These ideals were not only expressed in the New Testament, but are also expressed in the Old Testament also.
We have a God who sees the person’s heart, not what is on the outside.
Just because someone enters the church in expensive clothing, doesn’t mean that their heart is clean before God.
All too often, some of the biggest thieves in our society were wealthy.  Sadly, all too often, a person dressed poorly is judged to be lazy or bad.
What James is making clear here is, we are not to show partiality in anything: to people in the church, especially, because of their financial status. He harkens back to Matthew 7:1,2

‘Judge not, that you be not judged,

“For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, 

and with the measure you 

use it will be measured back to you.

Something to think about
Jesus states the greatest commandment is to love God and the second is,

“You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’

                                                                                                    Matthew 22:39
James reminds us if we show partiality we sin.
Do you judge a person by the clothes they wear, the way there hair is done, the size they are, the way they smell?
How would you feel if someone with a blue Mohawk haircut wearing a studded leather jacket, jack boots, with a bad body odour came into your church and sat beside you?
Think about it.

On Being Christian

Read John Chapter 11

"Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany,

 the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

It was that Mary who anointed the LORD with fragrant oil 

and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “LORD, behold, he whom You love is sick.”

When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God,

 that the Son of God maybe glorified through it.”

Now Martha said to Jesus, “LORD, 

if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

“But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus said to her,

 “I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in Me,

 though he may die, he shall live.

“And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Do you believe this?”

She said to Him,

 “Yes, LORD, I believe that You are the Christ, 

the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

                                                                                                           John 11:1-4, 21-27
This is a chapter in contrast.  Martha shows her faith in Jesus, she believes He is the Son of God.  The Messiah prophesied about by the Old Testament prophets.
Jesus states clearly that he is “the resurrection and the life, and He proves it by raising Lazarus from the dead, after he’d been buried.
The religious leaders of the time recognized that Jesus has done many signs, but refused to recognize the evidence before them.  Instead, they are worried about Rome’s reaction.
“Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do?  For this Man works many signs.  If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”  John 11:47,48.
It seems as though politicians (and the scribes and Pharisees were religious politicians) never change.
All too many politicians, who claim to be Christians, don’t fear God.  Instead, they fear losing their position or status because of their beliefs.  They follow what is politically expedient. They only pay lip service to being a Christian.Something to think about
Politicians are not alone.  There are many business men, workers and other people out there, who refuse to take their stand in public out of fear of losing their position, their family and friends.
Christianity is a way of life. If we truly love God then our lifestyle should reflect Christ. People should know we are Christian without us saying a word.
Does your lifestyle tell people you’re a Christian?

He who Loves Christ

Read Matthew 10

“He who loves his father or mother more than Me

is not worthy of Me.

And he who loves son or daughter more than Me

is not worthy of Me.

“And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me

is not worthy of Me.

“He who finds his life will lose it,

and he who loses his life for My sake

will find it.

“He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

                                                                                                                              Matthew 10:36-40
“He who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.”  
Quite the statement.
Jesus in this paragraph is sending out His disciples.  He is telling them what to expect, He lays everything on the line.  He makes it clear that what He is and what He is teaching is controversial.
He also makes it very clear, they have to make up their minds who they will serve.  
  Jesus states clearly,

“He who loves his father or mother more than Me

 is not worthy of Me. 

 And he who loves son or daughter more than Me

 is not worthy of Me.”  

We may have to chose between our family and God.
In North America, we rarely hear of such a thing happening, but in some cultures coming to know Christ gets you cast out of the family, at the very least.
It could get you put in jail or even put to death.
We here in North American and the western world are blessed at this moment in time.  We have freedom to worship and even if our families may disagree with us, they usually accept us.
In many ways, that freedom is a double-edged sword, because we may not take our commitment to Christ seriously enough.  Tending to give Him second best in our lives.
There are times in our lives when we have to skip a church service or event for the sake of a family event, but such events should I believe be rare.  
Generally most family events come at times late enough for us to catch morning church service. We should if at all possible attend at least one Sunday service even when we are away from our home church.
There are times when our job gets in the way. But if it starts getting in the way too much we should reconsider where we are working?
I know, I work for myself and because I’m in children’s entertainment most of my work is on weekends, Saturday or Sunday.
I however am fortunate in that most of the time I  can arrange our Sunday work to fall between services at our home church.
On the rare times I can’t I listen to a service on television or radio. Taping a service if necessary.
I strongly feel Christ should be number one in our lives. .
Something to think about:
We must love Christ so much, that it shows to the world around us in word and deed.  Our life must be in Christ, and revolve around Him,”
How dedicated to Christ is your life?