Nobody else. Tell them 'Gods close, closer than you think. Then walk this talk by making sick people better, bringing corpses back to life, clearing up revolting skin conditions and serving knuckle sandwiches to demons. Dont take any extra cash or even an overnight bag on this trip. The people youre helping will provide room and board. Upon arrival, find the best egg you can and be their house guest until your departure date. If the family is cool, than chill with them and youll all have a good time.
If theyre not being cool, then take your good time somewhere else. If people dont want you around and. No joke, theyre going to pay for that kind of attitude.
Im sending you out into a dog-eat-dog world, so dont be naive, but dont get jaded or calloused either. Youre gonna get a chance to talk about me to all kinds of suits, big wigs and grand high mucketymucks.
When you get nailed by the establishment, dont sweat it. Gods Holy Spirit will put the right words in your mouth at just the right time.
Dads will sell out their own sons and kids will have their parents executed, because they have chosen to live for me. Everybody will despise you too, because you represent me. Whoever is hardcore and refuses to sell out will be mine forever. If youre in an area where people are so resistant that they are wailing on you, hit the road and see if theyll listen in the next town. Believe me, you wont run out of towns before I come back.
They have the privilege and opportunity to learn from their bosss clever know-how and mad skills. But, if your boss is resented and called bad names, the guy training under him will get no better treatment. In fact, youll probably be treated worse, because youre an easier target. Dont be intimidated by them. Its time to explain the secret and mysterious ways of God right out in the open where everyone can hear. You have a purpose for living now, so dont be afraid of dying.
Sure, they might try to kill you, but this mission is worth the risk. Gods in control even when things get hairy and you have to trust him to know what Hes doing with you. Dont be afraid, because He is watching out for you always. If you sell out, then forget about Heaven.
Its not an option. I came down to shake everybody to the core, and to let them know that its time to choose sides. This is no game. Girls will hate their moms. Married girls will treat their mother-in-laws like dirt. Make up your mind now what youre going to do, because this wont be easy at all.
If you live for me, youre gonna take some hits. If youre not willing to take some hits, I wont take you. If you live your life trying to make people happy at any cost, you will lose. If you give up trying to be accepted and understood by everyone, you will win.
Make me proud. If someone treats a man or woman of God right, Ill treat them right. If someone shares my love even through small acts like giving a little kid a cup of Kool-aid, Ill pay them back big time.
I always do. I may look pretty ordinary on the outside, but looks can be deceiving. If you hang in there with me, youll find what you are looking for. As Johnnys boys were leaving, Jesus started bragging on his cousin to the crowd: When you went to check out Crazy Johnny, did you expect to see some kind of flake? Or did you think he was a rich eccentric?
Nah, the rich folks are enjoying their exclusive luxuries, not hanging out in the desert with sand in their teeth.
Did you think that you were going to see a mouthpiece for God? Hes all that and more. He was described in the Old Testament where it said, 'Ill send an advance-man ahead of you to get everybody ready for your arrival. The things you people are going to do will turn this world right side up. Its going to take an aggressive, 'never say die' attitude. People are standing up for God and refusing to back down like Crazy Johnny. He is a major mouthpiece for God just like Elijah was.
Pay close attention. While he was doing time in the pen, Crazy Johnny heard the word on the street about what his cousin was doing. Johnny sent his boys to ask Jesus: Are you the One God sent to get us out of this mess or not?
Tell Johnny Im doing some wild miracles here. Im healing people who are blind as. Its like teens saying, 'Come on, lets go to a party, get loaded and do some dirty dancing' and you wouldnt go for it. Then they might say, 'Lets protest and make a big stink, because they wont legalize pot. If you dont agree then youre labeled narrow and close minded.
He must have a demon in him that makes him loony. I came eating all the time and drinking wine with my dinner and people say, 'That guys too liberal. He is a hog, an alcoholic and likes hanging out with the bad crowd. The world wants to label Christians as extremists, but the truth will come out in the end because Gods way works and the worlds way doesnt.
You kept all these truths a secret from the intellectuals and showed it to little kids instead, because you liked it that way. Then He said to the people, My Dad put me in charge of all these cool secrets.
No one knows me like He does, and no one knows him I like I do and the folks I share with about him. If you feel beat down and stressed out, let me help by giving you a way to relax and stop letting life drive you crazy. Learn from my example so you wont get an ulcer. If you live like Im telling you to, you wont be worried all the time and depressed. The religious phonies saw them and said, Holy cow! Your boys are breaking some of the rules we made up!
Chewing seeds is hardly chopping down all the crops. Jesus said, Dont you know what Big Dave did when he and his boys were hungry?
They went to church and scarfed down the special bread that only religious officials were allowed to eat. Havent you ever read the part in the Bible about how religious officials in church on Sunday taint that special day, but God doesnt hold it against them.
Someone more important than a religious building is here. I wish youd get my drift when I say 'I want you to cut people slack and show them love more than I want. If you could understand this you wouldnt be nagging people night and day over your silly rules.
Im chief of the Sundays, not you. I love him so much that just thinking about him makes me happy. Im going to fill him up with my Spirit so that He can fulfill him mission and get my message out to the world. He wont try to shove it down anyones throat or scream at people on the street.
Hell look weak and even feel weak, but He wont be broken or shut down, because He has a mission to accomplish and He will set things right. He wont give up until the job is done. People all over the world will turn to him as the answer. There was a man there who had a deformed hand that was all curled up.
The phonies wanted to nail Jesus to the wall and said, "Isnt it against religious rules to cure people who are sick on Sunday? People are more important than pets! Of course God puts his stamp of approval on curing the sick on Sunday. Jesus told the guy with the messed up hand, Reach out. Open your hand up. He did and his bad hand became just as normal as his good hand. The phonies were ticked off and they left to go figure out a way to have Jesus murdered.
Jesus knew what they were doing so He hit the road. Mobs of people trailed him and He cured them all with his supernatural power and warned them to keep it a secret. The mouthpiece Isaiah talked about him when he said, "This is the. Another guy being terrorized by a demon inside of him was brought to Jesus.
The demon had stolen his sight and his voice. Jesus took care of him right away and suddenly the guy could see and talk.
Folks were stunned at this miracle and said, "Could this be Big Daves boy? The One who will save us all?
They said that the devil made him do it, that he is in cahoots with Satan and thats how he can beat up demons all the time. Jesus read their minds and responded, If members on a team make plays for their opponent, the team will fall apart and lose the game. If an army shoots their own soldiers, chaos will reign and they. If Satan keeps giving himself black eyes, how will he stay in business? Youre trying to beat up demons like me, so are you saying that you are in cahoots with the devil too?
If Im knocking out demons through Gods Spirit and power, obviously God is in control and Hes here to help. Look at it this way: Could somebody break into a weightlifters house and just stroll out with all his favorite stuff? Not unless they incapacitate the owner first and duct tape his hands behind his back and his feet together will they be able to loot the joint. You can judge a trees health by the quality of fruit on it.
You bunch of jerks, even you can tell how messed up you are by all the trash you talk. Whatevers in your heart will spill right out of your mouth, because youre full of it. If youre really a good person youll speak life encouragement, positive stuff, my Word, compassion, and healing. If youre really a bad person youll speak death - cussing up a storm, insulting people, arguing all the time and gossiping. When you die, you will have to answer to God for every stupid thing that you chose to say.
The stuff you say will be the proof that you are a Christian and should get into Heaven or proof that youre not a Christian and chose to go to hell. If you arent on my side then you are working against me. Youre my friend or my foe. If youre not part of my solution, youre only adding to the problem. You can be cut some slack and given a clean slate for all the bad stuff youve ever done, but if you fight the Holy Spirit, youll never find forgiveness.
If you rag on me, arrangements can be made to give you another chance, but if you openly resist the voice of God in your heart the Holy Spirit , youre just running away from the only hope and help available to you. Some religious phonies came to Jesus and said, Hey, we want to watch you do one of those cool miracles.
Jesus said, Only a thrill-seeking, pleasure-driven, self-centered group of people want to see a miracle instead of having a relationship with me. The only thing they will get to see is the miracle that the mouthpiece named Jonah foreshadowed.
He camped out in the belly of a gigantic monster fish for three days, but Im going to top that by spending three days taking care of business in hell. The people. A tree thats sick and dying will have a few shriveled up pieces of nasty. They did stop and when this generation dies, the Ninevites will judge them guilty for not responding to the same message given by Jonahs boss. Even the Queen of Shebah will judge this generation guilty. She made a big trip to learn from wise King Solomon, but someone wiser is here now.
Whoever decides to follow me and live their life for God is my real family. When a demon gets kicked out of someones body, it flies around looking for someplace to chill, but it cant find a good spot.
The demon gets frustrated and says, 'Im going home to my old body. It moves back in with seven roommates demons that are even more evil than itself.
They crowd in there and the person ends up worse than when they were just possessed by one demon. Thats whats going down with this evil-loving generation. While Jesus was still chatting, his mom, Mary, and his bros were hanging around outside waiting to get a word with him. Someone said, Your familys outside and I think they want to talk. Jesus said, Who really is my. A little later that same day, Jesus went to sit by the lake and enjoy the view.
Being such a celebrity, the crowds caught up with him once again, and He jumped into a boat to speak to everyone on shore using the water to reflect the sound of his voice like a natural p. Then He told them a story that contained a spiritual meaning. He did this all the time. He said, Once upon a time, there was a farmer who went out to plant.
He wasnt picky about where he planted. He threw seeds all over the place. Some fell on the sidewalk and pigeons ate it up. Some seeds fell on the gravel driveway where there wasnt much dirt and the seeds sprouted up quick. The roots couldnt go very deep, however, and the plants turned brown and died. Some seeds fell into patches of weeds that killed the developing plants. Finally, some seed fell on rich, fertile soil and grew a lot of good stuff. Were talking thirty, sixty and even a hundred percent back on the investment.
Listen up people, this is important. The boys were puzzled and asked, Whats up with all the seeds, birds. Why not just give it to them straight? Jesus said, These incredible truths Im sharing are for your ears only. Those who are on their way to God will get closer through these stories. Those who are on their way away from God will only get farther. Its their choice. When I tell these stories, some will see the point, but they wont get it. Theyll hear the truth, but they wont get it.
This is because they really dont want the truth. Isaiah, the mouthpiece, said it clearly, 'Youll hear, but you wont understand. Youll see, but not get the significance of it.
They simply wont listen. They close their eyes to my truth on purpose. They dont want my ways, otherwise they would see and hear clearly and I would heal them. Thank God that you get it, because you want to get it. Believe me, lots of really spiritual people wished they could see and hear all the stuff you get to experience. Let me lay out the meaning behind the story I told. The seed on the sidewalk represents people who hear about God and are confused, so Satan attacks them and convinces them its really nothing and they blow it off.
The seed on the gravel represents people who actually like what they hear, but arent willing to really make a commitment to take a stand and live for God no matter what. People mock them and give them a hard time, so they figure its not worth the hassle and give up.
The seed in the weeds represents someone who hears about God, but is tempted to live for themself instead, because they worry about not having enough and wanting to buy lots of stuff they dont need. They dont end up doing anything for God, because they are too busy and self-consumed. The seed that fell on good dirt is the person who hears about God, gets the idea and lives their life sold out and on fire for him. He or she ends up getting up to thirty, sixty or a hundred people to be as passionate about God as they are.
Jesus told another story. Gods ways are like a farmer who planted some good seeds in the dirt. While he was snoozing, some competitor snuck in and planted weeds with his wheat and snuck back out. The wheat sprouted, but then so did the weeds. The employees of the farmer told the boss, 'Hey, didnt you plant good seed? Where did all these weeds come from? The employees asked, 'Should we try to go and pull up all the weeds, or what?
He said, 'Nah, youll probably pull. Lets just grow them the best we can. When its time to harvest the crops, well separate it out. Then well burn up all the weeds and store the good stuff in the grain silo. Jesus took off and went in the house. His boys followed him in and asked, Wassup with the weed story? He answered, The story about weeds means this: The farmer in the story is me.
The field is the whole world. The good seeds are everyone who chooses to follow my ways and live for God. The competition in the story is the devil and the weeds are those who follow the devils ways and live for themselves. The harvest is judgment day and the angels Gods employees do the harvesting. I will send out my angels to take everyone who has decided to live self-serving, greedy, prideful and immoral lives and throw them into the ultimate incinerator: hell.
In hell they will scream and wail in pain forever. The ones who served and pleased God, however, will be hanging out in Heaven reflecting the magnificence of God himself. Listen up, this is important. He shared another story. He said, Gods ways are like an itsy bitsy teeny tiny seed that a farmer planted out in the field. Even though its almost microscopic in size, it ends up growing into this great big plant and then turns into a tree.
Its so sturdy and full that all the birds come and use it for shelter and protection from storms. That little seed made a big difference. He told another story. Gods ways are like a cook who was making a nice loaf of bread. She put together some flour and just a little bit of yeast and kneaded it all through the dough. It only takes a little yeast to make the whole loaf rise up. Jesus told them all this stuff in stories with secret meanings.
He didnt say squat to them without using one of these cool stories. A mouthpiece for God predicted this: If my mouth opens, I guarantee you Ill be telling some good stories.
Im gonna talk about secret stuff no one has ever known since the world began. Gods ways are like buried treasure. A guy was digging on private property and found some buried treasure. He slyly buried it again to hide it for later.
He ecstatically sold everything he owned, and bought the property with the treasure in it. He found an incredible sports car for sale in mint condition, and listed for sale at a fraction of what it was worth. He went and sold everything he owned and bought this too-goodto-be-true but it was true deal.
The locals were like, Who does this guy think He is, some sort of big shot? How does He know all these things? Hes just the son of Joe, the carpenter. We know his whole family, and were not impressed with his big talk. They were really insecure and got their noses up in the air. Jesus told them straight out, No respect. Only at home does a mouthpiece for God get dissed like this. He didnt do many supernatural feats there, because most of them didnt believe.
Gods ways are like a big net that was tossed into a lake and pulled in a real variety of fish. When the net was nice and full, the fishermen dragged it up onto the beach. Then they separated the tasty trout from the bony barracuda. They kept the good stuff and threw the gross fish away. At judgment day the angels will separate those who live for God from those who dont care about Gods ways at all. The rebellious crowd gets tossed into the cooker, where they will cry out in blood curdling anguish forever.
Do you get it? Yeah", they admitted. Jesus said, Everyone who knows the Word and teaches it is like a collector of amazing and intriguing items, both old and new. He or she loves to share them and explain their function and history to their guests delight. King Herod heard the word on the street about Jesus messages and miracles.
He told him employees, "Its Crazy Johnny come back to life! Thats why he has all these amazing powers. Herod tied the knot with his own brothers wife, and Crazy Johnny told everyone that this was perverted and against the laws of God and nature. Herod wanted to whack Johnny, but he chickened out because of Johnnys popularity.
People considered C. After Jesus told these stories, He split. He went to his hometown and started sharing more gripping truths and fascinating facts about. As a reward for her display he swore to give her anything she wanted. Mommy dearest Herodias had her daughters ear so she said, "I want the severed head of Crazy Johnny. They actually put it on a platter and presented it to the girl, who then gave it to her mom.
Crazy Johnnys boys came to claim his body and they gave him a proper burial. Then they went and told Johnnys cousin Jesus the whole sad story. Jesus had a better idea. Thats very thoughtful, but not necessary. You boys feed them dinner instead. We only have a couple of sack lunches here, Jesus, they replied.
Give me the grub," He said. He told everyone there to kick back on the grass. After saying grace, Jesus then proceeded to cut up slices of bread and fish for the boys to pass out. It was an all-you-can-eat affair and everyone stuffed their faces, because after all, a free dinner is rare. There were a lot of leftovers. The boys collected twelve baskets full of fish sandwiches.
Here is the clincher: there were about five thousand men there, not including women and children! Jesus was world record holder for catering the worlds largest picnic. After Jesus got the bad news, He went off in a boat to get some much needed personal time. Once again people got word He was nearby and walked to meet him from miles around. As soon as Jesus stepped off the boat, there was a bunch of folks already there waiting for him.
His heart went out to them, and He healed all who were suffering from sickness. It started getting late and Jesus boys advised, Were out in the middle of nowhere and it will be dark soon. Lets break up now so everybody can start walking back to town to buy dinner. Jesus told his boys to jump in the boat and make a quick getaway while He said the goodbyes. After the last stragglers departed, He finally got away by himself and spent some time talking to God on a secluded mountainside.
He was still up there well after dark and at the same time his boys were pretty far out on the lake getting bounced around in the boat by a windstorm, and the waves were pounding the poop deck. When it was really late, Jesus. The boys saw him out on the lake and freaked out majorly. They started screaming like little girls, Oh no, its a ghost, its a ghost!
Right away, Jesus told them, Its okay, its okay. Settle down guys, its just me. Pete said, Chief, if its really you, then tell me to take a stroll out there with you. Come on, Jesus replied. Sure enough Pete jumped out of the boat and started walking over on the water. The storm was pretty bad and Pete started to chicken out which caused him to sink like a rock.
He yelled, "Save me, Chief! Im going to drown! Pete, dont you trust me yet? Why would you doubt me? Jesus said. Jesus and Pete climbed back in the boat. The storm disappeared and everything was hunky-dory.
The guys started telling Jesus how much they loved and appreciated him. They were really overwhelmed in the moment. They said, "Wow, we really get it. You are actually God in the flesh. The people recognized Jesus and got the news of his arrival out to all the surrounding suburbs. Everybody brought their sick family members and friends to get cured.
They pleaded with Jesus to let the sickly just touch the edge of his coat. Of course He let them and every single one recovered instantly. Some religious phonies came all the way from Jerusalem to ask Jesus an important question: Why dont your boys wash their hands before supper like we do?
Jesus said, Youve got to be kidding. You provide loopholes for people to get out of caring for their parents who sacrificed and slaved to bring them up right. You have created religious rules that make a mockery of Gods command that says, 'Show the utmost respect and allegiance to your mom and dad. Instead, you allow your congregation to pay lip service to their parents by spouting religious rhetoric about giving their care to God instead.
Thats ridiculous and ungodly. Isaiah, the mouthpiece for God, had it straight when he said,. They put on a big show with no substance behind it. All they know are a bunch of religious rules. They dont know my heart at all. Then Jesus started talking to the crowd: Get this through your heads. Its not what you chow down that makes you repellent to God, its what you throw up. Jesus said, If the shoe fits they have to wear it. These guys are just weeds that God will rip out of the ground.
Forget them, theyre blind to the truth. Dont worry about what they think. Theyre leading people to hell. Pete asked, Whats that stuff about chowing down and throwing up mean? Are you still that dense? Jesus asked. When you chow down, the food goes through your stomach and you poop it out the other end. Thats elementary. Eating certain foods does not make you unholy or unacceptable to God. Its the trash you spout out of your mouth that can make you unacceptable to God. The reason people say crummy things is because thats what they have inside of them.
There are all kinds of sick thoughts inside people: thoughts about whacking people, doing it with someone elses spouse or doing it with anyone youre not married to, thoughts of ripping people off or lying about others and smearing someones name. Now God is really repelled by that stuff, not over something as trivial as washing your hands before dinner.
Jesus left and went to an area called Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite lady from there came to Jesus pleading, Help me please! Youre the descendant of Big Dave and weve heard of you. Have mercy on me! My daughter is being tortured by a demon thats living inside of her. His boys told him, Jesus, tell her to hit the road. Shes getting on our nerves with all her begging and pleading.
He said, Im only here to get the message out to my people, the Jews. The woman got down on her hands and knees and was really persistent, Chief, you must help me! He retorted, I cant take away the kiddies peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and give it to their pets. Youre right Chief, but even the kids slip their food to Rover under the dinner table. Youre crazy enough to believe God will help anyone and everyone, so He will help you right now.
Your daughter is set free from this demonic attack. After that, her daughter was fine and dandy. Jesus asked, How much bread ya' got? We only have seven loaves of bread and a few little fish, they replied. Jesus turned to the crowd and said, Everybody sit down so we can pass out some food! He took the bread and fish, thanked God for it, and divided it up into small portions. The boys started passing it out to everyone, who scarfed it down like bread and fish were going out of style.
They ate until it was coming out of their ears. Even after that they had seven baskets full of leftovers. Turns out this was no little fish fry, there were four thousand guys and tons more women and children.
Jesus said farewell to everyone and hopped back in the boat to hit Magadan. Jesus decided to make like a tree and leave. He went down to the shore by the Sea of Galilee. Then he went hiking up a mountain there and kicked back for awhile. Here came the masses with every cripple, every blind person, those who couldnt talk and every kind of sickness you can imagine. They just laid them all on the ground at Jesus feet as if to say, 'We need you bad. This really took peoples breath away when they saw these intense miracles, and they gave the credit to the God of the Jews.
Jesus gets him boys in a huddle and says, I really feel for these people. They have been so hungry for my words and my teaching for the past three days that they have neglected their bodys hunger. They need to eat now. If they dont they might pass out trying to walk home. The boys said, Where in the world are we going to get enough groceries to feed this many people?
The religious flakes, I mean leaders, came to Jesus to ask him to show them some kind of incredible vision or supernatural occurrence to prove that He was spiritual like they were.
Oh boy. He had an answer for them all right: You can tell when a storm is coming by looking at the sky or watching satellite images on the weather report. You understand that. What you dont understand is that there is a spiritual climate as. People who are self-seeking and dont really care about God want to see some amazing supernatural demonstration just so that they can get chills up their spine.
The only thing theyll get from God is the same message that Jonah shared: 'Repent or die. After that pointed word, Jesus booked.
Jesus was touring through Caesarea Philippi and asked the boys, Who do people think I am? What about you guys? Pete blurted out, Youre the Ultimate Hero, the One whos going to save us all! Youre Gods kid, the real deal! You dont know how fortunate you are to really understand that. Only God could have allowed you to get a hold of that truth. Pete, Im gonna call you The Rock because you might be a loose cannon now, but watch out buddy. You are going to be so solid and so strong a leader, that you will build up my army and hell wont stand a chance against you.
Im going to give you my authority that has power up in Heaven and certainly down here on earth, so that you can get the job done. They took a cruise across the lake again and the boys forgot lunch.
Jesus said Look out for the fungi used to make bread rise that the religious phonies use. The boys huddled up and brain stormed on what in the world Jesus was talking about. They decided: He must be ticked off because we forgot lunch.
Jesus knew what they were saying and said, You guys have lunch on the brain. Dont you get it? Remember the gigantic picnics we catered together? Please dont tell me you think Im worried about what were going to eat for lunch. Listen again and think for a change. Look out for the fungi used to make bread rise that the religious phonies use. These little lies had been causing a lot of big. He told them a story that sounded like a horror movie. He was going to Jerusalem where all the phonies resented and hated him.
They were going to brutally torture and then murder him. Three days later He was going to come back to life. Youre talking crazy and I wont allow you to do this! Jesus got in his face. He said, Back off, Satan! Yeah, I said it. Youre trying to get in the way of the very will of God like my worst enemy, and that is totally unacceptable. You want to do things the logical way, but that wont cut it.
Youre going to shut up and do things Gods way. End of story. After Pete recovered from his tongue lashing, Jesus told the boys, If you want to live for me then forget about your old way of doing things. You want to be on my team? Give up your way and give up your life to me. If you try to play it safe, youll lose. Whoever gives up everything for me will win. What good is it if you are smart, classy, rich and successful, if you end up going to hell eventually?
Is there anything worth more to you than your own soul? Im going to come back in a massive demonstration of power surrounded by Gods warriors in a blaze of glory and I will give everyone a reward for how they have lived.
Some of you are going to see this kind of power before you die. Mark my words. Six days later Jesus took Pete, Jim and Johnny and they hiked up a big mountain together. While they were up there, Jesus lit up like a roman candle. His face was shining like a billion watt bulb and his clothes were glowing bright too. Right after that, who should show up but Moses and Elijah, guys who had been big-time mouthpieces for God way back in the day.
They chatted with Jesus. This was so wild and surreal that the boys didnt know what to do. Pete, never the bashful one, said, Wow, now this is cool! You want me to stake out some tents for you, Moses and Elijah, so we can all camp out together? While Pete was still babbling, a huge glowing cloud dropped on top of all of them.
They heard a voice in the cloud say, This here is my kid. I love him and I think Hes the best. Pay attention to what He says, you guys! This got the boys' attention. They fell on their faces like they were pins knocked down by a bowling ball. They almost peed in their pants, they were so scared. Its okay. They looked around and everything was back to normal, and Elijah and Moses were gone.
They were hiking back down the mountain when Jesus cautioned them, Dont tell anyone what happened today, until I have been raised back to life. Jesus said, Thats true Elijah does come to set everything straight. But Elijah has already done that and nobody saw him for who he was, so they had their way with him. Just like that, Im going to be misunderstood and mistreated too. We go through this over and over.
Bring your kid here. Jesus kicked the demon who was involved out of this kid in no time flat. The boy was healed from then on. When no one else could hear, the boys asked, Why couldnt we kick that demon out? Jesus said, Your belief in Gods power is pathetic. If your trust in me was as big as a little ball bearing, you could command mountains to move around and they would.
You could do absolutely anything. Get a hold of this, will you? They went to Galilee and Jesus said, Im going to get stabbed in the back. Im going to get whacked and after three days Ill come back to life. The disciples were really depressed upon hearing this news.
After they came down, there was a crowd as usual, and this guy fell down at Jesus feet. Chief, cut my son some slack. Hes an epileptic and has terrible seizures. Hes always falling into the fireplace and burning, or into the water and drowning. I asked your boys for help, but they were no help at all, he said. How much longer do I have to put. Jesus and the boys show up in Capernaum and the local extortionists the tax collectors asked Pete, Doesnt your boss pay his dues?
Sure He does, Pete said. Pete came in the house and Jesus said right away, Who do bigwigs squeeze money out of? Their kids or the riff raff? The riff raff, Pete answered. The kids get a free ride then, dont.
My Dad is much bigger than their dad, but we dont want to stir up trouble, so go fishing. The first fish you catch will have some cash in its mouth.
Give that to the local wise guys to pay up for you and me. If you dont, then it will spread like cancer and corrupt you completely. Do surgery on your spirit and cut out the very root of the disease that is killing you. If you dont master it, it will master you and ride you all the way to hell. Dont think for a second that you are better, or more important than these little kids.
They have their own special angels who report to my Dad regularly. Let me ask you a question: If someone owns a hundred cars and some car thief steals one, isnt the owner going to put out an APB on his hot car and use his LoJack to track it down immediately?
If he gets that car back, hell be so relieved and grateful it was recovered that suddenly, it becomes his favorite car over all the others. Hell care more about the one car he got back over the ninety nine that were never stolen sitting in his garages. Just like that, your Heavenly Dad sees little kids as special and doesnt want to lose any of them. Jesus called a little kid over for a minute and said, Im not gonna lie to you, unless you learn how to be like this kid here, youre not even getting into Heaven, Mr.
Hot Stuff. Whoever doesnt bother with trying to be cool, and instead puts other people first like this kid is going to end up the coolest cat in Heaven. If youre nice to a kid like this, youre being nice to me. If you take some little kid who is in love with me and lead them down the wrong path, youre toast, buddy.
It would be better for you to wear cement shoes and sleep with the fishes, than to do that. Geez, this world is so messed up, because of all the sick and twisted things people do! This stuff will happen no matter what, but the person who chooses to promote this filth will pay! If you cant control your bad habits then remove that area from your life.
If they admit what they did and say theyre sorry, then you have your friend back. If theyre stubborn and defensive, go back with one or two other Christian buddies to talk. If the person is so hardheaded that they cant make things right after that, than have a pastor or elder from church sit down together with the two of you. If they wont respect and listen to your church leaders, give it up. This person isnt acting like a Christian, so you need to let them go as being a friend.
As you walk in obedience and use the authority I gave you on earth, Im backing you up with all the power of Heaven. If just two of you come to God unified as partners and ask for anything, Hell make it happen. When two or three people team up for God, Im standing right there with them too. Peter asked Jesus, How many times do I have to let it go when a Christian does me wrong and not hold it against them? Wouldnt seven times be a pretty generous limit? Jesus responded, Think seventyseven times buddy.
One particular man was brought to the prez who owed him millions of dollars. He couldnt pay it back so the prez commanded that the man, along with his wife and children, be sold into slavery to pay back the money. The employee got down on his hands and knees and begged for mercy, 'Give me more time and I promise Ill pay you back boss! The prez felt sorry for the man so he didnt fire him, but ripped up the bill that was owed and set him free from further obligation.
The employee left and came upon one of his fellow employees who owed him a few dollars. He attacked the guy and started to throttle him while yelling, 'Pay me back now, you lousy deadbeat! The guy who owed the money got down on his hands and knees and begged for mercy, 'Give me more time and I promise Ill pay you back!
The first employee wouldnt budge and had the man thrown into jail until he paid every penny. Some other employees captured the whole disgusting affair on one of their video cameras, and were enraged and saddened by this incredible injustice. They brought the evidence on tape to the president.
Of course the president called the employee to the carpet, saying, 'You. Gods system is made clear in this story that Jesus told: There once was a president of a major corporation who decided it was high time that his employees pay back all the loans he had made. You beat all, you know that?
You begged me for mercy and I ripped up your bill. Search icon An illustration of a magnifying glass. User icon An illustration of a person's head and chest. Sign up Log in. Web icon An illustration of a computer application window Wayback Machine Texts icon An illustration of an open book. Books Video icon An illustration of two cells of a film strip.
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