“You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.” Jesus was explaining how the poor will always be around but He himself was not going to be around on earth much longer. Mary poured out expensive perfume to anoint Jesus for His soon coming death on the cross. She was honoring Him but Judas said this expensive perfume should have been for helping the poor. The urgency was the soldiers were coming to get Him any minute. In that moment when Mary was using the perfume as a pre embalming situation for Jesus’ burial, it was spiritual and significant as Jesus put it’s importance before the poor. Everything had significance even to letting Peter know before it happened, he would deny Jesus three times and then the rooster would crow. Jesus literally went through hell on earth and then hell itself. To everything there’s a time and season. A time to cry, a time for war, a time for things to fall into place on your behalf. Our timeline, has already been figured out by God. Certain things are not going to happen in your life until that season has come, good and bad. As all time lines begin to come to an end, our relationship with the Lord should be solid, and our fellowship tight. We are to help, and lend to the poor, in doing so we lend to the Lord, and He will repay you for your act of love, because then you’re acting like your Father God.

“And Jesus answered them, Truly I say to you, if you have faith (a firm relying trust) and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, it will be done.” Have faith and do not doubt. A firm relying on trust in the Lord is necessary to not doubt. We need to made up our minds no matter how bad it looks or gets, we will not give up hope. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding, acknowledge Him in all your ways and he will direct your path. Our understanding can vacillate due to pressure or persecution. Jesus is the Rock of our salvation and the fullness of the God head’s power resides in his name. It is faith in the name that releases the power of God. Confession from your mouth and belief in your heart for what you desire, brings total victory to your situation. If the Lord is saying have faith and don’t doubt, then that means we can do it. Doing the work of building up your faith takes practice and time. Make the Lord proud and exercise your faith over doubt when it comes. Trusting God like a three year old child trusts his parents, we trust our parents or loved ones overseeing us without question. Trust God in this way. He will go through a million people to get to the faith filled believer. It is impossible to please God without faith.

“And He taught and said to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have turned it into a den of robbers.” Jesus is angry in the temple of God. It was righteous indignation totally justified in God’s eyes. Like we have in the churches today, chicken dinners for sale, church bake sales, etc. It will be for God to judge these activities in the churches. Being nonprofit organizations, we shouldn’t be selling anything in the church, but we receive offerings (money) as donations for an item when it’s given away, this is the law of the land. It’s ok to be angry and it’s not counted as sin. When we yield to some of the temptations of being angry like cursing, or physically fighting, then we have sinned. The Lord called the church that was selling products for profit in the house of God, a den of thieves. Using the temple as a meeting point for anyone to come buy and sell was a slap in God’s face of disrespect. The church or temple is a place for worshiping, praying and learning about God, and that only. It’s supposed to be a sacred place, only the Lord’s business should be going on there. It’s a place for all to come, or at least should be. God has said, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” And that’s what He meant then and now.

“So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him. And as they went, they kept shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is He and praise to Him Who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” In this text Jesus is the one who came in the name of the Lord. Anyone coming in the name of the Lord will be blessed. To be bold and unashamed to carry the high torch of the gospel to the world is to be blessed by God. Jesus’ ministry set things in place for his disciples’ (followers of God) ministries to be birthed. The blessings of God falls upon all who honor Him. To be bold and stand up for the Lord in the middle of persecution and hardship, shows not only God, but the dark side (Satan) what side you’re on. Picking a side now is the most important and vital thing you can do while on planet earth. Life after death is happening, it continues in one of two places. Your choice must happen before you die. The King of Israel is leading the way to eternal life. Get on board now because blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

The Servant Attitude

“So then, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you may do, do all for the honor and glory of God.” Do all for the glory of God. Everything we do should honor the Lord. The way we do everything we do should honor God as well. It’s great when volunteers (the ministry of helps) of the church help out with things the Pastor shouldn’t have to deal with. But sometimes the folks serving in the church can be nasty in their execution of helping out. Without the love of God in the church behind the scenes, it’s not a good witness to outsiders observing the helpers’ bad attitude. It reflects the Pastor’s leadership. Our goal for those who want to mature in Christ, is to allow the love of God shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit to raise up beyond the offense given to you while you are serving in the church. The importance of your position in the church doesn’t give you the right to treat others disrespectfully. Your shortcomings with the lack of God’s love in your life will turn people away from the church quick and in a hurry. We shouldn’t play church, we should learn the teachings and precepts of the Lord and put them into action not just Sundays at church but 24/7, it’s a lifestyle if you’re trying to grow up. Do all for the glory of God.

““For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” God gave His only begotten Son to die for our sins. He loves this world but not what it has become. God’s love sent Jesus, the only person who has never sinned walking the earth with its temptations, distractions, and every other thing satan could throw at Him. Jesus didn’t have the sin nature passed down to Him because His father wasn’t from this fallen world. And now whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Since the fall of mankind in the garden of Eden, man through disobedience transferred rulership of the world to the devil, and we’ve been paying for it ever since. But God so loved the world He created, that He gave His only Son to become the perfect sacrifice, (since Jesus never sinned) for atonement, and remission of our wrong doings. In God’s eyes, justice must be satisfied as well. He’s a God of love, but He’s also a God of judgement. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved from eternal death. Begin living the life you were intended to live from the beginning of time.

“So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin.” We’ve all been there before. You know you shouldn’t do something but you do it anyway. There’s a law working in our make-up having to do with the appetites of our bodies, our flesh. We’ve all heard it said before, the devil made me do it, no, the devil presented the temptation but you yielded to it. Here in lies the good fight of faith that we need to overcome. As long as we are alive on planet earth, temptations will not cease to exist. Learning how to get a handle on not yielding to them takes the help of the Lord. Nevertheless when we do yield to the temptation, it’s counted as sin. There are other times when we know we shouldn’t do something, but we feel it doesn’t really matter, that would be sin for you. In a lighter situation we might litter, throw something on the ground, but you could have just waited to dispose of it properly, and we know no one’s watching, that’s wrong, and it reveals the weakness of your integrity. When we have the opportunity we should do good when it’s in our hands, God’s always watching. In our heart of hearts deep down there’s the scratching that feels uncomfortable before we are about to mess up, that’s your gut feeling trying to get you to do the right thing, go with that. Even when no one’s watching, do the right thing.

“Just as the Son of Man came not to be waited on but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many [the price paid to set them free].” Jesus walked the earth as a servant to mankind. His purpose was to help bring us back to God like in the beginning of time. Being the only begotten Son of God He still humbled Himself even to the point of being crucified on the cross for our mess. Sin had to be removed in order for mankind to reunite with God. So Jesus Himself took our punishment for falling away from God by offering Himself as a living sacrifice having never sinned Himself so justice could be satisfied, thus breaking down the wall between us and God. If this man, the Son of God was a servant, who are we to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to. The higher your position is in life, the more of a servant you should be, especially to those that helped you get there. Once we’ve obtained the humility necessary to help bring others up higher, you will be exalted. Our purpose in life should override our inordinate desires for power. Empty yourself of pride, self-centeredness, or anything else that keeps you from the servants attitude. It is truly better to give than to receive, if you can’t understand that yet, or haven’t experienced it, then you have not discovered humility, and pride may well have the upper hand in your life. A servant’s heart is the heart of God.

“Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me.” Fear no evil is easier said than done at times. We should always respect evil in terms of how to deal with it. To fear no evil is to have an ongoing relationship with the Lord. The closer your fellowship, the better. We all must grow to a point of understanding and trusting the ways of the Lord. This way we can move together with Him in life at every turn. Even our footsteps can be ordered by the Lord as we learn to be sensitive to His voice. There are also times when we fall into diverse trials or storms in our life not by our own wrong doing, but just life showing up, He’s got us covered and safe. We fear less as we love more, because perfect love, mature love drives out fear according to the bible. God is literally fighting on your behalf as He becomes more prevalent in your life. Because God is love, He is actually driving out the fear in your life. The further away you are from God, the louder fear will speak to you. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus so walk in the victory that has already been provided for you. Everything’s a choice, you must choose to not be in fear, than act on it by knowing who you are in Christ, with the authority that has been given to you there. We live, and move, and have our being in Christ Jesus, utilize the kingdom of God for a fear free life.

“For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.” Jesus’ focus and ministry was to win as much of the world as possible for His Father God. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to save it. We live in the dispensation of grace now. Not like the eye for an eye or tooth for tooth laws of the old testament before Jesus walked the earth. Justice has been reserved for the last day. Condemnation is not a part of the dispensation of grace era, here and now our wrong doings are not rewarded right away. This Grace is not to be frustrated, or used as a liberty for sin. Our wrong doings are being recorded by God for future judgement. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil so we don’t have to habitually sin like before our salvation. Once we are saved, born again, have become a christian, we must work on renewing our thought processes to conform to God’s word, the bible. Meditate in His word day and night, and you’ll make your own way prosperous. God says in His word,” I wish above all things that my people would prosper and be in good health.” But we have a part to play. God’s not out to get you, at least not yet. Get on the stick, or become the stick that helps fuel the fires of hell. Boom!