Our Heavenly
Father always does the unexpected things, uses the people, that very few would
think that He would use. Jesus also like the Father, did and said the
unexpected. When it comes to The Father
and Jesus, on some level most would agree to this statement, yet when it comes
down to it the majority of people miss The Father as they missed the Son.
John 6:66
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(King James) Version (AKJV)
66 From
that time many of his disciples went back, and walked
no more with him.
Mark 15:8-15
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8 And
the multitude crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had ever done unto them. 9 But
Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the
Jews? 10 For he knew that the
chief priests had delivered him for envy. 11 But the
chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto
them. 12 And Pilate answered and
said again unto them, What will ye then that I shall do unto him whom ye call the King of the Jews? 13 And
they cried out again, Crucify him. 14 Then
Pilate said unto them, Why, what evil hath he done? And they cried out the more
exceedingly, Crucify him. 15 And so Pilate, willing to content the people,
released Barabbas unto them, and delivered Jesus, when he had scourged him, to be crucified.
The majority of people get deceived, time and time again!
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving,
and being deceived.
Notice that the evil men and seducers are themselves being
deceived. That is one way they are so convincing is that they believe what they
teach. Now, the majority of the time
when a person starts like I started they start using a lot of Old Testament
Scriptures and rant and rave about sin and use the scripture about our
righteousness is like dirty rags and state there is none righteous no not one.
Without using it in context with the verse that follows.Romans 3:21 “But now
the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the
law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus
Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference”.
So my point isn’t to tell you what to believe, but to teach how to
perceive how we know the truth. One way
is the LOVE of God, this is supernatural Love, not human love. That isn’t to say the person will be perfect
and to judge by critically looking for sin, look for true Agape Love, Love
without conditions and restrictions. Along with this there must be supernatural
signs, wonders and miracles following. These two things must co-exist in order
for a line of teaching to be correct. Let’s
focus on the signs, wonders and miracles. Here’s what Jesus had to say:
John 14:11-14
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(King James) Version (AKJV)
11 Believe
me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake. 12 Verily,
verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my
Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that
will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
Mark 16:17-19
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(King James) Version (AKJV)
17 And
these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they
cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 they
shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt
them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19 So then
after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on
the right hand of God.
Just so nobody starts another
snake salvation show, verse 18 “they shall take up serpents” it’s meaning is
actually to cast off and the example would be when the serpent latched onto
Paul’s hand, he cast it off into the fire and it did no harm to him. The same
if they drink any deadly thing, it isn’t talking about purposefully drinking
poison. Love doesn’t boast, handling
snakes and drinking poison on purpose is a form of boasting and glorying in the
flesh. Paul’s reaction wasn’t boastful, he simply went about his business,
while the others were waiting for him to die.
This is how we keep from being
deceived the Love of God and signs, wonders and miracles, walking hand in hand
is our surest means to discern between fact or deceit. The true Gospel was never preached without
signs, wonders and miracles; or without the Love of God. Now, there are some who teach that in John
14, Jesus isn’t talking about the physical healing miracle, that isn’t true,
look at it again: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
Jesus was straight to the
point, look at the works’ performed and then look at the works’ done in my Name
and my disciples will do the same and more.
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and always: He never changed the
criteria Matthew 16:17-20 still applies, Mark 14 still applies. John 13:3 and Luke 6:35, they all still
apply.
A true leader In the Body
of Christ is a servant, has the Love of God in him, and we see the works of
Jesus through the person. John 13:35
By this shall
all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye
have love one to another.
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and
lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be
the children of the Highest: for
he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
A great
speaker isn’t the sign Jesus told us to look for in His Disciples. Delivering great sermons isn’t the sign. The seven keys to living a sin-free life isn’t
how we will know a true disciple of Christ. A true leader, has all of Heaven’s
Authority backing him, when he preaches the Gospel, lives are changed. The rest is just fluff. Here’s another way, when the leader speaks,
what are you thinking? If you’re thoughts are on the speaker, the person is
just a good speaker. If your thoughts turn to Jesus, then that person is
pointing to Jesus and is truly speaking from Holy Spirit.
A true
disciple of Jesus lifts up others, to a point where they are operating using
the gifts of Holy Spirit. A true leader
leads others into experiencing the Love of God and into a personal relationship
with Holy Spirit. So when seeking Jesus,
look for the signs, wonders and miracles; but don’t validate them based only on
those works, they must be combined with the supernatural Love of God. There are
counterfeit signs, wonders and miracles; Jesus did state that many will come to
Him and say Lord, Lord I have done miracles in your Name and Jesus will tell
them I never knew you……..why? Because it is the Love of God with the miracles
that validates……. everything else is counterfeit.
