Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish my American friends a Happy Thanksgiving! I love and thank everyone who reads my blog! I will be back posting next week.


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Looking at the Book of Isaiah

The plans today were to continue with “Why Do People Reject Jesus.” By looking at the Crucifixion, we can see four kinds of people: (1) The Pharisees -Religious people (2) Pilate (3) the angry mob/crowd (4) The Roman soldiers. We can make our plans, but the Lord’s plans always prevail. Earlier I started reading the book of Isaiah. My Study Bible gives a summary and also gives me themes of this book, and it dawned on me to write a little something about the book of Isaiah.

A Prophet is defined as someone who God anoints to be His mouthpiece; whether speaking words of encouragement or confronting people with the commands and promises of God. Because of their confrontational stance and speaking words of repentance that people usually didn’t want to hear, prophets were not very popular. Some agreed with their message, nodding their heads and weeping; but most became angry, shouting threats and insults.

Isaiah is generally considered to be the greatest prophet. He was well liked in the beginning of his ministry. But as in the life of a prophet, people despised him because the messages he delivered were difficult to hear. This makes me think of something we all know, or should know… When God calls you to do something, that’s when the opposition starts-that’s when you develop a target on your back. But let me be an encouragement… We need to only put out the truth. It will be rejected. It has always been rejected. They rejected Jesus. They will reject you.


There is a blueprint for the book of Isaiah: chapters 1-39 carry the message of judgment for sin. Isaiah brings the message of judgment to Judah, and the surrounding pagan nations. The people of Judah had a form of godliness, but in their hearts they were corrupt.

And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote (their worship is a farce).” Isaiah 29: 13

However, they ignored the repeated warnings that Isaiah brought. The 27 chapters in the second half of Isaiah generally bring a message of forgiveness, comfort, and hope. Isaiah speaks more about the Messiah than any other Old Testament prophet. He describes the Messiah as both a suffering Servant and a sovereign Lord. This could not be understood clearly until New Testament times. Based on what Jesus Christ has done, God freely offers forgiveness to all who turn to Him in faith. This is God’s message of comfort to us because those who heed it find eternal peace and fellowship with Him.





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Why Do People Reject Jesus?... Pilate

By looking at Jesus’ trial and crucifixion we encounter different types of people who reject Jesus. Last time we talked about “Religious people” by looking at the Pharisees and the religious leaders back in Jesus’ day. We see that the same kind of attitude towards Jesus exists with the same type of people today.


To see the second kind of person who rejects Jesus, we look no further than Pontious Pilate. He was a coward, only interested in self. For Pilate, there was never a doubt about Jesus’ innocence. Three times he declared Jesus not guilty. He couldn’t understand why these people wanted to kill Jesus, but his fear of the Jew’s political pressure made him decide to allow Jesus’ crucifixion. For you to really see this, I need to give you a little history on Pilate... His relationship with the Jews had always been stormy. On several occasions his actions deeply offended the Jewish religious leaders. There was one time when the religious leaders went over Pilate’s head, and complained about him to Caesar (Who was the Emperor of Rome). So Pilate knew he could be in trouble, perhaps lose his job as governor, and cost him any further advancement if he didn’t appease the people. Let me show you the scripture that speaks of this…

“But at this point the leading priests stirred up the crowd to demand the release of Barabbas instead of Jesus. Pilate asked them, “Then what should I do with this man you call the king of the Jews?”
They shouted back, “Crucify him!
“Why?” Pilate demanded. “What crime has he committed?”
But the mob roared even louder, “Crucify him!”
So to pacify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified.” Mark 15: 11-15

Pilate caved under pressure – bowing to the public demand. He was afraid to take a stand for truth for fear of what the people would say. He abandoned what he knew was right. Pilate was staring truth right in the face…

“Then Pilate went back into his headquarters and called for Jesus to be brought to him.
“Are you the king of the Jews,” he asked him.
Jesus replied, “Is this your own question, or did others tell you about me?
“Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their leading priests brought you to me for trial. Why? What have you done?”
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”
Pilate said, “So you are a king?”
Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”
“What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime.” John 33-38


We know people just like Pilate who are more concerned with people’s opinions rather than God. They’re not usually openly hostile towards the Gospel, they are only concerned for themselves and their own selfish interests. The bottom line is that they choose the world over Christ. When we ignore God’s clear statements of right and wrong and make decisions based on the preferences of our audience, we fall into compromise and lawlessness. God promises to honor those who do right, not those who make everyone happy.

We share a common humanity with Pilate. At times we know what is right but choose what is wrong. He had his moment in history, and now we have ours. What have we done with our opportunities and responsibilities? What judgment have we passed on Jesus?



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A Response To "Why Do People Reject Truth?"

A friend of mine, Doug Cloud, sent me this email in response to my blog post, "Why Do People Reject Truth?"(That post is below this post)...

Doug Cloud
to me

show details 11:17 PM (1 hour ago)

I was having this exact same discussion with someone a few weeks ago and suddenly I was in Holy Spirit mode - talking without consciously planning what I was saying.

It went something like this....

-------------------------

Ask yourself this - why do people get funny when you mention Jesus? This is actually a revelation in itself if people would just consider what it means. You can talk to just about anyone about God and they don't have a problem with Him. But as soon as you mention Jesus they get all funny.

Why?

Because believing in God isn't required to get into heaven - believing in Jesus is. Remember this. This is the revelation. The secret. If people would simply stop and think, 'Now I am talking about God and I don't have a problem with that, but why did I balk when he mentioned Jesus?'

Simple. Because believing in God isn't required to get into heaven - believing in Jesus is.

This even proves the devil is real, because the devil doesn't care if you believe in God. Believing in God doesn't get you into heaven, believing in Jesus does. But as soon as you mention Jesus he makes sure people get all stiff-necked and stubborn.

With me so far?

(at this point the woman I was speaking to gasped and shouted "Oh my God! I get it! I get it!")

It is so simple it's almost funny. Now think about this....if belief in God were required to get into heaven then it would be the other way around. People wouldn't care if you talked about Jesus, but as soon as you mentioned God they would have a problem.

If people would just stop for a moment and consider this they might just get a clue.

Why Do People Reject Truth?... Religious People

Why do people reject Jesus? That’s a question those of us who truly love and adore Him ask. The first type of person I’m going to spend time writing about is “The Religious Person.”

These aren’t easy words to talk about, teach or explain – but they are words of Truth. When I say “religious people,” I am speaking about people who hide behind religious masks. They may be church goers, they may be pious, they may say they love God, and give all the outward appearances of being godly and holy. Beware of these people… it’s just an act. Like I said, it’s hard to address- but IT WILL be addressed. Bottom line is… religious people hate God. Oh they may love the God they’ve created, but they hate the God of the Bible. How were you treated by religious people when you told them you were born-again, and started to testify about Jesus and proclaim His truth? I bet just like me, you got shot down, and weren’t met with much enthusiasm! Hate is a very strong word, I know, but let me point to scripture...

“God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for their sins will be exposed. “ John 3:19

Religious people are threatened by Jesus. Just look what happened when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. Look at how the religious people responded…


Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. ‘What are we going to do?’ They asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs. If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him.” John 11: 47-48


These eyewitnesses not only rejected Jesus, they plotted His murder. They were so hardened that they preferred to reject God’s Son rather to admit they were wrong. Beware of pride, jealousy, and envy—it can lead one into enormous sin. Jesus exposed them for who they truly were…

“Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham. And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message. I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father.”
“Our father is Abraham!” they declared.
“No,” Jesus replied, “for if you were really the children of Abraham, you would follow his example. Instead, you are trying to kill me because I told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham never did such a thing. No, you are imitating your real father.”
They replied, “We aren’t illegitimate children! God himself is our true father.”
Jesus told them, “If God were your father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the word of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God” John 8:37-47


Let me end today with this… Your church membership and family connections will not make you a true child of God. The actions and attitudes of these Pharisees and other religious people of Jesus’ day or even today, clearly identified (or identifies) them as followers of Satan. They might have not been (or are not) conscious of this, but their hatred of truth, their lies, and their murderous intentions indicated how much control the devil had over them. Oh yes, Satan still uses people to obstruct God’s work.

Many times, Jesus intentionally challenged His listeners to test Him. He welcomed those who wanted to question His claims and character as long as they were willing to follow through with what they discovered. Jesus’ challenge clarifies the two most frequent reasons people miss when encountering Him: (1) They never accept His challenge to test Him (2) they test Him but are not willing to believe what they discover. Have you made either of those mistakes?