Morning Message Text: John 10: 22-30
Further Conflict Over Jesus’ Claims
22 Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter,
23 and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.
24 The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me,
26 but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.
29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all ; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.
30 I and the Father are one.”
Morning Message:
Today is Mother’s Day, and we mark this day every year in the church as a day to celebrate the women of the church. Personally, I believe that we should celebrate Christian women and men every day. I believe that Mother’s Day should be that special day that we take the time to celebrate and remember the blessing of moms. Sometimes, even in the church, we tend to over think things; we want to make sure we are inclusive of everyone, that no one feels left out. Heaven forbid we do something that is not politically correct. If anything, I believe we should not limit our celebrations of the ones we care about to just one day a year.
Sometimes I have to disconnect myself from the world for my spiritual well-being. If I don’t do that often enough, I become very cynical. Do you know what the definition of a cynic is? Someone who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions. Maybe that’s why celebrating mothers seems important to me. I guess this isn’t always the case, but I think more often than not, mothers are selfless when it comes to their children. Maybe that is the thought for today. How great a sacrifice it is to be a mother and always put your children first.
We live in a very corrupt society. We are forced every day to closely examine everything that is said to us, especially by the so- called news media. I do honestly long for the day when I could turn on the news or read the paper and believe that what I was hearing was actually the news and not someone’s opinion that was based on their political views, but that is all that you get today from the mainstream gossip channels. I will get myself into trouble here because I am about to criticize what some people think of as an upright institution in this country, but Sixty Minutes, what used to be a well-respected, hard-hitting news program, is a mere shell of its former self and cares more about ratings and telling an audience what they want to hear.
Now before you get upset with me, understand why this is important today. Trying to manipulate people’s minds to make them believe what you want them to believe causes mistrust and that mistrust is tearing this country apart and causing civil unrest. Believe it or not, these lies are setting the stage for the rapture of the church and the great tribulation that will follow.
Many years ago, when I first started studying end times prophecy, I wondered to myself; how could the Rapture take place. How could millions of Christians just vanish into thin air and the people that were left behind not know that it had to be Jesus returning for them? What other explanation could there be? Think about it. What would our one-sided, politically controlled news media say today? The government must have done something with them. And, like well programmed robots, we would reply, “Oh yes; government bad; government take them; give me some more good news.” If the Rapture were to occur today, those who have heard but rejected the gospel will be ushered into the Tribulation and will fall under the delusion of the Antichrist, putting their faith in this false Savior rather than Christ. How will he calm their fears and convince them that this isn’t what they heard about in church one Easter when the preacher decided to preach the truth? I’m sure the news media will help with that deception.
Our text for today in verse 24 says this: “The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly. Jesus answered, ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.’” There are people in this world who, unfortunately, will never believe in Jesus. That’s not for us to judge; only God knows the true hearts of people. Please don’t leave here thinking to yourself, I knew it, old so and so, he was never meant to be a Christian; I knew I was just wasting my time on him. Whether they believe it or not is not up to you. Jesus never stopped witnessing to them, but He did tell them plainly who He was and what they needed to do to be saved.
There is something here for us that is important for us to understand. Listen to what Jesus is saying to us starting in verse 27. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” Once you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior you cannot lose your salvation. Scripture is very clear on this. We all sin, we all battle this flesh every day and sometimes we still lose the battle, but the war has already been won. Believe me, if you have given your life to Jesus He will call you back from your sin every time. The Holy Spirit that now dwells in you will always remind you of who you belong to and put you back on the path to Jesus. I believe in the truth and when I see deception it really bothers me. God will always give you the truth if you truly seek it and then He will allow you to believe it or not.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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