Reward for Following Jesus

²⁷Then Peter said to Him, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?”

 ²⁸And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

 ²⁹“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much,[NIV- a hundred times as much] and will inherit eternal life.

^{30 “}But many who are first will be last; and the last, first.” (Matthew 19:27-30)

 As a man who follows closely what God speaks to me, I can most definitely appreciate this passage. Being of the character that allows one to step out in faith what one believes he is hearing from God, one comes under scrutiny.

The disciples had good cause to ask this question. They had left their lives to follow a miracle-man, a teacher and a prophet, as far as they knew. They followed Jesus for three years, and had no idea what would eventually come of it. Imagine you are at work, doing your job. Fishermen, tax collectors, Pharisees, and prostitutes. These are just a few of the “careers” Jesus interrupted. What about you- on your next shift? Baristas, nurses, machinists, sales clerks, police, priests, pastors, prostitutes and fishermen. All of these He still calls. What if the next time you are at work a man walks in and performs a miracle, saying no more than, “I am from the Father. Follow me.”? Will you? Maybe He supplies enough food for everyone out of enough for only one, or fills the till to overflowing with dimes. Maybe He has you look at the paperwork and it’s already done, or heals someone right in front of you. Will you follow?

That’s exactly what these people did. Simon-Peter, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him. So I wonder how many are actually willing to do what Jesus calls us to, however simple or complex or impossible it may seem. These twelve men did follow Jesus and at the point of the verses in Matthew above, they wanted to know what they were going to get from it.

Take for example the fishermen. Their entire livelihood is their boat and nets. When Jesus said, “Follow Me,” He promised nothing. He gave no reason, other than the feeling that there was more to this man than just mere flesh. Sure, He had caught a bunch of fish, but it could’ve been coincidence, couldn’t it? Most assuredly not. So Jesus tells them what is in store. They would sit on twelve thrones and have the honor of judging Israel.

This is great for those twelve men, but it’s the next line that caught me. Everyone who leaves his home, family or farm (I take that to mean property) for the sake of Jesus will be rewarded many times over and will receive eternal life. This is nothing to take frivolously. It is a great promise for a life of difficult decisions and much willful loss.

Case in point- I have heard the voice of God. He first told me I was to go to Africa in 2005. Upon His telling me this, I was in disbelief at what I had heard, but there is something about the presence of God that causes you to check your disbelief. God knows what He says, and to whom He says it. So I went that next year, in 2006, having everything fit exactly as He said it would. There, I went out to a great hill overlooking a distant, picturesque valley. I began to pray, thanking God for this “once in a lifetime opportunity to serve.” Suddenly, I was cut short by the immense feeling of heaviness by what I’d just said, particularly the phrase “once in a lifetime.” The same feeling of a Holy presence was there with me. I knew I was before God Almighty once again. He spoke, telling me that I would return. Foolishly, I was in disbelief, until a Maasai man confirmed the statement. He had been nowhere nearby when this conversation with God had taken place. I was immediately humbled, wondering why God hadn’t just struck me down for my disbelief in His perfect Word.

In 2007, I was married. My wife knew full well God’s call on my life. She, too, was informed by God of my trip, and several other things, in a similar way. In the first few months of 2008, there was great bloodshed in Kenya, my destination, following a presidential election in that country. I asked God to confirm the call for me to go there, as many Christian churches were burned and believers killed. God told me to face my fears and to go to Kenya as Ananias went to Saul, a Christian-killer who later became Paul, the writer of the majority of the Bible’s New Testament. (See Acts 9:1-19) Ananias was afraid to face the man known for killing believers. On top of that, God wanted Ananias to go and pray for Saul, which would reveal Ananias as a Christian. In the same way that God assured Ananias, He did for me.

Trouble is, there are a great number who tell me how unwise it is. This is what I’ve been told:

• Don’t go there alone.
• Don’t go there without a church (which wants membership and/or your tithes).
• Don’t go at all.
• It isn’t economically sound.
• It isn’t practical.
• It isn’t safe.
• It isn’t necessary.
• It’s wrong to leave your family.

Some of these things may be true, but they are not excuses. When it comes to God’s command, there is never an excuse to neglect it. Allow me point out a few details about our Biblical heroes:

• Noah built an ark: Not necessary (there was no rain).
• Lot followed two strangers command to get out of Sodom: Foolish by today’s standard.
• Abraham took his son up to an alter to kill him: Today he’d be arrested and committed.
• Jacob worked 14 years in a field for a woman. Today, I think he’d be accused of all sort of sin, from burning lust to insanity.
• Moses held up a stick several times, each resulting in a miracle. The Israelites still complained, but today I think they wouldn’t have let him get as far as he did. They might wander for 140 years!
• Esther risked her life for an audience with the king. That’s not safe.
• The fishermen dropped their nets, left their boats (their livelihood) and families and followed Jesus. That’s not economically sound and today would show “poor family relationships”.
• Peter got out of a boat to walk on water with Jesus. Not very practical.
• Daniel prayed openly to God, despite a law prohibiting it. Many would say that his prayers weren’t necessary.
• Jesus died for the sins of everyone-for YOUR sins. Even Peter told Him not to. Jesus’ response? “Get behind me Satan!” Jesus pointed out to Peter that that wasn’t God’s will; it was the will of man.

All of these and SO many more are men and women we call heroes. We look upon them in such high esteem, in such regard. Yet, if any of them were a man or woman in a typical congregation, they would be rebuked for their faith, cast aside, insulted, talked down or outright ejected from the church! We no longer hold in high admiration the strong, enduring faith of such believers, but we try to reason them down as the world would. We attempt to explain away the impracticality of the deed they wish to do. With this continuing on, there is little hope for the church.

No wonder the Bible calls for a great falling away of the faith. These people have no faith left, just religion. Religion that is accompanied by lighting, sound systems, meetings, décor, “group activities”, busyness, hyped up music and user-friendly preaching. They have laid aside Spiritual gifts and teaching that rocks the boat. They refuse to offend a sinner, and in result the Holy Spirit is boxed up, gossip is labeled as “keeping informed for the purpose of prayer”, adultery is a simple and often mistake, sin is allowed so long as we pray later, and there are no prophetic words, no deep soul cleansings, no demons cast out, no healings, no miracles, no Jesus. There is no Jesus is these churches, just the use of His Name, powerless by the covering up of sin and the list of convenient excuses.

What a contrast between the Bible’s definition of a believer and the current worldly church. Jesus made a promise to reward those who will leave something behind and follow Him. It seems so simple. Who wouldn’t want to go out in Jesus’ Name and receive an eternal reward? Given the current religious climate, I can see why it is a rewardable and rare practice.

Justin Lessard

May 2009

Politics. Stand for someting.

Politics. So many of us are just sick of it. Neither candidate has been telling the whole truth. Neither of them has a perfect voting record. Both of them love to sling mud. Its part of the job. One has to wonder, though, if being in the position of a presidential candidate requires such, let call it cruelty, and a heartlessness that you can publically attack another in front of millions, what else must that person have done to be in that position? Did they have to lie? Cheat? Break IRS tax codes and commit mass corporate deceptions? I’m sure that they did. You can’t get all the way to the top without stepping on a few toes.

 

He taxes too much. If you vote for him you’ll be homeless. If you vote for the other one, your children will starve. But if you vote for the first guy, they’ll lose all their education and become stupid rejects, begging for day-old scraps behind the ghetto bakery. But the other guy will take your job. And the other one will tax your new raise so you actually come home with $5 less every week. One of them will date your mom. The other will shut down her nursing home. One will have dinner with terrorists at Arby’s while the other just sends him a check at Christmas, even though they don’t celebrate Christmas.

 

Here’s what I’m saying: There are bigger issues than whose face is on the front page. Every day 6000 kids are killed by mid-term or later abortion. They refuse to allow Bibles in schools, so Christian parents teach home school, allowing their children to learn math and moral values at the same time. While the schools are taking a massive dump when it comes to value and ethics and crime and teaching self-worth, the state of California just outlawed Christians from their God-given right to teach their own kids. Now they have to send them to the cesspool of a school that will teach anti-creation science, thereby infringing on the rights of students to practice their own religion freely (but don’t worry, they won’t attack Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics, pagans, wiccans, Scientologists, etc. Just the Christians.)

 

Let’s see, what else? Lets talk about gay marriage. I’m all for gays to have the right to choose their lifestyle- its their choice. (Just like my kids schooling used to be.) But I’m not for the whole gay-marriage thing. Sure, they can practice it, but that doesn’t really make it a marriage. I know, I know, they’ve redefined what “marriage” is, but it used to be a union before God between a man and a woman. Since most homosexuals don’t believe in or care for God, they can’t really have a union before Him that He will honor. But, what they hey, they ignored my right to practice my faith (only if it’s from the Christian Bible) by ignoring the 1^st amendment, why not ignore the other principals too.

 

So who is going to do what to help me out? Am I personally going to benefit from either party being elected? Maybe, but probably not. There aren’t a whole lot of things that are going to actually make a difference in the way I daily live my life. I could be wrong, but here’s how I look at it:

If one side is accused of overtaxing and the other of allowing abortions, I will sacrifice a couple bucks, even a couple hundred, per year to vote for the sanctity of life.

If one side is accused of sending jobs overseas and the other of limiting free speech, I’m probably going to have to go for free speech. There will always be a need for jobs on the US. They may not be the best, but we have too many people not to need a ton of jobs. We also have a lot of politicians going after free speech, even though the ones attacked are the churches and the right. Hmm.

If one side wants to build a thousand mile fence at the borders and the other wants to let gays marry, I will go for the fence. Those guys are great climbers and if they can get in through, over or under a military fence, then they deserve to stay. For those that can’t, they can still come here, but have to go through the legal process. Meanwhile, I stand up for what I believe regarding gay marriage. I’m not anti-gay, but I’m not pro-gay. I’m just ok-gay; they can do their thing, but I don’t want tax dollars going toward something I find immoral.

Bottom line, I can’t do anything about the politicians. But, then again, I will probably never have to answer to them. I will, however, have to answer to God. I will stand before Him and be able to say that I voted for the things and the principles that are on His side, His Law, and His eternal purpose. I will say that I stood up for hundreds of thousands of innocent children and supported their right to life. I will say that I voted against the activity that led to His destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, the activities that He calls an abomination. I will be able to say that I stood up for His Word, His teaching, for the right to exhibit by faith, to speak freely the gospel. I will say, “Jesus, I stood up for you.”

What do you stand for?

When a Candidate Lies…

In this first video, Barack’s brother says that Barack will be a good Muslim leader and that Jews needn’t worry. There is a picture of Barack Hussein Obama in Muslim dress.

Here in the second video clip, Barack Hussein Obama slips up and, quite comfortably, says, “my Muslim faith.” Only when the guy interviewing Barack corrects him, does Mr. H. Obama try to salvage the slip.

In this third video, it starts off with Barack Hussein Obama’s admition that his Christian church is ok. Then his pastor says “God damn America” There are a lot of YouTube videos about his pastor’s racist & anti-America comments. feel free to search. Then Barack Hussein Obama says he’s been to 57 states, (with 1 to go, Alaska & Hawaii). Theres only 50 US states, but there ARE 57 Islamic states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Hmmm….. There are a lot of pictures that would seem to suggest nothhing but the fact that Barack Hussein Obama has a Muslim background. Whether or not he is now a Muslim is not the issue. The issue is lying to the US people. Also, he lied on the state bar exam in Chicago, saying he’d never been know by any other names, but he was registered at his Indonesian School (as a Muslim) by the name of Barry Soetoro. The lady in the video doesn’t quite read along with the words well, but thats why there’s a pause button.