You've Never Heard It Like This Before

Matthew 5-7 are amazingly powerful Scriptures. Jesus just continues to amaze me. He consistently raises the bar.

Nine times Jesus says: "God blesses those who are..." God is always in the blessing business, even when it seems just the opposite.

Jesus blew all the religious cobwebs out of the crowds thinking by saying: "You have heard it said, but I say to you." Who had said? Moses. The guy who went up on the Mountain of God, and brought back stone tablets in which the finger of God had written. And here's Jesus saying, "Moses said such and such, but listen to Me. This is what I say." Radical! Revolutionary!

I fall short of the standard Jesus has put in place.

I pray that the Father's name will be honored through my life, and the church He has called Genelle and I to pastor. And I pray that His name will be honored; that His Kingdom will come with power; and His will accomplished on the prairie. Oh how I long for Jesus to build a great church on the prairie! It consumes me and my soul is troubled because I have yet to see it.

In thirty years of ministry on the prairie I have seen people come and go - true prophets and false; sheep, goats, and pretenders. I have observed those who "stay with the stuff" and those who don't realize the faith life is a life, not a 40 yard sprint. God is looking for fruit, not flashes in the sky that quickly fade.

I have also seen super-spiritual types who do not build their life on acting upon the Word. But when the wind comes, and when the storms of life come - and they will come (I used to just believe that in theory, but now in reality) - they collapse under the pressure. Jesus' call to "follow Him" is a lifelong journey and a continual positive response is required. Our lives must be built upon acting out the Word of Christ. The result: we are left standing to the praise of Christ's glory.

PrairieParson
JB