“Go therefore, and hold conferences in all nations, baptizing them in your doctrines, teaching them to buy your books and sermons on the ‘next move of God’, and to leave their entire lives behind to come to the mega-churches all over the world that you will build.  And lo, I will anoint you, but just until the end of the conference.”

Wait!  That’s not what Jesus said to do…He said:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20 [show]Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (ESV)

Why do so many of us hop from conference to conference, meeting to meeting, church to church, doing all these nice, fluffy Christian things…and only act like we are ‘anointed’ when we are at church?

Have you ever noticed the fruit of listening to many of your favorite ministers? Do you get a stronger desire to read your Bible or do the things that Jesus said to do?  Does it make you want to spend time in prayer?

Or do you find yourself with an intense urge to buy the speaker’s latest book or their newest DVD sermon series?  Or perhaps wanting to leave everything you know behind and move to the mega-church that they speak at regularly so you don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars to go to the conference in your area next year?  All so that you can get the freshest “revelation” that they bring every week instead of getting your revelation from God Himself as you study His Word and put it into practice?

Legitimately take a moment and think about this.  The Lord spoke to me about this last night and it hit me like a brick in the face.

If listening to those that you listen to legitimately leads you into a deeper and more intense study of the Word of God, then keep at it!  However, if the only thing that you have found yourself doing is craving their next book, then Houston, we have a problem.

There are giant, very expensive church buildings all over the world that people are streaming to year after year…where there are legitimately amazing things happening…but at what cost?  And why?

Could it possibly be that the message that is coming out of many of these churches is not entirely portraying the Jesus of the Scriptures in an accurate light?

Could it possibly be that we have been deceived into believing a watered-down version of the Gospel that makes us think Jesus is simply concerned about making us happy?

Sorry to take a shotgun to your doctrine folks, but that’s called humanism.

“Humanism says that the end of all things is the happiness of man.  Christianity says that the end of all things is the glory of God.” -Paris Reidhead

Obviously God wants us to be happy—but unfortunately, much of the church has taken a Biblical truth and overemphasized it to the point that we have created God in our own image.

Do we realize that one of Jesus’ first major ‘ministry’ moves was to flip over the tables of the people that were doing business in the temples and then driving them out with a whip?  (John 2:13-23 [show]John 2:13-23 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade." His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." So the Jews said to him, "What sign do you show us for doing these things?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. (ESV)
)

That certainly wouldn’t win very many popularity points…and if Jesus had written a few books and brought all of His most ‘anointed’ sermon sets with Him, He probably wouldn’t get too many people lining up at His product table after a move like that.

And yet miraculously, multitudes of people still followed Him throughout His earthly ministry.  Granted then He preached the “eat My flesh and drink My blood” sermon (John 6:25-70 [show]John 6:25-70 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me-- not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil." (ESV)
) which dwindled His followers to just a select few again…but there was something about what He carried that truly demonstrated His Lordship, His Divine Love, and His Power that made Him so irresistible to people who were legitimately hungry for something real…

There is this side of the Jesus of the Gospels that has intrigued me for the last several years–and the more I read the Bible the more I find that Jesus was not this gentle, easy-going, chum of a guy who was super nice to everybody.  He was hands-down the most intense man who ever walked this earth.  He called the religious leaders of His day the sons of satan…broods of vipers…hypocrites…

I have a hard time believing that the Jesus of the Scriptures would be very readily welcomed into most of our churches today.  He certainly would not be invited to speak at our “glory, signs, and wonders” conferences or to very many Sunday morning services.  He would make too many people angry because of the message He would bring.

His message demanded that the lives of those who heard it followed Him wholeheartedly and without compromise.

He openly rebuked those who only came to Him for the miracles.

He aggressively destroyed the works of the devil everywhere He went…not just when He had some special “leading” of the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:38 [show]Acts 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. (ESV)
).

Jesus demonstrated what a man who is entirely sold out to God can do.

He upset every establishment that He came across…because so many of them became so focused on themselves, their little empires,  and the rules they had put in place that they neglected even doing the simple things that God had commanded them.

The intensity of Christ is something that very few people will dare to speak about.  It makes many pastors and leaders uncomfortable.  It makes those steeped in religion squirm with an uneasy feeling that ‘rebellion’ is afoot.  The Jesus of the Gospels was a man who completely turned everything upside down and made no apologies for it.  He was a revolutionary at the core and ABSOLUTE FREEDOM and LOVE were His weapons of choice.

Everybody likes the Jesus that performs the miracles and loves people in a way that doesn’t demand that they abandon their cozy little lives.  Everybody likes to talk about how Jesus welcomed little children into His arms and the Jesus who multiplied food for thousands and thousands of people.  Everybody likes the Jesus who calmed the storm that the disciples had found themselves in.  Everybody likes the Jesus who healed all the sick and set the demonized free from their torment.  Everybody likes the Jesus that died just for them.  Everybody likes the Jesus who gave up everything of Himself, all of His divinity, just for them.

The trouble with all of this is that while these things are all part of Christ’s character…they are only one part.

Nobody likes to talk about the Jesus who told teenage boys to leave their family and their jobs to follow Him (Luke 5:1-11 [show]Luke 5:1-11 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (ESV)
).  Nobody likes the Jesus who told a man to leave his dead father and not worry about setting up funeral arrangements (Matt. 8:20-21 [show]Matthew 8:20-21 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Another of the disciples said to him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." (ESV)
), or the man who simply wanted to say goodbye to his parents before following Jesus that if he turned back, he wouldn’t be worthy to enter the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:61-62 [show]Luke 9:61-62 Yet another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." (ESV)
).

Today, He would be called disrespectful and dishonoring to the family.

Nobody likes to talk about the fact that right after He calmed the storm, He rebuked His own followers for having no faith (Mark 4:40 [show]Mark 4:40 He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" (ESV)
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Today, He would be told that He “wasn’t speaking things that edify and build up the church.”

Nobody likes to talk about the Jesus that viciously rebuked and drove out those who bought and sold in the temple (Matthew 21:12-17 [show]Matthew 21:12-17 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers." And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant, and they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, "'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?" And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. (ESV)
, Matthew 21:23-27 [show]Matthew 21:23-27 And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?" And they discussed it among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'From man,' we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet." So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. (ESV)
, Mark 11:15-19 [show]Mark 11:15-19 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers." And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city. (ESV)
, Mark 11:27-33 [show]Mark 11:27-33 And they came again to Jerusalem. And as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, and they said to him, "By what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority to do them?" Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Answer me." And they discussed it with one another, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?' But shall we say, 'From man'?"--they were afraid of the people, for they all held that John really was a prophet. So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things." (ESV)
, Luke 19:45-48 [show]Luke 19:45-48 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of robbers." And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words. (ESV)
, Mark 20:1-8 [show]ERROR: No passage found for your query.
, John 2:13-23 [show]John 2:13-23 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade." His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me." So the Jews said to him, "What sign do you show us for doing these things?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. (ESV)
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Today, He would be told that He “wasn’t walking in love.”  How ironic that Love Himself would probably get labeled with a statement like that.

Nobody likes to talk about the Jesus who called the religious leaders of His day the most defaming, slanderous, cruel names of the day and likened them to satan himself.  He called them blind hypocrites and snakes in their own temples (Matthew 23 [show]Matthew 23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so practice and observe whatever they tell you--but not what they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. "Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, saying, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'" (ESV)
).  Nobody likes to talk about the Jesus that openly refuted the teaching of the rulers of the very synagogues He was teaching in.  Or the fact that in the book of Acts, when the disciples were forbidden to speak and teach in the name of Jesus, they DISOBEYED and said they had to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:17-33 [show]Acts 5:17-33 But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, "Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life." And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council and all the senate of the people of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, "We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside." Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. And someone came and told them, "Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people." Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, "We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us." But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him." When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. (ESV)
).

Today, Jesus and His disciples would be told they were being rebellious for “not honoring authority and their leaders” and that Jesus needed to “stop speaking death and condemnation over them”.

Nobody likes the Jesus who publicly rebuked His followers who were not able to get a boy healed and delivered from demons, even proceeding to say that they had no faith and that they were perverse (Luke 9:37-41 [show]Luke 9:37-41 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." Jesus answered, "O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." (ESV)
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Today, He would be told He was “too harsh and that everybody isn’t on His level” and that He “didn’t learn what He knows right away”.

Nobody likes the Jesus who told a rich young man to sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor (Luke 18:18-23 [show]Luke 18:18-23 And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'" And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth." When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. (ESV)
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Today, He would be told that “God wants us to have nice things and to prosper us”.  (I’m not saying that He doesn’t…I think you get my point, though.)

Nobody likes the Jesus that said that if we don’t hate our families, our own lives, and leave everything that we know to follow Him, that we can’t even be His disciple (Luke 14:25-34 [show]Luke 14:25-34 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. "Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? (ESV)
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Today, He would be told “you need to rephrase that nasty word ‘hate’, people will get a bad impression” and to “not take things so seriously”.

Nobody likes the Jesus who likened those who heard His words but didn’t put them into practice to false prophets and fools…and that everything these evildoers had tried to establish would come crashing down (Matt. 7:15-27 [show]Matthew 7:15-27 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." (ESV)
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Today, He would be told “judge not lest ye be judged!”

Nobody likes the fact that Jesus wasn’t interested in maintaining ‘ministry partners’…He wanted the very lives of His followers laid down at His feet, ready to serve every person that they came across and be willing to do anything that He said…even if it meant ‘eating His flesh and drinking His blood’.

This calm, complacent, seeker-sensitive, warm and fuzzy Jesus that is portrayed by most churches today is simply not the Jesus of the Scriptures.

Paul had something interesting to say to the Galatians about people who preach a different Jesus than the Christ of the Scriptures:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed! As we have said before, so now I say again:  If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed! For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God?  Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” – Galatians 1:6-10 [show]Galatians 1:6-10 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-- not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. (ESV)

Today, Paul would be told he was mean and that he needs to lighten up.

I present this all to you for one reason—to get you to really think about this message of Christ that you profess with your lips.  To get you to legitimately consider that maybe, just maybe, the things that you think you know about Jesus are more than a little bit skewed.  Skewed in the direction of a people-pleasing, super-nice, friendly-Sunday-morning Savior who looks more like a cosmic bell-hop who jumps through every hoop you present Him instead of the glorious, victorious, ruling, reigning, all-powerful, omniscient, death-conquering, disease-defeating, life-requiring Lord of All that He really is.

The message He told us to bring is “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (within reach)!”

The time for playing church is far over.  The life that Jesus has called us all to is one that will be full of victory, love, power, authority, adventure, excitement, persecution, joy, slander, tears, and so much more.

Comfortable is not part of this life in the Kingdom.

This is a war we have been born into…and the victory is ours through Christ.

It is time to lay aside the idol of a Jesus that man has created in our own image and bow our knee to all that He has for us.

Embrace your calling in Christ.  Run hard after that which God has put burning inside of you.  Abandon your fears and all forms of compromise.

Stop wasting your life with all of the things that the world runs after.

An idol is anything that gets your attention more than God.

The Jews missed Jesus the first time because they were expecting a conquering King that would come as a Lion — but they got a Lamb who loved on sinners and was humble as a servant.  It seems that now people are expecting a gentle Lamb but Scriptures point out that they will be getting the roaring Lion of Judah.

Think about it.