Another thing we all want in America is to be praised. We want to be told how good we are. We want to hear how much God loves us. We only want to hear positive sermons full of hope - with swelling words focused on us. This is why Joel Osteen has the largest congregation in America, and we respect him. We look at the vast crowds that sit at his feet each week and we think he must be alright - that many people can't be wrong.

Yet the message of the Cross is a bit different than what we're hearing in far too many pulpits. Basically, the Cross says to us - you're a mess. You're a failure. In fact, you stink. You're filthy. You're full of sin and rebellion. There is no way you're getting into Heaven. You're not smart enough, clean enough, good enough or holy enough to get into Heaven, And all your money, no matter how much you put in the offering plate, can't buy you a seat at God's banqueting table in eternity. You're hopeless and foolish but not beyond redemption

At the English Village i used to work at, in South Korea, they have a lesson we teach about recycling. In the message, it shows amazing people taking trash and turning it into art, whether plastic or aluminum or literally anything - people take worthless garbage and turn it into something beautiful. This is what God does with us, if we'll let Him. In His hands we become beautiful, wonderful to behold! He recycles us! But here's the thing - yes, we are incredibly valuable to God, yes He loves us, sincerely, with all His heart, with a passion we cannot fully comprehend this side of Heaven, but we must not go before Him one time and confess we are sinful, we must continually mourn our sinful fallen flesh's condition while at the same time celebrating His goodness, not our own. We have none, in and of ourselves. We must go to Him daily, hourly if need be, acknowledging in our hearts and mouths our great need for Him. Continually reminding people of how loved they are by God is fine as long as you also continually remind them that their sinful self, their old man, must die daily Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us THIS DAY our sins, the ones we've committed today, as we forgive the daily sins of others. 

In America, we're proud of our independence - we have a day to celebrate it, but we're not only proud of our independence from the British Monarchy, we're proud of our independence from God. Everything we do says "God, we'll pay you lip service but we really don't need you, we're doing just fine, thanks." Major hurricane destroys a city? We got this! No problem. We're Americans! We'll just pull together, help each other and come back better than before. Problem is, we never repent or turn from our wicked ways. No, we embrace them! We celebrate wickedness. We make a constant stream of movies, TV shows and music fixated on wickedness. Oh sure, the good guy wins in the end but we love to watch evil deeds and words. We march down main street parading our debauchery for all to see! we elect wicked leaders. We're proud of the fact that we tolerate wickedness! We resent and slander anyone who disagrees with us. We have marches and rally's to insure our right to murder our own babies, and we spew vitriol and angry speech at anyone who disagrees with us.
Now I know this is a one-sided point of view. I know there are a lot of God fearing people in America who hate wickedness and eschew it. But in far too many instances these people are serving their religion and not God. God's voice is too seldom heard on a national scale. His will, still is not being done. If His words, His judgments, His power will not be displayed by His people - He will bypass them and go directly to the wicked Himself. God's people are meant to be a buffer between Him and the heathen. They are supposed to intercede for the wicked, while at the same time spreading the Gospel seed into wicked hearts wherever they may be found. We are meant to be "carriers of Christ", bringing the Holy Spirit's anointing with us wherever we go. Instead, we become shills for whatever church we're attending - for we cannot invite people to meet a God we don't know ourselves. We cannot obey His will and the pastor's at the same time. Most pastors are dead set against God's will for you, but that's another story. Suffice it to say - the people like it that way. They would much rather surrender their spirituality, and their will, to their pastor than to God. It's much easier that way. On Judgment Day they will testify before God that they obeyed their pastor in all things, and remained in total submission to him their entire lives and He will reply "Depart from Me, I've never known you". How could He not know people who spent their lives doing good in His name? who built grand houses of worship dedicated to Him? Because in all of that they never wanted to know Him, they wanted to live their lives independent of Him, but still go to Heaven when they die. That's the real American dream - to have a paradise on earth of their own making, choosing how to live their lives without Him - but getting to spend Eternity in His paradise too. We want it all! Pleasures in this life and the next. Never mind all the scriptures about denying ourselves in this life, let's deny God our hearts until we get to the Judgment seat - there will be plenty of time to get to know Him in Heaven. As long as we're faithful to our religion because that's how we become good and acceptable to God. Keep all the statutes of our church, all the commandments of our denomination, obey our pastors or priest and we've earned our ticket to Heaven. Not all, not all, but many. Very few, believe me, are willing to obey God if their pastor tells them differently. And that's just the ones who know God, to whatever extent. Most don't know Him enough to recognize His voice if He did speak to them. How horrible to have the first words you ever hear the Lord speak be "Depart from Me". Don't let His first words to you also be your last!

If we do not let the Holy Spirit reveal error in us and others than we cut ourselves off from the maturing process we all must go through. We must be humble enough to remain teachable....this is yet another aspect of becoming "like a child" in order to enter the Kingdom of God, for children must learn almost everything! They instinctively know how to feed from their mother's breast, thereby establishing a pattern, a "way of life" God wants us to repeat and continue as adults - that of being intimate with the one who is feeding us, to be fed directly by the Holy Spirit Himself we must be intimate with Him. Likewise, we are to feed one another with "breast milk", words directly from our hearts, flowing our of our mouths, into another's heart. Words from our minds alone to another's mind alone are not pure).
The idea of remaining teachable applies to our pastors too. If our leaders cannot be confronted (in a loving manner) about error in their lives or teachings, we end up in a church where all the pastor teaches and says is accepted without question. This opens the door for error to be swallowed by the people and, sadly, teaches them that they are "amateurs" while the pastor is a "professional". The point is, if the people are taught and allowed to be baptized in the Spirit, as is God's desire for each and every one of His children (even as a baby is "baptized" in his mother's life preserving water of the womb, so it is God's plan for each of us to be baptized in His Spirit as we exit the womb where He has birthed and nurtured us).
Now if we are filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb, as John the Baptist was, then we can from a young age recognize error. We may not be able to explain it with words but we can instinctively know falsehoods when we're taught them, if not intellectually. Indeed, God can use children to teach adults a thing or two, if the adults are humble enough to receive from them. Granted, the Christ in us, the hope of Glory, must grow in wisdom and stature as we decrease within us, but the Holy Spirit in us is fully grown, as mighty and full of wisdom and knowledge and power as He was when He was filling Jesus without limit. So pastors and leaders must remain open to correction by being willing to listen to even very young believers - for God may use them to speak to us, especially in areas where we think we know but in reality we don't know what we're talking about at all. Pastors often feel pressure to "know it all", to be experts in every area of scriptural doctrine. They feel pressure to come up with a sermon each week and will intellectualize the sermon rather than wait on the Holy Spirit for inspiration. When I was a pastor, there were times when the Lord gave me nothing at all to share with the people come Sunday morning - it was a test - was I willing to sit down and shut up? Could I tell the congregation "I have nothing for you today"? Perhaps the Lord has given a word to someone in the congregation today. The same Spirit that abides in me abides in you. I may be more mature than you but that does not mean i cannot be wrong on occasion, nor does it mean that you cannot teach me something. If we all "in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than ourselves" than we will all remain in the proper state of humility God requires for us to become great in his eyes, in His kingdom.
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who....made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant". The trap many pastors fall into is trying to establish a reputation, trying to make a name for themselves, becoming less and less like as servant and more and more like a Lord. The first thing Jesus ever said to Peter is also the last - "follow me". Peter's eyes were on John. Peter was comparing himself with John, he wanted to know what Jesus was going to do with John. Jesus rebuked him and told him to keep his focus on Jesus - so must we all. "For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, "are not wise". Paul also taught us not to boast of "other men's labors" - we are not to exalt our pastors or favorite teachers and go around boasting of them - this does them and ourselves a disservice. How many pastors attend a Bible college so they may be approved of men? How many seek man's approval instead of God's? How many commend themselves because of outward success? A degree on the wall, buts in the seats, a nice car, a nice house? "For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth." We should all seek out leaders who are commended by God. But if we are in a place where the leadership is commended by men (something many pastors insist upon), if they are recognized and exalted by men as wise and worthy of a leadership position, then they, like Herod, will seek to kill the leadership approved by God. 

Lord, it's a blessing to hear children laughing, carefree, able to be full of wonder, zest and youthful energy - Childhood is a time in our lives when we can focus all of our energy and thoughts on each moment we're living in - with not a single concern or thought for our future or past, for we are content that our future (for children, this usually means the next day) is perfectly safe and secure because our present is safe and secure. We're content and unworried about our future because our present, from the moment we're born (and before) is filled with love - a loving Father, a tender Mother, sacrificing themselves on our behalf to see to it that we are cared for to the best of their abilities. In a home where all is as it should be, we do not worry or think "will I have enough to eat today? Will I have clean clothes to wear? Or an clothes at all? Will I have a safe, warm bed to sleep in tonight?" No, we're blessedly free of such burdens (again, most of us are, there are children growing up without love, which is why God commands us to care for orphans and the fatherless - we all need unconditional love in our childhood as a foundation to build our adulthood on).
Now if we, as children with loving parents who care for our every need, have no cares or worries for our future, if we are confident and content to live in the moment, fully alive to it, why do we stop living this way when we become adults? Why do we let worry and fear enter in? As if we are no longer children? Children with at loving Father who cares for us, who provides our every need? This is what Jesus was talking about (one aspect anyway) when He said - "I SAY TO YOU, EXCEPT YOU BE CONVERTED, AND BECOME AS LITTLE CHILDREN, YOU SHALL NOT ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. THEREFORE I SAY TO YOU, TAKE NO THOUGHT FOR YOUR LIFE, WHAT YOU WILL EAT, OR WHAT YOU WILL DRINK; NOR YET FOR YOUR BODY, WHAT YOU SHALL PUT ON. IS NOT THE LIFE MORE THAN MEAT, AND THE BODY THAN CLOTHING? BEHOLD THE BIRDS OF THE AIR - FOR THEY SOW NOT, NEITHER DO THEY REAP, NOR GATHER INTO BARNS; YET YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER FEEDS THEM. ARE YOU NOT MUCH BETTER THAN THEY? WHICH OF YOU BY TAKING THOUGHT CAN ADD ONE INCH TO HIS HEIGHT? AND WHY TAKE YOU THOUGH FOR CLOTHES? CONSIDER THE LILIES OF THE FIELD, HOW THEY GROW, THEY TOIL NOT, NEITHER DO THEY SPIN: AND YET I SAY TO YOU THAT EVEN SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY WAS NOT CLOTHED LIKE ONE OF THESE> WHEREFORE, IF GOD SO CLOTHES THE GRASS OF THE FIELD, WHICH TODAY IS, AND TOMORROW IS CAST INTO THE OVEN, SHALL HE NOT MUCH MORE CLOTHE YOU, OH YOU OF LITTLE FAITH? THEREFORE TAKE NOT THOUGHT, SAYING WHAT SHALL WE EAT? OR WHAT SHALL WE DRINK? OR WHEREWITHAL SHALL WE BE CLOTHED? (for after all these things do the gentiles seek) FOR YOUR (generous, loving, caring, faithful) HEAVENLY FATHER, KNOWS THAT YOU HAVE NEED OF ALL THESE THINGS. BUT SEEK YOU FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU. TAKE THEREFORE NO THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW, FOR THE MORROW SHALL TAKE THOUGHT FOR THE THINGS OF ITSELF. SUFFICIENT UNTO THE DAY IS THE EVIL THEREOF".
This is why John addressed his epistles to "my little children" for he knew that little children need their fathers in a way that grown up children forget to. Little children openly and freely love their Father in a way adult children do not. I miss the days when my children would unabashedly run through the house screaming "daddy's home!" and throw themselves at me as I walked in the door. Everyday coming to me and hugging me saying "I love you daddy". Let's all be "little children" of our heavenly Father who openly and unashamedly love Him and who rest peacefully in His love for us each day, knowing He takes care of us better than our earthly fathers ever could. Let's take Steve Martin's advice and "get small". Let's live carefree as do the children I heard today laughing and playing together. Let's humble ourselves and become like little children, fully trusting our Father and only concerned with loving one another......amen. 

Are you fluent in the language of love?
Are you meek and kind and gentle as a dove?
Is your heart able to communicate
God's love for all you meet each day?
Or are you mute when God wants to speak
through you what He has to say?
Let the Dam of your heart break
that you may be able to communicate
the love God pours
into your heart's reservoir,
that the dry and thirsty souls each day you happen to meet
may quench their thirst for His love by drinking long and deep.
Do not let your heart's supply
of His love become shallow or dry,
for in these days of drought
many are dying for lack of what you've got -
His word and His Spirit from your heart bursting free,
that they too, may join you, in His presence for eternity.
Be a river, be a conduit, for Holy Spirit to flow through,
and He will bring those dead to Him, to be raised by you...

He is calling me to fast from the words of man

The milk of human kindness
does not flow from every breast,
therefore the taste is sweeter
when with it we are blessed.
So be tenderhearted towards each other,
for this I must confess -
this is how God's heart is towards us all -
each one of us, equally, no more, no less.
He does not pick and choose
whom to love, whom to eschew.
So do not harden your heart towards others
while His heart is tender towards you.
Whenever you can
extend a hand
to your fellow man
for love is a language
all can understand....

Part two

I say to you now by The Spirit of the living God - Woe to every denomination and church and heart whom, in the day of His visitation, turn Him away, deny Him, and choose the rule of man over God. "Thus saith The Lord, cursed be the man that trusts in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the Lord" "The heart is deceitful above all, and desperately wicked" and only a heart ruled by Christ can become otherwise. Woe to you Baptists! Woe to you Presbyterians! Woe to you Methodists, Seventh Day Adventists, and the list goes on and on ad infinitim. Yes, all who deny Him and do not repent are like the fig tree, who when The Lord came to visit, desiring fruit, was barren. Jesus cursed that tree "no man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever" and the very next verse shows Jesus "cleansing the Temple" of money changers and thieves I see two baskets of figs "the one basket had very good figs; even like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad."
I see the wheat and the tares. I see two temples, one made with hands and one made without hands. I see two kings and I see two kingdoms. I see two trees in the Garden. Only His presence within us can plant his garden within us - only He can nurture His seed, with His light within us and with His water If we in truth give Him the Throne of our hearts, our souls will become as "well watered gardens full of His fragrance, his fruit, his love". We will be as "trees planted by the rivers of water". We will flourish under His constant care and attention. When He sits on the throne of our hearts, out of our hearts will flow the Spirit of Life everlasting, Holy and Pure, watering our souls and the souls we meet with.
"And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as a crystal, proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lamb". This river will flow out of our belly and our mouths. And our hearts will become "crystal clear", no deciet in them, therefore our words will have no deciet in them. Our hearts will have no wickedness in them and so our words will have no wickedness in them, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. We will cleanse and nourish each other with the water of the word, written as well as "every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God". There will be "no more curse and no more night" "and they shall reign forever and ever" and He is now saying to me = "These saying are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy Prophets sent His angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done".