"Jesus Christ's Message Was No Prosperity Gospel"

Jesus Christ's Message Was No Prosperity Gospel. Our text is taken from Matthew 10

Jesus Christ was certainly no sweet music man singing the song that we love to hear. This is what makes Him so real and sets Him apart from all other leaders that have ever walked the face of planet Earth. And here is why we know that He was no sweet tonged deceiver. Simply because He did not come with sweet words. Craftily trying to persuade men to follow Him so that He could use them and take advantage of them.

In fact He came with many, many hard sayings some of them too hard for the people to bear. If He was not real He would have softened His words and there is no doubt that He was, is and forever more will be real. On one occasion His words were so difficult to bear that He probably lost more than half of His followers on that day. Many of them abruptly turned around and walked away from Him deciding that they could not follow Him any longer. On that day He said, "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed and My blood is drink indeed." John 6: 54 and 55. He was speaking spiritually about the sacrament we call the communion, the Lord's supper or the Eucharist.

At that point this was a mystery to them. He was in the Spirit and they were thinking in the flesh and therefore could not comprehend His words. They did not really believe in Him. The benefits of the Gospel will not come to us unless we trust Christ completely believing His Word and casting all our care upon Him.

Father we thank You for this word and apply the blood of Jesus to it. Make it clear. Cause only the truth to go forward Father we pray in the holy and the precious name of Jesus Christ. Bless the understanding of the listener in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

This hard word that Jesus Christ spoke on that day would soon be manifested to His followers and to the entire world. The understanding about what He was saying became clear to them only after He was crucified, died and rose again from the grave. By following this life-giving sacrament many have been healed. They've been healed physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally. As we participate in this life-preserving sacred ritual instituted by Christ at the last supper. We keep alive the memory of His painful sacrifice and demonstrate our faith in His Word. This will always bring joy, bring peace, bring love and contentment into our very soul. And give us the strength to go on. The strength to face the trials of life with boldness. And those who walked away from Him on that day did not truly believe in Him and did not trust the things that He said.

And even today many in the the church and the world do not trust Jesus Christ wholeheartedly. They struggle to fully grasp His Word and therefore they run away when things get tough or when they hit with unexpected trials. When we doubt God's Word we resign ourselves to live continually in the flesh and we're unable to walk in the spirit. The Word of God goes on to say that from that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. He then turned around and asked His 12 Apostles whether they were going to abandon Him as well. Of course they held fast. Even today there are many who have walked away from following after Jesus Christ. And many are walking away every day. They lose hope because the journey has not been sweet like the false teachers told them it would be.

Like all the followers of Jesus Christ they found challenges unexpected events. Difficulties in their lives. Things that they were not prepared to endure for the sake of the Gospel. They did not find the prosperity that they were promised by certain preachers. And Jesus Christ could never be blamed for this because He always gave His followers the painful truth. In other words He was accustomed to telling it just like it was. If you're looking for a cushy ride, a splendid time, you will not find it following the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The harsh reality is that the going is rough and the road is hard but rest assured He will see you through to the very end if you would only hold on.

Let's examine some more of His hard sayings. One day He told the people, according to Matthew 10:34, do not think that I came to bring peace on Earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. And you might be saying that you thought you read in the Gospel of Luke that when Christ was born in Bethlehem the angels sang out glory to God in the highest, and on Earth, peace, goodwill toward men. Yes friend the angels sure did declare peace and goodwill to the Earth at the birth of the Savior, because He is our peace. Indeed Christ will bring peace to this violent and troubled world. But first the gospel must separate the sheep from the goat and then peace will come.

After declaring that He did not come to bring peace but a sword Jesus went even further in verses 35 and 36. He said I have come to set a man against his father. A daughter against her mother. And a daughter-in-law against a mother-in-law. And a man's enemies will be those of his own household. Today families are in turmoil. There is no peace. The family is the most troubled institution in the world and is falling apart at the seams. Family members are robbing and killing each other. Children are left to fend for themselves very often. Unsaved members of the family are railing against saved members of the family. Simply stated. It is the flesh waring against the spirit. For scripture says the two cannot get along. There's constant dis agreement just as Christ had prophesied. We see it all around us every day. Therefore all followers of Christ are faced with a major decision. They will be forced to decide who will occupy the number one spot in their lives. Who will their heart really belong to. Who is the true apple of their eye. And every believer in Christ will be forced to decide whether Jesus Christ or some Idol is Lord and Master of their life. And sometimes we have to decide whether it will be God or father and mother.

And this may happen especially when father and mother do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Or when they follow false doctrine or no doctrine at all. And Jesus Christ said, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me." This is hard because abandoning our parents and children is unthinkable to anyone who has a heart. Yet it may become necessary to do this for the kingdom of God. If all this was not enough Jesus Christ went on to say to His followers that they will all need to take up their cross if they wanted to follow Him. Of all the things that Jesus Christ is known for, He is most known as the man who carried His own cross upon which He was crucified. His signature act is His painful journey through the streets of Jerusalem carrying a wooden cross to Golgotha, where they would hang Him on it. And this cross was symbolic of the sins of the world. This was a weight and a burden so great, that the Father could find no one else in heaven nor on the earth who was able to carry this cross.

And so Jesus tells all of His followers. He who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Christ was the cross bearing man and whether we acknowledge it or not we are cross bearing people. We all have a cross to bear and since we are followers of Him and He carried a cross we are all required to carry one as well. And our cross encompasses all that we will have to bear for the sake of Jesus Christ. We must accept our cross and carry it without complaining. And furthermore He gives us grace to be able to carry it. He says the joy of the Lord will be our strength on this perilous journey. And He promises never to put more on us than we are able to bear, praise the Lord.

Perhaps most of us expected to have a grand time here on earth and expected to happily ride off into the sunset, having experienced it all and grabbed all the gusto life has to offer us. But we soon wake up to the reality that this is not the way it is at all. Continuing in Matthew 10:39, the Lord Jesus Christ tells us. "He who finds his life will lose it. And he who loses his life for My sake will find it." In other words forget about those grand plans that you have to live it up to the max. We all have had some things in life that we wanted to accomplish before we die but this may not be in line with the plans that God has for our life. That's the harsh reality. We must wrestle with this and hopefully come to the place where we lay down our plans and take up the cross that Christ has prepared for us to bear. The reward is to all who do this faithfully.

Years ago I met a gentleman whose favorite saying was, "Life is hard then you die," he seemed to be saying it every time I saw him. Of course he did not know the Lord as his Savior so he only had half of the story. Yes life is certainly hard and we must die unless we are alive when Christ returns for the gathering in the sky. In speaking about that day Jesus Christ says, "Behold I come quickly and my reward is with Me." And so there is a reward for all who faithfully carry their cross to the very end. There is a glorious reward for all who walk in obedience to God's Word and there's an eternal reward for all who refuse to turn away from the Master of our soul when this walk with Him does not produce for us the comfortable ride that we had been anticipating all of our lives. Hold fast my friend God will see you through to the very end. Be encouraged.

You've been listening to this message and you do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We want to give you an opportunity to make that commitment today. Please say this prayer after me:

• Father I am a sinner.

• I'm sorry for all my sins.

• I crave Your forgiveness.

• I have decided to return to You Lord.

• Thank You for receiving me.

• Today I invite Jesus Christ to come into my heart and and be my Lord and Savior.

• Dear Lord Jesus I give You the key to my heart because I now belong to You forever.

• Please give me the Holy Spirit to lead me into all truth. Amen.

Welcome friend to the body of believers in Christ. There are so many of us here awaiting the return of the Good Master. In the meantime we encourage you to become water baptized as quickly as possible. Let your pastor know that you have given your heart to the Lord and you want to be baptized.

Begin reading the Word of God every day. Begin in the book of John then go to Matthew, Mark and Luke. Pray daily. Attend at your local church. And one glad morning the Savior will come and receive us all unto Himself and we shall indeed forever be with the Lord. God bless and keep you in Jesus mighty name. Amen.