What is it all about?

What really matters, in regards to Christianity and church?

Lets look at what not to do.

Matt 7 True and False Disciples

21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’

23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

(If you could have many miracle and fool yourself! Then you could have a more mundane church service and still fool yourself)

How do you perform many miracles, and still miss the boat?

Hard to prove? Fake Miracles? (Leap of Faith Steve Martin)

Miracles through the the power of Darkness?

(Exodus 7:11, 22; 8:7 Magicians of Pharaoh)

(Saul and the Medium at Endor 1 Sam 28)

(Acts 16:16...a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling.)

Can you fool yourself? Can you think you are right and be wrong? The teachers of the law and Pharisees did!

Matthew 23:23

23“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin.

But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

Matt15

3Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?

4For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ a and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ b

5But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’

6they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

7You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

8“ ‘These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

9They worship me in vain;

their teachings are merely human rules.’

We could look at the the Gospels....and say that Christianity is about spreading the Word!

We could look at the the book of Acts and say...its about community

Paul certainly was a missionary....but we could look at his writings and conclude church organization is the focus!

We could look at the the book of Revelation and say it all about the End times.

Matt 25

The Sheep and the Goats

31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.

32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?

39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

When did we see you? Compared to Matt 7 (Lord, Lord, did we not....)

41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,

43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

I will always try to urge you to follow Jesus!