Words of Jesus Podcast - Hold People In The Proper Light

Episode Date: September 15, 2023

Remember, the actual ministry of Christ is to feed the hungry, cloth the needy and help the poor. Keep money in the proper place in our life, not our god. Agreement on all matters is not required. Our progress in the Kingdom of God is an individual journey. Listen to the Holy Spirit to hear the correction of your loving Heavenly Father. Consider the end of your life. Reject social power. Everybody is equally important to God. Ego is a problem.***Ch 52: Jesus Tells Peter To Get The Tax Money From The Mouth Of A FishMatthew 17:24-27JESUS AND his disciples returned to Capernaum. The collectors of the temple tax asked Peter:            “Doth not your master pay taxes?”            Peter replied:            “Yes.”            When he came into the house, Jesus said to him:            “What thinketh thou, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? Of their own children, or of strangers?”            Peter answered:            “Of strangers.”            Jesus then said:            “Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money. That take, and give unto them for me and thee.”***53: Jesus Discusses The Need For HumilityMatthew 18:1-35; Mark 9:33-50; Luke 9:46-50Who Is The Greatest In The Kingdom?ON THEIR way to Capernaum the disciples argued among themselves. When he was in the house, Jesus asked them:            “What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?”            The disciples were silent for they had disputed about who was the greatest.            Jesus sat down with them and said:            “If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.”            Then he set a child in the midst of the disciples and, holding him in his arms, he said:            “Verily I say unto you, ‘Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven.’ Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of Heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.” Tolerance Urged John said to Jesus:            “Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us. And we forbade him, because he followeth not us.”            Jesus replied:            “Forbid him not; for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part. For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong

Think Red Ink Ministries presents the Words of Jesus series with Don C. Harris. Hello my friend and welcome once again to the Words of Jesus series. Don Harris, your host. And we have been talking about Peter's commission to go fishing and receive this piece of money from the mouth of the fish to pay taxes. Jesus was constantly being asked about taxes because I think he talked about it a lot, to tell you the truth. The Roman government had little interest

other than just land grabs and financing their kingdom. And so taxes were a big part of the Israelis' life and it wasn't a part of their life before Roman occupation, or at least to a much smaller degree. and to a degree of actually giving to the Lord and not necessarily giving to a government, which are two different things. There's a, as I say, the idea of paying tithes today is under attack by many people who, you know seemingly uh mean well uh one of my favorite bible teachers believes that we don't have to pay tithes anymore because we pay taxes and the government takes our tax money and they they buy groceries for the poor and they

and they supply you know this and that and the other thing and they do all the wonderful things that tithes used to do and we don't have to do it anymore i'm thinking how are you going to give your life to the lord you know we say it all the time that we're going to give our you know i want to give my life to jesus really do you want to give him 40 hours a day for a week what do you mean you want to give him your paycheck? Well, no. Well, you're giving that to your boss. He's actually buying it from you.

That kind of makes you a prostitute, really. So, I mean, is that really what you want to give your life to Jesus? You know, you're not willing to, you know, 40 hours. You know what the tithe on 40 hours is? You know what the tithe is? Four hours. That's a bargain. And can you do that? Really? Can you do that? And so you're going to have to wonder, you can't help but wonder, what are people thinking when they say that, you know, we don't owe God 10%, we owe Him everything, I don't think anybody actually believes that.

I think that that's some kind of a superficial emotional cop-out to not paying taxes. I really think it is. So I say, let's go the cheap way. Why not just go the inexpensive, cheap way, which is obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ, obedience to His Father, and give Him 10% on the increase of our income? Why not? I don't understand it. As you know, my background is Quaker,

and they're constantly asking for money for this and that and the other thing, and they feel like everybody ought to pay their fair share, and I get that. Most of the church is populated with that kind of thinking now anyway. So if they're going to have a meeting, they take the expenses of that meeting, and they divide it by how many people are there, and they announce that figure, and that's what you give. And I'm thinking, why aren't you tithing? You know, if you were tithing, you wouldn't have these problems. As a matter of fact, if your church was tithing like they should, the welfare system in your town

would dwindle away to almost nothing. You'd have so much to be able to do. The actual ministry of Christ, which is taking care of the hungry and putting clothes on the naked and giving shelter to people that have no place to sleep. Shoot, man, you guys would be superstars in your town if you tithed, but you don't. And many of you feel like, well, that's the government's job.

That's why I pay taxes. No, we pay taxes because we don't belong to this country. And we pay taxes because our Lord demands of us a righteous life. And if that's what your government says that you need to pay, then you need to pay that. Just pay it. But I think we're just too fascinated with money i think maybe we love it and so here we go again you could talk about these things forever but

you're never going to find never going to find a good excuse not to pay your tithes it just doesn't exist do you realize that the lord actually makes a provision for a guy who, perhaps he's having trouble in his business. He's having trouble getting certain bills paid or getting ahead on certain things and trying to, he needs money for that kind of thing. Do you know that the Lord actually makes provision for a businessman like that? Or a guy who really cannot afford to pay tithes and it not affect his business in a negative way so that his increase will be less next year? And the Lord says, you want my tithes? You want the

money that you owe me? You know, he says you're a thief if you don't give it to him. He says, you want this money? You can have it. Take it and use it in your business. Now, when it does come through, I'll expect an additional 10%. Did you know he does that? That isn't amazing. You're going to pay 20% instead of 10%. That's just really good of him. He's not out to make you broke. He's not out to make himself rich. What he's trying to do is get a proper perspective in the brains of his people about this most powerful thing on the earth called money that can do almost anything that he can do. And it's a very dangerous subject. And you want control of it?

You need to look into tithing. You need to look into giving to the Lord. You need to look into doing your part. And when you've done all that is your duty to do, say, I am an unprofitable servant i have done that which is my duty to do now that actually segues nicely into chapter 50 53 which talks about jesus jesus is is trying to teach us to have a humble attitude and sometimes this isn't very easy to do um especially because we're all so wonderful right let's read what he has to say here he says on their way to

capernaum the disciples argued among themselves when he was in the house jesus asked them what was it that you disputed among yourselves by the way the disciples were silent for they had disputed about who was the greatest among them jesus sat down with them and said if any man desire to be first the same shall be last of all and servant of all then he said a child in the midst of his disciples, and beholding him in his arms, he said, Verily I say unto you, except you be converted,

and become as a little child, you'll not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is great in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me. John said to Jesus,

Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us. And we forbade him, saying, We forbade him, because he followeth not us. Jesus replied, Forbid him not, for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of me.

For he that is not against us is on our part. For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. Remember we found this in that long dissertation once before. Here you have people saying that we're better than you because we preach something that's a little different than yours or we're deeper spiritually.

This is not going to get it. I don't care who these people are. I don't care how even effective they are. They're not against me. So they're on our part. They're on our part they're on our side he's saying um and another another thing about humility um he's telling us to be as little children little children don't have these problems you should then as they get a little older sure they start posturing and start you know becoming king of the hill or whatever else they do.

But, man, that's just, that's just sin creeping in on them. He, and then he teaches, but whosoever shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depths of the sea woe unto the world because of offenses for it must need that offenses come but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh therefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee cut them off and cast them from thee for it's better for thee to enter into life halt and maimed than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into everlasting fire and if thine eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it's better for thee to enter into life with one eye

rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell take heed that you despise not one of these little ones. For I say unto you that in heaven, their angels do always behold the face of my Father, which is in heaven. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost. Again, he's looking at children and saying, this is what I want you to become

and you might think and probably rightfully so and logically but that's what i was i was there once and look what's happened well you know the the truth of the matter is that nature pretty much tells us that people who are born pudgy and round and bald-headed and cry a lot usually die pudgy and round and bald-headed and cry a lot. Because we do have a tendency to revert back to our roots. Look, it's just the fact of the matter is that we did come into this world in better spiritual condition than many of us are leaving it because we have matured and because we have become sophisticated and we've learned the ways of the world.

I was telling a young man, we were talking about the stupidity of learning how to smoke. And I said, you know, one of these days you'll be sorry. You're going to really be sorry if it gets a hold of you. Because, you know, look at the millions of people that are trying to quit and seemingly are absolutely powerless to do so. You need to consider that. And he says, well, I just like to experience things. You know, the sophistication of knowing these different things

and going different places and drinking different kinds of liquor and whatever else he thought was important as a child. And I said, look, let me tell you the fact of the matter. You know, I'm not, you know, a guy who's lived with a silver spoon or silk sheets or has not experienced, you know, a good butt whooping out behind the bar room. And, I mean, I understand. I've been around. I'm not your average preacher.

And, oh, you've noticed that? But, you know, what I have noticed is that the time that I spend with the Lord and what He demands of me, what I read in the Scriptures, here's what I'm finding. That I really, indeed, really, I really did of me what i read in the scriptures here's what i'm finding that um i i really indeed really i really did spend the first half of my life well it's not half now the first quarter of my life

trying with everything in me to do away with the innocence that was in me i wanted to be sophisticated i wanted to i wanted to know things. I wanted to experience things. This was all very, very important to me. And I spent the first quarter of my life, you can tell how long I've been saying that, used to be the first half, the first quarter of my life I spent

trying to dispense with every bit of innocence that I had. And I find in the last years of my life, I'm trying desperately to get it back. Because it is that innocence of the child that Jesus is focusing on here. Do you want to enter the kingdom of God here on this earth? You're going to have to do so as a little child. Not as a mature and intelligent. And industrial. Man about town. Or a guy who.

You know knows his way around. Or you know being a gentleman. Or just being a. A disgusting. And revolting. Male. You know what I mean. But it's not one end of the spectrum or the other.

It's childlike. And the childlike innocence, it can be restored. It can come to you. It can be a part of your life again. But not without effort. And it's going to be effort on the scale of cutting off your arm because it offends you, plucking out your eye because it offends you.

I want you to know, Jesus says, it's better for you to do those things and enter life than to keep those things and enter hell. Wow, is that the only choices we've got yeah that's all i read here i don't see any purgatory i don't see any you know lukewarm admissions i don't see anything here other than one or the other. So it is a dedication on our part, but it's a dedication to innocence, not a dedication to sophistication. How is it that these things fit into the area of Jesus is trying to teach his disciples about humility. Well, man, most of the impetus, most of the motivation behind us wanting to be sophisticated people is to have

that social power that comes, the desire comes on us as young adults. And we try to get it any way that we can. And in doing so, we find that it is ebbing away at our innocence to the point that children today, watch old movies and look at some of the adults in the movies and you think, you know, they've got the maturity of a modern-day 14-year-old. And you might think that that's bad. Oh, look at there, that poor girl.

She's been oppressed by men, or whatever else reason you come up with. And, you know, bless her heart, she's not sophisticated. And there's so many things she doesn't know. Friend, you know what she's got that most of us don't she's happy she's just as happy as she can be how can she be happy she's barefooted she's got a checkered apron on and she's rolling out dough to make bread yeah so so what she might be providing for her home she might be just keeping it home and she's doing

all that with a baby on one hip how is that that's not sophisticated no i'll tell you what it is it's innocent it's simple it's humble that's what it is well those things have no value friend you're gonna you're gonna be you be shocked. If you spend time meditating about this and thinking about this and asking the Lord's guidance on this, you're going to be shocked how important that kind of a lifestyle is and that kind of an attitude.

You know, don't you feel like you're just less than a human being because you have to make your own bread? Or because you're not wearing shoes because you don't want to wear them out or or i don't know what whatever they they come up with all kinds of things like that lifestyle totally unacceptable my lifestyle you know a jet set flying here and there and making all kinds of money and seeing all kinds of important people that's that's good that's important yeah but are you happy are you are you joyous inside are you fulfilled are you doing what the lord

wants you to do do you feel fulfilled when you stand before him do you feel like your life actually counts for something on the earth you can answer those questions on your own you don't have to write to me and answer them. Although I would just love for you to write to me. All right. No one is unimportant in the sight of God. How think ye, if a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray,

does he not leave the ninety and nine and go into the mountains and seek the one that is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the ninety and nine that went not astray. Even so, it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. Here the Lord is talking about, in really no uncertain terms,

that every person on the earth has value. I don't know if you've ever analyzed some of your less than humble thoughts, your egotistical thoughts, your self-important thoughts, egocentric thoughts, but they all have one thing in common, and that is an evaluation of yourself as opposed to or in comparison to someone else and most of the time we find ourselves you know some psychiatrists say that there's no such thing as a superiority added complex, a superiority complex, that they're

all inferiority complexes just inverted. It might be true, you know, it's certainly not worth arguing about, but there are some people that do indeed have a superiority complex. Most of the time when people smoke pot, that's one of the things that I've noticed about them is that they think that they are the smartest people in the world. You can hardly talk to them because they know everything about everything. I don't know what it does, but it seems to do that. Anyway, there are people who do feel like that they are indeed more intelligent than other people. The other thing that's worse than drugs that cause this in people is uh colleges uh the educational system in general

they start on them when they're this big oh you can be anything you want to be honey you can grow up to be the president of the united states no they, they can't. You don't know that. You can't say that. You can't do that any more than you could say, you know, one of these days you're going to grow up and you'll be able to wrestle alligators. Well, how do you know if he's not going to be a 98-pound weakling or he's going to be, you know, the Incredible Hulk? You don't know that. Shut up that stuff. We don't have to tell our children lies to encourage them. Here's an encouraging thing to tell your child. You know what? No matter what it is that the Lord calls you to do, you know what you're going to do? You're going to notice

that you enjoy it more than anything in the whole world. And he's going to empower you to do it. And you can be very, very good at at it almost irreplaceable your potential is just is amazing if if you keep his commandments if you listen to him every day if you do what you're supposed to do and don't disobey your conscience don't sin against god there's some wonderful encouragement for children i wonder how many children that has actually been said to. Well, I think that what the Lord is trying to show us here is that when you do evaluate someone as less than yourself, you're stepping on very dangerous ground. First of all, you're creating an environment that it is impossible

for humility to be a part of that. Now, I didn't say meekness. I said humility. I'd love to talk to you about meekness. Do we have time? Hardly. But in this particular case where you've evaluated somebody as less than yourself, you're making a big mistake.

Listen, everybody is equally important to God. And Jesus is trying to say that just because somebody's small stature, just because they are less in years, perhaps they're less in financial status than you, social status than you, maybe in the workplace they happen to be. Look, I've been a supervisor. I've had men working under me, and I know full well that this guy, you know, I'm the service manager of this dealership, but this mechanic knows more about what's going on than I do. Well, how's that going to help me if I start pushing some egomaniacal idea that, you know, if you were so great, you'd be the service manager, but I'm the service manager, so you have to do what I say.

You know, how stupid is that? Well, people are just that stupid in a lot of cases, and we just need to back away, especially if you are Christian. I don't know how you're going to be Christian and not maintain this. So all people are important in his sight, and they should be in our sight. And these stories keep telling the same thing. Remember the disciples, we found people casting out demons but they walked out with us jesus says so what so what you think you're better than they are is that is that why you told them to stop you know if i was them and you showed up and said you're not allowed to do this anymore i don't know that you know i wouldn't give you you know a salute and send you on your way man get away from me

you can't tell me what to do i mean i just think that these kind of things are you know we need to bring these stories down to real life i i really think that that's what we should do in the workplace in the church you know i i had some preacher tell me i didn't agree with something can you imagine that i didn't agree with something that they were preaching or teaching or singing or i don't know whatever it was and this preacher says well when you've been at this as long as i have then you'll understand oh so that just fixed the conversation there you're better than i am you're smarter than me you're above me therefore i should just shut up friend that's not christian at all that is not christian at all we are all equal here we have one teacher all of us are all brethren how many

times do i have to tell you this and And so here we have him talking about the disciples saying they didn't walk with us. Here we have him talking about giving to a person in the ministry, the cup of cold water thing. This is a servant situation. Washing one another's feet. All through all of everything Jesus taught, it's all about humility. All about humility. Now, Don, are you saying that there's no such thing as somebody who actually is indeed better than somebody else? I'm not that stupid either. We all know that's true. There are people that are a lot better educated than I am, and a lot better at speaking. They're a lot better at mowing the grass. They're a lot better at

waxing their car. There are people that have talents that surpass mine. There are people who can think a hundred times clearer. There are people that have a thousand times the vocabulary that I have. There are people that so far outrank me on almost every scale. It's very intimidating. But you see, the fact of the matter is that it is humility in front of those people. that is a wonderful gauge for me. When I get around somebody that it's pretty obvious that I don't have the problems they have because I don't live like they do. And I don't think like they do. I don't spend money like they do. I don't go the places they go. There's a lot about my life that doesn't look like theirs's at all look that's the situation where you can think that wow you know that person is nowhere near my level you know what that that other situation

where there's people that are way above my level and it humbles me i know the feeling and i seek the feeling there is a way to seek that feeling. We'll talk about it on the next show. Time's gone now. If you'd like to be a part of what we're doing, write to me. Think Ready Ministries, P.O. Box 718, Pytown, New Mexico.

Till next time. Bye-bye, my friend. you've been listening to don c harris of think red ink ministries ThinkRedInc.com. That's ThinkRedInc.com. Join us again for the next episode in the Words of Jesus series. you