Words of Jesus Podcast - If You Knew You Would Be Better

Episode Date: April 12, 2024

We must be diligent to see past traditions or political protocols which get in the way of us taking care of people. We protect the seed of Christ planted in us when we care for one another. It is our responsibility to build the character to stand. Alone, if need be. Expect persecution. Endure to the end. ***69: Jesus Heals A Crippled WomanLuke 13:10-17On a Sabbath day Jesus was teaching in a synagogue. In the congregation there was a woman whose back was bent as a bow. For eighteen years she had been deformed.Jesus saw her and called her to him, saying:            “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.” He laid his hands on her and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. The ruler of the synagogue was angry that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day. He said to the people: “There are six days in which men ought to work. In them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Jesus retorted, saying to the ruler: “Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” When Jesus had finished speaking, all those who had opposed him were ashamed and the people rejoiced for the glorious things he had done.

Think Red Ink Ministries presents the Words of Jesus series with Don C. Harris. Hello my friends and welcome once again to the Words of Jesus series. I'm Don Harris. You know what I like more than people that tune in the first time? People that tune in again. I know sometimes we talk about things here that are kind of difficult to deal with, sometimes hard to understand. But you know these are the words of christ and we really depend on him and his spirit that is within us to explain these things to us please don't get mad don't get upset don't don't i know you've been warned ever since you were a child in church to be to beware of false prophets and how do we know a false prophet well that's

anybody who says anything other than what i tell you oh okay no you know the bible says and i know a lot of people apply this to to christians in general and and the christians that are around us the people who are around us will know them by their fruit. That's not really so. That's not what Jesus said to do. He said that you'll know the false prophet by his fruit. Did you know that? When he said that you'll know them by their fruit, he wasn't talking about judging one another. We're not supposed to judge each other that way, but you'll know a false prophet by their fruit. He wasn't talking about judging one another. We're not supposed to judge each other that way, but you'll know a false prophet

by his fruit. I'm glad to tell you that we've got a 1,000 batting record. It's really true. When I find people that are struggling in their Christianity, I ask them, are you keeping the commandments? Are you disobeying your conscience? Are you taking time every day to hear the voice of God? Do you know if the answer to any of those three questions is no?

You don't count. I mean, you're just, I can't put you on the tally of failures. I can't do that. But when people's life is together and their Christianity makes sense and they don't have controversial doctrines floating around in their head, they're not, as the Bible says, carried about with every wind of doctrine or, you know, sitting there worried, wringing their hands, worried that they're going to be misled by some false prophet. And when I find people like that,

you know who they are? They're people who keep the commandments of God, who don't disobey their conscience, and they take time every day to hear the voice of God. Or they're people who are dishonest with themselves and dishonest with other people. They don't care that their doctrine doesn't make sense. They don't care that what they preach is not in the scriptures. They don't care. It just doesn't matter. They're building something else, but what they're not building is character. You want to know the fruit of this ministry? It's character. It's character. That's what Jesus came to give us. That's what he came to do.

We were doing just fine without him, health-wise. We were doing just fine, society-wise. I mean, as good as can be expected. Yeah, there were a few wars. Yeah, there was some sickness. Yeah, there were troubles in families, but they usually got worked out in other ways what is he trying to do trying to make us individually whole not just a nation

of people not just a church full of people or a denomination full of so-called believers individually whole this is why it's so important to take time every day to hear the voice of God on your own. That's all I do. I'm just trying to get people to think for themselves, listen for themselves. God has a whole plan for you to make your life better today than it was yesterday.

I don't know if your church has that for you. I kind of doubt it. I don't know if your denomination promises that to you, but our Lord Jesus promises it to us. You think it's nice with me sitting here with you? I got a better idea. Well, how could it be better than being right there with Jesus? Have him sitting right there next to you, where you can talk to him and ask him whatever you need to ask him. He says, well, you see what you're comparing me with is the Spirit of God that is with you. And if I go away, I'm not going to be with you.

I'm going to be in you. I'm going to be with you. I'm going to be in you. I'm going to be a part of you. The seed of Christ growing up inside of a Christian, many times for the first time, they've been Christians for 30 or 40 years, but all of a sudden they realize, Christ is in me? You know what you've just discovered? If it ever has occurred

to you that your faith in god really doesn't doesn't make you saved you're not saved instantaneously you know more than you're born instantaneously yeah there's periods of of conception and gestation and in coming to birth All these kind of things happen. But they all happen with the planting of a seed. And when people realize that seed is in them, they start taking care of the soil a little better. Oh, what are you going to need to do that? Character. And so that's what he's come to do. He's come to show us how to draw on the character that he's placed within us. And when people realize that the seed of Christ is in them, you know what they've discovered?

The secret. The mystery, Paul says, that has been kept secret. This mystery's been kept since the foundation of the world. And what is the mystery christ in you the hope of glory it's your only hope of coming out of this thing with any kind of an accolade or even with your hides intact it's true you're not going to do this any other way so as soon as you realize that that seed is in you, you'll start protecting it.

Just like a woman finds out she's pregnant. And she's three weeks pregnant. And she realizes, oh my goodness, I was water skiing yesterday. Or I was mountain climbing. Or they've done some behavior that's really not good for it's not pretty good prenatal care they realize i had the seed in me yesterday and i wasn't living right boy but when that when it's confirmed in her she changes her whole attitude maybe i don't need to do this anymore or that anymore maybe i need to quit eating this or

drinking this or doing this what what's happened to her realizing the seed that's in her and that's what i want you to realize i wish i could tell you that it's in there and convince you instantaneously but i can't it has to be revealed to you and what is it being revealed i'll say it again because i want it to go in i want you to understand that is the mystery that has been held and kept since the foundation of the world and that is christ in you the hope of glory all right let's get into what uh we're in chapter 69 now in our book the words of jesus on a sabbath day jesus was teaching in a synagogue huh all right in the congregation there was a woman whose back was bent as a bow i see this woman as someone that's been a bible says she was bent over in the midst and i see this woman as someone who if she opens her eyes pretty much all

she sees is her legs and her shoes in the ground uh this woman is the there was another uh scripture where this is told it says and she could in no wise lift up herself it's really a pitiful situation and jesus sees this woman and realizes that she has been in this situation for 18 years, this deformity. 18 years. Jesus saw and called her to him, saying, Woman, you're loosed from your infirmity. This is a big day. This was a big day.

This was the culmination. This was the culmination. This was the end. This was the 18 years are over. This was a wonderful day for her. He laid hands on her and immediately she was straight. Glorified God. The ruler of the synagogue was angry that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day. And he said to the people, there are six

days in which men ought to work. Let her come on some other day and be healed. Jesus retorted, saying to the ruler, thou hypocrite. Remember we learned what hypocrisy was? You remember? It was leaven, wasn't it? He was telling this person you're full of leaven.

Now, what does he mean by that? You don't care about the Sabbath day. You're just talking that way in front of all your buddies, wanting them to be impressed with you. Oh, good for him. He went up there and straightened that Jesus character out on the Sabbath day. You hypocrite, he said.

Don't each of you on the Sabbath day lose his ox or his ass from the stall and lead him away to watering of course you do and ought not this woman being a daughter of abraham whom satan hath bound, lo, these 18 years. Shouldn't she be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? Now, just as an aside, just to take this particular scripture and expound it as much as possible. There's a misconception among people who keep Sabbath day, and even those who keep Sunday as Sabbath, that there's a certain kind of work that you can do on the Sabbath day.

And what is it? Well, you'll hear it if you talk about this at all. Somebody is going to say to you, well, I had an ox in the ditch. You've heard that, right? And so therefore I had to do it or whatever else. Some people consider their job an ox in the ditch. Our place works on Saturdays, so I have to. Well, you know what I found is a lot of times, a lot of these places work on Sunday,

and they give you Sunday off. I've met so many people that have gotten a hold of Sabbath day and say, you know what, I'm going to quit working on Sabbath day. It's pretty obvious by the commandment he doesn't want us to do that. I'm going to do that. But, you know, my job requires that I work on Sabbath. You know what? It may not. It may not. I'm not one to tell somebody that you should go in there and parading

your rights of religious liberty and all this stuff. I've heard that kind of thing happening, but I don't think we need to bend people's arms. I think we need to sit back and watch the Lord work these things out. And I don't know how many times I've counseled people, go to your boss and say, hey, you have trouble getting people to work on Sunday? Well, yeah, nobody likes to work on Sunday. I do. You give me Saturday off, I'll work every Sunday. And you know what happens? It happens just that way. Everybody's happy. Everybody's pleased. I've seen the Lord work this out so many times. I almost want to guarantee you, I can't, but I almost want to guarantee you that if you decide to keep the Sabbath day, God will bless you in just this way.

Now, in this particular case, Jesus did not say, now, this woman being bound in the midst, this is like an ox in the ditch, or your ox or your ass or your livestock that you have at home and you know how you go and you throw a rope around their neck and you lead them over to the to the lake or the creek or whatever to give them so they can drink you that doesn't bother you you know that's something that you do all week long that doesn't seem to bother you at all by the way taking care of of livestock on the sabbath day is not work it's just regarding the life of your beast for pete's sake you pour

water down your gullet when you're thirsty on the sabbath day why don't you take care of your animals i know people that they're under conviction they call it conviction about doing things on the sabbath day about you know the things that have to be done and um and these these are things that are done he's just saying that some of the best advice i ever got on this was hey can you do this on another day if the answer is yes then do it on another day if the answer is no then get it done but can you do it on another day i think a lot of the sabbath confusion and frustration is because our country is pretty much you know they're pretty much locked into Saturday being, you know, Saturday, Sunday being the weekend.

Sunday, everybody goes to church. So we're closed for the weekend, we're closed at least on Sunday, and sometimes Saturday, Sunday. And so our society really doesn't allow for this. It did in these days, because there were people that kept the Sabbath and cared not a whit about God. It was just, that was just the way it was. And I think that today when people try to make excuse for working on the Sabbath,

they say, well, I had an ox in a ditch. You know, Jesus never said that this is an excuse not to keep the Sabbath. Well, I had to work on that day. I had a flat tire. What were you doing out in the car? I have to work on that day because, because, because, because. And anyway, it was an ox in the ditch.

Well, that doesn't give us any leeway at all. That's not in the law. Jesus didn't say it. He says, which of you, pointing at the hypocritical acting Pharisees, which of you lead an ass to water, lead your livestock to water on the sabbath day and in another gospel he says that you will reach into the ditch and pull your ox out of the ditch on the sabbath day and yet you're upset because this woman a daughter of abraham that satan has bound lo these 18 years,

you're upset because she's been made a hole on the Sabbath day? What's wrong with you? Do you really care more for your livestock than you do for this poor woman? He was, I think in a lot of cases, he was just amazed at how cruel we are to one another and how important your stupid religion and your religious practices are that you discount people and actually promote practices

boy, are we guilty of this? You want 50 examples? Where the religious practice is more important than the person who is practicing them? Who is expected to practice them? I could give you 50, easy, off the top of my head and you could too. You know what you've done if you do that? You've disappointed Christ. You've disappointed him entirely. You don't get it. You don't get it at all. As a matter of fact the bible says here when jesus had finished speaking all those who had opposed him were ashamed well good and the people rejoiced for the glorious thing that

had been done well good now when jesus addressed addressed the Sabbath day, he says, let me tell you something you may not know about the Sabbath day. I didn't make you for the Sabbath day. I made the Sabbath day for you. This is your day of rest. It's not my day of rest. I had my day of rest way a long time ago and in honor of you remembering the fact that i'm your creator i'm the one that created all this i made you i'm i'm in

charge of everything you're honoring me by taking the same day that i took to rest and you're doing that as well great time to get together with the lord what did he say what should we do on the sabbath day evil or good what should we do well there's just a lot of people that can take good and turn it into evil i i tell the story about a fellow that i know that ran a soup kitchen or something like it and you you know, feeding people that couldn't, couldn't feed themselves for financial reasons or for whatever reasons, societal reasons, whatever. And he gave that ministry up

because he'd learned about the Sabbath day. And he said, I can't, I can't go down there and cook for those people about the Sabbath day. And he said, I can't go down there and cook for those people on the Sabbath day. He would be breaking the law. Well, I got a question for you. Is the Sabbath day a good day to do good? Or is it a good day to do evil? You just turned something that was good into evil by your silly doctrine,

by your religious attitude about it. So is Jesus saying that there's an excuse for working on the Sabbath if you just can't do anything else? No. He's saying that's their excuse. And he used it to expose you care more about livestock than you do people. Whew. Said that they got the message because they were ashamed.

Let's look at chapter 70. Jesus reveals that the way into the kingdom is difficult. Jesus went through the cities and villages teaching. As he journeyed toward Jerusalem, some went with him and said, Lord, are there few that be saved? And Jesus replied, duh. No, he didn't.

But I'll tell you, the more you look into this and more you realize what the lord expects of us to do and the more it occurs to you that most people aren't doing this you're going to walk away from that question saying i don't see how a whole lot of people are going to be saved unless you're looking at a rapture-ready poster where millions of people are being sucked off the earth by the great Electrolux in the sky. Now, Jesus, as a matter of fact, not in this particular answer, but in another place said,

remember what it was in the days of Noah? That's the way it's going to be at the end of time. What? What did he just say you know how many people were saved in the days of Noah eight we weren't even into double digits really could it be the eight people you want to pick them I promise you you're not going to be able to put all your friends and Be the eight people? You want to pick them? I promise you, you're not going to be able to put all your friends and family into eight people. This is really something to consider. You think this way is easy?

No, this way is not easy. Jesus said, strive to enter in at the straight gate. Work for it. For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and not be able. I want you to focus on the word able. Able to enter in. There's something that'll keep you awake at night are you able are you capable of entering in when once the master of the house has risen up and shut to the door and you began to stand without and to knock at the door saying lord lord open unto us and he shall answer and say unto you i don't know where you come from i don't know i don't know where you come from. I don't know where you're coming from here. We say that today, don't we, when we don't understand what somebody's saying.

I don't get where you're coming from. Well, this is pretty much what he's saying to them. I don't know whence ye are. And ye shall begin to say, We've eaten and drunk in thy presence, and you've taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I know not whence ye are.

Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out. Is that going to be you? Friend, is that going to be you? Hey, did you know something?

Somebody's going to hell. Somebody is. Somebody's going to hell. Somebody is. Somebody's going to be thrust out. See, it's not all are called and all are chosen. It's many are called. Few are chosen. This is a very sobering thought. There's not a person in hell

that didn't have a mother and a father that loved them very much. Nuzzled its mother's breast, was held in its mother's arms. There's not a person in hell that wasn't loved by somebody, cared about by somebody, Cared about by somebody. In someone's family somewhere.

Somebody's going to hell. You want to know something worse than somebody's going to hell? A lot of people are going to hell. You want to know something worse than a lot of people? A majority of people are going to hell. You really think you got this wrapped up, huh? You really think that you're saved and just as sure for heaven as if you were already there? You're really confident that you're on your way.

How did you get that confident? How did that happen? Where did you get that confident? How did that happen? Where did you get the idea? You're standing on Romans 10, 9 and 10. So a book told you this? Or have you had conversations with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords? I got to know. Well, I don't have to know, but you do.

And there's going to be millions of people that are going to be thrust out. All the prophets, Jacob, Isaac, Abraham, all of them in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south and shall sit down in the kingdom of God

and behold, there are last in your mind that are first in my mind. There are people who you think are last, but in my mind, they're first. There are the last which shall be first, and there are the first in your mind that are going to be last in my mind. Every time Jesus opens his mouth, he is constantly trying to tell us, things are not like you think they are. I know you think you've got this figured out. I know you think you've got the salvation

plan all worked out and you're fully aware of everything that's going on. But I assure you, you're not sure of anything. I hear you talk. I hear what you say. I hear the way you pray. I know how you act. I know how you treat your fellow man. You can't live that way and know what I know about Judgment Day.

There is no way that that could even be true. We've got to go. We'll catch you next time. Think Red Ink until then. Bye-bye. you've been listening to don c harris of Think Red Ink Ministries. Email don at thinkredink.com. That's thinkredink.com. Join us again for the next episode in the Words of Jesus series. you