So many of us want the promises, the rewards, and the gifts of Jesus. However, we seem to miss the key to receiving them. Are we a true disciple of Jesus Christ? Of course, many of us will quickly say yes without hesitation. However, maybe we should hesitate just for a moment to find out  what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? A disciple of Jesus is one who denies himself, takes up his cross, and follows Jesus. We think it is great to follow Jesus and we try to but without denying ourselves to do the will of the Father, it is impossible to follow Jesus. We will always find ourselves fighting with what we want and what God wants. I was at a church service a few years ago and the pastor told his congregation lift up their envelopes and ask God to give them that big house, that new Lexus and Mercedes, and the high paying job they’ve always wanted. We really need to get our prayers and priorities in order. There are people hurting out there in bad situations slowly perishing away while we sit in church trying to gratify our wicked flesh. Jesus didn’t die on a cross so we could feed our flesh. He didn’t die for us to have more stuff. He died to bring salvation and redemption to a dead and dull world; a world that is so full of darkness that it can’t even recognize it is slowly but surely digging it’s own grave; a world where instead of sin prevention, it practices sin tolerance and acceptance. We are destroying ourselves. We desperately need to come back to the Word of God. Now more than ever, we need to learn what it means to pick up our cross to do the will of the Father; a simple will to believe in Jesus Christ so we can gladly follow Him.

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There is a sharp distinction made here. Jesus addressed Peter as “Satan.” It is not that Peter was actually Satan, but that his rebukes of Jesus about God’s plan for man’s salvation and redemption were influenced by Satan. Many times, people try to be neutral about Jesus. However, Jesus never allowed any neutral grounds. He expressed on many occasions, if you are not with Me, you are against Me. Peter was caught in the middle of a spiritual battle. He was in the crossfire. One minute he was acknowledging Jesus as the Christ, the son of the living God and the next minute he was rebuking Jesus forbidding Him to redeem man. We go through the same battle almost on a daily basis. Sometimes we want to be “tolerant” of others. To me, tolerant is a short way of saying a person has no confidence in what you truly believe, if they believe it at all. We say Jesus is the way for me but someone might have their own way that works for them. If that is the case, we do not know Jesus as we should. With those kind of statements, we are calling Him a liar and we stand against Him. He said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one gets tot he Father except through Me.” If we say someone has their own way, we are going against God and spitting on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross which wash away all of our sins and cleansed us white as snow. At that point we are being used by Satan just as Peter was being used. O, my beloved, it is so important that we know Jesus personally. We need to stand with Him so we are not misguided and mislead by this ever so dying world around us.

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The truth is so difficult to bear when it is negative. It is even more difficult when it relates to someone that we love. We seem to forget all that we know and focus on the immediate situation. At that point, we try to make a way for whatever is about to happen, not to happen. In that sense, we can end up fighting with God, going again His perfect will. We never see the full picture until we examine it from all angles. When we see something is not good in our own eyes, we automatically assume it is bad for everyone else. We seem to forget that all things work for good to those who belong to Jesus Christ. This is something we must never forget. Jesus said those who endure to the end shall be saved. When we try to fight against the will of God, that is when we find ourselves in a position of being tired, wearisome, and deeply burdened. God is so much stronger than we can ever even hope to be. When we understand His will is perfect and we align ourselves with Him, He uses His strength through us. However, if we fight, we will get ran over because God will continue with His plan and purpose whether we are with Him or against Him. My beloved, the good news of Jesus Christ will get out and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it.

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Right after the glorious revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus began to reveal to the disciples God’s plan to redeem man. He revealed to the disciples the gospel before it even happened. The truth is Jesus was betrayed, beaten, killed, and raised up on the third day. Many of us seem to lose focus on that. We only want to talk about the love of Jesus, the great teachings of Jesus, to follow His examples, or the peace that He brings. However, without the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, everything else is utterly meaningless. Paul wrote without the resurrection of Jesus, our faith is in vain and we are to be pitied the most amongst all men. Without BOTH the death and resurrection, there is no Christianity, there is no redemption, there is no peace. Our faith lies upon two pillars. The first pillar is the death of Christ to wipe ALL of our sins away. We are covered by His precious blood. The second pillar is the resurrection of Christ. Through His resurrection, we have received a new life. Both are the two most essential components of our faith. If one is missing, the foundation completely falls to the ground. Thank you God for this newness of life in Jesus Christ you have so graciously given to us. Lord, let Your world fall on us to bring forth the fruit you deserve.

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Without full and complete reading of scriptures, we can fall into the same trap many people fall into. Many people take one verse and because it sounds good to them make it the Word mean what they personally want it to mean. Although Jesus is speaking to Peter in this verse, it is only because Peter had the revelation from God. Anyone who comes to a saving knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God will also have the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Some people believe that the church is built upon Peter. Somehow, we always seem to find a way to glorify men and not the true and living God. Thank God that was not His plan. If that were the case, there would have been no use of purpose for John, Paul, James and all the others who lived for Jesus because Jesus died for them and for us. Just as Jesus said to Peter, we all have the access to the kingdom of heaven ONLY if we truly know Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God. That is where the key resides, in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

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However, something that I have realized lately is people are getting this idea that they deserve respect and can demand it. I’m not sure who put this idea into our mind. In actuality, we are not owed anything by anyone. We owe our lives to Jesus Christ for His sacrifice on the cross for us. He paid a debt that we could not pay. He paid it in full. Yet we always say we must be respected. We want the world to respect us. It seems we haven’t realized that the world hates us and its ultimate goal is to see us painfully and slowly die. It is like an insanity cycle. We say respect ME and the world spits in our face, so we try again and then the world slaps us. When will we learn to stop prostituting our lives with this world? We need to stop reading the parts of the Bible that make us feel good and dive into the complete and perfect word of God. We need to ask Jesus to live His life through us. We need to have the Holy Spirit empower us.

To all who are in Christ, yet demand respect from the world (one of our enemies), let’s take a logical approach at this. The world hates God and our Lord Jesus Christ. They always resist the Holy Spirit and blaspheme Him. Now, if we are in Christ, why would we expect respect from the same world that hates and has no respect for our Savior? That doesn’t make much sense.

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The foundation of the church was set on Peter’s proclamation. The rock that the church of our Lord Jesus Christ was built solely on the fact that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Some people foolishly think the church was built on Peter. I must say to think that is calling God foolish. Are we to honestly think that  God would put the body of His only begotten Son in the hands of man? Everything we touch we destroy. Would God allow His kingdom to be based on man’s weak and immoral decision making skills? If it was up to Peter, only the Jews would currently be saved. However, our Lord Jesus Christ had a bigger and better plan for all of us. He sent the Gospel of His grace and salvation that whosoever would believe in Him would be saved and have everlasting life. We change our minds so often we think everlasting means two weeks if that much. That is probably why some actually believe we an lose our salvation. He did not send us “another” person. He is all that we need. We say Jesus commanded us to preach the Gospel to the end of the earth. We take that as a method of showing we are doing something for God. The enemy is so deceptive. There is absolutely nothing God asks us to do but to believe on the one whom He sent; His son Jesus Christ. There is nothing that we do on our own strength after we come into the rest we have in Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit of God working through us to make His name glorified. We can’t even keep the first commandment on our own strength to think God would entrust us with the message of eternal life on our own strength. We can build as many churches as we want, but if they are not built on the rock solid foundation of Jesus being the Christ, the Son of the living God, it is just a pile of rubble.

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“Blessed are you!” That just rings with delight to my ears. It is nice when people wish a blessing upon us or when we tell someone they are blessed, but when it comes directly from God, my heart melts with gladness from the warmth and sincerity of our Lord Jesus Christ. The angels rejoice when just ONE sinner turns to God forsaking all of their past ways. As soon as someone can see that Jesus is THE Christ, the Son of the living God, and receives Him into their life, God immediately blesses that person. Many people and denominations try to add to God’s word. They say in order to be saved and blessed by God, you must believe in Jesus AND do something else whether it is baptism, join their church, not eat meat, not drink wine, give to charities, wear pants or not wear pants, wear makeup or not wear makeup and the list can go on and on. I get a headache just thinking about it. Why do we allow Satan to use us as a tool to keep the lost away from God? Jesus said the will of the Father is you believe on He who He has sent. He did not have a grocery list of things that needed to be done for us to be saved. As soon as we acknowledge Jesus is the Christ, God delivers us from where we once were and blesses us because of our faith and trust in Him and Him alone.

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There are many times when a tough question is asked and I have no idea how to respond. However, when I slowly start to speak, words start to flow that bring knowledge and hope to those desperately in need of Jesus Christ. After that, I have to replay the conversation in my head because I am not entirely sure what I said or where it came from. I know that response could have only been from God through His Holy Spirit which came upon us the second we accept Jesus Christ into our lives. If we are faithful and true to His Word, He will use us to provide the answers to those who are seeking after Him at any given moment. How could Simon Peter say “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” so boldly? He was with Jesus, the living Word of God, God in the flesh. The same applies to us. Many people say “I pray but I don’t read my the bible.” How can Jesus Christ mean anything to us if we do not take the time to get to know Him and get as close as we can to Him? We need to get back to the Word of God, to our Savior, to our Lord Jesus Christ who loved us so much He STAYED on the cross for us. Not only was He nailed, but He stayed up there and cried out to the Father to forgive us because we had absolutely no idea what we were doing. When we are in the midst of battle, He will provide the words of eternal life through our hearts, eyes, and mouths to those who don’t know Him while delivering us from every evil work against us.

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That is the ultimate question which is asked directly by Jesus. Who do “we” say that He is? The world has it’s own invalid thoughts and opinions on who Jesus is, but it does not matter. It makes no difference what they think about Jesus. All that matters is who we believe and know that He is. Many different groups of people say Jesus was a great teacher or a great prophet or a very enlightened man and try to give Him some weird kind of respect or praise but not the glory He deserves. It is all meaningless. Jesus made it very clear who He is. Jesus said that He is God many times. For someone to reduce that to teacher, prophet or an “enlightened” man has no respect or reverence for Him at all. We must pray that God guard’s our hearts so we do not fall victim with the rest of the world degrading the person of Jesus Christ. We can say Jesus is the Lord, our God, but if we do not follow Him and dedicate our lives to Him, lives which He died for, we are just as wrong and misled as the rest of the world. If we believe Jesus Christ is our Lord, the Son of the living God, let us allow God to changes our lives to reflect that.

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