Jesus
said to his disciples: “Things that
cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they
come. It would be better for him to be
thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause
one of these little ones to sin. So
watch yourselves.”
Good
afternoon, brothers and sisters! What a
great day to be alive and well and in love with Jesus. Monday and the day we pray for our
leaders. So please start with those in
Washington and then your state house and the local folks also. Also today please add Lauren Green to your
prayer lists. Lauren has cancer. And the 14 year-old who had the heart
transplant is named Dillon. Monday is
also the day we pray for our veterans, military, police, firefighters, and all
others who work tirelessly to keep us safe and healthy. Please remember your family doctor, and if
you are like me, please remember your foot doctor. J Happy feet are neat …
5/21/2012
Sin, Faith, Duty (Day One) Luke 17 – Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to sin are bound to
come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 2 It would be better for him to be thrown
into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of
these little ones to sin. 3a So watch
yourselves.” (NIV)
Now
please do not go out and sin on purpose just because I pointed out this part of
scripture! “Things that cause people to
sin are bound to come.” We can get into
enough sin, and notice I said we, we can get into enough sin without trying to
find it. Jesus is telling us here, and
it is recorded in the Bible that sin is bound to come. Now, folks, we seem to always want to blame
sin on Satan, but truly we give him too much credit, too much honor. Let’s take a look at what God is giving me on
this. Yes, sometimes those sins come to
us through our friends, and let’s face it, most of the time we can get into
those sins all on our own … RIGHT? So,
if you want to take a good look at who causes the most sin in your life, go look in the mirror …
I’ll wait … okay, did you take a look at who causes the most sin in your
life? Yes, if we did not fall into sin,
it would be nice …
Now let’s
look at the heart of this message. “Woe
to that person through whom they come. It
would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around
his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” This warning spells out to all of us about
causing others to sin, but more if we cause a little one to sin. Might as well tie a millstone around our
neck, okay, tie a big hunk of cement around our neck and jump into the river or
your backyard pool. That is what the
Bible is telling us. It was just last
week when a youth pastor at a church in Pennsylvania, and I think it was
Hanover, but I am not sure right now, anyway, he was sentenced to a long term
in prison as he pled guilty to crimes against children. I don’t need to spell this out to you, it has
happened. And while God knows who has
caused those children to sin, it is not just the sex crimes of those who get
caught. Some parents who have used their
children to shoplift, or had them do other crimes.
Now I
want to point out another thing, this is not just a warning of causing sin to
little ones, take this as a warning not to cause any others to sin. As I said, we can get ourselves into most all
of the sin and we need to look in the mirror, but we also do not want to take
others down with us. (Down, did you get
that drift or do I need to spell out Hell?)
Here is a wild example of this … Now I did not do this, no “we” in this
one … You call out to your friend, “Hey, Joe, can you drive me to the bank?” Joe tells his friend, okay, and at the bank,
he tells you he is going to knock it off (hold up the bank). He asks you to wait, now you have a choice,
you can wait or leave, or even call the police.
You wait, the friend got you into the sin (thou shalt not steal) but you
also said ok! (Pull the visor down on
the car and check the mirror.) Yes, the
man got Joe to sin, but Joe also did the sin.
Two are guilty, one has two sins, the other one. The neat thing … God will forgive them both …
HOW ABOUT THAT??
Dear
Father in Heaven, please forgive us of our sins, forgive me of my sins, dear
Lord. I did not rob a bank, dear Lord,
but I have sinned against you, dear Lord, and as always, I need forgiven. Lord, please hear our prayer requests and act
upon them according to Your will. And
thanks again for last night, dear Lord … In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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