God is real! God is good! He loves us! We are constantly in His thoughts. He continually helps us. He will greatly reward those who faithfully serve Him! What keeps us from serving Him the way we should, and getting the best possible reward in the World To Come? Several things, including the fear of man and the desire for too many material things.

Yeshua was and is the Messiah, and the eternal Son of God. Sadly, He was like a good root in parched, dry ground. Israel was spiritually dry – far from really understanding God’s truth, far from God Himself. Even though He did unprecedented miracles, and gave the greatest teachings, the opposition was intensifying against Yeshua – particularly opposition from the religious leadership.

What tragic error! How sad! Religious leaders are so very important. Good shepherds are so beneficial to a nation. False shepherds are so terribly destructive.

In an anti-God, anti-Messiah, demonically controlled world, it is easy to be intimated by these false leaders into a compromised silence. We must not yield to false religious teachers or their intimidations! We must boldly oppose them, and speak the truth – like Yeshua did!

Even though the majority of the leadership of the Jewish people led us astray from truth, from God, from Messiah (and the majority of the population followed those religious leaders), Yeshua was still very popular among many Israelis. Luke tells us that in this instance, a huge crowd was with Messiah.

Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another (it was really crowded! Lots and lots of people who wanted to be close to the Rabbi!), He began saying to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

The Pharisees were the spiritual ancestors of Orthodox Judaism. The Pharisees exerted a lot of spiritual influence among many of the Jewish people. There were some good things about the Pharisees, but there were also some very serious problems with their faith and theology and understanding of the Bible, and their practice. Messiah, who was and is so wise, was able to discern what was really going on with them. He knew that there were serious problems with them – serious enough that He felt it necessary to warn the public about them! He called them out by name. Specifically, they were guilty of hypocrisy – saying one thing but doing other things.

I am sure that the Pharisees were furious with Yeshua’s public criticism. It took courage for the young Rabbi to publically criticize them. Now, He called on all of His followers to have the same kind of boldness and courage.

But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.

Truth will be revealed! Truth about our real motives, truth about the inner reality that is at the core of our being. Reality will be manifested. Religious hypocrites will be exposed one day! The truth about God, about Messiah, about the Good News will be made clear to the entire universe!

Live like that now! Don’t be afraid to correct those who are in error, and to boldly speak the truth! Tell people about God, about the wonderful resurrected and living Messiah; the possibility of salvation; the Day of Judgment; the reality of Heaven to be gained; the terror of Hell that is to be avoided! If you do, you will encounter opposition! There will be attempts to silence you and your testimony! Don’t be intimidated! Don’t be afraid!

I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.

Don’t be afraid of human beings, because the worst they can do is kill us, and what is that to us?! We have to die anyway, and if we die and if we are right with God, and if we are serving the Lord, death for us is nothing! In fact, it is something positive – the beginning of a better kind of life – eternal and greatly blessed! Do you believe that?

Don’t be afraid of human beings who are limited in power and authority and the harm they can cause. But, Messiah tells us, there is Someone that every human being should be very afraid about offending.

But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

Don’t be afraid of the God-opposers, the Messiah-deniers killing you. Know that He is very much aware of each one of His precious sons and daughters. Know that You are not alone.

Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

The Creator knows every little bird on planet Earth! He knows each one of their lives. He knows when each one dies. He provides for their needs. God knows each one of His children personally and intimately and in great detail.

Knowing that we have the Supreme Being on our side, and that we are very valuable to Him, should comfort each one of us, no matter how difficult the opposition becomes. The Lord knows The Lord cares! The Lord is in charge! The Lord will help us accomplish our mission! Knowing this, we can endure the worst man can do to us!

And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God.

People will tell you that is it not important what you believe. They are wrong! Not only what you believe is extremely important, but also what you say is vitally important!

People will tell you that as long as you are good (good being defined by low human standards, not God’s perfect standards), that is enough. They are wrong! People will tell you that as long as you believe that there is one God, that is enough. But, they are wrong! Terribly, terribly wrong! The truth is that believing in God the Father is not enough!

Since the sending of the Son into the world, the Messiah must be known; not only known, but believed in and trusted in; and not only known and trusted, but also publically and unashamedly confessed!

The right words about the Messiah are part of salvation! But, what about bad words directed to the Messiah? Do they automatically result in damnation? The answer is no.

At first, people might not know or understand that Yeshua of Nazareth is the Messiah. They might speak or act in ignorance regarding Him.

And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; Ignorance, when replaced by knowledge and faith and confession, is forgivable. “Father forgive them – they don’t know what they are doing”. But, there is another kind of bad speaking against the divine that is not forgivable. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. Speaking bad words against the Holy Spirit means seeing a very clear demonstration of the power of God at work, and speaking against it – saying that it is not of God, but comes from evil. Some of the leaders came close to this when they saw Yeshua remove demons from people, and claimed that He was not being used by God, but by the Devil. Something so good was declared to be pure evil! There is no redemption from that.

When a person, maybe a religion, sees God at work in the life of a Christian, a Messianic Jew, maybe a whole community who are doing good, and filled with the Spirit, and declares that individual, that community, to be not of God, but something demonic – that person, that religion, may become guilty of blasphemy, speaking lies, untruths, slander against the Holy Spirit.

Boldly, courageously speak the truth to everyone, even to the powerful, and even if you are on trial for your life! Don’t be afraid and don’t even worry!

When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

If we have the Son, we have the Father. If we have the Son, we have the Spirit, and the Spirit has us! The Spirit knows our needs, and can and will help us in every situation. He will give us the wisdom we need, the words we need, to face the opposition with wisdom, grace and courage – like the Spirit did for Yeshua. How fantastic is that? What an Ally! What a Friend!

Yielding to the fear of man will keep us from serving God the way we should and getting the best possible rewards. So will the desire for wealth while we are here on Earth.

Someone in the crowd said to Him, “Rabbi, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But He said to him, “Man, who appointed Me a judge or arbitrator over you?”

God the Father has appointed Yeshua the Judge and Arbitrator over all of humanity – but at His Second Coming – not during His First Coming.

Greed can ruin families. Maybe you know of a family that has been destroyed because of greed over an inheritance. This request to have Him arbitrate a dispute in a family over an inheritance led Rabbi Yeshua to teach on the danger of greed.

Then He said to them, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”

The world views the accumulation of wealth as the premier way to measure success. But, a successful life is not about money. A good life is not about things. A meaningful life is not about possessions. For us living in a declining economy, that’s encouraging!

True and lasting success is about getting right with the Three-In-One God, and loving Him with the totality of our being, and loving other human beings.

It is smart to serve God and sacrificially love human beings. It is foolish to pursue wealth here on Earth. Here is one reason why: And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”‘ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

We don’t know when we will die, so why pursue wealth that we may never enjoy? Not only that, but someone else may enjoy the fruits of our labors who may not be very worthy. That makes no sense! Someone may struggle and strive to gain wealth, and finally get it, and then their life is over before they can benefit from it. It makes much better sense to pursue better rewards, rewards that will last – rewards that come from wholeheartedly serving God, serving people, speaking the truth, being generous with things that advance God’s agenda and help people.

Try to keep your material desires to a minimum, and trust the all knowing and the good God to meet the needs of His valuable sons and daughters who love Him and serve Him and have their priorities in order.

And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds!

And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?

Worrying and obsessing about money and length of life is useless since our ability to extend our life one hour beyond God’s plan for our life is non-existent!

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith!

And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things.

Be different from the people of the world who are fixated on the comforts of this life. Our priorities must be different from their worldly concerns.

But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

Here is Messiah’s promise. If we make a priority to seek God’s kingdom – His agenda, His goals, His priorities, the Lord will meet our needs. What are you seeking?

God’s people are a minority in this fallen world. Identify with the godly minority. Be willing to go against the worldly majority.

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.

Know that God the Father, the Good Shepherd loves His little flock. He will be very generous to those human beings who seek Him, who don’t seek more and more money and things, who serve Him, who go against the majority, who are willing to be part of the little flock.

It doesn’t make sense to make accumulation of wealth your priority. Money and wealth is so easily lost in so many ways. Seek the wealth that will last.

Sell your possessions and give to charity. Rid yourself of material possessions. The more you do, the better off you will be; the greater the reward you will have where it counts! Make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in Heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys.

There is a relationship between what we consider to be precious, and what motivates us at the core of our being. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Have faith in God, in Heaven, in the knowledge that He will greatly reward those who love and boldly serve Him! Focus your thoughts on the eternal and praiseworthy rewards that will be yours when you are in Heaven.

What is really important to you? What do you treasure? Whatever it is, that will be the motivating force in your life. May it be God and His Kingdom, and the desire to please and serve Him and not yourself and not the world. And, may you receive a very great and eternal reward!