Sunday, November 1, 2009

LITN XX, Verses 1 - 26

1. One day Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, proclaiming the good news, and as He finished up, the ever-vigilant chief priests and teachers of the law, together with the elders, approached Him to talk to Him.

2. And they challenged Him, demanding, “By what power of authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this power of authority?"

3. He replied, "I will answer your question with another question, and if you give Me the answer, then I also will tell you by what power of authority I do these things.

4. The baptism of John…from where did it originate? Did it come from heaven, or did it come from men?”

5. This question immediately set a private meeting among them into motion, in which they said to one another, “Watch out…this is a trick question…if we say that the baptism originated in the heavenlies, He will no doubt ask us, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’

6. On the other hand, if we say, “It is of mere human origin, we’re going to receive so much flack from the people...they may even stone us...for they all regard John as a prophet.”

7. So they answered, "We don't know where it was from."

8. And He said to them, “Fair enough…so neither will I tell you by what power of authority I do these things.”

9. Then He went on to tell them this illustration: "A prominent landowner planted a vineyard, rented it out to some tenants, and moved somewhere else for a long time.

10. When it was time to harvest the grapes, he sent his servant back to collect his profits. But the tenants took the servant and beat him up, and sent him away empty-handed.

11. He then sent another servant, but they also beat that man, and severely abused him, then they sent him away empty-handed, as well.

12. He even sent a third, and they also met him with violence, wounded him, and threw him out.

13. Finally he sent his own son to them, saying, 'Surely, they will respect my own son whom I love, and not treat him the way that they have treated my servants.'

14. But, as it turned out, when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, “This is the heir to the fortune…let’s kill him so that we can have his inheritance!”

15. And, sure enough, they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him right then and there. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes back, what do you think he’ll do to those horrible, murderous tenants?

16. He will come and put those tenants to death. and give the vineyard to others."
When the people heard this, they said, "God forbid that he would do something like that!"

17. Jesus looked intently at them and asked, “Have you never read in your Scriptures: ‘The very Stone which the builders rejected and threw away has become the Cornerstone'?

18. Everyone who stumbles on this Stone will be shattered to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed to powder, scattering him like dust.

19. When the religious leaders heard His dark, illustrative story that day, they perceived that He was talking about them, and began to aggressively look for a way to arrest Him as soon as possible. But they didn't know how to do it because they were cowards.
20. But from that point on they kept a close watch on Him. They even sent spies, pretending to be sincere, in hopes of catching Him in some verbal trap...waiting for Him to snare Himself with His own words so that they might hand Him over to the authorities.

21. These spies came to Him and questioned Him, saying "Teacher, we know that You certainly speak and teach what is right...and we also know that You have integrity, that You teach the way of God truthfully, regardless of possible consequences, that You are uncompromising in Your ethics, and that You don’t pander to Your audience.

22. So tell us...is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

23. Of course He saw right through them, and said, “Do you phonies honestly think that I don’t know what you're up to? Surely you can’t be simple enough to assume that I would be rendered gullible by your empty compliments. That kind of flattery may work on you, but it doesn’t work on Me…why do you keep trying to trap Me with these tired old tricks?




















24. All right…I’ll play along with your silly game. Show Me a coin, and tell Me whose image and inscription are on it." "Caesar's", they replied.

25. “Well, then, it should be obvious, shouldn’t it? Pay to Caesar the things that are due to Caesar, and pay to God the things that are due to God. It’s that simple.”

26. The Pharisees didn’t have a comeback. Once again the profound simplicity of His words had left them speechless, and they were again unable to entrap Him. Astonished by His answer, they were completely silenced.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Keep on flowing in your gift Bishop, the word came through crystal clear this morning. beautiful "like apples of gold in settings of silver". As far as the whiners go I say "If you cant set in the den with the grown-ups then go on out and play....

Peace,
Dennis

Larry Usher said...

Great word today Bishop! Liked the whole idea of not ASSUMING God's will in prayer. I think we all need to do a whole lot more listening to the Lord, rather than talking. I we don't get quiet before Him it is harder to hear, but when we have heard His voice, faith comes and THEN we speak with His authority not just fleshly "guesswork"!
Will be wearing out this CD! Thanks!

Bro Lar

SCRIBE said...

OUTSTANDING MESSAGE today, Bishop. Thanks for Keeping it Real, doing ALL that you do through the unique gift of God within you and NOT being afraid to TELL THE TRUTH as it really is, not simply a message of convenience full of religious-feel good jargon. Hallelujah! Amen. I appreciate your words of life and confirmation.

karl cobos said...

Bishop, thanks for the word today, love ya.

Glad you did a shout-out to Daisson, he is covered in prayer.

word ver; growing
...'nuf said!

Anonymous said...

FROM FB

Pamela L. Thompson said...

Bishop, today's message was soooo WOW! Every Sunday gets better! I love it when you get as real as you did today! Thanks for that!

Anonymous said...

Lisa Pfenning said...

The word this morning was so right on!!! I sat here in tears watching! It was truly a YES YES moment. Thank

Anonymous said...

Donna Robertson Nolen said...

Awww, you always make me smile when you open your mouth, in case you didn't know that...and sometimes cry, but in a good way.

Anonymous said...

Sharon Shepherd said...

Thank you for being so transparent and open this morning, that is why I enjoy your teaching.

Anonymous said...

Karen Disher Long said...

Thank you so much Bishop for the message this morning... The whole service was amazing... from the worship... message... communion and the after worship... much needed for me this week...

So many times I have prayed for my children and how to raise them... But the words you spoke this morning set me free in so many areas regarding both children...

Thank you for being a voice that touches my heart deeply... engraving truth in it's many receptive crevices... Once more changed... it is truly salvation of the mind... ... Read More

Thanks... Your awesome

Anonymous said...

Nancy Courter said...

A synonym for prayer...communion
A much needed message for me this week...so beautiful all the way around

Anonymous said...

Berita Mooneyhan said...

Among the millions of others, I also was very blessed by the message this morning. Much truth, many smiles....and the courageousness you showed when faced with religious spirits-- which tormented every true soulwinner in the Bible. There is a verse somewhere...i can't remember..."do not be afraid of their faces". I appreciate your boldness.

Anonymous said...

Ebony Thornton said...

You know Bishop, one of the things I think I love the most about you is that you do not insult the intelligence of your flock, and you are in tune enough to know that the "one sinner's prayer fits all" method that other ministers cling to just doesn't work for everyone. Of course you want us to serv...e God and man and do the right, decent, and appropriate things, but you won't put us on "front street" if we don't. I have rememembered praying for things for my friends that I look back on now as a blessing that the prayer was not answered. If one man's trash in another's treasure, it could stand to say that one person's idea of "deliverance" is "bondage" or "a stronghold" to another.

So now when my friends tell me that they want me to pray for them to be better, I say "you're good enough as you are, but I'll pray you see yourself as God sees you. Something "Ebony circa 2002" would think is compromising (and all of this would be after seeing herself in 2009 in CITN and sending out a mass e-mail that her future incarnation would not be deceived by a False prophet in Conyers). "Not our will, but YOURS be Done".

Anonymous said...

Mike Collins said...

Being in Cyber Space I can't shake your hand look in your eye and tell you I apreciate the freedom and honesty I hear Sundays and Wednesday via the net. Know I apreciate you and everyone at CITN for making services available.

Anonymous said...

Sonia Dean said...

You r so loved! That was a loving parent up in ur face message! You love us enough to speak the truth regardless...... God bless

Anonymous said...

Dee Dee Estes said...

Ya...you scared me a little j/k ; )

Anonymous said...

Wendy Cohen said...

what a great message today...I'm getting it:) thanks for your openness!

Bishop, I could tell you may have been a little...what's the right word...concerned, that you may have been "too" open...but that's what makes you who you are and that's what makes most people love you and your message...

Anonymous said...

Torri Hornsby Griffin said...

I LOVED today's sermon! So many good points were made about how easy it is for good intentions to have a bad impact. We can't help someone if we don't know what they think help looks like. This, too, is in the eye of the beholder.