Matthew 28:18-20 great commission

BREAKING MANMADE RELIGIOUS RULES

(November 29, 2024) Wayne Swift once again calls it as it is…

Often our speech is filled with promises, hopes, and New Year resolutions— all of which are soon forgotten or deliberately ignored or broken, especially the latter! And the older we get the more we’ll stay safely within the parameters imposed on us by our upbringing and experiences. ‘Breaking-out’ is a term for the often midlife crises.

I actually want to share with you about breaking-out from certain rules, not promises, hopes or resolutions! Deliberately stepping out and intentionally going against some rules that are imposed on us takes a special sort of attitude.

Now many people break rules every day— road laws perhaps by speeding or using mobiles while driving. Many an adult breaks even simple dietary rules. Every day TV news tells of rules being broken not just by adults but even by students, by teenagers regarding certain things.

Some rules when broken create a sense of guilt, some a sense of freedom. But… before you work out which rules you might be guilty of breaking today, let me share about the sort I think should be broken.

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WHAT’S IT WORTH?

(January 07, 2023) Richard Winter challenges…

Many have said to me that all they want to do is get to heaven, that ‘Life is tough and I’ve had enough.’

As a pastor, I want everyone to go to heaven. Indeed every Christian should want this, remembering Jesus’ Matthew 28:18-20 great commission!

Two issues here…
a) Heaven!
All that heaven is and means is a sermon in itself!

When you know  about the incredible place ‘heaven’ is going to be, what our loving heavenly Father has planned for all who believe in Jesus, the alternative is not even a consideration! One can but think, ‘Who would want to go to hell?’

b) ‘Life is tough…’ 
This makes me think… have they had another bad year and merely ‘want out’? If so I understand, because we’ve all bad memories and are believing for a greater year in 2023!

But then I query if those ‘wanting out’ understand that every Christian will be going to the heaven with its perfection and peace – but only in the Father’s timing! Being a Christian doesn’t guarantee us an ‘automatic opt-out of life’! I can’t see that anywhere in scripture and I feel that many such ‘drop-out Christians’ are defining their lack of maturity!

Let me take that further…

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