"A Prophet without Honor". The hardest thing for a Christian to face is the response they receive from the people closest to them. There is a crazy phenomena that occurs when someone comes to Christ. When you first give your life to Christ, everyone in your family and most of your friends are very happy for you and proud of you. Then after a while, the more you become like Christ through the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, those same people start to find "ought" with your ways and lifestyle change. They can not be blamed for this, once again. Living in a society where the word "Christian" has no meaning, should take a lot of the blame. The enemy has done an excellent job over the last 2,000 years of defaming Christianity and robbing Christians of their power in Christ. The term "Christianity" is now in the same grouping with the word "Gentleman" as C. S. Lewis describes in his book "Mere Christianity". Lewis points out that the word gentleman has lost it's original meaning, it was originally used to describe a man who owned land and had wealth. So to say that this man was a gentleman was a statement of fact. Over the years we took the way in which these men behaved and carried themselves and changed the meaning of the word to become a behavioral status, not a statement of fact. In the first century a Christians was a person who followed and lived out the teachings of Jesus Christ. It was a statement of fact! Now we say that someone must be Christian based on the way that they behave. Most Christians in our society today, don't know the teachings of Jesus Christ. If they do they have learned them without the process of regeneration (being born again) but simply through classroom study and sermon hearing alone. This Christian is described below:
2 Timothy 3:1-5
1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
This all means when someone actually gives their life to Christ and becomes sealed with the Holy Spirit, their life truly changes. They walk and talk with an authority that is not their own. Through the process of sanctification, justification, and glorification this person now resembles more of his Savior Jesus Christ than him/herself. They now become a Christian by statement of fact and not by behavior because most "christians" today behave like people that are portrayed in movies, television, and what they see in their churches. People will no longer be comfortable around you because you are now an alien; "I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother’s children", (Psalm 69:8). Christ came into the world and the world did not recognize Him, so if He truly dwells in you, will those around you really recognize you??? When family and friends start to talk about you being different or judgemental, count it not against them!!! People took the same offense when Jesus Christ!!! Let them talk, continue to pray for them and be a light in the midst!!! Be encouraged!!! Have a wonderful life of enjoying the same persecutions as your Savior Jesus Christ did on purpose!!!!!
Matthew 13
A Prophet Without Honor
53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. 54 Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. 55 “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? 56 Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”
58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.
Matthew 16
Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter,[b] and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[d] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Romans 8
14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
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