Zanele Tlhakanelo

Jesus teaches us to be aware of false prophets because these are people who are like all of us but come wearing the sheep skins. The dangers are what they teach because normally they say one thing but act differently. They are always people of influence who want to lure people from knowing the truth and deceive people into following them. They are ferocious because their actions and attitudes do not symbolize that of the followers of Christ. They put themselves first and God last and do not care who they hurt along the way. It is important in the church to know these people so that they are not given any position because they can easily divide the unity of the church through their actions. They bear bad fruits and because of their actions, they corrupt people and lead them to sin. Paul warns Timothy that these are people that should not be ordained quickly or lay hands on them. Flawed Christian leaders are those that are weak but not necessarily dangerous false prophets. They may allow things to happen in the church and nor rebuke those people simply because they take care of their personal needs and do not want to offend them. Whereas, false prophets interpret the Word of God in order to deceive people and want people to worship them rather than worship the Living God. The Word of God says even the elite will be deceived. It is therefore important that children of God should ask the Holy Spirit to help discern between the flawed Christian leaders and the false prophets.

In the practical term it means we have communion with Christ and we remind ourselves that He gave His Life for us so that we may have eternal life. We are washed by the blood of Jesus Christ so that we can have direct communication with God. Nibbling the Bread of Life means we do not have a good relationship with. We may be going to church but our actions do not show that we are in Christ. We do not apply the Word of God in our lives daily. If we say in Him we live, move and have our being, we must always quality time with God, understanding and applying His Word. Making a meal of it means spending quality time with God and understanding that we have been called to preach the Word of God so that those that are still in darkness can see the Light. We are called to be ambassadors of Christ. Eating His flesh and abiding in Him mean that we acknowledge that Christ died for our sins, though not a sinner, He was cricified so that we may be the righteousness of God. When we abide in Him, we know that He is our Redeemer and appreciate that He will always be with us. His Word says "I will not leave you nor forsake you". We allow Christ to direct our steps. Christ used this offensive analogy because He wanted to see if His disciples truly understand that He is the Messiah and that He came so that through His death, we may be forgiven our sins and become the new creation. They were offended because He called Himself the Son of God who came on earth to fulfil the mandate of God.

Abide means to dwell and be rooted in the Lord. In this instance, Christ becomes the centre of your life and He takes control of your life. Mary, the sister to Lazarus, chose to sit at the feet of Jesus and listened to all His teachings. When able in Him, we become obedient to His Word and allow the Holy Sprit to guide, direct,lead, advise and help us in all the actions and decisions that we must make. Mutual dwelling is the permanent, personal and intimate relationship that we have with Christ. This means that we subject ourselves to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We become attentive to the small still voice and do what He commands us to do. We need to believe, trust and live our lives according to His Word. Personal relationship is the communication that we have we God. We acknowlegde Him as our God and we as His people. Having communion with God strengthen our relationship with Him because we understand that He loved the world so much that He gave us His begotten Son, our Lord and Savior. When we spend time reading the Word, praying and fasting, we are building a personal relationship that no one can take it away from us. Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our lives. He is the great "I AM." He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. Therefore He knows everything that is why He says without Him we can do nothing. We must allow God to take control of our lives because without Him, there is nothing that we can do. We must always spend time with Him in order to know what is expected of us. There is no value in doing things without Christ. It is like building a house on the sand and when the storm comes, it is blown away. Whatever we do, we must always enquire from the Lord because He cares and loves us so much. Final things done without Christ leads to destruction. The Word of the Lord says "We may make our plans but God has the last word". God does not want anyone to go to hell but if we do not hold on the Truth, then we will be condemned.

The skillful person only prunes the branches that will yield fruit and cut only the dead branches. As children of God, we also need that so that we can proclaim the word of God to all the nations. It is only through the Word of God that we allow it to teach, rebuke, correct and train us for righteousness. God says He chose us and we did not choose Him, ordained us so that we may go and bring forth fruit. We are not to be confused as children of God but must have an ear of hearing the Word of God as He speaks to us. We must have a revelation of the Word of God as we obediently walk with Him and do as He instructs through His Word and fellowshipping with other brethrens. As we abide in Christ, we will bear much fruit because without Him, there is nothing that we can do. Obeying Jesus according to John 8: 31-32 states that we need first to believe in Jesus and be prepared to read the Word of God daily because growth comes when you understand the Word of God and practice it. We get cleansing when we confess our sins and repent sincerely. When we have done this we will know the truth and it will make us free. Freedom from all the false prophets and idolatry and serve the Living God only.

Hypocrisy is easy to detect in others because we are always judgmental and want to correct mistakes done by others. We always look for minute mistakes done by other people and always think we are better off than others. We always think high of ourselves and most often think that we are holier than thou. That is why the Word of God says I want to remove the speck from my brother's eye yet there is a plank on my eye. This then says we are quick to judge others when they have sinned but maybe we commit too much sin that at times we do not want to acknowledge. It is deadly to spiritual growth in that instead of loving and caring about people, we want to correct how they behave and this we do not do in truth and in spirit. We must first take the new converts into confidence and teach them what is expected by God since they now have established a relationship with Him. To witness: we always need to declare the Word of God as is. We should not teach people to live a Godly life whereas we are doing the opposite. To obedience: people must be taken through the Will of God and it is so simple in that God says love your neighbor as you love yourself. When you truly love people, it will be difficult to judge them but easy to correct them because you live a Godly life yourself. To being a disciple: you need to show people the way and not say do as I say not as I do. Disciples must be examplary at all times uphold the Word of God and always being humble to those they shepherd. The antidote is that you need to be honest, reliable, trustworthy and not live double standards. Be willing to be corrected yourself and always accept that we did not save ourselves but Christ took the fall and thought of us above all things.

People want to push themselves forward because they consider themselves as better than others. They want to be acknowledged and praised in public places. In verse 11, such people feel humiliated when they are removed from the higher places as they are supposed to wait and be seated. Humility is important because people get to respect you when you are humble and they will then learn from you that you do not have to consider yourself as important because more important people will surface and you end up being embarrassed. If we do not learn and internalize this lesson, we will be working against the will of God. The Word of God says "Humble yourself before God and He will lift you up".

The characteristics necessary for salvation are humility, openness, trust, innocence and receptivity which are all character traits that little children displayed and Jesus expects us to be like them. The disciples displayed arrogance and selfishness. They did not understand the Master belongs to all His creation. It was not a matter of protecting Jesus but considered themselves as more important than others. Arguing about who was the greatest showed that they considered themselves superior as compared to others and in the eyes of Jesus we are all the same as the Word of God says that He is not the respecter of persons. Humility to repentance says you are quick to acknowledge your sins and are ready to ask for forgiveness and repent from all your sins. Humility to learning indicates that we must have a teachable spirit and always allow to be led. Humility to obedience says be prepared to be corrected in order to grow and be able to carry out the Will of God Jesus wanted to teach His disciples to be approachable and be able to engage with everyone without classing people. You cannot be a disciple and want people to serve you. A humble person will show compassion at all times because he/she cares about people.

The Pharisee is convinced of his righteousness because he thinks that praying daily and giving his tenth are things that touch the heart of God. Jesus had to remind him that God looks at the matter of the heart and not someone who is boastful. The Pharisee was full of himself and his prayer was selfish as he wanted to remind God what he was doing instead of giving God his shortfalls and ask God to assist him. He showed how arrogant he was by standing prayer in the open. The Word of God says that when we pray, we need to go into our closet and close the door and pray. Praying standing in the open and make long prayer does not justify that the matter of the heart. Making known that he was paying his tithes in public was also not what the Word of God expects from us. We are told that whatever we do, we must not let the right hand what the left hand does. The tax collecter's prayer is that he humbled himself and was open to God that he was a sinner. Acknowledging his sins was that he needde the grace of God to assist him and have his sins forgiven. We always think we are better than others and want to be seen and acknowledged in public places. We just need to humble ourselves and God will lift us up. People will know that we do good deeds and we do not have to tell the whole word but our actions need to speak for ourselves. Jesus wanted the disciples to understand that they have been called to serve the people of God and they need to always humble themselves.

There is nothing of value to me than Christ. The reason I say this is that it is always my heart desire to see all my family members establishing a personal, permanent, intimate relationship with God. I do not have to prove to a friend that Jesus is first in my life but my actions and the way I conduct myself must be evidence enough to say I have a relationship with Christ that is not temporary but eternal. I believe that I must emulate Christ by showing compassion for all the people and in that way, my friends will be convinced that I live for Christ and He is the Only One who directs my steps.

Taking your cross daily means you need to be prepared to die for the truth and acknowledging that Jesus Christ is the only Master that you will serve. When tough times come, you do not relinquish your position as the disciple of Christ. You do not deny Him but serve Him to the point where you will follow Christ and renounce your allegiance to the One true God. Losing your life for Christ means denying yourself for His sake. You do not live for yourself but you serve the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. When Paul says "It is no longer I who lives but Christ lives in me." He actually meant that you become selfless and surrender fully to do the Will of God. You put Christ first above all your needs. If a disciple wants to take this step of commitment, all the wordly comforts must be sacrificed to truly serve Christ. The Word of God says you cannot serve two masters. Therefore the self dies and Christ becomes the centre of your life. Christ makes it clear that if you try to save your life, you will lose it but when you ask Christ to Lord over your life, you will be preserved. It may not be easy to be the follower of Christ but one thing that we need to appreciate is that the promises He makes, He also keeps. He says He will never leave us nor forsake us. Therefore, in our commitment we must remember that He is God of the mountains and He is God of the valleys and will forever be with us.

Not at all. Jesus Christ is specific as to the kind of a person who wants to be His disciple. You cannot serve too masters at the same time because the other one will suffer while serving the other. Jesus is clear that when you want to be His disciple, there are certain loads that need to be left or put aside and serve Him wholeheartedly. All the disciples that He chose had to leave their daily jobs and followed Him. Following Jesus is being obedient to the call of God. That is why God does not want lukewarm disciples but those who will carry out the message of the Kingdom without compromising the Word. We certainly are. We make excuses because we want to satisfy our desires. We please the world more than we please God. Our priorities are always about me, myself and I and then God. The truth be told, when people are supposed to support the work of the ministry through their giving, we first make ourselves happy and then God at the end. We listen to all the negative things happening around us and want to believe that our God does not see and will not help us. We are really too compromising and actually give the world priority over God. My ego. I must allow God to work on me and not think that I am better than other people or I can do things better than time. I need to appreciate the good done by others and be able to sincerely applaud them. God must surely work with my heart.

Jesus requirements for His disciples is that they must be fully committed to proclaim the Kingdom of God, be able to forsake all earthly things and be obedient to the call of doing the Will of God. The message is clear that you cannot want to do other businesses when the harvest is plentiful when the laborers are few. Putting Jesus Christ first above everything else and seeking the Kingdom of God because Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life. All the things on earth are temporal and if you still want to wait to be old to serve Jesus or do some other business, it may be too late. Jesus is urgent because He understands that the devil, the schemer is like a thief who has come to steal, to kill and to destroy. The world out there needs to be rescued from the evil one and the disciples must preach the Good News to the end of the world. The urgency is that there should not be an excuse of people saying they did not know the Kingdom of God that is why missionaries and evangelists are all over not to miss the souls that must receive the wonderful gift of salvation. This gift is for all of us and Jesus is aware that the devil wants to deny people eternal life by ensuring that they do not hear the message of the Kingdom of God. We need to prioritise God above everything else. Isn't it that God also prioritised us and gave us His Only begotten So who died for all our sins? We need to do the Will of God while we still have the energy to do so and not procrastinate. The saying says "Time waits for no man" and therefore we need to have the whole world know about God our Creator, our Father who loved and still loves us. If we still have to go bury the loved one or look back, we may not cover enough ground while the devil is out there waiting to devour people.

The unique message about the Parable of the Narrow Door is that it can only accommodate those who have truly repented and change not those who still hold on to the things of this world and pretend to be serving the Kingdom of God. Those that are active and not passive in preaching the meesage of repentance without compromising the Word. Jesus Christ is the host and He is the only One who can allow people to go through the Narrow Door because not everyone who says "Lord, Lord" will be able to enter. Would-be disciples must be aggressive because the evil one is out there roaring like a lion and wants whoever he can devour. The devil comes with schemes that want to derail those who want to honestly serve the Kingdom of God and therefore, disciples need to be aggressive in ensuring that they do not bow down to any gods but to the Living God. The faint-hearted will not be able to go through the Narrow Door because they are not sure where they stand but those who aggressively seek Him and are prepared to be persecuted for the Kingdom of God, will be able to go through. If we are not aggressive in seeking God, we will find ourselves tossed to and fro by the deceiver who is satan. The Word of God says " Even the elite will be deceived". There are so many false prophets who claim to be preaching the Word of God but they are like wolves in the sheep skin and if we are not seeking God, we will fall prey to all their dirty tricks. The Great Commission expects us to go to the end of the world and because we have to fulfi the mandate of God, we need to be as wise as serpents yet harmless as doves in carrying out our assignments. This Parable was told to the disciples so that they should understand that not everyone who claims to be a follower of Christ will be able to go through the Narrow Door. Remember Judas Iscariot who was among the disciple but ended scheming with the high priests and selling Jesus Christ for some shekels, we still have those who say the serve the Kingdom of God but are deceiving people.

Thorns choke us in maturing in understanding the Word of God. When we are faced with earthly challenges, we tend to doubt God as we think we can resolve challenges that we face without taking all the troubles we face to Him. We at times are deceived by the material things we have thinking that we have created the wealth ourselves or the achievements that we have attained. Our desire should be in understanding the Word of God rather than desiring the things of the world which are temporal. A genuine disciple is the one who understands that Christianity is a lifestyle and not a religion system. We do not serve God because we are obliged but we understand that we are to preach the message of the Kingdom without compromising the truth. We should not be people-pleasers but let people know the heart of God through His Word. We need to be rooted in the Word of God and pray without ceasing. At all times acknowledge the presence of the Holy Spirit who is in us and always ask that He guides, directs, leads, advise and helps us in hearing when God speaks to us.

Some people fall away easily because they do not internalize the message of the Kingdom. They are quick to accept Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior but do not listen well to His teachings. At times, such people follow the crowd and do not understand what it is to give your life to Christ. They still want to live their lives as before and do not understand that once you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, you allow Him to be at the centre of your life. Paul says " It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me". Their problem is that they do not ask for guidance and allow to be shepherded. They do not want to present their bodies as living sacrifices and do not read the Word of God so as to understand the new path taken.

A true Shepherd lays His life down for the sheep because they belong to Him and He cares and loves His sheep dearly that He is prepared to protect them from any danger that may befall them. He provides and protects the sheep against robbers and thieves. Jesus protected His disciples from all the criticism they faced from the Pharisees and scribes. When they questioned Him about His disciples not washing hands when they were eating, why they did not fast and all sorts of Jewish laws that the disciples did not do, Jesus explained that while they still have Him with them, there was no need to do these rituals. Jesus Christ said "Yes" to the Will of God so that we can receive the wonderful gift of salvation. He became sin though not a sinner so that we may be the righteousness of God. Jesus Christ had compassion for all people and He fed them both spiritually and physically. He healed the sick and He took our shame by dying on the Cross. When He was with them, He taught them that they needed to take care of orphans, widows, the needy and the poor. He taught them to serve others and not be served. He also made them understand that they should not take front seats but wait to be ushered to take front seat. Christ's servants are taking care of the vulnerable by clothing them, providing water in areas where there is no clean water. Food parcels are donated and one can safely say that a lot of Christ's servants are doing that which Christ expects us to do.

The Shepherd's voice will not lead the sheep astray because He cares, loves and feeds His flock with good nourishment. Jesus Christ as the Good Shepherd has laid His Life for us so that the thief cannot claim us as his people. It is therefore important for the disciples to listen to listen to the voice so as to follow the Shepherd's instructions. God has an assignment for each sheep and the disciple must learn to listen to His voice and be obedient to His will. When we act independently, we will miss His guidance and find ourselves acting out of His Will. The Word of God says that His Will is good, pleasing and perfect and therefore if we act independently, we will want to do that which satisfies us rather than that which we are called to do (The Great Commission). The sheep go astray when they do not listen to the voice of the Shepherd. The sheep must learn to attentively listen to the voice of the Shepherd are there are many voices out there. When you do not learn to listen to the voice of God as His disciples, you may find yourself being confused by so many teachings which will lead us to destruction.

Jesus Christ intends teaching His disciples that the unshrunk clothes or the old wine skin do not fit into the new, meaning that the laws taught back then do not fit into the Good News/Gospel because there are certain laws that repel Jesus' teachings. Remember that nothing was to be done on the Sabbath and Jesus' healing of the sick offended the Pharisees and scribes. Therefore, the disciples needed to understand that people's lives are more important than the laws. We become used to old traditions and do not want to repent from believing that Jesus Christ has not only come for the chosen few but Gentiles as well hence it was difficult for Peter to be seen to be sharing food with the Gentiles. Keeping the synagogue traditions was to them the inheritance of the Kingdom of God. We want to do things by the book and not allow the Holy Spirit to take control. We follow the same ways of doing things instead of allowing the presence of the Holy Spirit to lead us. We follow the same pattern each time for example, we worship/ praise, read the Word and preach, pray and we are out of the church building. I do not think the Holy Spririt will be offended if He directs that only praise and worship should be done and pray and lead people to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. If we continue to be stuck in church laws, there will not be any growth in the Kingdom of God. We need to allow the presence of the Holy Spirit to manifest for growth to be seen. The church may start small but once the Holy Spirit is given His place, there will be growth them. Churches need to know that they are not in any competition but are doing the Will of God and that is, preaching the Good News/Gospel.

Jesus Christ intended to teach His disciples to be patient because they expected the ministry to grow fast. He taught them that the beginnings are small but the endings are big. When Jesus used the two Parables He wanted to show them that when seed it planted, it does not end up as a seed but becomes a tree or when a yeast or leaven is put into a dough, it is small but after some time the dough becomes bigger, meaning that when the Word of God is preached, a few people may respond positively to the Word but that does not mean that only a few will hear. People will share the Word until the whole world understands the Kingdom of God. The disciples wanted to see the fruit of their work immediately. It does not matter how long it takes for a person to repent because the Word will do its work. The Word of God is powerful and people will eventaully know about the Kingdom of God in the whole world. We lack patience. We want people to immediately follow what we believe in but once the Word is planted in their hearts and they see how we life for Christ, they will then understand that surely, the Kingdom of God is alive and eternal. Faith is when you believe the unseen. The disciples must have faith that the work of the Lord will surely be accomplished because it is His will that all men should not perish but come to the knowledge of His Word. Patience teaches us as disciples not to give up when people do not want to listen to the Word as it is preached but to continue to pray that God should open the eyes of the hearts of those whose hearts have been hardened.

In the parable, satan is the strong man because he is able to come steal, kill and destroy lives but he knows that he cannot go beyond using his tricks to lure me to his kingdom that is soon coming to and end. He has been defeated at Golgotha and no longer has power over God's children. Jesus is the Victorious, Stronger Warrior who defeated death through His Resurrection and Ascension so that those who believe in Him should have eternal, everlasting life. Jesus Christ's name is above all names that is why the demons begged Him to leave them alone. There is no force that is above the Omnipotent God who is able to defeat all the wickedness of the devil. God loved us so much that He gave us His begotten Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When the devil thought that he had crufified Jesus Christ, little did he know that the Resurrection was just as Jesus preached that He will destroy the temple and raise it up in three days. I am really thankful to God for being my Deliverer and setting me free. The only way of setting my friends free is to preach Christ resurrected. He is the way, the truth and the life. Jesus Christ wants us to come as we are and does not condemn anyone or reminds us what we did a few minutes ago.

It is a reminder that Jesus Christ gave His body to be crucified for our sins so that we may all be forgiven of all the sins we have and will commit. The blood reminds us that we have been washed and are now able to approach the Throne of Grace with confidence because we have received mercy. Each time we sin, we must know that we crucify Christ over and over again and as His children, we must be mindful of that. We actually proclaim that we will hold on to the Truth that Jesus Christ gave His Life for as and He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that we will not serve any other gods but the Giver of Life. We proclaim the Resurrection because when Christ comes back, the dead will be resurrected and those who will be living then and believe in Him will be taken to be with Him.

I want to believe that Jesus teaches us that it is not through our works or understanding or memorising the scriptures that can make us enter into eternal life. Jesus also does not say wealthy people cannot enter the Kingdom of God but those who are obedient to the will of God. People distort the saying because they do not understand that Jesus was referring to the hardness of our hearts. Even though people have seen the miracles that Jesus Christ performed in healing the sick, the lame walked, the blind saw but still they did not believe in Him. We can only preach the Word of God but cannot not save people. Salvation comes from God and that is why we refer to it as a gift because gave us His Only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to die for our sins. It is only through faith that we are saved. Christ did it for us when He said "Yes" to be will of God. Praise be to God. Hallelujah.

Flowing or living water is symbolic to an eternal, everlasting and continuous life because ordinary water is just symbolic to life. Jesus Christ creates the thirst in us as He is the Fountain, the Spring where we get the everlasting life and will never thirst again. When we have receives Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will not need anymore water because the Holy Spirit will be at work in our lives as we continue to read the Word of God and spend time in prayer. All we need to do is to ensure that we have a permanent, intimate relationship with God so that we never thirst again.

When we are born again, it is a Spiritual birth where we allow the Spirit to supersede the flesh. We are no longer controlled by the things of this world but the Holy Spirit takes control in guiding, directing, leading and helping us in all aspects. We renounce the old and become new in Christ Jesus as explained in 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Jesus uses the analogy of water. We know that when a child is to born in the physical, water must come out. Jesus Christ emphasizes that man has to be baptised in water but not only that the Holy Spirit must reside in that person. We cannot be born again and do as we wish but must be guided by the Holy Spirit as explained in John 3:8. It is through our faith that we come to understand the works of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The attributes are that they wind cannot be seen but felt. We cannot see the Holy Spirit in our lives but we can feel His presence as He works in our lives. We cannot manipulate the wind neither can we do so to the Holy Spirit. There are different ways in which we encourage the wind in the physical realm so is the case with the Holy Spirit, at times gentle but also powerful.

The Parable teaches us that our God is just and cares about all His people. He gives people what they ask from Him and even those who do not deserve His favor, He is liberal to all. His grace is immeasurable because He gives it to all of us. He is the gracious, kind, merciful and compassionate God who will leave His Throne and seek for the lost even in the last hour like the vineyard owner who went out to the market place to still look for laborers. Jealousy, envy, anger, bitterness and all malice rise up when we feel overlooked and we always want the best for us forgetting that God loves His people no matter who they are. He is generous in giving us gifts and wisdom that is why the book of James 1:5 says "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously without finding fault..." Fairness is when God gives us His love and the wonderful gift of salvation without us working for that. Pride is when we think that others are not deserving of His love, mercy and grace but the faithful God we serve is not a respecter of man.