This morning I was reading from the Book of Matthew. There was a leper and He asked Jesus to heal him. The Bible says that Jesus had compassion on him and did as he requested!

Jesus told this man to go and show himself to the high priest and tell no one.

He flat out disobeyed! As he went along he told everyone what Jesus had done. Because of this Jesus had to stay in the wilderness!

 An old black preacher was telling this story one Sunday morning. He said, “the leper disobeyed and told everyone, we as Christians are commanded to tell everyone and we disobey and tell no one.”

The old black preacher hit the nail right dab on the head. Jesus has performed a miracle in our lives by saving us from an eternity in hell. Let’s not forget to share this with others as we meander throughout the day!

Matthew 27:46, And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

We find the answer to this question in Psalm 22. It opens with these words, “My God, my god, why hast thou forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?”

Then we read the answer in verse 3! “But thou art holy…” You see, when my sin and your sin was placed on Jesus, God had to withdraw! When God withdrew, He turned His back on His Son. He did this so that sinners like you and I could go to be with the Lord in heaven one day! Let’s praise Him, for He is worthy to be praised!

Matthew 26:28 says, “Now he that betrayed Him gave them a sign, saying,  Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He: hold Him fast…”

That hot kiss of betrayal is one of the worst things recorded in scripture. It’s like having a friend hug you and while he does he’s stabbing you in the back. (We’ve all experienced that!)

Let’s not get down on Judas to much for we’ve done Jesus the same way. Every time we refuse to share the gospel with someone we’re betraying our Lord. The sad news is, Judas never repented and ask for forgiveness. The good news is, he could have but he chose not to. God is still in the business of forgiving and forgetting if we’ll only repent and turn from our evil ways!

Matthew 24:38-39 says, For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

The days of Noah were characterized by gross immorality but the Lord mentions only that they were eating and drinking. Is there anything wrong with eating and drinking? No, we are told that whatever we do, whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we are to do all to the glory of God.

The problem was, the people in Noah’s day wasn’t eating and drinking to the glory of God. In fact, they were living as though God did not exist. I see this all the time in the day in which we live.  People go out to dinner and they eat and drink and never thank God for their meal. Even today, we act as though God doesn’t exist. Some people are like my dogs, they just start right in!

As I travel across the US from church to church I’ve noticed that many of them have one thing in common. There’s not much excitement in the church. Oh, you’ll run across one every now and then, but they are few and far between.

I have noticed another thing they have in common. Most of the people in the churches love their football. You start talking about OU, OSU, Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, Georgia, Alabama and they perk up like a peacock strutting his stuff.

We get more excited about a college football team than we do about a soul being saved. I know, I’ve been there and done that. It’s OK to get excited on college game day but let’s carry that same excitement to the church on the Lord’s day! After All, next year who’s gonna remember the score between OU and Tulsa or Georgia and Oregon?

What matters most is that souls are being saved and lives changed!  This is the real reason to celebrate!