Red Letters: Make The Shift - Pastor Josiah Elias
- design97004
- Sep 15, 2025
- 5 min read
Our mission is to culture like Christ, and our vision is Jesus. Last week’s sermon was “Salvation’s Sliver” where we learned that the time is short. We cannot dilly dally around about the importance of following Jesus as our Lord and Savior. This week the topic is “Make the Shift.”
When you are doing what God wants you to do, the devil is not happy; but if the devil delights in what you are doing, that is not good. Some people have Rings and security cameras. These devices alert the owners when someone is near or around the house. We need spiritual alarms like people have in their homes and cars since they would notify you when an intruder is trying to trespass. Jesus had a warning when some Pharisees told Him, ”Get away from here if you want to live! Herod Antipas wants to kill you!” Luke 13:31 (NLT) Jesus did not heed their warnings because He obeyed His Father and preached the Good News that God had sent His Son to save them from sin, and for this Good News He was persecuted.
For us, when persecution knocks on your door, will you pretend nobody’s home, or will you courageously remain resolved? Jesus was determined to do what His Father told Him.
Are you determined to do God’s will and go make disciples? When you stand, love wins.
Perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4:18 The opposite of fear is not courage. It’s love.
Jesus had a backbone and did not run from the fray. Jesus who is love embodied resolved to honor God. He was obedient. “Jesus replied,’Go tell that fox that I will keep on casting out demons and healing people today and tomorrow; and the third day I will accomplish my purpose.’” Luke 13:32 (NLT) Herod Antipas did not deter Jesus.
Not every challenging time is a satanic attack. Sometimes the challenge could be a testing ground to refine you. Or He tests the validity of your commitment. Will you fold? The heart of the Father is to set the captive free. Neither the culture’s chaos nor the Pharisees’ verbal sparring did not distract Jesus from His Father’s task for Him. Do shiny things distract you from the task at hand? Do you spend hours on social media or computer games or the news or gossiping about….? I have had to fast FaceTime so that I did not spend so much time scrolling, looking,
peeking in to windows I do not need. What can you release to keep on the right track? What has the Holy Spirit convicted you to change?
Then Jesus mourned Jerusalem.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and
stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather
your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her
wings, but you wouldn’t let me.” Luke 13:34 (NLT)
Even though Jerusalem was where so much conflict occurred, God cares/d deeply—even for those with a track record of hurting His heart. Jerusalem represented the ruling religious leaders. Jerusalem had so much promise but had hard-hearted people in it that refused to yield to the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Though seeds of life were being sown, Jerusalem rejected the message. In this house, seeds are being sown, and only you are responsible for the soil of
your heart. Will you nurture the seeds of love? The Lord is a seeker seeking seekers. Are you a seeker?
In Luke 14:1, “One Sabbath day Jesus went to eat dinner in the home of a leader of the Pharisees, and the people were watching closely.” Most of the religious leaders were antagonistic to Jesus, but Jesus unlike us was modeling love. Would you like to share a meal with your enemies? The heart of the Lord wanted to win them over, and He tried to do so. He introduced an expansion of the Kingdom of God, a new wineskin for a new love. However, the Pharisees rejected this Kingdom of God. They preferred the old one because they were comfortable with it; they were powerful in it, and they did not want to relinquish their status or
power. The loved the old wine in old wineskins.
Don’t get stuck in the way it has been. John the Baptist’s disciples were used to preparing the way because that was John’s task. However, the imprisoned John was getting confused in jail about Jesus’ identity, so he sent two disciples to ask Jesus who He was. Jesus answered, ”The blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” Luke 7:22 (NLT) Jesus was the One for whom John was preparing. Two of John’s disciples recognized the Messiah and transitioned into being Jesus’ disciples.
Next came the miracle of the man
“whose arms and legs were swollen. Jesus asked the Pharisees
and experts in religious law,’Is it permitted in the law to heal people
on the Sabbath day, or not?’
When they refused to answer, Jesus touched the sick man and
healed him and sent him away.
Then he turned to them and said,’Which of you doesn’t work
on the Sabbath? If your son or your cow fall into a pit, don’t
you rush to get him out?’
Again they could not answer.” Luke 14:2-6 (NLT)
Jesus addressed their faulty way of thinking. They loved the letter of the law not the spirit of the law. Jesus lived the Spirit of the law.
What is your thinking about the Lord and your life? What do you need to shift? We need to look at our attitudes, values, and actions. How do they align with the Jesus we say is our Lord?
Is anything a priority that should not be? How does your credit card statement reflect your commitment to Jesus? Just because you worshipped Him with those songs, that posture, that way of serving is that the way you should worship and serve now? Ask the Lord to reveal to you what you need to shift. Is there an attitude, priority, habit or practice that has kept you from a closer walk with the Lord? Jesus is as close as you allow Him.
Pastor Josiah shared how John the Baptist and John the beloved fit the Paramount Point. The shift takes you from cooking to eating. The hungry ones came to the feast. However, another two people came to mind, Martha and Mary. Martha hurriedly and frantically prepared the house and the food for the Lord Jesus’ visit while Mary her sister sat at His feet to soak in all His teachings. I identify with Martha the doer, the fixer, the preparer. But Jesus reminded
Martha and me that it was time to sit at His feet and be with Him-being instead of doing. “‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,' says the LORD.” Isaiah 55:8 Yes, I want my heart, mind and house to be ready for the Lord, but when He is here, I need to sit at His feet and learn from Him.
May we learn from Him and align our hearts, minds, and spirits to His so that we can reflect Him in a very dark world and culture.
Submitted by Larry & Annette
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