From the best I can tell...nowhere in scripture can you find where Jesus ever instructed someone to just “try harder to do the best they can.” 

 You would be hard pressed to read where He might have added on this little gem of “I know you are imperfect and will continue to mess up and sin...but don’t worry...I still love you and have your back because you are My child.” (Oh, and for the record, when God told Paul- “My grace is sufficient for you”, it was not a sin issue that was being discussed. 2 Cor. 12:9) 

 But I can show you in your bible where Jesus said this: “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48) 

 I can point out a couple of places where Jesus told some individuals to “Go, and sin no more”, adding on this warning to one of them: “or else something worse may come upon you.” (John 8:11; 5:14) 

 And while it is a popular and widely believed message today, this idea of one being able to walk down some church aisle and repeat some words in a prayer and ‘accept Christ as Savior’ guarantees you an entrance into heaven, I can again, point you to multiple places in the scripture where Jesus taught that unless you were willing to forsake all...and lay down your life and love Him even more than your family...then you could NOT be His disciple. Why you can even find ‘smart’ people who will try and differentiate between a ‘believer’ and a ‘disciple’ as if being a follower of Jesus was some form of ‘extra credit for super saints’. 

 I’ve listened to sincere, long-time ‘believers’ try and explain to me how when a person ‘accepts Christ’, that their spirit is made perfect and saved immediately but then this ‘old man/flesh nature goes in to God’s ‘garage’ (figure of specech) where He tries to fix it up over the span of one’s lifetime, but it won’t be finished until they wake up in heaven’. (That is the gist of what they wanted to convey) 

 Yet I can show you in several places where Paul points out how if anyone continues to practice those sins of the flesh that they have no inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. (Gal. 5:20-21; 1 Cor. 6:9-10). Why even Jesus drew a stark line in the sand when He spoke of how ‘many would come in that day’...professing to have done so many wonderful things in His name...yet will be turned away because they continued to practice sin. (Matt. 7:21-23) 

 Now before you get all condemned and discouraged and are tempted to beat yourself up because you know you will ‘never get to that place’...I’m telling you in Jesus’ Name that is the enemy talking to you and you need to resist him now...and be honest with yourself and just agree with God here...acknowledge what His word has made clear. You don’t have to understand it all at this moment....but don’t reject or deny it or run to someone who can ‘explain it away’ to make you feel better. 

Perhaps if you just said: “God...I don’t know how this can ever happen in my life, but You have said it...so please...show me how this can become a reality in my own life.” 

 Why there were even times when some of those who were closest to Jesus heard what He taught and then asked...’Gosh Lord...can anyone be saved?” (Matt. 19:25) 

 Allow me if you will, to explain why Jesus in effect, set the bar so high...with this call to be ‘perfect just as our Father in heaven is perfect’; We are called to be His ambassadors. (2 Cor. 5:20) 

 Yep, you read that correctly, and I want to assume that we all know what an ‘ambassador’ is? Think in terms where a country selects a diplomat to represent the interest of that country to the rest of the world; and usually it is with the full power of backing in all that the country stands for and represents that they speak. 

 You and I were called to be representatives of God’s kingdom and all that He stands for. Why do you think Peter said we were to be ‘holy in ALL our conduct’ and to “be holy as He is Holy”? (1 Pet. 1:14-17) 

 Representing Christ and God’s kingdom is no small thing. And to mis-represent Him...is no small thing either. This truth gets lost on many of us today. We love to wave that banner that declares: “I’m not perfect, just forgiven”. And for all those of you who stay wrapped up in the earthly and political doings of this world today and mumble how the ‘rest of the world is laughing at us here in the U.S.A., let me tell you now that the laughter is even louder among the demons and powers of darkness who have deceived so many in the church world today. And it’s not America they are laughing at...it’s those who claim to be the church and represent Christ. I don’t share this to judge and condemn...I share this because we need to wake up. 

 Paul points out there would be no shortage of folks running around claiming to be of Christ, but in their actions they would deny Him. (Tit. 1:16). In his second letter to Timothy, he writes of ‘perilous times’ in the last days’ where all these people running around with a ‘form of godliness’ yet would also be manifesting all this carnal fruit of the world...while being devoid of real ‘power’. (3:1-5) 

 Oh, and in that passage from Matt. 7 where Jesus talked of the many who would come in that day boasting of how they ‘cast out demons and prophesied and did many wonders in His Name’...I can assure you they did not have any ‘power’ from God to do those things. Want to guess what spirit they were operating in to do those things? (21-23) 

 We probably all have fond memories when we think of ‘Otis’ from the old Andy Griffith show. That bumbling drunk was a lovable and endearing character to many of us...for some odd reason. But would you want him sitting in the Oval Office today as the president of our nation? I hardly think so. Would you want him to have access to the nuclear codes and represent all what this country stands for? I think not. (Every time we have a national election in this country, half the population is not comfortable with the one who did get elected to have that kind of power.) 

 So let’s talk about being endued with ‘power’. I’ve always heard that was one of the three biggest temptations known to man which included sex and money. Lots of folks crave power and will do anything to obtain it. Interesting, is it not, how that is no different in the church world today? Lots of different directions we could go with on this today, but I want to focus more on the kind of ‘power’ that Jesus taught about, even going as far to say that we too, as believers, would be endued with power from on high after the Holy Spirit came upon us. (Acts 1:8) 

 I should point out here that where we see the word ‘power’ used in English, the Greek text have two other words to differentiate. (I am no Greek scholar but there are some beneficial insights to glean with the simple use of a concordance). The two words in Greek imply power as in having ‘authority- (exousian)’ like a law enforcement officer may have; and the other word (dynamis) comes from the word we get the word ‘dynamite’ from that means ‘explosive’ or ‘miraculous power’. 

 Jesus offer us both. (Acts 1:8 and Luke 10:19; John 1:12). Paul opened his letter in Romans stating how he was not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, “for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes’.” (1:16) In his opening letter to the Corinthians, he writes how the ‘message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.” (1:18) Both use of the words ‘power’ here come from the word meaning ‘miraculous power’. In fact, look what he writes there in 2:4-5...how he came preaching to them not with men’s persuasive words of human wisdom or intellect, but in ‘demonstration of the Spirit and of power (dynamis). 

 Then he asks the question (and I place the emphasis on that two letter word ‘if’)...”But IF...the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you...” (Rom. 8:11)...If. We are exhorted to examine ourselves and ask this question, are we not? (2 Cor. 13:5). How well do our lives reflect this kind of ‘power’ at work in us? How well are we ‘representing’ Him and His kingdom as His ambassadors? Are we truly abiding in Him and ‘walking like He walked’? (1 John 2:6). Or are we like those Paul spoke of that would be prevalent in the ‘perilous last times’ who had a ‘form of godliness but denied the power’. (2 Tim. 3:1-5) 

 Here is where I am going with all this today – I would submit that we as a collective church are devoid of the true, genuine, wonder-working power of God’s Spirit that was supposed to be actively working and prevalent in His church today...just as it was in the early days of its inception like we read about in the book of Acts. Perhaps that is why we rarely see scenes play out like that which we read about in James 5:13-16 which I touched on the past two days. And if we are ‘suppose’ to have this kind of ‘power’, and don’t, then we end up trying to hide or camouflage that fact with all kinds of other noise and activity. But why are we not stopping to ask this question: “So why do we not have it and where is it?” 

 Which leads me to my next point to address. Did Jesus not state that the same ‘works’ He was going about and doing, that we who believe in/on Him would do likewise...and even greater things? (John 14:12; Mark 16:17-18). Trust me, this is not about seeking after ‘signs and wonders’. The real sign and wonder the world needs to see today is the power of God to truly change and transform lives from the inside out. That is the fruit of the true power of God at work in us (John 15:8). And do you happen to know when Jesus was filled with, or given this ‘dynamis’ kind of working ‘power’? It was not until He returned from being tested in the wilderness by the devil...that He was endued with power to go out and confirm His word with signs following. (Luke 4:14). Guess what He proved in that wilderness experience? He proved, unlike the ‘first Adam’....that He loved God with All His heart. And because of that, the Father could entrust Him with His power to go out and represent His Kingdom, and to represent it well.