Counterfeit (Are You The Real Thing?)

Counterfeit There is $150,000,000.00 in American counterfeit currency in the world today. With the advancement in laser printers counterfeiting has gotten even more advanced. The fake become “real”Think about the flowers on your kitch

en table, they are made to look real and to the eye they often are mistaken for real. There are fabulous fakes and curious counterfeit mixed in the real The most counterfeited bill in the world today is the $100.00 bill. How counterfeit is our living? How counterfeit is our talk? How counterfeit is the world around us? How counterfeit have we become? How much of our lives, businesses and even mission work is “say what I say, but not what I do.” There are fakes and counterfeits even in the Church, can you imagine? God calls them tares, mixed with wheat in the book of Matthew. Tares look so similar to wheat ,but one is wheat the other was a weed. (Matthew 13:25). Tares represents false believers that have been sowed among the wheat intentionally. If we have Truth in our life we have no need to be fake. Because we are the real thing. We say we know Christ then come to church because we want to. We say we want to see the church of Christ grow but then we must be begged to get involved. We say we represent Christ but we get involved in the revelry of the world. Beware in the future the anti Christ will deceive billions across the world by his counterfeit appeal and actions. The end of age is the separation of tares from the wheat! It will become apparent who is a counterfeit by watching their priorities and and fruit in their lives. What is our position on Truth? What do we see as real? Do we truly have a personal relationship with Jesus or are we counterfeit Christians? Do we know individuals who are acting like people they are not. Not being authentic will eat away at us and is a cancer to our souls. Be counterfeit will erode peace of mind and steal our joy. Here are some questions for us to grapple with; What do we think is the root cause is for living a counterfeit life? Could it be things like, fear, insecurity, inadequacy, or just plain old disobedience or stubbornness. Here is a big one for Christians to think about? Are we truly saved or have we been counterfeit Christians ? Jesus makes it plain what will happen with the tares. We never want to hear Jesus say with finality, these words, “ Depart from me I never knew you” Do we try to show the world we are someone we really are not? What is the cost for not being our real self? Could it cost us peace stability, happiness, your health and even eternal life? In what areas of our life do you see yourself as a counterfeit? Are we victims of counterfeit living or is it time to stop and reflect on personal responsibility. We are individually held responsible. The blame can be cast on none else. Is God relevant to us ? Why and why not? Is the reality of eternity real to us? Do we struggle to live out our faith in skeptical and fake world? Why? Do you we see ourselves as ambassadors of the message of God and His Son Jesus. Why and why not? What is our idea of TRUTH have to do with this? “My Fake Plants Died Because I Did Not Pretend To Water Them” Hedburg I woke up this morning in a cold sweat. I had had a terrible nightmare. It was so vivid. The end had come for all of us. We had been given tickets and were lined up to insert them into a type of meter . My wife was right in front of me. She inserted hers and I watched as the screen lit up with her soon to be received awards. She happily dances off into the mist. Excitedly I insert my ticket. To my dismay the only thing that comes up is parking validation. I am immediately filled with the worst dread I have ever felt. This is forever and I have somehow missed it. I was so shook up. When I awoke I shared my nightmare with my wife. She asked me If I loved Jesus and was he is the Lord of my life. I responded I do and He is. There in the room was a simple sign. She read it to me. It said “AMAZING GRACE We believe it is through His grace that we are saved”. She explained what I already knew. We do not save ourselves ,we cannot. Jesus paid the price. We love him because he first loved us. This is the great news. We obey him because we love him and we can rest secure in his love. .