THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4
Scripture: Matthew 12:22-27

Matthew 12:22-27 says, “Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed and said, ‘Could this be the Son of David?’ Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, ‘This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.’ But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: ‘Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.’” Isn’t it interesting that in watching Jesus be challenged and accused of ministering by another spirit, He says in verse 27, “…If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.” What does it mean that they shall be your judges? What it means is when one generation refuses to walk in what God brings them, as a judgment on that generation, He will bring their kids into what they failed or refused to walk in. A good example of that is the generation that came out of Egypt. That generation sent spies, believed the bad report of the spies, and they died in the wilderness and God brought their children into the Promised Land. Because they limited the Holy One of Israel and refused to believe God, it was their children rather than them that reached the Promised Land. That is how God operates. If we, as a church, continue to accept grace and mercy as the only culture of the New Testament, and we do not embrace the Judicial Christ, then we will watch our children embrace that truth and gain the harvest we could have had. We have church leaders right now who need to repent because they are compromising Scripture. They need to repent for choosing only to preach what they are comfortable with, or what will make it more likely their church seats are occupied. The Judicial Christ is not often a popular message and it may seem reasonable to preach to keep the rent paid rather than follow the Spirit’s often difficult direction. That sort of compromise, no matter what the motive, is a stench in the nostrils of God. If men and women in today’s leadership ignore Scriptural truth and ignore the Holy Spirit, they are without defense. When scores of leaders and multitudes of people in the church ignore, discount or explain away half of Who Christ is, it means we may lose the harvest God wants to give us in our generation. The choice is ours! Our kids could be busy!