By Rev. Jack Barr
May those who read this pass it on to all those that they would like to see in heaven.
Rev. Jack Barr
http://www.panama.gulf.net/~godsword/
God's Word Bible Studies
Denying Jesus
Feb. 8, 1998.
This morning, The Lord God Jesus brought back to my remembrance an incident that happened to me several years ago. I feel the need to write it down, as it is important to all of us.
I had retired from a previous employment and had a small pension, but not enough to live on, so I had been working several jobs. The first job I worked at after retiring, I was fired from because I refused to work on Sundays. Trusting the Lord to show me the way, I was directed to another job within days where Jesus used me to work with another employee, spending as much as four hours a day with the two of us reading and studying the Bible while in the workplace. Later, I was led to another place. At the time of this incident, I was working at a Toco Bell restaurant. I was employed as a cashier, taking orders and cleaning the front of the store. The first manager that I worked for was a Christian and she hired as many Christians as she could. I would tell both customers and employees about Jesus. It was in this environment that I had been in the habit of hollering out at random times, "Praise The Lord God Jesus", "Holy Jesus", "Holy Lord God", "Blessed Jesus." The business at this store continued to increase and the store was rated the Best in the district by Taco Bell, and the managers all received a bonus at the end of each year.
This manager left to be married and the store was turned over to the assistant manager. He didn't change things immediately, however, little by little he put pressure on the Christian workers when they tried to witness to others in the store and they started leaving. The assistant manager that he hired was a nice person but was not a Christian.
One day, the district manager came to check on the store. As he sat out front in a booth with the store manager, I was working behind the counter during a slack time, when the assistant manager said to me, "Don't holler out about Jesus while He (the district manager) is in the store. Later, Ok, but not now." I was taken aback and the thought instantly came into my mind, "If you deny Me, I will deny you." I thought, wow, is God laying it on her. The thought stayed with me throughout the day, but I didn't holler out "Praise Jesus" while the district manager was there.
As I was driving home that night, I again thought about the situation that day, still thinking that it was the assistant manager that the message was about. Then the Lord said to me, "NO, it is You that I am speaking about." I felt a chill run up my back as I suddenly realized that It was ME that was denying Jesus when I obeyed her command to not praise Jesus until later. I was the one at fault. It shook me to my core. How easy it is to deny God, to deny Jesus Christ. The rest of the way driving home, I cried before Jesus asking for forgiveness. In my pride and ignorance, I had indeed denied Jesus. Jesus forgave me, but gave me this warning, "If You Ever Again Deny Me, There will Be NO Forgiveness, For I Will Deny you Before my Father."
How easy it is to deny Jesus. Will you deny Him? What will you do when your employer tells you that you can't talk about Jesus here? That you can't have that Bible in here? What will you do when the government tells you that you can't tell anyone about Jesus? What will you say when the soldiers ask you if you are a Christian? It is easy now to say, " I will declare myself a Christian". Will you still continue to speak the word of God, telling others about Jesus when standing strong for Jesus means loosing your job, not being able to feed your wife/husband, children? And will you still refuse to deny Jesus when you know that it means being beaten, imprisoned, tortured, killed? You say yes, but will you still say yes when you see your loved ones suffering for what you believe? Or will you say to yourself, "I will tell them that I am not a Christian so that I can continue to worship God in secret." Or "I won't talk about Jesus", or "I won't bring the Bible in here again", so I can keep this high paying job. If so, then look again at what the Lord God Jesus said to me. Even the first time in ignorance, the Lord was angry. The second time??? Will you dare Jesus to say to you, "I never knew you: depart from me. Ye that work iniquity."
What will YOU do??? -- What are YOU doing right now??? -- Are YOU too denying Jesus???
Jack Barr