I am sure that this thought has occurred to you at some point in your Christian faith and development. How could the Israelites miss their Messiah? After all, I imagine that it was not that difficult to figure out. There was so much evidence available even to the most skeptical of person it would be hard to deny. Have you ever tried to put yourself back in that time period? Have you ever imagined yourself to be a disciple, or maybe a member of the Sanheedrin, or just an ordinary person living in Judea at the time of Christ? I have and I asked myself if I was there what would my response be? Who would I say that Christ is? Would have I recognized Him as the Messiah? Would I be one of those to say He was a prophet, or a good teacher? Would I be the one to pick up stones to throw at Him as He announced that He was here to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord? Would I be a person like the woman who anointed Jesus with expensive perfume and wiped his feet with her hair to show her love and devotion to him. Or would I be like the Simeon the Pharisee who witnessed such an extraodinary event and would I shudder and question the holiness of the man who was not bothered by such affection but rather seemed to enjoy it? Would I be like Zacheuss or would I be like Judas? Would I be among the crowd that followed Jesus around just to see what He could do for me. Would I be one of the crowd that shouted Crucify him! Being a Minister today, I ask myself, what if I was a religious Jew of Christ’s day, who would I be like what would I be like? Would I be what the New Testament calls a secret disciple Like Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimethia? Or would I have been running the show and fueling the fire seeking the demise of the rebel Jesus of Nazareth Like Caiphas or Saul of Tarsus?

I wonder if I would be able to follow Jesus then. I wonder what it really would really cost to believe. If today I believe and I haven’t seen! Surely, I would believe having seen with my own eyes the miracles of Jesus! How could I be so blind? How could I resist such wonderful revelation!

Before I can jump to such a conclusion, I have to search my heart. Could it be possible that in my current spiritual condition, if the Messiah was to come into my church or world in this day and time, could I miss Him? Would I miss Him? That is the heart and message of this blog. When Jesus came into this world, he was rejected by the very ones that should have recognized him. When Herod asked the Priests and Scribes where the Messiah would be born they knew. When Jesus was on trial and He answered "before Abraham was I AM" they knew Him not!

The religious parties of that day by in large rejected the Messiah that was there to save them. They were the Pharisee, the Saducee, and the Scribe. All of these Religious sects encountered Jesus. Some individuals responded positively, most did not. I believe the same spirit of religion that was alive then is alive and well today in Christian circles.  The same Religious spirit that caused the Jews to miss their Messiah is causing many well-intentioned Christians to reject how God is moving today in our world. I would challenge all believers to not be so quick to dismiss what could be God. Just because things don’t conform to your way of thinking I would be careful not to call what is of the Holy Spirit Satanic. What is the sin of blasphemy? Ascribing the work of God to being the work of Satan. Gamiel when the Sanhedrian arrested the disciples for preaching in Jerusalem warned the Jews that if this movement of Jesus was from God then they would be fighting against God. If it was not of God then it would come to nothing. If God was to do something different in your church this week that was not normal, or even comfortable would you accept it or reject it? Sometimes I think that things haven’t changed very much at all and that the heart of man always doubts, always tries to figure things out, and excercise his natural faculties and his carnal mind when it comes to the things of God.

I would challenge those who took time to read this to keep an open mind to what God could be doing. I know that I would hate to miss a move of God because I didn’t understand it or feel comfortable with it.