What is the Difference between Guilt and Conviction?

Many of us grew up in churches that took a hard line on just about every issue. Since the Bible teaches us to have certain standards about various things, the hard line approach we learned as children was not always a bad thing. But it does seem that some churches have taken the whole “hell, fire and brimstone” method a bit far. Some churches try to “guilt” people into doing the right thing. One problem with a guilt-based approach is that while it does tend to work in the short term, it seldom works in the long term. On the rare occasion that guilt does change behavior over the long term, it tends to rob people of the joy and happiness they should find in their faith. Another problem with a guilt-based approach is that most young people, who have a more post-modern worldview, simply refuse to be “guilted” into anything. Therefore, they consider guilt-based churches to be irrelevant and simply ignore them. This leaves pastors and church leaders in an interesting situation. We need to help people learn the Biblical principles for godly living, but need to do it in ways that are based on Holy Spirit conviction instead of the human emotion of guilt. This takes a lot of prayer and thoughtful contemplation.

Perhaps the first step in the process is to help people learn the difference between Holy Spirit conviction, which is healthy for a vibrant spirituality, and guilt, which is normally unhealthy. Sunny Shell, a writer for About My Father’s Business Ministries, says “It's often difficult to discern whether or not we're experiencing guilt or conviction over a mistake we’ve made or a sin we've committed. One of the reasons why this is so confusing is because they both start out the same way. Both guilt and conviction point out an error (either a sin or a simple mistake). But after this similarity, they take very different paths. Guilt reveals an error or sin then makes a person feel stupid, useless, overwhelmed with shame and causes a person to feel as if they will never recover from this and will never have anything good to offer to anyone ever again. This causes a person to either spiral into deep depression or for those who fight back, extreme pride in the attempt to self-justify the error or sin committed. And nothing good ever comes from this, only destructive behavior that continues to bring a wedge between a person and their reconciliation (for unbelievers) or intimacy (for believers) with God. Conviction on the other hand, not only reveals an error or sin, but uses this revelation as a catalyst to spur a person on toward love and good deeds.” Check out Sunny’s website on this issue at http://www.aboutmyfathersbusiness.net/2008/04/difference-between-guilt-conviction.html.

When considering the difference between unhealthy guilt and healthy conviction, Jack Kelley, Director of Grace Thru Faith Ministries, says “The answer can be determined by checking which direction you’re going. If you’re headed for the cross to find forgiveness, then you’re experiencing the conviction of the Holy Spirit. If you’re running away from the cross and hiding from God, then its Satan making you feel ashamed. Either way, you can ask God’s forgiveness and you’ll receive it and begin feeling better (1 John 1:9). Then if you resist the devil he’ll flee from you (James 4:7) and you’ll be at peace again.” (Check out Jack’s website on this issue at http://gracethrufaith.com/ask-a-bible-teacher/is-it-conviction-or-guilt/.)

For those who like things plain and simple, think of it this way: guilt is from Satan and produces bad results while conviction is from the Holy Spirit and produces good results. Guilt leaves us with an understanding that we have committed an offense, a wrong, or a sin but offers no hope of redemption. Guilt fills us with the despair of condemnation. Conviction, on the other hand, also reveals an offense, a wrong or a sin, but conviction also reveals a way out of shame and condemnation by offering forgiveness and freedom in Jesus Christ. Once we have received forgiveness and changed our behavior then bad feelings go away and they are replaced with joy. When a person experiences Holy Spirit conviction, instead of mere human guilt, then he or she will have an inner desire to do what is right out of the joy of their salvation and not out of fear of punishment from God or the leaders of the church. When a person has a conviction about something, it gives order and meaning to their actions.

As Christian leaders, we must encourage people to study the Bible for themselves. We must urge them to consider what choices they will make when no one else is around. When people study the Bible for themselves and make choices about their actions without anyone else telling them to do it, then we know they are learning to act on their convictions and not out of guilt. For many of us, this is a lifetime process, so we must remember to be patient with each while we go through it, but it is a process worth experiencing.

For more devotionals like this one, consider Touching the Footprints of Jesus. 

I Got the Spirit, How About You?

As a high school student I remember going to pep rallies before the big game on Fridays. We would sit in the gym according to our classes, with freshman in one section, sophomores in another, juniors in their place and seniors usually in the best section of the gym. The cheerleaders would lead us in various cheers and then the classes would seek to outdo each other in displaying our enthusiasm for the team.

One of the cheers we often chanted went something like “We got the spirit, yes we do, we got the spirit, how about you?” This would be chanted by one class, and another class would have to respond. Whoever shouted the loudest was considered to have the most school spirit and therefore “won” the pep rally. When I think about those pep rallies, twenty-five years later, it occurs to me that we were all cheering for the same team. We were all there to show our support for the team and encourage them to play hard and bring home the trophy. It really did not matter who was the loudest. But back then it sure seemed important to win the pep banner and show the most school spirit.

I think this “we got the spirit, how about you” attitude sometimes creeps into the church. In my role as the Director for the Green Mountain Baptist Association I work with all kinds of churches. Some churches follow a more traditional path to worshipping and serving the Lord. Other churches follow a more innovative path. Still others are seeking to combine elements of both traditional and innovative ways to worship and serve the Lord. Like high school students, we tend to hang out with people in our own “class” and we tend to think our class has a lock on how the Spirit wants us to cheer on the saints to worship and service. At times it seems that we are acting more like high school students at a pep rally instead of mature leaders in the church of Jesus Christ.

I know many traditional pastors who think that innovative pastors have watered down the bible and abandoned biblical principles in their effort to be innovative. Those more traditional pastors have seldom actually talked to those more innovative pastors to learn why they use the methods that they do. I know many innovative pastors who think traditional pastors have quenched the Spirit and are riding a dead horse into the ground. Those innovative pastors fail to recognize the many lives that are being changed through more traditional churches. I know many pastors who are caught somewhere in the middle and are afraid to share their real ideas about these matters with anyone because they are not sure how those ideas will be received. Such pastors tend to drift back and forth between one group or another never really fitting in completely. This makes them feel less fulfilled in their ministry than they should.

It seems to me that maybe we should stop acting like self-centered teens who want to “win” and instead focus on serving the Lord in the way that He leads us to. While I acknowledge that some traditional pastors may have indeed quenched the Spirit, there are others who are deeply in love with Jesus and serving Him with passion through traditional ways. Likewise, I know some innovative pastors who have taken far too many liberties with the bible in their efforts to be contextual. However, I also know many who have searched the scriptures and the things they are doing that look “innovative” are often simply ancient practices of the church re-packaged for a more modern clientele. I know a large number of pastors who fall somewhere in the middle, mixing what they perceive are the best practices of the traditional with the innovative. Though some of them may just be trying to ride a wave of human opinion, most are genuinely focused on finding the best way to reach out to a culture that increasingly sees the church as irrelevant.

Perhaps we would be more productive if we stopped judging each other and instead rejoiced when we see a fellow pastor leading his congregation to worship and serve in a way that is different than how we do it. Since we are all on the same team, we should rejoice when someone discovers a way to engage a group of people that we have not been successful in reaching. God is pretty big and He does not fit into a box of our own creation. The lostness of our nation is too great for us to fight among ourselves; we should recommit ourselves to being team players even if our position on the team is different than those around us. It takes all of us to reach the many different types of people in our society. Together, as a team, we can join God in His work and reach all those whom He is calling to Himself.


For more devotionals like this one, consider Touching the Footprints of Jesus. 

I Don’t Mean to be Rude but . . .

A few weeks ago I was eavesdropping on a conversation of a group of teenagers. No, I am not a stalker. But I realized a long time ago that I can learn a lot if I stand a few feet away and just listen to teens talk. If I barge right into the conversation and start sharing my ideas, teens often stop sharing theirs. That seldom helps me learn what they are really thinking. That means that sometimes eavesdropping can be helpful.

This particular conversation was between some girls who did not appear to be getting along very well. As the conversation continued to become more and more tense, one of the girls said “I’m not trying to be rude but . . .” and then went on to say some things that were extremely rude. Her tone of voice, her body language, and the words she used, all indicated that she was indeed being rude and that she both knew she was rude and meant to be rude. Her “I’m not trying to be rude...” introduction was just a ploy to be able to say whatever mean thing she wanted while pretending to be nice.

Though this particular incident involved teens, I have heard similar things among adults. Far too often starting a sentence with “I’m not trying to be rude but . . .” is just a thinly disguised way to be rude and get away with it. While sometimes it might not be intentional, most often it is. Such rudeness, thinly disguised as politeness, fools no one and does not accomplish anything positive.

The world may treat each other that way, but we Christians should aspire to higher standards. We Christians should aspire to treat each other with dignity and respect as brothers and sisters in the family of God. If we do not mean to be rude, then we should not BE rude. If we realize we are being rude, we should stop mid-sentence and apologize. After all, none of us are perfect. What we cannot do is just continue to be rude thinking that we are fooling others into believing that we are polite.

Rudeness will not gain us friends nor bring honor to the Savior. As Christians, we should strive to be friendly (Proverbs 18:24) and we should seek to bring honor to the Savior in all that we say and do (Colossians 3:17). This gives us all something to think about the next time we are having a tense conversation with someone else and are tempted to be rude while pretending to be polite.

For more devotionals like this one, consider Touching the Footprints of Jesus.

The Tomb is Empty - a sermon based on Mark 16:1-8 and 14-15

Developed by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett and preached at Faith Community Church, Barre, VT, on April 24, 2011.

Verse 1 - When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so they could go and anoint Him.
• In those days they did not have modern embalming methods so they prepared a body for burial by putting spices in a big cloth that they wrapped around the body.
• The Jewish faith required them to rest on the Sabbath, so they were not able to care for Jesus’ body until Sunday.
• Three ladies were brave enough to face the Roman soldiers who were guarding the tomb.
• Are we willing to face the criticism of others for our belief in Christ?
• We should be willing to stand up for our faith no matter what.

Verse 3 - They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us?"
• The ladies discussed how they would move the stone that was across the entrance.
• This stone would have been large enough to cover the entrance, which would have been between waist and chest high for an adult.
• The stone would have been fitted into a slot in the ground that sloped down.
• That made the stone easy to slide over the entrance to the tomb as it rolled down into the slot, but very hard to move it back out.
• In those days grave robbers were a real problem, which is why tombs had such systems to make it hard to get them open.
• It would have taken quite a force of strong men to open the tomb. There was no way these three ladies were going to be able to do it themselves.
• The women realized that the stone was a problem to be solved, but they walked by faith toward the tomb anyway.
• Many of us have a “stone” that keeps us from Jesus.
• Maybe we struggle with believing in the whole concept of God.
• Maybe it is the miracles in the Bible that we have trouble accepting as fact.
• Maybe it was some hypocrite we met along the way that discouraged us from believing.
• Everyone has some “stone” we have to overcome in order to believe.
• If we do not move toward Jesus, believing that somehow that stone will be removed, then we will never experience Jesus.
• We must stop looking for excuses not to believe, and start trusting God to help us find a way to overcome our doubts.

Verse 4 - Looking up, they observed that the stone—which was very large—had been rolled away.
• As the ladies neared the tomb, they looked up and saw that stone was already rolled away.
• When we start toward Jesus, even when we still have questions and difficulties, we begin to discover that our stumbling blocks have become stepping stones toward the Savior.
• Take one step toward Jesus and the rest will be easier to take.

Verse 5 - When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; they were amazed and alarmed.
• The ladies saw an angel as they entered the tomb.
• The other Gospels tell us there were actually two angels present, but the ladies saw this one first and he spoke to them.
• The ladies were both amazed and alarmed by the angel’s presence and his message.
• When we first begin to sense God at work in our lives, we may be both amazed and alarmed.
• We are amazed because can hardly believe God cares about what is going on in our lives.
• We are alarmed because we wonder what God might require of us if we follow Him.

Verse 6 - "Don't be alarmed," he told them. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He is not here! He has been resurrected! See the place where they put Him.
• The angel told the ladies not to be alarmed.
• While we may be amazed at God’s work in our lives, we do not need to be alarmed or afraid.
• Because God loves us so much, His plans will ALWAYS be best for us, even if we do not understand them.
• While there are many religions in the world, all religions are not all equal.
• Though other great religious teachers may have done good deeds and helped others, when they died and were buried, their bodies remained in their tombs.
• If we found the tombs of Buddha, Hare Krishna, Gandhi, Stalin, Joseph Smith, or any other religious leader, their body would still be there.
• Jesus is the only founder of a world religion whose tomb is empty!
• And the empty tomb is proof of God’s power to turn what looks bad into something wonderful!
• The empty tomb is not a myth. I have seen the tomb and touched the place where Christ lay. Here is the picture of Kay and I in the empty tomb:
• Here is a picture of Kay and I in the empty tomb in Jerusalem where Christ was laid:

Here is a picture of me coming out of the empty tomb in which Christ was laid:

Verse 7 - But go, tell His disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you to Galilee; you will see Him there just as He told you.'
• The angel told the ladies to go and tell the disciples and Peter that Jesus was alive.
• Why would the angel tell the ladies to make sure Peter knew Jesus was alive?
• Peter had denied Jesus just when Jesus needed him most. Peter had failed the Lord.
• The angel wanted the ladies to specifically tell Peter that Jesus was alive so that Peter would realize there was hope for him to right what he had done wrong.
• Sometimes we fail in our faith and let Jesus down.
• But since Jesus is alive we can still come to Him and fix the wrong things we have done.

Verse 8 - So they went out and started running from the tomb, because trembling and astonishment overwhelmed them. And they said nothing to anyone, since they were afraid.
• The ladies ran from the tomb because they were overwhelmed.
• An interesting thing happens to some people when they experience God for the first time, they become so overwhelmed with it that they actually run from the experience.
• We have to take time to reflect on our spiritual experiences so that we can embrace them instead of run from them.
• Easter is a good time to reflect on what God is doing in our lives and ask ourselves if we are running from God or embracing Him.

Verse 14 - Later, He appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table. He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw Him after He had been resurrected.
• Jesus appeared to the apostles and rebuked them for their unbelief.
• Rebuke is a strong word, but the disciples needed a strong word to get their act together.
• Though no one wants to go to church EVERY week and get beat up spiritually by the sermon, sometimes we need a good “kick in the backside” to get us going.
• We should consider ourselves “kicked”!!!!

Verse 15 - Then He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.
• When Jesus appeared to the apostles, He gave them a command to preach the gospel to everyone.
• Experiencing the resurrection power of Jesus is not something we are supposed to keep to ourselves.
• We must share it with everyone we can.

Conclusion:
• We must move toward Jesus even when we have doubts because somehow the doubts will be taken away.
• We may be amazed at what God is doing, but we need not be alarmed because God’s plan is always best.
• We may let Jesus down, but He gives us another chance. Let’s not waste this chance!
• We may need a good rebuke from time to time, but if we listen and respond to it, we can become a powerful witness for the Gospel.

A Good Friday Meditation from Luke 23:33-34 and 39-43

Verse 33 - When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified Him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.
• This verse troubled archaeologists for centuries because the “traditional” site on which the Roman Catholic Church has built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre does not have a “place of the Skull” as described in the Bible.
• Many people longed to know for sure where the place called The Skull was.
• In 1842 a German Theologian named Otto Thenius first proposed the idea that an outcropping of rock outside the city, which is now known as "Skull Hill," was right beside the actual site of the crucifixion.
• This upset the “traditionalists” a lot.
• But the site was outside the city, looked like a skull and seemed to better fit the biblical description of the place where the crucifixion took place.
• However, few people took Otto Thenius seriously because his ideas went against the “tradition” of the established church.
• Otto Thenius’s idea lay seemingly dormant until the British General Charles Gordon began to publish similar ideas in 1882.
• General Gordon was so well respected in British Society, that people began to take the idea seriously.
• In 1893 the Garden Tomb Association was established in London by some lay people.
• In 1894 they purchased as much of the property around The Skull as possible.
• Kay and I visited the spot in January 2011.
• Here are two pictures of Skull Hill, just outside Jerusalem:

Verse 34 - Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing."
• Even as Jesus was terribly tortured, mocked unmercifully, and hung on a cross, He begged His Father to forgive the sins of those doing it.
• If forgiveness was that important to Jesus, how important should it be to us?
• Perhaps this Resurrection Season might be time to let go of old grudges and experience the peace that forgiveness brings.

Verse 39 - Then one of the criminals hanging there began to yell insults at Him: “Aren't You the Messiah? Save Yourself and us!”
• Jesus was hung between two common criminals.
• Though the Romans may have meant this as an insult to the “King of the Jews,” somehow, I think Jesus took it as a complement.
• Jesus liked to spend time with “common” people, why not also die with them?

Verse 40 - But the other answered, rebuking him: "Don't you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment?
• Though one criminal mocked Jesus, the other knew who Jesus was.
• Though it was almost too late, this man realized who Jesus was.
• We often stereotype “messed up” people, thinking they could not possibly understand who Jesus was. But they often can.

Verse 41 - We are punished justly, because we're getting back what we deserve for the things we did, but this man has done nothing wrong.”
• This criminal realized that he deserved his punishment.
• How often do we justify our sin and claim that we do not deserve its natural consequences?
• We could learn a lesson from this criminal!!!
• He also realized that Jesus was innocent.
• That was a deep theological statement.

Verse 42 - Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!”
• The criminal cried out to Jesus for help.
• The criminal asked the Lord to remember him when Jesus got to heaven.
• Some might argue that the criminal did say the “right words” or pray the “sinner’s prayer correctly.”

Verse 43 - And He said to him, “I assure you: Today you will be with Me in paradise.”
• But Jesus assured the criminal that he would be with Jesus in heaven that very day.
• The devil would like us to doubt our salvation by telling us we did not do it right.
• All that is required for salvation is to acknowledge our sin, turn from it and cast all our hope on Jesus.
• If we did that in our hearts, we did it right regardless of what words we used.

Conclusion:
• Traditions can be wrong, but the Bible is always right.
• Jesus modeled forgiveness, we must also practice forgiveness.
• Even “messed up” people can come to Jesus.
• Salvation is having a heart that totally trusts in Christ alone instead of trusting in human rituals, traditions or religious activity.
• Do we have salvation? Are we sharing it with others?

Holy Week Meditations

My wife and I had the joy of making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in January 2011. It was a very moving experience. I wrote a number of blogs about what the Lord revealed to me while touring that sacred land. I posted those blogs over a period of several weeks after I returned from the trip. But since this is Holy Week, in which we remember what Christ did for us at Golgotha, I thought I would re-post the links to the most appropriate blog entries for others to use as meditations during Holy Week.



Lessons from Caesarea

Lessons from the Sea of Galilee

Lessons from the Beatitudes

Lessons from Peter's House

Lessons from Mark 3

Lessons from the Carpenter Shop

Lessons from the Jordan River

Lessons from the Inn of the Good Samaritan

Lessons from the Via Delarosa

Lessons from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Lessons from the Garden of Gethsemane

Lessons from the Garden Tomb

Lessons from the Church of the Ascension and the Eastern Gate

As you read through these various posts, I pray that the Spirit of the Living God falls fresh on you. May our dry bones discover new life and may our contemplation of Holy Week bring greater appreciation to us all for what Christ did for us. Feel free to leave comments on any of the posts that speak to you in a special way, so that others may be blessed through the sharing of the Spirit of Christ.

Theses lessons are part of the devotional book, Touching the Footprints of Jesus.

Better Late Than Never - A Palm Sunday sermon based on Matthew 21

This Palm Sunday sermon is based on verses 1-2, 6-11, 23, 28-32 of Matthew 21 and was developed by Dr. Terry W. Dorsett to preach on April 17, 2011 at Faith Community Church, Barre, VT.
Introduction:
• Jesus was nearing the end of his 3 ½ year earthly ministry.
• It was nearly time for the Jewish feast of Passover and Jesus made His way toward Jerusalem to celebrate it.
• Passover was when Jews remembered how God had spared them during the 10th Plague in Egypt when the Death Angel had killed the first born son in every house expect the Jews.
• For centuries the Jewish people have expected the prophet Elijah to show up one year during Passover and announce the coming of the Messiah (Malachi 4:5).
• Therefore, many Jews would to travel to Jerusalem to worship in the Temple during that special time of the year in hopes that would be the year that the Messiah would be revealed.
• It was a time of great anticipation.
• Since Jesus had been gathering huge crowds during this sermons and since He had been healing many people as well as doing other miracles, many people had begun to wonder if Jesus could be the long awaited Messiah.
• Many of them had come to Jerusalem in hopes that Jesus would reveal Himself as the Messiah during Passover.

Verse 8 - A very large crowd spread their robes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road.
• There was always a large crowd in Jerusalem for Passover. But the excitement about Jesus had swelled the crowd to be “very large.”
• Even today, when a church full of people get excited about Jesus, it will swell the crowd!
• Spreading robes on the ground and waving palm branches was the equivalent of bringing out the “red carpet” for Jesus.
• It was a traditional Jewish way of honoring someone special.
• What have we done to honor Jesus in our lives lately?

Verse 9 - Then the crowds who went ahead of Him and those who followed kept shouting: Hosanna to the Son of David!, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!
• The New Testament word “Hosanna” actually comes from an Old Testament phrase “Hoshiya na.”
• That Hebrew phrase is only found in one place in the whole Old Testament, Psalm 118:25.
• The literal translation of this phrase is "Save me, please!”
• It was a desperate cry to God from His people for help.
• Perhaps today some of us need to offer this desperate cry to God in our own lives.
• Notice that they also shouted “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
• The word “blessed” often means “happy” in the New Testament.
• But sometimes it means “anointed or special” which is what it means here.
• Jesus was anointed by the Father to do a special work which no one else could do, which was to free mankind from the curse of sin.
• Have we allowed Jesus to free us from our sin yet? If not, why not let Him do it today?

Verse 10 - When He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken, saying, "Who is this?”
• The city was shaken by the presence of Jesus.
• Some were shaking with excitement because they knew who Jesus was.
• Some were shaking with fear because they knew who Jesus was but did not want to follow Him.
• Some were shaking with confusion because they did not know who Jesus was but clearly He was someone special.
• How have we responded to the presence of Jesus in our lives?
• Are we excited to have Jesus in our lives?
• Are we afraid of what it would happen if we got “too much” of Jesus?
• Are we still confused about what kind of connection we should have with Jesus?

Verse 23 - When Jesus entered the temple complex He began to teach parables . . .[one went like this]
• Parables are earthly stories that have heavenly meanings.
• Jesus often taught in parables because it helped people relate to the spiritual truth He was teaching and also because He wanted people to have to think through what He said.
• Jesus told a parable about a man with two sons.

Verses 28-29 - "But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'My son, go, work in the vineyard today. "He answered, 'I don't want to!' Yet later he changed his mind and went.
• In the parable, the father asked his first son to go work in the vineyard.
• At first the son says no, but then he realized that was wrong and went and worked.
• How many of us have felt the call of God to do something in our lives and at first refused?
• Obviously, we should learn to obey immediately when we sense God leading us.
• But sometimes we are hard-headed and need time to see the error of our ways.
• It is better to obey Christ “late” than to never obey Him at all.

Verse 30 - Then the man went to the other and said the same thing. 'I will, sir,' he answered. But he didn't go.
• In the parable, the father went to the second son and asked him to also go work in the vineyard.
• The son said he would obey.
• He even pretended to show respect to the father by calling him “sir.”
• But once the father walked away, the second son ignored what the father asked him to do, showing that he was neither obedient nor respectful.
• Too many Christians pretend to be spiritual and put on a face for others when they are actually not obeying the Lord at all.

Verse 31 - "Which of the two did his father's will?" "The first," they said. Jesus said to them, "I assure you: Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you!
• Jesus asked the crowd listening to His parable which of the two sons was actually obedient to the father.
• It was obvious to the crowd that the first son, though at first refusing to obey, was in the end, the one who did the right thing.
• Jesus then made a comparison from the story to the people who witnessed Him enter Jerusalem as the long awaited Messiah.
• Though many sinful people had not obeyed God for much of their lives, they now had seen the light and had become true believers.

Conclusion:
• Jesus is the Messiah and deserves to be treated special.
• We may have failed to treat Jesus special in the past, but with God’s help we can change.
• As we see other people whom we may think are more broken than us also be changed, it should cause us to look deeper into our own souls and change even more.
• Jesus is the only hope any of us have for lasting change in our lives.