Christians are hypocrites!  Ever heard that before?  Ever experienced that before?  So often Christians are accused of being hypocritical, judging others while they do not practice what they preach.  Unfortunately it’s true.  We come to church, we go to our groups, we read our Bibles, we pray and yet we live the rest of our lives much like the rest of the world.  We are unchanged.  But this is not the vision that Jesus Christ gives us in the gospel.  Reading the story of the demoniac man found in Mark 5:1-20, we see a man who had an unclean spirit living among the tombs, where no one was ever able to subdue him.  That is until Jesus showed up on the scene.  Once this man had an encounter with the living God, not only was he freed from his demon, he was freed to live for Jesus Christ, which is exactly what he asks Jesus to do.  He asks if he can follow Jesus.  His life has been changed and he wants to dedicate it all to Jesus.  When we have experienced Jesus he radically changes our lives.  And so to a point, because of our sinful nature, we will always be prone to being hypocrites.  That’s why we plead for the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ.  Yet because of Jesus Christ, we can be radically changed from the inside out with the only proper response is to devote our entire lives to Jesus Christ.  And it’s when we devote our entire lives to Jesus that we begin to live for Jesus in every area of our lives, making us more like Christ and less hypocritical.  Is that true of you?  Have you devoted your entire life to Jesus to the point that you are reflecting him more than the world around you?  That’s my prayer for us as a church. 

In Christ, Pastor Derek