Today's Passage - Luke 23:1-7

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Luke 23:1-7   Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate.  And they began to accuse him, saying, 'We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Christ, a king.'  So Pilate asked Jesus, 'Are you the king of the Jews?' 'Yes, it is as you say,' Jesus replied.  Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and Are you the king of the Jewsthe crowd, 'I find no basis for a charge against this man.'  But they insisted, 'He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.'  On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean.  When he learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.   This is the contrast between a true testimony and a false testimony.  When the crowd brought Jesus before Pilate, they accused Him of tempting the people and forbidding paying tax to Caesar.  Actually, the Lord never forbad the people to pay tax to Caesar, because when the teachers of law tempted Jesus with the question concerning tax, Lord responded that they ought to give Caesar what belong to Caesar to Caesar and give God what belongs to God.  These people were using false testimonies to accuse Jesus.  On the other hand, the testimony of Jesus was true.  When Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the king of the Jews," Jesus clearly answered "yes, it is as you said."  To the Jews and to those who don't believe that Jesus was the Son of God, what Jesus said was blasphemous; but to Pilate, the word of Jesus simply revealed the internal conflicts between the Jews.  Therefore, in order to please the people, He transferred Jesus to Herod.  Pilate was afraid to face truth, he listened to the voice of the crowd and let their voice replace truth.   This is a common phenomenon today; whoever has the loudest voice holds the truth.  In the congress, whoever fights most fiercely holds the truth; in an organization, whoever has the best connections holds the truth.  In the midst of such trend, abortion becomes the truth, homosexuality is the truth, but preaching the gospel of the Lord is illegal!  We need to turn back to God and stand up for the Lord to testify for Him.  The world today is wicked, not because hearts of the people are corrupt, but because church cannot testify the truth.  May the Lord give us wisdom to convey the truth, let us be courageous in spreading the truth; even though we may not be popular, but we'd be standing up for God's unchanging word.  Early church has tremendous power because they stood up and testified the truth courageously.  In the same way, the church today is weak because we have lost such courage.  May God stir up our heart once again, and let us be determined to live for the Lord!    Pray with Pastor Tong           Lord, please forgive us because we are weak in this wicked and distorted world!  Please give us a courageous heart to stand firm on the foundation of truth, to testify for you before the world, and please give us more strength.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!