Bobby Bosler: I’m speaking to you today from Taylors, South Carolina. My family and I, we’ve been working here with Fellowship Baptist Church and the pastor, a good friend of mine, Rick Pardee. And we just completed last night, as of the time of my recording, a six-day revival meeting where we focus on the love of God and selfishness and the filling of the Holy Spirit. We talked about a lot of things. It was a great time.

I know the Lord worked in many hearts, including my own. And at this time of year, our family kind of transitions from teaching, preaching, traveling, and so on, to spending much needed time together as a family, as well as with our extended family. And we’re looking forward to that very, very much. We’d appreciate your prayers as we are not only during this time… Getting a little bit of R&R, but also we’re endeavoring to set the stages for our travels next year.

2025 for the Bosler family is going to be a very exciting time. Not only do we have some wars scheduled in the spring, but Cola Clash is in the summer and got our foot in the door with some meetings scheduled for the fall for revival meetings and we’re praising the Lord for just how good he is to us, and for the opportunities to serve him that he is laying out in front of us. I appreciate your prayers for some repairs that we’re getting taken care of on the trailer coming up here soon. And we’re just excited. God is good.

And you know, here today I wanted to direct your attention for a challenge here, something the Lord has been teaching me and something that I trust will be an encouragement to you. On Saturday here this past week, we’d arrived a day early in preparation for the revival meeting. We had driven down from Lisbon, Ohio, where we did a revival meeting in East Ohio there. Had a great time. And I’ll be honest with you, when we arrived on Friday last week, I was bushed.

I was absolutely exhausted. I had a general idea of where we were going to go for the revival meeting, but I still, just to be honest with you, was feeling the pressure of preparation. I wanted to just be able to sit down and take my general skeleton and try to fill in some details, and just seek the Lord and make sure that I was understanding what he wanted me to preach on. And so on Saturday morning a week ago, I was just spending time with the Lord in my devotions and just praying, seeking his face, journaling and talking to the Lord. And one of the things that I was asking him was just for clarity, clarity for the week.

And he led me to this passage, I want to address something that was, I know the Lord socked me between the eyes with this and I’ll share a little bit about that and I trust it will be a blessing to you. I hear the scripture says this, then came Jesus, then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem saying, why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders for they wash not their hands when they eat bread? So here what we had is we had some of the religious leaders, specifically it says it’s the scribes and the Pharisees, they come to Jesus and say, hey, how come your disciples aren’t following our rules? Now the rules specifically that he stated are the traditions of the elders. So these aren’t biblical principles.

They aren’t biblical commands. This is just kind of accepted practice among religious folks. And apparently what they were pretty pretty specific about, pretty attuned into was this matter of cleanliness. In other words, every time they were gonna eat, especially when they came from like the marketplace and so on, when they were out in public, before they ate they always washed their hands. Now I don’t know about you, that’s a good idea, right?

I know in our family whenever it’s time for a meal, one of the questions we ask the kids is, have you washed your hands? And just to be clear here, we’re not saying that it’s bad. Wash your hands. But these folks were giving a major objection to the fact that they didn’t do all of this stuff when it came to the religious washings and so on before they ate. And they had a problem with it.

Again, I think all of us recognize that if you don’t wash your hands before you eat, you might be asking to catch a virus. Whatever this crazy thing is, it’s going around the country these days of everybody getting fevers and then pneumonia afterwards. If you’ve gotten that, I’m so sorry. My kids have gotten it. I think I’m the only one in the house that has not gotten it thus far.

I appreciate your prayers that I don’t get it, but you know that kind of stuff can be avoided if you wash your hands, but we’re not talking about good practice. We’re not even necessarily talking about cleanliness. Kind of the implied thing here is that these scribes and Pharisees were accusing Jesus as disciples of sin. Again, it’s not explicitly stated here in the passage, but it’s like they’re saying, hey, listen, we all wash our hands, you know, to get this grub off. And you if you were really righteous and if your disciples were really holy, they would wash their hands.

I don’t think any of us would consider. Washing your hands before dinner to be a matter of right and wrong unless mom and dad say you’re supposed to But I think we would think of it as a matter of wise Versus unwise but I say all of that to say these scribes and Pharisees they’re trying to pin Jesus down on some matter of Sin or uncleanness or something like that. They’re trying to catch Jesus. They’re trying to discredit his ministry and Jesus’s answer Oh man, here’s what he says. Why, verse three, but he, Jesus answered and said unto them, he didn’t answer their question, but he answered their question with another question.

He said, why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? Jesus is saying, okay, listen, you’re implying that that my disciples are sinning because they’re not washing their hands before they eat? Well, why do you, through your teachings, actually break the commands of God? Now, that’s kind of quite a reversal there, isn’t it? Here comes a religious people saying, hey dude, what’s wrong with your disciples?

They don’t wash their hands before they’re eating. He’s saying, what’s wrong with you? You don’t obey God. And he answers and kind of probably you can imagine they would be a little bit insulted by this. They probably didn’t like Jesus saying that you are actually disobeying God by your tradition.

So Jesus gives an example, one of what could probably be many examples of what he’s talking about. Verse four, he says here’s the commandment, for God commanded saying honor thy father and mother. That’s one command. And he that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. So here he’s giving two Bible commands.

This is not just Bible principles. These are Bible commands. Command number one, you’re supposed to honor your father and your mother, treat them with reverence and respect. Number two, he says if you curse or disrespect your father or mother, let him die the death. In other words, the death penalty for those disrespect their parents.

Whole sermons could be preached on this. Young people, you are supposed to honor your parents, but that’s not the point of my message, my podcast here today. So he’s saying, okay, listen, you’re saying what’s wrong with your disciples? Why don’t they wash their hands before they eat? What’s wrong with you?

Why do you disobey the command of God? Don’t you know that God says you’re supposed to honor your father and your mother? Don’t you know that God says if you curse your father and mother, you get the death sentence? But here’s what they were saying, but ye say, whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, it is a gift by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me and honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free.” Now, this is gonna require just a little bit of explanation of what’s going on here. He’s saying, listen, you know the command of God, God expects for you, to under the category of love your neighbor as yourself specifically you’re supposed to take care of your parents You’re supposed to honor your parents if you don’t it’s the death penalty But he says here.

Here’s what you do. Here is what your Guiding light. Here’s what your tradition says He says whichever ones of you say to your father or your mother It’s a gift Now, okay, here’s the thing. They had a handy dandy little thing set up, the religious class here. These religious hypocrites, frankly, are what they are.

And here’s the thing, at some point in time, y’all will discover this, we’ve not quite hit this point in our lives, where your parents need help. And by help, I don’t mean help like washing the dishes or taking out the trash or folding laundry. I’m talking about help like this, help as in they’re getting old. They’re actually needing to be cared for. Maybe they’re getting old and maybe they don’t have the financial wherewithal to support themselves.

And you know what you might need to do one day young people? You might actually need to take care of your parents. You might actually need to maybe let them move in with you. You might even need to support them financially a little bit. And what it’s saying here is, hey listen, if your parents need your help and you say it’s a gift, Now the word that’s used here, I think there’s a parallel passage that talks about this.

It actually uses the word in the English Bible, Corbin. It’s Corbin. And the idea of this is essentially this. Hey, mom and dad, I know you need help, but you know what? All of my money is Corbin.

It’s a gift. What does that mean? There was a practice that the religious people did and this was essentially this. They would dedicate their money to the temple to be delivered to the temple at their time of death. So they would take their money right and say okay this money it’s a gift to God.

It is and here’s the word they would use it is korben. So therefore this money isn’t mine. This money belongs to God. So but here’s the thing this money could be used by them. The way up until the time of their death.

And when they died, that money wasn’t left to their kids, it wasn’t left to their parents, it was given to the temple. Here’s the convenient thing about them. This handy dandy little setup. When they devoted their money to God, they could say this, hey mom and dad you need help? Hey really sorry.

This money right here, it’s devoted to God. I can’t give it to you. I can’t give you my money. Sorry mom and dad. Can’t help you because you know what?

All my money is God’s Now here’s the thing they can use it for what they want to use it for Before they die they can use it to take care of themselves But when it comes to meeting the needs of others, oh I’ve got an exemption. Oh This money isn’t mine. It’s God’s so go figure out your own solutions. Okay. So what Jesus is essentially saying is, you care about whether my disciples are washing their hands before they’re eating?

You’re accusing of them having something wrong? Well, let me tell you what’s wrong. God says honor your father and your mother. And here’s what you do in the name of worshiping God, in the name of serving God, in the name of being devoted to God, you are literally creating religious excuses for not obeying God. What we’ve got here is we’ve got religious reasons for rebellion, religious rationalizations for actually disobeying God.

So they’re saying, my money’s all wrapped up in God. I can’t give a thing to you. So tough. Go deal with it yourself. Let me ask you a question.

Do you really think that’s how God would have them spend their money? And you might say, Oh, well, they’re giving all their money to God. No, they’re not. You know what? While they’re alive.

They can do whatever they want with this money. It’s only after they’re dead and can no longer use their money because you know, they’re dead. That’s when it goes to God. They don’t care what happens to their money after they die. All they care about is getting the convenient excuse that I can use my money for what I want to use it for while I’m alive.

Well, I’ll tell you what Jesus has to say about this. He says, It’s a gift. Whoever shall say to his father or mother, it’s a gift by whatsoever. Thou mightest be profited by me. And honorest not his father or his mother, he shall be free.

So that’s their exemption. Here’s what Jesus’s estimation of this was. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Your little religious setup that you’ve got here is literally trumping God’s commands. You are using your religious setup, your religious rigging to rebel against God.

Verse seven, he says, ye hypocrites! Well, did he say as prophesy of you, saying, this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth and honoreth me. With their lips, but their heart is far from me.” He’s saying, listen, you bunch of hypocrites, you are accusing my disciples of doing wrong for not washing their hands before they eat while you’re literally dishonoring your parents. Through this handy dandy little setup that you’ve got. Hey, Isaiah talked about you.

Guess what? You’re in the Bible. Here’s what Isaiah said about you bunch of hypocrites. You might talk good. You might honor me with your words, but your heart is so far away from me.

It’s not even funny. He says in verse nine, in vain do they worship me. Why do I say this? Why do I even bring this up? Here’s why.

Because you know what, young people, when you try to serve God, you know what happens? You find these handy dandy little loopholes that look spiritual, that exempt you from obeying God. You know, it’s like this, when you have an opportunity to serve Him or to do something that maybe you don’t really want to do, oh, I gotta go do my devotions. Okay, let me tell you how God spoke to me about this here last Saturday. So here I was.

I was in the morning time, spending time with the Lord. I kind of came across this particular passage. I was really seeking the Lord. There were a lot of different things kind of going on throughout the day that I honestly didn’t really want to be a part of. I don’t even remember all of them.

I’m kind of glad I don’t remember all of them. I do remember one of these things we had said we would help out a little bit with getting set up for the church’s fall festival. Which you know, I mean, whatever is great. They had a big thing where they’re gonna have a bunch of people from all over the community come. And honestly, I’m looking at this thinking they’ve got plenty of help.

They don’t need me to help them set up a sign. They don’t need me to help with these things. Okay, what I really need to do is I really need to get ready to preach. That’s what I need to do. And then furthermore, I don’t remember there’s some other thing.

Over lunch And oh, even going over another family member’s house a little bit later that’s in the area. And I’m thinking, man, I should, man, I could really use this time. But you know, we’ve been distant from them for so long. I really probably need just to show our love to them, go spend some time with them. And then this fall festival thing.

And you know, I’ve kind of got all these things wrapped up in my heart. Now, now here’s what I was planning on preaching on. Love. My revival meeting was going to be focused on the missing ingredient in conservative Christianity, which is love. 1st Corinthians 13.

You can have it all together, have everything right, look the part, act the part, talk the part, but if you don’t have true biblical love, you might feel important, but you’re nothing. You’re kidding yourself. So here I am. I’m looking at these verses, this passage about how these religious folks are finding religious reasons to not love their neighbor as their self. And I’m thinking, oh Lord, you got me.

Oh Lord, you got me. And so I thought, you know what? I can’t preach this week if I don’t live it today. I don’t wanna be a hypocrite. I don’t wanna draw nigh with my mouth and honor God with my lips while my heart is so far from God’s command.

I don’t wanna worship God. Vainly? Oh man, I was under such conviction. And I took a step of faith and I told the Lord, I said, Lord, all right, all right, I’m going to give the day to serving others. I’m going to give the day to doing what I know is your actual heart, to love my neighbor as myself.

So I’m going to get out there. I’m going to help put up that sign. I’m going to go to lunch with that family member. I’m going to go over to the other family member’s house and just be with them. Just show my love for them by being present with them.

I’m going to pour my heart into this fall festival here tonight as an act of love and devotion to you. And Lord, I’m going to need you to deliver me in my sermons. Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I hadn’t done any preparation. I had lots of messages and stuff like that.

It was just a matter of putting the garnishes on it, making sure I’d thought it through, building things out a little bit. I didn’t want to be a hypocrite young people. You know, there are times when we figure out that folks will let you go do your devotions instead of do the dishes. When you start to figure out that, you know what, if you say, you know what, my life is devoted to the Lord, so I can’t help you in this area. When we start to figure this handy dandy little loophole, we can use it for our own.

Selfish purposes. Oh, hey dear, I can’t help with the kids. I can’t help mom. I can’t help take out the trash because you know what, I gotta preach, you know, there’s this youth night coming up and I gotta preach. And you know what?

Maybe you really do need to prepare. But here’s the thing, you know the difference between finding a handy dandy little loophole that lets you be selfish and when there’s an actual priority that requires your attention. You know the difference and so do I. Listen young people, don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t let your surrender, quote unquote, ever be a reason that you don’t obey God.

I know it sounds twisted and perverted to even imply that could be a thing, but oh man, do we find ways. Our hearts are so deceptive. They’re so wicked. Young people that even in the name of serving God and following him, we can find ways to avoid the things that we don’t want to do. And I’m one of them.

And I’m thankful I’ve made some decisions here recently that have let me do this the proper way. But listen, I’m sure if I really zoomed in on this and really explored this in every nook and cranny of my life, I’d find my own traditions that are causing me to disobey God. Listen, God values. He values obedience more than sacrifice. He values true surrender to him.

Not just surrender to the things that let your life be easier, but surrender to his actual will. He wants you to love him with all of your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. And I don’t care how spiritual you sound. I don’t care how spiritual you look. If your heart is not close to Jesus’.

If you are not personally truly in tune with him, you will take religious reasons and use them to rebel against God’s heart. In preparation for one of my messages, I kind of just looked up this general concept a little bit and I didn’t end up using it in one of my messages, but I think I’ll use it here. Are you aware that when a baby literally lays on its mama’s chest. Something happens, something happens that’s pretty crazy. The baby’s breathing begins to synchronize with the mother’s breathing.

The baby’s heartbeat actually begins to synchronize with the mother’s heartbeat. Their bodies, because of their nearness, literally begin to get in sync with one another. And I was just thinking about that just this week with the messages and so on and understanding the love of God beating in our chest. And you know what young people, if you draw nigh to God, what causes God’s heart to beat will cause your heart to beat too. When God looks at your family, he sees needs, he sees people who need genuine love.

And when you’re close to God, you will be synced with his heartbeat. But when you’re out of sync with God, you’re gonna do your own thing. And you’ll find every reason in the book, every reason in the book to do your own thing. So what’s the solution? Get close to God.

Get close to God. Again, here in the passage, Isaiah said their hearts were far from God. They were out of sync with God. Their hearts did not reflect the love for God and the love for their neighbor. And the result was this.

They bowled over, they steamrolled their neighbor to get what they wanted. In the name of religious devotion. Oh listen young people, this matter of total surrender to God, it gets deep. This matter of total dependence on his power to actually cause his heartbeat to be reflected in your own, to cause his very love to beat in your chest. Oh young people, surrender.

Not just to honor him with your lips, but to honor him with your life. Thanks for listening.