Being called to the carpet!

"And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?

And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.

The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did ye not then believe him?

But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet."

                 (Matt 21:23-26)

                 Here is an interesting scenery. The religious leaders wanted to trap Jesus, but he winded up turning the tables on them. As I studied these verses, the Lord spoke to me something interesting. He was calling them to the carpet. The word says your sins will find you out. (Numbers 32:23) Jesus loved them so much that he wanted to give them a chance to repent. 

                  How? You may ask? Think about this, if they had pushed pride aside, recognized John's baptism as coming from God and repented, they could have been restored before God. They could have come out with a greater anointing in their ministry. They had seen John in the wilderness, heard his preaching and had years to repent of their unbelief, but what happened? They did not believe.

                    They did,not, make their unbelief public because the people regarded John as a prophet-but, Jesus was rocking the boat. To the people, they were undecided and standing on the fence, but Jesus knew exactly where they stood. Beloved, that is why we need to, constantly, keep growing. Let's get rid of those habits that have been stumbling us for years. There is nothing more humiliating than having a prophet of God call you on the carpet. Let's not wait and be slack. Start asking God for grace and help in time of need, especially if you have a leadership position in the church. God is calling for excellence in leadership and it is time to get serious with God before he calls you to the carpet!