Today I am tackling a 'biblical mystery' in my study time and I am hesitant to go into to much detail because unlike other subjects I discuss in my blog this one does not yet have a tidy 'take away' to give you the reader.
Perhaps I will just give you the scriptures I am looking at and you can look at them also. There is this interesting linkage between Elijah's ministry and the ministry of John the Baptist.
"In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.' " - Luke 1:5-17 ESV
John was to come 'in the spirit and power of Elijah' but then we see this later...
"And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, 'Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.'...
So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. And they asked him, 'Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?' And he said to them, 'Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.' " - Mark 9:2-5, 10-13 ESV
Elijah appears on the mountain with Moses and Jesus is speaking with them but then just a few passages away the disciples ask about him and Jesus again points to John the Baptist.
Here is John speaking about himself early in his ministry.
"And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, 'Who are you?' He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, 'I am not the Christ.' And they asked him, 'What then? Are you Elijah?' He said, 'I am not.' 'Are you the Prophet?' And he answered, 'No.' So they said to him, 'Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?' He said, 'I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as the prophet Isaiah said.' (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.)" - John 1:19-24 ESV
Clearly, they are not the same person. That alone is important. Elijah appears during John's ministry. Over time different sects of Judaism have been infected with the idea of reincarnation. Some say that souls are reborn. I was speaking to a learned Jewish man once and he was convinced by the end of the conversation that I was the reincarnation of an ancient prophet because of the power he sensed in my words and no matter how much I insisted otherwise he was stuck on that idea. Kabbalah has this idea interwoven into its tenants.
People use this idea to try to tie up concepts that are too hard for them to come face to face with like death and coming judgement.
"...it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment," - Hebrews 9:27b ESV
That is a clear doctrine.
Elijah is, however, a mystery. He didn't die like other men. He was taken and his mantle fell on another man.
"And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood to view afar off: and they two stood by Jordan. And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two went over on dry ground... And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over." - 2 Kings 2:7-8, 11-14 KJV
Elisha took up the mantle of Elijah as he took on his mission and there was power in that calling. John took on the calling of being 'the voice of one crying out in the wilderness' and had a ministry. It wasn't one of miracles but it mirrored Elijah.
This story isn't over either. Jesus is coming again and Elijah has a role in that.
Like I said... It is a mystery. The Bible is full of both clarity and mystery. Just pondering these things makes us wiser. Just debunking errors like reincarnation alone is valuable and worthwhile because these things become stumbling blocks for people.
We aren't ancient people reborn in new bodies working out some cyclical process of purging. We are us. We are born once and unique. No one can be us and we are not anyone else. God loves us and gives us one life to make one important choice. Will we believe in His Son and live or will we go our own way and perish?
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Showing posts with label Death. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Death. Show all posts
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Wednesday, December 13, 2017
Heaven Has All The Children
Many many years ago King David had a sick child. That child didn't grow up to adulthood.
"David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, 'Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.' But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, 'Is the child dead?' They said, 'He is dead.' Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, 'What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.' He said, 'While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, 'Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.' " - 2 Samuel 12:16-23 ESV
On the basis of verse 23, it is my firm conviction, that all children go to Heaven. Heaven has all the children.
Hell is filled with adults who say 'no' to God. These adults never said 'Yes' to God. Who can share a house with someone who never agrees with them? How does that work in the long run? There must be some basis of agreement. The first thing we ever agree with God about is His Son Jesus.
One day we will go to see God in His house and it will be filled with children and adults that all agree about one thing. They won't be there because they are good. They, we, will be there because God is good.
I'm praying this morning for all those who are weeping and fasting for a child. They want to see that child grow up to adulthood and prosper. We weep with them and pray with them.
One day all the tears will be wiped away.
"And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken." - Isaiah 25:7-8 ESV
We will dance and play. Joyful laughter will echo on shining streets of gold.
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"David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, 'Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.' But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, 'Is the child dead?' They said, 'He is dead.' Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate. Then his servants said to him, 'What is this thing that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive; but when the child died, you arose and ate food.' He said, 'While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, 'Who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.' " - 2 Samuel 12:16-23 ESV
On the basis of verse 23, it is my firm conviction, that all children go to Heaven. Heaven has all the children.
Hell is filled with adults who say 'no' to God. These adults never said 'Yes' to God. Who can share a house with someone who never agrees with them? How does that work in the long run? There must be some basis of agreement. The first thing we ever agree with God about is His Son Jesus.
One day we will go to see God in His house and it will be filled with children and adults that all agree about one thing. They won't be there because they are good. They, we, will be there because God is good.
I'm praying this morning for all those who are weeping and fasting for a child. They want to see that child grow up to adulthood and prosper. We weep with them and pray with them.
One day all the tears will be wiped away.
"And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken." - Isaiah 25:7-8 ESV
We will dance and play. Joyful laughter will echo on shining streets of gold.
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Wednesday, August 30, 2017
One Bad Choice And One Good One
I was thinking last night of the 'Law of Imputation' and how it ties in with other doctrines. It basically means that judicially one drop of sin equals a lake of sin so that one drop of Jesus' righteousness can equal all of God's righteousness.
"For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." - 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 ESV
Adam's sin killed him and because of that, all his children die also. Sin is imputed to them by association. We were born in Adam but if we die with Christ on the cross our past gets buried with Him and we get raised with Him as new creatures. Adam made one bad choice and we make one righteous choice.
Not all choices trigger an 'imputation' but only a rare few do. The choice to believe in Christ is one that sets the legal wheels in motion.
"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." - 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 KJV
As we get older we begin to look like our older ancestors because we are 'of' them. But as we grow in Christ we begin to resemble Him more and more also. We bear the 'image' of the Heavenly. Our change seemed to be only judicial but then we begin to change from the inside out as we behold Him.
"in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality..." - 1 Corinthians 15:52-54a ESV
"But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." - 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 ESV
Our failure can't kill us the way Adam's failure killed Him. Jesus' death on the cross killed that person. The person who had sin imputed to them died. Now we who believe are in Christ and it is irreversible. Nothing can change that.
"Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me." - Isaiah 49:16 ESV
No one can wipe away that writing. God won't do it. One decision caused doom and one decision can cause a person to be sealed with the Spirit forever and ever.
Thank You, God. Imputation doesn't seem fair but it is legally sound and we are so grateful that you have provided us a way back. Help us to remember the blood that bought us... today... and in the days to come. Thank You, Jesus.
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"For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive." - 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 ESV
Adam's sin killed him and because of that, all his children die also. Sin is imputed to them by association. We were born in Adam but if we die with Christ on the cross our past gets buried with Him and we get raised with Him as new creatures. Adam made one bad choice and we make one righteous choice.
Not all choices trigger an 'imputation' but only a rare few do. The choice to believe in Christ is one that sets the legal wheels in motion.
"And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." - 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 KJV
As we get older we begin to look like our older ancestors because we are 'of' them. But as we grow in Christ we begin to resemble Him more and more also. We bear the 'image' of the Heavenly. Our change seemed to be only judicial but then we begin to change from the inside out as we behold Him.
"in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality..." - 1 Corinthians 15:52-54a ESV
"But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." - 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 ESV
Our failure can't kill us the way Adam's failure killed Him. Jesus' death on the cross killed that person. The person who had sin imputed to them died. Now we who believe are in Christ and it is irreversible. Nothing can change that.
"Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me." - Isaiah 49:16 ESV
No one can wipe away that writing. God won't do it. One decision caused doom and one decision can cause a person to be sealed with the Spirit forever and ever.
Thank You, God. Imputation doesn't seem fair but it is legally sound and we are so grateful that you have provided us a way back. Help us to remember the blood that bought us... today... and in the days to come. Thank You, Jesus.
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Friday, May 12, 2017
A Principle And A Dynamic
Two doctrines dominate my thinking this morning. One is an anthropological principle and the other is a spiritual dynamic and each can be summed up in a phrase but those phrases need to be 'unpacked' and put in Biblical context.
The doctrine of 'internal conspiracy' is the anthropological principle and oh how freeing it is to understand.
The spiritual dynamic is the 'grace adjustment'.
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," - Ephesians 2:1-6 ESV
We know the Satanic strategy of tempt - accuse - condemn. That is an attack on our person that comes from outside but our flesh can wage a similar war. Our conscience should be our ally but it can become our bitter enemy. Like a city filled with unrest, the inhabitants can conspire to change the leadership and if they get desperate enough damage can be done to the infrastructure to make something (anything) happen.
If we have lived long enough all of us have seen people destroy themselves. Something external may have triggered a chain of decisions but the destruction came from within and as spectators, we may have tried to intervene but the conspiracy was an internal one.
If we ended here it would leave us in a hard place, wouldn't it? But it doesn't end here. There is the spiritual dynamic of adjusting to grace and with grace and it is beautiful beyond description.
"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." - Galatians 2:20 ESV
This principle is so freeing and it might take us losing everything first before we discover it because it lies just at the edge of our self-life. We can adjust because of grace. We can nail our old identity in a coffin where it belongs and start fresh. The accusation can be shut down. The ones that come from outside and the one that comes from the inside. We can face the music and adjust. We have victory in seeming defeat. We can go through things instead of avoiding them. We can adjust because our old identity died with Christ and our present identity is new and fresh.
Our soul becomes a city under new leadership. There may be a mess to clean up but if our conscience can adjust to the new value system of death, burial, resurrection, and session (the fact that we are seated above with Christ now as far as God is concerned) it can become our ally when it was once our adversary. Our soul can become a peaceful place to live.
Woe be it unto the soul that lets the internal conspiracy go unchecked. Eventually, the walls of that city will be breached and it's inhabitants taken away into captivity. No one can win that war themselves. God has given us a way of escape in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the negotiator we need to end our internal conspiracies.
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The doctrine of 'internal conspiracy' is the anthropological principle and oh how freeing it is to understand.
The spiritual dynamic is the 'grace adjustment'.
"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," - Ephesians 2:1-6 ESV
We know the Satanic strategy of tempt - accuse - condemn. That is an attack on our person that comes from outside but our flesh can wage a similar war. Our conscience should be our ally but it can become our bitter enemy. Like a city filled with unrest, the inhabitants can conspire to change the leadership and if they get desperate enough damage can be done to the infrastructure to make something (anything) happen.
If we have lived long enough all of us have seen people destroy themselves. Something external may have triggered a chain of decisions but the destruction came from within and as spectators, we may have tried to intervene but the conspiracy was an internal one.
If we ended here it would leave us in a hard place, wouldn't it? But it doesn't end here. There is the spiritual dynamic of adjusting to grace and with grace and it is beautiful beyond description.
"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." - Galatians 2:20 ESV
This principle is so freeing and it might take us losing everything first before we discover it because it lies just at the edge of our self-life. We can adjust because of grace. We can nail our old identity in a coffin where it belongs and start fresh. The accusation can be shut down. The ones that come from outside and the one that comes from the inside. We can face the music and adjust. We have victory in seeming defeat. We can go through things instead of avoiding them. We can adjust because our old identity died with Christ and our present identity is new and fresh.
Our soul becomes a city under new leadership. There may be a mess to clean up but if our conscience can adjust to the new value system of death, burial, resurrection, and session (the fact that we are seated above with Christ now as far as God is concerned) it can become our ally when it was once our adversary. Our soul can become a peaceful place to live.
Woe be it unto the soul that lets the internal conspiracy go unchecked. Eventually, the walls of that city will be breached and it's inhabitants taken away into captivity. No one can win that war themselves. God has given us a way of escape in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the negotiator we need to end our internal conspiracies.
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Friday, April 28, 2017
Wandering Immortals
There are several myths and legends that center around Christ's passion week. They imagine that a person who mistreated Jesus in some way (the Roman soldier who pierced Christ's side, a supposed Jewish merchant who struck Him on His way to the cross, etc...) are cursed with physical immortality. Some point to this passage as justification.
"From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, 'Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.' But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.' Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.' " - Matthew 16:21-28 ESV
'...Some will not taste death...'
However, This concept doesn't line up with God's character and a careful reading of the scripture reveals that Christ came into His kingdom at the ascension. It isn't a scripturally supported idea. But we do see a temporary immortality that the disciples enjoyed during Jesus' 3 1/2 years of ministry.
"And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled." - John 17:11-12 ESV
"So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, 'Whom do you seek?' They answered him, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' Jesus said to them, 'I am he.' Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, 'I am he,' they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again, 'Whom do you seek?' And they said, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' Jesus answered, 'I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.' This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: 'Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.' " - John 18:3-9 ESV
The only disciple recorded to have died was Lazarus and Jesus came and raised him up. But if we follow this line of thinking other passages begin to stand out. Here is part of Martha's (Lazarus' sister) conversation with Christ.
"So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.' Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.' Martha said to him, 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.' Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?' She said to him, 'Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.' " - John 11:20-27 ESV
There was this sense of invincibility around Jesus. Jesus was keeping people safe.
There is no record, other than the Lazarus account, of any disciples dying or even or getting hurt during Jesus' ministry. That is amazing.
Jesus was going to lead the way into death but what He tells Martha has great meaning to us doesn't it. People aren't just safe in close proximity to Him. He IS the resurrection and the life. He plunged into death but came out again on the other side alive forever more.
If you believe in Jesus you will have eternal life. There is no fear of death because you can't die until God allows it to happen.
All believers are 'wandering immortals'. We aren't cursed with it. We are blessed with it. Our life has no beginning (because Christ has no beginning) and no end (because our destiny is forever intertwined with the everliving One). If death has no power over us fear also has no power.
Let's be bold. Why be timid if this is our heritage. They called James and John 'sons of thunder' (see Mark 3:17) because of their lives of wild abandon James was the first Apostle to die and John was the last. We have the freedom to live that way also. Let's plan like we have a long future but live like we have eternal life.
"Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."" - Luke 10:20 ESV
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"From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, 'Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.' But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.' Then Jesus told his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.' " - Matthew 16:21-28 ESV
'...Some will not taste death...'
However, This concept doesn't line up with God's character and a careful reading of the scripture reveals that Christ came into His kingdom at the ascension. It isn't a scripturally supported idea. But we do see a temporary immortality that the disciples enjoyed during Jesus' 3 1/2 years of ministry.
"And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled." - John 17:11-12 ESV
"So Judas, having procured a band of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, went there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that would happen to him, came forward and said to them, 'Whom do you seek?' They answered him, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' Jesus said to them, 'I am he.' Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. When Jesus said to them, 'I am he,' they drew back and fell to the ground. So he asked them again, 'Whom do you seek?' And they said, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' Jesus answered, 'I told you that I am he. So, if you seek me, let these men go.' This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken: 'Of those whom you gave me I have lost not one.' " - John 18:3-9 ESV
The only disciple recorded to have died was Lazarus and Jesus came and raised him up. But if we follow this line of thinking other passages begin to stand out. Here is part of Martha's (Lazarus' sister) conversation with Christ.
"So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. Martha said to Jesus, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.' Jesus said to her, 'Your brother will rise again.' Martha said to him, 'I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.' Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?' She said to him, 'Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.' " - John 11:20-27 ESV
There was this sense of invincibility around Jesus. Jesus was keeping people safe.
There is no record, other than the Lazarus account, of any disciples dying or even or getting hurt during Jesus' ministry. That is amazing.
Jesus was going to lead the way into death but what He tells Martha has great meaning to us doesn't it. People aren't just safe in close proximity to Him. He IS the resurrection and the life. He plunged into death but came out again on the other side alive forever more.
If you believe in Jesus you will have eternal life. There is no fear of death because you can't die until God allows it to happen.
All believers are 'wandering immortals'. We aren't cursed with it. We are blessed with it. Our life has no beginning (because Christ has no beginning) and no end (because our destiny is forever intertwined with the everliving One). If death has no power over us fear also has no power.
Let's be bold. Why be timid if this is our heritage. They called James and John 'sons of thunder' (see Mark 3:17) because of their lives of wild abandon James was the first Apostle to die and John was the last. We have the freedom to live that way also. Let's plan like we have a long future but live like we have eternal life.
"Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."" - Luke 10:20 ESV
--
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Jingle. Jingle.
"...But he laid his right hand on me, saying, 'Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades...' " - Revelation 1:17b-18 ESV
Jingle. Jingle. He has the master keys to every bondage and He holds them up with two fingers smiling and waving them over His head.
Fear not. Those handcuffs of doubt are about to drop to the floor. That cell is about to swing open wide. Fear not. Jesus has knocked out death cold. Hell can't hold him. He has regained the keys that Adam unwitting handed over to the Devil. Power has transferred hands. Your friend, the one who will never leave of forsake you, has the keys to death and Hades.
Jingle. Jingle.
'Hey fear! What's that you were saying again? I can't hear you.'
Jingle. Jingle.
--
Jingle. Jingle. He has the master keys to every bondage and He holds them up with two fingers smiling and waving them over His head.
Fear not. Those handcuffs of doubt are about to drop to the floor. That cell is about to swing open wide. Fear not. Jesus has knocked out death cold. Hell can't hold him. He has regained the keys that Adam unwitting handed over to the Devil. Power has transferred hands. Your friend, the one who will never leave of forsake you, has the keys to death and Hades.
Jingle. Jingle.
'Hey fear! What's that you were saying again? I can't hear you.'
Jingle. Jingle.
--
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Balance
I started reading another booklet this morning called, 'Taking Care of Your Soul' and it has me thinking about the desires we might have for balance in our life. The booklet starts off talking about Adam and how after the fall his spiritual development fell behind his emotional and intellectual development which caused imbalance.
"then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." - Genesis 2:7 ESV
"but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."" - Genesis 2:17 ESV
Adam had lived as he was created. God's breath sustained him in the garden but after the fall his spiritual capacity was dead but his body was alive for a season without it and there was imbalance. The whole world became that way.
"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--" - Romans 5:12 ESV
We long for balance. Maybe we want more vacation or relaxation time. Perhaps we eat to much and exercise to little. It has been raining here so much lately and I'd like a little more sun to balance this rain.
Some think that full time ministry will fill a certain void and it is an understandable desire. I think what we really need is to have the breath of God regulating us again. We need what Adam needed. We will never have what he had but our needs can still be met because of what Jesus did. He took our bullet and there are many mansions in His Father's kingdom that we will see later but right here in the in-between of life we can have balance.
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall." - 2 Peter 1:3-10 ESV
An intake of the Bible keeps our spiritual airways clear and functioning. Grace is oxygen for our spiritual life. If we are cut off from it in our thinking then we lapse back into a purely biological life of imbalance.
We don't have to strive. We inhale acceptance and then exhale in a steady flow. This simple balance is what we need to function and go forward in our calling.
--
"then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." - Genesis 2:7 ESV
"but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."" - Genesis 2:17 ESV
Adam had lived as he was created. God's breath sustained him in the garden but after the fall his spiritual capacity was dead but his body was alive for a season without it and there was imbalance. The whole world became that way.
"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--" - Romans 5:12 ESV
We long for balance. Maybe we want more vacation or relaxation time. Perhaps we eat to much and exercise to little. It has been raining here so much lately and I'd like a little more sun to balance this rain.
Some think that full time ministry will fill a certain void and it is an understandable desire. I think what we really need is to have the breath of God regulating us again. We need what Adam needed. We will never have what he had but our needs can still be met because of what Jesus did. He took our bullet and there are many mansions in His Father's kingdom that we will see later but right here in the in-between of life we can have balance.
"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall." - 2 Peter 1:3-10 ESV
An intake of the Bible keeps our spiritual airways clear and functioning. Grace is oxygen for our spiritual life. If we are cut off from it in our thinking then we lapse back into a purely biological life of imbalance.
We don't have to strive. We inhale acceptance and then exhale in a steady flow. This simple balance is what we need to function and go forward in our calling.
--
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Justification By Faith Brings Us To Newness Of Life
If the only true justification available to a human being is a faith justification (that is what I wrote about yesterday) then the only true walk is a resurrection walk...
"...And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness," - Romans 4:5 ESV
"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." - Romans 6:4-5 ESV
Romans is building a case for us. It is a very legal and mechanical book. A religious person is convinced that what they do makes them acceptable to God but this book reproves them.
We must die with Christ in order to be raise with Him and any hope of self-righteousness must die with us. Once dead we can be raised and walk with God in newness of life.
All of humanity has died with Christ. He became a man to represent all men.The moment we believed the gift was placed on our account.
"For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." - Romans 6:7-11 ESV
This translation says 'you also must consider' but the KJV says 'reckon yourselves' and I like that better. Reckon makes it sound like a math problem and that is just what it is. We remove our self and add Christ.
We have a God who will only justify those that say, 'I won't justify myself. Instead of doing that I will reckon myself dead with Christ and let God justify me by His power.'
Can we shift from a, 'You are Good therefore I like you.' mentality to a, 'God has justified the ungodly.' one? It will take dying to self but it will mean that we can be raised in newness of life.
God. Please help us to think like you do. We want to live in a justification that comes by faith and not by performance. Quicken us by your Spirit. Raise us from the grave of our old way of thinking and into the newness of grace thinking. Thank You God. Thank You.
--
"...And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness," - Romans 4:5 ESV
"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." - Romans 6:4-5 ESV
Romans is building a case for us. It is a very legal and mechanical book. A religious person is convinced that what they do makes them acceptable to God but this book reproves them.
We must die with Christ in order to be raise with Him and any hope of self-righteousness must die with us. Once dead we can be raised and walk with God in newness of life.
All of humanity has died with Christ. He became a man to represent all men.The moment we believed the gift was placed on our account.
"For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." - Romans 6:7-11 ESV
This translation says 'you also must consider' but the KJV says 'reckon yourselves' and I like that better. Reckon makes it sound like a math problem and that is just what it is. We remove our self and add Christ.
We have a God who will only justify those that say, 'I won't justify myself. Instead of doing that I will reckon myself dead with Christ and let God justify me by His power.'
Can we shift from a, 'You are Good therefore I like you.' mentality to a, 'God has justified the ungodly.' one? It will take dying to self but it will mean that we can be raised in newness of life.
God. Please help us to think like you do. We want to live in a justification that comes by faith and not by performance. Quicken us by your Spirit. Raise us from the grave of our old way of thinking and into the newness of grace thinking. Thank You God. Thank You.
--
Friday, July 24, 2015
The Close Call
"And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! I was almost in all evil in the midst of the congregation and assembly." - Proverbs 5:12-14 KJV
I am looking at the Hebrew here in this verse and a good translation could be, 'I was a small distance away from losing everything in the assembled group.'
I could just quote the whole chapter. Proverbs chapter 5 is so good. But the idea of being close to utter ruin is what is impressed upon me this morning.
"For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in. Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!" - Psalm 27:10-14 ESV
We need a level path or we might just go off the road.
I don't think being close to losing everything is a bad thing. Sometimes being reduced down to just life itself is the best thing that can happen to a person.
"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' " - Hebrews 13:5 ESV
"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." - Proverbs 18:24 ESV
"The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: 'Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.' " - Jeremiah 31:3 NKJV
It is there in that place that God shows Himself to be real. We may have hated the instruction we got before but now we look at what was given to us with a value system that has been transformed by reduction.
I think people get bad instruction and the hate the instruction they received in the 'assembled group' because it was stern and impersonal. There was no grace (or little grace). Maybe the people giving the instruction were to much of a contradiction to be believed. Then there are others that get great instruction from humble loving people. They are told that God's favor is freely given. They are loved and nurtured but they just won't receive what is being served up and seem to need to go away before they can come back.
Grace teaches us that once we have God we can't lose Him. Jesus is the only reason we have Him. The conditions of unconditional love were met in the person of Jesus Christ. We can't mess that up. We can mess a lot of things up so that we are left within inches of complete ruin... but not that.
"The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms." - Deuteronomy 33:27a ESV
When you know God there is every possibility that what we think is the end is only the beginning. God wants to use our close call to propel us higher than we have ever been before.
Isn't it God who gets the glory when that happens! Yes. Ultimately it is.
--
I am looking at the Hebrew here in this verse and a good translation could be, 'I was a small distance away from losing everything in the assembled group.'
I could just quote the whole chapter. Proverbs chapter 5 is so good. But the idea of being close to utter ruin is what is impressed upon me this morning.
"For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the LORD will take me in. Teach me your way, O LORD, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries; for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living! Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!" - Psalm 27:10-14 ESV
We need a level path or we might just go off the road.
I don't think being close to losing everything is a bad thing. Sometimes being reduced down to just life itself is the best thing that can happen to a person.
"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' " - Hebrews 13:5 ESV
"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." - Proverbs 18:24 ESV
"The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: 'Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.' " - Jeremiah 31:3 NKJV
It is there in that place that God shows Himself to be real. We may have hated the instruction we got before but now we look at what was given to us with a value system that has been transformed by reduction.
I think people get bad instruction and the hate the instruction they received in the 'assembled group' because it was stern and impersonal. There was no grace (or little grace). Maybe the people giving the instruction were to much of a contradiction to be believed. Then there are others that get great instruction from humble loving people. They are told that God's favor is freely given. They are loved and nurtured but they just won't receive what is being served up and seem to need to go away before they can come back.
Grace teaches us that once we have God we can't lose Him. Jesus is the only reason we have Him. The conditions of unconditional love were met in the person of Jesus Christ. We can't mess that up. We can mess a lot of things up so that we are left within inches of complete ruin... but not that.
"The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms." - Deuteronomy 33:27a ESV
When you know God there is every possibility that what we think is the end is only the beginning. God wants to use our close call to propel us higher than we have ever been before.
Isn't it God who gets the glory when that happens! Yes. Ultimately it is.
--
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Dead To Death
Have you ever died to something? There may have been things we tried to die to but couldn't shake the connection. Others that we wanted desperately to hold onto but found them slipping away until they were no longer in our grasp. Perhaps we woke up one day to find that a connection has been severed and we had no part in it at all.
"Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him." - Romans 6:8-9 ESV
As far as Jesus is concerned death is dead. His connections to death and all the fear and grief associated with it are severed.
"For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God." - Romans 6:10 ESV
He went to the cross 'as sin' because the sin sins of the world were placed on Him just like the sins of the nation were placed on a sacrificial animal.
"And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness." - Leviticus 16:21-22 ESV
Now those sins are gone and Christ is dead 'to sin' and every imperfection. He is alive and associated with living whole things not dead broken things.
You might say, 'Well, Then He can't have much to do with me.' but the crazy thing is that we were with Him when that death happened. We passed through death with Him! As a man He represented all humanity.
"So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness...
Or do you not know, brothers - for I am speaking to those who know the law - that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?" - Romans 6:11-13, 7:1 ESV
When something dies and is truly disconnected the rules that governed that relationship or association also get disconnected. The law served it's purpose for Israel. Grace is how living people associate. Grace is how God functions toward someone who has been raised from the dead and passed from death into life.
We are all troubled by connections that are unhealthy. We can and must consider ourselves dead to those things and those things dead to us because in Christ that death has already taken place to make way for life.
"But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world... And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." - Galatians 6:14, 16-17 ESV
Paul was beaten because of His association with Christ and the message of grace but we can make the same claim of co-crucifixion. We can and we should because then we can be free to live.
It is mathematics. The King James translates verse 11 this way.
"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." - Romans 6:11 KJV
We make a 'reckoning' in our minds by faith that the connection is broken and God creates a dynamic that truly breaks the connection so that it can't dominate us.
Thank you God! Salvation is Your work. We believe in You and what You have done. We are free.
--
"Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him." - Romans 6:8-9 ESV
As far as Jesus is concerned death is dead. His connections to death and all the fear and grief associated with it are severed.
"For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God." - Romans 6:10 ESV
He went to the cross 'as sin' because the sin sins of the world were placed on Him just like the sins of the nation were placed on a sacrificial animal.
"And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness." - Leviticus 16:21-22 ESV
Now those sins are gone and Christ is dead 'to sin' and every imperfection. He is alive and associated with living whole things not dead broken things.
You might say, 'Well, Then He can't have much to do with me.' but the crazy thing is that we were with Him when that death happened. We passed through death with Him! As a man He represented all humanity.
"So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness...
Or do you not know, brothers - for I am speaking to those who know the law - that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?" - Romans 6:11-13, 7:1 ESV
When something dies and is truly disconnected the rules that governed that relationship or association also get disconnected. The law served it's purpose for Israel. Grace is how living people associate. Grace is how God functions toward someone who has been raised from the dead and passed from death into life.
We are all troubled by connections that are unhealthy. We can and must consider ourselves dead to those things and those things dead to us because in Christ that death has already taken place to make way for life.
"But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world... And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." - Galatians 6:14, 16-17 ESV
Paul was beaten because of His association with Christ and the message of grace but we can make the same claim of co-crucifixion. We can and we should because then we can be free to live.
It is mathematics. The King James translates verse 11 this way.
"Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." - Romans 6:11 KJV
We make a 'reckoning' in our minds by faith that the connection is broken and God creates a dynamic that truly breaks the connection so that it can't dominate us.
Thank you God! Salvation is Your work. We believe in You and what You have done. We are free.
--
Monday, June 1, 2015
Saved From The Present Grave
"I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." - Psalm 16:8-11 ESV
In Acts chapter 2 Peter quotes this passage when we is preaching at Pentecost. David wrote Psalm 16 and Peter later mentions that David's tomb is a historical site right there in the midst of the people. David's body was there in a grave but David was speaking prophetically.
David was talking about Jesus and Peter was preaching about Jesus to the very people that participated in the crucifixion.
Ruts are very like graves aren't they? People get stuck in things and can't get out. God raised Christ from the dead. David had that hope. We who believe in Jesus also have that hope. We are not going to be stuck in the grave. God will save us from that fate.
Can God save us from our rut?
Yes, He can. God isn't going to leave our soul in the pit. That is what a rut is after all.
"When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out.' The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.' Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him," - John 11:43-45 ESV
God makes us alive and uses people to free us from our grave clothes. Edification frees us. That is why evangelism is followed up by the discipleship of friendship and investment.
Without a vision the people perish but in order for the vision to have life God must add others who will help uncover it.
God make us alive in the places that have been trapped in a ditch and knit our heart together so that we can continue to go forward in the vision You have given us. At your right hand of acceptance there are pleasures forevermore.
--
In Acts chapter 2 Peter quotes this passage when we is preaching at Pentecost. David wrote Psalm 16 and Peter later mentions that David's tomb is a historical site right there in the midst of the people. David's body was there in a grave but David was speaking prophetically.
David was talking about Jesus and Peter was preaching about Jesus to the very people that participated in the crucifixion.
Ruts are very like graves aren't they? People get stuck in things and can't get out. God raised Christ from the dead. David had that hope. We who believe in Jesus also have that hope. We are not going to be stuck in the grave. God will save us from that fate.
Can God save us from our rut?
Yes, He can. God isn't going to leave our soul in the pit. That is what a rut is after all.
"When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out.' The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.' Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him," - John 11:43-45 ESV
God makes us alive and uses people to free us from our grave clothes. Edification frees us. That is why evangelism is followed up by the discipleship of friendship and investment.
Without a vision the people perish but in order for the vision to have life God must add others who will help uncover it.
God make us alive in the places that have been trapped in a ditch and knit our heart together so that we can continue to go forward in the vision You have given us. At your right hand of acceptance there are pleasures forevermore.
--
Friday, September 12, 2014
The Cross - The Perfect Place To Die
"But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." - Galatians 6:14 ESV
We often think of the cross as the place where Jesus died. It was the place of a perfect death that left room for a perfect Resurrection.
It is also the place where our old identity died.
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." - Galatians 2:20 ESV
But the focus of Galatians 6 verse 14 is a death to specific events and connections. The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Oh, This is powerful.
The cross is the perfect place to die TO situations instead of slowly dying IN situations.
Golgotha, The place of the skull, is where the cross was. It was a place people purposely avoided therefor it was a place of isolation and became the place of ultimate isolation because the Father turned His back to His Son there. His Son who had the sins of the whole world was rejected but it is at the cross that Jesus burned a hole in mankind's isolation. In His innocence He defeated death and the grave and forged a path to pass from death into life.
The cross situated in the place where no one wants to go has become a portal, an escape hatch, out of our situations and into God's plan and perspective.
So when people hate you... go to the cross and find escape.
When you hate yourself... go to the cross.
Go everyday.
Go every moment.
When you are trapped in a seamless situation. At the end of your self life is the place you would never want to go there is a portal that drops you into God's hands. A place where your liquid form evaporates and loses it's impurities and returns to the Heavens again.
Die there. It is the perfect place to die. Die at Jesus' cross and live. Bring the situation to Jesus' cross and die to it so that God, in His time, will resurrect you and make you an agent of resurrection in dark places.
We often think of the cross as the place where Jesus died. It was the place of a perfect death that left room for a perfect Resurrection.
It is also the place where our old identity died.
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." - Galatians 2:20 ESV
But the focus of Galatians 6 verse 14 is a death to specific events and connections. The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Oh, This is powerful.
The cross is the perfect place to die TO situations instead of slowly dying IN situations.
Golgotha, The place of the skull, is where the cross was. It was a place people purposely avoided therefor it was a place of isolation and became the place of ultimate isolation because the Father turned His back to His Son there. His Son who had the sins of the whole world was rejected but it is at the cross that Jesus burned a hole in mankind's isolation. In His innocence He defeated death and the grave and forged a path to pass from death into life.
The cross situated in the place where no one wants to go has become a portal, an escape hatch, out of our situations and into God's plan and perspective.
So when people hate you... go to the cross and find escape.
When you hate yourself... go to the cross.
Go everyday.
Go every moment.
When you are trapped in a seamless situation. At the end of your self life is the place you would never want to go there is a portal that drops you into God's hands. A place where your liquid form evaporates and loses it's impurities and returns to the Heavens again.
Die there. It is the perfect place to die. Die at Jesus' cross and live. Bring the situation to Jesus' cross and die to it so that God, in His time, will resurrect you and make you an agent of resurrection in dark places.
--
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Happy Now Or Happy Later?
Happiness can be elusive. Many times there does not seem to be enough for now and later.
Perhaps we think we must sacrifice present happiness for future happiness or vice versa. Or we sacrifice for someone else's future happiness. It gets complicated.
There is nothing like going to a funeral of a loved one. It gets you thinking about these things. Future happiness gets stretched. Is it 10 years from now... 20... Retirement... Then what about those moments and years after we take our last breath?
It is very possible that we could say 'eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we will die.' then spend many long years, or eternity, very very unhappy. Or we can always postpone our happiness for a sense of security only to find out later we just don't know how to love life.
Faith is the only way i have discovered to have both. God's grace enables me to have joy in the midst of sacrifice. To have and give hope when there seems to only be chaos.
I want the people I love to be happy now and later. I want them to have joy ten years from now and ten thousand years from now. So I promote faith, forgiveness and intimacy with God through knowing Christ.
If I knew a better way I would promote that but I remain convinced that faith sees farther ahead than anything else. Faith is what we were made for. God is the best friend anyone of us can have and the best legacy anyone of us can leave behind.
--
Perhaps we think we must sacrifice present happiness for future happiness or vice versa. Or we sacrifice for someone else's future happiness. It gets complicated.
There is nothing like going to a funeral of a loved one. It gets you thinking about these things. Future happiness gets stretched. Is it 10 years from now... 20... Retirement... Then what about those moments and years after we take our last breath?
It is very possible that we could say 'eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we will die.' then spend many long years, or eternity, very very unhappy. Or we can always postpone our happiness for a sense of security only to find out later we just don't know how to love life.
Faith is the only way i have discovered to have both. God's grace enables me to have joy in the midst of sacrifice. To have and give hope when there seems to only be chaos.
I want the people I love to be happy now and later. I want them to have joy ten years from now and ten thousand years from now. So I promote faith, forgiveness and intimacy with God through knowing Christ.
If I knew a better way I would promote that but I remain convinced that faith sees farther ahead than anything else. Faith is what we were made for. God is the best friend anyone of us can have and the best legacy anyone of us can leave behind.
--
Monday, January 6, 2014
Initiated By Choice But Moved By Power
"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." - Romans 6:4 KJV
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." - Galatians 2:20 KJV
There is an action that happens by God's power... a transfer that occurs. By an act of will we enter into a process that was not initiated by us nor is it sustained by us. Like a person stepping into a flowing river we step into the stillness of Christ's death. It surrounds us and momentarily muffles our senses like diving into a pool or being lowered by strong arms into the water at baptism.
We willingly place ourselves into His death but that is just a starting point.
Early in the morning the Earth is still asleep. No sun has risen yet and few things are stirring. We can become silent like the world around us. We wait and pray like Jesus waited and prayed all night long with His Father. We enter in. It is a place we are welcome to come into. Grace has made this our place... our pool... our fountain... our death... our burial... our resurrection.
"But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." - Romans 13:14 ESV
"But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." - Romans 8:10-14 ESV
Later it will not be quiet. The world will be moving. There will be more decisions to be made but the dynamic is the same. Jesus was the same Jesus praying all night as He was walking, talking, healing and teaching. He moved as grace and truth personified. We move a trophies of grace personified. Putting on Christ we make choices in the flow of the river we have stepped into. God's power and life is the medium we move in and because of that we are led of God having wind in our sails.
This is not a work. It is a choice made possible by the Gospel of Grace. This is the narrow road that leads to life.
Jesus was dragged willingly into this process knowing that when He went to Jerusalem it would begin. He suffered in stillness and submission not resisting but walked bearing His cross in His Father's plan. Taken by the flow of it and aligning His will with each twist and turn. Then after the resurrection we see a man raised from death into life who moved with purpose towards ascension and session (sitting at the right hand of the Father). Jesus completed this work and ran this race.
Our entry point is Christ's death but once we enter in we are brought instantly to to Christ's session. He is alive and reigning now and we also are alive and reigning with Him.
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." - Romans 5:17 KJV
One day the spiritual action we enter into by an act of reckoning will become a physical reality.
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also." - John 14:3 ESV
Until then we put on what we have been given by grace and the light of Heaven shines in and through our lives as broken but treasure filled earthen vessels.
At any moment we can return and enter in. We can quiet ourselves and be in the flow again. It is a choice away. The life that is produced inside will work on the outside in time. Faith will produce words that have power. Victorious life will make a difference in the world that only Heaven's history books will reveal in fullness.
--
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." - Galatians 2:20 KJV
There is an action that happens by God's power... a transfer that occurs. By an act of will we enter into a process that was not initiated by us nor is it sustained by us. Like a person stepping into a flowing river we step into the stillness of Christ's death. It surrounds us and momentarily muffles our senses like diving into a pool or being lowered by strong arms into the water at baptism.
We willingly place ourselves into His death but that is just a starting point.
Early in the morning the Earth is still asleep. No sun has risen yet and few things are stirring. We can become silent like the world around us. We wait and pray like Jesus waited and prayed all night long with His Father. We enter in. It is a place we are welcome to come into. Grace has made this our place... our pool... our fountain... our death... our burial... our resurrection.
"But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." - Romans 13:14 ESV
"But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." - Romans 8:10-14 ESV
Later it will not be quiet. The world will be moving. There will be more decisions to be made but the dynamic is the same. Jesus was the same Jesus praying all night as He was walking, talking, healing and teaching. He moved as grace and truth personified. We move a trophies of grace personified. Putting on Christ we make choices in the flow of the river we have stepped into. God's power and life is the medium we move in and because of that we are led of God having wind in our sails.
This is not a work. It is a choice made possible by the Gospel of Grace. This is the narrow road that leads to life.
Jesus was dragged willingly into this process knowing that when He went to Jerusalem it would begin. He suffered in stillness and submission not resisting but walked bearing His cross in His Father's plan. Taken by the flow of it and aligning His will with each twist and turn. Then after the resurrection we see a man raised from death into life who moved with purpose towards ascension and session (sitting at the right hand of the Father). Jesus completed this work and ran this race.
Our entry point is Christ's death but once we enter in we are brought instantly to to Christ's session. He is alive and reigning now and we also are alive and reigning with Him.
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." - Romans 5:17 KJV
One day the spiritual action we enter into by an act of reckoning will become a physical reality.
"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also." - John 14:3 ESV
Until then we put on what we have been given by grace and the light of Heaven shines in and through our lives as broken but treasure filled earthen vessels.
At any moment we can return and enter in. We can quiet ourselves and be in the flow again. It is a choice away. The life that is produced inside will work on the outside in time. Faith will produce words that have power. Victorious life will make a difference in the world that only Heaven's history books will reveal in fullness.
--
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Choose Life
Why do people who would never think about playing the lottery start thinking about it when the winnings start getting really really high? Maybe it is because the cost to investment ratio becomes more and more disproportionate. Suddenly it seems worth it.
"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. ... I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." Deuteronomy 30:15, 19-20 ESV
Life is the greatest possible return and death is the greatest loss or risk.
I sat with a man recently who is angry about the slaughter of millions of people over the centuries... It is a contradiction that he can not reconcile against the existence of a good caring God. There either can't be a God at all or if He has the control He claims He must be immoral.
Knowing the capacity of the mind to suppress things it can't reconcile I can understand how negating God's existence on a conscious or subconscious level would be the easier choice. The thought that God is immoral or evil would produce a fear I wouldn't want to live in.
Back to choices. What if all my choices are life or death ones? What if time is short and each moment is more costly than any lottery prize could ever hope to be.
Mankind has suffered like they have because of choices. God is not immoral... he is respectful. Yes, He has set the stakes very high because He wants each of us to get great returns on each investment of faith.
Without Jesus we could not find the right choice. It was death, death and more death. We were condemned already.
"I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus" 1 Corinthians 1:4 ESV
Grace was given in Christ so that we could say, "Yes and Amen'. Every time we do we win and live in the victory that is already ours.
"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. ... I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." Deuteronomy 30:15, 19-20 ESV
Life is the greatest possible return and death is the greatest loss or risk.
I sat with a man recently who is angry about the slaughter of millions of people over the centuries... It is a contradiction that he can not reconcile against the existence of a good caring God. There either can't be a God at all or if He has the control He claims He must be immoral.
Knowing the capacity of the mind to suppress things it can't reconcile I can understand how negating God's existence on a conscious or subconscious level would be the easier choice. The thought that God is immoral or evil would produce a fear I wouldn't want to live in.
Back to choices. What if all my choices are life or death ones? What if time is short and each moment is more costly than any lottery prize could ever hope to be.
Mankind has suffered like they have because of choices. God is not immoral... he is respectful. Yes, He has set the stakes very high because He wants each of us to get great returns on each investment of faith.
Without Jesus we could not find the right choice. It was death, death and more death. We were condemned already.
"I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus" 1 Corinthians 1:4 ESV
Grace was given in Christ so that we could say, "Yes and Amen'. Every time we do we win and live in the victory that is already ours.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Evaporate the Old and Distill the New
Thoughts that pass through evaporation, Heavenly condensation and distillation do what they were sent to do.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:8-11 ESV
Water is a solvent and picks up impurities easily along the way. Evaporation removes the impurities and leaves them behind. Then up, up it goes in the air until the conditions are right and the vapor condenses and is heavier than the air around it and down it comes to wash and water the world.
God's thoughts are holy and pure like distilled water. Evaporation is the ultimate filter because water temporarily changes form and that form is not a liquid or a solid.
It makes me think of the the Crucifixion, Burial, Resurrection and Session (seated with Christ) cycle. The cross evaporates our person. We survive the process in a different form. Instead of being a liquid human being we are a vapor human being with different properties.
That vapor floats in the Heavens. That vapor can be sent by God to where He wants it.
There is a cycle that keeps our thinking clean where the cross is dealing with the old and there is renewed newness.
My thinking is like a swamp or an iceberg. I want to live in the light of God countenance where there is release in love to join Him in the Heaven's and be sent back down to Earth as He pleases.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:8-11 ESV
Water is a solvent and picks up impurities easily along the way. Evaporation removes the impurities and leaves them behind. Then up, up it goes in the air until the conditions are right and the vapor condenses and is heavier than the air around it and down it comes to wash and water the world.
God's thoughts are holy and pure like distilled water. Evaporation is the ultimate filter because water temporarily changes form and that form is not a liquid or a solid.
It makes me think of the the Crucifixion, Burial, Resurrection and Session (seated with Christ) cycle. The cross evaporates our person. We survive the process in a different form. Instead of being a liquid human being we are a vapor human being with different properties.
That vapor floats in the Heavens. That vapor can be sent by God to where He wants it.
There is a cycle that keeps our thinking clean where the cross is dealing with the old and there is renewed newness.
My thinking is like a swamp or an iceberg. I want to live in the light of God countenance where there is release in love to join Him in the Heaven's and be sent back down to Earth as He pleases.
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