"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." - John 6:63 ESV
Many people have clever things to say but Jesus' words are different. They have life. The person of God speaks the words and the Spirit of God gives.
Our body is great for certain things but not in this. We need more than what our body can tell us. We need what only Jesus can tell us. He alone has the missing puzzle pieces.
Simple. So simple.
I wonder who it was who thought to make a 'red letter edition' of the Bible. I'd like to shake that man's hand. He knew something special.
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Showing posts with label Word of God. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Word of God. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Friday, December 11, 2015
The Underground Work Of Grace
I love how God does His work quietly inside us.
"The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high... When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built." - 1 Kings 6:2, 7 ESV
"Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" - Jeremiah 23:29 ESV
"if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." - 1 Peter 2:3-5 ESV
When people pick up the words of God and use them as a hammer everyone in earshot is disturbed by the noise. People feel beat up and get tired of living on a construction site where nothing is ever good enough.
Solomon was a wise king. He had the loud work done in secret.
There are moments when the Holy Spirit uses the word of God to break things up inside me and carve off my ego so that I will be the correct dimensions to slip right into place. But many times those are secret moments and not a spectacle with a crowd of witnesses.
"With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone." - Proverbs 25:15 ESV
The grace of God is a soft answer that does a powerful work inside a person and it does it without pounding them on the outside.
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." - 1 Corinthians 1:25 ESV
Foolish men think they must see sparks fly and a cloud of dust in order for something to happen. Usually it is the opposite. God does his spiritual work quietly on the inside through investment on the outside.
--
"The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high... When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built." - 1 Kings 6:2, 7 ESV
"Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" - Jeremiah 23:29 ESV
"if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." - 1 Peter 2:3-5 ESV
When people pick up the words of God and use them as a hammer everyone in earshot is disturbed by the noise. People feel beat up and get tired of living on a construction site where nothing is ever good enough.
Solomon was a wise king. He had the loud work done in secret.
There are moments when the Holy Spirit uses the word of God to break things up inside me and carve off my ego so that I will be the correct dimensions to slip right into place. But many times those are secret moments and not a spectacle with a crowd of witnesses.
"With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone." - Proverbs 25:15 ESV
The grace of God is a soft answer that does a powerful work inside a person and it does it without pounding them on the outside.
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." - 1 Corinthians 1:25 ESV
Foolish men think they must see sparks fly and a cloud of dust in order for something to happen. Usually it is the opposite. God does his spiritual work quietly on the inside through investment on the outside.
--
Friday, November 13, 2015
The Soul
We had a great conversation last night and the memory of the discussion got me thinking about and looking up verses about the soul.
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." - Genesis 2:7 KJV
"Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel." - Proverbs 27:9 ESV
The word translated 'soul' in Genesis 2 and the word translated 'earnest' in Proverbs 27 are both the Hebrew word nephesh (Strong's H5315). Our soul has a form or structure but unlike our body which is made and matter our soul is inter-dimensional. It is more like wind. It has substance and that substance is felt more like an odor or like a breeze is felt on your body or when you look out the wind at the trees and see the leaves move.
We are a soul that has a body. The body ages. The soul does not but the soul does have capacities and incapacitates. It has inter-dimensional form and structure.
"And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all." - 1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV
The word translated 'fainthearted' is the Greek word oligopsychos (G3642) and it can be translated 'small souled'. People can have small souls. There can be damage in the structure of the soul or perhaps it is damage to the connection of the soul to the rest of the person that cuts off the flow. What we see is faintheartedness or as the KJV translates it... feeblemindedness.
A person with no (or little) soul can't cope. Processing reality is diminished or at a low level.
"And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." - Acts 20:32 KJV
"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily," - Colossians 2:6-9 ESV
Words of grace are able to build up. Like nutrition is able to build up our body because it is solid. Grace is able to build up our soul which is timeless.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:29-30 ESV
Yes. In Jesus our soul finds rest.
"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." - Psalm 1:1-6 ESV
I want to be concerned about a person's soul. I want to have a holistic approach to people and to myself. The body is important but so is the soul.
God please teach us to be mindful of invisible things.
"Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel." - Proverbs 27:9 ESV
Thank You for being our sweet friend.
--
"And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." - Genesis 2:7 KJV
"Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel." - Proverbs 27:9 ESV
The word translated 'soul' in Genesis 2 and the word translated 'earnest' in Proverbs 27 are both the Hebrew word nephesh (Strong's H5315). Our soul has a form or structure but unlike our body which is made and matter our soul is inter-dimensional. It is more like wind. It has substance and that substance is felt more like an odor or like a breeze is felt on your body or when you look out the wind at the trees and see the leaves move.
We are a soul that has a body. The body ages. The soul does not but the soul does have capacities and incapacitates. It has inter-dimensional form and structure.
"And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all." - 1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV
The word translated 'fainthearted' is the Greek word oligopsychos (G3642) and it can be translated 'small souled'. People can have small souls. There can be damage in the structure of the soul or perhaps it is damage to the connection of the soul to the rest of the person that cuts off the flow. What we see is faintheartedness or as the KJV translates it... feeblemindedness.
A person with no (or little) soul can't cope. Processing reality is diminished or at a low level.
"And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified." - Acts 20:32 KJV
"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily," - Colossians 2:6-9 ESV
Words of grace are able to build up. Like nutrition is able to build up our body because it is solid. Grace is able to build up our soul which is timeless.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:29-30 ESV
Yes. In Jesus our soul finds rest.
"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish." - Psalm 1:1-6 ESV
I want to be concerned about a person's soul. I want to have a holistic approach to people and to myself. The body is important but so is the soul.
God please teach us to be mindful of invisible things.
"Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel." - Proverbs 27:9 ESV
Thank You for being our sweet friend.
--
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Words Of Manifestation
"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 'I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.' Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, 'Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?' " - John 14:16-22 ESV
Judas (not Iscariot) asks a great question here and I have read the chapter several times looking for an answer and Jesus answers the question in a very indirect way.
"Jesus answered him, 'If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. 'These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.' " - John 14:23-27 ESV
Words. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of truth. Jesus came to bring the Fathers words. We are born from seed that is made of words. We are the product of words.
"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power." - Hebrews 1:1-3a ESV
Jesus' words won't stick to the world. They won't be retained. Our natural man has no use for God's words. Naturally speaking we are filled with our own words.
Our helper, advocate, coach and teacher is going to help us with words and those words have power. The world was created with words. Words can heal. Words are keys that lock and open doors. When the word is in us a home is created for the Father to live in us. God's words and His peace go hand in hand.
Every decision we make that is based on a word the God has spoken has eternal impact. It isn't memorization issue. It is a internalization issue.
"Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts." - Jeremiah 15:16 ESV
Yes.
God's word is linked to His manifestation and His manifestation is linked to His word. His words are His person manifested objectively in the world. When we quote the Father He Is in the room with us and there is a conversation that Heaven is participating in.
Amazing.
--
Judas (not Iscariot) asks a great question here and I have read the chapter several times looking for an answer and Jesus answers the question in a very indirect way.
"Jesus answered him, 'If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. 'These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.' " - John 14:23-27 ESV
Words. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of truth. Jesus came to bring the Fathers words. We are born from seed that is made of words. We are the product of words.
"Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power." - Hebrews 1:1-3a ESV
Jesus' words won't stick to the world. They won't be retained. Our natural man has no use for God's words. Naturally speaking we are filled with our own words.
Our helper, advocate, coach and teacher is going to help us with words and those words have power. The world was created with words. Words can heal. Words are keys that lock and open doors. When the word is in us a home is created for the Father to live in us. God's words and His peace go hand in hand.
Every decision we make that is based on a word the God has spoken has eternal impact. It isn't memorization issue. It is a internalization issue.
"Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts." - Jeremiah 15:16 ESV
Yes.
God's word is linked to His manifestation and His manifestation is linked to His word. His words are His person manifested objectively in the world. When we quote the Father He Is in the room with us and there is a conversation that Heaven is participating in.
Amazing.
--
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Blind Spots
Blind spots are interesting things. The effects of them are seen but the cause is not seen. Those effects can be frustrating because lack of sensory input makes it impossible to anticipate or avoid what is hidden from us using our vision.
Not only do our senses have blind, numb, silent, tasteless and odorless spots but our perception as a whole has them. Our feelings have them. They can be natural limitations or they can be caused by trauma.
Not to play into stereotypes but a woman might ask a man how he feels about something and get a blank stare in return. That man may have to turn his head in order to see into the place where that blind spot is in order to see his feelings on the subject. They are there but not in view. Some folks are to stubborn and stiff necked to ever turn their head to see anything but what they are focused on.
"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." - Romans 10:17 ESV
The 'word' in that sentence is Rhema. The Rhema of Christ gives us something that we were blind to before. If it were Logos it would be education but it is the illumination of understanding that comes from a perspective that we could never turn our head far enough to see.
Our spiritual ears give information that our eyes and other senses are blind to perceiving.
"Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the LORD? He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear. The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious." - Isaiah 42:18-21 ESV
Jesus came into the world very aware of the blindness and deafness of His humanity. He was Spirit led. His Father's Words did not just aid His eyes. His Father's Words were His eyes.
A Rhema of grace accompanies the Rhema of Christ. The Bible is one dimensional and two dimensional at best without the illumination of grace. Grace opens up God's character and makes Him accessible. It reveals God's motives even if the details of His plan remain hidden from us.
"Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face." - Job 13:15 ESV
Many quote this verse but it reveals a man with blind spots. Here is a person groping to trust in God's mercy but unable to let go of His own arguments because grace has not penetrated that area of His thinking.
"Then Job answered the LORD and said: 'I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. "Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?" Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. "Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me." I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.' " - Job 42:1-6 ESV
Grace shatters our old perceptions in their rigidness of duty and moral strength and gives us new humble ears.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear." - Matthew 11:15 ESV
This is the place where some would say that God gives power to overcome our personal blind spots and we get victory over every wound that has ever caused us to have sensory deficits but I'm not going to say that. This is not a prosperity message. That is a road that leads to mania, self delusion and disappointment. The men who shout prosperity the loudest are the ones who want it the most but do not have it yet and are hoping that it will change if they speak louder.
God in His sovereignty may speak details that supplement our self perception like a coach does. The Spirit is our comforter and counselor. His purpose is not self illumination or empowerment. He makes us alive so we can be alive and fellowship with the Trinity.
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." - John 14:26 ESV
Instead of sharpening our blurry focus He is going the turn our spiritual heads to look in the direction we would not look in before and become our vision. Like Moses turning aside from his shepherding tasks to examine a burning bush that is not consumed we are turned aside by the wonder of grace to hear God's voice call us and send us on a redemptive mission. God heard Moses when he pointed out his own limitations. God knew all about it and sent him anyway as a limited man. Moses outgrew some of those things and others he carried to the grave but those limitations became small things in comparison to the great deliverance at hand.
Today we can hear the voice of God and let grace turn our heads to explore what we can not see and function in that eternal perspective. If God wants to change something that Is His business not ours. Grace has shut our mouths and given us ears to hear.
---
Not only do our senses have blind, numb, silent, tasteless and odorless spots but our perception as a whole has them. Our feelings have them. They can be natural limitations or they can be caused by trauma.
Not to play into stereotypes but a woman might ask a man how he feels about something and get a blank stare in return. That man may have to turn his head in order to see into the place where that blind spot is in order to see his feelings on the subject. They are there but not in view. Some folks are to stubborn and stiff necked to ever turn their head to see anything but what they are focused on.
"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." - Romans 10:17 ESV
The 'word' in that sentence is Rhema. The Rhema of Christ gives us something that we were blind to before. If it were Logos it would be education but it is the illumination of understanding that comes from a perspective that we could never turn our head far enough to see.
Our spiritual ears give information that our eyes and other senses are blind to perceiving.
"Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! Who is blind but my servant, or deaf as my messenger whom I send? Who is blind as my dedicated one, or blind as the servant of the LORD? He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear. The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to magnify his law and make it glorious." - Isaiah 42:18-21 ESV
Jesus came into the world very aware of the blindness and deafness of His humanity. He was Spirit led. His Father's Words did not just aid His eyes. His Father's Words were His eyes.
A Rhema of grace accompanies the Rhema of Christ. The Bible is one dimensional and two dimensional at best without the illumination of grace. Grace opens up God's character and makes Him accessible. It reveals God's motives even if the details of His plan remain hidden from us.
"Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face." - Job 13:15 ESV
Many quote this verse but it reveals a man with blind spots. Here is a person groping to trust in God's mercy but unable to let go of His own arguments because grace has not penetrated that area of His thinking.
"Then Job answered the LORD and said: 'I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. "Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?" Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. "Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me." I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.' " - Job 42:1-6 ESV
Grace shatters our old perceptions in their rigidness of duty and moral strength and gives us new humble ears.
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear." - Matthew 11:15 ESV
This is the place where some would say that God gives power to overcome our personal blind spots and we get victory over every wound that has ever caused us to have sensory deficits but I'm not going to say that. This is not a prosperity message. That is a road that leads to mania, self delusion and disappointment. The men who shout prosperity the loudest are the ones who want it the most but do not have it yet and are hoping that it will change if they speak louder.
God in His sovereignty may speak details that supplement our self perception like a coach does. The Spirit is our comforter and counselor. His purpose is not self illumination or empowerment. He makes us alive so we can be alive and fellowship with the Trinity.
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you." - John 14:26 ESV
Instead of sharpening our blurry focus He is going the turn our spiritual heads to look in the direction we would not look in before and become our vision. Like Moses turning aside from his shepherding tasks to examine a burning bush that is not consumed we are turned aside by the wonder of grace to hear God's voice call us and send us on a redemptive mission. God heard Moses when he pointed out his own limitations. God knew all about it and sent him anyway as a limited man. Moses outgrew some of those things and others he carried to the grave but those limitations became small things in comparison to the great deliverance at hand.
Today we can hear the voice of God and let grace turn our heads to explore what we can not see and function in that eternal perspective. If God wants to change something that Is His business not ours. Grace has shut our mouths and given us ears to hear.
---
Tuesday, September 23, 2014
Sweet Words
Praise isn't worship. Praise is what we do because of worship. Worship is a study of God's character. We get glimpses of grace and those glimpses produce praise.
People can worship other people. It happens all the time in fact. Our eyes move to the things we see and true worship ceases. A little convenient editing while wearing rose colored glasses gives us praise for people.
Worship of God is true worship. The deeper we go into who God Is the more cause there is for praise and further exploration. Man made in the image of God also has a depth but we aren't going to like what we see if we dig too deep.
"You shall have no other gods before me." - Exodus 20:3 ESV
"Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips." - Exodus 23:13 ESV
God is jealous this way. Any other God must be a lie because He Is the only God. He is the God of all grace.
How many 'sweet words' have been lost (see Proverbs 23:8) because we realize the flaws in people. It might just take as little as a drive on our local highway or in your downtown center to lose sweet words and trade then for sour ones.
It is a paradox. When we worship God we can love people because God loves people. When we worship people we can't love God because we have forsaken the fountain of living waters..
Praise is not an activity for me. If I don't have praise on my lips then something has happened. It means my spiritual vision is either obscured or misplaced. I either can't really see who God Is or I have stopped looking at Him and started looking at something else for my happiness, provision and focus.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith" - Hebrews 12:1-2a ESV
"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." - Colossians 3:1-3 ESV
"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." - 2 Timothy 1:6-7 ESV
Oh, I love that translation of 2 Timothy 1 verse 6. Fan into flame the gift of grace. If you are born from above that fire can not die. The embers may be small but they are alive. Fan them. Fan the gift of your calling... fan the gift of salvation... be with people who are alive and get close to their fire... listen to a preacher who burns with the fire of grace and is not consumed... let the reality of grace have the air that it needs to be reignited in your life and feed scripture and concentration into that fire and praise will just come. It will spring from your lips as God comes into view in the face of Jesus Christ.
--
People can worship other people. It happens all the time in fact. Our eyes move to the things we see and true worship ceases. A little convenient editing while wearing rose colored glasses gives us praise for people.
Worship of God is true worship. The deeper we go into who God Is the more cause there is for praise and further exploration. Man made in the image of God also has a depth but we aren't going to like what we see if we dig too deep.
"You shall have no other gods before me." - Exodus 20:3 ESV
"Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips." - Exodus 23:13 ESV
God is jealous this way. Any other God must be a lie because He Is the only God. He is the God of all grace.
How many 'sweet words' have been lost (see Proverbs 23:8) because we realize the flaws in people. It might just take as little as a drive on our local highway or in your downtown center to lose sweet words and trade then for sour ones.
It is a paradox. When we worship God we can love people because God loves people. When we worship people we can't love God because we have forsaken the fountain of living waters..
Praise is not an activity for me. If I don't have praise on my lips then something has happened. It means my spiritual vision is either obscured or misplaced. I either can't really see who God Is or I have stopped looking at Him and started looking at something else for my happiness, provision and focus.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith" - Hebrews 12:1-2a ESV
"If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." - Colossians 3:1-3 ESV
"For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." - 2 Timothy 1:6-7 ESV
Oh, I love that translation of 2 Timothy 1 verse 6. Fan into flame the gift of grace. If you are born from above that fire can not die. The embers may be small but they are alive. Fan them. Fan the gift of your calling... fan the gift of salvation... be with people who are alive and get close to their fire... listen to a preacher who burns with the fire of grace and is not consumed... let the reality of grace have the air that it needs to be reignited in your life and feed scripture and concentration into that fire and praise will just come. It will spring from your lips as God comes into view in the face of Jesus Christ.
--
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Understanding Ministry
Pondering 'The Ministry' and approaching the word as if I have never heard it before. I think it is concept that is misunderstood and one we can get familiar with and miss the true value of this God given dynamic.
The word 'ministry' comes from the Greek word Diakonia (Strong's G1248) and it basically speaks of administering a stewardship of distribution. A ministry is in a sense a distribution center and a minister is an individual who assumes the role as a distributor... much like a mailman has a route and the moves the mail from their truck and put it in the right box or leave it at the correct door.
Every believer has a ministry of reconciliation.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." - 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 ESV
So in a way we are all mailmen of the message but it is more than that.
"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:" - 1 Peter 4:10 ESV
It involves stewardship in personal service to one another. We are stewards of grace and that grace is many sided grace.
"Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, 'In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything." - 2 Corinthians 6:1-10 ESV
The 'we' aspect of ministry is very real. Flying solo we do not experience it but corporately there is a shared life and a magnification that must be experienced.
"For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee... Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith." - 2 Corinthians 1:20-22, 24 ESV
Pastors are helpers of the joy of a flock full of ministers. Stephen, and other men, worked in the food bank so that the Apostles would be free to pray and administer the word of God to people (see Acts 6:4f) so that in understanding the individual can remain focused on what is important and real.
--
The word 'ministry' comes from the Greek word Diakonia (Strong's G1248) and it basically speaks of administering a stewardship of distribution. A ministry is in a sense a distribution center and a minister is an individual who assumes the role as a distributor... much like a mailman has a route and the moves the mail from their truck and put it in the right box or leave it at the correct door.
Every believer has a ministry of reconciliation.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." - 2 Corinthians 5:17-20 ESV
So in a way we are all mailmen of the message but it is more than that.
"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace:" - 1 Peter 4:10 ESV
It involves stewardship in personal service to one another. We are stewards of grace and that grace is many sided grace.
"Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, 'In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.' Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything." - 2 Corinthians 6:1-10 ESV
The 'we' aspect of ministry is very real. Flying solo we do not experience it but corporately there is a shared life and a magnification that must be experienced.
"For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee... Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith." - 2 Corinthians 1:20-22, 24 ESV
Pastors are helpers of the joy of a flock full of ministers. Stephen, and other men, worked in the food bank so that the Apostles would be free to pray and administer the word of God to people (see Acts 6:4f) so that in understanding the individual can remain focused on what is important and real.
--
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Eternal Words
"He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for 'All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.' And this word is the good news that was preached to you." - 1 Peter 1:20-25 ESV
Jesus never had a beginning.
"Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.' " - John 8:58 ESV
What a statement to make.
We sure seem to have a beginning. We have 'earliest memories' and for some they are clear but for others they have jumbled cloudy recollections. The scriptures are clear that souls have no end. They spend eternity somewhere. These bodies are more like grass they have a life cycle... a short one at that.
God has given mankind an eternal vehicle for his everlasting soul. Words. Words that purify and words that multiply. We can be born again by words and those words will provide a structure for a forever life.
Amazing.
"And this word is the good news that was preached to you." - 1 Peter 1:25b ESV
The 'good news' here is one word in the Greek Rhema (Strong's G4487) a living word that illuminates.
Non-believers will get a last word from God and never hear Him again.
"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." - Matthew 7:23 KJV
Believer will never get a last word from God. God will be forever speaking.
"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' " - Matthew 25:23 ESV
--
Jesus never had a beginning.
"Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.' " - John 8:58 ESV
What a statement to make.
We sure seem to have a beginning. We have 'earliest memories' and for some they are clear but for others they have jumbled cloudy recollections. The scriptures are clear that souls have no end. They spend eternity somewhere. These bodies are more like grass they have a life cycle... a short one at that.
God has given mankind an eternal vehicle for his everlasting soul. Words. Words that purify and words that multiply. We can be born again by words and those words will provide a structure for a forever life.
Amazing.
"And this word is the good news that was preached to you." - 1 Peter 1:25b ESV
The 'good news' here is one word in the Greek Rhema (Strong's G4487) a living word that illuminates.
Non-believers will get a last word from God and never hear Him again.
"And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." - Matthew 7:23 KJV
Believer will never get a last word from God. God will be forever speaking.
"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.' " - Matthew 25:23 ESV
--
Monday, March 24, 2014
In Place As Spectators
"Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you, and that we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one." - 2 Thessalonians 3:1-3 ESV
These are some really interesting verses. At face value they are interesting and when you look into the Greek they get more interesting.
Paul asks for a two pronged prayer to be prayed for their group.
One, That the word would 'speed ahead' and be glorified among the next group of people they encounter.
Secondly, He asks for deliverance from two types of people. The word translated wicked does not refer to evil. It is Atopos (Strong's G824) and it means to be out of place. Someone ignorant or oblivious to where they are placed. The next group is Poneros (G4190) men who are organized from a different opposing kingdom.
Then he makes a blanket statement about both groups. 'Not all have faith.' The original put a definite article in front of faith so it can be translated. 'Not all have this specific kind of faith.' The kind of faith that is presented in a grace context. The kind that sees glory in the word of grace that comes and speeds into our midst and then ahead and out to the uttermost parts of the Earth. The kind that sees God as a faithful.
Paul asks them to pray this way because he has had 'successful' mission trips and at other times the group has been severely hindered. Prayer make a difference in ways we can not fathom in these arenas.
The Lord is the faithful one. He is faithful to 'establish' you (Sterizo G4741) which in this context means to make firm, strengthen and place you in the correct position so that you are not out of place. Grace puts you in the right place at the right time and in a frame of mind that glorifies God as a spectator to His work. Watching from the correct vantage point and rejoicing at what you see. He is also able to guard you from the evil and the disorderly.
Notice it says that God is able, not that He is automatically going to do it. There is a prayer element that we don't understand fully. There is an invisible warfare that is going on. The word of grace will speed along if it is given free course and yet there is something about prayer that makes us participants in the grand scheme of things.
'Revival is no more a miracle than a crop of wheat is.' - John Wesley
Wow. What a provoking quote. I stole it from a friend of mine. I am going to keep it. How provoking is that little sentence. If we sow the word of grace, the pure simple Gospel, in prayer and with feet on the ground what will happen? There is real possibility and probability for hindrances because we do it in a faithless world. But then there is the glory... and the people who will be transformed... new groups of friends to meet and fellowship with.
Grace will show us our place. It will put us in our place today.
God fill us with Your Spirit. May Your word have free course in us and through us and may we glorify your name in what we say and do today and through the rest of this week. Thank You God. Thank you for sending Your word our way in You have given us life. Thank You.
--
These are some really interesting verses. At face value they are interesting and when you look into the Greek they get more interesting.
Paul asks for a two pronged prayer to be prayed for their group.
One, That the word would 'speed ahead' and be glorified among the next group of people they encounter.
Secondly, He asks for deliverance from two types of people. The word translated wicked does not refer to evil. It is Atopos (Strong's G824) and it means to be out of place. Someone ignorant or oblivious to where they are placed. The next group is Poneros (G4190) men who are organized from a different opposing kingdom.
Then he makes a blanket statement about both groups. 'Not all have faith.' The original put a definite article in front of faith so it can be translated. 'Not all have this specific kind of faith.' The kind of faith that is presented in a grace context. The kind that sees glory in the word of grace that comes and speeds into our midst and then ahead and out to the uttermost parts of the Earth. The kind that sees God as a faithful.
Paul asks them to pray this way because he has had 'successful' mission trips and at other times the group has been severely hindered. Prayer make a difference in ways we can not fathom in these arenas.
The Lord is the faithful one. He is faithful to 'establish' you (Sterizo G4741) which in this context means to make firm, strengthen and place you in the correct position so that you are not out of place. Grace puts you in the right place at the right time and in a frame of mind that glorifies God as a spectator to His work. Watching from the correct vantage point and rejoicing at what you see. He is also able to guard you from the evil and the disorderly.
Notice it says that God is able, not that He is automatically going to do it. There is a prayer element that we don't understand fully. There is an invisible warfare that is going on. The word of grace will speed along if it is given free course and yet there is something about prayer that makes us participants in the grand scheme of things.
'Revival is no more a miracle than a crop of wheat is.' - John Wesley
Wow. What a provoking quote. I stole it from a friend of mine. I am going to keep it. How provoking is that little sentence. If we sow the word of grace, the pure simple Gospel, in prayer and with feet on the ground what will happen? There is real possibility and probability for hindrances because we do it in a faithless world. But then there is the glory... and the people who will be transformed... new groups of friends to meet and fellowship with.
Grace will show us our place. It will put us in our place today.
God fill us with Your Spirit. May Your word have free course in us and through us and may we glorify your name in what we say and do today and through the rest of this week. Thank You God. Thank you for sending Your word our way in You have given us life. Thank You.
--
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Fed Daily From The Hand Of Another
"And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him," - Luke 19:47 KJV
"And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart," - Acts 2:46 KJV
"Give us day by day our daily bread." - Luke 11:3 KJV
People need to be taught by someone else's voice in order to grow spiritually... and it is needed daily. This is a scripturally supported and promoted truth.
"If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know." - 1 Corinthians 8:2 ESV
Yes. You can say that the primary meaning of this verse involves an understanding of pride but it also has application in freshness... doctrine can get crystallized and brittle in a fallen person's mind... over time because of the plastic nature of memory and the deceitful nature of man we give things a slant they shouldn't have. People don't do it on purpose... not in a conscious way at least... our old man needs to continually justify itself because it has no divine covering of justification.
We might argue that this makes us overly reliant on men. Whatever the downside may seem to be using human rationale the scripture still teaches this and even though men are flawed and not every day may be a teacher or preacher's finest hour... still... by consistently listening to one voice we learn to hear the voice behind the voice. We grow to be discerning hearers.
"When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?'
He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.'
He said to him, 'Feed my lambs.'
He said to him a second time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?'
He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.'
He said to him, 'Tend my sheep.'
He said to him the third time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?'
Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, 'Do you love me?'
and he said to him, 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep.
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.' " - John 21:15-18 ESV
Feed them because they need to eat daily. They need clean water and good food. It will not be easy. It will require a cross life for the teacher and the listener alike. Not a constant endurance of suffering like some people see the cross, that may be part of it at times, but an exchange of life and personal decisions that are made based on the reality of the finished work.
There are no self-made men. There are people who have been turned aside by a burning bush and then heard the voice of God as they stood there with their shoes off.
I need to stand before a burning bush and listen... not just for a moment or an hour but daily for a season that may just last the rest of my life... looking past the woodenness of their human nature and marveling at the fire that blazes around them.
I didn't write this to condemn anyone or set some standard that people need to strive to meet... it is simply a principle... if we want to grow this is a crucial element.
If you want big muscles eat the right things and go to the gym regularly. If you want big spiritual muscles eat the right things and exercise using what you are hearing.
--
I'm not saying the ministry I am apart of is the only place to do it but if you want a place to get doctrine you can go do a search on OpenMBCS (this will work today March 2014 the month of this blog post) and get a daily dose of what has fed me for many years.
--
"And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart," - Acts 2:46 KJV
"Give us day by day our daily bread." - Luke 11:3 KJV
People need to be taught by someone else's voice in order to grow spiritually... and it is needed daily. This is a scripturally supported and promoted truth.
"If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know." - 1 Corinthians 8:2 ESV
Yes. You can say that the primary meaning of this verse involves an understanding of pride but it also has application in freshness... doctrine can get crystallized and brittle in a fallen person's mind... over time because of the plastic nature of memory and the deceitful nature of man we give things a slant they shouldn't have. People don't do it on purpose... not in a conscious way at least... our old man needs to continually justify itself because it has no divine covering of justification.
We might argue that this makes us overly reliant on men. Whatever the downside may seem to be using human rationale the scripture still teaches this and even though men are flawed and not every day may be a teacher or preacher's finest hour... still... by consistently listening to one voice we learn to hear the voice behind the voice. We grow to be discerning hearers.
"When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?'
He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.'
He said to him, 'Feed my lambs.'
He said to him a second time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?'
He said to him, 'Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.'
He said to him, 'Tend my sheep.'
He said to him the third time, 'Simon, son of John, do you love me?'
Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, 'Do you love me?'
and he said to him, 'Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.' Jesus said to him, 'Feed my sheep.
Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.' " - John 21:15-18 ESV
Feed them because they need to eat daily. They need clean water and good food. It will not be easy. It will require a cross life for the teacher and the listener alike. Not a constant endurance of suffering like some people see the cross, that may be part of it at times, but an exchange of life and personal decisions that are made based on the reality of the finished work.
There are no self-made men. There are people who have been turned aside by a burning bush and then heard the voice of God as they stood there with their shoes off.
I need to stand before a burning bush and listen... not just for a moment or an hour but daily for a season that may just last the rest of my life... looking past the woodenness of their human nature and marveling at the fire that blazes around them.
I didn't write this to condemn anyone or set some standard that people need to strive to meet... it is simply a principle... if we want to grow this is a crucial element.
If you want big muscles eat the right things and go to the gym regularly. If you want big spiritual muscles eat the right things and exercise using what you are hearing.
--
I'm not saying the ministry I am apart of is the only place to do it but if you want a place to get doctrine you can go do a search on OpenMBCS (this will work today March 2014 the month of this blog post) and get a daily dose of what has fed me for many years.
--
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Training For A Triathlon
I was thinking this morning about what it would take to participate in a triathlon. It is February 19th now. What would I do now and along the way to get ready for one in May?
The the 'Olympic distance' triathlon is a .93 mile swim followed by 25 miles on a bike then ending with a 6.2 mile long distance run.
There would have to be seriousness to the training. If we were passive then when the day of the race came it would become obvious wouldn't it? There would have to be variation in training also. Swimming on some days... cycling and running on others. What about the transitions from water to bicycle and then from bicycle to running. Then there are the hundreds of people who are also involved. What a difference it must be to swim a mile alone versus in a pack of people with varied degrees of swim training and skill churning up the water and blocking the shore.
What if instead of a triathlon in May it is a trial of some kind. No one wants those. Maybe we would just run the other way. Just plant ourselves on the couch and break out the chips and dip.
Trials are coming... they don't have dates like triathlons do but they will soon be upon us.
Like the triathlon that has three parts I was thinking this morning about three things that are vital in any trial. Prayer, time in the Word and quieting myself.
"Pray without ceasing." - 1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." - Colossians 3:16 ESV
"But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me." - Psalms 131:2 ESV
"For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength" - Isaiah 30:15a KJV
Each of these things has a whole sphere of beauty to explore. Some people run and that is what they do. They would never even sit on a bicycle but they know how to run. Perhaps there are those of us that swim in the Word but can't sit for more than five minutes in prayer. Perhaps it is quietness and confidence that is a the place where we excel but we don't really know how to think because we have not climbed hills and navigated the turns of the scriptures.
Then there are the other people in the race (trial) and the details. If we are wise we train in navigating people who have different aptitudes and varied levels of experience.
The trials are coming. There is no need to fear them. We can train to reign in them and beyond them. We can grow in quietness and confidence in God. We can navigates portions of the Bible that we have never gone to before. We can meditate on, take apart and even memorize scripture. We can strengthen our understanding of grace and commit to memory verses regarding salvation. We can pray... alone and with people... pray for the present and for the future.
Training will change our response on that day when the day comes. We will not be flat footed and unprepared.
Jesus prepared His whole life for one final day. He is more than our coach. He has run this race before and He can guide us and strengthen us for each phase of training and each step in the event.
The the 'Olympic distance' triathlon is a .93 mile swim followed by 25 miles on a bike then ending with a 6.2 mile long distance run.
There would have to be seriousness to the training. If we were passive then when the day of the race came it would become obvious wouldn't it? There would have to be variation in training also. Swimming on some days... cycling and running on others. What about the transitions from water to bicycle and then from bicycle to running. Then there are the hundreds of people who are also involved. What a difference it must be to swim a mile alone versus in a pack of people with varied degrees of swim training and skill churning up the water and blocking the shore.
What if instead of a triathlon in May it is a trial of some kind. No one wants those. Maybe we would just run the other way. Just plant ourselves on the couch and break out the chips and dip.
Trials are coming... they don't have dates like triathlons do but they will soon be upon us.
Like the triathlon that has three parts I was thinking this morning about three things that are vital in any trial. Prayer, time in the Word and quieting myself.
"Pray without ceasing." - 1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV
"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." - Colossians 3:16 ESV
"But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me." - Psalms 131:2 ESV
"For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength" - Isaiah 30:15a KJV
Each of these things has a whole sphere of beauty to explore. Some people run and that is what they do. They would never even sit on a bicycle but they know how to run. Perhaps there are those of us that swim in the Word but can't sit for more than five minutes in prayer. Perhaps it is quietness and confidence that is a the place where we excel but we don't really know how to think because we have not climbed hills and navigated the turns of the scriptures.
Then there are the other people in the race (trial) and the details. If we are wise we train in navigating people who have different aptitudes and varied levels of experience.
The trials are coming. There is no need to fear them. We can train to reign in them and beyond them. We can grow in quietness and confidence in God. We can navigates portions of the Bible that we have never gone to before. We can meditate on, take apart and even memorize scripture. We can strengthen our understanding of grace and commit to memory verses regarding salvation. We can pray... alone and with people... pray for the present and for the future.
Training will change our response on that day when the day comes. We will not be flat footed and unprepared.
Jesus prepared His whole life for one final day. He is more than our coach. He has run this race before and He can guide us and strengthen us for each phase of training and each step in the event.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Faith Produced By Rhema
"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." - Romans 10:17 KJV
This passage is so amazing when you look at the Greek. The 'Word of God' in Greek is Rhema (Strongs G4487) Theos (G2316).
In the following passage Logos (G3056) is used for word.
"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God." - Luke 8:11 KJV
The logos is the written word or a concept that is intelligible to the understanding. The Bible is the logos of God's mind. Jesus is the Logos of God. He is what makes God understandable to us. The Logos is vital, pure and unique but it is not what produces faith. It provides a platform for faith to be produced but people can have Logos and still be as dead as a door nail.
In order for faith to be produced there must be a message that is heard but it must be a message that dawns on a person. It must connect in a deep way. The mind of God must touch the mind of man. It can't just be the persuasive argument coming from a learned person... it must be the life of God extended to the soul of a person... the mind, emotions, will, conscience and consciousness of self are all engaged. The Rhema pulls a person out of subjective living and invites them into objective reality.
This kind of hearing can produce transformation because faith is now involved. The logos comes alive. Our relationships come alive. Our purpose for living comes into focus. What God is doing and thinking becomes evident. Truth dawns on us and we are not living in the dark. We have a light.
Rhema doesn't tell you what you want to hear. It might say 'Dig ditches and God will deliver the enemy into your hands.' (2 Kings 3) and then the Rhema declares defeat in battle (1 Kings 22). People use the logos to make things come out the way they want it to. God's word is turned into a self-help manual. One of many on a shelf with all the others.
No. The word of God is more than that. Grace is the Rhema of God! Your flesh is going to die in the battle. Your Spirit will have victory. Grace unveils divine reality. The Gospel of Grace is the invitation into God's divine provision for salvation. It isn't going to save your self life. The unconditional nature of it is going to kill it. It is the love that will save your soul and illuminate your spirit. It will save you forever and moment by moment in the details of life.
Jesus did it all. That is Rhema. We can have the His righteousness placed on our account as a gift and only if we receive it as a gift. That is the provision. Then in that provision we can walk by faith into our day with a spiritual victory.
Let's walk in the Rhema that saved us. That might have happened moments ago or years ago. In that light God will give us more light... specific light for day ahead of us.
--
This passage is so amazing when you look at the Greek. The 'Word of God' in Greek is Rhema (Strongs G4487) Theos (G2316).
In the following passage Logos (G3056) is used for word.
"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God." - Luke 8:11 KJV
The logos is the written word or a concept that is intelligible to the understanding. The Bible is the logos of God's mind. Jesus is the Logos of God. He is what makes God understandable to us. The Logos is vital, pure and unique but it is not what produces faith. It provides a platform for faith to be produced but people can have Logos and still be as dead as a door nail.
In order for faith to be produced there must be a message that is heard but it must be a message that dawns on a person. It must connect in a deep way. The mind of God must touch the mind of man. It can't just be the persuasive argument coming from a learned person... it must be the life of God extended to the soul of a person... the mind, emotions, will, conscience and consciousness of self are all engaged. The Rhema pulls a person out of subjective living and invites them into objective reality.
This kind of hearing can produce transformation because faith is now involved. The logos comes alive. Our relationships come alive. Our purpose for living comes into focus. What God is doing and thinking becomes evident. Truth dawns on us and we are not living in the dark. We have a light.
Rhema doesn't tell you what you want to hear. It might say 'Dig ditches and God will deliver the enemy into your hands.' (2 Kings 3) and then the Rhema declares defeat in battle (1 Kings 22). People use the logos to make things come out the way they want it to. God's word is turned into a self-help manual. One of many on a shelf with all the others.
No. The word of God is more than that. Grace is the Rhema of God! Your flesh is going to die in the battle. Your Spirit will have victory. Grace unveils divine reality. The Gospel of Grace is the invitation into God's divine provision for salvation. It isn't going to save your self life. The unconditional nature of it is going to kill it. It is the love that will save your soul and illuminate your spirit. It will save you forever and moment by moment in the details of life.
Jesus did it all. That is Rhema. We can have the His righteousness placed on our account as a gift and only if we receive it as a gift. That is the provision. Then in that provision we can walk by faith into our day with a spiritual victory.
Let's walk in the Rhema that saved us. That might have happened moments ago or years ago. In that light God will give us more light... specific light for day ahead of us.
--
Friday, December 6, 2013
It Is Finished - Part 14
"And God said, 'Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.' And it was so. ... And God said, 'Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds - livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.' And it was so." Genesis 1:11, 24 ESV
If 'like begets like' what does the finished work produce?
"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 ESV
Why do we not regard Christ, a perfect person, after the flesh? I always thought this was an interesting idea. I think it is the same reason the Israelite's were not to make graven images of God. Any image would fall short of perfection. Jesus is not just the image he bore on the Earth. Men got glimpses of His glory before the cross. He dwells in that glory now. We are not to confine our imagination to the flesh. We see by faith with grace as our lens.
"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:29-31 ESV
One bit of a fruit brought ruin to the human race. Things have been decaying ever since. One bite of 'It is Finished' brings a newness that will continue to spread through a person. It will overtake creation and one day death will be swallowed up in victory. The last inch of desert will bloom.
"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6 ESV
"Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." Colossians 3:9-10 ESV
Natural plants and creatures replicate using seed or cells split imparting the nature to a new version of itself. God creatures using words. Words uncover reality. God's words create reality. His words are seeds and the light that every seed needs.
"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 3:17-18 ESV
People are so different from each other. Every one carries their own history and unique fingerprint. Grace produces the same kind of newness in each person without destroying their uniqueness.
We speak finished work words by faith. When we do it our mouth is in agreement with Heaven's decree. We bind and loose in a powerful reproductive way. Living in grace and love sets the stage for a glimpse of Christ that will transform.
If 'like begets like' what does the finished work produce?
"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 ESV
Why do we not regard Christ, a perfect person, after the flesh? I always thought this was an interesting idea. I think it is the same reason the Israelite's were not to make graven images of God. Any image would fall short of perfection. Jesus is not just the image he bore on the Earth. Men got glimpses of His glory before the cross. He dwells in that glory now. We are not to confine our imagination to the flesh. We see by faith with grace as our lens.
"For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:29-31 ESV
One bit of a fruit brought ruin to the human race. Things have been decaying ever since. One bite of 'It is Finished' brings a newness that will continue to spread through a person. It will overtake creation and one day death will be swallowed up in victory. The last inch of desert will bloom.
"And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." Philippians 1:6 ESV
"Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." Colossians 3:9-10 ESV
Natural plants and creatures replicate using seed or cells split imparting the nature to a new version of itself. God creatures using words. Words uncover reality. God's words create reality. His words are seeds and the light that every seed needs.
"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 3:17-18 ESV
People are so different from each other. Every one carries their own history and unique fingerprint. Grace produces the same kind of newness in each person without destroying their uniqueness.
We speak finished work words by faith. When we do it our mouth is in agreement with Heaven's decree. We bind and loose in a powerful reproductive way. Living in grace and love sets the stage for a glimpse of Christ that will transform.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
It Is Finished - Part 8
Psalm 119 is such a rich Psalm. If you read it straight from beginning to end it seems to get repetitive but each section is broken out by a specific Hebrew letter. Each letter is associated with words or concepts beginning with that letter.
This particular section relates strongly to our topic... 'The Finished Work of Christ':
"LAMED
Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.
If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.
I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts.
The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies.
I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad." Psalms 119:89-96 ESV
God's word is forever settled in Heaven. It remains vigilant and ready there in it's correct place forever. God's faithfulness also stands and is expressed in every generation.
What Christ has done covers all of humanity. Our perception of what Christ has done has a preserving power on our mind. God does the keeping. The precepts of God become building blocks for our thinks but they are all nestled under the covering of the big picture.
The last verse is especially telling. Here is a breakdown of the Hebrew.
"I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad." Psalms 119:96 KJV
Seen - Ra'ah (Strong's H7200) - To observe, watch or perceive
End - Qets (H7093) - Cut off point
All Perfection - Tiklah (H8502) - Perfect completion or fulfillment, to be consumed fully as by fire
Commandment - mitsvah (H4687) - Blessed participation
Exceeding - Me'od (H3966) - much, many, abundant force
Broad - Rachab (H7342) - Wide, like the freedom of an open field
If we have consciously observed the work of the cross then we have seen the end of perfection. Sin has been utterly consumed as if by fire and open before us is a broad place of freedom.
The letter LAMED is linked to learning or instruction and the fullness of a people group. God clearly links teaching and understanding to the eternal nature of His word and the finished state of His work. Holy ideas are always resting on the immovable, everlasting and complete. These are not theories they are finished facts.
Hope can't be a theory. Theories have room for doubt. Hope must be based on something proven.
The cross has given us something proven and lasting. We have seen the end of all perfection.
This particular section relates strongly to our topic... 'The Finished Work of Christ':
"LAMED
Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.
Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.
If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.
I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts.
The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies.
I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad." Psalms 119:89-96 ESV
God's word is forever settled in Heaven. It remains vigilant and ready there in it's correct place forever. God's faithfulness also stands and is expressed in every generation.
What Christ has done covers all of humanity. Our perception of what Christ has done has a preserving power on our mind. God does the keeping. The precepts of God become building blocks for our thinks but they are all nestled under the covering of the big picture.
The last verse is especially telling. Here is a breakdown of the Hebrew.
"I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad." Psalms 119:96 KJV
Seen - Ra'ah (Strong's H7200) - To observe, watch or perceive
End - Qets (H7093) - Cut off point
All Perfection - Tiklah (H8502) - Perfect completion or fulfillment, to be consumed fully as by fire
Commandment - mitsvah (H4687) - Blessed participation
Exceeding - Me'od (H3966) - much, many, abundant force
Broad - Rachab (H7342) - Wide, like the freedom of an open field
If we have consciously observed the work of the cross then we have seen the end of perfection. Sin has been utterly consumed as if by fire and open before us is a broad place of freedom.
The letter LAMED is linked to learning or instruction and the fullness of a people group. God clearly links teaching and understanding to the eternal nature of His word and the finished state of His work. Holy ideas are always resting on the immovable, everlasting and complete. These are not theories they are finished facts.
Hope can't be a theory. Theories have room for doubt. Hope must be based on something proven.
The cross has given us something proven and lasting. We have seen the end of all perfection.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
The Breath of Life
"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you." John 16:12-15 ESV
There is a person who makes words edify. Nothing is Holy without Him. He is the truth and breath of supply. He is someone who has always been and will always be. By grace he unlocks the treasures of Heaven and gives us what no man or creature could reach or conceive of.
"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" Philippians 2:4-5 KJV
We passively allow a treasure from God's storehouse to be ours. Life. Life as a gift that flows from the vine to the branch and produces fruit in the form of love. Christ is the doorway by which that treasure flows.
Words that bring an eternal gift are a gift.
The giving of the Spirit is in line with the mind of the Father and the mind of the Son. The Son Is God made flesh and given form according to the Father's plan. The Spirit unveils the invisible Father using the visible Son. Words become a vehicle for Life to be experienced.
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:12-13 ESV
They are living words because of the person is behind them. The Spirit is like chemist using the periodic table of the alphabet. Letters are formed into words that have structure as vehicles of understanding. The words have someone who sees behind them. The phrases reveal what is seen.
There are other chemists that play with combinations. Their concoctions also have structures that dazzle. Words that are empty and words that are full of that which is not holy. The breath is another breath. Not the Spirit of grace and truth but something else. That Spirit is inhaled and exhaled but life is not it's source and not it's result. Those words are not a gift. They old and lifeless and eventually leave you gasping and dying for lack of air.
"But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." Luke 11:20 ESV
Jesus is the finger of God reaching in and clearing the air. The Spirit is the fresh wind that blows in from Heaven and banishes the haze so that light can shine on our minds. He fills our lungs so we can breath in sweet air.
"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." Romans 10:17 ESV
As believers we can inhale words made by the master chemist. Those words become a remedy... a doorway... revealing the lover of men's souls. Then we exhale again what we ourselves have breathed in.
God... Help us... fill us. Enlighten our minds with what you have done so that we bring the fresh breeze of clarity with us wherever we go. By your finger banish the clouds of our self life and the haze of the world. We want to be different even as we are different walking in the finished work of Christ and having words that communicate Life.
There is a person who makes words edify. Nothing is Holy without Him. He is the truth and breath of supply. He is someone who has always been and will always be. By grace he unlocks the treasures of Heaven and gives us what no man or creature could reach or conceive of.
"Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" Philippians 2:4-5 KJV
We passively allow a treasure from God's storehouse to be ours. Life. Life as a gift that flows from the vine to the branch and produces fruit in the form of love. Christ is the doorway by which that treasure flows.
Words that bring an eternal gift are a gift.
The giving of the Spirit is in line with the mind of the Father and the mind of the Son. The Son Is God made flesh and given form according to the Father's plan. The Spirit unveils the invisible Father using the visible Son. Words become a vehicle for Life to be experienced.
"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:12-13 ESV
They are living words because of the person is behind them. The Spirit is like chemist using the periodic table of the alphabet. Letters are formed into words that have structure as vehicles of understanding. The words have someone who sees behind them. The phrases reveal what is seen.
There are other chemists that play with combinations. Their concoctions also have structures that dazzle. Words that are empty and words that are full of that which is not holy. The breath is another breath. Not the Spirit of grace and truth but something else. That Spirit is inhaled and exhaled but life is not it's source and not it's result. Those words are not a gift. They old and lifeless and eventually leave you gasping and dying for lack of air.
"But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." Luke 11:20 ESV
Jesus is the finger of God reaching in and clearing the air. The Spirit is the fresh wind that blows in from Heaven and banishes the haze so that light can shine on our minds. He fills our lungs so we can breath in sweet air.
"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." Romans 10:17 ESV
As believers we can inhale words made by the master chemist. Those words become a remedy... a doorway... revealing the lover of men's souls. Then we exhale again what we ourselves have breathed in.
God... Help us... fill us. Enlighten our minds with what you have done so that we bring the fresh breeze of clarity with us wherever we go. By your finger banish the clouds of our self life and the haze of the world. We want to be different even as we are different walking in the finished work of Christ and having words that communicate Life.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Echos
Spurgeon ended his evening devotion for today this way, '...in patience let us possess our souls.' and what great biblical advice that is!
"Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist... By your patience possess your souls." Luke 21:14-15, 19 NKJV
These words are couched right in the middle of prophecy. Jesus is talking to people who will see these things fulfilled within a generation then reflected again in the latter days with their children's children. The concept is referred to as 'The Dual Fulfillment of Prophecy' and it is worthy of study because much begins to make sense once you apply it it to the scriptures involving the end times.
"Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." Luke 21:32-36 NKJV
Prophecy has an echo. Something happens now in the hearers lifetime and then later again in an amplified way. It this case it would be trouble that echoed.
History is an echo chamber but our soul does not have to be. We don't have to replay our words again and again in our minds reviewing what we have said or will say. Patience quiets the self reflected noise. God's Word echos in powerful ways outwardly and ours does not have to inwardly.
Inner recriminations and rehearsals exhaust us and make us look for the external relief that non-thinking 'carousing' brings. They become weights we look to be relieved of. Instead of inner self talk we can communicate with God. We cast our care upon Him. In humility we ask for direction in confidence.
"They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience." 1 Timothy 3:9 ESV
This verse speaks of people who do work related to the church but it applies to all of us.
We can possess our souls in patience when God's words have made their way inside our thinking. Faith can be held on to. This involves our will, a kind of Christ oriented focus and settled decision making (reckoning) that someone who has a living Spirit has rights to participate in. A natural person can believe in themselves or something else with limited power. A spiritual person invests faith and is held by the power of the One they believe in.
Quietness inside is a possession that we don't have to relinquish. Forces try to wrestle it from our grasp but we possess it by faith as we possess our own soul.
Let's fight the good fight of settled faith today. God wants us to have all that He has given.
"Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist... By your patience possess your souls." Luke 21:14-15, 19 NKJV
These words are couched right in the middle of prophecy. Jesus is talking to people who will see these things fulfilled within a generation then reflected again in the latter days with their children's children. The concept is referred to as 'The Dual Fulfillment of Prophecy' and it is worthy of study because much begins to make sense once you apply it it to the scriptures involving the end times.
"Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." Luke 21:32-36 NKJV
Prophecy has an echo. Something happens now in the hearers lifetime and then later again in an amplified way. It this case it would be trouble that echoed.
History is an echo chamber but our soul does not have to be. We don't have to replay our words again and again in our minds reviewing what we have said or will say. Patience quiets the self reflected noise. God's Word echos in powerful ways outwardly and ours does not have to inwardly.
Inner recriminations and rehearsals exhaust us and make us look for the external relief that non-thinking 'carousing' brings. They become weights we look to be relieved of. Instead of inner self talk we can communicate with God. We cast our care upon Him. In humility we ask for direction in confidence.
"They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience." 1 Timothy 3:9 ESV
This verse speaks of people who do work related to the church but it applies to all of us.
We can possess our souls in patience when God's words have made their way inside our thinking. Faith can be held on to. This involves our will, a kind of Christ oriented focus and settled decision making (reckoning) that someone who has a living Spirit has rights to participate in. A natural person can believe in themselves or something else with limited power. A spiritual person invests faith and is held by the power of the One they believe in.
Quietness inside is a possession that we don't have to relinquish. Forces try to wrestle it from our grasp but we possess it by faith as we possess our own soul.
Let's fight the good fight of settled faith today. God wants us to have all that He has given.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Incompetence is Expected
When man does things a degree of incompetence is expected. Luggage is lost, words are misspelled, and plans are not complete. Everyday of our lives is spent managing these problems to one degree or another. We double check things, rethink our plans and remind others not to forget details.
God is not like men in this way.
"This God - his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him." 2 Samuel 22:31 ESV
"Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV
How comforting that is...
"The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple" - Psalms 19:7 ESV
Perfect words from a perfect person produce results.
Grace must flow from the perfect one. No one else would be qualified to give it. The acceptance of an incompetent person is just more compromise.
"And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption" 1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV
"For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV
What a miracle it is that forgetful people can receive grace and give grace. Somehow we are hidden in Christ and our blemishes are all covered by a robe of righteousness.
"Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago." Acts 3:19-21 ESV
It only takes doing this one time for it to be recorded on God's record books. We change our mind once. We let ourselves be persuaded once and that faith is accounted for righteousness.
"Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe" - Romans 3:22a KJV
But today can be a 'time of refreshing' if we remember what Christ has done. Our faults can be blotted out of our thinking. God's perfect word has power to cleanse our conscience of dead works... of dead thinking.
In our weakness we can be led into newness. We can speak words that are true and will be true forever. Our life is not one of endless correction... it is one of being clothed in perfection until perfection comes in it's fullness.
Until then we cover others as we have been covered. Love does that.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Good Ground
"And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand." Luke 8:4-10
Jesus spoke many parables in the Gospels but it is interesting to me that this is the one where we see the disciples ask what the parable means. Perhaps they asked Him many times but here it is recorded in the scriptures. Then His answer to them is recorded.
"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God... But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." Luke 8:11 & 15
These people had this dynamic going on in their life to one degree or another (except for Judas) but still they needed explanation and definition. I think that is because the work God's word is doing in a person is not always apparent. It is something that requires faith because it is not seen right away.
This week a man came to church for the first time and sat in the first row. At the end of the 9am service he raised his hand at the salvation call. P Scibelli had invited him to church 100 times before he came. 100 times!
We are not guaranteed to see immediate return when we invest God Word into our own life or the lives of others but there is a dynamic that is happening none the less and by faith we have 'an ear to hear.' There will be a return... there always is a return of some kind.
The people who go to Jesus about His Word and ask... they understand that God's words are not like other words. They are seeds that contain life in them ready to do a work under the soil... the good heart has God's righteousness given to it and is aware that patience is needed for the process involved... fruit will come someday... the Gospel will do it's work.
We are sowers not transformers. We see value we don't produce value. God does and we are witnesses of His gracious glory.
Each word is like a rain drop that forms into a stream that feeds a mighty river and flows into a cycle of nourishment that returns again like rain. Each phrase a block that builds an eternal structure.
I want to invest in this investment. Jesus and His finished work become visible here when the work of the Word is functioning. No where else will that happen. No work of mine can produce that. This is God's work.
Jesus spoke many parables in the Gospels but it is interesting to me that this is the one where we see the disciples ask what the parable means. Perhaps they asked Him many times but here it is recorded in the scriptures. Then His answer to them is recorded.
"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God... But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." Luke 8:11 & 15
These people had this dynamic going on in their life to one degree or another (except for Judas) but still they needed explanation and definition. I think that is because the work God's word is doing in a person is not always apparent. It is something that requires faith because it is not seen right away.
This week a man came to church for the first time and sat in the first row. At the end of the 9am service he raised his hand at the salvation call. P Scibelli had invited him to church 100 times before he came. 100 times!
We are not guaranteed to see immediate return when we invest God Word into our own life or the lives of others but there is a dynamic that is happening none the less and by faith we have 'an ear to hear.' There will be a return... there always is a return of some kind.
The people who go to Jesus about His Word and ask... they understand that God's words are not like other words. They are seeds that contain life in them ready to do a work under the soil... the good heart has God's righteousness given to it and is aware that patience is needed for the process involved... fruit will come someday... the Gospel will do it's work.
We are sowers not transformers. We see value we don't produce value. God does and we are witnesses of His gracious glory.
Each word is like a rain drop that forms into a stream that feeds a mighty river and flows into a cycle of nourishment that returns again like rain. Each phrase a block that builds an eternal structure.
I want to invest in this investment. Jesus and His finished work become visible here when the work of the Word is functioning. No where else will that happen. No work of mine can produce that. This is God's work.
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