Caught in the Act – Part 2

John 8:7-10 So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”

Continuing Pastor Kyle message, he reminds us that Divine forgiveness does not cancel our human consequences for their sin. Sin comprehends not action only, but neglect of known duty, all evil thoughts purposes, words and desires, whatever is contrary to God's commands or law. Poor decisions (as sins are called today) lead to negative realities and this culture has moral absolutes by their Maker. Only One can rightfully judge us and those guilty of sin must be punished. We’d like to hear that we walk away “scot-free”, but that is not justice. God’s grace lightens the load of sin of those who repent, but we should expect consequences for our thoughts, actions or the lack thereof that are sinful in the eyes of the Lord. But, all-knowing God doesn’t listen to the accusations of others against us and stoops down for our defense in love that directs us to repentance.

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

Also, the grace we give will inevitably become the grace we get. The Lord Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:1-2 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” The Greek word “krinō” is in the present and continuous tense, so actually means “Do not being continually judging people (or don’t be a judgmental person); not “do not judge at all”. That wouldn’t make sense and Jesus goes on to say in verse 6, “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.” You have to judge in order to determine if someone is a dog or swine - (interpreted as godly teaching should be given in accordance with the spiritual capacity of the listener). You have to judge in order to determine that. The concept of reaping what you sow (Galatians 6:7-8) means that if we compassionately sit with people when they are in need, then people will compassionately sit with you. Embrace godly ministry towards others and point people to God’s moral standards and the love of God modeling and speak the truth in love.

John 8:11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

But, “Go and sin no more” is not so simple. Galatians 5:16-17 tells us that, this side of eternity, the sin nature of the flesh is a lifelong struggle and will do it again. God can break the first connection of chains of sin in a second, but it takes years to break the others in the process of sanctification (growing into the likeness of Christ). Long-standing sins need long-term solutions. Let’s be realistic: “Sin is fun” in the moment; we wouldn’t do them if they were not, but every one of them has negative consequences and lose because we all are caught in the act by God. Those who won’t do the long-term work don’t see the long-term wins.

Step away from sin and step towards God’s holy Word, Will and Way. Be a disciple, a student/follower of the Lord Jesus Christ and a child of God/citizen of Heaven forgiven and saved by grace through faith unto godliness, holiness and righteousness.

In Christ, Brian

Caught in the Act – Part 1

John 8:2-6 Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

Last Sunday, Pastor Kyle continued in our Sermon series through he book of John. He said that physical exercise is a big part of fitness, but diet is a bigger part. What are we feeding ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually, so be careful what you take in because garbage in leads to garbage out. Have you noticed how social media now allows our mistakes and mishaps to be immediately broadcast far and wide? And we live in a world today that is good at drama and not good at grace. It was also true in the time of Christ’s visitation as Jesus’ enemies looked for situations where, either way the Lord answered a question or took a position on a subject, He would be condemned by the governing officials and/or the people at large. Over and over again, as in our Bible passage above, they tried to find a “catch 22” circumstance where he would be guilty of a crime no matter which way he went. But, God incarnate countered them at every step on the road of His redemptive mission. Our omniscient Creator is not surprised by the rejection and sin of fallen humanity. The Lord never says: Wow, I never saw that coming!” Sin, by definition is: the voluntary departure of a moral agent from a known rule of rectitude or duty, prescribed by God; any voluntary transgression of the divine law, or violation of a divine command; a wicked act; iniquity. Sin is always, ultimately, against God.

Psalm 86:15 “But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.”

But, God sees our sin and loves us anyway. The Lord desires forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration of His creation and creatures. In Ephesians 2:1-5, the Apostle Paul tells Believers, “You He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).”  He confirms this in Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  We are not generally sinful, but specifically sinful in our planned and plotted thoughts, words and deeds. We are all caught in the act. Through our sins, we let self-righteous ourselves down, we let others down and, centrally, we let God down. But, God seeks our salvation.

Let's continue Pastor Kyle's message on Sin and grace in the next post.

In Christ, Brian

Baptism and Regeneration

John 3:5 “Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.’ “

I’m continuing posting this eye-opening study of the Christian sacraments. This lesson on “baptism” states that, as is true of the Lord’s Supper, the sacrament of baptism signifies or points to several spiritual realities. Westminster Confession of Faith - 28.1 helpfully lists several of these realities, and one of them is regeneration, or the new birth that the Holy Spirit grants to the “born again” believer. The Bible verse, John 3:5 is given in the confession as a proof text for the connection between baptism and regeneration. In theology, the word “regeneration” is defined as: new birth (born from above) by the grace of God; that change by which the will and natural enmity of man to God and his law are subdued, and a principle of supreme love to God and his law, or holy affections, are implanted in the heart. Humans are body, soul and spirit. This is talking about the regeneration of the “spirit” that died when Adam sinned, reconciliation and restoration of our access and relationship with God.

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

This is interesting because in the context of Jesus’ original encounter with Nicodemus, from which the statement recorded in John 3:5 comes, our Savior was almost certainly not referring specifically to Christian baptism. After all, at the time Jesus spoke to Nicodemus, the Great Commission had not been given, and Jesus could hardly have expected him to think of Christian baptism if it had not yet been instituted. What our Lord did expect Nicodemus to know in his vocation as a teacher of Israel was the Hebrew Scriptures, or the Old Testament. There, in Ezekiel 36:25–27, we find a prophecy that God would sprinkle clean water on His people Israel and fill them with His Spirit and with new life after they experienced the metaphorical death of the Babylonian exile.

Were the authors of the Westminster Confession wrong, then, to include John 3:5 as a proof text connecting water baptism and regeneration? No, because while there is no direct reference to baptism in Jesus’ words to Nicodemus, Scripture does frequently connect water imagery with regeneration. Jesus uses water and Spirit to refer to regeneration in alluding to the image of “washing” in connection with regeneration. Baptism is a washing with water, so if Scripture connects regeneration and water, we must ultimately see the symbolic water of baptism as pointing to the reality of spiritual renewal.

Romans 10:9 “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

So, baptism tangibly confirms God’s promise to cleanse from sin and give new life to all, whosoever truly believes. In itself, the rite of baptism does not confer new life, but the sacramental union between baptism and regeneration means that ordinarily, no one is regenerated without also, at some point in his life, receiving the sacrament of baptism. When we struggle to believe that God has granted us new spiritual life we can remember our baptism and be encouraged that the Lord, who cannot break His promises, has regenerated all who believe in Christ alone for salvation.

John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

The lesson concludes that Jesus connects the Water with the Spirit, because under that visible symbol he attests and seals that newness of life which God alone produces in us by his Spirit. God promises in baptism to regenerate His people, and if you believe in Jesus, He has given you spiritual life; a new heart, eyes that see and ears that hear that which is spiritually discerned. The regenerated have been washed in the blood of Jesus, but this side of eternity, we still have our sinful flesh desires that are in conflict with the Spirit. So, if you struggle with assurance this day, walk in the Spirit and look to your baptism as a reminder of God’s faithfulness to cleanse you from your sin. Baptism is a sacrament to cherish and celebrate. 

The Institution of Baptism

Matthew 28:18–20 “Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ ”

Continuing in my biblical lesson of the “Sacraments”, my next lesson states that the Roman Catholic church has seven holy sacraments, but during the Reformation, Protestants examined Scripture’s teaching on the sacraments and found that the church was wrong to have any other sacraments besides baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The sacraments, they argued, were directly instituted by Christ, and in the New Testament only baptism and the Lord’s Supper were instituted by our Savior. Baptism, the sacrament of initiation, is ordinarily the first sacrament a believer receives.

The Great Commission passage (above) records for us the institution of baptism, and the context in which it is given demonstrates the importance of this sacrament. Before ascending to heaven, Jesus commissioned the Apostles and the Church that follows them to teach the nations to observe all that He had commanded them. Since baptism into the name of our triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is one of the things that Jesus commanded, a church is not following its commission if it does not baptize people (the Great Commission is a Commandment, not a suggestion) or if it treats baptism lightly or vainly. Moreover, we are in direct disobedience to Christ Himself if we refuse to be baptized. It is sacred and had serious consequences.

Romans 6:3-5 “Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.”

Matthew 28:18-20 reveals that the only valid method of baptism is baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. True, the book of Acts records early Christians as being “baptized in the name of Jesus Christ” (for example, Acts 2:38; 10:48), but Luke, the author of Acts, certainly does not want us to understand such statements as endorsing a Jesus-only baptismal formula. His remarks are shorthand for Christ’s fuller command in Matthew 28:18–20, and they emphasize the newness of the new covenant era in its explicit identification with Jesus.

In addition to being commanded by Jesus, the formula whereby we baptize people into the one name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is also a vehicle for teaching. It provides a quick summary of the Christian doctrine of God, and our doctrine of God controls every other aspect of our theology. Protestant Reformer John Calvin comments on today’s passage, “We perceive that God cannot be truly known, unless our faith distinctly conceive of Three Persons in one essence; and that the fruit and efficacy of baptism proceed from God the Father adopting us through his Son, and, after having cleansed us from the pollution of the flesh through the Spirit: creating us anew to righteousness.”

Finally, Jesus does not give us a specific mode for baptism. The Greek word for “baptize”—baptiz —has to do with water but it does not refer exclusively to immersion, dipping, pouring, sprinkling, or any other means of applying water, though different denominational and non-denominational Christian churches perform one or another method usually. Jesus said “baptize them” but not the physical method, because when it comes to an outward expression of an inward decision of faith, all are lawful modes of baptism. God looks at the heart. Bible Commentator Matthew Henry comments that, “baptism is into the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; this was intended as the summary of the first principles of the Christian religion, and of the new covenant.” If a baptism is not administered in the triune name of God, it is invalid. But all who have been baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity have been validly baptized and should not fear that their baptism is not according to Christ’s command. Are you baptized?

Finishing Well

2 Timothy 4:6-8 “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”

This week, Michael writes: Our ministry is to create an environment where the Holy Spirit can come help himself to our lives. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 2:17, "I am poured out on the altar as a drink offering.  (As a sweet smelling savor unto God.)"  In 2 Timothy 4:6-8 (above), Paul emphasizes the importance of finishing well. In Corinthians Paul said by inspiration, I eagerly await the day when I shall be clothed with a new body at Christ's return.  Each journey has a finish line. We have to plan to finish well and to celebrate the fulfillment of God's plan. To finish well we need to prepare our hearts to have the right attitude when we cross the finish line.

2 Corinthians 5:4 “For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life.”

Every loving relationship in this life will end in pain and lose except for one. Jesus said, "I will never leave you or forsake you."  Our times are in God's hands. God is sovereign and we're not. Our planning for the pain and tribulation of life will allow us to focus on the crown of righteousness that God has in store for us. The devil will use pain to question the love, mercy and grace of God. However through pain and tribulation, we will learn that tribulation works patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope makes not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us. Through pain we will learn, as did the Apostle Paul, that when I am weak in myself then I am strong in Him.

Life is more precious the less of it you have. It's precious because it's rare. During these precious weeks with close friends and family we focused on what was the most important.  Our challenge is to thank God for this day he has given us. Regardless of how we feel or the pain and tribulation of life, as the Apostle Paul said, "I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." To finish well, focus on the crown of righteousness that he has prepared for us. From the lyrics of an old hymn of the faith, "All my trophies at last I lay down.  I will cling to the Old Rugged Cross, and exchange it one day for a crown."

In finishing well, may we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ, Michael

Word and Sacrament

1 Corinthians 11:23–25 “The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ ”

The next lesson on the Sacraments stated that they sign and seal the covenant of grace, tangibly representing the promises of God and confirming our faith. They make the spiritual truths of the gospel alive to our senses, providing us as embodied creatures with helps for knowing and continuing in the Lord’s grace. We are so connected to the physical world that we often have trouble grasping unseen spiritual realities. True? Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are God’s gifts to us to assist us in understanding and believing spiritual truths.

As helpful as the sacraments are for conveying truth about the world we cannot see with our physical senses, we must be clear that the mere actions involved in administering water, bread, and wine do not in themselves explain or depict anything. That is to say, without the Word of God (the Holy Scriptures of the Bible), the sacraments are empty signs. We need to hear words from our Creator—the words of institution given for the sacraments and the preaching of His special revelation— so that the sacraments have something to sign and seal. First and foremost, the sacraments are about what God does, and God works salvation in His people through the preaching and teaching of His Word. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 10:17, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ”. Along the same lines, the Apostle Peter asserts, “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Peter 1:23). The Holy Spirit works faith in our hearts not primarily through the sacraments but through the faithful preaching of His Word. Without the Word, the sacraments do not have anything to sign and have no promises to seal on our hearts.

This lesson asserts that God’s promises always accompany His institution of sacraments. In Genesis 17, for example, the Lord’s pledge to be God to Abraham and His descendants is given alongside the command to circumcise. Paul in today’s passage gives us the words of Christ in the institution of the Lord’s Supper. In telling us to eat of the bread and drink of the cup, Jesus affirmed His giving of His life for our salvation. Sacraments are important, even vital, for the spiritual health and nurture of God’s people, but the preaching of God’s Word has a certain priority. The Word of God gives us something for our faith to latch onto, and the sacraments confirm tangibly that which is promised in the Word, encouraging us to keep clinging to God’s promises.

In conclusion, many of us come from a background in which the sacraments were mere afterthoughts, so we are thankful when we find churches that take these ordinances of God seriously. Yet we must never prioritize the sacraments over the preaching of God’s Word. Instead, the preaching of God’s Word and the administration of the sacraments must go together. Let us not let eagerness to meet Christ in His sacraments cause us to neglect meeting Him in His Word.

Sacrament and the Thing Signified

1 Peter 3:21–22 “Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him”.

I started a study on the “sacraments” this week, to better understand, appreciate and apply these holy ordinances and rites rightly for the glory of God. The lesson states that in the sacraments, we have physical means of grace, things we touch and taste for the sake of growing in Christ and understanding the gospel. The English word sacrament comes from Latin. Its root is the same as that for the word meaning “holy” or “consecrate.” Essentially, sacraments are holy mysteries, not in the sense of being unintelligible but in the sense of revealing truth. They are rites used to reveal truth and set God’s people apart from the world. Similarly, the sacraments are visible marks that God (our Maker) owns us. They show that we have been set apart from the world as His people. This does not mean that everyone who participates in the sacraments has been saved. Some people bear the mark falsely, not having the faith that alone can save us. Nevertheless, to receive the sacraments is to receive the mark of the visible church and to be incorporated into the visible covenant community that is different from the world.

The word “sacrament” is defined as an outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual grace; or more particularly, a solemn religious ceremony enjoined by Christ, the head of the Christian church, to be observed by his followers, by which their special relation to him is created, or their obligations to Him renewed and ratified. Thus baptism is called a sacrament, for by it persons are separated from the world, brought into Christ's visible church, and laid under particular obligations to obey his precepts. The Eucharist or communion of the Lord's supper, is also a sacrament, for by commemorating the death and dying love of Christ, Christians avow their special relation to him, and renew their obligations to be faithful to their divine Master.   

By themselves [sacraments] profit nothing, yet God has designed them to be the instruments of His grace; and He effects by the secret grace of His Spirit, that they should not be without benefit in His people.” This encapsulates what the Reformed tradition has called the sacramental union between the sacrament’s outward sign and its spiritual reality. Essentially, this concept tells us that when the sacraments are received in faith, God’s grace works through them to accomplish His purposes in those who trust in the Lord. Sacraments are not bare testimonials of our faith, though they do testify to faith when we are baptized and partake of the Lord’s Supper. Instead, the sacraments are primarily about God and what He does. They reveal His promises visibly and convey His benefits when we receive them in faith.

Passages such as 1 Peter 3:18–22 show us this sacramental union between the sign and the thing signified. Note how Peter states very explicitly in verse 21 that baptism “saves you.” We know from the rest of Scripture and even from this text itself that Peter cannot mean that baptism is the instrumental means of salvation or that it automatically redeems everyone who receives it. In context, Peter connects the salvation conferred in baptism with the salvation conferred to Noah’s family in the flood. Of course, not all of Noah’s family experienced eternal salvation through the protection of the ark in the flood. After all, Ham was later cursed by the Lord even though he had been protected from the floodwaters (Gen. 9:18–25). So, contrary to those traditions that affirm baptismal regeneration, we cannot speak of baptism as somehow automatically conferring what it signifies every time it is administered. It is possible to participate in the sacraments and not receive the grace exhibited therein.

Nevertheless, Peter does say that baptism “saves you”, so there is more going on in the sacrament than simply a visible testimony of faith. Although the bestowal of grace in the sacraments is according to God’s sovereignty, His granting of such grace is so closely connected to the sacraments that we can speak of the sacraments as producing certain effects. Westminster Confession of Faith 27.2 states, There is in every sacrament a spiritual relation, or sacramental union, between the sign and the thing signified; whence it comes to pass, that the names and effects of the one are attributed to the other.

This lesson concluded that Holy Scripture frequently describes the sacraments as accomplishing certain things without telling us how they do so. Thus, we must take care in describing how baptism and the Lord’s Supper are used by God to accomplish the promises conveyed therein. As with many spiritual truths, God gives us certain parameters and boundaries, and to go beyond what God says is to risk falling into great error.

Someone Worth Following – Part 2

Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.”

Continuing Pastor Kyle message on “being someone worth following”, he states that the she second choice that will make us someone worth following is to (2) choose to find affirmation in the Lord when others are disappointed. Secular people have been disappointed in Jesus Christ from His visitation on earth till today. Jesus’ title Emmanuel means “God with us”. He is the Savior of the world, the Lord of all and Master of humanity. It is well-known that management of people involves disappointing staff at a manageable rate. Christ did not dismiss people, but listened to then and (valid or not) heard their concerns so that He could ministry to them with truth and advance the conversation forward. So should we to our fellow man. Hold short accounts.

Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

The third choice that will make us someone worth following is (3) when negativity is around; choose to focus on God’s mission. God desires our obedience, to grow in faith and to better ourselves by maturing in the likeness of Christ. Massive amounts of our time and effort go into our person entertainment instead of God’s mission and work. Jesus said in Luke 19:10 says, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Do not be distracted, stay positive and keep focused.

John 7:37-39a On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.

The fourth choice that will make us someone worth following is to (4) choose to boldly proclaim that Jesus is “Living Water” and everything/everyone else is emptiness. Jesus promises His followers rest, restoration and refreshment. It is the ministry of the Spirit, flowing out of a heart redeemed by God, that blesses believers and, through them, brings life and light to the world. Galatians 5:22-23 “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Who doesn’t crave this blessed fruit in their life and flowing out of them towards others? Jesus is the source, God is the facet and the Holy Spirit is the river of “living water” that everyone needs. Stand up and step over the world’s line to follow Jesus Christ, the One worth following.

In Christ, Brian

Someone Worth Following – Part 1

 

John 7:14-30 4 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” The people answered and said, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?” Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you all marvel. Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” Now some of them from Jerusalem said, “Is this not He whom they seek to kill? But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ? However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.” Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, “You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.” Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come.

Last Sunday was Father’s Day and Pastor Kyle reminded us that there is nothing quite as prosperous then having and emulating a great father as an example for our life. Our relationship with our earthly fathers is linked with our relationship with our heavenly Father. It is important to have someone worth following. Likewise, it is important to be someone worth following. It is like rainfall in a dry land; life-giving water to the soul. Jesus said in John 7:38, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” Commentator Matthew Henry states that “if any man desires to be truly and for ever happy, let him apply to Christ, and be ruled by him. This thirst means strong desires after spiritual blessings, which nothing else can satisfy; so the sanctifying and comforting influences of the Holy Spirit, were intended by the waters which Jesus called on them to come to Him and drink. The comfort flows plentifully and constantly as a river; strong as a stream to bear down the opposition of doubts and fears. There is a fullness in Christ, of grace for grace. The Spirit dwelling and working in believers, is as a fountain of living, running water, out of which plentiful streams flow, cooling and cleansing as water.” Where water flows, life grows and God controls the facet.  

Pastor Kyle told us of four choices that will make us someone worth following. (1) Choose to believe God’s opinion about anything more than the secular world’s opinion. Rejection is hard on all of us, but the Lord Jesus did not let the approval of the world affect His mission and work to reach the goal, and neither should we. The Messiah didn’t have to prove anything. The naturalistic world’s opinion is not as important as God’s. The Savior of the world, Jesus, was leading people astray from what; the ungodliness and unrighteousness of sin? The Word of God says that we have a future and our best days are ahead of us in Heaven with the Lord. To people who do not know their Maker, ungodliness and unrighteousness seem to be a waste of time and not taking care their selves and their hearts desires. But, in reality the Holy Bible teaches and shows us how life should rightly be. The Word of God has always been divisive to a God-rejecting and lawless culture.

Let's continue Pastor Kyle message in the next post.

In Christ, Brian

God Shaping Us

Jeremiah 18:3-6 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the Lord. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!

The late Pastor Vernon McGee lives on through his teaching and recorded radio ministry. In one lesson about Jeremiah 18, he asks: Why does the Potter (our Maker, Almighty God) put us on the wheel? Why does He bear down on us at times? Why does He keep working us, molding us, shaping us? What is He after?

He says to go back with Jeremiah to the potter’s house. You won’t discover the purpose for your life there, but you learn something even more important than that. You understand that the potter ha a purpose. Watch Him – he is serious. He does not play with the clay; this is his work. He is giving his time, his talents, his energy to working the clay. Look over his shoulder, you may not know what the finished piece will look like, but you are convinced the potter knows what he is doing.

McGee tells us: “My friend, God is not playing with us today. He is not experimenting. He has purpose in how He is shaping us, and that should comfort us. He has a plan, and He knows what He is doing. When God puts us on the wheel of circumstance, He means to accomplish something good. He has purpose.”  The onlooker can’t guess His purpose, neither can the clay under His hand. But someday we will know.

1 John 3:2 “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

Some glorious day, you’ll see the Potter has a purpose in your life all along. In the ages to come we’ll be on display, revealing what the Potter can do with lifeless clay. God is shaping us and He gets the glory. It will be wonderful to be a vessel in the Master’s hand.

Deliver Us From Evil

Matthew 6:13 “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

I read in a short feature on "deliverance:, that certain Christian ministers practice what they call a “deliverance ministry” (referring to the activity of cleansing a person of demons and evil spirits in order to address problems manifesting in their life as a result of the presence of said entities and the root causes of their authority to oppress the person), but true biblical deliverance is better defined in terms of today’s verse, which, of course, is the last petition in the prayer that Christ taught His disciples to pray (aka the Lord’s Prayer). Deliverance is defined as: 1. Release from captivity, slavery, oppression, or any restraint. 2. Rescue from danger or any evil. True deliverance is deliverance from evil, whatever form that evil might take, and preservation until God’s kingdom comes. Let us observe several scriptural accounts of true deliverance.

Note that the Greek word for deliverance (“rhyomai”) has the connotation of “rescue,” and this is its first occurrence in the New Testament; that makes its usage here especially significant. That the Lord will indeed provide such deliverance, if we pray for it in sincerity, is affirmed in many testimonies and promises. Burdened with the problems of his old sin nature, the Apostle Paul cried out, “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” But then the answer comes: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:24-25). Even as his anticipated martyrdom was approaching, Paul could still testify, “The Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom” (2 Timothy 4:18).

The Apostle Peter also assures us that “the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished” (2 Peter 2:9). He is able to deliver His people from all the evils of this present evil world, to keep them and prepare them for the glory and the power of His coming kingdom, for He Himself is the Deliverance.

Rise Up Oh People of God - Part 2

Michael continues: Through the trials of life, God will teach us patience, hope and love. Battles are opportunities to stand in His strength alone. A man and woman of God is not people of God because they have their act together. They are people of God because of what God has made them in Christ. A man of God is God's man. A woman of God is God's woman. It's not about us, it's about Him.  "Man of God" and “Woman of God” means you are not your own. You have been bought with a price. The price was the precious payment of God’s only begotten son. For Jesus Christ, who was without sin, became the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus said, "Unless you forsake father, mother, sister, and brother, you cannot be my disciple." What's the cost of following the Lord? It's not about the cost, it's about the value. What is it that you value most; the things of God or the things of this world?  Jesus said, "Treasure not treasures upon earth where moth, rust and vermin eat away, but instead treasure treasures in heaven.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Serious business taken lightly is mockery and in the case of our treasures, it is idolatry. 

When Jesus sent out the seventy to prepare the way before God’s promised Messiah, He gave them power to heal the sick, cast out Devils, and to preach the Word. When they finished their assignment Jesus met them. They were celebrating and rejoicing because they had "seen Satan fall like lightning from heaven." Jesus said to them, "Don't rejoice because Satan fell from heaven like lightning, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Keep the main thing, the main thing and focus.

We cannot approach God's throne of grace on our own terms. Salvation is on His terms not ours. Repentance means, "I surrender."  Repentance is to turn from myself and from my sin and to the Lord and Savoir Jesus Chris. Surrender is to yield to the power, control or possession of another. To confess Jesus is Lord, means that I’m no longer my owner, he is. Grammatically speaking, the term "Man of God" and “woman of God” is the genitive of possession. It means God's man and God’s woman. Christianity is not about who we are but whose we are.

Jesus said, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."  Peter, Andrew, James, and John we're professional fishermen. They knew what it meant to be fishers of fish. However, they did not understand what it meant to be fishers of men until they received the gift of the Holy Spirit, God's power from on high at the day of Pentecost.

According to 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." When we're saved, Jesus paid the price for our sins and our sin nature. Our sins past, present and future have already been paid in full by Jesus Christ's innocent blood in exchange for our guilty blood.  Even though we're saved and counted righteous in Christ, the sinful nature we inherited from Adam will separate us from fellowship with God because all sin is ultimately against our Creator God.  When we fall from fellowship and it is a broken relationship, if we confess our sin, he is faithful to forgive our sin of breaking fellowship and restore us back to an upright position in fellowship with Him. We get off the wide road of rebellious and destructive sin, and onto the straight and narrow path of righteousness with the Lord.

It's not the threat of condemnation, judgment and punishment that calls a man and woman to repentance.  Rather, it's the goodness of God, His loving kindness and tender mercy, that calls us to turn from ourselves and unto Him. To rise up as men and women of God, we need to understand that even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. As people of God, we're no longer our own. We are His and He is our God.  For I was crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the life that I now live, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

God has reconciled us unto himself through the supreme sacrifice of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.  According to 1 Corinthians 3:23, "You are Christ's and Christ is God's.  Therefore, give heart and soul and mind and strength to serve the King of Kings.

May we ever “rise up” and live to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ, Michael

Rise Up, Oh People of God - Part 1

2 Corinthians 5:17-18 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.”

This week, Michael writes: When we were saved from hellfire and damnation, God created within us a new spirit. The word “saved” is defined as: Preserved from evil; injury or destruction; kept frugally; prevented; spared. To be saved is to be “born again” of God's Holy Spirit. To be saved means to be made complete. The first time we were born, we were born incomplete.  We were born of the flesh: of body and soul. Soul is biological life that we inherited from our parents and ultimately from Adam. We were incomplete because we were missing God's Holy Spirit. When we were “born again”, we were born not of Adam's corruptible seed, but of God's incorruptible seed by the Word of God. We were “born again” of God's Holy Spirit and we received Christ in us the hope of glory. Salvation means to be made whole. 

According to Romans 10:9-10, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

If any man or woman is in Christ they is a new creation. However, even though God gave us a new spiritual nature when we were saved, when we were “born again” of God's spirit, the new birth is not an instantaneous transformation from the old nature of the flesh to the new nature of the Spirit. As newborn spiritual babies, we need to grow up in Him. We cannot perfect our sinful nature, we need to turn from our old sinful flesh desires and unto the new nature of the spirit of Christ in us. All (new spiritual) things are of God; God help us. If our honest and wholehearted prayer is, "God I know I'm not the person I want to be, Please Lord make me that person," God will run to answer our prayer.

To forsake our sin nature, like King David of Israel, we must come to the Lord with a broken and a contrite heart. Repentance is to turn from myself and unto God. Salvation is not of works lest any man should boast. Most Christian men and women think that they will deserve to have salvation by their own works. We forget about our many sins. However, by grace are you saved though faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.  Not of works lest any man should boast. Because of our sin, we cannot earn our way out of Hell and into Heaven; we do not deserve forgiveness and salvation. It’s redemption by grace through faith only.

According to the lyrics of the hymn:  "Rise up oh men of God, the song declares: “Have done with lesser things. Give heart and soul and mind and strength to serve the King of Kings." This is God's call to men and women of every age. To “rise up” means to understand what it means to be a "man or woman of God." Until "Man or woman of God" is your identity, you'll never rise up. We will naturally rise up and come to them when we know that they're approving and accepting of the new nature that God created within us. To be done with lesser things is to rise up to the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness from on high.  

To “rise up” is to pray, "God teach me through this trial and through this challenge in front of me." We're sheep in the midst of the spiritual battle. Sheep have no offensive weapons; just a shepherd. Our strength and our power is in Him and not in us. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual, to the pulling down of spiritual strongholds. In Ephesians 6 there are five pieces of defensive armor for spiritual warfare. The two offensive weapons are “the sword of the spirit”, which is the Word of God and prayer. Use them.

Let's continue Michael's message on "rising up" in the next post.

In Christ, Brian

The Trauma of Holiness

In a lesson on “holiness”, I read that in the works of nineteenth-century atheists, we find that they were not particularly concerned to prove that God does not exist. These atheists tacitly assumed God’s nonexistence. Instead, they said that after the Age of Enlightenment, now that we know there is no God, how can we account for the almost universal presence of religion? If God doesn’t exist and human religion is not a response to the existence of God, why is it that man seems to be incurably “homo religious” — that man in all of his cultures seems to be incurably religious? If there’s no God, why is there religion?

One of the most popular and famous answers was the argument offered by Sigmund Freud. As a psychiatrist, Freud knew that people are afraid of lots of different things. Such fears are understandable, as there are all kinds of things in our world that represent a clear and present danger to our well-being. You can talk to a human attacker, sign a peace treaty with a foreign power, or otherwise negotiate your safety with people who might threaten you, but how do you bargain with disease, storms, or earthquakes? These forces of nature are impersonal. They don’t have ears to hear. They don’t have hearts to which we can appeal. They have no emotions. So, Freud argued, religion emerged as humans personalized nature and made it something they could negotiate with.

Luke 12:5 “But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!”

The theological professor is fascinated by Freud’s argument because it’s a reasonable explanation for how people could become religious. It is possible, theoretically, that there could still be religion even if there were no God. We know that we are capable of imagining things that don’t really exist. In fact, the Bible is replete with criticism of false religion that invents idols. Yet there’s a difference between possibility and actuality. That what Freud said is possible doesn’t mean that it actually happened that way. The major hole in his theory is this: If Freud’s theory is true, why, then, was the Almighty God of the Bible “invented”? This holy God, we see in Scripture, inspires far greater trauma in those whom He encounters than any natural disaster. Why, to redeem us from the threat of trauma, would we invent a God whose character is infinitely more threatening than anything else we fear? I can see humanity inventing a benevolent god or even a bad god who is easily appeased. But would we invent a holy God ? Where does that come from? For there is nothing in the universe more terrifying, more threatening to a person’s sense of security and well-being than the holiness of God. What we see throughout the Scriptures is that God rules over all of the threatening forces that we fear. But this same God, in and of Himself, frightens us more than any of these other things. We understand that nothing poses a greater threat to our well-being than the holiness of God. Left to ourselves, none of us would invent the God of the Bible, the being who is a threat to our sense of security more primal and more fundamental than any act of nature.

Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

The author explains that Martin Luther and the other Reformers understood the holy character of this God. Applied to the Supreme Being, holiness denotes perfect purity or integrity of moral character, one of His essential attributes. We have sinned against a just and holy Creator God. For them, the recovery of the gospel was such good news because they knew the trauma of holiness and that the only way to endure the presence of this holy God’s judgment is to be covered in the holiness and righteousness of Christ. Five hundred years after the Protestant Reformation, the church desperately needs men and women who understand the trauma of God’s holiness, for in understanding that holiness we see that the gospel is the only thing that can give us confidence that when we meet this God face-to-face, His holiness will embrace us and not cast us into eternal judgment. May God in His grace grant to all of us a renewed vision of His majestic holiness. 

The Bread of Life - Part 2

Exodus 16:4, 14-15, 31 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. And the house of Israel called its name Manna. And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

Continuing Pastor Obie message on the Bread of Life, He told us that we need to develop a daily appetite for God. When you don’t feed your body, you become hungry. What happens when you do not feed yourself spiritually? Psalm 34:8 says, “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” Psalm 42:1-2 says, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” Seek and pray to the Lord; develop a hunger for Him daily.

Matthew 4:4 “But He (Jesus) answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”

(3) We need to ask ourselves, “Am I willing to stand for what Jesus and the Bible says is ‘right’, even if it offends the current culture?” Secular human morals change over time with cultural transformation. Therefore, the issues of the age change. But, God’s Word, found in the pages of the Holy Scripture (the Bible), never change. 1 John 2:15-17 instructs us, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.”

Jesus Christ is the source of fulfillment and satisfaction. Know that following Jesus may not align with the current craze today. Do the Will of God, not controversial or ungodly trends. Jesus tells us in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” Are we living to please God or our fellow man? The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

John 6:68 “But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

We know that the Bible is offensive to those who are perishing. Do what is “right” in the eyes of the Lord, our Almighty Creator God. Right believing leads to right living. Fully accept Jesus as Savior and Lord. Internalize “the Bread of Life” and follow His teachings and commands for He tells us in John 8:31-32 , “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Properly digest the Word of God and write them upon your heart. The Lord’s work transforms us and changes our thinking. God tells us how to live and what is “right” and “wrong” in this world. Make your paths in this life “right” because it glorifies God and it is always good for us. Changing our belief to align with God’s will for us, changes our thinking and leads to action in a changed life. We must partake of Him and have Jesus inside to satisfy our spiritual hunger.

1 John 5:1-4 “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

The man or woman who has the Bread of Life (the Source of life) has eternal life. 1 John 5:11-13 explains “that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.” Salvation and Heaven comes through no other than the Bread of Life.

In Christ, Brian

The Bread of Life – Part 1

John 6:25-35 “And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You come here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

This last Sunday, Pastor Obie continued the sermon series through the book of John, asking “How does the Bread of Life affect our life?” Unlike in today’s culture, bread was the main course of a meal in Jesus’ time and was vitally important because bread was a core item in the development of nations at that time. Bread symbolizes life-giving substance. So, the Bread of Life is not a side-dish, but the main course of life. This is why the feeding of the five thousand by multiplying the two fish and five barley loaves in John 6:1-14 was so significant. All of Jesus’ “I Am” statements in the book of John showed His divinity. The "Ego Eimi" – translated: “I am who I am, meaning I am God.

We need to keep the main thing (Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life), the main thing in our lives. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves three “Am I” questions of ourselves. (1) Am I seeking Jesus because I love Him or because I want or need something from Him? These people in John 6:25-27 sought Jesus for the wrong reason and with the wrong motive, to provide them benefits. Our life is not about “wanting things”, but about “wanting Him”. It is about a personal relationship with the Lord.

(2) Am I living for that which perishes or that which eternally endures. What are we living for? Life will pass; only what we do for Christ will last. In Matthew 6:9-13 told us, “In this manner, therefore, pray: “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.” In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus instructs us, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” So, invest in the spiritual life more than the physical life. Humans are a triune being, made up of mind, body, and soul. Spirit is defined as the soul of man; the intelligent, immaterial and immortal part of human beings. There are two words for life. (a) “Bios” meaning physical living and (b) “Zoe” meaning spiritual/eternal life (aka “Living Water”). Invest in that which has a soul.

Let's continue Pastor Obie's message on the Bread of Life" in the next post.

In Christ, Brian

Forty Nights

Genesis 7:12 “And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.”

I came across this little biblical fact that there are nine 40-day periods in Scripture, but on only five of these the notation “and forty nights” is added. On the other four occasions (the spies in Canaan, Goliath’s challenges, Jonah in Nineveh, and the post-resurrection ministry of Christ), we can assume that the activity ceased at night. But on these five it continued unabated.

The article stated that the first of these was the great Flood. The most intense rains ever experienced on the earth poured torrentially, night and day. One can visualize the stress-filled nights for Noah’s family, with the cries of the dying outside, and no light of the sun or moon to pierce the outer darkness. But, of course, they were all safe in God’s specially designed Ark.

Many years later, Moses twice spent 40 days and 40 nights in the awesome presence of God on Mount Sinai, receiving the divinely inscribed tablets, with the Ten Commandments and all the laws of God. The mountain was intermittently quaking and breathing fire and smoke while he was there, and the nights were surely more awesome even than the days, but God was there!

Elijah spent 40 days and 40 nights traveling back from Beersheba to Sinai, even though this relatively short journey would not normally require 40 days. Evidently Elijah experienced great hardships and obstacles along the way and many sleepless nights, but God met him again at Sinai, and it was worth it all.

Finally, the Lord Jesus (God Incarnate) In Matthew 4:1-2 was “led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil . . . forty days and forty nights”. In weakened human flesh, without food or rest, this was a greater trial than any of the rest, but He was triumphant, and then the “angels came and ministered unto him”. A reminder that God is with us ad God is for us day and night 24/hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and for eternity.

The Dynamic Power

Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”

I read that this amazing assurance of God’s unlimited ability to answer our prayers is related to a unique “power [Greek dunamis] that works in us.” It is the root word of our English words dynamite, dynamo and dynamic. Paul had used the same word twice before in this same epistle, speaking of “the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe” and “the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power” (Ephesians 1:19; 3:7). “Effectual working” in the original is one word, energeia, from which we get our English word “energy.”

Such power working in us is actually nothing less than the presence of God Himself. Its very first occurrence is in the model prayer by Jesus in Matthew 6:13 “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever”. Romans 1:16 tells us that it is this “power of God unto salvation” that is received when we first believe on Christ through the gospel. It has been so ever since the fulfillment of Christ’s promise when He told His disciples in Acts 1:8, that “you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you”.

This remarkable and dynamic power of God is thus imparted to us and energized in us by the Holy Spirit. Because of this, we can be filled “with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost”. Furthermore, He thereby provides impregnable security for time and eternity, for as 1 Peter 1:5 says, we “are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”.

With such a resource of unlimited spiritual power working in us, God is able indeed to accomplish exceedingly abundantly more than we can ever imagine, as He works in and through those yielded to His holy word, will, and way.

Who’s Perspective? – Part 2

Continuing Michael’s message on “perspective”, he writes that one way to get a donkey's attention is to hit him with a two-by-four stud. Donkeys are notorious for their stubbornness. Through the pain of trials, God gets our attention. Pain tells us that we're in need of deliverance from it and it’s root cause. To resolve the problem, we need to be like the crew of Apollo 13. They radioed their control center, "Houston, we have a problem." The solution to life's problems is Jesus Christ himself. The root of the problem is sin. Sin literally means “to miss the mark”. When we miss the mark, we hit a different mark, so it also means to cross the line of God's righteous standard. We inherited our sin nature from Adam. In ourselves, we're doomed to sin and death. However, Jesus Christ paid the debt of our sin so that we could inherit eternal life in heaven.  Even while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. For he who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Grace and mercy are all of thee and none of me. Grace relieves our burden of sin by place our sin upon Jesus on the Cross. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of ourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. What do you need? Grace brings us to understand that "All I need is thee God." Therefore, when we're broken we can come to Him as David did. Even though he had committed murder and adultery, David's confession was, "Against thee and thee only have I sinned.  Create in me a new heart O God."

In 2 Timothy 2 Paul exhorts Timothy that even though those with foolish and ignorant speculation will question you, the servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, and patient. Through the trials of life, the question is, "Lord what are you teaching me through this trial?" We'll learn humility through the trials of life. We will learn to serve God by serving those whom he's called us to minister to. He's teaching us that the blessing is "if perhaps God will grant them repentance. And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”  The purpose is that they can turn from themselves and unto God.

Our challenge is to see ourselves, and those whom God has called, not according to our own worldly perspective. Through trials He will teach us to see according to His vantage point. Ephesians says that we are seated in heavenly places in Christ. Through the eyes of Christ in us, God will grant us the perspective to perceive the knowledge of the truth. It's the love, grace, mercy and goodness of God that calls a man to repentance.

In 2 Timothy 4:7-8 the Apostle Paul says, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:  Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”  In the midst of the spiritual battle, when we fight the good fight, we will catch a glimpse of His eternal perspective.  When we're wronged as the song says, "try a little kindness." To fight the good fight Romans 12 says, "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good."

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ, Michael