Faithful Perseverance – Part 2

 

Pastor Herk continues: God is never going to empower any person or group that denies Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing Him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame. Christ died once for all who repent, believe and trust in Him alone for salvation and life. By dying on the Cross, Jesus dealt with the penalty of our sin (past, present and future). But, when we willingly choose to reject Jesus and disobey His righteous teachings and holy commands in sin, we crucify and bring shame to Him. What is sin? The 1828 Webster’s dictionary defines sin as 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 either a positive act in which a known divine law is violated, or it is the voluntary neglect to obey a positive divine command, or a rule of duty clearly implied in such command. 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. Sinner neither enjoy the pleasures of nor the peace of piety. Actual sin, above defined, is the act of a moral agent in violating a known rule of duty. Original sin, as generally understood, is native depravity of heart to the divine will, that corruption of nature of deterioration of the moral character of man, which is supposed to be the effect of Adam's apostasy; and which manifests itself in moral agents by positive act of disobedience to the divine will, or by the voluntary neglect to comply with the express commands of God, which require that we should love God with all the heart and soul and strength and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves. This native depravity or alienation of affections from God and his law, is supposed to be what the apostle calls the carnal mind or mindedness, which is enmity against God, and is therefore denominated sin or sinfulness. Basically, anything that we think or do which is against the Will, Commandments or Law of God is sin. 

 

Habakkuk 1:13a “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.”

 

Sin is rebellious, abominable wickedness against our just and holy Creator God in deliberate suppression of the truth. Sin separates us from God. But, because of what God had planned since the Fall of Man and what Christ has done on the Cross as an atoning sacrifice, the repentant Sinner has been forgiven. Yet, that doesn’t mean that we are free to continue in or return to willful sin. The Apostle Paul explains in Romans 6:1-4 when he asks, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Having repented of sin means that we want to move forward in righteousness and live sinless lives, as much as we can, walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16,25). Sin is a terrible, offensive abomination to God and when we call ourselves Christians and disobey God’s holy Word, we bring disgrace to the name of Jesus and what He did for us on the Cross.   

 

When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it. Professing Christian, child of the living Almighty God, Creator and Providence of Heaven and Earth with all that lives and breathes, what fruit do you bear? Fruitless ungodly lives are useless. Is there virtuous ground, diligently allowing the Lord to cultivate, weed and prune for good healthy crop growth and abundant fruit? If yes, than it is going to be a blessed and productive life. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 13:23, “But the one sown with seed on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces, some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much.” 

 

The Apostle reassures the true Believer, Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for Him and how you have shown your love to Him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Salvation in theology is defined as the redemption of man from the bondage of sin and liability to eternal death, and the conferring on him everlasting happiness. This is the great salvation of God through Jesus Christ to all who repent and believe. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” We owed a debt that we could not pay, so Jesus paid a debt that He did not owe, that we would be saved. With that great salvation comes being washed clean of sin in the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb of God, transformation of the heart, sanctified in consecration to the Lord, regeneration of the spirit, spiritual discernment, adoption as a child of God, forgiven unto eternal life as a citizen of Heaven, brothers and sisters in Christ, receiving the indwelling Holy Spirit and a kingdom of God worker in this world for the saving of many souls until the Lord calls you home. How are you doing in working out your salvation, receiving from the Lord and caringly giving to others in His name that they may be blessed also? 

Let's conclude Pastor Herk's message on faithful perseverance in the next post.

In Christ, Brian

Faithful Perseverance - Part 1

 

Hebrews 6:1-12 “So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely, we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding. For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come — and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing Him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.

When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it. Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.”

 

This last Sunday, Pastor Herk of “The Little Church in the Pines” at Bass Lake in California preached on the persevering faith of Christians. God works in and through ordinary people in a powerful way to produce both ordinary and extraordinary results and faithful, diligent people of God persevere; they do not give up. Every “Child of God” (John 1:12-13) has the potential to be empowered by God. And the way that we live our everyday lives as disciples of Jesus, radiating the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25), affects the ways that we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us so that we can bring the joy and peace of God through Christ to others. 

 

The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Hebrews was written to people of God under persecution for following Jesus. Chapter Six of the book of Hebrews warns us about turning away from the only One (Jesus Christ), who can keep us from destruction. The Word of God in the Holy Scriptures of Hebrews Six is as true in the year of the Lord 2021 as it was in the tie that the letter was originally written. Pastor Herk gave us three points for every Christian to consider from this passage of Scripture and they are (1) danger, (2) diligence, & (3) declaration. 

 

(1) What is the danger? If Jesus Christ is not at the center of your life, then you are in danger. We are never going to be the people that God wants us to be, if we reject Jesus as Savior and Lord of our life. God has a good plan for each one of His children and wants us to accomplish certain things in our lives, but if we reject Christ and go our own way, then those accomplishments will never happen and we’ll never become all that God wants us to be. We will never be the people that He wants us to be if our lives today are no different than they were before we were saved; no repentance, no conversion of the soul, no transformation of the heart, no regeneration of the spirit, no transfer of authority and no changing of the mind. If we have taken the gift of Salvation like a life insurance policy and haven’t changed our lives, then you have declared Jesus Christ as Savior, but not Lord of your life, and have a false salvation because (as in original sin) you are god and lord of your own life still, choosing right from wrong; you made yourself an idol, deserving God’s wrath against such sinful rebellion against your just and holy Maker. There’ll be Hell to pay. In the words of the great philosopher Sponge Bob, “Good luck with that.” 

 

1 John 1:5-7 “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

 

So, following Jesus has some difficult prerequisites. To move forward in the Christian life, we need to make an effort to live according to the Will and the Purposes of God. The Apostle writes of the danger to those who have been enlightened, who have been (spiritually speaking) brought out of darkness and into God’s light of truth and righteousness, and then choosing to return and live in the darkness of sin. If we have been brought from darkness into Gods light and decide to return back to the darkness of sin, then what have we accomplished? People who have experienced that free gift of redemptive salvation in repentance and the joy of knowing that God has forgiven their sins and the goodness, gift and power of the Holy Spirit operating in their lives, then choose to reembrace their old sinful thoughts and wander back into the sinful things of the God-rejecting world are doomed to eternal damnation – For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened. People hear the “Good News” of the gospel and the truth of the Bible, then reject or wet-down God’s holy Word, fitting their own self-made Theology into with a false god and doctrine created in their own image are fooling themselves; it cannot be done. 

Let's continue Pastor Herk's message on faithful perseverance in the next post.

In Christ, Brian

The True Meaning of Halloween

Matthew 15:3 Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God?

I posted this message a few years ago, but I think about it every year at this time, so let's revisit the origins of Halloween again. It's that important! `Tomorrow, we celebrate Halloween by dressing up in costumes, going to parties, playing games and “trick or treating” for the little kids. But when I ask people what is the significance of the "hallow" day and what exactly are we celebrating on this “second most popular” holiday in the United States of America?, the answer always seems to be the same: “I don’t really know.” Let's take a look at what it truly means.

I've listened to a couple Pastors (James Kennedy and Chuck Smith) explain that there is a confluence of three streams that flow together to form this modern celebration. The first goes back to the Druids, who were the pagan inhabitants of pre-Christian Ireland and Scotland. The Druid or Celtic year began on November 1, which was called “Samhain”. This was their New Year’s day, and consequently, October 31 was “New Year’s Eve”. It was also a combination of a “Harvest Festival” and thought of as a “Festival of the Dead”, for it was said that it was this night that the Earth came to its closest contact with the unseen and spiritual world. Consequently, ghosts, goblins and witches terrified the populous, supposedly destroying crops, killing babies, stealing farm animals, upsetting garbage cans and reeking all sorts of havoc on the people. Bon fires were set upon the hills, either to keep the ghosts away, or perhaps to guide the spirits of the dead back to their homes, where it was believed that the spirits of the deceased on the eve of Samhain find warmth and good cheer in the home of their kinfolk before the onslaught of winter. Therefore, we see a lot of the folk custom of Halloween has come from this Druid celebration.

Another one of them is the custom of “Trick or Treat”. It originated when the people of Ireland went around to homes asking for various treats for the celebration which was to follow later in the evening. Then, when the belief in the reality of goblins and ghosts began to decline, and it was no longer believed that they were really doing these mischievous things, the children decided to help out. So they dressed up in various costumes and put on masks, then went house to house asking for treats, but adding a little something extra … threatening also tricks if they failed to be generous. And so, there were garbage cans upset, gate posts found in trees, and all sorts of pandemonium that took place on that night, supposedly attributed to the ghosts and goblins, but, of course, wrought by the dressed up children.

Deuteronomy 18:9-11 “When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.”

The second stream that flows into the modern celebration of Halloween comes from Central Europe, when the Christian church made its attack upon the pagan bastions, destroying the temples of the various heathen gods and goddesses. But it was never able to completely eradicate the pagan worship which reappeared in the “Dark Ages” in the form of witchcraft. One of the important aspects of witchcraft are a number of celebrations each year, which are called “Witch’s Sabbaths”. One of the highest witch’s Sabbaths, the “Black Sabbath” of witches, occurred on October 31. This was a night of feasting and revelry, and imagery includes themes of death, evil, the occult, black cats, bats, mythical monsters and other related Halloween paraphernalia. The source of much of our Halloween folklore today stems from the high witch’s Black Sabbath of October 31 celebrated in Central Europe in the Middle Ages.

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.

The third stream that completes the modern concept of Halloween comes from the Roman Catholic Church. The church was engaged had been engaged in appointing certain days to honor and reverence certain Saints that the church had appointed or declared. There had become so many of these days that it became impossible to have a specific day for each Saint, so they decided to have one day in which they would remember all of the Saints, called “All Saints Day”. In the 700’s A.D., Pope Gregory III changed the date if “All Saints Day” to November 1, and in the year 834 A.D., Pope Gregory IV extended this celebration to the entire Roman Catholic Church. There was a celebration associated with this, on the evening before called “All-Hallows-Mas” or “All-Hallows-Even” on October 31 and it is from these two words that we have the contraction “Halloween”. Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a non-biblical two-day festival originated and observed in Mexico that takes place every November 1 and 2 for Mexican Catholics celebrated on All Saints Day and All Souls Day, minor holidays in the Catholic calendar for honoring and celebrating the lives of the deceased family saints (those who have been sanctified) and their souls. 

 

Here you see the three-fold origin of the celebration of Halloween. Are you still excited to celebrate this holiday? Well, unrelated to these three streams, on October 31, 1517 @ noon in Wittenberg, Germany, a young professor of Theology by the name of Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the University door that sprung into existence the Protestant Reformation and churches. So October 31 is the birthday of Protestantism and the Evangelical faith. Saved by grace alone, saved by faith alone, saved by Christ alone. Now that’s no trick, but the greatest treat of all.

In Christ, Brian

Blessed are the Persecuted - Part 3-2

 

The priority of the devil’s doctrine of godlessness is to stamp out the liberties wherewith Christ has set us free. Their purpose is to advance the devil’s mission to separate American citizens from their unalienable God-given rights of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness, based on godly virtue. Ultimately, the devil’s purpose is to separate our hearts from God’s heart.  

When we confess Jesus is Lord, we count our own life no longer as our own. As Christians our life is hid with Christ in God, in this earthly life and also in the next. The governments of the world will come to naught. Nations come and go ... According to Isaiah 40 the nations are but a drop in the bucket. Therefore, God’s promise is that no weapon formed against you shall prosper. The devil’s poison arrows and flaming darts are the doctrines of devils. The devil and his minions accuse Christians of being close-minded, intolerant, hypocritical, and holier than thou. The devil takes the word of God and twists it into lies to set hearts and minds against God, His word, His prophets, and ministers of His Word.

Even though we hold dual citizenship as citizens of heaven and citizens of the United States, we are Christians first and Americans second. Having been born-again of God’s Spirit, we are sons and daughters of God, and our allegiance is to our Father and the country of our new birth in Heaven. As Christians not only are we citizens of Heaven, but our Father has given us a mission and an assignment... we have been commissioned, equipped, empowered, and enabled by God as His Ambassadors. An Ambassador is the highest-ranking official sent by his Lord to deliver a peace treaty to a foreign land. Our calling as Ambassadors for Christ is the ministry of reconciliation to deliver the peace treaty, the word of reconciliation from Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. To reconcile is to join together that which has been separated. Our mission and our commission is to reconcile people back to God, thereby bringing peace with God. Therefore, we pray you in Christ’s name, be ye reconciled to God. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Romans says, recompense to no man evil for evil. Therefore, let not your good be evil spoken of. When we stand up for Jesus Christ and the truth of His word, Isaiah 54:17 says, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, says the LORD.”

According to 2 Corinthians 4:5-10, “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”  

A Christian musician ministered in nursing homes. He went into the room of an elderly faithful Christian lady who was paralyzed from the neck down. She was bed ridden and could not move her arms or legs. When Sam arrived to sing for her, her face lit up with the joy of the Lord. The musician asked her, how are you so joyful in your pain and suffering? She used a chopstick in between her lips to point to the letters on a board and spelled out 2 Corinthians 4:17. This verse says, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” The musician thought to himself, I’m not ministering to her. She’s ministering to me. As she approached the end of this life on earth, she understood the meaning of Jesus’ beautiful attitudes ... to glorify our heavenly Father in this life and the next. That, blessed are they who through the trials and affliction of this life, faithfully witness God’s beatitudes through persecution, reviling, and evil speaking, for Jesus said, great is your reward in heaven that as witnesses to our Father’s love and mercy, we may live eternally to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ, Michael

Blessed are the Persecuted – Part 3-1

 

Matthew 5:10-11 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

This week, Michael writes that the beatitudes are the pathway to God’s heart. These beautiful attitudes begin with blessed are the poor in spirit. When we realize our poverty of spirit, God can fill us with his Spirit. Blessed are those who mourn over their sin nature for they will be comforted with the comfort of God’s Spirit. Those who are hungry and thirst after righteousness shall be filled ... for Jesus said, I am the fountain of living water and I am the bread of life. Blessed are the meek for their heart is prepared to receive the Word of God. Blessed are the merciful ... for loving kindness and tender mercy is the nature of God Himself. Blessed are the pure in heart ... those whom God has purified through the trials and tribulations to reveal His true character reflected in us. Then blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God. They have accepted Jesus Christ, the prince of peace, and have been given the ministry of reconciliation, having been committed the Word of reconciliation. Peace is the result of reconciliation through Jesus Christ, for there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Reconciliation connects our heart with God’s heart.

The final beatitude is blessed are they when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, for great is their reward in Heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you. Persecution results from the sinful darkness of the fallen world. The darkness hates the godly light of truth - Jesus Christ. According to John 1:9-12, the light came into the world through Jesus Christ and the world rejected the light. However, those who accept that Jesus is Lord reflect the light of Christ. Mark 5:16says, Let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven.

In the early Christian church, the Jews ostracized the followers of “the way” - Jesus Christ. Christ followers were cast out of the temple and the synagogue. They were separated from their families and former friends. In Philippians 1, Paul said that in having received the gift of Holy Spirit, followers of Christ would suffer tribulation. You cannot love the things of this world so much that you compromise your love for God, His Word and His righteousness. When we love God above all and give up the rights to ourselves, then we shall know the freedom we have in Christ. Jesus said, if you continue in my word, ye shall be my disciples indeed and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. – John 8:31.

The issue for born-again Believers is to stand as a disciplined follower of Jesus Christ. Then when the world turns its back on the truth of the Word of God, we will stand by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. When the world persecutes us and rails slanderous accusations against the truth, we can rest in the assurance that God will deliver us from evil ... either in this life or the next. They have already been sanctified and delivered from death unto life eternal. 

In the First Century, Nero burned down the city of Rome to rebuild it as a monument to his own ego and ultimate authority. When the people were in an uproar for the burning of Rome, Nero blamed it on the Christians. He turned their hearts against the followers of Christ and tortured them. Then he set their bodies on fire to light the avenues leading into Rome.

The history of the Church has been paved with the blood of the martyrs. They praised God singing on their way to be tortured and killed in the name of their Lord Jesus Christ. Regardless of evil men’s attempts to stamp out Christianity, God keeps watch over his people who stand as witnesses to the fulfillment of his promises. When Christians are persecuted for standing for truth, men will see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. God will open the eyes of those he’s called so that they can witness the truth for which his Christians stand... As Paul said, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain.  

When we stand as citizens of Heaven for the gospel of God’s grace then our Heavenly Father will honor our stand for truth and righteousness. The godless doctrines of communism in the guise of liberal social democracy are opposed to the godly truth upon which our country was founded as one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and Justice for all.  

Let's continue Michael's message on this blessed Beattitude in the next post.

In Christ, Brian

A Piece of Peace – Part 2

 

Psalm 62:1-2,5-8 “My soul waits in silence for God alone; from Him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I will not be greatly shaken. My soul, wait in silence for God alone, for my hope is from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my refuge; I will not be shaken. My salvation and my glory rest on God; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him.” 

 

God loves us and is working on our behalf al the time. But, the only time that we are going to have perfect peace is when we truly trust in God. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 7:24-25 “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts on them, will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.” – meaning rock solid security and peace are found only in God. We can experience this if we fix our mind and thoughts on Jesus. God has blessed each one of us with the ability to think, but we can allow our thoughts lead us into a place of total despair, if we allow ourselves to. Yet, we can allow our thought to lead us into a place of refuge, our rock, salvation and unshakable stronghold with the Almighty. King David said in Psalm 139:1-2 “Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I get up; You understand my thought from far away.” The Apostle Paul states in Romans 8:27a “God already knows our deepest thoughts.” God knows what we are thinking and the thoughts that can take us way from that perfect peace of mind, so He is ready to hear from us because He cares.

 

Jesus Christ is our Savior, Redeemer, Healer and the Baptizer of the Holy Spirit; the King of kings. Christians need to lift up our eyes, lift up our hearts, and lift up our thoughts to the Lord of Lords – Jesus Christ. The church body of Believers needs to trust in the Lord and His perfect plan and purpose for our lives. Then, we will experience His perfect peace for wholeness. What occupies your thoughts today? Are our minds fixed upon the problems of life, or on the Fixer of problems? In whom do we put our trust? God’s perfect peace is sufficient for every part of our lives, including the storms of life we encounter. We all need to be better at fixing our thoughts on our heavenly Father and Jesus, the Prince of Peace.    

 

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.”

 

Does your thinking need to be transformed? God’s prophet tells us in Isaiah 26:3-4,12 “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock. Lord, You will establish peace for us, since You have also performed for us all our works.” As material people in a physical world tend to believe that we alone think up the plans that make us successful in life, but forget that our Maker gave us the brain and ability to think in the first place. Know that you are fearfully and wonderfully made by your Creator and be truly grateful. Affirm the relationship that you have with your heavenly Father, reconciled through Christ, and experience the peace that all of God’s people can know, if you focus vertically upward and only glance horizontally at what is going on around you. We are going to experience hardships, negative circumstances and difficult situations in our lives, but God can give you peace in and through all of them; they are like water rolling off a duck’s back. But, the only way that happens is if we put our trust and thoughts in Him.

 

In everything that we encounter in this life, we can put our trust in God. The Lord God Almighty is in control and has the power to bring peace and soul-rest to your life. Soul-rest is deeper than any other kind of rest you’ve experienced. It’s not circumstantial, nor does it need to be renewed. Soul-rest, rather, has its roots in something unshakable. It is rooted in faith and confidence that we’re deeply and unconditionally loved, held safe in the arms of our heavenly Father. Soul-rest comes when we trust God fully, which is quite different from merely saying we trust God. Words will not give us the rest our souls long for. Trust will. When we declare Jesus to be the Lord of our lives, meaning He’s not just someone we read about in the Bible, something changes in us. And when we think and live like He is worthy of our complete faith and trust, then we start to experience the soul-rest He offers. Rely on God and His holy Word, standing on the promises of God in Holy Scripture and praying; focusing on Him. Are you in the Word of God, reading your Bible daily? Let God bring your mind to a place of perfect peace and rest. 

 

Today, thank God for what He has done in your life. In God We Trust. Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.” Amen.

 

In Christ, Brian

A Piece of Peace - Part 1

 

Galatians 5:22-24 “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

 

A week ago Sunday, Pastor Herk continued in his sermon series on the effects of trusting God and the fruit of the Spirit is surely one of those effects. We live in a world buried under an avalanche of existential darkness in global turmoil, pandemic, oppressive partisan politics, crime and natural disasters relentlessly magnified by social and mainstream media. Everyone encounters hardships in the life on this side of Heaven, in a fallen world where we will continue to encounter circumstances and situations that may cause us grief and misery on a regular basis until the day of glory. But, we can always find peace in troubles, trials, sorrows and the storms of life, if we look to God. 

The Apostle Paul says in Colossians 1:2, “To the saints [all those who have been sanctified in Christ] and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our [Maker] Father.” If we could live in a world with no difficulties, conflicts, worries, illness or injury, then maybe we would never experience trials and sorrows. Peace in our soul may be found in much the same way as joy that we seek in life. They are an acquiescence in God’s will the soul delights itself in the presence and experience of God Himself to live victorious, extraordinary, abundant Christian lives. We live in a broken and sin-sick broken world which seems like whenever we get through one difficulty, another comes along, in a cyclical continuation of problematic circumstances that invade our lives and at times make us struggle to find peace. Yet, where does true peace come from? 

 

The Lord Jesus said in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” The Lord explains spiritual peace of his disciples in John 14:27 “Peace I leave you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor fearful.” Have peace, take heart and do not be troubled or afraid is what Jesus is telling us. Peace of heart and peace of mind. We need to hear those words of Jesus and remind ourselves of those words of peace when we get into those times of turmoil and we are struggling. We know that peace is the standard and norm of life because Genesis 1:31 tells us from creation of the world that, God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Original sin created the fallen world being reconciled through Christ today, and we need to experience that piece of peace which only Jesus can bring. 

 

Philippians 4:6-9 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things. As for the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

 

Whatever circumstances that we are facing, Christ’s supernatural peace (which surpasses all comprehension) is what we need to experience. We can experience peace in our hearts when we trust God. When we pray to God, we commit our circumstances and situations to God, lifting them up and turning them over to our heavenly Father, trusting that He is going to handle them for us, all the time thanking the Lord for the incredible blessings and amazing things has done for us that we can so easily lose sight of amidst the chaos around us: God’s love, grace and mercy, God’s Word, our salvation, our family, Christ’s church and ministry and our liveliness that has given so much light, fulfillment, encouragement, hope, joy and peace. The Lord God will continue to bless our lives, if we continue to trust, obey and thank Him. 

 

Are your thoughts fixed on the Lord’s Word, Will and Way? Are you talking to God about your life in fervent prayer? Are you making and taking quiet devotional time to converse with your heavenly Father? We have a tendency to think that we can rely on our own ability to handle problems in our lives, to pull up your bootstraps [to improve one's life or circumstances through one's own efforts, rather than relying on others] and work out your own problems. But, our trust is not supposed to be in our own abilities, in other people or the ideas and philosophies that the secular humanistic world gives us. Our trust must be in God to relieve us from the ignominy of selfish heathenism. This would place us openly under the Divine protection and providence we have personally claimed. It’s very simple: trust God.  

Let's continue Pastor Herk's message on godly "peace" in the next post.

In Christ, Brian

Are You Growing? – Part 3

Continuing Pastor Obie's message: When you become more spiritually mature, you become more selfless. The mature Christians reflects the image of their heavenly Father and His characteristics, because God is love and one of the characteristics of love is that it is not self-seeking. The Apostle Paul didn’t want the church to be consumed by their own needs and preferences, but to be concerned with the needs and preferences of others, selfless rather than selfish. In Philippians 2:3, Paul writes, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Are you more concerned with the “Me”, myself and I, or in the greater “We” in your life? The Christian matures living by the latter and remains immature by the former. The Number One indicator of church spiritual growth and maturity is a heart for serving others; caring less about the “Me” and more about the “We”. How is this true in your own life today? Take a good look at your time and your finances as an indicator. 

 

The last spiritual growth marker is (4) Knowledge verses Wisdom. Here is the difference between the two. Knowledge is the accumulation of information, data, or facts that you’ve learned or experienced. All Christians are called to grow in knowledge of God our entire lives. But, wisdom is the ability to take that knowledge and apply it in your life in order to reach the maximum possible benefits. Knowledge is knowing what to say, and wisdom is knowing when to say it. Both are good attributes, but wisdom has an element of action in it. Wisdom puts knowledge into action. You put into practice what is being preached. James 1:22-25 tells us, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” Christians can seek and fill their heads with biblical truth and spiritual knowledge [which is good’, but if we do not do anything with that knowledge then it is a waste; being intellectually fit, but outwardly in ministry malnourished Christians. Wisdom does not waste knowledge, but put it into practice. 

 

The bible consistently uses planting metaphors. In Jesus’ parable of the Sower, the seed was the Word of God that was broadcast and sown into different soils, which represented the condition of the human hearts receiving it, and in Luke 8:14, the Lord explains that, “as for the seed which fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. Matthew 13:22 states, “As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the Word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. In contrast, in Luke 8:15 Jesus tells us, “As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the Word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” And in Matthew 13:23 “As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the Word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” When you read or hear the Word of God and what is being preached, do you cultivate the soil of your heart to receive it, prayerfully mediate upon it, and hold onto it or does it get choked out by the distractions, deceitfulness cares of the world, riches and pleasures of life? Do you put the knowledge gained by the Word of God into active practice with wisdom daily? Are there fruits being manifested in your life? 

 

John 15:1-2 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” You are God’s garden, lets him dress the vine of your spirit and soul to grow your faith. The issue in the Corinthians church was that they were simply missing the point. The Apostle Paul states: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.” The clergy of Christ’s church are one, workers for God harvest in ministry. It is God who causes the growth. Care for the garden of your heart  by planting, watering, fertilizing, weeding and pruning to help your faith mature and grow healthy in godly knowledge to produce abundant good fruit. As the Owner of the farm and the vinedresser, God loves and cares for His garden (His people, His children – the church). 

 

The Lord want to see healthy growth in His garden; that is you. You are His field and He is planting things in you that He wants to see sprout, grow strong and bear beautiful fruit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control in your heart). These fruits, when they are manifest in your life and blossom, they will bless both you and the people around you. God is the one who makes things grow., so let’s not get in the way of that spiritual growth or hinder what God wants to bring into our lives, but let’s compliment it. Sin habits hinder the spiritual growth in our lives, so push that hindering sin nature of the flesh aside and walk in the Spirit. 

 

Are you growing? You got to know if you grow because growth is a healthy part of life.

In Christ, Brian   

Post #3300

Are You Growing? – Part 2

Continuing Pastor Obie message: The next spiritual growth marker is (2) Milk verses Meat. The Apostle Paul wrote: as infants in Christ, I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. Paul was talking about spiritual food. The Apostle taught the new church the basics of the faith and the core principles. John 3:14-18 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world [full of us sinners], that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” 

 

Jesus, the Christ [the promised Messiah of God] died on the Cross for our sins, then rose from the grave to conquer sin and spiritual death, opening eternal life for the repentant Believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ [Savior and Lord of all], redeemed, regenerated, and reconciled. This is the basis of Christianity [the milk] and the Christians grow in the deeper details of knowing God and faith [the meat] applied in life from there. Paul goes into greater detail in Hebrews 5:12-14 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” 

 

Five years after learning the basics, the Corinthian church was like a baby drinking milk out of a bottle. What are you feeding your spiritual growth on today and can you distinguish real from counterfeit and good from evil? For a new true Believer, it is important that they are fed the milk of the basic principles of Christianity. If you give a newborn infant meat, it is unable to digest it properly and can be detrimental to their health. But, if that child is five years old and still drinking milk out of a baby bottle and not eating solid food [meat] then this can be detrimental to their health also by not taking in the proper nutrients you need to grow and mature. This explains why the Corinthians church was not spiritually growing and maturing because they were not taking in solid scriptural food; they laid around, drank milk, cried, and pooped their pants [messing things all up] like babies. At the beginning of a baby’s life, they cannot feed themselves, so they need someone to feed them milk. As the child gets older, they can be spoon-fed to eat more solid food. finally, as they get a little older, they get to the point where they can feed themselves; they even learn to shop, prepare and cook their meals on their own, and enjoy a variety of nutritious entrees and delectables. 

 

A healthy adult knows how to eat solid food. Likewise, on the godly spiritual journey through this life on this side of Heaven, the new Believer starts with milk [basic principles of faith], then be spoon-fed the core teachings of Christianity at church weekly. As they grow and mature, they get to the point where they can start feeding themselves for greater knowledge of biblical truth and spiritual understanding, discernment trained by constant practice and application of the things of God in life. There should be consistent spiritual feeding habit that develop in every Christian. Disciples of Christ should not just rely on being spoon-fed by pastors, elders, lay-teachers and small group leaders. Spiritual food one or two days a week will not allow you to grow as you should, feed yourself daily with spiritual food in quiet prayer time with God, bible reading and meditating on the Word of God, reading of Christian books or on Christian websites, daily devotionals, Christian radio, TV or videos, Bible studies groups (large, medium or small), discussing biblical truth with a friend, worship, fellowship encouragement, witnessing of the Gospel to others, et cetera. 

 

Joshua 1:8-9 says, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” There must be some consistent habits of spiritual disciple taking place daily. How are you doing in your spiritual feeding habits? 

 

The next spiritual growth marker is (3) “Me” verses “We”. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? To focus on self and “my” preferences and completely forsake the “we” [the greater church community and other’s] preferences. Another way to translate the word jealousy here is the word envy. Envy is defined as: To feel uneasiness, mortification or discontent, at the sight of superior excellence, reputation or happiness enjoyed by another; to repine at another's prosperity; to fret or grieve one's self at the real or supposed superiority of another, and to hate him on that account or malignity, and often or usually with a desire or an effort to depreciate the person, and with pleasure in seeing him depressed. Envy springs from pride, ambition or love, mortified that another has obtained what one has a strong desire to possess or their preference over yours. The root of envy is selfish pride. 

 

There is a difference between coveting and envy. Theologian Cornelius Plantinga stated that “to covet is to want somebody else’s god so strong that one is tempted to steal it. To envy is to resent somebody else so much that one is tempted to destroy it. The Coveter has empty hands and wants to fill them with somebody else’s goods. The Envier has empty hands so wants to empty the hands of the envied individual. If the Envier can come away with the other’s goods, so-much the better, but that is an incidental advantage. What the envier wants is to spoil something or someone. Envy is nastier than covetousness. What an Envier wants is, not what another has, but for the other not to have it.” When you find what you envy in life, then you will find your idol. The immature Corinthian church’s envy of preferences became their idol. If anything takes the priority over God in your life, then that becomes your idol. They valued the “Me” over the greater “We” and therefore, selfish. 

Let's conclude Pastor Obie's message on "spiritual growth in the next post. In Christ Brian

Are You Growing? – Part 1

 

1 Corinthians 3:1-9 “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?  What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.”

 

This last Sunday, Pastor Obie continued in our church’s Sermon series through the book of 1 Corinthians. He announced that his wife was pregnant and they were expecting a baby boy to arrive in March of 2022. As a sermon illustration, he gave a scenario that everybody came to see their new little bundle of joy and thought that he a was really cute baby. But, after a year, the boy hadn’t grown very much and caused a bit of concern. Then five years went by and the child was still an infant, there was a big problem here, so there was great concern that something was seriously wrong because babies naturally grow and mature at a normal rate as a part of healthy life. Pastor Obie used this hypothetical story because this is what the Apostle Paul discovered in the Christian maturity of the Corinthian church described in the Bible passage above. Paul planted this new church in Corinth and five years later, he receives a report that the church is not spiritually growing in faith and knowledge of the Lord.; they are still spiritually immature. Because of that lack of spiritual grow, many ungodly issues had arisen within the body of Believers in the church. Pastor Obie extrapolates insights and wisdom from this passage of Holy Scripture that we all can apply in our lives today to answer the very important and vital question: Are you growing?

 

The city of Corinth in Asia Minor (modern day Greece) had a similar social climate as we have today in Southern California. They were a prosperous port city with a diverse ethic mix. A center of sport, military, government, business and the pursuit of all things worldly (parities, drunkenness, sex, power, pleasure and prestige). In this epistle (letter), the Apostle Paul addresses five issues, the first being divisions within the church over preferences of preachers they follow, not focusing on God, so the body of Believers were not spiritually growing or maturing. They suffer from self-inflicted “stunted spiritual growth syndrome. We all need to take a spiritual diagnostic assessment to see if we are growing spiritually and gauge ourselves for needed spiritual growth areas individually. Pastor Obie gave four spiritual growth markers because once the seed of faith is planted into a Believer and sprout, that faith must be continually watered and nourished to grow and show spiritual health. 

 

(1) Flesh verses Spirit. The Apostle said: could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh. Every true born-again Christian has two sides inside them warring against each other for our heart – our fallen flesh nature and the indwelling Spirit. There are three varying degrees: (a) the natural man – purely of the flesh desires, patterned after the fall of Adam and rejects everything of the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:14 tells us, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (b) the spiritual man – completely in tune with the Spirit of God and rejects all things of the flesh, knowing and doing the things of God. 1 Corinthians 2:15“The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.” 

 

(c) the fleshly man – the Christian that knows the things of God, but in some significant way is still characterized by the fallen flesh. The word “flesh” (“carnal” in other translations) is the Greek word “Sarkikós”, meaning; pertaining to flesh, having the nature of flesh, aroused and under the control of the animal appetites governed by mere human nature not by the Spirit of God –a fallen human: with the included idea of depravity—carnal, fleshly. The Apostle Paul addresses this in Romans 7:15 where he says, “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”  Then, explains in Romans 8:5-6, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” What is on your heart, mind and soul? Paul further explains in Galatians 5:17-24 “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery [drug abuse], enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,

kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” It is a spiritual life and death “Salvation” issue. 

Let's continue Pastor Obie's message on "spiritual growth' in the next post.

In Christ, Brian

Blessed Are the Reviled, Persecuted, and Slandered – Part 2

 

Philippians 3:20 says, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ...” We’re not to stand for the politics of this world but for the politics of heaven, for our citizenship is in heaven. Our allegiance is to our Heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. The word translated “citizenship” is from the Greek word “Politiea” from which we get the English word politics. The root word for Politea is the Greek word “Polis” which is the basis of the English word Police. In Ancient Greece, the polis was the wall around the city-state that defined the citizens who lived inside the protection of its ramparts. These walls protected the city’s inhabitants from their enemies and defined the people as citizens and loyal supporters of the leaders of their city state. As Christians we are citizens of heaven. Heaven defines our homeland and our ruler, God our Heavenly Father. As loyal subjects of our Lord Jesus Christ, even though we hold dual citizenship, we are Christians first and Americans second. We are Christians who happen to be Americans and not Americans who happen to be Christians. Our true homeland is in heaven and we pledge our allegiance to our Heavenly Father and our Sovereign Lord Jesus Christ.

The prophet Daniel had risen through the political ranks of ancient Babylon. Proverbs 18:16 says, “A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.” Daniel sought God for wisdom and made wise decisions as God directed him. King Darius perceived that Daniel had an “excellent spirit” and appointed him the chief over the three presidents who served under the king. These three presidents were in charge of 120 governors or princes who ruled over the people of the kingdom of Babylon. The other presidents and princes plotted to overthrow Daniel, so they scrutinized his life and his actions to find something they could charge against him. However, they could not find any fault in him. Since they knew that Daniel served his God, they devised a trap to use Daniel’s service to God against him.  

They appealed to the king’s pride to sign a decree that no one in the kingdom could make a petition to any man or god except to King Darius within the next thirty days. If anyone violated this decree, they would be thrown into a den of lions. The king signed the decree which could not be rescinded according to the law of the Meades and Persians. Even though Daniel knew of the decree, he continued to pray to God three times a day with his window open toward Jerusalem as he had always done. The other governors observed and recorded that Daniel continued to pray to his God. They came to King Darius and said, Daniel has violated your decree that no one can make a petition to any man or god within thirty days. According to the law of the Meads and the Persians which cannot be altered, Daniel must be thrown into the den of lions. King Darius was angry when he realized that the decree he signed was a trap for Daniel whom he had appointed as his chief advisor. He sought counsel to find a way to avoid sending Daniel to the lion’s den, but the terms of the decree could not be rescinded. Before Daniel was taken away to be cast into the den of lions, King Darius said to Daniel, The God whom you serve will deliver you.

Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den and King Darius spent a sleepless night worrying about Daniel’s fate. The next day, the king rushed to the opening of the lion’s den and said, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou serves continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? “. Then said Daniel unto the king, “O king, live forever. My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocence was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.” (Daniel 6:20-23)

As is often said, joy is not the absence of pain, but the presence of the Lord. God allows persecution to teach us that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope make not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us. The word for experience means “proven character.” God’s character in us is proven by trials that refine us. Pastor Chuck Smith said, God will deliver us in the fire, by the fire, or through the fire. According to Proverbs, “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but God refines the heart.”  

We’re proven and reproved by the testing of the trials, tribulations, pressures, and persecution of this world. The Apostle Paul learned this lesson when he prayed three times for God to remove his thorn in the flesh. The first two times, God did not answer. The third time, God answered but the answer was not what Paul was expecting. God said to Paul, My strength is made perfect in your weakness, my grace is sufficient for thee. Therefore, Jesus said, blessed are they when men shall revile you and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, for great is your reward in heaven. Through the trials of life, we will understand that there is no victory without a spiritual battle. Through the pandemic, pandemonium, pressures, and persecution of this world we will learn the greatest blessing of all ... thy grace is sufficient for me, that we may live as living witnesses of His power to overcome, that this light affliction which is but for a moment is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall follow. .. for great is your reward in heaven!

Your brother in Christ, Michael

Blessed Are the Reviled, Persecuted, and Slandered – Part 1

 

This week, Michael writes that the goal of the beatitudes is that they lead us through paths of righteousness for the Lord’s name’s sake. The path begins with humility ... in realizing that we are poor in spirit without the Spirit of God, in Christ. Then blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek. those who are receptive to receive God’s instruction. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are those who are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. The last of Jesus’s beautiful attitudes is in Matthew 5:11-12. Jesus said, “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven.... for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”

The road through the history of the Christian church is paved with the blood of the martyrs. However, because Jesus died for our sins, we should live for him ... a living sacrifice, transformed by the renewing of our minds that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. In Roman times, the early Christian message divided believers from unbelievers. To the Jews in Jerusalem, converts to Christianity were considered dead, they were outcasts dead to those who continued to worship in the temple and in the synagogue.

The Roman Emperor Nero, tortured Christians and set their bodies on fire to light the avenue that led into Rome. What was his motive for persecuting, torturing, and killing Christians? On the surface, Nero had burned Rome to rebuild it as a monument to his own egotistical power. However, the citizens of Rome revolted against Nero for burning their city. Nero needed someone to blame so he accused the Christians for setting Rome ablaze. From a spiritual perspective, Nero’s killing of the Christians fulfilled Jesus’ prophetic words ... blessed are the persecuted, reviled, and evil spoken of, for great is their reward in heaven.

In totalitarian regimes the government and their authoritarian rulers will do everything in their power to stamp out anything that threatens their absolute power. This totalitarian ideology of power continues today. As British historian Lord Acton said, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In the killing fields of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot used genocide to annihilate the intellectuals, the educated, and the religious leaders that he perceived as opposition to his total authority. Political powers divide families so that corrupt governments can indoctrinate their children. Then the children will learn to become subservient to the ruling regime. In Rome, Cesar instituted emperor worship ... their official motto was “Cesar is God.” Anyone who did not bow down to Cesar and burn incense in his honor was persecuted and outlawed for disloyalty to the emperor. Jesus’ only offense was that his followers followed Him as their Lord and Master. Following Jesus Christ threatened the power of Rome. Jesus said, “the world hates you as it has hated me. Ye are not of this world. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. These things they will do for my name’s sake for they have not known me.” The sin nature we inherited from Adam hates the nature of God. Each of the beatitudes is diametrically opposed to the attitudes of this fallen sinful world.  

In our country, those who seek to control Americans will do whatever it takes to subjugate citizens under their repressive governmental dictates. They will mandate the restriction of our God-given unalienable rights that were written into our Constitution. In their lust for power they rationalize that removing the freedoms that were written into the First Amendment are for ’public safety’ and the “good of the American people.” They use temporary emergencies such as the Coronavirus or whatever happens to be the crisis of the day to remove our freedoms. Their purpose is to control the people and stamp out opposition to their absolute power. They use proclaimed national crises to deny Christians their God-given freedoms upon which our nation was founded as “one nation under God” and the national Motto – In God With Trust. 

The world alienates followers of Christ by emphasizing what they as unbelievers think Christians are against. Because they have no knowledge of a just, holy and loving God, they perceive that Christians are closed minded, bigoted, fairytale believing and holier-than-thou. However, it’s not what Christians are against that matters... but what we stand for. Therefore, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Stand up for Jesus. Stand in his strength alone. The devil takes the truth of the Word of God and twists it to his own evil ends. Any fool can claim his rights and any demon will make sure that he gets them to their demise. Jesus said, “Set your affections on things above and not on things of earth.” Christians are distracted from their heavenly calling when they align themselves with a particular secular political party thinking that an earthly political candidate can deliver them from the physical world’s problems.  

Let's continue Michael message on Christian persecution in the next post.

In Christ, Brian 

God’s Not-So Secrets – Part 4

 

Continuing Pastor Kyle message: Another highest blessing from God is forgiveness. God’s grace (His unmerited favor to give us what we do not deserve) the minute that we repent and become followers of Jesus Christ, by the blessed Redeemers wounds we are healed, and by our Savior’s finished work on the Cross we are set free; forgiven once and for all. But, God goes one step further in that when we fall in sin after saved, we still have to pay the natural earthly consequences of those sins, even though Christ paid for them on the Cross for the eternal spiritual consequence. Hate sin for what it is: wrong in the eyes of the Lord and wicked and shameful rebellion against His holy Word, Will and Way. The Christian is still tempted by the sinful desires of the flesh even after accepting Christ and as the Apostle Paul said in Romans 7:15-20, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”

 

Then the Apostle Paul explains why in Galatians 5:16-17 saying, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” The Born-again Christian may fall into the pigpen of sin, but like the Prodigal son of Luke 15:11-32, but they stand back upright with God, get out of the pigsty of sin and repentantly go back to the Father, leaving the filthy sin behind and reorienting their life’s alignment with God’s Word, Will and Way by walking in thought, word and deed with the Spirit. By the grace of God, Christ paying for our sins shouldn’t make you feel guiltless for committing sin. We were design and created by God for righteousness and holiness, not sinfulness.

 

The Apostle Paul explains in Romans 6:1-15, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

 

In John 8:31-35 Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free ... I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever.” The Apostle Paul explains in plain language for us to understand in Romans 6:19, “I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.” Sanctification is defined as: The act of consecrating or of setting apart for a sacred purpose; The act of making holy. Growing and maturing into the likeness of Christ in righteous living. In an evangelical sense, the act of God's grace by which the affections of men and women are purified or alienated from sin and the God-rejecting world, and exalted to a supreme love to God. Hate sin; love God.

 

Another highest blessing from God is provision. One of the names for God is Jehovah-jireh, meaning “the Lord will provide”. Providence in theology is defined as: the care and superintendence which God exercises over his creatures. He that acknowledges a creation and denies a providence, involves himself in a palpable contradiction; for the same power which caused a thing to exist is necessary to continue its existence. Some persons admit a general providence, but deny a particular providence, not considering that a general providence consists of particulars. A belief in divine providence, is a source of great consolation to good men. By divine providence is often understood God himself. As a part of provision God says “I want you to put Me first”. 

 

Another highest blessing from God is in love and belonging. The Apostle John tells us in John 1:12-13 ‘to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right [the authority, the privilege] to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name — who were born, not of blood [natural conception], nor of the will of the flesh [physical impulse], nor of the will of man [that of a natural father], but of God [that is, a divine and supernatural birth—they are born of God—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified].” True believing Christians are children belonging to the Father in the family of God through the love of God that saved and sanctified them into the body of Believers (the church) with Christ as their head. Do you understand that? In Matthew 16:15-18 the Lord Jesus asked His Disciples, “who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock [the profession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God], I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The body of believing brothers and sisters in Christ, as children of God, are the church, loving and belonging to their heavenly Father in the Kingdom of God. Does that make sense? This is all glorious news and why the Gospel of Jesus Christ is called “Good News”! Halleluiah! Praise be to God!

 

In Christ, Brian