While finishing up my next article I wanted to submit this exhortation I gave one night at the Coffee House.
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We are instructed by the scriptures to be vigilant in our faith, to strive to enter the strait gate, fight the good fight, run the race, be good soldiers, finishers of the faith.
In Luke chapter 16 Jesus tells His disciples about a certain rich man who had a steward who had wasted his goods. The setting for this discourse is that He was speaking to His disciples, but not only to them, for Luke also says in verse 14 that “the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided Him.” Now Luke doesn’t share what exactly the Pharisees were saying, but the Greek word translated “deride” was only used twice in the NT, with the second place being in Luke as well when Jesus was on the cross.-
Lu 23:35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided Him, saying, He saved others; let Him save Himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.
In both places it is noteworthy that such was the response towards Jesus. There wasn’t any dignified attempt to reason or refute Jesus; it was an eruption out of the abundance of their hearts of iniquity as they spoke, a blatant display of arrogance by corrupt religious leaders against the greatest Rabbi of eternity. Their outburst of unashamed scoffing and ridicule was meant to convey their total rejection of Him. What makes this even more shameful is they were doing it in a vain attempt to justify their own selves. I am sad to say I have witnessed this type of behavior with the same motive among those professing to be Christian, leaders included.
Lu 16:15 And He said unto them, “You are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”
We hear it all the time, “I have my rights!” or “You need to stand up for your rights.” Or perhaps that most famous proclamation about men’s rights in the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Time and space would be exhausted here if one were to try to list all the legal rhetoric out there expounding on “rights” in the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and all the various definitions in Bouvier’s, Black’s or Dean’s law dictionaries. It should be evident to every American that the idea of men’s rights (especially since the civil rights movement) is nowadays held to be an undisputable fact. But I would boldly say that the concept of “rights” is one that is rarely properly understood, even by Christians.
It has been several months that I felt the Lord has been speaking to me about faith, faithfulness and forgiveness. Throughout it all I have found myself wanting to write about what He has been showing me regarding having “faith as a grain of a mustard seed” where Jesus tells His disciples, “you might say unto this sycamine tree, ‘Be you plucked up by the root, and planted in the sea,’ and it should obey you.” I have sought various opportunities of late to write so concerning faith and a few other things that I might leave my own children a record of what I feel the Lord has revealed to me pertaining to the promises and conditions of the Kingdom of God of which Jesus testified “every man presses into it.” However, I have felt restrained by His Spirit prior till now that it wasn’t time to write. Why, I am not really sure, the Lord knows though. Perhaps so will I when I am finished.
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Understanding how God’s grace saves us.
Why we need faith, why we must hear and believe God’s word to us . . .
Ro 11:18 Do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you.
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
20 Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear;
21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.
22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.
23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God is able to graft them in again.
Jesus taught us that “all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you unto them: for this is the law and the prophets.” This is one of the great distinctions from those of other belief systems clarified by Jesus’ teachings on the oracles of God. Many religions out there aggressively preach messages of constraint, i.e., don’t treat people the way you don’t want to be treated. Often such religions and institutes affix to their messages oppressive obligations of repetitious prayer, have vain ceremonies and require their followers to maintain a cultural appearance of (perceived) piety.
Here Jesus takes us immediately into servitude to others, “Do for others what you would want them to do for you.” All those out there who continually harp on the difference between the law and grace, they would do well to pause and consider Jesus words here “for this is the law and the prophets.” Jesus wasn’t throwing away the law and saying, “From now on, this is what we do.” He was actually warning everyone not to get caught up in mere religion, that this is what God has always really required.
In the Old Testament when Balak, king of Moab, consulted with Balaam what he needed to do that he might know the righteousness of the LORD. Being ignorant to the righteousness of God, he asked what was it he had to give. Listen to his question and Balaam’s reply –
Micah 6:6 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? Should I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Should I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what the LORD requires of you, do justly and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.
Sadly, because the churches are no longer teaching from the whole Bible, many people nowadays fail to understand the distinction between the two separate aspects of “The Law,” that part which was fulfilled and done away with, and that part of which not one jot or tittle will pass away until after all is fulfilled. Let’s look at Jesus words –
There are many things that still must come to pass before the Lord returns, things that are clearly written in scripture that we might be aware of the time and season in which we are living. These things were written so that we the Church could stand fast, and keep our focus on our responsibility of each of us perfecting our call to holiness while endeavoring to fulfill the purpose for which we have been elected/enlisted/chosen by the Captain of our salvation.
2Ti 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. (KJV)
2Ti 2:4 No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. (NASB)
We all have not only been called to be holy for the Lord is holy, it is both a commandment and a necessity; for without holiness no one will see God on favorable terms. Equally true is that each of us have been given a certain rank and file in the army of God whereby we are to . . . no, whereby we must labor together with other members of the body of Christ according to the effectual working of His grace given each and everyone of us. None of this has to do with God being a respecter of persons, rather it is in His wisdom that He has dispersed His gifts unto men with the seemingly greater gifts also bearing the greater responsibility. Nonetheless, regardless the uniqueness of our individual calls to ministry given by our Father, every believer’s priorities should be for His name’s sake to be wholeheartedly seeking and doing His will “according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
2 Pe 1:10 Wherefore the rather, brothers, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, you shall never fall.
Sisters and brothers, we must make our callings certain (not in vain), for there has been given to each an everyone of us “grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ,” meaning our Lord has equipped each and every one for a unique function in His body that by having ears that hear what the Spirit is saying we can collectively work together making Christ known and warning men to flee the wrath to come. This is why we study to show ourselves approved, that we might not only rightly divide the Word of truth, but be applying it as well, thereby proving all things as we submit ourselves one to another in the fear of God . . . for there is no place for rouge independent “Christian ministers.” That is not to say that true men and women of God at times will not feel alone, but their hearts are ever seeking others with whom they may labor to God’s glory.
Eph 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
Since early 2011 there has been much chatter across the web about Comet Elenin and what appeared to be a correlation of seismic activity with its alignment with earth. We had no shortages of doomsayers and predictions concerning the end of the world and the timing of an imminent rapture of the church . . . but we are still here. I too labored many long hours in an effort to examine all the information available and submitted it for public scrutiny with my exhortation to give greater heed to God’s word foremost.
As it seems to stand today, apparently Comet Elenin was blasted by solar winds which blew away much of it coma. Now according to various accountings Elenin was destroyed, fragmented, is deteriorating, and/or has been reduced to even less significance than the seemingly correct unbelievers of doom had said it was. At the moment Elenin is now on its way back out into the vast expanse of the universe perhaps taking with it the threat of imminent death and destruction that so many had attached with it.
For almost two months I have been sitting back and praying that God help me to rightly divide and understand what I have been observing (and not observing) in my own Christian responsibility to “watch and pray.” There have been various things I felt God was impressing upon me, but there was also a sense of waiting before the Lord as Elenin continued it course past it inner alignment with Earth and the Sun on late September 26. It appears Elenin came and made alignment with no great calamity befalling the earth . . . apart from this year’s predicted increase of solar activity, record breaking droughts in one part of the world while storms and floods make new records in other places. Currently we are having a huge snow storm in the northeast while elsewhere volcanism and seismic disturbance continue about the world . . . but seemingly with no absolute correlation to the comet.
This is part one of a two part series on hell.
It is not enough that we each have our own set of Christian beliefs that we faithfully hold to. For many religions have faithful followers; many of which that would shame the half-hearted “Christian” who professes to be a true follower of Jesus Christ. Even if one was faithful to their favorite religious creed, faithfulness cannot deliver from sin or offer an assurance of eternal life.
Yet so many people boldly declare they are free simply because they have a belief system, a religion of choice, and their favorite translation or particular version of holy oracles or religious book which they cling to above all others. Many going about their daily lives with absolutely no clue that they are deceived and dead in their trespasses and sins; having only a form of godliness while they deny the true power of God which truly sets men free and transforms them.
John 8:31-36 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, “If you continue in My word, then are you My disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” They answered him, “We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how say you then, ‘You shall be made free?'” Jesus answered them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever commits sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abides not in the house for ever: but the Son abides ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”
If one is off a little in their foundation of their theology, then they will be considerably more off as they continue to build upon the principles they have embraced for their faith. As a building contractor I learned a long time ago that if I start off out of square, unlevel or out of plumb, the more I build off my starting reference point the further off I get. It is the same with the tenants of faith in Christendom.
Part of the devil’s plan was to saturate Christendom with theologies that are “mostly” true. I have a saying I use often with my kids, “The best lie is the one with the most truth in it.” Reason being, that if you want to deceive someone, let’s say someone with a little understanding and knowledge of God’s word, you will need to bait them with certain truths and plausible theories in their own popular Christian lingo.
They will then recognize some of those aspects of the truth they are acquainted with and will be more likely to embrace it, since it appealed to their logic and familiarity. However, because of their weakness of scriptural knowledge and understanding they can be tricked into embracing a carefully forged lie simply because they saw logic in it and will therefore often embrace a whole theology without thoroughly proving it. This is because most people have a pride that causes them to trust in their own ability to recognize truth without having to prove it.
I would like to start by sharing a quote by John H. Leith, who compiled a book concerning Christian doctrine from the Bible days to the present entitled “Creeds of the Churches”
“. . . the nature of man is an intelligent being. Just because of intelligence the Christian, of all men, has to learn to discern with agonizing clarity what is conceivable by him about God Himself. What cannot be thought through critically and expressed with reasonable clarity cannot demand the allegiance of man’s whole being. Understanding is necessary for man’s full commitment. Hence faith must be spoken and made intelligible. That is not to say faith must be enclosed within the limits of reason, but it does mean that faith must never require neither the closing of the mind nor the sacrifice of the integrity of the mind.”
This statement is one that has influenced me probably more than any other man’s words of wisdom to always try my best to understand every man’s profession of faith and to share mine as simply and clearly as possible. That is why before I share my thoughts on my next post regarding the Seven Year Tribulation, I would like to state a couple of things for some readers who do not know me.
Watching the news today in regards to the Mississippi flooding there was considerable concern mentioned regarding “sand boils.” For those who don’t know what those are, according to Wikipedia these “occur when water under pressure wells up through a bed of sand. The water looks like it is “boiling” up from the bed of sand, hence the name.” As I watched them addressing the seriousness of these occurrences I was strongly impressed that this phenomenon actually has a equivalent that similarly takes place in both the moral and spiritual realm as well. I say moral as well as spiritual because there are many people who are not godly who really believe they are “good people.” They have consistently lived their lives by a defined level of morality and have therefore kept themselves in their minds distinct from those they consider to be a more abase manner of people.
However, as is life, there are times when circumstances get out of our control and these external pressures steadily build up. When this happens, the moralities of these individuals are invaded by the same pollutions they had thought themselves to be greater than. If challenged regarding their moral change or outburst of behavior it is quickly explained that it was only because of the extenuating circumstances; there is a defensible justification for their apparent change of conduct. If it had not been for the forces beyond their control they never would have reacted the way they did, therefore (they argue) their behavior should be considered “justifiable” and would be debated so if the matter were to make into a court of law.
For centuries there has been much confusion when people try and reason the different accounts of Jesus’ resurrection as recorded by the apostles. The fact that they all seem to have a different story to tell does not help. Perhaps, a good way to consider their seemingly different reports is to view them like transparent overlays, similar to the one’s we have seen in books showing the skeleton, then the nerves and blood vessels, organs, muscular and finally the skin and hair.
The Gospels, similarly, are each reporting different events which had taken place around a major singular occurrence, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The fact is that these different events are recorded in God’s word and are therefore true. Perhaps the answer to the confusion is to consider that there were multiple trips made to the tomb.
The best way to determine the possible order of these Trips to the Tomb is to consider the different details that have been given about the time of day and light of the sun. Was the sun going down or coming up? These questions are actually quite easy to answer. However, we must remember that the Sabbath, like all the other biblical days, began and ended with sundown.
I would like to give acknowledgement to a brother Harry Miller who has gone to be with the Lord. Many years ago I read a tract he had written a tract entitled Three Days and Three Nights in which he mentioned there had to be multiple trips to the tomb. It was upon his prayerful studies and insight that I was motivated to search the scriptures that I might further understand these things and have therefore sought to put these things down to share with others. Therefore I am humbled and thankful to be able to continue in sharing these things with fellow seekers. Nevertheless, while I rejoice in the benefits I have enjoyed from other men’s prayer and labors, true blessing become tangible when we diligently seek the truths of God for ourselves in His word. There are no promises made to the half-hearted seeker of God, be diligent therefore, be studious and seek God while He may be found.
Peace.
If you have been to many churches, religious gatherings, or have been a Christian for a while now, then I am sure you been exposed to Prayer-Preaching. It is that part of public prayers where the person who is supposed to be praying is actually speaking to everyone else in the room instead of to God. Sometimes people treat prayer like it’s a pulpit in the pocket, any opportunity to pray to them becomes a must take opportunity for them to preach. Now, let me state right off that prayer-preaching isn’t a bad thing . . . but that doesn’t mean it is a good thing always. Sadly, some people just can’t seem to stop themselves from taking public prayer and using it to show others what they know, or pass over a chance to address someone in the room “anonymously.”
I have to admit most of the time when I hear someone prayer-preaching, I feel the sanctity of prayer is being compromise, that it is almost insulting to our Lord. However, sometimes it is the absolute right way to be praying . . . which is why I want to look at some of those last words of our Lord on His Cross.
Matthew 27:46 – And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?
There have been so many conclusions put forth as what Jesus was saying here. Some say that the Father literally turned away and abandoned Jesus on the cross and therefore Jesus cried out in forsaken agony. The reasoning goes that the Father couldn’t look upon Jesus with all the sins of the world placed upon Him.
I have posted this before, but since it is Easter this coming Sunday I figured it would be a good repost for those who may have missed it. I hope it blesses you.
For centuries there has been much confusion when people try to reason the different accounts of Jesus’ resurrection as recorded by the apostles. The fact that they all seem to have a different story to tell does not help. Perhaps, a good way to consider their seemingly different reports is to view them like transparent overlays, similar to the one’s we have seen in books showing the skeleton, then the nerves and blood vessels, organs, muscular and finally the skin and hair.
The Gospels, similarly, are each reporting different events which had taken place around a major singular occurrence, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The fact is that these different events are recorded in God’s word and are therefore true. Perhaps the answer to the confusion is to consider that there were multiple trips made to the tomb.
The best way to determine the possible order of these trips to the tomb is to consider the different details that have been given about the time of day and light of the sun. Was the sun going down or coming up? These questions are actually quite easy to answer. However, we must remember that the Sabbath, like all the other biblical days, began and ended with sundown, see Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31 and Lev. 23:32.
Here is a passage of scripture which many people quickly read through and think they “got it,” but never really slow down and take time to verify what they think is “obvious,” concerning what Paul was saying here. The very succinct nature of the passage alone demands further investigation into the depths of Paul’s meaning and intent. Simply consider how Paul takes us all the way from Christ rising from the dead and being the “firstfruit of them that slept,” then covers the redemptive plan of God from the consequences of Adam’s sin which brought death upon all men, to the very conclusion of God’s plan for all things – when God will be “all in all.” That’s a whole lot to cover in just nine verses.
I Corinthians 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
Most believers fail to stop and marvel how so much theology has been so efficiently congested into just nine short verses. For most simply read straight through them thinking “OK, yep, I got it. seems perfectly clear to me.” However, with such a vast expanse of time and information being addressed, it appears obvious to me that Paul was merely doing a quick connection and summarization of several key tenets of the Christian faith; points which he obviously expounded upon when he was there in person teaching the Corinthians, reasoning with them Old Testament scriptures in greater depth, and only makes allusion to here.
Therefore it would be prudent of us to humbly ask God’s Spirit for enlightenment that today we too may grasp the magnificent gravity of these words by trying to expand them and gaze into the depth and riches of God’s plan and promises for His people. My hope is for this post to be an encouragement to the readers to invest time to carefully look at each verse and search with me the scriptures Paul had, whereby he would have proved to them their current understanding this passage and his other teachings/epistles as well. (more…)
Gates of the City 