Revelation, Relationship and Rest

This morning I am reading from Matthew 11:25-30 NIV:

[25] "At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. [26] Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

[27] “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

[28] “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Such and interesting set of scriptures, all related, yet each set standing alone on its own. The themes of revelation, relationship and rest, all woven together.

The first statement Jesus made is intriguing, especially the end statement, about it being pleasing to the Father. The revelation of Jesus and the Kingdom of God, is what Jesus is discussing - see Luke 10:21- 22 for that reference. He had just sent the 72 out and they had seen miraculous things happen, and Jesus was rejoicing in the great things they had done and seen. He was expressing the fact that the Kingdom was advancing, and that on the shoulders of His followers, who were just like you and me. They were not the leaders of the synagogue or the 'wise', but just normal people. The Greek word actually means infant, but is used metaphorically to speak of the untrained and unskilled. He sent them out and they saw things that the Prophets of old longed to see. It is interesting that He says this pleases the Father to do it this way. We can conclude that the Father enjoys when the young, the new recruits, the humble, those held in little esteem go out and do "the stuff" of healing, signs and wonders, and miracles. There is a revelation of the Kingdom that the Father loves to bring about to such as these.

The second statement, rides on the first, for here Jesus says that it is precisely because He has relationship with the Father, and knows Him, and is choosing to reveal Him to us. All things have been committed to Him, and that means exactly that. He is the Father's representative, doing His works here on earth, and in that, bringing revelation of who the Father is, and what the Father is like. He chooses to reveal that to us, drawing us into relationship with Himself and the Father. Think of it as a young man bringing a friend home to meet his father. He knows what his father is like and is now bringing this friend home to meet his father and see for them self through first hand experience, what his father is really like. Tying this back to the first statement, it is the Father's good pleasure for it to work this way. The Father loves to reveal who He is through His Son Jesus.

Finally, there is rest and revelation in relationship with Jesus. When we come to Jesus we can lay down our burdens. When we come to Jesus there can be a transference of peace, for Jesus is not worried or pressured by anything. He speaks of rest for our souls, rest for the weary and burdened, which is brought about through His peace, and our knowing who He is. When I feel pressured and weary, I can go to Jesus and get His perspective. The invitation is to relationship with Him, the learning is only possible in that place of relationship. Finally the yoke He speaks of can mean His teaching and commands, and those were radically different than the law under which the people He was addressing were trapped. There was a great burden of the law and all its precepts that they felt they had to fulfill, and Jesus is replacing that with His new command - to love one another, and be active in representing Him and furthering the Kingdom. I was just reminded of something that Bill Johnson said about the time that Jesus and the apostles were ina boat in a storm and Jesus was sleeping (Matt 8:23-27) He said that Jesus was able to sleep, because inside Him there was no storm, only peace. He knew they would be fine, knew that the Father was in complete control, so was able to sleep. This is the type of peace and rest that He can bring us as we step into relationship with Him and come to know the heart of the Father.

So let us come to Jesus, receive this wonderful rest as we enter into relationship with Him and let Him reveal to us the heart of the Father for us. Let us walk in His ways, following His lead, and bring pleasure to the Father.

The Resurrection - The Cornerstone of Our Faith

This morning I have been reading a few different places in scripture and have come across the theme of the Resurrection repeatedly. I was thinking that this is one of the things we don't hear preached about much, at least I haven't, and yet it is the cornerstone of our faith.

These verses from Paul's first letter to the Corinthians describes the critical nature of the Resurrection - 1 Corinthians 15:12-14, 20-23 NIV:

[12] "But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? [13] If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. [14] And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.

[20] But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. [21] For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. [22] For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. [23] But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him."

In Acts 17, Paul was preaching in Athens and used the fact of the Resurrection as that which differentiated the Christian faith from all others. Here is an excerpt from that chapter - Acts 17:16-19, 29-31 NIV:

[16] "While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. [17] So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. [18] A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection. [19] Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?

[29] “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone---an image made by human design and skill. [30] In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. [31] For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

To summarize what Paul was saying, his proof of God being the one true God was that He sent Jesus to the earth, and then raised Him from the dead. Without the resurrection, our whole faith in Jesus is pointless, for that is what proves He was who He said He was, namely the Son of God. Without the resurrection He could just be a prophet, or a great teacher. The prophets of old worked signs and wonders occasionally, the great teachers spoke with wisdom and authority. It was the resurrection that sets Jesus apart, and is thus the cornerstone of our faith.

Without His death, we have no proof that He became fully man, and thus fulfilled the requirements of the Law. Without the resurrection we have no proof that God accepted this sacrifice and exalted Him as our Savior. As Paul said, "If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith!"

So today, and hopefully every day, I am grateful for the fact that Jesus did rise from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, even now. He is the only one who has saved me and set me free from the bonds of sin and death. Thank You Lord Jesus!

Hearing What We Want To Hear

I was reading through Luke 18 and came across these verses - very interesting to think about: Luke 18:31-34 NIV:

[31] "Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. [32] He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; [33] they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” [34] The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about."

I was just thinking how it is almost impossible to misunderstand Jesus' statement in the previous verses. The fact that the Apostles didn't understand what He was saying can only be attributed to one of two scenarios -1. The Holy Spirit was deadening their mind to the real meaning of Jesus' words. 2. They were only willing to hear what they wanted to hear.

Personally I think it was the latter, as we all do this to some extent. In my own life, their are certainly some areas of scripture that I either don't understand, or don't like reading. For example, one of those sections of scripture immediately precedes the verse above where Jesus tells the rich man to sell everything give to the poor. I just plain don't want to read those verses, and so I generally don't. The apostles were still believing that Jesus was going to somehow push the Romans out of power and take His throne here on earth, and anything other than that, it seems, they didn't want to hear.

This is a very dangerous stance, the of picking what we want to hear and believe. We believe the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of all scripture and ignoring or choosing to not believe some if it means we are limiting ourselves in understanding the full revelation of God. We may not understand the scriptures or the Father's heart in certain scriptures, but we must read them and try to understand, and pray for understanding. We need the totality of scripture, the whole Gospel, and we cannot leave out the parts we don't like or understand. Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:16 NIV: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,...".

Peter also spoke about subject briefly in his second letter:

2 Peter 3:1, 16-18 NIV
[ of Paul] [16] He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

[17] Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. [18] But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

So, my encouragement today is to look to the Lord, to read all His word, and to discover His will for me. I desire the full message of Scripture to fill my life and will choose to not hear only what I want to hear.

Sin, Discipline, Judgment and Love

I was thinking this morning about sin, specifically certain sins that are the result of believing lies, and bad theology, an interesting mix. I realized that we have to be very careful how we treat people who are deceived, and believing a lie, whether that is the stuff that is being taught about sinful lifestyles, or bad religion and teaching. We can't be angry with them, for they are deceived. We must not judge, for only Jesus can do that. We can express our belief and what we see as the truth, but we must not approach them with a sense of self-righteousness, or I am right you are wrong. This is where the command to love sees its primacy as the main motivation. Our first response should be love. We should not assume we know what they have experienced, or how they came to conclusion or belief they presently hold, but we should engage them in relationship and try to understand them. We must know what we believe, and why, and express that when questioned, and teach that when we are called. We must recognize that each person is significant and loved by the Lord, and our role is to represent Him.

I was just thinking about how different an approach this is, and how difficult to maintain. There is a definite role the that church should play, and we should stand up for what we believe in the political arena, but our personal ministry and relationships must represent Jesus. I think the danger is that some of the church feels that they can take on the judging role of Jesus, and they read scripture, seeing how He addressed the Pharisees and other religious leaders at that time, and figure they can act in the same way. I don't think this is our call, in fact in reading all the verses in the New Testament dealing with a judge or judgment, it is quite clear the Jesus alone is the judge. We can teach and correct those people in our own body, we can stand for the truth and teach the truth, we can explain our beliefs and thoughts to others, but I don't think we are called to take on judgment as a role, especially towards those outside the Body of Christ (1Cor 5:12-13).

I was thinking about a friend this morning who fell into serious sin in a particular area, and thought about how much of the church would want to treat him. As I was thinking about this, the Lord put it in terms of my relationship with my son, how if he were to mess up badly, as his father I wouldn't cut him off from relationship, I wouldn't punish him, I wouldn't stop all interaction with him until he got the one area back in line. I would continue to love him and be in relationship, and continue to work with him in all other areas. I would not interfere with the consequences of His bad decision, unless they were life threatening. I would help him wherever I could and encourage him to step up and be a man, and would love him through it all. This reminds me of a scripture comparing the Father to our earthly fathers - Matthew 7:9-11 NIV: "Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? [10] Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? [11] If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" I think the "how much more" statement that Jesus makes about the Father, is applicable here as well. If I a willing to love my son through difficult and bad decisions, how much more will the Father in Heaven.

So this brings up another subject, that of disciplining our children. The Old Testament has many verses, especially in Proverbs, that speak of how to raise a child. As good example is Proverbs 13:24 NIV: "Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them."

The Hebrew word here translated discipline is the word - Yacar

Definition: 1. to chasten, discipline, instruct, admonish a. (Qal) 1. to chasten, admonish 2. to instruct 3. to discipline b. (Niphal) to let oneself be chastened or corrected or admonished c. (Piel) 1. to discipline, correct 2. to chasten, chastise d. (Hiphil) to chasten e. (Nithpael) to teach

The Hebrew word here translated rod is the word - shebet

It is from an unused root probably meaning to branch off.

Definition: 1. rod, staff, branch, offshoot, club, sceptre, tribe a. rod, staff b. shaft (of spear, dart) c. club (of shepherd's implement) d. truncheon, sceptre (mark of authority) e. clan, tribe

My Hebrew to English Dictionary gives this definition of the word Shebet: rod, staff, a stick used to assist in walking, discipline, and guidance, often individualized and used for identification; of royalty: scepter, by extension: tribe, a a major unit of national group or clan.

So going back to Proverbs 13:34 - we could rewrite this verse to say the following - 'Whoever withholds guidance, direction and discipline from their child hates their child. But the one who loves their child is careful to correct, instruct, discipline and admonish their child.'. That sounds significantly different, and takes on a much more positive perspective.

So let us pray that the Church would learn to love, to act in love and to provide guidance, directions and instruction to those in the Body of Christ, and the words of life to those outside.

Foundations Of The Kingdom Of God

This morning have been revisiting the 'Sermon on The Mount' which starts in Matthew 5. This sermon is considered by many the single place where Jesus lays out the realities of the Kingdom of God, and how our lives should be lived.

I think it is very important to put this in the context of Jesus beginning ministry and the gathering of thousands of people. He had burst onto the scene with a completely new ministry of healing and miracles, proclaiming the Kingdom of God, and people were sure to be wondering what He was all about. These are the first real definitive statements that Jesus makes about all that, as far as we know.

He starts by proclaiming blessing to the people, not regarding material things, but rather spiritual traits. In other words He is laying the foundation of the Kingdom and it is a spiritual foundation, not a material one. This is such a departure from what the people were expecting from the Messiah. They were expecting a military leader, warrior-king to lead them to freedom from those who oppressed them, and here is Jesus saying blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, those who mourn, those that hunger and seek righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, peacemakers and persecuted. He finishes the 'beatitudes' by saying that those who are insulted and persecuted because of their relationship with Him are blessed as well.

This is not a message on the power of positive thinking, or a statement that proclaims material prosperity to His followers, but rather a statement drawing people to the relational and spiritual components of their lives. Jesus wasn't proclaiming Himself an up and coming leader, but was rather drawing people to that which really provides life and blessing. He is all about restoring real relationship wth the Father, and the spiritually arrogant or people living purely material lives will not recognize their need or even the invitation. Rather than saying 'look at me!' He is inviting the people to look at their own hearts, and see there a need for relationship with the Father.

He continues on with encouragements to be salt to the earth, or a light on the hill. I find this very interesting in that at this early stage of His ministry, He was already talking about the witness His followers would have to the world around them. Again, this is not a call to people to follow him and show the world who is best and has the brightest ideas, or to force others to think as they do, which is the more common call of charismatic leaders to followers. Rather this is a statement of the critical role we all have in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God expands because of us, because of the traits in us that He mentioned in the first discourse of blessings.

Finally, rather than making this about Him, He makes it about us. Rather than expressing His own significance, He speaks about all of our significance. This really is radically different teaching than what they were probably expecting. The foundations of the Kingdom of God are based on our relationships with Him, our recognition of our desperate need for relationship with Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit, and the character traits He develops in us as we follow Him. We are called to be lights to those around us, to be that which seasons those around us.

Lord, help us to be the kind of people You desire to partner with in the expansion of the Kingdom of God.

Her are the verses I was reading from this morning - Matthew 5:1, 3-16 NIV
[1] "Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, [2]and he began to teach them.
He said:
[3] “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[4] Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. [5] Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
[6] Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
[7] Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
[8] Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. [9] Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
[10] Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
[11] “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. [12] Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
[13] “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
[14] “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. [15] Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. [16] In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."

The Reality Of The Kingdom Of God

This morning I am reading from Matthew 4:23-25 NIV:

[23] "Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. [24] News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. [25] Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him."

I was just thinking about these verses, and letting the reality of what is said here sink in to my heart and mind. Jesus travels throughout the region of Galilee, and His main message was that the Kingdom of God was present, and then He demonstrated that this was true by healing EVERY disease and sickness among the people. What a complete departure from the religion they were used to, and what a complete departure from ones normal experience of church.

His ministry was so effective that people traveled many miles to find Him. Galilee is about 40 miles across, the same of the Decapolis, and Judea is at least 30 miles away from the southern tip of Galilee. Since there was no form of mass communication, I imagine there was a huge network of people talking to people, sharing the news of what Jesus was doing, and where He was and people in their desperation were setting out to find him. The people came carrying or escorting those friends or family members who were sick, paralyzed, in severe pain, possessed or suffering seizures and they were ALL healed.

I can't imagine the hardships the people dealt with to find him. I can almost see them walking slowly by a donkey dragging a travois with a paralyzed person, or a wagon being pulled with someone in severe pain. These trips would not be quick, and the roads were not smooth, and the food wasn't free, nor was a night's lodging. The people were desperate for relief, desperate for God's touch, and they heard that anyone who made their way to Jesus were healed.

Imagine the joy of the return trip, no wonder the crowds grew to the thousands, for I am sure that they told everyone they met about their healing, deliverance or personal miracle. The news about Jesus spread throughout the region and people flocked to Him. Meeting Him would change people's lives!

The amazing thing is that He did all this as a man, just like me, empowered by the Holy Spirit, walking in obedience to the Father! In other words, we should be able to see this type of ministry in our churches, for He was not relying on His divinity, but rather had emptied Himself and became fully man (Phil 2:6-8). Jesus Himself said that we, His followers, could and would do even greater things (John 14:11-14).

This was the message of the Kingdom of God present on earth. God's rules applied and broke people free from the effects of sin in the world. Sickness does not exist in God's Kingdom so Jesus brought the reality of God's Kingdom to bear in the people's lives. Demonic forces do not have power in God's Kingdom, so Jesus cast them out. All are welcome in the Kingdom, so all were touched that came to Jesus. God's Kingdom is superior to all sickness and disease and Jesus demonstrated that over and over again. There was no disease that He couldn't and didn't heal. It didn't matter how far gone the people were, how affected their lives were by the sickness or their condition, Jesus brought the reality of the Kingdom to them. Oh that we would learn to live in this reality once again, for the reality of God's Kingdom has not changed!

Lord help us to settle for nothing less, help us to pursue You for the reality of the Kingdom of God demonstrated in our lives and the lives of our loved ones.

Amen!

Jesus And Sinners

One of the questions we were discussing last night was how Jesus dealt with sinners. It is surprising how little He actually addressed people's sins. I could only find instances where He addressed 4 people personally about their sins, the young man whom was carried to Him by his friends, the women who wept over His feet (Luke 7), the man healed at the pool of Siloam (John 5) and the adulterous woman (John 8).

He did talk about sin, and sinners and such on occasion, but it was not His main message. In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, He really only spoke of sin in about 5 situations (in each Gospel) and one of them was in teaching us to pray, commonly known as the Lord's Prayer. The Gospel of Luke has several more instances where the topic of sin was raised but it was certainly not the main topic, and in the Gospel of John most of the discussion around sin had to do with whether Jesus was a sinner for breaking the Sabbath, or His correcting the common understanding of sin.

My point is not that we shouldn't be concerned about sin, but more that we should focus on what Jesus focused on. We should look at our message as the Church and see if it matches the message of Jesus. He focused on the reality of the Kingdom of God, demonstrated its realities as they flowed out of the Father's heart and called people into relationship. He destroyed the works of satan and advanced the Kingdom of God everywhere He went. He set people free, healed people, worked miracles and signs and wonders demonstrating the power of God present to save. His commandment was that we should love as He loved, to forgive, and to extend mercy.

So let us endeavor to align ourselves in thought, heart and action wth those things that the Lord was most concerned with as demonstrated in the Gospels. Let us be lights to this darkening world, and let us remember He was not called to go the righteous, but to sinners (Mark 2:17) and so are we. He came into the world not to condemn the sinners, but to save them (John 3:17 paraphrase).

Sin and Punishment Revisited

This morning I continue my reading around the topic of sin, not one of my favorite subjects, but something that is important to understand. I was thinking about a common quote regarding sins of the fathers being visited to the third or fourth generation. This comes from the Old Testament, and was last written in the 10 commandments in Deuteronomy 5:8-10 NIV:

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. [9] You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, [10] but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments."

The interesting thing is that many of us still quote this, when this is clearly Old Testament, and not even the final word of the Lord on the mater of sin. In Ezekiel, He again addresses this topic, but with one important change - God does not punish anyone but the sinner, and even then provides the opportunity to repent - Ezekiel 18:18-23 NIV:

[18] "But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people.

[19] “Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. [20] The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.

[21] “But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. [22] None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. [23] Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?"

So how does the church hold onto the idea of generational sin, as if it is visited to the third or fourth generation, or even the idea that God's desire is to see us punished for sins, when even in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel God is continuing to bring revelation of His true heart towards all of us? He doesn't take pleasure in punishment, but rather rejoices in repentance and remembers none of the offenses they have committed if they have repented and brings none of the punishment to bear.

Note: It is important to note that this is not talking about the consequences of sin, in the same way there are consequences to any bad decision, it is the same with sin.

I believe that much of the thinking today regarding God and sin is actually from the enemy trying to color God as vengeful and enjoying punishment, when that is actually his character. The enemy tries to deceive us and convince us that God is angry, vengeful and just waiting to punish us for our sins, when the exact opposite is actually true. As Father Kevin O'Brien says in his book, "...the enemy is repulsive, harsh, and seeks only to deceive and enslave people, Christ is inviting, gentle, and desires only to liberate people to love God and serve others. Both want to rule the world, but in different ways and for different reasons."

Let us listen to the Gospels and the message of Christ. Let us look to His example of the Father's heart and let us embrace His love, mercy and compassion and desire for our repentance. He is the most loving being in the world, and any other characterization of Him is not true.

The Deceitfulness of Sin

Yesterday morning I was reading through Roman's 6-8 and the following verses caught my attention:

Romans 7:10-11 NIV:
[10] "I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. [11] For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death."

David Guzick's notes concerning Romans 7:10-12

a. 'And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death: Sin does this by deception. Sin deceives us:

· Because sin falsely promises satisfaction

· Because sin falsely claims an adequate excuse

· Because sin falsely promises an escape from punishment

b. For sin . . . deceived me: It isn't the law that deceives us, but it is sin that uses the law as an occasion for rebellion. This is why Jesus said you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32) The truth makes us free from the deceptions of sin.

c. And by it killed me: Sin, when followed, leads to death - not life. One of Satan's greatest deceptions is to get us to think of sin as something good that an unpleasant God wants to deprive us of. When God warns us away from sin, He warns us away from something that will kill us."

I thought this was such a helpful discussion on the nature and deception of sin, and the purpose behind it. The enemy would try to lead us astray with fine arguments, and work at convincing us of God's unpleasantness and anger towards us, to entice us into the very things that will ultimately lead to death. This isn't always physical death, but also death of relationships, death of trust, and the death of truth in our lives. Sin does promise satisfaction and although this is true in the short term, the satisfaction gained from sin never lasts, but rather leaves us with a thirst for more. It is this pursuit that leads us down paths from which there is little hope for return, and definite bondage.

It is in Christ alone that we have true freedom, and release from those things that bind us. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Gal 5:1) So let us recognize the deceitfulness of the enemy and the sin he entices us with, and turn to the Lord, our true source of life.

The Name of Jesus!

Last night I had a dream where I listened to a friend preach about the weakness of the church and his conclusion was that the reason the church is weak is that it does not continue to lift up the name of Jesus. It was an interesting dream to say the least. Then this morning I was reading through the first letter of John and came across these two verses - 1 John 5:11-12 NIV: "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. [12] Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life."

I definitely am seeing a theme this morning, that salvation, eternal life and life in abundance come through relationship with Jesus. There are so many things we can focus on in our Christian walk, but the core of all thought, all focus must remain Jesus. It is easy to get distracted, to become fixated on one particular topic, or theme, but we must always return to Jesus. He is our life! Our focus should be less on the topics of the day and more on relationship with Jesus. We need to say His name, hear His name, and glorify His name. He is the source of all good things, the very Word of God made flesh for our salvation.

Being a Christian is so much more than being a good person, it is being in relationship with Jesus. We must come to know Him so that we can represent Him to the world. We must come to understand Him so that we can follow Him. We must learn to hear Him so that we can be directed in our steps. We must come to love Him for it is in that place that we recognize that He loves us even more.

The Gospel (Good News) really is quite simple - it is Jesus! Here are some lyrics to a great Chris Tomlin Song:

"The Name Of Jesus"

The name of Jesus is a refuge
A shelter from the storm,
a help to those who call

The name of Jesus is a fortress
A saving place to run,
a hope unshakeable

When we fall You are the Savior,
when we call You are the answer
There is power in Your name,
there is power in Your name

In the name of Jesus
There is life and healing
Chains are broken in Your name
Every knee will bow down and our hearts will cry out
Songs of freedom in Your name, oh, in Your name

Bring salvation,
bring Your Kingdom
Let all that You have made
bring glory to Your name

When we fall you are the Savior,
when we call You are the answer
There is power in Your name,
there is power in Your name

On Sinners...

This morning I was rereading some of Mark's Gospel and this one verse just grabbed me again - Mark 2:15 NIV: "While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him."

I love the fact that it so clearly states that many sinners followed Jesus. As I read this, it makes me ponder if we can say the same thing about the Church? Are sinners drawn to the Church, do they want to interact with the Church, does the Church have anything for them? Clearly this was the case with Jesus, so we must examine our representation of the Lord to the world around us.

Is our church welcoming of "sinners"? What is our approach to those outside the church, those in the world, those in trouble, those in need, those who are hurting? Do we offer relationship? Do we offer judgment? Do we offer a helping hand? Do we offer them life? Do we offer them hope? Do we offer them Jesus?

Persevering In Pursuing God

This morning I am reading from Mark 2:1-5 NIV:

[1] "A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. [2] They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. [3] Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. [4] Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. [5] When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

This story is generally well known, at least to me, and as I was reading it this morning, I had a couple of thoughts. First, I was thinking about the fact that as soon as people heard Jesus had come home they gathered. Now Jesus had grown up in Nazareth, but had moved to Capernaum once he started His public ministry, so he had only lived in Capernaum a little while. The people gathered outside His home, one wonders if it was rented, or if He owned it. Regardless, the roof the men start digging through is apparently Jesus' roof! Later He tells people that if they follow Him, they won't have a roof over their head, and I wonder if He was referencing this event? :-) Anyway, these men are desperate to get their friend close to Jesus, and tore off Jesus' roof to get to Him. I find it strange that once Jesus heard the noise above Him that He didn't stop and command the crowd to make room for the men, for clearly they were making a mess of the place. He was either "in the zone" or following His Father's leading, so that the rest of the events would unfold as they did.

Secondly, the paralyzed man had four ambulatory friends whom were desperate to see their friend healed. That makes me believe that his state was due to something relatively recent, either that or he had an amazing personality. The culture in those days did not have much room for the lame, the weak, etc. Their lives were generally filled with begging, for they had no socialized health system. If he had been paralyzed for long, his friends would likely have been like himself, beggars. Instead, here was a young man with four desperate friends, who were strong and determined. Having several friends and family members who are seriously sick, the initial phase of diagnosis is when it seems everyone is around trying to help, and I think that was true of the four friends, their buddy was only recently paralyzed and they were willing to do what it took to see him healthy.

A quick note on this, it is always wonderful to have many people around you when you have recently received difficult news, but its even more helpful to have people stand with you through the long arduous times of treatment. We want to pray for this type of devotion, dedication and desperation toward those loved ones who have been battling their situations for long times. So often we lose our drive and determination, and just learn to accept the situation, but I believe the Lord can and does heal, so let us keep pressing on, digging through whatever we need to see them healed.

Finally, I am guessing that his injury might have been related to some of the sins Jesus forgave. I believe this is the only case where Jesus addressed a person's sins prior to healing them. Jesus never seemed to do the same thing twice, and we should make sure that we don't create a theology around this one event. That being said, Jesus was also making a significant point, that He spoke for the Father, and the Father was the one forgiving sins, and as His Son, He was representing that authority. This was not lost on those around Him, for they immediately start questioning His actions in their minds. Jesus was stating very clearly who He was, the people just couldn't accept it. The healing of the man was the exclamation point to His statement about representing the Father. Only God could bring healing like that, instantaneous and complete, and Jesus demonstrated that He was from Him, and operated in His authority.

It is also very interesting to note that it was in response to the faith of the group that He forgave the young man's sins, and then healed him. This is a great example of the power of intercessory prayer, for this is the physical demonstration of what the intercessor does through their prayers. They pray until they see breakthrough, as we see in this story, specifically breaking through the roof to get to Jesus.

So I am encouraged this day to press in, to persevere and pursue the Lord for healing for those I love. He doesn't seem to mind our making a mess in doing so, He is looking at our hearts and our faith. He has the authority and power to heal, let us go to Him.

A Step Toward The Lord - Be Encouraged

This morning as I was waking up, my thoughts started down an interesting path, one that is not a common first waking thought pattern. I believe the Lord likes to speak to us in that time when our minds are awake, but our thoughts are still minimal. The theme this morning was encouragement for anyone moving forward in relationship with the Lord.

I felt like He wanted me to write briefly about the importance of relationships, but even more so, His desire for relationships with each of us, no matter where we are at, or how young we are in our relationship with Him. So often there is pressure, whether from external sources, or from ourselves, to perform at a level that is outside our abilities, and that includes the areas of relationships, even relationships with the Lord. I specifically felt His pleasure for anyone who makes any step towards Him, no matter how small! That is important to hear - the Lord is happy with even the smallest step we take towards Him.

So often religion can interfere and cause us to think our relationship needs to be a certain way, or involve certain things, and they are generally all external trappings. So much time in prayer, certain types of prayer, so many meetings attended, dressing a certain way, acting a certain way, speaking a certain way. Anyone can learn to do these things, but none of them is a true indicator of your heart's attitude toward or relationship with the Lord. For example, just because we dress like an adult doesn't mean we are an adult in our actions or thoughts.

The Lord is most concerned about our heart and our affections. The Lord sees past all the external stuff and looks at our hearts, our motivations and He is very pleased when we are moving towards Him in relationship. Relationships require communication with and knowledge of the other individual, not just facts about them, but how they think, how they act, their ways. It is impossible to have a relationship with someone we don't know or communicate with - those are the basic building blocks. We can know plenty about someone else, even feel like we know them, because of someone else's relationship, and our relationship with them. I know about several of my parents friends, even though I have never met them. In our faith this is often the case, we are introduced to the Lord by our parents and pastor or priest, but that does not constitute a relationship. It is very helpful to establish a level of understanding and comfort, but ultimately the Lord wants a relationship with us.

So again, I felt like the Lord wanted us to know that He is pleased with any step we make in His direction. He is desirous of a relationship with us and is always moving in our direction. We may not have much time to pray (converse with God) during our day, but if we make an effort to carve out even 5 minutes a few times a week, the Lord will meet us. Thinking back to my parents, they live a significant distance away and most of our communication these days is over the phone. They would love hearing more from me, even if it was a 2 minute call once every three days. In the same way, the Lord longs for us to reach out to Him and will never reject even the smallest gesture or step.

So the question for each of us is how can we move towards the Lord, in our life, with our schedules? For each of us that might look different, and that is just fine. The Lord understands and values our uniqueness, and will work with and interact with each of us individually. We might read the Bible and ask Him to direct our reading of it, we might listen to Christian music on the radio as we drive to work, we might encounter Him through music or movies, we might encounter Him and hear Him in those around us, in service, in quiet, in nature, in devotionals, in dreams, in day dreams, in our creative abilities, in kindness towards others, during long walks, or short coffee breaks. He doesn't care, He is just happy we are moving towards Him.

Our relationship with the Lord is meant to be the single greatest treasure in our life. It is meant to be the source of life, strength and power. The deeper our relationship with Him, the more we realize how infinite is His love for us, and how readily He will pour His love on us. Let us endeavor to take any step towards Him today. He will meet us!

Jesus' New Teaching

This morning I am reading from Mark and was thinking about how it was when Jesus first started ministering. Here are a few verses - Mark 1:21-22, 27-28 NIV:

[21] "They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. [22] The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law."

[27] "The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching---and with authority! He even gives orders to impure spirits and they obey him.” [28] News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee."

I was thinking about the reality of the synagogue teachings they were used to hearing, and how dry those must have seemed. It had been 400+ years since they had a prophet write anything new, and the rest of their teachings were of the law, disected into 900+ rules. They probably had some sort of 3 year cycle, but never any new teaching, rather just explaining old teachings or rules that some one else made.

Along comes Jesus and He starts teaching things like His sermon on the mount (Matt 5:1- 7:27) which was based on familiar things but wholly new and personal and clearly authored by Jesus. At the very least, they must have thought that He sounded like one of the Prophets. There must have been real excitement, real interest in what He was saying. His language was relateable, using parables and examples they could understand. He was revealing the heart of the Father to a generation who knew only rules, and regulations. He was speaking the language of relationship, and speaking as one who knew. He was doing signs and wonders that they had heard about from the Books that become the Old Testament, but had never seen them in their life. He was confronting and defeating demons and setting people free. He was healing people's sicknesses. No wonder the whole countryside came to hear about Him.

My prayer is that the Church would once again experience this type of freshness and life, this excitement that accompanied Jesus. We have the words of life, and the path to eternal life in our midst, and yet it seems that the primary message the world hears is the judgmentalness of a few "Christians". I pray that the new teachings of Jesus would shake us up and breath life into us all.

Amen!

Jesus of Nazareth (it's important)

This morning I have been reading through the different accounts of Jesus visit back to Nazareth after He began His ministry. These can be found in Luke 4, Mark 6 and Matthew 13. To summarize, Jesus goes back home and teaches in the synagogue and although the people are amazed at His wisdom and authority, they ultimately cannot accept Him, and even become offended at Him. He declares that no prophet is ever accepted in His hometown, and afterwards leaves and we don't really ever hear of Nazareth again.

What I find interesting is that Jesus is then identified as Jesus of Nazareth, really throughout His ministry, even when He confronts Paul on his way to Damascus. Clearly the identification by location of hometown was one of the ways the people differentiated people with the same name, and there was more than one Jesus in the history of the Jews. The reason I find this interesting is that Jesus names Himself the Nazarene, and yet this is the one place He really didn't do any miracles. This is the one place where Jesus lived the majority of His life hidden from view, living a purely human existence as the son of a carpenter. I like this because it is clear that Jesus never lost sight of who He was or where He came from. He was the greatest man whoever lived, yet He chose to refer to Himself as from Nazareth.

Although He was the Son of God, He claimed and named Himself as coming from Nazareth, never letting us forget His humanness. This is so different than many of the 'important people' we see today who change their names and almost try to obscure their pasts as normal people. Many famous entertainers go to great lengths to distance themselves from their normalcy. Many of the great leaders of history tried to create stories of their uniqueness as evidenced by their unusual childhoods, trying to get people to believe they were somehow different than everyone else. Jesus, although there are stories of a unique birth, always pointed back to Nazareth, for even demons called Him that name. He was and is unwilling to let us forget His humanness, His years of quiet living as a carpenter's son.

Thus, this must be an important point, and one we should think on. His incarnation, His humanness is essential to our salvation, and also to our ability to follow in His footsteps. The whole idea behind WWJD (What would Jesus do?) is to identify what He would do, and then do the same thing. We are called to "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons." (Matt 10:8) if we believe He only did these things because of His divinity than we will never even try. However, if we believe that He was doing these things as a human, through the power of the Holy Spirit working through Him, than we can do the same things, for that is our operational mode. Jesus referred to this exactly when talking about the miracles and belief in John 14:11-12, and uses this idea to launch into the gift of the Holy Spirit, and His role in our lives (John 15-16). It is clear that Jesus fully expected His followers to walk in His footsteps and minister the way He ministered. We can only do that if He ministered as a human, emptying Himself of His divinity (Phil 2:6-8).

One other thought, the fact that He could do limited miracles in Nazareth also points to His humanness. If He was operating out of His divinity, the culture of faith or unbelief would have no effect on Him or His abilities. Yet, scripture clearly says He was limited in what He could do there, because of their lack of faith.

So, the fact that He is named the Nazarene, and He calls Himself that name is really important, for it is directly related to His incarnation. Jesus was truly God and truly man. We, as His followers, can operate as He did because He was operating as purely a man during His ministry prior to His death. Let us proudly follow Jesus of Nazareth, and let us follow His example and never forget where we came from, and our own humanity.

Led by His Presence

This morning I woke up with the theme of Presence running through my mind. Not my usual waking up thoughts, so I decided to pay attention and let the Lord speak to me. I find that often the Lord speaks in those times when my mind is still quiet, right after I wake up. I guess one could say the Lord is an efficient communicator, for He knows when to speak when I will listen.

So the primary theme around His Presence was the need to foster our sensitivity to it, and also return to Him our attention, by being present to Him. I was thinking about Moses and the first time the Presence of God filled the tabernacle, and there was real purpose and immediacy to His presence. Here are the verses from Exodus 40:33-38 NIV:

[33] "Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work.

[34] Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. [35] Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

[36] In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; [37] but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out---until the day it lifted. [38] So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels."

Apparently the moment that Moses finished the work on the tabernacle, God's presence filled the tent of meeting, which is where Moses and God would meet and talk. This speaks to me of God's desire for us to experience His Presence. We see this same pattern when Solomon finishes the temple in 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 NIV:

[1] "When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. [2] The priests could not enter the temple of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. [3] When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying,“He is good; his love endures forever.”

I love the idea of the presence of God filling the temple, and sometimes wonder why we don't experience this type of visitation of God's Presence? The answer is that we still do occasionally see God visit His people with His manifest presence, it just may not have happened near us, nor in the church in which we participate. There have been several "revivals" in my lifetime here in the US, and many more abroad, where the Presence of God shows up in very noticeable or manifest ways.

More importantly, His presence is always with us, for when we experience salvation, His Spirit takes up residence in us! Jesus said the Holy Spirit would be in us - John 14:15-17 NIV: "If you love me, keep my commands. [16] And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever--- [17] the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you."

So for me, the theme this morning was learning to recognize the presence of God stirring in our midst. Since He is in each of us, He doesn't need to come and fill the room with His presence, but can rather move in us. The issue I think is that many of us just don't recognize this, or haven't learned to discern His presence's affect on us.

That is what I felt the Lord wanted to discuss today, learning to pay attention to His presence in us. Part of the reason many of us struggle with this is we are not bringing ourselves to be present to Him, in other words we are distracted. I had in my mind the image of people today with their smart phones sitting around each other, each distracted by their phones, completely ignoring each other. That is a great example of distracted relationships.

When we gather together the Lord is moving in us, and we want to be able recognize that and listen to Him, we want to follow His leading, as the Israelites did when His presence was over the tent of meeting. We want to be able to sense the stirring of His Holy Spirit, and move in that direction. The onkynway we can do that is if we are paying attention to Him.

I am reminded of PS 123, where the song writer talks about the maid having her eyes set in the hands of her mistress. This speaks of constant attention to the direction she might be given. I believe this is the way the Lord wants us to come to Him, especially during our times of prayer and corporate gathering. The Lord wants to speak to us, wants to give us direction, wants us to experience His presence and learning to discern and understand how He interacts with us is essential. We must learn to pay attention to the gentle stirrings, the new thoughts that enter our mind, the ideas or memories that represent themselves, and especially any physical manifestations. When the Lord reveals His presence to us, His power will affect us, and that is good.

We must establish a culture in our lives, and in our churches that values the direction of the Holy Spirit. That should be a silly statement, but I think this is unfortunately not the norm for many churches. It is too often the case that we can have church whether the Lord reveals His presence or not. We have fine tuned our liturgies to honor God and speak about God, but we seem to have forgotten He is in our midst, alive and well and wanting to move and direct and breath life into us.

For us to make progress individually and corporately in our ability to recognize the Presence of the Lord, we must practice, and give ourselves the freedom to step out and try out what we are hearing, sensing or feeling. I can't tell you how often I get a sense of God wanting to do some thing, but I sweep it away because it seems silly to me. I heard a story about a church group that was learning to hear from God, listening to the stirring of the Holy Spirit. One man only heard that he was supposed to tell the lady who was conducting the training that she was wearing a yellow dress. That certainly doesn't sound like some amazing word of the Lord, but when he spoke it out, she was overwhelmed by the mercy of the Lord and fell weeping. She had asked the Lord to confirm her long term prayers for a family member by having someone speak a very specific word that morning saying she was wearing a yellow dress! Only the Lord knew that, and the man who listened to the stirrings on the Holy Spirit in him, spoke it out! It was magnificent!

So my prayer is that I would learn to listen and recognize the stirrings of the Lord's presence in me. I pray that we would all learn to pay attention and be present to Him, whom we serve and love. Let us learn to be lead by the Presence of the Lord who is in us!

Thousands Are Touched

This morning I was grazing in the Gospel of Matthew and came across these verses - Matthew 15:29-31 NIV:

[29] "Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. [30] Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. [31] The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel."

I just love reading verses like these, and thinking about the glorious experience of seeing Jesus heal thousands. The next verses include Jesus feeding 4000 men, not including women and children, so there were possibly as many as 10,000 people gathered together. What an awesome experience.

I am also very aware of the fact that after Jesus was crucified, that only 120 of His followers met together in the upper room, and this represents a huge decrease in the numbers who were committed to the Lord. One wonders what caused people to stop following him? I am sure that not everyone could continue to take time off from their jobs or responsibilities. In the same way, many of us are too connected, to tied in to others, unable to sustain our walk with Him with great intensity. The important thing is that 10,000(?} People personally experienced the touch of the Lord, in their own body, or through family members.

I am reminded of a couple of verses from Isaiah 35:5-6 NIV:

[5] "Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. [6] Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert."

Amen! We pray for days like this once again the church, that every day, every Sunday we would see the Lord come in power, ministering to thousands and thousands.

Restoration of Worship

This morning I was reading through John 9 and was just struck by the interesting conversations reported between the religious "Pharisees" and the people who actually experienced healing by Jesus. The story is of a blind man, blind since birth who is healed by Jesus on the Sabbath. The religious establishment can't approve of the healing because Jesus don't follow the religious rules. I don't say the law, because what they were practicing at that time was a far cry fro the actual law that Moses penned at the command of the Lord. They had warped the Law into some 900+ rules and "clarifications" and somewhere lost the whole purpose of the law.

This is what Isaiah spoke of in Isaiah 29:13-14 NIV:

[13] "The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. [14] Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish. ”

The Law was meant to draw the people to God, to help them understand His heart and mind towards them. It was to give them guidance as they deal with each other, and ultimately was supposed to point them towards the Messiah. Instead it had become a set of rules and regulations that became points of legal discussions and continual bickering, as demonstrated in these verses from John. They were unable to decide if the healing was from God because it happened on the Sabbath, the day dedicated to God. Talk about confused thinking, I would think that would be exactly the day God would move in their midst!

Unfortunately, we see much the same today, as brother and sisters in the body of Christ attack others over similar issues. Some churches preach healing, and signs and wonders and see them occurring in their midst, and other churches condemn them as being cults or worse. We see endless battles over interpretations of scripture and understandings of the original Greek or Hebrew. We seem to have lost our sense and are missing the purpose of the Gospel. Let us pray that verse 14 of the quite from Isaiah continues to be fulfilled in our lives, that God would astound us with wonder upon wonder and blow away the endless rules of men. We need God, and His power evident to all the world.

Let us cry out for the Lord to move in our midst, astounding us with His wonders, and cutting through all the "rules of men". Let us cry out for true worship to be restored to all peoples who call Jesus Lord. Let us cry out for our hearts to return to God and to become inflamed with passion for the Him.

A River of Love

This morning I have been just resting in the Lord's presence, enjoying my time alone wth Him. Here are few verses I was meditating on from Psalm 36:5-10 NIV:

[5] "Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
[6] Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
[7] How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
[8] They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.
[9] For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light.
[10] Continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart."

I am so amazed by the love of the Lord and His constant, abundant, unfailing and unchanging love. It is out of this abundant stream of love that everything else flows from the Lord. He truly is the fountain of life.

I was just thinking how that which is primary with the Lord, is what He asks for first in return. The first commandment reflects this in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 NIV:
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." We are invited to love Him in return for the love that He pours out on us continuously.

So let us drink deeply from the river of His delights and let us pour back to Him our love, with all our heart, soul and strength. He is worthy. Amen!

Uncovering the Temptations of the Enemy

This morning I was going to read a few verses later in Matthew, Chapter 4, but the story of Jesus' temptation caught my eye. Here are the scriptures - Matthew 4:1-11 NIV:

[1] Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. [2] After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. [3] The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” [4] Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

[5] Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. [6] “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ” [7] Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

[8] Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. [9] “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” [10] Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ” [11] Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

My first thought on reading these was that they probably only cover the high points of the temptations, because the enemy is very deceptive and works in many behind the scenes ways that were not described here. However it is good to look at these temptations and the enemies tactics so that we are aware and can recognize his ways.

First, he waits until Jesus has fasted for 40 days. The enemy generally doesn't tempt us or attack us when we are strong, but rather at our weakest. He doesn't fight fair, nor does he want a fair fight, because those he can't win. He will always attack us at our weakest point, at our most vulnerable spot. I heard one preacher say that he always goes for our Achilles heal in other words the single spot we are most vulnerable.

Second, he doesn't give up and can lay in wait for many days and even many years. I heard another man who ministered to fallen pastor's say that in most cases the pastors he worked with had fallen into sin after years of walking in an area in victory. His point was that the enemy will wait for years, even decades to try and snare us, so we must always be on guard, and never believe we are beyond the point of temptation in any area of our life.

Third, he hits us in not only the vulnerable spot, but in the spot that hurts the most. Jesus was hungry after fasting for 40 days, so where does the enemy strike first? In the same way, if we have areas of wounding in our lives, that is where the enemy will strike, right where we are wounded. If we have been betrayed in relationships, or wounded by rejection, the enemy will aim for those spots first as we often lack faith in those areas. It is easier for him to deceive us or cause us to loose our grip on the truth that we have been living in these areas.

Fourth, he is relentless and will change tactics if we are victorious in one area of temptation. He is like the door to door salesman who won't take no for an answer, he keeps on coming up with new and creative ways to attack us and tempt us. So its important to not let down your guard after scoring a victory, for he will be coming back, and often with a new approach.

Fifth, the enemy is the deceiver, so anything he says is half-truths, and may sound good, but the underlying affect is to have us fall short of God's glory and presence, and purpose for us. He also isn't beyond twisting scripture to his own end, so not only do we need to know the Word, we need to grasp the heart of the messages of God so we can judge correctly that which we hear. It's knowing what is true that will help us recognize that which is false.

Finally, he tempted Jesus in the areas of provision and need, power and authority, and in assumption, unbelief and idolatry. He will often test us in any or all three of these areas.

Lord, thank You for uncovering the enemies ways, so that we can recognize them and resist them. The final point is that Jesus has authority over the enemy in all areas of our life, so we can command the enemy to leave and he will have to leave!

Keep Pressing On!

This morning I am reading from Philippians 3:12-14 NIV:

[12] "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. [13] Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, [14] I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

I like the fact that Paul, despite his own personal accomplishments, continued to drive forward into the Lord and His purposes. It's thought that Paul wrote this letter in 62-63AD, which is 27-28 years after his conversion in 35AD, yet in his mind he still had not accomplished his purpose in Christ. There is no resting on his accomplishments, no limiting himself because of past failures or successes, instead he is forgetting what is behind him, in the past and only looking forward.

I like the verse from Lamentations that says "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lam 3:22-23-ESV). This is true in the case of a past of regrets, or of great accomplishments. The mercies extended to us by the Lord today are new, they are fresh, they carry the same strength, encouragement and power that they did yesterday or last year.

So whether we disappointed or excited about yesterday, or our past, our minds should be set on what is before us, and we should be looking to the Lord to provide that which we need to fulfill His purposes. We are encouraged by Paul, who leads by example, to embrace the day and see that which is in front of us, that which we can accomplish for the Lord. Regardless of our past, our age or our accomplishments, we will always have more to do out of love and passion for Him. So, let us keep pressing on toward the Lord, for He is the prize.

The Cost and Reward of Following Jesus

This morning I am reading from Luke 14:25-30 NIV:

[25] "Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: [26] “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters---yes, even their own life---such a person cannot be my disciple. [27] And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

[28] “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? [29] For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, [30] saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

I was thinking about how different Jesus is than pretty much any man that has ever lived. Here we find large crowds following Him, and rather than encourage them, or trying to use the crowd to His advantage, He issues some very strong challenges. He wasn't worried about popularity, about their feelings, or their agreement, He was worried about their souls.

These verses represent another set of verses that most of us would rather not read, for they challenge our thinking about our lives and our commitment to the Lord. We would like to believe that following Him, truly being one of His disciples, is easy, and does not require much effort or sacrifice. In the relational paradigm of the Kingdom, these words challenge us, so it is important to understand what Jesus was saying, and why.

First, putting these statements in a historical context, He knew what was likely going to be the fate of His followers, as He understood His life would ultimately end on the cross. He was looking for those followers who would put Him first in their life, because to do so could mean their death. The Lord couldn't build the Body of Christ upon anyone but those fully committed to following Him.

Secondly, He talks about taking up our cross and following Him. This statement is a direct indication of the cost of following Him, that it would lead to sacrifice, and in most of the Apostles cases - martyrdom. For Jesus to say anything else, would have been less than true, and He is the Truth. He knew, from conversations with the Father, that there would persecution and difficulty for His followers, so He told them that would be the case. He valued the truth over popularity.

Finally, these verses should help us evaluate and set our priorities in our life. I think of this as the back side of the chief commandments. He said we must love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, that is the first great commandment. To love God first, means all other loves in our life must take a secondary position. Nothing can come before God. This is very challenging to many of us, for in many of our lives our faith is an optional extra. While the Lord is for any step we take towards Him, we must know that His call is a invitation to abandonment unto Him. The call is for us all, our experience will be a journey of deepening relationship, but the destination is the same for us all, Him.

So, let us not become fearful of what we lay aside, but let us look to Him and all that we gain in Him. He is the great reward. He does love us, has a plan for us, and its for our ultimate fulfillment and eternal joy. Amen!

The Invitation Of Christ

The theme this week is hearing and responding to the call of Christ and this is actually a very interesting topic, and one that is very significant to those that have walked in the ways of the world. Lord we pray for grace and mercy for all who are lost, struggling, fumbling or tripping in their life.

This morning I was reading my Ignatian Exercise book and he had a great quote - and I figured out how to copy it!

"At times, we may resist opening our ears to Christ's call because we are afraid of what we'll hear (for example, we may not want to change something about our lifestyle). Or we may resist because we have an image of God as imposing the divine will on us to make us pay for some past sin. To the contrary, God's call is meant to give us a fuller life of deeper meaning and authentic joy (though not without the sacrifices that accompany a life of discipleship). Far from being imposed from above, God's will-or God's desire-for us is found in our own deepest, truest desires." The Ignatian Adventure, O'Brien

This is so true, and probably something that many struggle with, especially the first line. Lord, help us all to see both our need for you and Your awesome glorious relationship.

I am reminded of Jesus statement from John 10:10b "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." The Lord is not after a limited life, but rather the fullest possible life. The enemy would lie to us and tell us that the Lord is all about rules and regulations, things that we can't do anymore. The truth is that the Lord desires nothing of the sort, what He wants is relationship, and for us to come into our destiny as His children, His heirs.

We are often so focused about the here and now, the things right in front of us, and the Lord is inviting us to the deeper places, to the greater realities. We have the opportunity to change the world, to make an eternal difference in our lives, and the lives of those around us. We have the opportunity to extend healing, health, peace, joy, mercy and compassion to the world. We have the opportunity to step into the destiny we were created for in the first place. We are invited to walk in complete fulfillment. The invitation is to step into the dream life, the life that fulfills us at the deepest level.

To put it in a car analogy - we have a nice little Ford escort that has a decent sound system, and has been the car that many good memories were made in. Its old, a bit rusted, we don't quite fit comfortably, and several options don't work, but it is our car. Now we are being given the opportunity to receive a Rolls-Royce that was custom built just for us, all the options you want and need, seats built exactly to your measurements, and the exact right color. The car comes with the privileges associated with the owners of such a car. The only thing we need to do is trade in the Ford. Seems like it would be an easy decision, and yet many of us choose to stay with the old car.

Lord, I pray that You would help us to see the reality of life with You, seeing through the lies and deception that the enemy has constructed about life as a Christian. Help us to recognize that You are all about inviting us to a deep, meaningful abundant life, that was designed specifically for us.

New Directions Via The Holy Spirit

This morning I am reading from the Book of Acts, chapters 9 & 10 - (see Acts 10:1-48, I didn't include it here due to the length). It is so encouraging to see how the Lord guided Peter, how He directed actions and situations. He sent an Angel to Cornelius and told him who to look for, and where. He gave Peter a vision and then directed him specifically, all to break him out of a mode he was operating in, namely working only with the Jews. Reaching out to the gentiles had been alluded to, even commanded by Jesus, but the church had not yet either caught on, or felt specifically directed to do so.

I was wondering how it was that they didn't understand Jesus' command in Matthew 28:18-20 NIV:
[18] "Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

As I was thinking about that, I thought about a few things: First, the Gospel of Matthew was written well after these events that Peter experienced, so although they had heard the commands of Jesus at His ascension, they might not have fully understood them until later when, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Peter was commanded to preach to the gentiles. Second, they might have believed that the command was to preach to the Jews in all the nations, for they were a scattered people, and that is exactly what they were doing at the time, spreading out and talking to the Jews. In fact Paul, had focused primarily on the Jews until his visit to Corinth - (see Acts 18:6).

Regardless of the reason, the events of Acts 9 & 10 (I am including Paul's conversion in Acts 9) were a significant turning point for the Church. I a encouraged because these were not the ideas of men, but rather the direct result of the Supernatural interruption of the Lord. He provided visions, visitations, power encounters and perfect timing to change the course of history. I am encouraged, because if He did it before, He can do it again. I am encouraged because God cares about our lives and our direction to do the same for us. We can't forget that the direct result of these events was salvation for Cornelius's whole household, and this situation was partially in response to the prayers of Cornelius. I am encouraged because the Holy Spirit didn't even wait for Peter to stop speaking before He jumped all over Cornelius's household - (see Acts 10:44) indicating His desire to move and to empower.

It was precisely because the Holy Spirit had already been poured out that Peter felt it was right to baptize them. In other words, the Holy Spirit wasn't worried about the preacher, He was already moving before the altar call. The Holy Spirit is alive and active in the church, and we need to recognize and follow His leading!

So my prayer today is that the Church pray for the direct intervention of the Holy Spirit, through Supernatural guidance, visitations and visions for new moves of God. That we make way for the Holy Spirit to interrupt us, and we pay attention to Him when He does. He does so for good reason, and is often bringing new understanding and maybe even a new path to explore. We can be confident the Lord will guide His Church, but we also need to follow His lead. He might have a new direction for us!

Dealing With Anxiety

This morning I am reading from Paul's letter to the Philippians, which is one of my favorite letters from Paul.

Philippians 4:4-7 NIV:

[4] "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! [5] Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. [6] Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. [7] And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

These verses are an interesting prescription for dealing with anxiety. I think verse 4 and 6 and 7 all go together in this perspective. Paul's starts with and repeats the first step, rejoicing! Rejoicing is more of a choice about attitude, than an emotion. It involves our giving thanks and choosing to review a situation in a positive light, recognizing that there is something good in store for us regardless of the way it appears.

In verse 6, Paul continues the prescription by directing one's mind away from the anxiety causing issue, towards God. Changing our focus away from ourselves, and reviewing our situation from God's perspective is healthy and helps us to gain a different perspective. Secondly, doing this opens us up to God's peace, for when He views our situation, He views it from the place He sits which is filled with peace. When we bring our situations before God, it should be with the expectation that He will provide us with His perspective, and His plan, otherwise why would we bring it before Him? He is not asking for us to file our complaints, but rather to come to Him for answers and direction.

Anxiety is often the result of feeling out of control, and when we come to God, we come to the one who is in control. He helps us see what He thinks and what He is doing in our regard. When we bring these issues before Him, this establishes His dominion over the area that is causing anxiety. In God's dominion, peace reigns supreme, which is why peace then guards our hearts and minds, the two areas the enemy tries to attack. When we are before God, the enemy is unable to bring His attack to bear.

I was just thinking that coming before God into His Presence, where peace reigns, is much like seeking asylum or sanctuary from the attacks of anxiety. Anxiety can't penetrate, cant touch us there, and as a long as we stay in that place before God, we are safe and guarded. The enemy tries to get us to leave that place, tries to get us to pick our concerns and worries back up and carry them back out of God's presence, where he can renew the attack. That is why Paul encourages us to come to the Lord in every situation, which means we are constantly before Him. If we are constantly before the Lord, we will be guarded and protected.

Finally, often times anxiety can be the result of habitual lines of thinking, such as self-doubt, self-hatred, self-condemnation. When we come to God, He reveals His truth, which breaks through the lies and deception of the enemy. So, once again, following the prescription laid out by Paul, we can experience victory in these areas of our life.

Lord, break the chains of anxiety in our lives, with Your peace and Your presence!

Drink Deep, My Soul

This morning I am reflecting on Psalm 42:1-2, 7-8 NIV:

[1] "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.
[2] My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
[7] Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
[8] By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me---a prayer to the God of my life.

I was thinking about the deep need we all have for God. There is a longing in each of our lives to know Him and to be loved by Him. It is the same internal need that causes men everywhere to worship a god, or animal, or something greater than themselves, for we have a deep longing that can only be met by something or someone greater than ourselves.

I think we have within us a need to belong, a need to know that our lives matter, a desire to connect to something greater than ourselves. Some people give themselves to causes, some to different pursuits, some to adventure, some to people groups, all of this is just a symptom of the greater longing, to connect to God (at least that is what I think). Verse 7 describes this perfectly to me; the deep (God) calling to my deep (need for God).

In our relatively shallow western lifestyle, we often times don't understand this deep flow within ourselves, so our answer is to try and find something to quench the thirst. We run after things believing they can still the hunger inside us, the thirst for the deep, but all things fall short. The problem is that this thirst, this longing, can only be filled by God. Other people, our jobs, money, food, drinks, movies, television shows, sex, drugs, adrenaline, cars, houses, none of these, not individually, nor if they were all piled together, can fulfill our deep longing.

So let us choose to drink deep from the only fountain of life that can truly satisfy. As Jesus said in John 4:13-14 NIV: “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, [14] but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesus, Creator and Child

Continuing my meditation on Jesus' life, thinking about Him as a little child this morning. The verses are from Luke 2:39-40 NIV:

[39] "When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. [40] And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him."

I was just thinking about Jesus as a toddler. So much of what a child does during their first two years is discover new things, figure out how they work, etc. I remember my son was able to figure out any restraint system we used on drawers or cabinets and he was always interested in any button or knob on any electronics. He was constantly learning, excited to figure out something new. My question this morning is whether this was true of Jesus as well?

In the beginning of the Gospel of John, he makes it clear that the world was created through Jesus - John 1:1-4, 14 NIV:

[1] "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was with God in the beginning. [3] Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. [4] In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

[14] The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

As I was sitting here thinking abut Jesus, I realized that everything was created through Him, so how would he look at the new things He discovered as a toddler? Would it be the joy of discovery, or maybe the joy of finding something very familiar that you haven't seen for a long time? Not that this matters at all to our faith, or salvation, it is just an interesting line of thought and reflection.

As I wrote yesterday, I find the thought that Jesus really was a child comforting. There is an ability to approach Jesus as we would another human being. In Isaiah 55:8-9, the Lord speaks about how different His ways are than ours, yet with Jesus we have one whose experiences and understandings are very similar to ours. So we can be confident when approaching Him in prayer, knowing that He will understand us. This really is a significant point, for understanding and empathy aware not always found in those who have authority in our lives.

So let us approach Jesus as one who understands, one who created this glorious world, yet fully knows the struggles of living in it. His perspective of life here is truly unique.

Jesus Understands Our Struggles

This morning I felt like reading from Hebrews 4:14-16 NIV:

"Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. [15] For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are---yet he did not sin. [16] Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

Lately, I have been meditating on the fact that Jesus came to earth, fully human, and developed from a baby to a man, in the same way that each of us develops. It really is an amazing thing, His emptying Himself and in humility becoming man. The author of the letter to the Hebrews is flowing in that same mindset, as he describes the fact that Jesus was tempted in every way.

I don't think there is any clearer example of the complete emptying of His divinity than that statement found in verse 15. The Greek word Peirazo that is translated 'tempted' has the primary meaning of being tested, as in trying to do something new and being tested in one's abilities and character. The secondary meaning has to do with temptation. I think both translations are so important for us to understand. Jesus, in becoming man, was tested in the same ways that we are tested by new challenges and struggles. He was tempted to go against the will of the Father (the basic definition of temptation in this context) and there is no way either could be the case if He didn't empty Himself of His divinity.

I am greatly encouraged to know that Jesus really understands our struggles and the work that is required to overcome difficulties, struggles and temptation. It is because of this knowledge that He has mercy, and provides us grace to help us in our time of need (verse 16). He understands our struggles. He knows how deceptive the enemy is, and how alluring sin can be. He has lived without, has been uprooted, has been rejected, has lived a life of being overlooked and misunderstood. He has dealt with the loss of loved ones, seen sickness and disease. He has worked hard, learned the aches and pains of our frail human bodies, and in all of this - "He did not sin" (verse 15).

We can approach the throne with confidence, not fear, when we come to Him for help. He can empathize with our weakness, our pains our struggles, because He has lived them. He didn't live a life of privilege and prosperity, but rather a normal human life. As I write this I a reminded of the story of "The Prince and the Pauper" by Mark Twain, where the prince and the poor boy exchange places, and the prince has no ideas of the struggles of the poor in his father's kingdom until he trades places with the poor boy. This makes him into a fair and just king one day, and the same is true of Jesus. It is because He was fully human that He empathizes with us, and has mercy upon us.

So let us be encouraged as we approach Jesus. He understands our situation and will have mercy on us and provide us the help we need (grace).

God is Engaged in Our Futures

This morning I am reading from Daniel 7:9-14 NIV:

“As I looked, “thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. [10] A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.

[11] “Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. [12] (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.)

[13] “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. [14] He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

I have been jumping around a little lately as seems right. This morning I felt I should read from the Book of Daniel. He is clearly one of the most prophetic and accurate voices concerning the coming times the Jews would experience. When he was prophesying, the Jews were in captivity in Babylon. The dream he had immediately before these verses had to do with the next four regional empires that would control the middle east region and the promised land. He had this dream in the 560's BC, and foresaw the Chaldean (500s), Alexandrian (334-300), Greek (300-30) and Roman (30BC) empires. More importantly, he foretells the coming the Son of Man, namely Jesus, and the establishment of His kingdom that will never be destroyed.

What caught my eyes concerning these passages were the description of Heaven, and the parallels we see in the other descriptions of Heaven, notably those found in Isaiah, Ezekiel and Revelations. I am encouraged by the description of Son of Man, establishing a kingdom which will have no end, and everlasting dominion. He will be worshipped by people of every nation and language. These same themes can be found echoed by Jesus in Matt. 28:18-20. These couple of verses really establish the foundations of the Gospel, and they were written 500+ years before they happened. Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God, and established it here on earth, with authority and power unlike that which had previously been seen.

For me, all of this just continues to confirm the reality of the Word of God. He is active and involved. He sees the future and brings understanding and perspective. He prepares people, and gives them understanding and insight of circumstances and situations that they will encounter, so that they will not lose heart or hope. These verses from Daniel gave the Jews helpful direction concerning the coming Empires, so that they would understand and have long-term vision. They knew, as time progressed and kingdom's rose and fell, that there day would come. They also maintained their own national identity.

So let us be encouraged personally, for just as God provided prophecies and insight and understanding to the Jews, so can He do for us. He loves us and wants us to know that He is engaged in our lives and is aware of all things, and His purposes will be fulfilled.

The Gift of the Gospel

This morning I felt like reading Paul's letter to Titus. The following verses are just really healthy - Titus 3:3-8 NIV:

[3] "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. [4] But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, [5] he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, [6] whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, [7] so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. [8] This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone."

It is so important that we remember where we came from, how we became saved and the methods God used to draw us to Him. Salvation was a free gift, not something we earned. It is through love and kindness that we were drawn, and it is love and kindness that we must express to those in our previous state. He saved us, and this was accomplished through the Holy Spirit, washing us and cleansing us (sounds like repentance to me). We are now heirs having the hope of eternal life, and we are always justified because of His grace.

How easy it is for us to slide into thinking otherwise. Paul, in this letter, warns about the "circumcision group" which was a group who didn't want to let go of the religious practices of the Jews. They felt they had to add to the Gospel, and add additional human effort or actions to satisfy the requirements of righteousness. The Gospel was just too good to believe for them, so they added to it. This is unfortunately the case all too often for many churches. What starts as the pure Gospel, soon becomes loaded down with religion. There are ways to dress, ways to act, expectations and activities that are required. I am not saying that we shouldn't be changed by our salvation, for we are a new creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) and that should be evident in our lives. We are to encourage each other onward in our lives in Christ, but we must not take on His role as Lord, nor take away from His gift of grace and His righteousness.

So let us remember how we once were, and express the same love and kindness to those who are lost and deceived. Let us not add to the Gospel, but rather hold it up as the greatest gift to all mankind and let us preach it without reservation or reduction.