And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, "If you will, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, "I will; be clean." And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them." But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter. (Mark 1:40-45 ESV)
What Jesus does in this paragraph of Scripture is startling to the people watching, but Jesus was not focused on the watching people. He was not interested in attracting crowds and that was not why He did the miracles that He did. He was focused on an individual who had lost his health, his dignity, his ability to earn income, his social status, his family and his friends. Jesus responded with a touch and the words “I will; be clean”. The crowds gasped when Jesus touched the leper, but the leper was filled with healing warmth that flooded His being as he was healed of leprosy and was made clean. It was love that moved Jesus to act to make this man’s life better. Jesus did not just feel sorry for him. Jesus helped him. Jesus responded with compassion – a love that compels one to act.
The first touch this man felt for probably many years was the touch of Jesus. He would never be the same. Why did Jesus touch him? He did not have to do so. In all of the recorded exorcisms, Jesus spoke a word and freed the individuals. He never once laid a hand on a demoniac. He would speak a word and the winds and waves would obey Him, so why did He touch this leper? Maybe, he touched the leper to be our example; a pattern for us to follow.
Who are the social outcasts of our day? Is it the diseased? Is it those living in poverty? Is it the homeless? Is it the incarcerated? Is it the shut-in? Is it those living alternate lifestyles? Is it those of a different race? Is it those of a different faith?
Who are the social outcasts in your city? Who in your city is financially and socially isolated? Who is shut-in? What would happen in your city if each person makes it a point every day to do an act of compassion, reaching out to touch one that is in need? I believe more people would realize the Kingdom of God and want to be a part of it.
Beloved, we live in a day where there is an overabundance of armchair theologians and armchair politicians. We don’t need any more of those. What we need in our day are people who will follow Jesus and get their hands dirty in point of need ministry revealing that in the Kingdom that Jesus is ruling over there is love, grace, peace and freedom with race, gender, health and economic equality for all.
Touch people beloved. Touch people. Be Jesus’ hand extended.
While many non-profits have went under during this great economic recession, Becky and I are still committed to live by faith and obey what God has placed on our heart for Loving God Fellowship (LGF) while steering it through these difficult times. Launching the LGF mobile site last week is testimony of this.
I'm excited about taking LGF mobile because it allows us to potentially reach 3 more billion people with the Gospel of Christ in support of our point of need ministry model. People will be able to listen to Christ Centric Bible Messages while they are on the go with their mobile devices. Our potential on the Internet is 1 billion people, so this now raises our potential to 4 billion out of 6 billion people in the world. I'm excited about this opportunity and feel that LGF needs to take full advantage of it.
Although our mobile site just has the basics now, more and better functionality will be provided as we go. Please take a look at http://mobile.lovinggodfellowship.org . If you like it, be sure and check the "like" button.
The next thing we need to add to LGF mobile is a signup for SMS texting. To provide this functionality will cost $19 per 100 users that sign up to receive text messages such as Be Encouraged! and notification of new Bible Messages on their mobile devices. Would you consider a monthly donation? A donation of $19 per month will enable us to reach 100 people around the world through their mobile device. If you desire to do more than that, each $19 will enable us to reach 100 people with the Gospel of Christ on their mobile devices.
Please know that all donations are an answer to prayer as we are not endowed by any group or denomination and we don't pass an offering plate in any church service. LGF functions only on what is donated by loving Christ followers from around the world who believe in what LGF is all about.
Beloved, Jesus does not follow us, we are to follow Him. There are those who, like Peter, expect Jesus to do it their way and in their timing. If Jesus doesn’t, they become hurt and discouraged allowing unbelief to rob them of what God has in store for them.
To be a good leader in the Kingdom of God, one must first follow Christ. It is Jesus that is ruling over His Kingdom. We are to always remember that we are to follow Him and He will make us into what He wants us to be in His timing and in His way. We are just simply to follow Him. He will do the rest and we will enter into our full potential in the Kingdom of God.
You may have a heart for people and you may want to make a difference in our day, but please know that Jesus will not follow you on your journey. The faster you learn this, the faster you will enjoy life. Until you learn this, you will go through the motions and may even become religious, but you will lack the joy, grace, peace and freedom that Christ gives to those who follow Him.
Follow Jesus friends. Follow Jesus. Don't try to lead Him to where you want to go. Follow Him.
Beloved, we are to advance the Kingdom in our day. It has already been established in Jesus. He is now ruling over His Kingdom and has called us to follow Him and make His Kingdom known to the world through, not only words, but more importantly actions. In the Kingdom there is love, grace, peace and freedom with race, gender, health and economic equality for all. The need is the call. As we minister at the point of need, we are not only ministering as Jesus did, but we are also ministering as unto Jesus. Advance the Kingdom Beloved. Advance the Kingdom.
Beloved, ministry is to take place at the point of need. Ministry is not restricted to within the walls of a church building or the confines of a service. The need is the call. When we see a need, and we have the ability to meet that need, we are to minister as unto Jesus.
Jesus said "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' (Matthew 25:31-40 ESV)”
That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. (Mark 1:32-34 ESV)
Notice in this paragraph of Scripture the advancement of the Kingdom being established through Jesus. The Kingdom is always advanced through point of need ministry and we will see that throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry as we study the Gospels. It started that Sabbath day in the synagogue with the deliverance of the man possessed by a demon (Mark 1:26) and spread to inside a house with the healing of a woman (Mark 1:31) and now Jesus takes it to the streets of the city of Capernaum as people are brought to Him there.
That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. (Mark 1:32-34 ESV)
The Jewish Sabbath is a weekly day of rest observed from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday. A lot has taken place on this Sabbath day that Mark tells us about in chapter 1 of his gospel. Earlier in the day, Jesus teaches in the Synagogue and casts a demon out of a man who was in attendance there (Mark 1:21-28). After the service, He heals Simon’s mother-in-law in the house of Simon and Andrew who were brothers (Mark 1:29-31). And now, Mark is detailed in telling us that after the Sabbath was over, as marked by sundown, people brought to Jesus those “who were sick or oppressed by demons.”
Notice that the people who were brought to Him where either “sick or oppressed by demons.” Some in our day have associated illness, especially mental illness, as demonic possession, but this account of Jesus’ life and ministry in Scripture is careful to separate the two. It would be wrong for anyone in our day to attribute a person’s illness, whether it is physical or mental, to demon possession.
I have been in the ministry for over 19 years. I have ministered both within the walls of the church building and outside the walls of church building and beyond the confines of a church service. I have ministered to those in hospitals and prisons. I have ministered to young gang bangers in correctional facilities and the homeless on the streets. I have ministered in America and in third world countries. I have ministered to literally thousands of ill people both mentally and physically, but I can count on one hand those who were possessed by demons that were made obvious through physical manifestations including voice, facial distortions and actions. I was never afraid and the Holy Spirit within me always triumphed over these evil encounters. I tell this to implore you to not associate illness with demon possession. Many precious people have been wounded and hurt because there are those who have taken their illness and proclaimed them to be demon possessed when they were not at all demon possessed. It should not be and it hinders the work of those who are utilizing their life to advance God’s Kingdom with the help of the Holy Spirit who gives them the needed and necessary spiritual discernment.
In the first chapter of Mark the Kingdom of God was manifested in the deliverance of a man (Mark 1:26) and the healing of a woman (Mark 1:31). Jesus not only talked about the Kingdom that was being established in Him, but he also demonstrated this Kingdom through His actions. It was not Jesus’ intention to prove He was the divine Son and the Bearer of the Holy Spirit by His acts of authority and power. He cast out demons because they had no right to be in any part of human life which they sought to destroy. He brought healing out of love for the sufferer. When Jesus saw people suffering, He moved with compassion - a love that compels one to act to relieve the suffering.
And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them. (Mark 1:29-31 ESV)
Notice what Simon, Andrew, James and John does. When they leave the synagogue with Jesus, their faith in Jesus and His kingdom that He was revealing was enlarged. They go to Simon and Andrew’s house which must have just been a short distance from the synagogue as revealed through the words “and immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.” When they get there, Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a fever. Upon the news of her illness these Christ followers had a heart to provide this lady the care she needed for her health and they tell Jesus about her fever. Their faith had grown and they now knew to take their needs to Jesus.
Beloved, we all have needs and we must take those needs to Jesus knowing that He cares for us and desires for us to place all of our cares and anxieties on Him. Jesus desires to help us and as He does, His kingdom is revealed and faith always grows.
In Mark 1:23-28 Jesus is in the synagogue with Simon, Andrew, James and John who where fishermen that He had just called to follow Him. These four who left everything to follow Jesus witnessed the power of Jesus’ Kingdom that He was revealing through His words and actions. In these five verses, Satan’s kingdom is interrupted by Jesus’ Kingdom and the victory over evil is a glimpse of many victories to come in leading up to the ultimate victories at the cross and the empty tomb. Can you imagine what these four new followers were thinking after witnessing this first victory over evil? Perhaps a sense of confirmation was consuming them over the decision that they made to forsake all and follow Jesus. Undoubtedly their faith was growing as they were hanging out with Jesus and experiencing His Kingdom firsthand.
Jesus helps us so that we can help others. As we follow Him, our faith grows in His ability to meet not only our needs, but also the needs of others. As our faith grows, we are quick to reveal His kingdom to others through our actions. We pray and have faith, but we also put our faith into action.
Beloved, we don't have to wait for God's kingdom to come in some future event as we are already a part of His kingdom and He has imparted it into our lives through the Holy Spirit. We are to spend our lives revealing to the world His kingdom in us.
The apostle Paul taught that the supreme gift is love. Christ said that the world will know that we are His followers by our love for one another. As we love God and ALL people ministering at the point of need, His kingdom is revealed to the world and many will desire to be a part of it. That is so much more than mere church attendance.
Church attendance is not bad unless we replace serving Christ and revealing His kingdom with serving the institution. It then becomes an idol and the fruit is communities not realizing that the kingdom of God is at hand and Christ is already ruling supreme. There can be a church on every corner in the city with the city not realizing the kingdom of God. They see the church buildings in their community, but don't see the kingdom of God in action. I believe that we can change that in our day and have been called to do so as Christ followers. Be free in Christ! Know that you are loved,
gaj
In Mark 1:15, we hear Jesus say "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." After making His message simple and clear, He began to call those who would follow Him and continue His point of need ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit. They immediately started to follow Christ, learn from Him and serve Him (Mark 1:16-20)
And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. (Mark 1:21-22 ESV)
Capernaum was a village on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. It is possible that the fishermen whom Jesus had just called to follow Him (Mark 1:16-20) lived and worked near or in this village. We do know that there was a synagogue there and, on this occasion, Jesus and the called fishermen went to it on the Sabbath (“they went”, 1:21).
The Temple was in Jerusalem, but the Jewish law required that wherever there were at least 10 Jewish families there must be a synagogue. In the synagogue there would be no music, no singing and no sacrifice. The synagogue service would consist only of prayer, the reading of God’s Word and the exposition of it. The synagogue was a teaching institution. At the service on the Sabbath of each week, the ruler of the synagogue would call on any competent person to read the Scripture and give exposition on it so that the people in attendance could learn.
In the synagogue there was no professional minister. Scribes were experts in the Jewish law and the title of the leader among them was “Rabbi.” Scribes used the Torah which is the first five books of the Old Testament and they would develop rules and regulations for every possible situation in life. They reduced the principles of the moral law given in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) to hundreds of manmade rules and regulations which was legalism. Their religion became a matter of obeying these rules and regulations that they taught in the synagogues.
Jesus had a message to deliver and the synagogue in each community provided a forum in which to spread that message. Mark did not find it necessary in these two verses of Scripture to repeat Jesus’ message that he communicated earlier. "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15 ESV). Instead, he gives us the response of the people who heard the message and that response describes a contrast with the Scribes. Jesus was telling them about the kingdom of God that was being established through Him. He was not reinforcing the teachings of the Scribes which demanded obedience to their rules and regulations.
Following manmade rules and regulations is religion and religion binds, but Christ sets us free. Obtain your freedom in Christ today! Allow Him to set you free and establish His kingdom in you. Those who Jesus sets free are the church; the true Bride of Christ that He is coming for. He is not coming back for a building or an institution. He is coming back for His followers who have faithfully served Him.
It is God’s heart that every person serves Christ and walks in the freedom that He provides. Jesus’ teachings and actions revealed the heart of God. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day taught rules and regulations that were manmade. Jesus taught about being in harmony with God’s Kingdom that was being established in Him. He is now ruling supreme over that kingdom and leads His followers to reveal it to the world.
Jesus changes us. He changes our way of thinking towards others. He changes our behavior towards others. He changes us to be more like Him as we continually deny self and follow Him. The best is always yet to come as we follow Jesus on our journey from earth to glory.
In Acts 8:14-25 we see Jesus changing three individuals as they make the right choices to believe, repent and follow Him. And if Jesus changed these people, He will change whoever decides to follow Him.
Peter was a fisherman who decided to follow Jesus. At the cross of Christ, Peter denied knowing Jesus although he had followed Him for three years. Jesus didn’t give up on Peter though. After the resurrection, Jesus went looking for Peter, not to condemn him or judge him, but to renew and restore him. After the ascension of Jesus, Peter stayed in Jerusalem to wait for what Jesus had promised – the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, Peter was used to deliver a basic message (Acts 2) and three thousand people decided to become Christ followers that day. But Peter still has some prejudices in His heart that have to be eliminated so He is one of the Apostles that goes to Samaria to see if it could really be true that Samaritans and not just Jews could become Christ followers. As He sees that it is true, the racial prejudices that have gripped his heart begin to loosen and His heart becomes more like that of Jesus, the One he follows.
The apostle John joins the apostle Peter on this trip to Samaria. John like Peter, had prejudices in His heart that have to be eliminated. It was John who had wanted to call fire from heaven to destroy a village in Samaria when they had rejected Jesus during Jesus’ ministry on earth (Luke 9:51-56). Of course, Jesus rebuked John’s actions teaching John an important lesson at that time and directing his steps to Samaria this time to further purge the prejudices of John’s heart.
It was not by chance or accident that these two men were chosen as the delegation of the apostles to test the authenticity of the new non-Jewish Christ followers. They were following Jesus once again to Samaria. He was directing their every step and was going to bring more change to their heart and way of thinking that would impact their behavior.
Simon was a Samaritan entertainer who had just decided to follow Jesus. He had much to learn and it would require the rebuke of a fellow Christ follower to straighten his walk with Christ. Simon witnessed the effect produced by the laying on of hands, practiced by the apostles Peter and John, and offered them money in order to acquire the same power. Ever since that day, the attempt to turn the spiritual into the commercial has been given the term “simony”. Peter gave Simon a stern rebuke for his actions (Acts 8:23-24) and Simon’s motives were checked. He learned a lot about humility and repentance that day.
As Peter and John witnessed the authenticity of non-Jewish people who had become Christ followers, prejudices were broken down in their hearts. Their way of thinking toward others changed impacting their behavior toward others. On their journey from Jerusalem to Samaria, they did not bother preaching the word to the villages in Samaria. As they left Samaria to return to Jerusalem, they did preach the gospel to the villages of the Samaritans (Acts 8:25). Jesus had brought more change to them. They now were looking at people through the eyes of Jesus instead of the eyes of the prejudices that they had learned all their life.
As we continually choose to follow Jesus and we keep our eyes fixed on Him, He changes us. We develop more of His mind and more of His heart which impacts our behavior each step of the way on our journey from earth to glory.
THE SPECIAL CARE GIVEN TO THOSE AROUND THE THRONE OF GOD MAGNETIZES ME TO IT.
Notice the loving care they receive. They continually stay in God’s presence. "Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them." (Revelation 7:15 NIV) They will never again experience separation from the presence of God.
God protects them from pain and suffering. "Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat." (Revelation 7:16 NIV) This life is full of pain and suffering. People around the world are in pain and suffering today. The beloved will spend eternity in God’s presence where there will be no pain and suffering.
God wipes away their tears. "For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:17 NIV) There will be no crying around the throne; just joy unspeakable and full of glory!
There is so much about God’s presence and spending time with Him for all eternity that I don’t understand or comprehend, but I know one thing – I want to be a part of the great multitude wearing white robes. I want to be found in this beautiful picture painted for us in God’s Word. Only now on this earth are we given opportunity to wash our robes.
"These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Revelation 7:14 NIV) They have overcome the world. While they were on earth, they washed their robes. They accepted Jesus as their Savior. They placed their faith in Jesus and accepted everything He did for them at the cross of Calvary. They made Jesus their Lord; they fixed their eyes on Jesus and they followed Jesus. In doing so, they overcame the world.
Beloved, we live in an evil and perverse world that increasingly grows out of step with God’s Word. Only now on earth can we wash our robes in the blood of Jesus Christ. Without the blood there is no cleansing. Without cleansing, there is no redemption. There is no salvation. Wash your robes. Daily go to the foot of the cross and wash your robes in the blood of Jesus Christ. Daily go to the cross and crucify self. Crucify your fleshly nature at the foot of the cross. As we decrease at the cross, Jesus increases in our life. We make Jesus Lord; we deny ourselves and we take up our cross and follow Him. And one day beloved, we will find ourselves around the throne full of joy and wearing spotless white robes!
Friend, if you are not yet following Jesus, please know today that Jesus is calling you. His call is the same as it was on this day alongside the Sea of Galilee. He calls you right where you are at and He calls you just as you are. You are not what He wants you to be yet, but that does not matter to Him. He calls you anyway and promises to make you what He wants you to be. What you will become depends upon you following Him. You don’t have to go to a church service, walk an aisle and repeat a prayer after a pastor. Jesus did not teach that at all. All you have to do is to step out of what you have grown accustomed to – that is the boat that you are in. Don’t hold on to the things of this world with a white knuckled intensity – that is your nets. Just drop the nets, get out of the boat and follow Jesus. He will take you on an exciting and rewarding journey from earth to glory.
Jesus’ call demands an immediate response. These ones alongside the Sea of Galilee this day would have to leave their former way of life and its agenda. They would have to leave the security in which they had grown comfortable. They would have to place themselves under the authority and teachings of Jesus. They would have to trust Him. They would have to walk in the faith that Jesus was now initiating in them in order for that faith to grow and one day reach perfection. It would not be an easy journey, but it would be a rewarding journey.
They made the right choice that day. It was immediate. They dropped the nets. They got out of the boat. And they followed Jesus. What will you do today?
How does one repent? Repentance is a change in the mind that results in a change in actions. A person becomes aware of their sinfulness and it sickens them so much, they no longer want to live in that sinfulness. God’s Word says “For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. ~ 2 Corinthians 7:10, NLT”
We can not confuse being sickened by the consequences of sin with being sickened of sin itself. Many are sorry for their sins because of the consequences they bring, but that sorrow does not lead to true repentance. The sorrow that leads to repentance is a sickening of sin itself. When we get to that point we will decide to run from it and run to Jesus. He will save us.
The kingdom of God is good news to all who will listen, repent and believe that it is here through Jesus Christ. Entertainment will bring temporary satisfaction, but becoming a citizen of God’s kingdom provides eternal fulfillment.
Beloved, as we follow Jesus into the wilderness, the place of helplessness, we will learn that it is there that we grow dependent upon God. It is God that leads us there because He desires to do a work in us that will allow us to reach our full potential in His Kingdom. God does this work in His timing and not ours. Temptation will come to us and as we make the right choices instead of believing the lies of the devil, we will be given strength and endurance for our journey as God ministers to us right there in our wilderness.
Know that God will minister to us in the wilderness. Beloved, as you make the right choices and not give into the temptation that comes in the wilderness, God will strengthen you. He will sustain you. He will lead you out of the wilderness in due season. He will make a way where there seems to be no way. And when He leads you out, He will lead you in to a work for Him that will be awesome. It will be mindboggling. It will be God.
The wilderness is not easy. We will be tempted to take matters into our own hands. We will be tempted to do it our own way. We will be tempted to get back to the safety and comfort of what we have grown accustomed to. We will be tempted to try to go back the way we came. Temptation will come and we will be given a choice. God will lead us into the wilderness, but he will not make choices for us there that will override our human will. If He did, he would not be a just God. So, He leads us into a position where we can become more reliant upon Him, but the enemy of our soul will try to distract us and try to get us to make the wrong choices. All the devil can do is tempt us. He can’t make choices for us and God won’t. We will have to decide to allow God to do a work in the midst of our wilderness or believe the lies of the devil. Beloved, allow God to do a work in the midst of your wilderness. You will be glad that you did.
As we follow Christ on our journey from earth to glory, it is the Spirit that drives us into the wilderness. It’s a God thing. He desires us to draw close to Him and allow Him to prepare us for the ministry ahead of us on our journey. Each Christ follower has great potential in God’s Kingdom and revealing that Kingdom here on earth, but they must be prepared. Beloved, the wilderness is where such preparation is made.
The wilderness is a place of utter helplessness. It is where a person can be drawn close to God. It’s where we learn to trust and depend on God instead of trusting and depending upon our own abilities or the abilities of others. I have found that we can go through many wilderness periods in our life as God prepares us for what is ahead of us as we follow Christ and continue His point of need ministry. The key for us is to recognize that we are in the wilderness and utilize our time there to draw closer to God. We should not be focused on getting out of the wilderness or the time that we are allocated to stay there. Instead, our focus should be on drawing closer to God and trusting Him more.
Beloved, submit to God and His plans for your life letting him direct your every step. Follow Christ. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him. And be assured that you are baptized into the body of Christ by the Spirit that dwells within you.
Beloved, we are indwelt by the same Spirit that indwelt Christ. Christ walked this earth as the Son of Man, full of the Holy Spirit, heading to the cross as the Son of God to die for our sins so that we can have fullness of life in Him now and for all eternity. It is the Spirit that births us into the Kingdom of God. The church does not birth us into the Kingdom, nor does church membership. Walking an aisle and repeating a prayer does not birth us into the Kingdom. Being religious does not birth us into the Kingdom. The Spirit and the Spirit only births us into the Kingdom of God. And as we deny self, take up our cross and follow Jesus, the same Spirit that indwelt Christ indwells us.
We are to submit to God and His plans for our life. As we do, we will experience the Father’s pleasure as Jesus did.
I have found out in life that our plans are not always God’s plans. We will make our plans for our life and we have a choice to either follow those plans or allow God to direct our steps. If we allow God to direct our steps, we will find that the way He takes us is not the way that we would have gone.
We have the tendency to take the easy and the comfortable way that will cause us less pain. God’s way takes us into and through difficulty. As we allow Him to direct our steps, we will learn to trust Him totally with our life and everything that we have. Our rewards on this earth may not be much, but we will have rewards waiting for us in heaven.
Beloved, always remember that rewards on earth are temporary. Rewards in heaven are eternal.
Our relationship with Christ is what transforms us into servants that can be used of God. This relationship will mold and shape us to reach our full potential in the Kingdom of God. It is not about religion, tradition or a code of conduct. It’s about a relationship with Jesus that transforms our mind, our heart, our life and our actions. This relationship includes trusting Jesus, confessing Him as Lord, following His example, following His teaching and being transformed by it. It also includes being prepared to face the same kind of suffering that Jesus faced for the sake of others.
Beloved, it’s all about Jesus Christ. He came to save us from our sin and he broke the power of sin that held us captive. He came into our world. He lived. He died. He rose from the dead. He ascended back to the right hand of God. And He baptizes with the Holy Spirit all who decide to follow Him and make Him their Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit dwells within the Christ follower. Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. (Mark 1:1-8)
Those who follow Christ making Him their Lord and Savior are baptized with the Holy Spirit by Jesus.
Paul explains this baptism best:
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (Romans 8:5-11 ESV)”
Mark jumps right into truth as he begins the Gospel of Mark. In the first eight verses we are introduced to John the Baptist and Jesus Christ is exalted.
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, "Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,'" John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, "After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." (Mark 1:1-8 ESV)
The very first verse of Mark is short, but it speaks volumes – “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1 ESV)” Throughout the entire Gospel of Mark, we are told about Jesus. It is good news to all who learn of Him, but this good news did have its beginning with Mark’s Gospel. Jesus was proclaimed throughout the Old Testament and the Prophets and Mark is implying to this with a reference to Isaiah.
Mark declares that Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ. The name “Jesus” means “Yahweh is salvation”. Matthew brings particular attention to this meaning – “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21 ESV)”
Christ is a title and means “the anointed one”, or “the Messiah”. So here at the start of the Gospel of Mark we have the declaration that Jesus is the son of God and the Messiah who saves us from our sin and delivers us out of its captivity and bondage.
I thank God that He sent Jesus into our world!
If you have been a quitter and returned to where you started it doesn’t mean that God is through with you. He desires to use you and will take your failures and use them to mold and shape you into what He has for you to accomplish. Don’t beat yourself up. Don’t take to heart the criticism and rejection of others because of what you have done. Pick yourself up and become a different person. Allow your failure to propel you forward into the destiny that God has already prepared for you to walk in by His grace. The best is yet to come in your life!
Don’t be discouraged at the advancement of others even if you feel you are being bypassed. Promotion comes from the Lord. Keep yourself from complaining and becoming bitter through praying and knowing that Jesus is forming you and shaping you. Rest assured that in His due time, He will place you in the position He has for you and others will see His hand of work in your life. Learn and be patient. Allow others to mentor you. Prove yourself faithful. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus. Make yourself available for service while continuing the point of need ministry of Jesus and allow Him to do the rest.
The world is full of both leaders and quitters. Leaders recognize that promotion comes from the Lord even if there are those promoted past them. They willingly accept the role that God has for them as they follow Jesus and continue His point of need ministry no matter what vocation they are in. Quitters return to where they started, but they do not have to stay there. The ones who get up and allow their failures to propel them to their God prepared destiny will walk in it and one day become a respected leader deemed very useful.
Religionists hang on to the status quo, lie, spread fear, grow angry and even kill, but not Christ followers. Christ teaches His followers how to live and how to die, not how to kill. He teaches His followers how to stand for faith and justice. He teaches His followers how to pray, even for those who mistreat and abuse them due to their Christ exalting stand.
Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus and allow Him to perfect your faith on your journey from earth to glory (Hebrews 12:2). It is an exciting and rewarding journey.
In the paragraph of Scripture as given to us in Acts 7:54-60, the religionists break the Roman law which prohibits them from executing a death sentence. As a mob, they react to Stephen’s stand for faith and justice. They kill the messenger and God’s instrument of grace. Instead of making the right choice, repenting of their religious ways and following Christ, they make the wrong choice and choose religion over Christ. Their actions show how religion is full of anger and leads to death and not life.
As I read this paragraph of Scripture, it is Stephen’s reaction that catches my eye and speaks volumes into my life. Notice with me:
Stephen the Christ follower, even in death, kept his eyes fixed on Jesus who is the author and perfecter of faith (Acts 7:55).
Stephen the Christ follower left this world praying to Jesus and releasing himself to Jesus’ care (Acts 7:59).
Stephen the Christ follower prayed for his enemies as they violently attacked and killed him (Acts 7:60).
On your journey as you follow Christ from earth to glory, the Holy Spirit will give you guidance. That guidance will often come in times of fasting, praying, worshiping, and studying the Word of God. The guidance of the Holy Spirit will be confirmed to you through God’s Word and through the council of other Christ followers. The guidance may be vague, but details will be given along the way as you move out in total faith. As you move forward in adventurous faith, more specific guidance will come in the exact timing needed. The journey may be rough and turbulent at times, but the end result will always be Christ exalting.
Be encouraged to hear God’s Word. Regularly listen to sermons and teachings delivered through God’s anointed messengers. It will grow your faith. God's Word says How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Rom 10:14-17 ESV)
Be encouraged today to read God’s Word. It was as the Ethiopian, in Acts chapter 8, was reading Isaiah that Philip meets up with him and points Him to Jesus Christ through the Scriptures (Acts 8:26-39). As we read the Scriptures, we will be pointed to Jesus Christ. God’s Word is all about Jesus and in order to have a relationship with Jesus, we must learn about him through God’s Word. The New Testament tells us that Jesus Christ is the Word. John’s Gospel says And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 ESV)
Take time every day and read the Bible. As you read Scripture, you will be pointed to Jesus Christ and your relationship with Him grows as you will learn more and more of Him.
As you read the word and listen to the word preached through anointed messengers, your faith will grow. As your faith grows, you learn that trusting the word in all situations and circumstances will get you through anything that comes your way. Things around you may fall apart. People will disappoint you. People close to you will pass away. Money will come and go. But, the word of God will increase and multiply in your life and no person, thing or power will triumph over it!
No person, thing or power can triumph over the Word of God! As we read, hear, learn and trust the Word of God, it will triumph over everything in our life and over every trouble that comes our way. God’s Word is powerful!
All of our possessions, talents and abilities are gifts of God’s grace. How we react to the praise of people depends upon the condition of our heart. Those with self absorbed hearts will absorb the praise. Those with God absorbed hearts will reflect all praise to God. People with self absorbed hearts will one day fall under the judgment of God, but those with God absorbed hearts will one day enter into the blessings of God for all eternity.
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:3-7 ESV)
Even when our faith is immature and deficient, God does a work that only He can do. And through it all, God still loves us and is perfecting our faith as we focus our attention on Jesus and follow Him.
In Acts 12:1-11 we are told of how the Apostle James was killed and Peter was placed in prison awaiting his death. After Herod Agrippa I saw that beheading James pleased the people, he decided to do the same to Peter and He had him put in prison. Because Herod was now observing the Jewish law and trying to win favor with the people, he would not put Peter to death during the Passover season. He would wait until afterward and do to Peter in front of all the people what he had already done to James. In the meantime, he would hold Peter prisoner and make it impossible for him to escape or be freed by assigning four squads of soldiers to guard him. Each squad consisted of four Roman soldiers and each squad would have a six hour shift. Two soldiers would be chained to either side of him and two soldiers would guard the door. There was seemingly no way Peter would be able to escape, but God sent an angel to deliver Peter out of the prison in the middle of the night. As Peter followed the angel, he was set free. Peter was still in a daze from it all and when his mind finally cleared, he realized that he was supernaturally delivered by God and saved from death.
When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter's voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, "You are out of your mind." But she kept insisting that it was so, and they kept saying, "It is his angel!" But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, "Tell these things to James and to the brothers." Then he departed and went to another place. Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent time there. (Acts 12:12-19 ESV)
The church survived without a church building for three hundred years. There were no building funds. There were no campaigns to pay down building debt. There were neither maintenance invoices nor utility bills to pay. Instead, Christ followers met in houses and existing facilities. At this time in Jerusalem, the church had grown to large numbers and was meeting in many houses in the city. Upon his supernatural deliverance from prison, Peter went to John Mark’s mother’s house. Many believe that this was the house that held the upper room where Jesus had His last supper with the disciples the night before His crucifixion. This was probably the house where Peter met with other Christ followers regularly and was the people he was most familiar with as Rhoda knew his voice. In any case, Peter went to where he knew people would be meeting in the middle of the night to pray for His safe release.
Prayer has always been a quality that identifies the church. Christ followers are praying people and follow the example that Christ gave as He walked this earth ministering at the point of need. Jesus took the time to pray and the disciples, seeing that this was a priority in Jesus’ life, asked for Him to teach them how to pray.
Faith is exercised as one communicates to God and asks for his help, guidance and intervention. A person prays believing in God and believing that He can do the impossible. Those who met in this house knew that Herod had beheaded the Apostle James and was planning to do the same to Peter the next day at the conclusion of the Passover. They were praying earnestly for him day and night knowing that God could deliver and in this case, it would take God.
Peter knocked at the gate indicating that this house had a courtyard which was typical of the bigger homes of that day that could accommodate many people. Rhoda goes to see who is knocking. Upon recognizing Peter’s voice and without opening the gate and letting Peter in, she goes back inside tell the people it was Peter. The people thought she was out of her mind! Anyway you look at this it is humorous. Their prayers had been answered. Evidently they had enough faith to pray knowing that God could deliver Peter out of this seemingly hopeless situation, but their faith was deficient in realizing that God was willing to deliver Peter. Even though their faith was deficient, God moved on their behalf and supernaturally delivered Peter from the chains of bondage and certain death.
Beloved, we have been supernaturally delivered from the bondage of sin and saved from death by Jesus Christ. Some may doubt our deliverance and that doubt may come from some who have prayed for our deliverance, but nevertheless we have been delivered! We didn’t do anything to deserve it. It was all God pouring our His amazing grace upon us. We were bound in the chains of sin and held captive in its prison. But Jesus set us free. And when Jesus sets us free, we are free indeed!
Not only is God able to deliver and set the captive free from the power of sin, God is willing. All Peter had to do was follow the angel the Lord sent out of the prison he was held captive in. We have been given Jesus to follow. All of those friends and loved ones that you are praying for, God can and he will deliver as they follow Jesus out of their prison. Keep praying for them. Pray earnestly for them. God will do in an instance what no person could do in a lifetime.
If you are held captive by the power of sin today, I encourage you to follow Jesus out of that prison. As you fix your eyes on Him and follow Him, He will break every shackle that binds you. He will lead you out of darkness and despair. He will take away your hopelessness and give you a reason for living. He will truly set you free!
Beloved, as we follow Christ and keep our eyes fixed on Him, our faith will grow because He is the founder and the perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:1-2). When our faith is immature and deficient, God still loves us. He does supernatural things in our life and in our circumstances regardless of the size of our faith. And as He does, our faith grows. It is simply Jesus perfecting our faith.
It is possible for us to grow to such a point in our faith as to rest in times of trouble knowing that God is in control of our life as we follow Christ on this journey from earth to glory. He is directing our steps. He is making a way where there seems to be no way.
For the early followers of Christ there was a season after Saul became a Christ follower (Acts 9) in which they experienced a freedom from oppression and persecution brought on by the religionists of their day. It would not last long though. King Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of the King Herod of Jesus’ birth, in order to gain favor with the Jews began to observe their ways and practice their law. He had heard them complain of Christ followers spreading the message of Christ and how it threatened their religious tradition. He decided to display his hand of power against the radical Christ followers in order to win more favor with those who were merely religious.
About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, "Get up quickly." And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, "Dress yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so. And he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him. When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting."
(Acts 12:1-11 ESV)
James here is the disciple of Jesus, son of Zebedee and brother of John, not to be confused with James, brother of Jesus and author of the book of James in the New Testament. James, John and Peter made up the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples while He ministered on earth. Why James would die and Peter escape is a mystery of divine providence. Peter still had much to accomplish as he would author two epistles of the New Testament. James would complete His mission and be the first of the disciples to join the glorified Christ.
After Herod Agrippa I saw that beheading James pleased the people, he decided to do the same to Peter and He had him put in prison. Because Herod was now observing the Jewish law and trying to win favor with the people, he would not put Peter to death during the Passover season. He would wait until afterward and do to Peter in front of all the people what he had already done to James. In the meantime, he would hold Peter prisoner and make it impossible for him to escape or be freed by assigning four squads of soldiers to guard him. Each squad consisted of four Roman soldiers and each squad would have a six hour shift. Two soldiers would be chained to either side of him and two soldiers would guard the door. There was seemingly no way Peter would be able to escape.
Notice what the followers of Christ did. They prayed for Peter, but it was not a half hearted prayer mouthed through sleepy lips. It was earnest prayer. The oppressive hand of Herod was powerful, but not as powerful as earnest prayer that releases divine power that destroys strongholds and sets the captive free (2 Corinthians 10:3-5). Beloved, earnestly pray for those you know that are held captive by their troubles. Prayer is our spiritual weapon. Pray earnestly.
What catches my attention the most today from these paragraphs of Scripture is what Peter was doing in the midst of his troubles. He was asleep. That is an indication that his faith had grown to a point where he was able to rest in the midst of his troubles. He could not always do that, but now his faith had grown to a point where he could. He trusted God fully and understood that God was in control of his life as he followed Christ. He was at peace. He did not fear death as he realized that to be absent from the body would mean that He would be present with our Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Beloved, I believe that is the faith God desires to develop in each of us. It’s a faith that will inspire our earnest prayers for those that are held captive by their troubling situations and seemingly hopeless circumstances. It’s a faith that allows us to rest in the middle of the greatest storm that life brings our way knowing that God is in control and He can either calm the storm or get us through it.
Supernatural deliverance came to Peter that night. It was an undeniable miracle that happened in a fashion in which no person could take the glory. It was all God. Peter rested. God delivered.
Beloved, allow your faith in God to produce that same rest in you today. God knows the difficulty that you are in. He knows what you are going through. He has lifted up others who are praying earnestly for you. He will make a way where there seems to be no way. He will make the impossible possible. Trust Him. Rest in Him. He will do the rest.
Regardless of one’s political and economic convictions, there is a God given relationship expressed throughout the Bible between ability and need. God blesses people with ability and it is His expectation that those with the ability take care of those in need. This is in direct opposition to greed which is not of God.
We find the Christ followers in Antioch being blessed in Acts 11:19-26. The work of God in Antioch was authenticated by good works. It was in Antioch that Christ followers were first called Christian which means good, kind, loving benevolent, useful and generous. They showed their love in practical ways.
Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). So the disciples determined, everyone according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul. (Acts 11:27-30 ESV)
Claudius Caesar ruled from A.D. 41 to 54. During this period there was a series of bad harvests and serious famines in various parts of the Roman Empire. Jewish historian Josephus wrote of a great famine during the reign of Claudius that oppressed the people of Judea. Many people starved to death without the means to obtain food. Two Roman historians, Tacitus and Suetonius, have recorded that there were several localized famines during the Claudius period. Barnabas arrived at Antioch in A.D. 41 which was the beginning of Claudius’ rule.
In this paragraph of Scripture we find that Luke, the author of Acts, was more concerned with recording the generous response of the Christ followers in Antioch than he was with the fulfillment of the prophecy of famine. We can glean much from these verses of Scripture that will help us be everything that God intends for us to be in our day.
First of all notice that the need was presented by the moving of the Holy Spirit. Prophecy is a gift of the Spirit and a verbal manifestation. Prophecy is both foretelling and forthtelling, but prophecy in the Bible is mostly forthtelling or speaking God’s message rather than foretelling the future. The important fact here is that God revealed a need to the Christ followers in Antioch by the Holy Spirit. Beloved, God identifies needs to us in our day and if we are people of the Spirit and we walk in the Spirit instead of the flesh, we will know when God is revealing a need to us that he has given us the ability to meet.
Next, notice that their faith was not dead. Their faith led to a decision and the decision led to action. Beloved, our faith will always lead to action because faith without action is dead. God’s Word says “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:14-18 ESV)
Finally, notice that they each gave according to their ability. They were not illogical in their giving and did not give beyond their means. Each one voluntarily gave what they could based on the ability that God had given them. Beloved, God blesses us so that we can bless others. The Apostle Paul wrote “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-8 ESV)
Beloved, God’s requirement for us in our day is very simple. As we are sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, He will show us needs that we can meet based upon the ability that He has given us. Whether we act or not will be based upon the condition of our faith. If our faith is dead, we will do nothing. If our faith is alive, we will utilize the ability that God has given us to meet the need that He reveals to us.
I encourage you today to recognize the ability that God has given you. Your ability is a gift of God’s precious and amazing grace. Be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit as He will direct you to needs that you can meet based on the ability you have been given. Be quick to act upon your faith. Decide in your heart what you are to do and act upon it, not reluctantly or under compulsion, realizing that God loves a cheerful giver.
How we react to criticism will influence those who criticize. The way we react will either bring further criticism or it will be instrumental in a change of the critic’s heart.
Acts 11:1-3 tells us how Peter received criticism because of his obedience to God. After Peter hears the criticism, he responds and his response is a model to follow as it produced a change in the heart of his critics.
But Peter began and explained it to them in order: "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. And I heard a voice saying to me, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' But I said, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.' But the voice answered a second time from heaven, 'What God has made clean, do not call common.' This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.' As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?" When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life." (Act 11:4-18 ESV)
When I was just beginning in pastoral ministry, one of my mentors told me that I would face much criticism if I obeyed God and not people. He said “when you receive criticism look for the truth that lies somewhere within it.” He said that “there are usually elements of truth in all criticism.”
Since receiving that advice, I have received a lot of criticism and I always try to look for the elements of truth that may be present in it. In looking for the element of truth in the criticism that Peter received in Acts 11:1-3, we see that his critics stated a fact. He indeed went into a home of a foreigner, spent time there and even ate with them. That was the truth. The non truth in their criticism, which was the result of their religious tradition, was that God was just for the Jew only.
Peter does not run from his critics. Instead, he faces them and responds. Peter’s response was not an argument. He did not allow himself to get caught up in an argument with his critics that would take away valuable energy from helping people at their point of need. Instead, his response was just simply a statement of the facts. In obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit, he did go to the house of a foreigner and he took six fellow Christ followers with him, which would prove to be a valuable move of wisdom, as these were witnesses to what took place in that house.
The fact is that God loves ALL people and desires that ALL people receive the forgiveness of sins that comes through faith; faith which increases through hearing the good news about Jesus Christ. As one’s faith grows to the point of believing, they receive the new birth that Christ talks about; specifically His words “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (see John 3:1-8).
Peter’s straightforward narration of his experience silenced his critics. What could they say? Peter’s preaching the good news of Jesus Christ to a house full of non-Jews grew their faith to the point that they received the forgiveness of sins. And through the Holy Spirit, God had given the Gentiles a change of mind and heart and the assurance of eternal life just as He had the Jews. Peter and six other Jewish Christ followers witnessed this move of God. Now, with Peter’s response to criticism by stating the facts of what happened, God has given these critics in the early church a change of mind and heart to receive all people into the church of Jesus Christ.
Notice their response which is an outward indicator of the change that had taken place in their heart. They “glorified God.” The fruit of their lips had changed from criticism to praise!To God be the glory!
Beloved, the Holy Spirit will take us places we would never imagine to minister Christ to people we never would have met without Him bringing it all together. As we obey God instead of people, we will face criticism. Look for elements of truth in all criticism and don’t spend energy in arguing. Just state the facts and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. If we follow Peter’s model of defense in just stating the facts we are allowing room for a change in the heart of our critics.
God messages are delivered by imperfect people who submit to the direction of the Holy Spirit. These messages are good news! They always point people to Jesus and grow the faith of the listener to receive the forgiveness of sins and become followers of Jesus Christ.
In Acts chapter 10, God puts together a God gathering. By the time we get to verse 34, we see that God has put together a full house of foreigners and has sent an imperfect preacher to give them the good news of Jesus Christ. This messenger of the good news of Jesus Christ was once a racist and a coward, but God was changing him and using him to minister at the point of need as Jesus had showed Him by example. Let’s look at the God message delivered by the imperfect messenger.
So Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." (Act 10:34-43 ESV)
The message that Peter delivers at this God gathering of people is simple, but yet powerful in building the faith of the listener in Jesus Christ. The entire theme of the message is Jesus. It is relevant to us today and we will do good to note the major points of the message:
Jesus came into our world as God’s gift to people due to His love for people.
Jesus ministered at the point of need in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was put to death by people revealing the sinful nature that is within each us.
In contrast, Jesus was brought to life again by God who desires to give life to all people.
The Christ follower is a witness to the resurrection as Jesus is a living presence in their life.
The result of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection is forgiveness of sin for every believer.
Beloved, that is a God message that never looses its relevancy and it is Good News to each hearer!
There is no one that is perfect, that is why Jesus came into our world. He showed us how to live and how to minister at the point of need in the power of the Holy Spirit. He died for our sins. He rose again. He ascended back to be with God the Father. He has not left us alone, but has sent the Holy Spirit to empower His followers to continue His point of need ministry. He is coming again. That is all good news! It is relevant in our day. And it is still delivered to God gatherings of people from all around the world through imperfect messengers. And when it is, faith grows and the forgiveness of sins is realized.
Prayer positions oneself for sweet encounters with the Lord resulting in immediate impact on behavior, attitudes and beliefs. An encounter with Jesus can do in an instance what could never be done by man in a lifetime.
In Acts 10, the Lord is breaking down racial barriers that had been in place for generations. For the church to be what Jesus intends it to be, there can be no discrimination. We are learning the heart of Jesus for the church in this wonderful chapter of God’s Word. We are seeing the importance of separating one’s self for the purpose of prayer which makes available the resources of heaven and opens us up to sweet encounters with our Lord.
Peter was on the house top praying when the Lord gave him a vision of all kind of animals coming from heaven on a sheet with His command for Peter to kill and eat. Peter refused because of the unclean animals, but the Lord showed him three times. Jesus was showing him that nothing He has made is unclean, including ALL people.
Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them." And Peter went down to the men and said, "I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?" And they said, "Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say." So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. (Act 10:17-23 ESV)
This is a beautiful paragraph of Scripture that records the obedience to direction given through prayer. Cornelius received instructions through prayer (Acts 10:1-8) and here we see the beginning results to obeying those instructions. Peter was pondering on the meaning of the instructions he received through prayer, but the Holy Spirit was about to show him the deeper meaning which would require him to let go of traditions and practices that he had held onto entire life.
Somewhere between his walk from the rooftop to the door, it started to make sense. As Peter was obedient to the Holy Spirit’s instruction, change percolated in his behavior, attitude and beliefs. Peter did something that he would not have done before. It would shatter the way he was raised and go against everything he had been taught from a young child upward. He invited non Jews, people of a different race and different beliefs, not only into the house with him, but to be his guests for the night!
Something happened in Peter. It started when he separated himself from all distractions and went up on the rooftop to pray (Acts 10:9-16). It continued as he meditated on what he was shown as he prayed. It happened when he stepped out in obedience to the Holy Spirit; behavior, attitude and beliefs all where changed.
Beloved, as we pray, we will have times of sweet encounters with Jesus. We will receive instructions and as we obey the instructions, we will have supernatural changes in behavior, attitude and beliefs. It may shatter the way we were raised and go against everything we have been taught, but it will always line up with Scripture and take us into a deeper love of God that will result in a deeper love of ALL people.
Do you ever wish there were more hours in a day? Life can become quite overwhelming. There are deadlines to meet. There are bills that have to be paid. There are appointments to be kept. There are assets that have to be maintained such as houses and cars. There are relationships that have to be nourished. And how do we ever find time to properly take care of ourselves? To live a healthy life, we have to eat right and exercise.
Do you ever find yourself feeling overwhelmed and losing perspective? I do quite often.
God has given me a verse in His Word that puts everything back in perspective. I want to share it with you today so that you can glean from its wonderful truth.
(2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV) “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
Wow! This is the greatest double paradox in history. It is powerful and it puts everything in perspective. Understanding it will change our life and the way we live it.
GOD ARRANGED FOR JESUS TO BE MADE SIN
It’s all about divine justice, divine wrath, divine self-sacrifice and divine love. Because of God’s divine justice, His reaction to sin is divine wrath. God in His infinite wisdom decided that the penalty of sin would be death and that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 11:22 NIV) But the blood had to come from a perfect sacrifice; one that did not know sin. That would be the only thing that would appease God’s wrath. The only one that could fulfill this was God Himself because only God is sinless. But yet God could not die. So God came into our world. I get so excited every time I think about it. It amazes me that God left the portals of heaven and came into our world. That is how much God loves us. God has gone out of His way to save us from His wrath.
Only Jesus could be the perfect sacrifice for our sins; a sacrificial lamb without spot and without blemish. At the cross, Jesus took upon Himself every sin we ever committed. God’s Word says (Isaiah 53:6 NIV) “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” At the cross, Jesus took upon Himself God’s divine judgment and God’s divine wrath that we deserve so that we would be shielded from God’s judgment and His wrath. Beloved, our sins were charged to Jesus’ account. It doesn’t sound right. He was innocent, we are guilty. We deserve the punishment, but God took it upon Himself instead. It was divine self-sacrifice. That’s how much God loves us.
GOD ARRANGED FOR PEOPLE TO BE MADE RIGHTEOUS
Again God’s Word says (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV) “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Jesus’ righteousness was credited to the account of all who would believe on Him. It all happened at the cross of Christ.
MANY PEOPLE IN OUR DAY HAVE A CONFUSED UNDERSTANDING OF GOD
Many today believe that God is just waiting for us to mess up so He can pour out judgment. They live in fear and they teach fear to others in believing that everything bad that happens is God’s judgment being poured out. They tie every disaster that happens to the judgment of God. There are consequences of sin that we bring on ourselves, but God is not pouring out His judgment on us through everything bad that happens.
These people are still living under the old covenant instead of the new covenant. They are confused because they do not understand what God did for us at the cross. At the cross, Jesus took our sin upon Him. At the cross, Jesus shielded us from God’s perfect justice and His wrath. At the cross, Jesus took our punishment. Beloved, it is at the cross we see a loving God drawing lost people to Himself. Since the cross we have been living under God’s grace. God’s heart is that all be saved and come to Him. Jesus is coming again for those who have denied self, taken up their cross and followed Him. The best is yet to come!
DRAW CLOSE TO THE CROSS
Beloved we must draw close to the cross. Cling to the simplicity of the cross. Realize and believe everything that God did for you at the cross. Refuse to live in fear. Decide to live in total victory through Jesus. Remember God’s Word that says (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV) “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
And always remember the cross.
Remembering the cross will help you keep perspective no matter what comes your way!
I received the following question yesterday and want to take time to answer it here on my blog:
What do you think the words "dead works" mean? I know what it means to me, but could you expound on it for me? I know how it is used in the scripture, but could it also apply to Christians? Thanks for your thoughts on this!
My Answer:
We know that faith without works, or faith without action is dead. Check out what the Word of God says:
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
(Jas 1:22-25 ESV)
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"--and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
(Jas 2:14-26 ESV)
So according to what God’s Word tells us, if a person does not act on what they believe, it is "dead faith".
I believe that "dead works" would be doing good deeds without truly believing in the simplicity of the cross, denying self, taking up the cross and following Jesus, having a personal relationship with Him.
There are a lot of good people destined to spend eternity in hell separated from God because they believe, but don't act or they act, but don't believe.
I've spent the last 18 years of my life encouraging people to build a relationship with Jesus and put their faith into action. I stopped referring to myself a long time ago as being a "Christian". Instead, I refer to myself as a "Christ follower". There is a big difference.
Christians believe and churches are full of them each weekend. Christ followers believe and follow Christ in point of need ministry outside the walls of a church building. They put their faith into action daily. When they see a need or an injustice, they go into action. They can not help it. It is a change that Jesus has brought to their way of thinking and their heart because they decided to follow Him.
If everyone that attended a church building on the weekends would put their faith in action during the week, our cities would be turned upside down for Jesus Christ. A justice revival would take place in every city.
It has been my experience that the Christians who believe, but do not put their faith into action are the hardest people in the world to reach for Jesus Christ. They think they are okay, but they are not. May God open their eyes to what it means to deny self, take up the cross and follow Jesus as they love God and ALL people as their self.
And for all those who do good deeds, but do not believe - may they be drawn to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ; that their works would not be dead, but alive in Jesus Christ. They are close to the Kingdom of God which is already at hand.
Prayer and Scripture is the conduit for God's revelation. Be patient though. It's in the waiting that you learn Scripture and receive His strength. His strength gives you the endurance needed to do that which is revealed and Scripture is the litmus test as to the authenticity of the revelation.
Pray.
Read and learn Scripture, especially the New Testament, since Christ came and fulfilled the Old.
Wait.
Strength for endurance will come.
Revelation will come and it will be confirmed through Scripture.
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
(Rom 10:14-17 ESV)
This paragraph of Scripture is what drives us to make Bible messages available to be listened to online at LGF Online, LGFinternetChurch.org or GlobalChurchOnline.org . The messages we make available are Christ centric, adhere to Scripture and are relevant to our day. They will grow the faith of each listener.
Many churches and ministries charge for sermons and make CDs available for a price. We don't and we never will. All messages are FREE and we encourage people to burn their own CDs of the messages and distribute them for FREE to friends and family. We trust God that as people listen and their faith grows, they will make donations as they can to help us continue to make these messages available to people all around the world.
We produce one to two fresh Bible messages per week to be listen to online or downloaded. As of date, there are over 4 years of messages available online and they have been listened to by people all around the world. Many who listen do not have local churches available and are in countries where the preaching of the gospel is restricted if not forbidden.
If we seek God, He will find us. As we place all of our trust in Him and allow our faith to control us, He will lead us into all that He has for us and it will be good.
In Acts chapter 10 we see God breaking down racial prejudices so that the Gospel can be shared with all people regardless of their race. There is no room for any discrimination within the church of Jesus Christ. Discrimination will always divide and never unite. In the body of Christ there is unity.
In the beginning of Acts chapter 10 we are introduced to Cornelius. We learn about him and his desire for God. We also learn that if we seek God, He will find us.
At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, "Cornelius." And he stared at him in terror and said, "What is it, Lord?" And he said to him, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea." When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
(Act 10:1-8 ESV)
Caesarea was the capital of Judea and was about 30 miles north of Joppa, where Peter was staying with Simon the tanner on the coast (Acts 9:43). God was doing a deep work in Peter and breaking down all prejudices as we will see further evidence of in Acts Chapter 10.
Cornelius, stationed in Caesarea, was a centurion and part of the Italian Cohort. A cohort was a group of 6 centuries which were 100 men each, so a cohort was 600 men. Each century was under the command of one Centurion. Centurions were the backbone of the Roman army and would be equivalent to a modern day Captain. Each Centurion was paid well at five times the pay of an ordinary soldier.
Cornelius was socially prominent and wealthy. Cornelius is proof that it is possible for a person to be socially prominent and wealthy while being a person of faith. Cornelius did not allow his prominence and wealth to control him. He allowed his faith to control him as we know from this paragraph of Scripture.
The evidences of his faith are:
He was devout and feared God. “God-fearer” is a term used in New Testament times for a Gentile who had attached themselves to the Jewish religion. They did not accept circumcision and the Law; but they attended the synagogue and believed in one God.
He gave generously to meet the needs of people. His search for God had made him love people and desire to meet their needs.
He prayed to God continually.
He was quick to obey God’s message when it came.
Cornelius was a Gentile and not a Jew, but he attached himself to the Jewish religion instead of the pagan beliefs of his surroundings. He wanted all that God had for him and really trusted the Lord to guide him in all things. He was certain that what God had for him was good.
Allow your faith to control you. Put all of your trust in the Lord today. He will guide you in all things. All that He has in store for you is good. As you seek Him and do all that you know to do, He will lead you into all that He has for you. Be quick to obey Him. Seek God and let Him find you.
Christ followers bring encouragement and healing to people as they continue the point of need ministry of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Saul deciding to deny self take up his cross and follow Jesus, as recorded in Acts chapter nine, brings peace to the church that had become scattered from Jerusalem due to the persecution spearheaded by Saul. It’s in this peace that we see Peter at the conclusion of Acts chapter nine leaving Jerusalem and visiting those who make up the church in the surrounding areas bringing encouragement and healing to them.
Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed." And immediately he rose. And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.
(Act 9:32-35 ESV)
Peter went to the people and did not expect them to come to him. Peter could have stayed in Jerusalem and been comfortable as a leader of the early church, but he didn’t. He couldn’t and be a Christ follower. Jesus did not stay in the synagogue on the Sabbath and expect needy people to come to Him. Jesus allowed the Holy Spirit to direct His steps as he went and ministered to people at their point of need every day of the week. And now we see Peter, full of the Holy Spirit, following Jesus and continuing His point of need ministry.
Peter knew that within himself, he could do nothing. He knew the source of healing was Jesus Christ. Through the knowledge given by the Holy Spirit, Peter was able to tell Aeneas that Jesus was healing him. Aeneas had been paralyzed and confined to a bed for eight years. Peter would not dare say these words unless the Holy Spirit prompted Him. He spoke the words and the healing was immediate.
This miracle was instrumental in the residents of Lydda and Sharon deciding to become Christ followers. They could not deny the healing power of Christ when they witnessed this man walking again after eight years of bed confinement.
We need Christ exalting miracles in our day and I believe that they will increase as more and more people decide to shake off the shackles of dead stale religion and deny self, take up the cross and follow Jesus. I believe that in the last days, there will be a supernatural reaping of the harvest of souls that is already ripe for harvest. Christ exalting miracles will draw people to Him. I’m not talking about superstars making a circus out of faith healing. I’m talking about common folk, full of the Holy Spirit, continuing the point of need ministry of Jesus on a daily basis wherever the Holy Spirit directs them.
Christ followers minister encouragement and healing at the point of need. They rely on the prompting of the Holy Spirit knowing that they can not heal, but Christ will heal. They are willing to go instead of wait; act instead of just attend. They know that Jesus will do the rest as they simply follow Him.
God’s love for us and His desire to be with us amazes me. He created us to be His inheritance and He has gone out of His way to be with us. It blows me away because there are times I don’t even want to be with me! Yet God does! Isn’t that awesome? Think about it. With all of the imperfections we have, God who is perfect wants to be with us. Amazing! That’s what it is. It’s amazing grace. God loves us so much and wants to be with us so much, He has come into our world through Jesus Christ. Everything He does, He does to benefit us and our well being on this journey that we are on from earth to Glory.
Through the unction of the Holy Spirit allow me to point out a few nuggets from the Word to you today. In Mark 2:1-12, we see and sense the heart that God has for each of us.
Jesus preaches the Word.
The Word of God says (Mark 2:1-2 NIV) "A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. {2} So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them."
The first chapter of Mark tells us that Jesus came to Capernaum preaching a message of repentance for the Kingdom of God is at hand. He called people to follow Him. He set people free that were bound by evil. He healed the sick. And He went to other towns doing the same. In the second chapter of Mark Jesus comes back to Capernaum and is probably once again at the house of Peter. The house is packed with people that need God to touch them. The church growth “experts” of our day tell pastors and church leaders in America that people will not come to church if they are crowded. They have told leadership that once a building reaches 80% of capacity you have to build a bigger facility. They have told leadership that people have to be in a comfortable setting with padded seating, just the right colors on the walls and floors with the air temperature not too hot and not too cold but just right. And the sound and acoustics have to be perfect; not too loud and not too soft, but just right. Because of this, many churches have went into loads of debt and because of their debt load, the poor and needy in their communities are neglected and their city is not impacted by the love of God through the church.
The Bible tells us something different than what the church growth “experts” of our day tells us. The Bible tells us that people will come to where Jesus is present. They don’t care if they are crowded. They don’t care if the seating is not comfortable. They don’t care if it’s too hot or too cold. They don’t care if the sound and acoustics are not perfect. They just want to be in Jesus’ presence. And that’s the setting we have here in this passage. May God lift up pastors and church leaders in our day that will refuse to listen to the “experts” and get back to what God says in His Word. It is God’s Word that is the authoritative guide for all of our beliefs and actions. We must listen to God and not the “experts” in order for us to impact cities in our day.
Notice what Jesus does in this packed house setting. In verse 2 it says “he preached the word to them.” He did not entertain them. He did not start a program or conduct a special event. God knew that they did not need that because none of that would help them on their journey from earth to Glory. It would only make their flesh temporarily feel good. They needed more than that. They needed food for the spirit and soul. Jesus PREACHED THE WORD!
Beloved, in our day we need the Word of God preached! It’s only the Word that builds faith. If you are involved in a church where the Word has been diluted or replaced by entertainment, you need to run as far as you can from it. Find a church that has a pastor and church leaders that love Jesus and His Word. Find a church where the Word is preached and lived out in daily life. You don’t need entertainment. You need the Word. Entertainment will gratify the flesh, but the Word will build faith in you and sustain you on your journey from earth to Glory!
Jesus forgives sins.
The Word of God says (Mark 2:3-5 NIV) "Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, 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 and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. {5} When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven.""
God has come into our world forgiving sins. We look at people and see their great physical needs that are obvious. God looks at people and sees their greatest need and that is the forgiveness of sins. This is a need that only God can meet. Only God can forgive sins.
The religionist of our day believe that people need to come to God through their perfections. Because of this the church today has grown intolerant to those that are struggling on their journey. God help us! We don’t come to God through our perfections; we come to God through our imperfections. It’s through our imperfections that we realize we need God.
God’s Word says: (Isaiah 64:6 NIV) "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." (Romans 3:23 NIV) "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (1 John 1:8-9 NIV) "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. {9} If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."
God has come into our world forgiving sins. He knows that is our greatest need. A perfect God comes into an imperfect world riddled with sin and He reaches out to imperfect people forgiving them in the midst of their imperfections. Come to God just as you are. Don’t wait until you are good enough. If you do, you will never come to Him. Come to Him as this paralyzed man did. Come just as you are in the midst of all of your imperfections. He offers you forgiveness.
Jesus brings miracles to our lives.
God’s Word says (Mark 2:6-12 NIV) "Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, {7} "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" {8} Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? {9} Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? {10} But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, {11} "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home." {12} He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!""
Wow! Jesus does not buckle under the pressures of the religionist. Instead, He works a miracle in this man’s life. God has come into our world working miracles. This man was carried into the presence of Jesus full of spiritual and physical imperfections. He walked out completely forgiven and made whole.
Beloved, that’s the God that we serve. He blows away the ideas and teachings of the religionists of our day that have put Him in a theological box that they can explain and control and He ministers to imperfect people. God has come into our world preaching the Word, forgiving sins and working miracles. That’s just what I need in my life. I don’t need entertainment. I don’t need comforts. I don’t need the religionist of my day. What I do need is the Word of God, forgiveness of sins and miracles in my life. And God has come into my world to do just that.
O how much He loves me. O how much He loves you. Rejoice Beloved! Rejoice! God loves us so much He has come into our world!
By God's grace, we are called to pick up our cross, deny self and follow Jesus.
We choose to follow or not.
He does not choose for us.
If He did, He would not be a just God.
And He is just.
So the choice is ours.
As we follow Him, a wonderful and supernatural work happens within us on our journey.
We develop His mind.
We develop His heart.
He changes the way we think.
Our behavior toward others change.
His love develops within us and extends to those in need around us.
We stand for faith and justice no matter what it costs us.
That's true religion my friend... that's true religion.
Henry Scougal said "True religion is a union of God with the soul, a real participation of the divine nature, the very image of God drawn upon the soul, or in the apostle's phrase, it is Christ formed in us."
The Holy Spirit intervenes in the life of a Christ follower again and again, providing direction and protection needed to not only enter into one’s destiny, but also to complete the journey.
In Damascus, Saul had entered into his destiny as he denied self, took up the cross and followed Jesus. Entering into one’s destiny is not entering into some waiting pattern until a future event takes place. Instead, it is a life long journey that is full of adventure and excitement. Saul had just started on his journey and there was much for him to accomplish for Christ and His kingdom,
When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket. (Act 9:23-25 ESV)
Saul had entered into his destiny but had not completed his journey. There was much to do ahead of him.
He would go on to become the apostle to the Gentiles.
He would go on to establish churches on his missionary journeys.
He would go on to write two thirds of the New Testament.
The Holy Spirit intervened again and again to direct and protect Saul and assure that he completed his journey as He followed Jesus.
Beloved, you have a destiny. The moment you denied self, took up the cross and began to follow Jesus, you took your first step into your God given destiny of continuing the point of need ministry of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. What all you will accomplish for Jesus and His kingdom is still yet to be written. It’s a journey. The Holy Spirit will intervene again and again in your life providing you the direction and the protection needed to complete the journey and accomplish everything God has intended.
The days in front of the Christ follower are always exciting and adventuresome. From the first step of entering one’s destiny to completing the journey, there is much to be accomplished for Jesus and His kingdom. The Holy Spirit has been given as a supernatural partner and He will direct and protect. The Christ follower marches forward knowing that the best is yet to come!
The good news of God is powerful and life changing. As it is lived out through the lives of those who follow Christ, others are called to repent and believe realizing that the Kingdom of God is present and that Jesus is reigning in His followers.
Saul’s life has forever been changed:
For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, "He is the Son of God." And all who heard him were amazed and said, "Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?" But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.
(Act 9:19-22 ESV)
The immediate changes in Saul’s life have been startling. Jesus does a work in him that is powerful and obvious to those who have known Saul. Instead of fulfilling his plans of arresting the radical Christ followers in Damascus, he becomes one. It’s amazing grace in action.
As I read about Saul’s dramatic conversion in Acts 9:1-22, I see a vivid picture of salvation that has repeated itself throughout history and continues into our day. The picture is painted in this fashion:
By grace, we are picked by Jesus to deny self and follow Him. We don’t go looking for Jesus. He comes looking for us.
As we follow Jesus, He changes our thinking resulting in a change in our behavior. Once we were self led and now we are Christ led. We no longer see people the same. We no longer treat people the same. We see each person as one Christ died for and we treat others as we want to be treated, loving all people as Christ does.
We become living testimonies of the power of the Gospel. Those that know what we once were begin to see the changes that Christ makes in us. We begin to point others to Jesus through our words and our actions.
Later on, Paul would pen these words:
But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Rom 10:8-17 ESV)
The Christ follower can not conceal the change that Jesus brings to their life. They are living testimonies of the power of the Gospel.
I wonder if we at times base our understanding of God’s willingness to help us on man’s willingness to help us. Let me give you some examples of what I mean. There is the job interview. The interviewer is able to hire, but is the interviewer willing to hire you? There is the loan process. The loan officer is able to give a loan, but is the loan officer willing to give the loan to you? There is that house that you want. The seller is able to agree to your offer, but is the seller willing to agree to your offer? There is your education. Your teacher is able to take your late assignment because your dog ate your homework, but is your teacher willing to take your late assignment? The police officer that pulls you over for going just a little over the speed limit is able to let you go with just a warning, but is the police officer willing to let you go with just a warning? People are able, but are they willing?
You may be thinking, “I don’t get it. What’s your point and how is it relevant to me?” My point is this: we can not base our understanding of God’s willingness to help us on people’s willingness to help us. We must base our understanding of God on the Bible. The Bible is our authoritative guide to all of our beliefs and our actions.
At the end of Mark Chapter one, we meet a man that has a need. A job is not his primary need. Neither is a loan, a house or an education. This man needs health care. "A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, If you are willing, you can make me clean." (Mark 1:40 NIV)
Leprosy is a terrible disease. In Jesus’ day, leprosy is incurable. Lepers were separated from society and considered to be outcasts. With the disease, skin decays off of the bones. Once a person was diagnosed with this disease, they were separated from their family and could no longer touch or be touched. Can you imagine living the rest of your life and not being able to touch and be touched? - A child no longer feeling the touch of a parent and a parent no longer feeling the touch of a child, a husband no longer feeling the touch of his wife and a wife no longer feeling the touch of her husband. The disease itself brought much physical suffering and disability, but the mental and emotional suffering due to being an untouchable was just as continually tormenting.
To make matters worse, the leper was required by law to walk through the crowded walkways of the city declaring at the top of their voice “UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN, LEPER, UNCLEAN.” Upon hearing this, the crowd would part and allow the leper to come through making sure that no one touched the outcast. That pretty much describes this man’s world that we read about in Mark chapter one; untouchable and a social outcast.
This man brought his need to Jesus.
In the midst of his physical suffering and mental anguish; in the midst of emotional devastation, this man did the right thing. He came to Jesus with his need. In the first part of Mark chapter one, we see Jesus healing people and setting captives free from the bondages of sin and evil. The whole city of Capernaum in the providence of Galilee is impacted. Can you imagine the crowds that are now following Jesus? This man with leprosy, void of any self esteem or respect from others presses through the crowd to bring his need to Jesus. His steps to Jesus were humiliating as he shouted “UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN, LEPER, UNCLEAN.” As the people moved out of the way to let him by, he could undoubtedly feel the stares and hear the whispers. But he pressed onward knowing that he had to get to Jesus with his need.
Beloved, we have to press through whatever life deals us and get to Jesus just like this man did. What are you going through right now in your life? What are your needs? What are you struggling with? Do you need a miracle? I encourage you to press through until you get to Jesus. He is able to help you.
Expectations shaped by human treatment.
I imagine that this man turned to many people that were able to help him in some way or fashion, but they were not willing to help him. Listen to his words to Jesus as he says "If you are willing, you can make me clean." (Mark 1:40 NIV) I believe this man went to many people that could help him, but were not willing to help him. His expectations were shaped by others actions and reactions to him. You can hear in his words that he had great faith in Jesus’ ability to help him, but he was not sure if Jesus was willing. This man with leprosy knew that Jesus could help him, but he was managing his expectations based on how others had treated him.
As I meditated on the words of this man with leprosy, God began to show me that our expectations in our day have been shaped by human treatment. We live in a world where others have the ability to meet needs of people, yet they are not willing. In our day, there seems to be more concern over oil in the Middle East than genocide in Sudan. It spills over to our understanding of God and it diminishes our level of faith. We approach God, not doubting His ability, but doubting His willingness to meet our need. That’s why we pray prayers like “God, if it is your will, please heal my body…..” We are not questioning God’s ability to heal, we are questioning His willingness to heal. Our expectations have been shaped by human treatment.
Jesus reveals His heart to us in the way He responds to this man.
Jesus responds to this man’s request, which was conditioned by his experiences of denial for help. "Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man.”I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"" (Mark 1:41 NIV) Notice that Jesus does not condemn this man for lack of faith in Jesus’ willingness. No, instead Jesus reaches out and touches the man. This is very significant. Jesus touched the one that was untouchable showing physical evidence that He was willing to help this man. Can you imagine? Who knows how long it had been since this man had felt someone’s touch and here the Son of God reaches out and touches him.
Not only does Jesus physically touch the man, but He verbally tells him that He is willing to meet his need. With a spoken command of “Be Clean!” Jesus demonstrates not only His ability to meet needs, but also His willingness to meet needs. The result of the man coming to Jesus and Jesus touching the man was supernatural. "Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured." (Mark 1:42 NIV)
Beloved, this has great relevance to us in our day. As we press through whatever we are going through and we take our needs to Jesus, He has compassion on us and works miracles in our life. Please know that according to the Word of God, Jesus has not changed. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." (Hebrews 13:8 NIV) Not only is Jesus able to meet your every need, He is also willing. Continually bring your needs to Jesus Christ. Jesus will have compassion on you. Jesus will reach out and touch you. Jesus will defy the natural and will work the supernatural in you. In these days that we live, refuse to let human treatment shape your expectations in what God can do. Expect a miracle each time you come in contact with Jesus!
As Christ followers, we are to minister at the point of need as Jesus did. I call it, "getting our hands dirty." As Jesus leads us to where the need is and has given us the resources of time, talent and treasure to meet the need, we are to be willing. The recipient of point of need ministry will see Jesus in us and experience His love and willingness to help through us. His point of need ministry will continue.
Christ followers learn that remaining still, allowing God to do a deep work within them by the indwelling Holy Spirit, prepares them for point of need ministry. They learn the voice of Jesus and listen, knowing that God is also preparing someone on the other end to receive the point of need ministry that they will bring as they follow Christ. Jesus will show them the need. They will be quick to minister as unto Him.
The highest attainment in life is to remain still, allowing God to act and speak in you preparing you to continue the point of need ministry of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus works in each of His followers in different ways that produces the same result. The result is always obedience that leads to point of need ministry.
In Acts 9:10-19 of God’s word we see Jesus working in Saul and Ananias, molding and shaping them to obey Him and continue His point of need ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit. Only Jesus can do this work and it only happens in those who submit to His leadership.
Saul was picked by Jesus in Acts 9:1-9. He humbled himself and submitted to Jesus’ leadership. He once was self led and now he is Christ led. Jesus instructed him to go to Damascus and wait there for further instruction. Saul obeyed.
It was in the waiting that Christ did a deeper work in Saul, preparing him to enter into his destiny as a Christ follower. While waiting, Saul fasted and prayed. This went against Saul’s nature of being self led and self sufficient. He was use to going and blowing; doing his own thing in his own time. He rested, worked and played on his own schedule. This had to change in order for Christ to fully utilize him. Saul waited. Saul prayed. Saul fasted. Saul obeyed. He didn’t know why, but he obeyed.
Ananias was a Christ follower in Damascus. Jesus came to him in a vision and gave him detailed instructions. He tells him specifically what street and what house to go to in order lay hands on Saul so that Saul would receive his sight back. Jesus was telling Ananias to go help the man who came to town to throw you in prison and would like to murder you. Wow, what an instruction and what a step of obedience by a Christ follower.
Ananias obedience led to point of need ministry. When he arrives, he specifically addresses Saul as “brother”. What an example of the love and forgiveness that are fruit of a Christ follower’s life. Saul received his sight after Ananias laid his hands on him. Saul followed Christ that day as Ananias baptized him in water. Ananias took care of Saul’s basic needs and prepared food for him to eat so that he could regain his strength. Once again, the obedience of a Christ follower leads to continuing the point of need ministry of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Saul learned a lot that day. He learned the value of obedience and he benefited from its result as a Christ follower ministered to him at his point of need that day. Saul didn’t have to go to a church building and attend a service. Saul didn’t have to go to an evangelistic event or a faith healing crusade. Saul did not have to wait in line at the homeless shelter for a cup of hot soup. No, the Christ follower came to him and took care of his needs right where he was at.
This act of unconditional love and forgiveness undoubtedly started to shape Saul for the ministry that was ahead of him. In the rest of the book of Acts we will see Saul, in complete obedience, continue the point of need ministry of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. Ananias will not be mentioned again, but rest assured, a Christ follower does not retire until they reach glory. Ananias kept living a life of obedience, continuing the point of need ministry of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.
As we follow Christ, He will direct our steps and lead us to where He desires us to continue His point of need ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit. We will be pleasantly surprised as we realize that Jesus’ ministry goes far beyond the walls of a church building and the confines of a service. His ministry is where the need is and that is where He will lead us. Will we go? The difference between the called and the chosen is obedience.
Sometimes we forget that our spiritual journey involves a downwardness. There are some who attribute this downwardness to direct attacks of Satan or lack of faith. In doing so, they bring much harm to those experiencing these downward periods.
We must always remember that Christ revealed the downward aspect of the journey when He left the realm of glory to come into our world and show us how to live and how to die. As Christ followers, we follow Him even in the downward periods of our life knowing that glory is ahead of us and the best is yet to come.
Thanks to my friend Milton W. Kliesch for this video clip of Parker Palmer talking about his spiritual journey that has included 3 bouts of clinical depression. He refers to a downwardness of the the journey in which he has learned much.
Those who receive God’s grace are changed. They cease to do whatever they want to do and begin to do what Jesus Christ wants them to do. They no longer live their life for self. They deny self and follow Jesus.
There is no better example of this transformation than the one recorded in Acts 9:1-9 of God’s word. A dramatic, definable and undeniable change takes place in Saul.
Saul was living his own life believing in his interpretation of the Old Testament and the prophets. Jesus did not fit Saul’s and his religious buddies interpretation of what the Scripture said of the Messiah. They thought the teachings and claims of Jesus were too radical and threatened change to the Law and the Temple. Saul was at the trial of Stephen where frustrations with the early Christ followers came to a violent climax and ended in the stoning death of Stephen (Acts 7).
Saul created his own mission and purpose. He became a self led persecutor of Christ followers and was given all the authority that he needed by the religious institution of his day. He thought that he was doing God a favor. He was full of pride, but the One he persecuted brought humility to his life by the grace of God.
Saul’s transformation, as the transformation of all those who choose to follow Christ, was the result of God’s grace. Saul did not go looking for Jesus. Jesus went looking for Saul. Saul did not initiate the encounter. Jesus did. How amazing is the grace of God that seeks out sinners like Saul; sinners like me and sinners like you. Jesus picks us to follow Him and as we do, transformation takes place in us. It is dramatic, definable and undeniable. That is grace and it is amazing.
"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.” ~ John Newton (1725-1807)
Received grace will always bring needed transformation. Saul ends his travel to Damascus different than the way he started.
He went to arrest Christ followers, now he was arrested by Christ
He went having been given authority from man, now he had come under the authority of Christ
He went leading, now he is following
Only Jesus can bring about such a transformation. Only Jesus. And it’s all by His grace.
Grace is being poured out in our day. Jesus still calls people to follow Him. He brings radical transformation to those who receive His grace, deny self and are led by Him. Christ followers have a bright future and have been given a deposit of it now through the Holy Spirit. The best is yet to come!
“When we've been there ten thousand years...
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise...
then when we've first begun.” ~ John Newton (1725-1807)
I believe that one of Satan’s greatest tactics that he uses against us is distractions. If he can keep us distracted, he will keep us from fulfilling our purpose and our mission here on earth. We must recognize this tactic and overcome it.
Throughout the Bible we learn of how people were distracted by Satan.
Eve was distracted by a quest for knowledge.
Adam was distracted by peer pressure.
Cain was distracted by jealousy.
Moses was distracted by anger.
Samson was distracted by self sufficiency.
Saul was distracted by human reasoning.
David was distracted by lust.
Solomon was distracted by all the stuff he had accumulated.
Judas was distracted by love of money or greed.
The disciples were distracted at the cross by fear and unbelief.
Please know that Satan will try his best to distract you and keep you from fulfilling your purpose and your mission. Distractions will come your way.
Jesus was in Capernaum. The Word of God says "That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was." (Mark 1:32-34 NIV) In the first chapter of Mark we see Jesus entering into powerful ministry. People are healed and captives are set free. An entire city is impacted. What a powerful ministry
Jesus knew the source of His power
The Word of God says "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed." (Mark 1:35 NIV) At this point in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, His followers did not understand the importance of prayer. Later on as they saw Jesus move and minister with a powerful anointing, they understood that Jesus received anointing and instructions through His prayer life and they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray.
Jesus placed priority on prayer. There were a lot of people to minister to as there were a lot of people in need, but Jesus always made time to get by Himself and pray. Here we see Him getting up early in the morning, going off by Himself and praying. He had ministered all day to needy people and now He was refueling through prayer; spending time with His God the Father.
Beloved, Prayer is vital for the follower of Jesus Christ. It is where instruction for our journey is given and strength for our journey is supplied. If we are to continue the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit, we must spend time in prayer. We must spend time with Jesus.
Distractions will come
The devil watched Jesus and observed His prayer life. The devil knows the power of prayer. He tried to distract Jesus. He will try to distract you.
God’s Word says "Simon and his companions went to look for him, and when they found him, they exclaimed: "Everyone is looking for you!"" (Mark 1:36-37 NIV) Jesus is in prayer and Simon Peter comes looking for Him because he thinks Jesus should be back at the house ministering to people. What a distraction! Here we have the second person of the Godhead spending intimate time with the first person of the Godhead; the Son of God spending time with the Father refueling for the mission and Peter interrupts! I believe Satan used Peter to try to distract Jesus from His mission just as Satan tries to distract us from our mission.
Beloved, Satan will try everything he can to try to distract you from your purpose and your mission. Satan will try his best to get you so busy that you don’t have quality time to spend praying; having little or no intimacy time with Jesus. He will try to bring interruptions as you try to spend time with Jesus. You must identify this tactic and overcome this brazen scheme of the enemy of our souls. If Satan succeeds, he will get us off track and will keep us from fulfilling our mission in this life.
We must stay focused on Jesus for He is our mission
Notice Jesus’ response to Simon. Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons." (Mark 1:38-39 NIV) Jesus refused to be distracted from his mission. He refused to buckle under the pressure of man. He had spent time with the Father and received instructions and anointing to move on in the mission. He was not going to stay in Capernaum. His message was that the Kingdom of God was hear; to repent and believe. There were so many more that needed to hear the message. He moved forward with anointing and continued to minister to people at their point of need.
Beloved, we must stay focused on Jesus. If we are going to impact our cities in our day, we must stay focused on Jesus. We can not be distracted from the mission. We must spend time with Him in prayer getting our instructions and receiving our anointing. There is no other way. We are called to continue the ministry of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit and we must keep our focus on Him. Satan will try to shift our focus, but we must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. As we keep Jesus the center of our attention. As we focus on Him. We will make a difference for Jesus in our day.
(Heb 12:2 NIV) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Praise the Lord Beloved. Overcome all distractions. Stay focused. Continue the ministry of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit until He comes!
As one grows in their walk with Christ, they continually learn that the Holy Spirit directs their steps. They begin to be sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and rely on Him to prepare and design God encounters with others at their point of need.
In Acts 8:26-40 we see a Holy Spirit designed encounter take place that we can learn much from and it will help us be able to recognize future Holy Spirit designed encounters in our journey as we follow Christ and increase His kingdom. Please notice some things with me in these Scriptures.
The Holy Spirit caused the paths of two unlikely people to cross – a Jewish Christ follower and an Ethiopian non Christ follower.
Jesus desires for us to mix with people that are not like us. If we continually mix with only those who are like us, we will miss our Holy Spirit designed encounters. That is why Christ followers have allowed Him to remove all prejudices that they have learned from their heart. They love God and ALL people. They are willing to mix with people of all race, belief, and economic status.
The Holy Spirit prepared both individuals beforehand for this encounter.
Philip was full of the Holy Spirit and had developed a heart to help people (Acts 6:1-6). He followed the leading of the Holy Spirit to Samaria (Acts 8:4-8) and was used by God in a powerful way there and now he was led by the Spirit to just head south. Phillip had allowed Christ to break down all prejudices in his heart and he was willing to minister at the point of need to anyone, no matter who they were and where they were located.
The Ethiopian had just been to Jerusalem representing the queen of the Ethiopians and was now heading back home to Ethiopia. He was not yet a Christ follower, but God was working in His heart.
Scripture was used as a basis to reveal Christ.
The Holy Spirit had attracted the Ethiopian to the Scriptures and he was reading in Isaiah 53. He did not know that Isaiah 53 pointed to Christ. He did not know that Christ had already come and fulfilled the Old Testament. He had questions concerning Scripture. Phillip the Christ follower answered his questions and pointed him to Jesus.
Christ followers must know Scripture. It’s not an option. Scripture is our authoritative guide to our beliefs and our actions. The Holy Spirit works on people’s hearts through Scripture and for us to be used by the Holy Spirit, we must know Scripture and be constantly ready to lovingly point people to Jesus through Scripture as they ask questions. If they are not asking questions, the Holy Spirit has not prepared them yet and we are just simply to love them and take care of their felt needs. Christ followers know when the Holy Spirit has prepared an individual by the questions they ask and we must be prepared to give the answer of Christ.
The desire to follow Christ in water baptism was the indicator that something genuine had taken place within the Ethiopian.
After having Christ revealed to Him, the Ethiopian did not have the desire to go to a church service, walk an aisle and repeat a prayer after somebody asking Jesus into his heart. No, all of those things are man made and not found in Scripture. The Ethiopian did have a genuine desire to follow Christ in water baptism. Water baptism is the first step a Christ follower takes in their journey with Christ and it is an outside indicator of what has already taken place on the inside.
The kingdom of God grew that day. It grew by one on that road heading south, but when the Ethiopian got back to Ethiopia, the good news about Jesus compelled others into the kingdom and Jesus’ prophecy of Acts 1:8 continued to come to pass.
Is Jesus’ prophecy of Acts 1:8 being fulfilled through your life?
A Christ follower will always follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and minister at the point of need resulting in Christ being exalted and the kingdom of God growing. They can not keep the joy and the good news of the kingdom to their self as they come across people that the Holy Spirit has already prepared to receive point of need ministry and the love of Christ.
I have had to do a lot of unlearning as a follower of Christ. I was raised in the church and have been a Christian all of my life. But I have not been a Christ follower all of my life (1 Peter 2:21). When I decided to follow Jesus, I had to unlearn a lot that the modern church had taught me that is not found in Scripture.
There is a big difference between being a Christian and being a Christ follower. Christians believe in Christ. Christ followers deny self and follow Christ continuing His point of need ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is possible and most probable in our day and within our culture to be a Christian while not being a Christ follower.
Matthew was a tax collector in Jesus’ day. Tax collectors in Jesus’ day were considered to be worse than sinners. They oppressed the people. Caesar would declare a tax to fund his luscious life style and it was up to the governors of provinces to collect the tax. The governors were allowed to add a tax to that tax in order to support their life style. They would hire tax collectors to collect these taxes and the tax collectors would be allowed to add onto the tax they collected an amount they desired to fund the way that they wanted to live. And they lived nice at the expense of oppressing people. That was Matthew. In Matthew 9:9-12, Jesus calls Matthew to follow Him.
I notice some interesting facts concerning Jesus’ contact with Matthew:
What Jesus didn’t do:
Jesus didn’t ask Matthew to go the synagogue with Him the next Sabbath
Jesus didn’t ask Matthew to repeat a prayer after Him and ask Him to come into his heart
Jesus didn’t ask Matthew to attend some evangelistic event
Jesus didn’t ask Matthew to participate in a synagogue designed and led program that would help him change his behavior and become a good person
What Jesus did:
Jesus went to where Matthew was (point of need ministry)
Jesus did not point out all the things that Matthew was doing wrong and did not condemn nor judge Matthew for what he had did in the past or what he had become
Jesus showed Matthew that he cared for him just as he was
Jesus spent time building a relationship with Matthew that included Matthew’s friends who were all sinners
What the religionists of Jesus’ day did:
Avoided all people who did not believe or act as they did
Only associated with people that attended their service at the synagogue
Questioned why Jesus was hanging out with sinners
Jesus only made one request of Matthew and that was “follow me”. Jesus makes the same request to us today. Yes the culture has changed, but not Jesus’ request or His methodology. He still is asking people to simply follow Him. He doesn’t ask them to join a church and utilize all of their expendable time volunteering for church activity designed to attract people into the walls of a building and the confines of a service. He just simply asks us to follow Him. As a person answers that call, they begin an exciting journey that will lead them from earth to glory and on the way, they will touch many people at their point of need as Jesus did. They can’t help it. It’s the fruit of following Jesus.
As we continually choose to follow Jesus and we keep our eyes fixed on Him, He changes us. We develop more of His mind and more of His heart which impacts our behavior each step of the way on our journey from earth to glory.
In Acts 8:14-25 we see Jesus changing three individuals as they make the right choices to believe, repent and follow Him. And if Jesus changed these people, He will change whoever decides to follow Him.
Peter was a fisherman who decided to follow Jesus. At the cross of Christ, Peter denied knowing Jesus although he had followed Him for three years. Jesus didn’t give up on Peter though. After the resurrection, Jesus went looking for Peter, not to condemn him or judge him, but to renew and restore him. After the ascension of Jesus, Peter stayed in Jerusalem to wait for what Jesus had promised – the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost, Peter was used to deliver a basic message (Acts 2) and three thousand people decided to become Christ followers that day. But Peter still has some prejudices in His heart that have to be eliminated so He is one of the Apostles that goes to Samaria to see if it could really be true that Samaritans and not just Jews could become Christ followers. As He sees that it is true, the racial prejudices that have gripped his heart begin to loosen and His heart becomes more like that of Jesus, the One he follows.
The apostle John joins the apostle Peter on this trip to Samaria. John like Peter, had prejudices in His heart that have to be eliminated. It was John who had wanted to call fire from heaven to destroy a village in Samaria when they had rejected Jesus during Jesus’ ministry on earth (Luke 9:51-56). Of course, Jesus rebuked John’s actions teaching John an important lesson at that time and directing his steps to Samaria this time to further purge the prejudices of John’s heart.
It was not by chance or accident that these two men were chosen as the delegation of the apostles to test the authenticity of the new non-Jewish Christ followers. They were following Jesus once again to Samaria. He was directing their every step and was going to bring more change to their heart and way of thinking that would impact their behavior.
Simon was a Samaritan entertainer who had just decided to follow Jesus. He had much to learn and it would require the rebuke of a fellow Christ follower to straighten his walk with Christ. Simon witnessed the effect produced by the laying on of hands, practiced by the apostles Peter and John, and offered them money in order to acquire the same power. Ever since that day, the attempt to turn the spiritual into the commercial has been given the term “simony”. Peter gave Simon a stern rebuke for his actions (Acts 8:23-24) and Simon’s motives were checked. He learned a lot about humility and repentance that day.
As Peter and John witnessed the authenticity of non-Jewish people who had become Christ followers, prejudices were broken down in their heart and their way of thinking toward others changed impacting their behavior toward others. On their journey from Jerusalem to Samaria, they did not bother communicating with those in the villages of Samaria. As they left Samaria to return to Jerusalem, they preached the gospel to the villages of the Samaritans (Acts 8:25). Jesus had brought more change to them. They now were looking at people through the eyes of Jesus instead of the eyes of the prejudices that they had learned all their life.
Jesus changes us. He changes our way of thinking towards others. He changes our behavior towards others. He changes us to be more like Him as we continually deny self and follow Him. The best is always yet to come as we follow Jesus on our journey from earth to glory.
Some believe that Christ favors one group of people over another or one country over another. Here in America, people always say God Bless America. I love my country and I want God to bless where I live, but what about the rest of the world? Christ is for the entire world!
During the days of Christ and His early followers, the Jews did not like the Samaritans. The hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans had lasted a thousand years. It began when the 12 tribes of Israel broke up in the 10th Century BC. Ten tribes made Samaria their capital and the remaining 2 tribes made Jerusalem their capital. In the 7th Century BC, Samaria was captured by Assyria, thousands of people were deported and their land was re-populated with foreigners. The Samaritans intermarried with those of other races. They had lost their racial purity and that for the Jews was an unforgiveable crime. In the 6th century BC, the Jews refused the help of the Samaritans in rebuilding their temple. In the 4th century BC, the Samaritans built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim. This really upset the Jews.
But, Christ came into our world and specifically reached out to the Samaritans (John 4). In the paragraph of Scripture found in Acts 8:4-8, we find that the early Christ followers are discovering that Christ is for all the world and we see them reaching out to the Samaritans just as Christ had done.
Note in Acts 8:4-8 what Christ followers brought to these people:
The message of the love of God in Jesus Christ
Health Care
Joy
As we follow Christ and allow the Holy Spirit to use us in continuing the point of need ministry of Jesus, we will discover that Christ is for the entire world. We will put faith before country and develop a worldview that includes all of God’s children no matter where they live. May God bless the world!
Have you ever been in a middle of a trial in your life where you questioned God’s presence? To be very transparent with you, I’ve been there. I have been to the place where God seems thousands of miles away and I’m here all alone dealing with life.
Maybe you have been hurt by someone close to you. Maybe you have suffered violence. Maybe you are fighting a physical ailment. Maybe you have been accused unjustly. Maybe you are going through one of the greatest storms of your life and you feel like God is absent.
Look at all of the suffering happening around the world even as you read this. There are people starving. There are people without fresh water. There are wars. There are natural disasters. There is genocide. Where is God?
I received an email from an individual that caught my attention. In the email they said (and I am quoting):
“Where is god? Sitting in heaven eating grapes when there is rape, murder, wars, starvation, etc., etc.
Kinda reminds one of an absentee father, has a child and then runs off and doesn’t support him.”
As I thought on this email, I prayed and asked God to help me answer it. I can only answer it by going to God’s Word, the Bible. The Bible is the only absolute truth we have to stand on today. Let’s look to what God says in His Word as His Word is our authoritative guide for all of our beliefs and our actions.
God is not far away eating grapes as wickedness abounds in this world. God’s Word says "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" --which means, "God with us.”” (Matthew 1:23 NIV) Jesus came as Immanuel, God with us. God left heaven to come to this wicked world to be with us.
This present world that we live in is not God’s Kingdom. This world is the devil’s kingdom. God’s heart is to save us from this world and place His kingdom within us. That is why He came into the world.
Jesus said “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10 NIV). This world is presently the devil’s kingdom and he is the one that is stealing, killing and destroying. Not God. In the midst of all of the injustice, God is drawing people to Him through the cross of Jesus Christ.
Jesus said “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." (John 3:14-21 NIV)
At the cross, God Himself experienced the wickedness and the cruelty of this sinful world. God Himself came from heaven to earth and was born of a virgin. He gave of Himself in helping others. He was innocent of any crimes and was totally sinless. Yet, He was tortured beyond imagination. He experienced excruciating pain as He was beaten unjustly, His beard was plucked out, He was spat upon, and He was nailed to a cross. On the cross, He was thirsty and they gave Him vinegar to drink. At the cross, God experienced every thing that Satan and his kingdom could throw at Him. It was at the cross that He died so that we could experience a better life in His Kingdom.
In the model prayer Jesus told us to pray to God that His Kingdom would come. Every time we pray that prayer, we are one second closer to the return of Jesus as King to establish God’s Kingdom to earth as it is in heaven. Until He comes, He has placed a deposit of His kingdom in every Christ follower.
After experiencing death, the ultimate blow that Satan and his kingdom could throw, Jesus was filled with resurrection power and came walking out of a cold and damp tomb after three days. The grave could not hold Him. He went in dead, He came out full of life.
It is this resurrection power that comes into every person that puts their faith and trust in God and what He has accomplished at Calvary on our behalf. He conquered this present world and all of its wickedness. He conquered the devil. He conquered death, hell and the grave. As we become Christ followers, God fills us full of His presence. He fills us full of resurrection power.
Where is God? No, He is not far away eating grapes as sin and wickedness abounds. I will tell you where God is. God is always present with the believer.
Beloved, God is with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you according to His Word. In the midst of all the wickedness in a world that grows increasingly out of step with God’s Word, God Himself is with you. He dwells in you! He is your peace! He is your strength! He is your comfort! He has gone through pain and suffering just like you. He knows what you are going through and He is going to bring you through victoriously!
No matter what comes your way beloved, look to the cross of Jesus Christ. See there a God who cares about you enough to endure all that Satan and this evil world could throw at Him so that you can have abundant and everlasting life.
God is not like an absentee father. God did not run off from His children. No, His children ran off from Him.
In the Bible Jesus tells us about a Father and his sons. Jesus said "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate." (Luke 15:11-24 NIV)
Please make some observations with me.
The son left the father. The father did not leave the son.
The father did not run after the son and clean up the mess caused by his son’s sin.
The father patiently waited for his son to return home.
The father’s love for his son never changed.
When the son came home, he was fully accepted.
Beloved, we can relate to this parable. God did not abandon us. We abandoned him when we went our own way and did our own thing. God patiently waited for us to come home. And when we did come home, we were fully accepted by Him. It didn’t matter where we had been and what we had done, His love had not changed and He accepted us just as we were.
Hallelujah! Rejoice that God is with you! He has never abandoned you! He loves you with a perfect Father’s love. He loves you so much, He sent Jesus to take care of your sin problem so that you can spend eternity with Him in His perfect kingdom!
You are in the world to change the world. Don’t believe the lie that you have no purpose or no reason for being. Don't believe that you can not make a difference in our day. You are not here by chance or accident and as long as you have a pulse and are breathing, you can use your life and available resources to change the world.
Always remember that God uses common folk with crazy faith to accomplish great things. Don’t believe me? Check out for your self the team that Jesus put together in the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Notice who He picked and how He trained them. After that, check out the book of Acts and look at what they did to change the world in their day. Jesus desires to use you in our day. You are here to change the world!
Care more about the baby inside of the womb than you do the child outside of the womb
Are homophobic
Have no friends that are not Christian
Only hang out with church folk
Try to change people to look and act like you
Believe the Kingdom of God is for the future
Go to church to stay out of hell and eventually go to heaven when you die
Minister only within the walls of a church building and the confines of a service, program or event
Spend all of your available time in church activity instead of point of need ministry
Give money to a church building program and neglect the poor in your community
Do not stand for faith and justice
Read Christian books and not the Bible
Believe your theology is 100% accurate
Believe your denomination is “The Denomination”
Believe your church is “The Church”
Believe that the “house church” is what God intended for the church
Believe that the “institutional church” is what God intended for the church
Do not love God with everything you have
Do not love ALL people regardless of race, gender, economic status or sexual orientation
Walked an aisle and repeated a prayer after a person instead of denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Jesus
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Please know that I am guilty of all of these at points in my life prior to becoming a Christ follower. I’m not proud of it and I confess it humbly today before you and God. I stopped playing Christianity when I decided to follow Jesus instead of just believing in Him. Now there is no turning back for me. I'm not perfect, but I have decided to follow Jesus pointing others to Him and no longer play Christianity.
Some people believe that faith is believing that God will do what you want Him to do.If you pray and believe, God will act in the way you want Him to act on behalf of your situation or circumstance.And they have been taught by man that if you mix some fasting with that praying and believing, you can really get God’s attention and He will do more of what you want Him to do.This type of thinking results in glory being given to the individual who can supposedly move God into action.
I believe that faith is believing that God will do what is right because He is in control and He loves His children.It is in prayer that I allow Him to give me more of His grace in time of need and I turn over my cares and anxieties to Him.My nature wants to hold on to them all, but His nature is to bare them all for me if I just turn them over to Him.Fasting changes me and not God as I lay aside the substance of my continued existence to seek Him and utilize the resources I would have consumed to further His kingdom (Isaiah 58:1-9 True and False Fasting).Throughout the process, no matter how uncomfortable it becomes to me, He is molding and shaping me and I find out that His grace is truly sufficient.And in His timing, when He does what is right, it will be in such a way that the glory will be to Him alone. Soli Deo Gloria!
I can sum the believers ministry model up in one word. Are you ready? JESUS! Jesus is our model of ministry. Through the life that He lived here on earth, including His actions and His teachings, He showed us how to minister. But it doesn't stop there. Not only did He show us by example, but He empowered us to continue His ministry. When He was reglorified and sat back down with the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to empower every believer to continue His ministry here on earth. He has commissioned us and He has empowered us. All we have to do is follow Jesus.
Jesus is our model and we are called to follow Him. God has called you to follow Jesus. God's Word says "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light." (1 Peter 2:9 NIV) Please know that God did not call you out of darkness and into His light for you to just coast through this journey living for yourself. No, you have been bought with a price. You have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. He has called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light to follow Him and continue His ministry in the power and the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is the example. God's Word says "To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps." (1 Peter 2:21 NIV) Beloved, we are called out of darkness and into His marvelous light to follow Him. What did He do? What did He say? Where did He go? Who did He touch? He's the example and we keep our eyes fixed on Him. Not the church. Not on man. We keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.
Jesus attended church every week, but the majority of His ministry took place within cities and communities. God's Word says "He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom." (Luke 4:16 NIV) So you see, it was Jesus' "custom" to attend church, but let me ask you a question. Where did he do the bulk of His ministry? It was not within the walls of the church. He did not allow His time to be taken up by church programs and activities. You see, that is not His intent for the church. His intent for the church is for it to be a living organism that ministers at the point of need.
Jesus impacted cities and communities by touching people at their point of need. Jesus went outside the walls of the church to do the bulk of His ministry. It was in cities and communities that He fulfilled these words that He stood up and read out of Isaiah one day in church: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19 NIV)
Read the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and notice how and where Jesus ministered. He touched people at their point of need and impacted entire cities and communities.
We need cities and communities to be impacted for Jesus in our day. There are a lot of church buildings across this land. I'm afraid that the majority of churches have focused within the walls instead of outside the walls. We must examine ourselves to see if we have become inward focused instead of outward focused. To make a difference in our day, we must be as Jesus. We must be outward focused. Instead of programs and events designed to get people in our buildings, we need to equip and encourage people to minister in cities and communities as Jesus did. Constantly remind yourself that it's not about us. It's not about us at all. It's all about Jesus. It's all about lifting Him up. It's all about making a difference in our day by simply following Him and ministering as He did at the point of need.
The ministry model for Loving God Fellowship is very simple. It's not complex at all. It's just simply people touching people at the point of need, just as Jesus showed us and commissioned us. We are not going to focus on programs and events designed to get people into a building. We are going to focus on making a difference in cities and communities in our day through people touching people.
Each year in March, the college basketball tournament is played. It's called "March Madness". It's a great lesson in teamwork. These teams are made up of very talented individuals, but as individuals they can not accomplish what they can as a team. They make goals each year as a team. They work toward those goals as a team. They will win or lose as a team.
Jesus taught us all about teamwork. He built a team when He came to earth. He picked people we would not have picked. He picked twelve ordinary, common folk to follow Him. They believed in Jesus enough to drop the nets, get out of the boat and follow Him. When He went back to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit to empower His team to fulfill the one goal that was given them. The goal is to continue His ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit; to make a difference in cities and communities in their day.
Beloved, Jesus has called you out of darkness into His light. He has picked you to be on His team. He has put the Holy Spirit in you, not only to give you resurrection life, but also to empower you to minister at the point of need. He's the example. He's the model. We just keep our eyes fixed on Him as we follow Him on this wonderful journey from earth to glory. No matter how hard it gets as you continue His ministry, remember that you are on the winning team.
Jesus left us with this final instruction prior to Him ascending to heaven - "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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,and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)
Continue the ministry of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit until He comes!
In Acts chapter 7, Stephen is giving a defense in response to the religionist of His day rejecting change and trying desperately to hang on to the status quo.They feel threatened that Jesus and His followers were going to bring change to their religious institution.Instead of embracing the change that God is bringing, they resort to lies.Stephen takes a stand for faith and justice.
In the first paragraph of chapter 7, Stephen refers to Abraham.In the second paragraph (Acts 7:9-16), he paints them a picture of Joseph.
Joseph was mistreated by people, but he became a very successful instrument of God that was used to save many from famine.Instead of becoming sour and bitter from his mistreatment by some, Joseph accepted the change that came his way and allowed God to mold and shape him through it.
God was with Joseph.His own family treated him poorly and his brothers sold him as a slave into Egypt, but God was with Him.
God rescued Joseph.
God gave Joseph favor and wisdom.
God brought Joseph through all afflictions and put him in a position to help others.
This paragraph of Scripture teaches us much and is very relevant to us in our day.Not everyone will treat you right, but God always will.He will take what people mean for bad and turn it around for good.If you allow Him, God will bring you through all afflictions and put you in a position so that you can help others.
Always take a stand for faith and justice.It’s the right thing to do.Allow change to shape you.Let God do the rest.He will use you to help many people.
What do you think of when you think of the church? Do you picture a building? Do you picture an institution? Do you think of a denomination? Does your mind race with church activities, programs and events? Are you reminded of an organization you joined years ago?
Maybe our thinking of the church is not what God intended the church to be. To know God's heart, we must constantly turn to His Word.
In John Chapter 2:13-25, we find Jesus cleansing the temple because it became everything that God intended it not to be. It had become a house of merchandise instead of a house of prayer. It was a place where God and His ways were prostituted so that man could prosper. God forbid! A righteous anger arose within Jesus and He drove the merchandise out from the temple, turned the money tables over and scattered the profits.
The Jews questioned Jesus' authority to do such a thing. Who was He to change their agenda for the temple? Jesus answered them by stating, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." The religionist of Jesus' day had a different picture of the temple than God had. To them it was a building that they worked hard on and spent a lot of their time in for 46 years. Jesus was referring to His Body and not a building. They just didn't get it.
It's not about membership in a manmade organization! It's about being a member of God's household. God's Word says "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household" (Ephesians 2:19 NIV). What makes a person a member of God's household is receiving Jesus as their Savior and making Him Lord of their life.
It's not about buildings! God's Word says that His household is "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord" (Ephesians 2:20-21 NIV). Just as when Jesus cleansed the temple in His day, today it's not about buildings. It's all about Jesus. It's about the Body of Christ.
The Body of Christ is the church! Every person that has accepted Jesus as Savior and has made Him Lord of their life is a part of His Body. God's Word says "And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." (Ephesians 2:22 NIV) If you are a part of His Body, YOU ARE THE CHURCH! The church is alive and well. It is not a bunch of stale dead programs and events designed to get people to come to a building to be counted and collect money from them. The church is a living organism. Everywhere believers go, the church goes!
God's Word says "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple." (1 Corinthians 3:16-17 NIV) "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV)
Be the church! Be a person that continues the ministry of Jesus on earth in the power of the Holy Spirit. Be a person that ministers to people at the point of need just as Jesus did. God intends members of His household to GO and impact their cities in their day; not buildings sitting and waiting for people to come in.
The Loving God Fellowship (LGF) ministry model looks nothing like what the church has become with all of its programs and events, but it looks a lot like what Jesus proclaimed and lived as our example. LGF will impact cities with the love of Jesus through encouraging and facilitating common folk ministering at the point of need just as Jesus did. The LGF ministry model will be implemented in cities across this nation and around this world until Jesus returns for the beloved.
Fear is a powerful deterrent to progress. Fear left unchecked will overpower hope. Some people use fear as a tactic to get their own way, promote their own ideology, or to keep the status quo.Do you know those that use this tactic?I have met many.I have seen this tactic used by unlikely sources such as teachers, bosses, pastors, religious leaders and politicians.
It’s important to understand that fear is not from God.God will never use fear, but Satan will.The ultimate source of fear is always evil and if one succumbs to it, they can become a slave to it.The Apostle Paul wrote “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.”-- Romans 8:15-16
Hope is of God and hope never deters progress.In fact it is hope that drives progress and brings peace.
Hope is the strongest driving force for a people. Hope which brings about change, which produces new realities, is what opens man's road to freedom. Once hope has taken hold, courage must unite with wisdom. That is the only way of avoiding violence, the only way of maintaining the calm one needs to respond peacefully to offenses. - Oscar Arias Sanchez, excerpted from his 1987 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.
I refuse to be a person that uses fear as a tactic or do anything that will propagate fear.If I do, I will be an instrument used by evil and not an instrument used by God.No, I prefer to be a person of hope.
Today as I was watching Meet the Press on NBC, I learned some startling statistics. There are now 50 million people without any health insurance in America and 18,000 people died last year from lack of treatment because of no health insurance. America spends more on health care than any other nation, but yet we have one of the highest mortality rates.
Health-Care reform has been causing much debate around America as the leadership of this nation seeks solutions. I'm glad that it is finally being talked about again because something needs to be done to provide all people with adequate health care. I don't know what the solution is, but I do know that it is not a political issue. It is a moral issue. It is not right that some have the means for the best of health care while others have no means to obtain it at all.
When God started the New Testament Church, His heart was that the church take care of the social needs of people (Acts 6). In our day, the church has placed financial emphasis on buildings and activities within those buildings and for the most part has stepped out of the business of taking care of the needs of people. God's heart is for people and if the church will not take care of their social needs, God will use government to do so. Always remember that Christ died for people and not for buildings, programs and events.
After the early church solved the dispute concerning equal social provision for its people, Stephen is accused by the religionist of that day because they felt that Christ followers were trying to change the status quo. Check out this paragraph of Scripture:
(Acts 6:8-15 NLT) Stephen, a man full of God's grace and power, performed amazing miracles and signs among the people. [9] But one day some men from the Synagogue of Freed Slaves, as it was called, started to debate with him. They were Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria, Cilicia, and the province of Asia. [10] None of them was able to stand against the wisdom and Spirit by which Stephen spoke. [11] So they persuaded some men to lie about Stephen, saying, "We heard him blaspheme Moses, and even God." [12] Naturally, this roused the crowds, the elders, and the teachers of religious law. So they arrested Stephen and brought him before the high council. [13] The lying witnesses said, "This man is always speaking against the Temple and against the law of Moses. [14] We have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy the Temple and change the customs Moses handed down to us." [15] At this point everyone in the council stared at Stephen because his face became as bright as an angel's.
In particular, notice in verse 14 that the religionist's resistance was against change. They were happy with the status quo and didn't want anyone to change their customs. Because of this, they stirred others up against Stephen and even promoted lies. But notice that verse 15 signifies that God's hand was upon Stephen and his continuation of Jesus' point of need ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit.
All of Acts chapter seven gives us a record of Stephen's defense. Through his words he begins to point the religionist to their history and how that God used people who embraced change and not fear. Check out the first paragraph of Stephen's defense:
(Acts 7:1-8 NLT) Then the high priest asked Stephen, "Are these accusations true?" [2] This was Stephen's reply: "Brothers and honorable fathers, listen to me. Our glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham in Mesopotamia before he moved to Haran. [3] God told him, 'Leave your native land and your relatives, and come to the land that I will show you.' [4] So Abraham left the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran until his father died. Then God brought him here to the land where you now live. [5] But God gave him no inheritance here, not even one square foot of land. God did promise, however, that eventually the whole country would belong to Abraham and his descendants--though he had no children yet. [6] But God also told him that his descendants would live in a foreign country where they would be mistreated as slaves for four hundred years. [7] 'But I will punish the nation that enslaves them,' God told him, 'and in the end they will come out and worship me in this place.' [8] God also gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision at that time. And so Isaac, Abraham's son, was circumcised when he was eight days old. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob was the father of the twelve patriarchs of the Jewish nation.
Change is inevitable. We can either embrace it or fear it. Great people of the Bible always embraced the change that God was trying to bring.
Abraham of the Bible embraced change in three ways:
He obeyed God. The person of God obeys God even when they have no idea what the consequences may be.
He was a person of faith. The person of God believes that God's promises are true. They may not know where they are going, but they know that under God's guidance, the best is yet to come.
He was a person of hope. The person of God may never see all of God's promises fulfilled in their lifetime, but they never doubt that they will come to pass in God's timing.
Christ desires to change us as we follow Him. He will give us His mind and His heart. He will change the way we think. He will change the way we feel towards others and how we treat them. If we embrace the changes He desires in us, we will become Christ like over time. If we fear the changes He desires to bring in us, we will stay the same - religious, but not Christ like.
I encourage you to embrace change today and not fear. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and continue His point of need ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit. And always take a stand for justice.
I pray for those in leadership positions in America. I pray for both Republicans and Democrats realizing that God is neither, but He does use government to take care of the social needs of people when the church steps out and is financially distracted from the mission of Christ by facilities, programs and events. I pray that the leadership of America will provide a health care solution that will take care of all people equally. It's the right thing to do.
You will find some helpful information on Health-Care Reform at these links provided by the great people at Sojourners:
There is a Gatorade ad that says “You have a choice. You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face.” What do you think of when you read that? I think about how we all have choices to make and our present, as wells as our future, will be impacted by the choices we make now. I can envision a runner that is running a race. It’s hot and most of it is uphill. They are drenched in sweat and their heart is racing. Will they make it to the finish line? To do so will require pushing the body beyond what they thought in their mind was possible for them to do. It won’t be easy. It will mean perseverance. Will they finish or will they quit? The choice is theirs and theirs alone.
Life is full of decisions that we have to make on a daily basis. Some are easy, such as “what will I eat for breakfast, cereal or toast?” Others are more difficult. Some only impact our present such as “do I take the bus today or do I walk?” Some impact our future. But there are always decisions to make.
There is one decision that will impact our present and our future that everyone will have to make on their own. No one can make this decision for us, not even God. If He did, He would not be a just God, and God is just. No, He won’t decide for us, but He loves us so much that He will bring us to a decision point. The choice will be ours. Will we be a Christ follower? It is the most important decision we will ever make.
I have been doing a verse by verse study through the book of Acts in the Bible. The book of Acts tells us what people who decided to follow Jesus did after the crucifixion of Jesus, His burial, His resurrection and His ascension back to glory. What has really jumped out at me so far, in just the first seven chapters, is how many times God brought the people of that day to a decision point.
First of all, there were the ones who had been following Christ prior to His crucifixion. After the resurrection and before the ascension, Jesus told them to wait in Jerusalem until He sent them the Holy Spirit. There were only 120 people that decided to obey Christ and wait. Ten days after the ascension, Jesus filled the 120 that decided to wait with the Holy Spirit so that they would be empowered to continue His ministry on earth. Their choice has impacted the entire world.
Next, there were the religionists of that day. God brought the religionists to decision points over and over again through Christ followers continuing the point of need ministry of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. Through these Christ followers, who met both corporately in the Temple and also in smaller house groups, the religionists witnessed anointed Christ-centric preaching, powerful miracles, unified praying and social justice resulting from their love for one another.
Why does God bring people to decision points? (John 3:16 NIV) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
You see, God wants you to make it. He wants you to make it so bad that He sent Jesus into our world to die for the forgiveness of our sins. Now He wants us to believe in Jesus, trust Him and to follow Him from earth to glory, but He won’t make our decision for us. He brings us to many decision points, but the choice is always ours.
Jesus is calling us in our day to follow Him. He says "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me. [25] If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life. [26] And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process? Is anything worth more than your soul? [27] For I, the Son of Man, will come in the glory of my Father with his angels and will judge all people according to their deeds. (Matthew 16:24-27 NLT)
God continues to bring us to decision points. He wants us to make it. I’ve made my choice. I have decided to follow Jesus. What do you decide?
There is a song that I learned as a child that is ringing in my mind as I write this. It goes like this:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Heb 12:1-2 ESV)
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