Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone who takes the time to read this blog. I pray that the eyes of your understanding be opened this Christmas season so you can see clearly how much Jesus loves and cares for you.

You were the "Joy Set Before Him!" when he left heaven, came to earth, took on human flesh, lived a sinless life, performed miracles, and gave his life for our sins.

All this and much more for the joy set before him. That joy was your salvation and mine. That is what causes him joy and that is what will bring him joy for all of eternity.

You are his joy! Merry Christmas.

The Quest for Self Justification

The bible says, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." If I understand that right it means "All", every person, every man, woman, boy, and girl, President, Preacher, Prophet, or Parishioner. No one who has ever been born, except the sinless lamb of God Jesus Christ, has lived a life without sin.

We are all guilty of sin. So what is it about our nature that when someone accuses us of something, be it false or true, we go into self justification mode? Why do we feel the need to justify ourselves?

I believe this need for self justification opens the door for Satan to beat us up, rob us of our faith, hope, and love, and place us back under the jurisdiction of the law. When we are trying to self justify, we are using some standard in our consciousness to measure our righteousness. That is an attempt at righteousness and justification by works.

We are not justified and made righteous by works as believers. We are justified and made righteous by trusting in the sin crushing death of Jesus Christ. This is the promise God the Father has made to all who believe.

This is grace. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he has saved us! The devil can defeat us easily if we try to justify ourselves. If we believe God's promise and submit ourselves to God's plan of justification through faith in Jesus Christ, we defeat the devil.

It's a matter of trusting in God's promise or your works. I choose to trust in God's promise. So get behind me Satan, for it is written, "I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ."

Be Blessed!

Mixing law and grace!

Mixing law and grace, now there's an interesting concept that happens far to often in the world of Christianity. We are saved by grace through faith and from that moment on many churches start heaping a bunch of rules and regulations upon people that virtually nullify the grace of Christ that saved us in the first place.

Recently me and my wife of 28 years were discussing how many people we had seen leave the church and walk away from Christ for one reason and one reason alone. Law was being mixed with grace. We noticed the churches that were losing people by the droves were extremely legalistic and loaded down with rules and regulations that had nothing to do with the grace of Jesus Christ. These heavy burdens that Christ came to deliver us from by redeeming us from the law, were being placed back upon people by the very institution that should be leading them to freedom.

In reality they were and are just man's feeble attempts at self righteousness through human efforts in the form of religious do's and don'ts. Yet the scripture makes it clear, "By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." (Galatians 3:11.)

God's law can't justify you, man's law can't justify you, church law's can't justify you. In fact every attempt at self justification places you under the curse of the law that nullifies the grace of God in your life. "Those who are trying to be justified by the works of the law are under a curse." (Galatians 3:10.)

When you mix law and grace you nullify grace and cause judgement to come into your life rather than the free favors and unmerited goodness of God. I don't know about you but no more mixed spiritual drinks for me. I'm living where the grace rivers flow, hope you'll come along.

You Be the Change!

Not to long ago a dear friend of mine set a five gallon water bottle on my desk to introduce a new concept for raising money. We have been heavily involved in some work in Kenya; building churches, digging wells, supporting orphan's, and developing a pre-school, and of course all of this takes financial resources.

Wrapped around the five gallon water bottle was some amazing artwork and pictures of our children in Kenya with a catch phrase stamped above their heads. "You Be the Change!" The idea was two fold, people make a difference and bring change into the lives of others, and your spare change can go into the bottle to start the process.

I have been thinking about that phrase ever since that meeting. "You Be the Change!" Its almost as though I have become super conscious that we are the one's that God is calling to make a difference in peoples lives. I know that is true, but this is different. It's more like it's urgent.

We have to "Be the Change!" now. So many people needing Christ, so many people needing to encounter His love, so many people ready to respond to a loving savior, one missing link.

You and me. God does nothing apart from his people. Change can come into peoples lives, God wants to bring it, but it will not happen without our cooperation, motivation, and participation.

We are called to be co-laborers with God according to the scriptures. In other words God is working in the world, but he is working through us. So let's be willing to be the change!

Sowing Generously

I recently encountered a situation that broke my heart and captured my attention. Some people I know who were once passionate about God now seemed indifferent at best. They still believed, but they were no longer moved by the word of God or motivated to obey the clear teachings of the Jesus Christ. It made me take a hard look at myself.

The challenge it brought before my heart was this, I don't ever want to be at a place with God where His word or the needs of people no longer move me to action. Perhaps this is what the Apostle John was talking about in Revelations 2:4 when he exhorted the Ephesian church that they had lost their first love. They were cold, immovable, unresponsive!

After all, God is love, and what I understand about the love of God is that it has to act when it sees the object of its affection in trouble or in need. That's why John also writes in one of his letters, "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?" (1 John 3:17).

It seems as though many of us have either grown cold in our love or we have come up with some justifiable excuse as to why we should not help our brothers or sisters when they are in legitimate need. What's even worse is when we have the power to act, have plenty of resources stored up for ourselves, and still turn a deaf ear to the needs of others.

Those of us who have plenty have forgotten that God doesn't provide plenty for us to just hoard or spend on ourselves. 2 Corinthians 8:14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need....

What's amazing about this whole thing is the Lord promises to reward those generously who sow into the lives of others. Paul said it this way, "Whoever sows generously will reap generously..." (2 Corinthians 9:6.)

What's even more amazing is that our generous sowing results in people coming to God, believing in God, and praising God. (2 Corinthians 9:12-14.)

So when was the last time your heart was moved with the love of Christ to respond to a need of someone else's that resulted in their praising the Lord because of your obedience? When was the last time you sowed generously into the life of someone else with no strings attached?

So what are you waiting for? The love of Christ compels you. Be compelled.

Desire Spiritual Gifts

Isn't it amazing that the fastest growing churches in the world for the last hundred years have been predominately charismatic. That means they believe in the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and the manifestation of the "Pneumatika Charismata" Spiritual Gifts of Grace.

These gifts are for today according to Acts 2:38-39, we are not to be ignorant of them according to 1 Corinthians 12:1, and they have been given for the common good of the church. 1 Corinthians 12:7.

They have been given to the church to confirm the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and his spiritual power that operates on the earth. Acts 1:4-8, Paul the Apostle told us to desire spiritual gifts, so what are we waiting for? Lets drink from the well He has promised will never run dry.

Don't you dare give in to the false teaching that says these gifts and there power died with the Apostles. There is no scriptural basis for such teaching and it is robbing the church of the power and influence that the Lord originally intended for his people.

He will fill all who desire to be filled. How hungry are you?

The Promised Holy Spirit

I must say that living in a world that is cloaked in deception and false teaching that I'm thankful for the promise of Jesus Christ. He said that the Father would send the Holy Spirit to bring power, to be a comforter, to be counselor, to be a teacher and to be a guide. He said that the Holy Spirit would take from what is God's and make it known to us, that's called revelation. He also said the Holy Spirit would lead us into all truth.

The Holy Spirit of truth has been poured out and made available to every generation according to Acts 2:38-39.

So here is an interesting thought. If we have the bible, which is the inspired word of God and most certainly the truth. Then why do we need the Holy Spirit? If we have the word of truth why do we need the Spirit of truth? That's a good question and one I believe the Lord wants to answer.

Is it possible that you can have the truth and not properly perceive the truth or not recognize it as the truth? I'm totally convinced that what I just said is the truth, which is one of the reasons the Spirit of truth was given. It is also one of the reasons the Apostle Paul prayed for young believers to receive the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so they could no Christ better.

The Holy Spirit is the one that makes the word come alive in our hearts. He is the one that takes information and turns it into revelation. Which is precisely what happened to Peter when he declared Jesus the Christ the son of the living God.

Jesus said, "Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you Peter, but my Father in heaven. How did the Father reveal it? Through the Holy Spirit giving revelation. Peter had information of who Jesus proclaimed to be, but the Holy Spirit opened his understanding so there was no more doubt.

And just as the Holy Spirit opened Peters understanding about Jesus being the Savior, he can also open our understanding about other things that God has given us information about. Such as his provision, his love, his gifts, his power to heal, etc.

He has been doing it this way for several thousand years, I don't anticipate Him changing his mode of operation anytime soon, so the best thing we can do is get in agreement with him and let him know that what ever he has for us we want it, especially the marvelous gift of the Holy Spirit.