We are called to be servants of the gospel (and Christ), this means we do everything in our power, in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, to lift up the gospel and to maintain the integrity of the gospel message. We are not to use it to exalt ourselves but as servants we serve and go underneath to hold it up and support it. This ...of course is a privilege and honour. It is not a necessity as God is not served by human hands but will exalt His own name on the earth! He doesn't need us! But what is amazing is that He calls us His friends who know His business (John 15). When your friends with someone you know what they are up to in a casual way there is NO PRESSURE to impress! In fact if your working for a friend you get "hook ups" If your friend is the manager of McDonalds and asks you to work for him you will probably be able to get more free food than the rest of the people and more flexible work schedule! Jesus is our friend. He shares with us what HE IS DOING and then lets us be a part of it and gives us privileges that would only be His in the Kingdom! (like the manager to the employee friend)
The sad thing is that today many people (even Christians) use the gospel to exalt themselves above the gospel (and therefore Christ since it is HIS gospel) and use it for selfish purposes such as influence, money and reputation.They step on others in the name of the gospel to make themselves look more righteous. This is a huge temptation for all believers! But a true servant will allow himself to be STEPPED ON for the sake of the gospel! We need to be like the sycamore tree that Zacchaeus stepped on to see Christ! Or Like John the Baptist having the attitude of being less to let the Bridegroom shine or even like Paul who considered himself a slave to the gospel. Christ says that He who wants to be great is to be a servant and first to be a slave of all (Mark 10:43-44)
When we read about the church in 1 Corinthians this is exactly what was going on! Believers were using the gospel and spiritual gifts to exalt themselves instead of Christ, using His name to build their Kingdom and there were many fights in the church! Paul rebukes them:
To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? 1 Cor. 6:7
He is saying that it is better to let yourself be wronged for the sake of the gospel and the name of Christ because this was going on in HIS church the very place where there should be love! They were actually hindering the gospel NOT serving it!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Hebrews
The first concern was that a lot of us look up to other pastors and teachers to derive our beliefs, this is a good thing! However it can also be dangerous if you blindly follow one person's view. I started to write on this because it looks like to me that many people are following what well known pastors believe, taking stances on things without testing the Scriptures for themselves and asking God. More specifically, views on the Holy Spirit, gifts, miracles, etc. (More on this later.)
More importantly, before I go into what I believe on those things, I wanted to encourage everyone to seek God and His truth for themselves and not take any pastor (even a one that is known to be sound in teaching) at their word! The whole point of Christ's death was so that the veil could be torn that was separating man from God, so that now each person who has faith in Christ can have direct access to God and know Him for themselves. The promise that we read in the Bible is this, found in Hebrews 8:10-11 (as quoted from Jeremiah 31:33-34),
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbour,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
Teachers are important; they are given to the church in order for it to grow! However, they are not to be the person that the church follows—Christ is the head. When we start to follow other people and not Christ, problems arise. In fact, when we read 1 Corinthians, it is exactly what was going on in that church, it was divided and there were many fights and factions because they were following different people (Apollos, Paul, Peter) and holding them in high esteem rather than seeing them as servants who are there to help them and trying to seek God for themselves.
I think the problem is quite simple, it’s a heart issue. The question we need to ask ourselves is this:
Do you want someone to tell you about who Christ is?
Or do you want to talk to Christ yourself?
Do you want someone to talk about how wonderful Christ is in their life?
Or do you want to know and experience Him for yourself?
Do you want man's praise for knowing theology or do you want to just know Him despite what man will say about your theology? In today's Christian culture, we can read endless books that tell us about Christ but still not know Him intimately for ourselves! I have stressed this before and will do so again, Jesus warns us to “beware the yeast of the Pharisees.” He says this in all four gospels and warns His disciples! He knew it was a trap that believers could easily fall into; head over heart is a key characteristic of legalism.
God promises numerous times—in the law and the prophets (cf. Deut. 29:4, 1 Chron. 28:9, Jer. 29:13)—“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” In the New Testament, Christ Himself promises, “Ask and you will receive, seek and your will find!” (Matt. 7:7) The key word is ‘seek.’ He doesn’t mean seeking him as a side thing or something you do during the leftovers of your day. Rather, he means it in the sense where nothing else matters to you except for seeking that one thing (cf. Psalm 27:4). Like Jesus’ parable of the merchant who sold everything for pearls (cf. Matt. 13:45-46), we must seek God like that! Oh, how many people don't seek God but are satisfied with a second hand experience of God that comes from another person? The whole point of Christ's death is that the veil was torn so that all could have access to Christ!
(I am going to sidetrack a bit here to touch a little on why the OT is relevant and why all the promises made in the OT are still applicable today. Feel free to skip this section! There has been a strange teaching and thought going on in the church that the OT was for the past and that the NT is the relevant section of the bible that is more important. This is not true it is all equally important as the bible tells about God's nature and His nature is unchanging! What someone does tells those around them who they are. Their actions show what is on their heart. This is the same with God what He does tells of who He is! Whenever God does something small that may not make sense to us or seem insignificant we must not overlook it! He did it does it a reason, and this action tells us who He is! For example God decided to use a donkey to speak to Balaam, why? (lol I don't have time to go into that right now :P) As mentioned before God's nature is unchanging! Therefore all the promises made in the OT still apply in the NT. There are several verses that support this in the NT:
For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to our glory of God through us
2 Corinthians 1:20
There are some promises in the bible which were transitory and ultimately fullfilled in Christ however there are some that are still in effect today for example the promise God made to Noah that He would never flood the earth again. Another example is the promise that would follow someone who honours their parents. In the OT we read:
"Honour your father and mother as the LOrd your God has commanded you so that you may live a long life and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving to you" Deut. 5:16, Ex 20:12.
Paul quotes this promise in his letter to the Ephesians (6:1-3)
Chidren obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honour your father and mother- which is the first commandent with a promise - that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
There are promises that God makes to His people the Israelites, the questions is, does it apply to us? The answer is yes the above example shows that it does. The promises that God made to His people in the past (the Israelites) are the same for His people today. We were grafted into the New Covenant and thus are parttakes in the grace given to the Isrealites through Christ (Romans 11)
It says in the bible that "the Word of the Lord endures forever" (1 Peter 1:24) This was quoted by Peter from Isaiah. We will see many times in the letters that the OT would be quoted to support something the author would be saying! This verse shows that what God says is aways true forever despite what we think or how we may change its meaning!)
One very important belief is in the Holy Spirit and gifts of the Spirit! I am very alarmed that there are so many who do not believe in God's power at work today! It says He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) so why would the God who did miracles in the past and give the Holy Spirit in the past not do it today? A key doctrine that is lost today is the power of the Holy Spirit at work. When people nullify it, they are essentially ignoring large parts of the Word of God; this is skewing it to fit their own taste.
For myself, I cannot help but testify that the gifts do exist; it is as sure and real to me as my salvation and conversion. So, I want to testify that I was freed from my addiction to pornography the day I repented and believed and continued to grow in grace. One day, a few months later, I was reading the book of Ephesians on a bus and suddenly the Spirit of the Most High God came upon me and I felt a fountain of joy in my heart! It was the Spirit bearing witness with my spirit. He was pouring His love on me (Romans 5) and I started to speak in tongues. Before that, I had heard of the gift of tongues and thought it was cool, but that day it became real to me. I did nothing myself; I was just seeking God and He gave it to me. I was a little freaked out at first because the logical side of me was confused and my heart was doubtful, but it didn't matter because it wasn’t about me or who I was but, rather, it was about God working through me.
I know that my girlfriend wanted the gift of tongues for a while because she had trouble expressing the deep parts of her heart in prayer. I told her how speaking in tongues makes expressing your heart to God easier. So, she started to ask God for the gift of tongues; as it says in His Word, “Ask and you will receive.” I was shocked when she started to speak in tongues; God gave it to her only after a week of asking daily!
Jesus asks the Pharisees in Matthew 9:5, “Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?” The answer is that is it is easier to heal a man physically! What is greater than God raising a man from the dead physically? Is it this: God raising a man from the dead spiritually. The greatest miracle God can perform is to raise someone who was dead in their transgressions and make them alive in Christ! Turning a heart of stone that was once blind and rebellious to God and make it into a heart of flesh that desires to obey Him! I am so amazed that Christians who profess that God made them alive cannot believe the ‘lesser’ miracles that He does such as spiritual gifts or physical healing. Think about this! He raised you from the dead! He can do anything!
One of the greatest problems in the church today is the sin of unbelief! Hebrews 3-4 shows that God brought His people out of Egypt and performed many signs, miracles and wonders but still His people would still not believe. I wonder are we like that, God takes us out of the Egypt of sin and we still don’t believe in Him! If God’s own people don’t believe, how can we expect the rest of the world to believe?
More importantly, before I go into what I believe on those things, I wanted to encourage everyone to seek God and His truth for themselves and not take any pastor (even a one that is known to be sound in teaching) at their word! The whole point of Christ's death was so that the veil could be torn that was separating man from God, so that now each person who has faith in Christ can have direct access to God and know Him for themselves. The promise that we read in the Bible is this, found in Hebrews 8:10-11 (as quoted from Jeremiah 31:33-34),
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
No longer will a man teach his neighbour,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
Teachers are important; they are given to the church in order for it to grow! However, they are not to be the person that the church follows—Christ is the head. When we start to follow other people and not Christ, problems arise. In fact, when we read 1 Corinthians, it is exactly what was going on in that church, it was divided and there were many fights and factions because they were following different people (Apollos, Paul, Peter) and holding them in high esteem rather than seeing them as servants who are there to help them and trying to seek God for themselves.
I think the problem is quite simple, it’s a heart issue. The question we need to ask ourselves is this:
Do you want someone to tell you about who Christ is?
Or do you want to talk to Christ yourself?
Do you want someone to talk about how wonderful Christ is in their life?
Or do you want to know and experience Him for yourself?
Do you want man's praise for knowing theology or do you want to just know Him despite what man will say about your theology? In today's Christian culture, we can read endless books that tell us about Christ but still not know Him intimately for ourselves! I have stressed this before and will do so again, Jesus warns us to “beware the yeast of the Pharisees.” He says this in all four gospels and warns His disciples! He knew it was a trap that believers could easily fall into; head over heart is a key characteristic of legalism.
God promises numerous times—in the law and the prophets (cf. Deut. 29:4, 1 Chron. 28:9, Jer. 29:13)—“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” In the New Testament, Christ Himself promises, “Ask and you will receive, seek and your will find!” (Matt. 7:7) The key word is ‘seek.’ He doesn’t mean seeking him as a side thing or something you do during the leftovers of your day. Rather, he means it in the sense where nothing else matters to you except for seeking that one thing (cf. Psalm 27:4). Like Jesus’ parable of the merchant who sold everything for pearls (cf. Matt. 13:45-46), we must seek God like that! Oh, how many people don't seek God but are satisfied with a second hand experience of God that comes from another person? The whole point of Christ's death is that the veil was torn so that all could have access to Christ!
(I am going to sidetrack a bit here to touch a little on why the OT is relevant and why all the promises made in the OT are still applicable today. Feel free to skip this section! There has been a strange teaching and thought going on in the church that the OT was for the past and that the NT is the relevant section of the bible that is more important. This is not true it is all equally important as the bible tells about God's nature and His nature is unchanging! What someone does tells those around them who they are. Their actions show what is on their heart. This is the same with God what He does tells of who He is! Whenever God does something small that may not make sense to us or seem insignificant we must not overlook it! He did it does it a reason, and this action tells us who He is! For example God decided to use a donkey to speak to Balaam, why? (lol I don't have time to go into that right now :P) As mentioned before God's nature is unchanging! Therefore all the promises made in the OT still apply in the NT. There are several verses that support this in the NT:
For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to our glory of God through us
2 Corinthians 1:20
There are some promises in the bible which were transitory and ultimately fullfilled in Christ however there are some that are still in effect today for example the promise God made to Noah that He would never flood the earth again. Another example is the promise that would follow someone who honours their parents. In the OT we read:
"Honour your father and mother as the LOrd your God has commanded you so that you may live a long life and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving to you" Deut. 5:16, Ex 20:12.
Paul quotes this promise in his letter to the Ephesians (6:1-3)
Chidren obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honour your father and mother- which is the first commandent with a promise - that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."
There are promises that God makes to His people the Israelites, the questions is, does it apply to us? The answer is yes the above example shows that it does. The promises that God made to His people in the past (the Israelites) are the same for His people today. We were grafted into the New Covenant and thus are parttakes in the grace given to the Isrealites through Christ (Romans 11)
It says in the bible that "the Word of the Lord endures forever" (1 Peter 1:24) This was quoted by Peter from Isaiah. We will see many times in the letters that the OT would be quoted to support something the author would be saying! This verse shows that what God says is aways true forever despite what we think or how we may change its meaning!)
One very important belief is in the Holy Spirit and gifts of the Spirit! I am very alarmed that there are so many who do not believe in God's power at work today! It says He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) so why would the God who did miracles in the past and give the Holy Spirit in the past not do it today? A key doctrine that is lost today is the power of the Holy Spirit at work. When people nullify it, they are essentially ignoring large parts of the Word of God; this is skewing it to fit their own taste.
For myself, I cannot help but testify that the gifts do exist; it is as sure and real to me as my salvation and conversion. So, I want to testify that I was freed from my addiction to pornography the day I repented and believed and continued to grow in grace. One day, a few months later, I was reading the book of Ephesians on a bus and suddenly the Spirit of the Most High God came upon me and I felt a fountain of joy in my heart! It was the Spirit bearing witness with my spirit. He was pouring His love on me (Romans 5) and I started to speak in tongues. Before that, I had heard of the gift of tongues and thought it was cool, but that day it became real to me. I did nothing myself; I was just seeking God and He gave it to me. I was a little freaked out at first because the logical side of me was confused and my heart was doubtful, but it didn't matter because it wasn’t about me or who I was but, rather, it was about God working through me.
I know that my girlfriend wanted the gift of tongues for a while because she had trouble expressing the deep parts of her heart in prayer. I told her how speaking in tongues makes expressing your heart to God easier. So, she started to ask God for the gift of tongues; as it says in His Word, “Ask and you will receive.” I was shocked when she started to speak in tongues; God gave it to her only after a week of asking daily!
Jesus asks the Pharisees in Matthew 9:5, “Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?” The answer is that is it is easier to heal a man physically! What is greater than God raising a man from the dead physically? Is it this: God raising a man from the dead spiritually. The greatest miracle God can perform is to raise someone who was dead in their transgressions and make them alive in Christ! Turning a heart of stone that was once blind and rebellious to God and make it into a heart of flesh that desires to obey Him! I am so amazed that Christians who profess that God made them alive cannot believe the ‘lesser’ miracles that He does such as spiritual gifts or physical healing. Think about this! He raised you from the dead! He can do anything!
One of the greatest problems in the church today is the sin of unbelief! Hebrews 3-4 shows that God brought His people out of Egypt and performed many signs, miracles and wonders but still His people would still not believe. I wonder are we like that, God takes us out of the Egypt of sin and we still don’t believe in Him! If God’s own people don’t believe, how can we expect the rest of the world to believe?
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Mind vs. Heart
Hey just something the Holy Spirit was teaching me today that I felt the need to share with you all!
In the reformed community we have the right truth (more or less) however, we reverse the order in which we should learn it. Many times we spend so much time on learning correct theology in our minds, however it doesn't connect with our ...heart and thus we strive in the flesh to practice these theological truths in our day to day lives by remembering them in our minds and it fails.
This is because the understanding of these truth should actually come from the HEART, Then to our mind and out of our mouths.
When it comes to the great theologians they did not come up with the doctrine from a scholarly study using human means. Instead they were gifted by the Spirit to communicate biblical truth to the rest of the body. They understood the truth in their HEART first and then from there to their mind and to preaching or writing.
We can know these truths in our head but only God can bring it to life in our hearts.
Many people know that Christ died for our sins, few believe they are sinners (its heart issue)
ex. "The foolish says in his HEART" (Psalm 14) note he says in his heart, not head!)
Love the Lord your GOd with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength!" (Luke 10:27)
The order in which Christ says it is of course important Heart to soul then to the mind. So yes the mind is important as well!
When we have truth in our mind and not the heart it could become dangerous because it gives us the illusion that we are growing and spiritual when the real test is the fruit of the Spirit. In short theology becomes an idol and a way for our flesh to boast.
1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 1 Corths 8:1
The line here I want to key on it is knowledge puffs up but love builds up.
What this tells us is that when interacting with other believers it is not wrong to talk theology, but the more benefically thing to do is love them, better yet "speak truth in love"
How do we know its in love?
Ask yourself: By me saying this will it make me look good or God look good and turn the eyes of this brother or sister to Christ?
That being said you may still feel pride in doing so HOWEVER
...that does not mean you were not doing it in love because God works in our weaknesses but also because love is not a feeling but a choice.
Our unbelief as believers in miracles that we hear about such as healings and other things and our uncomfortable feelling in Spirit filled meetings comes because we have learning in our minds but our hearts are still filled with unbelief! We are trying to understand the impossible and the unlimited in our limited minds. When we try to understand God and His might in only our fallen minds..it doesnt work we will have a brain fart. We can only see God rightly in our heart through faith by the Spirit of Christ.
In the reformed community we have the right truth (more or less) however, we reverse the order in which we should learn it. Many times we spend so much time on learning correct theology in our minds, however it doesn't connect with our ...heart and thus we strive in the flesh to practice these theological truths in our day to day lives by remembering them in our minds and it fails.
This is because the understanding of these truth should actually come from the HEART, Then to our mind and out of our mouths.
When it comes to the great theologians they did not come up with the doctrine from a scholarly study using human means. Instead they were gifted by the Spirit to communicate biblical truth to the rest of the body. They understood the truth in their HEART first and then from there to their mind and to preaching or writing.
We can know these truths in our head but only God can bring it to life in our hearts.
Many people know that Christ died for our sins, few believe they are sinners (its heart issue)
ex. "The foolish says in his HEART" (Psalm 14) note he says in his heart, not head!)
Love the Lord your GOd with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength!" (Luke 10:27)
The order in which Christ says it is of course important Heart to soul then to the mind. So yes the mind is important as well!
When we have truth in our mind and not the heart it could become dangerous because it gives us the illusion that we are growing and spiritual when the real test is the fruit of the Spirit. In short theology becomes an idol and a way for our flesh to boast.
1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 1 Corths 8:1
The line here I want to key on it is knowledge puffs up but love builds up.
What this tells us is that when interacting with other believers it is not wrong to talk theology, but the more benefically thing to do is love them, better yet "speak truth in love"
How do we know its in love?
Ask yourself: By me saying this will it make me look good or God look good and turn the eyes of this brother or sister to Christ?
That being said you may still feel pride in doing so HOWEVER
...that does not mean you were not doing it in love because God works in our weaknesses but also because love is not a feeling but a choice.
Our unbelief as believers in miracles that we hear about such as healings and other things and our uncomfortable feelling in Spirit filled meetings comes because we have learning in our minds but our hearts are still filled with unbelief! We are trying to understand the impossible and the unlimited in our limited minds. When we try to understand God and His might in only our fallen minds..it doesnt work we will have a brain fart. We can only see God rightly in our heart through faith by the Spirit of Christ.
Lord, Do It Again! from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.
Monday, July 4, 2011
approaching God's Throne of Grace!
When approaching God in prayer, most people only make it to the outer court, few people make it to the inner court and even fewer people make it to the throne and fewer still, stay before the throne long enough to be changed by His glory (those who do that really receive grace to impact the kingdom in mighty ways).
The LORD said to Mo...ses: "Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die; for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. Leviticus 16:2
In the OT, there was the outer court, the inner court (Holy place) and the Most Holy Place (inner inner court). The worshippers and gentiles could only go into the outer court. The priests to the inner and the High Priest to the Holy of Holies where God's glory (literally) would rest above of the Mercy Seat (or Ark in other translations)
The thing is now with the blood of Jesus our great High Priest ANYONE can approach the throne of grace in the Most Holy place its OPEN, thats why the veil was torn in the temple when Christ died!
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16
We're told to approach the throne of God's grace, but many times we don't make it that far... in prayer, how many times do we stay in prayer and wrestle with God long enough that He blesses and gives us spiritual strength to walk with Him for that day?
Thye closer you get to the sun, the hotter it is. God is holy, The closer you get to God the more of His holy light He shines on your life, the more the impurities of the heart are burned away. However this is not a pleasant experience so most Chrisitans stay far off in the "outer court" where its "safe". But those who stay in the back don't get to see the full glory of God! (its sorta like being at concert but being in the very back except God is 93849384 better)
"Our God is a consuming fire" As Christians we must daily offer ourselves as sacrifices before God on the altar to be changed by Him so that we are ready to see Him face to face.
The LORD said to Mo...ses: "Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die; for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. Leviticus 16:2
In the OT, there was the outer court, the inner court (Holy place) and the Most Holy Place (inner inner court). The worshippers and gentiles could only go into the outer court. The priests to the inner and the High Priest to the Holy of Holies where God's glory (literally) would rest above of the Mercy Seat (or Ark in other translations)
The thing is now with the blood of Jesus our great High Priest ANYONE can approach the throne of grace in the Most Holy place its OPEN, thats why the veil was torn in the temple when Christ died!
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:16
We're told to approach the throne of God's grace, but many times we don't make it that far... in prayer, how many times do we stay in prayer and wrestle with God long enough that He blesses and gives us spiritual strength to walk with Him for that day?
Thye closer you get to the sun, the hotter it is. God is holy, The closer you get to God the more of His holy light He shines on your life, the more the impurities of the heart are burned away. However this is not a pleasant experience so most Chrisitans stay far off in the "outer court" where its "safe". But those who stay in the back don't get to see the full glory of God! (its sorta like being at concert but being in the very back except God is 93849384 better)
"Our God is a consuming fire" As Christians we must daily offer ourselves as sacrifices before God on the altar to be changed by Him so that we are ready to see Him face to face.
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