Archive for the ‘teaching’ Category

Without compromising the Remnant must stand strong in this hour

Posted: January 24, 2012 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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The profound declaration in Daniel 2:22, “[The Lord] reveals the deep and secret things: He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him,” resonates powerfully throughout the Book of Daniel and encapsulates the essence of faith in times of adversity.

As I revisited the text, I was struck by the significance of the remnant—four young Jewish boys, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah—who were set apart to uphold the Kingdom of God amidst the oppressive darkness of Babylon.

Their story is not just one of survival but of steadfastness, embodying the hope that even in the face of compromise and despair, one can maintain a testimony that honors God. The narrative of Daniel reveals a crucial lesson about the relentless nature of spiritual warfare.

The spirit of Hell seeks to pollute what it cannot destroy and to destroy what it cannot pollute. This theme echoes throughout Scripture, illustrating the ongoing struggle between light and darkness. In a world where Israel has succumbed to the pressures of surrounding cultures, these four friends stand resolutely against the tide of moral decay.

They represent the overcomers—those who cling to their faith and refuse to compromise their beliefs despite overwhelming opposition. This struggle is not unlike the challenges faced by believers today. As we navigate our own wilderness experiences, we must recognize that the enemy will use various tactics to try to undermine our faith.

Yet, just as Daniel and his companions demonstrated, every attempt to disrupt their faith ultimately served to reinforce their resolve. The remnant is strengthened through trials, and the darkness only serves to illuminate the light that dwells within them.

In Revelation 12:11, we find another layer of this testimony: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” This verse emphasizes that overcoming is not merely about verbal confession but is rooted in the demonstration of faith through action.

In our contemporary understanding, “testimony” often connotes a public declaration of faith; however, in the biblical context, it encapsulates the lived experience of truth under pressure. This distinction is vital—our faith is a living testimony that must be demonstrated in the face of adversity.

For many, truth is relegated to a theoretical concept, a set of beliefs to be recited rather than a reality to be lived out. The Book of Daniel challenges us to reconsider our own understanding of truth. It invites us to engage with our faith actively, allowing it to transform us in the crucible of life’s challenges.

As we meditate on the trials faced by Daniel and his friends, let us reflect on how these experiences can inform our own journeys as believers. The powerful message woven throughout the Book of Daniel is that the remnant is positioned for victory.

Each trial faced becomes an opportunity for growth and strength. The enemy may scheme and plot, but ultimately, it is through these very struggles that God’s greatness is revealed. The encouragement is clear: do not lose heart in the trials you face.

Instead, stand firm, for you are on the verge of significant breakthroughs and revelations. Like Daniel, we can emerge from our trials fortified in faith and equipped to testify to God’s power. In our current age, many believers are drawn to the vibrant stories of the Book of Acts, and rightly so.

However, I urge you to also delve into the Book of Daniel. There, amid the narratives of courage and faithfulness, lies the blueprint for overcoming in our own lives.

The testimony of the Remnant—both in the Old Testament and in the early church—reveals a consistent theme: faith in God’s promises and an unwavering commitment to His truth can and will prevail against all odds.

Holy Spirit has set a message that is burning in my spirit; “Without compromising the Remnant must stand strong in this hour”. And I am holy convicted that as we allow Holy Spirit to position us in unity, as the Lord’s Ecclesia, holding on with spiritual steadfastness, we too can join the ranks of the overcomers, shining as lights in a world that often seeks to snuff out our faith.

~Pastor Russ Welch, Mighty Arm Ministries Jacksonville Florida

More than a pauper….

Posted: January 24, 2012 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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Could you imagine being poor on the street’s ? You are left to fend for yourself, eating food that others have discarded, clothes that have been thrown away and sleeping any place you can find?

Now imagine how insane it would be if such a person were adopted and taking into a beautiful home by a loving couple and told that every in the house belonged to them as well.

Yet year after year this child does not get the reality of the blessing they have received. They continue to look through the garbage for food even though there is meal after meal prepared for them and set on the table. They continue to wear ragged old clothes, though the closet in the room this loving couple has provided for them is filled with new clothes. In fact night after night, this couple has to go out and search around the outside of the house to find this person because they continue to seek shelter even though they have a room of their own.

Now to most this would sound silly, because you know that if you were left to living on the street and someone took you into their home and said to you that all that is theirs belongs to you as well you would enjoy it and hopefully be grateful.

Yet many Christians today are no different than this person, because they have inherited a Kingdom yet they continue in the mindset that they must earn the rights of the world.

I wonder how many Christians are going to walk into eternity, never knowing the awesome blessings the Father has bestowed on them. Salvation is indeed free and all the blessings of God come from His mercy – yet like a Car, unless you put the key in the ignition and start it up, you will never enjoy the beautiful ride the car can give you.

In the same manner so many are falsely taught about “works” that they remove themselves from the works and fruits of the Kingdom. Shall works get me into heaven? By now means for the Word is clear that we are saved through Faith in Christ Jesus, and that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. Yet if we simply lie back and continue to live the life we lived before we accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior and never take part in walking in obedience to His authority, His Word and His dominion we shall never experience the benefits of all that we have inherited as children of the Lord God.

It is work to study His word, it is work to help another, it is work to conform to His Word and Kingdom rule. It is work to stay at the cross, allowing its bondage smashing power to flow through our lives. It is indeed hard labor at times to love people who do not want to be loved. It is hard work to dismiss the insults, emotional wounding s and possible physical pain by others simply because one is a Christian (For those of us in the western world who have not experienced this – it wont be long before such persecution come to this land) . One must admit it is a conscious struggle (work) to walk in the overcoming power of His holiness to see that sin no longer controls us. I have yet to meet anyone that God has magic waned and they no longer are at war against the flesh.

Yes we are indeed saved by His gracious mercy – and if we will bow low to Him, His Grace shall empower of us to live as true adopted Children, walking in the abundance of His Kingdom.

For we indeed serve and awesome God – Now let us live the life of adoption rather than outcast living outside the Kingdom!!!

Re-crowning the King of kings!!

Posted: January 22, 2012 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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When Solomon had finished building the temple of the LORD and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, the LORD appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. The LORD said to him: ‘I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. (1 Kings 9:1-3)

 

Wow, this should be the goal of our lives, that we live them in such a pleasing way unto the Lord that He consecrates our lives and we carry His Name above ours. In essence this is what the Lord Jesus Christ has already done for us. The moment He allowed the temple guards to take Him, He started on the road to purchase us this reward from the Father.

 

Yet the question must be asked “Is our life worthy of this ”

 

In other words, for the born-again believer does our life reflect a position of gratitude towards the Lord was the price He has paid that NOW the Father look’s down upon us with a smile of favor?

 

Think about it for a moment, about what Jesus had to endure that we could be covered with His righteousness. The beating, the humiliation, the shame and the cross. And He had to do all this not because of what He had done , no for He was an innocent man. He had to endure it all for the price of “our sins” called for it as the only lawful sentence in the Kingdom hall’s of justice. For the penalty of sin is death and eternal separation from the Lord God.

 

He was indeed the King of kings, the glorious One, the only begotten Son of God. He knew Heaven as His Home, and He maintained the balance of the world spinning around the sun. At any moment He could but open His mouth and Heaven would have emptied of Angelic Armies to come forth to His rescue. He could of given one comment and His accusers and all the Roman soldiers around Him would have turned to dust. Yet out His GREAT LOVE for us, He willingly endured it all, as a lamb going to slaughter.

 

Picture for a moment (those of you who watched the “Passion of Christ” movie will remember the scene) as the Roman guards stood about Him, taunting Him, humiliating Him, shaming Him, and they get the grand idea that if He truly is the King of Jew’s He need’s to be crowned. So they fashioned a crown out of thorn’s, the very creation of the Lord Himself, and they did not merely set it on His head. No, they pushed it with great force upon the precious head of the Savior of man-kind, past His beautiful head of hair, through the flesh til they felt it hit the bone of His skull. And He said not a word – Oh’ the amazing love and compassion does our Lord have that He would endure such pain on our behalf. Such love and the patience does our God in Heaven have, that He could endure watching what His creation was doing to His Only Begotten Son.

 

Now, having pictured the guards doing this, something rises up in us. Some would say that if they were there they would have stopped the guards, others that they should have been brought to justice for their crimes against an innocent man. Yet the truth is, we in our own sinful lives, placed those thorn’s upon the Lord’s head. Each and every time we sin, it is as though we are but adding a thorn to the crown our King did wear.

 

Have we ever stopped for a moment to realize that Jesus endured it all for us? That every blow, every snap of the whip taring flesh off from His body, every thorn on that crown was because of “our sins”

 

We must ask the question daily – Am I re crowning the King of kings today with a crown of thorns? Or am I brightening the Glory of His eternal crown with my life, lived according to His Will.

 

Can the Lord look at our lives today and say that He has heard our prayers and that He is consecrating our bodies, these earthen temples for which He has filled with His Holy Spirit?

 

Do we glory over the Lord’s eyes and heart being upon us? Or are there moment when we wish He would turn His head because of the shame in our lives.

 

Ask Holy Spirit to search your life today, to see if there be anything that would once again place that crown of thorns upon the Masters head. If the light of His Holiness point’s to something, repent of it and turn away from, He will give you the grace to over-come what ever sin you may be struggling with. But you must first desire to walk away from it.

 

Our God is the greatest example of love in all the universe, there is none like our God. The lover of our soul’s, the guardian of our eternal destiny, to victor of our salvation, He who not only destroyed the power of sin over our lives, but He who paid the penalty of such sin with the surrender of His right’s, with the humiliation, shame, beating, whipping ,and the nailing of His precious flesh to the cross.

 

Let us today and every day forward awake with the commitment that today we shall not re-crown of King with the thorns of our sin’s! Ask for the abundance of His Grace to flow into our lives empowering us to live lives free of sin!

 

For our God is an Awesome God!!!!!!

~Russ Welch

The Cost of Following Christ

Posted: January 17, 2012 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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When a rich young man came to Jesus and asked if there’s “anything else” he needed to do, Jesus presented him with “one more thing” that to the young man was seemingly impossible.

Biblical discipleship would truly involve “forsaking all.”    This post appeared in July at TruthSource.Net While I agree with what it says, I can think of instances where I wouldn’t want to see this used.   Or would I?   I remember hearing a speaker saying that “small demands will produce small results; great demands will produce great results.”   Didn’t Jesus seem to be “waving people off” following Him at times with “difficult sayings?”  Have we watered down the gospel?

Because of horrible evangelism, religious lies, and itching ears, a majority of people have been led to believe that becoming a Christian is as easy as praying a simple prayer and requires very little cost or no cost at all. However, the Lord Jesus Christ has declared very clearly in the Bible that it will indeed cost you—it will cost you everything.

You will have to turn away from all your sins

Being a Christian will cost you your sins; you cannot be a Christian if you’re unwilling to forsake them. This is called repentance, and Jesus declared that unless you repent, you will perish in Hell. We are called by God to repent of our sins and turn to Him because He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world. You don’t have to clean up your life before you come to Christ; no, my dear friend, come to Him now as you are. You just have to make up your mind about giving up your sins. You must stop, turn around from following after sinful lusts, and begin following after Christ, calling upon Him to help and He will remove sin from your life as you follow His lead and obey His word.

You will have to forsake your desires and affections

Being a Christian will cost you all desires and affections which oppose the will and word of God. You will have to continually be on guard to rid your life of all the things that God hates and declares to be wicked. If you are unwilling to give up these unrighteous desires, you cannot be a Christian. God commands His people to hate evil and love good; to abstain from every form or appearance of evil; to flee from immorality, lust, idolatry, and greed. We are commanded to pursue righteousness, justice, and godliness. And this means all the things we fill our lives with will be determined by God’s word—the movies or television we watch, music we listen to, clothes we wear, and everything else on which we may set our affections.

You will have to surrender over your dreams and aspirations

Being a Christian will cost you all dreams and aspirations you may have that do not align with the will of God for your life. If you’re unwilling to completely shift the focus of your life away from yourself and your previous aspirations and toward Christ and doing His will, you cannot be a Christian. We are commanded to do absolutely everything—down to something as small as taking a drink of water—with the focus of bringing God glory. We are even called to take every thought captive and make them obedient to the will of Christ. That means if you’re worrying about becoming rich, well-off, famous, or whatever, you’re going to have to cast this behind you. Jesus declared that our primary and preeminent focus is to be on His kingdom above all else. We serve the Lord, not vice versa; and He calls His people to carry out His will, not theirs; we pray for His kingdom come, His will be done, not ours. He is Lord over our life, and His disciples must live their lives accordingly.

You will have to give up all your finances and possessions

Being a Christian will cost you all your finances and possessions. If you’re not willing to transfer all ownership of your money and possessions over to Jesus Christ, you cannot be His disciple. He owns everything in your life—including your life—and as a Christian you must acknowledge and submit to this. All that you have, you no longer use it for yourself but for Him—for His sake, His glory, His kingdom. And the things which cannot be used for these things must go. The money you have, which itself comes from God, you no longer use to buy foolish things for yourself but for the things which He approves and is glorified in. Christ commands us not to store up treasures on earth, but to store up treasure in Heaven. Your treasure will reveal your heart. If you’re all about money or heaping up this world’s goods, then your heart is with this world which will pass away. What will it profit you if you gain the whole world but lose your soul? If you seek to keep this world’s goods, you will lose both them and your soul. You cannot serve both God and wealth.

You will have to leave behind your family & friends

If you love your parents, siblings, spouse, children, family, friends, or even your own life more than Christ, you cannot be His disciple. Your love for Christ must be so extreme and preeminent that it makes your love for everyone else, in comparison, look like hatred. Jesus declared that He had not come to bring peace and tolerance amongst one another on the earth…He came, rather, to bring a sword of division, to set a person against the members of his own household for the sake of obedience and loyalty to Him. If your family criticizes you in regard to following Christ, or pressures you to go on a route that opposes the will of God, you will have oppose them for Christ’s sake. If you have friends who love to sin and could care less about Christ, you’re going to have to leave them behind…but if you are true to the Lord and serious about following Him, they’ll end up hating you eventually anyway. However, Jesus promises that whoever has left houses or parents or siblings or friends or spouses or children for His name’s sake will receive many times as much and will inherit eternal life.

You will have to renounce your reputation and status

If you are unwilling to count as loss for Christ’s sake your reputation and status, and what people think of you, you cannot be a Christian. You must count all these things as rubbish in view of the surpassing value of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. You must cast off any false notion that you are someone important, someone of worth, one with wisdom and strength, and realize you indeed are one who is broken, lowly, foolish, and weak. The message of the cross is foolishness to the world, and in coming to Christ, believing His word, and obeying His commands, you will also be esteemed utterly foolish by them. But you must embrace the reproach of Christ that will come your way. If you hold faithfully to Christ, you will be ridiculed, despised, mocked, and slandered.

You will have to abandon your comforts & easy living

If you are unwilling to take on the demanding lifestyle of a disciple of Christ, you cannot be a Christian. Jesus declared that the vast majority of mankind will end up in Hell, and that there are many who desire to enter into eternal life but will not be able to. He exhorted His disciples to strive to enter into the kingdom of God, because only those who violently press into it will enter. The Christian life is not one of luxury or complacency, but one of self-denial and discipline, vigilance, always being on the alert, always taking heed and being careful, always striving, pursuing Christ, fighting the good fight of faith, and laying hold on eternal life. The Bible says we must enter the kingdom of God through many trials and tribulations, and all who desire to live godly in Christ will suffer persecution. You will be hated, excluded, insulted, scorned, slandered, and abused on account of Christ—you may even be killed—but be of good cheer, for these things you are blessed, and your reward will be great in Heaven.

Luke 6:22-23; 13:23-24; Matthew 7:13-14; 11:12; John 15:19; 1 John 3:13; Acts 13:40; 14:22; 2 Timothy 3:12; 1 Peter 5:8; 1 Timothy 6:12; Mark 13:33; 1 Corinthians 9:27; 10:12

By ~paulthinkingoutloud via http://www.truthsource.net/topics/Salvation/cost.php

Are you a new creation? Stop retreating & move forward!

Posted: January 15, 2012 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching, wilderness
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“Put on the New Man, created in God’s own Righteousness and true Holiness” (Ephesians 4:24).

What is the Christian Life? It is leaving our ground altogether and coming onto the ground of Christ. It is deeper than a changed life – it is an exchanged life. Over time we can accomplish a change, but we can do nothing to exchange our life for His Life. This, from start to finish, is God’s work, and it is a work of grace.

What, after all, is Righteousness? What is true Holiness? Christ is not righteous because He does righteous things; He does righteous things because He is Righteousness. Christ is not holy because He does holy things; He does holy things because He is Holiness. His “doing” flows out of His “being” – and OUR “doing” flows out of His “being” as well.

I some times wonder why so many Christians never walk in victory. It is as though they have it but for a season and then cycle back into their old life style. There are time I wonder, Lord why are so many people still trapped, week after week they go into churches hurt and they leave hurt. Recently the Lord was speaking to me about this and Holy Spirit showed me some pretty ugly things. Things even in my own life that when the light of His truth shown upon them I was in shock to the point of fallen on my knees and repenting.

Friends there is no freedom in religion and what appears on the outside as good does not always have the truth as the heart of its source. Much of what is being passed around in the church today is nothing more than religion all clothed with make up, curls and bows to appear as holy, yet again it is just that plain ole spirit of religion.

Some would say well this can’t be right – for the enemy would never hang around with holy people, or they, having the images of Hollywood’s portrayal of”church in their thoughts think “no your wrong, Satan wont enter a church for it is Holy ground”. Maybe its time to get away from what the worlds picture of the church is, get away from being bottle feed immature Christians addicted to allowing their pastors to do all the studying and presenting them with the interpretation of the word and get into the word themselves allowing Holy Spirit to be the very lead teacher in their lives. The Bible paints the true picture of the Bride of Christ that we must become.

The enemy can work through even good people and be at work in the middle of a “church” service as an apparent angel of light, enslaving his hearers with religious chains.

Look at what the Bible says:

“And it is no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light; So it is not surprising if his servants also masquerade as ministers of righteousness. [But] their end will correspond with their deeds”. (2 Cor 11:14-15)

Listen to what Watchman Nee had to say in regard to this:

” The prince of the air also goes about as an ANGEL OF LIGHT. As a lion he seeks to DEVOUR, as an angel of light he seeks to deceive. Satan is a deceiver. If he can appear clothed in light—the very nature of God—then your “vision” can be no protection to you. When Satan makes a roar behind the voices of men your ears are no protection to you, and when he comes as an angel of light, vision is not enough to detect him. You say “it was ALL LIGHT” so it must be “of God;” yet the prince of darkness can appear as “light” i.e., as God. You must therefore have more ways of detecting and testing him than by vision, i.e., eyesight (even spiritual eyesight) and hearing. The safest detecting test is “fruit” (Matt. vii, 20), and KNOWLEDGE OF BASIC PRINCIPLES WHICH ETERNALLY DIVIDE BETWEEN GOD AND SATAN. Between Him who is truth itself, and Satan, the “father of lies.”

we see how the adversary goes about as A TORMENTOR of the most godly and saintly servants of God. He “buffeted” Paul—and he did it with God’s permission—”A MESSENGER OF SATAN TO BUFFET ME.” Paul’s resource was prayer, “I besought the Lord,” he said, and then came strength to “glory in his weakness.” we see also he goes about as a sifter of the children of God. He attacks them in all these varied ways, “as a roaring lion,” an “angel of light,” a buffeter and a sifter”.

So do you want true freedom? Come out from the religious things and turn to Jesus, completely. Let Him be your sole (soul) source – let your gatherings be for edifying one another,praying for one another, building up one another s faith, giving testimonies of your victories, singing of Psalms together, reading the scriptures to one another. But we must stop playing church, we must stop the addiction of “let this show be better than the last one”. There is but one level the Christian needs to strive for and that is one of “Holy Righteousness”.

A spirit of deception is at work in the Body today – many have been lured into the den of religion with the teaching that mere programs will set you free – you need to go to this program or conference to get free from this, another for that and on the list goes. In reality according to the scriptures it is a one step program – having turned to the Lord, repented an laying it down at the cross and receive your freedom – from there Holy Spirit will lead us from glory to glory.

Religion will not change any one into a Holy vessel of righteousness as a true worker for the Kingdom of God. It will give the appearance thereof, yet lacking in the power of the true Christ. Holy Spirit can and His whole desire is to point us to Jesus, our liberator, the very source of our freedom.

So friends, if you want true freedom today, then call out to God, repent for being deceived by men when He has given us Holy Spirit and the Word to teach us. Ask Him to remove your religious garments and replace them with robes of righteousness. surrender all to Christ that you may truly experience the victorious Christian life He has purchased for you.

Be free today, stop the retreat from religious program to religious program adding more layers of religion and today, having stepped up to the cross – move forward as a changed vessel, walking forward as the New Creation the Lord has called us to be!

Houses filled with illegitimate children

Posted: January 14, 2012 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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Hebrews 12:8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.

I was thinking about the cheerleader Gospel messages I have witnessed both recently and over the years. You know the rah, rah, rah stuff that pumps people up for a little while, then at the end when they look up at the score board, the hyped up emotional state comes crashing down. I was thinking about this morning and was reminded of an ole Dick Van Dyke show where he boxed with a real boxer. His corner pumped him up to believe he could really win with no training and he went out and gave it all he had and wham, knocked out cold.

I see many preachers out there and other cheerleaders who believe that by simply giving people a cheer-leader message they will now be set to live a victorious life. Yet as I watch, these preacher fall left and right, and the other messengers lives roll on a roller coaster that has so many twist and turns one would get sick just watching it. Now, when I look at the teaching’s of Paul, Peter, John and James and there is no rah, rah messages. Messages such as:

Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” (1 Cor 6:13-14)

“Be patient and stand firm” (James 5:8)

Stand against him, therefore, being firm in your faith, and know also that sufferings come against your brethren who are in the world. (1 Peter 5:9)

Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. “ (1 John 2:24-25)

Jesus never gave such messages.

“All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matt 10:22)……”But the person who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt 24:13)………I do not think Jesus was talking about hanging His name over our door post and living like the world here. In fact He prophesied exactly what we are dealing with in this day right before verse 24:13 – “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,” (Matt 24:12)

No where in the teaching of the Lord will a disciples find the right to compromise with the world…So this means most are half heatedly following the Way of the Master……So what “man made gospel” does one believe in order to live a life of compromise? I said Jesus was Lord so I am now saved? Or what Jesus taught…he who endures….he who obeys all my commands…?

Of course the nay sayers, those who believe in a Kingdom with out laws will cry out “legalism” yet what of the author of Romans statement where he writes…”“ To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:” (Rom 2:27)

Doing right, obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ and His commandments has nothing to do with ” legalism.”

You will find that there is much criticism against followers of Jesus who try to please Him within evangelical preaching these days, using the term “ legalism “ against these followers of Jesus who try to obey Jesus’ commands as a copout excuse for condoning living in sin in their own life and in others, while following Jesus Christ.

Now I look back at the men God put in my life when I was younger, men who have weathered the storms of life, weathered to onslaught of doctrines and have stood strong, not wavering in their faith. These men have not wavered and been tossed to and fro with every “new teaching” that has come out. I am reminded of the disciples of the first Church, men and women who were battle hardened and would lay down their lives before they would deny the Lord.

I fear that today we have but house filled with illegitimate children, foster children who have come into the Church with their worldly ways and rather than submit to the order of the House, they have sought ( and successfully in many ways) to right new house rules. What we have ended up with is a batch of dough that have been filled to the core with worldly leaven.

“”Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,”

Now, one can look at gunpowder and think that it is ugly in it’s blackened form. And believing such one decides to pretty it up and add some color so they mix in some colored baby powder. At first they add a little and the powder still has it power, but over time, as they add a little here and a little there, the gun powder looses its power and before long it is completely powerless. That awesome powder in it’s natural state could send a canon ball ½ mile, yet now it can barely get a B.B. to roll out of its barrel.

And now you have a picture of what the watered down gospel message that has been a defiling, ugly leaven in the Church has produced. A people who long to see the power of God, yet have never learned the process of a disciplined life which renders the Heaven to release such power. Like the fast-food generation we live in, they desire short-cuts and instantaneous results or they will move onto to the next big thing.

The good news is that it is not too late…there is still time to repent, fall upon our faces and turn whole hearted to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us raise up true disciples of Jesus, those who surrender to His Will and follow His teachings and not those of men that we might rid the house of God of false teachers and illegitimate sons and daughters and at the same time not be found as such ourselves.

~Russ Welch

The End of “Unlove” – The “Day of the Lord”

Posted: January 12, 2012 in Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic, teaching
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Probably all of us are feeling an intensification of the shift taking place in our world as it comes into the next season or phase of the major transformation God is bringing in our world. This article follows the previous one on “The Transformational Love of God,” and deals with the transformation of a world without love to a world ordered by the love of God.

“Unlove” is the absence of God and His love.

Life in the fallen world is based in and derived from unlove. Every aspect of natural man’s life in the fallen world is guided by the ways of unlove.

Mankind is designed to abide in God and God in him.

Great emptiness characterizes the lives of people whose inherent need for God’s love is unfulfilled.

The neediness in mankind can never be fulfilled without the continuing experience of the reality of God’s love filling our lives by the Holy Spirit.

Man’s desperate need for more and more of something to fill the emptiness without God leads to inordinate affections such as lust for romantic activity, substance addictions, depression, and other negative disorders, including things such as, competition, greed, strife, fear, pride, and every negative, stressful, destructive force known to man. The entire world becomes filled with disorder and strife. War is everywhere as people compete against one another. People fall into bondage to inordinate sex, drugs, alcohol, religious deception, and many other entanglements in an attempt to satisfy the emptiness of unlove. All of the problems of the world stem from the basic lack of God’s love in mankind.

Husbands and wives fight and divorce. Employees strive against and deceive employers. Employers exploit employees. People climb over one another in a competitive effort to attain a higher position. Customers strive with merchants and merchandisers take advantage of customers. Law enforcement fights with criminals in an attempt to enforce thousands of laws enacted in an attempt to control the deceit and violence of the people. The whole world becomes a battlefield.

Everything in business and all of life revolves around trying to get more while giving the least possible to get it. Even the highest of charitable human motives are mixed with hypocritical values of “What’s in it for me?” All this and much more exist because of the lack of love abiding in mankind.

Are you beginning to see how that God’s love in man can alleviate needs and stop strife in the world? No more wars, no more crime, and, eventually, no more sickness, no more disease. Some would say, “Yes, but it is not possible for man to love and live this way,” and they would almost be right, if Jesus had not come.

Jesus made a way where there was no way. He provided all that is needed for us to be fully redeemed into life in God and His love. Christ Jesus did what others did not do and lived as one with God in the Holy Spirit. The GOOD NEWS is that Christ Jesus can now live in us by the Holy Spirit. Thus, the potential now exists for all to have Christ’s life abiding within. Through Christ everyone can now abide in God and His love. We can now bring the transforming power of God’s love into practical reality in the world through Christ in us by the Holy Spirit. Christ in His people can destroy the works of the devil.

1 John 3:8: For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.

The greatest mystery of the kingdom, the transformational power of love is changing our world. The world has already been greatly affected by the love of God expressed in the cross of Christ Jesus. No other person in all of the world’s history has had as great a transformational effect as Christ Jesus. Now, the LIFE OF JESUS is set to transform every area of life in the world through Christ Jesus living in us

By love, individuals filled with Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, can transform families, businesses, schools, media, cities, nations, and the world.

The End of “Unlove” – The “Day of the Lord”

Perhaps one of the most dramatic interventions of God ever to take place in our world is soon coming upon the entire world to destroy unlove and all the works it has produced. For many years, God has been pouring out His Spirit and His pure holy love into His people producing the life of Christ within His holy people. This will increase and continue through the season of the ending of the rule of unlove. God has prepared and is preparing a pure and holy people filled with His love to bring forth the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

The next big intervention of God is the great cleansing work of destruction of the wicked and all that lifts itself against God, all that will not turn to God.

What is the “Day of the Lord”? (For a very enlightening and more detailed biblical study of the answer to this question follow the link to Kingdom Growth Guides and scroll down to (#038). http://www.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=12550&a mp;PN=1

There have been many “Day of the Lord” judgments throughout biblical history. The “Day of the Lord” would come against an area or nation for destruction of evil.

The “Day of the Lord” that we are entering now is part of the process of purification leading to a godly kingdom people ruling on earth God’s way. The chastening and purging is aimed at the pride and loftiness of man, the ways of man that are exalted over the ways of God. “Day of the Lord” judgment brings chastening for cleansing of God’s people, those who will repent and turn from their ways of mixture to God’s way. The day of the Lord is always chastening for God’s people. It is not intended for their total destruction. Rather, it is for their purification. No matter how severe the chastening, there will always be a purified remnant. It is not so among the ungodly. The “Day of the Lord” can bring total destruction and annihilation to the evil and ungodly of the world.

In both the Old and New Testament the “Day of the Lord” is a season of destruction for the ungodly and a purification of God’s people resulting in the shining forth of God’s ways to govern the world. The focus is not only fire but also the beautiful kingdom of God brought forth from the ashes.

Isa 61:3: To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

Mat 13:40-43 “Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age.”The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, “and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. “Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

Personal “Day of the Lord”

Like me, probably many reading this have gone through a personal “Day of the Lord” when great devastation and despair came upon our lives. Some may be going through a personal “Day of the Lord” time of reckoning now. Sons of God, those whom God loves, He will chasten, and it never seems good at the time. When all that once sustained us stops working for us and all we have built crumbles around us, the pain may seem unbearable. Brokenness of our ways turns us to His ways, and we are further purified and made more holy vessels for His use.

Corporate day of the Lord

Just as individuals may meet the “Day of the Lord,” so it is for families, tribes, nations, and the entire world.

The great and dreadful “Day of the Lord” for the entire world is now at hand.

After the destruction has done away with the loftiness (pride) of man, after everything high and lifted up is thrown down and only God remains exalted, the purification is accomplished and restoration begins. The new life of restoration is always more righteous, more holy, more filled with peace and joy than the old life. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Father, Your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

The Sword of the Lord Comes.

Ron McGatlin

Obscure role models

Posted: January 11, 2012 in disciples life, teaching, wilderness
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First century Christians as disciples had no problem witnessing and publicly testifying about the faith for they had true examples in the Apostles themselves. They watched them get beating, hauled off to prison and executed for their faith. What examples does the Church have today when the media builds false hero’s and the true hero’s, the unknowns to the rank of earthen popularity, the missionaries abroad, the street pastors, those who have forsaken all for the glory of God yet are fully known in Heaven go unnoticed or ignored often looked down upon as to radical or to heavenly minded to be any good here on earth.

While many look to the likes of TD Jakes, Benny Hinn, Paula White, Creflo Dollar, Joel Osteen and Joyce Meyer’s as their hero’s -When the truth be told the disciples following the likes of Paul, Peter and John wouldn’t even recognize these men and women as true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ for their public persona is all about prosperity, popularity, greed and a watered down, showmanship Gospel.

Why does the church need to be in relationship with homeless mothers and children?

Posted: December 20, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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Why does the church need to be in relationship with homeless mothers and children?

“It is in our intimate relationships with our friends on the streets… that open our blinded eyes to really see Jesus for who he is. Through their desperation and forced vulnerability, they help us see what intimacy with God looks like. We are compelled to follow our friends who are poor to God’s heart.” (Christopher Heuertz)

Bridge of Hope calls churches from diverse Christian faith traditions to befriend homeless single mothers and their children. It is out of this calling that we highlight the following reasons why the Church today needs to be in relationship with homeless single mothers and their children:

1.) God calls the Church to relationships: God longs to be in right relationship with us and to see us in right relationship with each other. Homeless families remind us that our relationship with God is more than just a private response to the God of the universe. A vital relationship with God also means being in vital relationships with those around us. Throughout Scripture God identifies with the poor to the point that caring for those in need is like taking care of God (Matthew 25:31-46). Rev. James Forbes once said that to get into heaven, the faithful are going to need a letter of reference from the poor.

Mother Teresa would often say that the poor are Jesus in distressing disguise. “The Scriptures teach that God’s faithful people share God’s special concern for the poor…. God insists that if we do not imitate his concern for the poor we are not really his people – no matter how frequent our worship or how orthodox our creeds” (Ron Sider). When we enter into authentic relationship and mutual friendship with a homeless mother or child and see through their lens, it is surprising how often our eyes are open anew to the presence of Jesus in the world.

These relationships challenge our judgments, assumptions and individualistic mindset and teach us much about our relationship with God and with all God’s children.

2.) God calls the Church to bless others: God’s directive, throughout scripture, is that the provision we experience from God is not meant for our own sakes but for the sake of those around us as well. We are blessed to bless others (Genesis 12:1-3). We dare not mistake “God’s financial blessings as individual provision rather than resources with potential for kingdom development.” (Heuertz) For the children of Israel, that meant caring for those around them who were in need, including the foreigner, the poor and the widows.

Today, the church is also being called to be a blessing to single mothers and children who are homeless because we ourselves have so often been blessed. As the Apostle Paul writes so clearly (II Corinthians 8-9) we are to use our riches to help others and as we do, God in turn provides for the Church’s needs. It is the mystery and joy of God’s economy.

3.) God calls the Church to vulnerability: Just as Jesus chose to give up power for the sake of God’s call to serve humankind (Philippians 2), so too the church itself must embrace and honor the marginalized and forsaken. The church will only be effective as it becomes vulnerable and humble, meekly caring for others both within and outside the church (Matthew 5:1-11). The suffering of homeless mothers and children humbles us. Their weakness instructs us.

Their vulnerability reminds us of our own pride. As we experience authentic friendships with homeless families, we are reminded of our own need for God, and that we are not ultimately in control. In a sermon, John Wesley said, “One great reason why the rich in general have so little sympathy for the poor is because they so seldom visit them. Hence it is that one part of the world does not know what the other suffers” (Christine Pohl).

Friendships with homeless families keep our hearts tender, open our eyes to moments of God’s grace and move us beyond self-centered purposes – bringing us back into a deeper relationship with Christ. “We must minister among and with the broken out of a posture of brokenness; it is the only way we will be accepted. When we realize that we have as much to learn as we have to offer, true Christ-like ministry will freely flow, community will develop, and we will be transformed.” (Heuertz)

4.) God calls the Church to be a renewed community: When church communities commit to build mutual, authentic friendship with homeless women and children, they demonstrate obedience, experience transformation, and connect with Jesus in new ways that revitalize their faith.

Churches that worship together as rich, poor and middle class can experience spiritual and relational transformation and renewal. For Saint John Chrysostom and other early church fathers and mothers, the church was seen as the vehicle for mutual and meaningful hospitality with the poor and homeless and “was a significant context for transcending status boundaries and for working through issues of respect and recognition.” (Pohl)

When churches embrace a holistic gospel, lived out in mutuality and respect in the world, homeless families can experience physical, social, emotional and spiritual wholeness, and in turn renewal comes to the congregation. The grand vision of the New Testament (Revelation 7) describes a new community in heaven that transcends economic status, ethnicity, culture and language.

The old dividing lines of housed or homeless, black or white, middle class or poor, unemployed or employed are transformed in the realization of God’s intention for humankind. By being a community of hope, healing and renewal now, the church becomes a promise of God’s ultimate desire for the world.

A call to be Holy!

Posted: December 16, 2011 in disciples life, teaching, wilderness
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“Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 peter 1:13-16)

Duncan Campbell has said, “A Baptism of holiness, a demonstration of godly living is the crying need of our day.” The cry for holiness rings throughout the Bible. In Leviticus 11:44 God says to His people, “For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy…”And again in Leviticus 20:26: “Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.”

To the Thessalonians Paul said, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification (holiness…For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.” (1 Thessalonians 4:3, 7)

And Peter adds his voice: “But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:15-16)

What Is It?

The Old Testament Hebrew word for holiness, kadesh, means “something which is cut off, separate or set apart.” It means to be antisecular, in a category all its own, to elevate out of the sphere of what is ordinary.

In the New Testament the word used most frequently is hagios which also means “set apart, separate, in a class by itself.”
According to these definitions, to be holy basically means to be separated from common use and set apart, or reserved, for special use. In both Old and New Testaments the term is applied to (1) things, (2) persons, and (3) God.

When applied to God it designates Him as the lofty, the heavenly, separated in space from men−dwelling on high. He is the majestic, the morally lofty, separated from the human, not only as a finite material creature, but as a sinful, impure creature. To Israel the name “Holy” or “Holy One” was the highest expression for God. It was the name for God absolutely;; the name for God as transcendent above all the created world. He is wholly other; He stands utterly above the created world. He is in a category all to Himself.

The basic idea of holy when applied to a person is not moral purity but relationship. To call a thing or a person holy is to say that they belong to God, are used in His service or dedicated to Him, or in some special way are His property. Nothing, except for God, is holy of itself or by nature. It becomes holy by being dedicated to God and His service.

It is the Awesome holiness of the Lord God that sets Him apart from everything else, and it is our holiness that sets us apart and makes us distinctive from the world. This word sums up every obligation of Christian living and every demand made upon us by the Lord.

Belonging to God: We are holy because we are His. Nothing in us makes us holy; belonging to Him makes us holy. This means that holiness is not primarily negative, but positive. We have been set apart for Him, for His pleasure, and for His purpose.

Becoming like the God to Whom we belong. I stated earlier that the basic idea in holiness is not moral purity but relationship. But because of that relationship, moral purity becomes a necessity. Belonging to God we cannot belong to the world; being dedicated to Him we cannot be devoted to anything else. If a bride is to keep herself for her husband alone, she must keep herself from others. Sexual infidelity would make her unfit for her husband, thus making her impure. She would be, in biblical terms, considered unclean, not so much because of her conduct but because her conduct made her unfit for her husband.

If we are separated to God then we are also separated from the world. If we are called to be holy even as He is holy, then the character of God must be considered. Thus the character of God becomes the standard of our own character, we become like the God to Whom we belong.

Our Holiness is the Purpose of Conversion

“You shall be holy…” (1 Peter 1:16)
God’s holiness is evangelistic and redemptive. It causes Him to seek and to save those who are lost; its purpose is not to drive men away but to draw them near. When Isaiah saw the thrice-holy God, high and lifted up and sitting upon His throne, he was smitten with a sudden awareness of his own vileness and cried out, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.” (Isaiah 6:5) But his confession, made under the crushing revelation of God’s holiness, resulted, not in condemnation, but in cleansing. “Behold…your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.” (Isaiah 6:7)

It is God’s holiness that causes Him to save us and He saves us so that we may become holy “even as He is holy.” We have been called to holiness. In Ephesians 1:4 Paul writes, “…He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.” And in the fifth chapter he tells us that Christ’s purpose in cleansing the church is “that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:27)

It may surprise some Christians to learn that God did not save them just so they could go to heaven when they die. Heaven is a bonus−a kind of by-product of salvation. The real purpose behind God’s saving grace is holiness, not heaven.

As mentioned earlier, to be holy means that we are set apart for God’s special purpose. And that purpose is the manifestation of God’s character to the world. Having been bought with a price, we belong to God and are to glorify Him in our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). To glorify God means to reveal God as He is, to demonstrate His character. God is glorified when men see Him for what He is. What He is, is holy, and if we are to reveal Him as such, we must be holy

Our Holiness is Patterned After Christ

“But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves.” (1 Peter 1:15)

At first clance this may seem an unreasonable and unreachable standard. Who can be as holy as God? Surely He asks too much. But God can do no less. To lower the standard would be to betray His own nature.

This standard is held up before us throughout the New Testament:

“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)

“And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” (John 17:19)

“Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” (2 Corinthians 7:1)

“The one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.” (1 John 2:6)

There is no getting around it−the standard by which the Christian is expected to live is God’s own holy and perfect character. No Christian has a right to be satisfied with his spiritual progress as long as he is falling short of that goal. But the very fact that God demands such holiness from us means the believer can in some way satisfy that demand. He never demands from us what He does not enable us to do. This is one of those “impossible possibilities” held before us.

David’s great ambition was to rebuild the temple: it was the dream that sustained and drove him. It was a dream he was unable to fulfill, yet God said to him, “You did well that it was in your heart.” (1 Kings 8:18) That is the key. Casting aside the argument that this is an unreachable goal, can you say it is in your heart to be as holy as Christ? Stop telling yourself you cannot be perfect. Act like you can. Live as though the standard is attainable.

The Old Lifestyle and the New

In presenting to his readers this standard of holiness, Peter tells them to abandon their old lifestyle and embrace a new one.

The old Testament standard abandoned. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance.” (1 Peter 1:14) Before our conversion, when we did not know any better, we allowed our lusts to lead us around like monkeys on a chain. Our formative influence was our desires. Our lives were shaped by our lusts; we lived according to a philosophy which said, “If it feels good, do it.”

This was the argument put forth by the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 6:12-20). “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food,” they said. The body, created by God, has certain natural desires, they argued, and those desires can be satisfied by means, God Himself provided. Therefore, there can be nothing wrong in satisfying the natural desires. For example, God built into man sexual desire and provided a way to satisfy that desire. Since God gave man the desire, He intended for man to gratify it. If God had not meant for us to eat, He would not have given us a stomach. You must admit, it is a pretty convincing argument. But, says Paul, they forgot one thing: food for the stomach and the stomach for food, but the body is for the Lord! The question, “Is it right or wrong?” is not the question. The question is “Does it glorify God?”

New Covenant standard “But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” (1 Peter 1:15-16)

The transforming influence of our lives is no longer our desires but His character. Our conduct is to be shaped by His holiness. We are to walk in the light as He is in the light. (1 John 1:6-7)

Why? Because.

Why does God demand we be holy? The answer is simply−because; because He is holy, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” No other reason is given. No other is needed.

For example, we know now that the Levitical laws prescribed by God were beneficial to the body as well as to the spirit. Abstaining from certain foods and practices would result in better health. It made good sense to obey the Levitical laws. God could have cited this as a a reason to obey them, but He only said, “Because…” The only reason He gave for being holy was, “because I am holy.” He appealed to His holiness, not their good sense.

Unfortunately many of our present convictions about right and wrong are being shaped by public opinion and popular causes rather than by the holiness of God. This is evidenced in the church’s changing attitude toward recent moral issues like homosexuality, abortion, divorce and remarriage, the ordination of divorced men and so forth. While we trumpet human rights, we display little interest in Divine rights. The pressure to “treat everyone fairly” and the inordinate fear of “denying a person’s right to be himself” is exerting more influence on us than the holiness of God.

But the church is supposed to correct the spirit of the age, not catch it. Christian ethics has its roots in the character of God, not in public opinion or public morality. This fact deals a death blow to situation ethics.

Our Holiness is to be Portrayed In All Our Conduct

“Be holy yourselves also in all your behavior.” (1 Peter 1:15)

Three observations will help us understand the full meaning of this statement.

1. The word translated “behavior” means “dealing with other men, going up and down among men,” and is used of public activity or life in relation to others. It is not enough to be holy in our personal and private lives; holiness must be manifested in all of our dealings with others.

2. The little word all is used without the definite article in the Greek text. When used like that it summarizes a multiplicity of conduct; it means all kinds of conduct; every manner of behavior, whether in business or pleasure, labor or rest, joy or sorrow; nothing is excluded. In absolutely everything, from the greatest to the most insignificant of activities, we are to display the holiness of God.

3. The word translated be means to “show or prove yourself.”

Zechariah closes his prophecy with a strange forecast: “In that day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, ‘HOLY TO THE LORD.’ And the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the bowls before the altar. And every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of hosts.” (Zechariah 14:20-21)

Here is the test: can I write “Holy to the Lord” across everything I say and do?

Our Holiness is Possible Through God’s Call

“But like the Holy One who called you…” (1 Peter 1:15)

God’s call is our assurance that we can become holy. His call to be holy includes the power to become holy. The word translated called always means an effective call. In other words, it always achieves its intention. When God calls us to be holy it does not mean He is telling us to be holy but rather He is inviting us into His holiness. For example, the call to salvation is not God telling us we should be saved. He is inviting us into salvation. When we respond to that call we are saved. It is the same with the call to holiness. As Paul puts it in Ephesians 4:1, we are to walk worthy of that call.

The call to be holy: What God demands He provides. When God calls us to be holy, He imparts to us the power to obey. God’s call supplies the dynamic for holiness.

A commitment to be holy: “Be holy,” God says. Be decisive, settle it once and for all that you will be holy. This calls for a definite choice, a commitment of the will. God will not make us holy against our will.

God has called us to be holy and He has provided the means whereby we can become holy. All that remains is for us to say with Robert Murray McCheyne: “The greatest ambition of my life is to be a holy man.”

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