Posts Tagged ‘Kingdom teaching’

Forsake not the poor!

Posted: June 14, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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“After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings.” (Acts 24:17), “All they asked was that I should remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do”. (Gal 2:10)

It appears that the ministry to the poor was an important part of the early church as they lived out the teaching of Christ our Lord. Some have endeavored to say that these passages imply only to the Jews in Judah, and one could surely use this example as an excuse not to feed the poor, yet the admonishment of the Master to minister unto the poor erases this conclusion. The heart of the Father is that all would receive His Salvation and one of the ways we have in which to do so is to reach out to the needy that they may taste of the Fathers mercy through over service.

As we study the history of the church we find that there have been many times in which Christians have had to defend to their church’s responsibility to care for the poor. Sadly I believe that we are living in such a time right now, a time in which Christians have become polarized on issues and otherwise strong evangelical churches are afraid to take stands in areas that the Bible makes clear are of great interest to our God.

Many have believed the lie that it is the liberals who are concerned about the poor and that we conservatives have been given the higher calling of evangelizing the lost world. To be sure, many a liberal has fallen prey to the trap that neglects evangelism almost entirely. But we have no Biblical excuse for neglecting the physical needs of the poor and solely evangelizing them. To be Biblical is to be concerned about both the physical and the spiritual realm at the same time.

A true student of the Word clearly sees that the Bible itself leaves no doubt about what the people of God should think and do in regards to the poor;

“thou shall open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in the land.” (Deut 15:11b)

“blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.” (Ps 41:1)

“he that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.” (Prov 19:17)

And we go on to see this aspect of the Fathers heart being lived out and taught by His Son as we see Jesus eager to see ministry to the poor continue. In Matt 25 as Jesus foretells the separating of the sheep from the goats, the sheep are characterized as those who did something about the plight of the stranger, the sick, the hungry, the thirsty, the poorly clothed, and the person in prison. In Luke 16 Jesus tells the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, and Jesus makes it very clear that the rich man is in Hell for his unbelief characterized by his lack of urgency in helping Lazarus the transient in his midst.

We also can conclude that the leaders of the early church were very adamant about ministry to the poor. The apostle James was very upset in his letter about favoritism being shown to the rich. When Paul met with the leaders of the church in Jerusalem he tells us, “only they would that we should remember the poor, the same thing which I also was eager to do (Gal.2:10).” Interestingly, Hebrews 13:1 tells us that if we minister to strangers, we may very well have met an angel without knowing about it!

Unfortunately ministry to the poor, especially those living on the streets is not easy work! There are always concerns about safety. Some have mental problems and in addition to being hard to communicate with they also can be violent. We have all heard stories of good samaritans who have lost their lives simply because they cared enough to help somebody.

Now, the church needs a plan. Instead of expecting the pastor to display Solomon like wisdom and mother Teresa like care every time a person in need stops by, there should be thoughtful reflection given to the conditions under which the church should help (wisdom and discernment). There should also be a designated fund set up which the pastor can use to help people with. Otherwise the good-hearted pastor will go broke doing what he believes to be his Christian duty.

As well, it may be helpful to separate in-church assistance from out of church assistance. From time to time there may be members who need care and the church is in a place to take an offering for a car, or groceries or for whatever. At times like this when members of the church have a need the church should not just pray for the need, the church should meet the need. One of the outcomes of this will be the strengthening of the body. Out of church assistance, however, and by that I mean ministry to those in need such as the homeless, should have as its goals compassionate assistance and evangelism. The gospel should be shared!

Again, there are always those who will come up with a number of scenarios in regard to the safety of the “church” and “its members”. To this I believe that as we walk in the wisdom of the Lord, seeking Holy Spirit guidance and realize that the Lord is our shield and our protector we will willingly and obediently sacrifice our time and energy with the understanding that we are living out, as did our Lord, the Fathers desire that the world may not merely hear about His love and compassion but that they would, through our lives, experience it as well.

For indeed we serve an Awesome God!



The road to Signs, Miracles and Wonders is paved with…?

Posted: June 13, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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Holiness!

There is something very important yet largely dismissed attribute of our Christian walk. The Word clearly puts forth that holiness is something to which we ought to aspire, and it is something which we ought to pursue. With the move towards the user friendly church, one can see that holiness, like repentance is no longer fashionable, and anyone who speaks of these things, or as the case happens to be writes of these things is quickly labeled as a legalist, but as I’ve shown before I have no problems with being one who upsets the apple cart.

Today what we need to understand foremost about holiness is that just because it isn’t being preached in most churches in our day doesn’t make it any less relevant or necessary than it was two thousand plus years ago when Jesus preached it. It doesn’t matter if holiness has fallen out of favor with men, it has not fallen out of favor with God, and this is what ought to concern us most as His children.

So exactly what is holiness?

The first thing holiness is, is something into which we are called. In his letter to the Romans Paul spells this out by greeting those who are in Rome, and reminding them that they are called to be saints.

Romans 1:7, “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

God calls us to be His Children, God calls us to be holy, but we must choose to heed the call of God that we might grow in the knowledge of Him and the power of His Holy Spirit.

Hebrews 3:1-2, “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.”

In his letter to the Hebrews, Paul takes it one step further and actually calls them ‘holy brethren and partakers of the heavenly calling’. Yes, God calls us to holiness, and if we desire to be partakers of the heavenly calling we must aspire to the selfsame holiness that the Word of God has called us to.

Over the past 50 years, we have witnessed a watering down of the Gospel message, they’ve been discounting the Word, all the while bemoaning the absence of power in the churches, bemoaning the absence of miracles, and signs and wonders. Many have sought a message that would fit Jesus and holiness into their lives rather than a message of truth which liberates them from a sinful life and transforms their lives into one of Jesus and Holiness!

Well, you can’t have true heaven birthed signs and wonders and miracles and prophecy without holiness. But you sure can muster up all the false signs, wonders and miracles by standing on the road of lawlessness!

Now, rather than writing off the supernatural altogether and telling ourselves it is no longer viable in our day and age, why not try holiness, and see what God can do and will do?

Just a thought, but yes, I know too much effort, too much time, and we’re all so busy with other things. We can’t blame God for our own laziness, we can’t blame God for our own unbelief, we can’t blame God for our own disobedience, nor can we blame God for our indifference to His Word. Some have become so used to lethargy, they are so used to this mellow and none dramatic spirituality that I don’t know what many would do if they felt the true power of God fall on them. While others have been tricked into the hyper-emotional spirituality that is rooted in mysticism and absence of God’s true power, rather it is fueled by hell and plays on the individuals fleshly longings. (speaking to my own fleshly man here as well friends!)

Oh yes my friends, there is more of God to be had; yes there is more of God to be experienced, but we must break through the barrier of selfishness that has kept us from knowing the fullness of Him, and commit fully and completely, surrendering our all for His all.

The second thing holiness is, is a daily work of the Holy Spirit and the Word in us.

Romans 6:22, “But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”

2 Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

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

Sadly many today do not experience true freedom, rather they cycle through their sinful nature, hoping for a righteous life, yet bound in the prison of depression in the Hotel of their sin – they treat Holy Ghost like a cheap maid who is to come in once a week and clean up the mess they have made in the rooms of their heart! What is their answer to their freedom?

We are to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord!

We are to put on the new man, which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness! It’s sad to see so many in this perpetual cycle of doing what they want all week, coming to church on Sunday and saying a prayer and thinking they’re ok until the next week rolls around when they have to say the prayer again. A vicious cycle friends that the Lord desires to crush and end – it is my the Blood that this cycle can be destroyed, it is thru the power of that which was accomplished on the cross.

On the road to the cross one come across the knowledge of the Fear of the Lord. For if you have not known the fear of the Lord; you have not known the fear of God, and this is why you refuse to cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.

Jesus is the only answer to this plight of mankind – the power of the awesome message of the Kingdom He brought to give to men – We must see that the enemy knows this and has been and will continue to dilute the truth until it has no power at all – Holiness is and ingredient which has been removed and must be returned!

Whoever this is for, please read the following lines carefully: God is not mocked! He sees all! He knows all! He judges all! May the fear of the Lord stir your heart, that you might perfect holiness, that you might be transformed from glory to glory and not simply return to your sin as a dog to its vomit and a pig to the mire!

‘But brother that’s so unloving and unkind. We’re supposed to encourage those who stumble.’

Yes, we are too encourage those that stumble, help them up even, but this is not stumbling I’m talking about; this is willfully running too sin thinking ‘it’s ok, God forgives, He is loving, He won’t judge me.’

God will judge all men, no matter where your from or what religion you claim.

1 John 3:2-3, “Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him, purifies himself, just as He is pure.”

If we truly want the signs, wonders and miracles that followed those at the beginning of the church, then we must seek after Christ with holy hands and holy hearts. We must allow Holy Ghost to cleanse us of our old sinful nature. We must limit the awesomeness of our God as a mere side show to see how righteous we are – rather we are to seek after the Father with everything we have and never claim that which belongs to Him, that in all things we give Him the Glory, Honor, and Praise!

For we do indeed serve an awesome God!

Increasing in Spiritual Authority

Posted: June 10, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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First, as a disciple of Jesus Christ you have authority over sin.Let me show this to you in the Word by turning to John Chapter 8, beginning in verse 31:

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, ‘If you abide in My Word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’ They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, “You will be made free?”‘ Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

So first of all, number one, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, you have authority over sin. Thanks be to God Who has delivered us from sin through Jesus Christ. We have authority over the penalty of sin, and we have authority over the power of sin. That means, according to Paul in Romans, that sin does not have to have dominion over us, as opposed to before when we had no choice, we had no say so, but we were bound by sin. And now, through the death of Jesus Christ, we’ve been delivered from the power of sin, and we’ve been delivered from the penalty of sin. So now we have authority over sin. So praise God for that! That is the first thing you have authority over as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Whoever the Son makes free, they are free indeed!

And you might say, “Well, I don’t feel like it, it doesn’t look like it, blah blah blah.” One thing you need to learn about authority is: authority is yours whether you see it, whether you feel it, whether you act upon it or not. You still have authority over sin. We’ll talk about how to increase that authority, and that’s the difference. The increase of authority over sin (and over anything else that we’ll discuss) is increased as you act upon that authority. We’ll discuss that as we go forward, but right now, just accept it on faith based on what Jesus is saying. He or she, whoever the Son sets free, is free indeed. So you have authority over sin. You’re no longer a slave to sin, instead, Paul says you are a slave to righteousness. Now the first step is recognizing that so you can start living according to who you really are, not the way you’ve been living up to the point where you gave your life to the Lord. So authority over sin – that’s what you have already, number one.

Number two, you have, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, authority over satan. You do have authority over the devil. I’ve already read this, but to reinforce the point once more – and there are many scriptures that we could provide to support this, but one of the clearest examples is Colossians Chapter 1 – so if you’ll turn to Colossians Chapter 1, I’d like to begin with verse 12:

“Giving thanks to the Father, Who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us…” (Now that is past tense. He has – not going to deliver us.)

“…He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love.” The Greek word “power” there again, being “exousia”, more properly translated “authority”.

Once you have received an inheritance of the saints in the light, and you’ve been transferred out of darkness and into the Kingdom of His dear Son, you’ve been delivered from the authority and the power of darkness. Your eyes have been opened, and satan no longer has authority in your life. And so, you’ve got authority over the devil, you have authority over satan, and that is not something you have to work towards in an effort to try and get that. Instead, that authority is yours in the Name of Jesus. Now, listen! You don’t have to claim it; it just is. Whether you claim it or not, whether you believe it or not, you have authority over sin, you have authority over satan.

Now obviously some people have more than others – only because some people recognize that authority and they live accordingly. If you have authority over the devil, but you keep giving him permission to operate in your life, then guess what? He’s going to beat you up. If you have authority over sin, but you continue to willfully sin, and you don’t deal with those areas, and you don’t allow yourself to be crucified and dealt with in those areas, then you’re going to continue to sin – even though you have authority over sin, you have authority over satan; nevertheless, that authority has to be recognized, and then it has to be exercised.

Now regardless of what you believe, or what you think, or what you feel, or what you see, this is what the Scripture says. So that’s the second thing. You have authority over sin, you have authority over satan – as a believer, as a saint, as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Thirdly, you have authority over the world. And that is found in I John Chapter 5, if you would turn there please. Beginning in verse 4, it says this:

“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

Praise the Lord. Now, it doesn’t say you have to be mature. It doesn’t say you have to be spiritually adult. It just says you have to be born of God and believe that Jesus is the Son of God; and once you are born-again, God at that moment gives you authority over the world.

Different people could translate that to mean different things. I take it as: authority over the world system, authority over the ways of the world. It means the world no longer has to have that pull and that draw upon you, because your citizenship now is in heaven, and you can be an ambassador for Christ and a king and priest in His Kingdom and represent that to the world around you. That’s how you overcome the world. John says don’t love the world, or the things of the world, because the world and the things therein are passing away, but he who does the will of God will abide forever. And this is he who overcomes the world: those who are born again. Those who have believed on the Name of Jesus. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. So praise God.

Now, in the world you’ll have tribulation, so authority over the world doesn’t mean that my circumstances will always be just the way I want them; I’ll never have any problems, and I’ll never have any challenges. What it means is: in the midst of all of that coming against me in the world, I can still be victorious in Christ.

And so, you already have, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, authority over sin, number one; authority over satan, number two; and number three: authority over the world.

Now, since all disciples have this authority, why doesn’t every disciple overcome? You might be asking yourself that question. You might say, “That sounds good, I believe what the Bible says, but I certainly don’t see that happening in my life, and I don’t see that as being the standard for Christian’s lives as a general way of life. I don’t see this happening. So if all disciples have this authority, why don’t more disciples overcome?”

Well, I think the clue you’re going to find out is right back where we left off in John 8. You remember Jesus says, “If… if… if.” See, that’s a condition. “If you continue, if you continue, if you continue in My Word.” What happens if you don’t continue? Well, “if you don’t continue in My Word, then you’re not really My disciples, and therefore the Truth cannot make you free.”

Truth makes us free in a progressive sense. In other words, we have authority over sin, but many times we’re still bound by sin. We have authority over satan, but a lot of times we allow satan to intimidate us, or to exercise power over us, as a result of our own ignorance, our own laziness. See, God says “My people perish for a lack of knowledge.” It is not because satan is all-powerful. It’s not because he’s even very powerful. It’s not because he has authority, in fact the exact opposite is the case when you’re born again, you become a child of God, you have authority over satan!

So how is it that the devil is able to accomplish so much? It’s because “My people perish for a lack of knowledge.” It’s a lack of understanding, and actually a lack of wisdom, because we don’t continue in the Word, we don’t give the Word time enough to transform us and conform us. We don’t continue, we don’t abide in His Word. And so Jesus says (in effect) “if you don’t abide in My Word then you’re not my disciples indeed, you will not know the truth, and the truth will not make you free.”

It’s all contingent on abiding in My Word. “Abide in Me, I will abide in you, you will produce much fruit, and your fruit will remain,” it says in John 15. But, “if you do not abide in Me, if you do not continue in Me, if you do not continue and abide in My Word and in My teachings, then you will not experience fruitfulness, and you will not experience the liberty and the freedom that is there, that is available to you – but you’ve got to continue in My Word.”

Don’t be condemned, but just let me speak the truth to you. If you’re lacking in an area, it’s not because sin is so powerful. It’s not because the devil is so powerful. It’s not because the world is so powerful. It’s only because you have failed to appreciate and recognize and walk in the authority that God has given you. That’s it! You just haven’t grown up to the point that you can walk in the assurance and the knowledge and the authority and the maturity that God has already provided for you.

So don’t blame God, don’t blame sin, don’t blame satan, don’t blame the world – and don’t blame yourself. Just go ahead and say, “OK. I recognize now that I have failed to grow up in these areas.” And ask the Lord to help you to grow, and as you do, your awareness of the truth will begin to transform you.

The truth will cost you everything – “Are you prepared”?

Posted: May 30, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching, wilderness
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“Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple“. ~Yeshua

If speaking words of truth will cause you to be ostracized are you willing to speak them? Or is it more important to have everyone like you and you’re only willing to speak the appeasing word that tickle the ears of your listeners?

This is the question the Lord has asked us all – are you willing to count the cost for truth? When I see the men like the David Wilkerson, a faithful watchman who blazed the trail before me, I can but say “Yes Lord – whatever the cost – I will be faithful to that which you have entrusted me to speak”.

For that which I speak friends, has already shaken my spirit – it has already pricked my heart and motivates me to change to be more like Jesus. Under the conviction of Holy Spirit and having already felt the fire of God’s Word in my own life, that fire that purges away the worthless and transforms us into His image, these things do I write.

Who in their right mind would venture on a journey that could cost you everything, not first counting the cost? I believe many today are in it for the glory, for the name and for the fun of it. Few have actually sat down and counted the cost.

Many have been given a watered down and useless gospel – useless for it contains not the whole truth, rather it is coated with sugar – easy on the ear’s – thus they are following a god, who they picture as a sugar daddy – and when it doesn’t happen the way they believe it should they fall away.

What if speaking a word cost you your job, your family your life, would you still speak it?

Many say yes, till the challenge to do so presents itself, then they cower from the opportunity before them. Or they allow a fruitless, worthless thought to come into their mind,taken root, causing destruction and obstruction of truth and they fail to take it captive to the mind of Christ. A thought Like”Jesus would never ask or expect me to say or do that! Really, have you read and listened to what the Master has said?

One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one’s own self!—can’t be my disciple. Anyone who won’t shoulder his own cross and follow behind me can’t be my disciple.

“Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn’t first sit down and figure the cost so you’ll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you’re going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: ‘He started something he couldn’t finish.’

“Or can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can’t, won’t he send an emissary and work out a truce?

“Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple. (Luke 14:25-33 Message)

Yet so many seek to be the popular one, many leaders seek to promote the ones who relate to a certain group of people, even though they are but mechanical robots promoting the doctrines of this world. How many pastors would let John the Baptist stand and preach today? How many pastors would let the real Jeremiah rip off a rebuke to the crowd? Not many because they would be fearful that their precious source of income and support for their empires would run away.

Over the past 2 years God has been burning my heart and purging the cowardice spirit out of me, to the point that I can not but speak that which the Father speaks to me.

Is every word I speak or write (which is in reality speaking) of God. Nope, have not reached that point yet and more than likely never will,that place was reserved for the Lord. And I might speak something from my own heart – yet what I do speak is with a deep conviction – and the closer I get to the Lord, the deeper conviction falls upon me.

Notice I said conviction and not condemnation – for there are enough “Christians” out there attempting to condemn everything and everyone out of hell – we can not win the battle in the flesh friends – only through spiritual weapon given and imparted to us from the Lord.

My question today to each one of you is:

.Have you counted the cost? Or are you running on reserve, ready to retreat when the going gets tough?

Looking back at Luke 14:33, we receive the answer from the Lord to one who decides to retreat:

“Simply put, if you’re not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can’t be my disciple”.

As for me, I have counted the cost and anything less than hearing the Master proclaim “Well done good and faithful servant, you have lived, loved and spoken as I have commanded you” is not worth anything this world has to offer.

The highest call is that of servant!

IHS,
Russ Welch

(Re-posted & edited from Russ G Welch FaceBook page Originally posted on April 3, 2010)

Grace to increase in faith!

Posted: May 28, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching
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Because of this, make every effort to add integrity to your faith; and to integrity add knowledge; to knowledge add self-control; to self-control add endurance; to endurance add godliness; to godliness add Christian affection; and to Christian affection add love. If you have these qualities and they are increasing, it demonstrates that your knowledge about our Lord Jesus Christ is living and productive. If these qualities aren’t present in your life, you’re shortsighted and have forgotten that you were cleansed from your past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, use more effort to make God’s calling and choosing of you secure. If you keep doing this, you will never fall away. (2Peter 1:5-10)

Praise God, as we find that this passage builds on the implication of grace, that is, the gifts of God alluded to in the previous verses. Grace both enables or empowers us and makes demands on us by putting us under obligation. Titus 2:11-12 tells us that the grace of God teaches us that “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly.” Receiving the grace of God puts us under obligation to respond.

We find here that Peter is teaching that the grace of God demands diligence or effort. Verse 5 reads, “giving all diligence [effort].” In addition, it is helpful to understand that Peter is saying in the word translated as “add” that we are to bring this diligence, this effort, alongside or in cooperation with what God has already given. God freely extends His grace, but it obligates us to respond. We are then to do our part in cooperating with what He has given to us—and He inspired Peter to tell us to do it diligently and with a great deal of effort.

Messengers of the Lord almost constantly speak of growth. Yet, notice where Peter begins his list of traits we are to become fruitful in: He writes, “Add to your faith.” “Add” is woefully mistranslated into the English. Yes, it can mean “add,” but it is actually much more expansive than that. “Generously supplement” is a more literally correct rendering, which brings it into harmony with “diligence.” In other words, make great effort to supplement your faith generously.

The Apostle Peter sees faith as the starting point for all the other qualities or attributes. He does not mean to imply in any way that faith is elementary, but rather that it is fundamental or foundational—that the other things will not exist as aspects of godliness without faith undergirding them. In the Greek, it is written as though each one of these qualities flows from the previous ones. We could also say that faith is like the central or dominant theme in a symphony, and the other qualities amplify or embellish it.

How much and what we accomplish is dependent on the place from which we begin. Peter is showing us that there is a divine order for growth, and it begins with faith.

Friends, I pray that you each let your faith grow and increase today – Ask our Father in heaven to increase your faith – spend time in the Word and build yourselves up – remind yourself daily of the good things God has done in your own life – testimonies even when spoken unto yourself increase and builds up faith!!

A radical Christian living a life of radical Christianity is one who walks empowered by Grace to fulfill all that Father has set before them, having great faith in the knowledge that Holy Ghost will provide every provision necessary to full-fill the task at hand!

Are you radical enough in your faith to cry out and let His Grace supply all your needs today? For there are sick to be healed, blind eyes and deaf ears to be opened, imprisoned and oppressed to be liberated, dead to be raised – both in Spirit and in the physical.

The Highest rank is that of servant!

IHS,
Russ Welch

The Sons Are Free

Posted: May 25, 2011 in disciples life, teaching
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“The Sons Are Free” By John Piper
Matthew 17:22-27

And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; 23 and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved. 24 When they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?” 25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?” 26 When Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are exempt. 27 However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”

There are three reasons why I chose this text for our consideration this morning.

First is because today is Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week when we look forward to Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. Jesus says in verses 22-23, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” So the text begins with a prophecy of the Lord about what will happen in that last week which we call Holy Week.

Second, there is a conversation between Jesus and Peter that teaches something wonderful about the freedom that we have as Christians. Verse 26 ends, “Then the sons are exempt (literally “free”).” I want us to see what this freedom is and what a great thing it is to have it.

Third, the passage includes a miracle in verse 27, namely, the coin in the fish’s mouth. This shows that Jesus is worthy of our worship and relates the freedom we have as Christians to the way God provides for his free children when they willingly act for love’s sake, not under the constraint of law. This applies to the financial challenge we face in the Gideon Venture and the Isaac Factor (see the previous three sermons). Or, more personally, it applies to God’s care for you in your situation as a free child of God. Not that God will always work a miracle to get you out of some scrape you’re in, but that he will work with omnipotent power to meet all your needs on the path of freedom and love.

So let’s start with the second of these reasons and then go to the third and then end with the first, the prophecy of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The Two-Drachma Tax

Verse 24: Jesus and his disciples are in Capernaum, Peter’s hometown (Mark 1:29). Some Jewish people, whose job was to collect the “two-drachma” temple tax, came to Peter and asked, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?” This was not a Roman tax, but a Jewish tax for the upkeep of the temple. It was based loosely on Exodus 30:11-16. So these folks were not your unpatriotic tax collectors that we usually read about who collected for the Romans; they were the very patriotic supporters of the temple who expected Israelites throughout the homeland and beyond to take part in supporting the temple service. So this question (“Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?”) was probably a test to see how supportive Jesus would be of the temple service in Jerusalem. Rumors were already circulating that he said disloyal things about the temple.

Peter answered in verse 25, “Yes.” When he and Jesus were in the house away from the crowd, Jesus asked Peter (in verse 25b), “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?” So Jesus is not going to let this go by without a lesson being taught.

He brings up a comparison – an analogy. There are kings on the earth who run their kingdoms with money raised from taxes. How are those taxes collected, Jesus asked, from the king’s own children or from the rest of the citizens and inhabitants? The analogy pictures God as the king and the temple service as the running of his kingdom and makes a comparison between some people who are the sons of the king and some who are not the sons of the king.
Who Are the Sons and How Are They Free?

Peter answers Jesus’ question in verse 26, “From strangers.” That is, kings collect taxes from the citizens and inhabitants that are not part of their family. That’s the right answer. So “Jesus said to him, ‘Then the sons are exempt (=free).'”

So what is the point Jesus is making? Who are the sons that are free and how are they free? Verse 27 gives us the decisive clue. Jesus says to Peter: “However [that is, even though the sons are free] . . . take that and give it to them for you and Me.” In other words, you are free, Peter, and I am free, but we will pay the two-drachma temple tax anyway.

So the comparisons are between the kings of the earth and God and between the king’s sons and Jesus with his disciples. Which raises a question: Who are the “strangers”? Who are the “citizens and inhabitants” that are not exempt – not free from the temple tax?

Keep in mind here: This temple tax has nothing to do with the Romans. This is a Jewish tax. So if Jesus makes a distinction between the sons who are free and another group who are not free, he is making a distinction within Israel – among two groups of Jews. This is what John the Baptist did before him. It is what Paul would do after him. John the Baptist called for Israel to repent and be a part of a new, true Israel, and not to boast, “We have Abraham as our father” (Matthew 3:9), as if mere Jewish descent made one a child of God. Then Paul said in Romans 9:6-8, “Not all Israel is Israel . .. It is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God.”

So the answer is that the “strangers” – the “citizens and inhabitants” who are not free are the Jewish people who are rejecting Jesus as the Son of God. Jesus is the Son of God, and those who trust him and follow him are sons of God because of their attachment to Jesus. Matthew 16:15-16: “[Jesus] said to [the disciples], ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And speaking to his disciples he said, ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God'” (Matthew 5:9).

It’s true that Israel was called the son of God in the Old Testament (Exodus 4:22). So how can Jesus now say that some Jews are sons of God and free, and some are not sons of God and not free? The answer is that “sonship” has a new, personal, individual meaning with Jesus. There was a corporate sonship before, but now there is a new, personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This new, personal, individual relationship of sonship through Jesus is what Jesus has in mind when he says, “the sons are free.”

With the coming of Jesus Christ – the one and only divine, eternal, uncreated Son of God – into the world, a new way of relating to God is made possible. Now there is the real, experienced, conscious union with Jesus Christ that no one had known before the coming of Christ.

It is described in Romans 8:16-17, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” This term, “fellow heirs with Christ,” shows how our sonship is connected to Christ’s. We are sons along with Jesus Christ when we are in Christ. Not that we are divine, like him, but that we share his inheritance, just as we share his righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

That is what Jesus is pointing to here in Matthew 17:26, “The sons are exempt (free).” Those who are Jesus’ disciples are the true sons of God and are free from the temple tax, and those who reject him are not the true sons of God and are not free.

But that raises another question: Does this mean that God means for his temple to be supported by unbelievers? No. That is not the point. What, then, is the point?
Jesus the True Meeting Place with God

I think the point is twofold. One is that the temple is passing away and is going to be replaced by Jesus himself as the true meeting place with God; and the other is that Jesus does not say that the true children of God don’t pay the tax, but only that they are free not to. In fact, he sends Peter to pay it in verse 27.

The true children of God – the followers of Jesus – are free because Jesus himself is taking the place of the temple. “I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three days” (Matthew 26:61). He was referring to his body. Jesus himself was the new meeting place with God. “Something greater than the temple is here” (Matthew 12:6). Place was giving way to Person. The sons are free because the sons are discovering that the age of the temple in Jerusalem is over. The age of coming to God through Jesus is here.

The other reason Jesus doesn’t mean that the temple is to be supported by unbelievers is that he sends the true children of God to support the temple, not because they have to support the temple, but because it might at times be good to for the sake of the gospel. Verse 27: “However, so that we do not offend them. . . . Take that and give it to them for you and Me.” In other words, you are free not to pay the tax, but pay it anyway for the sake of not putting an obstacle in the way of my message.

So here’s the main point of the passage: Those who trust and follow Jesus as the Son of God are the true children of God and are, therefore, free from the old system of temple worship with its “taxes.” This does not mean that we no longer care about the ministry of worship. It means we come to God through Jesus. And if there is, incidentally and culturally, a building involved, we are not forced or coerced to support that building. The sons are free.

The point of verse 27 (the payment of the “tax”) seems to be this: If you are a child of God, you decide how you will support a non-essential building (and all of them are now!) not by thinking of yourself as taxed by God, but by thinking of whether there are reasons the building will advance the cause of Jesus Christ – which is not building-oriented, but God-oriented, and kingdom-oriented, and ministry-oriented, and people-oriented.
A Miracle of Freedom and Provision

Now I turn very briefly to the miracle of the coin in the fish’s mouth and the introductory words of prophecy that Jesus’ death is just ahead.

Verse 27, again: “However, so that we do not offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.” What’s the point of the miracle of the coin in the fish’s mouth?
Two things at least.

One is this: If Jesus is bringing the temple to an end for the true children of God, because “something greater than the temple is here” (Matthew 12:6), then it is fitting that he show that he is worthy of our worship. This miracle involves divine power and wisdom and knowledge. Someone had to be sure that a shekel (precisely worth four drachmas – two for Jesus and two for Peter) was dropped in the sea. Someone had to be sure that the fish scooped it up, but did not swallow it all the way. Someone had to be sure that the fish that scooped up the coin would be near where Peter drops his hook in the water. And Someone would have to be sure that the fish bites Peter’s hook, without swallowing the coin, and stays hooked till he gets the coin. When Jesus says that this is, in fact, all going to happen just as he says, he shows himself to be just what Peter confessed him to be: the Son of God worthy of worship and trust. You don’t have to go anywhere or pay anything to worship God. He has come to you. There he is. Here he is!

The other point of the miracle is that when you act in freedom and love -not under coercion or constraint – God himself works for you in ways you would never dream. It’s like the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus says to the disciples who have five loaves and two fish borrowed from a little boy, “You feed the five thousand.” When they set out to do that (just as when Peter sets out to pay the temple tax), God causes the five loaves and two fish to become enough to feed them all. And God causes a coin to be there in a fish’s mouth.

The point is not that God will always work a miracle to get you out of some scrape, but that he will do whatever he has to do to help you pursue the path of freedom and sacrificial love that may seem impossible to you.

So with regard to Education for Exultation, we could add “The Fish Factor” or “The Coin Component” to “The Gideon Venture” and “The Isaac Factor.” You are not bound to give, but love may compel you to give. And if it does, there will be a way -if God is in it, God will make a way. That’s the second point of the miracle. As Hudson Taylor said, “Depend upon it. God’s work, done in God’s way, will never lack for supplies” (www.gospelcom.net/chi/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses/glmps047.shtml, accessed 4/15/00).

The Spirit-Led Are the Sons of God

Posted: May 22, 2011 in disciples life, teaching
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“The Spirit-Led Are the Sons of God”
By John Piper

Romans 8:13-17

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs- heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

As we move from verse 13 to verses 14-17, there is a new theme that becomes dominant, and it is one of the most precious themes in the Bible. The theme is our sonship – that Christians are children of God. Nowhere in the book of Romans up till now have we been called sons or children of God. But now the words come thick and heavy and full of freedom and joy and love and hope.

Verse 14: “All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Verse 15: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Verse 16: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Verse 17: “If children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ . . .”

So a theme that had not turned up anywhere before in Romans is now mentioned in every verse of this unit. It’s clearly the new focus, and it’s something that we need to see and savor as part of our glorious salvation. What Paul is doing here is telling us Christians about ourselves and who we are and who God is in relation to us. And he is telling us how we can know this about ourselves and what it implies about our experience.

So let’s simply take this unit one verse at a time and see what Paul has to teach us about the Holy Spirit and our adoption as children of God. We will take three verses and save verse 17, with its emphasis on our inheritance as heirs, for next week as a kind of transition to the next paragraph.
“Killing Sin by the Spirit” Explained by “Being Led by the Spirit”

First then, verse 14. It is given by Paul as the ground or the basis of verse 13. We spent three weeks on verse 13, “If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” Kill sin or it will be killing you. And we put a lot of emphasis on the words “by the Spirit.” “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.” And you may remember I said at one point “by the Spirit” does not mean that the Spirit is a tool or a weapon that we wield. The Spirit is Person. We are in his hands, not he in ours! So killing sin “by the Spirit” means having a mindset through which the Holy Spirit works to free us from the power of sin. And that mindset is the mindset of faith in the blood-bought promises of God.

Now to confirm that we were on the right track when we said, the Spirit is not an instrument in our hands but we are an instrument in his hands, consider what Paul says in verse 14. He says, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” The “for” means that he is giving the basis and explanation for verse 13. So “put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit” in verse 13 is explained by “led by the Spirit” in verse 14, and “you will live” in verse 13 is explained by “you are the sons of God” in verse 14. Ponder those two pairs with me for a moment.

“If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (14) Because all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Paul restates “putting to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit” with the words, “you are led by the Spirit.” So here is our confirmation that we were on the right track last week: Doing something “by the Spirit” means being “led” to do it by the Spirit. He is not an instrument in our hands. We are an instrument in his hands. We are not leading him. He is leading us. He is not a mere responder to us. We are being moved and led by him.

So then what is it to be led by the Spirit in verse 14 in view of its relation to verse 13? It is to be moved by the Spirit to kill sin by trusting in the superior worth of our Father’s love. When you fight sin by trusting in Christ as superior to what sin offers, you are being led by the Spirit. Don’t take this verse out of its context and make it mean mainly, “If I am led to the right college I am a child of God.” Or: “If I am led to the right spouse, I am a child of God.” Or: “If I am led to the right job, I am a child of God.”

There is a sense in which the children of God will lean on the Spirit for guidance in all those areas. But that is not the focus of this text. This text says, Kill sin by the Spirit, because “all who are [THUS] led by the Spirit are the sons of God.” In other words, the evidence that we are the children of God is that the Holy Spirit confirms his presence by leading us into war with our sin. The children of God hate sin. The children of God have the values and priorities and preferences and tastes of their Father. They are chips off the old block, as it were.

And the reason they share these traits of God their Father is because they have his Spirit who leads them this way. He gives them the new tastes and new preferences and the new values and the new pleasures and the new sadness. And so the evidence of our sonship is: Do we fight sin in our lives, or do we feel blasé about sin in our lives?
The Promise of Life Is Rooted in Our Being Sons of God

Now notice the way the other pair of ideas in verses 13 and 14 relate. The first pair is “killing sin by the Spirit” explained by “being led by the Spirit.” The second pair is “you will live” in verse 13 and “you are sons of God” in verse 14. “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (14) For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” What this shows is that the promise of life is rooted in our being sons of God.

You know that you have eternal life because you put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit. That’s verse 13. And you put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit because you are led by the Spirit. That’s the commandment between verses 13 and 14. And being led by the Spirit shows that you are a child of God. That’s verse 14. And so it is your status as a child of God that guarantees your eternal life. That’s the point of verse 17: “If children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” Heirs of what? Everlasting life and all the glory it contains.

So what verse 14 does is explain killing sin by the Spirit in terms of being led by the Spirit, and it explains “you will live” in terms being sons of God. And then it makes being led by the Spirit the evidence and demonstration that we are the sons of God. Which means that killing sin by the Spirit is the evidence of our sonship and therefore the path to everlasting life.

And Paul means for you to enjoy this. He is telling us these things for our joy and our triumph over the adversities and fears of life. This becomes really plain in verse 15.
How Does the Spirit of God Relate to Our Sonship?

Verse 15 comes in now to explain more fully how the Spirit of God relates to our sonship. He says, (v. 14) “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (15) For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!'” He is answering the question: Why does the leading of the Spirit prove that you are a son of God? And he is answering the question: How does the Spirit lead?

The reason the leading of the Spirit proves we are children of God is that it is “the Spirit of adoption.” It is the Spirit given to us to confirm a legal transaction carried out by the Father, namely, adoption. Listen to what F. F. Bruce says about this term “adoption as sons” in the Roman world of Paul’s day:

In the Roman world of the first century ad an adopted son was a son deliberately chosen by his adoptive father to perpetuate his name and inherit his estate; he was no whit inferior in status to a son born in the ordinary course of nature, and might well enjoy the father’s affection more fully and reproduce the father’s character more worthily.” (Quoted in John Stott, Romans, InterVarsity Press, 1994, p. 232)

There are dozens of children and young people and adults in this church who have been legally adopted. You are all loved by your parents with a deep, true, unshakable love just as much or more than if you had been born into your family. And that is the way it is with God. This reality of adoption is a massive, firm, legal reality. And it is a deep, strong, full-hearted emotional reality.

When the Holy Spirit is called in verse 15 the “Spirit of adoption” the meaning is the Spirit confirms and makes real to you this great legal transaction of adoption. If you have trusted Christ as your Lord and Savior and Treasure, then you are adopted. John 1:12, “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” If you receive Christ, you are adopted.
The Spirit Leads by Stirring Up Family Affection

Now to seal this and confirm it and make it experientially real to you, God sends the Spirit into our hearts. Here is the way Paul says it in Galatians 4:5-6, “[Christ] redeemed those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!'” The Spirit is poured out into our hearts to confirm and make real our adoption.

How does he do that according to verse 15? He does it by replacing the fear of a slave toward a master with the love of a son toward a father. “You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” He is contrasting the fear of a slave with the affection of a son. The work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to change our slavish fears toward God into confident, happy, peaceful affection for God as our father.

Now relate that to the leading of the Spirit in verse 14. This is the other question I said Paul is answering in verse 15: How does the Spirit lead? “All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” How does he lead? How does he move us and enable us to put to death the deeds of the body – to kill sin? Answer: “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons.” The Spirit does not lead by stirring up slavish fear. He leads by stirring up family affection. He does not get you to kill sin by making you a slave who acts out of fear. But by making you a son who acts out of faith and affection.

You can get a lot of external compliance with enslavement and fear. A Vietnamese man just told me last night that this was so. We asked if the people in Vietnam liked Communism. He said no, but then added, “They have the guns.” So if you have the guns you can enslave and create enough fear so that there is a lot of external compliance. But that is not what the Holy Spirit does to get us to kill sin.

How then does he shape our wills and lead us to put to death the deeds of the body? He does it by making real to us the truth of our adoption and the value of our Father in heaven. How does he do that? He does it by working in two directions: one by bringing God’s fatherly love to us, and the other by bringing our childlike affections for God.
The Spirit Leads by Bringing God’s Father Love to Us

We have already seen the first work of the Spirit in Romans 5:5. Recall how Paul said, “Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” This is a real, present experience, not just an idea or a future promise. It is something that happens in Christians: the love of God – that is, God’s love for his children – is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. This is the Spirit of adoption making real to us the love of our Father. Applying it to us so that we know we are loved. It is an experience of divine love. That’s the first direction the Spirit works to make the truth of our acceptance and the value of our Father real to us. He pours out the love of the Father into our lives.
The Spirit Leads by Awakening Our Childlike Affections for God

The second direction that the Spirit works to lead us is by awakening our own childlike affections for our Father. This is what the last part of verse 15 and verse 16 are referring to. “You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ (16) The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

The Spirit brings about a response in our hearts to the love of God that cries out, “Abba! Father!” The witness of the Holy Spirit that you are a child of God is not a testimony to a neutral heart with no affection for God’s fatherly love so that your neutral heart can draw the logical conclusion that it is a child of God and then try to muster up some appropriate affections. That is not the picture. No. The witness of the Holy Spirit that you are a child of God is the creation in you of affections for God. The testimony of the Holy Spirit IS the cry, “Abba! Father!”

And the reason Paul uses the word “cry” and the Aramaic word “Abba” is because both of them point to deep, affectionate, personal, authentic experience of God’s fatherly love. He didn’t say that the testimony of the Spirit was that we affirm doctrinally that God is father. The devil knows that doctrine. Doctrinal affirmations, as important as they are, don’t make children. What he said was that the testimony of the Spirit that we are God’s children is that from our hearts there rises an irrepressible cry – a cry, not a mere statement, a cry: “Abba! Father!”

We don’t infer logically the fatherhood of God from the testimony of the Spirit. We enjoy emotionally the Fatherhood of God by the testimony of the Spirit. The testimony of the Spirit is not a premise from which we deduce that we are children of God; it is a power by which we delight in being the children of God.
Don’t Wait for a Whisper – Look to Jesus!

If you want to know that you are a child of God, you don’t put your ear to the Holy Spirit and wait for a whisper; put your ear to the gospel and your eye to the cross of Christ and you pray that the Holy Spirit would enable you to see it and savor it for what it really is. Romans 5:8, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The testimony of the Spirit is that when we look at cross we cry, “Jesus, you are my Lord!” (1 Corinthians 12:3), and “God, you are my Father!” So look to Christ! Look to Christ!

A Radical transformation of discipleship needed in our day!

Posted: May 18, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Parents, teaching
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I believe that if we are to truly lead people to Christ and then disciple into maturity, we need to be more Christ-like in our leadership style. In order for this to happen we need to have a radical transformation in the manner for which we disciple new believers in our day!

Too often I find leaders getting depressed when other are not at their same maturity and the depression opens the door to bitterness and the door of bitterness open yet into another room of those classified as cold hearted burnouts. They may still confess that they love the Lord, yet the most important Spiritual fruit in ones life which testifies to having Christ in our hearts is vacant in their lives – the fruit of Love!

I have been in “church” for 30 plus years and involved in ministry for a little over ten years, six of which has been in nursing homes. At first I felt as though everyone should be involved in the nursing home ministry, if you were not you lacked compassion.

It didn’t take long for Holy Ghost to kick that horse of pride out from underneath me. It had gotten to the point where I had even made a comfortable spiritual saddle lined with scriptures to back up my point.

None of which offered much comfort when I fell on my spiritual backside – that fall was just hard enough to jar loose all the religious garbage that I had been feeding myself on.

Holy Ghost then took me on a journey thru the scriptures and pointed out how everyone is not (thankfully) called to the same task. We are each designed in the image of God, yes, and we should all strive to have the character of God within our make up, yes. But there is no way one individual can be like God, yet when we see the Body as a whole, operating in each called gift, we get a glimpse of the very nature of God.

As leaders we can not allow the thought that “everyone needs to be like me and walk in the same calling that I have or else they simply are not a good Christian” take root in our hearts. In fact I know some brothers and sisters who try so hard to walk in the calling of the leaders around them they are actually living in rebellion because they are not walking in the calling of the Father on their lives. I don’t know about anyone else but as for myself I never want to be in a position where I cause another believer to rebel against the Fathers call on their lives.

It is so easy to get caught up in the false religious leadership functioning style that is out there today – which is why we need to stay in the Word and most definitely stay in communion with the Father. Our prayer life should consume the majority of our time. When we are so saturated in the presence of the Father, that His glory is so strong we need not speak but a few words, for just the shadow of His presence on our lives heals the sick, set’s the captives free and raises the dead – then we will know we’ve indeed been in the presence of the Father in quality time, even as was the life of Christ pour Lord!

We need more men and women in leadership today who are motivated by the unction of Holy Ghost and not being stirred by the emotions of their hearts, motivated by the very situations and conditions around them.

We need more preachers in the pulpit who know the Word so intimately that they can teach it to those whom the Lord puts before them not only thru spoken words but thru their life actions being lived out before the people – then we will see the opening of spiritual prison doors and the captives coming out in true freedom!

We need to put an end to cookie cutter ministries who seek to turn out perfect little Christians molded in the image of the doctrinal understanding we have and instead allow Holy Ghost to be able to impart the very gifts and calling of God according to that which the Father desires for each individual.

We need to go back to the basics of true discipleship according to the teachings of Christ that we will see the Johns and Peters, the Nathanael’s and James’s. the Matthew’s and Bartholomew’s. the Thomas’s and Andrew’s and the Simon’s and Philip’s rising up (Not only men but women as well). Each one was called of God, yet each one had a ministry gift that they operated in which was singularly different, yet when brought together made up the whole group’s character.

God’s ultimate goal for each individual’s life on earth is not comfort, but character development. He wants each of us to grow up spiritually. Becoming like Christ does not mean losing ones personality or becoming a mindless clone. God created each of us with an individual uniqueness, so he certainly doesn’t want to destroy it. Christ-likeness is all about transforming our character, not our personality.

We need to stop judging people as to whether they hold up to our calling and instead help them get positioned to where they are exhibiting the fruit of their individual calling. We are called to be Christ like, we were never called to look like and act like one another – other than the true unified display of our love for one another.

If we are to be true leaders in regard to maturing the babes in Christ we need to take a step back from the prideful reflection of ourselves, stepping into the very potion of where we can see with spiritual eyes open, the prophetic reflection of Christ in others lives – not who they are right now in the natural, rather who they are in Christ according to the Father’s calling on their lives.

Until we model the discipleship style that Jesus laid out for us, we will never see those before us maturing into true disciples of Jesus Christ.

If we desire to see radical disciples of Christ sold out radically to live as He has called us to live, then we must radically change the way we do church and the way we disciple, returning back to the style we find rooted in the gospels and the book of Acts.

I will end this with the writing’s of the Apostle Paul:

And he gave some apostles, some prophets, others evangelists, others shepherds and teachers, to the full ending of saints, into the work of ministry, into [the] edification of Christ’s body, till we run all, into unity of faith and of knowing of God’s Son, into a perfect man, after the measure of the age of the plenty of Christ; [till we run all, in unity of faith and of knowing of God’s Son, into a perfect man, into the measure of age of the plenty of Christ;] that we be not now little children, moving as waves, and be not borne about with each wind of teaching [and be borne about with all wind of teaching], in the waywardness of men, in subtle wit, to the deceiving of error.

But do we truth in charity, and wax in him by all things, that is Christ our head; [Forsooth we doing truth in charity, wax in him by all things, that is Christ the head;] of whom all the body set together, and bound together by each jointure of under-serving, by working into the measure of each member [after working into the measure of each member], maketh increasing of the body, into [the] edification of itself in charity.

Therefore I say and witness this thing in the Lord [Therefore this thing I say, and witness in the Lord], that ye walk not now, as heathen men walk, in the vanity of their wit; that have understanding darkened with darknesses [having their understanding darkened], and be aliened from the life of God, by ignorance that is in them, for the blindness of their heart.

Which despairing betook themselves to unchastity, into the working of all uncleanness in covetousness.

But ye have not so learned Christ, if nevertheless ye heard him, and be taught in him, as is truth in Jesus.

Do ye away by the old living the old man, that is corrupt by the desires of error; [Do ye away after the first living the old man, that is corrupt after the desires of error;] and be ye renewed in the spirit of your soul; and clothe ye the new man, which is made after God in rightwiseness and holiness of truth. [and clothe ye the new man, which after God is made of nought in rightwiseness and holiness of truth.] (Eph 4:11-24 Wycliff New Testament)

The highest calling is that of servant-hood,

Russ Welch

What of those with a reprobate, corrupt mind?

Posted: May 18, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, teaching
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What does the Word have to say about those who once followed Christ with all their hearts, experienced His presence yet now live a life entrenched in the wickedness of this world? The ones who know His word enough to use it as a defense but have no relationship with Him to experience His grace?

“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient” (Romans 1:28)

“Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith.” (2Timothy 3:8)

“They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” (Titus 1:16)

The fact is even if we don’t know what the definition of the word is, we can see from the context clues that it doesn’t mean anything of a complimentary nature! Someone didn’t like to retain God in their knowledge, so they became reprobate; men of corrupt minds are reprobate concerning the faith; someone denies God and is reprobate regarding good works. It sounds as if these people are not living the right way. They don’t seem to have a desire to please God. The result of their approach to life is this state of being reprobate.

If we dig deep enough we can often find more of what a verse means by comparing how other Bible translations render a word or sentence. For example, notice the same verses mentioned above taken from translations other than the KJV:

“Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind; to do what ought not to be done.” (Romans 1:28, NIV)

“Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;” (2Timothy 3:8, NKJV)

“They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.” (Titus 1:16, NASB)

The same Greek word translated reprobate in the KJV Bible (Greek: ἀδόκιμος or adokimos, Strong’s Concordance Number #G96) is translated as depraved in the NIV version of Romans 1:28, disapproved in the NKJV version of 2Timothy 3:8 and worthless in the NASB version of Titus 1:16.

Now back to the question of how are we to know about someone who has a reprobate mind? We know from Romans 1:28 that the people under discussion did not like to retain God in their knowledge. As a result, God gave them over to this reprobate, depraved, disapproved and virtually worthless state of mind.

It is clear here that the people Paul is discussing in Romans chapter one are godless and wicked men who suppress the truth by their wickedness (Romans 1:18). Paul states regarding these men:

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man — and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.” (Romans 1:20-23, NKJV)

We can see here that Paul is railing against some vile people who crept into the early church and began to teach other things, other doctrines, other gospels, and were successful at leading many astray. It was a problem right from the start, and it has continued to be a problem down to this very day! Perhaps as we continue reading what Paul said in Romans chapter one, we might recognize some people or organizations in the news today!

As we study the history of Christianity we come to know some of the early heresies of the first century church. Among the leading heresies was Gnosticism, from “gnosis” (knowledge). These liars taught a special kind of “inside knowledge” that led many away from the truth they had recently learned from the apostles! May I recommend reading the article “Are We under Bondage to the Law?”

In understanding Paul and the writers of the epistles are written as a direct defense of “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3, NKJV) against the onslaught of Gnosticism and other heresies. Paul wasn’t pulling any punches when he railed against these enemies of the truth, whether you’re reading about it in Romans or any of his other epistles. Paul was very concerned about the danger these snakes could do to the church members. He rightly called them depraved, debased, and ultimately, rejected!

And what of this question in regard to you and me? Might we be reprobates? The good news is, truly converted followers of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ don’t have to worry that they will be found reprobate – disapproved and disqualified – as long as they remain on the narrow, difficult path leading to the narrow gate of salvation (Matthew 7:13-14).

by Russ G Welch on Monday, October 11, 2010 at 8:36pm

To Baptize Millions of Souls

Posted: May 17, 2011 in disciples life, Kingdom Teaching, Prophetic
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The Fire of Awakening is Here – To Baptize Millions of Souls
Brian and Candice Simmons

I see a fire that has begun! It has been ignited in the nations and it will not be stopped. It is the fire of awakening. I’m sensing this firefall is a cascading move of God that will usher in a mighty baptism of fire for millions and millions of souls throughout this needy planet. It is not a revival centered around the anointed preacher, for when that preacher leaves the fire would go out. It is not a revival that is centered merely in one local church. It is a revival of cities, regions, and nations – coming alive with the fire of awakening!

I want to put before you a summary of this prophetic message God has spoken to me. Allow God to ignite this flame inside your being. God is asking: “How hungry are you for My fire, for the fire of My presence? Show me how much you want it!” Moses turned aside to see the mystery of fire…will you turn aside from your busy life, your many duties and distractions to gaze upon the Source of this eternal flame? How badly do you want it?

Our God is a consuming fire.—Hebrews 12:29

We know that God is love, God is light, God is life, and we gladly embrace those realities, but so must we embrace with equal certainty and security the reality that God is an all-consuming fire! Do you want to know God? He is a consuming Fire! To know God is to embrace the fire!

There are three things that are never satisfied – no, four that never say, “Enough!”: the grave, the barren womb, the thirsty desert, the blazing fire.—Proverbs 30:15-16

There are some things that never get finished, that never say “Enough!” This means there are some things God is never finished with. He never reaches a point where He says, “You’re holy enough, spiritual enough, disciplined enough, cleansed and purified enough.” There is a fire that will burn in you that will continue to burn long after the meeting, long after you encounter this raging blaze. Until you are consumed, this fire will never say, “Enough!”

God’s determination for your life and mine is not just to touch us, but to consume us with His fire. The devouring fire of holy jealousy surrounds. He will not share us with another. He created us for Himself and longs to possess every part of our lives. So, fire that never says enough is burning in me! And none of us who want to be close to God can escape the heat! God is so supernatural and powerful that He lives among the flames.

Here are the components of this all-consuming fire of God:

1. It is a Fire that Jesus Released to the Earth When He Walked Among Us!

“I baptize you with water. But One more powerful than I will come, the thongs of Whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire…—Luke 3:16-17

There is a sacred fire that is falling from Heaven. It is a baptism of fire the Lord wants to impart to His Bride. It is the fire of holy love for the Bridegroom, a fire of purity and holiness, the very spark of Divine fire that is the burning essence of God. Heavenly fire is being poured out upon the sacrifice and the altar. Moses stood before a sacred shrub burning with glory and holiness. He lingered before the burning presence until he became a burning bush! God’s plan is to light you on fire and for you to burn – for the entire world to see.

The fire of the Tabernacle in the wilderness was holy fire. It came from Heaven to earth as Moses and Aaron prayed at the gate of the Tabernacle. In one moment, suddenly, the fire fell and burned on the altar where sacrifice was made. “The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire… The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out” (Leviticus 6:12-13).

The fire came from God; maintaining the fire was the duty of man. Only God can send the fire. But God did not come down and tend the fire, keeping the flame from dying; this was the responsibility of man. THE FIRE IS TO BE KEPT BURNING CONTINUALLY – IT SHALL NOT GO OUT!

Every morning wood would be added to the fire to keep it burning, prepared for every new sacrifice. Every morning a new sacrifice was to be placed on the altar and consumed with this fire. The slain lamb must be put on the altar where the living flame would transform it and consume it and lift it in beautiful colors Heavenward as a sweet-smelling fragrance to God. It is for this reason the Baptism of Fire is given to you and I! Where fire burns within us, our whole being is ignited, consumed, making it an acceptable sacrifice. The fire turns everything into flaming love!

Every conflict…

Every failure…

Every sacrifice…

Every gift we offer…

The fire makes it sweet to God! Everything you throw into this fire will become love on the other side. It will be ashes, but it will become beauty! What you cling to and refuse to throw into the raging flame will become worthless to you one day. It is the fire burning continually that makes our life a living sacrifice. Every moment is sacred, every duty is delight, every thought and word surrendered to Heaven. The path to love is the path of surrender to this fire!

2. The Fire of God in Holiness

It was in the year King Uzziah died, that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the Temple. Attending Him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with His glory!” Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.—Isaiah 6:1-4 NLT

Isaiah saw the Lord lifted high and exalted with these singing seraphim flying around His throne. You see, they flew so close to the fire they caught on fire! That is what the holiness of God will do to you. If you get close to holiness, it will purify and ignite your soul. The seraphim are actually Angels of Fire! Their name, seraphim, means “burning ones.”

“At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook (NIV).” A violent concussion hits like a bombshell and a tremendous shaking burst forth in the Temple of Holiness. Everything began to quake. Walls and posts and doors. “And the temple was filled with smoke (NIV).” The glory cloud moved in and covered the entire scene. The fragrant incense of praise offered to God became a cloud of glory!

Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”—Isaiah 6:5-7 NLT

The prophet of God was taken into the Most Holy Place of the King’s Throne Room, and there he witnessed firsthand the unveiled Holiness of God Almighty. Isaiah’s response to all this was pronouncing his seventh woe – “Woe to me!” No one comes before the fire of the holiness of God without devastation. What a shocking experience for God’s prophet! It is the duty of a prophet to make declarations and announcements on God’s behalf.

Isaiah must be humbled and shattered by the revelation of the King. Isaiah was one of the best of God’s people – with anointed lips he had brought messages from God to the people. Yet he declares, “I am ruined” (in Hebrew, “finished, cut off, and pierced through, devastated, destroyed, doomed, undone and ruined”). He not only saw God, he saw Isaiah. One glimpse of God’s holiness and he became a wretch in God’s eyes. Expect the fire of holiness to burn you until you see what Isaiah saw!

The Lord opened the Heavens and He opened the prophet’s eyes. Vision brings hope. True vision brings true hope. We will never feed people from the Tree of Life, giving them the water from the satisfying River of God, until we see the Lord high and lifted up.

Most of us think revival is the roof blowing off, but in fact, it is the bottom falling out. Revival will come not with just a WOW, but a “Woe to me!”

“My eyes have seen the King!” The majesty of this King left him undone and shattered! When you see God seated on the throne all you can think about is your uncleanness. “Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.” Instead of ushering Isaiah out of the Holy Place and throwing him out on his ear, a provision was made for his cleansing. One of the burning ones took a live coal, “a burning coal,” and brought it to Isaiah. Visions of glory will turn to visits of grace. God’s prophet was cleansed by the burning coal.

This “burning coal” from off the altar speaks of the SACRIFICE of Christ which takes away our sins! The coal is a living flame, which points to Christ’s resurrection life that continues to burn in us with jealous flames! The Cross is the live coal that touches our lips in purging fire. Jesus became the sacrifice that endured the judgment of God for our sins.

3. The Fire of God in Power

What happens when the Holy Spirit baptizes us with fire? What happens when the power of the Holy Spirit comes upon us? It is more than we expect and it is different than we expect. It will make us witnesses for Christ willing to go anywhere, even to the ends of the earth with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It will give us great power to confirm the message of Christ’s death and resurrection with signs and wonders. God Himself will work with us in demonstrating His power to confirm His Word.

“God makes His angels become like winds. He makes His servants become like flames of fire.”—Hebrews 1:7 NCV

The fires of God are needed to ignite our passions to love Him and lay our lives down for Him. Without fire all we have is dead religion and Christian cliches. This intense God wants an intense love relationship with us. Imagine, the most awesome, intriguing, mysterious, and fascinating Being in the Universe wants us to experience Him and meet with Him in the fires of holiness! This is what is meant by all-consuming fire. It is a fire that attracts, fastens onto the soul, and devours everything that gets in the way of holy love.

4. The Burning SEAL of FIRE Upon Our Hearts!

This is the fire of intimacy! It is the burning heart that cannot live apart from love. The love of Christ now becomes the fuel for the flame of God. The raging furnace of love is carried upon our lives every moment. Jesus must be glorified! Jesus must be the center of attraction. Jesus must be released by our passionate praises.

This burning seal is the mark of the Christ. Many are concerned about the mark of the beast, but I have become fixated with the mark of Christ, the brands of His love that burn on my heart. Undistracted devotion to Jesus will brand the heart with burning passions. Nothing can be compared to this love. Intense, unyielding, blazing fire… This is the seal He invites you to place over your heart! It is a seal that will brand you for life, forever changed by that love.

It will consume your shackles and chains of emotional bondage and pain. It will unravel your clever ways and break the self-confidence that has been a part of your life. It is an unquenchable fire that will not rest until you are fully His. Regardless of your sin or failure, this relentless love that consumes like a forest fire will defeat it! It is a tenderizing fire that will leave us responsive to Him, craving more. You are about to become His burning bush of fire (Exodus 3:2)!

“Many waters cannot quench love…” (Song of Solomon 8:7). These waters are floods of obstacles and pressures. Nothing can put out the eternal flame of Divine love burning within the Bride. Water puts out fire, but many waters cannot quench this love! Even rivers of persecution cannot do it. Rivers of misunderstanding, heartache, disappointment, or pain cannot quench His love. Rivers of accusation, condemnation and rejection cannot put out the sacred flame. Joseph felt temptation, Peter denied our Lord Jesus, Saul of Tarsus persecuted the saints; but nothing could extinguish Love’s jealous flames.

This supernatural fire fell from Heaven, consuming the living sacrifices of the Bridal company. It will not go out. Sickness, failure, divorce, shame and guilt… none of these can quench the love of God. He will never put out the fire that burns in our hearts. You can be fired from your job or rejected by those you love – the strongest rivers of difficulty cannot put out this blazing fire (Revelation 12:16-17)!

His love is the seal, and the source of this love is God Himself. Our ability to claim this love has nothing to do with our temperament or personality, how we have treated Him or what we have done to mess up our lives. His love is the seal over our hearts, not our performance, not our devotion! His fire is greater than the illegal fires of any sin or addiction. His fire will not be put out by your failure to walk perfectly before Him. His love is the seal, not your secret failures and shameful history. This love will prevail, it will conquer you in the end – you will be consumed in its flames! Love conquers all (I Corinthians 13:8-13) and never fails. When you fail, love doesn’t.

Listen to the Passion Translation of Song of Songs 8:6-7:

“Place Me now as a seal of fire over your heart forevermore.
This living, consuming flame of fire will seal you to be Mine
Until you become my prisoner of love!
My love for you will be stronger than the chains of death and the grave.
My love for you will be consuming as flashes of fire
From the burning heart of God.
Place this fierce, unrelenting fire over all your being
Until you are consumed!
Rivers of persecution and pain will never extinguish this flame.
Even floods will be unable to quench this raging fire!
Everything will be consumed,
It will stop at nothing!
Surrender everything to this furious fire—
Until it won’t even seem to you
Like a sacrifice anymore!”

All I can say is there is coming to you a fire that will consume everything you yield to God. When you and I have surrendered EVERYTHING to this flame, it won’t even seem like a sacrifice anymore!

Love you my friends,

Brian Simmons
Apostolic Resource Center (ARC) & Stairway Ministries
Email: bwsimmons@msn.com

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