The Price of Freedom
"And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him" (Mark 9:26).
Evil never surrenders its hold without a sore fight. We never pass into any spiritual inheritance through the delightful exercises of a picnic, but always through the grim contentions of the battle field. It is so in the secret realm of the soul. Every faculty which wins its spiritual freedom does so at the price of blood. Apollyon is not put to flight by a courteous request; he straddles across the full breadth of the way, and our progress has to be registered in blood and tears. This we must remember or we shall add to all the other burdens of life the gall of misinterpretation. We are not "born again" into soft and protected nurseries, but in the open country where we suck strength from the very terror of the tempest. "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." Dr. J. H. Jowett
"Faith of our Fathers! living still,
In spite of dungeon, fire and sword:
O how our hearts beat high with joy
Whene'er we hear that glorious word.
Faith of our Fathers! Holy Faith!
We will be true to Thee till death!
"Our fathers, chained in prisons dark,
Were still in heart and conscience free;
How sweet would be their children's fate,
If they, like them, could die for Thee!"
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Raising The Bar
God created everything perfect including man. Man was created to love God as much as God loved Him. But then man fell. At this point God could have said” mankind, whom I loved, blessed, and created perfect, chose Lucifer over Me; let them all go to the Lake of Fire and We (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) will begin all over; create another universe with beings who will stay loyal and love Us as We will love them.”
If God had done this-he would have been perfectly just in his decision. But-out of his amazing love, he made a promise to mankind to send a Redeemer who would deliver us from the bondage we placed ourselves under. That is Jesus Christ. Now not only is our judgment paid for, but we take on a new nature. When a person gives his life entirely to Jesus he becomes a brand new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:17 When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!
WE DIE WHEN WE RECEIVE JESUS CHRIST AS LORD!
We put our old nature to death. It is unnatural for a “believer” to habitually and willfully sin. Believer is in quotes because so often people claim Jesus’ name-but do not portray a Godly nature in their lives.
Matthew 7:17-20 Different kinds of fruit trees can quickly be identified by examining their fruit. A tree that produces delicious fruit never produces and inedible kind. And a tree producing an inedible kind can’t produce what is good. So the trees having the inedible fruit are chopped down and thrown in the fire. Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person is by the kind of fruit produced.
Jesus says the way to identify a genuine Christian is not by what they say-but how they live.
How do you react when somebody offends you? When somebody talks about you?
How do you react when you’re feelings get hurt?
Do you lash out in anger? Do you try to fight back?
Do you love people like Christ would?
Do you stand up for what you know is right?
Do you daily pick up your cross and die to yourself?
Our sin is a reaction of living for ourselves and not for God. There are many who confess to being Christians yet produce fruit that clearly shows otherwise.
Unfortunately the gospel we’ve preached has been lopsided with emphasis placed on accepting Jesus by praying a sinner’s prayer. We confess him as “Lord” and once done we are saved eternally. Yet this is not what Jesus teaches. He says in Matthew 7:21-“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
If you read on it says, “Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, THOSE ACTS WERE UNAUTHORIZED.'
THAT TERRIFIES ME!
If we could filter through years of unbalanced teaching and singing on the grace of God, we could see His words couldn’t be clearer-NOT EVERYONE WHO HAS PRAYED THE SINNERS PRAYER, CONFESSING HIM AS THEIR LORD, IS GOING TO HEAVEN.
So often we hear services on ‘come to God and get blessed, come receive joy, peace, prosperity, happiness, health, heaven, and so forth.’ And all of these are amazing gifts God desires to give us, don’t get me wrong. But then people from the congregation go to the altar thinking ‘well what a great deal! All I have to do is pray this prayer and receive blessing!’ So they pray and the audience cheers and the new “converts” go back to their seats, “just as they were.” Except they are deceived. And unfortunately-so are many of us.
Nothing has been said about repentance from disobedient lifestyles, DENYING OUR OWN DESIRES IN ORDER TO EMBRACE GOD, AND LOSING THEIR LIVES FOR THE CAUSE OF CHRIST.
When we confess Jesus as our Lord, there must be a heart change. Jesus can’t just be a part of our lives. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords doesn’t come into anyone’s life as second or even first, among rival lovers. He only comes in as our complete and total King with no PERSON, THING, or ACTIVITY vying for His place in our hearts. He must be Lord, which means Supreme Master and Owner; meaning we don’t own our lives any longer.
*We must allow the Cross to slay our self-seeking life and make room for the new nature of Jesus to be formed within us.
Many of us have not done what Jesus commanded all true followers to do.
That is to count the cost of following Him and then make the permanent decision to pay the price of our lives given to his service.
Mark 8:34 If anyone intends to come after Me, let him DENY HIMSELF (forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests) and take up his cross, and (joining Me as a disciple and siding with my party) follow with Me (continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me).
It’s not just a one-time prayer and then life as usual except you are now in the “born-again” club and are heaven bound.
Read Driven by Eternity pgs 82-83. Military story.
We’ve heard gospels preached about a free salvation. And this is 100% accurate. But we forget it costs our freedom. (This isn’t really freedom because those outside of Christ are bound to sin.) The Matrix provides a good example of what this is like. Read pgs 83-84.
It is difficult to be a Christian. You cannot have Christ and salvation and keep your will and your freedom. Many of us live off of high spiritual encounters such as church camp and spiritual emphasis week, and an emotional Wednesday night at youth group. But after a while our unchanged nature begins to show, but it is covered by an Evangelical language and lifestyle. That is why it is most deceptive. But Paul warns us of that in 2 Timothy 3:1 “In the last days it is going to be very difficult to be a Christian.”
Why?
2 Timothy 3:2-5 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. 5For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession].
We need to allow the cross to slay our self life.
Titus 1:16: 16Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They deny Him by their lifestyles, not their words.
Too many of us see the love of God in the light of the temporal, not the eternal. There is love and goodness, which are admired by society and many in the church but determined by human measures, and are contrary to the love of God.
All of us will stand before the highest court of the universe. This courts decision will be eternally final. There will be MANY who will be shocked, but they don’t have to be. Are you ready?
1 John 4:17 17And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the Day of Judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we are like Christ here in this world.
God is raising the bar. He is setting a higher standard. We should no longer be being spoon-fed! If you are 18 years or older and have been either Christian or in the church for two years or more, with the opportunities we have-there should be no reason for you have some type of leadership role in the church.
We have ample opportunities to serve God; to make the decision to put our lives down for the sake of His Kingdom. So many of us say, “Oh-I’ll serve God when I’m older,” or, “I’ll read tomorrow.” But sometimes God gives us only one chance. Take for example the story of the woman in Mark 5:24-34.
Jesus only came through that town once. He never came back. What if the woman used our excuses? What if she said ‘Oh, I’ll get Him next time around’? She never would have gotten her healing. But she was desperate for Him. She realized this could be her one and only chance.
God can bless us at any time, but we each have windows. Windows of opportunity for a blessing.
John 5 The Healing at the Pool
1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.[b] 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
People are sent into your life to give you a blessing-if you deny them and they leave-you have missed it. And you have nobody to blame but yourself.
Some of your windows of opportunity are:
-Life group
-Leadership
-Youth Group
-Sunday church
We have a window of harvest time now! Are you going to take advantage of it? Don’t take this for granted.
If God had done this-he would have been perfectly just in his decision. But-out of his amazing love, he made a promise to mankind to send a Redeemer who would deliver us from the bondage we placed ourselves under. That is Jesus Christ. Now not only is our judgment paid for, but we take on a new nature. When a person gives his life entirely to Jesus he becomes a brand new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:17 When someone becomes a Christian, he becomes a new person inside. He is not the same anymore. A new life has begun!
WE DIE WHEN WE RECEIVE JESUS CHRIST AS LORD!
We put our old nature to death. It is unnatural for a “believer” to habitually and willfully sin. Believer is in quotes because so often people claim Jesus’ name-but do not portray a Godly nature in their lives.
Matthew 7:17-20 Different kinds of fruit trees can quickly be identified by examining their fruit. A tree that produces delicious fruit never produces and inedible kind. And a tree producing an inedible kind can’t produce what is good. So the trees having the inedible fruit are chopped down and thrown in the fire. Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person is by the kind of fruit produced.
Jesus says the way to identify a genuine Christian is not by what they say-but how they live.
How do you react when somebody offends you? When somebody talks about you?
How do you react when you’re feelings get hurt?
Do you lash out in anger? Do you try to fight back?
Do you love people like Christ would?
Do you stand up for what you know is right?
Do you daily pick up your cross and die to yourself?
Our sin is a reaction of living for ourselves and not for God. There are many who confess to being Christians yet produce fruit that clearly shows otherwise.
Unfortunately the gospel we’ve preached has been lopsided with emphasis placed on accepting Jesus by praying a sinner’s prayer. We confess him as “Lord” and once done we are saved eternally. Yet this is not what Jesus teaches. He says in Matthew 7:21-“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
If you read on it says, “Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, THOSE ACTS WERE UNAUTHORIZED.'
THAT TERRIFIES ME!
If we could filter through years of unbalanced teaching and singing on the grace of God, we could see His words couldn’t be clearer-NOT EVERYONE WHO HAS PRAYED THE SINNERS PRAYER, CONFESSING HIM AS THEIR LORD, IS GOING TO HEAVEN.
So often we hear services on ‘come to God and get blessed, come receive joy, peace, prosperity, happiness, health, heaven, and so forth.’ And all of these are amazing gifts God desires to give us, don’t get me wrong. But then people from the congregation go to the altar thinking ‘well what a great deal! All I have to do is pray this prayer and receive blessing!’ So they pray and the audience cheers and the new “converts” go back to their seats, “just as they were.” Except they are deceived. And unfortunately-so are many of us.
Nothing has been said about repentance from disobedient lifestyles, DENYING OUR OWN DESIRES IN ORDER TO EMBRACE GOD, AND LOSING THEIR LIVES FOR THE CAUSE OF CHRIST.
When we confess Jesus as our Lord, there must be a heart change. Jesus can’t just be a part of our lives. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords doesn’t come into anyone’s life as second or even first, among rival lovers. He only comes in as our complete and total King with no PERSON, THING, or ACTIVITY vying for His place in our hearts. He must be Lord, which means Supreme Master and Owner; meaning we don’t own our lives any longer.
*We must allow the Cross to slay our self-seeking life and make room for the new nature of Jesus to be formed within us.
Many of us have not done what Jesus commanded all true followers to do.
That is to count the cost of following Him and then make the permanent decision to pay the price of our lives given to his service.
Mark 8:34 If anyone intends to come after Me, let him DENY HIMSELF (forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests) and take up his cross, and (joining Me as a disciple and siding with my party) follow with Me (continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me).
It’s not just a one-time prayer and then life as usual except you are now in the “born-again” club and are heaven bound.
Read Driven by Eternity pgs 82-83. Military story.
We’ve heard gospels preached about a free salvation. And this is 100% accurate. But we forget it costs our freedom. (This isn’t really freedom because those outside of Christ are bound to sin.) The Matrix provides a good example of what this is like. Read pgs 83-84.
It is difficult to be a Christian. You cannot have Christ and salvation and keep your will and your freedom. Many of us live off of high spiritual encounters such as church camp and spiritual emphasis week, and an emotional Wednesday night at youth group. But after a while our unchanged nature begins to show, but it is covered by an Evangelical language and lifestyle. That is why it is most deceptive. But Paul warns us of that in 2 Timothy 3:1 “In the last days it is going to be very difficult to be a Christian.”
Why?
2 Timothy 3:2-5 2People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. 5For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession].
We need to allow the cross to slay our self life.
Titus 1:16: 16Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They deny Him by their lifestyles, not their words.
Too many of us see the love of God in the light of the temporal, not the eternal. There is love and goodness, which are admired by society and many in the church but determined by human measures, and are contrary to the love of God.
All of us will stand before the highest court of the universe. This courts decision will be eternally final. There will be MANY who will be shocked, but they don’t have to be. Are you ready?
1 John 4:17 17And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the Day of Judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we are like Christ here in this world.
God is raising the bar. He is setting a higher standard. We should no longer be being spoon-fed! If you are 18 years or older and have been either Christian or in the church for two years or more, with the opportunities we have-there should be no reason for you have some type of leadership role in the church.
We have ample opportunities to serve God; to make the decision to put our lives down for the sake of His Kingdom. So many of us say, “Oh-I’ll serve God when I’m older,” or, “I’ll read tomorrow.” But sometimes God gives us only one chance. Take for example the story of the woman in Mark 5:24-34.
Jesus only came through that town once. He never came back. What if the woman used our excuses? What if she said ‘Oh, I’ll get Him next time around’? She never would have gotten her healing. But she was desperate for Him. She realized this could be her one and only chance.
God can bless us at any time, but we each have windows. Windows of opportunity for a blessing.
John 5 The Healing at the Pool
1Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. 2Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.[b] 5One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
7"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
People are sent into your life to give you a blessing-if you deny them and they leave-you have missed it. And you have nobody to blame but yourself.
Some of your windows of opportunity are:
-Life group
-Leadership
-Youth Group
-Sunday church
We have a window of harvest time now! Are you going to take advantage of it? Don’t take this for granted.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Two Reasons For Not Being Broken
Why do so many people remain unchanged after being dealt with for years? Others have a strong will, strong emotions, or a strong mind, yet the Lord can still break them. There are two main reasons that many people are not broken in spite of the passing years.
First, these ones are living in darkness. They do not see God’s hand. God is working and breaking, yet they do not know that God is doing the work. They are short of light, and they are not living in the light. They only see men, thinking that men are opposing them. Or they only see the environment, complaining that it is too harsh. They put all the blame on the environment. May the Lord grant us the revelation to see God’s hand. May we kneel down and say, “This is You. This is You. I accept it.” At a minimum we have to know whose hand is dealing with us. At a minimum we have to know that hand and see that it is not the world, our family, or the brothers and sisters in the church who are dealing with us. We have to see God’s hand. God is the One who is dealing with us. We have to learn from Madam Guyon, who would kiss such a hand and treasure such a hand. We must have this light. We have to accept and believe everything that the Lord has done. He can never be wrong in what He does.
Second, a person is not broken because he loves himself too much. Self-love is a great obstacle to breaking. We have to ask God to remove all self-love from us. When god plucks this self-love from us, we have to worship Him, saying, “Lord! If this is Your hand, I accept it from my heart.” We have to remember that all misunderstandings, complaints, and dissatisfactions arise from only one thing -----secret self-love.
Because we love ourselves secretly, we try to save ourselves. This is a big problem. Many times problems arise because we try to save ourselves.
Those who know the Lord to the cross without taking the vinegar mingled with gall! Many go to the cross reluctantly. They try to taste the vinegar mingled with gall in an attempt to relieve their feelings. Those who say, “The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?”, will not take a cup that is filled with vinegar mingled with gall. They only take one cup, not both cups. These ones do not have ay self-love in them. Self-love is the root of our problem. May the Lord speak within us today, and may we pray, “My God! I now see that everything comes from You. My experiences of the past five, ten, or twenty years have all come from You. All of these things were done with only one purpose in mind ---that Your life would be expressed through me. I have been foolish. I did not see this. Through self-love I have done many things to save myself, and I have wasted much of Your time (and others) Today I see Your hand, and I willingly consecrate myself to You. I commit myself to Your hand once again.”
First, these ones are living in darkness. They do not see God’s hand. God is working and breaking, yet they do not know that God is doing the work. They are short of light, and they are not living in the light. They only see men, thinking that men are opposing them. Or they only see the environment, complaining that it is too harsh. They put all the blame on the environment. May the Lord grant us the revelation to see God’s hand. May we kneel down and say, “This is You. This is You. I accept it.” At a minimum we have to know whose hand is dealing with us. At a minimum we have to know that hand and see that it is not the world, our family, or the brothers and sisters in the church who are dealing with us. We have to see God’s hand. God is the One who is dealing with us. We have to learn from Madam Guyon, who would kiss such a hand and treasure such a hand. We must have this light. We have to accept and believe everything that the Lord has done. He can never be wrong in what He does.
Second, a person is not broken because he loves himself too much. Self-love is a great obstacle to breaking. We have to ask God to remove all self-love from us. When god plucks this self-love from us, we have to worship Him, saying, “Lord! If this is Your hand, I accept it from my heart.” We have to remember that all misunderstandings, complaints, and dissatisfactions arise from only one thing -----secret self-love.
Because we love ourselves secretly, we try to save ourselves. This is a big problem. Many times problems arise because we try to save ourselves.
Those who know the Lord to the cross without taking the vinegar mingled with gall! Many go to the cross reluctantly. They try to taste the vinegar mingled with gall in an attempt to relieve their feelings. Those who say, “The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it?”, will not take a cup that is filled with vinegar mingled with gall. They only take one cup, not both cups. These ones do not have ay self-love in them. Self-love is the root of our problem. May the Lord speak within us today, and may we pray, “My God! I now see that everything comes from You. My experiences of the past five, ten, or twenty years have all come from You. All of these things were done with only one purpose in mind ---that Your life would be expressed through me. I have been foolish. I did not see this. Through self-love I have done many things to save myself, and I have wasted much of Your time (and others) Today I see Your hand, and I willingly consecrate myself to You. I commit myself to Your hand once again.”
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Broken Spirit
Broken Spirit, by Alan Smith
I have heard that there is a monastery in Greece perched high on a cliff, several hundred feet in the air. The only way to reach the monastery is to be suspended in a basket which is pulled to the top by several monks who pull and tug with all their strength. Obviously, the ride up the steep cliff in that basket is terrifying.
One tourist got exceedingly nervous about half-way up as he noticed that the rope by which he was suspended was old and frayed. With a trembling voice, he asked the monk who was riding with him in the basket how often they changed the rope.
The monk thought for a moment and answered serenely, "Whenever it breaks."
Help me as I strive to have a broken spirit.
We are shocked that someone would wait that long before changing the rope. It only makes sense that the rope ought to be changed long before reaching that point. But, it dawned on me that God operates the same way in our lives. If we were to ask God when He will change our lives, His answer might well be, "Whenever you break!"
You see, our lives can only change once we have what the Bible refers to as a "broken and contrite spirit." As long as we remain arrogant and determined to do things our way, God can't shape us and mold us. Like a wild stallion, we remain useless until we are "broken."
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted ... (Psalm 34:18 NIV). ... a
broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:17
NIV).
Father, I so often want to do things my own stubborn way. Help me as I strive to have a broken spirit, recognizing my shortcomings while humbly and willingly listening to Your instruction. In Jesus' name.
Amen.
I have heard that there is a monastery in Greece perched high on a cliff, several hundred feet in the air. The only way to reach the monastery is to be suspended in a basket which is pulled to the top by several monks who pull and tug with all their strength. Obviously, the ride up the steep cliff in that basket is terrifying.
One tourist got exceedingly nervous about half-way up as he noticed that the rope by which he was suspended was old and frayed. With a trembling voice, he asked the monk who was riding with him in the basket how often they changed the rope.
The monk thought for a moment and answered serenely, "Whenever it breaks."
Help me as I strive to have a broken spirit.
We are shocked that someone would wait that long before changing the rope. It only makes sense that the rope ought to be changed long before reaching that point. But, it dawned on me that God operates the same way in our lives. If we were to ask God when He will change our lives, His answer might well be, "Whenever you break!"
You see, our lives can only change once we have what the Bible refers to as a "broken and contrite spirit." As long as we remain arrogant and determined to do things our way, God can't shape us and mold us. Like a wild stallion, we remain useless until we are "broken."
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted ... (Psalm 34:18 NIV). ... a
broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (Psalm 51:17
NIV).
Father, I so often want to do things my own stubborn way. Help me as I strive to have a broken spirit, recognizing my shortcomings while humbly and willingly listening to Your instruction. In Jesus' name.
Amen.
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