Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And entering into the Pharisee’s house, He reclined to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she found out that He was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of perfume, and standing by His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and was wiping them with the hair of her head; and she was kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.
(Luke 7:36-38)
You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
(1Cor 7:23)
Now I say, for as much time as the heir is a minor, he does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were minors, were enslaved by the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, being born of a woman, being born under the law, so that He might redeem those under the law, so that we might receive the adoption. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, also an heir of God through Christ. But at one time indeed, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature were not gods. But now, having known God, or rather, having been known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which once again you wish to be slaves? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest somehow I have worked hard for you in vain. Brothers, I beseech you, become as I am, because I also am as you are. You have not wronged me at all. You know that because of weakness in the flesh I preached the gospel to you the former time. And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise nor disdain, but as an angel of God you received me, even as Christ Jesus. What then was your blessing? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have torn out your own eyes and given them to me! Have I therefore become your enemy by speaking the truth to you? They are zealous about you in the wrong way; but they wish to shut you out, so that you will be zealous about them. But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you! And I wanted to be present with you just now and to change my tone; because I am uncertain about you.
(Gal 4:1-20)
a) God sent forth His Son from heaven to this earth. The Son was sent forth FROM heaven, by His Father.
Be aware that satan has a teaching that says that Jesus became God’s Son when He was conceived in Mary’s womb, and that He did not live before that with the Father in heaven. Such a “jesus” is a fake and not the real Jesus.
b) The cry Abba Father! is the cry of the Spirit of the Son. We share in His Sonship, yet obviously we don’t share in His Divinity.
c) Sonship can’t be achieved, it can only be believed. Anyone trying to attain to being a son of God is not saved, and still lost. That’s the whole point of this passage.
d) Paul has an amazingly good testimony concerning the Galatians love and concern for him, and the way they honored and received him as one sent by Jesus Christ, and he confirms that they did indeed receive the Holy Spirit, yet, with all this going for them, still he has doubts about them, whether they will remain in the grace of Christ or not.
Do you, at random it seems, get glimpses into the Glory of God and your heart just melts and worships Him? He lifts the curtain and let’s us see in the Spirit something more of His Glory – His overwhelming surpassing Greatness and Power, and the ONLY response we could make is to worship Him with Holy fear and gratitude.
We can worship like this, in response to His revelation, silently or vocally, anywhere, anytime. Glory to Jesus!
Yesterday over lunch I was pondering on this : how our spirit could be loosely compared to an email Inbox. At any time God can drop a “mail” into your Inbox, and then it’s up to us to read the mail and do whatever we must do with it, for whatever purpose He sent it to us.
I’m often aware that I’ve “Got Mail” from the Lord, just sitting in my spirit and waiting for me to attend to and consider. Sometimes the “Mail” is processed right away and the result is an article or message, or to see and talk to someone, etc. Other times it sits in the “Inbox” for days, even months, before being acted upon or implemented, for various reasons in God.
God deposits into our spirit, by His Spirit.
Years ago, whenever I “Got Mail”, I would rush to scribble it down on a piece of paper, on anything, bcos I feared I would lose it and forget what it was. These days, I dunno, it must be growth in grace and faith, but I don’t need to do that, bcos the things He drops into my spirit stay there, very real, and I don’t forget them, and those things which are forgotten were not from Him.
(For example, this article is something I felt He dropped into my spirit, for some one’s encouragement)
Pursue peace with all, and holiness (sanctification), without which (or apart from) no one shall see the Lord: looking diligently lest anyone fall from the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness growing up cause trouble, and through this many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who in exchange for one meal gave up his birthright. For you know that indeed afterward, wishing to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, having sought it out diligently with tears.
(Heb 12:14-17)
This is descriptive, not prescriptive. It describes the reality before God, and not prescribes how to get to God, that is, it does not say that by trying to be Holy and achieving “holiness” one can get to God or to heaven.
If one could achieve holiness then Jesus died for nothing.
Rather, it describes the fact before God, that He declares, that no unholy person will see Him, no matter what they claim to believe. Sure, the entire world will see Him, but “seeing” here means to know Him and be with Him forever, BOTH in this life and in the life to come.
It’s God who makes the call as to what is Holy and what is unholy (thru His Word) and as to who has Holiness and who does not.
Here in this Scripture HE says that there are “christians” of whom He will declare that they are “without Holiness” – they are “apart from” Holiness and therefore estranged from Him.
For example, the “christian” liar, fornicator, huckster, covetous, idolater, false-teacher etc. – Does God say of them, This person has Holiness! This is a Holy man/woman! ?
A sister in the Lord wrote an article and sent it to me, and in it she tells how she is paying children to read the Bible.
Here’s my second reply to her:
You’ve misunderstood me, I wasn’t referring to “the value” of doing it, as in, the results you hope to gain from that activity, I was referring to Godly “values”. Surely you know what values are?
Paying kids to read the Bible is an ungodly thing to do, it’s defiling that which is Holy. No different to paying them to pray or to worship. Imagine if you offered your child money if they will say to you, I love you Mommy! ??
The value which is being instilled into them thru this is that it’s ok to be corrupt as long as the desired result is achieved.
It’s corrupt to think that a Holy God would offer someone money to lure them into reading His Word. He doesn’t do stuff like that, and we should follow Him.
In apostate christendom this type of thinking is encouraged. “Pastors” are hired, offered a salary contract, so they can be your friend. Imagine if someone came up to you and said, Hey, I will be your friend! And my fee for being your friend is X amount of dollars. ??
Rent-a-friend? Rent a pastor? No. They are taking that which is Holy and defiling it. They rationalize that it’s ok to prostitute the things of God because they are doing a good work for God, and then go about justifying their corruption by showing how great their ministry is.
Sister, don’t resort to the flesh to get “results”. The end result does not justify corrupt means.
Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; neither will they say, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look, there it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is among you.” Then He said to the disciples, ” Days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you shall not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Look here!’ or ‘Look there!’ Do not go forth nor follow them. For just as the lightning which flashes out of the one part under heaven shines to the other part under heaven, so also the Son of Man will be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it happened in the days of Lot; they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. In the same way it shall be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
(Luke 17:20-30)
a) The Kingdom is among you. Don’t look for a “great” church or a “great” revival, or a new movement or whatever. The Kingdom has to be among you, that is, where you live, in your own home and family, or you don’t possess it (Him). That’s where we see the Kingdom today, among us, NOW. Not “next year”, when the “revival” is perpetually prophesied to come, but that’s another subject – “revival mythology”. People get sucked into “revival mythology” bcos they are blind to the Kingdom among them now – blind to the values which Jesus Christ places upon the seemingly little, insignificant things of every day life. And the result of this thinking is lives which are disobedient to Christ – the “end justifying the means” – willing to be corrupt for the sake of the advancement of Christianity.
b) Christ’s bodily return to earth will be witnessed by the whole earth. His own will be caught up to Him, and God’s wrath poured out on the earth, as it was in the flood, and as it was in Sodom.
c) This means that very few will be saved, in proportion to the population of the earth – a small minority ; just as it was with the flood and with Sodom.
d) A related aspect to the “Ark” analogy, that is, that Christ is our Ark. Noah could have been tempted to complain about the difficulty of building an Ark, and then the discomfort of living on the Ark with all those smelly animals; but, obviously, before he would complain he must have thought of the alternative, and then realized how merciful God had been to him, and given thanks IN his trial. Similarly, we are living in the “Days of Noah” now, and Christ Jesus is our Ark. His Ark is not a 5-star luxury cruise liner; it’s more of a battle ship. We’re not on a cruise.
We preach to men as if they were conscious of being dying sinners; they are not; they are having a good time, and our talk about being born again is from a domain of which they know nothing. The natural man does not want to be born again. – Oswald Chambers from The Psychology of Redemption, 1062 R.
Fascinating fact. Important one too.
This made me think of the principle in the world of identification – how naturally we find a hero to identify with and to confirm and approve our own identity, whether they be a political, media, movie, music or church-biz star.
But to identify your self with the Crucified, with the Man whom the world rejected??? To share in His death before you can share in His resurrection? It’s against every natural inclination. It HAS to be God.
But as many as received Him, He gave them the authority to become children of God, to those who believe in His name; who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
(John 1:12-13)
1 Kings 3:3 And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places.
4 And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar.
5 In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.
6 And Solomon said, Thou hast showed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.
7 And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.
8 And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.
9 Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
10 And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
11 And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;
12 Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo,
I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart;
so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.
( Meaning: The famed wisdom of Solomon was a spiritual gift from God which Solomon had ONLY bcos he asked for it. He was not naturally endowed with great wisdom. This he asked for and received from the Lord.)
13 And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.
14 And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days.
15 And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.
16 Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the king, and stood before him.
17 And the one woman said, O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house.
18 And it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house.
19 And this woman’s child died in the night; because she overlaid it.
20 And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.
21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear.
22 And the other woman said, Nay; but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And this said, No; but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king.
23 Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living.
24 And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.
25 And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
26 Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it.
But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.
( Talk about heartless!!! )
27 Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.
28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again unto fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer together, so that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed in us.
(Rom 8:14-18)
“Trying to convert Jews is a waste of time he (Hagee) said.
Everyone else whether Buddhist or Baha’i needs to believe in Jesus, he says. But not Jews, Jews already have a covenant with God that has never been replaced with Christianity he says.
The Jewish people have a relationship with God through the law of God as given through Moses, Hagee said. I believe that every Gentile person can only come to God through the cross of Christ. I believe that every Jewish person who lives in light of the Torah, which is the word of God, has a relationship with God and will come to redemption.
The Law of Moses is sufficient enough to bring a person into the knowledge of God until God gives him a greater revelation. And God has not said Hagee.”
[Statement DH005 , Christian Research Institute, Charlotte, NC]
But John Hagee, nowhere does the Scripture say that we are to “try and convert” anyone, we are commanded to preach the gospel to every creature, and it is God who converts. We are Jesus’ witnesses in the earth; we would be deluded if we thought it was our job to convert the earth, whether they be Jews or Gentiles.
Contrary to what Hagee says, the Scripture, thru command and recorded precedents, shows that there is only one gospel to be preached, and that which can save, and it’s to be preached to all the world, Jew and Gentile, without partiality.
We preach the gospel by the Spirit, but only God can save, therefore, it makes no difference whether we are preaching to Jews or Gentiles, bcos only God can save them.
The Scriptures tell us plainly what God has said He is going to do with the Jewish nation (Romans 9-11 and many other passages).
And, God’s plan for Israel after the flesh (natural Israel) does not contradict the gospel of Jesus Christ, even though natural Israel is presently still blinded by God from seeing who Jesus is, till the fullness of the Gentiles comes in.
The problem is that many good Christian people have become seduced by (bought into) the anti-Semitic spirit of this age to the point that when they read Romans 9-11 they are blinded from understanding it, truly, a veil is over their hearts and minds.
Sing with me!
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!
Sweetest name I know.
Fills my every longing,
Keeps me singing as I go.
I’ve just discovered that the contact function on my website is down, and may have been down for months, so if anyone has tried to contact me thru it and never got a reply, it’s bcos i did not receive it.
Horst is working on it.
In the meanwhile, anyone can mail me:
As I have often told you, there is never a week without some of our number being taken up. Although I have visited a large number of dying believers, I have never yet visited a member of this church who has expressed the least fear in his dying moments, or the slightest dismay in the hour of departure. It makes me feel happy to see how the brethren and sisters die; they pass away as if they were going to a wedding rather than to a tomb, as if it were the most joyful thing that ever happened to them to have reached their expected end.
Rom 2:5 But according to your callousness (hardness) and unrepentant heart you are accumulating for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God…
What a joy it is for the person who knows they are no longer under God’s wrath, nor accumulating God’s wrath, bcos Jesus is their propitiation! The Cross of Christ means a clear cut division: either a person believes and has their hard and unrepentant heart changed into a soft and repentant one, and they enjoy the joy of being free from God’s wrath, or, they remain callous and unrepentant, and God’s wrath just keeps accumulating – building up on their head.
The Cross makes a clear separation: now, either a person is totally innocent (when Christ’s blood avails for them), or, they are totally guilty – they are still under God’s judgment.
Therefore, the Cross delineates-defines HOW we must believe ; it only gives 2 options – either, you must believe Christ has taken away all your guilt, or ALL your guilt remains on your head ; only 2 options there ; no half-way house or in-between place of being partly innocent and partly guilty. With Christ’s death it’s ALL OR NOTHING.
What a joy! I was once under wrath, but no longer, Jesus has set me free, entirely.
Life is still not easy, there are many trials and pains and sufferings in Christ, but praise to His holy name that His wrath has been turned away from us thru the death of His Son!
Praise God that we who believe no longer have to face His wrath! Praise God we have received the reconciliation that is in Christ Jesus.
Now we know we no longer face His wrath, His displeasure, then, by faith, we can face anything life throws at us.
Imagine if a mike could be put down into hell and the audio beamed up to the surface and played thru speakers for all to hear? What would it sound like? A lot of screams and weeping, and remorse? A lot of regret? A lot of cursing?
It would be dreadful, truly horrifying, to hear the moans and cries of these REAL people who are living there in torment, and perhaps some of them are people we have known.
Maybe, like the rich man in hell, there would be pleas and warnings to their family members to avoid hell?
“Now there was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, enjoying himself splendidly every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores, who had been placed at his gate, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. And even the dogs came and would lick his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham from afar, and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am suffering in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things, but now here he is comforted and you are suffering. And besides all this, between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, so that those who desire to cross over from here to you are not able, nor may those from there cross over to us.’ Then he said, ‘Therefore I beseech you, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone from the dead should go to them, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded should one rise from the dead.’ ”
(Luke 16:19-31)
Inasmuch as our Lord Jesus testified and warned people of a burning hell, so should we. We should tell them what Jesus said about hell. Swallow your pride and just do it.
A Holy Spirit filled Bible believing follower of Jesus NEVER has an alibi for not BEING ALL that Jesus desires them to be and has provided for them to be, and for not LIVING OUT His Life now, wherever they live.
Such people can never blame the apostate condition of Christendom for their own shortcomings, for Jesus’ Kingdom – Christ IN YOU the hope of glory, will not allow that.
Oh, it’s sure easy to fall into a place of avoiding accountability bcos Christendom is more like Babylon than the Church and it can be a very easy way out of being accountable to Jesus for the stewardship-talents He has entrusted each of us with till He returns.
What is hypocrisy? It’s to show what’s wrong with Christianity but not do what’s right yourself.
Empowerment is a spot on term to describe CHRIST IN YOU the hope of glory. You are already empowered with the authority of Jesus’ name to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
One danger for Christians is when they take the Truths of the Bible concerning Christ’s glorious church (which indeed show that Christ’s Church is a glorious Bride without spot or blemish) AND try and “camp out” on those Truths, making the Church to be the “be all” and “end all” of everything.
I mean, to mistakenly make the reason for the Christian life as the seeking and building of a spiritual utopia here on earth.
No. Rather, Church is the sum of the Life and Love of Jesus Christ working in real-time in individuals who love each other, AND this is the heart of the Church – the commitment to preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we are co-laborers in the gospel, we are fellowshipping as Church, the fellowship of disciples of Christ.
But seeking a church utopia is synonymous with inward looking and navel-gazing, which is self-serving. Sure, it’s not presented as navel -gazing, it’s presented as true Bible teaching or knowledge.
We can never “camp out” on the Church, we need to keep our hands on the plow as His witnesses in the earth, and His Church as the fluid, mobile living witness.
Return to the simplicity and purity of Christ.
Ian Vincent 