To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto God

But rise, and stand upon your feet: for I have appeared unto you for this purpose, to make you a servant and a witness both of these things which you have seen, and of those things in which I will appear unto you; Delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send you, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them who are sanctified by faith that is in me. Acts 26:16-18

What a challenging word! Some will say, Ah, that was Paul’s commission, not ours.

But it’s our commission as well.

Note, the first point is to open their blinded eyes, by the Word of God, sent by God’s Spirit speaking thru US. Jesus tells Paul that he is the instrument He will use to do this, by saying that Paul will do it. Paul is authorized and commissioned to be an instrument of God.

Second point: ….Turning them from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto God... Let’s be aware of this next time we preach or share the Gospel, that the issue is about them turning from darkness to light.

Turmoil in the Temple

Jesus is history’s greatest teacher.

But not all His students enjoy the lessons.

Excuse me sir, are you saved?

If you died tonight, are you going to heaven?

The most important question that can ever be asked.

Please read the inspiring story of Mr Genor, in Comments:

God’s Accuracy

may be observed in the hatching of eggs.

For example:
-the eggs of the potato bug hatch in 7 days;
-those of the canary in 14 days;
-those of the barnyard hen in 21 days;
-The eggs of ducks and geese hatch in 28 days;
-those of the mallard in 35 days;
-The eggs of the parrot and the ostrich hatch in 42 days.

(Notice, they are all divisible by seven, the number of days in a week!)

Continued in Comments

Try and live peaceably with all men

If it be possible, as much as lies in you, live peaceably with all men. Romans 12:18

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the LORD... Hebrews 12:14

IF it is possible, or WHEN it is possible….. It’s not always possible, but we are to act in a way that can make it possible – we are to desire peace with all men, but of course, never thru compromising the Truth in Jesus : Peace, but never at the expense of holiness – never approving what is unholy or a lie.

…As much as lies IN YOU… …according to Christ in you – to the extent that Christ is formed in you.

Shalom!

If all the Jews were Muslims

then Jerusalem would have no more significance on the world stage than Timbuktu, Springfield or Dixon.

Jesus was hated FOR WHO HE IS, and not for doing anything wrong. Similarly, His brothers according to the flesh, the Jewish people, are hated more for who they are, than for their faults.

E.g. Hitler’s hatred of the Jewish people went way beyond having a grudge, or even racism…. way beyond that – a horror journey into the Heart of Darkness.

If they were not Jews they would not be hated.

If Jesus were not Jesus, He would not be hated.

If the Jews were Muslims, then the world would have no issue with them having Sovereignty over the Land of Israel. It would be a non-issue.

He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that does not enter by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But He that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To Him the gatekeeper opens; and the sheep hear His voice: and He calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. And when He puts forth His own sheep, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they don’t know the voice of strangers. John 10:1-5

Would this be comprehensible to Christians today? That the Christian life is a life where Jesus goes before you, and you simply go where He is going?

We wouldn’t want to take this to mean simply geographical guidance. We would want to understand it in terms of all that we think, believe, understand, speak, teach and do, Jesus goes before us. We are only going where He is going.

Sometimes we warn someone in their line of thought, or interpretation of the Bible, or regarding the plans they have made: Don’t even go there... : That is, You have DEVIATED from going BEHIND Jesus, and now you’re going ahead of Him – you’re going somewhere He has not gone, and where He will not go. He is not going before you, you are going there alone.

Simply put, Don’t go anywhere that Jesus is not going.

In your dreams, aspirations, desires and plans, can you see Jesus already there – already gone before you?

It’s all YOUR beauty, LORD

bcos it all originates from you. How BEAUTIFUL you are.

The mighty God, even the LORD, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined. Psalm 50:1-2

Man can add nothing to God. True worship can begin when he realizes that.

Reception of Jesus

Reception is a noun form of receiving, or to receive something, such as information, art, experience, or people. (Wikipedia)

He came unto His own, and His own didn’t receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the children of God, even to them that believe on His name… John 1:11-12

The redeemed people of God are simply folks whom Jesus came to and they received Him. Jesus found a good reception there, He was received.

To receive Jesus means to recieve all that He is, all that He represents – all of His truth. We can’t separate His truth and His words from His Person (John 14:23).

Note the simplicity of His Gospel! We simply receive HIM and then He makes us children of God.

Walking with Jesus is in the same order as we received Him (Col 2:6).

Each new day it’s a matter of our reception of Him, and receiving grace from Him, and walking in that which we have received.

Faith is simply the grace to receive from God. It’s never self-sustained or independent. The word grace simply means gift : something we have received.

Church is the reception of Jesus :

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20

He is there in the midst where He is received : that is, where His words are received and obeyed : He speaks and His words are received – there is a good reception of His words – His words are treasured above all other words spoken : THAT is HIS Church.

Power over sin, the world and the devil is simply in receiving Jesus, receiving Him. Repentance means to receive Jesus exclusively over everything else – over sin and the world – rejecting all sin that we may have Him – rejecting all other “truth” that we may live by His truth – His words.

Johnny’s Dad

says to Johnny, I want you to finish your homework.

Johnny goes off and thinks about that a while, then comes back to his dad and asks, Aaaaaah, dad, I want a fresh word from you!

Is his dad going to say, OK, no problem, you didn’t like that last word, so here’s a new, fresh revelation for you, Johnny! One that you will like! ? No.

Neither does God relate to His children that way. But many think that He does.

If we do it His way, He gives the grace to do it

Sometimes, when we feel a blocking and a total inadequacy to preach the Gospel, it can be bcos it’s a case of us trying to go it alone, and not in a team of at least two, and if that’s actually the case, then God is withholding the grace to do it, till we do it His way.

And this applies to anything in Church or the Kingdom. Doing it His way means doing it by His grace and enabling.

(Please, no one tell me that i’m saying we can’t preach the Gospel by ourselves)

Love Connection

(Not a flower-power Hippie trip)

The Gospel, the Church and the Kingdom (all one, really) are a series of God-orchestrated LOVE CONNECTIONS. He connects people, first, to Himself, then to one another. Our connection with Jesus is a love connection. So too shall be our connection with His people. If it’s not a love connection, then it’s not a connection : either with God or with man.

We gotta connect with the saints. Love is the only way to connect. Without love it is not possible for any Kingdom connection.

The Body of Christ FUNCTIONS by a series of spiritual CONNECTIONS. Connectedness is essential:

From whom the whole body being fitly joined together and knit together by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. Ephesians 4:16

…That which every joint supplies….. That which every LOVE CONNECTION supplies.

Are our connections in the Body of Christ love connections?

The Narrow Door

Though the LORD be high, yet He has respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knows from afar. Psalm 138:6

The Narrow Door is also, figuratively speaking, a low door, which one has to bow down, or stoop down to enter. Only the lowly can enter. The proud cannot.

Our LORD Jesus, Himself, stooped down to become a servant (Phil 2:5-10).

Jesus is the Door (John 10:9). To go forward in Him we must remain in the Narrow Way, and keep swallowing our pride, when the need arises, and bow down in humility.

Pride can stop us stooping down to enter that Narrow Door Way, and thus we would go nowhere in the Kingdom of God. Moving forward in the Kingdom will always be a matter of us stooping down and humbling ourselves to enter in and go forward.

Spiritual authority in the Kingdom of Christ

is SOLELY for the purpose and end that people will come under the authority of Christ Jesus.

THAT was the sole purpose we see for any form of spiritual authority in the NT Churches. Any time we see spiritual authority in the NT record, it was solely to help people submit themselves to Jesus and His authority. It was never an end in itself, that is, a self-serving thing, or a self-perpetuating myth : an authority for the sake of authority – to justify it’s own existence – an authority that feeds off itself.

It was, and is, an authority (grace) to help people personally come under Christ’s rule and authority, thru preaching and teaching His Gospel.

It follows, then, that we only know spiritual authority by this TRAIT : that such a person ACTUALLY IS helping people submit themselves to Jesus and His words.

And this is not just an understanding of authority, but also to understand the nature, authenticity and validity of spiritual gifts in the Body of Christ : A true spiritual gift always helps the saints submit their lives to Jesus by faith, helping them to be conformed to Christ and know Him more. If it does not do this then it is not a spiritual gift.

If we understand this basic NT precept, then we understand that such true spiritual authority has virtually become extinct in Christianity, and has been replaced by a counterfeit.

BE TRUE TO JESUS

by Charles Spurgeon

See Comments

Church: A delivery-system for all the gifts

Jesus intended His Church to be an assembling of His people in such a way that all the gifts of the Spirit can be expressed.

This tells us much about the nature of the Church Jesus founded, that it was like a delivery-system or a delivery-platform for the gifts : an assembling IN SUCH A MANNER that all the Spiritual gifts present in that locality could be accessed and received by the members of the Body of Christ.

If we want to know HOW to assemble ourselves together, we simply need to know WHY God wants us to assemble together – God’s purpose for us assembling.

If we lose His purpose and intention, that it was for all the different gifts of the Spirit to edify the Body of Christ, then it’s no longer a NT Church. If it is for the expression of the gifts that the Church exists, then, take away that freedom of expression, or restrict or suppress the gifts, and you no longer have a Church.

Manifestations of Grace

or manifestations of the flesh? Which will it be?

The manifestation of grace is the fruit of the Spirit.

Shoot first, pray later, is a manifestation of the flesh.

Righteous indignation, which is of the Holy Spirit, can easily be turned into a manifestation of the flesh.

How will Jesus’ grace manifest in our lives? How does His grace come to the surface?

Manifestations of grace are seen when a converted sinner speaks with an unconverted sinner from the shared, common position of both being sinners.

Or when a mature Christian shares with an immature Christian about all the deceptions and sins which Jesus has delivered him from.

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would. Galatians 5:16-17

Walking in the Spirit is walking in the grace of Jesus Christ.

Have faith that the grace of Jesus will manifest in your life much more than your flesh manifests, until your flesh is subdued by His Spirit and the power of His grace.

That you might walk worthy of the LORD

fully pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God… Colossians 1:10

The life we live is our worship of Him, and what we offer up to the LORD should be worthy of the LORD. Anything in our life which we can’t offer up to Him as worship : that part of our life is unworthy of Him. Everything we do should be worthy of Him.

Hypnotized at IHOP

Living by faith means living by grace

That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:7-10

By grace thru faith.… By faith we receive the grace of God. If it is the grace of God, then His grace should be our focus, for that is the very reason we have been given faith, so that we may receive His grace.

Then, our faith won’t be focussed on our faith, but on His grace.

…He might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Let us consider the exceeding riches of His grace. Look back in your life and try and take an inventory of the grace of God, if you can. He has to show us just how much grace has been given to us, for somehow, by ourselves, we just don’t seem to get it (And that’s what grace means: that by ourselves we have nothing). It is ALL grace. It has to be TOTAL grace if you want to live in Him.

Lest any man should boast... When any man boasts then he hasn’t been shown the exceeding riches of His grace. He hasn’t yet understood that it is ALL grace.

Living by faith means living by grace. The modern counterfeit of faith is NOT a living by grace, but a living by law. Faith has been turned into a law or formula one must work in order to get results. If it’s a law, then it’s not faith, and not grace. And then, when the boasting starts you know right there it can’t be grace, when people boast about their faith. Grace leaves no place for boasting. Anything you can boast about is not grace. Grace’s very nature precludes boasting – grace and boasting are mutually exclusive, as light is from darkness.

How much grace have you received in Christ Jesus? Is there anything you have which you did not receive from Him? Can you count it? Can you measure it? Can you count the grains of sand on the beach or the stars in the sky? Or is it immeasurable? …In the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace…