Ministry – the natural extension of the heart

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45

What we speak reveals our heart, for better or worse. And, of course, this not only refers to speaking kindly and respectfully, but to the content or subject matter of our speech and conversation, whether it is of any substance, or whether it is hollow and empty.

When it comes to Christian service, then, we need to think in terms of what we possess in our hearts, and what is presently being transacted between our heart and the Lord Jesus, for only that of Christ and His Words which we actually possess in our hearts will come forth and strengthen others. Only that which has first strengthened our heart in faith and love will be able to help others.

If people don’t build up others it’s simply bcos they have nothing, and therefore they have nothing to give. We can only give what we have got.

Jesus is saying that everything springs from the heart. If a man would serve God’s people then the dynamic he needs to attend to is his own heart, whether he, himself, is nourished up in the Words of Life and of Faith, whether his heart is pure before God.

It means his ministry will simply be the natural extension of where his heart is.

And this is a VERY liberating truth for those who are called to feed Jesus sheep.

Bikinis in church? No, but at the beach is OK

A Christian celebrity posts pictures of his wife at the beach posing in a slinky bikini. My comment: Not good for women (or men) to be walking around in public in their underwear. If you wouldn’t go to church in a slinky bikini, then it’s not a good idea to go to a public beach in one. There is no difference.

A church under financial pressure

My reply: It’s funny how that in the 1st century Christianity exploded and they never had any financial limitations concerning having church. That’s bcos it was REAL. But the fake stuff needs a lot of money to make it work.

Grace and Rewards

Everything is grace, you have nothing you have not received (1 Cor. 4:7) and yet Jesus promised to personally reward every obedience to Him and punish all disobedience. No, you will never figure that one out while in your present body made from the dust.

Christ died for all

A man says that Jesus did not die for all humanity. My reply: The basis on which Christ judges the whole world is that He died for the whole world. People are judged by Him bcos they rejected His sacrifice. If He had not died for them they would not be sinning by rejecting His sacrifice.

Cult of Personality

Seems to me that the problem with personality cults is that the person they gravitate to is anyone other than the Person of Jesus Christ. But is the body of Christ actually a cult of personality formed around the Person of Jesus Christ?

If you start with a wrong assumption, then…

IF YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS MESSAGE THEN YOU PROBABLY UNDERSTAND THE TRUE GOSPEL AND BIBLE PROPHECY.

It starts with a wrong assumption.

If your starting point is wrong it’s like taking a wrong turn and just keeping going – then the further you travel in life, the further you become distanced from the truth.

The assumption that this new-age “gospel” makes is that there is a war between Jesus and the devil, and gradually Jesus wins this war and the devil loses, as the world is gradually transformed into the Kingdom of God. They then interpret various data, like the ones he quotes, to prove the Kingdom is winning and the devil is losing. But Jesus said that His Kingdom is not of this world, it is a spiritual Kingdom which thrives and grows in the midst of an ever-darkening world.

When truth dies, everything dies

There is no relationship without truth, and without truth everything else is meaningless. As soon as a friend begins to bend the truth it means they are not really your friend. The spouse who lies to their spouse, similarly, is a dysfunctional spouse. When truth becomes a casualty then love is the real casualty. When truth falls out then everything else falls out. When truth dies, everything dies.

And this is especially true when it comes to relationship to Jesus Christ. If we are untruthful to Him we have no real relationship with Him. His Word searches our hearts and minds, and how do we respond to Him, honestly or dishonestly?

When people take the truth of the Word of God lightly it shows they are not in relationship to the Lord Jesus, even though they may claim to be.

When faith is translated into action

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who has called us to glory and virtue: By which are given unto us exceedingly great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And for this reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge self control; and to self control patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacks these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Therefore rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, you shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be provided unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:2-11

Note that first we are freely given everything we need to live for Christ, as in Ephesians 1:3 : Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ…

We have everything and this “everything” is contained in Christ and is appropriated by knowing Christ in an authentic, personal relationship.

Now that you have escaped from the squalid prison of the world and have been lifted up into glory, seated together with Christ in the heavens – now, add to your faith virtue: let your faith be expressed in virtue or character, knowledge or truth in the inner man, self control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and love.

Note that love is one step more than brotherly kindness. The step before love is brotherly kindness. If we really desire to love people then we will need to be kind and tenderhearted toward them first, and then we can grow to love them.

And if you believe God has chosen you, then Peter says to do these things, and then you can be really sure that God chose you: the proof of the pie is in the eating.

The person who disregards these commands will fall. The person who heeds them will never fall.

Being honest at Lakewood

At least she is being honest when she says they are not doing it for God, they are doing it for themselves.

Dunamis

Does the TRUTH of God’s Word explode in your heart?

God’s Qualifications

Let the truth of it explode in your heart

(I saw this song being sung in a dream last night, that’s why i posted it)

What does it look like?

Every truly twice-born child of God and disciple of Jesus Christ really wants Jesus to have first place in their life and to truly reign over all of their life and lead them and guide them in everything. This is a given. The issue is not so much that we don’t desire Jesus to rule our life, we do, but we want to know what it means in practical terms for Him to have first place and to rule: not just theoretically, but in practical terms: What does it look like? What does Jesus reigning in my life look like, where I am at, in the place where I live, in the unique circumstances I find myself in? Others may tell us what this should look like for us, but it may not line up with how He expects it to look for us. This is where the answer is not always so immediately obvious; it only comes thru faithfully walking with Him and in the light of His Word and Spirit, and by walking with His people in fellowship.

Infinite

Jesus Christ, as God and Man, is so infinitely greater than any other man that we can’t even begin to compare anyone else to Him. It’s like comparing zero with infinity.

Even the devil can’t help himself from honoring Jesus

When the devil provokes people to use the name of Jesus as a curse word (and it is the curse of preference) it’s actually, in a strange, inverted kind of way, a kind of honor. Bcos you don’t find people cursing the name of Muhammad or Buddha or the Pope, or John Smith or Joe Brown. No. The devil only wants them to curse the name of Jesus. Why Jesus and no one else? Cos Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, and all the rest are nothing. Why should the devil waste his time with them? So even the devil can’t help himself from honoring Jesus.

From Everlasting to Everlasting

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit – One God from Everlasting to Everlasting.

Why did you put a capital E for everlasting? Just for joy.

What we are FOR

A brother asked me yesterday, “Oh, your book, Reality Church, it’s against false Christianity, right?”. I replied, No, it’s FOR NT Christianity, and if anyone is for NT Christianity then they are naturally against everything false – anything which would rob the people of God from walking together the way Jesus told us He wants us to. But we are defined by what we are FOR rather than what we are AGAINST. And the person who is not against falsehood is certainly not for the truth in Jesus, they would be fooling themselves.

Healing on the streets

An encouragement to pray for the sick, as the Spirit leads.

A one-way mirror

Wherever we are we right now we are standing right before the infinite God, and all heaven can see us and what we do. It’s like trying to look thru one of those one-way mirrors, they can see us but we can’t see them. But people tend to live as if God wasn’t right there before them.