Jesus had a simple message.

Jesus had a pretty simple message.

"There is only One God."

"He made you, loves you, has a purpose for you which involves worshipping Him and glorifying Him in what you were made to do."

"You can't experience any of that because of the sin problem in your being."

"Only I can free you from that sin problem.  I am that One true God."

"You need to make a personal response to this offer that involves repentance."

Last week we looked at Mark 1:16 - 2:12 and noticed that while Jesus is out proclaiming His Word, there are at least three hurdles that always seem to come against His simple message.

The first is the Enemie's attempts to distract and control the conversation.  We see that a lot these days.  Opponents or resistors of the Gospel want to distract from the simple message by changing the focus with distracting and misleading questions.  It happened to Jesus too.  The solution:  Steal back the focus by directing with the right questions and keep control of the conversation.  You can always do this with respect and recognition of the other issues brought up, to be addressed later.

The second is the immaturity of believers who want to focus on the works over the message.  There will always be those who get excited about how God does what He does and will try to highlight the work over the message.  This often leads to some type of standard or subjective process that is presented as a mandatory experience.  It happened to Jesus too.  The Solution:  Let the Bible interpret experience and point back to the message.  Experiences are real, obviously!  But sometimes, we can interpret those experiences the wrong way - which leads to a distortion or manipulation of the Masters original message.  Keep it simple.  Stick with what He said.

The third hurdle is simply the work of "elite" christians who attempt to make grace and forgiveness something that is dispensed through their methods or their disciplined traditions.  Jesus encountered this almost every step of His journey.  His solution was His message.  His mode of delivery was one of unprecedented authority wrapped in a package of unprecedented humility.

It is amazing to note that when we look for spiritual leaders in this day and age, we are always looking for those who look like the worlds best business leaders.  I truly wonder if most churches would hire Jesus today.  I wonder what kind of hurdles He would experience if He came into my local Church fellowship?   I wonder what hurdles He would experience if He came to yours.

Jesus had a pretty simple message.  Question is, do we simply want Jesus and His message?

With you for His glory,

The Fame of Jesus and My Testimony

MATTHEW 4:23-25   (Re-posted from March 2012)


²³ And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. ²⁴So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. ²⁵ And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.


It is interesting that Jesus' FAME grew as He healed everyone and proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom.  Where were all those people when He was crucified?  What kind of fame does Jesus want us to promote?  I want to point out two particulars of this story.


First, Jesus wasn't proclaiming the good news of His death which would take the place of our damnation, the good news of His resurrection, and the transmission of His righteousness to our account, which would provide the only means unto eternal life.  (That is the gospel we have today, but that was not the gospel being preached by Jesus or His disciples).  Jesus was preaching the invasion and observable reign of God's active sovereign rule over a people enslaved to their own sinful pride and desires.  He was also preaching that He was the manifestation of that authority.

Second, in His own day, Jesus was famous because He gave people the hope of a ruler who would take care of them according to all of their temporal desires.  When it wasn't working out the way they envisioned, they turned on Him in rage and celebrated His torture and death.

Think about how we respond to His Gospel message today.  The parable of the soils in Matthew 13 tells us that there are several different ways which people respond to His gospel.  All look genuine at first, but only one of them is a genuine response which leads to true repentance and life.

It begs the question for me, "Has my response to the Gospel made Jesus famous according to who He truly is, or who I want Him to be?" Am I living a truly repentant and eternity bound life, or a self centered emotional response?  Do I promote the fame of Jesus through a proclamation of what He has done for me, or through a proclamation of who He is.

Today, if you want to share Christ, the usual advice is to share what He has done for you.  I believe that is a necessary testimony, but I believe it has a proper place and time.  In the Bible, there is never a focus on simply what He did for someone.   Anytime the pharisees focused on Jesus, it was always on what He was doing for people, and He chastised them for it because they didn't see who He was through it.  The Biblical writers always focused on what He did because of who He was, is, and will be.

What does our testimony reveal about Christ?  Is He famous because He saves me and others, or because He is the Lord God Almighty who is worthy of all glory and honor and praise, and He saved me despite my unworthiness in light of that?

God bless you today.  Live worthy of the hope to which you have been called, and the name which you have been given.  It's all about Him.


With you for His glory

The Great Symphony (The Bride of Christ)

Reposted from July 2010 (from The Living Image: God Purposed You to Bear His Image and Know His Will)


I love symphonies, a thousand sounds blended together in perfect timing to produce harmony and structure. The undertones and overtones of harmonic blends.  The striking melodies and the beautiful harmonies.

The church is like a great symphony. God has brought millions of people together at just the right times in their lives so that they can glorify Him through the life that they live individually and in community.

For those times in life when discernment seems a little harder than just reading God’s Word and praying, you have an incredible asset at your disposal. Think about it! You not only have a group of people that know the Word of God and have a relationship with Him from which to seek guidance on your behalf, but they also know you! What an incredible combination! God makes this incredible being that is completely unique and a true one-of-a-kind (you) and then puts you in a place where other people can grow with you and know you and all your uniqueness in order to help you live your life to the fulfillment of what you were created for. The only other relationship that comes close to this and actually surpasses it is marriage (and one day, this great symphony will culminate in a wedding feast!).

If you are truly in a spot in life where God’s will seems hidden from you, then Scripture, prayer, and the community of the saints should all affirm for you a way for you to go. They always work together, and since the Holy Spirit is the author of all three of these, the answers will be made clear when all three agree.  Yes, sometimes God is quiet, but He is not vindictive.  His silence is not a test to see if you choose the correct option from all those He has laid out before you - waiting to strike if you choose wrong while He remains silent.  Trust the saints, the Spirit guiding the Bride, and the Word of God in you and them.

Community is a two-way street, though. If you want people to know you, then you have to offer yourself to the relationship and allow people to get to know you. Don’t always be an observer of the symphony, get in there and play so that when you need it, it is there for you, and so that when you are needed, you are there to be called on.  Life with the Bride is a lot more beautiful with you in it.

With you for His glory

Discernment

I have been crying "discernment" for at least three years now.  We need discerning men in the pulpits of Christ's Church.  Mars Hill is a Church where the pastor is loved by most everyone in his congregation.  He preaches love and he uses A LOT of Bible.  His elders support him in his teaching.  Does this make someone a good pastor or teacher?  More importantly, what is God's instruction for people who find themselves in this very real and more increasingly common life situation - of being under such a teacher?  Just pray and keep the peace?  Kevin answers this question at the very front of his review.  God bless you as you consider these truths.

Please set aside some time and read this excellent and God-honoring review of Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins.  The review was written by Pastor and critically acclaimed author Kevin DeYoung.
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2011/03/14/rob-bell-love-wins-review/#more-3855

With you for His glory

Stop Pretending

"We believe that the policies, practices, and worship of the church should be ordered by the Word of God. The Word clearly says that the local church is "the house of God, the church of the living God" (1 Tim. 3:15). As such the will of God revealed in the Word of God must regulate church life. `Lord Pragmatism' (`what-will-work') and `Lord Tradition' (`the-way-we've-always-done-it') rule in many churches, not the Lord Jesus. Our modern generation of church-goers needs to be told that when these two `Lords' rule the church the result is condemned as "will-worship" (Col. 2:23) by God's holy Word!"

So concludes a brief portion of testimony from a modern day baptist confession.  In Titus 2, Paul exhorts a young under-shepherd to teach sound doctrine and more importantly - to live it in reverence to a Holy living God.  He ends by stating, "Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority.  Let no one disregard you." 

Imagine a church claiming such confession, where the Senior Shepherd has lived a life of reproach and shame both by the words of his mouth, the thought life which those words betray, documented immoral and unprofessional actions, witnessed, documented, and recorded false witness, bending local ordinances and breaking laws for selfish causes.  In this church, all this is excused because the Senior Shepherd is loved by his people.  

Now imagine a church, the worship leader will not talk to their own in-laws and has not for years, even though they attend the same church - because of family dispute.  This same leader allows all kinds of evil entertainment into thier home with the excuse that if they did not, their children would not "fit in" with others.  This same worship leader is adored by the church because of great skill in the lead musical instrument which is played in service and because the father of this individual has always been involved in worship leading, even though the other biblical red flags are common knowledge.  Ephesians 4:30 says that such behavior [specifically within the body] grieves the Holy Spirit.  Christ says in Matthew 5:24 not to worship before being reconciled to one another.

Now imagine a Church where the elders have on several occasions, chosen to protect these and other individuals rather than obey Gods Word to correct and rebuke these individuals in private and, if necessary, in public so that others will fear God [Holy Fear 1 Timothy 5:2
20-21].  Paul tells the Corinthians [1 Cor] in 5:11-13 not to associate with someone inside the church who claims to be a Chrisitian, but acts in such manners.  He actually says to "cast them out" of the local body and calls them "evil".  He later says that doing so publicly with love, reminds everyone that God is Holy, and not to be mocked(1 Timothy 5:20-21 gives the strictest charge and imperative to obey this command without exception).  


Imagine a group of elders charged with governing God's local body, who don't know the biblical qualifications to be an elder, and in many cases, the instructional content of the Bible.   Because of this handicap, they are forced to continually uphold their actions and decisions by referring to every conceivable authority [denominational decisions, websters dictionary, church constitution, their own poor memory] except for the Word of God.

Now imagine all of this in the same local body.  Would you call this the Kingdom of God or a kingdom of a few men, maybe even one man?  Would you call this Christ's Church or man's?


God has given us His words and a few non-negotiable directions for governing for a purpose.  Some things in church government are negotiable, others are not.  Contrary to popular pinion, we are to judge each others conduct within the Body for the purpose of honoring God.  To withhold obedience to these instructions in order to "preserve unity" or "peace" is a facade and a condemnation on those who know.  

When men choose to love each other over Gods holiness, they have deceived themselves into believing they are demonstrating love.  Anything that denies a love for God's holiness, a respect and fear for His Word, and a humility that the Kingdom belongs to Him first and foremost, is not real love.  It is a false love and a masquerade of peace.  Proverbs calls such people who continue to operate as such are misusing the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and calls them fools.

The Lampstand has been removed from such Church's because their first love is not the Lord Jesus Christ and His sovereignty, but their own proud establishment (Revelatins 2).  To remain with them if not possible to cast them out or reform, is a direct disobedience to God in lieu of Titus 5:11-13, 20-21.  


God wants true worshipers.  He is interested in His glory and His kingdom not ours.  This is the problem with the emergent church and church leaders [elders] who do not know how to rightly divide the Word of truth.  

The sad thing is that many churches today are like this.  Leaders rule ignorant congregations through ungodly manifestations of authority, loyalty, and truth hoarding.  People simply don't want to believe that their leaders or their family members are part of this group, so they ignore obvious signs.  There are many buildings filled with dead people every weekend singing songs about themselves and thinking they are praising God and thinking they are headed for heaven, but Jesus says he will tell them that he never knew them.

The time has come for people who claim to know God and His Word to become leaders of the Church of Christ.  The Church is the greatest Living Image Bearer of our Great and Holy God.  Problem is, the lost world is justifiably disgusted by the dead, man-centered zombies claiming to be the Living Churches.  There is a difference between fallible and being a foolish steward.

We should be appalled at weak willed, apathetic, poorly educated, unqualified, and subjectively prejudiced men leading others in a masquerade of worship; those who lead others "in the name of Jesus" but love a false peace more than the integrity of God's Word and His Bride.  Thank God for His grace.  May He bless the blind to see and worship Him in Spirit and Truth that all may know the Glory and majesty of our God.  The tragedy is not that churches are closing, but that the local bride of Christ somewhere is completely estranged to the words of their own Lord.  The only idea they can gleam from Scripture is "love", but they don't have any idea what God means by it.  


It time to stop pretending that everything is ok as long as we use the words "love" and "peace".  God forgive us and open our eyes.  Please remove false shepherds and give us those whom would honor You in all that they do.  You said that the leaders of Your Church are to lead so that they may present to You a mature Bride in every way.  Please, please deliver your Bride from her captors, and give us those leaders.

With you for His glory

Scripture Study and Prayer (Excerpt from the upcoming 12:2 by A.M. LaMouria)

Scripture Study and Prayer

            James said in His epistle to the young Christian Church, "show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do."[1]  In other words, if you try to show me your faith without works, there will be very little of substance to evidence your faith; but true faith will be evidenced by the way a life is lived practically. 

            Likewise, I would suggest, show me a prayer life without the knowledge of the Word, and I will show you my knowledge of the Word by how I pray.  I think the first would be of very little beneficial substance to the pray-er.  Remember, the redeemed soul is to be transformed by the renewing of the mind - so that we may discern the good, perfect, and pleasing will of God.  It is a shame that so many people pray for the will of God, but invest so little in the gift He has given us so that we may discern it when He does reveal it. 

            If we are to commune with the One whom we have surrendered our lives to, then we should commune with Him first and foremost in response to the words He has been speaking to us for the past several thousand years - because they are His good, perfect, and pleasing will revealed to us.  And we should, if anything, be praying for His good, perfect, and pleasing will to be realized in our lives.  The two cannot be separated.  Think about even the most basic prayer of salvation.  Is it not a response to the truth of God's Word?

            Consider you own prayer life for a moment.  Are you in a conversation with your Savior based on the Words He has already spoken to us, or are you in a conversation with God based on something else.  I have created a list below of several things that we replace the Word of God with as a basis for our conversations with Him.

Emotional experiences. (We pray based on how we feel or how we want to feel.)

Christian clichés. (Cliché’s are watered down truths that replace God's word for the sake of comfort or appearances.  If these are not supplemented with the whole truth of God's Word, these become the premise of an immature relationship with God. )

Christian music lyrics (without knowing whether or not they are scriptural - and if they are - what they actually refer to).

Family relationships. ("God is just like my family.  All He really cares about is my character and respect when I talk to Him.")

Social relationships. ("God is just like one of my friends.  All He really cares about is my authenticity and loyalty when I talk to Him.")

Other pray-ers. (We adopt the style, tone, colloquialisms, and agenda of prayer from other influential people in our life simply because we think it is the right way to do it.)           

            Many people make a circus out of prayer.  They pray, claiming promises that are not found in Scripture (wealth and prosperity).   They pray for realizations that are outside of the clearly communicated will of God in Scripture (such as the failure or destruction of a political leader they do not like).  Many people use prayer as a platform to do battle with demons directly, speaking more with the enemy than to the Father.  Scripture speaks to the inappropriateness of these issues very plainly.  But for those who don't know the word because of neglect, not only are they unaware, but their prayers are actually hindering them from experiencing the delight of the Lord.[2]

            Where does your prayer life line up?  If we want to experience the will of God, we must develop a prayer life grounded in and responsive to the revealed will of God.  That means studying the Word of God so that not only our lives are a proper reflection of God's will, but so that our prayers are appropriate responses to God's will.  A good place to start is to pray while reading the Psalms and letting them guide your personal prayer.[3]  Aligning our hearts and minds with God by attention to His Word is the first step to experiencing true peace and profound delight in being a disciple.

---

[1] James 2:18

[2] Proverbs 28:9; Psalm 119 (All of Psalm 119 is a petition whose right to ask for God's intercesion is based on his intimacy with God's Word.  Praticularly vv. 129-136, 153-160 (Pe and Resh )

With you for His glory

What is an Image Bearer?

Let’s discuss what it means for man to bear the Image of God. Bearing His Image means more than just being like Jesus in form or character. It means that each one of us is given the responsibility to be His representative here on this planet. Think of all the most magnificent things you can imagine: Jupiter in the sky, the sun, a sunset, Mount Everest, the Grand Canyon, the earth itself, the dinosaurs, the great blue whale, the ocean. God did not create any of these things to be His representation on Earth. None of these things were given the responsibility to care for everything else; to make things grow and develop; to rule everything and make it better; to decide how, where, and when things would be; to have meaningful relationships that would affect the rest of creation. Nothing else was crowned with glory and honor. This great responsibility was given to man. Man would be God’s physical representation over this small portion of Creation called Earth. Man’s ability to do these things is a reflection of God's Image. Not the whole Image, but the parts reflected are God’s Image and no one else’s.

The life of Abraham is a great example of a man learning to steward the image of God to purposefully glorify God in the specifics of his life. In the beginning chapters of Abram’s life in Scripture (Genesis 12–21), we see a man who is more concerned with his own welfare and domestic tranquility than with seeing the manifestation of God’s glory in his life. God had promised to bless him and watch after him, blessing those who blessed him and cursing those who cursed him, yet Abram still acted in fear and self-preservation both with foreigners and at home with his family.

But we see a much different Abraham in the final chapters of his life (Genesis 21–25). Abraham had been changed through the trials along his path to be a man that trusted God and pointed to God’s glory when the circumstances of life threatened the harmony of his life. His son’s life was threatened, his wife died, and he struggled to find a wife for his son as he approached death. In all these matters, however, he learned to point to God’s glory with his life. He trusted God. He knew God was good and sovereign. He acted according to that knowledge even when there was no apparent way that in doing so, things would work out the way God said they would.

Abram became Abraham and learned to glorify God through the image he was given to steward. He used it to point out God’s glory.

How does this story help me today?


Let me encourage you to read Philippians 1:19-30.

Our own circumstances will dictate specifically how we point out God’s glory with our own lives. It may be strength and peacefulness in the midst of a parent’s divorce. It may be courage in the face of a career or life-changing decision. It may be dignity and humility in the pain of a broken relationship. The point is that we reflect God’s Image by demonstrating our faith in His sovereignty and faithfulness in whatever way is appropriate for who God made us to be.

Strength, peacefulness, courage, dignity, and humility are all marks of His image being represented in us through our faith. It is when we focus on His purpose for our life instead of the brokenness of our circumstances that we experience the power of the Holy Spirit conforming us into the likeness of Christ. This is what it means to be an Image Bearer. Be an Image Bearer in your world as only you can be. That is what you were created for!


With you for His glory