From Hiding to Abiding

/in /by

What do you do when you try to hear from God and hear nothing but your own thoughts bouncing around in your head?  How is it that we believe more in the power of the devil to deceive us than in the power of God to lead us? Why is it that we believe the devil or his assistants have spoken to us through temptations but don’t believe that we can hear God? How can we believe that unless God the Father drew us to know Jesus we would never have come to salvation in Jesus (John 6:44) yet not make the connection that the “drawing” utilized were words whispered in the form of thoughts from His heart?

Growing up in a Christian tradition that denied the unique ability a believer was endowed with to “hear” and recognize God’s Voice made it difficult to reach many of the conclusions I teach presently. Yet by God’s Grace He ordered my thoughts and steps revealing the testimony of Scripture. As I’ve gotten older I can’t help but thank Him for this gift. But through this journey of seeking to know God personally, “hear” and recognize the ways that He speaks I have had to face difficult challenges, set backs and my own personal doubts and demons. For example this Sunday I was seeking to connect with God through worship and prayer finding it difficult at best. I was tempted to be angry and annoyed, knowing that God knew, that of all the days I needed His Presence it was on this day. Yet God remained distant. That evening as I lay in bed I began praying about what the Lord would have me teach the following Sunday. While pondering, and “reaching” out to connect again, the Spirit reminded me of something I had been involved with. The event seemed harmless enough, even justifiable. But as Paul says, “All things are permissible for me, but not all things are beneficial.” (1 Cor. 6:12) Through this revelation from the Holy Spirit I realized that in my conversation with another that I had made the individuals offense my own. Once I began the journey down this road it led to anger, and judgment of the guilty party. My anger transformed into a righteous indignation, which resulted in my shooting off my mouth to anyone who would listen, about the perpetuators. God revealed the event which had led to our disconnectedness. I ceased having His heart, and moved into my self-centered, self-righteous stance. My anger, though justified, took a wrong turn when I became judge and jury, pronouncing my sentence of condemnation, maligning their character. One simple, innocent event had led to my being disconnected from God. He wasn’t condemning me, but correcting me. He wanted me to see that His child, His son, wasn’t reflecting the Son. I was being a poor representative of my Father’s Business. When He felt distant it wasn’t He that had moved away. Oh no. I’m the one that walked away from His Side. From His Side the blood and water poured out (John 19:34) for the accused and the accusers. I had walked away from resting my thinking on His heart. I had eaten the forbidden fruit of “doing this or that” to be God. My misstep had led me into the darkness of replacing my Savior with one of my own making – myself.

What do you do when you try to hear from God and hear nothing but your own thoughts bouncing around in your head? Go back to the place you last heard from Him, asking what happened. If that doesn’t seem to loosen the hold the situation has on you, imagine Jesus’ limp body on the cross, blood and water flowing down from His nail-pierced side, and you standing in the middle of it all. Bloodied and stained from your proximity, look up into His wonderful Face, and ask Him to reveal the condition or action that has led to this distance. Look up, wait, and listen. Ask Him to bring you to the place where you can rest your thinking on His Heart, and His love for you. Confess the offense, repent of it – changing your thinking, falling back into His embrace. Let the blood from His side cleanse away the obstacles that block your capacity to hear. Let His Blood get into your “hearing.”

Somethings Wrong?

/in , /by

How is it that an individual can read, and study the Bible and not hear God speak? How is it that they can know about God but not recognize the various ways He communicates personally? Why do millions of church attenders rarely, if ever, compare and contrast their life to the lives of Biblical characters who heard from God – on a regular basis? Why hasn’t the connection been made that somethings missing in their walk with God? 

Within Evangelical Christianity there’s a contradiction between doctrine and practice. We are taught that we have a personal relationship with God. We are taught that prayer should be made  for direction regarding major decisions. Yet the question is, “How do you know God is speaking? How do you distinguish between your own thoughts, the devil and the Spirit of God in you? What prevents us from hearing God? Is there a connection between the Word of God and Hearing God speak? What is it – other than knowing how He has spoken in the past?

In John 15:3 Jesus states:You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the teachings I have discussed with you].

The Amplified Translations choice of words, “cleansed” and “pruned” come pretty close to the original meaning. The Greek word,“ka-tha-ros,” means to be: “purged, cleared away, purified; pruned and cut back from worldly idolatry, adulteration, and admixture; cleansed from dirt.” If the word sounds familiar it’s because it is. Our English word  “cauterize” is derived from it. It’s defined as “to sear; burn away; deaden; render insensible” The Hebraic understanding of cleansing conveys a similar idea. Holiness, sanctification and burning were words chosen to describe the process Christ spoke of. At the “burning”…. bush, God told Moses to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. Hebrews 12:29 states: “our God is a consuming fire.” Pentecost describes tongues of fire that came and rested upon the people’s “minds” as they were baptized in the Holy Spirit and with…Fire.

So is there a connection between being cleansed, pruned, “burned” or sanctified by the Word that enables us to hear and recognize the ways that He speaks? In other words, will how you relate to the Word insure your ability to remain in a relationship, communing, or conversing with Jesus? When you allow the Word to “burn” your life, thinking, actions, and intentions to the ground does that bring greater clarity?

What’s puzzling to me is that our generation has greater access to the Words of God yet seem much duller in hearing and recognizing the ways that He speaks. How did New Testament believers have a greater relationship with God while not possessing a written copy of the Bible? Even more puzzling is the fact that even though the Word has the power to connect it’s readers and listeners with the Voice of God there are so many who read, and even teach it, yet don’t hear God. How is it that you can read, study, and even memorize it and not have an intimate relationship with God? How is it that when we reached the conclusion we needed to embrace Jesus as our Savior and Lord that we heard His Still, Small Voice? Even though we were anything but holy, and our minds were elsewhere – we still recognized our need for Him. Was that a sovereign act of grace?

Church attenders for centuries have been distancing themselves from making connections between their lives and the Words of God. But what’s startling is that less and less people are reading it presently. In a comprehensive fashion our generation seems to be sealing their fates to ever knowing God. Romans 1 speaks of the Last Days in which the people do not think God worth the knowing. Can there be any doubt that we are living in the Last Days? I believe that cultural ways of believing and thinking are trusted more than God’s Word leaving church attenders unable to recognize how far they have fallen from God. Our spiritual senses simply grow duller and duller. May we all have an awakening, calling for a new reformation, leading to the transformation of the Body of Christ. Jesus is coming back for a Bride that is equally yoked to Him. Why would we ever entertain the idea that He wants a Bride that doesn’t know Him, or long to know Him?

Last Adam?

/in /by

Other than losing their “lodging” in the Garden what was the primary thing Adam and Eve lost in the Garden of Eden? Was it that they were going to be slaves of satan and sin? Read on to find out.

1 Corinthians 15:45 Thus it is written, The first man Adam became a living being (an individual personality); the last Adam (Christ) became a life-giving Spirit [restoring the dead to life].

What was really lost in the Garden that day that Adam and Eve took a bite out of the forbidden fruit? (And, No it wasn’t an apple) Was it that they had now sealed the fate of the entire human race to slavery? Was it that they had traded places with satan making him the god and guardian of this world? Was it that they now had to make a living by the sweat of their brow, and Eve had to endure child birth?

Some would offer that it was the fact that they had been separated from God. That would be correct but the statement has been made so often that many in the church fail to get the full ramifications. Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. What’s implied here? Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden – in the cool of the day. They were in His Presence having conversation, communion and fellowship with God. In other words, they had a personal relationship with the Creator of the Universe. Jesus, being the Last Adam, walked with God on earth as a Man, having relationship with Him. Scripture records that Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing. It also records that Jesus was hearing the Father speak, and on occasion others heard the sound, but didn’t recognize what was being said. Jesus, according to Phil. 2:5-7 emptied Himself of His divinity. The passage states: Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [Let Him be your example in humility:] Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, but stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.

Thus Jesus became the Last Adam, who walked as a man walked, yet filled with the Holy Spirit, and cut off from the curse of sin through the virgin birth. Jesus came to accomplish what the first Adam failed to complete. He redeemed what had been robbed and stolen, by walking in complete dependence upon the Father, and vitally connected to Him in relationship. Jesus as a Man, heard the Father speak. Jesus as a Man, walked in communion with the Father. Jesus has redeemed this for us as believers. But what do we believe?

2 Timothy 3:5 states that the Church will be in perilous times in the Last Days. One of the perils will be that many will have a form of godliness but deny the power of God. Was Jesus godly? Absolutely? Did Jesus hear the Father and walk in communion with Him? Thus it can be deduced godly people hear God the Father and walk in communion with Him. That’s godliness with power. Godliness without power denies that man can hear God or walk in communion with Him. That’s having a form of godliness. A form of godliness has “self” as it’s center, and does things by the strength of the soul. What is the soul? Mind, will, emotions, and personality. That’s soul power. The Bible states that this version of godliness hates God: Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

The word for hatred means to “disregard, detest, postpone love or esteem, to love less, or to slight.” What’s really scary is that in the Greek it also means “to be indifferent; to not care; to be apathetic.” Romans 1:24 states: Therefore God gave them up…” Why did God give them up? It lists several reasons but the top two? Romans 1:21, 28 Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks.. And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind…” A form of godliness without power hates God and reveals that hatred through not being thankful to God, and indifference to knowing Him. Why? Because they don’t think He is worth the knowing. In other words, they practice Church and Christianity as if He is not even there. 

This form of godliness is manifested perfectly in the Church of Laodicea found in Rev 3. They couldn’t see spiritually that Jesus wasn’t even in their worship services. They couldn’t see that they had left Him outside of the building. They couldn’t hear Himcalling – because they couldn’t hear or recognize His Voice. They couldn’t hear Him knocking at the front door of the Church. Why? They had closed the door to His entrance.

Jesus came so we could have godliness with power that sees and hears Him. A godliness that walks and communes with God. That power can only be provided and supplied by the Spirit. Are you practicing His Presence or a form of godliness?

Ghost in the Machine

/in /by

 

In 1981 the British rock band “Police” produced an album titled “Ghost in the Machine.” One of it’s songs “Spirits in the Material World” states the very thing Jesus was seeking to awaken us to. The French philosopher Rene’ Descartes proposed a similar idea when he coined the phrase: “cogito ergo sum” (English: “I think, therefore I am”). Proposing that because he was thinking he existed, and that he was not the product of a dream. The Bible makes references to these distinctions often. Are we simply a machine, or product of chemical reactions, ancient ancestors and an evolutionary process that has pre-determined our personalities and the ways we think and behave? Or are we more than machines? More than animals?

This sounds silly to most but you would be surprised at how much this thinking has infiltrated our society, culture and the Christianity that we practice. In essence our worldview has been determined by the environment in which we were raised. As a result that worldview will determine whether you trust Jesus’ truth, or the “truth” the world system seeks submission, and allegiance to. For example secular humanism’s proponents decided that the best way to rid the world of superstitious beliefs in the supernatural and eternal, other worldly existence was to begin within the framework of the public education system. As the Bible states: “Train up a child in the way that they should go and they will not depart from it.” This belief system has infiltrated our worldview and keeps us from embracing a world that we cannot perceive with our physical senses, or comprehend with our logical mind. This is why Paul exhorts the believers in Rome: “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.” (Romans 12:2 J.B. Phillips Translation)

Jesus said in John 15:4-7 “Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much (abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing. If a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned. If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.”

How do you dwell in someone Who isn’t physically present? How do you dwell in someone’s words when they aren’t available to speak those words? If your world view has not been shaped by the Word of God, or a supernatural encounter with Jesus, or both, you will quickly dismiss those words as being utter nonsense or you will use some intellectual gymnastics to dilute the truth and the impact of it’s meaning. Many within the church fail to be honest with themselves about these things and typically align themselves with those who believe this is superstitious hogwash. I recall when for the very first time I heard someone question, “Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?” The question stunned me because I quickly knew that having a relationship involved an interaction. A relationship would involve physical contact or proximity to the person, communication, emotion, and exchange. I knew that I didn’t have that with Jesus. Rather than going to God with my questions I deferred to the religious experts who were more than happy to dismiss my doubts about my own salvation. They explained that it really doesn’t mean that you can know Jesus or interact with Him. You simply need to reassure yourself that you prayed a prayer, you were baptized, joined the church, and tried to be a good person till you died. Never once did an advisor encourage me to pursue an encounter, or experience with Jesus. Yet Scripture repeatedly commands and exhorts us to seek, and pursue God and you will find Him. I was taught quite the opposite. I was taught a relativistic world view. That is you can’t trust experiences, but you can trust your five physical senses and what your brain interprets them to say. Can experiences deceive us? Absolutely. But did Jesus, the Apostles, Old and New Testaments Prophets, Teachers, and believers ever buy into the belief that you couldn’t experience and know God? Notice that I say believers, not adherents. True believers have been experiencing God since Adam and Eve walked in the Garden with Him. And from the beginning of time it’s been the adherents of religion that have sought to dilute and discount the experiences of true believers. If they can’t silence you they will kill you. That’s why Religion killed and still seeks to silence Jesus today; crucifying Him through the doctrines and dogmas of men, empty religious rituals, self-centered, feel good teachings and warm and fuzzy theology. Yet the “rocks” are still crying out that the stone has been rolled away from their hearts, that Jesus has walked into their lives, and they have been forever transformed by the embrace of His Presence. Popular Theologians announced in 1966 that God was dead. Time magazine called Billy Graham asking for his reaction to the stunning declaration. Billy simply replied, “That’s funny I was just talking with Him.”

 

Doubt Your Doubt

/in /by

John 20:25 AMP “So the other disciples kept telling him, We have seen the Lord! But he said to them, Unless I see in His hands the marks made by the nails and put my finger into the nail prints, and put my hand into His side, I will never believe [it].”

We’ve been exploring the Scripture that teaches that born-again children of God hear God. We’ve also seen that those with a relativistic world view have trouble believing this. But I’ve got a proposal for you: why not doubt your doubt? Put it on trial and seek to build a case for it.

This morning I was reading from Timothy Keller’s book, “The Reason for God.” In it he makes the following proposal: “I commend two processes to my readers. I urge skeptics to wrestle with the unexamined ‘blind faith’ on which skepticism is based, and to see how hard it is to justify those beliefs to those who do not share them. I also urge believers to wrestle with their personal and culture’s objections to the faith. At the end of each process, even if you remain the skeptic or believer you have been, you will hold your own position with both greater clarity and greater humility. Then there will be an understanding, sympathy, and respect for the other side that did not exist before. Believers and nonbelievers will rise to the level of disagreement rather than simply denouncing one another. This happens when each side has learned to represent the other’s argument in its strongest and most positive form. Only then is it safe and fair to disagree with it. That achieves civility in a pluralistic society, which is no small thing.”

One such skeptic was a lady by the name of Simone Weil. Born Jewish, she was raised by her parents to be completely agnostic. As she grew old she identified herself with communism, marxism, anarchy, and anything leaning to the left politically. But then something profound happened: In 1938….I was suffering from splitting headaches; each sound hurt me like a blow… I discovered the poem “Love” [by George Herbert], I learned it by heart. Often, at the culminating point of a violent headache, I made myself say it over, concentrating all my attention upon it and clinging with all my soul to the tenderness it enshrines. I used to think I was merely reciting it as a beautiful poem, but without my knowing it the recitation had the virtue of a prayer. It was during one of these recitations that, as I told you, Christ himself came down and took possession of me. In my arguments about the insolubility of the problem of God I had never foreseen the possibility of that, of a real contact, person to person, here below, between a human being and God. – From Waiting for God and The Notebooks of Simone Weil

Thus my proposal to you today is have you ever taken a hard look at what you really believe and why? Wherever there is doubt there is a corresponding belief in quite the opposite. That belief is faith. So if your faith is in relativism, and not the mystical teachings of Scripture, then why is that? Have you delved the depths of it and explored the X-File Possibility? “The Truth is Out There!?” Have you given listening for God a try? Not in a passive, “If you’re really there prove it” approach. But in an exploratory, experimental, trial period. Let’s say for example, that for the next 40 days you are going to try and explore the possibility that God will speak in and through a consistent quiet time or prayer time. Or maybe you could take some time going away on a hike to listen for God. Or more realistically possibly for the next 40 days you could consistently read the Word of God inviting the Holy Spirit to come alongside of you and teach you what you are reading. The “laboratories” are endless but the challenge is the same: are you willing to doubt your doubt? The Bible says, seek Me and you will find Me. Is it true or not? If you are of a more mystical world view persuasion, when’s the last time you actively sought to encounter God? To go beyond the summit you’ve reached thus far. You doubt that there is anything beyond the summit? Doubt your doubt. Step up, step out and take a stand. Thomas did. Simone Weil did. There are millions of saints surrounding the throne of God that can attest to the same thing. Why not join the cloud of witnesses?

Can You Hear What I Hear?

/in /by

John 15:7 AMP If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

In the 2016 movie “Copying Beethoven” a fictionalized account is made of the last years of Beethoven’s life depicting his struggle with not being able to hear his own music. In the movie a dialogue takes place between Beethoven and his young assistant Anna Holtz regarding how he creates his music:

Ludwig van Beethoven: “The vibrations on the air are the breath of God speaking to man’s soul. Music is the language of God. We musicians are as close to God as man can be. We hear his voice, we read his lips, we give birth to the children of God, who sing his praise. That’s what musicians are, Anna Holtz. And if we’re not that, we’re nothing.”

You have to listen to the voice speaking inside of you. I didn’t even hear it myself until I went deaf. Not that I want you to go deaf, my dear.

Anna replies: You’re telling me that I must find the silence in myself, so I can hear the music.”

Beethoven: Yes. Yes. Yes. Silence is the key. The silence between the notes. When that silences envelops you, then your soul can sing.

In John 15:7 Jesus makes the statement: “If you abide in Me and my words abide in you…” We naturally assume that the words He is referring to is regarding the Bible. Yet history reveals to us that at that time there wasn’t any written record of Jesus’ words. The New Testament had yet to be written. The Old Testament had been recorded on scrolls with  no chapters or verses, and the only way you could access them was by attending a synagogue service. The book hadn’t been invented yet, and the only people who had access to these scrolls were the religious elite. The question begs to be asked, “To what “words” is Jesus referring?” The answer to that question lies in the original translation of the passage. In that translation the word used for “words” is the Greek word “rhema.” The Greek language had two words for the word. One word referred to written words, called “logos.” We find this word used in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word (logos)…” But in John 15:7 quite the opposite word is used, and that word is “rhema.” Rhema words refer to words that are spoken, and revealed. Jesus was teaching His Disciples that if they wanted to abide in Him they had to connect to the internal Voice of the Spirit, or what we would refer to as the “Still Small Voice” of God. Which is very profound. If you were to insert yourself into the story, imagining yourself listening to Jesus give directions to His followers the night before His crucifixion what would you be thinking? I know what I would be thinking. “How are we going to abide in your words if you are not here? If you die who is going to give us Your words? How am I going to remember what You said?” In other words I believe that I would be dumbfounded, shocked, even panicked at the thought. But Jesus comforts them at the end of this chapter with the following words: John 15:26“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truthwho goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.”  Before chapters and verses were created for the Bible this discourse of Jesus proceeded. And in this discourse He was seeking to comfort and address their concerns: John 16:6-15 Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:  about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

Thus you can deduce from this information that Jesus wanted His Disciples to be centered in Him and the Holy Spirit. In our modern day culture that is centered in the written word, more than what is said, this sounds peculiar and strange. Yet it shines light on the fact of how far down the modern day church has been plunged in darkness and ignorance. May we learn from the words of Beethoven that until we become deaf to the outside world we will never hear the “Voice” speaking inside us. May God give us grace to be deaf to the world but listening to Him and for Him.

What Would Jesus Do?

/in /by

John 15:4 Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.

In 1896, Pastor John Sheldon, delivered a series of sermons to his church in Topeka, Kansas. From these messages the book, “In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do?” was published, which created the resurgence of the phrase in the 1990’s, “What Would Jesus Do?” or “WWJD?” What’s not known about this popular Christian movement is that the book which created the WWJD? movement of the 1990’s was based in Christian Socialism, and the heretical Social Gospel formed in the early 1900’s. Should we abandon this statement simply because of it’s association with heresy? Absolutely not. What the question  belies is that it doesn’t go deep enough.

Jonathan Welton in his book, “Normal Christianity:” Jesus and the Book of Acts are the standard of Normal Christianity. Remember the fad a few years ago when people wore bracelets reminding them, What Would Jesus Do? Christians state that Jesus is the example of how to live, yet this has been limited in many cases to how we view our moral character. When Christians tell me that they want to live like Jesus, I like to ask if they have multiplied food, healed the sick, walked on water, raised the dead, paid their taxes with fish money, calmed storms, and so forth. I typically receive bewildered looks, but that is what it is like to live like Jesus! 

There you have it. To live like Jesus, or do what Jesus would do, was not and should never be limited to us being good, moral people. That is to reduce Jesus, to a good, moral, teacher, and the Gospel, to another nauseating version of humanism, or relativism. And that’s precisely what is wrong with popular, cultural Christianity. You cannot do what Jesus did apart from being born-again of the Spirit. But you can be a good person. You can be a good person and remain a buddhist, or satanist. Being good doesn’t require being born-again, but doing what Jesus does….does. If we dwell in Jesus, we are extensions of Him. As extensions of Jesus or “branches” connected to the Vine you will hear what the Father is doing. Why? Presently, we could make the argument that Jesus is located at the right Hand of the Father. Because of that placement and positioning, those who are truly born-again of the Spirit, are connected to what Jesus is receiving from the Father. In other words, what He hears we hear, because of our connection to Jesus. That is, if we are abiding in Jesus. With that realization comes the responsibility on our part to remain connected. If we are not making the connection then we are simply wearing “WWJD?” bracelets, and we are only doing what we can do. And what we can do is quite simply humanism, and relativism. Which by the way, the Bible says is hatred towards God: Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. The word “enmity” is defined as “hatred, and being hostile, desiring ill will against another.” The question that’s begging to be asked? Do you want to wear a bracelet, or do you want to be connected to the True Vine?

Can You See Him?

/in /by

Luke 24:16 AMP Classic “But their eyes were held, so that they did not recognize Him.”

Scholars, theologians, and Christians for the past several years have debated why the Jesus was unrecognizable in His post resurrection body. Many have postulated, myself included, that since Jesus was in His glorified, resurrected body it was difficult for those who knew Him by His earthly body to comprehend that this was the One Who had been born of a virgin, lived, bled and died. But may I suggest to you an even deeper explanation? May I suggest that what kept them from “seeing” Him was the fact that they hadn’t yet accepted that He was their Resurrected and Living Christ. They hadn’t accepted the crucifixion of Christ was for their resurrection and as a result the stone that covered Jesus’ tomb remained rolled into place shutting the followers of Christ from seeing and receiving His resurrection. Mark 9:9 states: And as they were coming back down the mountain, He admonished and expressly ordered them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man should rise from among the dead. Oswald Chambers adds: “As the disciples were commanded, you should also say nothing until the Son of Man has risen in you— until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you truly understand what He taught while here on earth…Our Lord doesn’t hide these things from us, but we are not prepared to receive them until we are in the right condition in our spiritual life..We must have a oneness with His risen life before we are prepared to bear any particular truth from Him. Do we really know anything about the indwelling of the risen life of Jesus? The evidence that we do is that His Word is becoming understandable to us.”

As we proceed to Pentecost have we really answered the questions: Are you in the right condition in your spiritual life to receive Jesus as your Risen Savior? Savior from what and who? Do you have a oneness with His crucified life in order to have oneness with His Resurrected life? The evidence lies simply in the fact that His Words are becoming more understandable to us. You now see Him, and recognize the ways that He speaks, because you have been crucified with Jesus, and resurrected to a new, born-again life by the Holy Spirit. This is normal Christianity. This is the eternal life Jesus spoke of and defined in John 17:3. To know Him is to love Him. To love Him is to obey Him.

2017 State Convention – New Resolutions

/in /by

At this years State Convention, two resolutions were adopted. You can read them below.

Resolution Denouncing Racism

WHEREAS, The Bible clearly teaches that God has created all men and women in His image, from all tribes and nations of the world (Genesis 1:27; Acts 17:26); and

WHEREAS, Christ died for the sins of people from every nation, tongue, and tribe (Revelation 5:9); and

WHEREAS, Christians are commanded to make disciples from every nation (Matthew 28:19); and

WHEREAS, The Bible declares, “God does not show favoritism, but in every nation the person who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him” (Acts 10:34-35); and

WHEREAS, Significant racism still exists in our communities, as evidenced by recent events in Charlottesville, Virginia, Durham, North Carolina, and other cities across our nation, and the devil uses these opportunities to perpetuate division and strife in our society; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina Annual Meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina, November 6-7, 2017, denounce racism in all its expressions as sin against a holy and just God, because it disregards the image of God in all people and denies the truth of the Gospel that Christ died for the sins of all mankind; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we affirm the sentiments of the resolution adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, June 13-14, 2017 titled “On the Anti-Gospel of Alt- Right White Supremacy”; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we call on North Carolina Baptists to humble themselves before God, acknowledging that while the preservation of history is critically important for a nation, the demonstration of Christ’s love and the proclamation of the Gospel to all peoples must take precedence over the important personal preferences of individual Christians, including the preservation of history. Therefore, we call on North Carolina Baptists to joyfully set aside anything that might create a barrier for the sharing and hearing of the full truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and be it finally

RESOLVED, That North Carolina Baptists commit to pray fervently for those who advocate racism, so that they may become aware of their sin through the light of the Gospel, repent of the sin of racism, and recognize that the love of Jesus Christ has been extended to all men and women of every race and nation.

Resolution On a Biblical Stance on Human Sexuality and Marriage

WHEREAS, God created two complementary and distinct sexes, male and female, and embedded their differences in the very biology of the human race (Genesis 1:27; Matthew 19:14; Mark 10:6); and

WHEREAS, The separation of one’s gender identity from the physical reality of biological birth sex rejects God’s perfect intent in creation, and undermines the ultimate purpose of humanity, which is to bring honor and glory to God (Isaiah 43:7); and

WHEREAS, God in His divine wisdom established marriage as the union of one man and one woman (Genesis 2:18-24; Matthew 19:4-6; Hebrews 13:4); and

WHEREAS, The Baptist Faith and Message (2000) recognizes the biblical definition of marriage as “the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime,” stating further, “It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race”; and

WHEREAS, The cultural pressures of modern society have begun to sway persons even within the Body of Christ from holding fast to these biblical teachings regarding human sexuality and marriage; and

WHEREAS, The church is called to proclaim with conviction the biblical truths regarding human sexuality and marriage; and

WHEREAS, The Bible commands Christians to love all of their neighbors, which includes those with whom we may disagree; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the messengers to the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina meeting in in Greensboro, North Carolina, November 6-7, 2017, affirm God’s good design that gender identity is determined by biological sex and not by one’s self-perception; and be it further

RESOLVED, That North Carolina Baptists affirm the biblical definition of marriage as being exclusively between one man and one woman, and the biblical truths regarding God’s purpose for marriage, being ultimately for benefit of mankind, especially as it relates to procreation and the establishment of strong families under the Lordship of Christ; and finally be it

RESOLVED, That North Carolina Baptists commit to pray for our neighbors who identify themselves as homosexual and transgender, to minister to them with Christ’s love, and, as they repent, to help them grow as disciples of Jesus Christ.

Day Three

/1 Comment/in /by

Day Three
1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 Be happy [in your faith] and rejoice and be glad-hearted continually (always); be unceasing in prayer [praying perseveringly]; thank [God] in everything [no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks], for this is the will of God for you [who are] in Christ Jesus [the Revealer and Mediator of that will]. Do not quench (suppress or subdue) the [Holy] Spirit;…”

God’s Word Translation interprets verse nineteen as: “Don’t put out the Spirit’s fire.” Make the connection? Be joyful, happy in your faith, rejoicing and being glad-hearted continually, unceasing in prayer, and thanking God in everything. Want to pray continually? Give thanks. Want to be happy in your faith? Give thanks in and in spite of all circumstances. The result? Holy Spirit Fire! Do you desire to stoke those fires? Give thanks like your life depended on it. Give thanks for those unanswered prayers as if they are already a manifested reality.

Scottish minister Alexander Whyte was known for his uplifting prayers in the pulpit. He always found something for which to be grateful. One Sunday morning the weather was so gloomy that one church member thought to himself, “Certainly the preacher won’t think of anything for which to thank the Lord on a wretched day like this.” Much to his surprise, however, Whyte began by praying, “We thank Thee, O God, that it is not always like this.”

In Budapest, a man goes to the rabbi and complains, “Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?” The rabbi answers, “Take your goat into the room with you.” The man in incredulous, but the rabbi insists. “Do as I say and come back in a week.”
A week later the man comes back looking more distraught than before. “We cannot stand it,” he tells the rabbi. “The goat is filthy.” The rabbi then tells him, “Go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week.” A radiant man returns to the rabbi a week later, exclaiming, “Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there’s no goat — only the nine of us.”

Todays Challenge: Give thanks that your not sleeping with a goat. In other words, give thanks today in spite of the negative circumstances that assail you. When you are tempted to be angry – give thanks. Irritated – give thanks. Hopeless and despairing – give thanks. Anxious or worried – give thanks. Thank God through it, in spite of it and remember and recall – your not sleeping with the goats.

What ten things are you, or could you be thankful for today?

Day Two

/in /by

Psalm 100:4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and a thank offering and into His courts with praise! Be thankful and say so to Him, bless and affectionately praise His name!

In his book FOLK PSALMS OF FAITH, Ray Stedman tells of an experience H.A. Ironside had in a crowded restaurant. Just as Ironside was about to begin his meal, a man approached and asked if he could join him. Ironside invited him to have a seat. Then, as was his custom, Ironside bowed his head in prayer. When he opened his eyes, the other man asked, “Do you have a headache?” Ironside replied, “No, I don’t.” The other man asked, “Well, is there something wrong with your food?” Ironside replied, “No, I was simply thanking God as I always do before I eat.” The man said, “Oh, you’re one of those, are you? Well, I want you to know I never give thanks. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow and I don’t have to give thanks to anybody when I eat. I just start right in!” Ironside said, “Yes, you’re just like my dog. That’s what he does too!”

When it comes to life and the rich blessings we have received many simply plow on through only taking notice when what’s expected isn’t manifested immediately. The response varies from mild annoyance to downright rage. Yet Scripture states that the creation is in the midst of praise to Him: Isaiah 55:12 “For you shall go out with joy, and be led out with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.”

My second favorite Greek word in the Bible is found in John 4:24 God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality). The Greek word for worship as used here is proskineo. It means”meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand), to fawn or crouch to, homage (do reverence to, adore): worship.” It occurs 59 times in the New Testament. It originally carried with it the idea of subjects falling down to kiss the ground before a king or kiss their feet. Mountains, hills, trees and dogs are all seeming to be thankful praising His Name. And Jesus adds in Luke 19:40 “He replied, I tell you that if these keep silent, the very stones will cry out.” Even rocks can’t help but give thanks and praise His Name.

There are plenty of gates we can enter into through life but the Gates of Thanksgiving lead us into His very Presence. Are you entering into His Presence?

Todays’ Challenge: Give thanks to God throughout the day like you are deliriously out of your mind. Give thanks repeatedly throughout the day until you know that you have entered into His Presence through it’s practice. Give thanks through the day imagining that you are joining in with the rocks, trees, mountains, hills, and even the dogs. Yes, even dogs praise Him.

What ten things are you, or could you be thankful for today?

Day One

/in /by

Day One
Romans 1:24-25 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their [own] hearts to sexual impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves [abandoning them to the degrading power of sin], because they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed forever! Amen (so be it).

One of the scariest passages in the Bible: “Therefore God gave them up…”
But what were the reasons for God giving them up?
Romans 1:21 Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks.
Romans 1:28 And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome,…

They didn’t give thanks to God or think He was worth knowing. The emphasis of this fast is to seek God, and this weeks focus is on thanksgiving. Seeking God implies several things:
He can be found and discovered.
He can be known and encountered.

Truth be known He’s not lost, but we are. Quite simply when God calls to His people to seek Him it’s because they have quit looking to Him. In other words their trust has been misplaced. As good as some things are within the Church and Christianity when we begin to trust them instead of Him – we have misplaced our trust – and that misplaced trust is what the Bible would refer to as idolatry. Idols can be made of denominations, pastors, organizations, styles of music, and even the Bible. When listening to certain pastors you would think that the Holy Trinity is Father, Son, and Holy Bible – while the Person of the Holy Spirit is side-lined and ignored.

Two men were walking through a field one day when they spotted an enraged bull. Instantly they darted toward the nearest fence. The storming bull followed in hot pursuit, and it was soon apparent they wouldn’t make it. Terrified, the one shouted to the other, “Put up a prayer, John. We’re in for it!” John answered, “I can’t. I’ve never made a public prayer in my life.”
“But you must!” implored his companion. “The bull is catching up to us.” “All right,” panted John, “I’ll say the only prayer I know, the one my father used to repeat at the table: ‘O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.'”

What ten things are you, or could you be thankful for today?

“Prepare the Way – Forty Days of Seeking God for the Feast of Trumpets”

/in /by
During this season God is drawing near to us inviting us to come up to His Mountain. Use this season of seeking the Lord to seek an answer to the following questions:
1. What does the Lord think about my relationship with Him?
2. What does He want to do to enhance our relationship?
3. What did you do in the past to get closer to Him when nothing else took priority?
4. What activities can you do together to develop greater intimacy – especially during this season of 40 days?
5. What ideas does He have about your getting closer to Him?
Isa 55:6-7 Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
Jer 3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: ‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not remain angry forever.
Eph 5:14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
The “Prepare the Way” Commitment
Q. How could Christians prepare the way for the Return of Jesus?
40 Days of Seeking God through…thanksgiving, praise, confession, prayer, QT, and the Word
40 Days of Seeking God through…a fast of turning off the distractions
40 Days of Seeking God through…partner prayer
40 Days of Seeking God through…prayer room deposits
40 Days of Seeking God through…committing to become sons and daughters of the Word
This Weeks Commitment?- Thanksgiving Journaling and Rigorous Thanksgiving.
10 things a day that you are thankful for – journaled and expressed aloud to God.
Throughout the day especially when you are tempted to be negative, critical, anxious, angry, discouraged – thank God for the opposite; through it; in spite of it.
Seek to enter in and remain in His Presence through thanksgiving.
Thank God for the things you’ve been praying that haven’t happened – as if they have happened.

God Speaks Through Signs and Wonders

/in /by

How To Interpret Symbols

/in /by

God Speaks Through Nature

/in /by

21 Day Fast – Day 20

/in /by

21 Day Fast – Day 19

/in /by

21 Day Fast – Day 18

/in /by

21 Day Fast – Day 17

/in /by

21 Day Fast – Day 16

/in /by

21 Day Fast – Day 13

/in /by

21 Day Fast – Day 12

/in /by

21 Day Fast – Day 11

/in /by

Day 11. Hump Day. We are half-way through our 21 day fast. I was doing my Experiencing God study and happened upon this statement by Henry Blackaby:

“What is God’s will for my life? One of my seminary professors, Gaines S. Dobbins, used to say, “If you ask the wrong question, you will get the wrong answer.” Sometimes we assume every question is legitimate. However when we ask the wrong question, we may find an answer but remain disoriented to God and His activity. Always check to see whether you have the right question before you pursue the answer. “What is God’s will for my life?” is not the right question. I think the proper question is, What is God’s will? Once I know God’s will, then I can adjust my life to Him. In other words, what is it God is purposing to accomplish where I am? Once I know what God is doing, then I know what I need to do. The focus needs to be on God, not on my life.”

This morning as I was meditating on Experiencing God I was reminded of a thought I have had for quite some time:

“You can’t have a Pentecost without a resurrection. You can’t have a resurrection with out a crucifixion.”

Mulling over this thought I was reminded of the many people I have known throughout the years of ministry, and another thought occurred to me: “Before there can be a crucifixion you must know God.” The Bible tells us that “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Yet our perceptions of God are shaped through our experiences, sins of our fathers, lies of the enemy, and the world. The self-centered filter and lens of who we think God is will be distorted, deformed, cloudy, and out of focus at best. All of these like tethering chains pull on us dragging us to everything but God.

Fasting offends our minds (and our stomachs) exposing what’s really in our hearts. Pay close attention and you will notice that you have been tethered to something that has been actually taking you away from God – not closer to Him. Ultimately the solution is to have God as our Center. But it has to be “the Center” found in the whole counsel of God – not just certain passages of Scripture. The whole counsel of God will shine the necessary light to snap the shackles of bondage, and torment. May we all cry out with Braveheart’s William Wallace: “Freedom!”

21 Day Fast – Day 10

/in /by

How is everyone doing on there fast? Today is day 10 of our 21 day, and the second day of our meditations in Experiencing God. Tomorrow night we have our second prayer meeting.

I began fasting back in the 90’s and was often amazed at how God’s grace would “carry” me through the time of fasting. Yet I would be disappointed more often than not in the results of what I was seeking God for in prayer. If God awarded gold medals for effort I would have a wall full. I’ve been on 40, 30, and 20 day fasts only to suffer disappointment after disappointment. But not this time. This time I combined several aspects into seeking God. And my belief is that as a result of my being called by God to seek Him through this fast, having no other ulterior motives other than to get closer to Him – that He is drawing near to me. I’ve combined praise, thanksgiving, holiness (turning the media slime off), prolonged prayer, and the pure pursuit of simply wanting to be near Him. And He is drawing me into His loving embrace. This morning I awoke at 1:30 and He began answering questions I had been praying about. It took me a while to make the connection but I realized God was working and wanted me to come join Him. When I made that connection from John 5:19: “Jesus gave them this answer: I tell you the truth the Son can do nothing by Himself. He can do only what He sees His Father doing. Because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” – I rolled out of bed and headed to my “prayer tent.” (I have a chair in my study that I like to kneel in front of and pray. But I’ve added a new twist. I’ve been taking a blanket, draping it over it’s back, sliding underneath, and climbing into my “tent.” it takes me back to my childhood when my sister and I made “forts” out of blankets and chairs.)

Under my “tent of meeting” God has told me so many things, and has been so good to me. With each passing day of the fast the commitment level intensifies – the bar being raised higher. But His grace empowers me to do things I can’t do in the flesh. And by that grace His eagles “will mount up” higher and higher.

Are you hearing the call? “Come up here?” Set yourself up a “tent of meeting.” Moses and David did. The friends of God have tents of meeting. You want to be a friend of God?

21 Day Fast – Day 8

/in /by

Today is Day 8 of our church’s 21 Day Fast. How’s everyone holding up? This morning I was questioning the purpose of fasting as I thought about my hunger pains. In the shower I told the Lord that I could seek Him without having to go without food. Basically I was saying to Him, “What’s the point?” My prayers did not go unheard. After arriving at the church, turning on the lights, and cranking up the heat I went into my office to spend time with the Lord. I wrote in my thanksgiving journal, and then verbally acknowledged the things I was thankful for. I reviewed my Scripture memory, and then settled down for some meditation in the word. Usually I have 8 passages of Scripture that I try to meditate on during the week, and today I was meditating on the word “word” in the Scripture. Using my concordance I searched for the Scripture that I was to look up which happened to be Deut. 8:3. And here is what its said:
“And He humbled you and allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you recognize and personally know that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.”

I realized the Lord was answering my prayer, reminding me from the rest of the verse and chapter what fasting was all about:
It’s about humbling yourself before the Lord

How was it humbling?
Deut. 8:2 “And you shall [earnestly] remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and to prove you, to know what was in your [mind and] heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”

To see if I will obey God’s Word.
To test and prove what’s in my heart.
To help me see that I don’t live on bread alone. (What really should be making me come to life is God’s Word – His written Word and His spoken, revealed word.)
To not forget the Lord when he prospers me and I start looking to things to satisfy and make me happy.
To cause me to turn back to Him while I’m fasting, knowing that I need Him and His grace to to pray and fast, and to be free of the distractions.
In the end I recognize all of God’s goodness, I experience His grace empowering me to fast and pray, and I see God clearer than I did before I began.

During your fast don’t forget the Word. Remember the Word is a mirror which Jesus- the Word, holds up so that you can see yourself as you truly are. He really will feed you. So go to His banqueting table as your stomach rumbles in protest and ask Daddy God to feed you some fresh baked “manna” from Heaven.

21 Day Fast – Day 7

/in /by

Day seven of our 21 Day Fast I have been seeking the Lord first of all because I felt that He was inviting me to so. In December I was going through my Scripture memory and my eye just happened to fall on some scripture I had written down that I wanted to memorize. (These Scripture go back about three years ago) My eyes happened to fall on one – Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the Lord while He may be found call upon Him while He is near.” Then I saw several other Scripture: 2 Chronicles 15:12 “Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul.” Job 5:8 “But as for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause.” As the scriptures seemed to pop up off the page I smiled. I knew the Lord was answering the prayer I had been praying for several months regarding whether I should lead the church in this fast. I felt that this was His answer. A week before the fast began I pressed into seeking Jesus desiring to see Him; desiring for Him to appear before me. In my search the first thing that He drew my attention to was this question: What do I need from God? I wrote down a list: breakthrough in my walk with the Lord; breakthrough in my coming into what He’s purposed for my life; breakthrough in Bethany Church’s ministries, growth and God’s Presence; breakthrough for my son; breaking off of fear; girding up of my faith; what country God wanted out church to be on mission to; reformation of the church; revival, transformation, awakening; and renewal in our church’s life. Those things gave me some extra things to pray. But before I answered this question I had made another list. In this list I had written: “The purpose of this fast would be to seek a dramatic encounter that would transform my relationship with God. My focus would be seeking the Lord’s appearing, His Presence, a transformation. To have a new being. To be “dictated” to by the Spirit. To pray for a movement of the Holy Spirit to be birthed in me and the people of Bethany that will shake our neighborhood, the City of Weddington, Union Co., NC, America and the world. Transformation of the people of Bethany. Awakening of the lost through the people of Bethany. That God would do something only He could do. Pray that God would release grace expectation, and anointing in me and others at Bethany.” 

These were the things that I would seek God to obtain. Is He able? All day long. Is He doing it? I don’t know yet. But my encouragement to you is to write down what He is saying and pay close attention to all that’s going on around you. He loves you and wants you to find Him. He hides, we seek. Join in God’s hide and seek. Remember: “The fire of God, the manifested Presence of God, does not fall on an empty altar.”