The Gateway to the Family of God

I love these thoughts from Oz Chambers this morning, they smack of wonder and awe of Him and His ability to accomplish the impossible in anyone!

Rich

Beware of placing Our Lord as a Teacher first. If Jesus Christ is a Teacher only, then all He can do is to tantalize me by erecting a standard I can not attain. What is the use of presenting me with an ideal I cannot possibly come near? I am happier without knowing it. What is the good of telling me to be what I never can be - to be pure in heart, to do more than my duty, to be perfectly devoted to God? I must know Jesus Christ as Saviour before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal which leads to despair. But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only: He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into any man the disposition that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives are based on that disposition.

The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces despair in the natural man - the very thing Jesus means it to do. As long as we have a self-righteous, conceited notion that we can carry out Our Lord's teaching, God will allow us to go on until we break our ignorance over some obstacle, then we are willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. "Blessed are the paupers in spirit," that is the first principle in the Kingdom of God. The bedrock in Jesus Christ's kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility - I cannot begin to do it. Then Jesus says - Blessed are you. That is the entrance, and it does take us a long while to believe we are poor! The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works.

Misinformed Christ

In light of the One who is the author and finisher (developer) of our faith, Christ Jesus, the one who said, I will build (establish) my church, why is it we need so many prefixes added to that reality?

One of the latest buzz words is “organic” in relation to church. Why didn’t Jesus get it straight right from the get-go? Was he misinformed? Should there have been room for these allegedly much needed addendums or prefixes such as, organic, missional, emigrant, generic, no-name, new improved, et cetera?

To my way of thinking so many have mistakenly confused what man has initiated from the loins of his carnal fleshly madness and called it the ‘church’, from what Jesus said he was going to establish is nothing short of a bad dream gone insane!
I see it much like Abraham begging God to forfeit His planned intention to bring Isaac (the promised one) into the forefront and establishing his purposes and instead begging God to do it through the fruit of his fleshly lunacy packaged in the person of Ishmael the son of his flesh.

Father in Jesus name, like the blind man that Jesus touched and asked, “What do you see” the man replying, “I see men walking about as trees.” Jesus knowing that there was a vast difference between men and trees touches the man one more time, causing him to clearly distinguish the difference!
Give us eyes to see the difference between what the flesh has birthed and what you have done from before the foundations of the earth.

Rich

But You Don’t Know…

You have no idea what I’m going through, you have no idea how painful this is, this crippling fear, lost my job, rebellious children, someone broke into my house, my dog and cat died, my wife/husband left me, found out I had cancer etc. etc!

"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." How much evil has begun to threaten you to-day? What kind of mean little imps have been looking in and saying - Now what are you going to do next month - this summer? "Be anxious for nothing," Jesus says. Look again and think. Keep your mind on the "much more" of your heavenly Father.

The longing of our heart is to KNOW an absolute security and folks it’s found in one place, person, Christ Jesus the Lord, and frankly I don’t give a rats ass how this may sound harsh or insensitive to any reading this especially those who are in some of the pain filled scenarios I’ve listed above.
Bottom line, “Today” is the day of salvation!

What you need, not what you or I want, is as close as the mention of His name, JESUS!
You ask, “If God loves me so much, then why am I looking up only to see bottom,” great question. It takes what it takes to bring us to an awakened need and somehow believing it can only be met in turning to Him.

Our world is filled with unthinkable terror, horror, pain and defilement, but it is this world that God sent His only begotten Son to become flesh to fully identify with you and me. Our humanity is something that he fully embraced, as a matter of fact; Jesus the Word introduced into the God head forever that very humanity.

Friend, stranger, brother, sister, He loves you as you are, He has removed ever obstacle that would try and convince you that there is NO way to find any reason or purpose for being alive.
I am convinced that anyone who has committed suicide did so not because they were tired of life, but actually tired of NOT having life.

Rich

An Old Product, A New Audience

To better see this picture go to this link.
The caption for this picture is "Think on These Things" Philippians 4:8
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

I've heard it said that much of what has been communicated for some time regarding the "Good News of the Gospel" as being nothing more than a "Bloodless Stick" religion.

For those who have never read or heard Darin Hufford share, it might be an encouragement for you to read the following, "Gratefully Disillusioned" and not just because I'm directing what he shared in his article to mesh in with my thoughts here today.

The following quotes are from "Unto Full Stature".

"There was an invasion into the early church, even as there has continued to be throughout the centuries since, by a movement attempting to take over Christianity. By using Christianities' names and forms but rejecting its substance, the movement called Gnosticism has always been a subtle enemy of the Gospel.

Gnosticism, coming from the Greek gnosis ("to know"), is simply an attempt to gain full stature by seeking to know God through principles and philosophy, yet all the while by-passing the real Lord Jesus. One has described that first-century Gnosticism: "You didn't need to go through Jesus to God; if you had the key, the gnosis, you could know immediately. Gnosticism supplied mysterious formulas and passwords which gave one access to the higher world and (they thought) brought perfect union with the Divine…So Jesus was taken over, not as God becoming man, but merely as a revealer of the secrets of Gnosticism-another Jesus. Gnosticism was the word become idea."


We can seem to recognize that Gnosticism of the early church, but it is alarming how many are unaware that a modern Gnosticism in new garb is now making a subtle invasion in our churches. Only the discerning eye can detect what is wrong, for the same Bible terms are used, in fact the Bible is revered as a most significant textbook on successful living; therein they seem to find the important laws of life. Their message exhorts every man to have faith (in himself) and to cooperate with the kingdom around him if he would achieve. There are multiplied thousands who have proved these laws of the kingdom to be absolutely trustworthy. They boldly acclaim that anyone who will "believe in himself" can use this knowledge (gnosis) to realize his selfish goals. But just here is the critical issue. They are heralding the importance of "another jesus" for they have seen no real need for personal submission to the crucified and resurrected Lord Jesus.

Without the God given revelation of the identity of the invisible one Satan, being the impetus of sin within our members, is it any wonder there is virtually little resistance to becoming totally assimilated, not into the "Borg" but conforming to the spirit of this age?
If it were possible Jesus said, "For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders so as to deceive and lead astray, if possible, even the elect (God's chosen ones)."

Rich

The Scent of Love

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma (fragrance) of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

Rich