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Posts Tagged ‘True Life’

Teaching to the Flesh or Preaching to the Spirit?

Posted in Christian, Christianity, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 28, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Can you tell the difference?

Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction.
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. NIV 2 Tim 4:2-3

Can you tell when men teach to tickle your ears and to appeal to your flesh and when preachers preach the Word of God?

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. NIV Heb 4:12

Chances are, if you are having your ears tickled and your flesh fed (and you are enjoying it) and the teaching focuses on this world and this life (and the pride of man and focusing on self) rather than eternal things, the Kingdom of God, your sacrifice and self denial, your sin and your repentance, your complete crucifying of the old man and by faith living a holy and pleasing and acceptable life for the glory of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, then there is not a lot I can say or do because what I am saying to you is a Spiritual message and you enjoy ‘flesh teaching’ rather than the ‘Spirit preaching’.  Only the Spirit of God can penetrate and enlighten our hearts but He is a gentleman and will not force Himself upon us especially if we block our ears to anything that interferes with our self justified and self centre lifestyle.

It seems to me, that when the Spirit is absent, men have to resort to preaching to the flesh in men and use all sorts of public speaking tricks to get results (ie: worldly results).

Conversely, when the Spirit is present, preachers preach prophetically in the power of the Spirit and this speaks to the spirit in men resulting in conviction and repentance, revival and salvation and the Word produces fruit that will last (a great harvest for the Kingdom).

I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. NIV 2 Cor 10:2-5

What troubles me…

The ‘people of God’ being disempowered and distracted and still living for self and this world and buying into all the faulty (and ‘nice’ looking and sounding) teaching that feeds the flesh rather than the spirit.  May the reader be enlightened and have understanding.

I am sorry, I was going to go in depth about this but the Lord has told me to move on from this topic.  There are plenty of resources and articles and messages on the internet to study over.  The Lord bless you and wake your spirit, Steve.

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Sin and Pain and Death and Grace Thoughts

Posted in Christian, Christianity, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 23, 2009| Leave a Comment »

I am wondering whether we would be a better people if sin was somehow linked to physical pain?

Now you may think I am going a bit weird but this is what I am pondering at the moment.  I know that our sin sometimes does lead to physical pain to ourselves and to others but how about the Lord makes it so that each time we sin we have pain. Maybe we would sin less or maybe it would help us to be more aware of our sins.  Maybe it would bring a level playing field where others who lie and cheat to gain a worldly advantage would cease their sin compelled to do so by their pain.

Isn’t the present system a little faulty where our penalty comes years and years later only when we die and are judged?

Doesn’t this allow us to feel like we can get away with things because there is no instant consequences?

There is a problem, isn’t there?  We don’t get what we deserve straight away?   There is no instant penalty or judgement so therefore we think we can get away with things.  Isn’t this a little faulty?  Wouldn’t it be better to have some sort of instant measure  or penalty for sin.  You know, you tell a lie and zappo! you get pain in your left leg or you murder someone or you commit adultery and zappo! you get pain all over your body.

Hmmm, how are we going to work out a fair system to administer the different levels of pain for the different sins?  Should there even be different levels of pain?

Wait a minute!  Have I completely lost my marbles!

Wouldn’t a fair system for each sin that we commit be death?  Absolutely!  The Bible confirms that the wages of sin is death.  So if we received what we deserved immediately we would never live because the just penalty for our sin would be death.  We would live for 2 seconds (probably less) and then die.

Wait a minute, again!  Our sins have caused physical pain!

Jesus bore our sins on the cross and he accepted and endured tremendous physical pain on our behalf.  Our sins caused His pain, and death, and separation from His Father.

So… our sins have and do cause pain – in the body of Jesus!  And our life on this earth, what is it? – it is a time of grace.

Our life – it is all a time of grace!

It is a time of grace for each one of us to discover how wide and how deep and how high is the love of the Father for each one of us.  Our lives are a time of grace for each one of us to discover Jesus and the grace and the forgiveness of the cross.  Don’t waste a single moment.

If we received what we deserved we would never live at all.

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Something’s Missing – The Fear of the Lord

Posted in Christian, Christianity, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 9, 2009| Leave a Comment »

What is wrong with us Christian folk?  Why are we being tripped over and over by the same old things?  Why is there no growth in our lives?  Why is there no committment to holiness?  Why is there no increase in holiness?  Why aren’t we going from glory to glory, and from victory to victory?

Something is stirring in my spirit.  I believe it is important.  We are missing something. I believe we are neglecting the complete character of God.  Maybe we have no knowledge of the complete character of God.  Perhaps we have heard about the love of God and our knowledge of the Father has stopped there.

But there are other sides to our Lord.  Our Lord, He is Awesome and He is Mighty, He is Fearsome and He is Just and He hates sin.  As we come up to this time of Easter consider this, our sin caused His Son to die on that cross and if the Father hated sin before His Son was nailed and crucified on a cross how do you think He feels about sin now.  You see, our sin killed His Son.  The Lord hates sin and He hates it when we sin! 

Oh Lord, we have such a feeble understanding of your Majesty and your Power and your Might and your Magnificance, else we wouldn’t carry on the way that we do, give us new understanding of your full character, powerfully give us new revelation of your Awesomeness!  Oh Lord, if only we could get a glimse of His Might and Majesty, our self centred, self feeding lives would be stripped bare.

If only we would fear Him!

Yes reverently fear Him!

You see, if we ‘only’ see a loving God the cross does not make a whole lot of sense.  It’s like the cross is just an added extra to the Christian faith.  The cross is the centre of the Christian faith! The fearsomeness of God and the wrath of God, was poured out upon His Son so that the unrighteous might become righteous, so that we might LIVE!  Hell makes no sense if we just have a loving God.  The end times in Revelation makes no sense if we ‘just’ have a loving God.

But how do we balance, on the one hand, a God that loves us deeply and we are His children and He is our Abba, Father, and we (can) have His Spirit within us (and the intimacy that brings) and on the other hand, a fearful reverence for a Holy and Awesome God?

Let us have a look at some misconceptions about the fear of the Lord…

Misconception No 1:
The fear of the Lord is not for the New Testament Church

Acts 9:31
Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord. (NIV)

Jer 31:33-34, 32:39-40
33 “This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (NIV)
32:39-40
39 I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them.
40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. (NIV)

Misconception No. 2:
Jesus never had the fear of the Lord

Heb 5:7-8
7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, 8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. (NKJV)

Isa 11:1-3
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.  The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him — the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. (NIV)

Misconception No.3:
3) Jesus never preached about the fear of the Lord

Luke 12:4-5
“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” (NIV)

Misconception No.4:
4) There is no fear of the Lord in Heaven

Rev 14:6-7
Then I saw another angel flying in mid-air, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth — to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (NIV)

Rev 15:2-4
…They held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: “Great and marvellous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages.  Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” (NIV)

Rev 19:1-8
After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.” And again they shouted: “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.” The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped God, who was seated on the throne. And they cried: “Amen, Hallelujah!”
Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both small and great!”
Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (NIV)

Lord, may we love you and may we also fear you.  Do whatever is necessary to instill in us a reverent fear of you, in Jesus name, Amen

To be continued…

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An Audience of One

Posted in Christian, Christianity, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 28, 2009| Leave a Comment »

How much of what I do (what we do) is for an Audience of One?

I think it is good and healthy to examine yourself and your motives daily.  That is, why do I do the things that I do?  Why do I say the things that I say?  Am I trying to score some points for myself (somehow) by building myself up (sometimes at someone elses expense).

Pride can dominate our motives (I know this within myself).  Seeking the recognition of people can dominate our motives (again, I know this within myself).

How much of our day is for an Audience of One?  How much is done purely for our Lord?

Now I’m not suggesting a works based salvation or doing stuff for God to earn your way into Heaven.  But what is simply done for God out of a response to a faith based relationship in our Heavenly Father and what is done for the ‘pride of self’ or the ‘recognition of man’.

What drives my heart and what drives your heart?

If I test my motives from time to time, I know my motives, sometimes, are impure and selfish and prideful.  So this is a healthy exercise.  Perhaps when you examine the motives of your heart you may find they are very skewed.  Repentence may be necessary.

I think from time to time, the Lord wants to give us this new heart but there are all these obstacles, all these crutches in my life, in our lives, that have not been broken.  Our motives are wrong.  We rely on ourselves.  Pride rather than humility dominates our lives.

There is a verse, just before the flood, that describes the heart condition of the majority of the people, I think about it from time to time…

Gen 6:5-6
5 The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
6 The Lord was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. (NIV)

Before we were born again the inclination of our hearts was evil.  Even if we don’t think that, God thinks that.  After we are truly born again, God gives us a new heart…

Ezek 36:25-27
25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (NIV)

What does this mean – a new heart.  Are we perfect – no!  Are we never, ever going to do anything wrong – no!  It means God has given us His heart and the natural inclination of our hearts is no longer evil, the (super)natural inclination of our hearts is now good in the eyes of the Lord.

God does something the law, working externally, could never do and that is to change man from  the inside out, to give him (us) new hearts and a new Spirit.

So, are we grieving this new heart away?  Or, have we ever received this new heart?  How are the motives of our heart?  Are our motives pure or selfish?

Are we living for a Audience of One?

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Being a Man of God

Posted in Christian, Christianity, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 20, 2009| 1 Comment »

Well, I haven’t posted anything since September 30 – WOW!

There has been much happening.  Our Senior Pastor’s son Sam went to be with the Lord suddenly (he didn’t wake up one morning).  This was a great shock and was, and still is, a difficult time for many, especially his parents and family.  Friends from the small group that we lead were involved in a serious car accident and one has had her lower leg removed.  My wife’s parents were involved in a serious car accident and her mother is still recovering (she is going OK).   I have changed jobs – this has been unsettling for me.  We had a very large tree fall on our house (it landed mainly on the garage – praise God) and my dad has been battling (and winning) with a stomach cancer.

img_1301a1

Hmmm, if I am honest I would have to say, by the grace of God, we have coped quite well.  I can honestly say the Lord had prepared us and sustained us.  This is not to say I wasn’t distracted by the events – I was.  I mean, at times, there was a numbness and a ‘shellshock’ness.  When I mean distracted I mean taking my eyes off the Lord.  I remember saying to myself and the Lord that “I’m not quite right am I”.  I mean there are parts of my ‘being’ that have been crying out for the Lord refreshment and this is happening (really – don’t worry 🙂 ).

I’ve been wondering, when end times come and there is great hardship and suffering and persecution will I be distracted and take my eyes off Jesus?  Not if I am prepared.  Not if I build my house upon the rock and not upon the sand.  Not if I am serious about becoming a real man of God.

Here is a great Word to men about ‘Being a Man of God’ preached by Paul Washer.  I found this one over at here

Blessings

Steve

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Favourite Worship Song

Posted in Christian, Christianity, tagged , , , , , , on August 25, 2008| Leave a Comment »

My favourite worship song this week is…

Rescue

You are the source of the life
I can’t be left behind
No one else will do
I will take hold of You

I need You Jesus
To come to my rescue
Where else can I go
There’s no other name
By which I am saved
Capture me with grace
I will follow You

My heart is Yours for life
I need Your hand in mine
No one else will do
I put my trust in You

I will follow You
This world has nothing for me
I will follow You
This world has nothing for me

I need You Jesus
To come to my rescue
Where else can I go
There’s no other name
By which I am saved
Capture me with grace
Capture me with grace
Capture me with grace
I will follow You
I will follow You

I just can’t seem to get this song out of my head
(this is a good thing)  🙂

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Musical Interlude

Posted in Christian, Christianity, tagged , , , , , , on August 23, 2008| 2 Comments »

I’m so blessed by these Switchfoot acoustics…

Dare You to Move

Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone’s here
Everyone’s here
Everybody’s watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next?
What happens next?

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before

Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened

Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened before

…..

Meant to Live

Fumbling his confidence
And wondering why the world has passed him by
Hoping that he’s bent for more than arguments
And failed attempts to fly, fly

We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside
Somewhere we live inside
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside

Dreaming about Providence
And whether mice or men have second tries
Maybe we’ve been livin with our eyes half open
Maybe we’re bent and broken, broken

We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside
Somewhere we live inside
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
Somewhere we live inside

We want more than this world’s got to offer
We want more than this world’s got to offer
We want more than the wars of our fathers
And everything inside screams for second life yeah

We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
We were meant to live for so much more
Have we lost ourselves?
We were meant to live
We were meant to live

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Being Fully Alive! (Part 2)

Posted in Christian, Christianity, tagged , , , , , , on July 21, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Saint Irenaeus

The authentic and complete text of Saint Irenaeus:

“The glory of God is man fully alive, and the life of man is the vision of God. If the revelation of God through creation already brings life to all living beings on the earth, how much more will the manifestation of the Father by the Word bring life to those who see God”

(AH IV, 20, 7)

AH = Adversus Haereses (Against the Heresies) – Saint Irenaeus.

Irenaeus was born in Asia Minor about the year 125. He was still a young man when he met Polycarp of Smyrna, who represented a generation which had known the Apostles chosen by Christ, especially Saint John.

After the persecution of 177, it was necessary to rebuild the Church of God which was at Lyon. Irenaeus succeeded Pothinus and thus became the second bishop of Lyon-Vienne. Not only did he assure the presence of Christ the preacher and shepherd at the crossroads of the Three Gauls, but at the same time he carried out the composition of his masterpiece which is cited today under the title of Adversus Haereses (Against the Heresies). The actual title expresses more clearly the double movement of Irenaeus’ theology and *polemic. It is called Detection and Refutation of the False Gnosis.

Source:

http://www.ewtn.com/library/Theology/IRENAEUS.HTM

(a good read if you can get through it)

* Polemics, is the practice of disputing or controverting religious, philosophical, or political matters. As such, a polemic text on a topic is often written specifically to dispute or refute a position or theory that is widely viewed to be beyond reproach.

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Being Fully Alive! (Part 1)

Posted in Christian, Christianity, tagged , , , , , , on July 19, 2008| Leave a Comment »

I feel this blog is timely seeing that this guy is in town…

‘Pope Benedict‘

It was last Monday, and we had just been to the 4.30pm Hillsong Conference Rally. It was now around 7.30pm, and I was watching

‘The Flying Nun‘

(ie: the TV series with Sally Field) with my son and his friend. Then, all of a sudden, out of the blue, something profound and enlightening came from the Flying Nun. I know, I know, I was just at the Hillsong Conference and God should have been saying something profound to me over there. But, as Sally Field was speaking, she quoted from a Saint and, well, it resonated in my heart. She quoted from

‘Saint Irenaeus’…

“THE GLORY OF GOD IS MAN FULLY ALIVE”

.

Yes! Yes! What a great quote. I’ll have to remember that, and ruminate on it, and keep it in my heart. Jesus makes us fully alive! And when we are fully alive (walking in His Spirit – doing what He calls us to do – and bearing much fruit) we glorify God through our lives.

A number of verses came rushing to mind…

Jesus says in John 10:10b (GNT)
I have come in order that you might have life — life in all its fullness.

1 Timothy 6:18-19 (GNT)
Command them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share with others. In this way they will store up for themselves a treasure which will be a solid foundation for the future. And then they will be able to win the life which is true life.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (GNT)
All of us, then, reflect the glory of the Lord with uncovered faces; and that same glory, coming from the Lord, who is the Spirit, transforms us into his likeness in an ever greater degree of glory.

John 17:22-23 (GNT)
I gave them the same glory you gave me, so that they may be one, just as you and I are one: I in them and you in me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the world may know that you sent me and that you love them as you love me.

Being Fully Alive! (Part 2)

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