True Salvation brings Transformation

I like the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10. Here is a man who is hated by the Jews even though he being Jewish himself. They considered him worse than a Gentile because he collected taxes from God's people and exploited them. He was not the average tax collector but a chief tax collector. He was very wealthy.

Yet, he had heard the news about Jesus and took extreme measures to see Him. When Jesus said that he wanted to stay at his house, we see that Zacchaeus welcomed him with open arms. He was read to receive Jesus into his heart, not only his home.

How do Jesus recognize that he had given his heart to the Lord. It is when he got up and declared that he was giving half of his wealth away and paying back four time the amount that he cheated from people. True salvation bring change and transformation. It is not only confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord but showing it by your actions.

A heart that has been touched by the master will be heart that gives of themselves to others. It will be a generous heart. One who does not give generously to the church and others has not truly encountered the Lord. They are still rapped in self and self interest. Often these same people who are stingy show it by their actions towards others. Often not treating others with love and respect. The bottom line is what counts. What one can get out of the deal is what is most important. What one can get out of the relationship is most important.

Jesus said it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. There are three strong holds that hard to be broken in peoples lives: sex, money and power. Yet, I believe the greatest is money.

It was Hidden

Luke 18:31-34 - "Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. ³² He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; ³³ they will flog him⁽ and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” ³⁴ The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about."

Much of what was said and taught by Jesus went right over the heads of His disciples. I am sure that they would often stare at Him with a blank and confused face. Sometimes, even antagonistic towards what He said. don't forget when Peter rebuked Jesus. Yet, it was not hidden form them forever. After Jesus died and rose from the grave, it was made clear to them I believe much of what Jesus taught was not understood by His disciples until He left them. I think many a time later in their life. They would be doing something and then it would dawn on them what Christ meant.

This is all encouraging to me as a preacher and teacher of God's Word. so many times I get blank and confused stares. At times even a rebuke or total disagreement. Yet, I know that for many it will come to them later. They will have an "OH" moment. The light will come on and say, yes he was right. Of course we all have experienced this in our lives.

Thank you Lord for you patience with us and give us greater understanding I pray.

Living on the Edge

Matthew 10:37-39

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”

 

Through the annals of history God has called men and women to live on the edge. He called Noah to build an ark for the saving of his family, Abraham to leave his home for a country he knew not, Moses to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, Elisha to burn his plow, sacrifice his oxen and pursue Elijah for the double anointing, Esther to risk her life going to the king to save her people, Jeremiah at great personal risk and sacrifice to warn his people of God’s judgment, Peter James and John to give up the family business to follow Christ and become the founders of the church, and Christ who gave up His rights as God, made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men, humbled Himself and became obedient to the death of the cross for our salvation.

 

I just returned from Niger where I encountered men and women living on the edge to see the kingdom come to this barren land. I was especially struck by a Brazilian lady whose husband was back in Brazil for three months for surgery, leaving her to run the ministry on her own. They lived in one room of a three-bedroom concrete house. One bedroom served as a food pantry, while volunteers lived in the other room. Their kitchen, dining room, and living room is a center where they prepare meals daily and bring hope to 200 children. They have no privacy, live on the edge financially, and are threatened by bearded men who sometimes sit outside their home in an attempt to intimidate them from sharing the love and hope of Christ to these children.

 

Living on the edge looks different for each one of us, but every one of us is being called and drawn to that place by the Holy Spirit. Living on the edge is outside of our comfort zone and place of security, it is the tug of the Spirit to involve ourselves in something beyond us, our capacity, and ability. Living on the edge is that place where the natural meets the supernatural, the temporal meets the eternal, and light encounters darkness. Living on the edge is the cry of every one of our hearts because it is where we encounter the face of God.

 

Break out of the mundane, take a risk, respond to God’s Word and the tug of His Spirit and live on the edge for God.

Prepared Stones

This is going to be an incredible year of change.....
We are going to see Jesus manifested in people who are considered obscure, insignificant. non plus,perceived as nothing in the eyes of our earthly economy and worldly success.........I see these as recognizing the time of their release into the Purposes of God for this hour , motivated by a pure love of God which has been cultivated and matured at a great price to "self".
The Father calls them His own and has prepared these lively stones to fit together perfectly.
Then taken and thrust into the rushing waters where they were washed over again and again . Here, They forgot their own songs but they learned to sing HIS songs on the back side of a dry desert
Human strength greatly diminished, self sufficiency - eradicated, self-love ----brutally annihilated. Behold those who chose to lay down their life willingly.....ask them now of the beauty of the threshing floor.
For there are not the many in 2013 as there were in the years before because the Love of the many have grown cold But the few who love their king ,enter into God's eternal Kingdom which is in layed with the finest beaten gold. gold......

The Torment of Hell

Luke 13:27-28 - " “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ ²⁸ “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out."

Hell is not a very popular subject these days. Yet, it is good to reflect upon it at times. 

Why did Jesus talk about hell? He did it to warn the people what their fate will be if they don't receive Him as their Savior and Lord. Hell is real and we need to keep this in mind. It is not some mythical place. The Bible says, we are to fear the Lord because life and death are in His hands. 

Is loving God enough to keep us living a holy life? I would say, not necessarily. Think of your earthly father. Did you always obey him? If not, was it because you didn't love him.  How often did you not do the wrong thing because you new that you would be punished.

Something caught my attention in this verses. He says as they are in hell they will see the spiritual fathers and prophets in heaven and they will weep and gnash their teeth. True, he could be speaking figuratively, but what greater punishment than this if those in hell can see the righteous enjoying all that heaven offers. What distress it would cause them to see us dining at the supper of the Lamb, and they being unable to participate in the rich feat and fellowship. This would be true torment. 

Kingdom Provision

1 Kings 17:2-4

“Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

 

1 Kings 17:8-9

“Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you."

 

There are some observations the Lord quickened to me from these two stories.

1.      It was a time of famine.

2.      God commanded provision.

3.      God revealed the source of provision to His servant.

4.      The provision came from a most unlikely source.

5.      God provided for the provider as well as the servant of God.

 

I want to encourage you today, that even though we live in times of tremendous financial uncertainty, that God’s kingdom is not dependent on the kingdoms of this world. We need to move our source of confidence and provision from this world system and our system of support and put our confidence completely in God for our provision.

 

God commanded provision. Commanded is past tense. Even before the need arose and even before he revealed it to his servant, God had already prepared the provision. ( pro vision means seeing something before it happens.)

 

Hearing God’s voice. This is why it is so important that we put our focus totally on God as our provider. The provision is already there, we just need to hear from God to access it. We need to seek God for our provision and respond to the voice of His Spirit. God may nudge you to send and encouraging email to someone or to maybe contact someone that you have not touched base with in a long time. It is when in the business of our lives we take time to hear and obey those simple little nudges of the Spirit that we open the door for the supernatural.

 

Unlikely source. Who would have ever thought of depending on ravens and a starving widow for provision? Sometimes we keep dipping into the same wells all the time, when God’s provision is from some new place totally unexpected.

 

If Elijah had not obeyed the prompting of the Spirit and asked the widow to give him the last little bit of bread she had, she and her son would have starved to death. When we respond to the prompting of the Spirit in presenting our need, it not only brings provision for us but it may be the salvation of the giver, and part of God’s plan for their provision.

 

Jesus said in Matthew 6 that we should not be concerned about what we are going to eat or wear, “for your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.” Matthew 6:8

 

Whatever your need may be, may you discover God’s provision for you and may you be a source of blessing or provision for someone else.

Bread of Life

John 6:57-58 - "Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

There  life in Christ. Life for the present and the future. To obtain this life we must feed on Jesus who is the bread of life. 

How can we receive this life? 

We receive it when we recognize we are sinners and that we need Christ to save us. Yet, this is only the beginning. We must daily receive Him. We must daily partake of Him. Even as it is not sufficient to eat once, but we need food daily to live. We can't live on past food. We need to eat every day to be healthy and strong.

How can we feed on Jesus?

We feed on Jesus when we daily spend time with Him in prayer and His Word. We feed on Jesus when our thoughts are continually going back to Him. We feed on Him when we listen to the voice of the Spirit. We feed on Him when we come together as believers seeking Him and worshiping Him. We feed on Him when we obey what we know that we are to do. If you hear and read the Word of God, but don't apply it to our lives, you are only playing with the food, but not consuming it.