Year: 2019

Leaven vs Testimony

Leaven: Picking out things from scripture that you know you “get right” and blasting your trumpet continually in this way.

Testimony: Sharing things from scripture that convicted you to personal repentance and humbly admitting your own failures while praising God for revealing and delivering and empowering change.

We should look at our habits and tendencies when it comes to our “public prayers” and “street corner preaching” online — to see what we are “shouting from the rooftops” and whether it comes from a place of humble awe and wonder concerning this Good News of Jesus Christ — or a place of prideful religion saying, “I do X/Y/Z but look at ‘them’ and what ‘they’ do!”

I say this knowing that many of my own messages fall short in this area. Lord, help us to find that position of washing feet, of inviting in — not of accusing and casting stones — of proclaiming YOUR GLORY, not our own.

And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be a servant. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
Matthew 23:10‭-‬12 NLT

Are we standing on our proverbial street corner proudly saying, “You should learn from me!”

Or are we proclaiming, “Come and listen to the Teacher, the Christ, the Savior of the world!”

Lord, help us. Amen.

We Neither Choose Nor Work For It

“God chooses people according to his own purposes; he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.”

This statement is a stumbling stone to the religious, the self righteous, the rebellious, the proud, and those who are blind to the depths of the grace and mercy of God.

This answer comes from the question:

Why did God love Jacob and hate Esau?

To which Romans 9 answers:

though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—
Romans 9:11 ESV

(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth😉
Romans 9:11 KJV

But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.”
Romans 9:11‭-‬12 NLT

This explanation continues:

In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.” For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.
Romans 9:13‭, ‬15‭-‬16 NLT

A man might say, “But I made a decision for Christ when I was ___ years old.”

To which I would say, “If you have truly confessed the name of the LORD, and you have laid down your old life of sin to joyfully be an obedient disciple of Christ, going forth to share your testimony of this Good News to the ends of the earth and to all nations, loving and serving your fellow man and glorifying God — then these things are simply outward evidences of the work God is doing in and through you, as a vessel chosen for His use, so rejoice!”

But if what I have described beyond my first comma sounds nothing like the ‘Christian life’ you know of and walk everyday, I encourage you to examine yourself to see whether you are actually called and chosen as a Child of God to be His Kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven. Because many have spoken promises to God that they could not keep, and many have said aloud and publicly that they were vessels of light but were actually agents of darkness.I wil encourage you to seek God like your eternity friends on Him, because it does! If you have no real interest in seeking God, in knowing Him, in learning of His glory, His righteousness, His grace, and His mercy then you won’t know His peace nor will you be grateful to see Him one day face to face. And if you can’t stand spending time with Him now and would rather chase after the world and refuse Him today, are you not longing to be free from Him for eternity? I couldn’t say such things ti those who haven’t known of and tasted of the sweet things of God, but for you who are backsliding, I say, remember His great live for you, and choose today who you will serve. Your freedom is given not so that you might choose the sinfulness of the world, if you say you are “free indeed”.

If you have never truly recognized and admitted your need for God as LORD and Savior over your life. If you have never felt as if you “must choose God or I wil die in my own sins” and that you “cannot stand before a holy ands righteous God and live”, I’m telling you these things now — not because I think that you must choose God in order to earth His favor — but because I know that if you are His chosen, that you will hear the call and will respond. You see, even when we who are His think that we have “chosen God” and our whole lives are irrevocably changed and we are “born again” into a different life (not just signed up for a ceremonial participation) — it is a seed planted and watered and light shone upon us to not only break through the soil of these clay pots, but to bear the fruit of a unique nature and character far beyond our childish, selfish prideful ways. It is the glory of God shining through even such clay pots as me and you.

Do you long for the LORD? I know you do, betrothed of the off the LORD! Do not wait to get oil for your lamp. Do not hide your light. Be filled ands let it shine today. Amen!

A Second Touch

And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
Mark 8:22‭-‬26 ESV

We know that the Lord has the power and ability to completely restore with a single touch, even with just a single word spoken (as we see in the case of the Roman Centurion). So we can know that this is not a case where the sickness or infirmity was beyond His ability to heal immediately, because He is all powerful.

So there is a purpose, a lesson, in this second touch — for this man and for us.

Some might quickly say, “But the man’s faith wasn’t sufficient!” And we have scriptural evidence demonstrating that Jesus didn’t perform many miracles in his own hometown because of their lack of faith. But we have no mention of this man’s faith or lack of faith, so that could be dangerous presumption and aging to the scriptures. And since we’r know that “Faith is a gift of God that no man might boast” that type of presumption might lead the proud and the religious zealot to a wrong application of this passage that has them comparing one wretched sinner against another — instead of in humble awe of God.

So what is of interesting note is that it doesn’t mention that the man himself asked Jesus to be healed, does it? It says, “some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.”

We are not told whether these people just found a local blind man and brought him along with them sho that they could see a show of miracles — or whether they genuinely cared about this man and genuinely had faith that Jesus would heal him. They could have been seeking after signs and wonders and “testing” Jesus with a blind stranger they barely knew — or they could have been holding out hope ands faith that Jesus would heal their friend from his infirmity.

When comparing this account to the story of the men losing their friend through the roof, we can see the difference in the description of the account and in how Jesus behaved and spoke from one instance to the next. Jesus didn’t perform the miracle right then and there when the people brought him, Jesus “took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village”. And after he is fully healed by the second touch, Jesus tells him, “Do not even enter the village.” That seems like another important point, don’t you think? Doesn’t it demonstrate that Jesus made a specific effort and gave specific instructions to insure that this blind man given sight wasn’t “just for show”?

Jesus took the time to lead him out of the city. Jesus touched the man and spoke with him and listened to his answers, and then touched him again and made him whole, and then sent him home with instructions to make it clear to the man that this miracle was for the benefit of the man, not to fulfill the cravings of those seeking a show, and not even for Jesus to draw a crowd — but it was to be an important, intimate, life changing experience between the Lord and a man.

Someone needs to remember this today.

He isn’t looking to make a big religious show. He wants time with you. He is willing to be patient with us. He will give us a second touch. He will speak with us one on one when we walk with Him.