by MIMADMIN | May 7, 2015
As a follower of Christ you know that self-reformation is futile. Having declared spiritual bankruptcy, you came to God asking Him to live His life through you. He is your life; you live day-by-day in dependence upon His strength and presence. The worst thing that can happen to the non-Christian is for him to be able to solve his own problems. Nothing is more deadly than self reformation. The Great Physician heals those who cannot heal themselves. If people conclude that they can solve their own problems, or at least learn to accommodate them in their lives, they lose their incentive to turn to Christ for help, and that is a short path to hell. “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will neverenter the kingdom of heaven.”1 Jesus says that this dependence of a child is a pre-requisite for entrance into His kingdom. God can use many ways to force the unbeliever to express the dependence of a child in turning to Christ. As you pray for those outside the pale of His grace, plead with God that they will not resist the Holy Spirit through acts of self-reformation. 1 Matthew... read more
by MIMADMIN | May 7, 2015
“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14 The Holy Spirit accompanies salvation and functions as a seal in the life of the believer. First, a seal is used to indicate proprietorship (you own it because it has your seal). Second, a seal proves that the object is genuine (you note the “sterling silver” seal on the bottom of silver). Third, a seal preserves something as safe or inviolate (the government sealed off the building so that no one could enter). In all three uses of this word, the Holy Spirit seals the believer in his relationship to God. God owns you, stamps you by His presence in your life as “genuine”, and protects you from harm, making you inviolate. The Holy Spirit is also the earnest, pledge, or down payment of all God promises. When you purchase a home you pay part of the purchase in advance as a security of your intention to pay the remainder. God sends the Holy Spirit into your life to guarantee that the promises He has made, which comprise your eternal inheritance, will find their fulfillment. He is the pledge of your future redemption. Circumstances will enter your life calling into question either the validity of your commitment to Christ or the veracity of His promises. During such times the Holy Spirit ministers to... read more
by MIMADMIN | May 7, 2015
“But the king replied to Araunah, ‘No, I will buy them from you at a price. I cannot sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that have cost me nothing.’ So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.” 2Samuel 24:24 It is in the nature of the case that God’s people want to believe that they obey God out of love and gratitude for what He has done, rather than from a motive of accruing personal gain in eternity. Indeed, I am confident that much of the time, this is how we are motivated. But how does this relate to a sacrificial life? Faith can be defined as “commitment before knowing.” Paul said, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.” The dictionary defines sacrifice as “surrendering something of value for something of greater value.” Christ’s followers, by faith, live lives of perpetual self-sacrifice in anticipation of gaining in return something of greater value. What is the “greater value” you seek? If you are motivated to obey God solely because of gratitude and love, then where is the self-sacrificing life? And how do you respond to God when He (hopefully on rare occasions) asks you to do what you don’t want to do and you are... read more
by MIMADMIN | May 7, 2015
“But as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” 1 Peter 1:15 – 16 All religions divide the world into pure and impure. They have holy places and things that the impure and profane cannot approach. Instinctively, all people know that some things are pure and some things are impure. Religions differ on how they catalog these differences. In the Old Testament, God describes/defines the Tabernacle and its content, inpart, by declaring certain places and objects holy. In the New Testament, the believer is the holy temple of God; God takes up residence in him. Thus God declares you holy in an act of His grace, and then commands you to live your life in conformity with His declaration. Your reactions reveal more about your holiness than your actions, for the latter can be motivated by a variety of things other than true holiness. You may want to conform out of fear of what other people may say or think. Thus purity, in the final analysis, is first and foremost an issue of the heart. God lives in you to help you become holy, but the process requires your cooperation. Two thoughts: First, God defines holiness. You become holy as you become more and more like God. The only way I know of how to do this is by time in Scripture, learning to think like God thinks. Second, God calls you to be in the world relating to sinners as His ambassador. As you seek to “become all things to... read more
by MIMADMIN | May 7, 2015
After Jesus healed a deaf/mute man, he charged those who watched, “tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.” Mark 7:36 On more than one occasion, after healing someone, Jesus expressly commanded that they tell no one about what He had done. As far as I can tell, not one of these healed people obeyed Jesus. They may have been grateful for what He did, but they saw no reason to do what He said. Evidently, telling others about what Jesus did for them was more important than obeying Him. How easily we ignore the commands of God when we believe it to be for a noble cause – a classic illustration of the end justifying the means. Why not spread abroad the fact that Jesus can and does heal the infirmed? We disregard the commandments regarding the qualifications of an elder, because we believe the commandments are punitive and we need to forgive. Women disregard the wishes of their husbands when they believe they have the moral high ground, since the wife is obviously right and the husband is obviously wrong. Illustrations of this phenomenon abound. The one “willing to justify himself” concludes that his perception of what is right is a legitimate excuse for ignoring the wishes of authority, even though if he thinks about it, he knows that he should not try to be more holy than... read more
by MIMADMIN | May 7, 2015
“Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD; for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt.” 1Samuel 2:17 In 1Samuel 2 God describes the wickedness of Eli’s sons. In essence they abused the privileges of the priesthood, violating the specific instructions of the Lord. When they failed to adhere to the specific instructions of God, He charged them with holding His Word in contempt. The Old Testament Law is filled with great detail on how things were to be done. The greater the detail, however, the greater the temptation to modify the instructions. “God doesn’t really care about the details; it is the spirit that counts,” is how we rationalize. Like the sons of Eli, such people frequently get into trouble with God. In the New Testament, by and large, God does not give a great deal of detail. In rites such as baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and congregating in His name, no specifics are given. Thus we are free to improvise as we please. But instead of enjoying our freedom in Christ, we fragment over the details. Denominations come into existence over mode of baptism, the exact meaning of the bread and wine, and what we do when we congregate in His name. Unity is lost in violation of His wish that we be one. On the other hand, we ignore with seeming impunity the specific commands of God with which we do not agree. It seems that no matter what God asks, we want to argue with Him. Instead of obeying His simple commands, we emulate... read more
by MIMADMIN | May 7, 2015
“Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?” 1Samuel 2:29 Because of the sin of Eli’s sons, God sent His man to rebuke Eli. These were not sins that Eli committed, but the sins of his children. Because Eli refused to discipline his children and hold them accountable for their crimes, God disciplined Eli. As you read the narrative, the consequences are severe: “A time is coming when I will break your power and that of your father’s house, and there shall be no elder in your house…And this shall be a sign for you: The fate of your two sons Hophni and Phinehas — they shall both die on the same day. And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who will act in accordance with My wishes and My purposes…And all the survivors of your house shall come and bow low to him for the sake of a money fee and a loaf of bread, and shall say, ‘Please, assign me to one of the priestly duties, that I may have a morsel of bread to eat.’”[1] Paul spells out in I Corinthians 5 the steps we must take when the commandments of God are broken. If Eli teaches us anything, it is that when a man refuses to exercise biblical discipline with his children, God comes looking for the father. [1] 1Samuel... read more
by MIMADMIN | May 7, 2015
“And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19 Intrinsic to sin is a sense of shame. You see this in Genesis 3, “They knew they were naked and they hid.” [Genesis 3:10] Before sin Adam and Eve had nothing to hide. With the transgression came a loss of innocence. Most crime is committed under the cover of darkness. Instinctively children seek to hide whatever wrong they commit, either by lying about it or hiding the stolen object where it can’t be found. Occasionally you find people who, in an act of defiance, call evil good and openly confess and commit what others, in their embarrassment, seek to hide. The philosophy of “free love” a number of year ago encouraged open sin. People quickly fall beyond the pale of redemption when they lose their sense of shame when sinning. Paul, cataloging the sins of the human race said, “they exchanged the truth about God for a lie.” [Romans 1:25] Never sanction or give approval to what God calls evil. When you cover disobedience with the cloak of righteousness, as for example with euthanasia, you engage in the most insidious form of hiding. God again and again calls to mind the foolishness of such endeavors, for although you can hide your motives and actions from people, you cannot hide them from God. He will bring them to light “In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.” [Romans 2:16] Assuming that you agree that you cannot hide... read more
by MIMADMIN | Feb 25, 2015
God called us to a quality of life. Are you experiencing that life? We are called to future glory and an abundant life while on earth. We are to experience the unmerited love of the Holy Spirit while we are in the temporal life. 1. We have a new identity in Christ; by grace we are pardoned of our sins and are new children of God. Think of yourself as “among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” (Rom 1:6) The Spirit of grace called us to be saints; the object of God’s mercy, prepared in advance for glory (Rom 9:26). As John said, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1) 2. We are called to a holy life. “Join me in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace.” (2Tim 1:8-9) We are distinct from those not called. 3. We are given liberty. Unlike those not called we are free from sinful passions. Jesus said, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36, Gal 5:13. Slaves to sin have no permanent place in God’s moral and spiritual family. John 8:35 4. God calls us to a life of peace in the body of Christ. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called... read more
by MIMADMIN | Jan 27, 2015
Street ministries, under such umbrella titles as ‘Street Pastors’ or ‘Street Angels’ have been around a few decades in England, owing much to the work of the Salvation Army. These Christian ministries take a middle way between evangelism and social action. There is a book to yet be written echoing the famous ‘The Cross and the Switchblade’, which could be entitled, ‘The Cross and Lollipop’. Because armed with lollies, chocolate bars and hot soup, street pastors are out in cities and towns, when there hundreds of (mostly) young folk ‘clubbing and pubbing’, that is going to nightclubs and public houses (bars). There are other people to be encountered such as the street homeless; men and women, some little older than children forced to sleep rough; and there are others making money from the night economy, prostitutes and drug dealers. Alton is a small, market town in rural Hampshire, we do not have clubs, nor street prostitution, nor open drug dealing; yet we have people sleeping in doorways and drugs are prevalent and ubiquitous – but come Friday and Saturday night, many people go to the pubs to drink and socialise. Since November 2014, the local churches of Alton, Hampshire, have combined to send a team of four or five people to mingle with Saturday night revellers. We are identifiable by our hi-vis vests, that have ‘ALTON TOWN PASTORS’ across the back and ATP (with the T written as the Cross) emblazoned on the front. We call ourselves pastors because we administer pastoral care, not because we need to be ‘Pastors’, ordained church ministers or priests. We readily identify ourselves... read more
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