Archive for the ‘Sin’ Category

Do You Need a Vision of God?

Posted: August 13, 2009 in Cross, Death, Fear of God, god, Hell, Isaiah, Lawless One, Resurrection, Revelation, Sin, Vision
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Isaiah VisionIn the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. Isaiah 6:1-8

Isaiah did not have a vision until Uzziah died. Uzziah was a man of flesh, of fleshly means, of fleshly confidence. And until the flesh is dead, we cannot see a vision from God! When Isaiah saw his vision, he cried out three simple short words:

  • WOE – a word of confession

  • LO – a word of cleansing

  • GO – a word of commission

woe is meIsaiah’s Vision was Three-Fold

  • It was an upward vision-he saw the Lord
  • It was an inward vision – he saw himself
  • It was an outward vision – he saw the world
  • It was a vision of height – he saw the Lord high and lifted up
  • It was a vision of depth – he saw the recesses of his own heart.
  • It was a vision of breadth – he saw the whole world.
  • A vision of Holiness – Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts:
  • A vision of Hellishness – I am undone
  • A vision of Hopelessness – who will go for us?

Isaiah before throneWhere there is no VISION the people perish, but you can say where there is no PASSION the church perishes, even though it is full of people.

  • A Vision without Passion soon becomes a distant memory..
  • A Passion without a Vision becomes an emotion that fades away.
  • A Vision united with a Passion will produce a Light that fadeth not away.

A Vision of Hell will produce a Passion for the Lost.

Richman in HellJust think of the rich man. He was in Hades, he saw hell, and he wanted someone, anyone to run and tell his brothers about hell. No man lives beyond his vision. Your life will only have as much significance as whatever your focus is on. If you are only focused on yourself, you will be significant only to your self. If because of a VISION from God you focus on the needs of others, you will be significant in ministering to others.

We don’t need to pray for sinners to have a vision of Hell, they simply need a vision of the reality of Calvary as seen by the way we live our lives.

We need to see a Holy God! We need to tremble before Him. We need to let that Vision burn in our souls and ignite a Passion for Righteousness, a Passion for Jesus, a Passion to reach out to those trudging on the road to Hell. Each one of us has an appointment with God. He awaits us in eternity. We had better be at peace with Him here and be in the center of His will NOW!

In chapters 1 through 5 Isaiah has a lot of woes for a lot of people. But in chapter 6 he sees God and sees himself as God sees him and cries WOE is ME! Satan loves to get us looking at other people and all their problems. But God’s Holy Spirit wants us to look at God and realize we are so far from Him!

Its me, its me O Lord, in need of prayer!

Chagall_Bible_Vision_IsaiahIn your soul there are many”rooms“. Are there secret rooms in your life that are shut off from God’s Holy Spirit? Are there rooms where the Holy Spirit is not welcome? Is there a room cluttered with unclean pictures? Are there any skeletons hanging in your closets? Can you invite the Holy Ghost to walk down the corridors of your thought life? Can you invite him in to see the hatred in your heart toward others. Can you invite Him to listen in as you speak evil of others?

isaiah lipsThere are three people living in each of us:

  • the one we think we are,
  • the one other people think we are,
  • and the one God knows we are.

Unless we are desperate to pursue after the Righteousness of Christ, we can be so easy on ourselves and so hard on others. Self loves self. Too often we hide ourselves from ourselves lest the sight of ourselves should sicken ourselves. Let us invite the searching eye of God to locate this corrupted, stinking self in us. Let it be torn from us and be “crucified with Him, that henceforth we should no longer serve sin (Rom 6:6).

It does no good to call sin by another name. You can criticize someone for having a devilish temper, but say that yours is only righteous indignation. You can criticize someone for blatant gossip, but excuse your own negative words about someone as “prayer concerns.” You can excuse your not speaking to a brother or sister or father or mother because of their “ungodly influence and lifestyle” yet God sees your Judging heart and says your are guilty of ungodly pride and un-forgiveness.

The Holy Spirit will neither spare us nor cheat us if we will expose ourselves to His infallible scrutiny.Jesus touches eyes

In Mark 10:51 Jesus asked the blind man “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?” He replies “Lord, that I might receive sight!”

Let us pray for sight-upward, inward and outward. Then like Isaiah, as we look upward, we will see the Lord in all His Holiness. As we look inward, we will see ourselves and our need for cleansing and power. As we look outward, we will see a world perishing and in need of a Savior.Hell Fire burns for eternity

Jesus Came Not For Power But to Touch Lives

Posted: July 3, 2009 in Cross, Crucifixion, god, Gospel of Christ, Grace, Heart Mark, Life, Satan, Sin, Uncategorized
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Satan-SHows-Jesus-the-KingdomsSatan took Jesus up to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in an instant, and said “All this power will I give you and their glory, if you would only worship me”. Satan must have known about Psalm2:8, for God had told Christ:

“Ask of Me, and I will give YouThe nations for Your inheritance,And the ends of the earth for Your possession.”

Cross upon my HeartThis was the desire of Jesus Christ, the inheritance of the nations. Yet Jesus, emaciated with hunger and dehydration, had set a guard on the doorway of His hearts’ desires. He responded with a rhema taken from Deuteronomy 6:13 and 10:20, which Christ had personalized into “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only you shall serve.” Jesus had submitted all His desires, fleshly or otherwise, to the Worship and Service of God His Father. There could be no compromise.

As Satan’s viewed all the kingdoms of the world, his focus was not upon the people, with their problems and needs, but upon the power and glory they held. It was the same allure that led him to revolt from God’s command in the first place. Satan had said in his heart: ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ (Isa 14:13-14)

Jesus-Angels-01Perhaps that is why Satan misquoted Psalm 91 in his last temptation of Christ. He left out the Hebrew word דֶּרֶךְ‎ “derek“. He said the angels have charge over him, to keep thee, and they shall bear you up. But that totally changed the meaning of Psalm 91. In stead of being self-serving, the angels had a “higher way” in view. They had the purpose of Almighty God in view. For the angels are to keep him “derek” – “in the way”. They were to keep watch over Jesus to make sure God’s will was not thwarted. Jesus is the way, and He committed himself to following God’s will. Satan was attempting to thwart the will of God by tempting Christ to go his own way-the way of Satan. That is why Satan left that one word out, for he is the great Deny-er of God’s will. He left the path that God had for him, and now he wants everyone to follow him. He wants to be exalted, he wants the power, he wants the glory. Satan is overjoyed when we do not follow the path that God has for us, the path that He chooses.  He loves it when we lean on our own understanding rather than God’s. For to follow our own way is to sit in the assembly of Satan, and to bow before him. To deny God His proper place as God of our life, is to welcome the death that sin condemns us to.Jesus came to save the people of the world

Satan I Will be like Most High GodSatan focused on the power, the self-glory, and the pride in going your own way. Those were the reasons that led to his revolt. So why should they not work on God’s Son? Because he had not come to earth for those things. In fact, He had left the glory, the power, the splendor so that he could become a servant to mankind, to reach out and touch the needs of fallen men. Of course Jesus wanted the nations, but not without the people. He came not for power but for you and me. When Satan saw the kingdoms, he saw only the power. When Christ saw the kingdoms, he saw the people imprisoned by their sin. Christ came into this world arms outstretched, reaching, not for power, but simply to touch you and me. His desire is that we be freed from death to LIFE and to share in His inheritance, and that we share in the power of His coming Kingdom.

Jesus to the thief on the CrossWhen Satan proclaimed his famous “I will’s”, he did so as he was reaching for the stars. Jesus proclaimed on the Cross as his arms were reaching out to the thief next to Him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Jesus reached not for power, but to take our sin upon him. Jesus reached not for kingdoms, but to be impaled by nails. Jesus reached not for power, but to be shamed by crucifixion upon the cross. Jesus reached for the Cross in order to touch us with His life!

Good Samaritan came to himJesus had compassion on us, dead in our sin, and came to where we were, just as was said of the Good Samaritan: “he was moved with compassion, and came to him.” That is why Satan’s offer from on top the mountain did not tempt Christ. That may have been Satan’s desire, to ascend on high, but Jesus “came DOWN from heaven” so that all those who receive His Touch will receive LIFE and be lifted UP to heaven! Jesus came to touch sinners

Satan Falls from HeavenSatan came DOWN from heaven to lift himself UP. The only way he can succeed is to bring as many as possible DOWN! Now, which way would you rather be heading? Do you know the Savior’s TOUCH?

Prayer: Open my eyes and heart Father, to see how much Jesus Christ cared for me. May I turn away from following my own way, and welcome the touch of Christ, bringing new life and new purpose, following Your Path!

From Pathway of Blessing

Innocence Lost

Posted: April 11, 2008 in Ananias and Sapphira, Innocence, Sin, Submission
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We are all innocent

I watch American Idol. I usually record it and watch an hour in about 25 minutes. But that show really defines what is going on in America. The songs, the way ordinary people get transformed into Pop Stars. How becoming an Idol is the dream of millions of people. Last Tuesday David Cook from Blue Springs, MO sang a song called Innocent. I was intrigued with the song’s catch phrase “We are all innocent” but I had to look up the lyrics to understand what he was singing about:

INNOCENT

Oh Tina’s losing faith in what she knows

Hates her music

Hates all her clothes

Thinks of surgery

And a new nose

Every calorie is war (He starts after this line)

And while she wishes she was a dancer

And that she never heard of cancer

She wishes God would give her some answers

And make her feel beautiful

I remember feeling low

I remember losing hope

I remember all the feelings and the day they stopped

One day you’ll have to let it go

You’ll have to let it go

One day you’ll stand up on your own

You’ll stand up on your own

We are We are all innocent

We are all innocent

We are, We are”

Now I may be misinterpreting this song but it seems to be about all those people who dream of being something they can never be. Like Tina, who wants to be a dancer, she realizes she isn’t attractive, she is probably over weight. Her clothes don’t fit right. Maybe she even has cancer. She wants some answers from

God. She is feeling low, she is losing hope. But the song says she’ll have to let it go, she’ll have to stand on her own. We are all innocent. We are all special in our own way.

This desire to be special, to “OWN” our destiny is inherent in men and women, boys and girls. We want to discover the reason we are here on earth.

God is crying out-hey it’s my way, I am God! But our ears are clogged up and we say, NO!, it’s my way, I’m am the important one. I can’t relate to you, I can’t get any answers from you! You didn’t create this world There is no sin. There is no hell. We are all innocent. We have to make our own life. I’m not going to ‘DO’ anything to please a God I don’t even know exists. I’m going to ‘DO’ to please me. Sometimes, just in case, we do a little to please God.

This desire to please ourselves is entwined in every aspect of our society. Our children are growing up with this and parents are encouraging it. Our schools are encouraging it. Even grandparents foster it.

This is why the story of Ananias & Sapphira in Acts 5 doesn’t make sense to most of us, especially the younger generation. Preacher’s don’t like preaching on this either. First of all we don’t like talking about a God who makes people drop dead in the middle of the church service. Second, we don’t want to discourage people who want to give money to the church. These verses seem to speak against what this world thinks Pastor’s are most worried about-more people and more money. So we ask “How could God do something like that to Ananias and Sapphira?” After all, they were doing something tremendous for the church They were “OWNING” their destiny. They were in control of their lives.

This is exactly the problem. This is exactly why we are losing the cultural war for the souls of our children today. There is a little verse that I skipped over last week and will be preaching on this Sunday. It contains a phrase that defines the battle we face for this coming generation. It defines the battle that I will face as I try to influence my grandchildren for Jesus.

Acts 4:32 simply says this:

Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.

That little phrase “neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own” defines this church that Jesus Christ gave His life to birth.

This is the key element of the Church-It is all about Jesus! It is not about us, it is not about what we have, it is not about what we do. The Church is all about what Jesus has done for us. Only the Son of God gave everything He had for us. Only the Son of God has the right to Redeem us from our sin. Therefore, He has the right to say what goes on in His church. He is more concerned about “WHY” we do rather than “WHAT” we do. When we come to Christ as our Savior, we come possessing nothing. Nothing we have or are is worth holding on to. We are saved by faith in Jesus and Jesus alone. When we give to Him, we hold nothing back. If we do we are lying to the Holy Spirit. We will die in our sins, for we have not been born again. Being “Born from Above” means that all things are new, we are a new creation. The old man has been crucified, we now walk in newness of life. To only go part way to Jesus means we have not truly been born again. There is no room for pretenders in God’s Church, the Bride He is preparing for His Son. Ananias and Sapphira had no part in Jesus Christ, they were still in the flesh. They were lying to each other and the Holy Spirit. Beware, your sin will find you out. We are, we are not innocent. Only Jesus Christ, who walked this earth as a sinless man, can lay claim to that truth. And unless we are willing to submit to Him, to find our identity in Him, to see Him as our Lord and Savior, we are condemned, for we are not innocent.

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