Posts Tagged ‘Jesus Christ’

Hebrews is the “Better Book” of our Surpassing Savior

Posted: October 22, 2012 in Hebrews, Jesus Christ
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Hebrews is the “Better” Book, about our Surpassing Savior

Hebrews 1:4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

  • Superior or (more excellent KJV) is diaphoros, which can mean varying, but in  this instance means different in a surpassing way.
  • Human salvation demands the divine disclosure of truths surpassing reason. Thomas Aquinas
  • So our Salvation depends upon a SURPASSING SAVIOR!
    • Everything about Jesus is Superior and Surpasses that which took place before Him.
    • Hebrews is the only book that specifically calls Jesus a priest, although implied in others
    • This is probably what Jesus explained to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:27)
    • Hebrews, more than any other book, expresses the unity of the message of the 66 books of the Bible
    • The author never refers to the human author of the Old Testament references, but always ascribes them to God or Christ!

A superior workman turns out a superior product, so Hebrews shows that the  Messiah, the Founder of the New Testament is better than the founders of the First Testament, who were the prophets, angels, Moses, Joshua, and Aaron. Therefore, the testament He brought in is superior to and takes the place of theirs. In the light of this, we can better understand the words, “But now hath He (Messiah) obtained a more excellent ministry than they (prophets, angels, Moses, Joshua, Aaron), by how much also He is the Mediator of a better covenant (the New Testament), which is established upon better promises”[1].

Commitment to Following Christ with all of your life will produce everything which is BETTER for you!

The Surpassing Life of Jesus

1. Jesus is superior to angels.

2. Jesus has a Name which is more excellent.

Hebrews 1:4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

3. Jesus has a more excellent ministry

4. Jesus mediates a better covenant based upon better promises

Hebrews 8:6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

5. Through Jesus we have promise of better things

Hebrews 6:9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation.

The Surpassing Life we share with Jesus

1. We Have a Better Hope

Hebrews 7:19 (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

2. We Have a Better Covenant

Hebrews 7:22 This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant.

3. We have Better Promises

Hebrews 8:6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

4. We Have a Better Sacrifice

Hebrews 9:23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

Hebrews 10:5-6 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.

5. We Have Better Possessions

Hebrews 10:34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

6. We Have a Better Home

Hebrews 11:16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

7. We will Have a Better Life

Hebrews 11:35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.

Hebrews 11:40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

The Surpassing Life Focus

1. Endure for the sake of Better

Hebrews 12:10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

2. Sacrifice and Do good for the sake of Better

Hebrews 13:16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

3. Draw Near to God in Better Hope

Hebrews 7:19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

4. Be Better at Provoking

Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

5. Better produces Joy even in the face of loss and tragedy

Hebrews 10:34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.

Hebrews is the Better Book which details the Surpassing Life of Jesus Christ. Not only did Jesus surpass everthing before Him, He offers His surpassing life to us, so that our lives will benefit and share in His surpassing life. And if we share in His surpassing life, our lives will focus on Him, and that focus will produce changes in our works and priorities.

[1] Kenneth S. Wuest, Wuest’s Word Studies – Volume 2: Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1973), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 142

For a lack of knowledge…my people are silenced

Posted: September 4, 2012 in Discipleship, Jesus Christ, Life
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God is a Life or Death choice…

God is the definition of life. God is all about life. When he created this world He placed life on it and said go forth and be fruitful and multiply. He set a tree of life at its center. Satan came along and struck at the very heart of God by setting death loose. Satan is all about death and decay. Sin is death and decay. When man lives without setting God before Him as God, man is apart from life. Whether you are Christian or not, Muslim or not, Mormon or not, the choice as far as God is concerned, is life or death. God’s way always leads to life. Man’s way always leads to death. LIFE IS A CHOICE!

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” Joshua led the Israelites into the promised land.

Christ is the Life of man!

Jesus said that He is the life, that He is the only way to God the Father. While many of us have come to Jesus Christ to obtain eternal life, many of us have failed to take hold of the LIFE that Jesus wants us to live NOW! It is a life that is not dependent upon your sight, your flesh, your strength, or your wisdom. It is a LIFE that through faith and the Word sees Jesus Christ ever before you, living in you, living through you and living for you.

Galatians 5:25 says that if you have life by the Spirit, then walk by the Spirit!

I want to begin a study toward the end of the New Testament. Today we look at Titus. If the Lord leads we will spend the next two years walking toward Revelation. Wednesday’s we will begin in Genesis and walk through the Old Testament. From time to time we will join the two together, as I will this morning, as I tie Hosea 4:6 to Titus 1:1-4

Destroyed (silenced) for a lack of knowledge

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge[1],[2]; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. 

Spoken to the PRIESTS! They were not making sure the Jews were experiencing God in the reality of everyday living! (This knowledge used is that which comes from an encounter and experience. They probably knew scriptures, participated in memory drills, had the scriptures hanging on their walls, but they had long ago stopped having a fresh encounter with the author of the Scriptures.)

The background of their sin was a lack of an encounter with God through His Word. “My friend, if you are a Christian, the minute you get away from the Word of God, you are doomed to failure in the Christian life. Regardless of the number of conferences or seminars you attend that tell you how to be a success in your home, in your business, and in your social life, you will be a failure”.[3]

Man’s way – failure and death

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

My people are silenced for lack of knowing me!
  • (knowledge and discernment which comes from an experience or encounter)
1. The people are lacking in their relationship with God.

Hosea 4:1 …There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land;

  • „ Neglect, busyness, priorities, excuses, hurts.
  • „ God is ignored, forgotten, neglected and even spurned.
2. Neglect turns into rejection of God and His ways
  • „The pull of this world system is too powerful
  • Our hearts are too deceptive
  • Our heart gets cold, our faith is stale.
  • We go through our day without a fresh touch from God.
  • We barely hold on to believing faith
  • We live the majority of our lives without Him.
3. Rejection of God leads to Him rejecting you.
  • „ No longer a priest, able to go directly to Him
  • „ You have lost your standing, your voice.
  • „ Your heart has become a barrier to a living relationship with God.
  • „ Your pride has become a brick wall.
  • „ God is a jealous God. He must be first, or He will move on.
 4. You will be Silenced
  • „ Overcome, cut off, made to cease– silenced.
  • „ No longer have a voice
  • „ Doesn’t necessarily mean death-but rather you have lost your significance with God.
  • „ The Jews would lose their voice and blessing from God.
  • „ God left them to their own devices.
5. God will forget your children.
  • „ Through your forgetting of the Law of God in your life and home…
  • „ God will forget your children.
  • „ Your children will not matter with God.
  • „ His grace will not be at work in their lives.
  • „ They will not hear God’s voice.
  • „ They will not encounter God in their lives.

Hosea 4 indicates what happens when we forget Him. Our worship becomes comfortable and convenient. We worship other things. The family breaks down. There is great immorality among the youth. Wives become immoral. Marriage becomes a joke. The family breaks down.

Proverbs 1:29-31 Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.

What is God’s Way? – Success & Life!

The major thrust of Titus, while bearing on our relationships, is really upon  personal character and lifestyle which grow out of the truth. God’s Word is to be encountered, for it will change your character. Christ in you will result in a new Jim or Larry or Beth or Mary. God’s Word is never empty, but always leads to LIFE!

True LIFE is never apart from God, but in God!

Titus 1:1-4 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior; To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

A. Paul-Focus on the Living Savior

Paul opens the veil of his life. He wants Titus to know the motivation of his life and ministry. He reminds Titus that he has the imprint of two indelible marks upon his life.

1. He is a bond-servant to God

2. He is an apostle of Jesus Christ, personally commissioned by Him.

Everything about Paul’s life bore those two marks. Everywhere he went, people knew that Paul belonged to God, and that he was representing a living Savior, whom Paul personally knew and spent time with. People could ignore the message, but they could never forget the man. Paul belonged to God, and Paul knew Jesus Christ. There was no denying that Paul was not his own. You had to be impressed with the effect that Jesus had on Paul’s life. This message to Titus is all about how the truth of Jesus Christ changes your life. The Life of Jesus impacts your life.

Paul once though he was alive. But he realized he was dead to God.

Eph 2:1 –you were dead in trespasses and sin.

Paul saw Jesus Christ on that road to Damascus. When he saw Jesus as the Christ, his life was forever changed.

B. Paul-with a Message of Life

1.    For the sake God’s elect

a)  For their faith

b)  For their knowledge of the truth

Paul desires us to see God, to see Him at work in our lives. This only grows through fresh encounters with the Word of truth.

What are you facing in your life that has you boxed in? Instead of your problem driving you to God’s word, you spend your time arguing, your sleeping time frustrated. There is no peace. Faith opens your eyes to see God in whatever situation you are struggling with. Without the Word of truth, your eyes will be shut.

2.    For the hope of Eternal Life

a)  Promised by God

b)  God never lies

God has always focused on LIFE God is jealous for me to experience life! Not a frustrated, defeated life, but a victorious, joy-filled life!

Look at God’s Love for LIFE!

  • In the Garden of Eden

„ God guarded against all that which of Life would destroy life.

„ After the fall, God had to guard life by casting man out

  • The Tree of Life will be in heaven-yielding fruit once a month

„ Sin has been dealt with

„ Only those who know life through Jesus will be allowed to eat.

  • Cain and Able

„ Blood cries from the ground

„ Cursed Cain for taking life

  • Noah

„ Genesis 9:6 “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.

„ You will never gain by taking a man’s life. You will lose

  • Enoch

„ Walked with God and had life

  • Abraham & Isaac

„ Isaac must come into death so death can be destroyed,

„ God’s purpose is that death is past, and not future.

„ God wants us to always have life without fear

„ In Christ, death is past, life is now and in the future

  • Job

„ Satan: “Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce thee to thy face.”

„ God: “… Only spare his life.”

„ Controversy for life is the theme of Job

„ Satan could only indirectly try to take Job’s life: Satan’s indirect method is to move Job to break with God by cursing Him, so that his life is forfeited and destroyed

„ With God is life, even from trials.

„ Trials with God always lead to increase!

„ Trials always lead to Revelation 22

Revelation 22:1-4 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

  • The Exodus

„ Life in the face of death

  • Levitical Laws of Life

„ Always about protecting life and health

„ Guarding the life of the family and nation.

„ Don’t drink blood…

Life Is Sacred To God, And He Is Intensely Jealous Over It.
God wants us to LIVE, but LIFE is in GOD! In order to know true LIFE, we must die to our self and LIVE to God through Jesus Christ! This way, death will be past. There is no more fear of death, for we will experience God’s LIFE forever!
Sin And Death Always Go Together Just As Righteousness And Life Go Together

There is a way that seems right to a man.

I was asked to go talk to a step-father-in-law by one of the gals at EBC. He was a KS Highway Patrol officer, close to retirement, whose job it was to investigate accidents. He had seen every imaginable thing-gory, bloody and horrendous. He was a functional alcoholic. It was 9:30 Saturday morning, and I could smell the alcohol on his breath. We started talking about God in his front yard, where he was doing some yard work. He very quickly turned the conversation to his standard answer-God is everywhere. God is in the trees, in the flowers. He felt close to God when he was working in his yard.

When asked about his relationship with God’s Son, he said that he has God and that is good enough. In reality, while he though God was all around him, God had forgotten him, and life was escaping him. Death was his life now, for he did not know God in reality. His sins had not been forgiven. The pain of his life was being drowned out by alcohol. He was fooling himself. His ways seemed right, but they were the ways of death. He had been deceived.

Genesis 3:13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Satan is a deceiver. Eve ate because she wanted to be like god. Instead she became like the serpent, cursed and with a death sentence upon her.

Chose life or chose death. You may think you have life, even surround yourself with life, but you are deceived. You are facing death.

There is only one who faced death and conquered it. There is only one who defeated sin, and satisfied the righteous demands of our Holy God.

Jesus Christ, the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the Life of God but through Him!

If life is in Christ, don’t you want to know more of Him?

If you are not satisfied with your life, you need to know Jesus Christ in a living way! Christ is the Life of Man!

[1] daʿat̠: A feminine noun meaning knowledge, knowing, learning, discernment, insight, and notion. The word occurs forty of its ninety-one times in Proverbs as one of the many words associated with the biblical concept of wisdom. The root meaning of the term is knowledge or knowing. In Proverbs 24:3, 4, it is the third word in a chain of three words describing the building of a house by wisdom, the establishment of that house by understanding, and finally, the filling of the rooms of the house by knowledge.

The word is also used in the sense of knowing by experience, relationship, or encounter. For example, Balaam received knowledge from the Most High who met him in a vision (Num. 24:16); the knowledge gained by the suffering Servant of Isaiah justified many people (Isa. 53:11); and to truly know the Holy God leads to real understanding (Prov. 9:10). This moral, experiential knowledge of good and evil was forbidden to the human race in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:9, 17). Warren Baker and Eugene Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary – Old Testament, (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 245.

[2] The word meaning “knowledge” in Hebrew is daʿat, a noun coming from the root of the verb yadaʿ, “to know,” “to experience,” “to acknowledge.” This key word in the Old Testament includes both intellectual and experiential knowledge. The noun for knowledge, daʿat, also has this range of meaning.. Carpenter Eugene E. and Comfort Philip W., Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew Words Defined and Explained, (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2000), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 106.

[3] J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible with J. Vernon McGee, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1983), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “Chapter 4”.

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Christians have a wardrobe of Glory and Beauty…so wear it!

Posted: August 21, 2012 in Beauty, Glory, Grace, Holiness, Jesus Christ
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Consider the Importance of Clothes

Exodus 28:1-2 And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons. And thou shalt make holy[1] garments for Aaron thy brother for glory[2] and for beauty[3].

God wanted to establish a relationship with His chosen people. That relationship was governed by God’s holiness and righteousness. God could not relate to His people without a representative, someone who would reflect God’s nature to His people.

God designed the office of Priest to enable this relationship. Aaron, the brother of Moses, was designated the priest, along with his sons.

Priests were nothing new to the Israelites. Melchizedek was a priest in Abraham’s day (Genesis 14:8). Joseph’s sons Manasseh and Ephraim were from his wife Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. Even Moses father-in-law, Jethro, was the priest of Midian.

With the beginning of the Nation of Israel in view, God directed Moses to begin God’s priestly order, founded upon the Commandments which God delivered to Moses. With the earthly Priest Hood, God always had His Son, Jesus Christ in view. Everything about the priesthood, the Tabernacle, the offerings and sacrifices were a shadow of the Heavenly reality (Hebrews 8:5). It was important that the priests reflect God, and in view of the future, the nature of His Son. For Jesus Christ was the substance of all they did.

Colossians 2:17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

While the priests were seen as the “go between” for the Jews with God, this was never His intention. Always in His heart, He wanted an intimate relationship with all of His children. From the beginning God revealed His intention:

Exodus 19:5-6 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.

God desired His people to realize they could be a kingdom of priests, each possessing that special relationship with God. The link between God and His priests has always been two-fold: believe in God, and obey His Word. The priests were to be living personifications of the reality of Jehovah God, and the power of His Word. As the priests reflected this power to the Jewish people, the words of Malachi would come to pass:

Malachi 2:7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.”

This is why Exodus 28:1-2 is significant. The garments of the priest are important only as far as the priests follow their intention-for the garments were designed to set the priest apart from that which was common.

What made the priesthood “weighty” to the people, was the perception that they were set apart unto God. The priests had restrictions upon land ownership, because the Lord was their inheritance. The priests were not to be entangled in the business affairs of the world. They were to depend upon the Lord for their sustenance and provisions. The people went to the priests to enquire of the Lord God, for the priests were set apart unto Him. This is what the garments represented, for they were sacred garments, and set the wearer apart from that which was common. The priestly garments were never used for washing the dishes, or cutting wood. The priests were always to respect the Holiness of Jehovah as they administered their office.

This is the reason for God’s scourging of the priesthood in Malachi. They had accepted “common” sacrifices, blind animals, unclean animals, and in so doing had profaned the name of Jehovah before the people. They had “polluted” God by despising the table of the Lord (Malachi 1:6-8). Instead of setting God apart before the people, the priesthood had brought God down to where man could regard Him as nothing special. Honoring Jehovah required nothing special. No real sacrifice was involved. God had become “comfortable” to the people. The priesthood had lost the touch of God by accepting that which was common. The priests had despised the name of God!

Their garments looked glorious and beautiful like normal, but there was no power behind them. God withdraws His power when our worship and service becomes man-centered. As 2nd Timothy 3:5 states, they have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. When you fail to follow the design of God, you reveal your heart, a heart that despises God’s authority over your life.

Our lives are to reflect a heart that has been set apart unto God. A heart that loves God completely. As we walk in love, we are clothed in glory and beauty. The priesthood was to present that reality to God’s children, just as contemporary ministers are to their flock.

Ministers, pastors, preachers and associates are to be set apart unto God. They must spend time before the throne. They must believe in His power. They must long for His Word. No part of their life must be kept from obedience to His Word. Disobedience, no matter how small, reflects a heart that despises the name of God.

Those who serve the Living God do so with an obligation to guard the deposit of God’s Word given to them.

2 Timothy 1:14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Disobedience and/or neglect of God’s Word reveals an unbelieving heart. You are snorting, “What a weariness this is!” (Malachi 1:14). God’s name will be exalted throughout the nations, regardless of your obedience or belief.

The cry to everyone who seeks the Lord is found in Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Remember, God desired a nation of priests. He wanted all of His chosen ones to enjoy Him. This became reality through Jesus Christ, whose eternal sacrifice on the cross tore open the veil which stood between sinful man and Holy God. Through faith in the work of Christ, His righteousness and justification are imputed to us, enabling us to have relations with Abba Father.

However, the visual image of Aaron’s priestly garments reveals several insights into our relationship with Holy God.

1. There is no relationship unless we agree to be set apart unto Him.

This is the wisdom of the Cross, whereby all those who humble themselves before the cross find salvation and righteousness in Christ. Our relationship with God begins at the cross of Christ. Jesus is the way!

Any attempt to come to God by bringing Him down to our level will be wasted. If our coming to God is man-centered and polluted by our pride, the way to God will be closed to us. The intimacy of Abba, Father will be impossible due to our flesh (Romans 8:8).

2. Our relationship with God is always on the basis of His Glory and Beauty.

We have no glory or beauty of our own. There is nothing intrinsic within us that makes us attractive and winsome to God. The priest stood before the people clothed in the special garments to reflect God’s glory and beauty, not his own. There were no TV personalities on display. God’s glory and beauty took center stage.

A. The Imagery of the Priestly Garments

1. The garments were to set apart the priests from that which was common to that which was sacred.

The Priests were the connection between man and God.

  • Ministers of God are always set apart for God’s use. They are not to be “common” in the true sense of the word. They are always living with the presence of God! God in us makes us sacred!
  • The garments were masculine and feminine in nature. Ministers reflect all of God upon all of God’s people

2.  They were to reflect the ‘weighty’ glory of God which Moses desired to see.

The word “glory” is derived from a Hebrew root that may mean “heavy,” “weighty,” or “numerous, severe” in a physical sense[4]

  • God bestows His glory on man- Psalm 8:5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.
  • Glory is a weighty term-refers to wealth, possessions, honor, prestige.
  • Joseph told his brothers to tell Jacob of all his “glory”
  • The Glory of God brings substance, wealth, purpose, pre-eminence and “weight”.
  • The glory of God is never taken lightly; neither should the minister of God.

Exodus 16:7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD…

  • God told the complaining Israelites they would see His glory in the morning. When they awoke, they saw the manna falling from heaven, lying on the ground.
  • The manna is a picture of God’s bread of life-the Word of God. In the Word there is glory as we minister it!

Psalm 57:11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be over all the earth.

Isaiah 42:8 I am the Lord; that is My name! And My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to graven images.

The Bible places emphasis on glory in the present and future tenses based upon the possibility of a relationship with the God of glory.

 The priests were to minister on the basis of glory because they enjoyed a “heavy” relationship with God, whereby His glory became their glory through the ministry of the Word!

John 1:14 And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth.

Jesus is the Glory of God!

Jesus in your life opens the Glory of God upon your life!

3.  They were to reflect the beauty bestowed upon man and upon objects that elevate them to the presence of the divine.

Isaiah 55:5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.

God has beautified you. His Glory is revealed in our beauty (that He bestows upon us in Christ)!

God bestows His beauty upon His people, upon their sanctuary, upon those things dedicated to Him!

The basic meaning of pāʾar in the Piel is “to beautify/glorify.” In the six instances of this, the subject of the verb is always God. The recipient is his child(ren), for example, Isaiah 55:5; Psalm 149:4, or his sanctuary (Ezra 7:27; Isaiah 60:7, 13). This thought is carried into the use of pāʾar in the Hithpael (Isaiah 44:23; Isaiah 49:3; Isaiah 60:21; Isaiah 61:3). An additional meaning in this stem is “to boast” as seen in Judges 7:2; Isaiah 10:15. Exodus 8:5,[5]

God is our crown of glory and diadem of beauty!

Isaiah 28:5 In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,

We are to boast only in His beauty upon us.

Psalm 96:6 Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

The danger comes in thinking the beauty is ours.

Isaiah 20:5 And they shall be dismayed and confounded because of Ethiopia their hope and expectation and Egypt their glory and boast (same word for beauty).

B.  Jesus Christ is our Beauty and Glory

2 Peter 1:16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

Jude 1:25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

1. We are to put on Christ!

Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

He is our beauty!

      • He is the Rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star!
      • John 17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
      • John 17:10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.

His Word is our Glory

      • His Word set us apart!
      • John 17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

His Word in us brings Glory to God

      • John 15:7-8 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

2. The Word of God makes us beautiful and crowns us with His Glory!

Isaiah 62:2-3 The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

Zechariah saw a vision of a priest named Joshua in Zechariah 3. Joshua was clothed in filthy rags, and Satan was at his side, accusing him before Holy God. Joshua was not wearing the garments of glory and beauty. He was not fit to serve according to Satan. And Satan was right, but next we see the grace of God. An angel commands those around Joshua to remove the filthy garments, and clothe him in the holy priestly garments of glory and beauty. His iniquity has been removed by the grace of God. In addition, he is given a holy diadem or turban to wear upon his head. The significance of this turban is revealed in chapter 14, verse 20, for on the turban is symbolic of the priest being “Holiness unto the Lord,” for in that day even the horses will be holiness unto the Lord. Exodus 28:36 records that a gold plate inscribed with “Holiness unto the Lord” was placed upon the turban which the priest wore.

So God’s Grace restores the standing of the priest through cleansing and the right clothing. But God’s grace does not end there. Zechariah has another vision in chapter 4, and now he sees the power and provision of God for the rebuilding of the Temple. The Holy Spirit is poured out upon the priesthood, so that “not by might, nor by power but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts!” The Grace of God enables those who once were covered in filthiness to have an intimate relationship with their Creator God, and to be clothed in power from on high, such that they are to build the very dwelling place of God on the earth, His Temple! Verse seven presents a beautiful picture of the mountains (obstacles) becoming a plain such that Zerubbabel is able to hoist the final headstone of the Temple and cry out “Grace Grace!”

We live and breathe and build in the Grace of God! One day we will rejoice in heaven and cry Grace, Grace, for we will praise Christ “who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (Rev 1:5-6)

 

 

 

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[1] qōdeš: A masculine noun meaning a holy thing, holiness, and sacredness. The word indicates something consecrated and set aside for sacred use only; it was not to be put into common use, for if it was, it became profaned and common (ḥôl), not holy. Warren Baker and Eugene Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary – Old Testament, (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003), WORDsearch CROSS e-book.

[2] kābôd, ‏כָּבֹד‎ kābōd: A masculine singular noun meaning honor, glory, majesty, wealth. This term is commonly used of God (Ex. 33:18; Ps. 72:19; Isa. 3:8; Ezek. 1:28); humans (Gen. 45:13; Job 19:9; Ps. 8:5[6]; 21:5[6]); and objects (1 Sam. 2:8; Esth. 1:4; Isa. 10:18), particularly of the ark of the covenant (1 Sam. 4:21, 22).Warren Baker and Eugene Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary – Old Testament, (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003), WORDsearch CROSS e-book.

[3] tiphʾārāh: A feminine noun meaning beauty, glory. Isaiah used the word to denote the so-called beauty of finery that would be snatched away by the Lord (Isa. 3:18). The word was used in a similar manner in Ezekiel to denote that which the people trusted in other than God, in addition to what would be stripped away (Ezek. 16:17; 23:26). The making of priestly garments and other apparel brought glory to Aaron and his sons, giving them dignity and honor (Ex. 28:2, 40). Wisdom was portrayed as giving a garland of grace and a crown of splendor in Proverbs (Prov. 4:9); Zion was told that it will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand (Isa. 62:3); and in the book of Jeremiah, the king and queen were told that the crowns would fall from their heads (Jer. 13:18). The word was used in Deuteronomy to describe how God would recognize His people (Deut. 26:19). In Lamentations, it was used in an opposite manner to describe the splendor of Israel that was thrown down from heaven to earth in the Lord’s anger (Lam. 2:1). Deborah used the word to describe the honor or glory of a warrior which would not be Barak’s because he handled the situation wrongly (Judg. 4:9).Warren Baker and Eugene Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary – Old Testament, (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003), WORDsearch CROSS e-book.

[4] Carpenter Eugene E. and Comfort Philip W., Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew Words Defined and Explained, (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2000), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 72.

[5] R. Laird Harris, Gleason L. Archer, Bruce K. Waltke, ed., “1726: ‏פָּאַר‎,” in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, (Chicago: Moody Press, 1980), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 713.

The Acclaim of a Disciple Maker

Posted: August 20, 2012 in Discipleship, Gospel Driven Discipleship, Jesus Christ
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2 Timothy 1:14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

The Christian life centers around the Cross of Christ. The Cross is the wisdom and power of God. The Cross and what it provides for us is to be the center of our worship. The Cross accomplished the three delights of God, his Love, His Justice and His Righteousness. We have read in His Word and sang of the overwhelming Love that we have through the forgiveness granted at the Cross.

Now through the Word we apply the justice of God to our lives in the Truth of Jeus Christ. Through the Cross we have been given new natures, with soft hearts, receptive to the Word of God taking root and transforming us into the design and Justice that God desires.

This morning the Justice of the Cross takes us to 2 Timothy 3.

Chapter One-The Power of God in View

So far in our look at Biblical Discipleship, we have seen in chapter one that the Disciple must always have the power of God in view. This is a supernatural work, not a work of human design or wisdom. Only God’s Power is sufficient to transform a sinner into a saint!

Our salvation, our ministry, our service and our discipleship is all from a position of God’s Power at work in us!

In chapter two we saw that even though the power is of God, the responsibility lies with us. We are partners with God in the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ. We are partners with Him and that partnership requires a Holy view of His Word. His Word is nothing profane or common, but it is the power of God to salvation!

Chapter Two-The Responsibilities of a Disciple are in view.

Six Pictures of a Disciple in 2 Timothy Two

(1) A Soldier (vv.3-4)

(2) An Athlete (v.5)

(3) A Farmer (v.6)

(4) A Workman (v.15)

(5) A Vessel (v.21)

(6) A Servant (v.24).

In 2nd Timothy Three, we see the Burden of Paul that drove him to make disciples, and to grow disciple makers.

I. The Problem that drove Paul

Read 2 Timothy 3:1-9

2 Timothy 3:1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. (times of difficulty)

Chalepós was used in Matthew 8:28 to describe two demon-possessed men. They were so “fierce” or “difficult” that you could not pass them without an armed escort.

Matthew 8:28 And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way.

These “Last Days” will be difficult times. You will need an armed escort to survive. That armed escort is the disciple who knows how to handle the Word of Truth!

Truly, we are experiencing difficult, stressful and grievous times. The world economy is perilous, crimes seem to be more and more horrible, nations fighting, families are threatened, our private lives are spied on, and there is an increase in stress that is unprecedented.

Despite all the material comforts, many have no true and lasting peace and joy in their hearts. They are filled with worry and uncertainty, not knowing what may happen to them and to their jobs tomorrow, not to mention the stress they suffer from work, the difficult and grievous times they encounter due to the broken relationship with their friends or their loved ones. Why?

Because the church has become man-centered. This is what Paul saw for the future…

People, pastors, church leaders would become “swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

Lovers of a comfortable gospel will never be true disciples.

The key reason is due to the self-centered heart and lifestyle of human beings.

Paul refers to “silly women” “burdened by sin” with “diverse lusts.” This happened because…

1. The man of the house has neglected his responsibility to protect his family.

2. The truth of God’s Word has no power to cleanse sin, because the man denies its power in his life.

3. Because the man has neglected his responsibilities, his household is immature and subject to immature and wrong passions.

When you become self-centered to the point that God’s Word has no power to cleanse and grow you into Christ, your household will suffer. The church will suffer. There are people whose intent is to destroy the Kingdom of God. This is from the very heart of Satan.

What makes these destroyers so dangerous, is that they make sense. They sound rational, they present such convincing knowledge, that they must be speaking the truth. But if you know the power of the Word, and the power of the Cross is at work in your life, you will know that their message is opposed to the Truth of Christ, and they are corrupted in their thinking (not yielded and transformed) and as a result they are disqualified from the faith. The word is “ADOKIMOS”

They devalued the word of God to a position below their own wisdom. As a result, the Life of Christ is devalued, and future families are destroyed.

II.  The Promise that consumed Paul

2 Timothy 3:10-15 You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

A. Paul was consumed with the Word of God.

  • His teaching, conduct, aim in life was all centered upon Jesus Christ.
  • Even his sufferings were because he was consumed with Christ

B. Paul tells us there are two promises the consume Him

(1) Everyone who desires to live a godly life will be persecuted.

(2) These scriptures will make you wise for salvation-vs 15

Evil imposters will go on from bad to worse. They will deceive and be deceived

This is why we must continue in this Word! The Word of God coupled with a Living relationship with Jesus Christ is our salvation from this evil world, from these perilous times and from evil men.

The wisdom  of the Scriptures contrasts with the folly of man’s wisdom as seen in verse nine!

This is the Promise that must consume our lives!

III. The Power that propelled Paul

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Paul had a tremendous belief in the Word of God[1]. This was no mere book to be studied and admired. These words are God-breathed. They are the very breath of God for your life. When you pick this Bible up, open its pages and begin to read, the very breath of God is falling upon your neck, upon your heart, upon your life.

God breathed into a lifeless lump of clay and it became Adam. When you allow this Word to breath upon your heart and soul, it will impart the very Life of God to you. If it fails to bring Life to you, it is not God’s fault. He is Life! His Word will always be life! You simply fail to believe. You let your doubts possess you.

You need to let the Word of God possess you! Wake up and feel the breath of God upon your soul! Wake up and feel the Power of this Word for Life, for God’s presence!

This Word is profitable

This breath of God teaches (instructs) you how to live in this ungodly world. This breath of God teaches you how to have peace and strength in perilous times. This breath of God teaches you how to protect your family from evil men, from the philosophies of the world that destroy families. This breath of God is the Power to lve in triumph over circumstances!

This breath of God reproves. Not only does the breath of God convict our heart, but it shines His truth upon our spirit and soul, and paints a picture of the wrong path we are on. This is the image of Paul on the Damascus road, seeing Jesus, seeing how he was persecuting Him

This breath corrects. The picture is of setting us straight! It sets us on the right course, the course of His design! God breathes upon us when we are off course, when we are not following His design! This Word is powerful to establishing you firmly upon Christ, making you a rock that can never be moved! This is why I am convinced of the need of brokenness in our lives. When God has broken you because of your mistake, or your going along a wrong path, and you respond with repentance and humility to His correcting breath, from that time on, you will always be looking for His breath, submitting to His breath, yielding to the slightest whisper!

This breath trains (chastens). This is the same Greek word in Hebrews 12:5-9. The picture is one of a Father who trains his young son through exercises, discipline and even punishment. The goal of all that happens growth into God’s Righteousness. The truth is that our righteousness is already in Christ, and available for our lives. However, this world pulls at us and gets us out of Christ. We are pulled into self-reliance, self-centeredness, away from resting in Christ. This Word is designed to breath upon our heart and life and chasten us to center our lives upon Christ and His righteousness!

Hebrews 12:5-9 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?

The Man of the Word is the Man of God

1. Competent – artios

Complete, sufficient, completely qualified. Pictures a man who is complete because all his being (body soul and spirit) are whole, in balance and are what they are supposed to be, so that man can serve God’s destined purpose[2]

2. Fully Equipped – exartizo

An intensive form of competent. The picture being that not only is the Man of the Word all together and complete and fully qualified to achieve God’s purpose for his life, but He complete to the extent he is thoroughly outfitted to do the job[3]!

to put in appropriate condition. To complete entirely, spoken of time (Acts 21:5); to furnish or fit completely (2 Tim. 3:17). In this last text, the use of exartízō and its root, ártios, appears redundant but actually conveys a subtle nuance. Paul states that inspired Scripture can make the man of God ártios, competent, proficient, adept or capable. This is followed by a subordinate clause containing the perf. pass. part. of exartízō which is not simply an intens. form of ártios, as though Paul were saying, “that the man of God may be competent having been made very competent” (a.t.). Rather, exartízō means to equip, outfit, furnish

The Word of God transforms you internally into the Justice (Design) of God and works that outwardly in the Righteousness of God, making you a mighty man of God (from the inside out)

Are you a man or woman of the Word? Are you competent and complete in your Christian walk? Are you fully equipped for victory in your Christian walk?

Perhaps you should make a decision before the Cross this morning, dedicating your life to God’s Justice, asking Him to freely work His justice in your life.

We come once again before our King, declaring our devotion to Him and to His Word. We believe the power of His Word to change our lives, to renew our spirit, to direct our soul and free our body from the law of sin!

Now let us see His proclamation for us to follow this week

IV.  The Proclamation for Each of us as we LIVE

2 Timothy 4:1-8 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

1. Proclaim the Word as a man of the Word.

As it breathes on you, breath it on others. Realize you don’t do it all the time, but like it says, be ready!

2. Make it fully known to all that you serve Jesus Christ.

If Christ is your life, He will be visible to everyone around you.

3. Be willing to be poured out.

Remember Mary, who poured out her inheritance, her hopes, her dreams, her future to anoint the head and feet of Jesus. Never fear the waste of sacrifice for Him. It may be a waste to the world, but to Him it will be remembered for all eternity

4. Live your life in full view of the Righteous Judge.

You will receive a reward. You will discover that it is worth it to diligently seek God. It is worth it to have your life consumed for the Word of God. Never become so involved with this life that you do not want Him to come! Be so in love with Christ that you are anticipating His return!

[1] “All Scripture is God-inspired,” not only the Old Testament, in which alone Timothy was taught when a child (2Ti 3:15), but the New Testament books according as they were recognized in the churches which had men gifted with “discerning of spirits,” and so able to distinguish really inspired utterances, persons, and so their writings from spurious. Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset, David Brown, A Commentary: Critical, Experimental, and Practical on the Old and New Testaments, (Toledo, OH: Jerome B. Names & Co., 1884), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “2 TIMOTHY”.

[2] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary – New Testament, (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1993), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: ” ἄρτιος”

[3] Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary – New Testament, (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1993), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: ” ἐξαρτίζω

The Aptitude of a Disciple Maker

Posted: August 20, 2012 in Discipleship, Divine Revelation, Gospel Driven Discipleship, Word of Life
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2 Timothy 1:14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

The Aptitude of a Disciple Maker

„ What is an “aptitude”? n. 1. An inherent ability, as for learning; a talent: an aptitude for mathematics.

  • Being a Disciple Maker is not based upon your ability, but the ability of the Word of God!
  • Based on One Premise – The Word of God cannot be bound. The Word of God is powerful!

Last week we focused on our attitude toward Disciple-Making. Your attitude determines how you value this Word of God. Do you believe it is life-giving? Do you believe it is a sacred deposit? Do you believe it is of greater value than anything in this world? Sadly, many ‘Christians’ have the attitude of the Jews that Malachi was writing to, 400 years before Christ’s coming.

Malachi 3:14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the LORD of hosts?

For the Word of God to be profitable to us, or beneficial, it must be mixed with faith.

Hebrews 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

This is why the Jews were overcome in the wilderness. Even though they saw evidence of God, even though they had a messenger who talked directly to God, the word of God did not profit them, and they did not have faith to belief in the power of God, nor in His promises. Because they failed to believe they were overcome and perished in the wilderness, never receiving the promise of God’s blessing as symbolized by the Promised Land.

I am here to proclaim to you that this Word of God is indeed Powerful and worth giving your whole life for! It is profitable, it has the power to save, the power to heal, the power to make whole! It is the power to save us from this sin sick world. It is the power to make us sons of God. It is the power for Life, Abundant Life and it is the power for Eternal Life!

Whether you believe it and value it is up to you. If you allow your heart to get hard, no amount of preaching or begging or pleading will get you to believe!

If you do not value this Word, you will not see the value of intentional discipleship. You will not see the value of Gospel Track Discipleship. I am praying that our hearts will be softened and our eyes open to the power of God’s Word, and that He would renew within your heart a longing for Jesus Christ, a longing that will develop a desire for discipleship in your life, and a willingness to learn how to disciple others.

Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

Isaiah 55:11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

The Word of God created the universe. The Word of God holds this world together. By the Word of God we exist. Without the Word of God this universe would fall apart.

Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Paul says in our text that the Word of God is NEVER bound. It is always powerful!

This World was designed according to God’s Word. God wants His Word to bring His design into your life. It is a precious deposit, one which is profitable for your life. Justice in your life is through God’s Word! For God’s Word to bring justice into your life, for God’s Word to have profit in your life, there are three-

APTITUDES which we must have or develop.

1.   Soldier

2.   Athlete

3.   Farmer

If you can lay hold of the qualities involved in being a soldier, an athlete and a farmer, this Word will enrich your life, and you will want to share its value with other believers so their life can be enriched.

It will not because you are a super talented Christian.  It will because the Word produces the desire within you! This is what Paul meant in 2 Thessalonians 3:1:

2 Thessalonians 3:1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you

Is the Word of God having “free course” in your life?

Jesus encountered a strange thing when He returned to Nazareth and preached. Here was the town he had grown up in, worked in. Everyone knew who he was, who his family was. They were amazed at what Jesus preached, but it was marked with unbelief. They could not believe that Jesus was capable of being something more than just the guy who fixed broken chairs, or made furniture. So most of the town did not belief in what he was saying. Here is how Mark describes what happened.

Mark 6:5-6 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching.

Because they did not believe the Word of the Lord, it severely hindered the “free course” of the power of the Word. Jesus could do a few small miracles, but their unbelief prevented Him from doing so much more.

If we want the Word of God to have ‘free course” in our lives, to profit our lives, to allow God to accomplish all that He wants for our lives, we need to work on this “belief” factor. We need to ramp up our treatment of God’s Word.

Let’s look at 2 Timothy 2:1-13 and discover why the aptitude of a Soldier, an Athlete and a Farmer are so important to seeing the power of the Word in our lives.

1. Paul tells young Timothy to build up through grace:

1 You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus,

    • Grace strengthens us as we follow Christ.

2. Be a banker with the Word of God

2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

3. Be like a Good Soldier

3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.

    •  Willingness to share in suffering

„ A Soldier realizes he has a job to do, a job that requires sacrifice of personal freedom and luxuries. „ The task at hand is the priority, and requires 110% of our attention.

„ You can lose your life by not training or not being attentive.

A. Keep from being entangled

    • „ Entangled by wants
    • „ Entangled by failures
    • „ Entangled by inadequacies
    • „ Entangled by worries

B. Keep your heart trained upon the one who enlisted you.

    • „ Long battle, we need His strength
    • „ He enlisted us, He will train us
    • „ We must listen and believe.

C. It is Jesus you seek to please.

    • „ We please Him when we believe what He says
    • „ We please Him when we pay attention to what He says

4. Be like an Athlete

5 An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

    • Seek the crown
    • Follow dedicated regimen

„ Victory is only a tenth of a second difference. Phelps qualified for 8th place in the 400 Individual medley at 4:13:33. „ Laszlo Cseh was 9th at 4:13:40=„ 7/100 of a second.

„ Only 3½ seconds separated 1st from 8th place.

  1. Have the heart of a competitor
  2. Follow the rules
    • „ A great long jumper must make his mark.
    • „ A great sprinter cannot leave too early.
    • „ Rules are important for the integrity of the games.
    • „ God has a design that must be followed for our lives.
    • „ There is mercy, but you can never presume upon it.

„ God’s Word and Justice will always prevail, and belief in His Word is rule number one. You cannot be lackadaisical and expect God to always bless you.

„ Last time an athlete presumed he would win if he simply showed up; he was beaten by a tortoise.

5. Be like a Farmer

6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.

  1. Committed
  2. No time off when the work is to be done
  3. Timing is critical
  4. Soil must be prepared and taken care of
  5. Patience as the crop grows.
  6. Faith that God will make it grow, that rain will be provided.
  7. Trust that God will reward your belief and hard work.
  8. You get to share in the fruit!

„ Heb 11:6- must belief that He is and that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

6. Understand What the Lord Wants for You.

7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

  • Here is the commonality He wants us to see:
  1. They all must be diligent
  2.  They all must be faithful
  3.  There is an element of faith
  4.  There must be a dependency on the Lord to make each successful.

7.   Always remember it is about Jesus

8 Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel,

8.   Believe in the Power of the Word

9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!

„ God’s Word is never bound.  We simply refuse to let it be that valuable deposit in our lives. „ So we have nothing to give to those around us.

  • Don’t allow your limitations to hinder the Work of the Gospel

9.   Release the Power of Jesus Christ

10 Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

10.     Realize the Power you Have in Christ

11 The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.

  • Do you believe your Regeneration?
  • Do you believe the Life of Jesus Christ is your life?
  • Do you believe you reign with Him
  • Do you believe He is faithful even when we are faithless?
  • He is always faithful, even when we are faithless.

„ Never be at Ease in your Unbelief

Mark 16:14 The disciples were reclining. They were at ease in their unbelief. They were more concerned about their bellies than they were their hard hearts. Jesus rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart. They had refused to believe the report that Jesus was risen and alive!

The disciples were allowing a fleshly thing to cloud a spiritual reality. Their focus on what was in the past hardened their heart to what was true in the now! This is true of Christians today.

We feed our hearts on what God has not done or failed to do. Whenever we dwell on what has not happened, we foster the atmosphere for the spirit of offense and bitterness to arise and then thrive. When we dwell on what has not happened, we legitimize unbelief. We even excuse unbelief as normal. So we promote a sense of justification for not believing God.

Jesus rebuked that attitude in His disciples. He rebukes that attitude now! That attitude and thinking has to die! Christians are at ease in their unbelief. They are reclining at the table of fleshly attitudes and thinking. While we feed our bellies, the world is crying out for spiritual truth that will change their lives. While we are content in our unbelief our neighbors are crying out for something worth believing in.

Discipleship is all about taking people into their Destiny with the Power of the Risen Christ

Too often the Church focuses on keeping people from “sin “instead of taking people into their destiny with the power of the risen Christ. Churches that provide excuses for falling short of and not believing the power of Christ are merely promoters of “religion,” for God’s Word says religion is “form without power!” (2 Tim 3:5)

The area of our greatest unbelief is in our prayers.

So much of the content of our praying is for things we already possess in Christ, but fail to believe. So we labor to ask God for things we already have. We expose our unbelief through our boring prayers. We fail to ask God for things we do not possess because we fail to believe what God has given us. No wonder prayer is laborious and cursory to most Christians. No wonder there is a prevailing attitude that their prayers never reach the ceiling! Our prayers are often exercises in unbelief!

Churches are to be houses of prayer. The God purpose of prayer is to produce JOY in the experience of the believer.

John 16:24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Prayer is not to twist God’s arm, or to make us seem more spiritual. Prayer is to encourage our belief in the reality of Jesus. Jesus wants prayer to take us into fullness of JOY! JOY is the currency of Heaven! God reserves JOY as the reward for the suffering. Christ endured the cross for the JOY that was set before Him. The reality of Christ will deposit the currency of heaven in our lives. JOY is the currency of Heaven! JOY is the result of prayer! Jesus says to all faithful servants who live with His power in their lives, “Well done…enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:23)

God wants us to feast on belief in the power of the Name of Jesus. Prayer is designed to be a breakthrough into His heavenly JOY! Prayer is the expenditure of belief in return for the heavenly currency. If we pray only for that which we already possess, we will never experience the breakthrough of JOY. We will never discover the riches of God’s heavenly currency!

Never allow our prayers to contradict what God has already promised. Our unbelief closes heaven’s resources to us. Closed heavens are between our ears. Failure to know JOY is between our ears! We limit our God because our unbelief does not want to take hold of His power and JOY, even when He is standing in front of us with outstretched arms!

This is why Paul prayed so fervently for us:

Ephesians 1:18-19 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might…

Paul saw Jesus, saw His power, and saw that power in His life. Paul experienced JOY even in prison, even in the stockades, even holding flotsam in the middle of the ocean. Paul’s eyes were opened and his heart was on fire for the realities of Jesus Christ! He could see the greatness of the power within Him, the same power that raised Jesus from the grave.  Paul never reclined in unbelief after that vision.

Our Vision should FIRE our Heart!

Christians have no excuse for not seeing the same vision. The vision is there for all to see. If we fail to believe, the hardness of our heart is exposed.

When Jesus was baptized, Matthew writes, “immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him” (Matthew 3:16). The picture is of the heavens being divided, rolled back, suddenly exposing the power of the heavenlies, and allowing the Holy Spirit to descend upon Jesus. Stephen saw the heavens rolled back and gazed upon the Glory of God and His Son. The truth is that the heavens have been opened to all Christians! The Holy Spirit has been given to all Christians. The Glory of God is for all Christians. We have the Holy Spirit living within us, a gift from our Savior!

Our Father is jealous for us to know the power of the Holy Spirit within us. He earnestly desires us to believe and experience His JOY!

James 4:5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

We Live under an Open Heaven

We live under an open heaven. The heavens are rolled back revealing the Power of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit lives in every believer, but his POWER is not upon every believer. Luke 4:1 says that Jesus left the Jordan River full of the Holy Spirit. But he did not have the POWER of the Holy Spirit until He believed the Word of God in His confrontation with Satan in the wilderness.

Are You Aware of the Power within You?

The Holy Spirit is in us eternally, but His POWER is not opened to us unless we believe. When we allow the wilderness of this world to influence our believing, we fail to see the power of the Spirit. We fail to influence the wilderness around us. We fail to alter the environment around us. Men who believed in the POWER of Christ influenced the environment into which they were placed. Stephen had a profound effect upon those angry men. Paul had an astounding effect upon prisoners, towns people, and even hardened Roman Soldiers.

Christians must learn how to “host” the presence of God such that He is always before us, influencing the environment of every place we step into. What we are conscious of, we are positioned to manifest. What we are aware of, we are able to release. If we are not conscious and aware of the POWER of God within us, we will never be able to influence those around us. The Gospel is not a ministry of words. The Gospel is the ministry of Power because of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  The Gospel is the ministry of releasing the presence of the Holy Spirit in the whole earth.

We will never release that which we are unaware of.

A woman who had struggled for years with an issue of blood made a “demand” upon Christ. In desperation she reached out among the throng to touch the “hem of His garment.” She made a demand for her life. In spite of all the people pressing around Him, Christ was so aware of the Spirit’s presence that He instantly knew when a demand was made to which the Spirit responded. If we are not intensely aware of the Holy Spirit within our lives, we will have nothing to offer those around us who are desperately seeking power for their lives. They are overwhelmed, they are needy, and we have no life-giving power to offer them.

A demand was made upon Peter. Peter confessed he had no silver or gold, but Peter was intensely aware of what he did possess. Peter had life in Christ, and He was willing to share that POWER with the beggar at the gate. Peter said “what I do have I will give you.”

Write a HUGE Check with Heavenly Currency!

Peter knew a heavenly currency that the world knows nothing about. Peter wrote a HUGE check because he knew what he possessed (Acts 3:6). Most Christians can only write tiny checks because our unbelief has obscured what we possess.

We live with such ignorance of what we possess. We possess the very “Kingdom of God.” The one who freed us from our sins, at the same time made us a Kingdom, Priests to His God and Father (Rev 1:6). Jesus said “the words that I speak to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63)

Jesus Spoke Life through His Words

John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

Jesus, being the very logos (word), spoke the Spirit and Life where ever He journeyed. When Christ spoke, His words became the Spirit and brought LIFE to those who believed. When we believe in the Words of Christ, and speak them into the world, we impart the Spirit to our environment, and we impart LIFE to those who believe.

We are Kingdom builders through the POWER that is in us. This Kingdom is not in food or drink, but is righteousness, peace and JOY in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).

When we are aware of the power that lies within us, and we exercise that power in faith, we are building the Kingdom by bringing people to the LIFE in Christ. We are dispensing the heavenly currency of JOY to those around us.

When you are handing out money, people stop and demand some. When you are handing out JOY, joy that this world is so hungry for, people will stop and demand it. The communities around the disciples took note of what they were handing out. They took note of where they went. They even brought the sick and lame into the streets to catch the shadow of Peter and be healed (Acts 5:15). Note: Your Shadow will always release what overshadows you! Peter was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit!

An unbelieving, defeated group of Christians will never see life brought to the dead in sin. They will never see miracles of God. Unbelief and defeat produces inward focused Christians, prone to depression and discouragement. When we turn inward we become a dead sea. An inward focused Christian is a dead Christian. An inward Christian is self-absorbed and self-centered. We need to be pre-occupied with who Christ is! With what Christ can do! We need to constantly release Him into every circumstance we encounter. We release His POWER by faith!

Don’t allow disappointments to obscure Revelation

So much of “Christianity” is based upon disappointment rather than revelation. We fail to see the Glory of God or the Power of His Son. Stephen saw the revelation in the midst of a downpour of stones. Paul saw the revelation in the midst of a hateful heart. John saw the revelation in the midst of loneliness and exile. The Revelation of Christ changes our environment. It changes our heart! Rather than being disappointed in what God fails to do for us, we need to focus on all that God has done for us!

Jesus said that if you see Him, you have seen the Father. So Jesus is the revelation of the nature and power of God. Jesus said that “all power” had been given to him in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). His power is the basis of us going into the world. If we do not know His power by revelation, then we will be powerless if we go into the world. We will be overcome by the world!

Christ is in us as a River Let Him Flow!

Powerlessness is inexcusable and unacceptable. The Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is in you and he wants out. He is not in us as a lake, or a ‘dead sea’, but rather as a river. Rivers flow from. The nature and power of God becomes ours as a believer. We have to believe in our own conversion! We have to believe in the POWER that was given to Jesus and was given to us!

As Paul prayed, the Lord is releasing a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we can actually rise to who He says we are! We cannot afford to rest in unbelief, nor can we afford to think thought that God never thinks about us. We must learn to meditate on the things the Holy Spirit can say “AMEN!” to.

Paul wrote that in order to serve God acceptably, our minds (that thing between our ears) must be renewed so that our lives are transformed. Our minds must come under the influence of the Holy Spirit. We must learn divine perspective in order to live the divine life.

This renewing of our mind can only come from a divine encounter with the POWER of God. We must see the revelation of Christ as the POWER in our life. Any creed or teaching that does not take us to the person of Jesus in a divine encounter will only make us more “religious.” It will only equip us to argue, not bring life into our environment.

When our beliefs line up with the POWER of Christ in us, we can take the Gospel into our communities without limits, without baggage that weighs it down and renders it powerless. We must have the experience of the Gospel that changes our lives, changes our thinking and makes us intensely aware of the divine POWER within us. Only then can we dispense the currency of heaven to those joyless souls around us.

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