It is All About God's Love

Romans 8:37 - 39 (The Message)
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

For this week's encouragement I am using the Message translation, as it gives us a fresh perspective on one of the most powerful Truths in the Universe; that God Loves us unconditionally, and nothing is going to get in the way of that Love!

Friends, this is the central Message of Scripture, the pivot around which the entire Gospel hinges!  That God Loves you unconditionally.  Now, you may have heard that on a number of different occasions, and it may not seem personal to you anymore.  This is why Paul prays for the Ephesians in Ephesians 3:19 that we might know this Love.  Because like this verse says, nothing will faze us when we live in the revelation that God Loves us.

I once heard a preacher named Jason Westerfield say that him and his wife have raised their son in a way that he would know how much he is loved.  Because of this, he thinks everyone loves him.  And this affects how he lives and deals with people.  And if people don't love him, it doesn't faze him, because everyone else loves him.

This is how we should live, knowing that we are deeply Loved by the Creator of the Universe, and therefore not letting anything affect us!

What is incredible in this passage in Romans is that Paul emphasises that nothing can separate us from God's Love for us.  And do you know what brought about that revelation?  The Cross.  "The way Jesus embraced us" is referring to what Jesus accomplished on the Cross.  2 Corinthians 5:19 says that God was in Christ reconciling the world (that's you!) to Himself!

Friends, Jesus sweated blood in the garden of Gethsemane because of what He was about to face at the Cross.  And He endured it because He saw a glorious day on the other side of it all where you could be one with Him!  That is the depth of His Love for us!

The more revelation we receive of the Cross, the more we will become convinced that nothing can separate us from God's Love for us!  My friend, know this today, that nothing can separate you from God's Love!  Absolutely nothing!  You are deeply and passionately Loved by your Heavenly Father, and He went to the very furthest He possibly could to ensure that nothing can stand between you and His Love!  Receive it today, and know, that no matter what you have done and where you have been, He Loves you with a Love that can barely be conceived by the natural mind.

I pray each and every one of us would receive a fresh and deeper revelation of the Work of the Cross, and God's Unconditional and Unending Love for us personally.

AMEN!

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For some good sermons regarding God's Love, here are two links worth downloading...

Right-click the link and then click "Save Target As" and save it anywhere on your computer:

- God's Love is Above All Things

- The Love Revolution

The Good Shepherd

John 10:4 - 10 
When He has brought out all His own, He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him because they know His voice.  But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice....  I tell you the Truth, I am the gate for the sheep.  All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.  I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.  He will come in and go out, and find pasture.  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

We are so privileged to be tended to and looked after by so good, kind and loving a Shepherd as Jesus.  He truly is more beautiful than we could ever conceive.  I once read a testimony of someone who encountered the very Person of Jesus and their description was that if everyone had to encounter Jesus in this way they would automatically surrender their lives to Him, because He is simply irresistible.

And like most passages in the Gospel of John, this one quoted above paints another stunningly glorious portrait of Jesus our Saviour and Shepherd.  A King and close friend who wants to lead His people into abundant pasture, saves His people from the thief, and give abundant life to them.

I wanted to encourage and remind you this week that this is Jesus' objective:  to impart Life to you.  But while reading the context of the famous verse 10, a couple of other things jumped out at me...

1.  Jesus walks ahead of His people, and His sheep follow Him because they want to

I am sure most of you have heard the comparison between a traditional Hebrew shepherd and shepherds of other cultures.  Hebrew shepherds walk ahead of their sheep while other cultures walk behind their flocks with a stick making sure they are all in line.  Jesus compares Himself to the former.  He is a shepherd who is secure, and He wants people following Him who are hungry for more.  If you want more of Jesus, His Word and His Presence, He is not going to force you.

But this means that we need to get to a place where we are so consumed by the beauty of who He is, we wouldn't be found anywhere else but in His Presence.  This is more than just "saying a prayer to be saved from hell".  This is a recognition that Jesus is the only True Source of Life, and to experience that True Life; His Presence is the best place to be!

Jesus wants us to recognise that for ourselves, from experience.

Jesus is secure.  He doesn't want people "following Him" out of duty, He wants people following Him because there's nothing else in this life that satisfies like His Love.

2.  Jesus ensures His people find pasture

Jesus wants His people to be looked after and cared for...  well.  Psalm 37:25 says the righteous will never be forsaken or will their seed ever beg for bread.  You are righteous!  That means you will never be forsaken, and even your children's children will be blessed.

Jesus wants to lead you into pastures of abundance.  Abundant, luscious green pastures meant that the sheep could feed till their heart's content, and thus they were healthy and strong.  Jesus wants you healthy and strong!  He wants you to be in a place of abundance where all your worries are cared for by Him.  After all, He is the one who will find those green pastures for you!

3.  Jesus draws a clear distinction between what comes from the devil and what comes from Him

Anything that goes into the box of "Stolen, killed and destroyed" was put there by the devil.  Not Jesus.  Anything that goes into the box of "Full and Abundant Life" was put there by Jesus.

This is one of the most important verses in the Bible for our understanding of the character of God and the origin and place of evil in our world.  Jesus doesn't will for evil to take place; but there is one who does, and his name is satan.  I have heard it said that this verse is not referring to satan but to greedy men.  That is untrue, because "men (and women)" in this verse are compared to sheep, and therefore the shepherds and hired hands are spiritual authorities.  Jesus being the Good Spiritual Authority, satan being the evil one.  It's quite simple.

My friend, Jesus wants to give you abundant life.  A life filled with health, wholeness, provision, fun and joy!  This should be the experience of the Christian!  The child of God.

Don't lose touch of His Voice.  It is sweet and always Loving.  Pursue Him, and follow His leading with reckless abandon.  There is nothing more satisfying in the Universe!  Your soul will not be disappointed.  Neither will you.

Jesus is our most Glorious Lover and Friend.  The more we see Him, the more we are transformed forever.

Highway to Grace "Snippet"

The following is a snippet taken from the "Introduction" of Steve Wheeler's latest book "Highway to Grace".  May it bless and inspire you in your walk with God!  For more information on the book and to buy it online, log on to www.highwaytograce.com

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After twenty years in the ministry I had a rude awakening.  I realised that I had been mixing the Covenant of Law into the Gospel of Grace.  I was sincerely doing my best to preach the Gospel as best as I knew how.  But I confused the covenants that God made with Abraham, Moses and Jesus. 

I spent years teaching that God’s blessing is proportional to our fulfilling certain conditions.  Year in and year out I preached “What you should be” and “What you shouldn’t do”... “Ten things you should do to get God to bless you”... “Pray harder, longer, louder”... “Twist His arm with a 21-day fast”.... 

Now I am convinced beyond the shadow of a doubt that God’s blessing comes solely because Jesus fulfilled the conditions for me.  At the Cross Jesus cried out, “It is finished”.  The Greek phrase used there is “teta lestai”, meaning “paid in full”.  This is a financial term meaning that no debt remains outstanding.

Many attending church religiously every week have no idea what was accomplished on the Cross.  You will never enjoy your inheritance when you remain ignorant of what is rightfully yours. 

To fully appreciate God’s Grace, we have to understand what the Finished Work of the Cross means for us.

At the Cross:

• the Old Covenant was obliterated
• every sin – past, present and future – was forgiven and wiped out
• sickness, death and hell were forever defeated
• we were co-crucified, co-buried and co-resurrected with Jesus.

Because of the Cross:

• we have become a new species re-created in Christ
• we have been seated at His right hand in the heavenly places
• we reign in this life as kings.

For too long God’s goodness has been doubted and the Work of the Cross diluted.  Mixing Law and Grace has caused the Gospel to be polluted.  Not separating the Covenants has resulted in confusion.  

Grace is not just some subject we can tag along with all our other Bible doctrines.  Grace is the essence of who Jesus is, what He did and how He will forever relate to us.  To understand Grace fully we have to think of Grace as being a Person: Jesus himself. 

I want to spend what’s left of my life here on earth unapologetically declaring the Gospel Truth:  God’s Grace given to us through His son Jesus Christ.   

“So what is our part then?” you may ask. 

Our part is to believe this Good News.  Faith is the ‘positive response’ to what He has already accomplished at the Cross.  Only Faith pleases God. 

The Bible teaches that Faith was deposited in our hearts as a gift when we heard the Truth of the Gospel.  You have all the faith you need.  Now you have to exercise it.

A life-changing journey

Understanding this message and seeing its life-changing impact is a process.  As a church we’ve been on the journey for over three years now.  A revelation of the Gospel of Grace is renewing our understanding of who we are in Christ.   And Grace has changed our understanding and approach to church, spiritual disciplines, preaching and leadership.
  

The results we are beginning to enjoy include a greater freedom to be who God has called us to be.  I regularly have people telling me that they are reading the Bible with new passion and revelation.  The Gospel of Grace is producing a new boldness to step out and trust our Father to demonstrate His Kingdom rule on earth.  Testimonies abound from those who are reaching out to the lost with this awesome message of Undeserved Favour.  There is far less ‘performance mentality’ in our church life.  I hear of unsaved people coming into our meetings and experiencing love and unconditional acceptance. 

We are enjoying a guilt-free relationship with our Father, and are expecting – and seeing! – greater things from Him because of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross for us. 

Over the past few years we have had our fair share of trials, disappointments and misunderstandings.  We have made some mistakes in our language and in our exuberance.  At times the ‘pendulum’ has swung excessively, and there have been more questions than answers.  I will address many of these in this book.

As Andrew Wommack says, “We haven’t arrived yet. But we have left.”  With the benefit of hindsight there are many things I would do differently.  But by His Grace we are where we are – and we are still moving in the direction of Amazing Grace.

We have taken more ground than we have lost as a church.  We have had more victory than failure; more joy than sorrow.  And with Jesus’ help we never want to go back into legalism; we never want to hear those dreadful words:  “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” (Galatians 3:1)

Sanctifcation By Grace - Part 2

Ephesians 4:22 - 24
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Last week we looked at the fact that as Christians we still have the ability to choose to do the right or wrong thing; or in some cases even do nothing at all.  And we also explored the Truth that at being Born Again, God gave us a New Nature that wants to make the right choices.  And I promised I would continue with this again this week.  Hopefully to explore the practical side of "how to" make positive choices.

Well, the truth is, there is no easy way to help Christians make more positive choices and say no to the "negative" ones.  There are hundreds of ways of going about it, but none are easy.

For a preacher, it is easy to get up in front of a congregation of thousands and a TV audience of millions and shout at the audience telling them to pray more, help more of the poor, love their spouses and kids more, stop smoking, drinking and swearing etc.  That is the easiest route of them all for a preacher.  It will play to the religiosity of man's mindset and they will agree with shouts and applause (most anyway).  But all the preacher has done is put more requirements on these well-meaning Christians, raise the bar even higher, and told the people if they call themselves Christians they should be jumping over that bar.  But guess what?  When they can't, they will feel like failures.  They will feel unworthy as children of God, and so will continue the downward spiral into a legalistic system of self-effort.

Like most Gospel preachers, I know that most Christians want to do the right thing and say no to the negative stuff.  We want to help people make the right choices in their lives, but we don't want to "set a standard" by which people would compare themselves to and thus feel one of either unworthy or self-righteous.  This is the difficulty for the Gospel preacher.

I think Paul faced the same difficulty.  He would sympathise with his followers in their every day lives of making right choices, but he didn't want them to ever feel like he was superior to them and they didn't make the grade.  I believe this is why in each of his letters he would spend at least 3 chapters emphasising the Christian's Royal Identity and God's unconditional Love and acceptance for them.

And so we finally get to this text...  This is what he was doing here in Ephesians.  He had spent the last 3 chapters emphasising God's Love and Grace, and in chapter 4 he starts to describe the Christian life.  Note:  He doesn't prescribe the Christian's life, he describes it.  Christianity is not a prescribed set of rules, it is a life lived in Love, and that can look very different in various people.

By the time he hits this passage in verses 22 - 24 he gets to the root of the Christian way of life.  And I believe it is three fold:

1)  The corruption of the old self and it's deceitful desires
2)  The attitude of the mind
3)  The new self already created to be like God

Understanding these 3 areas are keys to "victorious Christian living".  (A subjective phrase in itself!)  I believe it always comes down to understanding that there (1) was a corrupt old man that we used to be.  (2) God recreated us and regenerated at the Cross and Resurrection, and (3) our minds need this revelation to live this Truth effectively.

So, after a length introduction, let me try and briefly explore these 3 parts of this powerful Scripture...

1)  Put off the old self
The original Greek of Paul's writing says the "old human".  In the original Greek, Paul was saying "stop acting the way of your old humanity. That old human was corrupt and only getting more corrupt.  That's not who you are!"

2)  The attitude of the mind
Paul continued:  "The old human was crucified with Jesus on the Cross!  It is gone and we are completely new people!"  The problem is that our minds still have a few imprints and memories of that old human, and we can be led to believe that we are still like that old self.  We are not like that old person any more, because we have been recreated in His Death and Resurrection!  We are completely New People!  And it is in the mind where we need to understand this.

What is interesting is that if you have a look at the King James Version you will note it says to be "renewed in the spirit of your mind."  


Could it be that Paul is saying that we should allow our spirits to influence our minds?  Our spirits contain the Fruit of the Spirit, they contain God Himself!  If we had to allow what is contained in our spirit-beings to influence our minds, living the Christian life could be a whole lot easier and a whole lot more natural!  Think of Galatians 5:16.

3)  The new self already created to be like God
Here is a mind-bender for you...  In the original Greek Paul says to live the way of the "new human".  His word is "anthropos" from where we get the word "anthropod".  What this seems to point to is that our entire humanity has been made new!  We are entirely new people!  We need to be reminded of this Truth over and over again.

Paul then goes on to say that we have already been created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness!  True righteousness and holiness is God's righteousness and holiness!  He made us Holy!  He made us Righteous!  What He says goes.  We don't need to do anything to be righteous people.  We are righteous people!  When we believe this and realise it, we will live and act like it.

So you see, once again I believe it comes back to the mind.  When our minds realise the paradigm shift that our old self is gone and our new selves are created to be like God, making the positive choices becomes second nature.  We begin to operate "righteously" (if you like) from a sub-conscious level.  But it is imperative we "reprogram" our minds to believe that we are already righteous and holy and when we do, living that way eventually becomes "second nature".

Friends, while I have tried to tackle this subject practically, the more I delve into it the more I come to the conclusion our living righteously and making positive choices comes back to our minds understanding who we really are through what Christ accomplished in making us New People.  That really is the essence of it all!

Sure, making right and positive choices is imperative to the Christian life.  But it would seem God wants us to reprogram our minds so we eventually get to a place where we live this way sub-consciously.  Not to become self-righteous in our self effort of trying to live righteously, but to make positive choices and live in such a way that reflects the Nature of God here on Earth, and creates a culture of Love and victory.

So for now, the best practical advice I can say is to actively make the choice and decision to delve into the Word.  Listen to preachers and read material that delves into the Truth about your New Identity through what Christ accomplished at the Cross.  Give yourself to the Word, and reprogram that mind to live in the way God created you to live!

As always, your thoughts and opinions are appreciated.

Have a blessed week!

In His Grace,

James