Monthly Archives: May 2016

Did You Know (5)?

Apologetics, , ,

DID YOU KNOW (5)

…That Jesus offers us rest, not religion.

People, and especially ignorant people, often speak of Christianity as one of the world’s great religions. That is simply not true. Christianity is not a religion; it is a restoration of God’s estranged sons and daughters to fellowship with Himself.

If Jesus came to set up a new religion, then what He did would be nothing more than a figment of His imagination. He would be the world’s worst liar since He would be no more than another human being perpetrating deception on the human race. The entire history of the Christian church would be based on a hoax and millions of adherents would have put their faith in someone who died like everyone else.

Firstly, was Jesus a real person? Did He live on earth or was He a make-believe character of fiction to satisfy the craving of some highly imaginative person? Are the Biblical narratives true?

Jesus not only exists as a historical figure in secular writings outside of the Bible but His resurrection has never been disproved, even by the finest legal minds. He lived, died and rose again in Israel just over 2000 years ago.

But what of His message and His promises? His words could have been misleading even though He was a real person. The truth of His words rests on one indisputable fact; He said He would die and rise again on the third day and He did. If it is impossible for a human being to bring himself back to life, this would have been an empty promise and a lie if God had not raised Him from the dead. God would not have confirmed the words of a liar or a dreamer by raising Him from the dead if He were not telling the truth.

Let’s settle this. If Jesus told the truth about His death and resurrection, then we can be confident that everything else He said was also true. He said that the Father sent Him. For what purpose? To reveal the Father to His people. For what reason? Their religious teachers had obscured the nature of God by their innumerable additions to God’s word. They saw Him, not as a Father who loved them and desired to have fellowship with them but the strict disciplinarian God who punished every deviation from His commandments.

Jesus was the face of the Father to His people. He used every opportunity to show the compassion and mercy of His Father and the religious leaders hated Him for it. They killed Him because He showed them the true nature of God. Blasphemy was their charge and guilty their verdict without looking at the evidence. He proved to them beyond a reasonable doubt that He was the Son of God but they found Him guilty before He was tried and condemned Him to death, innocent though He was, because of prejudice.

Religion can offer no more than a set of rules and rituals to appease a god whose demands are never satisfied. Why? Religion is based on a god or gods who are the product of human minds. No one can conceive of a being higher of greater than himself. Gods represent the worst of human characteristics, holding those who believe in them by fear of failure. Those who worship them are locked into an endless round of doing whatever they can to ensure that they do not offend their god.

God called the children of Israel into fellowship with Him as His sons and daughters but, instead of loving Him as their Father and obeying Him out of reverence, they turned their relationship with Him into a religion.

It was Jesus’ mission to reveal the truth about His Father, to deal once-for-all with the sin that separated His people from God and to call them back into God’s family as His beloved sons and daughters. The Holy Spirit would come and live within them, God residing once again in the His true temple, their bodies so that they could have freedom and rest in fellowship with Him.

Jesus knew what religion did to people. Practising religion was trying to satisfy the never-ending demands of an unpredictable god without ever knowing when enough was enough. It was all self-effort with no guarantee that they would eventually be acceptable to their God. Religion has no goal except what the creator of that religion envisages.

The greatest tragedy of all is that the people who have opted for religion over rest would rather work for their salvation regardless of the futility of trying to live up to God’s standards than trust Jesus and enjoy His rest.

If Jesus is real and His words are true, His offer still stands and whoever believes Him and receives what He has promised, experiences the most amazing supernatural peace, the outcome of the forgiveness of their sin and reconciliation with the Father.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened (from trying to please God by keeping rules), and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matt.11: 28-30).

There remains, therefore, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his works just as God did from His (Heb. 4:9).

The rest Jesus offers us is rest from working to please God to trusting the words of Jesus; that He pleased God for us, died in our place to pay the debt for our sin and gives us, as a free gift, His perfect righteousness. We are now complete in Him – nothing more to do than to believe and receive what He did for us. When He cried out, “It is finished,” He ended the rule of law and ushered in the time of grace.

We have been fully accepted in Jesus and can rest in what He did.

God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them… (2 Cor. 5: 19a).

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3: 1).

Yes, my dear brothers and sisters, we are no longer slaves but sons and daughters of God, free to love Him and live in fellowship with Him as our Father. No religion! No rules! No fear!

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Do you like this post? Then buy your own copy of my book, Learning to be a Disciple, which is also available from www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com in South Africa. You can also order a copy directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com

My latest book, The Heartbeat of Holiness, is now available on www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com or from me at luella@efc.org.za at R130,00 including p and p.

IN HIS CONFIDENCE

Pastor's Desk,

Dear Family
It is simply mind blowing to think that “the LORD confides in those who fear Him”. We are talking about the Creator of all things, the God of all wisdom, and the Mind of all reason. Why on earth would He, the All Sufficient One, want to share anything with us in the first place, let alone take us into His confidence? I think part of the answer to that is God’s longing for true fellowship with His created beings. We see that from the very beginning God walked with Adam in the garden of Eden in the cool of the day. It appears that this was a customary thing—the God of all glory popping in for a leisurely stroll as He interacted with the crown of His creation. We know the sad ending to that story, but we are eternally thankful for the truth we now walk in on a daily basis. Because of the last Adam, the life-giving Spirit, Jesus, we now have access to that stroll with God in the cool of the day, all day, every day!
Jesus said, “He who belongs to God, hears what God says” and, “My sheep hear my voice”. We have this unbelievable access to the confidence of Almighty God all day, every day. Wow!
So how does God speak to us? Well, in a number of ways, but the most reliable and regular way would be through His Word. Every single time we pick up that blessed book we are able to hear and discern the confidence of God, as long as we’re seeking His righteousness in the process and not our own will. He has given us His very own Spirit to live in us, the Spirit of Truth, who helps us to understand what God is saying.
The church has got very lost down through the ages, giving certain people (the clergy) exclusive rights to hear from God. This has resulted in gross abuse of the Scriptures as well as an inherent laziness on behalf of the people. God has given gifts to the church to help the church function properly. He has not given positions and titles and certainly never intended an exclusive bunch to be the sole recipients of His confidence. It’s for all His children who fear Him. Isaiah wrote in 66:2 “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.” Don’t run to the priest, run to your High Priest, Jesus, and there spend time soaking in this truth, “The LORD confides in those who fear Him!”

Did You Know (4)

Apologetics, , ,

DID YOU KNOW (4)

…That you cannot forgive without compassion.

Many, if not most people struggle to forgive. Some even refuse to forgive the offense of another, choosing to allow bitterness to destroy them and all their relationships rather than to let go and be free.

Someone once said that harbouring unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.

In His model prayer, Jesus highlighted two things that will destroy us. The first is the refusal to forgive.

And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors (Matt. 6:12).

Forgiving our debtor is the only thing that will free us from being eaten alive from the inside out by our bodies’ response to bitterness. Our bodies, souls, and spirits function as a unit. Our emotions which come out of what we think and believe, produce physical reactions which, if sustained over a long period of time, will gradually destroy our organs and shorten our lives.

God designed our bodies to functional optimally when our hearts and minds are at peace and we can only have sustained peace when we have no issues with God or other people. Jesus took care of our issues with God, removing the barrier of sin and reconciling us to the Father through His shed blood. He also took care of the barrier between us and other people in the same way.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Jesus. For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two groups (Jew and Gentile) one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in His flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross by which He put to death their hostility (Eph. 2:13-16).

He has given us the right and privilege of forgiving our debtors because He has already forgiven all the debt of sin, ours and theirs. When we choose not to forgive, we are punishing them again for the sin that has already been punished.

The second thing that will destroy us is ourself-centeredness and all the ramifications of selfish living.

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one (Matt. 6: 13).

Unfortunately, misunderstanding of this Scripture has led us to believe that the devil is our main problem. He may influence us towards evil, but we are actually our own worst enemies. We are not Satan’s victims unless we allow Him to control us by believing His lies. Jesus exposed His deception and defeated him at the cross. Our own selfish pride, not the devil, causes us the most trouble. Living in dependence on the Father, not by our own wisdom and wits, will keep us walking in humility and freedom from the destruction we cause ourselves by our arrogant independence.

Let’s go back to the issue of forgiveness. In response to Peter’s question, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus told a story about a king who called his servants to account for the debts they owed him (Matt 18:21-35).

Peter thought he was being magnanimous by forgiving his brother seven times for the same sin. Jesus pointed out that it was not how many times he forgave his brother that was important but how he felt about his brother.

In the story, one servant owed the king such a vast sum of money that he would never be able to repay him in his lifetime. The king demanded payment or he, his wife and children and all his possession would be sold to repay the debt. The servant pleaded for time and promised to pay what he owed.

Imagine the scenario. A servant owed his master more money than he could earn in a lifetime and yet he promised to repay his debt! How would the king react? Would he close his heart to the servant’s plea and make his wife and family also pay for the servant’s folly? The entire story hinges on the next verse.

The servant’s master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go (Matt. 18:27).

Perhaps for a moment the king put himself in the servant’s place. Enslavement for the rest of his life was a horrible alternative. Instead of anger and revenge, his heart was filled with compassion. The servant’s wellbeing meant more to him than the money he owed. He responded to the compassion he felt by forgiving the servant, cancelling the debt and setting him free.

The same servant met a fellow servant who owed him a paltry amount. Instead of responding with the same compassion and mercy the king has shown him, he demanded immediate payment and refused to forgive as his master had forgiven him. Imagine the king’s outrage when he found out what the servant had done. Not only did he recall the debt but he also had the servant jailed and handed over to be tortured until he could pay.

What a terrible end for a man who refused to show mercy! The end to Jesus’ story is a chilling reminder of what happens to those who refuse to forgive.

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart (Matt. 18:35).

Jesus was not only talking about the consequences of unforgiveness in the life to come. Torment begins now, in this life in many different ways, the physical, emotional and spiritual outcome of holding on to offenses.

The key issue is: How much do you value God’s mercy towards you? If you refuse to forgive, how can He show mercy to you? He must treat you in the same way as you treat others. You cannot expect one standard for God and another for yourself. You set the measure of grace you receive from Him by the way you choose to show grace to others. How do you feel about the one who has harmed you? Jesus shows us how to evaluate people who offend you:

Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23: 34).

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                             eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Do you like this post? Then buy your own copy of my book, Learning to be a Disciple, which is also available from www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com in South Africa. You can also order a copy directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com

My latest book, The Heartbeat of Holiness, is now available on www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com or from me at luella@efc.org.za at R130,00 including p and p.

Did You Know (3)

Apologetics, , , ,

DID YOU KNOW (3)

…That miracles do not produce faith – faith produces miracles.

The history of Israel alone is testimony to the fact that miracles have no effect on people to grow faith, who do not believe God. No nation in history has experienced more divine intervention than the Jews. From their illustrious ancestor, Abraham, to their miraculous conquest of the Promised Land and throughout the Old Testament story, God was with them, actively involved in protecting, providing for and nurturing them in preparation for the coming of their Messiah, but they continued to rebel and disobey Him, even to this day.

Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness where you ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, “Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.” (Heb. 3:7-10).

Israel’s unbelief culminated in their rejection and crucifixion of their Messiah. John testified that the works Jesus did were so numerous that the world would not be able to contain all the books written Him (John 21:25). Yet, in spite of all the evidence, the Jewish leaders had Him killed for being a blasphemer because His words and works testified that He was the Son of God but they refused to believe.

On the other hand, Jesus did many miracles in response to faith. Time and again, He commended people for their faith and responded to their plea by intervening with miracles.

As Jesus went from there, two blind men followed Him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When He had gone indoors, the blind men came to Him, and He asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then He touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith, let it be done to you”; and their sight was restored (Matt. 9:27-30a).

Sometimes He healed in response to the faith of another who came on behalf of the sufferer.

When He saw their faith, He said to the paralysed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven…I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all (Mark 2:9).

However, faith was always the trigger that released His power to intervene and restore.

I have two observations from this thought. Firstly, because faith is the vehicle through which God does His miracles, it follows that,

Without faith, it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him (Heb. 11:6).

Secondly, God works through His Word.

Jesus said to him “Shall I come and heal him?”…The centurion replied, “…Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.” …When Jesus heard this, He was amazed and said to those following Him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” (Matt. 8:7-10).

He sent out His Word and healed them (Psa. 107:20).

As I have read and studied the Word, I have discovered that God always responds to His own Word. That does not give us the right to hold His Word like a gun to His head. Jesus said:

It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ (Matt. 4:4).

When we wait for God to speak into our spirit, whatever the issue and whatever His decision, He will do what He says.

When we ask for a miracle, we have no guarantee that God will give us exactly what we ask but, when we ask for a word, God always fulfils His promise.

Miracles are not the reason for faith but the fruit of faith. God asks us to trust Him, no matter what the outcome which is not always what we expect. He wants us to trust Him, not our expectation of the outcome. Like Job, we must say, “Even though He kills me, yet I will trust Him.”

From where does this faith come? Our faith in God is kindled and strengthened by hearing and reading God’s word.

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ (Rom.10:17).

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Do you like this post? Then buy your own copy of my book, Learning to be a Disciple, which is also available from www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com in South Africa. You can also order a copy directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com

My latest book, The Heartbeat of Holiness, is now available on www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com or from me at luella@efc.org.za at R130,00 including p and p.

 

Did You Know (2)

Apologetics, , , ,

DID YOU KNOW (2)

…That you can never disappoint God or let Him down?

How often I have heard a child of God bewailing the fact that he or she has disappointed God or let Him down. We attribute our own emotions to God as though He were human like us.

Let’s think about it. Why do people so often disappoint us? Is it not because we put expectations on others of which they are not aware and which they are unable or unwilling to fulfil? Does God do to us what we do to others? Of course not!

Why is it impossible for us to disappoint God?

Firstly, we can never disappoint God because He puts no expectations on us? How do we know this? David gives us the answer.

As a Father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust (Psa. 103:13-14).

God is fully aware of our human frailty. He knows that we are incapable of living up to His requirements on our own.

Secondly, God is all-knowing. In theological terms, He is omniscient. Once again, it was David who celebrated God’s omniscience in one of his most well-known and beautiful psalms.

You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you, Lord, know it completely (Psa. 139:1-4).

How can God put expectations on us when He knows us more intimately than we know ourselves? He knows what we will think before we think it; He knows what we will say before we say it; He knows what we will do before we do it. He is always ahead of us, never behind us; therefore, it is impossible for us not to do what He expects of us without His knowing.

Thirdly, God treats us as His children. He knows that we are utterly dependent on Him. He likes it that way because He is the source of our life and of everything we need. He wants us to lean as heavily on Him as a new-born infant relies on his mother for everything. He trusts us only with that which He enables us to do and to be. If we fail, He forgives unconditionally because the blood of Jesus has already taken care of all our frailties, fallibilities and imperfections.

Amazing as it is, God is very comfortable with us. He is never fazed by our failures. Perhaps the most glaring example of God’s patience and tolerance is the story of Peter’s failure. He was headstrong and cocksure of himself. Not even Jesus’ warning that he was on the brink of a terrible melt-down alerted him to the fatal flaw in his self-confidence. He felt strong enough to weather any storm, not knowing that a storm of such magnitude was brewing that he would be completely overwhelmed and swept into the betrayal of his dearest friend.

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” (Luke 22:31-34). 

Fourthly, God allows us to fail because failure is a better teacher than success. Success is more dangerous for us than failure because success is the breeding ground for sins far worse than our failures. Jesus knew what we are capable of doing and becoming when we ride the crest of the wave.

He taught His disciples, in His well-known pattern prayer, that within us are the seeds of our own destruction. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One.” We pray this prayer glibly and without understanding. Our real enemy is not the devil. Far worse is the enemy within. Jesus was well aware of what we are capable of becoming and doing – yes, under the influence of Satan, but because of our own choices.

We do not need deliverance from Satan as much as we need to be kept from the ravages of our own sinful nature. We are not Satan’s victims. If we were, God would not be able to hold us responsible for our choices and behaviour. We are accountable to Him for who and what we are because He gave us our free will and will never violate that gift.

He also gave us Jesus. Jesus came to save us from the penalty and power of sin. Only when we live “in Him” are we able to overcome the pull of self and sin.

Fifthly, God is in the process of recreating us in the likeness of His Son. He uses all our circumstances and experiences to expose the weaknesses in us so that He can hone our confidence in His perfect love.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, those who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers (Rom. 8:28-29).

No, we can never disappoint God. He works everything about us into that perfect image of His Son which, from His perspective, is already complete.

Scripture is taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Have you read my first book, Learning to be a Son – The Way to the Father’s Heart (Copyright © 2015, Partridge Publishing)? You’ll love it!

ISBN: Softcover – 978-1-4828-0512-3,                                                                              eBook 978-4828-0511-6

Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or Kindle version, on www.takealot.com  or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Do you like this post? Then buy your own copy of my book, Learning to be a Disciple, which is also available from www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com in South Africa. You can also order a copy directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com

My latest book, The Heartbeat of Holiness, is now available on www.amazon.com or www.takealot.com or from me at luella@efc.org.za at R130,00 including p and p.