Hasten To The Word of God

IS BIBLE COLLEGE BAD FOR CHRISTIANS

For the past several years I keep hearing whispers by spiritual minded Christians that Bible learning and schooling in Bible colleges is bad for Christians. The idea is that somehow too much learning hinders one from hearing the Holy Spirit influence our minds and hearts. In addition to that we hear that all one needs is a good memory and the clear words of the Scripture will be sufficient.

First a few words from a friend about rightly dividing the words of Scripture as 2 Timothy 2:15 says we should do.

“When I come upon a baffling passage or set of passages, it is an indicator that I need to dig deeper, seeking more context. The whole Bible is inspired by the Spirit, but a human is limited in what they can hold in their mind at one time. If I am given a few jigsaw puzzle pieces and am informed that they are part of a larger picture, yet I cannot get them to fit together, I suspect I need to look for more pieces.”

What my friend is describing is inductive study. Inductive study has to do with reasoning into. I like to think of it as leaving the Scriptures in their Biblical context and see the meaning from within Scripture. The opposite is deductive study, which means to deduce from one’s own thinking. In other words if we take a Scripture out of the context and reason from that particular set of words it’s meaning, that is deducing. Deductive study can and does create a barrage of ideas according to the thinking of different people with different ideas and experiences. What Christians desperately need to do is to do inductive study, leaving the Scriptures in their context and finding the meaning from the context of the book they are written in as well as the entire Bible.

I am fairly certain that all Bible Colleges have courses on how to properly study the Bible outlining exactly how to do inductive, contextual Bible study. This is essential for everyone and in my opinion pastors, preachers, and Bible study teachers should have the training to be instructing Christians how to do that. It would indeed cut in half the amount of dissension in the Body of Christ. Instead we have a large number of untrained, uninformed, opinionated Christians following believers who talk the loudest and sound spiritual. And often these people like to say that college almost always shuts down a person’s ability to hear the Holy Spirit leading and guiding us.

However, there is a believer in Scripture that was a diligent Torah observant Jew, who was trained by the most famous Hebrew teacher of that era 2000 years ago.  Gamaliel was the grandson of the famous Jewish teacher Hillel the Elder. Almost any Hebrew book or set of Torah translations will have notes by Hillel. Gamaliel, influenced in his studies by his grandfather Hillel, became famous for his knowledge and understanding of the Torah and writings. He became a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the time of the early church. Paul of Tarsus who wrote a large part of the New Testament letters is the believer who was instructed by Gamaliel. In fact, Gamaliel even defended Paul and the apostles when the Jewish High Court, the Sanhedrin, wanted to kill Paul and the apostles. [i]

Now Paul, a highly trained student of the Scriptures, used his training and knowledge to impart understanding of God’s Word. Anyone who thinks the Holy Spirit did not inspire him is being foolish at best. Paul is one of the best examples of using our minds and hearts to understand God’s messages to us. Paul extensively used examples from the Torah and writings. He praised the Bereans who searched the Scriptures to see if what they heard were true. [ii]

Reading in ontext also means to read before and after the verse one is reading. Often the writers set the stage for a point. If we read before,  we may see what he was thinking about. Reading after may give us some further clarity. Sometimes we best see the picture by reading the whole epistle or story and then go back and note all the elements. Not doing these things is how one gets odd and often antiBiblical concepts and teachings.

If more believers learned how to effectively search the Scriptures we would have less divisions in the Body of Christ today. And we would have far fewer injustices being proclaimed as God’s ways. Searching the Scriptures does not mean only doing a search on one word and compiling Scriptures into a teaching. Believers need to learn what it means to read in context. One compelling picture of “context” is to put oneself in the authors’ cultural setting and to hear as if one were there at their feet listening. This would include a picture of life in that era, knowledge of the things they might experience and insight on what was happening around them. It would also include some degree of understanding that the language we read Scripture in was not the language spoken by the apostles of the New Testament or the writers of the Old Testament. We read a translation. Thus, sometimes it really does help to find a means of understanding something of the original words used, whether going to a book (or app) written by some studious college trained person, or by seeking out a linguist. Just as the Holy Spirit used Paul with all his training and knowledge, so we can be not only helped in our studies by the Holy Spirit, but also directed by the Holy Spirit through our studies. College training need not get in the way.

Training and/or degrees from Christian institutions of higher education does not get in the way of hearing the Holy Spirit speak to our spirit. Rather if submitted to the Lord, our learning will amplify our ability to hear.

 

[i] Acts 5:27-42, [ii] Bereans Acts 17:11

 

 

 

3 Wheels of a Church

A wheel in a wheel in a wheel.  

 

Last night in a vision with insight I saw a wheel in a wheel in a wheel describing how a church body works together.  The good success and even the bad success depends on whether or not at least two wheels operate together.  If there is no wheel but only a hub, then all we see is potential.  The hub is the potential core group of a church.  One person is a beginning with a promise not the fulfillment. A healthy hub is 5 men and women, three will end up crippling the hub into a power struggle. God is able to work in a trinity because they are all of the same essence, power and will.  The design for the building up of a church body is a five fold ministry in which all have the same goal, all working together with the same harmonious unity.  It is not necessary for the five fold ministries to be singular, such as one ministry calling for each person.  In real life believers generally weave two or 3 types of callings into one, with one primary.  Then when these men and women are joined together in a hub there is available all the ministries with the attached gifting of the Spirit, and the ministries interweave supporting and giving strength.  That kind of a hub is powerful. It is powerful when each believer is respected, honored, encouraged and released into their callings and gifts.  Generally the one with an apostolic calling is the fulcrum of the nucleus.  But without the interworking of the other five ministries, life is minimal and cannot grow.  

It is necessary to have some understanding of the five fold ministries.  They are life callings, not gifts or grace effects of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Of course those personal callings will grow and must have the support of whatever gifts the Holy Spirit chooses to equip them. Ephesians 4:11 tells us that Jesus Himself personally calls those in the fivefold ministries.

The first wheel around the hub is the beginning of the life of the Body of the church group.  It is composed of those who are supported, encouraged and held together by the core group.  Jesus painted a picture of service and leadership in Matt. 20:25-28 in which Jesus suffers death (came to give His life for us) and came to serve and support life in others.  This is how life is brought forth. If the core group in strong unity does not call forth, encourage other's (outside the core) into service themselves, then there is no life, only the potential for life. The first wheel is composed of elders and deacons.  These are people who desire to work in the ministry of the church and who join "hands" with the core like the spokes of a wheel.  They must be individuals with good character, mature in Christ. My understanding is that elders are more mature individuals having been in Christ longer, who hold enough wisdom and example to be good role models for new believers. Deacons do not need to be older or as mature, but must be as dedicated to serve.  But they must have something to contribute.  Elders may not have a life calling to teach or evangelize but they must be able to do so on some level. There must be wisdom learned from being a long time believer. The deacons are often the ones who faithfully keep up the daily work of worship, Sunday morning services, keeping up the church grounds, kitchen service, helping in all areas of the daily needs of the church.  All must be ready and willing to faithful lift up a body of believers in prayer.

A church can be strong even though small with this one hub and one wheel.  The second wheel are those who come supporting the ministry of that church.  Many churches have a crippled hub and a crippled first wheel, or even no first wheel, only the second wheel which is those who attend.  That is like a wheel with missing spokes and missing spots on the wheel.  Those who attend need the personal support of dedicated spiritually anointed elders and deacons.  They are the hands that reach out in the personal lives of believers to fill in the areas the hub/core cannot reach or fulfill.

Throughout this picture of interlocking wheels attached to a center hub must be men and women with not only a true commitment to Jesus as savior and Lord but the hub and the first wheel need to be dedicated believers who have the anointing of the Holy Spirit working in their lives.  If we only have one gender in the hub and in the first wheel, then the church is imbalanced. And since the one gender is usually male, the imbalance is usually one of authoritarianism. But that imbalance can happen even with a good mixed group and must be diligently guarded against.  If we have true believers in these places but who have not been baptized in the Holy Spirit then we are imbalanced and flesh will work against the Spirit.  

 

This is the vision and the insight I saw.  I will update as I see things I may have missed.

HE PREACHED TO THE SPIRITS

 

 

The question is what did Jesus do during the 3 nights of His death.  Did Jesus just hang out in the tomb waiting for the angels to roll away the stone on the third day?  Did He as some believe go down to the place where the dead were waiting and preach to the souls in “prison”? I suppose one of the first things to deal with is that the apostles Creed claims something about Christ’s ministry in His death that it is thought by some that there are no obvious writings in Scripture that are stated as clearly.  This is regarding the statement that Jesus “descended into hell”.    Even though the apostles Creed was composed after the apostles had died, it was still believed that it was an accurate compilation of the Apostle’s teachings on a few issues.

Starting with just that question of where did Jesus go or what did Jesus do, we can look at Ephesians 4:9 where it is written that Jesus first descended into the ‘lower parts of the earth’.  There are three words used.  The three designations paint a fuller picture that some people miss.  Some assume that Ephesians 4 is saying that first Christ descended to the earth in His incarnation, and then He was resurrected.  If that were meant, all that needed to be said was that first Christ descended to the earth, not under it.  Instead Paul said that Christ descended to the ‘lower parts”, or bowels of the earth, before He ascended. 

“kai katebE proton eis ta katOtera merE tEs gEs”  = and/also he descended/stepped down first into the lower parts of the land/earth. 

Katoteros = lower,

Meros =  part, section,

Ge =  ground, land, earth, world

This just happens to fit with Peter’s statement in 1 Peter 3:19 that Jesus “preached to  the spirits in prison”. Note that Peter did not say “people in prison”, which wouldn’t have made a lot of sense since the dead no longer had their bodies. The word used “pneuma” is often used alone to represent a human soul that has left the body in death. (Gen. 1 & 2 says “living soul” in Heb.)  So the picture is that Christ preached to the dead souls in the bowels of the earth, sometimes called hell, hades or sheol.  This could very well refer to Ps. 68:18 which is quoted in Ephesians 4:8  it is said the Jesus “led captivity captive”.  Jesus captures prison, freeing the prisoners. That is also the statement that Jesus read in the temple from Isa. 61:1.  Jesus proclaimed liberty TO the captives, not regarding or about the captives.  To proclaim something to someone, we must speak directly to (not about) that one.  So the implication is again that Jesus proclaimed or preached liberty to the spirits in prison or captivity (or metaphor for hell, sheol, hades).  And those who would have believed would have been freed.   When the freeing would happen we don’t know.

At least this would give Jesus something constructive to do while He was waiting to fulfill the prophesies of resurrecting on the third day.  Since death could not hold the sinless divine, it makes sense that Christ would preach the gospel message to those who never had the chance to hear it.  This also settles one of the complaints of non-believers.  Jesus has given every soul the opportunity to accept or reject His offer of redemption.  No one has any excuse to call God unfair, even those who died before the Messiah came.

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NOTES AND SCRIPTURE REFERENCES:

° 1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, 19 by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison,

° 1 Pe. 4: 5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

° Ps. 139: 7Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. 9If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,…

° Ps. 68: 18 

You have ascended on high,

You have led captivity captive;

You have received gifts among men,

Even from the rebellious,

That the Lord God might dwell there.

 

° Isa. 61: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,

Because the Lord has anointed Me

To preach good tidings to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives,

And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

° Ephesians 4: 8 Therefore He says:“When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive,And gave gifts to men”. 9 (Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

° Excerpt from Apostles Creed

“was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose from the dead; “

° There are three Greek words rendered "hell" in the New Testament: gehenna, hades (equivalent of Hebrew sheol used in the Old Testament), and tartaroo. Gehenna is the lake of fire, hades is the grave and tartaroo is the abyss, the place of restraint for Satan. For English speaking people during the time of King James, "hell" [hades] was a cellar to store potatoes, not a lake of burning brimstone. In Acts 2:27, "hell" is hades, meaning the grave, while in Matthew 10:28 and Mark 9:43-48 "hell" means the lake of fire. The only place tartaroo is used is in 2 Peter 2:4

The FIVE FOLD MINISTRIES in Eph. 4

In Ephesians chapter four Paul talks about gifts that God gives to the church.  There are only four places in the New Testament where this Greek word doma, translated as ‘gifts’ is used.  In Matthew 7 and Luke 11 Jesus talks about fathers giving good presents to their children.  In Philippians 4:17 Paul talks about monetary giving and aid for his traveling necessities. Basically, the word means a present, something given voluntarily without expecting payment in return to show favor or give help to another.

In Ephesians 4, this word is used in reference to Jesus giving the church individuals who would be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.  There are those who think that this is an hierarchical listing of ministries.  But Jesus never thought in terms of hierarchies.  In Matthew chapter 20 Jesus admonished the Thunder Brothers, James and John, not to think in terms of authority, but to think in terms of serving others. And Paul spent a total of 13 years alone with God seeking personal and specific instructions from Jesus after Jesus stopped him on the road to Damascus.   In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul listed the ministries as: Apostles, Prophets, Teachers and Workers of Miracles.  These are two lists tweeked differently.  And I trust that Paul knew what he was talking about.  The question is, do we.

The spiritual word that God woke me up with this morning was that these lists were also not categories cleanly divided from each other. I kinda already knew that but the Holy Spirit was giving me an expanded view. These were areas of focus that would result in building up the body of Christ.  They were also not restricted to one locale.  Even those with a pastor’s heart and ministry can travel and minister to other churches effectively. Pastors are not limited to a specific physical place or group of people as much as we think they are.  Some are, but not all. 

 Also, most often people with God’s callings on their lives are associated with more than one of these descriptions.  Conversely, sometimes people need more than one shepherd’s influence or more than one teachers insights, and more than one prophet’s insights and encouragement, and more than one apostles admonitions for unity, and more than one miracle worker and healing ministry’s prayers and insights, and so forth.  When we think of it that way, it just makes sense.

Thus, the ‘fivefold ministries’ are not limited to five AND they are not cleanly divided from one another in ministry. They are not divided from each other in focus but are often linked in different ways. Some individuals have ministries of prophetic teaching, or apostolic shepherding, or teaching evangelists, or teaching miracle workers, or, or, or.  The list of possibilities is huge.

Those in these callings are not limited to specific physical locations but may travel.  Traveling between churches and locations only makes sense because these people are God’s GIFTS to the whole body.  The person is the gift, not the ministry.  The ministry is God’s workings into the lives of the believer the things that God wants him or her to impart to the Body of Christ.  And just a word of caution here.  These people must grow into their callings with the associated manifestations of the Holy Spirit.  They are not bombed with perfection. The Holy Spirit must work their callings into the person.  It is a process just like sanctification.

This is why several of the New Testament writers admonished us to pray for our leaders, and to pray for everyone.  After all, most people are not really aware of who God is raising up to minister to them.    So, just to be on the safe side we pray for those we know are called, for those we don’t know, and then for all our fellow believers.  But be specially attentive to support, honor, respect, assist and encourage those we know have a calling of any sort on their lives. 

Individuals that Jesus calls, He equips.  That equipping sometimes starts even before they accept Christ as their Savior.  In other words, they may have a lifetime of experiences of learning in preparation for when they come into the rulership of God and Jesus tells them what He wants them to do.  Jesus uses the very lives of these individuals.  That is why they are themselves the gifts to the church.

 

 

Note:  previously wrote on this subject here: http://tiro3.typepad.com/spoudazo_logos_blog/2014/02/the-fivefold-ministries-gods-gifted-people.html

IN the Beloved

We are studying Ephesians and are in chapter one this morning, specifically looking at verses 6-10.  The following is a quick look at a few phrases that Paul uses in this section.

"In the Beloved" is an amazing phrase.  How many of us would call Christ "the beloved'.  It expresses a degree of adoration and intimacy that is unusual.  "I am my beloved's and He is mine". Isn't that from Song of Solomon? Our modern misogynist and patriarchal crowds could say some unkind things about that. Yet, I believe we should love God from the depths of our innermost person as the apostles give us examples of.

And speaking of kindness, vs. 6 says that God has made us accepted in Christ. The kindness and unmerited mercy of God is that He sent us His Son, and the Son came to us while humanity was in the midst of depravity.  God comes to us all the time when we are spiritually ugly to behold. How many times do we reach out to someone in sin and grant them kindness and mercy. Think of the worst sins that a person could participate in and then ask ourselves whether we would die to save that person from himself.  Of course, we cannot do what Christ did, but we can pray for one another, speak the truth to one another, and do undeserved random acts of kindness, and forgive one another.  If we follow Christ's example we see that sacrificing self for the benefit of others and doing things that promote the welfare of others is the way we should be living.  "Christ came NOT to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many".

"IN Him" we have redemption is another tweek on our perception.  When we think of Christ dying for us, we don't think of being IN Him in order to benefit from His incredible sacrifice.  Yet, that is exactly what we do in baptism.  We die in Christ and are resurrected IN Christ; resurrected to real spiritual life.  So, yes, IN HIM we find our salvation in everything.  This is something to think about when struggling.  The best thing to do is run toward the Lord and get close and closer to Christ in our turmoils.  Yet so often we see people question God for allowing something bad to happen instead of realizing sin is something that humans do themselves and to each other.  God is our escape, healing, forgiveness, and place of love and understanding.  The only wise thing to do is the remain IN Him and snuggle in deeper.

"The mystery of His Will" is indeed all about us. I can see the beauty in the world, the earth and the animals.  But humanity became perpetuators of destruction. Perhaps, part of the mystery of God's creating us is this ability to choose that He has given to us all knowing that we would misuse it.  But His will is that we come to dwell IN HIM. Elohim wants intimate pure holy communion with us freely, not by compulsion.  And the only way to do that was to let us go our own way, learn and suffer from it, and then suffer in sacrifice in order to provide a way back to Elohim's presence by purifying us in His sacrifice.

This is a love that is barely comprehensible, and surely worthy of the phrase "the Beloved".

It is a Horrible Thing for Humans to Exact Vengeance

Romans 12: 17-21  “19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

Hebrews 10:30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.”

 

It is a fairly normal response that when people think someone, or some organization, or group of people has taken or desires to take from them what they feel belongs to them, that they will consider seeking vengeance.  The problem is that only God knows all the elements of such situations.  Only God knows what is true and what is not true.  For this and likely other reasons, we are admonished as Christians to bless and not curse those we consider enemies.

Ultimately, this desire for revenge will give birth to hate.  It is clearly written that we are not to hate our brethren.  Those who hate are not walking in the grace and mercy of God.  The two do not mix.  As hate grows it inspires people to do unimaginable things against others.  Vengeance and hate magnify the negative elements of life and change our ability to embrace full truth. 

It is tough when someone hurts us and blocks us from getting something we want or deserve. But only God can sort it all out.  Sometimes we don’t deserve what we think we do.  Sometimes, we aren’t meant to get what we want when we want it.  Sometimes, we get what we don’t deserve and yet we can learn deeply beneficial truths from these experiences that deepen our walk with God. Only God knows the depths of our hearts and yearnings and pain.  Only God knows the right timing or the best timing for things. 

Pain and wounds are one of the most important times to take it all to God in prayer.  God knows all and loves all.

SO:  is there someone in your life that you just cannot stand, or that continually tries to get in the way of your walk with God, or that has done something that has hurt you deeply?  Have you thought of punching their ‘lights’ out, or at least sticking your foot out just enough to trip them and watch them fall on their face?  Unfortunately, this rarely makes one feel any better.  It doesn’t heal the inner pain. It doesn’t correct a bad situation, and generally makes it worse.

Really, it’s better to lift these people up in prayer, asking God to put their hand on them and help them draw closer to God.  The Greek  “eulogeo” means to invoke blessing or praise.  It is to ask God to work good in their lives.  The Hebrew equivalent is “barak” which means to kneel.  So, let us kneel before God and petition God to work goodness in the lives of those who have brought us harm.  We know that when God works goodness in our lives, He has to expose the sin and wrongdoing, and remove them in order to enable us to do good.  So, all in all, blessing our enemies is truly the best approach. 

 

The Easy Way or the Hard Way

This morning I woke up with some curious thoughts upon my mind.  It was actually in the form of observing two people doing life differently.  One was doing things selfishly, trying to force upon others his incomplete ideas and conclusions, always pushing.  The other was doing life gently, not pushing, but waiting for a sort of peace.  Oddly still the subject was about understanding issues of life.

For most of us it takes all day long for us to digest one small important thought for life.  In order for that thought to materialize in making sense to us, we have to spend some time with it.  It requires a lot of mulling over.  We have to work our way around it from every angle we can think of.

If we push on it too hard it slips through our mind like a wet fish and we have to scramble to get it back. These things are fragile. Understandings of life and comprehension of deeper issues strangely can fracture right in the midst of our musings; almost as if we were holding them in our hands too tightly.

The hard way to do this thing of trying to understand life, why we are here, what is our purpose and so on, is to push, scramble, grasp, and even try to claim we have something we only saw a glimpse of.  The reason it is the hard way is that this desire to know something of these questions does not go away. It will eat at us. We are human. From the deepest parts of our soul and innermost being, we do want to know why we are here: "what am I alive for".  And we know when the answer we've got isn't the whole story, or isn't the 'real' answer.

The easy way to find these answers is to love.  It is the primary command from God. (Luke 10:27) When we do whatever it is that we need to do with the gentle compassion of godly love, considering other's needs first, that we have our eyes attuned and refocused to actually see spiritual truths.  So many times Scripture speaks of people having ears but not hearing, and eyes but not seeing. The key to understandings of life is to first love God with our whole being and then deeply care about other's welfare and to let them know that you care.

The reason this is the less complicated way of doing life, is because we are yielding to God when we seek the way of love. The Holy Spirit is then able to reach us and reveal the mysteries of God (1 Cor. 2:10-12) that we so long to know. God has reasons why He formed each one of us with our unique personalities and tendencies. As we love and adore God and have compassion and care for others, the Holy Spirit is then able to reveal the answers to our questions along with many other spiritual mysteries of life. And then it is our work to wait upon the Lord for more, holding gently the mysteries He gives to us.

 

 

Christian Pentecost : living by the Spirit vs. by the Law

Pentecost (Ancient Greek: Πεντηκοστή [ἡμέρα], Pentēkostē [hēmera], "the Fiftieth day)

In the Old Testament this was the celebration day of the giving of the Law.  Interestingly this was the day the promised Holy Spirit descended upon the remaining apostles and disciples in the upper room (Acts 2), 50 days after Christ’s resurrection, which is the giving of our freedom from living by The Law.  Now we live by grace and the Holy Spirit with circumcised hearts.  Our righteousness is not through perfect observation of the Torah, but by trusting in Christ and living by the Holy Spirit.

2 Cor. 3:7-12 calls the Old Covenant the ‘ministry of death and condemnation’. Now we live in the ministry of the Spirit and the ministry of righteousness. We are righteous IN Christ as we walk by the Spirit.  There is no condemnation for those who trust in Christ and walk not according to the human sensuous nature (Greek ‘sarx’ – flesh), but rather follow the leading of the Holy Spirit (Ro. 8:1). 

Colossians 2:14-15 tells us that Christ wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us and then nailed it (The Law of the Old Covenant) to the cross, in that way triumphing over them.  Thus, no one is to condemn a believer for not observing the Old Testament Laws of Sabbaths, festivals, regulations, etc., which are all a shadow of Christ’s final sacrifice and fulfilling of the legal requirements of payment and compensation for sins.

Our circumcision is now no longer in the male flesh, but in the circumcision of men and women’s souls and hearts.  All believers are able to carry that seal of membership in their being.  All believers can be healed, delivered, empowered and directed of the Holy Spirit.  We can all be used and moved of the Holy Spirit to do the special Will of God.  We have one High Priest who gave the last sacrifice and we are now all priests to the world.  AS SUCH, we walk in a new way, the way of holiness; a narrower road which requires deeper commitment to God and has more abundant rewards. 

Having died with Christ (baptism represents this) we no longer need to arrange our lives in the old ways of self imposed religious doctrines which have an appearance of wisdom, but which promote a false humility and do little to nothing for the spirit and soul.  We see these falsely spiritual doctrines of human reasoning rise up when women are told they cannot serve communion, cannot teach or preach, cannot be used of the Spirit in some way, none of which is a proper reading of Holy Scripture.  All of these human and legal regulations were nailed to the cross when Christ said “it is fulfilled”.  Christ fulfilled all the prophesies and all the requirements of payment for our sins.  In Christ all believers are made righteous and able to be used by God.  Christ told the believers to wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit’s coming upon them.  In a dramatic 50 days after Christ nailed the legal requirements of the Torah to the cross with Him, on the day of celebrating the original giving of the Torah through Moses, Christ gave something better.  He baptized, immersed the believers in the Holy Spirit.  Read the amazing story of this in Acts 2.  It was phenomenal.  In the spirit it was even more extraordinary.  All the believers were praising God in unknown languages and speaking prophetically.  From that day on we were reborn as spiritual people of God.  All believers, young and old, men and women alike.

 

Thinking with Critical Glasses

Watching a lot of legal, criminal discovery, police and research programs I’ve come to appreciate the precision with which certain discovery activities are conducted. A conclusion cannot be arrived at without careful attention to details and analysis of only those details before arriving at tentative assumptions.  Even then that is often not enough for a firm conclusion.

The average person, however, who is over taken with desires to criticize and analyze rarely is so attentive to details and evidence.  They hear their neighbors TV on for 3 hours and assume it is being watched for 3 hours.  Actually, the person is having it on for background while on the computer.  Or, they fell asleep for 2 hours and woke up and watched the last hour before going to bed.  Or they forgot it was on while they were in another room doing something else.

A person who is prone to negativity is the most unreliable person to analyze pretty much anything. Their world view glasses are colored negative and critical. This is one reason why Scripture tells us in general to think on the positive and the things of good report.  For the average person who isn’t a crime analyzer, this will keep them out of trouble, and from making false assumptions.

Instead of spending time being a critic, our words and assumptions could be better spent trying to positively encourage and support others toward becoming all they can be in Christ.

 

Phil. 4:  ⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. ⁹ The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

 

The "gift" of Free Choice

Jer. 17:9-10 "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 'I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.'"

 God's gift to us is 'freedom to choose' at our own discretion. Thus, when we choose what is good and right it is because we want to not because we are forced to. But it is our bane as well. There are so many things in life that can influence us in the wrong directions. It can be scary to know that God is watching. But it is comforting as well. When we call upon the Lord to help us do what is good and right, He will be there to help us. God wants us to succeed, and grow in understanding, because God knows that the godly choices will ultimately bring about positive results in our lives and those around us. So, don't despair. Keep your relationship with the Lord fresh, intimate, and constant.

Romans 8:1 "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."