Saturday, January 31, 2009

Stir Up the Gift

2 Timothy 1:6, 7

From time to time, it is necessary for us to “stir up” that which is inside of us. Paul tells Timothy to “stir up the gift of God” which is in him. This is the only usage of this phrase in the Greek in the entire New Testament, and it means “to rekindle anew” or “to enflame one’s mind or strength or zeal”. When Peter makes a similar statement in 2 Peter 3:1, he uses a different word in the Greek for “stir up”, meaning “to wake one’s mind”. Peter is saying “wake up”, while Paul is saying, “fire up”!

I believe that the gift or at least a portion of the gift, which Paul is speaking of in this text, is the gift of speaking with other tongues. I lean to this belief because it is the one gift of the gifts of the Spirit that the Bible specifically says can be used whenever you like (1 Corinthians 14:15), and it is the one that is used to build up the speaker (14:2).

The encouragement to use the gift is followed by, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). “For God…” shows us that the previous verse is linked to this one. Whatever the gift is inside of Timothy, it holds the answer that overcomes the spirit of fear. In that gift, is the power and love and sound mind that Paul says that we have received.

When you pray in tongues, you are communicating with God in your prayer language. You are praying in words that you do not know, and it is the Spirit in you that is making intercession (Romans 8:26). These prayers can be long or short, there are no rules that govern how you pray in your own prayer time, but they will always edify and build you up. The reason for that is found in verse 7.

God has not given us the spirit of fear, so any fear that we have cannot be from Him, but must be from the enemy. Instead, He has given us power, love and a sound mind. These three gifts from God are stirred within us every time that we “stir up the gift”.

God’s power begins to move in situations when we pray in the Spirit. That power enables us to do what we could not do on our own, independent of fear of failure. This power overcomes the enemy and glorifies the Father.

The love of God flows outward from us whenever we stir up the gift, for He teaches us to love in ways that we do not know. You cannot love by force, there must be something that motivates you or “turns you on” to love something or someone. Christ is that something and praying in the Spirit stirs His love up in you.

Finally, the sound mind is such a glorious promise, because the battlefield of the mind is where so many saints are losing. The phrase in the Greek actually means “self-control”. Many people have told me, “Pastor, I feel like I am losing control. I can’t even think straight.” This is an attack of the enemy meant to frighten and confuse. Use your prayer language to bring sanity back into your soul, and watch as your mind calms and begins to think on the things of the Spirit.
I pray God’s abundant blessings on you today as you walk in Him.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Unlawful Usage of the Law

1 Timothy 1:4-11

Timothy was a young preacher who was saved under the ministry of, and mentored by, the Apostle Paul. Paul felt a special closeness to this young man, and reserved some of his finest instruction for ministry and preaching in the final two letters of his life, both addressed to Timothy.

The first few verses of his first letter to Timothy are rich in good advice about what not to preach. He tells him to avoid fables and endless genealogies, which only cause people to ask questions that lead nowhere (verse 4). On the contrary, he instructs Timothy to edify the hearers, challenging their faith (verse 4).

Paul’s instruction to Timothy is not unlike Jesus’ very simple command to Peter, when He asked Peter if Peter loved Him. When Peter said that did indeed love Him, Jesus replied, “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17).

Then Paul begins to get specific with Timothy as to how to edify the listeners. Every preacher, pastor, evangelist, and even lay person would do well to grasp what Paul says about the “glorious gospel” (verse 11). He tells him that the end of the commandment is “charity out of pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned (not pretending)” (verse 5). The Law demanded that men love the Lord with all of the heart, mind and soul, but no man was able to do that without a heart reformation. Christ entering into us gives us that reformation, thus completing the demand of the Law. Paul then warns that some preachers have turned aside from preaching that, to “vain jangling” or “useless talk” (verse 6).

What a bold thing to say! By continuing to preach the commandments, Paul says that a preacher is presenting useless talk. To further the argument, he continues in verse 7 with this powerful comment:

“Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm” (1 Timothy 1:7).

Now Paul wants to make sure that no one thinks that he is against the law, so he says that it is good, “if a man use it lawfully” (verse 8). Wait a minute! If there is a lawful way to use the law, then there must be an unlawful way to use the law. Paul says, “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane…” (verse 9). In light of this instruction, why is the law so frequently used against Christians? When a saint fails, we often hear the same condemnatory remarks used, citing the Law of God, as we do against the sinner. Instead, we should edify the believer, reminding them of who they are in Christ. Only the grace of God is going to teach them how to live righteous in this present world (Titus 2:11, 12).

Saint, receive no condemnation today. Let the love of God and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son silence the voice of condemnation in your spirit. God’s Law is just, holy and good and it shows people their sins. You are clean in Jesus, so see His grace and favor, and walk therein.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

The Righteous Judgment of God

2 Thessalonians 1:4-12

Much is made in the pulpit of the “righteous judgment of God”. It is often preached as a warning against sin in the church, stated that it will come, “and that right early”, if we do not remove sin from the camp.

The statement is used twice in the entire Word of God, coming first in Romans 2:5, “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” The context of this usage is that if you “obey the truth” (verse 8), you will be spared, but if you do not, then God will judge both Jew and Gentile with “no respect of persons” (verse 11). Simply stated, Paul is talking to sinners.

The second and final usage of “the righteous judgment of God” is found in 2 Thessalonians 1:5. In other places, this same Greek word for “judgment” is rendered “damnation”, “accusation” and “condemnation”. We know that there is no condemnation to the believer because of their faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 8:1), and we know that God cannot be righteous if He condemns a Christian (Romans 3:26). Therefore, we must look at the context to see if it is the believer that is being judged.

Paul starts by speaking of the persecutions and tribulations that the church had been enduring (verse 4), and then verse 5 says, “Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God”. Look closely at your Bible, as the words “Which is” are italicized, meaning that they were added by the translators. These two words seem to emphasize the persecutions and tribulations as being from God as judgment to the believer, however, the next verse tells us that “it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you” (2 Thessalonians 1:6). God’s righteousness is not in judging the saint with persecutions and tribulations; that is the job of “them that trouble you”. God is righteous however, in paying back those who trouble you, for “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord” (Romans 12:19).

By verse 8, Paul is now showing us the wrath of God towards them who reject Him. Even this judgment is not until the return of Christ, but it includes “flaming fire”, and “everlasting destruction” (verse 9). None of these judgments are aimed at the believer. In fact, Christ will come to “be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe” (1:10).

Believer, do not blame your sickness, or your problems on the righteous judgment of God. He is not “putting you through it” to teach you a lesson. These lies about God have been spread for centuries by Satan, who wants the believer to doubt that God loves them and that He is truly on their side. He has prepared all good things for you, not wicked things. He does not hurt, maim and kill His children so that they will obey Him. You wouldn’t do these things to your child, and God will not do these things to you.

If you are in the midst of persecutions and trials, appeal to your Father for rest and comfort, but do not condemn yourself, believing that God is paying you back. You may very well be suffering for the kingdom’s sake, but that is because the enemy hates you, and does not want you free.
Take your stand in the liberty of Christ today, confident that God is not against you, but for you!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

There is Hope

1 Thessalonians 4:13, 14

Many years ago, I had a preacher tell me that one of the greatest things that you can do when you minister to people is to give them hope. I was a bit too young at the time to understand what that meant and why that was important, but now I believe that man was right. People need hope!

As Paul walked through the streets of Thessalonica, he no doubt saw the large mausoleums, housing the dead. On the tombstones in many Greek communities, the words, “no hope” would often be chiseled. For as great as the Greek mind was with philosophy and the meaning of life, they felt that when man drew his final breath, all hope was lost.

Paul did not want the people of the Thessalonian church to think the same way that the sinners did. He wanted them to have a confidence, that those who had died were not really gone. Only their bodies had died, but that they were at rest in Jesus and they would live again.

Paul once said that if we had hope only in this life, we would be, of all men, most miserable (1 Corinthians 15:19). It was his message that there is a heaven, and it is our hope (Colossians 1:5). He did not preach that men died and then just lay in the ground, sleeping away eternity until Jesus come to get them. This message is preached by many even now, and it removes the hope of heaven for your loved ones who have gone on before. Be encouraged that those that you have loved and lost, who were redeemed by Christ’s blood, are in heaven, waiting for you. The scriptures bear this out.

First, Paul said that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8), meaning that whenever your body dies, your spirit man lives on in the presence of the Lord.

Secondly, Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 4:14, “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him”. In the next few verses, Paul relates to us that God is going to descend from heaven to come back and get both the sainted dead and His living church, in that order. Verse 14 tells us that God is going to bring those who have died back with Him. How can He bring them back with Him if they are still lying in the ground? Only their bodies are there, but their spirits have been with God since they died. This is great hope!

Finally, I do not believe that Paul is condemning the church for weeping over the dead when he tells them to “sorrow not” in verse 13. Rather, he wants them to “sorrow not as others which have no hope”. Crying and hurting over the loss of a loved one is natural, but to feel as if they are completely gone, never to be seen again is to discount the power of the resurrection. You have a blessed assurance that Jesus is coming again, and He is bringing your loved one with Him.

I comfort you today with these words, whether you have lost someone or not. If you have, take comfort in knowing that they are at rest in Christ, in a land where they will never hurt, nor grow old. If you have not lost someone, then take comfort in knowing that He is coming back to get His own. As John the Revelator heard Jesus say, “Surely I come quickly”, he responded with, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Revelations 22:20).

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

God Has Brought Us Back

Colossians 1:20, 21

The Greek word for “reconcile” means, “to bring back to a former state of harmony”. The harmony that God had with Adam, where He walked with him and conversed in the cool of the day, was lost the moment that Adam ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. This sin of rebellion caused death to enter Adam, and it put a gulf between God and man. Literally, sin had stolen God’s creation away from Him.

Jesus came to the earth in the likeness of sinful flesh (Romans 8:3), so that He could live every demand of the Law and be viewed in the eyes of His Father as the perfect man. This perfection could then be used as a sacrifice for all of the fallen seed of Adam’s race. Jesus took the sin of the world into His body and was smitten of God at the cross (Isaiah 53:4) as the satisfaction for the stain of sin (1 John 2:2). This act reconciled man back to God. With sin no longer an issue, the only thing separating God and man, is whether or not man will believe.

Remember, Jesus told Nicodemus that condemnation falls on those who “believe not” (John 3:18). He says nothing of condemnation falling on us for sin. Sin has been solved, with Christ’s blood as the solution. Now, we are distanced by our rejection of Christ and his finished work.

Paul said in Colossians 1:20 that God “made peace through the blood of his cross”. This peace is a peace between God and man, not between man and man. Men are not at peace, but God is at peace with men! His wrath was poured out on Jesus at Calvary, so there is no more left for you, unless you reject that sacrifice. Without the cross to take the wrath that is meant for you, “the wrath of God abideth on you” (John 3:36).

Our wicked works caused us to alienate ourselves from God (Colossians 2:21). We were not aliens or enemies, but we thought that we were. Recall, how we have discussed the need to view yourself as His righteousness? When we look only to our works, we alienate ourselves in our minds. The text doesn’t say that God views us this way, but that we do. Because of the finished work of the cross, let’s stop viewing ourselves differently than God does!

Finally, we have been reconciled to God, and given that message as the core of all ministry (2 Corinthians 5:18). God did not need to be reconciled to us; He needed to be propitiated, or satisfied. Christ’s sacrificial work at the cross completely satisfied the Father. You and I needed to be reconciled, for it was us who had sinned. Thank God for the cross and the fact that Jesus has brought us all back to God.

You are a reconciled, adopted, child of God today. Live like it saint!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Think Like Jesus

Philippians 2:5-8

One of the most important factors in how believers live begins with how believers think. When Paul told the Roman church not to be conformed to the world, but rather to be transformed, he said the way to do that was to renew their mind (Romans 12:2). Changing the way we think is key when it comes to living for Christ, because while our spirit is brand new, and He lives in our heart, we control our mind, with the lusts and the affections thereof.

Satan cannot read your mind, but he can certainly throw things across your path. If you dwell on them, they begin to plague you, and your entire emotional makeup can be affected. Your thoughts about who you are in Christ, either a filthy sinner that needs judged, or a redeemed child of God who is perfectly sanctified, affect how you live as well. It is for this cause that the Apostle Paul spent so much time reminding the believer, as to who they were in Christ.

When he is confronted with Christians suing Christians in 1 Corinthians 6, he asks them, “Don’t you know that you will judge angels?” He is appealing to what they know about who they are, in order to get their walk straightened out. Later in that chapter, he confronts fornication by asking, “Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?” Again, he reminds them of who they are, appealing to their knowledge of the truth to bring righteousness out of them.

In Philippians 2:5, Paul tells the church to think like Jesus, and then in verse 6, he tells us what Jesus thought:

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:”

Notice what Jesus thought; that it would not be wrong to consider himself equal with God. Now we know that Paul is not insinuating that we are little gods, but he is telling us to think of ourselves as Jesus thought of himself.

Jesus knew His position with His Father, and He was perfectly secure in what His Father thought of Him. Paul is encouraging the believer to be perfectly secure in their standing with God. You are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), thus, you are one of the sons of God (John 1:12). When you know that you are just as Jesus is (1 John 4:17), you begin to live up to that status.

As soon as you realize who that you are in Christ, your actions will begin to line up with your faith. The righteousness of God is revealed in us from faith to faith (Romans 1:17), meaning that His righteousness is already in us, but it awaits our daily faith in order to show itself in our day to day walk.

As I say to the people in my church, when you learn to think as Jesus thought and view yourself as He did, then sin will just feel stupid! You will view failure as an embarrassment to your position, as if the very thought of it is beneath someone of your stature. Christ in you will truly be showing up on you.

God is good, and God is your Father. View yourself today as His child, and rest in His goodness.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Redeemed: How I Love To Proclaim It

Ephesians 1:7

Paul opens this wonderful letter to the church at Ephesus with a most blessed description of what Jesus means to the believer. He tells us in verse 5 that God has adopted us to himself by Jesus Christ, showing forth the mighty power of His grace, accepting us in His beloved Son (verse 6). This means that as believers, we are as accepted in the eyes of God as is Jesus, His beloved one. This is great news!

Through the shed blood of Jesus, we have redemption, meaning that we have been bought off of the slave block of sin. This doctrine of redemption is the New Testament doctrine, and literally means, “to deliver by paying a price”. Actually, there are three Greek words used in the New Testament which all mean “redemption”.

The first word is “agorazo” which means, “to purchase in the market”. This is why I stated that redemption bought us off of the slave block of sin. Christ’s blood took us off the market, as we were “sold under sin” (Romans 7:14).

The second word is “exagorazo”, “to buy out of the market”. This denotes that not only did Jesus buy us from the slavery of sin with His blood, but we have been removed from circulation, assuring us that we will not be slaves to sin ever again.

Finally, the word redemption is rendered “lutroo”, meaning, “to loose”, or “to set free by paying a price”. This shows us that we are purchased from sin, with no chance of being sold back and then we are set free to live our lives in total liberty. This final step is what makes the Christian walk one of absolute beauty. The Holy Spirit in our life brings liberty to live in abundance.

Redemption provides “forgiveness of sins”. All of your sins, past, present and future have been taken care of in the body of Jesus at Calvary. You are no longer viewed as guilty, and you never again can be. Only God’s rich grace can provide such a promise, for only with grace can great things be granted with no payment expected in return.

Do not feel that you owe God today, for Jesus has already paid your debt for sin and righteousness. This gift of abundant grace is yours for the taking. Allow that grace to minister to you of who Christ is and how He wants to live through you. Don’t worry about sin anymore, as the Holy Spirit in you will render sin and its dominion, obsolete.

Go in God’s rich grace today, knowing that you are free in Jesus.