God's Righteous Judgment

Today we will take a look at Psalm 9:7-10

But the LORD abides forever;
He has established His throne for judgment,
And He will judge the world in righteousness;
He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity.

For too long God's people have been under the misconception that the throne of God is for judgment (partly right/partly wrong). His throne of judgment is described "righteous". But the last part of this section is reason to celebrate His righteous judgment.

You see, He doesn't say that the throne of righteous judgment is "against" His people? NO, He states otherwise; the throne is "for" His people

God's purpose of judgment is to bring everything back into "equity". The righteous judgment is solely designed and targeted toward Satan and his emissaries.

Equity requires that a price be paid by the one who has caused all of the misery and ugliness brought into God's beautiful, peaceful world. Equity will not be met until the putrid results of satan's works in the lives of God's people is paid for!

Marriages, families, relationships, church leaders, fathers, mothers and all of the rest of God's perfect design has been debased due to an enemy so vile and so wicked. This is the target of God's righteous judgment.

The psalm goes on to make the case that God is so much for us that:

The LORD also will be a stronghold for the oppressed,
A stronghold in times of trouble;
And those who know Your name will put their trust in You,
For You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.

Shout to the Lord! His goodness toward us is absolutely worth shouting about!

Rejoice in His righteous judgment. The enemy's time is near!

Playground Supervisor?

Just how big is your God? Is he like a playground supervisor that mediates scuffles or answers your complaints and questions? Is he like a grouchy next door neighbor that you just approach only when you have to?

We have all shrunken God down to the size of our problems. Isn't it convenient to have a pocket-sized God; there when you need him?

The problem with these customized sized gods is that they just are too easy. They don't expect much but they don't accomplish much either.

It is time to let God out of the box inside of our minds. You see, our lives are shrunken down in the same ratio that our God has been shrunken within our minds.

Expand your God and expand your life!

The big, big, very big God is also there when you need Him but this God makes a big, big, very big difference.

Are you seeing miracles in your life? If not why not? It is simply because you do not need a miracle to do what you do! It is no more complicated that that. God is the same God that we read about in every book of the Bible! He is a miracle working God!

Does you mind have room for that God?

First Love Reconsidered?

Have you ever wondered about what has happened to the Body of Jesus that we liberally call "the church'? I'm not saying that I have all of the answers but just perhaps scripture can give us some insight.

To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lamp-stands, says this:

I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;

and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.

'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lamp-stand out of its place--unless you repent. Revelation 2:1-5

First love? What is first love and how has the church of Jesus left it behind?

Perhaps you have experienced a new believer that is so excited about his new faith that he is giddy and wants to tell everybody about it? Maybe you were once there yourself. Certainly, there was an overwhelming dose of this kind of experience for all of those in the first days after the church was born.

The amazing thing about that "first love" was that it came with little burden for the facts or responsibility for "defending" their new faith. It just simply didn't matter!

So what has happened? Week after week, and sometimes day after day, we listen to teaching about what the Bible has to say about every topic known to mankind. The problem is not in the learning of facts but that the learning of facts seems to divert our attention from our "first love".

One glaring example of this diagnosis is this. (And here I will do a little ranting for a moment).

Why, oh why, oh why does most of Christendom continue use the title for who Jesus was rather than His actual name? Over and over again I hear Christians teach about some great spiritual lesson and they automatically default to the title of Christ rather than the name of Jesus.

but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20:31

True life is in His Name; not in His title!

For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11

With God placing such emphasis in the Name of Jesus why is the title of Christ or preeminent in Christian teaching today? It seems to me to be preferred to use the title over the name. So much so is the overuse of the term Christ that it now rankles me just to hear it used.

Yes the Church of Jesus, universal, has left its first love!

How about you? Are you more in love with Him than yesterday? Relationships are delicate creations. They can not simply roll along without attention!

Jesus is worth the attention! Jesus is worth being recommended! He is the Christ but His name is Jesus!

As Clear as Day and Night

Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

"But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." John 11:9&10

As I was re-reading the story of the raising Lazarus from the dead, there was a brief statement by Jesus that stopped me in my tracks.

What did He say? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, yea, that much makes sense but the next part because he sees the light of this world was eye-opening for me. I was fully expecting Jesus to say "because he sees the obstacles in his path".

See that is the difference between God's truth and earthly wisdom. We tend to approach God's word and His message from an earthly wisdom standpoint. That is why we so often just miss His true message and His real identity.

I will keep from stumbling by seeing the true light of the world not by looking for the stumbling blocks in my path. Jesus underlines His point by stating it again in a conversely positioned statement.

Him who walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him Is it becoming clear yet? Walking the narrow path requires that there be a light within us. It is not about knowing more about God; it is entirely about us actually knowing God!

Too many teachers will try to tell us that obstacle identification and avoidance are critical to our spiritual well being. This couldn't be further from the truth. Jesus says that if we see the light the obstacles well not longer be attractive.

Remember the first sin? Do you recall that there simply was not sin until God identified and obstacle and Satan then pointed it out over and over again. Contrast the "before" and the "after" of Adam and Eve's relationship with God. The before is the intimate relationship of knowing one another as they walked daily together. The after is a broken relationship of hiding and blame and fear!

Take a look at today's Church of Jesus. Is there more of the "before" or the "after" picture that you see? Our society is decaying solely because the Church of Jesus has left the "before" an bought into the "after".

How about you? Are you ready to return to the truth that brings true freedom?

Sold a Bill of Goods Again?

Religion is both an attractive and a reprehensible thing. The flesh of human kind is greatly attracted to religion. As a matter of fact, religion is the lowest denominator in life. It is far too easy to drop to the the very base of spirituality and quickly substitute religion for what originally began as a spiritual search.

The Apostle Paul dealt with this tendency when he wrote his letter to the church in Colossae.

Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,

and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

Fraud is a strong charge! Fraud is an outright lie meant to deceive. Being defrauded from a prize means that something of value has been stolen from you.

Paul now seeks to set things straight:

If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,

"Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!"

(which all refer to things destined to perish with use)--in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?

These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. Colossians 2:18ff

My frustration continues to grow when I hear Christian teachers drone on and on about the frailties of today's Christians with the heavy message of more and more rule and prescriptions that have "the appearance of wisdom" and exhort people to "turn way" from sin. Paul says all of these messages are of "no value against fleshly indulgence".

The whole Bible is filled with people who have been radically saved by God only to desert Him months or weeks later in their pursuit of fleshly indulgences. It simply was not for lack of instruction, threats or warnings that the people strayed. It was simply because religion just doesn't make any positive difference in a life or in a culture.

Run from these types of teachers. They disguise captivity and frustration in silky words that appeal to the flesh. Self-abasement and severe treatment of the body makes sense to the flesh since it is our fleshly lusts that seem to plague us the most. Paul states, however, the diagnosis may be correct but the prescription delivered by some is bankrupt.

We have been set free for freedoms sake and the more we opt to live in the liberty of Jesus the more we fall i love with Him. The more we fall in love with Him, the less attractive are the things that formerly attracted us in the flesh.

FREEDOM!

Alive But Held Captive

The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." John 11:44

This scripture really hit me this week and my mind had been spinning with the real good news! How this illustrates what Jesus did for us is absolutely stunning.

You were once dead in your sins, Paul says to the Ephesians (2:1) and God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ. (v 4-6)

Notice that the Ephesians quote talks about what our God has already done! This is the finished work of the good news of Jesus. He, raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ.

Here is where we need to turn back to the first scripture, the account of Lazarus being raised from the dead. Jesus instructed those attending: "Unbind him, and let him go."

Many of us have been made alive like Lazarus in the story but many of us are still bound up in restraints.

Read the Book of Acts about the actions of the first Christians and you can't help but discover a disparity between what you see there and what you see in today's churches.

What kinds of things keep Christians bound up? You could list hundreds, I am sure,but suffice it to say the values and wants of the world have transfixed the people of God so much that we look just like those who not yet "seated with Him in the heavenly places".

The Holy Spirit will open up the bondages that are holding you captive if you just ask Him. He will also give you the strength and the drive to loose them.

Jesus is saying, "Unbind him, and let him go." Will you be set free?

Entry to the Kingdom of Heaven

I have an almost four year old granddaughter who has taught me much. Just today, as I dropped her and her mother off at the airport to head to Disneyland, I was hit with the reality of what Jesus had to say in Matthew 18

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

And He called a child to Himself and set him before them,

and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

"Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (verses 1-4)

As we were on the way to the airport we told her: "today you will be going on an airplane, a train and a bus". Her response "a slow train or a fast train". See she has never been on an airplane, a train or a bus yet she accepted the premise of being on each one without question.

The "faith" of a child is that kind of trust that Jesus said we must have to "enter the kingdom of heaven". A child doesn't need to ask for proof that airplanes exist or that heavy metal can indeed fly. A bus? So many questions could have been asked. Children just simply believe.

Yes, we are eternally saved by faith and we will all, those who have placed their total trust in the blood of Jesus, will one day enter the eternal kingdom when Jesus comes for us or we leave here and go to Him.

The invitation that Jesus offers us to to enter His kingdom now! It doesn't come without a serious cost. We must surrender our right to control our own lives and choose to live by childlike faith. It is a choice!

Will you choose to live in the kingdom or will you choose to stumble along in the dark by pretending that you have control?