The Truth Will Make You Free

As I meet with fellow ministers and listen to the words that come from their lips my heart sometimes sinks. It is almost as if Jesus only came to earth to forgive sin, and the results of life on the earth for the Christian is nothing more than a life of weakness, disappointment and misery. That Christians are nothing more than weak sinful church goer that God has saved from hell and some day when we pass from this life to the next we will finally have the victory.

Well, if you have been trained to think along these lines than I have some good news for you. The days of oppression are over (actually they were over when Jesus was raised from the dead). Satan has receive a paralyzing blow through the meritorious work of Jesus and has been rendered harmless and ineffective against the believer. How do I know this?  "No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. and then he will plunder his house." (Mark 3:27) Jesus has bound the strong man (Satan). Look at what the Word of God also says about these things...

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
1 John 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
Colossians 2:15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Hebrews 2:14-15 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 

Does any of this indicate that the devil has any authority or dominion over the believer? Absolutely not! Well if the devil has had his authority and dominion over the believer taken away then this means that everything that is of or from him also has been extinguished such as, fear, doubt, sickness, poverty, all manner of evil, etc. Jesus is now Lord and the believer is identified with Him...

2 Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ…

Colossians 1:13-14 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified (declared righteous) by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
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.
Romans 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. 

Do you see that? When one confesses with their mouth the LORD Jesus Christ, believes in their heart that God raised Him from the dead, they instantaneously are transformed into the very things the above scriptures tell us. Believers are no longer beggars and sinners, but as Paul tells us by the Holy Spirit, "...put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:24) Isn't this great news. Understand that when Jesus said, "Therefore if the Son make you free, you shall be free indeed." (John 8:36) that you are completely free of all the works of the devil? Makes you want to jump up and shout, "Thank You Jesus." So, let us exercise our faith and speak the Word of God knowing that the Word of God, the Words that Jesus spoke, have as much power today as they did when He spoke them... 

 Matthew 7:11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Matthew 18:19 Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven
Matthew 17:20 for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you
Matthew 21:21-22 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." 
Mark 11:23-24 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. 

 Finally, I want to leave you with this last thought, no word from God is void of power. Do you believe this?

Stepping Out

If you have raised a child, have siblings or have been around children, chances are that you have witnessed a child taking its first steps. How exciting it truly is. Usually, a child's first steps are taken by someone coaxing the child over and over until they are walking on their own. The writer of Hebrews deals with Christians that are "Babes", "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe." (Hebrews 5:12-13) He tells them to, "...move on to maturity..." (Hebrews 6:1) The Apostle Paul tells the church at Corinth the same howbeit in different words, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." (1 Corinthians 13:11)

There comes a time in a believers life where they need to step out and walk by faith in the things of God. Simply put, Paul is comparing infancy with that of manhood in the sense of when we advance in years, we lay aside many of the views, feelings, and plans which we had in childhood, for the true values of life which we now esteem important due to maturing into adulthood. In the same way, new believers see the world from a different perspective than older believers, or do they? 

One of the things that I remember in my own life when I first received Christ that I still see in some new believers today, although not as often, is their zeal to tell others of their new life in Christ. Although new believers do not have a grasp on foundational Christian doctrines or how to live by faith, they tend not to have inhibitions when it comes to telling others about their new life in Christ. But after some time passes the zeal to witness Christ seems to die out. You would think that the opposite would happen as they grow their faith through the Word of God. But Christian researcher have found that nearly seventy percent of people attending a church daily have not witnessed Christ in the past year (2014) although most say that they pray for the lost. Another statistic reveals that nearly fifty percent of Christians who regularly attend a church have never invited a non-believer to church.

What has happened to the last command that the Lord has given to all believers, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20) "And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:15-18) "Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." (Luke 24:46-47) "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Acts 1:8)       

Whether you believe in the doctrine of election or not (the belief that God has elected only certain people for salvation and others not) it is still our (every believer) responsibility to preach the gospel to every creature. Born again believers cannot blame the state of the country on politicians, lobbyist, and other non-believers. They are only doing the deeds of their father the devil in the same way that you and I did before we were saved. Remember, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)  It has been said, "the gospel is good news, only if it reaches a person before they die", "Lost people matter to God our Father, so they should matter to us His children", "Believers often talk of the Lord's second coming, when most of the world has not heard of His first" "God save us from living in comfort while sinners are sinking into hell", "Christ died for all men not just the ones you know and like", "It is better to have people hate you with the knowledge that you tried to save them, than to love you and perish in hell never telling them the good news", "Where passion for God is weak, zeal for the lost will be weak." These are but food for thought. Hopefully, they will provoke us into action. 

Unfortunately, many church leaders today have adjusted the "Great Commission" because they themselves do not witness Christ beyond a classroom or a pulpit. They rarely train the saints in evangelism mostly because they themselves are not passionate about winning the lost for Christ. They have determined that Jesus' words to, "Go make disciples" is out dated for the church today, so to justify this, they have determined that the church service should be short and adjusted to make it "comfortable" for those who may visit, in hopes that the visitor is unsaved. We call it "seeker sensitive church". Isn't interesting that the Bible tells us, "...There is none who seeks after God." (Romans 3:11) Why is this? Jesus tells us, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him..." (John 6:44) Based on scripture we must consider that we should not expect anyone showing up at a church service who is lost by luck, chance or coincidence. However, if someone does show up who is lost, even if they were invited by a believer, they are not seeking on their own, it is the Father who is drawing them. If the Father is drawing them, then it should stand to reason that the length of the service should have no bearing whatsoever upon this person as to whether they "had a good time" or not. Why? Because we are talking about a spiritual encounter with God that He has set up to save them and transform their life, not a good time that pleases only the flesh. 

Most certainly we want to see visitors stay beyond one or two visits. Let's keep in mind, "But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased" (1 Corinthians 12:18) not us. For most unbelievers, they probably have no concept of what a church service consists of. But shouldn't we be creating an atmosphere, especially through praise and worship, no matter how long it takes to bring God's presence? Isn't it God's presence that will have people say "God is here?" Then how do we expect such a thing to happen if we put a time restraint upon God? Frankly, it won't happen. Churches who have this worldly mind set towards the lost actually do them a disservice by keeping God on a leash, so to speak, and not letting Him have His way in a church service because He is only given a certain amount of time to show up. You  may want to read the last chapters of Matthew, Mark, Luke and the Book of Acts. This is God's Word and work through the church that brought unprecedented success for nearly three hundred years. 

The difference is, they obeyed the command of the Lord to "Go make Disciples" which transforms lives, without reducing it to "come to us, we promise we won't take much of your time, but we will help you feel good about yourself so that you will come back." In other words, congregations who do this, although not in word, see God's Word as having no effect today. They also miss the main purpose of the church, "...that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light", (1 Peter 2:9) the praise and worship of the Most High God. The early church understood this, "praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47) Please stop and meditate on this verse of scripture. This has nothing to do with mans worldly ways to grow a congregation but fully upon God. It is the responsibility of every believer to be witnesses for Christ and let God do His work through us His way. This takes faith not formulas.  

The point is, let us step out of the fort (church building) and be the salt and light that you truly are. The Bible tells us, "And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment." (Hebrews 9:27). No one knows the day or time that they leave this life for the next, so let us all make evangelism a life priority, making it difficult for any one to go to hell by telling them the Good News of Jesus Christ. Let's witness Christ and bring the new believers into a church service where there is no time limit so they can have and encounter with God. Let's praise Him until the Holy Spirit moves us to worship and worship until His glory (presence) falls. This is what will transform lives, not comfortable services with time restraints that only cater to the flesh. Sure, the seeker sensitive way of church may grow large congregations, but what's the point if the glory of God is not present, "Then she named the child Ichabod, the glory has departed from Israel." (1 Samuel 4:21) All people want to experience God, including the lost. It is the scheme of Satan to have us think that somehow we have a better plan than God. So let's get out of churchianity and get back to Christianity so the Lord can "transform us (those just saved also) into His image from glory to glory." (2 Corinthians 3:18)  

Who is the Strong Man Now

As I meet with fellow ministers and listen to the words that come from their lips my heart sometimes sinks. It is almost as if Jesus only came to earth to forgive sin, and the results of life on the earth for the Christian is nothing more than a life of weakness, disappointment and misery. That Christians are nothing more than weak sinful church goer that God has saved from hell and some day when we pass from this life to the next we will finally have the victory.

Well, if you have been trained to think along these lines than I have some good news for you. The days of oppression are over (actually they were over when Jesus was raised from the dead). Satan has receive a paralyzing blow through the meritorious work of Jesus and has been rendered harmless and ineffective against the believer. How do I know this?  "No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. and then he will plunder his house." (Mark 3:27) Jesus has bound the strong man (Satan). Look at what the Word of God also says about these things... 

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
1 John 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.
Colossians 2:15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Hebrews 2:14-15 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

Does any of this indicate that the devil has any authority or dominion over the believer? Absolutely not! Well if the devil has had his authority and dominion over the believer taken away then this means that everything that is of or from him also has been extinguished such as, fear, doubt; sickness, poverty all manner of evil, etc. Jesus is now Lord and the believer is identified with Him...

2 Corinthians 5:17-18 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ…
Colossians 1:13-14 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified (declared righteous) by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
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.
Romans 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God

Do you see that? When one confesses with their mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, believes in their heart that God raised Him from the dead, they instantaneously are transformed into the very things that the above scriptures tell us. Believers are no longer beggars and sinners, but as Paul tells us by the Holy Spirit, "...put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." (Ephesians 4:24) Isn't this great news. Can you now understand that when Jesus said, "Therefore if the Son make you free, you shall be free indeed." (John 8:36) that you are completely free of all the works of the devil? Makes you want to jump up and shout, "Thank You Jesus."

So let us put our foot down and cast away the erroneous doctrines of man and know that the words that Jesus spoke have as much power today as they did when He spoke them... 

Matthew 7:11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Matthew 18:19 Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven
Matthew 17:20 for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you
Matthew 21:21-22 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."
Mark 9:23 Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." 
Mark 11:23-24 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Finally, I want to leave you with this last thought, no word from God is void of power. Do you believe this?