Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Its so Simple!!

Wow, so much has changed in the last few months and even in the last few years since I discovered how amazing the Gospel really is!!!
All the years of striving in a religious system seem like brief, fading memory in comparison to the discovery I have "stumbled" across. Jesus has and continues to revealed such freedom to us as he keeps breaking off the lies we believed about Who Father really is!!
I just get so excited with the freshness of the Good News even though it may be the thousandth time I read the same truth..... its crazy!!! 
So I thought I would share this :)  








"Jesus did not come because you owed God a debt and God was against you.
The Trinity is not divided. (many people have been taught a picture of the God as this angry, vengeful Judge ready to smite us all..... BUT, lucky for us that Jesus steps in.... He somehow feels differently about us than the Father!!!.... how insane is that thinking!!)
Both the Father and Son were united in the plan for your salvation.
Jesus came because you had extreme value in the Father's eyes.


But wasn't God angry in the Old Testament?
Yes.
But His anger was never towards man. Never.
His wrath, His intense fiery love was to be poured out on sin.
It was never His heart that man would get in the way.
It broke His heart to see His children see Him as their enemy.


What was sin?
Sin was a disease that attacked the very essence of who you are: a carrier of God's glory.
Beloved, know this, God was always for you.
I don't care what preacher or evangelist tries to twist the scriptures to say our Dad in Heaven hates people, I can assure you he doesn't.

He is Love and not just that, He is AGAPE.
He is willing to suffer long.
He is kind.
He is not envious.
He does not parade Himself.
He is not puffed up.
He does not behave rudely.
He does not seek His own interests.
He is not provoked.
He thinks no evil.
He does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.
He bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

If I am not describing the Father you know and love, then out of love for you, I have to say that you have been duped into believing in a God who looks nothing like the one Jesus came to reconcile all men to.

God is good to us.
I dare you to believe it!!"





Further more:


‎"If you believe that Jesus carried our sins but the Father "couldn't look them", then you are splitting the Trinity that doesn't have a split. You are saying that Jesus was ok to handle sin, but God isnt... that Jesus is therefore subservient to God and therefore not God..... so you are not actually a Christian."


......"For God (Father, Son, Spirit) so loved the world (everyone!!!) that He sent His Son......."




Peace and Love to you all
Andrew

















Sunday, October 30, 2011

Milk and Lamb





The old "Meat vs Milk" debate rages on all over the planet! Some saying something like this: "We need to leave the foundation of "grace only" (milk) and go onto works (doing/meat/faith)."


But how about rather interpreting the "Meat and Milk" of Hebrews 5 through a contextual look at the whole book of Hebrews?



Heb 5:11 On this subject there remains so much to be said; but O, how difficult it is to explain something to someone who hears with an indifferent attitude.
-----------
Heb 5:12 By now you (Jews) should have been professors, able to teach the rest of the world, but you are still struggling with the ABC of God’s language in Christ. (Heb.1:1-3) The difference between the prophetic shadow and the real is like that between milk and meat in your diet. You cannot live on baby food for the rest of your lives!
-----------
Heb 5:13 The revelation of righteousness is the meat of God’s word. (Babes live on milk (the prophetic shadow of the real which was to come.) So does everyone who is not pierced in the ear of his heart by the revelation of Christ. (God’s act of righteousness in Christ restored mankind to blameless innocence, Rom.1:17) Greek apeiros, not pierced, tested by piercing.)
-----------
Heb 5:14 This is the nourishment of the mature. They are those who have their faculties of perception trained as by gymnastic precision to distinguish the relevant from the irrelevant. (The mature are those who know the difference between the shadow and the substance; between the futility of the law of works and willpower to work righteousness, and righteousness revealed by the faith of God in the finished work of Christ.)
-----------
Heb 6:2 All the Jewish teachings about ceremonial washings (baptisms), the laying on of hands (in order to identify with the slain animal as sacrifice), and all teachings pertaining to a sin consciousness, including the final resurrection of the dead in order to face Judgment, are no longer relevant. (All of these types and shadows were concluded and fulfilled in Christ, their living substance. His resurrection bears testimony to the judgment that he faced on humanity’s behalf and the freedom from an obstructive consciousness of sin that he now proclaims. Rom.4:25, Acts 17:31)
-----------
Heb 6:3 So it is with God's prompting that we advance (from the prophetic types and shadows of Scripture into the substance of what God has now spoken to us in his son, 1:1-3)
(Mirror Translation)



So, in other words, Milk is NOT a "mere foundation of grace" that we gaze at for a few weeks and then move on to something different. No, "Milk", in the Book of Hebrew's context, is the Law that acted as a mere Tutor/Guardian (also Gal 3:24) that led the Jews UNTIL the reality should come - JESUS! (Meat).
Jesus even said it in John 6:53/54


To move from drinking milk to eating meat is to move from a "self reliant based righteousness" to a "Faith of God Righteousness" (Trusting that Abba is fully persuaded of your right standing with Him). When we trust in Gods persuasion, we are feasting on the Lamb and are maturing/growing.
Again, this is made clear Ephesians 4:



Eph 4:11  And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,
Eph 4:12  to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
Eph 4:13  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,  to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 
Eph 4:14  so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

(Note that it is Gods Faith and it is Gods knowledge that we should stand in union with. When we agree with His Persuasion and His Knowledge of US, then we are maturing from one degree of glory (Old covenant/milk) to the next (New Covenant/meat) (2 Cor 3:18). It is then that we are no longer like infants, being taken off track by man's silly idea's of self effort to appease a Father who needs no appeasing.

(side note on the above text: The role of those in vs 11 is to reveal Gods opinion of Mankind to all of Mankind - to all whom He has paid for - those made holy (set apart) by his death (1 John 2:2).


Lets feast on the Lamb who was slain - the simple accomplished reality of the life, death and ressurection of God who in every single part of His being reflects LOVE and GRACE to all who are far off and all who are not.


LOVE to you all.
Andrew





Sunday, October 16, 2011

The Kingdom of love!

by Troy Thackwray


Praise God for systems, methods, agendas, formulae and routines etc etc etc...they do tend to make certain events run a lot smoother.

But God's love is no respector of man-made rules and stipulations.

Where religion (with its rigorous conditions) "established" a repelling "magnetic force" between God and sinner, Jesus came and revealed the true nature of His love towards us by breaking through these religious "boundaries" and RECEIVING the SINNER unconditionally - in the vileness of his raw sinful state!

It's sadly ironic how the Pharisees (unknowingly) tried to limit Christ Himself with the very law He was the author of - hahaha!

Jesus never broke His law (It wasn't even an effort for Him to succeed in this regard. Although it cost Him everything, He merely did what He knew His Father telling Him to do). It just so happened that by walking in Holy Spirit and being compelled by His love, that He fulfilled its righteous requirements once for all.

Even John the baptizer brought clarity to the LOVING nature of the Kingdom of God.
He strongly addressed the crowd regarding their selfish focus on religious routines and "conscious-easing" formulae, all the while oblivious to the Father's heart.
They asked John what they ought to do, and he explains how, if they have a spare tunic, to give it to one in need.

Now the "modern pharisee" will take this God-breathed scripture of life and "kill" people with "The importance of managing your "tunics"", or, "Be sure never to own too many "tunics"", or, "The importance of sowing your excess "tunics""...
Do you notice the common trend of mis-interpretations here? Every statement is a reference to "self" - "what I should be doing with my "tunics"". Although it seems that John is addressing their actions, He is actually addressing their flawed motives in their existing actions - "pure" believing gives birth to pure motives and pure motives bare the fruit of pure behaviour.
I don't believe he was referring to their "tunic management" at all. I believe he was addressing and PREPARING THEIR HEARTS for what the Kingdom was really about - NOT their self-imposed rituals, but rather to know the HEART OF GOD and to walk in HIS LOVE.

His KINGDOM OF LOVE is constantly advancing to provide "tunics" for those who don't have - AND THIS KINGDOM OF POWER AND LOVE...IS WITHIN US!

The power to give away "tunics" does not lie in being constantly reminded to give away "tunics" (there's no life in that), but rather to know the Father's heart of love towards US AND THE "TUNIC-LESS" (hahaha) - it's His love that compels us! :-)


Jesus loves you all!!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Wrath!!!




In the light of the Gospel that we have come to know, believe and deeply love, one of the delights I have had is the continuous revelation that Father gives. As we journey with HIM into greater freedom and the more He shows us Who he really is, we are continually faced with new views of Him that He wants us to replace the old religious ones with.


The old traditional view of Wrath is a real stickler and I doubt (but deeply hope) that this one will leave without putting up a fight. But, as Ive come to discover, writings and authors that I would have rejected outright a few years ago, I now embrace. Seeing His love for me has made all the difference, and a lot of "confusing or so called truth in tension" scriptures have begun to make a lot more sense in the light of The Gospel (Im dont speak lightly when I say that during most of the previous decade, what I spent studying and learning about was a far cry from what I now see The Gospel as).
No Regrets - It could have been 2 decades!!


WRATH: Religion will tell you that this has to do with God pouring out His anger over sinners. I beg to differ and would (hopefully in a blog or two's time) like to show that Religion has created a god in its own image and likeness!!


Wrath....???
"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them." - John 3:36

A few days before John had said these words, Jesus was teaching that God is Loving towards all men -("the entire world" - Cosmos) - BOTH believers AND non-believers, and will not condemn them. He said:

"Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might (will) be saved."

"....but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them."

There are a few words used in Greek that translate into the word "life". In this instance John uses the word "Zoe". "Zoe" is the type of God-life that only comes from Him as a gift to all who trust in His Son. It is the very substance and essence of God's life. If one refuses to trust (or direct their faith towards) the work of the Son they can't experience this free gift of Zoe-Life(Salvation) - BUT their rejection DOES NOT make God angry* (as is commonly believed) , rather it stirs His passion and desire** for them even more - that they would yet taste and see His delight in doing only GOOD to them (Jer 32:40-41).

(*Isa 54:9 "This is like the days of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. (ESV)

** The word "Wrath" by definition, properly, has NOTHING to do with Anger but Rather refers to Gods "Desire" and "Passion" resting on them (His desire and Passion is love flavoured - 3:16).

So, "....but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.", can also read "But whoever rejects Jesus cant experience Gods intended life, nevertheless/ notwithstanding/ yet God's desire and extreme passion continues towards them" (!!!!!!!!!!!)

The implicated passionate indignation or vengeance side of "wrath" is NOT directed toward its object of desire!!! But, rather its directed towards that which would harm it - sin!

That's what HE ACCOMPLISHED in Himself on the Cross... against sin:
Rom 8:1 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

His wrath (ie, His desire/passion for US, and His indignation/vengeance against sin) was shown for us all to see when "He made Him Who knew no sin to become sin (noun) for us..." (2 Cor 5:21)


John 3:18 "He that believeth in Him is not condemned (also:"Judged") ; but He that believeth not is condemned (also:"Judged") already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Jesus then in the very next verse (vs 19) TELLS US what the condemnation/judgement is - AND he says that THEY ARE ALREADY under this Decision of His. It is not a future Decision, but a Past Decision!!

John 3:19 And this is the judgment (His decision): that the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. (sin was messing with mankind - the object of His affection)

God made a decision/judgement about them: They are truth rejecters because they are under the dominion of sin!! He saw that they prefer evil and darkness. He does not condemn them but intensely desires to win them over with His Love and Goodness (Rom 2:4).
He showed this Decision/Judgement throughout His life that He (God) was A "FRIEND OF SINNERS" (Luke 15:1), That He "came into the world to save sinners"(1 Tim 1:15)

In other words this Judgement of GOD that Unbelievers are under was TO BENEFIT THEM, NOT TO HARM THEM. To draw them back to Him.. to LOVE them back to their senses:

Rom 2:4 Don't you know that the reason God is good to you is because he wants you to turn to him? (CEV)

The big fear-inducing "God's wrath-stick" that Religion has been waving over Jesus' Bride has been grossly misunderstood and on-taught to millions over the years and all the while, instead of revealing to us just how awesome His love towards us is, has instead been a sickening cause of legalistic conformity and life-chocking bondage!!


As I have grown in my understanding of His amazing Love and Grace, even His "Wrath" has become for me a beautiful attraction to Him. How deep the Fathers Love for us, How vast beyond all measure, that He would give His only Son, to make a wretch His Treasure!!



Love
Andrew

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Was Jesus punished primarily for sin??

Was Jesus punished primarily for sin??

I am super excited to have come across these videos as for some time now, this has been the very thing on my heart. A couple years back in a conversation with a friend, he mentioned in passing, how the view held in many "grace" circles that the Sole purpose of the Cross was to appease our sin before God, by having the Father smash/punish the Son on our behalf was rather cruel. Even though it had great benefits for us, it had led him to ask questions of the Fathers Nature..... can this be True Love??.... an Exacting Father at a distance enforcing required Legal punishment on the innocent?

I didn't think much on his comments at the time, but as the months have gone by and Holy Spirit has shown me more of Fathers amazing Love for us all, He has also reminded me of my friends' statement. All of a sudden, I saw that His Love for me made no sense unless He was fully, personally involved in my Redemption - and not buying me back using His Son's life. He was Fully, Intimately involved because that's how valued we are to Him!!



Some (incorrectly) say:
"The Father cant look upon sin, so Jesus had to come to fix that....", Or "Jesus had to appease the Fathers wrath towards us"

Firstly,
Sin is not the Issue!! Sin was never the issue... for God loved and died for us "while we were still sinners!!!!!
The REAL issue was our SHAME that sin caused!! (Adam in the Garden - hiding and shameful).
Shame prevents us from RECEIVING and living in relationship with Father that He always intended.

Religion teaches us that "God cannot look on sin???".... However, the reality tells us something exactly opposite! "Adam, where are you...." He said. God was looking for the sinner....
Not to punish him, but to walk in communion with him as He had done since his creation.
(Placing them outside the Garden was not to punish them, but rather was an act of Love so He could restore us back before they could eat of the Tree of Life and forever be in a state of separation from God in their own hearts).

He came to seek and save the Lost.... we all like sheep have gone astray... but He goes out to look for us. FRIENDS... God (Father, son and Spirit) looks at the sinner, and deeply loves him!! Religion teaches that God is angry with sinners... Yet Jesus, who only did what the Father did and said, was found to be the "friend of sinners". How mixed up have we got it these days??!!

His love for the entire world (sinners), convincingly displayed in the most profound and greatest way - a man laying him life down for his friend - even though his friends are all enemies and sinners... This Love act on the Cross has the power to remove our shame and guilt so that we can receive Him again as our Husband - and we, His Bride.
The Cross Divorces us from the Law by our Co-crucifixion with Christ (Rom 7) - ending that Old Contract of Death, Shame and Condemnation. Instead our Marriage with Christ involves NO condemnation OR Shame because sin (the cause of our shame) is removed as far as the east is from the west and remembered no more.
Our marriage is one on the grounds of Grace. He did it all, we only Believed it and received it as a Gift.

In fact - when we feel any sense of Shame, we have begun to drift from Grace. The word in Greek for "Shame" actually means: "DIS-GRACE" (an undoing of Grace)
If we are living in Shame, we have forgotten the Good News of the New Covenant. - The Good News boldly tells us that God has "Scorned and Despised" shame because it separates YOU from him - not Him from you. - Nothing in all of creation has the power to do that. We are on his mind 24/7.


His love empowers us to love others. We cannot truly trust Him if we dont see His unconditional love for us. For example, Paul (Saul) - The Christian Killer - has a face to face encounter with Jesus - who's followers He is murdering and instead of receiving wrath- as he would have expected, he receives the exact opposite.... He receives UNCONDITIONAL LOVE and a clear revelation of the cross .... and changed! He was Compelled by Gods Love for people as He had experienced it himself.

He saw Gods nature in fullness revealed - not just the shadow of the Old Testament, and that He is ABBA and He is LOVE.

He did it all... He was there on the Cross, in all His Fullness. It was not the Son alone taking the punishment for our sin and fulfilling the Joy of our reconciliation to Himself, but God was IN Christ, reconciling the world to Himself!
Jesus even said that this was so, just before the Cross He said... "the Father is in me and I in the Father". He wouldn't miss being a part of the action that had been planned since before the foundation of the world!! He loves us too much to miss our Home coming!

Enjoy the Videos:







Loads of Love
Andrew

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Confession of sin and 1 John 1:9

Do Christians need to Confess their sins in order to be Forgiven?
The answer is an emphatic, "NO!"

"But what about 1 John 1:9?" - the only verse in the entire New Testament that speaks about confessing sins to God.


Below is an article by Andre van der Merwe from his web site: www.newcovenantgrace.com
As well as an attached Video that may help you to see the Good News more clearly :)



"Firstly note we are NOT propagating a sinful lifestyle. We are NOT encouraging people to just go out and commit hideous deeds of licentiousness. We believe in obeying God and living a holy lifestyle, but these are only the fruit. The root is being established in grace & righteousness, knowing who you are in Christ. So let’s get into this week’s message.

[1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness].

This verse has to be read in the context of the rest of the book of John – written to a group of believers whose ranks had been infiltrated by teachers of Gnosticism. John seems to be gentle whenever he addresses the Christians, calling them “my little children”. But in other parts of his letter, when he is countering the teachings of the Gnostics, he becomes quite protective of his brothers and sisters in Christ, and his words quite harsh. At the time John wrote this letter, the Gnostics had already left the ranks of the Christians [1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us], but remnants of the Gnostisism teaching were still confusing the Christians that remained.

Gnostics are people who believe that creation is flawed and was created by a flawed creator, a movement out of which the “Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints” or “Mormons” has arisen. They also believe that there is no such thing as sin in the world, and as an UNBELIEVER that you do not have to confess your sins to God to be born again.

Even though the book of 1 – 3 John was written to the church, 1 John 1:9 was NOT a command for people to grovel in sack cloth & ash, instead it is simply a statement to contradict the false teachings of the Gnostics. There were people in John’s church (who had not been born again yet) who were self righteously claiming that they did not need to confess their sins to receive eternal life. They were still confused by the teaching of the Gnostics, even though the Gnostics had already left. John countered this lie and said the following: [1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us].

And then in the next verse he reveals how to be saved: [1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness]. God will cleanse them from ALL unrighteousness if they will only confess that they need to be forgiven of their sins. If 1 John 1:9 were addressed to the believing Christians (the ones who were already saved), it would then contradict the following verse: [1 John 2:12 Little children, I write to you because you have been forgiven your sins through His name]. Why would John command people to confess their sins if He says a few verses later that they HAVE been forgiven? If confessing our sins was such an important practice in the life of a believer, why did the writer of the biggest part of the New Testament, Paul the apostle, not command us to do it once??

Under the New Covenant, ALL our sins (past, present & future) have been forgiven. When Jesus taught his disciples (who were still under the Old Covenant) the Lord’s prayer, He told them: [Mat 6:12 and forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors]. But under the New Covenant our motivation to forgive others is different. We don’t forgive anymore in order for God to forgive us, but now we forgive others because WE HAVE BEEN forgiven. Col 3:13 … even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

Countless doctrines have been formulated by the modern day church about confessing our sins to God, all based on this one verse (1 John 1:9). It’s quite amazing if we realize there are no other verses in the entire New Covenant that tells us we should confess our sins to God! It’s even more amazing if we realise that this verse was not even intended for Christians who trust in the forgiveness of God, but for self righteous people! There are millions of people who have turned their back on Jesus & left the church, not because they are evil or sinful people, but because they are sincere people that for years & years have been taught a mixture of Old Covenant law and New Covenant Grace. These people have came to a place where they felt that other Christians and themselves were such hypocrites, that their failures and mistakes were so great, that their discouragement drove them away from Jesus into the wilderness. They gave up on Jesus and His word, although they still love Him in their hearts.

But you may ask, “Why would God not want us to confess our sins to Him? After all, we do make mistakes!” The answer is simple: Because walking around the whole day remembering all the bad things we have done will not bring us closer to God! Jesus already paid the full price so that we could have unbroken fellowship with the Father. This means that when we make a mistake, it does not break our fellowship or right standing with God. Jesus was forsaken by his Father on the cross so that we would never have to experience that! Does this mean that we just go out and live a life of full blown wickedness & depravity? No!! But it definitely means that God wants us to have confidence before Him, and to be more aware of our righteousness and His grace than of our shortcomings & mistakes. [Heb 10:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water].

How can we have boldness before God if we have to grovel on our knees and plead for the forgiveness of our sins every time we pray? If we can’t have confidence before God, how then can we even dream to stand in front of a blind person and say confidently: “Blind eyes open in the name of Jesus!” We’d always feel that God does not want to use us because we have too much sin in our lives. No amount of crying, confessing, remembering your sins, emotional torment or anything we can do can add to the finished work of the cross, where our sins were forgiven, once and for all.

So when you find yourself conscious of your sins, simply say: “Thank You Jesus for the perfect work of the cross that has removed my sins completely. Thank you Holy Spirit for convicting me of righteousness, not my own, but the righteousness given to me as a gift (2 Cor 5:21) and I praise You that nothing that I do can ever change that or ever separate me from your love!!!” Grace does not mean the denial of occasional mistakes in our lives – that is a dangerous thing to do – rather grace removes the punishment and guilt of that sin (Tony Ide – Freedom Life Fellowship, Perth, Australia). Grace is what makes us worthy!


So in closing, the Bible teaches all unbelievers to confess their sins to God to be born again and come into Christ, but the Bible does not teach New Covenant believing Christians to confess their sins to God."


Here is a video from JP on the subject!






Just one last note from myself - Some have said that "to deny sin - by not confessing it - is to embrace the error of Gnosticism ourselves."
The thing is that we do not deny the existence of sin at all, rather we are fully acknowledging the existence of it. Sin is one of the reasons God went to the cross! If sin didn't exist (as some are accusing us of saying), then there would be no need for the Cross. If there was no cross, we could not be believe Gods Love for us. We absolutely MUST believe that sin exists and that Jesus is OUR SAVIOUR FROM IT.
Thats why we confessed our sins UNTO Salvation, embracing our "once for all time forgiveness" that was made manifest at the Cross.


Peace and love to you all. If you have questions please feel free to ask.
Andrew

Monday, May 30, 2011

The Gospel of Faith???

Faith is "to be persuaded". Faith in Christ is to be persuaded of the Good News about His Grace towards you. That is what saves you... placing your faith in His Grace (Rom 4:16... "Therefore it is of faith that it may be according to grace.."), That's being saved by Grace through Faith is (Eph 2:8).
Many place their faith in "Faith" (But, its NOT the "gospel of FAITH" that saves us - as no such thing exists - but it is the Gospel of GRACE! (Act 20:24).
Many place their faith in their own Good works or Service towards God.
Many "are persuaded" (have directed their faith towards) attending a weekly religious Ritual - or systematic church routine as a means unto Salvation.....
But only being Persuaded, or having your Faith aimed towards His Grace, as your means unto Salvation will suffice.
We all have the measure of faith (even non-Believers have the ability to be fully persuaded in all sorts of things) - even devils do (Jam 2:19), But only by placing that Faith in His Grace towards you - through the Cross and Resurrection, will you be set free to bear His fruit and enjoy your Union with Him.

The Father gave us His Life as a Gift because He loves us, Not as something we need to still somehow attain via Principles and '4-step' Formula's. Faith is NOT a formula, It is a response to His Love and it comes Naturally Effortlessly. If Faith is something we feel WE need to "perfect" or "work-up" to get "just right" in order to get a Response from God, then we have strayed from our Persuasion of Grace. Faith = Trust, and Trust = Rest. A Believer in Christ is someone who Trusts and therefore Rests in Fathers Love for them. They feel NO need to earn or maintain His affections because they are fully persuaded, via the Cross, that His love is perfect and unchanging.

Teachings about Faith and Gifts and so called "Kingdom Principles" may be helpful, but they are NOT the GOSPEL. Grace is the Good News (Gospel). And it is GRACE (not Faith) that is the power of God unto Salvation. Everyone who believes that Gods GRACE towards man is the Good News has therefore placed their Faith in His Grace and can Now experience Union with Him. Now that you are experiencing New Covenant Salvation, you have no need for lifeless Principles and Formulas because He leads you. His Spirit and your spirit have been made One and are in Union (Ezek 36)..... He has done it, He has joined the two together and created one new man - that is completely New and has never existed before - and what God has Joined together let NO Man separate.
Dont be fooled now, into believing "Faith" to be the Gospel....or any other Doctrine that primarily focuses on you or dictates what your response to Grace MUST now be.

The Complete work of Jesus - Life, death, burial and ressurection - when embraced, is intoxicatingly Good News that breeds Contentment/peace, and Joy. No other "gospel" will lead to this, hence Paul's querie to those who had fallen from Grace to go back to living by Principles.... "Who has stolen your Joy?"
Well meaning brothers and sisters will unwittingly lead you away from Grace, but with all of His strength, we can make every effort to stay in the Rest that He died to freely give us. He lives in us and delights to lead us into all truth. Lets trust Him. Lets Feast on His unceasing Love for all of us!

Love
Andrew

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Religion or Relationship?

"Most of Paul’s letters were written because even the earliest believers found themselves trading relationship for religion. Instead of learning to live in the security of his love they would go back to the traditions, creeds, disciplines and laws as an attempt to earn it themselves. He reminded them over and over again, that God’s love would take them further than their own efforts and achievements ever would. But his words often fell on deaf ears then, as they have in generations since....

...Religion offers us the illusion of earning acceptance, but it is only a cheap substitute for the reality of life in him. God’s desire is to engage us in a life-changing relationship. He knew the ‘life-changing’ would come only out of the relationship. Thus he demonstrated his love for us before we did anything to make ourselves worthy of it. By doing so, he wanted us to stop trying to earn it and just live in light of it." Exerpt from "He loves me"

Sometimes we get consumed and obsessed with making the cogs of our religion grind on, regardless of any cost or lives at stake. How often in days gone by have well meaning brothers and sisters sacrificed time with, and needs of: spouses, children, friends or anything or anyone else that would cross the tracks of the religious machine they were obsessed with maintaining....Often completely ignorant of the decaying reality of those closest to them.

Often what started off as a voluntary act of Love, in serving people in a local community, gets transposed onto the individual as their identity from the rest of the congreagtion. The praise and acceptance of those being served quickly takes the 1st place from the Love of God that led them to serve in the first place. Soon enough, because thier actions are not primarily fueled by God's Love, but rather the need to keep people happy (and the value they gain from man fro their service), they find themselves traped and tied into a religious system that 'must keep' grinding on, no matter how many get chwed up and spat out along the way. When one burns out, they are quickly and efficiently replaced - given the praises as the next best thing, and the deathly cycle begings all over again.

How many have felt guilty for "missing a church meeting" because they had a "role to play" to ensure the show went on? How many have felt terrible for "taking a gap" or a family weekend away because they knew that their "church" relied on them?... (perhaps more than their own family!?) How many will "no qusetions asked" prioritize the religious needs of a local church over their own family? How many cant say "No" to church leaders because of a fear of being rejected by them, or have that leaders opinion of them "tainted" with regard to commitment? - But will say "No" to their family events or needs at the drop of a hat to keep local church leaders happy.

All of this comitment may seem noble from the outside, and may even earn one an esteemed place of leadership and honour, but at what cost?....burnt out marraige relationships?.... Children growing up hating "the church" or "God" for messing up thier families. Are we serving Jesus by bowing and scraping to Religious Machine that only recipicates affection and benefits to those from whom it can benefit from?
I'm all for serving our local church communities! But Jesus must be the One who leads us to do so, and when that time is up, and He leads us to give His attention elsewhere, there must be the freedom to do so - even if there is not a replacement for your vacancy!! We CAN TRUST Jesus to build His Church. This happens when we do what He leads us to do - weather its starting something or ending something. Jesus leads us as He sees fit - we can TRUST that!
Religion loves to delay what Jesus has led you to do because your obedience to it damages Satans kingdom. Satan often uses well intentioned brother and sisters to encourage Delaying the thing that Jesus has laid on your heart to do.

If you are stuck in a religious machine with seemingly no way out without the threat of "all the wheels falling off", the best advise I can give you is: Just do what Jesus leads you to do. He is big enough to deal with the "fall-out" and loves every step of journying with you as you grow and learn to trust him, instead of trying to make our own plans.
You - despite others opinions - are not responsible to keep the Religios Cogs turning if you feel your time it up, in serving where you are serving. Jesus will build His Church. Lets Trust Him! Jesus has given us Himself and delights in our undivided affection and has wooed us through His love act on the Cross....

YOU, are far more important to Him than - your kids ministry commitment, your church band dedication, your polished theology, your evangelism programs, your FB and internet blogs, your daily self crucifiction, your "church covering", your prayer meeting or home group attendance, or anything else we sometimes deem as the be-all and end-all of what being a son or daughter is all about. He loves you and wants you to Trust Him to lead you into greater Freedom.


Love to you all!!
Andrew

Friday, May 6, 2011

Mystical Union

The term "Mystical Union" must be one of the most controversial phrases, hated (or rather, feared) by many congregation leaders. The understanding of it shines a very clear Gospel coloured light on most of what our main steam churches have believed to be the gospel, and has found our mainstream reformed theology drasticly wanting!
The understanding of our Union with Abba brings us to a dramatic crossroads: Either we Believe it and walk away from years of accepted theology, be called off as a fringe heretic, ignored and outcast - but at the same time, walk into True Freedom that Jesus died to bring. OR, we can reject it and continue to live in a lifeless, religiously obligated form of godliness -but deny it's power. We can continue accepting and explaining away our unbiblical view of the gospel as "a paradox" because outside of changing what we believe about the cross, "a paradox" is the only to make sense of what we read and what we experience. Its a crying shame I tell you!

Many who have examined the Gospel and seen the huge difference between it and what they have called "the gospel" all along wont budge off their theological fence in fear of others opinion. To them I say, "thats fine - Jesus still absolutely loves you!. Keep feasting on the Gospel until you simply cant stay on that fence anymore.

Below is a preach that may answer many questions regarding the finished work and the so-called "paradox" that Religion forces its children to live under.
Enjoy!!








Loads of love to you.
Andrew

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Decisions, Decisions

In everybodies lives there is always a choice which of these three roads we get to walk down. The first one is the road of Rebellion. Here its all about ourselves. We learn to ignore the leading of Jesus in our lives and are "satisfied" that we are in controll. We move ourselves far out of the reach of manipulating voices and relationships and supress a natural longing to have the very thing we have closed all the doors to..... and that is, to live in Rest from having to gain the approval of everybody else around us that we seek to impress. We stive for individuality and uniqness on this road, but only find that we match up to the millions of others traveling his same road. Just like sheep (albeit the proverbial "black sheep"), all responding exactly the same to the attempts of Love to capture our hearts. We kick away in fear because of a twisted perception of "true Love", and rush back to "the known" which is a place far from freedom, far from the exillerating embrace of God, far from the Joy He has for us to experience. The years may fly by and our world created out of fear only gets darker and more desparate - although we fight hard to never let it show. Never realizing that freedom from our prison cells has been closer than the air we breath all along. From the moment we chose never to trust or alow ourselves to be loved He has been with us.... never left us, never forsaken us.

The second road we may choose to travel down is the inviting road called Religion. This Road promises us security, fulfilment, and everything we ever dreamed of. It dresses up as "the answer to all of our problems". Only a short way down this highway we discover that much of what we had first hoped for seems a little off. There now seems to be a couple of conditions to be met. Slowly/Quickly, but certainly surely our Joy that we first encountered when meeting Jesus, and the promise in our hearts that we can live like this daily begin to crumble away to nothing. Our hopes of living in the freedom of the Cross and the Joy of our initial Salvation slowly get pushed to beyond the realms of death and we now get "set-in" for a life long struggle shrouded in relational superficiality and political pretenses. "Oh the Joy of the Cross!!" we pretend to portray when we are along-side fellow travellers on this the Relligious Road, but all the while not really getting it. Something just seems to be missing along this Road but we convince ourselves that it must be us, and we need to "press into God" a little more. Perhaps one day we will really find Him on this Road we think to ourselves. We attend all the promised "life changing" and "impartation" conferences that our money can buy, but still we hope for a "deeper touch" of God.... "perhaps next year, or when the next guy comes through town God will really meet with me" we think to our selves, all the while wondering what more we need to do, what more we need to learn, how much more we need to pray.... to get an encounter out of Him.
On this road, in order to "succeed" we have to invent and live in an identity that is different from the real "us" in order to speed ahead of other religionists. We have to live with a Hidious mask on 24/7 - shiney on the outside, cold and dead on the inside. "Keeping up apearances" is the call of the day. One slip-up (made public that is!) could spell the end for any ladder climbers. A false reality created by this Religious Road system numbs us to the freedom we lived in - even before we came to Christ!! This thought shocks us and we silence it by convincing ourselves that its all worth it - after all, didnt Jesus say we would suffer for him? We make up excuses when people mock our "lemon faced" Religion but all the while we wish it wasnt the truth. We have closed-door meetings as "leadership teams" to try to come up with stratergies to inject more "real life" into our religion, all the while perpetuating the problem.
On this road, Love is secondary to making sure that the system grinds on. At all costs, the system must grind on. After all, we convince ourselves, what would we do without church as we know it? This "church" system is were we gain our identity from, where we get our approval from. So rather we choose to put up with all the hurt of pretence, hidden agendas, cloak and dager manipulation stratergies, obligatory attendance, obligatory payments, the submission to others against the peace of Jesus inside us, all the covering up that happens so knowbody can find out who you Really are and what you really think, all this sure seems safer than leaving this road called Religion. Yet the "church" that is created here is not what Jesus had in mind for you. He loves you deeply and will CERTAINLY work things for your good with in it. Because That's who is.

There is a third road we could travel down called the road of Relationship. On this road, there is no need for a religious system to prop us. Here, its virtually imposible to gain our identity from the things we DO, but rather from Who we are in and Who is in us. There is no pressure to get things right to be approved of because here, you are already approved of. On this road, growing with Jesus through day to day life is what its about. Here, we get to be 100% real 24/7 - each individual walking this road is as uniquely different from his fellow travellers as his fingerprints are from their's. We have no need to copy the "next best thing". There are no "ideal" moulds to conform to, no hidden agendas and reasons for our relationship with Him. Its all because he LOVES us. Everyday on this road is a growing love relationship. He is perfectly patient towards our failings and distractions, He is not "raising you up" to "use you". He knows that you have been used enough on the Religious Road and His Love has no price tag attached to it. He is not interested in profiting from your skills, gifts or tallents but loves you for you. These things He placed inside you, He knows, will come out in your unique God given way as you blossom in His love.
On this road there are no Dead lines, Obligations to fullfill, plates to spin or people to satisfy, just a growing Love relationship. On this road you will discover who He made you to be and those around you in your everyday life will see Jesus' colour and flavor.
On this Road of Relationship it becomes (the more we detox from religion) about Love. We find that we become friends with people that our Religious system could never allow. We become friends with "sinners and tax collectors" on this road with NO hidden agenda to recruit them into a religious boot camp, but just because you are aware that Christ in you wants to release worth to them, love to them.... Himself to them. It's not to a bunch of rules ond principles we have the priveledge of introducing them to, but to Jesus, our lover and theirs.

"What would we ever do without our Religious systems that we have so painstakingly constructed and become reliant on?"
Perhaps we would turn the world up-side-down with a Love so deep and so amazing that we would never look back!



May Our Religious systems become a laughable memory in the light of His Glory and Grace.

LOVE.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Our New Website is Ready!!

Hey everyone, our long awaited Website is now done!!
(Just click "Cornerstonekeg.com" the top right in the margin)

We will gradually build it up as we go along. Things like adding a "helpful Gospel Links" page that will take you to other free Gospel resources that may help you or others in their journey as we grow in the Grace of our Lord Jesus.
If you have come across any good Gospel resource sites, please send us the address so we can check them out and add them!!


We are also working on a "Questions and Answers" page to assist anyone with any difficulties that they may come across as they move away from religion towards the Freedom that Jesus died to bring.

The Religious world hates it when Sons and Daughters of the Kingdom begin to grasp Gospel realities and often tries to counter-act the Gospel using scripture to make the Good News seem "Not so Good". These commonly used "anti-grace" Bible verses can easily become "less scary" when seen in proper contexts - Historically and Covenantally.
If you have any "Scary Texts" that don't seem to fit in with the Gospel, please send them to us and we can Add them to the list as a helpful resource for many others who may have the same questions.
Whilst we don't know everything and are also growing along this journey, we will do our best to get back to you when we can!!

We will be posting new audio messages, mostly on a weekly basis, that will be available for download for free.

Enjoy our Website and feel free to contact us about any thoughts or suggestions you may have!!
Much Love
Andrew

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

A Glorious Church VS a Laborious Church

This article BY DARIN HUFFORD is very good and very true in a lot of cases. I really, really encourage you to read it all. Catch the heart of the author. Its NOT a call for rebellion to break out, but a pointing back to Jesus and the simple REALITY that our UNION with HIM affords every believer!!
Father wants us to be OURSELVES! This is where Kingdom adventures are found....




“My wife and I made a decision about two and a half years ago that we were going to stop going to the “Institutional church”. We did not come to this conclusion through bitterness caused by church, we simply made a decision based on things that we had seen and personally felt for years but were (until that time) unwilling to admit. When I say “church” I am not talking about the Church Universal. I’m talking about the institution of church that we know today.

For the most part I think “church” is a business. In fact, many churches readily and openly admit that. I have a difficult time believing that what we know of “church” today is at all what Christ had in mind. It’s become a play. Worse than that; it’s become a rerun of a play. And yet even worse, it’s become a rerun of a play, lead by hijackers.

Someone somewhere along the line got the idea of putting on a “play” for people and calling it church. The spectators sit quietly waiting for the performance to begin. Each week they start with colorful music and someone leads them in four or five songs. Then the spectators sit down and wait for the announcements. Once that’s finished, the spectators are encouraged to give money to the “playhouse”. Then the spectators sit quietly and listen to a guy stand up and tell them what God is saying.

When he finishes, all the spectators file out the door, pick up their children and head for home. On the way home they discuss the play. How the worship team did, how the Pastor preached and so on. Seven days later, they return and experience it all over again.

I call it a “rerun” of a play because if you have been to church for three years or more, that’s exactly what it is.

They basically quit filming new episodes, and are now playing the spectators reruns of old episodes. It’s the same thing every week. Perhaps this is why Christ’s ministry was only three years.

After that, He would only be repeating Himself. Other than a new song here and there, everything else is pretty much the same. The Pastor reminds you that “Christ took the nails for you”, and you need not to sin, and you need to read your Bible and pray, and (most importantly) you need to come to church every week and put money in the offering, and then it’s over.

Week in and week out, it’s the same thing.


I’m not blaming the Pastors of America for this. I honestly don’t think it’s their fault for not preaching something “new” every week. Truthfully, I don’t think they could even if they wanted to.

I do however; blame them for making people feel like they have to continue coming week after week or else God will be disappointed in them.

This is where the “business” of the playhouse comes in. People are encouraged to keep coming back because the organization needs their money. If people ever felt like they could graduate from the institution, and live their lives in the world with what they know, it would be a devastating blow that eventually would destroy the institution.

It is this way because “church” as you and I know it today has been built on the teaching that “once you are in, you are never allowed to leave”. There is no such thing as graduation or moving on. We are taught that we must attend every week for the rest of our lives regardless of whether we know the Gospel or not.

If you think rationally about it; it’s a ridiculous notion to think that anyone benefits much from sitting through a re-cap of something they already know week after week.

It’s even more ridiculous to believe that people “need” to be there every week in order to grow spiritually. My personal opinion is that it’s just not worth going after a certain amount of time. It’s not even set up for fellowship.

You come alone, you sit alone, you worship alone, you listen to the sermon alone and you leave alone.

Real fellowship happens at Starbucks with a friend or in your home over dinner with people you love.

Yes the Bible does say, “Do not forsake the gathering together” but that’s a far cry from “Do not forsake going to a building and singing songs that were selected by someone else and sitting quietly while a guy talks for forty five minutes about a bunch of stuff you have either already heard or you already knew, and then leaving”. That’s not church; that’s tradition.

All in all I think the institutional church is great for people who don’t have any Christian friends. It’s a great place to meet other believers. If you DO have Christian friends however, why would you continue to go?

My belief is that you ARE the church.

When people ask me where I go to church, it’s like asking me where I go to Darin.

I AM the church. Wherever I go, church is there because I am there. I am outreach, wherever I go there is an outreach because I am there. I think the problem with the modern day church is that people “GO TO IT”.

It shouldn’t be a place we go. Church should be something we become.

I say that the modern day church is a “rerun of a play” that is lead by “hijackers” because I feel that the modern day church has hijacked everything that flows naturally from people who know and love God. They have institutionalized “heart things” and forced them into a robotic and ritualistic set of traditions.

The problem with the Institution of Church as we know it today is that it almost always seeks to “take over” or “hijack” every living expression that results from authentic relationship. Then it tries to purchase a spiritual Patent on each individual experience and dictate when and where it will manifest again.

Over time we find that everything that would naturally flow from relationship with God is no longer allowed to flow naturally. It must now flow under the orders and instruction of those who run the Institution.

Beautiful things such as communion have now become cold and institutionalized. After all “church” now owns the Patent on communion. It was originally created so that people who love each other could have dinner together and in the midst of that time of fellowship, they would stop and remember Christ and what He accomplished on their behalf.

They would acknowledge their present freedom and give praise to the One who brought it to them. Today, however, communion has been reduced to anything BUT communion.

We now sit in neat little rows, and are handed a shot glass of grape juice and a tiny cracker. We partake of it like robot-clones on a massive assembly line.

There is no fellowship, no eating together, no enjoying the company of the person next to you, no interactive conversation about the work of Christ, and no freedom. You see-dinner with friends and discussions about Christ are things that naturally flow from a person who knows Christ and has freedom. The institution has hijacked that natural thing and taken away its life.

Another intimate thing that has been hijacked by the institution is Worship. Did you know that everywhere in the New Testament where worship is mentioned, it is described as something that transpires between the individual and God alone? New Testament worship is a lifestyle of intimacy between a person and their God.

Today it has been hijacked by the institution and worship begins at 7:00pm and ends at precisely 7:30pm on Sunday nights. We are told what to sing, how to sing it, when to raise our hands to God, when to clap our hands, when to stand up and when to sit down. It begins when they tell us it begins and it ends when they decide it ends.

The very life of worship has been strangled out of almost everyone’s personal walk.

Giving is one of the most beautiful “natural manifestations” of a person filled with the love of God. Unfortunately the institution has hijacked that as well.

A “giver” by today’s Christian standards is a person who gives to the institution. Almost all teachings on giving today are in reference to giving to the church. Even the very essence of giving has been turned upside down. The New Testament teaches “freely you have received, now freely give” and the institution has turned it around and convinced an entire generation that “If you freely give, you will freely receive”.

I personally believe that the day “true giving” was murdered was the day that the teaching of “Seed Faith Giving” was introduced to the church. “Giving” went from being something a person did out of love for another, to being something we are taught to do in order to get something in return. We are even told how much to give, where to give and when to give it.

The spontaneity of giving from a heart of love (2 Cor. 9:7) has been quenched and beaten into an exact mold to fit the institutions purposes. I have said many times that the world is unaffected by the giving of the church, because the church doesn’t give to the world, it gives to itself. The church stiffs the world.

Today’s church members cannot even have relationships unless they were formed and directed by the institution. People are told where to go to “cell group”, who to open up to, what to do when at the meeting and how to do it. Nothing is allowed to happen on its own.

Everything is pre-determined and laid out in the exact institutional order. Gone are the days where each person chooses their own friends based on who they “click” with and who they don’t. Today, friendship is determined and ordered by the leadership and who ever the church links you together with.

If you live on 5th street and Main, and Mr., and Mrs. Jones live close to your area; they become your “home fellowship” group. You must open up to them and have relationship with them. Every Thursday evening at 6:00 sharp-relationship begins and at approximately 7:45 it ends. You are encouraged to NOT have friends outside of the church. The institution dictates where you can and cannot go after work, who you can go there with and what you can and can’t do while you are there.

If you look closely all throughout the institution, you will find that almost every single area of a person’s life is “taken over” and hijacked by the institution. Even things like “hearing from God” have been taken away. People are taught that the way they hear from God is “through the pastor” or “through others in the institution”.

Even the most personal things of all are stripped away. The beauty and honor of being responsible for your children growing up with an understanding of the Heart of God, is hijacked away from you. Now the institution makes no bones about the fact that they believe it’s their responsibility to teach your children. If you don’t bring your kids to their classes, YOU are failing.

How has this happened? In the beginning, the institution of church served the people. Today it has been reversed. The people are taunted and manipulated into serving the institution.

I do believe it’s time for people to take a stand and yell “FREEDOM”!!!!!” We need to take back what was stolen from us.

Monday, March 21, 2011

You gotta love the Bible!!

If your Bible doesn't bring you under the intoxicating influence of Abba's Love, it's the translators fault!!


I have been spending some time checking out the meanings some Greek words and going through many different Bible translations and have been utterly shocked at some renderings of some New Testament verses.

Most have been taught that we must believe everything the Bible, and we must NEVER question the Bible.... we must just DO what ever it says! Well, personally, I couldn't agree more!
The problem is that "the Bible" was not originally written in English but rather was translated into English (from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek).

Some Translations boast of huge numbers of translators used to get the "correct" English translations, and others rely on "original manuscript accuracy", but so often both camps completely miss it in many cases.
An easy example of such a case is that in the earlier NIV translations, the translators invented a new word based on the current theology of the day (and still going by the way!!). The word "sinful nature". This word previously did not exist and in most other English translation is correctly translated into English, mearly as "Flesh" (Greek: Sarx)
(NIV have corrected this error in most cases in their 2010 edition).


Since some of our English Bible translations have been known to horrendously "miss it" here and there, it stands to reason therefore that translators throughout time have put their own personal spin, or the general theological consensus of the day into their interpretation on certain words and contexts of verses - even without knowing it. (obviously without knowing it, because nobody ever said, "Yes!!, what I believe is totally wrong... praise the Lord!!" We all believe that what we believe is right.... otherwise we wouldn't "believe" it ).

I believe it would be of great benefit, therefore, to make sure that the translations of our bibles are rendered by translators that have a good understanding of the Cross, the New Covenant, and the reason for Redemption.... LOVE! (John 3:16)
Its a sad fact that many Translation houses have used various language scholars that are confessing non-believers, who obviously have no clue of Gloriously Good News, and therefore easily miss or water down certain emphases pertaining to New Covenant realities for the believer.
(And yes, its very healthy to read different translations.... not just the mainstream ones with a "reformed" theological stance, ie: NIV, ESV, NKJV, KJV, ASV, NASV....)



Often, people who have begun to understand God's Grace have told me that they were left with confusion - and NOT Freedom - after reading the Bible. Like I said.... "If your Bible doesn't bring you under the intoxicating influence of Abba's Love, it's the translators fault!!

If your NEW TESTAMENT is giving you some difficulties, and it's seeming to leave you CONDEMNED, or GUILTY, or weighed down with OBLIGATION, I would strongly suggest reading a few different verions of the same NEW TESTAMENT verse or passage to try get a better overview. I also strongly urge that you simply ask JESUS to help reveal the truth to you. Its His pleasure to reveal the NEW COVENANT to us!




Confusion:

Col 3:1-6 (ASV) If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God.(2)Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are upon the earth.(3)For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.(4)When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory. (5)Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; (6)for which things' sake cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience:



What do we get from this? You have died (vs3), but you still need to put yourself to death (vs5), and if you dont manage to kill yourself (the second time) you are in danger of facing Gods wrath (vs6)!!
This is a very good example of slight miss-interpretation into English because the New Covenant context is not taken into account!! It makes a world of difference!
After a supper exciting word/Greek dictionary study and an extended translation search, I have found this to be more accurate:



Colossians 3:1-6 (TMT) Pursue with diligence the consequence of your co-inclusion in Christ. Relocate yourself mentally! His resurrection co-raised you to the same position of authority, seated in the strength of God’s right hand.(2)Becoming affectionately acquainted with Throne Room thoughts will keep you from being distracted again by the earthly (soul-ruled) realm.(3)Your union with His death broke the association with that world; the secret of your life now is the fact that you are wrapped up with Christ in God.(4)Every time Christ is revealed as our life, we are being co-revealed in the same glory (likeness and image of God) being united together with Him.(5)Consider the members of your body as dead and buried towards everything related to the porn industry, sensual uncleanness, longing for forbidden things, lust and greed which are just another form of idol worship.(6)It was because of these things that the anger of God fell upon His son.


Please read those two passages again see the ridiculously huge difference!!

Out of the 11 "mainstream" bible translations I have at home, they ALL basically said the same as the ASV
Its little wonder that believers are not walking into Kingdom Freedom in the measure He intended when our bible's are telling us something different to the Spirit inside us!!



Am I saying we must throw out our old Bibles? No - that's silly!! But I am saying that we, as believers, ALL have the AUTHOR of "the Original copy" living inside us, and its OK to trust Him to lead us into all truth!

He loves you so much!
Keep keeping it real!

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Holy Spirit Manifestations

I recently came across this Youtube clip and again the reality of Holy Spirit Manifestations is brought into the spot-light alongside some dodgy demonic manifestations.



Before watching, for those of you that have tangibly encountered Holy Spirit, have drunk deep from the realities of the Person of Joy and Love - and have often been frowned upon for it, I say this:

Act 2:13-18 But others mocking said, "They are filled with new wine." But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: "Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
"'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions (that is: an appearance divinely granted in an ecstasy or dream), and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.



2Ti 3:1-5 But understand this, that in the last days there will come.... vs5... people having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power-(That is: power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work; specifically miraculous power; which a person or thing exerts and puts forth) . Avoid such people.
VS 7 and 8 continues about these type of people... "always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith."

(A Jewish History study shows that Jannes and Jambres were Pharaohs the two magicians: "According to Unger's Bible Dictionary, page 554b, "Jannes and Jambres were two of the Egyptian magicians who attempted, by their enchantments, to counteract the influence on Pharaoh's mind of the miracles wrought by Moses," as recorded in Exodus chapters 7-8"....
They attempted to discredit the real manifestation of Gods power by showing it alongside the FALSE. They were - under the influence of Satan - trying to make Pharaoh sceptical of Gods manifesting power.)


Again, for those of you that have tangibly encountered Holy Spirit, have drunk deep from the realities of the Person of Joy and Love - and have often been frowned upon for it - I say, continue drinking deep!
For those who have not (and there is nothing wrong with that by the way :), I have attached an Objective study by Santo Calarco on the subject of Holy Spirit manifestations in Scripture that may help you. A Careful inquiry is awesome, but an offended heart will often cut you off from receiving revelation.







MANIFESTATIONS - IN SCRIPTURE AND HISTORY

I have received many phone calls and emails from sincere people who are attempting to understand the various spiritual manifestations taking place at my fellowship meetings in Sydney.

In order to meet this need I will attempt to give a brief biblical explanation of what is taking place.

The purpose of this paper therefore, is to succinctly describe what the Bible says about human reactions in the presence of the supernatural. This topic will be dealt with in two sections. The first will deal with God’s relationship to human objectivity and logic. The second will then build on this platform in order to examine some of biblical man’s bizarre responses when in the presence of the supernatural.


INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS: PRESUPPOSITIONS

It is important to realise that God is not human and so is not bound by human logic and reason.

Western thinking is conditioned by Greek rationalism and thus maintains that logic is supreme. The scientific method and empiricism, major processes by which western man establishes truth, are totally dependent on rationality, reason and logic. These are the ways western man studies and analyses the natural world.

However, God is supernatural not natural. His ways therefore may not necessarily be able to be tested by the scientific method. God is not tied to man-made logic and reason.

God’s Ways not Ours

The bible emphatically states that God’s ways are not our ways, nor are his thoughts ours. See Isaiah 55:8-9. In fact, Paul says that God has “made foolish the wisdom of this world” because “the foolishness of God is wiser than man and the weakness of God is stronger than men”. 1 Corinthians 1:20-25. As a result “the natural man [man without the Spirit of God] does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him” 1 Corinthians 2:14. Hence God operates from the platform of human foolishness and not within the parameter’s of “natural man’s” rationalistic abilities. Hence Paul can say, “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” 1 Corinthians 1:20.

Consequently, Paul continues to say that “if anyone among you seems to be wise in this age let he become a fool [God’s modus operandi] that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” 1 Corinthians 3: 18-19.

Jesus plainly taught on a number of occasions that God had “hidden these things from the wise [naturally intelligent] and learned [educated] and have revealed them to little children”. Matthew 11:25. Little children are not too concerned with the rules of scientific method nor are they impressed with the hermeneutics and exegetical methods of biblical scholarship [as important as these may be]. In fact these things oftentimes get in the way.

Both Moses and Paul were brilliant scholars according to man’s reasoning. They were some of the most educated men of their time; the former in secular thinking and the latter in spiritual. But they had to learn God’s wisdom [foolishness to man] for many years in the desert before they could be of any use to God. They had to first unlearn man’s wisdom before they could learn the things of God.

Scripture teaches that God has not revealed all things to man. Man’s knowledge and hence learning capabilities are limited. See Deut 29:29. Paul says that we “know in part”. 1 Corinthians 13:9. As a result man cannot empirically test God’s ways and thoughts!



God - A Law unto Himself

As a matter of fact, God is not even bound by the guidelines He sets out for limited, sinful, man. The Law of God states that a human judge was never to justify the wicked. Deut 25:1. Any judge who performed such an act committed an abomination, a detestable act! Proverbs 17:15. However, we read that our God does the very thing condemned! “God justifies the wicked,” says Paul in Romans 4:5.

The bible also says that any person caught in the act of adultery should be stoned. Lev 20:10. However, Jesus did not apply the law with the adulterous woman in John 8. Scripture further dictates that no man was to ever marry an immoral woman. Deut 22:20. Yet we find God commanding Hosea to marry a harlot! Hosea 1:2.

These few examples suffice to highlight the fact that God can not be bound to human logic and reason and neither does He have to conform to them. In fact there is only one place in Scripture where God invites us to reason together with Him. And even this scripture is not humanly logical. The gospel prophet Isaiah quotes God as saying, “Come now, and let us reason together” and then goes onto to say “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white”. Isaiah 1:18. Here God invites us to come and reason with Him and then goes onto say that red is white and white is red! This statement does not conform to human logic!

Having said this we can now list some of the many humanly bizarre and unreasonable phenomena found in Holy Writ. Phenomena originating within the mind of God!




Is God Weird?

In scripture and at the command of God we find the following:

*Donkeys speak ………………………………………………………Numbers 22:28-30

*Touching a dead man’s bones brings about a resurrection ………….……2 Kings 13:21

*Prophets publicly walk naked for 3 years ……………………………………….Isa 20:3

*Spirit falls/Saul prophecies naked & lay naked all day & night ………...1 Sam 19:23,24

*Men drop dead at God’s command & instantly devoured by worms ………...Acts 12:23

*Passing shadows heals …………………………………………………………Acts 5:15

*Handkerchiefs and Aprons heal and cast out demons ………………………..Acts 19:12

*People make important decisions by drawing straws ………………………Acts 1:24:26

*Sick await angels to stir waters of pool before entering in order to be healed …John 5:4



Please note the following practices of Jesus

*He speaks to, gets angry at and curses a tree for not having fruit when it is not even fruit bearing season! ……………………………………………………………Mark 11:12-14

*He spits in a man’s eyes in order to heal him …………………………….Mark 8: 22-23

*He put his fingers in a man’s ears and spat and touched his tongue in order to restore sight and hearing ……………………………………………………………….Mark 7:33

Is it any wonder then that men, yes even god-fearing believing men, in response to the activities of Jesus “were all amazed and they glorified God and were filled with fear, saying, ‘We have seen strange things today!’” Luke 5:26.

At this point we can conclude that God does not necessarily operate at all times within the boundaries of human logic and reason. Being supernatural He does not of necessity at all times conform to natural reasoning.


Human responses to the Supernatural

Having demonstrated some of the unorthodox and “irrational” methods of God, we will now be better able to understand some of the humanly bizarre manifestations that people display when they come into contact with the supernatural.

Before we launch off into an examination of what the Scriptures teach us about manifestations and human responses to the presence of God [and angels] I would like to share with you a relevant story.

Moon-walking and Electricity

I was 10 years old. Neil Armstrong had just set foot on the moon [now you can work out how old I am] and my fifth grade class was involved in our own scientific experiment. The teacher asked for volunteers and so I foolishly jumped up without first knowing what I was getting myself in for.

Eight of us were told to form a circle and hold hands. What was happening? The teacher told us that she was going to run a gentle electric current through us. She assured us that none of us would get hurt. Some type of battery was set up. One person held onto the first terminal and the last onto the second. A complete circuit was established.

Slowly the teacher increased the power. At first we all laughed because we felt nothing. Then slowly but surely the power manifested itself. At first tingling, then laughing and finally shaking.

I thought that the girls [being girls!] would be the first to break the chain. Well was I surprised? Some girls laughed as the tingling passed through their bodies and some boys felt nothing. But me? I displayed the greatest manifestation and reaction to the power running through my nervous system!

I was shaking and screaming, my calf muscles began to twitch and suddenly I began to fall to the ground! But why only me? Some girls laughed, some boys too and others displayed no reaction whatsoever!

I was confused. Why was it that we all had the same power source running through our nerves, yet only some of us displayed some type reaction? [Just for the record, others finally began to shake and fall as well].

I believe that this small incident in my life well describes what can happen when the power of God, the Holy Spirit, manifests itself when the body of Christ meets for worship. We do not all react in the same way.

Admittedly I rarely experience any manifestations when worshipping with Christ’s body but have at these same times seen other worshippers, shake and tremble and even laugh or fall.

When I first encountered these phenomena [and as skeptical as I am] I thought the cause was more than likely hormones rather than Holy Spirit. I maintained that no such manifestations were in the Bible--- or so I thought.

Having given these manifestations more thought I remembered a book that I had once read on worship a decade prior. I remembered reading something about human worship expressions. Eagerly I turned it up and found the relevant chapter.

I was challenged by this brief summary and so decided to study the issue further.

The Weight of Glory

In my research I discovered many passages in the bible that described individuals as falling to the ground in the presence of God. These statements puzzled me for sometime until just recently.

I was recently talking to a scholar-friend of mine about this issue and he explained to me that the Hebrew word for God’s “glory” was “kabod”. According to him this word actually meant, “weight”. He concluded then that when God revealed His glory in bible times, His weight [glory, kabod] would sometimes prostrate people to the ground. God’s weight would cause them to fall. He also continued to point out that the modern practice of swaying back and forth by Jews at the Wailing Wall at Jerusalem reflected the jerking action of the OT prophets when, under the power of God, they would prophesy.

Being the skeptical person I am I researched the issue. Strong’s Concordance was revealing. Strong informs us that the Hebrew word kabod, and its derivatives and roots means “to be heavy, to make weighty, be heavy, be heavier, lay heavily, weight”. See Strongs Hebrew Dictionary word numbers 3513, 3514, 3515, 3517, 3519. Strong also points out that by extension the word means heavy-laden, a lot, much and so great. As a result God is “a lot, much and so great”. Hence glorious! These meanings grow out of the root meaning of weight. So God’s glory is a “lot, much, so great, laden”; hence weight.

Examination of bible dictionaries revealed the same truth. A standard dictionary, the “New Dictionary of Theology” edited by Professors Ferguson, Wright and the late and famous J I Packer state the following:

“Glory of God, The, fundamental characteristic of God to which believers respond by giving him glory. Biblical. ‘Glory’ in Heb is Kabod, from a root signifying ‘weight’ (a fact which Paul seems to remember in 2 Cor. 4:17)” p.271.



We will now turn our attention to the various human responses to the presence of the supernatural.


Human reactions to Angels

In the presence of angels both believers and unbelievers can exhibit fear, falling and shaking:

Daniel ………………………………………………………………………...Dan 8:16-17

Roman Guards ………………………………………………………………..Matt 28:2-4

Ordinary Jews…………………………………….……………….Luke 1:11-13,26-27,30
…………………………………………………….…………..Luke 2:8-10

A Gentile Centurion …………………………………………………………...Acts 10:3,4


Human Reactions to the Godhead

In the presence of the Godhead, humans and creation itself can react in fear, loss of strength, falling, trembling, become unconscious, shake, cry, laugh and even take on the appearance of being drunk. Note the following.

*Daniel fears, loses strength, falls and sleeps ………………………...Dan 10: 5-12; 8:27

*Israel at Sinai trembled ………………………………………………………Exod 19:16

*Disciples at Transfiguration fear and fall …………………………………...Matt 17:5-7

*John at Patmos fears and falls as dead ………………………………………Rev 1:17-18

*The Psalmist’s flesh trembles ………………………………………………...Ps 119:120

*Habakkuk shakes at the voice of God ………………………………………..Hab 3:2,16

*Israel fears and trembles at God’s presence ……………………………………..Jer 5:22

*Any person trembles at hearing God’s voice …………………………………...Isa 66:2

*Israel trembles and fears at hearing the law read …………………………Ezra 9:4; 10:3

*Places shake at presence of Spirit …………………………………………..Acts 4:29-31

*Abraham falls at God’s presence ………………………………………………Gen 17:3

*Angels, Elders and four living creatures fall before God’s throne ……………..Rev 7:11

*Paul [Saul] see’s a light and falls at presence of Jesus ……………………….Acts 9:3-8

*Judas and Temple Guards fall backwards at word of Jesus ………………...John 18: 3-6

*Israelites cry at hearing bible …………………………………………………….Neh 8:9

*Humans are filled with laughter from God …………………………………Job 8: 19-21

*God’s people laugh as a response to God’s redemptive acts ………………...Ps 126: 2-3

*Samuel appears drunk when worshipping in God’s presence …………...1 Sam 1: 12-17

*Pentecostal believers appear drunk when baptised in the Spirit ……………….Acts 2:13

It is also important to note that at times some experience manifestations at the presence of the supernatural and others do not --- even though they are also present. This is so with the case of Jesus, Daniel and Paul. See John 12: 27-29; Daniel 10: 5,7; Acts 22: 6-9.


MANIFESTATIONS AND CHURCH HISTORY
LEADING TO THE ADVENT AWAKENING


As we examine modern church history we find the above manifestations recurring at times of revival.

The late Dr J. Edwin Orr, a leading authority on the history of revivals, describes a number of major awakenings including: 1725, 1792 and 1830. The latter refers to the great Advent awakening. Professor R. E. Davies notes that in the ebb and flow of these revivals a number of constants always reappear. Among these constant features he includes (1) persistent prayer, (2) Powerful Christ-centred preaching and testimony and (3) a deep awareness of the presence and holiness of God manifesting itself in shaking, weeping, crying, laughter and holy prostration. Among more variable factors he lists (1) miracles of healing and (2) the exercise of spiritual gifts. See “I Will Pour Out My Spirit”, R. E. Davies (Monarch Publications; 1992) pp. 217-227.

Commenting on the Advent awakening leading to the great disappointment of 1844, Merlin D. Burt, from the White Estate in (DF 205) dated June 1998, states that manifestations of the Spirit including shouts of praise, prayer, testimony, holy laughter, weeping and holy prostration (falling to the ground) were part and parcel of Adventism. He perceptively notes that these manifestations were “a part of their own spiritual heritage. Methodists, Christians, Baptists and many other frontier groups frequently had dramatic physical and emotional activity as a part of their worship of God.” See p. 1. He goes on to quote from twenty three statements from the writings of Ellen White and correctly concludes “that Ellen White believed that the physical responses of shouting, weeping, laughter, and prostration were appropriate and valid under the influence of the Holy Spirit.” See p. 13. He adds, “American religious revival experience during the first half of the nineteenth century and the accounts of early Adventist experiences make it abundantly clear that God did manifest His power to help, comfort and inspire Ellen White and others through healing, a spirit of praise, and physical prostration.” P. 16.



CONCLUSION

In conclusion we have observed that humans respond in bizarre fashions at God’s request or even at his presence. This is because human logic or western etiquette does not bind our God. Even Jesus behaved in a fashion unacceptable to our modern minds! But God transcends human analysis and methodologies.

At his command donkeys speak and men walk naked. At his presence people respond in fear, tremble, shake, laugh, cry and fall. Such are true manifestations at the presence of God—especially at times of revival with special outpourings of the Spirit of God.

His ways are not ours ways nor are his thoughts ours.

It is only man without the Spirit that observes and analyses based on his rationalistic thinking and then concludes that the above is foolishness.

The great apostle Paul appropriately tells us the conclusion of the matter when he says that God has “made foolish the wisdom of this world” because “the foolishness of God is wiser than man and the weakness of God is stronger than men”. 1 Corinthians 1:20-25. As a result “the natural man [man without the Spirit of God] does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him” 1 Corinthians 2:14. Hence God operates from the platform of human foolishness and confounds those who think they are wise!



Hope this helps!!
Loads of love
Andrew