Living Faith

Bitterness: The Painkiller Jesus Refused

2008-11-13T16:15:00.001-07:00

Bitterness: The Painkiller Jesus Refused
33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, 34 they gave Him wine to drink mixed with gall; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink. Matthew 27:33-34 (NASB)

Gall: 1 a: especially : bile obtained from an animal and used in the arts or medicine b: something bitter to endure c: bitterness of spirit

As I have been studying the Scriptures dealing with unforgiveness, the Lord has been unveiling the “self-preserving” painkillers we as humans turn to in times of hurt and offence. The Scriptures are full of promises, including promises no one wants, such as the promise that we will get hurt and offended by those closest to us. I have found that I don’t get tempted to pick up an offense by people I don’t have close relationship with, no I am tempted to get offended with those that are the most beloved to me.

In times of hurt and personal offence, we have to look to Jesus as we are tempted to pick up the offence and thus tempted to pick up the painkiller called bitterness. Bitterness is birthed out of another soulish painkiller called unforgiveness. Only Jesus holds the healing to our wounded hearts and souls and only the CROSS holds the power of destroying these deceitful painkillers.
As we fix our eyes upon Jesus, we see that on the way to the CROSS, He was offered a painkiller of wine and gall. Upon what appeared to be an act of mercy, Jesus refused the drink. He willingly refused to take anything that would numb His pain. We live in a culture that “at all costs” escapes pain through all sorts of pain reducers. Go to the drug store and walk down the multiple isles of “pain relievers” that line the shelves.

Let me ask you some question: When the pain comes, how do you survive? What do you turn to in order to reduce the pain? Do you drink the soulish painkiller of bitterness birthed from unforgiveness or do you refuse to allow your soul the opportunity to escape pain. Do you operate in self-preservation and choke those around you until they pay you back? Do you let bitterness eat at the core of who you are and thus destroy the work of grace Jesus has done inside of you?

I suggest we go to the CROSS with Jesus. He refused the cup of bitterness as he drank the cup of His Father’s wrath. Imagine, he refused one cup (the painkiller) only to exhaust another cup (God’s wrath)! See Jesus desires us to bring to Him an offering…a freewill offering. He desires us to pour out our bitterness upon Him, because He already endured it. He knows that this painkiller will ultimately destroy us. He knows that this painkiller will only lead to others becoming spoiled by our bitterness. He knows what it is like to suffer to the depth of perfection in regard to having those closest to Him offend Him and turn upon Him. YET, He refused to drink the cup of bitterness, so that you and I would not have to drink this cup of poison.

As Jesus hung on that cross, He was able to strike a death blow to these painkillers of unforgiveness and bitterness as He cried out these words, “Father, forgive them, they do not know what they are doing!” As you read this, begin to refuse the cup of bitterness. Don’t drink from this inferior offer of pain reduction! Look to the CROSS and displace the bitterness by drinking from the cup of mercy and grace…forgive those that have hurt you! Release them from the debt they owe you. They will never be able to “pay you back.” Offer up to Jesus an offering that is acceptable to Him…take the cup of bitterness and give it to Him, certainly He will know what to do with it. Certainly it will be swallowed up by His grace and forgiveness!

Pastor Bryan

Last Chance

2008-11-04T11:16:00.003-07:00

Last Chance!
Today is a day that God has providentially set apart for His purpose. Once the votes are cast we will be left to prayerfully watch and listen as the results come in. As a Christian, I have no choice but to a TRUST in God’s sovereignty when it comes to this election. Don’t misinterpret what I am communicating, I don’t believe in just taking my hand off of the wheel and simply and politely praying, “let Thy kingdom come, let Thy will be done as it is in Heaven,” no I have been praying specifically for Him to move in a very specific direction, yet there is a time to TRUST Him in His foresight and divine wisdom to simply move upon His people (saved and unsaved) to fulfill His purpose in the EARTH, not just the United States. That means we will have to accept the results and “put our hand to the plow and not look back.” Today, regardless of the results, is not a day to think in terms of victory or defeat. No today is a day to take up the Biblical posture of “standing still” and seeing the hand of the Lord move upon His people.

As Christians, we tend to be myopic and very short-sighted when it comes to moments like today. We tend to look through our political lenses all the while sometimes missing the kingdom perspective of our Lord Jesus. I believe now is the time to continue to pray, but pray for the courage and stamina to submit to the next President and when the results come in, to be a people who doesn’t sit back apathetically now that the results are in, but be those who will actually step up to the plate and say “here I am Lord, send me…use me!”

The results of this election will give a clear and wonderful direction to us as a people! We will now have new marching orders and a clear understanding of how now to pray and operate. I am reminded of Psalm 37 as I write this…the psalmist says, “…fret not, it leads only to evil doing.” The entire Psalm is a declaration of trust and assurance in the Providence and goodness of the Lord. The Word is very clear that whoever our leaders are, we are deserving of them. Meaning, they are simply a reflection of US as a people. No matter what your political bent, can you as a man or woman of God look into the mirror and let God illuminate how you can better govern yourself, so as not to have to rely upon a man or woman to bail us out or save us!

Cast your vote! Let it be a vote of trust to our great Sovereign. 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NASB)

Pastor Bryan Schwartz

HE DIDN'T SAY A WORD!

2008-10-22T14:59:00.003-06:00

7 He was beaten, he was tortured, but he didn't say a word. Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered and like a sheep being sheared, he took it all in silence. 8 Justice miscarried, and he was led off— and did anyone really know what was happening? He died without a thought for his own welfare, beaten bloody for the sins of my people. Isaiah 53:7-8 (MSG)

Note: the Message is a paraphrase of the Bible, not a word for word translation, nor a phrase for phrase translation. The author chose to use this paraphrase to illustrate a point, not to point to the original language.

As humans we struggle immensely with self justification, especially when it comes to getting wounded or hurt. If we can justify why we are hurt then we can simply put up our convenient walls of “self preservation” and shirk the responsibility of actually having to work things out. What happens many times is we “dehumanize” people, thus making it much easier to defend ourselves and easily reject others.

Imagine if Jesus (who had Divine Right to feel justified in His hurt) had looked to us as humanity and approached His call, death by love, with an attitude of self justification. We see just the opposite. We see a brilliant Rabbi who continually lived and taught about self-renunciation. We see an anointed (by the Holy Spirit) God-man who habitually exercised His choice of denying His self justification, so much so that even when He was being tortured, beaten, mocked, falsely accused, etc that he DIDN’T SAY A WORD!

The proof of our self justification many times is our sinful habit of defending ourselves verbally. What is usually our instinctive reaction when accused (falsely or honestly), offended, hurt or mishandled? Is it not our soul immediately dipping into the reserve of our sinful nature and quickly jumping to the defense of self? Of course it is. We are a self justifying people who have simply missed the centrality of the cross. We, especially Charismatics, are notorious for ignoring the cross and substituting it with the person of the Holy Spirit. If we miss the cross we miss Jesus…if we miss Jesus we miss true freedom from self or death to self.

What if we imbibed the truth of what it really means to deny ourselves the right to be right? We might actually experience pure joy and a pure love for others. It is time for the people of God to understand what it means when Jesus, without a thought for His own welfare, intentionally laid down His privilege, defense and self justification. Again it was a death by love. It was His immense love for you and I that drove Him to such extreme measures.

Today, maybe look into the mirror of your soul and investigate how much evidence you have stored up in order to defend yourself, especially when it comes to getting hurt by those closest to you.
Pastor Bryan

Faith?

2008-02-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

Why do we torture ourselves by making everything more complex than it really is? I do this regularly. Faith is a subject matter that has become increasingly complex as we study the Bible and walk through life. Some package it up in the form of 'self-help' or reduce it down to a quantity. Some will say, "you must build up your faith, faith is like a muscle and we must exercise it." I believe there is truth in those statements, yet if we distill faith down into the simplest of terms what do we come up with.

I believe we get some insight from the Scripture found in Genesis 15:6, "And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness." God said something to Abram (Abraham), Abram heard the words... they were filtered through his mind, past experiences, encounters with God, his upbringing, his issues, his weaknesses, his very core of who he was, etc...and he simply believed the Lord, and God himself, credited to Abram's very being, simple righteousness. You can see that this Scripture explains faith to us in simplest terms with no "BUT" on Abram's part.

Now remember, God promised Abram a bunch of descendants. In order to have descedants you must have babies. Abram was at least over 75 years old if not older at this time. To make things more complex Sarai his wife was barren. God promised Abram the immpossible. Don't worry I am not going to launch into the whole "with God all things are possible" routine (true as it is).

See it says in verse one of Genesis 15 that Abram was struggling with fear, because God spoke to him and said, "Fear not, Abram, I am your sheild, your reward shall be very great." Abram then questions God and asks how this can be since he has not children. Then God takes Abram outside and simply has him look up! Sometimes we need to simply go back to looking up.

Abram came from a family line that struggled with indecision and settling in the crossroads of life. He knew firsthand what doubt felt and looked like. Yet, in this moment of fear and anxiety something 'shifted into gear.' He simply believed God. How did he believe God? He simply believed His words that He had spoken.

Simple faith looks like this: A heartfelt inner confidence that God is who He says He is and does what He says He will do. When someone gives us a promise we generally believe that person based upon what we know about that person. Is he or she willing to fulfill the promise? Is he or she capable of fulfilling the promise? What is the track record of the person who is doing the promising...is there proven reliability? Abram believed that God was willing and able and that God had proven His ability to fulfill. He simply believed.

As you read this, how would you describe your faith? Do you have trouble simply believing God's word, why or why not? Do have trouble trusting others? Have you spent adequate time getting to know God and His word?

Remember, Abram before this moment in Scripture had deomonstrated over and over that he believed, but when it came to this one area of weakness or barrenness he struggled and wavered in fear. All God requires of us to simply take Him at his word...

Hebrews 11:6 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Bryan

2008-01-17T15:30:00.001-07:00

Some thoughts on prayer… Suppose your children believed that you never did anything differently because they asked you. i.e. you will give them money on Friday evening regardless of whether they ask you for it or not. But they also believe that you require them to go through the motion or ritual of asking. And so they do it. On Friday evening they approach you and ask you to give them some weekend money. They do it even though they believe that you will or will not give it to them regardless of what they do, and that you know they believe this.
Now this is actually how many people pray to God…with no expectation that their requests actually make a difference to God. The approach Him as a cosmic “fix it” or cosmic “butler.” He is a personality…He thinks, He wills, He expresses emotion, He loves, etc and we are formed in His image. We are image bearers…what a privilege!
Can we change God…or a better question: Do our requests really make a difference in what God does or does not do?
These questions haunt most people and are a fundamental cause of prayerlessness. Can God be prevailed upon by those who faithfully stand before Him? Boy, I sure hope so. Check out these Scriptures.
Exodus 32:10-14; Exodus 33:1-17; 2 Kings 20:1-6. In these Scriptures we see the power of the request in praying. God loves us as a Father. The thing that honors God tremendously is children who fundamentally believe that God is good all the time (even when He says no) and dare to ask of him or make requests of Him based upon this belief of His rule and goodness. They are the children who actually believe God can be prevailed upon. This is not arrogance or false optimism this is the unique relationship between created personalities and the Creator…it is a personal relationship.
Requests may be granted or they may not. This is actually good news for us because He only does what is best for His children. C.S. Lewis writes, “God has retained a discretionary power of granting or refusing it (our request). Except on that condition prayer would destroy us. It is not unreasonable for a headmaster to say, “Such and such things you may do according to the fixed rules of this school. But such and such other things are too dangerous to be left to general rules. If you want to do them you must come and make a request and talk over the whole matter in my study. And then we’ll see.” The truth is, we do not know enough, and our desires are not perfect enough for us to be given everything we want and ask for.
Jesus longs for us to seek Him and gives us the option or free will choice to continue seeking, knocking and asking in spite of the answer NO. I encourage you today to study the above Scriptures and keep going to the Living Water and the Bread of Life. Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking! Don’t treat prayer like plunking money into a soft drink machine…you do a simple one time act, and then the mechanism takes over to produce the inevitable result. Prayer is never a mechanism…it is always a personal negotiation.
Peace, Bryan

The Psalm Says it All

2007-12-14T11:02:00.000-07:00

Psalm 101 (NLT)1 A psalm of David. I will sing of your love and justice, Lord. I will praise you with songs. 2 I will be careful to live a blameless life…I will lead a life of integrity in my own home. 3 I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar. I hate all who deal crookedly; I will have nothing to do with them. 4 I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from every evil. 5 I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors. I will not endure conceit and pride. 6 I will search for faithful people to be my companions…7 I will not allow deceivers to serve in my house, and liars will not stay in my presence.

If everyday we woke up praising our God and committing our hearts and ways to Him, imagine how much nonsense we would avoid. David not only had a heart of worship, but also a heart that longed to walk in integrity. It sounds like David was careful about how he lived. He wouldn’t allow the vile or the vulgar into his home. He stayed away from those who were crooked. He rejected perverted ideas and would not hang with those who were gossips and slanderers. He would not allow pride and conceit to dominate his life or be with those who walked in them. He cried out for and searched diligently for companions that were faithful and believed as he believed. He did not allow liars to serve in his house or be close to him.

I wonder if this empowered him to stay out of trouble and please his God. What if we became a people of integrity. A people that was whole. Maybe we should be careful what we allow into our homes and be careful who we allow to influence us. I believe that the Holy Spirit will give us this divine direction we need…let’s ask Him to help.

I was just struck by the power of this idea of integrity…I need more and want more! Have a great one!

Jealous for Us

2007-12-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

Exodus 34:14 (NLT)14 You must worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about his relationship with you.

Have you ever had days where you wake up and feel absolutely lousy and you don’t want to be around anyone? I think we all have. As I was reading Exodus 34 I was struck by this particular verse above. Contained in this verse is God’s heart for his people.

Just a few verses earlier Moses was praying for his people, “O Lord, if it is true that I have found favor with you, then please travel with us. Yes, this is a stubborn and rebellious people, but please forgive our iniquity and our sins. Claim us as your own special possession” (v. 9). Basically Moses is saying, “I know we are an absolute stench in your nostrils, but please be and go with us. We need you and we need to know that we are Yours in spite of how awful we are.”

I find it unfathomable that this holy, righteous God would have anything to do with us. Here we are in our restless state attempting to run from God and from others and He says He is jealous for us and that He desires an intimate relationship with us. AMAZING!

So next time you wake up feeling horrible and are tempted to isolate yourself, draw near to God in your state and ask Him to travel with you on your journey. Know that He sees you as His special possession and that He is jealous about His relationship with you. Peace, Pastor Bryan

A Life that Glorifies God

2007-11-30T09:49:00.000-07:00

1 Thessalonians 4:1-2(NLT)1 Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more.

Knowing God will radically affect how we live. Through our faith in Jesus, we have been given a new heart that will direct the flow of our lives (Prov. 3:24). Jesus came as the Way, the Truth and the Life for each of us (John 14:6). He interpreted the truth of the law to show us the way to live our lives. As we abide in Him we will be empowered by the person of the Holy Spirit and enabled by His transforming grace.

One of the greatest benefits of knowing and walking with God is that we can live an abundant life in the midst of difficult situations. We have a hope. The way we live can bring glory to our great God. As you approach life, see to it that you examine the way you live and live in such a way that will bring glory to the One who sees when no one else does.

Ministry to the Lord

2007-11-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Psalm 101:6 (NASB95)6 My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; He who walks in a blameless way is the one who will minister to me.

I want to encourage you to fulfill the greatest ministry you have as a human being…the ministry to the Lord himself. The scripture declares that as we walk blamelessly (literally walk in integrity) we minister to God himself. Not only do we minister to the Lord, but we also receive the most important benefit of walking with God we can receive, His very presence. In his presence is fullness of joy.

If you are feeling distant from God, cry out to Him and ask him to unit your heart that you might walk blamelessly before Him. As you do your conscience will be free from guilt and shame as you minister to the Father.

Blessings, Pastor Bryan

Source and Course

2007-11-14T14:20:00.000-07:00

Romans 3:19-22 (NLT) 19 obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. 21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

Here is a liberating statement when it comes to walking with God and pursuing Jesus. “To be sure, the Law is not the source of our righteousness, but it is forever the course of our righteousness.” Paul teaches us in the verses above the importance of understanding the source and the course of our righteousness. Throughout church history one of the stumbling blocks to the Christian faith is the ‘muddling up’ of these two.

The biggest issue facing Jesus and guys like Paul was this issue of “righteousness.” The Greek word for righteousness is dikaiosune: “The Way in which a man may attain a state of approval with God”. If we don’t know the source of our righteousness we can easily fall into the trap that the Pharisees and Scribes of Jesus’ day fell into…self-righteousness (self-justification). Paul tells us that God “has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law…” (v.21). He goes on to declare that we “are made right with God by placing our faith is Jesus Christ…” (v. 22)

The person who has never experienced this righteousness will be tempted to use their obedience to the law and the law itself as a means to sense or feel ‘right’ with God. In reality the law of God was designed to show us where we have missed the mark of God’s word. It is a means by which we can truly stay the course in our righteousness. Paul in his letter to the Galatians tells us that the law is a guardian to us (Gal. 3:24).

Just as our sin does not make us sinful, neither do our righteous deeds make us righteous. We sin because we are sinful, and we do right deeds because we are made righteous by Jesus.
I leave you with this illustration. If we muddle these two…the source and course of our righteousness... we may be tempted to do what the Pharisee and Scribe were doing in Jesus time. They were like the farmer who had a diseased apple tree. No one could see the disease, for it was contained in the core of the tree. Because of the disease, the apple tree could not produce healthy apples. Year after year the crops got worse and worse. To cover up the disease, the farmer decides to go and purchase hundreds of apples at the store and some fishing line. He takes the fishing line (invisible to the naked eye from a distance) and sows the healthy apples onto the diseased tree. From a distance it looked like the apple tree was healthy and very productive, yet inside the tree was still diseased. All of us are tempted to sow apples on our diseased trees.

Remember our hearts, apart from Jesus righteousness and faith in Him alone, are wicked and utterly diseased. We need a heart transformation. Here is the promise of Christ’s salvation work in our lives. Ezekiel 36:25-27 (NLT) 25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. Let us be those who have a new heart and thus are led by God’s Spirit into the course of our righteousness…obedience to God’s laws. Blessings! Pastor B

Personal Peace is an Enemy

2007-07-20T12:29:00.000-06:00

Jeremiah 29:4-11 (ESV) 4 "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord. 10 "For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

For the sake of brevity please consider the above Scriptures in regard to the following questions:

First, do I believe God has sent me to the city I live in with a specific mission in mind for my life?

Second, do I live in my city with a sense of 'permanence' or do I live in a 'temporal' mindset?

Third, when I wake up everyday do I pursue the welfare of myself first or my city first? Where are my prayers primarily directed?

Fourth, have I believed a lie of the enemy that tells me to pursue "personal peace" at all costs?

Fifth, do I want the promise of v. 11 and yet forget the preceding verses which actually will help see this promise fulfilled?

Our response to these questions will help us determine whose peace we are pursuing and indicate to us our ability to change our culture. Jesus came to the earth as a 'cultural missionary.' He lived like Jeremiah told the Israelites to live while they were sent into exile. Can you imagine how bound Jesus must have felt while he walked the earth? Here He was God living in the flesh...what a torment that must have been, yet He sought the welfare of His city and His people first before his own welfare. I wonder how great an impact we could make on our cities if we simply imbibed this incredible 'selflessness' that Jesus possessed. Not selflessness for simple self-gratification, but selflessness with a mission to reconcile people back to God. Paul tells us that we are ambassadors for Christ...

2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (ESV) 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Today, let us press on to the mission of reconciliation and not personal peace. Personal peace is an enemy of God, yet this empty idea is fully embraced in our culture...don't believe the lie. In Christ's kingdom the way up is down, the way to life is death, and the way to exaltation is humility. I leave you with Christ's words:

Mark 10:45 (ESV) 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

'Burned Stones'

2007-07-19T21:48:00.000-06:00

Nehemiah 4:2 (ESV) “2 …Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?"
This was a taunt of the enemy as Nehemiah and the people of Jerusalem attempted to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. I will not go into all of the history here because you can download the messages and the notes on the series we are currently doing on the book of Nehemiah. I will cut right through the fat! Bottom line…the enemy of our souls will prey on our weaknesses. Most of us have bad pasts, wounds, insecurities and are driven by fear; we are prime targets for the ‘accuser of the brethren.’
Satan is God’s permanent enemy and by default he is every believer’s enemy. One of the main weapons he uses is accusation and condemnation. These weapons are so effective because most of the time the evidence he brings up against us is true and very condemning. So what do we do? What is our defense? When the enemy of our soul and our own consciences condemn us, where can we flee to receive grace. Let’s look at this in layers.

First, we must understand the gospel and the work of our great advocate Jesus. I will put some Scriptures here for us to marinate in…
Colossians 1:13-14 (ESV) 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 2:13-15 (ESV) 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Revelation 12:10 (ESV) 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.
1 John 3:8 (ESV) 8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
John 10:10 (ESV) 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Romans 8:1-2 (ESV) 1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
From these Scriptures we can see many promises for us as believers: deliverance from the domain of darkness; redemption of sins; transference into God’s kingdom (sentenced to life not death); made alive in our union with Jesus; forgiven and acquitted of all trespasses (past, present, future); legally declared righteous by God himself; authority over the enemy because our great King has knocked Satan’s teeth out; the accuser of the brethren is thrown down by Jesus, Jesus has destroyed (rendered powerless) the works of the devil and given us life…new abundant life; no condemnation because the Holy Spirit has set us free and sealed us for eternity. In the words of POD…”is that all you got…I’ll take your best shot!”
We can confidently stand upon these promises, not based upon any of our merit, but only the merit of Jesus Christ!

Second, we have two legal advocates who speak on our behalf and intercede for us when it comes to the accusations of the enemy of our soul…Jesus and the Holy Spirit…
1 John 2:1 (ESV) 1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
John 14:16 (ESV) 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
Romans 8:26-28 (ESV) 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
The Greek word for advocate in 1John 2:1 and Helper in John 14:16 was used in legal language for an advocate for the defense, and more generally for one called upon for help.
This means that we have Jesus who resides in Heaven interceding for us as well as the Holy Spirit who resides in us interceding for us. Good luck messing this whole thing up!

Third, we are free from God’s wrath! Jesus substituted Himself on our behalf.
Romans 5:9-10 (ESV) 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
1 John 2:2 (ESV) 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 4:10 (ESV) 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Simply put…Jesus while he endured hostility, abuse, accusation, etc on the cross, hung condemned between Heaven and earth. Both God and man had condemned him to death. 1 Corinthians 5:21 tells us that Jesus became sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. In becoming sin and absorbing all of our sin by substituting Himself for us, He therefore drank the ‘cup of wrath’ from God in heaven. He received the just punishment for sin…DEATH!
With this substitution comes a divine exchange. When we put our trust and faith in the person of Jesus for our salvation (His death, burial and resurrection) we become the righteousness of God. What does that mean? Simply, Adam’s sin was charged or imputed to us, we have our own sin we commit that is charged to us, when we believe upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, our sin (and Adam’s sin) is charged to Jesus or imputed to Jesus and Jesus perfect righteousness is charged to us or imputed to us. WOW! This means that Christ’s perfection is charged to us and in God’s eyes…He declares us righteous and saved!
This is the good news of the Gospel. We are exempt from God’s wrath in regard to sin because our legal record has been expunged by Jesus perfect righteousness (while living) and his perfect death!

I could keep going, but alas I must stop. There is so much more! To answer the enemy of Nehemiah in regard to his question “ …Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?" YES! Burned stones can be revived by the resurrected life of Jesus Christ. Just as Nehemiah used these charred stones to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, so does Christ revive burned stones in order to build His kingdom and redeem the culture. Remember, condemnation means ‘unfit for use.’ I think you can see from the Scriptures above that all believers no matter what their past and no matter what their current state are all declared ‘fit for use’ by God himself through the work of His Son Jesus Christ! We love you and desire for God to shower you with this revelation that you are a living stone!

1 Peter 2:4-5 (ESV) 4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

2007-07-10T15:53:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple of afterthoughts as we studied chapter three of Nehemiah last Sunday. Work is a common theme throughout the entire book of Nehemiah and the noun work recurs again and again (2:16; 2:18; 3:5; 4:11; 4:15; 4:16-17; 4:19; 4:21; 5:16; 6:3; 6:9; 6:16). Most people reduce work down to what they get paid to do vocationally. When the Bible speaks of work it has in view much more than money or gain. We might define work as any exertion of effort that aims at producing a new state of affairs. This exertion will by necessity require our unique wiring and talents. This is exciting because all work can actually be sacred if done unto the Lord. We live in culture that has been taught to compartmentalize their lives…we have separated the sacred from the secular, when in reality as a believer all that we do (if done unto the Lord) is considered sacred. Why? Not because of our might, our efforts or our work in itself, but because of our union with Christ.
Because Christ is holy, we too are holy, because God declared us righteous upon our belief in the Good News: Christ’s death, burial and resurrection (1 Cor. 15:3-5). Paul said this is of first importance. So, because Christ is sacred and all His work is sacred, then through our union with him, all that we do can actually bring glory to him (1 Cor. 10:31). Just as our sin does not make us sinful, so also our good works do not make us righteous. We sin because we are sinful, therefore we do our work unto the Lord because He is righteous. That is good news for all who are not vocational ministers. Most view my work as a pastor as holy because I am a pastor, when in reality, the same divine energema (energy) that God gives me to fulfill my vocation as pastor is the same divine energema that he gives to all who work a different vocational job…homemaking, sweeping snow, obeying orders, practicing for a performance, building websites, serving coffee, teaching school, upper level management, middle management, etc.
Paul declared in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that we are temples of the Holy Spirit. Because we have been bought with a price we are to glorify God with our bodies. Paul also encourages us to give ourselves (not our work) as living sacrifices which are holy and acceptable (because of Christ’s work) to God. That means I can wake up everyday and present myself as a sacrifice to God. I don’t have to offer a burnt offering or a blood sacrifice. I can present the members of my body (those parts we need to perform our work) as a pleasing, sacred sacrifice to God. I should wake up with the intent to work hard as doing my work for Him and His kingdom.
Meditate upon these words that Paul wrote for our instruction.
Romans 12:1-3 (Phillips NT) 1 With eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers, as an act of intelligent worship, to give him your bodies, as a living sacrifice, consecrated to him and acceptable by him. Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity. 2 3 As your spiritual teacher I give this piece of advice to each one of you. Don't cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance, but try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities by the light of the faith that God has given to you all. For just as you have many members in one physical body and those members differ in their functions, so we, though many in number, compose one body in Christ and are all members of one another. Through the grace of God we have different gifts. If our gift is preaching, let us preach to the limit of our vision. If it is serving others let us concentrate on our service; if it is teaching let us give all we have to our teaching; and if our gift be the stimulating of the faith of others let us set ourselves to it. Let the man who is called to give, give freely; let the man who wields authority think of his responsibility; and let the man who feels sympathy for his fellows act cheerfully.
We can see from these verses, as we simply give ourselves as holy and living sacrifices, we have our minds renewed to the TRUTH that transforms us. Also we can break free of the ‘rat race’ of the world and truly understand what God’s will for our life is. Also, we are too walk in humility as we use our talents to glorify God. The Psalmist tells us to ‘delight ourselves in the Lord and he will give us the desires of our heart’ (Psalm 37:4). That means as we delight in Him, He will birth inside of us His desires and thus we are able to fulfill His will in the earth, all the while effecting change upon our world… Bryan Schwartz

New Website!

2007-07-09T10:26:00.001-06:00

We have finally completed the new website! If you are seeing this blog, you probably found it through our site at www.lf-church.com

Please give us feedback on what you'd like to see added and what you already like about it, we'd love to hear from you. Email feedback@lf-church.com