God's Great Strength Shows Up in His Grace

⁴⁰ A man with leprosy came and knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. “If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,” he said.

⁴¹ Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” ⁴² Instantly the leprosy disappeared, and the man was healed. Mark 1:40-42 NLT

Johnnie Moore in his book 'Dirty God' writes a powerful narrative taken from the perspective of the leper;

Jesus stopped and looked in my direction as did dozens of others.

A flood of fear swept across the faces…children ducked behind their parents.

“Unclean” someone shouted.

Again, I don’t blame them. I was a huddled mass of death.

But I scarcely heard them.

I scarcely saw them.

Their panic I had seen a thousand times.

His compassion, however, I’d never beheld.

Everyone stepped back except Him. He stepped toward me.

Toward me!

Five years ago, my wife stepped toward me.

She was the last one to do so.

Now, He did.

I did not move.

I just spoke.

“Lord, you can heal me if you will.”

Had He healed me with a word I would have been thrilled.

Had He cured me with a prayer I would have rejoiced.

But He wasn’t satisfied with speaking to me.

He drew near to me. He touched me.

Five years ago wife had touched me.

No one had touched me since…until today.

Johnnie Continues...

Grace and God’s power are friends with one another. It is not a weak God who associates with weak people, it is a strong God attracted to the opportunity to be powerful in their weakness.

Grace does not show God’s weakness, but His incredible strength.

Amen

RP

The Hope of the Resurrection

We hear a lot about hope these days.
It really became popular as a campaign slogan a few years ago.

But what exactly is hope?
As English speaking people with a Greco-Roman mindset and philosophy, hope has a very abstract meaning for us.

For example, "You gonna make it to the game tonight?" "Hope so."

Hope so? What does that mean?
It's very abstract. It doesn't really mean anything.

So what then does hope really mean?

I try to spend a couple hours each week looking into Ancient Hebrew.
Why?
Because all my heros like Abraham, Joseph, David, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, John and most importantly Jesus had one thing in common; they were all Jews.

They all had something else in common, they spoke Hebrew.
Not one word of English ever came from their lips.

So if I wish to understand what they understood, I must step out of my English mindset and step into the Hebrew mindset.

We think abstractly, they thought concretely.
We love adjectives, they love verbs.

We say "Wow, what a gorgeous day."
Too abstract.
They say instead, "I feel the sun shining on my face."

See the difference?

So when it comes to hope, we think of hope as something to be attained.
They see hope as attained.

The Hebrew definition of hope in terms we can best understand is a rope.
To be securely attached.

Hope to them meant security.
To be tighty held to something.

So that brings real clarity to a famous scripture I'll get to in a sec.

We come to Jesus by faith.
And because of our faith we then have hope.
But this is not future hope, it is hope for today.

Because of our faith in Christ, we are securely attached to God.

So then who is doing the holding, the attaching?
God is.

Aren't you glad?

Which is better?
You holding onto to Christ or Christ holding onto you?

Which strength is more trustworthy?
My strength to hold onto God or His strength to hold onto me?

I've tried my own strength.
It is hopeless.

I trust instead in His strength to hold me.

And that my friends is why our hope is secure.
Faith brings us, hope attaches us, love keeps us.

Now to the verse...

³¹ What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?

If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

³² Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? ³³ Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. ³⁴ Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”^) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Doesn't that make more sense now?
This is the hope of the resurrection...
because Christ has risen, all power in heaven and on earth has been given to Him.

He not only has the power to save, He has the strength to keep...forever!

RP

Faith That Works

In Luke, the Apostles ask Jesus to “increase their faith.” This question is only asked because they have seen first-hand the power of faith in action.

By this time in Jesus ministry they had seen all the miracles that faith can bring. They had also seen Jesus turn His back on His own home-town because of the lack of faith.

And also by this time in their walk as Jesus’ disciples, they had heard on many occasions “your faith has healed you.” So the favor they were asking was a very legitimate one. They could see the benefits of increased faith.

They rightly concluded from all they had observed that more faith would yield more results. More faith seemed like a very logical course of action.

But you can also kind of see a hitch in their request. It was self-serving. It looks as though they are asking for more faith for what they can get out of it rather than for the glory of God.

Jesus, fully aware of mankind’s bent toward ‘what’s in it for me’, gives a very keen reply to their request for what seems to be a very honorable favor.

 

He first responds with the famous ‘faith of a mustard seed’ and secondly with a parable about obedience. Let’s look at these two responses and apply them to us so we too can ‘increase our faith’.

First, the mustard seed.

 

As most of you know, if you have spent any amount of time in church or Sunday school, someone has informed you of just how small the mustard seed is.

 

It is about the size of a grain of sand. This is actually quite significant because it says much more about the one you have the faith in than it does about the amount of faith in the believer.

 

Jesus is making a very salient point here. Increasing our faith is not as important as whom the faith is in.

 

The amount of faith needed is small because the power of the one believed in is great. A mustard seed sized faith can uproot a tree with an extensive root system and toss itself into the sea.

Notice it isn’t you doing the digging and the uprooting and the throwing, it is your faith in the One who can do the digging, the uprooting and the throwing.

 

So therein lays the key to God honored faith; less belief in you and more belief in Him. Pride is such a stumbling block to faith. Pride in self takes away reliance on God.  

 

The extreme size of the universe points us to the realization of the limitlessness of God. And yet, we give him so little. I’m afraid we often don’t even have the size of faith of a mustard seed. And that’s pretty small indeed.

So part two of the response to ‘increase our faith’ was a parable.

 

This parable was about obedience.

So here’s the gist of the parable.

 

When a servant comes in from working in the fields does his master say “Come eat with me?”

No, the master makes the servant serve him and when the master is finished eating the servant can then sit down and eat as well.

 

And does the master thank the servant for doing what he is told?

No, the servant simply did what was expected of him.

 

Jesus concludes the parable with this, “In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’”

So what is Jesus telling us? Faith requires obedience. When we realize that God can do the impossible, obedience to what He wants is how we act out our belief in Him. Since we are in desperate need of what He has to offer, it only makes sense to be completely obedient to what he is asking. No exceptions.

 
Let’s go to Abraham.

The Bible tells us that Abraham’s faith in God was unwavering. He believed God’s promise of a son through his wife Sarah.

He got off track a bit with the whole Hagar and Ishmael thing, but Abraham believed God was going to bless the world through a son that had not yet been born.

And this belief was not deterred even though he was almost 100 years of age and his wife was 90.
So what does this kind of faith mean exactly?

It means that Abraham continued to act on his faith.

In other words, he did not believe Sarah was going to have a miraculous conception. It means he continued to do the things that bring about conception even though it seemed like God was taking His dear sweet time.

Faith always requires obedience.

If Abraham had not followed up his faith with the action of intimacy with his wife, the story would have turned out much differently.

But it didn’t because Abraham followed up his faith with action.

That’s a pretty good deal for ‘ol Abe. “You know Sarah, God said we were going to have a son, and tonight could be the night.”
 

So now Abraham has another great test to his faith. The test was measured not by his belief but by his action as a result of his faith.

In Genesis 22, Abraham is asked by God to take his son, his one and only son to Moriah where He is to offer his beloved son as a burnt offering on a mountain that God would show him. Abraham’s faith required action.

 

An action so significant that few people who have ever lived would do what he was about to do.

So Abraham took his son, his one and only son, whom he loved and waited on for so long and was prepared to offer him as a sacrifice.

 

So intent was Abraham in doing exacting what was asked of him God stepped in and not a moment too soon.

 

When God intervened, He told Abraham “Now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your one and only son.”

Friends how do you know God loved you? Because He has not even withheld His Son, His one and only Son. God in His love for us has withheld nothing.

 

If He did not withhold His Son from you (us) is there anything He would withhold?

 

But there remains yet a larger question. What are you withholding from Him? What are you not trusting Him with?

 

Faith is letting go and letting God...

 

RP......;HeH

 

Why 'Fruit of the Vine' for Lord's Supper?

I've often wondered why Jesus chose the 'Fruit of the Vine' as the way to remember His blood that was shed for our redemption. When I think of grape juice I think of purple, not red the color of blood. Why not cherry juice? It's red.

I'm sure there are a lot of really good answers to this question, but allow me to add yet one more.

In the Old Testament, there were three primary colors used in the making of the the High Priest's clothing. Blue, Purple and Scarlet (red).

Blue represents God. The blue sky, the heavens, the things above.
Scarlet (red) represents us. Adam was named after adamah (red earth). Our blood is red and so red is a good color to represent man.

Jesus was both God and man. Fully God and fully man. He was blue and red all in one.

When blue and red are mixed the color is purple. Our salvation was made possible by the God/Man Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Neat huh?

RP

Freedom From the Law

“Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” 2 Corinthians 3:17 NLT.

This verse from 2 Corinthians is part of Paul’s response to people looking to the law and legalism to find acceptance with God. And even though we have the scriptures to remind us over and over again that we are saved by grace, we still can fall prey to the ‘performance’ trap.

We get in our minds that God loves us when we do good and punishes us when we do bad. That is a horrible trap and many, many Christians are under this false teaching.

Let’s look at Paul’s entire context so we can get an accurate picture of this text and a more accurate picture of grace and what it means to be under grace.

Paul begins this chapter with the reminder that the law, the old covenant, ends in death. The old covenant is what Moses wrote and what religious leaders added to and added to. This law ends in death. Why? Because if you break just one of theses commands you are guilty of breaking the entire law. And the result of breaking the law is death. Once the law is broken, you can’t fix it again. It’s like Humpty Dumpty and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men... The law condemns the very best of us because we have all committed at least one violation.

But God has given us a new covenant. And in this covenant the Spirit gives life. In this covenant,the penalty of sin has already been bought and paid for. We will still fall short of God’s glorious standard as revealed in the law, but we are not held under it’s condemnation when we violate it.

Now please don’t misunderstand. God still hates sin. He is a just God and sin must be punished. But His Son Jesus already took the punishment for our sin before we even committed them. By the way, that also includes the sin we commit after we are believers. He didn’t just pay the price for the sin we commit before we knew Jesus, He poured out all His blood so all our sins would be forgiven.

Now, back to the law. Remember when Moses went on the mountain to receive the law and when he came down his face was glowing and so the people asked him to put on a veil? Remember that? Paul says if you thought that one was glorious, the old covenant that makes us ‘wrong’ with God, how much more glorious is the new covenant, the one that makes us ‘right’ with God. And God seals this covenant with His own Spirit. What an awesome covenant!

You see, we are no longer defined in God’s eyes by what we do, but rather by what we believe. We are 'justified by faith'. We are made right with God by believing in His Son not by ‘making a list and checking it twice’.

So then is this a license to sin? Can I do whatever I want since all my sin is paid for?

Paul answers this. “Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound? By no means. We died to sin. How can we live any longer therein.” Romans 6

But I really love how he answers this in 2 Corinthians 3. Read this. 16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

If you try to overcome the flesh by looking at the law and comparing yourself to it you will only condemn yourself. The ONLY way to overcome the flesh is to look at Jesus.

In this month, we celebrate the freedom we have Americans. A greater freedom is the freedom we have in Christ. The freedom to not be bound by a bunch of rules that only condemn us. The freedom that comes from faith in Christ and the change only God can make by God Himself working within us. And this freedom can never be taken away by a ruling from the Supreme court.

RP

An Easter Message

Long ago there was a Garden. It was lush and beautiful and full of life. It was the sole possession of only two people and they had complete dominion over it. You know this place was beautiful because the Lord God Himself came down every evening to stroll in its beauty and walk intimately with His crown of creation.

There were many plants and animals of all varieties and its breadth of splendor has never been equaled. There were also two trees and their significance also had no equal.

One tree was the Tree of Life. The two in the Garden could eat of it any time they wished. There was no prohibition of its delicacy.

Then there was another tree; the tree of the Knowledge of God and Evil. Its delicacy was also very appealing. Maybe even the most appealing of all. But the two in the Garden were sternly warned not to partake of its pleasure because to do so would mean death.

You know the story. They ate of that tree and disaster struck. The universe forever changed with that one fateful bite and man's destiny was altered in an instant. So terrible was the bite, that the Man and Woman had to be thrown from Paradise so they could not eat from the Tree of Life. So zealous was God for the Tree of Life that He sent a warrior angel to protect it from the Man so they could not return to it, eat from it and bring more disaster to the universe God created.

Now, there was a second garden where Perfection walked with God. And He prayed in that garden, “Father, if it is possible, please take this cup from me. But not my will but Yours.” Was it the cross that caused Him such agony or knowing for the first time in all eternity, there would be separation in the Trinity? There was never a time that Jesus was ever apart from God. There was never a moment when they did share fellowship one with another. But God would turn His back on Jesus as all His anger and judgement for sin was poured out on Jesus.

After a night of prayer, His time had come. He stood before Pilot the Governor and Caiaphas the High Priest and though Pilot found no fault in Him, He was crucified on a cross. But what they called crucifixion, God called sacrifice. And what they called justice, God called atonement. And at the 3 o’clock hour Jesus cried out “It is finished.” And He bowed His head in rest.

Jesus, by His own submission, became the new Tree of Life and whoever partakes of Him will live forever. And by His resurrection, He was the first to raise from the dead and never die. He is the First Born of all creation. In Egypt the first born died so God's people could be freed, Jesus died so He could be the First Born of all who are free.

The grave of Jesus was not a tomb; it was a womb. And from the womb sprang eternal life that glorious morning when the angel rolled backed the stone and God said to Jesus like Jesus said to Lazarus, “Come out!”

And the body Jesus raised with, is the body we will raise with. Our own grave is not a tomb, but a womb. And we too will spring forth from our womb into eternal life just like Jesus, because Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. John 11:25

As you celebrate the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth this weekend, remember He is the Tree of Life and all who partake of Him will never die. There is no guardian angel to keep any away from Him. All who believe may dine.

Feast my friends.

RP

My Dad is The Coolest Cat in the Universe!

So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him! Romans 8:12-17 The Message

This is a really interesting take on this passage from Romans.

Remember back to chapter 7. Paul is wrestling with his flesh. He says stuff like "I want to do what is right- but I can't. I don't want to do what is wrong but I do it anyway."

Sounds all too familiar doesn't it?

But then Paul starts off chapter 8 with "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."

Yyyyeeeeesssss!!!

Paul goes on to say how we are not on our own. We don't have to fight this battle with our flesh by ourselves.

God is not naive about the condition of the human condition. He knows we can't make it on our own. He knows we need a clean slate and a constant companion.

Enter the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is just like Jesus. Jesus is just like the Holy Spirit.

Jesus did not come to condemn the world and neither does the Holy Spirit. He is not put within us to point an accusing finger, rather to help mold and change us. He convicts, works, shapes and disciplines but just like the Father... just like Jesus... He loves.

He is our deposit of guarantee. His indwelling proves we are not slaves to fear, but children of God.

We get to live and love and give and rejoice and approach God with confidence because His presence proves we are God's children.

Living in fear of God does not change my habits. Love poured out through grace does.

I am faithful to my wife not because I fear the consequences of cheating. I am faithful to my wife because I love her. And that is a way more powerful motivation for purity.

The Father loves us and He proved it once by the sacrifice of Jesus. He proves it again by actually living inside us, through His Spirit.

Because He loved me first, I know can love Him back. And because I love Him back, I want to live a life that says "Yep, he's one of Ours."

I don't want to live life cowering in fear like a beaten down dog... I want to live in power, love and adventure because my heavenly Dad is the coolest cat in the universe.

RP