“FOR THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD”

This phrase appears only three times in scripture, giving clear indication of God’s expectations:

“Worry always, pray occasionally, in the good things give thanks; For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thess. 5:16-18) Wrong! This may very well be how some saints profess their faith to the world, but it is not the will of God. We are to be joyful, glad-hearted and happy continually. We are to be unceasing in prayer, praying perseveringly. And we are to be thankful and give thanks to God for everything -- no matter what the circumstances may be – be thankful, for this is the will of God for all who are in Christ Jesus.

“For this is the will of God, your prosperity: that you should enjoy life’s pleasures.”(1 Thess. 4:3) Wrong! Many saints have bought into the misplaced love of “Your Best Life Now”, but it is not the will of God who warned the desire for riches and worldly pleasure would suffocate our faith. We are to be consecrated, separated and set apart for pure and holy living, abstaining and shrinking from all immorality. We all should know how to possess, control, and manage our own body in consecration and honor, separated from the glitter of the world.

“For this is the will of God, that you should take good care of Self, ignoring the needs and criticism of men, for you are free to live as you choose.” (1 Peter 2:15-17) Wrong!

We are to be consumed with doing good, living good and honest lives as servants of God. We are to show respect and bestow honor on all people, love the Christian brotherhood and reverence God always, recognizing our freedom in Christ is the liberty of bondservants… love-slaves of the Most High God. In this way we silence the ignorant charges and ill-informed criticisms of foolish people who attack us for our faith.

If we are actually going to live God’s will we will need to change, change dramatically, for it is impossible to live out the will of God with our old nature, Self, running things.  We must quit being conformed to this world -- fashioned after this age and adapted to its external, superficial customs – and be transformed (changed) by the entire renewal of our mind: In short we must let the Holy Spirit make our mind new again with the mind of Christ. When we put on the mind of Christ – His nature -- we will be able to prove for ourselves what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the things which are good and acceptable and perfect in His sight. (Rom. 12:2) Living the will of God is Christ in me, living out His life through me. Nothing short of this will please the Father.

LOVE-SLAVES OF THE MOST HIGH GOD

LIAR… LUNATIC… OR LORD…

The Bible is emphatic about one thing: Jesus is either a Liar, a Lunatic, or Lord! The specific claims recorded in the Bible as spoken by Jesus Himself declare He is one of these three, Liar, Lunatic, or Lord. Jesus claimed to be the Son of God who came to earth to die in substitution for sinful man that those who believe might be reconciled to Father God. Now either he was a Liar... deceiving, knowing full well this was not the truth, a Lunatic... delusional in believing as true that which was not true, or Lord... the living truth demonstrating the greatest act of love the world will ever witness.

There are many folks who are not comfortable calling Jesus a Liar or Lunatic, who are equally uncomfortable calling Him Lord, which has such an “I’m the Boss” ring to stubborn stiff-necked people who want to be in control. They want to fill in the right side of the equation by calling Him a “Teacher”, “Rabbi” or “Prophet”, or simply a “Good Person”, anything to get around the dreaded word “Lord” and its inevitable implications of sovereignty, authority, power and control. But Jesus’ own words demand we limit the equation to one of these three choices: Jesus = Liar, Jesus = Lunatic, or Jesus = Lord.

Now some will refuse to choose, as if indecision can save them from the truth, but Jesus said: “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” Notice the two fold commitment demanded by our Lord. Anyone who isn’t “with Me”... definitely on My side, is “against Me”... opposes Me. And, he who “does not gather with Me”... work with Me to advance My Kingdom by gathering in lost souls, “scatters abroad”... works against Me by drawing people away from My Kingdom. With God there is no neutral corner... no place of safety without commitment. With God no commitment is commitment... the wrong commitment.

So we... every person to ever cast a shadow on planet earth, are confronted with a threefold choice of who we believe Jesus is, Liar, Lunatic, or Lord, where indecision is a losing option. I did not write this for those who believe that Jesus is a Liar, Lunatic, or anything else but Lord, for their fate is sealed. No, this is for the benchwarmers, who are trying to hide behind indecision, fearful of commitment to Jesus as Lord while knowing He is not a Liar or Lunatic. My message to you is simple... Don’t be deceived... It simply won’t work... You can’t hide any longer. God’s Grace is here for you now... today, but it will fade as your indecision turns into blind deception, and you will be lost! The Father is calling you today... right now... to proclaim Jesus as Lord of your life... Lord of ALL...

CALLING ALL BENCHWARMERS

VERSES WE WON’T FIND POSTED ON REFRIGERATOR DOORS

Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, Though the olive crop fails and the fields provide no food, Though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will be jubilant in the Lord, I will rejoice in the victorious God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, my personal invincible army; He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And enables me to walk over my “mountain” of trouble and suffering, And to make spiritual progress. (Hab. 3:17-19) When adversity finds our address, and it will, it is time to put our praise on, to “Count it all Joy” and rejoice in the Lord. To be “Jubilant” means to feel and express great happiness, to be  overjoyed, exultant, triumphant, joyful, ecstatic, rapturous… We are talking about all out unrestrained uninhibited worship here. This is how we tap into the invincible strength of our victorious God: The joy of the Lord is our strength. We make the journey through trouble and suffering -- we climb the mountain of Bad -- in order to make spiritual progress.

Consider the work of God; for who can make straight what He has made crooked?  In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: surely God has appointed the one as well as the other... (Ecc. 7:13-14) God appoints both prosperity and adversity, and we can’t change the crooked... the adversity, only God can change His “work.”

Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity? (Job 2:10) “Adversity” is from the Hebrew words “ra/raah” and means “the entire spectrum of bad.” God appoints both good and bad.

He knows the way I take, When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His steps; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the commandments of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. (Job 23:10-12) God’s testing produces good, for only gold that is smelted – purified by melting – is minted!

The “work of God”, no matter how we view it, has a divine purpose, our transformation. God appoints… ordains, both good and bad -- willing good and allowing bad – bringing balance to the extremes in measured proportions unique to each saint. You see, God is at work in each of us, willing and working in us of His good pleasure… our perfection. The brightest prosperity – prosperity of the spirit – is found during our darkest adversity as the indwelling Spirit of the living God molds our carnal nature into the beautiful nature of Christ.   We should therefore rejoice, and “Count it all joy.” What God has done… He has done best!

CONSIDER THE WORK OF GOD

SEEING GOD

(“See”, from the Greek word eido, means to perceive, experience, know…)

Some behold God where countless others look and don't see God at all. David was that kind of man. Where his presumptuous priest and his scornful wife could only see a gilded box and frenzied crowd, he could see God. This has to be deepest reality, to see God, glimpsing what remains after all else is shaken out and burned. We tend to respond to the breaking in of “deepest reality” in many ways, resorting to bureaucracy, policing, aloofness, scorn, pride, false humility, ridicule, or... some of us may just dance!

I know a lady who dances in church. No matter what style of music, no matter what song, no matter how much those around her disapprove, no matter how hard or easy her life has been -- scorned or loved, entertaining or envied -- she worships with all her might, her face upturned and radiant, her arms spread angelic... cruciform, an instinctive gesture of relinquishment and acceptance, her body alive with God hunger. She dances because she sees God. Right there in the midst of a multitude of people preoccupied with Self-life, anxious to get through the service so they can go home feeling good about themselves, this lady finds the table God has prepared for her in His presence, and surrounded by the enemy, she dances...

Uzzah was presumptuous: Our role in worship is not to keep the Almighty from mishap or embarrassment. He takes care of Himself. Any kind of God-handling is risky at best and deadly at worst. Michal was scornful: Our role in worship is not to keep ourselves from embarrassment, to protect our death-grip on prideful propriety, prescribing etiquette that maintains our dignity at the cost of honoring God. Worship is for God... not us, and without passion leads to barrenness. Between these extremes... between death and barrenness, in a steep narrow place, David found God’s table and David danced, a little bit of Shimmy, a little bit of Twist and a whole lot of Locomotion, David leaped and twirled in wild‑limbed abandonment. There’s something about seeing God during worship that can drive even a king to “get down.” Undignified? Well... yes. Repulsive? To some... to the ones who only see God on walls under glass, framed and hung. But isn’t this the point?

Worship is all about Seeing God... His Presence... His Face, perceiving and experiencing God... beholding God. Christ rent the veil of separation on the cross, creating a doorway of opportunity into God’s holiest place, His presence. Sometimes we never find the veil, other times we find the rend and peek through. But there are times when we pry the rend apart stepping through the veil into Him, and we dance or pogo or go prostrate or wave or vibrate or sob or run or shout…The exuberance within will demonstrate when we truly See God, producing energetic and prolific manifestations flowing out of bodies not yet fully equipped for divine engagement...

Worship still resides in that steep narrow place between the presumptuous -- those who want to protect God from mishap or embarrassment, and the scornful -- those who want to protect the dignity, sanctity and propriety of worship with watchwords like modesty and moderation, who in reality are protecting themselves. Both want to legislate worship, but worship is a dicey thing, always wanting to push beyond man’s opinions and is, by its very nature, well… freestyle. As long as scriptural propriety is maintained, whether one backstrokes, breaststrokes, dog-paddles or just floats is between them and God. The living water of God’s corporate worship-pool should provide the freedom to splash around without legislating how to swim; even a half-naked king should feel welcome. And somehow, in the unfathomable mysteries of God, our flailing about in His worship-pool ascribes and declares His worth – the true meaning of the old English “weorthscipe” from which we derive the English word “worship” -- and brings delight to the Father’s heart. Go figure that one out!

BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART

FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD

PURPOSE DRIVEN LOVE

From beginning to end it’s all about love. God loves us to much to leave us the way we are, so He gives us His Spirit to manifest His nature in us. The Apostle Paul called it being “conformed into the image of His Son”... to be so molded and shaped inwardly by the implanted Christ-Life that our outward expression becomes a reflection of His life. Much like the sun reflecting on the water, we reflect the derived likeness of Christ: From a transformed heart we express His nature in our thoughts, words, and actions. Only in Christlikeness can we truly love with agapao love and fulfill the two great commandments to love God and love others. I don’t think God is much concerned with what label we impose upon ourselves, whether we are a vanilla or chocolate denomination, movement X or independent Y, the only real abiding issue before our loving Father is how much do we resemble His Beloved Son. This God of love, who paid such an unthinkable price to draw us to His side and release His DNA in us: Do you really think there is anything more important to Him then to form His Son in us, to see the nature of Jesus take root and blossom in His blood bought children. Nothing can separate us from His loving work in us, willing and doing His good pleasure in our lives... nothing but our volition! Nothing but our conscious choice to maintain Self on the throne of our heart... to refuse to align our heart with His heart... to willfully choose lovers less wild...

It should not surprise us that the narrow straight way to eternal life is difficult and wrought with trouble, adversity and pain – in a word, bad -- for these are the Grace-Builders that enable the crucified life, that in death of Self Christ’s new life might spring forth. The roaring lion still prowls earth but he must make a road trip to the throne of God before he can devour anything... before he can so much as touch a numbered hair. God allows in His wisdom what He could easily prevent in His power. Job understood  the “givings” and takings” of the Lord, accepting both good and bad providentially, with “though He slay me” trust, and never sinned with his lips by blaming  God, (Job 1:21-22; 2:10; 13:15). Job understood... we need to understand also. The Master Potter’s love is released in the creative pressure of His hands... ever molding... always shaping, nothing in our life is without purpose, for God never wastes bad. We need only gaze upon the baffling, horrendous cross of our Savior to understand we are Bone of His Bone and Flesh of His Flesh: We are Baptized into Christ... baptized into His death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of His resurrected life... conformed into Christlikeness. God never said it would be easy, but He did say we would not have to walk this way alone...

“FEAR NOT, FOR I AM WITH YOU”

MUSINGS ON DYING

Death, for a saint of the Most High God, is merely stepping through the door connecting time to eternity... into the waiting arms of our Lord. Death is never a defeat or a loss for the sovereign God takes His children home at a time, place and way of His choosing. Only our Lord and Savior has conquered death... has put death in its grave. Only our Lord has the keys to death... only our Lord.

          Yes, we pray for the healing God to heal, the protecting God to protect, the providing God to provide, but sometimes God has other plans... as testified by Paul. God doesn't make all things good… God makes good from all things (J. Chandler). Death is the destiny of all human kind, and saints are appointed to die once, so... unless we FLY, we will die. When God intervenes with healing or some supernatural intervention that allows a saint to escape death we should rejoice, but when He takes a saint home we should rejoice much more... with joy unspeakable. We make far too much out of the time, place and way of death...  “The secret things belong to God.”

The powers of darkness are soundly defeated every time a saint goes home -- regardless of when, where or how – for their fate is irreversibly set, their doom is sealed, their only solace, however meager, is how much company they will have with them in their eternal torment. The cross did not take the life of our Lord, He lay His own life down. God is sovereign: Scripture states no sparrow falls to the ground without the Father’s knowledge and consent; they are not forgotten, uncared for or neglected for they are in the sight, literally the presence, of God.  And this must of necessity apply to man, for we “are of more value than many sparrows.” God, and only God, can authorize the passage of a saint’s soul and spirit through the doorway of time into eternity. Death for a saint is simply God calling them home to be with Him: God lays their physical body down to await the resurrection, and welcomes their soul and spirit into His eternal presence. No, there is no victory for the powers of darkness in a saint’s death, only resounding defeat...

And we who are alive and remain: In our humanity we suffer the loss of a cherished loved one... we will miss them, but in our Blessed Hope we rejoice with an innumerable company of angels, with the festal gathering of the general assembly and church of the First Born... for another saint has gone home...

GOD DOESN'T MAKE ALL THINGS GOOD…

GOD MAKES GOOD FROM ALL THINGS…

GOD IS SEEKING WORSHIPERS

Worship, simply put, is to ascribe or declare value to something. God created man with the capacity and need to worship, so, by design, man is a worshiper: Whether we acknowledge our worship, understand that we are worshiping, or recognize the object of our worship as deity, we all worship something. We are by “nature” worshipers: the focus our worship takes will reflect our nature, the desires of our heart.

Worship does not always follow a prescribed formula within a formalized setting, and the object of our affection may not be a deity in the strictest sense of the word, but we all worship something.  Worship takes on many forms: We may worship at the altar of Self, our bodies, or other people.  We may worship money, our jobs, possessions or power, or control. We may worship hobbies, sex, drugs, desires, or thrills. We may worship ideals, goals, education, intellect, or we may worship pleasure in its many illusions of form.  And some of us worship the God who created the heavens and the earth.  But we all worship something!

Our character is shaped by the things we worship. If we worship the things of the world we will become like the world, but if we worship God -- if we ascribe and declare His worth -- we will take on the very nature and attributes of Christ. People who worship money become greedy.  Those who worship power become ruthless.  Men who worship women become lustful.  People who worship themselves become vain and arrogant.  But those who worship the living God become Christ-like, being “transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory.”

God is seeking worshipers, delighting in those people who release the praises of the Holy Spirit. You see, the act of worship deifies the object worshiped. And God, who is a jealous God, will play second fiddle to no one… to nothing! What we worship is extremely important, for worship determines what we will become, chooses what image we will be made into: We become like the “god” we worship! This is why God is seeking worshipers... He wants us to worship Him so we will become like Him...

AND… AS WE BEHOLD HIM... WE BECOME LIKE HIM...

GOD IS LOVE

God is enthusiastically fervent in His pursuit of us, using love to capture our restless heart. His love is Compelling: It heals us, stripping away our pretense in restoration. His love is Enthralling: It captivates and commands us to be the same... to be loving. His love is Overwhelming: It is designed to overwhelm all things, especially fear, shame, and low self esteem. His love is Comforting: He rejoices over us with singing... lullabies of love, to quiet our worrisome heart.  His love is Faithful: His faithfulness abounds beyond our faithlessness, He simply cannot deny His love for us. His love is Compulsive: He passionately seeks those who seek Him -- drawing them like a human magnet -- allowing them to find Him -- rewarding their diligence by lavishing pouring His love into their heart. His love is Prodigal... Wastefully Extravagant: He abundantly and profusely lavishes His love on His undeserving children. His love is Unconscionable... Irrational:  His love exceeds the rational limits of human reason. His love is Sacrificial... Outrageous and Shockingly Sacrificial: He gave His Beloved Son for love of a world that hates Him. His love is Consistently Constantly Constant: When we do good He approves of us and when we do badly He accepts us. His love is never affected by our performance. His love is Passionate: A consuming fire overwhelming every willing heart in its path. His love is scandalous -- outrageous and shocking to the natural mind -- and never more than one heartfelt “yes” away...

Love is not simply God’s choice -- love is His nature -- God is Love.  His love is the first fruit of His Spirit in our life, the fruit from which all the other fruit-virtues flows. All the virtues of our Father, our Savior and the Holy Spirit – all the virtues of the Godhead – are carried on the wings of love. God loves us with a perfect love... an everlasting love... a relentless love... an unquenchable, insatiable, immeasurable, inexhaustible, irrepressible, irrational, unshakable, inescapable, unmovable, constantly constant unchanging love.  There is nothing we can do to make Him love us more, and nothing we can do to make Him love us less.  God loves us 100%... all the way... all the time! He doesn’t love us for what we do -- thank God -- He loves us for who we are... His children.

AND… AS WE BEHOLD HIM... WE BECOME LIKE HIM...

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SPIRITUALITY (Thoughts on the dynamics of becoming Christlike)

The Apostle Paul states a key commandment in Col. 3:2: “Set your mind on things above, not on things on earth.” Paul expanded on this thought using slightly different terms in Romans chapter eight: “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Note: Paul was speaking to “brethren” in these passages. Saints, we have a choice between two lifestyles, two ways to “walk” or live out our life before God.  Those who live according to the flesh are controlled by Self’s desires and set their minds on things on earth, seeking those things which gratify their fleshly nature. Those who live according to the Spirit are controlled by the desires of the Holy Spirit and set their minds on things above, seeking those things which gratify the Holy Spirit. Those who continually live according to the flesh will, spiritually, suffocate and die, as the Sower Parable states (i.e., seed sown among the thorns).

The context of Col. 3:2 is very important, setting the criteria by which we can obey this command. “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is ... For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”  (verse one and three). “If then”: For the saint there is no more important “If” for to be “raised with Christ” is co-resurrection, which can only occur after co-death and co-burial of Self. As far as the world is concerned we have died – our fleshly nature Self has been crucified with Christ – and we have been raised with Christ -- sharing His resurrection and His nature -- to a new life hidden with Christ in God.

The focus of our mind will remain earthbound until we willfully take the pathway to Golgotha… presenting our bodies as “living sacrifices.” Self will not die easily, rather bit by bit, making our co-death and co-resurrection an on-going process. This is why Col. 3:2 is in the present imperative, a command involving continuous action. We must moment by moment day by day yield to the Holy Spirit’s work of removing the tentacles of Self from our heart and replacing them with the resurrected nature of our Lord, as we refocus our mind on things above. Paul’s command in Rom. 12:2 fits nicely here: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” We must stop allowing the world’s culture and customs to mold and shape our mind through an earthbound mindset. Rather, we must submit to the Holy Spirit who will renew our mind in conformance to the principles and values of God’s Kingdom. Renewed minds… minds made new again, will, by nature, focus on things above…

But there is more: We are not only partakers of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, but of His ascension, for God has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” You see, believers and Christ are one – where He is we are! Here is how the Amplified Bible explains co-ascension in Eph. 2:6: “ And He (God) raised us up together with Him (Jesus) and made us sit down together, giving us joint seating with Him (Jesus) in the heavenly sphere by virtue of our being in Christ Jesus.”

Co-death, co-burial, co-resurrection, and co-ascension are the spiritual potentials of those saints who are being “conformed to the image of His Son”, molded into the nature of Christ… sharing inwardly His likeness (Rom. 8:29). Of course, submission to the Lordship of Christ, and the willingness, no, the desire to put Self to death are the critical foundational steps for anyone forsaking all to become Christlike. These spiritual potentials become realities when we learn to possess our possessions and appropriate by faith what God’s word has entrusted to us. And as our experiential position is brought into conformance with our judicial position – as we become what God says we already are – Christ’s victory will become our victory in the fullest sense.

WHERE HE IS… WE ARE…

GOD LOVES THE WORLD

Saints, we need a clear understanding about how we should relate to this world we inhabit. The Apostle John states in John 3:16, “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son”, whereas this same John writes in 1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” And James, the brother of our Savior states for the record in James 4:4, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God”, calling those who befriend the world adulterers. These passages pose a dichotomy which can only be understood if we understand the “world” God loved is a different world then the world He commands us not to love. God loved the perfect world He created but hates the corrupted sinful world humanity turned it into through willful disobedience. We must take care to keep the distinction between God’s perfect original creation and man’s twisted sin-laden representation of it, when we study scriptures. We should, as Randy Acorn recommends, add the worlds “as it is now, under the curse” whenever a passage is referring to the world after the fall of mankind. For Example:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...

Do not love the world, as it is now, under the curse, or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, as it is now, under the curse, the love of the Father is not in him.

Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world, as it is now, under the curse, is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world, as it is now, under the curse, makes himself an enemy of God.

And do not be conformed to this world, as it is now, under the curse, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

For the wisdom of this world, as it is now, under the curse, is foolishness with God.

We know that we are of God, and the whole world, as it is now, under the curse, lies under the sway of the wicked one.

For the form of this world, as it is now, under the curse, is passing away.

GOD HATES THE WORLD

AS IT IS NOW, UNDER THE CURSE

AND WE SHOULD TOO

(1 Jn. 2:15; James 4:4; Jn. 3:16; Rom. 12:2; 1 Cor. 3:19, 7:31; Jn. 5:19)

THIS ELECTION IS NOTHING IF NOT A HARBINGER OF THE TIMES

“For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one (i.e., the antichrist) will be revealed.” Saints, it is the Spirit filled Church that “restrains” the lawless spiritual erosion at work in the world, to bring about in God’s timing the revelation of the antichrist and all the “End-Things” God has foreordained. It is God who places leaders in power, to fulfill His purposes: Obama won in 2012 because it was God’s will. Our country’s moral and spiritual values are steadily eroding, our culture is clearly left of center, and America is now humming, if not marching to the drum beat of the secular progressives. It now may be impossible for a truly conservative person to be elected president.

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come.” Things are going to get worse as more and more people are blinded by the god of this world, despising good, loving pleasure, turning away from the path of righteousness to pursue Fool’s Gold -- the cares, pleasures, desires, and riches of secular earth life. Many “professing” Christians are void of the implanted Christ-Life, never having presented their bodies as a “living sacrifice” to God: Never having allowed the Holy Spirit to take control and transform their nature into the nature of Christ. They are Christians in name only, wearing the label but not possessing what they profess, and their numbers will grow. There will be a great falling away -- we are already seeing it -- the love of many is growing cold, and powerless forms of “godliness” abound.

Saints, our great Eternal Hope should deliver us from all despair. We have known this time would come for God’s word clearly tells of it. Well... now it is here! Spiritual erosion will bring persecution, and persecution will bring a great harvest for God’s Kingdom, and soon... very soon, we will all go home to be with Daddy. But for now, we have work to do. It truly is an exciting time, so... don’t get distracted... don’t fall asleep... keep your lamps burning brightly… be saturates with the Holy Spirit of God… set your mind on things above. Be something different: Be Salt! Be Light! Let people taste and see the goodness of God’s Kingdom flowing out of you... like a river of living water. And... Let it flow 24/7...

(2 Thess. 2:7-8; 2 Tim. 3:1-5, Matt. 24; 12)

BE SALT…

BE LIGHT…

AND... LET IT FLOW 24/7...

BONHOEFFER REVISITED

When Christ calls a man, He bids Him come and die. The essence of discipleship is revealed in understanding Grace: Specifically, what Grace cost God, and what Grace will cost all who answer God’s call.  

Cheap Grace is the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner... the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance and conversion, baptism without church discipline, discipleship without obedience, communion without confession … profession without possession. Cheap Grace is Grace without discipleship, Grace without the Cross, Grace without Jesus Christ living and incarnate... Grace without transformation into Christlikeness. Cheap Grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin that frees us from the slavery and toils of sin, but a cheap covering for sin with no contrition required and no deliverance from the bondage to sin expected or desired. Cheap Grace is the Grace we bestow on ourselves.

Costly Grace is the Treasure Hidden in a Field... the Pearl of Great Price, for the sake of which a man will gladly go and sell all that he possesses. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye or cut off the hand that causes him to stumble. It is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves all to follow Him. Costly Grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. It is costly because it condemns sin, and it is grace because it justifies the sinner. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is Grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it compels submission to the yoke of Lordship... transformation into Christlikeness, and it is Grace because His yoke is easy and His burden is light.  Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of His Son -- we were bought at such a horrific price -- and what cost God much cannot be cheap for us. And, above all, it is Grace because God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life. Costly Grace is the Grace God bestows on us by the Incarnation of Christ... Christ in me, my only hope of glory...

WHAT COST GOD MUCH CANNOT BE CHEAP FOR US