Dispute over Thomas Kinkade's will heads to court
Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Thomas Kinkade's widow and girlfriend took their dispute over the late painter's estate to court on Tuesday as handwritten notes allegedly written by Kinkade that could be central to the clash were made public for the first time.

Amy Pinto-Walsh was living with Kinkade and found his body when the 54-year-old accidentally overdosed on alcohol and Valium in April. She asked a judge to allow arguments over the artist's contested will to be heard in open probate court.

Lawyers for Kinkade's wife of 30 years, Nanette Kinkade, and for his company, want the terms to be decided in secret binding arbitration. The couple had been legally separated for more than two years when Kinkade died. Get the rest of the story

Thomas Kinkade National Archive (Photo credit: bamalibrarylady)

It's a shame his life ended in such a cloud of disparity and uncertainty. We should remember, but for the grace of God there go I. Like many Christian men today learn, it's easy to lose site of the finish line and take a wrong turn in life. The paradox principle taught by Jesus to die to self in order to live, is missed when men are not discipled in a fellowship of believers that emphasize biblical discipleship. The story of the life of King David gives us a clear vision of the life God desires for each of us, and the life of Solomon David's son, far closer resembles the outcome of many of us who fall from grace. But as we learn in 2 Chronicles, God's grace is never far and He longs to restore us as His children. See the story of Kinkade's death.?

Many of the blogs today include comments from readers who harshly judge the life of Thomas Kinkade, some have stated that these rumors shed light on Kinkade's lifestyle. I think this story gives ample room for rumor mongering, but it doesn't really shed light. Light would dispel doubt, not amplify it. More correctly this casts shadows upon his choices and calls them into question, and unfortunately places a great deal of unwanted burden upon his family; but it doesn't shed any light. What will shed light is the outcome of these events, especially as they relate to his relationship with this "other" woman. The fact that he abandoned his family for this woman, now that may shed light as to the character of his life and his maturity as a Christian man, but it doesn't sum up his entire life. Using the excuse that he was an artist to excuse his lifestyle, if those incidents from this story accurately reflect a pattern and not merely a lapse in judgement or an honest mistake, just doesn't do justice to artists who do not engage in such practices.

Either way, the judgement we may seek to impose upon the life of Thomas Kinkade is met with the blood of Jesus at the foot of the cross. How many of us fall short in our own lives in one way or another? Does the fact that we may not have an issue with substance abuse give us the right to judge or find some perverted sense of pleasure in his downfall, when deep down we know we have our own struggles in this life? God bless the family of Thomas Kinkade, and may he rest in peace. Romans 3:23-24: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

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John 12:24, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Learning to walk in the spirit through the paradox principle

When we look closely at the life of Jesus, His teachings often reflect characteristics that seem quite paradoxical in nature, especially in comparison to what the world considers to be the practical view of both knowledge and life. Spiritual truth often is paradoxical in nature to the physical context and dimensions of life and our linear intellectual perceptions. We feel pity for a person who is born blind, yet we cannot fathom the gifts of understanding they enjoy through their life experience by an acute sense of hearing and smell. The same is true for us who are born of the spirit of God, those who are not may experience an intellectual acuity in some area of thought relating to God's creation, but they do not perceive of their spiritual blindness. One of the diagnostic tools Jesus used to bring people to a greater awareness of their true spiritual condition are the paradox principles, often communicated as parables in His style of teaching. If we lived our life surrounded by an invisible bubble that no one could see, we would never know of its existence, in our case our spiritual condition is this bubble, like scales on our eyes. Through His teaching and confronting us with the truth, Jesus scratched the scales on our eyes, leaving an indelible mark to identify it's presence, so that we could become aware of its presence and begin asking the questions, how, why and who. How is it I never saw this before, why is it there, who put it there, why can't I do anything myself to change it, how do I get help, and who can help me? Paul summed up the very heart of this relationship in Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

None of the deliberate actions of Jesus should ever be mistaken for chance or irony. Everything He did was quite deliberate and served one definite and infinite purpose, to reveal the nature of God in Himself to everyone born, so that we can know that He is God and that His purpose is entirely conjoined with God the Father, and is communicated to us through the Holy Spirit. It is in fact because of our need for spiritual birth that Jesus became the living proof of this spiritual principle to bring us to this awareness of our spiritual condition, and its characteristics and dimensions, so that we can begin to follow His queue to think spiritually, and by thinking spiritually, begin to respond spiritually, walk in the spirit, and live by the spirit. When we observe the beginning of a symphony, each musician begins by playing a few notes to determine the pitch of their instrument, to ensure it is functioning properly and to make any adjustments needed to re-tune it. In our case our spiritual life is like such an instrument, only we haven't received it until Jesus gives it to us by acknowledging our need to receive it from Him. Eternal life is the stage upon which we shall play, but we can't enter the stage until we first receive His gift - our instrument - which is spiritual birth and eternal life, faith then is the means by which we receive our instrument. Paul declared his death with Christ and the life of Christ in himself, to emphasize this spiritual principle. If you are not yet a Christian, what I am referring to here is receiving salvation from sin through acknowledging you are a sinner, and that only through Christ can you receive salvation and eternal life, because Jesus paid the penalty for your sin through His death and resurrection, and has purchased your place in heaven [Eternal life].

John 12:24 “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Die to self to live - Our purpose in perfection

The key to understanding many of the core principles Jesus teaches is found in the challenges they present to the way we view the world we live in. Jesus teachings not only contradict many of the accepted ideas of the world we regard as truth, they destroy the very foundations upon which they rest. The traditions of Israel were regarded as common law in many ways, such was the relationship between the Jews and the Samaritans. Yet Jesus marched right through these preconceived notions of avoiding social interaction with the Samaritans, and as we examine the story of "The woman at the well" [See John Chapter 4] we find Jesus further challenged the social norms by speaking with not only a woman, a Samaritan woman, but also a common woman. Imagine the perception of those religious leaders of the day. Imagine the concern of some of His disciples. The amazing aspect of Jesus was not His willingness to challenge social norms, but it is the reason He did so, to be obedient to reveal the will of God the Father. By the power of the Holy Spirit we are given liberty from such barriers to act according to the leading of the Holy Spirit to do God's will. John 5:20 Jesus tells us, "For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel." In John 14:11 Jesus informs us as to why we must believe that His purpose and motives are purely derived from His relationship with God the Father: "Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves." And in the next verses, John 14:12-13 Jesus reveals how we fit into God's plans as His disciples: 12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." In this we understand how Jesus purpose relates to our own  purpose, to glorify God! His ways are not our ways, not until He imparts His ways to us through His Holy Spirit dwelling in us.

Old Testament Truth
A survey of the Old Testament reveals a gravely important characteristic of  what God says is important to Him in regard to our relationship with Him, learning and keeping God's ways. The prophet Samuel proclaimed in 2 Samuel 22:22 "For I have kept the ways of the Lord, And have not wickedly departed from my God." In 1 Kings 3, Solomon demonstrated that he had learned well from his father David, when he prayed asking God for wisdom above everything else. God honored Solomon's prayer saying in 1 Kings 3:14 "So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.” To find out what happened to Solomon when his heart turns from God read 1 Kings Chapter 11. In this chapter God reveals his intent to punish Solomon because he turned from God and Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. In this Solomon did evil in the sight if the Lord, and the kingdom of Israel was divided into twelve tribes. God brought war against Israel because of Solomon's disobedience, and God made a covenant with Jeroboam to give him the kingdom when Solomon died. We learn in subsequent chapters that Jeroboam did not obey the Lord either, he continued leading Israel astray worshiping false gods, which led to his death and the scattering of Israel.

Even though God punished Israel, in time we see that God extends His grace once again. In 2 Chronicles 7:13-15 "When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place." What we see revealed in these scriptures and the truth God consistently communicates throughout many examples in the Old Testament, is the paradox principle. God reveals this theme by showing that following our own fleshly desires and worshiping other gods, leads to our destruction; this represents living unto our self. Likewise, God reveals that if we choose to die to our own fleshly desires and live unto God, we will experience an abundance of life and blessings. Even before Solomon was made king of Israel, David his father recorded this in Psalm 18:20-22 "The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me. 21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, And have not wickedly departed from my God. 22 For all His judgments were before me, And I did not put away His statutes from me." David is emphasizing the core truth of God's blessings in relation to his own actions, David could have done as many of his predecessors, but instead David denied himself and remains alive toward the things of God, essentially he dies to himself to live. David has learned from the  history of Israel and is both a witness and partaker of the result of abiding by the spiritual laws found in the paradox principle.

I find Davids example to be one of the most powerful examples of God's principles in action, and clearly demonstrates how firmly God is resigned to walk with us when we are willing to employ His principles in our life. And I find the example of Solomon provides a resounding warning of the clear and present danger for us, when we ignore these principles and permit our desires to lead our heart away from God. The Lord said that David was a man after His own heart, I believe He is speaking to the persistence and consistency David demonstrated in keeping God's ways. God tells us of His desire toward us in Psalm 81: 13-14 “Oh, that My people would listen to Me,
That Israel would walk in My ways! 14 I would soon subdue their enemies, And turn My hand against their adversaries." I believe God's greatest challenge to us is to learn of Him, even as Jesus told us to learn of Him. Going back to Proverbs we find God's instruction for us. Proverbs 8:32 says, "Now therefore, listen to me, my children, For blessed are those who keep my ways." And Proverbs 23:26 says, "My son, give me your heart, And let your eyes observe my ways." Then in Jeremiah 29:11 God proclaims His intentions toward us, just as we would our own children: Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. In these verses God is expressing His desire toward us, now see how delighted He is when our desire is toward Him.

Proverbs 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, But the prayer of the upright is His delight. God delights is us when we choose to live by His standards, unlike the world which seeks compromise. Proverbs 11:20 Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the Lord, But the blameless in their ways are His delight. He delights is us when we willingly refrain from uncleanness and reject such attitudes and behaviors. Proverbs 12:22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But those who deal truthfully are His delight. God loves it when we demonstrate integrity in our character. Romans 7:22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. When we observe God's principles and deny our self, we will walk and live in the spirit and will experience a greater and more consistent intimacy with God as we live according to His righteousness. God loves to reveal Himself to us through His Word and His Spirit, but God's standard for our interaction remains the same. Leviticus 11:44 Be holy therefore, because I Yahweh am holy. God loves us and desires to draw closer to us - God is love - but God is just and must punish our sin. The law reveals God's just nature and Jesus reveals to us God's grace.

The root of the revelation of God's principles is ultimately to reveal His love to us through the grace He has toward us. Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. That is through God's love which we receive by faith. And our goal in learning of God is this, 1 Timothy 1:5 Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Then our expression and response to God's love toward us is revealed in the outcome of His principles working in us by His indwelling Spirit as we see in the example of Philemon. Paul describes the character of this example in Philemon 1:4-7 "I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, 5 hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, 6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. 7 For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother." Essentially Paul is acknowledging the very thing each of us should experience as we mature in Christ, Paul is encouraged by Philemon because Philemon is experiencing the fullness of Christ and the outward expression of that fullness is employing the spiritual gifts he has in serving the body of Christ.

There are countless examples like that of Philemon found in both the Old and New Testaments, and as Jesus takes this paradox principle to God's intended conclusion for the purpose of our salvation and restoration, we are left with a profound sense of awe that God has taken such great care and loves us so deeply that He even invites us to experience His love through every aspect of His teaching. Even after Jesus came and revealed God the Father to us in Himself, we still see men and women struggling to understand these principles in the context of the church today. As we find in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 But know this: Difficult times will come in the last days. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money,boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers,without self-control, brutal, without love for what is good, 4 traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to the form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid these people!

In this phrase, "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power there of."  [King James Version]

*5. form—outward semblance.

godliness—piety.

denying—rather as Greek, “having denied,” that is, renounced.

the power—the living, regenerating, sanctifying influence of it.

turn away—implying that some of such characters, forerunners of the last days, were already in the Church.

*Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., Fausset, A. R., Brown, D., & Brown, D. (1997). A commentary, critical and explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (2 Ti 3:5). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

The authority of grace
Essentially the context of these verses reiterate the message that people will continue to live in willful rebellion against God and against these principles of spiritual truth, and that just as it was in the days of Noah, it will continue until the end. Matthew 24:36-38 “Now concerning that day and hour no one knows—neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son —except the Father only. 37 As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. 38 For in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark."  This is cause for great concern for us today as we strive to halt the influence of sin in our culture. We are faced with attacks upon the biblical foundation of marriage - which is between one man and one woman - we know that family is the foundation of our society and that God's view of marriage is the true definition. And we are faced with challenges to our liberty and freedom to worship God and uphold a level of accountability in our government to the standards upon which our nation was founded. According to God, our focus needs to remain on Him and the work He has called us to do, to live by grace until Jesus returns for the church. But that doesn't mean to merely go along to get along, it means we are required to continue to make disciples of all nations according to the command we received from Jesus our Lord, and to make good use of the freedoms we have - to speak out for the standard which we are given by God to live by, and to stand together against those who oppose the standards of God.

We are admonished by scripture to do what is pleasing to God. Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. This renewing of our mind is the result of our obedience to learn the godly principles imparted through the Word of God and His Holy Spirit. Just as Noah was mocked in his day for preparing for the coming judgement of God, we too will be mocked. Jesus reminds us that we can and should place all of our trust in Him in John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Likewise, we are challenged by Paul just as he challenged Timothy, in 1 Timothy 6:12-14 Fight the good fight for the faith; take hold of eternal life that you were called to and have made a good confession about in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the presence of God, who gives life to all, and of Christ Jesus, who gave a good confession before Pontius Pilate,I charge you 14 to keep the command without fault or failure until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. And finally my brothers, let me remind you that our authority does not originate with men, but with the Lord our God.

Titus 2:11-15
For the grace of God has appeared with salvation for all people, 12 instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 14 He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for Himself a people for His own possession, eager to do good works.15 Say these things, and encourage and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

In Christ!

Resources: http://www.cbchsv.org/resources/CBC20090308.pdf

Israel, Sea of Galilee (Lake of Tiberias) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When we review the four gospels, which describe Jesus life from His humble beginnings, the beginning of His ministries, the calling of His disciples, and His fulfilling of His mission, we learn the basic concepts of learning to walk with God by following Jesus. As Jesus entered this life a babe, poor by the worlds standards, we enter our spiritual birth poor in spirit, beggars before the King of Kings. As Jesus followed His Father's plan for His mission here on earth, He set about doing God's will, and calling His disciples to learn of Him and also to do the Father's will. Our path in that regard is to follow Jesus example and DO the Father's will, by walking with Jesus in His footsteps, thus fulfilling our mission - the great commission. His instruction to anyone who follows Him is found in Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, "Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Also found in Matthew 16:24 and Luke 9:23.

While the gospel teaches us that the law is fulfilled by Jesus as a part of His mission, it also reveals the purpose of the law, in that God intends the law to reveal our sin and point to Jesus as the only savior from the penalty of our sin. The way that Jesus represents is not merely a direction for us intellectually, more importantly He reveals that the nature of the path is also our spiritual dimension. While we are dead in our sin we do not perceive of spiritual matters, then when we are born in Christ, by His indwelling Spirit He penetrates our life by His truth, as His disciples through His Word. The most important aspect of our growth is to be consistent in our walk. Let's explore what it means to  have a consistent walk with God.

A Consistent Walk

Notice that some of the items that comprise our consistent walk are also on our list of results. This is because like any exercise designed for growth, our focus on the result is key to performing at our best, and our results are in part a consequence of our efforts. I realize this might seem overly simplistic. However, keep in mind that spiritual growth is less about us in terms  of our way of thinking, and more about God in terms of learning to trust and surrender our life. And faith is as much a component of our investment in prayer, fasting, and meditation on God's Word, as it is a result of these things. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." When God gives us spiritual gifts to employ, whether for our own growth or for the edifying of the body of Christ, results and their characteristics are only realized as a product of these principles being actively employed as we are led to overcome life's obstacles and hindrance's, through surrendering our fear and trusting God's leading, relinquishing our control.

Faith is not simply a belief that God can or will do something in our life to change us, it is a verb that calls us to action to DO what Jesus has instructed us to do. Following Jesus isn't only thinking about Him on Sunday or when we feel His presence in our circumstances, the disciples He called to follow Him left everything behind and literally followed Him. The intellectual task of following Jesus could be described as a check list of items to complete. However, the spiritual adventure of following Jesus is a process of discovery. In Matthew 18:1-5 Jesus replied to His disciples concerning who is the greatest in heaven:

1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? ² And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, ³ And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. ⁵ And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receives me."

Note that the first requirement is conversion, which represents a changing the way we think about our self in relation to God. Then note that the paradox of becoming as a child Jesus refers to in these verses requires action on our part and is similar to the way He described being born again to Nicodemus in John 3:1-4, "There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

² The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. ³ Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ⁴ Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"

Thinking as a man thinks [As the world thinks] is a hindrance to understanding the Kingdom of Heaven and to the requirement to gain entrance, we must learn to think biblically and spiritually in order to follow Jesus. In the next verses John 3:5-12, Jesus describes to Nicodemus why his understanding is limited.

⁵ Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. ⁸ The wind blows where it listeth, and thou hear the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. ⁹ Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? ¹⁰ Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and know not these things? ¹¹ Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. ¹² If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

In verses 5-8 that Jesus reveals to Nicodemus that unregenerate man can't enter heaven. And in verses 9 -12 Nicodemus is desperately trying to understand how he could misunderstand what Jesus is saying, and Jesus confirms to him that the road block to his understanding spiritual truth is rooted in his carnal perceptions and intellectually driven logical perceptions relating to the knowledge and experience of the world, because flesh has no perception of spiritual matters. This alludes to the paradox principle of die to self in order to live and confirms that we cannot have spiritual life apart from Christ. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead He said to Martha in John 11:25-26: Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: ²⁶ And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Believe thou this? And again in John 14:6 "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." So by Jesus own words we know with the conviction of His Word that we cannot experience regeneration unless we trust in His work on the cross, trusting that He paid the penalty for our sin.

Certainly we cannot think that we are walking with God, unless we have dealt personally with the power of the cross? Have you acknowledged your sin and the penalty of your sin, which is eternal death and separation from God in hell? Have you acknowledged that you are unable to save yourself or earn your way into heaven by your own works, religious deeds or goodness? And have you acknowledged that Jesus as both God and man, is the only person who ever lived a perfect life, sent by God the Father to die on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin, and have you trusted Jesus to forgive you for your sins and invited Him to be Lord over your life? Dear sir or Madam, I encourage you today to examine your life in light of God's truth in His holy Word, and know that you have eternal life. The bible teaches us in 1 John 5:13 "I write these things to you that believe on the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life; and so that you may believe on the name of the Son of God."

It is in admitting that you are a sinner, believing the message of the cross - which says in John 1:12 "Yet to all who received Him [Jesus] and believed on His name, He gave the right to become the children of God" - and by accepting that Jesus is the only one able to rescue you from sin, you commit to turn away from the things you have been doing that offends God, that are not pleasing to Him as He reveals His will to you in His Word. If you have repented [Admitted you are a sinner, that you cannot save yourself - Believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead to pay the penalty for your sin and purchase a place in heaven for you; confessing Him as Lord - and Commit to turn from your sin, trusting in Him alone for salvation] then you are ready to follow Jesus. In Luke 5:1-11 Jesus calls His first disciples:

One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, [The Sea of Galilee] the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. ² He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets.³ He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴ When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

⁵ Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶ When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. ⁷ So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. ⁸ When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, ¹⁰ and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” ¹¹ So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. 

Notice when the first thing Peter did after coming to shore in verses 7-8, Peter fell at Jesus knees. . . Why? I believe it's because Peter was confronted by the undeniable truth that he was a sinner! In John 14:6 we read: Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. This is the essence of the gospel, that we are sinners in need of a savior. And the essence of the great commission is that we who are followers, disciples of Jesus, are simply to share our story. Look at Peter's story as told by Luke can you imagine a conversation Peter might have had with a friend or neighbor?

Simon-Peter - "I was out fishing with my brother all night last week and the most amazing thing happened."

Friend - "Did you catch a really big fish?"

Simon-Peter - "No, actually we fished all night and didn't even catch a cold!"

Friend - "What's so amazing about that, your brother said you're bad luck!"

Simon-Peter - "It's a good thing you're my friend - but no, that's not what I'm talking about."

Friend - "Simon, you're not a very good communicator, would you just get to the point!"

Simon-Peter - "Why are we friends again?"

Friend - "Oh, very funny - NOT!"

Simon-Peter - "All kidding aside, as we were cleaning our nets, this huge crowd was following a man, and He walked up and just climbed into my boat. "Put out a little from shore" he said. Perceiving that this man was a prophet or something, I put out like he said."

Friend - "Then what happened?"

Simon-Peter - "He sat down and taught the people from my boat, and when He had finished, I couldn't understand everything He said, He was teaching in parables. But then when He finished speaking, He told us to put out further in the deep water and cast our nets for a catch. I thought He was crazy, I said, Mater we fished all night and caught nothing! But He insisted.

Friend - "What did John and Zebedee think about this?

Simon-Peter - "I think they were as curious as I, so we did as Hie asked. It was the most amazing thing! We no sooner cast our nets when they were so full of fish they began to break! We had to call for other boats to help us bring up the catch!

Friend - "Wow, that sounds pretty exciting, you'll be rich!"

Simon-Peter - "Friend, you don't know the half of it! During all of this I had been thinking about what He, the Master was teaching, and as we brought in the catch, our boats began to sink. Suddenly I felt the weight of my sin, I knew there was something different about this man. I could sense His holiness, and I fell at His feet and said, Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man. [In Peter's day, the religious teachers taught people that God blesses people for being righteous with material wealth, and Peter's assessment of himself was both honest and accurate] .

Friend - "What did He say?"

Simon-Peter - "He said, Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people!" We left it all behind, the fish and the nets and followed Him."

Friend - "Are you serious? What is this man's name?"

Simon-Peter - "His name is Jesus! Do you know Him?"

Friend - "I think I have heard of Him. Is He the one who healed the man of leprosy in the next town?"

Simon-Peter - "Yes, I was with Him! You must come with me, you must meet Jesus!"

Friend - "What are we waiting for, let's go!"
This is a very simple narrative dialogue that can serve as an example of how we might tell our own God story. whether you have only recently accepted Jesus as your Lord or have been a Christian for many years, I encourage you to write down your own story. Putting your story in your own words helps you to obtain perspective. It can also help you to be prepared to give an answer when someone asks you about your life and relationship with Jesus. Witnessing to others about what God has done in your life is the most basic idea of evangelism and sharing the gospel with the lost people in this world. Not every friend we share with will accept our story as readily as Peter's friend, but planting the seeds of God's truth is our first responsibility to the gospel, it is God's work through His Holy Spirit to anoint the words we speak and the ears of the hearer. Accepting the truth is a choice and cannot be forced on another. I encourage you to read the four gospels and follow Jesus through them, looking for the lessons He will teach you along the way. They are more than just stories in a book, they are life-giving and life changing, when we kneel at the feet of the Master and answer honestly for our life.

There is so much more I could say concerning this topic, the Bible is rich with the treasures of eternal truth. I will endeavor to spend more time on the subject of following Jesus later on. Being fishers of people is the ultimate goal Jesus set for Peter, and indeed for all of us as His disciples. Be encouraged and committed to sharing your faith, until next time!

Blessings!

Storyteller

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• The Mission (part 3 of 3)...MAKING Disciples

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Thomas Kinkade (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On Friday April 6, 2012 – Good Friday, one of America’s most celebrated artists went home to celebrate Easter in the presence of our Lord; Thomas Kinkade died at the age of 54. Kinkade, famously known as the self-titled “Painter of Light” has left a legacy of art depicting tranquil scenes of cottages with lush landscapes, churches in dewy morning light, country gardens and villages, which are typically pared with Bible passages. His works are said to be in an estimated 10 million homes in America, I have a Kinkade print hanging in my own living room.

One publisher of Kinkade’s art books stated this in his by-line: Thomas Kinkade makes his home in the coastal foothills of northern California with his wife, Nanette, and daughters Merritt, Chandler, and Winsor. Underlying his art is Kinkade’s deep Christian faith. As he puts it, "I desire to create paintings that bring hope and joy to others, and light is my tool for doing that. I see light as a symbol for the joy in my own heart. Perhaps my work will in some small way communicate that joy."

As Christian men and women, isn’t this the very thing that we are called in obedience to do, to communicate in some small way the source of our own joy to those around us? That our lives are centered on Christ, and not the things of the world, is the evidence of our relationship with Christ and the most significant thing we can reveal about our self. Easter is certainly one of the most important celebrations on our calendar as Christian’s; it marks the point in history when the God of all creation took upon Himself the curse of sin and the punishment for my sin and yours. It is essentially the climax of Jesus ministry on earth as God and man; however, it is also the beginning of our ministry as His disciples. In chapter 2 of the book of Acts we find the account of the disciples concerning that time when Jesus fulfilled His promise on the day of Pentecost, by sending the comforter, the Holy Spirit to empower them to do His work. This promise is found in Luke 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.

What is the role of the Holy Spirit, how does He empower us? Let’s look at some verses to answer these questions.

Read John 14:15-18 If you love Me, keep^[a] My commandments. ¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

What is the role of the Holy Spirit? Comforter, Spirit of Truth – provides discernment.

Read John 14:25-27 “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

What is the role of the Holy Spirit? Teacher, helper.

Read John 15:26-27 But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. ²⁷ And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

What is the role of the Holy Spirit? Testifies of Jesus in us – It is important because it confirms that our faith is in a living God – He reveals Himself in us and gives us evidence by the fruit of His Holy Spirit, which is love, peace, and joy!

Read John 16:5-15 “But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷ Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. ⁸ And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹ of sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; ¹¹ of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”

What is the role of the Holy Spirit? He convicts the world of sin and disbelief, counselor, reveal and declare truth and Christ in us.

Read Ephesians 4:29-32 ^“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. ³² And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

What is the role of the Holy Spirit? He reveals spiritual truth and discernment, helping us differentiate spiritual [eternal] and physical [temporal] principles, He seals us until the day of redemption.

The practical result of our faith in Christ

Our practical experience with the Holy Spirit is that we obtain perfection through the work of Christ in us, and our works are made acceptable through His Holy Spirit.

Read Hebrews 13:20-21 “Now ^zthe God of peace, ^athat ^bbrought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great ^cshepherd of the sheep, through ^dthe blood of the everlasting ^||ecovenant, ^21 fMake you perfect ^gin every good work ^hto do his will, ^||working in you ⁱthat which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; ^kto whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.^[1]

Based upon all of the scriptures concerning the Holy Spirit, who is the agent Jesus uses to perfect us in every good work? The Holy Spirit.

Read John 10:11-18 I am ^kthe good shepherd: the good shepherd ^lgiveth his life for the sheep. ¹² But he that is an ^mhireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth ⁿthe wolf coming, and ^oleaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and ^pscattereth the sheep. ¹³ The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and ^qcareth not for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd, and ^rknow my sheep, and am known of mine. ^15 sAs the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and ^tI lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ And ^uother sheep I have, which are not of this ^wfold: ^ythem also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; ^yand there shall be one ^zfold, and ^aone shepherd. ^17 bTherefore doth my Father love me, ^cbecause ^tI lay down my life, that I might take it again. ¹⁸ No man taketh it from me, but ^tdI lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and ^eI have power to take it again. This ^fcommandment have I received of my Father.^[2]

Did Jesus go to the cross merely out of a sense of obligation to what God the Father commanded Him to do?

Out of His unconditional love, He willingly laid down His life, and became the Lamb of God, slain before the foundation of the earth.

How does Jesus describe His relationship with us? He loves us and is willing to lay down His life for us.

In verse 18 we have an assurance of salvation through Jesus resurrection on the authority of God the Father, but what is our responsibility in light of our liberty?

Read Romans 6:15-18 What then? ^fshall we sin, ^zbecause we are not under the law, but under grace? ^gGod forbid. ¹⁶ Know ye not, that ^hto whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? ¹⁷ But God be thanked, ⁱthat ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart ^kthat form of doctrine ^†which was delivered you. ¹⁸ Being then ^lmade free from sin, ^mye became the servants of righteousness. ^[3]

So what then is our responsibility? To serve the Lord and righteousness, not sin.

It is with this same recognition of who Jesus is and the truth that out of love He took my place and your place on the cross, so that our response should also be to willingly serve out of our sense of love, for it was God who loved us first. And because we are free from the bondage of sin, free to experience the gift of the fruit of His labor, which is love, peace, and joy, through His indwelling Spirit that we desire to share this joy with those who are lost in the darkness of this world, so they can also know Jesus light of our salvation.

Matthew 5, this chapter and the two that follow it are a famous sermon, the “Sermon on the Mount”, verses 1-12 are also known as “The Beatitudes.” Chapters 5-7 are the longest continuous discourse we have from our Savior. Here Jesus gives us a practical guide as our Lord, His moral teaching to be adopted by all who submit to Him. We don’t have time to properly study all of this today, so I’m only going to touch on the highlights.

Read Matthew 5:13-20 “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

14 "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.  15Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 17Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

 19Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."
These issues explored by Jesus deal with the basic values which human beings adopt and live by. Jesus’ point is that the values of this world do not lead to blessing. Instead blessing comes through living by values which the world despises, but which God holds dear.

Both Old and New Testaments speak of the “blessed.” In the Old Testament, and especially the Psalms, the “blessed are” statements describe qualities in a person which bring him or her God’s blessing. Here in Matthew the Greek word is makarios, which means “happy.” Is there a difference? Yes. The Old Testament describes blessings that will come to the godly person, and emphasizes material goods. Jesus focused on the present state of persons who adopt values and attitudes which permit them to know, now, the inner touch of God in their present lives.^[4]

What is that inner touch? I believe it is the love, peace and joy we experience through the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit. But let’s break these verses down and look at them in context; I’m including a Bible commentary on these verses

The following commentary on Matthew chapter 5 is from “Thru the Bible” By J. Vernon McGee

 

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid [Matt. 5:13–14].^[5]

God’s people in any age and under any condition are both salt and light in the world. The Scots translate “savour” by the more expressive word tang. I like their word much better. “If the salt has lost its tang.” The problem today is that most church members have not only lost their tang as salt, but as pepper they have lost their pep also. We have very few salt and pepper Christians in our day. Now salt doesn’t keep fermentation and that type of thing from taking place, but it will arrest it. You and I ought to be the salt in the earth and have an influence for good in the world.

Christians are also the light of the world. Certainly in the kingdom the believers are going to be the light of the world. This is a tremendous principle for us. We need to be a light in our neighborhood and wherever we go. We have no light within ourselves, but the Word of God is light. Being a light means giving out the Word of God in one way or another. This doesn’t mean that you should be quoting Scripture all the time, but it does mean that you are to share the light that God has given you. It is very easy to cultivate some person, then quietly and graciously introduce them to a Bible-teaching church or radio program. There are many ways in which you can be light in the world.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven [Matt. 5:16].

There are those of the liberal persuasion that feel the Sermon on the Mount is anthropocentric, or man-centered, rather than theo-centric, or God-centered. (Those are their terms.) But, obviously, the Sermon on the Mount is not anthropocentric, man-centered. It is theo-centric. Does this verse say, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify you and pat you on the back, and give you a gold medal and a loving cup?” No! This verse says that you and I are to let our light so shine in this world that we may glorify our Father which is in heaven. The Sermon on the Mount is God-centered. During the Millennium, during the kingdom here on earth, everything which is done and said will be God-centered. And in the present age, in this lost world in which you and I live today, our prime motivation should be to bring glory to God. This is something that every Christian should consider very seriously. The aim and purpose of our lives should be to glorify our God.^[6]

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil [Matt. 5:17].

Remember that part of the Mosaic Law was the ceremonial law. Christ was the sacrifice for the sins of the world, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. Christ came not to destroy the Law but to fulfill the Law. He fulfilled it in that He kept it during His earthly life. And the standard which was set before man He was able to attain, and now He is able to make over to you and me (and every believer) His own righteousness. God’s standards have not changed, but you and I cannot attain them in our own strength. We need help; we need a Savior. We do need mercy, and we obtain mercy when we come to Christ.

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled [Matt. 5:18].

I hope you don’t misinterpret what I am saying in this section which we call the Sermon on the Mount. I am not saying that we are free to break the Mosaic Law. The fact of the matter is that the Law is still a standard. It reveals to me that I cannot measure up to God’s standard. This drives me to the cross of Christ. The only way I can fulfill the Law is by accepting the only One who could fulfill it—Jesus Christ.

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven [Matt. 5:19].

You cannot break the commandments and get by with it. But you cannot keep them in your own strength. The only way you can keep them is to come to Jesus Christ for salvation, power, and strength. The commandments are not a way of salvation but a means to show you the way to salvation through the acceptance of the work of Jesus Christ.

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven [Matt. 5:20].

It is very important to see His point right here. The Pharisees had a high degree of righteousness according to the Law, but that was not acceptable. How can you and I surpass their righteousness? It is impossible in our own efforts. We need Christ to do it for us.^[7]

End of commentary

Read John 8:12 and John 9:5

John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”

John 9:5 “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Just a moment ago we read in Matthew 5:14, Jesus told us that “we are the light of the world.”  What did He mean here? (Discussion) One writer put it this way saying that as disciples our role is providing illumination for a lost and dying world, by reflecting the character of Christ in the world.

Read: Galatians 5:16-26 (In my Bible the subtitle to this text is Keep in Step with the Spirit and talks about the fruit if the spirit)

¹⁶ But I say, ^vwalk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify ^wthe desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For ^xthe desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, ^yto keep you from doing the things you want to do. ¹⁸ But if you are ^zled by the Spirit, ^ayou are not under the law. ¹⁹ Now ^bthe works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, ^cdivisions, ²¹ envy,⁴ drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that ^dthose who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.^[8]

 But ^hthe fruit of the Spirit is ⁱlove, joy, peace, ^jklongsuffering, ^jkgentleness, ^lgoodness, ^mfaith, ^23 kMeekness, ⁿtemperance: ^oagainst such there is no law. ²⁴ And they that are Christ’s ^phave crucified the flesh with the ^||affections and lusts. ^25 qIf we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. ^26 rLet us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. ^[9]
From his book “Secret Power” D. L. Moody wrote on the subject of the fruit of the Spirit: “Notice that the fruit of the Spirit begins with love. There are nine graces spoken of in the fifth chapter, and of these nine graces Paul puts love at the top of the list. Someone put it this way, that all of the other eight can be put in the word “love.” Joy is love exulting; peace is love in repose; long-suffering is love on trial; gentleness is love in society; goodness is love in action; faith is love on the battlefield; meekness is love at school; and temperance is love in training.”

Paul said in verse 23, “Against such there is no law.” I can’t think of anything more encouraging as a believer than to know that if I am living surrendered to Christ by walking in His Spirit I will always do what is pleasing to Him. Jesus told His disciples in John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, ^pMy meat is ^qto do the will of him that sent me, and ^rto finish his work. ^[10]

And in due course of time, Jesus having fulfilled all that He was sent to do; He has given us the charge of continuing His work in the form of the Great Commission. How do we find our place in the vast scheme of things? Where do we fit into God’s plans? How many times have we heard pastor preaching from the pulpit, encouraging us to “Get plugged into a ministry” in our church? And he’s absolutely right we do need to find our place, and in order to find that place we need to understand our calling. Let me encourage you in this, if you’ve never taken a spiritual gift’s assessment, most pastors would be pleased to provide you with these materials, find a bible teaching church that proclaims the gospel of Jesus, and begin your journey of discovering the depths of God’s character - learn what His plans are for you!

Our prayers are with the Kinkade family as they lay our brother in Christ Thomas to rest. Yet we rejoice with them at his home going to the Lord because our hope is in Him, and we know that as He left behind an empty tomb on the third day, we too are resurrected with Him in eternity - we will see him again!

Let me leave you with Paul’s benediction that concludes the doctrinal section of the epistle to the Romans:

Romans 15:13 “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” ^[11]

Chronologically, the Apostle Paul wrote the book of Romans shortly after he completed 2 Corinthians, while remaining in Corinth in the spring of A.D. 56; before his missionary journey to Jerusalem in A.D. 59. I love the way Paul addresses the Romans in his introduction in Romans 1:1-7:

1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2 (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; 4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: 5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: 6 Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ: 7 To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Establishing his role in apostleship, not by the decree of man or government, rather as one who is separated unto the gospel of God, stating this in terms of his relationship in servitude as an apostle based upon his relationship with Jesus; adding that it is the message of the gospel that compels his service. Paul reminds his readers of God's promises through the seed of David, declaring Jesus Christ as Lord and Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. Further establishing that it is by God's grace through obedience in faith to make known God's name to all nations, among whom are you called of Jesus Christ, called to be saints. Here Paul aligns his message with the messenger, while inviting fellowship among those who would welcome him as a fellow servant in Christ. In conclusion Paul extends his trade mark greeting: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have so much to learn about our own relationship with Jesus by the example Paul gives us here, not to mention the relationship we have to one another as members in the body of Christ. I think the most critical aspect of Paul's communication we can gather as seeds of wisdom, is the humility demonstrated in his speech. This humility has its source in something we will miss if we aren't careful. It's not a false humility offered by one who is hiding an arrogant motive beneath the surface of his speech, rather it is the fruit of his inward relationship with the One who has the power to change men from the inside, with the One who has the authority of Lordship in the life of  a man submitted in obedience to the spirit of holiness.  The error we most often make in our conclusions about the application of Paul's message to us here is this, we fail to make the connection between apostles  and fellowship to us as believers, or as Paul puts in this passage, when he refers to us as saints. You see, we tend to make a deliberate connection to holiness and Paul's position in apostleship, but we miss the connection between our self and holiness. Paul's reminder is that we are called to be saints just as he is called to be an apostle, is the key to making the connection - we are both called to be separated from the world - and live surrendered to Christ.

Since Jesus has been declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead, then as our risen Lord, we are surely called to the same fellowship of holiness as members of His body, whether apostle or saint. Paul is not claiming for himself a relationship to Jesus that is not available to any believer who has submitted in obedience to our own calling. Our only point of difference is that not all are called to be apostles, not all are called to be teachers, preachers, or exhorters. Yet, each of us is called to serve the body of Christ with our gifts, according to God's calling upon our life. The difficulty we experience in our churches today is that many believers fail to make this connection, because of the lack of teaching concerning discipleship. The role of the church is to make disciples of all nations, but unfortunately many churches today incorrectly emphasize programs and entertainment to draw people into the church, which is nothing more than a worldly approach that does not accomplish the goal of discipleship, rather it results in getting paid, to build more buildings and larger sanctuaries. This model of playing church is a worldly model, not the biblical model emphasized in scripture.

In his book "Pastoring Men" Patrick Morley - Moody Press, emphasizes discipleship as the key to building men who are prepared to become leaders, prepared to be a bold witnesses for Christ, and prepared to accept their calling to follow Christ and fulfill the great commission. The called of Jesus are not bench warmers or seekers who are only interested in personal intellectual growth, we are called to be more than these things which are merely reflections of the culture of the world system of this age. We are called to take up our cross and follow Jesus, leaving behind the influences of this world system and becoming the light unto this world that is needed to provide a contrast of holiness, in a world that is lost in the darkness of sin, and ultimately to become men who influence our culture. Beyond the context Morley offers to motivate pastors to narrow their focus toward shepherding their men by Discipling every man, I believe this leads each of us to recognize our own calling, challenging one another as men to become champions for Christ in the context of our gifts; to sharpen and employ our gifts to the point needed to inspire others to desire to become champions also.

The biblical example Morley offers us as a model of leadership is that of Nehemiah. Nehemiah portrays a humble man who weeps, mourns, fasts, prays, and repents for his people. In the example of Nehemiah, we can be the one willing to be sent by the king to the city of Judah where our fathers are buried, so we can rebuild it. (Nehemiah 2:5).  Our commitment to learn of Jesus, develop our gifts through discipleship and use them to glorify God, will naturally lead us down the path toward becoming champions for Christ. The benefits to our walk with God, shepherding our families, and maturing as Christian men are only the first fruits of following through with our commitment to surrender to God's calling. The tangible benefits to those who are influenced by the example of our growing up in the Lord, represent the eternal treasures which we will reap as a portion of our glory in Christ. Imagine after Christ returns and we are standing before the throne, someone steps up to us and says, 'I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you, thank you!' God already knows the impact we can have in the lives of others, the only question that remains is, how will you answer His call?

May God bless you as you seek His will for your life, and may this coming year be the time you answer God's calling for your life!

Surrendered in truth and in peace,

Storyteller

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• Jesus in the NT :: Titus (thepauls.wordpress.com)

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The book of Acts provides a record of the early church and the "acts" of the Apostles, those disciples whom Jesus elevated as leaders among His followers. During these forty days after His death, but before He ascended into heaven, Jesus taught them about the kingdom of heaven and He promised He would send the Holy Spirit to them to empower them and comfort them. Eight days after Jesus ascended into heaven, on the day of Pentecost Peter addressed the crowd who had heard the sound of the rushing wind that signified the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon those gathered in the upper room, the crowds were from many countries, yet each heard the disciples speaking in their own native tongues; Peter explained the gospel to them in Acts 2:36-42 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah!”

Forgiveness through the Messiah

 ³⁷ When they heard this, they came under deep conviction and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: “Brothers, what must we do?” ³⁸ “Repent,” Peter said to them, “and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” ⁴⁰ And with many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!”

A Generous and Growing Church 

 ⁴¹ So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them. ⁴² And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers.

Before we know Jesus we are dead in our sin and often we think our moral standards are good enough to get us into heaven, reasoning that we are not as bad as this person or that person, not recognizing that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." - Romans 3:23 But when we learn what the bible has to say, that we are not righteous at all because our righteousness is as filthy rags before God, we are confronted by the truth; God's truth - Isaiah 64:6 The bible says when we sin we are slaves to sin - John 8:34, and enemies of God, James 4:4. When we accept this truth and feel the weight if our sin, knowing we cannot overcome our situation alone, we are ready to receive God's terms of our surrender. Jesus tells us - John 14:6 that He has brought God's terms to us and that He has given His own life  to redeem us from slavery to sin - John 1:29. When we accept by faith that Jesus has done this by the shedding of His blood - Romans 6:23, having been purchased by Him - Galatians 3:13, He does something completely unexpected. Rather than make us His slaves, God elevates us to the status of sons - Galatians 3:26, by imputing His righteousness to us - Romans 3:21-22, and through the process of teaching us by making us into Jesus disciples - Matthew 11:29, He prepares us to become His emissaries to the nations of the world - Matthew 28:19.

As disciples, we are like Peter and John who were called by Jesus to follow Him. From the stories of the four gospels we know that Jesus called many to follow Him, but not everyone responded with the same understanding of the requirement to surrender everything to Jesus - John 8:31, which meant to leave everything behind to follow Him - Matthew 10:37-38. Having responded to the call of Jesus, each disciple began to experience a new life, a life that separated them from their families, the culture of their own community, and at times placed them firmly in opposition to certain traditions and the religious leaders confronted by Jesus' teachings. The most compelling question we hear asked most frequently by these leaders throughout the four gospels is this, "By whose authority do you do these things?" Jesus often gave obscure and indirect answers to these questions, at times answering with His own questions. Matthew 21:26-28, Mark 11:27-33, Luke 2:1-9.

The most direct answer Jesus gave concerning His authority was to infer His relationship as the Son of God. This answer was typically met with threats of violence based upon an incorrect understanding of the books of the Torah, the five books of Moses, along with a belligerent understanding of the prophesies of the coming Messiah. I say belligerent because many of the traditions of Judaism were given equal weight with the law's of Moses, which in essence acted as blinders to viewing God's Word correctly. Those who followed Jesus were influenced by His teachings, but those who did not were confronted by His authority. These two competing responses that resulted from Jesus teachings, revealed the volatile and divisive nature of what Jesus taught, and it also revealed the condition which existed in the hearts of man. Because Jesus came to fulfill the law and not to take it away, we should look closer to the purpose of the law. Comparing the legalism of Israel to other nations, we can see that Israel was bound by a covenant with God to be God's chosen people, yet even Israel could not live perfectly in accordance with the law. Justification could not be obtained by living in complete accordance with the law, even blood sacrifice was required in order to be justified.

Q - Why was it difficult for Israel to follow God's law, even in a closed society where everyone was taught to follow and keep God's commandments?

A - Because man is born into sin as a result of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. aka. Original sin.

Q - If it was difficult to obey God in a culture like Israel, where godly principles were inherently taught to all people, how much more difficult would it be today in a place like America, where our culture embraces various forms of sin as merely alternative lifestyles?

A - The ability to discern God's standards in any cultural environment is directly proportionate to the confusion concerning mans need to rely upon God as the final authority in all questions of moral truth.

Q - If it was difficult to obey God in Israel, and more so in other cultures, how can anyone hope to live up to God's standards?

A - God knows that in our fallen state we can not live by His standard of holiness, which is why He sent His Son Jesus to redeem us from sin.

Jesus has fulfilled the law on our behalf because he lived perfectly and became the blood sacrifice for all of us. But not in a corporate sense for all of humanity, rather in a personal sense He laid down His life for each of us, so that we can be reconciled to God our heavenly Father by accepting in good faith that Christ has done this on our behalf. Thus He has fulfilled the requirement of the law that sin must be punished, because He took our punishment for our sin, past, present, and future tense. Inviting us to join His fellowship and follow Him, first by embracing salvation by faith in Him and becoming disciples to learn of Him, and second by becoming His emissaries to the world. As His emissaries, our role is to share the gospel with others who, like we were lost and dead in our sin, are still in need of learning who Jesus is and what His work on the cross has accomplished on our behalf. The Online Etymology Dictionary includes this definition of an emissary, as: One who is sent forth. In the gospel of John 3:28, John the Baptist describes himself in this way: "You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I've been sent ahead of Him." By the example of John the Baptist, we can summarize his role as God's Emissary in the truest sense of the word.

As you prepare for this coming new year, I pray that your life will be empowered through God's loving grace, and that your calling to obtain His tender mercies will find you diligently serving as His emissaries, so that as Matthew 5:16 reminds us: "In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven." 

In my life as a man and disciple of Jesus, there was a time when I became aware of the difference between knowing who Jesus is and living my life in total surrender to Him. Like the addict who believes they are in control, but cannot grasp their condition and the impact it has on their life, I believed I was okay as long as I thought I knew who Jesus was. The addict is dead to the reality of life that exists for those who are not addicts because it has been too long ago since he was not addicted, there have been too many compromises made in order to get comfortable with being addicted while maintaining the illusion of being in control. For most addicts the sacrifice of humility in exchange for pride is the first compromise, followed by embracing the selfish attitude that then allows further compromise such as stealing, selling property, and the sacrifice of ones own body and health in order to satisfy the cravings of the addiction. By now you are assuming I am talking about addictions to drugs, but in reality I am speaking about addictions to sin, any sin. Sin is a drug in that it represents a substance of the soul that keeps one deadened both to the truth of God while offering a false hope of remaining in control, and to the reality that there is a truth that can set us free from the bondage of sin, so that we can live a life free from sin, and more importantly, free to know and experience the love of God and our true purpose to love and worship Him in spirit and in truth.

As a boy I recall my parents frequent requirement for my brother and sisters and I to behave in certain ways, ways that would not cause them to be embarrased or annoyed. The consequence for violating this requirement was punishment, but often we were punished without warning or explanation other than that we had done something that violated these two behavioral objectives. Over time and by observation we understood what particular behaviors would lead to punishment and learned to avoid being seen doing things that led to punishment, but sin, the root cause of our behavior was never addressed. So the result of this is that there were times when we would manipulate one another into expressing or acting out in a way that would result in punishment, sometimes for retribution for a perceived wrong doing, and at times for cruelty just for fun. This behavior is the fundamental result of being a sinner and it is also sin in itself. I learned that sin was the root cause because I had the good fortune to be blessed to have my great grand parents living as I grew up, and they were able to provide a sense of contrast and a biblical perspective into what sin is. The bible teaches us “We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way.” Isaiah 53:6

Even though as adults we may learn to outwardly curb many behaviors in order to fit into the mold of our social structures,  today certain behaviors have become more widely accepted in social spheres, and are openly permitted as a component of social standards.  Lying to protect ones self in the work place, on an application, or during an interview, are just a few examples of standards which have seen sharp declines in our nation over the past five decades, there are many more and some far more offensive to God that I could list here, but I will leave it up to you to enumerate your own list. Substituting social standards and codes of ethics for God’s biblical standards of morality, represents just one aspect of the corruption of our society, the decline in personal accountability to God for our life is the engine that is driving our social and moral decay. My lands, it isn’t hard to see the compromises that have been made in order to drown out the beat of the drummer from our pulpits and replace it with the droning call of the culture of sin in our society; if you listen closely you can almost hear the decay. As a matter of fact you can hear it, every night on the local and national news you can hear the confusion of mans mindset, as he continues to spiral downward toward the reprobate mind, even our political leadership seems incapable of arriving at logical approaches to solving basic problems of the economy; how much can you borrow before you are broke, when the balance sheet is already in minus numbers because of huge deficites?

As terrible as all of these symptoms of our spiritual condition are, and as difficult and overwhelming as they seem, there is only one way to approach finding a solution to address our personal and social sins, and that is to look to the only one who can address the root cause of sin. God has made the only provision for us to deal with sin, through His Son Jesus. Living inside our own bubble of comfort only provides an illusion of control for us for so long, before some outside force intrudes into our life to shatter our illusion of safety and security. I firmly believe that God has much to do with the timing of these events in our life, and my own experience in life bears witness to this truth.  I’m sure you have your own story that can speak to this truth, and that’s why it is important to understand why God allows us to suffer difficulties and set backs in life. Incontrovertibly, there are also times when we seem to have great success that comes out of no where, and we seem to drown in a state of “too much to fast” and find ourselves miserable even though we have obtained what we thought would make us happy. Again, if we look closely we will see God’s hand at work in our circumstances, shaking things up to get our attention, in an attempt to shift our focus from our comfort to His purpose. Isaiah 59:10 and 13 says, “No wonder we are walking in the gloom. No wonder we grope along like blind people and stumble along . . . We have turned our backs on God.”

It is such a tremendous help to me to be able to put into words the things I have experienced and that God has taught me, it brings me that much closer to Him to realize that he loves me so much that he looks at every detail of my life with such great care. In this realization, not only does it bring me closer to Him, it empowers me to examine my life even more closely because of the light of His truth within me. This is the work of His Spirit, and the response I can have to this work is not just to examine my life more closely, but also to surrender to Him more fully. The result of these moments of spiritual growth fuel my passion to serve Him with still greater fervency and to share the love of Christ with others more urgently. In writing this today, I cannot even begin to express to you just how truly honored I am to share what God has done in my life, my life in Christ. As I prepare this coming year to go back to school to begin a scholarly approach to studying the word of God, I am boundlessly encouraged to fulfill God’s calling upon my life. I will at some point according to God’s plan, end my career in telecommunications and continue to serve God in a more permanent role, I must say that while many people at my age are thinking about retirement, I am not. Instead, I am looking forward to the day I will begin the next chapter of my life in Christ.

If you don’t know Jesus and have never surrendered you life to Him, let me encourage you to do three things. Go humbly to God in prayer asking Him to reveal His desire toward you and for His will to be accomplished in your life. First seek salvation from God (See Peace With God below) and seek a church that preaches and teaches the full gospel of Jesus, not some watered down cool-aide designed to make you feel good, but ignores your sin and the consequences of sin which is eternity in a place called hell. Second, understand that receiving Christ as Lord and Savior is not about what you are losing, but about what you are gaining, and your response to that should be a desire to learn about Jesus so you can grow spiritually into a mature Christian disciple – find a church that will disciple you. And third, be prepared to be sent by God to do what He calls you to do, we are all gifted to serve God in some way. These three steps are the building blocks to fulfill the great commission, to make disciples of all men, and to do the good works we are destined to perform to glorify our heavenly Father.

Live a surrendered life!

In Christ,

Storyteller

Related articles

• Where do I spend the best part of my day? (hannaheroberts111.wordpress.com)
• Friday, December 9: The Opposition of the Natural (zippersandrivets.wordpress.com)

Discipleship leads others to followship

Are you a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, or maybe just a believer? Would you believe there was a time in my life, even as a professing Christian, when Jesus did not receive a place of honor in my life. You could extend that to include my home, my work, my relationship with my wife and children, and onward even into my walk with God. How can that be, you may ask? If biblical truth is only a canvas upon which we view God and the person of Jesus, then there is no relationship between biblical truth and our self. Knowing that Christ is the Son of God is not the same as inviting Him into my heart as my Lord and savior, making my life the canvas upon which God begins to write the new story of my life as a new creation, by actively yielding control of my life to His Lordship by making a conscious choice each day to follow Christ as a disciple; this is the conversion from knowing about Jesus to becoming His follower and disciple. What I came to learn is that sometimes there is a very subtle difference between the truth and the lie that ultimately blinds a man or woman to the real truth. If the basis of our life is not rooted in biblical truth, then I should ask the question, what is it rooted in? A lie!

A lie so carefully conceived and diabolically clever, it even fools the most elect servants of God. Mark 24:24 “For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Another example of the lie and its work in the world, 2 Timothy 3:13 “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”  The context of this deception that shields us from the truth is such that we are convinced that Jesus is not enough to make us happy, and that happiness only comes from worldly pleasure. How many of us today, especially us men, think that in order to be happy and experience joy, I must have this car or that house, get the job or promotion I deserve, or maybe if my wife looked like this, if only my kids behaved like such and such. When these secondary parts of our life become the encompassing and primary focus of our life, we can be certain we have accepted a counterfeit truth in terms of the path to true joy, we have bought into the deceptions of the devil. The truth of God’s Word has no effect upon our life if we are viewing biblical truth as a facet of academic knowledge that is stored in our head, we must understand that this is where biblical truth is subject to our world view, rather than becoming the basis of our world view. If I relate to the world as though I am in control of the direction of my life, then I have missed the mark in accepting the truth that it is God who is sovereign and not my self.

Don’t feel too surprised to learn that even God’s people can be deceived! Just look around, there are countless people that make up our culture and society that are right there in the boat with us, we are all just so caught up in our own version of the lie, it’s difficult to notice that almost everyone around us is being equally deceived. The only way to escape from this lie is to do just as Jesus has instructed us to do, then we will be able to see just how foolish we have been in allowing ourselves to be overtaken by such a pitiful and blatant attempt to cheat us out of our joy. Let not your hearts be troubled friends, Jesus told us how to overcome this deception and get our lives back on track, and what our focus in life should be. Do any of you recall what Jesus said? Just as I shared with you in my recent article A House Divided in Matthew 6:33 “ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Now I am not suggesting that we will obtain worldly wealth and every “thing” we desire by following Christ, that is not the objective of employing God’s list of priorities. What we hope to obtain by the example of Christ is first reconciliation to God, second it is fellowship with God, and then it is to encounter the truth as it relates to our true purpose and refocus our life to account for the truth.

So what is the right focus for our life? Our relationship with God is the most important aspect of life, because this life is temporary and we will have needs beyond this life that can only be realized by correctly viewing our life through the lens of eternity. When we stop allowing the secondary “things” in life to edge out God, it is amazing how our perception and perspective changes to align our focus with God’s priorities. The sad reality for our efforts of chasing the mirage produced by following the course presented by the lie is that in obtaining each and every object we pursue, we find only a temporary sense of fulfillment if any at all. Then the cycle begins all over again as we discover some other mirage ahead, just beyond our reach. Even when our efforts are successful, the reality is that our mindset has been ingrained into our sin nature, we get bored and move on to the next mirage. What a pathetic existence indeed, to believe that happiness can be derived from such an existential and idolatrous existence, having a form of godliness (life), but denying the power thereof. When we accept this counterfeit truth as the premise of our life, we are in fact denying the power of God to work in us to free us from the lies of the world – which by extension are the lies of the ruler of this fallen world – the devil himself.

We are not called to a powerless life, but to a life filled with power to be free from the bondage of sin and the deceptions of Satan. Aligning our self to the directions and goals of the world is what binds us to these pursuits, which is why we must examine our life together by the truth of God’s Word, and through the followship of discipleship in our church. Running after every new thing that tempts us is nothing more than following the flesh and the desires of the flesh. This is why I failed to recognize the condition of my life as a young Christian, and the lack of relationship I had, because I fell into the pit - the transient lifestyle of cultural Christianity that is so prevalent in many churches today. Unless pastors and teachers in our churches understand the most important role of the church beyond preaching the gospel, is teaching new Christians to become disciples, and thus learn to disciple others. The gaps in the net we cast in terms of evangelism to reach the lost are directly proportionate to the training we receive as new converts. With out an elementary understanding of our basic Christian theology, upon which to build the foundation of our life in Christ, we will revert to the behaviors we knew before we met Christ.

For most of us it is not that the goals we have made for our self represent a bad list, it’s just the wrong list. It is a list that is based upon the mindset of worldly accomplishments which are temporal at best, instead of focusing our life on the eternal rewards obtained through Christ. Our followship as disciples has far greater tangible value to our life than we realize, until we begin to experience the benefit of God’s work in us. Obtaining a deeper understanding of biblical truth by studying God’s Word is the most critical first step, one that is far more capable of producing spiritual maturity as we pray and meditate on the principles of life imputed to us through our experience at the cross and beyond. For the man with an inoperable brain tumor to learn that he has won the lottery there is no sense of consolation, but a great sense of tragedy if he doesn’t know the eternal destination he will miss if he doesn’t know Christ. The most dreadful consequence of living the lie, is the tragedy of living each day as if it doesn’t matter, that it is inconsequential as to how we live, why we live, or what there is beyond this life. Keeping the end of this life in mind is the significant contribution toward ensuring that our choices are relevant to the objective of following Christ, serving His purpose, and spreading the gospel by a fervent desire to please and glorify God, by the very means in which we live each moment.

The purpose of deceiving man is to rob God, the purpose of becoming a disciple of Jesus is to learn to discern the truth so that we may know and declare the truth. Jesus spoke clearly as to the most difficult challenges we face in this life, and the significant truth He revealed is that we cannot serve two masters. If I am a disciple of Jesus, I cannot be a servant to the desires of the flesh and the system of this world that both competes against the truth and seeks to replace it with the lie that has a cost that reaches into eternity. Only by rejecting the false premise of the worlds version of truth and success can I follow the true path of life which is Christ. When I recognize that my fellowship is with Jesus because He has taken up residence in my heart and that He is with me at all times, where ever I am, I know that the competition for my life and my priorities and choices, is already won. My victory is in Jesus and as His disciple it is His truth that frees me from the deception that I can’t live a life sanctified by the truth and freed from the sins of the world. When those around me see the result of my life in Christ, that no matter what challenges compete for my attention I rely upon God for the answer, and that my life is centered upon His truth, it gives me great joy to reveal to them that the source of my courage and strength is not found in anything this world can offer, it is found in only one truth, the message of the cross.

Discipleship leads others to followship

Are you a believer and follower of Jesus Christ, or maybe just a believer? Would you believe there was a time in my life, even as a professing Christian, when Jesus did not receive a place of honor in my life. You could extend that to include my home, my work, my relationship with my wife and children, and onward even into my walk with God. How can that be, you may ask? If biblical truth is only a canvas upon which we view God and the person of Jesus, then there is no relationship between biblical truth and our self. Knowing that Christ is the Son of God is not the same as inviting Him into my heart as my Lord and savior, making my life the canvas upon which God begins to write the new story of my life as a new creation, by actively yielding control of my life to His Lordship by making a conscious choice each day to follow Christ as a disciple; this is the conversion from knowing about Jesus to becoming His follower and disciple. What I came to learn is that sometimes there is a very subtle difference between the truth and the lie that ultimately blinds a man or woman to the real truth. If the basis of our life is not rooted in biblical truth, then I should ask the question, what is it rooted in? A lie!

A lie so carefully conceived and diabolically clever, it even fools the most elect servants of God. Mark 24:24 “For false Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.” Another example of the lie and its work in the world, 2 Timothy 3:13 “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”  The context of this deception that shields us from the truth is such that we are convinced that Jesus is not enough to make us happy, and that happiness only comes from worldly pleasure. How many of us today, especially us men, think that in order to be happy and experience joy, I must have this car or that house, get the job or promotion I deserve, or maybe if my wife looked like this, if only my kids behaved like such and such. When these secondary parts of our life become the encompassing and primary focus of our life, we can be certain we have accepted a counterfeit truth in terms of the path to true joy, we have bought into the deceptions of the devil. The truth of God’s Word has no effect upon our life if we are viewing biblical truth as a facet of academic knowledge that is stored in our head, we must understand that this is where biblical truth is subject to our world view, rather than becoming the basis of our world view. If I relate to the world as though I am in control of the direction of my life, then I have missed the mark in accepting the truth that it is God who is sovereign and not my self.

Don’t feel too surprised to learn that even God’s people can be deceived! Just look around, there are countless people that make up our culture and society that are right there in the boat with us, we are all just so caught up in our own version of the lie, it’s difficult to notice that almost everyone around us is being equally deceived. The only way to escape from this lie is to do just as Jesus has instructed us to do, then we will be able to see just how foolish we have been in allowing ourselves to be overtaken by such a pitiful and blatant attempt to cheat us out of our joy. Let not your hearts be troubled friends, Jesus told us how to overcome this deception and get our lives back on track, and what our focus in life should be. Do any of you recall what Jesus said? Just as I shared with you in my recent article A House Divided in Matthew 6:33 “ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Now I am not suggesting that we will obtain worldly wealth and every “thing” we desire by following Christ, that is not the objective of employing God’s list of priorities. What we hope to obtain by the example of Christ is first reconciliation to God, second it is fellowship with God, and then it is to encounter the truth as it relates to our true purpose and refocus our life to account for the truth.

So what is the right focus for our life? Our relationship with God is the most important aspect of life, because this life is temporary and we will have needs beyond this life that can only be realized by correctly viewing our life through the lens of eternity. When we stop allowing the secondary “things” in life to edge out God, it is amazing how our perception and perspective changes to align our focus with God’s priorities. The sad reality for our efforts of chasing the mirage produced by following the course presented by the lie is that in obtaining each and every object we pursue, we find only a temporary sense of fulfillment if any at all. Then the cycle begins all over again as we discover some other mirage ahead, just beyond our reach. Even when our efforts are successful, the reality is that our mindset has been ingrained into our sin nature, we get bored and move on to the next mirage. What a pathetic existence indeed, to believe that happiness can be derived from such an existential and idolatrous existence, having a form of godliness (life), but denying the power thereof. When we accept this counterfeit truth as the premise of our life, we are in fact denying the power of God to work in us to free us from the lies of the world – which by extension are the lies of the ruler of this fallen world – the devil himself.

We are not called to a powerless life, but to a life filled with power to be free from the bondage of sin and the deceptions of Satan. Aligning our self to the directions and goals of the world is what binds us to these pursuits, which is why we must examine our life together by the truth of God’s Word, and through the followship of discipleship in our church. Running after every new thing that tempts us is nothing more than following the flesh and the desires of the flesh. This is why I failed to recognize the condition of my life as a young Christian, and the lack of relationship I had, because I fell into the pit - the transient lifestyle of cultural Christianity that is so prevalent in many churches today. Unless pastors and teachers in our churches understand the most important role of the church beyond preaching the gospel, is teaching new Christians to become disciples, and thus learn to disciple others. The gaps in the net we cast in terms of evangelism to reach the lost are directly proportionate to the training we receive as new converts. With out an elementary understanding of our basic Christian theology, upon which to build the foundation of our life in Christ, we will revert to the behaviors we knew before we met Christ.

For most of us it is not that the goals we have made for our self represent a bad list, it’s just the wrong list. It is a list that is based upon the mindset of worldly accomplishments which are temporal at best, instead of focusing our life on the eternal rewards obtained through Christ. Our followship as disciples has far greater tangible value to our life than we realize, until we begin to experience the benefit of God’s work in us. Obtaining a deeper understanding of biblical truth by studying God’s Word is the most critical first step, one that is far more capable of producing spiritual maturity as we pray and meditate on the principles of life imputed to us through our experience at the cross and beyond. For the man with an inoperable brain tumor to learn that he has won the lottery there is no sense of consolation, but a great sense of tragedy if he doesn’t know the eternal destination he will miss if he doesn’t know Christ. The most dreadful consequence of living the lie, is the tragedy of living each day as if it doesn’t matter, that it is inconsequential as to how we live, why we live, or what there is beyond this life. Keeping the end of this life in mind is the significant contribution toward ensuring that our choices are relevant to the objective of following Christ, serving His purpose, and spreading the gospel by a fervent desire to please and glorify God, by the very means in which we live each moment.

The purpose of deceiving man is to rob God, the purpose of becoming a disciple of Jesus is to learn to discern the truth so that we may know and declare the truth. Jesus spoke clearly as to the most difficult challenges we face in this life, and the significant truth He revealed is that we cannot serve two masters. If I am a disciple of Jesus, I cannot be a servant to the desires of the flesh and the system of this world that both competes against the truth and seeks to replace it with the lie that has a cost that reaches into eternity. Only by rejecting the false premise of the worlds version of truth and success can I follow the true path of life which is Christ. When I recognize that my fellowship is with Jesus because He has taken up residence in my heart and that He is with me at all times, where ever I am, I know that the competition for my life and my priorities and choices, is already won. My victory is in Jesus and as His disciple it is His truth that frees me from the deception that I can’t live a life sanctified by the truth and freed from the sins of the world. When those around me see the result of my life in Christ, that no matter what challenges compete for my attention I rely upon God for the answer, and that my life is centered upon His truth, it gives me great joy to reveal to them that the source of my courage and strength is not found in anything this world can offer, it is found in only one truth, the message of the cross.