After my last post, someone posted a comment at the bottom and did not identify himself. Well, I am afraid I cannot respond to whoever it was that posted the question as I do not wish to respond to anonymity. So, if you wish to have your question addressed, may I suggest that you leave your name and email address so that I can get back to you personally to address your comments/ questions.
Today, I want to continue on my series on the blessings that Believers have in Christ.
Romans 8:2 - "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death." Immediately after touching on the blessing of no condemnation, Paul then went on and brought up the next blessing - that we have this Life that the Holy Spirit brings to us when we give our hearts to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. You see, when the Spirit comes upon the Believer, he/she is no longer a the same person as he/she was before Salvation came into his/her life. That is why the same Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17 - "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
When a person receives Jesus into his/her life, that person starts afresh on the new journey. He/she used to be headed aimlessly (spiritually speaking) before Christ came and the ultimate end-journey will be eternal separation from God, the Source of Life. But praise be to Jesus this new life that he/she has found permits him/her to enter into the privileged fellowship with the Holy Spirit and where the Spirit is, there is Life. That is why Romans 8:2 boldly declares that we have the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ.
Indeed, a lot of the blessings will become ours to enjoy when we realized how blessed we are in Christ. I am not saying that the blessings are not there; indeed, they are already there but we do not get to enjoy them if we do not know that it is there. It is just like you had a billionaire relative who had passed on and left you a great fortune but because you are ignorant that such an inheritance had indeed been laid out for you and that all you have to do is to step into the lawyer's office where the will is administered and show proof that you are indeed the beneficiary, you will continue to live life as you are - in a state of lack. Until you lay hold of the inheritance, you will not be able to enjoy life the way you were meant to do. How sad it will be.
But praise be to our Lord Jesus who not only paid the price, died and left us that great inheritance but is now also our Advocate and Solicitor to ensure that the rightful owners of the inheritance do get the blessings that were intended for us. Don't you just want to thank and praise Him that all these had been made possible. Hallelujah!
When you go public with your message and call yourself 'man of god' or something, your message must be able to stand up to public scrutiny. at the end of the day, it is the seed, or the word, that matters, not the messenger. If the messenger precedes the message, we are in trouble. For the WORD is GOD, not the messenger - john chap 1!
ReplyDeleteJust to set you thinking 'out of the religious box'.
Why did Jesus often target the temple in His ministry?
Mar 14:49 Day after day I was with you in the TEMPLE teaching, yet you didn't arrest me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled."
Luk 20:1 One day while he was teaching the people in the TEMPLE and telling them the GOOD NEWS, the high priests and the scribes came with the ELDERS
Luk 20:2 and asked him, "Tell us: By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?"
Mat 12:5 Or haven't you read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple violate the Sabbath and yet are innocent?
Mat 21:12 Then Jesus went into the temple, threw out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and overturned the moneychangers' tables and the chairs of those who sold doves.
Luk 19:45 Then Jesus went into the temple and began to throw out those who were SELLING THINGS. - have you been merchandising the things of God?
Mat 21:14 Blind and lame people came to him in the temple, and he healed them. - these people were going to 'church' and subsequently had their "eyes opened"
Mar 13:3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives FACING the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew were asking him privately,
Mar 13:4 "Tell us, when will these things take place, and what will be the sign when these things will be put into effect?"
Mar 13:5 Jesus began to say to them, "See to it that NO ONE DECEIVES YOU.
Luk 19:47 Then he began teaching in the temple every day. The high priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people kept looking for a way to KILL him, - to kill the mission in Christ.
Mar 13:1 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what BEAUTIFUL buildings!"
Mar 13:2 Jesus said to him, "Do you see these large buildings? Not one stone here will be left on another that will not be torn down."
Jesus was obviously cleansing the "temple of man". Even after His departure, His disciples proceeded with the same work in 'pulling down' these "large buildings" that even cost them their lives in the footsteps of their master.
But you argued, we are not that "temple". You sure?
Col 2:17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the reality or substance belongs to Christ.
Heb 8:5 They serve in a sanctuary that is a copy and SHADOW of the heavenly one.
This is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle: "See to it
that you make everything according to the PATTERN that was shown you on the
mountain."
Joh 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the SIN of the world!
Now what Sin was Jesus referring to? Did you really think it was your personal sins He was alluding to?
I am sure you are familiar with the woman who was caught in adultery. But was the subject about the woman sin or is there a far deeper and powerful revelation in a common relationship that went wrong?
Joh 8:7 When they persisted in questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let the person among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."
Did it ever occur to you that the pharisees had also committed the sin of 'adultery'?
Mat 16:1 When the Pharisees and Sadducees arrived, as a test they asked Jesus to show them a sign from heaven.
Mat 16:2 He replied to them, "You say, 'Red sky at night, what a delight!
Mat 16:3 Red sky in the morning, cloudy and storming.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, yet you can't interpret the signs of the times? - obviously, the message was hidden in the natural events. you saw the sin but you fail to see the SIN, didn't you?
Mat 16:4 An evil and ADULTEROUS generation craves a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." Then he left them and went away.
Now what was their 'adulterous' relationship about? Did Jesus use the story of the woman with the intention to rebuke religious authority of their SIN or was really about the woman's sin?
Joh 9:39 Then Jesus said, "I have come into this WORLD for judgment, so that those who are blind may see, and those who see may BECOME blind."
Joh 9:40 Some of the Pharisees who were near him overheard this and said to him, "We aren't blind, too, are we?"
Joh 9:41 Jesus told them, "If you were blind, you would not have any SIN. But now that you insist, 'We see,' your SIN remains."
There is blindness and there is blindness, have you been confused?
There is a far greater Sin than the sins you have been struggling with that has not been resolved. As long as you have no clue to what that SIN is, then the following applies...
Joh 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly I tell you that everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. - was it talking about your moral failures resolved in the version of your cross or was it something far more sinister?
The difference is that, your cross ended at His death and resurrection. The burden of the same UNPOPULAR cross that follows is completely missing in your message of 'hope,blessings and prosperity'! I wish apostle paul was that 'prosperous' instead of crucified upside down.
My point?
You are still a slave to SIN and living in SIN because like the pharisees, you claim to SEE but have not NAILED the message right.
Joh 9:13 They brought him(healed of blindness) who once was blind to the Pharisees.
Again, like the adulteress, was it talking about the blindness of the man or the SIN of the pharisees( false prophets or religious leaders)?
Mat 8:20 And Jesus said to him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.
ReplyDeleteBtw, what's that verse talking about?