Sunday August 29, 2010

"Be transformed by the renewing of your mind"  ....Romans 12:2

"The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God" ...Romans 8:7

God desires not only a change in the mind of His children at the time of conversion, He desires also a mind that is totally renewed, which is a mind freed from sin, Satan and self.   In other words to have a mind that is as transparent as crystal. We find this commanded in the Word of God. The reason why Satan can still work in us is that the Christian has not as yet been liberated entirely from a carnal narrow mind.  He may start out for example, with a narrow mentality which cannot tolerate others, or a darkened mentality that cannot comprehend the revealed truth of God's word, or a foolish mentality which cannot bear any proper responsibility.  Therefore as a result he then slips back into deeper sins.

This is all because of once knowing the teaching of Romans 6 many Christians see themselves as having already been freed from their carnal mind. What they do not appreciate is that the cross must operate minutely and deeply in every area of their being. "Consider yourselves dead to sin" must be followed by "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies" (Rom. 6:11-12). Following the change of mentality there must be the bringing of "every thought captive to obey Christ"   That means making every false and stray thought agree with the revealed word of God (2 Cor. 10:5). "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ"
The mind must be renewed totally and completely, since any residue of its former carnality is hostile to God.  Many fail to lasso all stray thought and it is always the one that escapes our apprehension which brings us down.   The thought that gets away with its suggestion is the one that is hostile to God.  We would do well to deal with every thought that is controversial to God's word that arises in our mind and to deal with it according to God's truth.

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind:- ....Romans 8:9

(2) "Be renewed in the spirit of your mind" ...Ephesians 4:23

For us to have our intellects renewed we must draw near to the cross. This is plainly called for in Ephesians 4.   The Apostle Paul describes the darkness of man’s carnal mentality in verses 17 and 18; but in verses 22 and 23 he informs us how the mind can be renewed: "Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind."   We know that our 'old man' has been crucified with the Lord already (Rom 6:6). Here we are exhorted to put it off so that our mind might be renewed.

This brings the cross of Christ into view as the instrument for its removal and renewal. A believer should understand that his old mind is part of that 'old man nature' original creation, which God wants us to cast off entirely. The salvation which God imparts through the cross includes not only a new life but also the renewal of every function of our soul as well, especially the mind.   This is what one could call a sort of second salvation.

This 'second' salvation of the soul, which is rooted so deeply in our being, must gradually be worked out from the inside which is our heart to the outside which is our soul.  The soul is the area or realm of our mind, emotions and will.  And this is that salvation that must be worked out with "fear and trembling" ...(Philippians 2:12)  This salvation has to do with the deliverance of our will and especially the renewing of our mind.   God's way here is not from the outside in but from the inside out, seeing that Jesus has now taken up residency as Lord and Saviour of our lives in the deepest inside part of us which is our spiritual heart.  This must not be confused with the first Salvation which is the salvation of our spirit (heart). Here we received instant total forgiveness of all our sins, eternal life and our 'born again' experience. However, we were not changed all that much in our mind and feelings; our experience confirms it.   This second salvation has to do with the outworking of the life of Christ from deep within us to this outer area of our very soul and especially our mind and feelings.   It is only in this way that we experience the transformation of our outer life due to a new mind that is set and focused on the Life of Christ in our new spirit.  The Life and law of our new spirit is that Jesus is our new life. The law of the spirit of righteousness and life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.

(3) "Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. ...Ephesians 4:24

A serious lack among Christians today is in not perceiving the need for their minds to be saved (a better word is Delivered); they conceive that the word salvation means a sort of 'saving' in spirit only; and that too in somewhat vague terms. They fail to recognise that God desires to save us to the ultimate, in that all our capabilities are to be renewed and made fit for His use.

The mind is one of man’s most important natural endowments. The mind as the brain of man is not renewed instantly at the moment we are saved.  The mind itself as a faculty of man is not the problem, it is what goes on inside the mind that causes the problem!  God calls His own to accept that their old man was crucified on the cross, thereafter they need to accept single mindedly God’s judgment towards the old man and to exercise their will to resist or to put off all it’s deeds including their old thought life. We need to separate ourselves from all our old thinking habits and ways. We must come to the foot of His cross and be willing to forsake all our old logic, traditional mentalities and natural temperament ways. We need to now trust God and to depend upon Him to form in us a clear mind which is a delivered mind and to then permeate  our soul resulting in a new person with a new nature!

Brethren, the old one needs to be thoroughly put off.  Yes, its renewal is God’s work, but the putting off and the separating and the denial, the forsaking of your old organ of thought, is what we must do by an on going act of our will. If you perform your part by being willing then God will fulfil His.   Once you have specifically put off your old mind you should then just as thoroughly accept the fact that God will renew your mind, despite the fact that you know not how!  Willingness is the key. A clear mind is a sound mind that is under the control of our free will from the power of His Holy Spirit.

The last thing we now need to do is to focus our mind on Christ and all that God has made Him to be on our behalf as our life by literately putting Him on to be just that; because He is the new man of our heart who is born of God and created in righteousness and true holiness.  He is now our whole life and it is Christ that God sees when He looks at us!

Sunday August 22, 2010

"David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave of Adullam, ... and there were with him about four hundred men.."     ....1 Samuel 22:1

This cave actually represented the answer to David's spiritual need!  Saul had the office of the king and had a huge following.  His lot was all the machinery of government, and God in sovereignty, recognized him as such; but you will not find that God is ever with a Saul.   God is with the David who has the real caring shepherd's heart that is of God  under the Holy Spirit's anointing!  He goes where God goes. If need be, he must go with God into the wilderness and into the cave!    So it was with David that the cave ended up becoming David's headquarters.  It was in the cave that God was evident in the anointing upon David and it was to the cave that the band of those who were weary of existing conditions came.    David became their captain and leader in that place.  They came to the cave of Adullam in desperation because their need was not being met elsewhere!

Today in the Church as the body of Christ, David represents to us a type of the Lord Jesus, especially in this present day ramble of constructed and confused Christianity.  Even today, multitudes are on their way to His retreat.  They crave for the reality to be found where the Lord Jesus reigns and rules in the person of His Holy Spirit.  They come out to Him and He receives them as His own loyal band.  It is often a long and lonely road from constructed religious Christianity to real Christianity as a personal relationship with Jesus.  It is always lonely to stand against the man-made system, especially the man made churches where everyone judges you as being the one who is wrong!  Few there be that come out compared to those who remain shackled to the religious church and in bondage.  But that nucleus, gathered to the Lord Jesus in this day of His rejection in the man made church, will be very dear to Him when He returns. These are they who are the overcomers in Christ and what they do and what they say and declare holds good with God for all Christians everywhere and for all time!  They alone, get to eat of the hidden manna and their love, their joy, and their peace knows no bounds!   It is none other than Jesus Himself living out His life in them!  The joy and gladness of Jesus in their hearts and in their life is unlimited!

Sunday August 15, 2010

2 Peter 2:1-2  "But there were also false prophets among the people then, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them; bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute."

2 Peter 2:17-19 "These men advertise themselves as springs of living water, but they have no water;  they are mists driven by a storm. The blackest darkness is reserved for them.   For they mouth off empty, boastful words and, by appealing to the lustful desires of the sinful human nature, they entice people who are just escaping from those who live in error.  They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity"

2 Peter 2:19-22  "A man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.   If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.  It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on that sacred command that was passed on to them.   Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A pig that is washed goes back to its wallowing in the mud."

The Way of Truth:

There are very few preachers today who are willing to throw caution to the wind and preach the gospel of Christ crucified as it really is, with no holds barred.  Most times either the preacher does not have the revelation of 'the full way of  truth', or he does not even know what preaching 'Christ crucified' really means, or he is not willing to pay the price required to preach it as it is in God's mind.  Today the Church is stuffed full of fine eloquent intellectual preachers that minister absolute rubbish based on nothing more than a half intellectual social gospel that has no power of conviction!  The current spiritual overall state of the Church in Australia is proof to this statement.

Not only has Australia progressed to become a banana republic, it has the added stigma of being a pagan banana republic!  In 1995 the United Nations voted Australia as a pagan and non Christian nation!  The way of truth is virtually not preached  here anymore! It has been lost!   For example, God's chosen government for Australia, or for any country for that matter, is the 'Born Again' Christians that make up the national body of Christ; - but where do you ever hear that preached today!?  Not only have we, as Christians, allowed our country to become Pagan, but we have compromised the way of truth to settle for the way of evil. The ways of the denominational Christian Church in Australia today is itself evil. (Please notice that I have said 'ways' not people.)

Today, we Christians are denying the Lord Jesus His rightful place, both in our lives and in the rule of our country, because of our wicked ways and pride.   In 2 Chronicles 7:14 it says "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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land"  Tell me honestly, - "What are the only two things the majority of Christians can't do?"  The Answer to that is very simple, "Humble ourselves and turn from our wicked ways!"  We don't even see our ways as wicked let alone consider ourselves proud!

Many Christians are totally occupied and tied up with Christian service and Church work, yet the real work of God goes unheeded and therefore unattended!  The gospel we preach today is at best a social gospel that only benefits man! ...God's needs are not even considered!!  The real work of God remains un-done.  Many treat the Lord Jesus as some sort of personal butler instead of the Lord of life!    We have put the cart before the horse!    No wonder Christians today in this country are found lacking in just about every real powerful spiritual commodity and requirement, including faith!  Assumptions has become our confidence in place of Christ!  Whatever happened to the need for personal revelation from the Holy Spirit of God?  Most don't even know what it is!  It is virtually not preached from any pulpit.  Therefore there is little or no reality, no experience of the cross, no surrender of self will.    Therefore the end result is:- no real expression of the Life of Christ in the Church, no authority and our country lies at the brink of ruin!

Truly, we Christians, have followed the preachings of our own false prophets and teachers and lost the plot.   Organised or constructed Christianity today is overflowing with these wonderful looking ministers of righteousness from Satanic angels of illumination.   We need to humble ourselves and confess our wicked ways as sin!

Sunday August 8, 2010

"By faith Jacob ... worshiped, leaning upon the top of his staff."    ....Hebrews 11:21

How striking that the New Testament writer should choose this attribute of apparent weakness to describe Jacob's faith!   For at Peniel, with its crippling divine touch, this had indeed spelled an end to the supplanter with all his super abundant natural energy of self and craft.  At Peniel, Jacob came face to face with God.  Now in this place there now stood this gracious person with God and he worshiped the Lord.    Jacob had at last come to know God internally in such a deep way in place of just knowing of Him externally.

I was sitting one day at supper with a young brother to whom the Lord had been speaking on this very question of our natural self soul energy.  He said to me, "It is a blessed thing when you know the Lord has met you here like this and dealt with you in such a fundamental way that this disabling touch has been received and you are never quite the same ever again after that!"  There was a plate of biscuits between us on the table, and so I picked one up and broke it in half as though to eat it.  Then, fitting the two pieces together again carefully, I said, "It still tends to look alright, but it is never quite the same ever again, is it?  When once your back bone of natural self strength is broken, you will yield from then on to the slightest touch from God."  

Today in the Church as the body of Christ on earth, brokenness is the prelude to entering the Kingdom of God and experiencing the resurrection life and power of Jesus Christ.  To be broken is to have had that crippling touch in a face to face encounter with Jesus Christ as the Almighty living Lord God of creation.   Like Jacob, we all need an experience of Peniel!

Sunday August 1, 2010

"The city was pure gold, like unto pure glass."       ....Revelation 21:18

Gold speaks to us here of something that is totally of God and of glass that is transparently pure.  May we adapt the latter simile, and suggest that future purity is well illustrated by pure glass, but that our present purity is best described by clear water?   For water can readily become clouded with defilement, but no impurity can enter the texture of glass.  Our purity today is still liable to change, our purity then will never alter.  The "divine nature" imparted to us now is that of pure gold; there is no question about that.  But alas, we contribute to it a sorry mixture of dross, to the extent that God's chief work in us is always one of dealing with us by subtraction and removing that dross!

Today in the Church as Christ's body, by the inward working of the Cross of Christ in our lives, God is seeking to eliminate that dross mixture, bringing to the judgment of His death all that which is in us and that is still of ourselves. The most precious thing we have within our power is to produce only dross and more dross!   And that must go, all of it, before we find our place amongst the pure gold of God's eternal city in the Kingdom of God.    Regarding our lives on earth, may it be: 'No longer I but Christ' (Galatians 2:20), for He and He alone is my Gold.  He alone is my purity!  We need to become as transparent as glass that others see Jesus in us!

Sunday July 25, 2010

"As many as touched Him were made whole."       ....Mark 6:56

Recall the incident of the Pharisee and the publican at prayer in the temple.  The Pharisee understood all about tithes, offerings, prayers and trying to be good, yet from him there was no cry of the heart to God.  It was the publican who cried out of his heart, "Lord have mercy upon me!"  Something went out to God from that man which met with an immediate response!  The Lord Jesus singles him out as the one whom God reckoned righteous!  For what is it to be reckoned righteous?  It is to touch God's heart and to receive a justifying response from Him. 

Today in the body of Christ as the real Church of God on this earth, the great weakness of so much present day teaching and preaching of the gospel is that we try to make people understand the plan of salvation with their minds.    All too often we see little or no result in the character of their heart, or for that matter in their current life experience.  Where have we failed?

I am sure it is in this:  It is that our hearers neither really see Him or touch Him in reality. They do not open up and reach out in their hearts and secure that initial imperative contact with Him.  In other words, there has been no connection of heart to heart, spirit to Spirit.  Like the Pharisee, they have not as yet touched God's heart.  Truly we have presented the plan of salvation correctly but we have neglected to present the real presence of Jesus in the person of Saviour!  We point them only to their sins or to God's salvation. Their real need is to be lead to Jesus, to see Him and to touch Him as the living Saviour God Himself.   They need to meet Jesus one on one personally, to have made contact with Him in their heart!    A one on one contact of the heart of man with the  Heart of God is what is most needed!  One such contact or touch is all that it takes for one to be saved, to be delivered, to be set free and to be made whole!

Sunday July 18, 2010

"And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak ... and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers and so we were in their sight."     ....Numbers 13:33

Today on the earth two thrones are at war.  God claims the earth for His dominion.  Satan His arch-enemy, supported by spiritual hosts of wickedness, seek instead to overrun the earth with evil and thereby to exclude God from His own creation.  We Christians as God's people, are called upon to displace these mighty foes from their present realm and to establish the Lord Jesus Christ head over all.  Question is, "What are we doing about it?"

"If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land."  This was the minority view of Joshua and Caleb in face of the ten spies gloomy forecasts.  'If the Lord delight in us!'  One thing is certain, all talk of spiritual warfare remains but just talk unless we have first learned how to live the holy life.  For the evil hosts are great and we are like grasshoppers; there is no disguising this.  We realise that and so do they.   How do we live a life that is a delight to the Lord?  Only by basing it on what Christ has already achieved for us and what He is today on our behalf; and this by an act of our will.  In other words, what He has made us to be in Himself as a result of the cross.

Today in the Church as the body of Christ, if we lack this one essential fact, Satan can afford to ignore us.  But with it, "their defense is removed from over them."  We are more than conquerors in Him who died and rose again for us!  We need to go on the offensive and attack the strongholds of the enemy.  Stop being so defensive!  We do not need more protection from the enemy, he needs protection from us!

Sunday July 11, 2010

"Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ"  ....2 Peter 3:18

We long to see people saved from perishing and won to Christ for God's glory.  But, do we stop there?  When we see three or four thousand make a decision for Christ - or even only three or four! - all saved and all going on with the Lord, do we feel the task has been accomplished?  Should we not regard it rather as the task only just begun!  Ought we not to ask ourselves how many of them have caught a glimpse of the heavenly Man into which God has brought them?  Are they still just figures, fishes in the net, statistics in a list of the latest revival campaign results, or does that supreme vision and revelation of Christ possess them? 

Today in the Church as Christ's body, this will certainly never happen unless that heavenly vision first possesses us!   So I ask again, are we burdened, as were the apostles, to see them grow up in all things unto Jesus Christ as the new heavenly Man?   Do they really know God now or do they just still kind of believe in Him with their mind?  Mental believe-ism avail nothing!   Satan also believes in God!  We need to really know before we can ever grow!

We need to know Christ!  Knowing Jesus in our heart is much more than believing about Him in the mind.  Believing in the heart is the knowing spoken of here!   Only knowing constitutes growth in faith.  Only what the heart sees is really real.

Sunday July 4, 2010

"Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."     ...Galatians 6:7

God's practical dealings with us, as His children, follow principles that are solely His own, which alone faithfully express His ways.  Are our sins forgiven in Christ?  Then it is our privilege henceforth, to be gently handled in ways designed always to warn us when, for a moment, our direction and course is other than His.  As it is with us from God, then so also should we be towards others.   This often means that what we are going through today is directly related with something in our past, a reaping of what we have sown earlier.  Have we been gracious?  Then grace is multiplied to us. 

Today in the Church as the body of Christ, let us ask ourselves; 'Are we critical of someone's behavior or actions?'   Then sooner or later we discover ourselves doing that very same thing we have accused others of and reaping the consequences.  Because with whatever measure we measure, the same is measured back to us from God.   "If you knew what was wrong with your brother you should have known what was wrong with you!"  That is the principle of God today in all of His dealings with us as His children.   His way is not harsh.  It is tender and gentle for it is the way of love and so measured as to offer us all possible safeguards.  Welcome it, and we shall escape many unseen hazards and obstacles in the future.

Sunday June 27, 2010

"A certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he was moved with compassion, and came to him."       ....Luke 10: 33

What the helpless sinner cannot do, the Lord Jesus as Saviour is at hand to do for him.  The Lord Jesus came in the first place as the sinners friend, before He became the friend of the sinner!  He came to help us sinners approach God. Nay, much more than just help! He came to do for us that which is impossible for us to do!  Our coming to Him now was made possible only by His first coming to us back then.  The Lord Jesus has brought such a great Salvation onto this earth that man cannot mess it up.   Why? - because it does not depend upon what man does but upon what the Lord Jesus has done.   By His achievement alone, heaven was brought within our reach.   I remember I was once sitting talking to a brother in his home.  His wife and mother were upstairs, but his small son was in the sitting room with us.  Presently the little fellow wanted something, and called out to his mother for it.  "It is up here,"  she replied.  "Come up and get it."  But he cried out to her, "I can't Mummy; because I can't even climb the stairs; please bring it down here to me."   And indeed he was very small and the stairs were steep, so down she came with it and brought it to him.

Today in the real Church as the body of Christ, salvation is just like that.  Only by His coming down to us could our need be met.  Had He not come to us, we sinners could never have come to Him.   He came down from heaven and became a man, and as a man He brought the Salvation of God to us!  The Lord Jesus did not do it to prove that He was God.  He did not have to because He was already God!    He did it to be proven as a Man.  He did it on behalf of all men everywhere and for all of time!  He did it for us too!  He did it as our representative!  It was a Man that died on the cross!  It was a Man that rose from the dead!  It was a man that ascended!  And today it is a Man that sits on the throne in Glory who rules, reigns and is Lord over all this earth!   Hallelujah!  What an almighty and loving God we have.  Thankyou Lord Jesus that you are our God and our Lord!

Saturday June 20, 2010

"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection"        .....Romans 6:5

Your claim for being born again and for having the new life of Christ is totally dependant upon the answer to one very important and very simple question.  Has Christ died for you personally, as in being the one who has died for you as the sinner of your sins?    It is one thing to be be forgiven of your sins but altogether another thing as to whether or not you have the experience of resurrection life.

Our whole basis of God's 'new-eternal-resurrection-life' is dependant upon our identification in Christ; that identification is from God, not us.  It is never what we say about ourselves, or what others may say about us that counts; but only on account of what God Himself says about us, personally and individually . It is what God says about us that determines whether or not our names are written in Heaven and in the Lambs book of Life.  God is the one that decides that issue, not us.  We are identified in Christ's death by God Himself the instant we accept Christ's death as being our death. We have to accept the fact that Jesus died for us in our place!  Therefore, seeing that Christ is also risen from the dead, so also then are we!  Our whole experience from the forgiveness of our sins to resurrection life is only possible because of what Jesus has achieved for us on our behalf and because of what we have chosen to willingly accept about ourselves, included in Him.   "If we are not born again then Christ never ever rose from the dead for us in the first place," should be our motto! Why? because we have accepted with all our heart that He has died, not just for all my sins, but for me too as the person who has committed those sins!   Truly we have been planted by God in His death on the cross and now we share in His resurrected life.  Yes!  Thank you Lord Jesus, we are Born Again!

Sunday June 13, 2010

"Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.   For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them"      ..... Matthew 18:19-20

The preceding verse has given us a wonderful promise of answered prayer, but the promise is conditional.  There must be at least two, and that they be in agreement.  Why is their prayer answered?  Because these two or three " are gathered together in my name."  That is because they do not just meet, they are gathered.  Do we see the difference between what it is to be gathered compared to meeting?   It is not merely to be motivated by ourselves, it is to be moved by the Spirit of God!   And they come, not on their own affairs, but having a single common concern for God's will to be done on earth.  It is this motivation that unites them in His name.  And when this is so, Jesus says, "I am in the midst of them," leading, revealing, enlightening and providing.  Praise God, that is not just a promise but a statement and declaration of fact from God!

Today in all that calls itself the Church as the body of Christ, what do we see?    We see many meetings advertised just about everywhere, some small, many great and some huge; but the question remains as to why they meet.   Many meet to be blessed emotionally and mentally.  Others meet to extend their own concepts and educational mental knowledge of God; - but just how few there are that are truly gathered together by the spirit of God for His own plan and purpose as expressed by His will?   May we be of those who are gathered together at the place He wants us to be at and gathered together there according to His will, His plan and His purpose!