Hot Off The Press - Today!

(Caution: This is for Christians only! If you are not a born again Christian, reading these messages may confuse you and cause misunderstanding.)

    If you've ever back-slidden, chances are you've stopped spending time with God.  Perhaps you have a sin you won't let go of, or you've not trusted Jesus and obeyed Him regarding some issue and done a Jonah, running away.  Whatever it is, if you belong to Jesus, turn back now.  Give up, or risk being dealt with by God - and it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  He will not ever stop loving you, and for that reason He will not let your situation go unchecked.  For Jonah it meant threatening the ship he fled on, being thrown into the great fish, and coughed up on the shore three days later.  It can't have been a pleasant experience... and so he relented and did as God wanted of him and preached to the people Jonah hated.

    Count it as a blessing when a real born-again Christian rebukes you.  If he or she is filled with the Spirit, you will feel the conviction of God on you.  You'll squirm and kick; and yet, deep inside, you spirit will rejoice.  The worse your condition, the less you'll rejoice on the outside, the more you'll kick and scream, even perhaps attacking the one who is telling you that you're in trouble.  But stop: it is God who, in His love, is telling you that you're going the wrong way.  It is God who is loving you by revealing to you that you're wrong and telling you that HE is ready to fix that issue in your life.

    Do you lie?  Do you realise you lie?  Do you make excuses (which are in fact lies)?  Have you been pulled up by someone and reacted angrily, defending yourself with excuses as Adam did when he was caught out eating the wrong fruit?  When you can stop defending yourself and shut up long enough to hear what is being said, then you can listen and agree with the truth.  Then will God hear your cry and, if you really want Him to, come to you and help you by dealing with your problem.  You can't change yourself; but HE can be for you all that you can't be for Him.  He can cause you to hate lies and love truth.  Whatever your problem, whatever you're being spoken to about by Him through whoever it is He has sent your way, He IS the solution.  HE is the way, the truth and the life.  He came that you might have His life!

Tip:    Keep it simple: every morning of every day whole-heartedly commit the day ahead into God's hands.

Encouragement:

    Jesus came not to condemn, but to give His life - for us, and to us!

Thought for the day:

    Trusting in your own opinion is trusting a guess.  Trusting God is trusting in Truth.

    "...for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."  (Hebrews 13:5)  That is a true friend: one who never abandons you but who rescues you, saves you from destruction.  A true friend is a friend in times of need.

    I know that many believe in Jesus.  Satan does, for one.  It's a different thing entirely to be OF Christ.  Those who only believe IN Christ are like those who've read about someone.  Not knowing the person, they go one of two ways.  Many do nothing - yet many of these expect everything of God, daring to curse God when their expectations aren't met.  Many others seek to please Him by imitating what they see that others have done before to please God.  These expect to earn His approval and blessings with their religious observances and behaviour.  Note well:- God is not pleased with religion.  If He had been, the Jewish Pharisees would have been tops with God.  No - never.  Jesus showed them up for what they were.

    Listen carefully:  God, our Father in Heaven, has only ever been pleased by ONE:  "This is my beloved Son, in whom I AM WELL PLEASED!"

    If Christ lives in you, then you are justified by Him, glorified by Him, made alive by Him, made acceptable to our Father in Heaven by HIM.  NOTHING you do or say of yourself will ever please God.  Yet Jesus said that He is not ashamed to call us brethren.  He represents us before our Father in Heaven, pleading the precious blood He shed on the cross at Calvary for every sin you have ever, are now or ever will commit.  It is by God Himself that anyone is OF Christ.  HE saves.

    Only those who are OF Christ can experience the Christ life.  These are they who can be different, not seeking to fulfil the law, but seeking instead to walk with Jesus, answering the call to TRUST and OBEY.  They may fall and stumble, wander like sheep, yeah even for a time abandon all outward appearance of being a Christian, back-sliding...  but when you are OF Christ, you belong to Him.  He is the good shepherd, and He has promised to NEVER leave you, NEVER forsake you.  That's His promise.  The trouble is that in times of doom and gloom, when the devil and his minions are doing their best to oppress you, you think that there's something you can do to save yourself.  Your eyes have been diverted from the Truth (Jesus) to yourself.  The devil loves to rub your nose in the dirt, showing you just how wretched you are.  In desperation to escape the affliction, you struggle to see what you might do to extricate yourself from your condition.  You read the Bible, read 'spiritual' books, listen to inspiring sermons... and all to no avail.

    Listen carefully:  Jesus has already DONE what's needed.  Cry out to Him and He will hear you and cause you again to see what IS.  Then, and only then, will the darkness and gloom of the devil's lies be dispelled.  Only the Light of God's Truth will dispel the darkness.  Jesus is the Light.

    Only by the grace of God do we see light - and it is the Light which shows us that we are saved.  Jesus has already died for us, and risen again for us, and sits on the throne of Heaven for us.  These are facts.  They are spiritually seen, and this requires light from God, shining in our hearts.  Therefore cry out to God for light, not to be saved 'again'.  Rely on Jesus to reveal afresh to you what IS, and reject the urges to struggle to obtain for yourself some acceptance by God by this means or that.  Going to Sunday church services does not impress God.  Preaching doctrine from the pulpit or on street corners does not impress God.  Only when His Son, Jesus, is expressed, and this by His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, does God our Father see His Son and say "I am well pleased".

Tip:    Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Encouragement:

    An honest and truthful cry from the heart will ALWAYS receive a response from God!

Thought for the day:

    Light dispels darkness.  Don't let your Torch run flat.

    It is no longer I who live, but Christ (Galations 2:20).

    How wonderful is Jesus, that before we even knew we needed Him, He came to be our friend and to do for us that which we cannot do for ourselves.  All of us know we fail.  Many know we fail too often.  Some know we fail all the time.  Yet Jesus came to give us abundant, victorious life.

    He has done so very much for us - yet in response, a great many will say to Him "No thanks."  Some will say "Thanks - but I can do better."  A few will say "Wonderful - but that's enough.  I can do the rest."  A handful will say "Wow - You are so good to me.  Stay with me forever!  I want to be your friend."  Truly, many who call themselves Christian are not of the last group.  But where are you?

    I don't know the President of the USA.  Even if I read every single book, magazine article and newspaper clipping about him, watched every television special and researched the matter of his life thoroughly using the internet and my local library so that I knew all about him better than he recalls himself, the result will be that I know ABOUT him.  Unless I meet him face to face and shake his hand and spend time with him, he will be someTHING I've read about; or someONE I've met but never got to know personally.  No - the only way to have a friend is to have relationship with someone.  You walk with them, talk with them, spend your time with them, "hang out together" with them.  THEN you will be able to say "I know HIM."  If anyone has had a special friend, a best friend, they know the time they spent with that person, how they perhaps even longed to be with them.  They would even voluntarily go and do things with that person they otherwise would not do, just to be with their best friend.

    If you pray each day, go to church each week, give of your earnings in the offering plate, and perhaps practice other religious works diligently, do you think that you KNOW Jesus?  This is religion, not relationship.  It is works, not friendship.  I could do as much for the President of the USA, sending campaign donations, writing letters that his staff would reply to, going to rallies or even putting up an American flag; but he would probably not even know.  If I met him in the street, he would not recognise me and say "Friend!  Good to see you!"  He would not have a clue.  All my endeavours to do for him all that I could would not have endeared me to him one bit.  Members of his personal staff would have done far more and some of them he can barely remember the name of in all probability, so many are they who serve him.  If I walked up to him, therefore, I could have NO confidence in his response to any request I made of him.  He would probably say "And who are you?"

    Do you make contact with Jesus, or send him despatches (prayers)?  Do you reach out to someone you know and trust, or send letters to someone requesting intervention in matters you want resolved?  "Mr President, such-and-such is causing me problems.  Please do what you can to fix this."  Is that the kind of relationship Jesus wants from you?  Most assuredly He can do whatever we ask of Him - but more: He knows what is actually BEST for us.  He wants to bless us with the BEST - and so He came to Earth, lived as we could never do, perfectly, without sin, put the devil in his place (under His feet), brought the gospel of good news, demonstrated God in man on Earth, and then, the great pivotal point in the history of man, surrendered Himself into Satan's hands for death, shed His blood as payment in full for ALL our sins, died our death, rising again to give us HIS life, ascended to Heaven where He lives and reigns as a MAN, poured out His Spirit that He would live His life IN us FOR us...  Which of you could even have imagined such a wondrous gospel, let alone have asked for it?  This is the ultimate gift - salvation, life, HIM - and yet men all over the world have said "I'll do it my way!"

    Do you try to relate to God through letters (prayers) to someone far off, or do you meet with God every morning and hang out with Him through the day, sharing the day with Him, thanking Him, truly your best friend ever, recognising your dependence on Him for every good thing?  Do you recognise that HE has ordered this day, every day, for you as the very best you could have for that day?  Or do you try to meet the challenges of the day as best you can, expecting nothing special and therefore being satisfied with just that?

    Jesus came to be the FRIEND of sinners.  For some, He becomes the sinner's friend, but for most he is that great and powerful figure that visits your neighbourhood once in awhile and to whom you make requests through the mail.  Which do you think He is going to answer?  His friends, or those that make the most well written letters?

    Yet even those who are not yet friendly to Him have this:  a cry from the heart will ALWAYS get His attention.  A blind man crying out to Jesus was heard, and He turned and met the man and healed him.  The woman who could not be healed reached out and touched Jesus and was healed, and He turned to her - personal contact - and blessed her.  Even now, if you do not KNOW Jesus but only know about Him, you can humble yourself, confess the truth, and CRY OUT to Him for help.  He WILL answer, He WILL make Himself your friend.  But remember too: ten leapers went to Jesus and were healed.  One returned to thank Him.  How many of the ten were His friend?  What kind of receiver of grace are you?  The take and run, or the grateful and friendly?

    If you know that you need Jesus every day of your life in every way, even to be able to face the smallest challenges of life, then you know you need Jesus to be your best friend, your ever constant companion.  But if you were in trouble once and cried out for help and then, having received it, walked off and left Jesus behind, would you dare call Him "friend"?

    Many will go before God on that day and say "...but we did miracles in Your name..."  and He will say "Be gone - I NEVER KNEW YOU!"

Tip:    You can't - but with God, LIFE is possible.

Encouragement:

    An honest and truthful cry from the heart will ALWAYS receive a response from God!

Thought for the day:

    You were born a sinner.  Are you happy to stay that way?

    It is no longer I who live, but Christ (Galations 2:20).

    This is not religion!  This is reality, because it is the Living Truth!  God never intended that we should be independent of Him, but depend on Him for guidance, for life, for everything.  We are not automatons, robots, duplicates to be controlled in all that we do, but rather, we are family - and like every child that grows up in a family, we need to depend on our Father in Heaven for guidance, leadership, maturing; and then, when we are grown up in Christ, we will freely express His nature and His life because we will indeed be like Him!  This can only be for those who are OF Him.

    God is not interested in religion - obedience in the form of worship at regular times in strict compliance with a set of rules.  He is after people to LIVE and express Him; that we be like Him and we be able to have unlimited fellowship with Him for all eternity.  Those who have grown up to maturity in Christ ARE like Him.  They will indeed have that unbroken fellowship with Him for all eternity for He is already living out His life IN them - resurrection life, that conquers even death!

    The question becomes, therefore, WHO is living out the life in you now?  Is it the old 'self', doing the same old things the same old way, expressing the old sinful nature?  Or are you letting God live out His life in you, taking you through life the way He wants you to experience it?  Do you see His hand in guiding and teaching you?  Are you expressing gratitude as a son to a father, and maturing into His likeness?  When your time on Earth is over, will you join Him for all eternity?

    Many a Christian thinks that their "church" way is THE way.  No.  Never.  A church is where you find 'Christians' who have been deceived into thinking that religion is what God wants.  If you are in a man-made church and think that, think again!  God is found in Christ - and Christ is found in those who LIVE, not bow down religiously to rules and regulations.

    The question is simple: are you expressing Christ's life, growing up in Christ, becoming established as He wants, that you might live with Him for all eternity; or are you going on the same old way, doing what seems right in your own eyes, perhaps listening to those who are just as wrong, never experiencing real life, independent of God instead of dependent on Him?  The true Christian walk is one of dependence on Him: "Without Me you can do nothing."  If we dare risk all and give all to Him, then Paul's words come true:  "I can do all things through Christ Jesus..."  For most who call themselves Christian, though, it is "I will try harder this week."

    Are you a law-keeper, or a life-expresser?  Are you of the world, or of God?

    Many will go before God on that day and say "...but we did miracles in Your name..."  and He will say "Be gone - I NEVER KNEW YOU!"

Tip:    Do you know...

    To be truthful is to be real.  Reality is truth.  How are you really?  Don't know?  Ask Jesus - the Spirit of Truth.  Lost?  Ask Him for directions.  He is the way, the truth and the life.

Encouragement:

    An honest and truthful cry from the heart will ALWAYS receive a response from God!

Thought for the day:

    Ever got a buzz from a great sermon and noticed that, within 30 minutes, you can't even remember what was said?  When God shows you something, you remember, 'cause it is truth, reality, and you have received of His life!

    It is the Law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus that has set me free from the Law of Sin and Death (Rom 8:3).

    This is not a religion!  This is reality, because it is the Living Truth!

    God is not interested in religion, nor does he subscribe to it.  God is a God of Truth and Reality!!  One is false, the other real.  Guess which is which..?  Religion is always false because it is unreal.  Truth is the only one that is real.

    God says "My Word is Truth" (John 17:17).  Jesus did NOT say "I am the religion".  He said "I am the Truth"!!  Jesus is not a philosophy:  He is a new life!!

Encouragement:

    Draw near to God - and He will draw near to you!

Tip:    Do you know...

    If you will be truthful to God, He will become real to you.

Thought for the day:

    Q: How can I be sure there is a God?  What guarantee is there that God exists?

    A: Die.

    When we are first saved, it is when we first accept the Lord Jesus as our Saviour; but more importantly, we come to accept His death as the payment for all our sins.  Grace is followed by faith.  Galations 2:20 makes it clear that it is not our faith that has saved us, but the faith of Jesus Christ Himself!

    It is the faithfulness of the son of God that comes to our aid and carries us on for the whole of our Christian life.  We are alive now in the realm of the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2) as opposed to living under the Law of Sin and Death.  When we know this to be a fact we have faith.  When we have faith we rejoice in our hearts and we open our mouths to praise Him by thanking Him for what He has done for us.  To have the presence of the Lord Jesus with you wherever you go is the acceptable standard for every Christian.  In the presence of the Lord there is the peace of God that passes all our comprehension; and added to that is the fullness of joy for evermore.  This is God's salvation in full measure.  Man has nothing to do with it other than receiving it and accepting it by an act of his will.

Encouragement:

    Jesus died for all.  That includes you and me!

Tip:    Do you know...

    Let go, and let God!

Thought for the day:

    A Christian knows God in his heart, not his head.

    There is only one answer to the Law of Sin and Death; and that is the Law of the Spirit of Life that is in Christ Jesus.  To be saved is to accept the death of Jesus and the shedding of His precious blood as full payment for all your sins (faults); ie, past sins, present sins and future sins.

    The Law of the Spirit of Life emerges out of death.  This life is resurrection life.  No death, no life.  When Jesus died on that cross, He included both you and me in His death, thereby destroying the bondage to the Law of Sin and Death that held us bound to sin.  From there Christ rose from the dead causing you and me to be born again.  All who are born again are set free from the law of sin and death and translated into the glorious liberty of the Spirit of Life.  The Law of the Spirit of Life has set me free from the Law of Sin and Death.

    Today, the resurrection life of Jesus Christ has set me free from the Law of Sin and Death (Romans 8:3).  The life that I now live I live by the faith of Christ.  He is my righteousness, my life, my faith, my everything.  I am no longer my own:  I have been bought by the price of the death of Christ and I belong to Him now.  He is the Lord of my life from now on and forever more.  Jesus is alive in me!  Love is not a feeling: it is an act of your will.

    God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to pay for our sins and to redeem us from the Law of Sin and Death.

    If you think that you are born again and yet you have not surrendered your will to Christ then you are kidding yourself.  Our true Christian life commences with an act of our will, not an act of our mind.

Encouragement:

    Jesus IS the way, the truth and the life.

Tip:    Do you know...

    You don't get ahead with your head!  You get ahead with your heart!!

Thought for the day:

    Only good Christians go to hell.  The others are already there.

    The Lord Jesus condemned sin into the world.  We are not talking about the Earth here; we are talking about the world as the cosmos system, which includes all religion, education, sport, philosophy, cultures, the arts, music, commerce, entertainment, politics and the sciences etc.

    The law of sin applies to every person that partakes in the world system.  The one who heads up the system is Satan himself.  Not only does this law apply to the world, but to everything we do!  We do not deliberately sin consciously.  We sin because we are born sinners.  We came into the world in the first place with the nature of a sinner; so sin became our every action.

    The only place to change a sinner is in his heart, not his mind!  All religion and religious endeavour aims to change man in his mind by Bible knowledge and education, hence all the many thousands of Bible schools and colleges.  God does not try to change man on the outside, but Satan does.  God is not involved in Bible colleges, but man is.  It is man's interpretation in religion vs the reality of God.  Satan is the god of all religion.

    I'm not saying that we should not have an education, nor support a football team.  I myself follow Essendon.  What I am saying here is that you need to exercise caution when viewing a match that your heart is not affected.  For example, if your team is losing big time, you can become stricken with grief; and if you consider that there have been unfair decisions by the umpire or dirty, injury-causing play by the opposition, then it is so easy to enter into a spirit of grief and portray a spirit of bitterness and resentment.

    Whenever a Christian gets involved in the world with his heart, he is affected by it.  Anger is one of the easiest ways to break fellowship with God.  Again, this is a happening according to the principle of the Law of Sin and Death.  A born again Christian needs to know that he has a very delicate heart that does not take kindly to pride or rebellion.  All anger stems from pride.  All fear stems from rebellion.  Satan loves to upset the sweet delicate fellowship that a Christian has with the Lord Jesus.

    The Law of Sin and Death begins the moment our hearts are affected.  We start to lose our joy and peace.  It is never a question of right or wrong, but always a noticing of the absence or presence of the peace and joy from the Lord Jesus.  When we maintain His presence, then we are found to be overflowing with His joy and peace.

    Satan doesn't care what method he uses to bring a Christian's heart into disrepute.  As long as a Christian can be poisoned in his heart, from Satan's point of view, the end justifies the means.  Satan doesn't care what method he uses as long as he causes the Christian to err in his heart so that he can bring in any of his by-products of pride and rebellion.  Such by-products include anger, fear, bitterness, resentment, worry, criticism, etc etc, leading to hatred or despair.

    What God offers us in Jesus Christ is an overcoming life, with fullness of joy, and peace that passes all comprehension, together with His presence.  When this fellowship is accomplished in your life and mine, then the joy of the Lord becomes our strength.

Encouragement:

    Great is the Lord, and greatly to be thanked for all that He has done and is for us.

Tip:    Do you know...

    You can't please God by your efforts, no matter how hard you try!!  God is only pleased with His Son, and all those who radiate Him!

Thought for the day:

    Two prisoners looked out through the prison bars.  One only saw the mud, but the other saw the stars.

    The difference is immense.  It is the same as the difference between light and darkness.  Religion is altogether man's idea, whereas reality is God's.  God's way works.  Man's way never does, never has and never will.

    The world is full of religion; but, unfortunately, the world is empty of God.  Having a relationship with God is reality, whereas religion is little more than to argue as to who is right and who is wrong.  Reality with God is life, whereas religion is death.  In words like those of that famous cliche,...  "Ask not what you might do to please God.  Rather, seek God for what He can do for you."  As a Christian, our position is clear: Jesus is the life, the truth, and the way.  Beyond Him there is no other.

    The real reason for the problems of the world, and in you and me, is that our birth is all wrong.  We are all born with a sinner's nature that dictates to us what is right and what is wrong.  God is not like that.  Everything with God in Himself is right.  God cannot either be wrong or do wrong.  God is completely righteous as well as being completely whole (holy).  There is no sin (faults) in God, whereas we are full of faults (sin).  You don't get converted to Christianity: you get born again.

    Once again, there are two types of Christianity:  one is Christianity as a religion;  the other is Christianity as a relationship with Jesus.  Only the second type works.  Many there are that are trying to work their way to heaven with good works or religious endeavours.  All church activity and Bible reading is religious endeavour.  All effort in helping other people and doing good for others is none other than so-called good work.  God is neither moved nor touched.

"For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of Sin and Death."  ...Romans 8:2

    It's ironic but true that hell is full of good people.  Hell is also full of good Christians and dead churches.  The notable thing about heaven and hell is that they are not so much geographical places as they are people's spiritual states.  Heaven is only able to be entered into by ticket, not by religious status or "brownie points for good works".  The only ticket to heaven is Jesus Christ, the righteous.  You don't need a ticket for hell.

    The biggest problem in the Church today is that we do not know Jesus as the life.  Plenty is preached and written about Him as the way and truth, but not as the life!  A dead church needs life, not more knowledge of Jesus as Lord and Saviour.  Jesus becomes Lord and Saviour automatically when the church springs into life!  Doctrines with added so-called "Articles of Faith" are totally useless.  You will never ever see a doctrine save anybody; but Jesus saves all who surrender their lives to Him.  The first sin that Adam and Eve committed was to seek knowledge in preference to life.  The world today is packed full of knowledge in place of life.  Computers are not the answer to the world's problems because a computer lacks life!  What the world needs now is not more love, but more life.  Jesus is the only kind of life worth having because He is righteous, complete (holy) and eternal.  A holy life is a complete life that cannot be bettered.