Faith Or Fear

Living life is a series of choices.  These choices are either fear based or faith based.  God never honors fear.  He always honors faith.  According to Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.”  Faith is the blessed assurance in the object of faith.  According to Proverbs 3, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path.”

Thomas learned this lesson after the resurrection.  Jesus had appeared to the other disciples and they said to him, “we’ve seen the risen Christ.”  Thomas said, “I won’t believe until I put my finger in his nail prints and feel the wound in his side.”  Eight days later, Jesus appeared to the twelve and said to Thomas, “Reach for my hand and examine the nail prints.  Put your hand in my side and be not unbelieving (without faith) but believe.”  Then Thomas exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”  Jesus said, “You believed because you saw me.  Blessed are they who have not seen and yet believe.”

Without God, men put their faith in their own abilities and their own performance.  They live for their own accomplishments and the praise of others.  However according to Ephesians 2:8-9,  For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.  Not of works lest any man should boast.

The devil’s ploy is to distract our attention away from trusting in the Lord.  The most frequent command in the Bible is, “Fear not.”  According to Isaiah 41:10, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”  To resolve a crisis of fear, we must pray as Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, “not my will but thine be done.”  

Coach Bobby Bowden said he and his family attended an old fashioned revival.  The evangelist had a 2 x 4 plank on the stage, pointed to Bobby and said, would you walk across this board?  Bowden answered, of course.  The evangelist said, If I took this plank and placed it to between the Twin Towers, would you walk across it?  Bobby said, Of course not.  Then the evangelist said, If I dangled your child over the edge of the tower, and said, I’ll drop your child if you don’t walk across, then would you walk the plank?  Bowden thought for a moment and said, “Which child?”  

Do we value life on earth more than we value life in heaven?  What does it take to conquer fear and walk by faith?  A wise man once said, “men fear death like children fear the dark.”  An oncologist said to Pete and his wife Suzan when cancerous tumors had returned and spread all over her brain, “how aggressively do you want to treat this?”  Pete said, “What do you mean by aggressive?”  The doctor said, “We’ll take her to the operating room today, drill a hole into her skull and inject medicine directly into her brain.”  Pete asked, “How much more time will that give her?”  The oncologist said, “If we do nothing she may have another two months to live.  If we operate, it may not make any difference or she may live another two years.”  Suzan had already undergone brain surgery at MD Anderson in Houston to remove the tumors when they first discovered her cancer a few months earlier.  Suzan had said to Pete, “When I woke up this morning, I was soooo disappointed.”  When Pete asked her why she said, “Because I thought I’d wake up in Jesus’ arms but here I am with you.”  She knew that she had finished her course and she was ready to leave this life.  God had said to Suzan, “I’ve got this.”  They opted not to operate.  She died two and a half weeks later.

Hebrews chapter 11 is known as the “hall of faith”. In this chapter, Enoch was taken up to see God.  He was a man of faith.  

James said, Faith without works is dead.  Show me your works and I’ll show you the fruit of your faith.  Faith is evidenced by the results when we love, praise, serve and honor the Lord.  

Men fear what they cannot control.  Through trials, God will teach us that he is In control…  that he is sovereign over all.  Pete learned this lesson in the father’s waiting room when his wife was in labor with their second son. Just moments before, he had been in the delivery room helping his wife focus her breathing during her contractions.  The doctor said to Pete, “We’re losing the baby’s heartbeat.  You then need to leave the room so we can perform an emergency c-section.  Pete prayed, “Lord please save my wife and baby.”  God answered, “How much control do you have over this situation?  Pete answered, “none.”  God’s next question was, “no matter what happens, will you still honor, love, and praise me?”  Pete searched his heart.  He and Suzan were a young couple who had dedicated their lives to full time Christian ministry.  He asked himself, “does God do everything with our best interest in mind?  Do all things really work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose?  Pete answered, “Lord, even if you take my wife and child, I’ll still honor, love, and praise you.”  

The doctors came into the hospital room where Suzan and Pete were waiting, they said, “I’m sorry but we lost the baby.”  God had prepared their hearts for this news.  Even though their baby did not survive, Suzan said, I think God’s teaching us through this trial.  Pete found her devotional, “come away my beloved”. Pete turned to the chapter about comfort and affliction.  As a young Christian couple they read, “Trust in the Lord.  Don’t lean to your own understanding.  Do not take matters into your own hand.  When have I promised and not kept my word? I will make your paths straight.  Will you not then trust me in this present crisis as you have trusted me before.  I deepen you in the furnace of affliction.” 

Pete had prayed, Lord I want to follow you.  I want to become more like you.  He realized that God had given them this trial to deepen them.

“What seems to be a wind of destruction is a trial so that you can rest in my love.  Through the pain and affliction, I will show you that my love is certain and unshakable.  Through the trial and discipline you will learn, like as a Father cherishes his children, so the Lord has mercy on them that fear him.  Rest assured that I have you in my own intensive care.  Through the pain of loss, draw on the resources of my grace.  If I’ve allowed your heart to break, heaven rejoices when you proceed through the trial with a singing spirit.  If you abide in me and my word abides in you, ask whatsoever you will and it shall be given to you.  Therefore be as beacon light to reflect the glory of the Lord.  Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven.”  For we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that he excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

The testing of our faith works patience.  According to James 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”  Verse 12 says, “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”

As Cory ten Boom said, “We will never know that God is all we need until he’s all we have.”  Through trial God will comfort us as he transforms us according to purpose to which he has called each of us to be holy and without blame before him in love.

Through the testing of our faith we will understand that our purpose is that we should live to the praise of the flory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ,

Michael

Lord Give Us Men

Most men who attend church take church casually.  Casual means occurring occasionally, superficially, without serious intent.  The job of the church is to challenge men to be all they can be according to the power of the Holy Spirit.  The mission of church is to inspire them to live the great commission.  Most churches ask men to attend regularly, serve diligently and to give generously.  Other than these three things, they don’t ask much.

Casual is similar to average.  Average is the norm, according to the standard of mediocrity.  The church at Laodicea was average and lukewarm.  Lukewarm is tepid, ordinary and customary.  Ordinary lacks refinement.  God said, because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth.  

The course of this world is course, ordinary, and lacking in superior value.  Unexceptional is the norm according to the world’s standard.  However, extraordinary rises above the standards of the world.  We’re extraordinary because of God’s remarkable grace.  By his grace we’ve been separated from the darkness of this world to the higher standard of His Word.

The world calls good evil and evil good.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness from on high.  God has called men who know whom they have believed and are persuaded that he is able to keep that which he’s committed to them against that day of righteous judgement.

The politicians of Jesus’ time wanted him to be their earthly king.  However Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world.  The Pharisees asked him, What’s your plan?”  Jesus pointed to a few lowly Galilean fishermen and a tax collector and said, those men over there, they’re the plan.  He didn’t see them as they were…he saw them as they would become.  God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and the base and the despised things of this world to nullify the things the things that are not, so that he who boasts should boast only in the Lord.

Jesus’ message was a message of paradox.  He said that to be lifted up you need to become lowly.  To be rich you must become poor.  To be filled with the Holy Spirit you must empty yourself of self.

Pastors today are insecure, isolated, lonely.  A Korean Pastor said, you for got to add fearful.  If that’s what Christian pastors are like, then what are the churchmen like?  What’s The profile of the average church goer?  He’s under challenged spiritually and needs to consider carefully to find something to which he can dedicate his life.  He seems trapped in insignificance.  He struggles with guilt and shame.  He doesn’t understand the meaning of grace.  He’s a cultural Christian instead of a biblical Christian.  The world has indoctrinated him so that he can’t say, “I was wrong, I’m sorry, or I love you.”

He has a father-wound that has never healed.  His father never mentored him, disciplined him, or taught him the love of God.  He feels estranged from God, himself, and other men.  He’s angry but can’t quite put his finger on the cause of his anger.  He never prays with his wife and doesnt’ feel that he can let his guard down and still be loved.  He feels threatened by her questioning his love, dedication, and motives.  He doesn’t initiate communication with his wife other than at an informational level.  He knows he doesn’t pray enough, read his bible enough, study enough or love enough.  He thinks that he’s the only one who struggles with his sin, guilt, and shame.  He’s ashamed when someone calls him “Man of God.”  He’s terrified someone will find out who he really is.  He avoids situations where he might be asked to pray or quote scripture.  He’s afraid that someone will find out the kind of man he really is.  

As an early Christian Pete was asked to lead a men’s group.  He agreed even though felt unworthy in the presence of the spiritual leaders of his church.  This was when the Green Bay Packers were winning national championships.  He remembered that at the beginning of each season their coach Vince Lombardi held up a football and said, “this is a football.”  An elder in his church said, never apologize about reminding me about the fundamentals of our faith.  

The average Christian guy is afraid to be known by other Christian men.  He has no time to cultivate a best friend so he’s careful not to get close to other men.  He finds his identity in his job, in his bank account, or in his independence and self sufficiency.  He’s confused about his role as a man of God, a Christian husband and a Christian father.  

As Pete reflected about men in our culture, he. was inspired to pen this prayer about men of God:

Lord Give Us Men…

…Men with stout hearts and fire in their eyes.  Men who fear nothing but you, and who owe nothing to anyone but acts of love.

Lord give us men.

Men who are willing to live and die for you, who name the name of Christ and live for His glory.  

Lord give us men.

Men who know your voice and whose greatest delight is to do your will.  Who are slow to anger, quick to listen, and eager to forgive.

Lord give us men,

Men who love their wives and honor you in their homes;  Who are living epistles of salt and light to all they know and meet.  Men whose sacrifice, service, and love are renown and who are known to have spent time with you.

Lord give us men!

These kinds of men!  For the world is desperate for them.

Lord give us men,

Men of faith and action, who have eternity in their hearts and only you as their focus, passion and reason for living.  Men of whom the world is not worthy.

Lord, these men are few, but they know that you use ordinary men to do extraordinary things through your power.  That you use foolish men to shame the wise; weak men who because you become strong.

Men who are known more for their availability than for their ability.  Men who choose to decrease so that you may increase.

Lord to me this seems like an impossible request, but these are the kind of men you make when they give their lives in total abandonment and absolute trust to you.

Lord let me be a man like this among men like this. 

Lord let me be that man.    —Pete McKenzie 2006

May this be our prayer O Lord,

That we may ever live to the praise of the glory of your grace,

In Christ,

Michael

Remarkable Grace Part 2

Even though Paul had suffered for the Lord, he wrote that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness from on high. According to Ephesians 6:16-20, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; 19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel. 20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”

Remarkable grace is given so that we can serve our Lord Jesus Christ from a heart of love. Jesus said, “in that you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.” Jesus prayed for the soldiers who nailed him to the cross…”Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”

The theme of Ephesians 6 is the spiritual battle. Jesus said, “blessed are they when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, great is your reward in heaven.” Because of God’s remarkable grace, mercy, peace, love and wisdom, be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good.

God’s remarkable grace is his divine favor given by the one who didn’t’ need to give it to the ones who didn’t deserve to receive it. There’s also one other type of grace where Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor (grace) with God and men.

Grace is the foundation of receiving God’s precious gift of holy spirt. This valuable gift of grace was paid for by the precious blood of his son, Jesus Christ.

What makes grace remarkable? Grace is only found in one religion, the truth of Christianity. After Jesus’ resurrection, grace was available as God’s gracious gift. However, the Pharisees thought that there was no such thing as grace. They thought that they were righteous in their own works. They thought everyone else deserved death and that they were the only ones who were righteous. They were filled with so-called righteous indignation. However, because of Jesus’ righteousness, by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast.

According to Romans 3:23, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He died in our stead that we might live.

The world says, “God helps those who help themselves.” This is the doctrine of the Pharisees. They think that they’re righteous in their own works… that they’re justified by their own performance. They try to help themselves through their vain attempts to keep the letter of the Old Testament law. However, Jesus said, whoever breaks one law only once is guilty of breaking the whole law. The Old Testament Law convicts everyone of sin. For by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Romans 8 says, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Is it Christ who justified, yea rather who rose from the dead? What shall separate us from the love of God? Shall persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Because of the love of God through his son Jesus Christ, we have been justified freely by his grace.

How shall we who have been saved from sin continue any longer therein? It’s not about us, it’s about him. It’s easy to become prideful because of our own natural abilities. However, He’ll break up our physical and natural so-called gifts so that we can rely on his ability, not ours. Thank God for breaking our hearts. For tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.

Jesus came to set the captives free. He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. The ultimate freedom is in captivity to our master’s will. Make me a captive Lord and then I shall be free. When we confess Jesus is Lord, this means we are no longer our own. Salvation means that he’s lord not me. The ultimate freedom is doing the Master’s will. We’re set free when we make his delight our delight…. Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give the desires of thine heart.

The Apostle Paul said, “in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.” The sin nature that we inherited from Adam is contrary to the righteousness of God. The antidote to our sin nature is the spirit nature that we received when we accepted God’s gracious gift. Romans 8:1 says there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the flesh, condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.

When a woman was caught in adultry, the Pharisees gathered around to convict her of her sins. They pronounced her guilty as charged and picked up stones to stone her. Jesus said to the crowd, “he who is without sin may cast the first stone.” Her accusers slinked away. He said to the woman, where are your accusers? She said, they’ve all gone. Jesus said, then neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.

1 John 5:13 says that we have his gift of eternal life. “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:”

Because of his amazing remarkable grace, we’ve been given his gift of eternal life, his Holy Spirit. We who were dead in trespasses and sins hath he made alive, for by grace are ye saved.

When we know him, we are his and he is ours. For he who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him….

…..That we may be to praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Why Grace?

Pete recalls that fifteen years ago he was invited to speak at a Christian camp in Sacramento.  The theme of his message was the remarkable grace of God.  After the message, Pete conducted an anointing celebration where each man who dedicated himself to follow Christ was anointed “Man of God.”  A church-goer approached him afterward.  He said, your message about remarkable grace is the message I’ve been waiting to hear all my life.  Before I heard your message about God’s remarkable grace, I thought that I was unworthy of salvation because my own works were not worthy of God’s righteous standard.”

The purpose of ministry is to create an environment where the Holy Spirit can come help himself to our lives.  

There are two types of grace in the Bible.  The first type is in Ephesians 2:8, For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.  This type of grace is the face love wears when it meets imperfection.  Grace is God’s gracious gift given to the one who didn’t deserve to receive it by the one who didn’t need to give it.

Grace is a gift offered by God.  To accept His grace, we must first humble ourselves under the mighty Hand of God.  We have to realize that we cannot make it on our own.  For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  Grace is all of thee and none of me.  

The other type of grace is “favor of God and man.”  This type of grace is found in the verse that says, “the child Jesus grew in wisdom, and stature, and favour (grace) with God and man.

The concept of grace is foreign to every worldly religion.  Grace is rooted and grounded in the cross of Christ.  At the cross, Jesus paid the price for our sins.  He exchanged his perfect innocent life for our sinful guilty life that was deserving of death.  For he who was without sin became the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.

After having received God’s gracious gift of salvation, his Holy Spirit of Christ in us the hope of glory, we have received a new nature.  This new spiritual nature of Holy Spirit is righteous in God’s sight.  When God sees us he sees the righteousness of Christ in us. He does not judge us according to our sinful nature of the flesh.  

Should we who were saved from sin, continue any longer therein?  God forbid.  How can you who were delivered from your sinful nature continue in sin?  As men of God our challenge is to walk according to the spirit and not according to the flesh.  This is the theme of Romans 8.  

The battle rages between the flesh and the spirit.  Paul said in Romans 7, who shall deliver me from this dead body?

Without grace, the gift of God, there is no peace.  Peace is one of the fruit of the spirit.  We still have the fruit of the spirit because of God’s gracious gift of His Holy Spirit.  Paul began his epistles with the greeting, “Grace and Peace from God or Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The world says “God helps those who help themselves.”  However, the God says, “the arm of flesh will fail you, Ye dare not trust your own.”  God helps those whose strength is in the Lord.  

The second essential of receiving God’s gift of grace is his assurance that “I accept you as you are.”  As the song says, “Just as I am without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me.  And that thou bidst me come to thee….O lamb of God I come, I come.

When we accept God’s offer of grace, we receive the righteousness of Christ. God accepts us as we are.  He doesn’t see us as we are in the flesh but as we will be.  He sees us in the  righteousness of his grace.  

Because of his grace, blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the way of the scornful.  But his delight is in the law of the lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night.  And he shall be like a tree that is planted by the rivers of waters.  His leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

Living in God’s peace produces the fruit of the spirit.  Peace is the result of reconciliation.  Reconciliation means to bring together that which has been separated.  For there is one God and one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus.  Bearing fruit results when Jesus Christ is the vine and we are the branches.  

Because of God’s loving grace, we’re valuable.  Our value is not in our own performance.  What’s valuable?  Our value is in our fitness for his purpose.  Our value is the payment his only begotten son Jesus Christ paid with his precious priceless blood. Value is determined by the price that was paid.  Our value to God is priceless.  

Our value is in that he made us fit for his purpose…. that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.  What is the purpose for his gracious gift?  We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which he’s foreordained that we should walk in it.  This is the purpose for which God paid the ultimate price…..that we should be to the praise of the glory of His grace.

Because of his loving grace we are his and he is ours.  A man of God is God’s man.  This is the genitive of possession.  Christianity is not who we are but WHOSE we are.  Because fo His grace, make me a captive Lord and then I shall be free…. I sink in life’s alarms if by myself I stand.  Imprison me within thine arms and free shall be my stand.

That we may ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ,

Michael

God’s Remarkable Grace

Remarkable is uncommon, different from the norm, outstanding, extraordinary and unique.  God’s grace is remarkable.  How would you explain the concept of grace to someone who didn’t know the gospel of Jesus Christ?  Grace is uncommon.  Common means that which is ordinary, average and unrefined.  Ordinary is unexceptional and deficient in excellence.  Casual is common.  Casual is laid back and apathetic.  Casual Christians are casualties in the spiritual battle.

Salvation is by God’s remarkable grace.  Grace is God’s divine favor:  Grace is a gift given to the one who didn’t deserve to receive it by the one who didn’t need to give it.  Grace is all of thee and none of me.  Salvation is God’s gift given by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

The Pharisees thought that they could earn righteousness.  They thought salvation was based on their own performance.  However, salvation is not of works.  It is a gift of God’s grace.  For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.

According to 2 Corinthians 6, “We beseech you that you receive not the grace of God in vain.”   Why were we given God’s grace?  For what were we given his gift of salvation?  The Pharisees thought they would get to heaven by their own works of baptism or circumcision.  Some Pharisees think that you have to speak in tongues to be saved.  Some think that you have to keep the Old Testament law.  Grace is not about performance.  It’s about God’s gift, fit for the master’s use.  The purpose is that we should be to the praise of the glory of His grace.

Humility is required in order to receive grace.  It’s easy to judge others and to think we’re superior to others.  Like the Pharisee prayed, “Lord, thank you I’m not like that tax collector over there.”  The tax collector prayed, “Lord have mercy on me a sinner.”  Which prayer did God hear?  A broken and a contrite heart God will not forsake.

Evil speaking, gossip, grumbling and complaining will reject grace.  From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.  According to Psalm 19, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable unto thee, O Lord my strength and my redeemer.  

When you ask a man, “What do you think God thinks about you?” most men will answer, “I think he’s disappointed in me.  I think I’ve fallen short of his expectations.”  If you call a man “Man of God,” most men will look down.  When you ask him why, he’ll say, “because I feel unworthy.”  However, because of God’s grace, he made me worthy and now by his grace his mercy has made me his own.  “Man of God” means God’s man.  This is the genitive of possession.  It means that we are his and he is ours.  Because of grace, it’s not who we are but whose we are.

When Pete was serving as a young Christian minister, he was called by his board of elders and they said, “We think you’ve been sloppy in your work.”  Pete felt discouraged and felt his anger rising when he heard this comment.  Then their next statement was, “but we think you’re redeemable.”  Even though Pete felt discouraged, he was encouraged about redemption.  They said, “we think you need a sabbatical.”  Pete spent the next three months in prayer, meditation and bible study.  As a young minister, these three months were the closest and sweetest months of fellowship with God Pete had ever experienced.  Isaiah 40 says, “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.  They shall mount up with wings as eagles.  They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

God will give us grace when we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.  Therefore, receive not the grace of God in vain.  To receive God’s grace means that we must forsake our pride.  It’s not about me, it’s about him.  He’s given us this gift of salvation, the spirit of Christ in us the hope of glory.  Why?  So that we would present our bodies a living sacrifice of praise, holy and wholly acceptable unto him which is our reasonable act of worship… and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

In Psalm 51, David’s prayer of repentance was, “Against thee and thee only have I sinned.  Create in me a new heart O God.  Deliver me from my iniquities and wash me with hyssop.  Restore unto me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit.”

According to Romans, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  Jesus said that In our flesh nature that we inherited from Adam, there dwells no good thing.  We cannot help but sin and the wages of sin is death.  

When Peter said, Lord don’t wash my feet I’m not worthy.  Jesus said, unless I wash your feet then you can have no part in me.   We’re contaminated by our worldly nature and by our worldly environment.  We’re washed from sin by Jesus Christ.  He is the fountain of living water.  In the Old Testament the blood of animal sacrifice was insufficient to cover for the sins of Israel.  However we’re cleansed by the blood of the lamb.  Jesus Christ is the lamb of God.  For he who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.

The world expects Christians to be remarkable, uncommon, and outside of the world’s norms.  Jesus Christ was remarkable.  He humbled himself and drank the cup of death,  sin and judgement on our behalf.  He shed his innocent blood in exchange for our guilty blood.  Therefore, thank God for his gracious gift.  Ye were bought with a price:  the precious blood of the son of God.  Because of Christ’s precious payment on our behalf, our value is that we are God’s dwelling place.  As the apostle Paul said, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of the Holy Spirit?”  

This is amazing grace, this is unfailing love.  This is God’s remarkable grace.  For by grace are ye saved by faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.  For we are his workmanship, his poem, his magnum opus, his great work, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which he has foreordained that we should walk in them.

Because of His remarkable grace,

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ,

Michael

Remarkable Love of God

Our theme for Influencers this year is remarkable.  Remarkable means uncommon, unique, attention-getting, novel and unexpected.  Remarkable people attract others and make them want to know what makes them extraordinary.  Jesus Christ himself was the remarkable son of God.  He was God’s remarkable and unique personification of God’s love.  

Jesus was remarkable in that he attracted those whose hearts God had prepared to receive him.  Jesus said, be ye kindly affectioned one to another, tender hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.  According to Romans, it’s the goodness, love and mercy of God that calls a man to repentance.

The world understands human love but it cannot understand God’s love.  Unless we receive God’s gift of Holy Spirit we cannot understand the remarkable unconditional love of God.  A man of God’s heart’s desire is to spend the rest of his life wanting to become just like Jesus.  Through the trials of life he will teach us what it means to understand the love of God.  For tribulation worketh patience and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.  Thank God for breaking our hearts for what breaks his.  He’ll reconcile us to himself through his son’s love, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus.

There are three types of worldly love in the Greek language.  These three types of love are reciprocal…they require love in return.  Worldly love is conditional on the response of the other party.  All relationships in this world will end in sorrow and pain except for one.  Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  The love of God is characterized by Jesus Christ.  For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son….

Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-44, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you…”  Even sinners love those who love them back.  However, love those who persecute you and despitefully use you.  The love of God loves the unloveable.  We ourselves were once enemies with God.  Herein is love made perfect…  for in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly.  Jesus said, “A new commandment have I given you…that ye love one another even as I have loved you.”

The prayer from the Puritan Prayer book about Christian love says, “It is your will, O Lord, that I should love you.   For you God sent your only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.  Herein is love made perfect.  Not that we loved him but that he loved us.  Thou didst love me before I loved thee.  When I was an enemy, a sinner, a loathsome worm, thou didst claim me when I disclaimed myself.  By thy love thou didst claim me as a son.”

Accordint to the Sh’ma, “Hear O Israel, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might.”  Unless we love God above all we cannot love our neighbor as ourself.  The first of the Ten Commandments says “thou shalt have no other Gods before me.”  One translation says, “you shall have no other Gods between your face and my face.”

As David prayed in repentance, “Against you and you only God have I sinned.  Judge me not according to my sin but according to your loving kindness and tender mercy.  Blot out my transgressions and create in me a new heart O Lord.”  

Our prayer is that we will love our wives with Christ’s heart behind our heart.   As the apostle Paul said, Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.  

The unconditional agape love of God continues on in the face of rejection.  The love of God loves the unloveable and gives regardless of the response of the other party.  As Suzan said, “never let how others treat you determine how you treat them.”  According to Romans 12, “Recompense to no man evil for evil.  Be not overcome of evil but overcome evil with good.”

There is no malice in God’s remarkable love.  The love of God suffers long and is kind.  It is never rude, never resentful, never prideful or boastful.  The love of God always expects the best.  It is not easily provoked.  The unconditional love of God keeps no record of wrongs done.  Agape love beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  Love never fails.

There’s nothing wrong with our wives that God can’t fix in us.  The love of God will change us from the inside out.  To reconcile our hearts we must meet our wives at the foot of the cross.  For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

According to 1 John 4:10-11, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation (the full payment and never ending sacrifice) for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”

In loving God above all and our neighbor as ourselves,

May we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ,

Remarkable Grace

Our theme for Influencers this year is Remarkable.  When you’re a Christian, non-Christians expect you to live a remarkable life… a life outside of the norms of popular culture.  Jesus himself was remarkable.  He loved the unloveable.  He blessed those who persecuted him.  When they crucified him, He said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.”  

James 1:2-4 says, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

God will refine us through the trials of life.  Thank God for his fire of refinement.  We will be transformed from the common when he refines us according to his purpose.  For tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us.

God will take the common raw material of our sinful lives to refine us according to his purpose.  For he who was without sin was made the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

He calls us to be remarkable.  His spirit of life in Christ is what makes us remarkable.  With Christ in us the hope of glory, we press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.  We’re saved by grace not because of who we are but because of who he is.  For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast.   

If you are sharing your faith, how would you define grace?  Grace is God’s divine favor given to the one who didn’t deserve to receive it by the one who didn’t need to give it.  Grace is because of God’s love: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved…”. (Ephesians 2:4-5)

According to 2 Corinthians 6:1, “WE then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.”  We’re never worthy to receive the grace of God.  We’re not wise enough, strong enough, rich enough or competent enough.  We’re just not good enough to receive God’s gracious gift.  Because we could never earn it, Jesus Christ paid for God’s gift on our behalf.  We’re saved from the consequences of sin because Jesus paid for our sin with his righteous innocent life in exchange for our guilty life that was worthy of of sin and death.

We did not receive God’s gift of grace in vain.  We’ve been given his gracious gift to use for the purpose for which he’s called us.  God doesn’t call the qualified….he qualifies the called according to his grace.  

Men find it difficult to accept a gift of grace.  They would rather earn it.  However, the gift of God is not of works lest any man should boast.  The gift of grace is for His glory, not ours.  Our boast is not in ourselves but in him.

Grace reconciles our hearts to God.  In our earthly flesh, we cannot approach a holy God.  However, Jesus Christ is the perfect sacrifice for sin on our behalf.  We are justified freely by his gracious gift.  We’re at peace with God because Jesus Christ became sin for us who knew no sin that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.  For there is one God and one mediator between men and God, the man Christ Jesus.

Grace is all of thee and none of me.  Justification is through the just payment that Jesus made to justify our debt of sin.  We’re righteous because Jesus shed his innocent blood on our behalf…  What shall wash away, redeem, cleanse, justify, and expunge my sin?  …nothing but the blood of Jesus.  In him (Jesus Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.

The life of Joseph is a picture of God’s grace.  Joseph endured suffering, pain and tribulation.  However, God delivered him because Joseph honored God regardless of the storms of life.  

Grace forgives unconditionally.  The love of God is a result of God’s grace.  God’s gracious gift of salvation gives us the capacity to love with Christ’s heart behind our heart.  The love of God keeps no record of wrongs done.  Because he loves us, he will put us on the bench so that we will learn humility.  On the bench, we’ll learn that our glory is not in ourselves but in him alone.  On the bench we’ll learn that serving God is by serving those whom he’s called us to minister.  As Jesus said, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Forgiving in grace means not to speak evil of others.  It means to let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth but that which is good for the use of edifying that it may minister grace to them that hear it.  Living in grace means that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks edification and glory to God.  

Because of God’s gracious gift of Holy Spirit we can love with His heart behind our heart.  Only by his Grace can we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  

Paul said, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.  However because of God’s remarkable grace, his gift of Holy Spirit, of Christ in us the hope of glory, we’re his poem, his workmanship,  his great work created unto good works which he’s foreordained that we should walk in them.

We’re set free according to God’s remarkable grace and forgiveness.  I forgave and set the prisoner free, only to find that the prisoner was me.  Therefore, thank God for his gracious gift.  Thankfulness is the result of grace.  Because of Christ in us, we have the capacity to keep a grateful heart…

…  That we may we ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ,

Michael