What DID Jesus Do - He Obeyed The Will Of The Father

“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.” — 1 John 2:15-17

Jesus was tempted as we are tempted.  Temptation has the same root source … the old nature.  Temptation is the considering of an opportunity to do your own thing and disregard God.  For you to decide what is best for you, what is right at the time.  When Jesus was tempted in the desert (Matthew 4:1-14) the first temptation (lust of the flesh) was to satisfy His flesh, “turn stones into bread”. He had not eaten for 40 days! Seems reasonable, but then most sin seems reasonable.  It was well with his power to do it.  He had turned water into wine. But that was really not the point of the temptation. It was to choose something other than God.  “Man does not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  Often what seems innocent can be deadly to our spiritual relationship with the Father. The second temptation was to throw himself off of a pinnacle and the angels would catch him. (Pride of life) “You shall not put the Lord, your God to the test”.  You want God to prove you have value to Him.  He already has. The third temptation, (lust of the eyes), “[Satan] showed Him [Jesus] all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Jesus replied “You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.”

The things of this world are merely enticements for you to place your trust elsewhere.  For many, many people, they don’t own possessions, the possessions own them.  I know many Christians who say no to God because they are shackled by the things of this world.  Satan is called the god of this world.  (2 Corinthians 4:4)  He could offer everything Jesus saw to Jesus because it was his dominion.  We say God owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10) as if to justify our lust for possessing “the cattle”.  We, in fact, are God’s possession.  Bought with a price.  We belong to God and should face the temptation to act otherwise with the power of the Word of God, just like Jesus did.

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” – 1 Peter 2:9-12

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

Culture Or Christianity Which Do You Defer To

“Supernatural sense is the gift of His Son, and we should never put our common sense on the throne. The Son always recognizes and identifies with the Father, but common sense has never yet done so and never will. Our ordinary abilities will never worship God unless they are transformed by the indwelling Son of God. We must make sure that our human flesh is kept in perfect submission to Him, allowing Him to work through it moment by moment.” Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

 “Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”  - 1 Peter 1:17-19

The nature of man is to cling to his culture. What he or she has been taught is right and wrong by man. When I was in grade school I can remember reading about the United States being a “melting pot”  where many nations came together to be one people.  Actually , it was man’s attempt to do what only God can do.  That attempt failed.  What I see today is one nation with many cultures trying to cling to what they were before they or their ancestors came to the United States.  People set up enclaves centered on their ethnicity or nationality.  European, African, Hispanic, now Islamic the list goes on.  It is the nature of man to associate with people who look and act like themselves. Among Christians, it is the same. Dr. Martin Luther King said that 11:00am Sunday is the most segregated hour of the week in the Christian America. For most people when they read this, their minds will think I am referring to black and white, but it is more pervasive than that.

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” - Galatians 3:26-29

2 Corinthians 5:17 says - old things – including your primary devotion to your race or ancestors nationality – are gone and all has become new.  That is a spiritual truth – a fact.  One which many Christians have a hard time living with and applying. Why? Because devotion to the traditions of their natural fathers are very strong. I have said several times, if I was standing with a group of men and said something against their fathers or ancestors, they would become angry, but if I used God’s name in vain, few, if any, would care.  Why? Because they are more devoted to men than they are to God. 

When I would preach in a Haitian church for the first time, I would always begin with “Mwen pa blan, mwen fre nou” which is to say “I am not white, I am your Brother”  That was a hard truth to digest for a congregation of mountain people who rarely, if ever, saw a white man. My point was that I was not standing before them as a white American, but as an adopted son of God, saved by the blood of Jesus and His resurrection.

How do you want people to see you?  How do you see yourself? First as a Christian? If you believe Matthew 22:37, that you are to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. Where does that leave your natural heritage and the traditions of your father?  Listen, what I am telling you is truth, but it is a hard truth.  It is difficult to overcome.  We don’t all have to speak with the same accent or eat the same food or like the same clothing style, but we serve the same Lord and belong to the same family. What the founders of this country tried to set in place with written law, God has already put in place through His Son by His Spirit. So maybe we should act like it. 

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

Prayer Changes Me

“Prayer is not designed to change God, it is designed to change us. Prayer is not calling God in to bless our activities.  Rather, prayer takes us into God’s presence, shows us His will, and prepares us to obey Him.”  Henry and Richard Blackaby’s devotional guide, Experiencing God Day by Day (p. 280). 

A friend included that quote in an email some years back.  He was asking for prayer as he prepared to go back to Haiti to teach pastors from rural mountain churches in Western Haiti for 2 days.  That is the same area where Martie and I served for the last year of 4 years we were in Haiti.  I met Eric several years later and encouraged him to go there.  But I was not the real reason he went – he went because God sent him there.  God uses the saints to encourage each other through His Spirit.  But it is God who makes eternal differences in the lives of people.  I planted, Eric is watering, but God will bring the increase. (1 Corinthians 3:6) 

Prayer helps us to focus on the eternal and on God’s will. Unfortunately many Christians don’t see prayer as vital to their spiritual health.  Prayer is about alignment – aligning our will with God’s will. When our children were small I can remember holding their face in my hands and looking into their eyes to make certain I had their attention.  Our heavenly Father does something similar .. but just because we are looking does not mean we are listening. Dr. Henry Blackaby also said “Some people say ‘Don’t just stand there – do something’.  But God is saying ‘Don’t just do something – stand there’” 

Spend time with your Father today.  Listen to Him – wait for Him – trust Him and then obey Him.  The prophet Samuel said “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” 

“Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices. As in obedience to the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.” - 1 Samuel 15:22-24

I have created a prayer app for the iPhone which is free. My goal is to encourage Christians to pray consistently. If you are interested in trying it out email me at charley@pathfindermission.org

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

Living Like Your Lost - It's Easier Than You Think

And I, if I am lifted up…will draw all peoples to Myself. —John 12:32

Very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ died. If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is an absurdity and there is absolutely no need for it. What the world needs is not “a little bit of love,” but major surgery. When you find yourself face to face with a person who is spiritually lost, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the cross. If that person can get to God in any other way, then the Cross of Christ is unnecessary. If you think you are helping lost people with your sympathy and understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You must have a right-standing relationship with Him yourself, and pour your life out in helping others in His way— not in a human way that ignores God. The calling of a New Testament worker is to expose sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Savior. Consequently, he cannot always be charming and friendly, but must be willing to be stern to accomplish major surgery. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful speeches. We must be willing to examine others as deeply as God has examined us. We must also be sharply intent on sensing those Scripture passages that will drive the truth home, and then not be afraid to apply them. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

I am an observer of people.  I watch how they interact with each other.  How they respond to life.  How they communicate with each other.  What they say and what they don’t say.  One thing I have noticed recently is how we compartmentalize our lives.  There are aspects that are strictly spiritual and others that are natural … you know, old nature things.  How people respond to the natural often times is with the natural in them.  But if you are a Christian .. everything is supposed to have a spiritual context. 

 Most contention between people has do to with the clashing of the natural – sin – with the spiritual.  But we don’t see it that way.  Chambers addressed how we should respond to the lost … but I am addressing to how we should respond to the saved.  The saved don’t need Jesus, they have Jesus.  Their problem is that they are living like they are lost.  They don’t love God with their all or they would do what His Word says to do, by the power of His Spirit and faith.  We typically don’t address wrong choices from a spiritual point of view.  We want to correct and redirect using all of our natural methods.  Instead, we should start by reminding others of who they are in Christ and what they are doing or saying does not honor God or bring Him glory .. which should be our and their primary objective in life.  But we slice out pieces of our lives and leave God out of them.  We just don’t see what that has to do with God.

OK … I will tell you something you already know … we have been bought with a price – the Cross. We have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus.  We are newly created spiritually and the old things .. the natural life and living … is behind us .. that is, unless you stuck some of it in your pocket in case you needed it some day! Everything has spiritual context. And we need to be reminded .. because we forget in the heat of the moment or at the point of temptation.  Very often, we don’t see sin as sin, but simply as choices that I have a right to make.  Uh ….. no you don’t.  You gave up your rights as a sinner when you were born again by faith in Jesus.  If you have a problem with seeing sin as sin .. and preferring to live in the natural it is because you have distanced yourself from the fundamentals of the faith.  Or worse, because you were never born again to begin with and lack the presence of the Spirit of God in you. Or perhaps your heart has grown cold toward God .. no matter how often you go to church or what you tell other people.  Now if what I have described is not you, but you know someone that the “shoe” fits, then point them, lovingly, back to God. That is your responsibility as their Brother or Sister … as a disciple of Jesus … as a child of God. 

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

Can I Get A Witness?

 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1

There are a few things that I want to share both directly and indirectly relative to this verse.

First - let's talk about "therefore". The pastor of the church we attended in Savannah, GA in the early 80's would say, "When you see the Word "therefore" in a verse in the Bible,  you should see what it is "there" for. So let's see what preceded chapter 12.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.- Hebrews 11:1-3

Those verses precede a list of Old Testaments giants in the faith.  By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death. 

 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 

By faith Noah, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. By faith Abraham went to live in the land of promise. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son. By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.  By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. For time would fail me to tell of [the faith of] Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets.

That is what the "therefore" is there-for. Because the faithfulness of God has been proven through the lives and testimonies of so many before us, we should run the race of faith in God set before us. So often the picture of those mentioned is one of them sitting in the stands cheering us on. In my studies I have understood that those in heaven are looking up to the Father and not down on some race of human kind to cheer them on to not quit to keep running. Rather, it is us still walking on this planet - running the race of faith - looking at those who have already run the race and won the prize which is eternal life and looking up to the Father in faith.

And like them we are also called to be witnesses. 

[Jesus said of the disciples and all who would be disciples] You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. - Acts 1:8

There is this notion that those who have gone to heaven before us are looking down on us - yet there is no Biblical support for that belief. I think it is a misplaced desire to stay connected with those who are now in heaven.  Like telling someone who lost a pet dog that if it makes them happy, God will  make sure the dog is in heaven. Saying that to someone who has lost a loved one who was a Christian though comforting at the moment is not truthful. It may be best, at those times, to remain silent and pray for the person. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 

We must be careful that we do not "pluck out" portions of scripture - out of context - thinking that it might bring comfort to their hearts but is really nothing more than wishful thinking. It may make sense to our mortal minds, but it is not consistent with God's revelation to mankind.

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

Stop Resisting The Spirit Of God

If you…remember that your brother has something against you… —Matthew 5:23

This verse says, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you….” It is not saying, “If you search and find something because of your unbalanced sensitivity,” but, “If you…remember….” In other words, if something is brought to your conscious mind by the Spirit of God— “First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:24). Never object to the intense sensitivity of the Spirit of God in you when He is instructing you down to the smallest detail. Jesus does not mention the other person— He says for you to go. It is not a matter of your rights. The true mark of the saint is that he can waive his own rights and obey the Lord Jesus. The process of reconciliation is clearly marked. First we have the heroic spirit of self-sacrifice, then the sudden restraint by the sensitivity of the Holy Spirit, and then we are stopped at the point of our conviction. This is followed by obedience to the Word of God. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

Has the Spirit of God ever spoken something to you about something that was contrary to what you wanted to do?  If you are born again and therefore have been sealed by the Spirit, He has.  Why? Because we tend to follow the ways of the flesh.  The Spirit convicts of sin, which is to say we are living or doing in a way that is contrary to the nature of God and our new nature.  The question is, “How do you respond when He speaks?”  Do you say “yes Lord”? Or do you “turn the music up to drown out His voice” because you don’t want to do the very thing He is saying – do? 

The Bible calls that quenching the Spirit or putting the fire out.  Oh Saint, this life we live in the flesh we live by faith.  (Galatians 2:20)  God will always prompt you to obedience.  To deal with those things that hinder your unfettered relationship with Him.  You cannot offer anything that is acceptable to God if you do not have “clean hands and a clean heart”.  

If you choose to ignore the prompting of the Spirit you are doing nothing more than practicing vain religion.  Praising God with your lips while your heart is far from Him. (Matthew 15:8) You might as well be watching TV for all of the spiritual good that is being derived!  We are a stubborn lot!  Holding on to attitudes and habits that are clearly contrary to who we are in Christ. 

Listen. you are not alone in this struggle.  But God has given you the power to overcome, and the means to live in victory. But you must pick up your cross daily and yield your life to the leading of the Spirit.  That requires faith and humility and that comes from God.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12:1-2

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone 

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. —Luke 10:20 

Every now and again, we all have an opportunity to experience something supernatural.  The movement of the Spirit of God.  Some mighty act of God precipitated through us or through someone else.  We are amazed and perhaps derive a sense of great joy – like the disciples.  But we must be careful – like the disciples.  It is very easy to lose focus on the God who is the source of all spiritual power and focus on the event that is the result of that spiritual power.   And perhaps, even attribute credit to yourself or to someone else and not to the Source.  

A question that is very often asked of volunteer mission teams at the end of their trips is “What did you get out of your time here?”  A simple question, but it focuses on the wrong point of the mission trip.  Maybe a better  question might be, “What did God reveal to you during your time here?” I have people give me credit for my service all the time.  It is easy to begin to think that somehow I am the reason some good happened.  But, in fact, the source of the “good” was God, not my abilities.  God is the source of my abilities as well.  Jesus told the disciples not to rejoice in what they were doing, but in why they were able to do it.  

Listen.  It is OK to feel good about yourself.  But we must be careful that we don’t take credit for something that someone else, namely God, did through us.  Certainly the world does not understand that. And that lack of understanding presents you with an opportunity to give God the glory.  

And about that feeling. I was talking to someone the other day. He was telling me about how he had helped someone in need.  He said “It made me feel good inside.” I told him the feeling he had was not “Good” but “Right”.  When we are obedient to God’s leading and will, we have a sense of “Right”.  That can be easily mistaken for good and that can be easily mis-attributed to our own action and credit.  Like the doing of a good thing somehow vindicates us – making us good.  Right– is what it feels like to be walking in obedience to the will of the Father.  Out of obedience springs the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace …. The result of that, in our flesh, is most often the human emotion of feeling good.  

It’s OK to have that feeling.  What is not Ok is taking credit for it.  Make certain that in all you do for God that you give credit where credit is due.  And you can feel good about that!   

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory. 

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone