freedom

The Power of the Resurrection – VOTD.03.27.18

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this? John 11:23-26

Today’s verses expose a common limitation that we find even today about the resurrection of Jesus. When He said, “I am the Resurrection and the Life,” Martha immediately concluded that He was talking about heaven some day. And it wasn’t that she was wrong, but Jesus wanted to expand her understanding.

The Power of Jesus’ Resurrection is at work today: The Power of the Resurrection that is just as powerful now, as it was then, and when it will be through eternity. Yes, it’s what makes us Christians today. It’s the only reason that we can be Christians.

Power of the Resurrection is the SALVATION of Jesus.
· It’s the Power of the Resurrection that gives us Faith to call upon the name of Jesus.
· It’s the Power of the Resurrection that gives you and me the power to draw others into God’s Kingdom.

But what the Resurrection has given you and me is more than Salvation, as wonderful as that is. It’s more than the Saints being raised up in a cloud with Believers when the last trumpet sounds. The Power of the Resurrection isn’t a “thing” or a “force”. The power of Jesus’ resurrection is Love, Hope, Joy, Peace, Victory, and Freedom: (more…)

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Fact vs. Truth – VOTD.03.05.18

We know that “all of us possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he will possess the knowledge of God.  1 Corinthians 8:1-3

Those of us who teach can (and often do) end up limiting our effectiveness by increasing our knowledge of the truths of God without increasing our awareness and experience of God’s presence and glory. As today’s verse says, “Knowledge puffs up”.

That is equally true for those we teach if we are presenting the truths we are teaching as the central focus of the Christian life. And that is where knowledge-based Christianity falls short.

Fact-based knowledge about truth without an equal or greater experience of God (seeing His Glory is how John 1 expresses it) –this fact-based truth will inevitably lead to puffing us up: pride–and that pride paves the way to a fall (Prov 16:18).

It is telling that most Christian congregations in North America revolve around passing on facts, cognitive understanding/truth. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if our churches fill us with facts and don’t coach us into a moment-by-moment experience of God, then they are setting us up for a fall. (more…)

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Who Will We Serve in 2017 – VOTD.01.17.17

He won’t let the wicked rule over his righteous people; if he did, they might lead righteous themselves to do evil. Psalms 125:3

One of the things I love about the Psalms is all the zingers that are hidden in the middle of otherwise predictable praise and adoration. Sprinkled throughout the Psalms are little gems, expressing a truth that it’s taken for granted the reader already knows, and therefore provides little explanation.

Today’s verse is like that. Surrounded by verses about the safety net the Lord provides from our enemies, this verse happens to mention that He is also moving to protect us from those in authority over us… lest they lead us into sin.

We don’t have to read Old Testament history for long (or any other history for that matter), in order to see that evil leaders lead whole nations astray. False teachers lead churches astray. False prophecies cause more problems than we’d think, even when the prophets are God’s real prophets and their prophesies prove to be untrue, the result of which may seem insignificant and inconsequential.

Now, you and I might be bewildered why “everyone else” would follow these evil leaders / teachers / prophets, but apparently enough people do to tip the scales. So God promises to deliver his righteous ones from the authority of these evil and false entities, even while He makes no such promise for “everyone else”. (more…)

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Be Who God Made You in 2017 – VOTD.01.09.17

We are being transformed into the likeness of the image of Christ; from glory to glory. This happens by the Spirit of the Lord.  2 Corinthians 3:17

You’ve probably heard the expression: “A fish out of water.” The beauty and grace we see when we watch a fish in the water is lost when you catch it and throw it up on the shore. The beauty and grace is not in the fish, it’s in the environment. Once you take the fish out of the environment God made it for, it flops around and looks clumsy.

If we are to exhibit the beauty and grace that God wants for us in 2017 we need to be in the environment He has made for us. If we go off into some other environment, we lose the beauty and grace because we weren’t made for that environment.

I’m sure you have seen people who have either left the place God has for them, or have never found the place God has for them, and they are “like fish out of water”. They never operate in the beauty and grace that God has for them because they’re up on the shore flopping around trying to survive in a hostile ecosystem. (more…)

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The Holiness Measure: Maturity (pt 1) – VOTD.07.18.16

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!… But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. Romans 6:15-18

There’s an internet meme that says: I’m not a human being having a spiritual experience. I’m a spiritual being having a human experience. I’m not sure the origin of that was entirely Christian but it speaks to a truth that less mature Christians often miss.

In fact, less mature Christians nearly always get the matter of holiness wrong because (as I mentioned earlier in this series) we usually see maturity as something we do, rather than something that we are. So we can fake a lot of Christian behavior and often Christian teachers encourage this “behavior modification” approach to “Christian” living on young believers rather than the transformation from the inside that God wants for each of us. (more…)

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The Love Measure: Maturity (pt 2) – VOTD.07.12.16

Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian… Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.  Galatians 3:23-25

We’re talking about loving God and its relationship to Christian maturity. A child is little more than a slave until he or she comes of age. A guardian directs their lives (Gal 4: 1-7). The rules Paul scatters through his writings are like that. They take care of us and show us the way when we are immature. But with maturity comes the freedom of loving God more exclusively and passionately, so that “Love God and do as you please” becomes no longer a phrase, flippantly thrown around to get what we want, but a truth that is manifested in our lives.

For example, when we love our children, we take care of their needs, protect them, even do things to bring them pleasure… Now, at the same time there are some government laws to protect children, but they are totally unnecessary if we love our children. We don’t need those laws. (more…)

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The Freedom Measure: Maturity (pt 2) – VOTD.07.05.16

 …The truth will set you free…Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom…
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.  John 8:32; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Galatians. 5:1

Augustine said that true freedom is not choice or lack of constraint, but the ability to be what we are meant to be. Therefore, he reasoned, humans were created in the image of God, so true freedom is found in living it out. In other words, the closer we conform to Jesus, the freer we become. The farther we drift from this, the more our freedom shrinks.

Not to disagree with Augustine, but I think this is only one part of the vast subject of Christian freedom. “The truth will set you free”. Jesus is the truth and He does set us free. No question about that. He found freedom in doing what He saw His Father doing, and we find freedom in doing what Jesus is doing (Jn 5:19).

But another element of Christian freedom that is central to Christian maturity is found in His presence, as 2 Cor 3:17 points out. What we were recreated in Jesus for is “to love God and enjoy Him forever”. This goes beyond anything the the image of God within us to the purpose of God for us. (more…)

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The Freedom Measure: Maturity – VOTD.07.04.16

One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. Romans 14:2

In Romans 14 Paul turns the tables on those who treat duty, disciplines and deprivation as a sign of Christian maturity. In fact, he shows this sort of thing to be a sign of weakness. This former Pharisee, who had once celebrated self-denial, had come to understand that Christian maturity leads to freedom and is lived out in freedom.

Many Christians live in a kind of slavery despite Jesus’ promise that we “are extremely free” because He has set us free (Jn 8:36). They remain slaves to other masters. Unhealthy commitments and relationships (even within our churches); unhealthy attitudes (festering resentment, self-pity over past hurts and disappointments, bitterness); other addictions, affluences, etc.

They reward themselves and each other on the level of self-righteousness they have attained rather than walking in the Holy Spirit’s liberty; “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor 3:17) (more…)

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VOTD.03.28.16 Magdalene Crashes a Party, Pt. 1

Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Luke 7: 48

We’re looking at the life of Magdalene, the Mary who Jesus revealed Himself to first, when He was resurrected. What was it about her that Jesus was pursuing her so ardently?

Amazingly, instead of focusing on us trying to pursue Jesus, Jesus is pursuing a particular kind of worshiper: People who are desperately submerged in the total adoration of their God and King.

Last time we mentioned that there were events that set Magdalene apart from Jesus’ 12 disciples. Not much is said in the Bible about Magdalene by name, but tradition has it that 2 anonymous events that are recorded in the Bible were in actuality, events that happened to Magdalene. We’ll look at one of those events this week: (more…)

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