Grace and Peace
Ephesians 1:2 (NLT) May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
2 Peter 1:2 (NKJV) Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
Grace and peace. This was a common greeting found in Paul’s and Peter’s letters to the churches. This greeting describes two great gifts given to the church, and one could write long papers about each of them.
Grace is generally translated as “unmerited favor”. Other definitions include “inclined to do favors for you”, “looks on you favorably”, kindness, friendship, forgiving mercy, or “gifts freely given by God” The other popular definition of grace is the acronym God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Grace is all about the giver, not the receiver.
Peace was written in Greek, but both Paul and Peter were fluent in Hebrew and were thinking like Jewish people. The Hebrew word shalom is much stronger than our word peace. It means peace, prosperity, wholeness, well-being, and success. Billye Brim once wrote that a noted Hebrew text book translated it “nothing missing, nothing broken”. Another translation I found recently is “freedom from fear”.
Grace and peace be unto YOU!
Doug
What did Jesus’ ministry consist of?
The gospels give us insight into what Jesus’ ministry towards men consisted of:
Matthew 4:23-5:2 (NKJV) And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people. Then His fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought to Him all sick people who were afflicted with various diseases and torments, and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics; and He healed them. Great multitudes followed Him–from Galilee, and from Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.
And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying (insert Sermon on the Mount here)
and
Matthew 9:35 (NIV) Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.
and
Luke 5:17-18 (NIV) One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.
We know he got healed as well.
What did Jesus say for his disciples to do?
Matthew 10:7-8 (NKJV) And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
In the Great Commission (Mark 16:15-20) and the book of Acts, we see the same pattern:
- The church would preach the kingdom.
- The church would teach the disciples.
- The church would heal the sick and cast out demons.
We say we want a New Testament ministry for the world. There you have it.
Doug
In Him
In my sermon from Sunday 7/12/2009, I referred to a list of 130 or so “in Him, by Him, through Him” etc scriptures. I’ve put that document (.doc and .pdf format) below.
For more information see In Him
Doug
God’s love for believers
Probably the best-loved verse in the Bible:
John 3:16-17 (NKJV) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
If God loves “the world” – the unbelievers, the non-Christians – then how much does He love us? Romans 8 says that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
There are quite a few believers out there that have the idea that when they sin, God stops loving them, or loves them less somehow. They think that when bad things happen to them, it’s God judging them for some failure. This is a very “old testament” (Before Christ) mindset, and comes from a “works” mentality – an attitude that we have to earn our salvation, or work for the grace that comes to us after salvation. There are people that are just not comfortable with the idea that salvation comes by and is maintained by grace through faith:
Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
There is only one sacrifice for sin – the blood of Jesus Christ. Beating ourselves up over our failures is not atonement.
Recently I’d been asked to prophesy via e-mail over a person I don’t know. What I wrote fits well with what I’ve been thinking about writing for this post, so I’ll share a bit of it:
My Son told His disciples that I love them as much as I love Him [John 17:23]. I loved Peter, I loved Judas, I loved Thomas as much as I loved John. I did not love them because of weakness, but in spite of it, because my nature is love. My plans for you are intended to carry you forward in the midst of challenge, and to give you a future and a hope [Jeremiah 29:10-14].
That’s a good word!
Doug
Who am I, that I can…
This is part of Moses’ conversation with God at the burning bush:
Exodus 3:9-12 (NLT) Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”
But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”
God answered, “I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.”
Moses asked “How can I do this? Who am I?”
God responded “I will be with you”. At first, this sounds like God is dismissing Moses’ statement, but actually He’s saying “You are the person that I go with” – a great source of strength!
Jesus said the same thing in the Great Commission:
Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV) Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
In both cases, they were given a mission, and told that The One sending them was going with them. In Hebrews 13:5-6, we find that God will never leave us, nor forsake us, followed immediately by a statement that God is our helper and we have no reason to fear.
So, whenever we go on a God-ordained project – whether a specific mission, or to fulfill some aspect of the purpose that God has for our life – we know that He goes with us. And not only that, He’s IN us.
Doug
Don’t settle for scraps
I was listening to Graham Cooke teach on “Living Your Destiny” and he made a statement that struck me: “Western churches live off the scraps from the Master’s table, when He’s trying to teach you how to feast from on top of it. We have a poverty mentality in the Western world.”
I thought a bit about it and realized how true it was. Here’s the passage he was referring to:
Mark 7:24-30 (NLT) Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret. Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet. Her little girl was possessed by an evil spirit, and she begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter.
Since she was a Gentile, born in Syrian Phoenicia, Jesus told her, First I should feed the children – my own family, the Jews. It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.
She replied, That’s true, Lord, but even the dogs under the table are allowed to eat the scraps from the children’s plates.
Good answer! he said. Now go home, for the demon has left your daughter. And when she arrived home, she found her little girl lying quietly in bed, and the demon was gone.
We so often approach God for the scraps, as if we’re Gentiles, aliens from the covenant of God. But who would be eating at the table with Jesus? Who is invited to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:9)? THE CHURCH! The Children of God (Romans 8), eating dinner with the family.
There’s a lot more I could write about covenant, but suffice to say that if you’ve received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, start eating at the table. Picture yourself saying “Pass me the healing, please?” or “May I have another serving of spiritual gifts?” Or imagine yourself going out and gathering others to come in for the meal…
Doug (on holiday today!)
God’s ambassadors
Back in May, I looked at the passage below from the viewpoint of reconciliation. Now we’ll look at it from the perspective of what we’ve become because of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NIV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
We are His ambassadors – representatives of His Kingdom. What does this mean?
- The world we live in is not our home any more. We’re now here on assignment from the King.
- We can ask the King for resources to live in the world we’re in now.
- We can make requests on behalf of others, and introduce them to our King.
- The King will defend us.
- When our King wants to bless people outside of the Kingdom, He will typically do so through His ambassadors – us.
- When we speak and act, we should always do so with remembrance of Who we represent.
Doug
Who does the healing?
Who does the healing? That seems straightforward at first – it’s God – but what did Jesus say?
Matthew 10:7-8 (NKJV) And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
Who did he say was to preach the gospel? His disciples.
Who did he say was to heal the sick? His disciples.
Who did he say was to cleanse the lepers, raise the dead and cast out demons? His disciples.
Did he say to pray for them, that God would heal them? It doesn’t appear so.
Really?
Mark 16:15-18 (NIV) He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
Yes, really.
So how did they do this? Did they pray? Yes, sometimes they prayed for God to heal. But other times, they commanded healing to come. Look at the healings in the book of Acts, like this one:
Acts 3:4-8 (NLT) Peter and John looked at him intently, and Peter said, “Look at us!” The lame man looked at them eagerly, expecting some money. But Peter said, “I don’t have any silver or gold for you. But I’ll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!”
Then Peter took the lame man by the right hand and helped him up. And as he did, the man’s feet and ankles were instantly healed and strengthened. He jumped up, stood on his feet, and began to walk! Then, walking, leaping, and praising God, he went into the Temple with them.
By using Jesus’ name they healed others the same way Jesus healed others – by giving a command of faith.
How do we practice healing? There are many biblical ways
- anointing with oil
- prayer of agreement
- prayer of faith
- laying on hands
But don’t leave out healing the way Jesus did – by the command of faith. You’re a believer, believe that signs follow you. You do the healing.
Doug
Opposites
What is the opposite of hot? Cold.
What is the opposite of light? Dark.
What is the opposite of God?
That’s a trick question. If you said “the devil”, no, not him.
There is no opposite of God, because opposite implies “equal”.
In Job 1 and 2, satan answers to God.
In Matthew 4, Jesus overcame temptation and satan departed.
In Philippians 2:9-11, EVERY knee will bow to the name of Jesus.
In Revelation 20:10, the devil will be cast into the lake of fire that was prepared for him (Matt 25:41).
That doesn’t sound like an equal to God.
In the song “Great Big God”, Rob Critchley writes that we have a Great Big God and there’s a little bitty devil.
Don’t underestimate him, for he has a great deal of natural wisdom and experience. But remember that he is not equal to God, he never was, and he never will be. He’s simply a created being, and you can resist him, steadfast in faith (1 Peter 5:8-9, James 4:7).
Doug
A vision of four doors
Last Monday (June 15th) about 7am I had this vision, which I want to share. Note that what I write here does not represent my present church (or any particular church). It was a vision so the pictures were symbolic. It was speaking to me, however, and I think to the church as a whole as well.
I was being quiet before the Lord, except for the occasional “Here I am, Lord”, “You are good”, and “You are holy”. All of the sudden I saw myself standing before four doors. I knew somehow what the first three doors were. The fourth door was different, and I knew I wasn’t supposed to try to open that door, nor even ask what it was.
The first door was called “revelation”. I opened the door and went in, and it was dark inside. But I saw a bright light a distance off. I could walk towards the light or back away from it. I didn’t yet go too close to the light, yet I knew I could come back to this place any time. It was the place to learn about God and the Kingdom.
I went in the second door, it was called “outreach”. Behind it were hungry people. They were calling “over here, over here” and reaching for me. They were many races, many of them poor, most of them non-caucasian. They were hungry for the least little thing I would share with them about Jesus and the Kingdom.
I went in the third door, it was called “ministry”. In it was like a big formal church sanctuary, a relatively modern sanctuary, but with large old-fashioned fixed pews. The carpet was red. For the size of the church, however, it was largely empty. The pulpit was vacant, I knew I had a message to deliver there, but the crowd was passive, unresponsive. There was no enthusiasm in the singing.
Then I was standing outside of the four doors. I was told that of the first three doors, I could choose to spend as much time as I wanted behind each door, I would make that decision. I could move from door to door freely.
What I saw, however: I most wanted to spend my time behind the third door (ministry) – ministering to those that are already in the kingdom. I most needed to spend my time behind the first door (revelation). I was most needed by others behind the second door (outreach).
I’m asking the Lord to help me apply what I saw. I need to balance the time I spend at each of these calls on my life. It’s easy to get too involved in any one of these.
Doug