THE TEST OF GRACE

I once heard a preacher say that “80 to 90% of Christians are unacquainted with the gospel of grace.” I guess this estimate is not far off the mark as evidenced by the large numbers of believers who are still trying to earn what God has freely given them. If you were to ask these people about grace they would declare, “yes, I am saved by grace! I thank God for His grace!” But by their works they testify that God’s grace is not enough. Grace may have got them started, but now it’s up to them to finish. Having begun with the Spirit they are now trying to attain their goal by human effort (Gal 3:3). Instead of working out what it means to be saved, they are working hard to stay saved.
How does this happen? Usually someone tells them that God won’t accept them or bless them or be pleased with them unless they perform for Jesus. Dead religious works are sold with respectable labels like “responsibility,” “good works,” “mission,” “sowing,” and “investing.” I am not against these things! What I am opposed to is the diabolical lie that says God’s favor depends on me doing them.
Do you know that you are saved by grace and kept by grace?

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him.” (Col 2:6)

How did you receive Him? By faith. How should you continue to live in Him? By faith! It’s faith in God’s grace from start to finish. Are you living by the faith of the Son of God? Or have you taken out a little works insurance? As Watchman Nee put it, the choice is between trying and trusting. You can try or you can trust but you can’t do both. Are you a tryer or a truster?
I have proclaimed the true gospel elsewhere. I have also listed some of the common ways the gospel is perverted along with some signs that you might be living under self-imposed law. What I want to give you here is a simple test to help you determine whether the gospel message you’re trusting in is the same gospel that Jesus revealed and Paul preached. It’s a simple test. Just ask yourself the following four questions. If your answers are all yes, then rejoice, for you are living on pure, undiluted grace!
1.    Does this gospel cause me to fix my eyes exclusively on Jesus?

Does this message focus on me or does it cause me to fix my eyes on the Author and Finisher of my faith? Does it emphasize what I’m doing (or not doing), or does it emphasize His finished work on the cross? Does it make me introspective and anxious or Christ-conscious and grateful?

A true gospel preacher will always seek to reveal more and more of Jesus. It took me years to realize this. When I began preaching in the 1990s, I used to preach on the kingdom. I loved the kingdom and I still do. But I now realize that my love for the kingdom was really a love for the King. Now I just preach of this Great King who loves me and gave Himself for me. Now I just preach Jesus.

Preachers, do you need a message on healing? Then preach Jesus! Do you need a series on overcoming, giving, wisdom, holiness, faith, warfare, marriage, family life, outreach, helping the poor, deliverance, Leviticus, the Tabernacle, etc? Then preach Jesus!

Whatever your need, your answer is found in Jesus and His finished work. That’s why Paul resolved to know nothing but “Christ and Him crucified” (1 Co 2:2). Any message that doesn’t reveal Jesus will likely be powerless substitute, a flesh-trip, and a wasted opportunity. Jesus is the supreme manifestation of the character and purpose of God. Any message that diminishes Jesus, insults the Spirit of grace. Jesus is peerless and nothing compares to Him. He has become for us wisdom from God and I will boast (preach) of nothing else (1 Co 1:30-31).

2.    Does this gospel increase my dependence on Jesus?

Jesus said, “apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5). Sadly, much is being done apart from Jesus and most of it will amount to nothing! Instead of healing the sick, raising the dead and driving out demons – the very things Jesus said His followers would do – we’re doing other stuff. And because we’re so busy doing other stuff we’re worn out and missing opportunities to do the works and greater works of Jesus.

Let me put your mind at rest right now: I guarantee that in your own strength you cannot heal the sick and raise the dead. Don’t even try. But Christ in you can do these and greater things! Do you trust Him? Working out your salvation with fear and trembling describes the adventure of learning to do impossible things with Jesus. Here’s the test: The true gospel will always inspire you to take risks in His Name, but a false gospel promotes activity in your own name.

3.    Does this gospel empower me to overcome sin?

There are two ways to deal with sin; (1) preach law or (2) reveal grace. A law-based message will stir up the flesh in a human-powered quest for a change in behavior. This approach is inherently flawed for the purpose of the law is to inflame sin (Rm 7:5). Thus, any “success” with this approach will only lead to the graver sins of pride, self-righteousness, and the truly fatal sin of unbelief in the grace of a good God. Ultimately the law is powerless to deal with sin because it leaves the heart untouched (Col 2:23). Worse, it releases condemnation (which some mistake for conviction) and ministers death, just as it was designed to do (2 Co 3:7,9).

Grace declares that Jesus conquered all sin on the cross (He 9:26). You are not holy because of your behavior but His (1 Co 1:30). A preacher of grace will deal very practically with sin by seeking to reveal your true identity in Christ. You are a new creation with a new nature. Your old sin software has been nailed to the cross and you are no longer sin’s slave (Rm 6:6,20). Appetites are dealt with by recognizing who you are in Christ and reckoning your old self as dead. Again, the focus is on Jesus, not you. Jesus was tempted in every way yet was without sin. As you rest in Him, you will find grace to help you in your time of need (Heb 4:15-16).

The law does not provide useful guidelines for Christian living. We turn rules into idols when we put our faith in them instead of Christ. The Bible is very clear; the law empowers sin (1 Cor 15:56) and only a revelation of God’s grace can teach us to say no to ungodliness (Tit 2:12). Here’s the test: a false gospel will keep you sin-conscious, but the true gospel will make you Christ-conscious. Which describes you? Are you sin-conscious or Christ-conscious?

4.    Does this gospel release peace and joy?

The kingdom of heaven is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rm 14:17). If the gospel you’re listening to doesn’t reveal Jesus and the gift of His righteousness, then you will never experience the peace and joy that comes with it. It really is all about Jesus. He took our sin and gave us His righteousness (2 Co 5:21). This is what the gospel reveals – a righteousness from God that is received by faith from first to last (Rm 1:17). When you know that God has made you as righteous as Jesus, you will be empowered to reign in life (Rm 5:17).

This test is actually about righteousness: Are you resting in His or are you trying to impress Him with yours? A false gospel will seek to manufacture righteousness through works and holy living. By prescribing a course of action for you to take, it will instantly fail the above three tests. It will burden you with loads you cannot carry and expectations you cannot live up to. Before you know it, you will be as stressed and joyless as Martha.

Here’s the test. If you stopped doing the things you are doing for Jesus, would you feel guilty? What if you sinned, stopped giving, or skipped church? I’m not encouraging you to do any of these things – sin is stupid. But someone who knows they are clothed with His righteousness will never battle guilt and condemnation. Even when they sin they will sense the Holy Spirit convicting them of their continued righteousness in Christ (Jn 16:10). Conversely, one who’s bought into a false gospel will never know lasting peace. Even when they’ve performed there will always be a sense of “but have I done enough?”

Paul began every one of his letters with the phrase, “Grace and peace to you from God the Father.” It is only a revelation of God’s favor that brings true peace. Know grace, know peace. Worldly peace is temporary, but the peace of God – that sense that everything is coming together for good because you belong to Jesus and His favor rests on you – passes understanding (Php 4:7). It fortifies your heart and mind so that in all circumstances you find yourself overflowing with thankfulness (Col 2:7). No matter how severe your trial, you will be able to find rest – indeed, even joy – in His mighty, loving arms (Php 4:4).

So how did your gospel do? If you honestly answered no to any of these four questions, then I have Good News for you.
http://www.escapetoreality.org/

WHAT'S YOUR SMELL

2 Corinthians 2:14-15 (New King James Version)

¹⁴ Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. ¹⁵ For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing

"Deodorant.  Soap.  Body Wash.  Perfume.  Cologne.  All of these items and many more make up a billion dollar industry focused on one thing, making sure we don’t smell bad.  Our culture has an obsession with how we smell.  No one wants to smell bad, if we are going to smell we want it to something pleasing to ourselves and others.  The Apostle Paul picks up on this idea in the verse above explaining how we are to “smell” as ambassadors of Christ".

In the hands of a loving father is the representatives of Jesus Christ on earth. Picture yourself as a cologne called "Loveliness Of Christ" and He cherishing you every minute and diffusing, displaying His love, power, creativity, talents, giftings, wisdom and what have you into our society. Men! the world will be a better place. We are to be a cologne for Him in our communities, schools, homes, churches and the uttermost part of the world. When we are empty of Christ and full of self and carnality we become undiffusable and clogged.

How will you feel after you bought an expensive brand name cologne and to your surprise the content of the perfume smell way different and kind of stinky to you and frinds. We are new creation in Christ Jesus, the old things has passed away and behold everything has become new. All that you need to impact your world is in your born again Spirit. You are full of Christ and continue in that fullness when you daily feed on His strength and embrace His presence to change our stinking world. You cannot diffuse what you have not receive.

We have no fragrance in our self to change anything, We are living on a borrowed fragrance - Christ. The excellency, beauty, loveliness of Christ is displayed in our lives. In that regard, we are all qualified to be used in this end time for our God. What's your smell, friend. No matter how badly you smell, you have evry opportunity to refresh your life in the power of God unconditional love and grace.

Let's touch every corner of our world by spreading the fragrance of the person of Christ and the loveliness of His finish work on the cross of calvary.

PAUL ELLIS @ ESCAPE TO REALITY.ORG

How do you know God’s love is unconditional? The phrase ‘unconditional love’ is not in the Bible!” This is a fair question that cuts right to the heart of the grace message. Grace says that God loves us with no strings attached but do a quick scan of the Bible and you will find that sometimes there are strings attached to the love of God. In one passage, God refers to Himself as a jealous God who loves those who love Him but punishes those who don’t (Ex 20:5-6).
And yet despite these few passages that say otherwise (I will address these in my next post) I am 100% convinced that God loves us unconditionally. You need to be 100% convinced too. So let me give you seven reasons for concluding that God loves you unconditionally:
(1) Love, by definition, is unconditional

“God is love (agape).” (1 Jn 4:16)

You probably know about the different words for love in the Greek language. You might even know that agape-love refers to “unconditional, self-sacrificing, and active” love. But did you know that agape love is unique to God? It is not a human form of love. If your experience of love is limited to what you have received from people, chances are you have encountered frail love that sometimes comes with expectations and baggage. But God’s love is not like this. As we will see, His love is unlike anything found in this world.
(2) Jesus demonstrates unconditional love

“But God demonstrates His own (agape) love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8)

If you want to know what agape love looks like, consider Jesus. “For God so agapao-ed the world, that He gave His only Son…” (Jn 3:16). We did not deserve to be saved, yet He came for us regardless. That He died for us shows us that God loves us more than He loves His own life. We had done nothing to attract Him. We had not even repented. Yet our Creator hung on the cross that we put Him on and forgave us as we killed Him. The cross is the single greatest demonstration of unconditional love the world has ever known.
(3) God’s love is immeasurable

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the (agape) love of Christ, and to know this (agape) love that surpasses knowledge…” (Eph 3:17-19)

When Paul wrote these words he knew full well that he was asking us to do the impossible. You cannot grasp the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love – they are ungraspable! Nevertheless Paul encouraged us to “Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights!” as Eugene Petersen says, because if you had even the smallest glimpse of how much He loves you, you would be undone. Selfishness and dead religion would wither. Your accomplishments and qualifications you would cheerfully count as rubbish compared to the awesome privilege and surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus your Lord.
(4) God’s love keeps no record of wrongs

“(Agape-love) is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it…” (1 Cor 13:5, AMP)

Jesus knew the name of every soldier who beat Him, every person who mocked Him, and every Pharisee who thought He was the devil. Yet He still went to the cross so that they might be reconciled to God. It was as if God was not counting their sins against them! He wasn’t, and neither is He counting yours (2 Co 5:19). On the cross, justice had a meeting with unconditional love and your peace with God was secured. Your transgressions have been blotted out as if you’d never done them (Is 43:25). Because God the Son bled for you, both God the Father and God the Holy Spirit have gone on record saying they will remember your sins no more (He 8:12, 10:17).
(5) God’s love endures

“Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything. Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end].” (1 Cor 13:5-8, AMP)

You can take the love of God and nail it to a cross and He will still love you enough to come back from the dead and hunt you down just to tell you that He’s forgiven you and loves you and wants to be with you forever. Who does that?! Only God.
(6) God’s love is everlasting

“The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.’” (Jer 31:3)

Now there’s a quote that should be on the wall of every believer! The Hebrew word hesed, which denotes steadfast love, warm-hearted generosity, and devotion, and which is usually translated as loving-kindness, appears 250 times in the Old Testament. As Malcolm Smith explains, this word captures God’s heart towards us and is revealed formally in the covenant He made with us through our representative Jesus. So even if it were possible for God to have a change of heart and stop loving you, He would be bound by covenant to continue loving you for as long Jesus lives.
(7) God loves the unlovely
Perhaps you think God can’t love you because of all the bad stuff you’ve done. If you’re still not convinced that He loves you with an unconditional love, then consider those He loved in the Bible. He loved an adulterer and murderer called David. He pursued a persecuting Pharisee named Saul. When He wanted to portray His love for Israel He told the prophet Hosea to marry and love an unfaithful woman. When He walked the earth in human form He developed a reputation as a friend of sinners and told stories about prodigals who were loved even though they had done nothing deserving of love. He loved lepers and Gentiles, thieving tax-collectors and stinkin’ Samaritans. At this point you really should stop and ask yourself why?
Why does God love us?
We have seen from scripture that His love for us has nothing to do with our loveliness nor our behavior, whether good or bad. He simply loves us because He is love and it’s His nature to love. And thank God this is so, for there is no hope except that He loves us. If He did not love us unconditionally, He would not have died for us and there would be no new covenant based on His grace. But He does and He did and there is!
This is the good news that the whole world needs to hear.

THE MEN OF GOD, THE PICK AXE AND THE EMPTY HOLE

About a month or two ago, while on our 21 days of prayer and fasting for the Church of Jesus Christ, I had a revelation. I have asked the Lord if He will want me to share the revelation with the body of Christ and to be specifically, the shepherds of the flock. (Pastors,Teachers,Apostles,Prophets & Evangelist)I have shared this with my church, prayed passionatelly for ministers of the gospel and reshaped my ministry as Christ centered and Jesus saturated Church.  You have the right to prayerfully receive it or reject it. He that has ears "Let him hear what the Spirit of the Lord says;

Colossians 2:6-8 (The Message)
  6-7My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving.
 8-10Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.

"In this revelation or vision , I saw many Men of God or Pastors with PICK AXE in their hands and digging a mighty HOLE in the earth surface. This is one big hole, and zealously, everybody with our little effort  digging deeper and deeper"

I had a teary eye and a whirlwind of loneliness and emptiness overwhelms my whole being like I have never felt before. Right away, interpretation was given to me by the Holy Spirit. He said, THERE IS AN EMPTINESS IN MY CHURCH. My servants has a dug a big hole of emptiness in the hearts and mind of the Church and they keep digging deeper and deeper; and in the time of test and trials, they do not realise their position in me, their prayers has become an activity, they feel condemed and unrighteouss, neither do they have an intimate relationship with me and their emptiness is perpetual because I am the only one that can satisfy their emptiness but I am (Jesus) not being projected to them. They wake up everyday with belly full of regret and disappointment, no sense of purpose and essence but the practice of religion on Sundays to Sunday.

Take the time out of your busy schedule Man of God and interview five Christians randomly and dig deeper into their hearts, your discovery my friend will surprise you. Many are standing on quick sand instead of standing on the rock which gates of hell cannot prevail.

Just as Moses lifted the bronze serpent in the wilderness and those bitten by poisnous snakes lived again so must we lift Christ in every place that those whom we have helped to be carnal and materialistic, look up to Him and be kingdom minded.

Apostle Paul warn the Church at Colosse to watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that's not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don't need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.

It is time to drop your pick axe gospel  of self, propheteering, commercialization, charismatic witch craft, insecurity, sexism, materialism which is the order of the day.  A mind corrupt leads to all kinds of behaviors. Let's stop corrupting the minds of God's precious possesion - His Church.


2 Corinthians 11:3 (King James Version) But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

If the body of Christ cannot behold the beauty and pleasant nature of Yeshua through the preaching of the Gospel which Paul says "He is not ashamed of it and resolve to know nothind among the greeks but Jesus and Him crucified" - That is what gives peace, forgiveness,prosperity, freedom, wisdom, love, faith, hope and what have you. This is not a matter of being genuine or fake, it's a matter of giving people the chance to see Jesus. Are you doing that?

 The pulpit has to be oiled again with the passion to see people transformed not modified: The pulpit and the clergy needs repentance from dead works and come back to a true relationship with the Lord. There are so many ministers of the gospel who are not born anew, doesn't have arelationship with Jesus, being deceived by spiritual gifts. A lot in the Church are nursing injuries from pains and junk food that we've given to them over the years.
 There is too much religion on the altar. The problem of the Church has it's roots from the head (Pastor) not the body body.(Believers)

My heart bleeds with sadness when I think about the next generation of leaders - What substance do they have, they lack holiness and righteousness and discipline, the hate the process of growth because that is what they see now. But I encourage myself, His thoughts are not my thoughts and there is surely hope for the future.

 We need to go back to the basics, when discipleship was the priority, quiet times, morning devotions, obedience, hearing of God's voice, giftings in the church not just one man commercializing the gift and carries every tittle. Oh' how I miss the days when our Pastors who didn't have much, spent thei precious time with us in the neighbourhood and explained the scriptures. Where are the fathers?

In a nutshell, the Spirit of God is raising some crusaders in this endtime who with selfless devotion  to the cause of the kingdom and the constraints of the Love of Christ are dipping their contaminated garments and swords in the blood of the lamb of God, soaring high up like an eagle do the  uncommon works of Christ in this end time. John 14:12 is being fulfilled in our day.

Saints who can discern and are so worried about the mess in the house of the Lord will hear again that the Lord has visited His Church and the bread on the pulpit is fresh and hot from the coals of heaven. They will eat to their abundance and function in the strength, wisdom, anointing of the Bread, which is Jesus. (The Bread of life)

 

Ruth 1:6 (King James Version)
 6Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread

God Help Us All.
 Amen!
 

GRACE AWAKENING

A new movement is on the horizon.

It is a movement of freedom, a joyful release from the things that have bound us for far too long. More and more Christians are realizing that the man-made restrictions and legalistic regulations under which they have been living have not come from the God of grace, but have been enforced by people who do not want others to be free. It is not an overstatement to describe this movement as an awakening that is beginning to sweep across the country. This awakening to freedom is long overdue. It fits the times in which we are living.

 Free people find delight in others freedom. Only the politically enslaved resist it. The same is true spiritually. It is about time we give people the permission to be free, absolutely free in Christ.

 Why? Because so few are!

Bound and shackled by legalists’ list of do’s and don’ts, intimidated and immobilized by others demands and expectation, far too many in God’s family merely exist in the tight radius of bondage, dictated by those who have appointed themselves our judge and jury. Long enough have we been asleep while all around us the grace killers do their sinister nighttime work. No longer! It is time to awaken. The dawn is bright with grace.

So many people are being turned off by a twisted concept of the Christian life. Instead of offering a winsome and contagious, sensible and achievable invitation of hope and cheer through the sheer power of Christ, more people than ever are projecting a grim-faced caricature of religion on demand. I find it tragic that religious kill-joys have almost succeeded in taking the freedom and fun out of faith. People have to know that there is more to the Christian life than deep frowns, pointing fingers, and unrealistic expectation. Harassment has had the floor long enough. Let grace awaken!

    Author: Chuck Swindoll

Thought Of The Day: By the grace of God, you have a special calling and destiny in Christ!

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