All sin must be repented of, however; the goodness of God will always lead you to repentance. Romans 2:4 says "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?"" It is important for every believer to realize this powerful fact. The reason is that any sorrow of a child of God taken in sin that leads only to self-loathing, self-condemnation, and denial along with anything along these lines is not inspired by God and is the work of the devil. For clarification it is not wrong and somewhat inevitable to experience these feelings but when they begin to dominate the mind they become damnable and dangerous. It is at that point you will find yourself being drawn away from repentance toward the destruction of your soul, which is right where the devil wants you to be.
Yes, the Holy Ghost will convict of sin, but he will never leave you drowning in your sorrows, self-loathing, and self-condemnation. The remedy for all sin, for the sinner and saint alike has been made available, the blood of Jesus Christ. But what about Hebrews 10:26 & 27 you may proclaim, "For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27 “But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries." This applies to any who would turn away from God after conversion and live a life of habitual sin, thereby becoming an apostate. It is not speaking of those who sin after salvation and genuinely seek forgiveness as God draws their heart unto repentance.
How do I know this? The proof is here in 1 John 2: 1 & 2 "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for our’s only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
Continue readingMatthew 20:28 reads, Even as the Son of man came not to me ministered unto, but to minster, and to give his life a ransom for many. The Greek word used for minister is to serve, diakoneό, pronounced dee-ak-on-eh’-o. Therefore, Jesus is stating that he did not come to be served, but to serve. The Greek word used for life is actually soul, the element that animates the body and cannot be seen, psuché, procnounced psoo-khay’. The Greek word used for ransom is basically redemption money, or money used in exchange for slaves, lutron, pronounced loo’-tron. In other words, this passage could also read as Even as the Son of man came not to be served but serve and give his soul as a monetary exchange for many who are in bondage.
So, what is the significance of such specificity?
The importance of this realization is the understanding of the greatest reason that you have to be thankful for each day you awaken. It does not matter whether you believe in God and his redemptive work or not, this applies to sinners and saints equally.
The greatest importance; however, is the understanding that the physical death of the body of Christ on the cross, at Calvary was not sufficient to pay the ransom for the slavery of mankind. While both the physical body and soul are in a state of corruption, it is the soul in which that corruption originated and brought the physical body under corruption. It is for this reason that once the soul is converted, its’ sanctification is extended to the flesh, hence Paul explains in Romans 8, But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dewelleth in you. What needs to be understood, is that it’s not the conversion of the soul that extends to the physical body, but it is the benefits or blessings of the converted soul that are attributed to the body. In other words, all the blessings of Christ bestowed upon salvation to the soul are now available to the physical body, hence deliverance of mental dispositions as well as physical maladies. Also, it needs to be understood that the physical body will remain a slave unto its carnal nature. This will be the case until the day that God transforms it into something new upon the day when the believer sees Christ face to face. 1 Corinthians 15: 52- 53 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Until the day that a believer dies or sees Christ face to face, this will be the continual situation they must deal with, regardless of the conversion of the soul, Romans 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Continue readingWhen we read 1 Thessalonians 5:18 it tells us, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus Concerning you.” We are also told in Ephesians 5:20, “Giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Has the question every crossed your mind of what the benefit of doing so is? Perhaps you even have thought what do I get out of it. I know such a thing would seem quite presumptuous for a child of God to do but without questioning things you receive no answers. God is not so fickle that he will fall off the throne just because there is an earnest desire for truth. We are going to explore just what those benefits are briefly.
First of all, lets delve into the meaning of the word thanks in the original language its written in this passage. In the Greek, the word used here is eucharistéō pronounced (yoo-khar-is-teh'-o) meaning to be grateful, express gratitude or say grace such as for a meal. Simply put God’s will for us is to be grateful for everything always. Before I go further being grateful does not equate to jumping up and down for joy but more so accepting with humility. The opposite of being grateful would be being filled with bitterness, contempt and complaining which would result in blaming God for unpleasant circumstances.
One more thing I would like us to discuss is the subject of why we give thanks in general terms. We give thanks because we have received something, or something has been done. It does not matter if we asked for it or not it is just a matter of being respectful of the act done or thing being given. It is an acknowledging of the effort put forth by the other party to consider us when they took the time to think about us rather than themselves. So, in other words we are naturally conditioned to do so after something has been done for us. If we don’t consider those conditions to be met it is difficult for us to feel the desire to be thankful. With that said, has God met those conditions in everything and always?
Continue readingIn my latest book The Beauty of Tribulation I speak of the tribulation process and talk about how God uses this not for our harm but our benefit. I also go in depth about the various ways he does so and why, but I desire to shed some light on it from another angle in which I don’t hit on in the book. It is explained to us that this process sets into motion a very powerful component of our Christianity. That component is patience. Romans 5:3 tells us “And not only so, but we glory in tribulation also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience.
The patience that it is speaking of here is derived from the Greek word hypomonḗ, pronounced hoop-om-on-ay’.
Here are some variations of it defined:
Mounce’s Definition – perseverance, endurance, patience
Strongs’ Definition – cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy: - enduring, patience, patient continuance (waiting)
Thayer’s Definition –
So, what is my point in sharing that?
Continue readingIn the May 1982 issue of Guideposts, Norman Vincent Peale told of a distinguished British violinist named Peter Cropper. Cropper's work was so outstanding that the Royal Academy of Music in London had honored him by lending him a priceless 258-year old Stradivarius. It is the dream of every violinist to be able to play such an instrument, but a terrible thing happened while Cropper was performing in Finland. He tripped and fell on top of the Stradivarius and broke it. Cropper's pleasant dream was turned into a horrible nightmare. He was inconsolable.
Continue readingThe seeds of true revival are borne out of adversity. Not the excitement that fades after a series of revival services but the genuine deliverance from human nature from fear. When we allow our terrors to strip away our confidence in self and are awakened to God’s divine awareness it brings us to a place in which we lean not unto our own understanding, read Prov 3:5-7 and we begin to trust in the Lord. This process has always begun with tribulation. You have to look no further then the time of Jewish captivity in Egypt to see the proof of this and then just follow up to the time of the New Testament. It is always when we realize our frailty that we are more susceptible to divine awareness or godliness.
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