NBC Nightly News Report
Friday, October 22, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
Dead to Sin; Alive to God
by Paul White (scroll down to watch my video that is related to this article)
Romans 6:11, 12
Due to Christ’s death on the cross, every sinner, who places their faith in His finished work, is made dead to the old nature, and alive to God. Since Jesus is dead to sin, and we are in Jesus, we too are dead to sin. Thank God that upon salvation, we are no longer controlled by who we used to be!
Since we are made dead to sin through the death of Jesus, then we should reckon that death to be a completely finished work. The word for “reckon” is also translated “count” or “consider”. We must consider ourselves dead to sin, even if we do not feel dead to it. The Apostle is not telling the believer to go with what they feel, but rather to walk in what the Word says about them.
Whether you reckon yourself dead to sin or not, YOU ARE! Considering yourself dead brings a freedom and a victory about in your actions and deeds, but you are no less dead to sin if you fail to realize it. This is not about considering yourself dead to sin so that you will eventually be dead to sin. NO! This is about considering yourself dead to sin because Jesus is dead to sin; and you are in Jesus. Line up the way you think with the way God thinks of you and you begin to walk in the more abundant life that Jesus promised was yours (John 10:10).
You are just as alive in Christ as you are dead to sin. Again, this is not contingent on you knowing it, but if you don’t know it, you won’t walk in it. Every believer is dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus. If they count themselves that way, they walk free from the devices of sin, and they live according to the identification of the Holy Spirit within their life. When we consider ourselves as equal to whatever symptoms that we are showing, then we walk beneath the standard of living that Jesus paid for us to have. For instance, if we fail and then consider ourselves failures or sinners because of our sin, then we are powerless to stop doing what we are doing.
Proof for this is found in the next verse, “Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Romans 6:12). Upon first glance, one might say, “See Pastor, it is my job to stop sin in my life”. Actually, within context, you counting yourself dead to sin but alive to God is the only thing that will stop sin from reigning in your mortal body. The word “therefore” is key to the understanding of this text, for it links the result of verse 12 with the action of verse 11. Realize that you are dead to sin, and sin becomes dead to you!
As long as you are trying to die out to sin on a day-to-day basis, you will find yourself in trouble. Consider the finished work of Jesus as a truly finished work, not left to be done on your part, but finished on His. Rest in the accomplishment of Christ on the cross, where He died to sin so that you will not be held under its grasp. Still struggling with an area of sin in your life? Don’t fret. Consider yourself dead to sin and then move on. With every failure, declare that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, consider His work finished in you and watch grace change you in miraculous ways. Under God’s grace, you will never get the credit for your changing, for you know you did nothing!
Remember, only grace can “build you up” (Acts 20:32). Let it!
Romans 6:11, 12
Due to Christ’s death on the cross, every sinner, who places their faith in His finished work, is made dead to the old nature, and alive to God. Since Jesus is dead to sin, and we are in Jesus, we too are dead to sin. Thank God that upon salvation, we are no longer controlled by who we used to be!
Since we are made dead to sin through the death of Jesus, then we should reckon that death to be a completely finished work. The word for “reckon” is also translated “count” or “consider”. We must consider ourselves dead to sin, even if we do not feel dead to it. The Apostle is not telling the believer to go with what they feel, but rather to walk in what the Word says about them.
Whether you reckon yourself dead to sin or not, YOU ARE! Considering yourself dead brings a freedom and a victory about in your actions and deeds, but you are no less dead to sin if you fail to realize it. This is not about considering yourself dead to sin so that you will eventually be dead to sin. NO! This is about considering yourself dead to sin because Jesus is dead to sin; and you are in Jesus. Line up the way you think with the way God thinks of you and you begin to walk in the more abundant life that Jesus promised was yours (John 10:10).
You are just as alive in Christ as you are dead to sin. Again, this is not contingent on you knowing it, but if you don’t know it, you won’t walk in it. Every believer is dead to sin and alive to God through Jesus. If they count themselves that way, they walk free from the devices of sin, and they live according to the identification of the Holy Spirit within their life. When we consider ourselves as equal to whatever symptoms that we are showing, then we walk beneath the standard of living that Jesus paid for us to have. For instance, if we fail and then consider ourselves failures or sinners because of our sin, then we are powerless to stop doing what we are doing.
Proof for this is found in the next verse, “Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Romans 6:12). Upon first glance, one might say, “See Pastor, it is my job to stop sin in my life”. Actually, within context, you counting yourself dead to sin but alive to God is the only thing that will stop sin from reigning in your mortal body. The word “therefore” is key to the understanding of this text, for it links the result of verse 12 with the action of verse 11. Realize that you are dead to sin, and sin becomes dead to you!
As long as you are trying to die out to sin on a day-to-day basis, you will find yourself in trouble. Consider the finished work of Jesus as a truly finished work, not left to be done on your part, but finished on His. Rest in the accomplishment of Christ on the cross, where He died to sin so that you will not be held under its grasp. Still struggling with an area of sin in your life? Don’t fret. Consider yourself dead to sin and then move on. With every failure, declare that you are the righteousness of God in Christ, consider His work finished in you and watch grace change you in miraculous ways. Under God’s grace, you will never get the credit for your changing, for you know you did nothing!
Remember, only grace can “build you up” (Acts 20:32). Let it!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Welcome to the house of God
Article for St. Catharines Standard newspaper by Peter Youngren.
Tomorrow is Sunday, and many congregants will hear the words stated in the headline. Some pastors use this greeting as they welcome people on the front steps of the church building, and some use it as an opener for the Sunday worship.
Christianity can trace its history to a Savior born in a stable, crucified on a hill just outside the city, and ascending to heaven from a mountain. For the first two hundred years apostles and preachers conducted their services in market places, on the streets, in caves, on ships, and in the homes of their converts. There was no building called “church”, or “the house of God”, such a thought was anathema to their understanding of the Good News they had received from Jesus.
What happened? How did these two words, church and building, become so intertwined that we automatically equate the two? For many being a Christian in good standing means a weekly visit to the building referred to as the church.
Now grant it, Canada’s climate doesn’t lend itself to year around worship in the outdoors. I’m filing this article from Singapore, and frankly the humidity and heat here makes me grateful for air-conditioned buildings. My point is not about buildings, but about the annoying habit of Christians, to call a building “the house of God”.
It is deeply engrained indeed! Many think they go to church to meet God, as if He hung around the building waiting for our weekly appearance. Some even dress up; you certainly want to look your best for the Almighty.
When Christianity started it was the only religion in the world that had no “sacred areas,” no “holy” buildings. Jesus and the apostles were surrounded by religions, Jewish and Greco-Roman, that all had their sacred territories; synagogues, temples, shrines and offering places. Yet, they saw no need for these. Theirs was a message for all, preached by untrained common people, in everyday places.
By the third century Christians had began conducting worship services in cemeteries, where a martyr or an especially committed believer was buried. Soon these burial places were considered sacred. Add another hundred years and now Christianity wanted the same respectability as other religions, and to have that, you needed buildings – “holy buildings” – the kind of places you approach with reverence, and once inside you speak only in a hushed tone. Once Helen, mother of the Roman emperor Constantine, returned from the “holy land”, the concept of church buildings took off. Splinters of the cross of Jesus, and bones of dead “holy people” were spread all over Europe, and each bone fragment and splinter needed a building, and it was holy in the minds of the people. Add another seventeen hundred years and today we find ourselves with many more layers of tradition.
Jesus and the apostles taught that God lives in people, not buildings; we are temples where God’s Spirit dwells. We don’t go anywhere to meet God. Why would we, since God lives in us? The meetings Christians have on Sundays are not people going to church; it is the church (the people) going to the building. The meeting place isn’t a sanctuary; it is an auditorium. We are the sanctuary. That puts a different spin to the expression “no coffee in the sanctuary”. I put at least one large cup in my sanctuary every morning.
What’s the big deal? If we think a church is synonymous with a building we stifle our understanding. Whether Jesus talked to the devoutly religious Pharisees or to a five times divorced, now living common-law woman, his message was the same; something has to happen in you. God’s life is expressed in people, not in buildings. God is in people, not in real estate.
We call that Gospel, the Good News that God, through Jesus, has come to live in people. Imagine you can be the house of God.
Tomorrow is Sunday, and many congregants will hear the words stated in the headline. Some pastors use this greeting as they welcome people on the front steps of the church building, and some use it as an opener for the Sunday worship.
Christianity can trace its history to a Savior born in a stable, crucified on a hill just outside the city, and ascending to heaven from a mountain. For the first two hundred years apostles and preachers conducted their services in market places, on the streets, in caves, on ships, and in the homes of their converts. There was no building called “church”, or “the house of God”, such a thought was anathema to their understanding of the Good News they had received from Jesus.
What happened? How did these two words, church and building, become so intertwined that we automatically equate the two? For many being a Christian in good standing means a weekly visit to the building referred to as the church.
Now grant it, Canada’s climate doesn’t lend itself to year around worship in the outdoors. I’m filing this article from Singapore, and frankly the humidity and heat here makes me grateful for air-conditioned buildings. My point is not about buildings, but about the annoying habit of Christians, to call a building “the house of God”.
It is deeply engrained indeed! Many think they go to church to meet God, as if He hung around the building waiting for our weekly appearance. Some even dress up; you certainly want to look your best for the Almighty.
When Christianity started it was the only religion in the world that had no “sacred areas,” no “holy” buildings. Jesus and the apostles were surrounded by religions, Jewish and Greco-Roman, that all had their sacred territories; synagogues, temples, shrines and offering places. Yet, they saw no need for these. Theirs was a message for all, preached by untrained common people, in everyday places.
By the third century Christians had began conducting worship services in cemeteries, where a martyr or an especially committed believer was buried. Soon these burial places were considered sacred. Add another hundred years and now Christianity wanted the same respectability as other religions, and to have that, you needed buildings – “holy buildings” – the kind of places you approach with reverence, and once inside you speak only in a hushed tone. Once Helen, mother of the Roman emperor Constantine, returned from the “holy land”, the concept of church buildings took off. Splinters of the cross of Jesus, and bones of dead “holy people” were spread all over Europe, and each bone fragment and splinter needed a building, and it was holy in the minds of the people. Add another seventeen hundred years and today we find ourselves with many more layers of tradition.
Jesus and the apostles taught that God lives in people, not buildings; we are temples where God’s Spirit dwells. We don’t go anywhere to meet God. Why would we, since God lives in us? The meetings Christians have on Sundays are not people going to church; it is the church (the people) going to the building. The meeting place isn’t a sanctuary; it is an auditorium. We are the sanctuary. That puts a different spin to the expression “no coffee in the sanctuary”. I put at least one large cup in my sanctuary every morning.
What’s the big deal? If we think a church is synonymous with a building we stifle our understanding. Whether Jesus talked to the devoutly religious Pharisees or to a five times divorced, now living common-law woman, his message was the same; something has to happen in you. God’s life is expressed in people, not in buildings. God is in people, not in real estate.
We call that Gospel, the Good News that God, through Jesus, has come to live in people. Imagine you can be the house of God.
Friday, October 8, 2010
So You Want To Produce Fruit, Huh?
Are you struggling to produce fruit in your Christian walk? May be you are not supposed to produce fruit, but just bear fruit. May be you haven't sown the pure seed (without weed mixture of the law) of the gospel of grace. Only the pure, unadulterated gospel of grace can produce godly fruit in your life!
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Why Moses Had To Die
before entering the Promised Land. Was God really that impatient with a man who had given everything?
Most of you are familiar with the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt and then Joshua leading them into the Promised Land. (Exodus 3-12 and Joshua 1-4)
I think that most Christians would agree that they have left Egypt. They are free. But like the Israelites, I wonder how many Christians still live as slaves in what was intended to be a land of freedom?
How many Christians would you say are living in the Promised Land, enjoying the inheritance that Christ purchased for them?
Though the Israelites were led out of captivity, they quickly returned to what they knew. Exodus 32:1 (ESV) 1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
As Christians, we often fall back on what we know. We do that whenever we combine the covenants of Law and Grace. We live under the new covenant of Grace but are still enslaved to the old covenant ways of law.
When Moses died, God said to Joshua, 'Get going'. Josh 1:2 Msg. The King James Version says, 'Go over....' signifying a transition.
God was saying,'time to make a transition' from old covenant/law thinking to new covenant/Grace thinking, a paradigm shift of epic proportion.
Does that mean they were freed from the law? No, the law, the whole law, not just those written upon tablets of stone, was still in effect and would be until Jesus ratified the New Covenant at which time the law would be written upon their hearts.
Through relationship there would be no need for an external system of government. Only Grace can transform you from the inside. Law simply modifies your behavior externally.
The night before they crossed the Jordan, Joshua spoke to them and said, Joshua 3:4 (GW) ”.......you have not gone this way before.”
God was saying, 'This is a new way. It is time to follow Jesus apart from the law'.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV) But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him." ....... Grace is a brand new way of looking at things....... righteousness apart from the law had never been done before.
Joshua is a type of Christ and the very name means Yeshua. Jesus is the Greek transliteration of Yeshua.
We have to leave the pilgrimage of law (Moses), enter the water (a baptism signifying an identification with Christ, an identity exchange), via spiritual death, to be resurrected in the promised land under Grace with Jesus as our Guide.
Jesus (Yeshua) destroyed principalities and powers at the Cross. In Joshua 3:10, God eliminates 7 tribes (7 signifying complete) 10 And Joshua said, 'Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite.
Jesus stripped principalities and powers of their authority at the Cross, a complete victory.
In the process of moving into the promised land, we are given cities we did not build. It is not a place of works, but of rest. Joshua 24:13 (ASV) And I gave you a land whereon thou hadst not labored, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell therein; of vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.
The original Hebrew word for cities is from a root word signifying an 'opening of the eyes, a becoming naked', referring to a return to innocence, rest and provision similar to Adam and Eve.
The Greek word for land is from a root word meaning 'Adam', symbolic of shamelessly entering the new Eden.
Adam and Eve were not under law. Until shame drove them from His presence, they were in right relationship with God apart from law. At the Cross, Christ bore our shame so that relationship with our God could be restored.
Moses, because he represents the law, had to die rather than cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land. Law cannot take you into your inheritance, only Grace can do that.
This crossing marked the end of the pilgrimage of law and the beginning of Grace.
The name "Moses" is from the Hebrew word Mosheh meaning "drawing out of (the water)", that is "rescued". He was drawn from the water to be the deliverer of God's people.
The Jews call Moses “Moshe Rabbeinu”, Our Teacher/Rabbi. The numeric value of “Moshe Rabbeinu” is 613, the number of laws (the mitzvot) that Moses taught the children of Israel!
But just like the law only takes us to the teacher, Moses could only take us to the edge of our inheritance. Jesus must take us in. See the teaching, 'Arrested Development' at http://ow.ly/2K48b
The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh were given land by Moses before his death before crossing the Jordan. They chose to stay.
I wonder if they don't represent the brothers-in-law? No doubt, our brothers in law will always be around.
We, however, have chosen to pilgrimage with Joshua and now live under the pilgrimage of Grace, not law-less but law-free, and are motivated by a personal relationship with Jesus rather than an impersonal relationship to the law.
Law cannot take you into your inheritance, only Grace can do that.
Most of you are familiar with the story of Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt and then Joshua leading them into the Promised Land. (Exodus 3-12 and Joshua 1-4)
I think that most Christians would agree that they have left Egypt. They are free. But like the Israelites, I wonder how many Christians still live as slaves in what was intended to be a land of freedom?
How many Christians would you say are living in the Promised Land, enjoying the inheritance that Christ purchased for them?
Though the Israelites were led out of captivity, they quickly returned to what they knew. Exodus 32:1 (ESV) 1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”
As Christians, we often fall back on what we know. We do that whenever we combine the covenants of Law and Grace. We live under the new covenant of Grace but are still enslaved to the old covenant ways of law.
When Moses died, God said to Joshua, 'Get going'. Josh 1:2 Msg. The King James Version says, 'Go over....' signifying a transition.
God was saying,'time to make a transition' from old covenant/law thinking to new covenant/Grace thinking, a paradigm shift of epic proportion.
Does that mean they were freed from the law? No, the law, the whole law, not just those written upon tablets of stone, was still in effect and would be until Jesus ratified the New Covenant at which time the law would be written upon their hearts.
Through relationship there would be no need for an external system of government. Only Grace can transform you from the inside. Law simply modifies your behavior externally.
The night before they crossed the Jordan, Joshua spoke to them and said, Joshua 3:4 (GW) ”.......you have not gone this way before.”
God was saying, 'This is a new way. It is time to follow Jesus apart from the law'.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV) But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him." ....... Grace is a brand new way of looking at things....... righteousness apart from the law had never been done before.
Joshua is a type of Christ and the very name means Yeshua. Jesus is the Greek transliteration of Yeshua.
We have to leave the pilgrimage of law (Moses), enter the water (a baptism signifying an identification with Christ, an identity exchange), via spiritual death, to be resurrected in the promised land under Grace with Jesus as our Guide.
Jesus (Yeshua) destroyed principalities and powers at the Cross. In Joshua 3:10, God eliminates 7 tribes (7 signifying complete) 10 And Joshua said, 'Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite.
Jesus stripped principalities and powers of their authority at the Cross, a complete victory.
In the process of moving into the promised land, we are given cities we did not build. It is not a place of works, but of rest. Joshua 24:13 (ASV) And I gave you a land whereon thou hadst not labored, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell therein; of vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.
The original Hebrew word for cities is from a root word signifying an 'opening of the eyes, a becoming naked', referring to a return to innocence, rest and provision similar to Adam and Eve.
The Greek word for land is from a root word meaning 'Adam', symbolic of shamelessly entering the new Eden.
Adam and Eve were not under law. Until shame drove them from His presence, they were in right relationship with God apart from law. At the Cross, Christ bore our shame so that relationship with our God could be restored.
Moses, because he represents the law, had to die rather than cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land. Law cannot take you into your inheritance, only Grace can do that.
This crossing marked the end of the pilgrimage of law and the beginning of Grace.
The name "Moses" is from the Hebrew word Mosheh meaning "drawing out of (the water)", that is "rescued". He was drawn from the water to be the deliverer of God's people.
The Jews call Moses “Moshe Rabbeinu”, Our Teacher/Rabbi. The numeric value of “Moshe Rabbeinu” is 613, the number of laws (the mitzvot) that Moses taught the children of Israel!
But just like the law only takes us to the teacher, Moses could only take us to the edge of our inheritance. Jesus must take us in. See the teaching, 'Arrested Development' at http://ow.ly/2K48b
The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh were given land by Moses before his death before crossing the Jordan. They chose to stay.
I wonder if they don't represent the brothers-in-law? No doubt, our brothers in law will always be around.
We, however, have chosen to pilgrimage with Joshua and now live under the pilgrimage of Grace, not law-less but law-free, and are motivated by a personal relationship with Jesus rather than an impersonal relationship to the law.
Law cannot take you into your inheritance, only Grace can do that.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
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