The Scourge Of Racism
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Either you believe every word Jesus Christ the truth spoke is true or you do not. No one is left a middle ground! Of the many truths He proclaimed and taught about among first century Jews was ‘“the kingdom of God.’” They expected and were looking for it to tangibly and visibly appear at the coming of God’s Anointed. He did not deny this as He offered Himself the fulfillment of their expectation while redirecting their thoughts about the Kingdom’s initial form and visibility in Him (Luke 13:18-21, 17:20-25, NKJV). Just as Christ is the truth, so, He is the Kingdom (Luke 9:27-36)! Unbelievers and not a few professed Christians too, reject the Kingdom of God in Christ as King.
At His interrogation by the Roman Governor, Pilate, not denying He was a King,1 Christ said to him, ‘“My kingdom is not of this world…not from here,’” (John 18:33-36, NKJV). Christ’s statement meant His kingdom did not originate in nor was it from this earth world. Though He did not elaborate with the unbelieving Gentile, Pilate, the Lord had spent more than three years walking up and down Israel proclaiming ‘“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven’” or alternately though semantically the same, ‘“the kingdom of God is at hand,’” (Matthew 4:12-17; Mark 1:14-15, NKJV). Heaven speaks of the Kingdom’s place of origin and homeland while God, identifies its Originator from eternity (Isaiah 66:1)!
Scripture presents three heavens: the first is earth’s physical sky, the second is the expanse of the physical universe called “the heavens” and the third is the spiritual environed abode of God above all named Heaven (Genesis 1:1-19; Psalm 19:1-6; 2 Corinthians 12:1-2, NKJV). Heaven is where Christ came from and returned to after His successful mission on earth to pay for the sins of fallen mankind (John 1:1-2, 14, 3:16-21, 31, 7:32-36, 8:21-24, 20:17; Acts 1:9-11). He sits at the right hand of His Father on the throne and is ruling even in the midst of His enemies in the heavens and on earth (Psalm 110:1-2; Matthew 26:62-64, 28:18-20; Ephesians 1:15-23, 6:12; Colossians 1:13-18).
Many professed Christians rooted in this world stumble over, choke on, are ashamed of and scoff in unbelief at the substantive reality and coming of the Kingdom of God Personified in Christ. This is clear evidence that they as the unsaved are not experiencing the rule of Christ in their inner being and daily lives for this is the initial display of the Kingdom since the first century birth of the Church (John 3:1-8; Acts 1:4-8, 2:1-41, 10:36-38; 1 Corinthians 12:3). To the farthest extent there are bona fide, obedient Christians on the face of the earth, so, the invisible Kingdom of God in Christ is manifested as He reigns as King and Lord in our hearts (1 Timothy 6:11-16)!2
However, many that profess to be Christians are spiritually dead religionists as Israel’s first century religious leaders and stumble over King Jesus to their demise (Matthew 21:33-46; 1 Peter 2:6-8). Others choke themselves resisting His Lordship (Luke 6:46-49). Still others are ashamed of the King’s Kingdom that conflicts with the ways of the world (Mark 8:34-38).3 Finally, a number are scoffers with unbelievers rejecting the Lord’s promised visible return and rule on earth (2 Peter 3:1-9). Despite that, the interim display of the invisible Kingdom of God in Christ is shortly to be succeeded by its foretold glorious visible manifestation at His Second Coming (Psalm 97:1-6; Matthew 24:23-31; Mark 13:21-27; Revelation 1:7-8)! ‘“Now, the just shall live by faith,’” (Hebrews 10:37-39, NKJV).4
Indeed, Christ must return to manifest the Kingdom of God on earth for He taught us who believe to pray for this majestic event as we have for nearly two millennia wherein the will of God is ‘“done on earth as it is in heaven,’” (Matthew 6:9-10, NKJV). Rebel angelic and human kingdoms have always been temporary in the face of and subject to God’s eternal Kingdom (Matthew 6:13b). Truly, those professed Christians that minimize or outright reject the Kingdom of God in Christ as King invisible or visible are also rejecting having any part in His promise to reign with Him at His Second Coming (Luke 22:28-30; Revelation 1:4-6, 2:25-29; 5:9-10, 20:4-6). Reigning with Christ has been God’s absolute will for man from creation (Psalm 8; Hebrews 2:5-13; Revelation 22:1-5).5
1 Read the April 7, 2024 post, Suffering For The Truth, under the category, Glory To God!
2 The rule of Christ in our hearts is wholeheartedly embraced by every aspiring strong man and great woman of God in His image I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. It is also available at your favorite internet book seller and in the Strong Man Store. The E-Book is also available at major E-Book sellers.
3 They are ashamed of Christ and His words because of being ridiculed by unbelievers and worldly religionists that hold to the sin and demon driven values of this fallen world they really also want to continue to possess.
4 If as a professed Christian you do not believe any part of His Word, Christ bids you repent! Receive His call to return to Him with a fully sold out heart of faith through this Ministry’s Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Return To The Lord, on our YouTube channel.
5 To reign with Christ in the Kingdom of God made manifest after this mortal life filled with suffering including from the oppressions and persecutions of men is an exceedingly great blessing from God (Matthew 5:10; Luke 12:32)! The closest mortal experience in terms of turnabout and magnitude is when Mordecai is made a ruler after Haman’s heinous plot to kill him and destroy all the Jews in Persia (Esther 7:1-9:4).
A brief, but amazing exchange occurs between Christ and Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor during the period of His arrest, interrogations and before His crucifixion. After answering Pilate’s question about being ‘“a King’” in the affirmative, the Lord further asserts He ‘“was born’” and came ‘“into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.’” Pilate, representing human skeptics from all time was not impressed retorting in reply, ‘“What is truth,’” (John 18:33-38, NKJV)? Standing before the governor was truth Personified in perfection willing to suffer and suffering for it to the point of the death He was about to die!
Pilate’s skeptical question echoes down through the centuries to this hour where truth in the eyes of many is a relative matter that exists only in the minds of those who embrace their own view of it. This is absurd of course, since even in the non-Christian world truth is testable. Tell yourself all you want in your truth that jumping in front of a speeding car will not harm you and the reality of the truth will prove you wrong every time if in fact you would survive to engage in such foolishness again! Objective truth exists because it originates with “a God of truth” who brought His creation into existence resting on many principles of His own nature and character (Deuteronomy 32:1-4, NKJV).
Indeed, truth is intrinsic to the nature of the Triune God. Since God is a God of truth, God does not and “it is impossible for God to lie,” (Numbers 23:19; Titus 1:1-2, Hebrews 6:16-18, NKJV). When the Lord Jesus Christ the Second Person of the Triune God came into the world, He came in the absolute fullness of His divine identity as “the Word” and consequently with other attributes of God, fully displayed “truth” (John 1:1-2, 14-18, NKJV). Near the end of His ministry, He identifies the third Person of the Triune God as “the Spirit of truth,” who in turn also displays truth as part of the eternal Family’s living emblem (John 14:15-17; Galatians 5:19-23; Ephesians 5:8-10, NKJV).
The whole special revelation of God’s written Word in the Bible is truth exactly because it is inspired of God (Psalm 119:160; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21). The Lord Jesus Christ validated the written Word as truth as He quoted and upheld as well as taught from it, (Matthew 4:4, 5:17-26). Representing, living out, speaking and teaching the truth as He did during His years on earth fulfilled the very important part of His mission disclosed to Pilate about Him being born and coming into the world to bear witness to the truth; truth about and from God. The truth He proclaimed was so powerful, it could set those who believed in Him free from slavery to sin (John 8:31-36)!1
Conversely, those who reject Christ’s words of truth about and from God in unbelief not only remain slaves to sin, but deception since their father and ruler is ‘“the devil’” who murders and lies as a matter of course (John 8:37-46, NKJV).2 As with Pilate that day, unbelief in Christ and His words renders men blind and deaf to the truth even standing right in front of them. This is why it is only those ‘“of God’” and ‘“the truth’” through faith in Christ who hear it and His ‘“voice,’” (John 8:47, 14:6, 18:37, NKJV). For this cause we who believe in Christ have also been the beneficiaries of His prayer to the Father seeking our sanctification by His truth (John 17:16-19).3 Before cynical Pilate, Israel and the world Christ bore final witness to the truth by suffering and dying for it (John 18:39-19:30).4
1 Read the March 24, 2024 post, Christ Came To Save Sinners, under the category, Call To Repent.
2 Scripture teaches “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one,” (1 John 5:19-20, NKJV). Thus, if you are not rolling with Christ, by default you are rolling with the devil! This sobering truth should jolt wayward professed Christians to the core! Graciously, Christ at this hour is calling His strayed ones to return to Him. Watch this Minis- try’s Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Return To The Lord, on our YouTube channel to hear Him.
3 Having been sanctified by the truth of God, Christians are supposed to also represent, live out, speak and teach it in the image of Christ. This is certainly the heart of every aspiring strong man of God I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics and what the Lord through me rebukes in His Church as failure in my latest release, The Scourge Of Racism. Both are available at your favorite internet book seller and in the Strong Man Store. The E-Book versions are also available at major E- Booksellers.
4 Christ did not walk back anything He had proclaimed or taught in truth about and from God to save Himself. Our willingness to suffer and even die as Christ for the truth is fully expressed as His will in the charge and example He gives His disciples (Matthew 16:24-27; 1 Peter 2:21-23) and displayed in His apostles (2 Corinthians 11:22-28, 13:8).
In last week’s post as the Holy Spirit led, I wrote that “Christ must return to manifest the Kingdom of God on earth.”1 Another reason Christ the truth must return is because He is the “King of the Jews” as the “Son of David,” (2 Samuel 7; Matthew 1:1-17, 2:1-12; Luke 1:26-38, 2:1-20, 3:21-38; John 19:17-22, NKJV). As such, He must return to fulfill the covenant God made with David and all that is foretold about His reign as King over Israel from Jerusalem and the elect Jewish remnant that will receive Him at His coming (Psalms 48:1-3, 132; Isaiah 10:20-23). Indeed, He comes to deliver beleaguered Israel and be her peace at last (Psalm 122; Isaiah 9:6-7, 66:12-13; Micah 5:3-5).
The Word of God does not expire (Psalm 119:89; Matthew 24:35)! Consequently, the label “Bible days” many contemporary Jews and professed Christians want to attach to the Word including prophecy to relegate its relevancy and application only to the past does not hold up. On the very day of His resurrection Christ the truth made it clear to His disciples that God’s Word does not expire particularly as it concerns Him (Luke 24:13-27, 36-45). Thus, as long as there is one prophecy yet to be fulfilled we are living in Bible days!2 Truly, there are many unfulfilled prophecies concerning the days leading up to the glorious Second Coming of Christ Lord of Heaven and earth; King of the Jews.
As for His people, the Jews, in the New Testament preaching, teaching, miraculous works like His own and writings of His apostles among others, Jesus of Nazareth is abundantly portrayed as the Son of David, heir to his throne and the Messiah. But He was rejected by the first century religious leaders and those that obeyed them rather than God and put on a Roman cross (John 1:11; Acts 3:11-26). He was their only hope of salvation and peace from God. Having rejected Him, the Lord affirmed the foretold consequences of Israel’s historic covenant unfaithfulness, obstinacy and disobedience would continue until His return (Luke 13:34-35, 19:41-44, 21:20-24).
The eighth century B.C. prophet, Hosea, foretold as has occurred that the nation “shall abide many days without king or prince” (Hosea 3:4a, NKJV) which began its complete fulfillment with the sixth century B.C. temporary end to the monarchy and captivity to Babylon of Zedekiah, the last formally recognized king in the royal line of David (2 Kings 25:1-7). There have been many leaders of the nation up to the Lord Jesus who was rejected as King and in His day a line of Idumean (Edomite) usurpers beginning with Herod the Great. However, since those days until now, for a total over 2,600 years no man from the royal line of David has sat on his throne ruling as king over Israel.
No king of the Jews could physically sit on a throne to rule Israel from A.D. 70 when the Romans killed and scattered many to the nations. This is as the Lord Jesus affirmed in the prophets from Moses that God’s “wrath” would be upon them (Leviticus 26:14-46; Zechariah 7:8-14; Luke 21:23-24, NKJV). During this same period until now as well, the nation would be “without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim” as Hosea also foretold (Hosea 3:4b, NKJV). These are all elements of formal Jewish worship carried out at their Temple, but which they have been without since the Romans destroyed it as Christ describes in Matthew 24:1-2 and the city too in A.D. 70.
Though Israel was reconstituted in 1948, it has a democratic form of government and is largely in spiritual blindness through continuing to reject Christ Jesus and the Gospel of salvation found in Him alone (John 14:6; Romans 9:30-11:10). The adversities of divine wrath will continue to attend to both the nation and the people the world over “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in” to the faith of Christ (Romans 11:25, NKJV). Beyond anything many Christians believe they are witnessing in God’s preservation of the nation during current events and even more troubling times still to come,3,4 God will mightily rise up to fulfill His prophecies of comfort to Jews He has chosen to be delivered (Isaiah 40:1-5; Jeremiah 23:1-8, 30:1-11; Ezekiel 39:21-29; Revelation 7:1-8, 8:1-9:21)!5
Again, Hosea writes in his prophecy: “Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days,” (Hosea 3:5, NKJV). This is the remnant of the sovereign God who after their deep repentance will enter His “new covenant” and fully embrace the immortal, glorified Christ their King when they see Him (Jeremiah 31:1-14, 31-34, 33:14-18; Zechariah 12:10-14, 14:1-9; Revelation 1:7, NKJV). Then the Lord the King, the Son of David will rightfully sit on His glorious throne in a rebuilt again Temple at Jerusalem to rule over Israel and the earth (Ezekiel 43:1-9; Zechariah 6:9-15). He will gather His people to Himself, comfort, “speak peace” to and bless them (Psalm 85; Zechariah 8, NKJV).
1 Read the April 28, 2024 post, The Truth And His Kingdom, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
2 God in His Word speaks of ancient times, peoples, places and events. But because with eternally transcendent spiritual principles, morality and ethics He also speaks of “the things that are coming and shall come,” the Christian understands the Bible is contemporary in every generation (Isaiah 44:6-8, NKJV).
3 The attacks by hostile nations and terror groups bent on Israel’s total destruction and growing global anti-Semitism are of Satan with God’s permission as part of His ongoing punitive dealings with His people. Professed Christians need to be careful to love the Jewish people to the end first of presenting the Gospel of Christ the truth and their King to them. After this second, stand vigorously against anti-Semitism along with all racism. Third, minister empathetically to the sufferings of the Jewish people represent- ing the King’s love. Finally, advocate for their respective nations to support Israel in the right; warning them as we should our own nation to beware of acting arrogantly to- ward Israel lest the God who preserves her for His own purposes be offended and punish them (Isaiah 49:22-26)!
4 Anti-Semitism is yet another expression of racism I write about in my book, The Scourge Of Racism. It is available for purchase at your favorite internet book seller and in the Strong Man Store. The E-Book version is also available at major E-Book sellers. Learn about it at https://www.opendoorcommin.org/featured-publishing-resource.
5 See the June 12, 2016 post, The Day Of Israel's Comfort, under the category, Bible Prophecy.
As the Lord led in last week’s post, we saw how representing God, Jesus Christ by His own testimony came into the world as part of His mission “to bear witness to the truth,” (John18:37, NKJV). As God in eternal unity with the Father and Holy Spirit, He is “truth” and ‘“the truth’” as it concerns the message of salvation He was also sent into the world by the Father to proclaim (Deuteronomy 32:3-4; John 8:13-30, 14:6, NKJV). It is in the context of salvation that He asserts by remaining in His ‘“word’” believers in Him would truly be His ‘“disciples,’” ‘“know’” Him ‘“the truth’” and they become ‘“free,’” (John 8:31-32, NKJV). Only Christ in the Gospel can set men free from sin!1
‘“…the truth shall make you free’” is one of a number of words and phrases lifted from the Bible and corrupted by misapplication while being used in many ways by professed Christians and rank unbelievers (John 8:32b, NKJV). Though it is true having knowledge of the truth in a matter can be very liberating, this is not what the Lord Jesus is speaking of when He makes His statement to the Jewish listeners who had believed on Him. Indeed, they got their hackles up in offense right away at the statement because they did not receive it from Christ as something beneficial. But they correctly heard in the Lord’s statement that they were in some kind of bondage.
In smugly refuting the Lord’s statement they cited their connection to Abraham and did not tell the truth in saying they “have never been in bondage to anyone” since God reveals to him his descendants would be slaves for over four hundred years as they were in Egypt (Genesis 15:12-16; Exodus 12:40-42; John 8:33, NKJV).2 This was followed by localized oppressions in the land as well as the major Assyrian and Babylonian captivities in which they were removed from it (Nehemiah 9:36-37). Following those days, though they were not enslaved, the Medo-Persians, Greeks and currently Rome oppressed them. Even so, the Lord spoke of a deeper form of bondage that is spiritual.
He said, ‘“Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave to sin,’” (John 8:34, NKJV).3 Human slavery to sin began when the first man, Adam, yielded to it in Eden and brought upon him and his progeny the promised divine penalty (Genesis 3:1-11, 17-19, 22-24, 4:1-7; Romans 5:12-14). Rooted in the body, sin exerts such power, influence and control in the desires, thinking, attitudes, words and deeds of its hosts that they can be described accurately as nothing but slaves. Sin in presence and its works originating in the heart also spiritually pollute or “defile” a man before the holy God who has no fellowship with it whatsoever (Isaiah 59:1-8; Mark 7:14-23, NKJV).
However, back in Eden God showed how He could cope with sin in man on a temporary basis by shedding the blood of an animal; taking its life instead of man’s (Genesis 3:21). He developed this in the Law given to Israel which when done right gave the people an annual temporary atonement for and release from their sins (Leviticus 16). All along though, God’s plan called for eventually setting willing men free eternally from sin’s penalty, power, presence and pollution as He intimated at another of the great feast days of Israel, Passover (Exodus 12:1-14). What the Jews who believed on Christ yet disputed with Him that day did not realize is He was God’s Passover Lamb (John 1:29-34)!
Christ goes on to instruct His would be Jewish followers the slaves of men do not have a permanent place in the house of their masters, but a son does (John 8:35). They stood in the presence of the only begotten Son of God with an eternal standing in His Father’s house. If He as the Son of God therefore, set them free from bondage to sin through the truth of His finished work in the Gospel, they would “be free indeed,” (John 8:36; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Hebrews 9:22-10:18, NKJV). For it was Christ alone who enabled the Father to remove sin’s penalty through forgiveness; who broke its power, made a way for eternal freedom from its presence and pollution through His cross (Romans 3:21-26, 5:1-8, 6, 7:7-8:17)!
Thus, by remaining in His word, we as those Jewish believers should have been, are to be earnestly seeking to know the truth better and deeper rather than arguing with Him.4 Then we would understand more fully and “rejoice” in all that Christ accomplished for us (Romans 5:9-11; Colossians 1:3-14; 2 Peter 1:1-11, NKJV). This includes having access to God’s forgiveness of our sins through confession and repentance as often as needed (1 John 1:5-2:2). Then too, we will have eternal freedom not only from sin as sons made gloriously immortal, but every evil and hurtful thing that would enslave us; living and reigning with Christ “forever and ever,” (1 Corinthians 15:47-57; Revelation 21-22:5, NKJV)!
2 Many professed American Christians also falsely believe themselves to be grandfathered into salvation because of heritage or parents that were Christians. If you are one of them please take heed and realize you can only be saved by making a personal decision to repent of your sins which like everyone else you have and believe the Gos- pel of Christ. Watch this Ministry’s Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Reconciled To God, on our YouTube channel.
3 Committing sin is the evidence we are slaves to it! Among the sins many white conservative evangelical Christians commit daily is the practice of racism. Learn more by getting my book, The Scourge Of Racism. It is available at your favorite internet book seller and in the Strong Man Store. The E-Book version is also available at major E-Book sellers. Also, please watch another Strong Man Of God Online Rally, Return To The Lord, on our YouTube channel to hear Christ’s call for you, O professed Chris- tian, to turn back to Him in obedience and faithfulness to His Word.
4 This is the heart of every aspiring strong man and great woman of God in Christ’s image I write about in my book, The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics. It too, is avail- able at your favorite internet book seller and in the Strong Man Store. The E-Book is also available at major E-Book sellers.
As the Lord leads me to instruct in the two-part post beginning August 18, 2019, Lined Up Behind Jesus, under the category, Instruction, to avoid being deceived in these latter days professed Christians that would be faithful must anchor God’s Word as it is written in our hearts! The only way to anchor God’s Word in our hearts is to purposely internalize it through regular study and practice. Study and practice will not be regular if we do not zealously love the Word as the truth with an intentional desire to apply and obey it even with many failures (2 Timothy 2:15, 3:14-17; James 3:2a).
How does a man get to the point of willingness to regularly study and practice the Word of truth? A hunger and thirst for God and His Word is actualized in every truly born again new follower of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. It manifests for some more quickly than others depending on the depth of surrender at spiritual birth (Acts 2:36-42; 1 Peter 1:22-2:3).1 Purposely making time to study God’s written Word is typically not the issue for hungry and thirsty newborns in Christ. It is how to get enough milk! Those that press to fruitfulness in understanding and practice despite Satan’s effort to take the Word, tribulations and worldly cares have developed a love for it (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23).
Loving God’s Word is the motivational key for both anchoring it in our hearts and deliberately practicing it through obedience. One major reason sold out, faithful Christians come to love God’s Word is because it “is truth” as the Lord Jesus asserts in His prayer to the Father (John 17:17, NKJV). God’s Word is truth that we not only can rationally appreciate because it is perfectly sound, righteous and just, but also experience since it is spiritually alive having originated with God (John 6:63; Hebrews 4:12). We want more of, desire to go deeper in as well as practice the Word causing us to spiritually mature because the Word of truth we love is alive in us and so good!2
Indeed, just as in our Holy Spirit fired love we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-6; Mark 12:28-30; Romans 5:5), so, we love the Word of truth written that in the awesome mysteries of God is embodied by God the Word from eternity (John 1:1); Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord who spoke God’s final Word to the world when He came to us from Heaven in first century Israel (John 1:14-18; Hebrews 1:1-4)! As a result of loving God and everything about God, we love the Word of truth that flows naturally from God--the Person and Source of the Word, Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and honor forever (John 14:6)!
For after He completed His work to save us from our sins by dying on the cross and being buried, He was raised from the dead on the third day following. Among the first disciples to encounter and recognize Him in Luke’s account specifically declared to each other how their hearts burned with what could have only been the same spiritual fire we enjoy as “He opened the Scriptures” to them (Luke 24:28-35, NKJV). He spent forty days on earth teaching and preparing His apostles for His return to Heaven. Then, upon giving final instructions to them, He ascended into Heaven where He, the eternal Word, has been seated again at His Father’s right hand (Acts 1:1-11, 2:32-35)!
In the love we have for Christ, the living Word of truth and all that is written from Him and of Him in the Bible, faithful Christians are ready to stand firm whatever the cost against demonically inspired deceit and falsehood and testify to the most prominent of officials as have all of the saints through all time. Many professed Christians have a misinformed tendency to arrogantly believe we are the only ones that know something about Holy Spirit fired love for God and His Word. Not so, and the writer of Psalm 119 is a classic example of an Old Testament saint--to include Spirit empowered king David (1 Samuel 16:13)--that enjoyed this experience with the living God! This saint wondrously writes in Psalm 119:41-48 with the heart of one that intimately knows and loves God and His Word!
He waited like we do now for the fullness of God’s mercies in salvation to come according to His written Word (vs. 41). He like many of us are was persecuted for his faith and needed to trust God’s Word for a right answer to his persecutors (vs. 42). He sought God’s help as we must also to keep the “word of truth” in his mouth because it was his hope; his eternal preoccupation and source of blessing (vs. 43-44, NKJV). He like us was free in and ready to witness to kings boldly standing on the Word (vs. 45-46; John 8:31-32). Lastly, he delighted himself in and loved God’s commandments; lifting his hands in praise for them and meditating on God’s edicts (vs. 47-48).3 Is that you?4 The risen, living Christ continues His cry among American churches, "Who is on the Lord's side?"
1 Read my February 17, 2019 post, Surrendering All To Jesus, under the category, Glory To God! I am one of those whose hunger and thirst for God and His Word
took some time to kick into high gear--22 months after I prayed to receive Christ--because of still trying to cling to my sinful ways of living. But after my total surren-
der to the Lord, I have sought Him and the Word of truth has been my food daily for which my soul yearns throughout the day (Psalms 63:1-8, 119:17-20)!
2 Sadly, the opposite is true for professed Christians that are not inclined to go deeper in the Word and become “dull of hearing;” remaining spiritually immature babes
that still nurse on “milk” and not the “solid food” of the Word. God expects every follower of Christ to grow and mature in the faith made possible only through the
regular intentional study and practice of the Word (Hebrews 5, NKJV). Otherwise, those that purposely remain spiritually immature are easy marks for the deceiver
(Proverbs 14:15; Romans 16:17-20), risk becoming “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” and open themselves up to the possibility of falling away with no re-
course (Hebrews 3:12-13, 6:1-6, 10:26-31, NKJV). Read my December 4, 2016 post, Now Is The Day Of Salvation, under the category, Call To Repent.
3 Even though the Lord Jesus Christ purposely sends us out to preach the Gospel and witness Him helped by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 10:16-20), we are to still make
purposeful preparation for the task through study to possess knowledge of the Word we love the Holy Spirit can readily bring to our mouths to speak as He wills.
4 It is certainly the heart of every faithful Christian as aspiring strong men and great women of God in the image of Jesus Christ I write about in my book, The Strong
Man Of God: Back To Basics. Get a print copy or digital download of the book at major internet booksellers such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ChristianBooks.com
and Apple (digital only). You can also get a print copy of the book in the Strong Man Store.
In the aftermath of the blog series the Lord led me to write on obedience, He gave me a word of instruction to rebuke the emotional but false notion among many professing Christians today that being called sons of God is His irrevocable pledge to bring all so named into glory without any regard whatsoever to their lives (James 2:14-26). Persistent disobedience in sin is a deal breaker! Professing Christians are not the first people ever to have familial relation to God (Isaiah 63:16; Hosea 1:10) nor to dishonor Him as Father through sin and be judged (Malachi 1:6-2:9). Or is God the delighted Father of disobedient sons? Not according to the only begotten Son (John 8:37-59). Originally Posted August 30, 2013 In my blog entitled, Whose House? on August 25, 2013 the Holy Spirit led me to write about how God’s Kingdom--His governing rule, authority, will, way and Word--becomes living spiritual reality (as opposed to mere theoretical principle) in the hearts of those that experience the new birth through faith in Jesus Christ (John 3:3-7)! When born again individual believers assemble together, the parenting of God the Father and Lordship of Christ extends into our corporate relations and activity as well. In other words, as I write in The Strong Man Of God: Back To Basics, every believer and local church are “supposed to be advanced outposts of” the Kingdom of God extant here and now on earth since the Father and the Son are submitted to as the ruling authorities by them. This is a marvelous thing to us who genuinely experience this spiritual reality in our persons and understand it as the incredible answer to the first part of the type of prayer (Matthew 6:9-10; Luke 11:2) the Lord taught His disciples to pray (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:1-4). In contrast to the often written out and showy prayers of hypocrites whose goal it is to be seen and heard by men in order to impress them with their eloquence, the Lord teaches a prayer template that when God answers, powerfully shows He was listening! As sons of God by spiritual new birth, we acknowledge in prayer “our Father” whose governing throne is in Heaven, yet, is brought into our lives. We pray conscious of this truth daily and moment by moment to intentionally affirm for Him as well as ourselves His continuing welcome in our lives as ruling Head since Satan, sin and self do not cease attempting to get us to turn back to them. We therefore, also purposely hallow or consecrate His name representing the surpassing greatness of His glorious being (take your pick of the exalted biblical names God Himself gives us to describe His Person) in our hearts, minds and lives. ‘“Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is Heaven”’ (Matthew 6:10, NKJV) is not just meant as a petition for future fulfillment, but a very present, right now request for God’s rule to be carried out in our mortal lives as also His meeting of our needs for daily sustenance, forgiveness and deliverances from Satan. When the mortal sons of God on earth submit to His will, way and Word in seeking to please Him--the heart of every aspiring strong man and great woman of God in the image of Christ, the superior greatness of divine rule in nature (ex. love, joy and peace), character (ex. holiness, righteousness and justice), power and glory to be seen fully when the eternally enduring Kingdom is finally revealed at Christ’s Second Coming, shines out from us now as a foretaste! As is true for the individual sons of the kingdom, so, the local churches they assemble in. Again, this is what is so diabolical about professing Christians and their churches being selectively, partially and willfully disobedient to God’s Word since they are faithfully reflecting not the reign of God, but that of His enemy, Satan, who is the original rebel and uses their sin to blaspheme God’s name (2 Samuel 12:13-14). Thus, when disobedient professing Christians and their churches reject as of the most basic of biblical instruction, God’s order of creation in the roles and responsibilities of men and women for example, it is a rejection of God’s rule; a siding with the world controlled by Satan and a cause for their blaspheming of His name and Word (Genesis 3:2-4; 1 Samuel 8:1-8; Titus 2:1-5). If the sons of the Kingdom do not remain true--God is not honored as Father, nor is His name set apart as holy, nor His Kingdom displayed or His will done in that man or church as it is in Heaven; if the churches as advanced Kingdom outposts on earth holding ground until the Kingdom is fully revealed at the appearing of Christ rebel, then finally, what is their value to God (Luke 14:34-35; John 15:4-6; James 4:4-5, 17)? For this reason we pray and labor for repentance fueled revival; we proclaim and teach the strong man of God message bound up in the Word of God uncompromised; we rebuke, we exhort with all urgency since the Judge and King, Jesus Christ is right at the door (2 Timothy 4:1-2; James 5:9b)! And do not say to yourself in deception, “I am a son of the Kingdom, therefore, I can never be lost; God does not abandon His family.” Hear the Word of the Lord not foolish men with their endless sectarian speculations. We stand as sons of God at present only by faith and the continuing, blazing presence of the Holy Spirit within us (Romans 1:16-17, 3:21-26, 8:1-17; Galatians 3:1-9, 26; Ephesians 1:13-14). But if we willfully embrace sin in disobedience without repentance are we acting in faith? God does not think so and after much grief, many fruitless rebukes and calls to repentance (Ephesians 4:30; James 4:6-10) as well as the prolonged quenching of the Holy Spirit, He gives such a one over to his way and judges accordingly (Exodus 4:22; Ezekiel 9-10; Luke 13:6-9; Romans 1:18-2:11; 11:13-22; Galatians 5:16-21; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; Hebrews 3:7-19, 6:1-8, 10:26-39). Faithful sons of the Kingdom and aspiring strong men of God in the image of Christ know that only faith displayed in love motivated obedience pleases our Father and stand in it accordingly to the death as all who were before them (Hebrews 11)!
As we persevere through all of the foretold violent, global convulsions and persecution Christians face, we are instructed by God’s Word to stand firm on it through faith and the hope resident in us by the assuring presence of the Holy Spirit while waiting for the Kingdom to come (Romans 8:22-25)! Be encouraged to do so by God’s prophetic Word in this edited 2012 blog repost.1
Originally Posted July 22, 2012
A night of spiritual darkness is falling and must remain until the dawn of God’s new Day and Kingdom come to earth at the appearing of Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:1-12)! Like a skilled chest player our God is now perfectly positioning every player (good and evil) into place in order to execute the final moves He will make at just the right time that lead to His checkmate of evil in wrath (Revelation 6:12-17). In that Day, our Lord will stand triumphant in Jerusalem; reigning and presiding over the restoration of creation in a new beginning wherein all of the promises of God made to His faithful saints and the nation of Israel will be fulfilled (Isaiah 2:1-4, 11:1-10; Jeremiah 33:14-16).
Every aspiring strong man and great woman of God is comforted and encouraged in the hard things we endure in the meantime by our hope in faith that our Lord Jesus is soon to return. This hope is not just a wish sustained by knowing the written Word of truth from which it springs. No, ours is a “living hope” empowered by the Spirit of God who lives in our hearts (1 Peter 1:3, NKJV). He even marks us out as belonging to God for the Day of God in Christ at His appearing (Ephesians 4:30). While we faithfully labor in the Kingdom cause of our Lord through the Gospel here and now, we also long with tearful prayers at times for the Kingdom to come (Matthew 6:9-10).
One day very soon, we will see undeniable evidence in the sky and on earth God is hearing those prayers (Revelation 8:1-6). The saints are not only praying for the Kingdom to come on our behalf, but in line with Bible prophecy, we pray also for the sake of Israel in the land and scattered across the face of the earth. Indeed, in praying “for the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6), we are praying for the “Prince of Peace,” Jesus Christ, to return, take His rightful place on David’s throne and restore Israel securely in her land as promised by God through all of His ancient prophets (see the following Scriptures as a tiny sampling: Deuteronomy 30:1-10; Isaiah 9:6-7, 11:11-16, Jeremiah 30:1-3; Ezekiel 36:1-15; Hosea 3:4-5, Micah 4:1-8; Zechariah 14, NKJV).
Besides taking the Gospel to the world (Acts 1:6-8), God has also been keeping His Word to punish Israel for her sins including the rejection of His Chosen until the time allotted is completed (Hosea 5:8-15; Luke 19:41-44, 21:20-24). Scattered Israel’s most severe trouble is straight ahead in the night that is falling (Jeremiah 30:4-7). When it is all over, she will be comforted after having received even double for her sins from the Lord’s hand (Isaiah 40:1-2; Jeremiah 16:14-18). Those comforted will be an elect the Lord has chosen for Himself; a mortal remnant of His ancient people to bless at the appearing and Kingdom of Christ.
God will deal with this remnant as He did their fathers in the wilderness of Sinai in preparing them to enter the Promised Land. Their brokenness and repentance will give way to great joy as they enter into the Lord’s Kingdom (Jeremiah 3:11-18, 31:1-14; Ezekiel 20:33-44, 36:16-38; Hosea 6:1-3; Zechariah 12:10-13:1; Revelation 7:1-8, 12:1-6, 13-17). The resurrected saints will reign under Christ over the entire creation and on earth (Romans 8:18-21; Revelation 5:8-10) while His twelve apostles will judge the twelve tribes of Israel for a thousand years (Luke 22:28-30; Revelation 20:4-6).
It has been my fearful honor to personally witness to and support the efforts of Jewish Christian Ministries to reach the Jewish people with the message of salvation through the Gospel intended for them first (John 4:22; Acts 3:25-26; Romans 1:16, 9:1-5, 30-10:4). As a Gentile, I am a debtor to the Jews on two accounts. First, as the apostle Paul so eloquently instructs, I have been grafted into their already standing natural olive tree and have no room to boast as tragically some professing Gentile Christians have arrogantly done by declaring God is done with the Jews as a nation (Romans 11).
Second, I owe them for their written spiritual heritage which God recorded in the Bible. That heritage informed the faith of my Christian slave forefathers and now informs my own as I wait for God’s Kingdom to come to Israel and the earth (Isaiah 65:19-25, 66:5-13)!
1 In honor of this month devoted to praying for Christians suffering persecution around the earth, Open Door Communication Ministries, Inc. is making the message the Lord gave me, The Call To Christians To Persevere available for free download in the Strong Man Store from November 13-19, 2015. Do not miss the opportunity to be instructed and challenged by this Holy Spirit energized message drawn from the Word of God. Pray for our brethren suffering severe persecution now to persevere; our time is at the door!
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