CHRISTIAN GROWTH IS MEASURED BY LOVE

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“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Philippians 1:9-11

Christian growth is built upon the foundation of God’s love. This love is the sacrificial love that God showed when He gave His Son. It is the same love Jesus showed when He went to the cross. It is the same love that God tells husbands to show to their wives. It is not sexual love, it is not emotional love. It is sacrificial and giving love. Christians can only grow by demonstrating love. These marks of maturity are ways that a Christian exhibits the love that God called us to share with others.

This is a prayer for maturity, and Paul begins with love. After all, if our Christian love is what it ought to be, everything else will follow. He prays that they might experience abounding love and discerning love. Christian love is not blind! The heart and mind work together so that we have discerning love and loving discernment. Paul wants his friends to grow in discernment, in being able to “distinguish the things that are important.”

Christian love must be rooted in wisdom from God’s Word if we are to love both God and man in greater ways.

Paul is praying for the Philippians to have spiritual eyes to see with spiritual insight into the lives of people around them regarding how they were to apply God’s love. Knowledge and discernment must be kept in balance. Both are equally important. Grow in too much knowledge without discerning the Holy Spirits leading and a Christian’s love becomes too hard, unteachable, and legalistic. When a Christian learns from both the head and the heart, the Word and the Spirit, then the Christian has balanced growth.

I pray that in these last days as persecution of Christians increases we may be able to show the love of God to those that the Holy Spirit leads us. Jesus told us that the harvest is ripe but the workers few. I pray that you and I will be among the workers called. It will be a difficult but rewarding task as we will know the Holy Spirit’s leading. We will know we are in the centre of His will for us and nothing else will matter.

THE ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF LOVE

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The Bible reveals that the essence of God Himself is equated with love, meaning quite simply that genuine love is not known apart from God.

Paul reveals the ultimate expression of God’s love in these verses.

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? Romans 8:35

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39

Our God has not only expressed His love for us verbally but expressed it in action in a profound way. The Father by sending His Son. The Son by taking on mortality and dying for us. The Spirit by coming to indwell each believer to enable us to live the Christian life. In perfect Trinitarian unity the Godhead expresses His love for us.

EXTENT OF GOD’S LOVE FOR HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE

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“For our sake, He (Our Heavenly Father made Him (Jesus Christ, the Son) who knew no sin, to become sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

What an amazing Scripture that reveals the extent of God’s love for the creature He made in His image, us.

We know from God’s Word that God knew before “The Fall” when sin entered the world through our disobedience, that His Son would need to pay the price, “die in our place“, to restore us back into a right relationship with our Holy God. Jesus said, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Matthew 25:34

Paul says, God chose us before the foundation of the world, He predestined us for adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus sacrifice on the Cross.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6

Events in God’s world do not unfold by chance, nor are the events a reactionary action from God. He causes them to come to be. Scripture simply unfolds this as an incontrovertible and uncontroversial thing. God is depicted as the One who not only intervenes as He sees fit, but Scripture attributes all actions to God’s predetermined plan.

One of the clearest examples of this is in Genesis 50:20, the verse summarizing the narrative of Joseph and his brothers “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive.” In other words: all of the evils Joseph endured through the hand of others was not simply repurposed for good, but ultimately brought about by God Himself as good.

It meant the betrayal of Joseph’s brothers, being sold into slavery, Potiphar’s false imprisonment of him, the cup-bearer forgetting of Joseph’s correct interpretation, and then his subsequent delivery from prison, appointment to a position of prominence, and his shrewd planning for the widespread famine to come—was all ordained by God to keep many people alive, not the least of which being the nation of Israel. God’s covenant faithfulness to Abraham is on full display in His preservation of the Israelites.

The gospels speak candidly to those who are blinded by God so that they cannot be saved (Matt. 13:14; Mk. 4:12, 6:52; Jn. 12:39-40). The epistles likewise have no shame expressing that God has mercy upon whom He will have mercy, and harden whom He will harden—and there is no charge of injustice against God in His sovereign right to choose whom He desires (Rom. 9, 11:7, 11:25).

This theme is picked up clearly elsewhere as well (Ps. 69:28; Lk. 10:20; Eph. 1:3-12; Rev. 3:5, 17:8). Yet it is likewise seen in the fact that God appointed vast swaths of people to come to faith in the early church (Acts 13:48, 15:17-18). We find similar echoes of God’s sovereignty in those whom He has established as authorities on earth (Dan. 2:21; Jn. 19:11; Rom. 13:1-2; 1 Pet. 2:13-14). We see that Scripture unabashedly affirms that God appoints our sufferings, trials, and more.

The Bible simply unfolds this principle (Doctrine of Grace), not a theme of controversy, but one of worship. To put that in the simplest terms possible: the compendium of Scripture’s teachings lends itself to be understood through God’s active decree and interference with all of history, including the will of man. In this, He is not passively permitting things to pass, looking with foresight as to what possible choices may come, nor is He reacting to the choices of men. Rather, He ordains whatsoever comes to pass and He does so for His purposes and good pleasure. This is what Scripture teaches it is not necessarily what we want to accept.

I like Grayson Gilbert came to this position by reading Scripture. Grayson wrote the article “How I Became a Calvinist: By Reading the Bible” Jan. 15 2021 http://www.patheos .com. Much of the above was taken from his article.

EASTER: JESUS AS OUR PASSOVER LAMB

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According to the annual pattern that God gave Israel, the day we call ‘Palm Sunday’ was Lamb Selection Day! They were to choose an unblemished male lamb and keep it until the fourteenth day of the month when it would be killed at twilight for Passover. Exodus 12:2-6

Jesus entered Jerusalem at the same time the Passover lambs were being selected. He withstood days of interrogation, just as the lambs, too, were being thoroughly inspected for any faults. Then at the same time the Passover lambs were being sacrificed, Jesus was being nailed to a cross, the final sacrifice for all mankind. He was truly the ‘Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.’ John 1:19

Pause to revere Jesus: “…you were…redeemed with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” 1 Peter 1:18-19

The Passover Lamb

“God commanded the priests of Israel to sacrifice two offerings daily, one in the morning, at the 3rd hour which was 9:00 am and one at the ninth hour of the day which was 3:00 pm. Jesus was hung on the cross at the exact time the priests were sacrificing the morning burnt offering. At 3:00 pm the Passover Lamb, the Lord Jesus was slain, as Jesus breathed his last! On Day of Atonement, the high priest would declare after the evening sacrifice, “It is finished!” Jesus our High Priest, cried out with every ounce left in his physical being, “It is finished!” This statement literally meant, “Paid in full!” Jesus purchased us and brought us into his glorious inheritance!” (Dr Jason Hubbard, Lamb’s Reformation, 2017, p.43)

Jesus’ exemplified a ‘heart of humility’, the sweet and lowly gentleness recognised as the mark of the Lamb of God.”  Jesus, the Lord of all, became the servant of all.

As we approach the end of the age, we must see and encounter the face of Jesus as the Lamb! Twenty-eight times in the book of revelation, Jesus is revealed as the Worthy Lamb! Do we really comprehend what Jesus did for us when He became a man on His earth? The extent of His love for us. How do we respond to such love?

“God the Father took His eternal wrath, condensed it, and emptied it into His cup. He distilled eternal judgement, the very lake of fire, hell’s blazing fury and then asked His Son to drink the cup of wrath on our behalf.” Dr Jason Hubbard, Lamb’s Reformation, 2017, pp. 29

“My soul is deeply grieved and overwhelmed with sorrow, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch.” After going a little farther, He fell to the ground [distressed by the weight of His spiritual burden] and began to pray that if it were possible [in the Father’s will], the hour [of suffering and death for the sins of mankind] might pass from Him. He was saying, ‘Abba, Father! All things are possible for You; take this cup [of judgement] away from Me; but not what I will, but what You will.” Mark 14:33-36 AMP

SPECIFICITY – THE MIRACLE OF THE INCARNATION

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The God who created the universe became a helpless baby inside the universe He created…the Almighty become the weakest of beings … the hands that stretched out the heavens now too weak to even grasp the hand of His mother…the eyes that see all things now can barely focus…the mouth that spoke the universe into existence now can only offer up the cry of a helpless baby. How amazing is that? It is the miracle of love … the humility of love … and the miracle of specificity.”

Image result for pictures of the Incarnation of Jesus

SPECIFICITY?

“God is omnipresent, everywhere at once. But in the Incarnation, He becomes specific to time and space, to only one point of space and to only one moment of time. God is universal, the light of the world, the spring of all existence. Yet now He becomes specific to one culture, one people, one tribe, one house, one genealogy, one family, one life. The universal God of all existence becomes a Jewish baby, a Jewish boy, then a Jewish rabbi, walking in sandals on the ground and dust of first-century Judea.

Everything He does is now contained in one specific place and one specific moment of time. He forgives specific sinners, embraces specific outcasts, multiplies specific loaves of bread and touches specific people, heals them of their infirmities and raises them from the dead.”

“How does one apply that?” I asked.”

In order to know the power of God’s love, you have to receive it in its specificity, as specifically from Him and specifically to you. His sacrifice as specifically given for you, His Word specifically to your life, His blood and forgiveness poured out specifically for your specific sins.

And so too, you must live your life in God in specificity. Your love must manifest in specificity…in specific actions to the specific people who are here and now in your life…You must love and bless and live out your faith on earth …in specificity.”

Your mission is to manifest the love of God in specificity. Bless specific people with specific actions of love—specifically today.

Another great insight from Jonathan – adapted from The Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn, copyright 2016

DEATH IN ADAM, ALIVE IN CHRIST

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“Sin came into the world, through one man (Adam) and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Romans 5:12

God’s love conquers all: “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17

We may not like this crucial truth about God and sin, but we live in a universe that has been corrupted by the effects of the curse placed upon creation by God the Creator, due to the disobedience of the first man, Adam. Death is an intrusion upon God’s creation due to sin. 

Satan, the Prince of this world, has blinded the world to the reality of this truth with the lie of EVOLUTION and there is no God. The truth of Noah’s worldwide flood and God’s judgement of mankind has also been removed from history with the lie of EVOLUTION.

In Genesis 1:31 God’s word tells us, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” In the Genesis creation narrative, we see the Hebrew word for good used six times, and then the author summarises the entirety of creation by using a term for “very good”, to drive home the point that no evil or death is found anywhere in all of creation! Here, we find a major theological truth; you cannot have death before the fall of Adam!

What amazing love, God the Father sent His son, Jesus, to pay the penalty of our sin so that we can be restored into a right relationship with our Him, but only if we are prepared to acknowledge and repent of our sin and accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. If we do, God the Father then sends the Holy Spirit to indwell every believer to be comforter, counsellor and teacher so we are capable of living the Christian life.

Jesus reversed the curse by his perfect obedience, taking upon himself the due penalty of sin, which is death, for all who believe in him. Jesus faced the ultimate fiery trial of death, and he was the only man who didn’t deserve it, as he was perfectly obedient to the Father and totally righteous, without sin. This is grace in fullness, and amazing love!

“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19. Christianity is the only basis for true love, trust and compassion. The Bible tells us that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9. Once believers are saved by grace from sin, the process of sanctification occurs, the Holy Spirit takes control of our hearts, and we die to the flesh and are reborn by the Spirit of God. We are now able to fully understand what love is. We are able, though not perfectly, to have compassion, and serve others out of gratitude for what Christ has done for us. This is why we can heed the command of Christ in Matthew 5:44–45 to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”

People who claim to be atheists, to be consistent with their beliefs, would have a nihilistic worldview. They could never truly know the love or compassion imparted by the Spirit of God. What took place recently at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas , when a church family gathered in a small church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, was massacred by Devin Patrick Kelley, is a horrible tragedy performed by someone who was living out his worldview.