By Every Word

Quick Thought

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Dec 282010

Luke 6:46
46. And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
KJV

Simple verse but something God asks me every time I…

display fear
display worry
question Him
lack faith
forget to pray
neglect to read His word
disobey
display any character trait other than that of His kingdom

It hurts but we must adhere to His chastening. (By the way, chastening is another way of saying “butt whipping!”) We don’t realize what we’re doing when we disobey His word. It’s not a practice… religion practices obeying the King, but to kingdom citizens obeying the King is our culture.

Is it your culture? … or are you obeying His word on a trial basis? …until the next temptation comes? There are some things we know we would not do in front of God Himself, but we do them from time to time without much of a thought. We sometimes, with these types of slip-ups, say “I’m still struggling with this.” Struggling is a word we like to use synonymously for things we know we should not be doing but we do them anyway. It’s these kind, the simple things, that keep us from obtaining the level of depth we desire of God. It’s these small things that separate the majority of Christians from the Elijahs, Elishas, Isaiahs, Pauls…

Song of Solomon 2:15
15. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
KJV

It’s the small foxes that keep us from the precious fruit, the best fruit…

If we’re to be an influence to those around us impacting them with our culture, the kingdom of Heaven, we must display after the manner of our Lord. We must be good stewards, representatives, ambassadors of the kingdom of God. Taking no offense of His Word lightly. That doesn’t mean we’re perfect, but we try our best to obey Him.

-For the Kingdom

A Need For Understanding

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Nov 172010

Psalm 119:34
Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
KJV

In order for us to keep God’s commandments, we must have understanding. If we do not have understanding we cannot keep God’s laws. David stated here that if he had understanding he would keep the law and would observe it with his whole heart.

The problem is people do not observe God’s laws with their whole heart because many have already said in their heart that they cannot keep His commandments. This mentality is compounded by teachers, preachers, and pastors who instruct them grace was given to cover all their sins… and so they continue sinning willfully because they believe they’re not accountable anymore to uphold the law because of grace. God forbid.

Some believe it’s because the Spirit of God can now dwell inside of us that we’re able to keep God’s laws- but look at this.

John 8: 2-11
2. And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.
3. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,
4. They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
5. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
6. This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
7. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
8. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
9. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
11. She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
KJV

Jesus tells the woman to go and sin no more. Keep in mind the fulness of the Spirit of God dwelled in Jesus after He was baptized and no other miracles and wonders do you hear about. The Spirit of God did not dwell in man at this point… yet Jesus tells the woman to go and sin no more… evidently it was possible.

Do we mess up sometimes? Do we fall? Yes sometimes we do, but that is what repentance is for. Now hear me when I say this- write it down, tweet it, do whatever you want to do to document this… KINGDOM CITIZENS DO NOT SIN EVERY SINGLE DAY! I am so disgusted with teachers of the word saying this. When I hear a confessed believer saying this it reflects to me on their teacher… that is if they are consistent in assembling themselves together each week. Anyone who teaches this IS NOT teaching according to the word of God. I am not perfect by no means- but I’m going to do my very best to obey God’s laws.

Think about this. As of this writing I have been married for over 9 years going on 10. I love my wife so much! Now because I am married their are certain things that I cannot violate or it will impair, cripple, hurt, or destroy my marriage. Here are some examples of things that would violate the bond of our marriage.

Talking to other women flirtatiously
Going on a date with another woman
Sleeping with another woman
Talking on the phone with another woman for hours as if I was single
Lusting after another woman
Trying to get another woman’s phone number
Spending income as if I was single again without communication with my wife

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to things that are unacceptable behaviors once you are married. Now if I had a document with this on it and I had to carry it around constantly reminding myself throughout the day…

“Ok ok, let me make sure I don’t commit adultery today, I’ve got to make sure I don’t stare at any women today, I don’t want to ask another woman for her phone number today because after all I am married and this would make her mad.”

Even if I kept up with these laws of marriage throughout the day, my wife would not be very happy. Why? Because if I love her I shouldn’t have to remind myself day in and day out to stop myself from committing adultery. Imagine me coming home and saying everyday “I’m sorry I messed up today, but this sister was fine!

Yet, we do this very thing with God…

See God doesn’t want us having to constantly follow a set of laws routinely like this… It doesn’t mean anything, because we’re following the letter of the law. We’re going through a routine- there is nothing real behind it, there isn’t any passion behind what we’re doing. Remember without understanding you’re just following a list of “To-Dos”. Without purpose you have nothing to motivate the action- and you cannot keep anything without motivation.

My motivation to please my wife and keep our bond sacred is I love her with all of my heart and I will abolish anything in my life that would distance me from her. I don’t have to keep a list of “What to do and not to-dos” in order to do the right thing because my motivation is our relationship and the love I have for her.

God is the same way.

John 14:15
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
KJV

We build on our relationship with God through time in prayer, reading and studying His word, praise and worship… Being obedient to His laws and commandments becomes natural because we don’t want to do anything to distance our self from Him. Now read this…

Hebrews 10:16
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
KJV

The pharisees problem was that they followed a list of 613 laws (the letter of the law) without having a true passion to please Him and to draw close to Him. (the spirit of the law)

I don’t have to remind myself not to hook up with someone else because I’m married- it’s automatic because I love my wife and I can’t let anything divide us.

I don’t have to remind myself not to steal something because God told me not to- it’s automatic kingdom culture because I love the Lord and I can’t let anything distance me from Him.

-For the Kingdom

Lord

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Nov 162010

Would you go to a lawyer for legal advice who didn’t understand the difference between interpreting the “spirit of the law” and the “letter of the law”?

Would you let someone cut your hair whose experience is primarily their 4 year old child’s?

What about having a health diagnosis made by a Doctor… of Veterinary Medicine?

Of course these are all ridiculous questions- the answers are fairly obvious. The point of these questions is not to say one needs a specific education from a particular university to be chosen, but that we want those associated with a certain field of study… to have studied! We want someone who has a passion for what they believe in, a passion for their purpose.

Most would agree with the above statements… but when it comes to being citizens of the kingdom of God, the country we associate our self with, whose King we say we follow… many times it doesn’t seem we understand God’s laws nor his word. I say this because of those who, I dare say, say Jesus is their Lord but they don’t do what He says.

Remember Lord comes from the word Adon- where we get Adonai which means Owner. So if He owns you, why do we still disobey His commandments. I’m afraid in today’s theology of many peoples we have made grace a religion. I have heard it said of those “I’m no longer under the law, I am under grace.” And this is a scripture that is wonderful to us… but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted by many and is used as a weapon against God’s laws in order to break God’s commandments. Many have set in their minds that they cannot obey God’s laws and so they live as if grace covers any sins they continue to commit and live in… because after all, their not under the law any more. Paul said “God Forbid” that we may break God’s laws just because we’ve been grace. We’ve been given grace so we can be once again in the kingdom of God, be in right positioning with the kingdom, right standing with the King because of the blood of Jesus.

Will a judge pardon someone for theft so that he can now break into as many banks as he wants to without fear of consequence? No. If he was pardoned it meant he was released from the judgment that was due for his crimes, so that he can be a part of society again. He was deserving of punishment according to the law but he was pardoned by grace given from the judge. This is what Jesus did for us.

Ask yourself this… if grace is given to cover every sin you could ever commit going forward… then what is the purpose of repentance anymore? If you are on your way to heaven no matter what you do, because of grace, what is the need for repentance?

God gave us grace, ability, to keep His laws again- Not sacrificial law, because that was the works that Paul was speaking of that cannot save, but ability to keep God’s laws- which never change.

Kingdom Obedience

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Nov 042010

Where is the discipline of His disciples? We have interpreted grace as a weapon that destroys having to be obedient to law- when actually grace came to destroy the condemnation of the law we were under and the sacrificial law of the past. Every where you look there are people who claim to belong to God but “they don’t do what He says.” Did God give us grace so that we could violate His commandments all of our lives? God forbid. It is time for His citizens to return to obedience.

Myles Munroe is currently this year teaching on “Kingdom Law for Kingdom Living” and I was deeply inspired by just the few short messages that I heard on the subject. God begin to reveal things to me in my own life that I needed to put under subjection to the King of glory. God began to open up revelation to me on the subject and show me His desire for us to walk in His ways. The result is blessings, benefits, and an abundance from Heaven being poured out because of the natural laws that are built into being obedient to His commandments… and it will overtake you.

Not Kingdom

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Nov 012010

A pastor of a mega church has come out and said “Being gay is not a choice.” He claims his wife has known about this secret for a long time and he is now breaking it to his kids and church.

http://freakoutnation.com/2010/10/30/megachurch-pastor-comes-out-being-gay-is-not-a-choice/

You can go to the above link to see the pastors personal views on this.

Me personally? I have no opinion on the matter because my opinion doesn’t matter. I represent the kingdom of God and if I will to remain in His kingdom, I will only reflect His values and His laws. To go against His word is to go against the word of the King. So let’s see what the king has to say about this…

Leviticus 18:22
Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.
KJV

Leviticus 20:13
If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
KJV

Romans 1^26.For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:²⁷. And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
KJV

Jude 1:7
⁷. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
KJV

I must be obedient to God’s word and to His commandments. The kingdom of Heaven is a country with a government. Jesus is the King of that government, and the decree of a king is law. So I must adhere to His laws. See in religion you can vote and allow someone to be ordained a gay bishop… but not in the kingdom of God. You can commit adultery and be in a religion, but not in the kingdom of God. Citizens of the kingdom of God must hold to God’s word and not the compromise of man. I know this is becoming unpopular today but we’re going to have to make a choice of whom we serve. There isn’t any “wishy-washiness” in the kingdom of God.

Unfortunately there are many denominations covered under the umbrella term of “Christianity”, but there is only one “Kingdom of God”.

Let me make one more thing clear- it is horrid to label degrees of sin. There isn’t any degree- the bible says if you commit one of these you have committed them all. So if you tell… what we like to call a “white lie”, you have disobeyed God’s word. If you commit a homosexual act, you have disobeyed God’s word. If you take something that is not yours, you have disobeyed God’s word. Disobeying God’s word is an act of unrighteousness, which means to be unaligned with the kingdom, to not be in right standing, to not be in right positioning. You cut off interaction between you and the home government, Heaven. You distance yourself from the King and ultimately sever your relationship with the King and the influence of the kingdom of God in your life… no matter what commandment or law you break.

If you continue to only listen to your pastor’s point of view on any subject in the bible you will only reflect your pastor’s point of view. We must all read, study and meditate on God’s word until we understand His precepts and then can reflect the culture of the kingdom of Heaven in our own lives because… after all… culture is natural. You must know God’s word for yourself and have a relationship with God yourself. No one is a citizen of the kingdom of Heaven by association- only by divine emancipation- by acknowledging Jesus as your Lord, Adon, Adonai, your Owner. And if He is our Lord, our Owner… then we’ll do what the King says.

Let us pray for this pastor, his congregation and our nation.

-For the Kingdom

It Is Good

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Oct 072010

Genesis 1:1-2
1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
KJV

Genesis 1:9-12
9. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
KJV

In these few short verses we see the beginning of creation by God. We see God’s intentions for the earth and His creation. But something that I notice that is comforting to my spirit… when God starts a work in something He doesn’t quit until “it is good”. His desire is to conform us to the image of His son, Jesus. Anything the Lord has under His responsibility, He takes care of it and nurtures it, until “it is good”.

But if we resist, if we reject, if we disobey- then we’re not His, and we’re like the mulberry tree that didn’t bear fruit… and we all know what He said to the mulberry tree- “Be withered away.”

-For The Kingdom!