I was reading a book by Kris Vallaton in which he made reference to Nehemiah 6:1-9 where the enemies of Nehemiah tried to get him to come off the wall he was working on and come talk to them in the Valley of Ono. Soon afterward I heard a sermon by Kris in which he spoke on the same passage. About two weeks later I was listening to a tape series by Myles Monroe and he made mention of it. Finally, I was listening to the message by Rob Rufus that's posted on my blog, which I've heard four or five times, never realizing that he quickly references it. All that being said I took it as the Lord trying to tell me something.
The point that all these ministers were getting at through this passage is that when one is doing a work that God has ordained, the enemy will try to distract from the work by trying to get you to come off the wall and talk to him. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've spent an entire day thinking, and maybe even praying, about something and then realized at the end of the day that I didn't once pray for what God has me doing or for anyone else. It's almost like I was paralyzed and consumed with worry and fear trying to figure things out, instead of resting in God and his grace, and focusing on what he'd have me doing and meditating on.
I've found that coming off the wall to talk to my enemies does two things. One, I don't accomplish what God wants me to. One day after to complaining to my boss about my problems he said basically "your ministry is suffering because all you do is dwell on these problems". It struck such a chord with me that I decided to just focus on the Lord and see what he'd say. I felt like he led me to minister to a waitress that had recently served me. I went to the restraunt and had an amazing time of ministry to her, and then she went and got her son and I got to speak into his life.
The other effect that coming off the wall has it that it always leaves you frustrated and often depressed. The enemy isn't calling you down to help you with your problems, but to magnify them and cause you to try and figure your way out of them giving you no solutions. When the conversation is over, your problems look bigger, you're no closer to a solution, and you've been distracted from what God wanted to talk to you about.
The key to staying on the wall isn't trying harder to ignore the enemy, but rather trusting the faithful one. The last day I heard Nehemiah referenced I felt the Lord speak very clearly "Quit coming off the wall!". I felt a rush of peace and joy. It finally clicked. He said he'd "...perfect that which concerns me..."(Ps 138:8) and he was actually going to do it. That by his grace I could be free to pursue his kingdom and righteousness, resting in the fact that "all these things will be added" to me(Matt 6:33).
The next time the enemy tries to call you off the wall, just say like Nehemiah "I am doing a great work, so I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you"(v3). When you trust in the goodness, faithfulness, and character of our God you can release your life into his hands so your's can be free to do what he has for you.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
Click here for: The Sermon by Rob Rufus That Changed My Life
Click here for other great sermons from Rob Rufus about "being established in the gift of righteousness".
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Undiluted Gospel
Romans 1:16 states that the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. This implies that there is something about the message that when preached, the Spirit of God moves and has an affect on those who believe. People are set free and sin, sickness, and all other effects of the curse are destroyed. When Philip preached the gospel in Samaria "the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in the city"(Acts 8:5-8). So one must ask, if we are preaching the gospel today, where is the power accompanying our preaching and our lives as Christians? Obviously God hasn't changed and the power in the gospel isn't diminished, so the problem must lie with us, our message, and our approach to it.
The gospel (God the father's sacrifice of his own son in our place, reconciling us to himself, not only bringing us forgiveness by exchanging our sin and guilt for Christ's righteousness, but making us a new creation, calling us his beloved children, indwelling us with his spirit and giving us the Kingdom as an inheritance.) is a gospel of grace received strictly by faith and independent of our efforts(works of the Law). "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast"(Eph 2:8-9). "But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness"(Rom 4:5). When we try to access salvation or any of the promises therein by our works we are contrary to the very nature of the gospel and will find ourselves frustrated and lacking. The Bible actually states that those who try to succeed by their works are bewitched(Gal 3:1) and cursed(Gal 3:10), because success can only come through believing.
Before Christ's coming, mankind was under the written requirements of God called the Law. Man was judged according to how he preformed and worked in regards to this law(Deut 28). His acceptance and eligibility for blessing were completely dependent upon his efforts. The purpose of the Law was to set a standard for pleasing God so high that all failed and would look to God for a savior and God provided that savior in Christ(Gal 3:24). Once we are led to Christ and become his righteousness by faith we no longer need the Law nor are we under the curses that come with failing in regards to it(Gal 3:25, Rom 7:4, 1 Tim 1:9). We are loved, accepted, in right-standing with God and blessed with every spiritual blessing(Eph 1:3-6). Therefore, when we mix our works into the gospel we try to gain something we already have, and add our failures and inabilities to the perfect accomplished work of the cross, taint it, and cause it to lose it's potency.
As just stated the purpose of the Law is to show us our inabilities to please and earn anything from God. It exists to expose failure(Rom 3:19-20), and is called a ministry of death(2 Cor 3:7).
The gospel on the other hand is success(Rom 8:31&37) and life(Jn 10:10). Therefore, if a Christian lives their life forgiven by faith in the gospel, but then tries to grow and overcome in their own efforts they are trying to mix life and death, success and failure, and will find themselves frustrated and fruitless. My argument is that if we completely rid ourselves of the works mentality and cast ourselves completely upon the grace, love, and faithfulness of God, we will find growth and victory as never before because we are leaning on the one who able and willing.
The Gospel is still the power of God unto salvation, and all the promises of our inheritance are still true and readily offered by our father. I believe when we abandon the diluted gospel mixed with striving and working, and turn to the pure Gospel of Grace by faith alone we will again see the life and city-shaking power of the Gospel.
The gospel (God the father's sacrifice of his own son in our place, reconciling us to himself, not only bringing us forgiveness by exchanging our sin and guilt for Christ's righteousness, but making us a new creation, calling us his beloved children, indwelling us with his spirit and giving us the Kingdom as an inheritance.) is a gospel of grace received strictly by faith and independent of our efforts(works of the Law). "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast"(Eph 2:8-9). "But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness"(Rom 4:5). When we try to access salvation or any of the promises therein by our works we are contrary to the very nature of the gospel and will find ourselves frustrated and lacking. The Bible actually states that those who try to succeed by their works are bewitched(Gal 3:1) and cursed(Gal 3:10), because success can only come through believing.
Before Christ's coming, mankind was under the written requirements of God called the Law. Man was judged according to how he preformed and worked in regards to this law(Deut 28). His acceptance and eligibility for blessing were completely dependent upon his efforts. The purpose of the Law was to set a standard for pleasing God so high that all failed and would look to God for a savior and God provided that savior in Christ(Gal 3:24). Once we are led to Christ and become his righteousness by faith we no longer need the Law nor are we under the curses that come with failing in regards to it(Gal 3:25, Rom 7:4, 1 Tim 1:9). We are loved, accepted, in right-standing with God and blessed with every spiritual blessing(Eph 1:3-6). Therefore, when we mix our works into the gospel we try to gain something we already have, and add our failures and inabilities to the perfect accomplished work of the cross, taint it, and cause it to lose it's potency.
As just stated the purpose of the Law is to show us our inabilities to please and earn anything from God. It exists to expose failure(Rom 3:19-20), and is called a ministry of death(2 Cor 3:7).
The gospel on the other hand is success(Rom 8:31&37) and life(Jn 10:10). Therefore, if a Christian lives their life forgiven by faith in the gospel, but then tries to grow and overcome in their own efforts they are trying to mix life and death, success and failure, and will find themselves frustrated and fruitless. My argument is that if we completely rid ourselves of the works mentality and cast ourselves completely upon the grace, love, and faithfulness of God, we will find growth and victory as never before because we are leaning on the one who able and willing.
The Gospel is still the power of God unto salvation, and all the promises of our inheritance are still true and readily offered by our father. I believe when we abandon the diluted gospel mixed with striving and working, and turn to the pure Gospel of Grace by faith alone we will again see the life and city-shaking power of the Gospel.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Where then is boasting?
The longer I walk with the Lord and dig deeper into his word, I am more and more confident in my inability and lack of understanding. The world continually says "Believe in yourself, you can do it." This mindset is not only foolish, it's unbiblical. The Word continually admonishes us to lean on and trust in him and not in ourselves. Prov 3:5 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." Even Paul who had a litany of qualifications and strengths according to the world, considered them "rubbish"(Phil 3:8).
It is God's ultimate intention and purpose that his glory is seen. Therefore he will never honor or bless anything that either retracts from his glory or gives it to another. It is in him "we live and move and have our being"(Acts 17:28). When we lose sight that he is the creator and ultimate source of even our very being, we begin to take glory for ourselves. Therefore, God in his mercy, goes out of his way to reveal to humanity our desperate need for him.
As I'm writing this, two ways in which God knocks us of the insecure foundation of ourselves come to mind. First and foremost is the Law. A man can often stand confidently in his own righteousness until his righteousness is brought to the Law. Rom 3:19 says "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God." The law strips man of any confidence in standing before God in his own merit and forces him to look outside himself for righteousness. As man looks to Christ for forgiveness and salvation, he is "justified freely by His(God's) grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus..." Rom 3:24.
Another way the Lord guides us from ourselves to him is by operating contrary to the understanding and ways of the world. 1Cor 1:27-29 "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence". Four times the Word says "The righteous shall live by faith." That means we are to live our lives based on a reality that is beyond our senses, feelings, and understanding, revealed to us through the Word of God. Again, we are forced to look away from ourselves, to trust in him, his word and his ability.
When we come to the place of abandoning self, and casting ourselves upon his righteousness, strength, and ability, we shift from and insecure, ever- changing foundation to the eternal all-powerful rock that is Christ. In this Paul wrote "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" Gal 6:14. There is no room for boasting in ourselves, but only in him and his grace.
It is God's ultimate intention and purpose that his glory is seen. Therefore he will never honor or bless anything that either retracts from his glory or gives it to another. It is in him "we live and move and have our being"(Acts 17:28). When we lose sight that he is the creator and ultimate source of even our very being, we begin to take glory for ourselves. Therefore, God in his mercy, goes out of his way to reveal to humanity our desperate need for him.
As I'm writing this, two ways in which God knocks us of the insecure foundation of ourselves come to mind. First and foremost is the Law. A man can often stand confidently in his own righteousness until his righteousness is brought to the Law. Rom 3:19 says "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God." The law strips man of any confidence in standing before God in his own merit and forces him to look outside himself for righteousness. As man looks to Christ for forgiveness and salvation, he is "justified freely by His(God's) grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus..." Rom 3:24.
Another way the Lord guides us from ourselves to him is by operating contrary to the understanding and ways of the world. 1Cor 1:27-29 "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence". Four times the Word says "The righteous shall live by faith." That means we are to live our lives based on a reality that is beyond our senses, feelings, and understanding, revealed to us through the Word of God. Again, we are forced to look away from ourselves, to trust in him, his word and his ability.
When we come to the place of abandoning self, and casting ourselves upon his righteousness, strength, and ability, we shift from and insecure, ever- changing foundation to the eternal all-powerful rock that is Christ. In this Paul wrote "But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" Gal 6:14. There is no room for boasting in ourselves, but only in him and his grace.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)