Michelle

As we’ve spent time crying out before the Lord, the Holy Spirit has been dealing with our ways. This is not the first time He’s dealt with our ways. Each time He comes, He addresses something new or digs deeper into matters of the soul.

I speak out of being reproved by Jesus for thinking and positioning myself against someone, whom I’ve considered to be undeserving of a gift. If I were to say that this individual has caused me great pain and anguish, some would agree that buying a gift for this individual would be outrageous. Oh contraire! My reasoning, which was based solely on this individual’s actions toward me, was not acceptable to Jesus and it did not allow me to justify myself.

The words: “No” wanted to leap from my mouth but Jesus stepped in and said: “Ah! Michelle, not so!” There I was, like the Pharisee, spoken of on the broadcast this week, who stood saying Jesus I’m justified before you. I saw the wickedness of my ways and in that instant, I had to turn from it, humble my heart and offer a gift to someone, who I thought was so undeserving but deserving on account of Jesus. It only took a moment for Jesus to show me that He’d given me His love on so many occasions and as I’ve received His love, I ought to show love to others, even if hurts me and they don’t deserve it. I remembered that it wasn’t about me and what I thought or felt. It was about Jesus and walking in the love that He had commanded us that He might be glorified.

The painful part of being convicted by Jesus that day was to hear His voice, though soft, filled with grief over my wicked way. It broke my heart and prevented me from acting on my feelings. I saw how wounded Jesus was because of my sin.

I told a friend that the only explanation for me changing my path and offering to buy the gift was because of Jesus and what He was doing in my heart. Things that would seem utterly foolish to others, I find myself doing out of my love for Jesus and a desire to be made like Him.

Michelle

As I review the past few days, I consider how I’ve had to be truthful with friends and relatives. What seemed like a foolish exercise to me, started with me quite awkwardly speaking up in truth to others. I think the awkward part was initially being able to raise the issues for discussion and truth telling.

I discovered that after I took the bold step of bringing up a number of issues, that needed to be addressed with different individuals, being honest and walking in truth became much easier. Sometimes, there are things that are so hard for me to talk about and in the past I’ve tip-toed around them and backed-out of standing up and being honest with people. On the flip side, I like when people can be honest with me; it brings value to the relationship. It shows me that they care about the friendship, that they’re quite gutsy and that they can walk with me in a way that’s mature.

I realize that there’s the usual uncertainty of not knowing how the other person will respond when you tell them the truth. This week, I felt a little uncomfortable when I began telling persons how I felt about certain issues and how I’ve avoided talking to them about it. I’m used to subtly dealing with things and not being very direct. Now, I look back and see the façade I created. I wanted to walk honestly with individuals but never had the courage to be honest and as a result, created an impression that everything was fine. In the past, I’ve talked with people and left their presence thinking that there was something that they just weren’t telling me.  As I write this blog, I hear in my spirit: “a just balance” and I know that Jesus is saying to me that in my dealings with others, I’m to be just and honest. I’m to be true and transparent in my relationship with others.

National Prayer Chapel Is Having a Moving Experience…

All Saints Anglican Church

Effective immediately, our meeting location has changed, as have some of meeting times and days.  Click this link for a map and more details.  Here’s the “reader’s digest” version–

New Location for All Meetings:

The facilities of All Saints Anglican Church, 14851 Gideon Drive, Woodbridge, VA 22192.  Use the “Lower Lobby” entrance from the rear parking lot.

New Meeting Times and Days:

• Sunday Prayer Meeting: NOON.  Sunday Worship Service: 12:30 PM.
• TUESDAY Prayer Meeting: 6:30 PM.  TUESDAY Worship Service: 7:30 PM.

Show Notes by Jim Kerwin for Kernels of Wheat Podcast
Episode 016 – If ‘God So Loved the World,’ Why Am I Not Allowed To?

"Come again?"

Review and Tie-Up of Last Week: 1 John 2:12-14

A “Worldly” Word Study—A First Look at 1 John 2:15-17

Different Uses of the Word World in the New Testament

• κοσμέω (kos MEH oh, kosmeo –> cosmetics)
• Pre-New Testament Greek:
• setting troops in order
• women “putting themselves in order”— clothing, make-up, etc.; adorn
• regulating
• New Testament Usage:
• Put in order
• (in the sense of trim): Matthew 25:7—Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
• Matthew 12:44—Then [the unclean spirit] says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. (|| Luke 11:25)
• Adorn, decorate
• 1 Timothy 2:9-10—Likewise, I want women to adorn them­selves with proper clothing…
• Revelation 21:2—…made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
• 1 Peter 3:3-6—Your adornment [κόσμος - kosmos - this is the noun form; see below] must not be merely external…For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn…
• Do credit to
• Titus 2:9-10—…so that they will adorn [do credit to] the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.
• κόσμος (KOHS-mohs, kosmos –> cosmos –> cosmonaut)
• Pre-New Testament Usage:
• That which is well assembled or ordered (e.g., Homer: Trojan Horse); well-integrated into the whole
• From Greek philosophy: a developing concept—the order around us –> the earth and what it contains –> all of creation –> the universe (even “ideas”). Some philosophers maintained a distinction between kosmos and ouranos (οὐρανός, oo-rah-NOHS, heaven), while others combined the two.
• Earth, humanity, the inhabited world.
• New Testament usage:
• Half of the uses of kosmos are in John’s writings (78 times)
• Earth (or perhaps a larger scale, creation)— John 1:10— He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
• Mankind: John 3:16— “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
• That order (perhaps we should say world-order) that is now alienated from its Creator and Lord, the stage of salvation history:
• James 1:27— Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
• James 4:4 (and see entire context)— You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
• John 15:19— “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”
• The Church, the ekklesia, the “called out” ones. Called out of what?
• Our relationship to “the world”—strangers, exiles, aliens (Hebrews 11:13; 1 Peter 2:11 [& 12]); also ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:19-20; Ephesians 6:20).
• Our present passage: 1 John 2:15-17—”Love not the world[-system]…”, etc.
• Hangovers from the King James—when a word other than “world” should have been used.
• οἰκουμένη (oy-kou-MEN-ay, oikoumenē) — the inhabited earth (compare Luke 2:1 KJV with NASB) or the “Roman world,” that is, the Empire.
• αἰών (ay-OWN, aiōn –> eon) — a very long segment of time; an age or era; even (in certain contexts) eternity. The adjective is αἰώνιος (ay-OWN-ee-os, aiōnios)— without beginning or ending; eternal.
• Romans 12:2—And do not be conformed to this world [lit. age], but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (nasb)
• 2 Timothy 4:10— …for Demas, having loved this present world [lit. age], has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
• Hebrews 1:2— [God]…in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world [literally, the ages].
• Hebrews 11:3— By faith we understand that the worlds [literally, the ages] were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
• Matthew 12:32—“Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age [kjv=world] or in the age [provided by translators] to come.
• Matthew 28:20—“…teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age [kjv=world].”
• Luke 20:34-36— Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age [kjv=world] marry and are given in marriage, but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age [kjv=world] and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage…
• 1 Corinthians 2:6-8— Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age [kjv=world] nor of the rulers of this age [kjv=world], who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages [kjv=world] to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age [kjv=world] has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory…
• 2 Corinthians 4:3-4— And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world [lit. age] has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
• Not the god of this world, that is, the earth, but the god of this age of the rebellious world-order
• This Is My Father’s World!
• So if “God so loved the world,” why am I not allowed to love it? Because:
• God so loved all the people in His Creation.
• We’re commanded not to love the world-order and the things it prizes and offers.
• Now that we have this background, next week we’ll look at these three verses more in depth – the warning, the dangers, and the mindset and heart-change that allow us to walk free of the world-order, the world-system.

Related Messages:

Kernels of Wheat Episode #1—Words We Think We Know

Reminder:

• Read through the First Epistle of John once a week
• Remember to substitute the phrase “the Anointed One” for Christ or Messiah for the next few weeks, to get in practice.

Next Week: Why the Impossible Is Impossible

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Pastor Ray

The Day Of God’s Judgment

Scripture Readings: Luke 19:28-44; Romans 1:1-5, 16, 18, 21;  Revelation 20:11

The crowd shouted “Hosanna” when Jesus road into Jerusalem on on the donkey. This was a cry for salvation from the Romans as well as a shout of praise!  But the leaders of Israel denied Jesus. The judgment: three million people died when Rome burned Jerusalem.

Now it is our turn.  All of us will soon face the Judgment of God!  We have a very limited time on earth and we will be held accountable. But Today we still have the Day Of Salvation open before us.

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At times, I find that transitioning into the kind of faith where I can trust Jesus to move in the physical realm is difficult or that my faith simply has no legs. I think this difficulty of mine is based on me not being able to discern God’s will in some situations. Consequently, I’m left with a shallow faith, with no legs to move me into standing my ground and transitioning into knowing that I’ve won the intercession.

Undoubtedly, this raises the issue of knowing God’s will. I’m still learning to differentiate the voice of my flesh and the voice of the devil from the voice of God. When I’m unsure, my faith is shallow.

So what do I do? Someone once said that the more you respond in simple obedience to doing the things that are right in the sight of God, the more you learn to recognize the voice of Jesus. So, I’ll keep responding and walking with Jesus but I also know that my spirit is sharpened more to His call through time spent reading the scriptures and in praying. I think the latter may, at times, require me to be relentless like the poor widow, who got the judge to execute justice on her behalf. Whatever needs to be done, I’m absolutely clear that this experience of praying through and winning the intercession has to happen more often in my life, if I’m to be a serious Christian.

By neglecting to exercise faith in the finished work of the Cross, I have suffered in the areas of healing, peace of mind, complete crucifixion of the flesh, denying all of self, and more. I have even fallen short by not trusting completely in the victory that Jesus gained over the adversary and principalities. I am strongest at receiving the victory Jesus gained by defeating sin and at accepting salvation. I am not as strong at being mindful of the entire package. The revelation of my failure was manifested as the result of the Holy Spirit’s working in me.

I was able to examine many areas of my walk where the Cross was not being applied. There is no deliverance if the Cross is not applied. The blood is enough and does not need any help from my flesh. Self improvement does not achieve the sanctification that is required in order to gain the fullness of the Holy Spirit. When witnessing for Christ I need to ensure that all of the Cross is shared.

“It was at the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart was rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight and now I am happy all of the day.”