Grace - More On Forgiveness and Friendship

Let's face it:  without having experienced the love of Christ, the human heart can be very unforgiving.  Even united to Christ, well-meaning Christians do struggle with hurts and pain others have inflicted on them.  We've learned the world's system very well:  extend a token "I forgive you" and then deny any real attempt at reconciliation (definition: the restoration of friendship).  I'm not saying that every damaged friendship can or should be restored, but I do believe that each heart in the matter should desire at least to *attempt* to reconcile with the other.  To say "I forgive you" and not attempt reconciliation is not true forgiveness.  Why?  Because that heart attitude is consistent with the spirit of the world, but not of Christ.  

When someone refuses to truly forgive you and at least attempt reconciliation, what do you do?  How are you released?  You must realize this:  they have not truly seen how Christ has forgiven and appealed to them; therefore, their denial for reconciliation and the ultimate desire to keep you in prison is not a reflection on you, it's a reflection on how they see Jesus.

There's your release:  they're holding Jesus captive to their judgment, not you.  Jesus willingly became a captive so you could be set you free.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

For another post on this, click here:  http://jdkrider.blogspot.com/2013/07/grace-forgiveness-must-extend-potential.html

Grace - Freedom from Rejection

Hello all,

Rejection is "the absence of meaningful love. Being rejected doesn't mean that there's no love involved, but that, for one reason or another, it's not fulfilling or edifying love." ~ Charles Solomon

There are some movements in Christianity which believe the acceptance found in Christ's love frees one from all need for acceptance from others and thus all potential rejection. Whether or not you agree, you must admit that we have been called to love one another. The love I speak of is not love found in the world. Even though love found in the world is powerful, God's love transcends this worldly love, because only His love can descend the depths required to truly touch the human spirit and raise it to heights which surpass the human experience. Christ is the source of love which all humans crave, and those who are united with His Spirit are led by that same Spirit to love with resources beyond their natural means. I define a Christian not as someone who professes a belief, but rather as someone whose life has become united with Christ's. The Spirit of Christ in the Christian leads them to love others, and He will do so by showing how to love others in ways meaningful to them. So, Christian, is the life of Christ in you leading you to love others, or are you withholding that love?

For those who feel rejected: the Spirit of Christ wants you to enjoy union with Him as your Source, but He has also given you others through which He demonstrates His love. He has given you both, and that is proof that you need both. If you feel rejected, it's because you have either looked to those who are not enabled, at least in the moment, to love you through the Spirit of Christ, or you haven't listened to Christ within you. Know that you are loved, and the Spirit is, in some fashion or another, besieging the fortress you have built around yourself to protect you from rejection and pain. Open up your gates and let Him in. He and those He gives you will then lovingly help you demolish your prison fortress. As you begin this process, and it will be painful, you will discover that you were never truly alone: Christ's Spirit has been with you all along, even in your cell of torture and artificial happiness; it's just that your captors hid your eyes from seeing Him.

Grace=Peace,


Jeremy

Grace - Have You Heard of Hyper Hyper-Grace?

A discussion of God's grace has come center-stage in Christianity recently, especially in the last year.  In my ministry experience, I've seen how life-changing and transforming the biblical and Spirit-revealed understanding of grace is.  It frees a person from years of condemnation and bondage to sin and sinful habits and leads them to joyfully and easily share that goodness and kindness of God with others in various ways, both natural and supernatural.  For most, they experience God as a loving Father for the first time.  This grace has certainly brought me out from under much bondage.

Sometimes one's experience of this freedom through grace may take a while to blossom, but if they can take their eyes off themselves long enough and instead consider Jesus and His life in them, they'll get it.  Testimonies to this abound, and I've given websites in previous blogs as evidence.  For those whose faith was in Christ, but previously in Moses, even Paul didn't hesitate to remind them again and again not be performance-minded (flesh-minded).  But as much joy as this administration of grace has brought me, I've also learned the painful lesson (several times!) that this freedom only comes to those actually able to unconditionally and freely receive grace by faith.  I believe that, at best, most people don't naturally trust God and would rather trust in something other than Him, including friends, religious systems, authority figures, and ultimately themselves.

Despite what they may say outwardly, I see that most, if not all, are looking for the string that, in their mind, must be attached to news that is as good as grace is.  They've become so accustomed to the combined teaching of grace/identity and law/performance that it is very difficult to believe God isn't angry at them, or that He doesn't value them more if they do more work or less if they do less, or that Christian maturity is reflected in how well they live or how committed they are to ministry and bringing souls into the Kingdom.  Those are big issues, especially that spiritual maturity is revealed in how successful one is in ministry...or if one even actively reaches out to others in Christ's name at all.  By default, we define spiritual maturity by how much one does for God.  That is not how the Bible defines spiritual maturity.  You want to be spiritually mature?  Trust like a child:  you are loved, highly favored, and in right-standing with your Father.  How much work can a child do without the parent before he becomes weary and worn-out?

The confusion which results from the combination of grace/identity and law/performance is entirely understandable...and I used to teach that way.  But after I have consumed the message that Christ is All for almost six years now, for my part, I must admit I've been very frustrated at times, not believing how such a message, which is both magnificent and simple, can so easily be ignored...and even resisted by well-meaning believers.  I've encountered much resistance and rejection because of God's grace; it took me a while to see that this was the persecution that Jesus was really talking about and that grace must be preached graciously.  Honestly, I'm more wary of believers who want to engage in theological/philosophical debate or who question with suspicion God's kindness, than I am of someone who is "living in the world" and totally away from Christ.  In truth, many believers might better be called "unbelieving believers".  Again, no condemnation--we've all been there.  But, it's really as if the combination of grace/identity and law/performance is The Matrix, from which they must be unplugged in order to truly experience freedom--a freedom in which anything is possible.

Paul thought at first that a simple lecture might convince people to trust Jesus.  Afterward, he saw that the preaching of the Gospel includes signs, miracles, and wonders.  I would add that the Gospel is also best received through relationship, not debate, and certainly not a philosophical argument.  The true work of convincing someone is Holy Spirit's realm of responsibility and expertise; I find myself a seed planter or dropper of gold nuggets at best, who sometimes even gets to see people begin to unwrap the gift of grace.  Like Paul, I have to press forward, even if it is only I who knows the true source of my comfort, because I know this message is the message Paul preached.  With it he brought so many into understanding of sonship and rest, a state in which it is God Who produces fruit (a.k.a, "works") in the life of the believer, not the believer himself.  (For another blog all together would be the truth that the "work" is actually belief.  God's grace produces the fruit of faith...and faith is the work to which we are really called.)

Moreover, I've also seen what happens when people criticize this revelation of biblical grace and call it "New Grace" (their real meaning:  Perverted Grace) or "Hyper-Grace" (their real meaning:  "Christians Gone Wild").  What I find so tragic is how these misunderstandings and arguments rob people from experiencing the freedom for which Christ died.  They just don't get that this is the same grace which forgave them, saved them, sustains them, and has made them blameless (more on that awesome word later) and is the true source of Christian "work" in the Kingdom.  (It is, in fact, Christ living through them.  So, when people criticize this message of grace, what they're really saying is that they don't believe Christ is the life of a believer without the believer first learning and adhering to the "rules".)  And yes, this same grace teaches them to say no to ungodliness.  But what is ungodliness?  It is godlessness:  believing you have no need of God and are your own God.  Does Titus 2:12 (grace) teach us to behave?  No!  It calls on us to focus on the love and grace of God--that we shouldn't try to do things in our own strength, but rather rest in the love of God for us.  Grace forgave, saved, sustains, calls blameless, and reveals itself, not us, as the Source.

That being said, I want you to know that the critics of "Hyper-Grace" didn't go far enough in their criticism.  It's true!

If "Hyper-Grace" is a name penned to speak derogatorily of this grace revolution and lead people away from those who teach "Hyper-Grace", then its creators failed to fully tackle the enormity of what has really happened.  They've revealed their short-sighted view of the true Gospel of the Grace of Jesus Christ.  I mean no condemnation in that, of course, because we all have yet to fully grasp even the grace God has revealed, much less all that is the person of Jesus.

Allow me to take you on a short journey.  I'd like to show you a few simple verses.  I'm also going to highlight a few words and define them for you:

Romans 5:15 - But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.

Romans 5:17 - For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:20 - ...where sin increased, grace abounded* all the more. (*The Greek word here is different than the "abound" we see in verse 15; note the difference.)

We truly need to understand the biblical definitions those words I've highlighted.  These definitions are taken from the AMG Complete Word Study Dictionary:

abound - perisseia - over and above; to abound richly; a superabundance; an overflowing; something above the ordinary; more than enough; to exceed fullness.

receive - lambano - to accept or receive; to take upon oneself; to take, seize, or lay hold of with force or violence.

abundance - perisseuma - abundance; that which remains over; surplus.

abounded (from verse 20) - huperperisseuo - to be over and above, exceed; to superabound; to abound exceedingly; to "hyper hyper-abound".

So, do you see my point?

Paul literally says here that grace is not just "hyper" (perisseia), but he reveals that it's actually hyper hyper-grace (huperperisseuo).

Paul uses the word perisseia, which already means to super-abound or to be hyper, and then he says that grace actually even goes way more than that.  It super super-abounds!  It's extremely extreme.  It super-exceeds fullness.  It's superly-abounding super-rich!

This amazing word, huperperisseuo, only occurs twice in the Bible.  The other instance is 2 Corinthians 7:4 - ...I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction.

I hope that was a blessing to you.  In my next post for you, I'm chewing on something which I believe addresses why some aren't able to freely receive the super-abounding grace of God, but are unwittingly accepting just enough grace to get by in life.  I'll give you a hint:  an example is found in the context of 2 Cor. 7:4, which I showed you just above.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Addressing the Lie that Grace Makes Christians Lazy and Self-involved

Why do I preach grace?  Because Jesus is grace, and that's the truth.

Some of you will not read further than that.  But I hope the rest of you will continue on.

Jesus is grace (Hebrew:  kaná; Greek:  xáris.  They both refer to God freely extending Himself.)

Jesus is truth (John 14:6 - alétheia:  reality, fact, the opposite of illusion).

Those who receive His grace will reign in life (Romans 5:17) and will be as fruitful as Paul, through whom Christ worked (1 Corinthians 15:10 - "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me").

I preach grace because it produces faith.  "So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ." (Romans 10:17).

The idea that grace makes people lazy and do nothing for God is lie that is a scheme of the accuser.  It is no new trick; this accusation has been around for a very long time:

Galatians 3:2-3 - "Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?"

Galatians 3:5 - "...He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"

Galatians 2:17 - "But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!"

In Galatians we see that Paul is in part addressing the accusations of the religious Jews against the early Christians.  He's also addressing the wavering belief of the Galatians, who were thinking they should add something from their former religion to their faith in the gospel of the grace of Christ (Galatians 1:6).  The religious leaders were accusing the Christians, because the Christians were no longer sacrificing in the temple and adhering to the covenantal ceremonies handed down from Moses.

But I'm not sure that is the thing that really ticked the religious leaders off.  Because here is what happened when Jesus and His grace was preached:

Acts 2:41, 47- "Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them....And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."

Acts 6:13 - "They put forward false witnesses who said, 'This man [Stephen] incessantly speaks against this holy place and the Law.'"

Acts 18:13 - "This man [Paul] persuades men to worship God contrary to the law."

The religious leaders saw how explosively the Christian church grew when Christ was the focus, not Moses or the Law.  Keeping people under Law gives leaders power over them.  But those in Christ are free!

The word of Christ was being preached, calling people to rethink their beliefs about God and thus rest in their persuasion that Christ was the perfect and final sacrifice which secured ALL the blessings!  The religious leaders were jealous, they weren't able to control any longer those who had become Christians, and I believe the fruit of that jealousy continues on in this resistance to grace by those who cite nameless examples of people misusing grace.

On the contrary, the people I know who have accepted and received this grace message are far more active and fruitful than most Christians I know.  In this list of people, I include all of my friends who have traveled with Randy Clark's ministry, Global Awakening, or are/were students at the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry.  Both ministries move in signs and wonders and those who have participated with them expect the miraculous to happen...and it does.

Why?  Because they rest in grace.  Most other Christian ministries I know do good humanitarian work, but the power of God for healing is mostly absent.  And if signs and wonders do happen, they credit their own holy fervor, their fasting, their hours of prayer and selfless sacrifice to moving God to perform wonders.  That is not the Gospel!  Listen to how Paul describes his "work" for the Gospel:

Romans 5:18,19 - "For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient—in mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem and round about to Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ."

As I cited above in 1 Cor. 15:10, Paul said it was GRACE and ONLY grace.  Do we really need anything in our ministries other than Jesus Himself?  I genuinely believe that those who have added their own efforts and sincerity to faith in Christ are offended at us who see only Jesus.  I believe it angers them that the gospel is sooo easy.  But Paul underscores this reality:

Galatians 5:2 - "Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you."

What was the need for circumcision?  It was the method through which the blessing of God would be assured in the first covenant.  BUT NOT THE NEW.

Churches today may not require circumcision, but our religious leaders have heaped upon us method upon method, scripture upon scripture taken out of context, to persuade us that through what we do we will be blessed.  They would have us take our eyes off of Jesus.  I, for one, refuse to add anything to Jesus.  And that thrills me, because Jesus is exactly what everyone needs.  Does someone need hope?  Jesus is hope!  Does someone need healing?  Jesus is healing.

As for grace making people lazy:

People buy into this lie that "grace makes people lazy" because they don't understand what true rest is.  True rest is absolute persuasion about Jesus that leads to trust in Him; it is the condition of FAITH.  Faith IS rest (Hebrews 4:9-11).  It is an attitude and condition of the heart, and a spiritual reality, but that does not mean that work never gets done.

Noah, whose very name means "rest", spent as much as 75 years building the ark, through which God saved mankind.  Noah worked, but he was ultimately in a state of rest (salvation in the ark, or the foreshadow of Christ).

Paul, whose name means small or humble, clearly stated that he rested and Christ worked in and through him (See above).

So, if you still believe that the grace message produces lazy people, I suggest that you check out the webpages of Global Awakening (http://globalawakening.com/testimonies) and Bethel Church in Redding, CA (http://www.ibethel.org/testimonies).  For the most part, these two ministries preach grace.  At least certainly that healing and supernatural signs and wonders are still active today because of a loving God Who freely does them through people who actually believe in His name (His essence, the manifestation or revelation of His character, the revelation that flows out of being in His presence).

I've listed these two testimony webpages in my blog before, so if you haven't seen them, look for yourself.  See the number of lives impacted.  But don't do so as a cynic; don't discredit and refuse to believe in these things because you haven't seen them happen around you.

I tell you the truth, God is doing things outside your sphere of experience, and if you knew first-hand these things to be truly happening, you would no longer discredit grace, but your love for people will explode as you realize that God is far more good to us than you have previously known.

(And that sin issue, with which you've been struggling and rededicating your efforts against for so long, will fall away as you realize the grace of Christ has ALREADY given you freedom.  That's why I preach grace!)

I dare you to do the research!

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Faith is Difficult!

...well, not exactly!

Charles Spurgeon says:

"If faith seems difficult, it is possible that God the Holy Spirit will enable you to believe if you hear very frequently and earnestly that which you are commanded to believe.  We believe many things because we have heard them so often.  Do you not find it so in common life, that if you hear a thing fifty times a day, at last you come to believe it?  Some men have come to believe very unlikely statements by this process, and therefore I do not wonder that the good Spirit often blesses the method of often hearing the truth, and uses it to work faith concerning that which is to be believed.  It is written, 'Faith cometh by hearing'; therefore hear often.  If I earnestly and attentively hear the gospel, one of these days I shall find myself believing that which I hear, through the blessed operation of the Spirit of God upon my mind.  Only mind you hear the gospel, and do not distract your mind with either hearing or reading that which is designed to stagger you."

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Whom Are You Considering?

You may have noticed, but most of my recent posts have been sent to you simply as a link to that post.  I discontinued mailing out the whole post via e-mail, and this is an exception.  Perhaps the best way to receive my posts would be to subscribe via the window "Follow By Email" under the Live Fee window on the right.  I hope you take the time to read these posts.  Feedback is always welcomed and desired!  And now, the post...

Thomas gets a bad rap from people in the area of faith.  He's called "Thomas the Doubter" and has been cited as an example of what we Christians should not be.  Here are recorded conversations Jesus and he had:

John 14:4-6 - "'And where I go you know, and the way you know.'”  Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?'  Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life.No one comes to the Father except through Me.'"

And then, after the resurrection:

John 20:27-29 - "Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.'  Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!'  Jesus said to him, 'Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.'"

If I were to give a critique of Thomas' questions, I would say that in the first instance Thomas wanted to know a process, but Jesus pointed to Himself, a person.  (That sentence deserves its own post, but let me move on!)  I can understand that, because our first tendencies are to want to know the plan, the steps, or the principles to anything important to us in life.  We want things lined up properly.  In fact, the nature of the Old Covenant show us just how attracted we are to a list:

Isaiah 28:13 - So the word of the Lord to them will be, “Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there,..."

I always laugh when I hear preachers quote this passage as an example of how to obey God and "grow" in "faith".  Why do I laugh?  Because that verse has nothing to do with the New Covenant.  It is, in fact, a snare for the people...

"...that they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive." (Isaiah 28:13)

Look, there's more! 

Isaiah 28:12 - "He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,” And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.

The list was given because people refused to rest and trust God.  Read Hebrews 4 for greater understanding about that.  So, I can't fault Thomas at all; in this passage he merely demonstrates how we all want a list, instead of just resting, as we see our Father tells us to do.

As for the second instance found in John 20, I'm not convinced that the normal interpretation of this passage is correct.  We've all heard the subliminal message saying that those who believe without seeing are somehow more blessed than those do believe, but only after seeing.  I believe this passage is referring to something else entirely.  Why do I say this?  Because there is a difference between seeing the promise and the Promiser.

Look at how Abraham and Sarah saw the Promiser and based their faith on Him, not the promise:

Hebrews 11:11 - "By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised."

Hebrews 11:19 - "He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead..."

Paul agrees with this:

2 Corinthians 3:4-5 - "Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God...."

Hebrews 3:1-2 - "Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He [Jesus] was faithful to Him [the Father] who appointed Him."

In the four passages above, we can easily see that biblical faith is founded in a person, not an action.  Jesus says that those who don't see and still believe are blessed, but I do not believe He meant to contrast them with Thomas, who did see, as we have come to read this verse.  Moreover, I believe it's wrong to set that precedent and subtly shame people for a "lack of faith", especially when one's understanding of faith itself may quite well be unbiblical.  Faith has nothing to do with how well or earnestly one believes--but more on that later.

How can we honestly read into this passage that it's better to believe without seeing than to see and then believe?  That stealthily puts the burden on us, but hear me:  No one can believe in Jesus without first seeing Him.  For one to have faith in Christ, His grace and reality must be given by revelation, and only Holy Spirit can do that--and He has done that for the whole world!  Man must choose to accept or reject, but only Holy Spirit can reveal.

Isaiah 9:2 - "The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them."

John 1:9, 11, 14 - "There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man....  He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him....  And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Titus 2:11 - "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men...."

So, what is Jesus talking about when he mentions those who will believe without seeing?  He is referring to all those who would be brought into the Kingdom through His life in the apostles:

John 17:18-21 - "As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.  I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me."

May this post bless you.  Since we've talked a bit about belief in this post, I'll give you a little teaser for a future post:

There is no such thing as unbelief!

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - It Naturally Leads to the Supernatural

"A church that is walking in the revelation of God’s awesome grace will be seeing the the captives freed and the dead raised. The poor may be getting food parcels, but they’ll also be getting the good news preached to them and it will be setting them free. The sick may be getting hospital visits, but they’ll also be getting healed by believers who believe that they have authority to heal in Jesus’ name." - Paul Ellis

To me, there are at least three things in institutionalized Christianity that are severely lacking:

1.  A biblical understanding of the true gospel of the grace of Jesus Christ, resulting in continuous, incredible, joyful worship;

2.  A biblical understanding and experience of the spiritual union of the believer and Jesus Christ (i.e., the effect and result of having died and been resurrected to new life in Christ) and freedom from temptation and sin;

3.  The biblical truth and factual experiences in the world which clearly reveal that Christ's Spirit moves regularly in partnership with believers through signs, miracles, and wonders, and that God's grace makes doing such supernatural things easy.

The ministries of ALL the apostles and even those they brought to Jesus show that the greco-roman intellect of man has stifled the three points above.

I pray that you will come to be dissatisfied with the form of Christianity embraced by so many, but which is unable to demonstrate power in each of these points.  If you have never prayed for someone and them experience healing immediately, it's not because the power for that is unavailable to you; it's because you haven't believed in "His name".   

You should ask yourself, "Why hasn't anyone experienced the full range of God's power through me and what can I do to change that?"

People don't need a new church program, intellectual study, conference or retreat, or theological degree.  The world is searching for God's power and we owe them an encounter with God's power.

Grace=Peace,

Jeremy

Grace - Two Incredible Videos on Sex Slavery

Hi,

If you saw Darren Wilson's movie "Furious Love" and were affected by
the portions of it that dealt with sex slavery, then you NEED to see
the two documentaries below, available in their full length online.

"Every Day in Cambodia" (CNN's own exposé on a ministry highlighted
in "Furious Love") THIS IS A MUST WATCH. But be warned, if you are a
man and consider yourself a PROTECTOR of women, your blood will boil
as you watch this documentary by CNN. Click here:
http://youtu.be/3oQX1DT71x4

"Nefarious: Merchant of Souls", Click here: http://youtu.be/cv8YC9KGhGE


Sincerely,


Jeremy