Wayne's Wold...(21Jun09)

Destroying stress and anxiety, and abiding in peace, rest and trust.

 

Wayne Duncan 

 

4 keys to seeing your peace.

 

4 keys to destroy anxiety.

 

4 keys to destroy stress.

 

4 keys to entering rest.

 

4 keys to abiding in the realm of trusting God. 

 

1)      We are in a covenant of peace.

It's essential to understand the covenant were in. Under the old covenant, God was angry for His people for their disobedience towards Him. He would be angry with their sin and rebellion, and would hide himself from them. God would raise up enemies against Israel. He would cause famine, he would cause lack. There was often death and destruction for disobedience! There was wrath, there was judgement! 

 

Through the perfect sacrifice and propitiation of Jesus, were now stand in permanent right standing with God. We've entered the eternal covenant of peace. 

 

Lets look at Isaiah 54, set against chapter 53, all about Jesus, and what He did.

 

Isaiah 54:5 For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. 6For the LORD has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God. 7For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. 8In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you," says the LORD, your Redeemer. 9"This is like the days of Noah(Some manuscripts For this is as the waters of Noah)  to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. 10For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you. 11"O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires.(Or lapis lazuli)  12I will make your pinnacles of agate,(Or jasper, or ruby)  your gates of carbuncles,(Or crystal)  and all your wall of precious stones. 13All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children. 14In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. 15If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you. 16Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy; 17no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication(Or righteousness)  from me, declares the LORD."  

 

We see a few things here.

 

7For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you. 8In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you," says the LORD, your Redeemer

 

God says there was a time when he looked at man in anger, and Hid His face.

 

This was the age of the law, the old covenant.

 

But through love and compassion, he created redemption, where the anger could be removed in Jesus.

 

9"This is like the days of Noah(Some manuscripts For this is as the waters of Noah)  to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you. 

 

Here God takes an oath, never to be angry with us, through the finished work of the cross.

 

Now we need to see that it was an oath. There is a difference between an oath and a covenant. A covenant requires two parties. It has obligations, requirements, demands, and then promises when those demands are met. An oath is different. An oath is sworn by one party. It is only as strong as the person who makes the oath. Here God swears by Himself. When God makes an oath, nothing can stop it from happening. If God were not to fulfill His oath, he would have to cease to exist to be God, fro he would have become powerless, unfaith full and a liar. But praise God, as the scriptures say, "even if we are faithless, He is faithful." 

 

Here God says, this is like the days of Noah…what happened then? God made an oath to never again destroy the earth with water!  

 

So an oath sworn by God happens no matter what! 

 

What did God swear by oath here? 

 

9"This is like the days of Noah(Some manuscripts For this is as the waters of Noah)  to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you, and will not rebuke you

 

God swears that he will not be angry with us! Wow how amazing is that! Because our failing and sin fall on Jesus at the cross, we go free and do not sit under the anger of God.

 

Let me ask you a question….have you ever seen a mountain removed? No, and you never will.

 

10For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

 

God says that this eternal covenant of peace will never be removed.

 

Here we see that love, peace and compassion are the eternal permanent inheritance to the believer.

 

But Wayne, surely God will harm me, and bring disaster to me to teach me to be better, to teach me to be a better Christian? Lets look at verse 14-17.

 

. 14In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. 15If anyone stirs up strife, it is not from me; whoever stirs up strife with you shall fall because of you. 16Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals and produces a weapon for its purpose. I have also created the ravager to destroy; 17no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication(Or righteousness)  from me, declares the LORD."

 

This says, God will deliver us from fear, from terror and from strife. How'[s this verse…"if anyone stirs up strife, it is nor from me". This is great assurance.

 

You see if we don't understand this, when strife comes we accept it instead of reject it. Turmoil and strife are illegitimate authorities in our lives, we can resist them, and partner with eachother God to see them destroyed. But if we say "God has caused it", we move out of faith into a realm where there is no contention for change.

 

This also causes loss of relationship with God. For every bad thing that comes along is from God. Therefore we do not draw near to God, for we have all always fallen short somewhere in our lives. No the Good News of the gospel is that even though we have made mistakes, we still have peace with God for it is an eternal covenant!

 

Even while he is working powerfully in us, helping us to change, helping us to grow, teaching us to become who we are, empowering us to overcome sin and bondages…even as all that happens we have peace with God, and His anger is removed from us, for it fell on Jesus.

 

What God had effectively created is the environment for change, without the loss of relationship.

 

17no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, and you shall confute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD and their vindication(Or righteousness)  from me, declares the LORD."

 

Do you know that no weapon fashioned against you will succeed! Faith in this promise releases power into the promise, and that power is released into the situation. Even in the absence of power there is Gods great power permanently at work, guarding and fighting over us, and Jesus is our permanent intercessor.

 

This is our heritage, this is our vindication from God.

 

So know and see this, we have entered an eternal covenant of peace with God. The dividing wall of hostility has been removed, we have peace with God in which we now stand.

 

This is understanding is essential to destroying stress and anxiety in life. For we must believe that God is not punishing us with stress and anxiety for our wrong, but that instead, His will for us is to live in the peace and love and acceptance Jesus bought us through the cross.

 

Knowing this positions our minds and hearts to see and fight for the promises we see in the bible.

 

How can we fight for joy when we believe God is making us sad?

 

How can we fight for healing when we believe God is making us sick to punish us?

 

How can we trust God for our futures when we believe He is still angry with us.

 

Not seeing the finished work of the cross…robs the faith God wants us to have in our future.

 

Key 2…God is in your future.

 

God wants you to have faith in Him.

 

Faith in God is not believing that he exists. Faith in God is believing that God is Good, and that His every intention towards you is Good!

 

Much stress and anxiety comes when we look forward into our future, and we anticipate a day in which God is not good. We project a day ahead where God will not be our provider, lover or father. Not seeing the Goodness of God in our future then manifest in fear and anxiety.

 

But seeing God in our future, and knowing that in that future he will always be a good God, faithful to His covenant, to be our God and to love and care for us…we see all strife dissipate, all anxiety over the future dissolve, and we enter rest over the fear of an uncertain future.

 

Oh beloved if only we could see how precious we are to Him, and how much he loves us, and how committed to us he is!

 

This is how God sees your future.

 

11For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, 14I will be found by you, declares the LORD

 

Friends, God has a plan for you…his plan if for your wholeness!

 

That means that every area of your life will be whole. Every area mentally, physically and emotionally..wholeness, this is His plan.

 

God has hope for our future, for he has a future for us! He is in our future. There will never be a day or a moment where He will not be there right beside us.

 

Does this mean we will not face hardship, or storms or turmoil? No not at all! In fact Jesus said, in this life you will have turmoil. But we know that the turmoil is not from God, ne does not cause it for us, and he certainly does not abandon us when we go through hard times.

 

The power of this promise is that while storms rage and hard times are real, we can carry peace and joy. That is a sign and a wonder.

 

This scripture tells us that any heartfelt cry to God will release His presence over you.

 

I also love that its God initiative that causes the response in us to want Him more. He says when we see that he has a plan, when we see that he has hope , when we see that He is in our future…then we will come to Him…then we will call on him with all our hearts…when we see who He is clearly, we run to Him to find strength.

 

Have faith in God, know that He is Good. Know that he is not angry with you, but had made drastic plans to ensure our eternal covenant of peace with Him.

 

Know that everyday, God will be in the day. His love and favor is with you, His protection is with you, His love and guidance are with you, and if He is for you, who can be against you?

 

Get this, God loves you. That's the hope of our future

 

Romans 8:39

32He 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? 

 

Were being drawn by His perfume, His love for us, His pure Goodness!

 

 

 

 

Wayne's World...(14Jun09)

Sin and the sinner.

 

Wayne Duncan

 

There are essentially two problems with fallen man. One problem is what separates man from God. The other problem is the effects of that sin on man. The good news of the Gospel is that God himself took the initiative…Jesus has effectively dealt with both these problems through the finished work of the cross.

 

Lets look firstly at the problem of sin.

 

The bible says all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. So the sin problem is common to all man. Everyone has sinned. This sin becomes a problem when it comes to the reconciliation of man to God. No-one who is contaminated by sin can stand before a holy God. This creates quite a problem for every person. So in His great love and mercy, God the father made a way for reconciliation between God and His created, man. He removed the barrier that sin made.

 

What did God do?

 

2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

 

God reconciled us to Himself, not counting mans sins against him.

 

God did everything need to restore the broken relationship, and remove the dividing wall of hostility. Father was in Christ reconciling us to Him. How, by making Christ sin, so we might become the righteousness of Christ.

 

Our sins have been forgiven at the cross. Past present and future sins cancelled at the cross.

 

At this point I'd like to enter an explanation of the difference between mercy and grace.

 

Mercy is us not getting what we deserve!

 

Do we deserve punishment for our sin? Yes.

 

Do we deserve rejection from God? Yes.

 

Do we deserve God wrath? Yes.

 

Do we get those things…No!

 

Mercy means we don't get those things, for they fell on Jesus at the cross.

 

It's the part in the above scripture where Jesus becomes sin for us.2 Cor 5

 

When he became sin Jesus got what He did not deserve!

 

Did Jesus deserve punishment for sin. No!

 

Did Jesus deserve rejection from God? No!

 

Did Jesus deserve rejection from God..No! Did he get it, Yes!

 

Because of what Jesus went through, we receive mercy from God. We do not get what we deserve.

 

But there is more. It does not stop there!

 

We also receive what we do not deserve…and that is grace.

 

Do we deserve to receive right standing before God?

 

Do we deserve every blessing?

 

Do we deserve healing?

 

Do we deserve wholeness?

 

Do we deserve reconciliation with God?

 

Do we deserve abundant favor with God?

 

Do we deserve power to live the normal Christian life?

 

We don't deserve any of these things, yet God gives them to us freely through the finished work of the cross. How awesome is God mercy and grace?

 

Our sin is dealt with, and the sinner receives the blessing.

 

Another way to look at it is like this. When we believe in Jesus we become justified, and we become righteous.

 

Romans 4:1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? 2If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about--but not before God. 3What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." 4Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: 7"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."

 

Here we see God justifies the wicked. This is our Gospel…our God justifies the wicked! He declares guilty people free through Jesus!

 

We also see we are made righteous through faith.

 

What does this mean.

 

Well let's get back to the two problems. Sin and the sinner.

 

Justification deals effectively with the problem of sin. Were justified. Which means "Just-as-if- id" never sinned!

 

: 7"Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 8Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."

 

These are some of the sweetest words in the bible, "God does not count our sins against us".

 

That is mercy, that is Justification. That is the problem of sin effectively dealt with!

 

Does that mean we just go on sinning...no because of who we now are, the new creation. Righteous and eager to do good. We don't carry on living foolishly or be in bondage to the devastation effects of sin, for we've received grace to live how we desire to live. We have the literal power of God running through our veins, and we can live by the law of the spirit written on our hearts.

 

 Justification deals with the sin, but righteousness deals with the sinner. When we are made righteous, we are literally changed. We are changed into new creations whose default setting is to do good and follow God. We are set free from the power of sin so that we may now freely follow God and be lead by the Holy Spirit in all we do. As we are lead we be who we are, we be who we were created to be, slaves to righteousness.

 

Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

 

So justification deals with sin, effectively removing the sin. Righteousness gives us a new nature, actually a new spirit, that spirit is made perfect forever, and is in perfect fellowship with God.

 

Do you know that. Your spirit is perfect. It lacks nothing. God will do nothing to your spirit when you go to heaven. It's perfect. As you see who you are you'll become it. Live from who you really are.

 

Before we go on we need some scripture here, because I can hear someone say…but am I truly perfect?

 

Hebrews 10:14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

 

Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23and to the assembly(Or church)  of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,

 

Through Jesus we are made perfect forever. By one sacrifice we are made perfect forever.

 

Hebrews 10, were perfect and we are being sanctified. Yes, although we are perfect, His work continues in us.

 

Titus 2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

 

His work continues in us. But the way this whole thing works, is that while he works in us, while by His grace we are changed. He sees us as perfect.

 

Know this the work is not in the spirit. It's in the mind and the flesh.

 

The flesh has appetites, the mind has stinking thinking. Sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit, as He brings correction to that thinking, and gives us power over the desires of the flesh. That work will continue until we die!

 

But in our spirits we are made perfect forever.

 

So "For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. " makes perfect sence.

 

This is how God sees us.

 

What we need to see is this picture. Jesus holds us in His hands, and presents us to the father. The Father sees us a blameless and perfect in His sight. For he sees us through  Jesus perfect sacrifice.

 

Jude 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

 

Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him

 

Sin is removed by the mercy of God, were now blameless this is Justification…sin effectively dealt with.

 

Were made righteous, given a new nature. Full of the power of God, eager to do what is right and good. Power over sin, power over the flesh. The spirit now actively involved at destroying stinking thinking.

 

Were now presented blameless and perfect by Jesus, before the father. Made perfect forever and perfect in His sight.

 

The two problems sin and the sinner changed, powerfully, effectively forever! This is our great salvation. This was always the intent of our God that this day would come, where we are now reconciled and one with Him, through Jesus. Amen.

 

Why did He do all this? He loves you! He desires intimacy and friendship with you now, and fellowship forever, with you, for He loves you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well Done

Col 1:5  For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and, bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:

 

The scripture was read to us last night and I had such joy at the thought of how the Holy Spriit has caused the wonderful gospel of grace to spread so rapidly over the past two years and how the grace revalution is gaining more momentem.

 

I salute all you Gospel of Grace warriors. You are fighting the good fight of rest. Allowing Him to labour well through you.

Your effort and sacrifice has brought much freedom. God bless you, even more.

I feel that the Father would say well done my sons.(p.s. we are all sons and brides...)

 

Grace and peace to you all.