Wayne's World... (12 Apr09)

Resurrection reflections…

 

Wayne Duncan

 

1)      To help us believe and therefore become righteous.

 

Romans 4 (the whole Chapter)

20No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." 23But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, 24but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

 

2)      He was crucified for our sins…but raised up for our justification.

 

Romans 4 It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification

 

3)      To demonstrate the power of life within you.

 

Romans 8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

 

4)      So we may walk in the newness of life

 

Romans 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

 

5)      To die to the law, and be raised to fruitfulness.

 

Romans 7:4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.

 

6)      He was raised to a ministry of intercession

 

Romans 8:34 Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us

 

7)      To show He has the power to raise us up.

 

I Corinthians 6:14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.

 

8)      To fulfill scripture and prophecy

 

I Corinthians 15:4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

 

9)      To Purchase our heavenly citizenship

 

Ephesians 2:6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

 

10)   To make Christ the head of the church

 

Ephesians 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

 

11)   To show us the degree of power at work in us

 

19and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

 

12)   To secure for us our inheritance.

 

18having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might

 

We can be certain that He has the power to give us what he has promised. The full inheritance.

 

 

 

 

John Piper

The Goal of God's Love May Not Be What You Think It Is
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By John Piper October 14, 2000

Do people go to the Grand Canyon to increase their self-esteem? Probably not. This is, at least, a hint that the deepest joys in life come not from savoring the self, but from seeing splendor. And in the end even the Grand Canyon will not do. We were made to enjoy God.

We are all bent to believe that we are central in the universe. How shall we be cured of this joy-destroying disease? Perhaps by hearing afresh how radically God-centered reality is according to the Bible.

Both the Old and New Testament tell us that God's loving us is a means to our glorifying him. "Christ became a servant ... in order that the nations might glorify God for his mercy" (Romans 15:8-9). God has been merciful to us so that we would magnify him. We see it again in the words, "In love [God] destined us to adoption ... to the praise of the glory of His grace" (Ephesians 1:4-6). In other words, the goal of God's loving us is that we might praise him. One more illustration from Psalm 86:12-13: "I will glorify your name forever. For your lovingkindness toward me is great." God's love is the ground. His glory is the goal.

This is shocking. The love of God is not God's making much of us, but God's saving us from self-centeredness so that we can enjoy making much of him forever. And our love to others is not our making much of them, but helping them to find satisfaction in making much of God. True love aims at satisfying people in the glory of God. Any love that terminates on man is eventually destructive. It does not lead people to the only lasting joy, namely, God. Love must be God-centered, or it is not true love; it leaves people without their final hope of joy.

Take the cross of Christ, for example. The death of Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of divine love: "God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). Yet the Bible also says that the aim of the death of Christ was "to demonstrate [God's] righteousness, because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed" (Romans 3:25). Passing over sins creates a huge problem for the righteousness of God. It makes him look like a judge who lets criminals go free without punishment. In other words, the mercy of God puts the justice of God in jeopardy.

So to vindicate his justice he does the unthinkable - he puts his Son to death as the substitute penalty for our sins. The cross makes it plain to everyone that God does not sweep evil under the rug of the universe. He punishes it in Jesus for those who believe.

But notice that this ultimately loving act has at the center of it the vindication of the righteousness of God. Good Friday love is God-glorifying love. God exalts God at the cross. If he didn't, he could not be just and rescue us from sin. But it is a mistake to say, "Well, if the aim was to rescue us, then we were the ultimate goal of the cross." No, we were rescued from sin in order that we might see and savor the glory of God. This is the ultimately loving aim of Christ's death. He did not die to make much of us, but to free us to enjoy making much of God forever.

It is profoundly wrong to turn the cross into a proof that self-esteem is the root of mental health. If I stand before the love of God and do not feel a healthy, satisfying, freeing joy unless I turn that love into an echo of my self-esteem, then I am like a man who stands before the Grand Canyon and feels no satisfying wonder until he translates the canyon into a case for his own significance. That is not the presence of mental health, but bondage to self.

The cure for this bondage is to see that God is the one being in the universe for whom self-exaltation is the most loving act. In exalting himself - Grand Canyon-like - he gets the glory and we get the joy. The greatest news in all the world is that there is no final conflict between my passion for joy and God's passion for his glory. The knot that ties these together is the truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Jesus Christ died and rose again to forgive the treason of our souls, which have turned from savoring God to savoring self. In the cross of Christ, God rescues us from the house of mirrors and leads us out to the mountains and canyons of his majesty. Nothing satisfies us - or magnifies him - more.

Wayne's World...(3Apr09)

You are a royal king!

 

1 Peter 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar, people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light

 

G1588 ἐκλεκτόςeklektosek-lek-tos' (CHOSEN)

From G1586; select; by implication favorite: - chosen, elect.

 

G1085γένος (GENERATION)

genos ghen'-os

From G1096; "kin" (abstractly or concretely, literally or figuratively, individually or collectively): - born, country (-man), diversity, generation, kind (-red), nation, offspring, stock.

 

G934βασίλειος basileios bas-il'-i-os(ROYAL)

From G935; kingly (in nature): - royal.

 

G40 ἅγιος hagios hag'-ee-os  (HOLY)

From ἅγος hagos, sacred (physically pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially consecrated): - (most) holy (one, thing), saint.

 

G4047περιποίησιςperipoiēsisper-ee-poy'-ay-sis (PECULIAR)

From G4046; acquisition (the act or the thing); by extension preservation: - obtain (-ing), peculiar, purchased, possession, saving.

 

YOU ARE PURCHASED TO BE GODS FAVOURITE ROYAL KING

 

Rom 5:17  For if by one man's offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

 

G936

βασιλεύωbasileuōbas-il-yoo'-o (REIGN)

From G935; to rule (literally or figuratively): - king, reign.

 

We reign in life with kingly anointing, through the abundance of grace, and the gift of righteousness!!!It's our inheritance through the blood of Jesus, a free gift.

 

You are a king!

 

 

Wayne's World...(31Mar09)

Hi friends this chap sends me his weekly devotional...he also has a website listed in the mail, ive found his messages helpful, and though you might too..
 
Wayno

 

 

Can Christians be Demon Possessed?
(All Bible verses quoted are from the New King James Version)

 

Without a doubt this is the wrong question. It's not about whether demons can influence or attack Christians, the correct question is: Where do demons get their power from? I have seen believing, Holy Spirit filled Christians frothing at the mouth, screaming and convulsing when the demons leave them. How can this be? Were they not truly converted (born again)? Or is there more to it?

 

Amazingly some ministries wilfully and purposely set out to engage the enemy, Satan. They actually go out and look for him, constantly trying to rebuke and defeat Satan on all territories and fronts. However, this is merely one of the many ways that Satan uses to distract Christians from their true purpose, which is to have a relationship with the Father.

 

Satan and his demons were defeated at the cross, and God made a public spectacle of them by marching them in front of all their enemies in a victorious parade (Col 2:15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it). They were completely DISARMED. So where do they now get their weapons from? How can they attack believing Christians? Note that a demon cannot possess a Christian, because the Holy Spirit lives inside us, and is one with our spirit (1 Cor 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him). And a demon can not co-exist in the same place as the Holy Spirit.

 

But demons attach themselves to our minds and our bodies and bring about destruction in our minds by influencing our thoughts with depression, sinicism, unbelief, self pity, etc. and they also bring about destruction in our bodies by infirmities & diseases. Christians "re-arm" these defeated demons by submitting to the law. The power of the law is sin (1 Cor 15:56  The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law). When Christians go back under the yoke of slavery, namely The Law (see Gal 5), they empower a defeated foe. They allow condemnation, depression, guilt and heaviness to come back on them, all the things Christ died to set us free from! When Christ died on the cross, the law (including the 10 commandments) with all its requirements were nailed to the cross with Jesus (Col 2:14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross). There is now no more law, and where there is no law, there is no transgression of the law (Rom 4:15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression).

 

Hi friends this chap sends me his weekly devotional...he also has a website listed in the mail, ive found his messages helpful, and though you might too..
 
Wayno

 

"If there is no more law then, it means that sin has no more power over us (see 1 Cor 15:56 above again). The law points out our mistakes, it shows us we are not worthy of God's grace and it makes us feel incompetent, which is exactly what it was designed to do! We would not have known what sin was if it were not for the law. Rom 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

 

So when a believer (that has been freed from the law by simply believing in Christ) now puts himself/herself again under this yoke of bondage, how can they expect anything else than to feel condemned, depressed, incompetent, guilt ridden, unworthy and burdened? If we try to do the very thing which Christ died to set us free from (observing the law), how can we expect anything else than to be attacked by the enemy and his army of demons? We put the weapons right into their hands!!

 

The most effective way to cast out these unclean spirits from a believer is by simply ministering to the person the message of grace (unbelievers have to come into Christ first). Prove to the person from God's Word they have been made completely righteous (2 Cor 5:21) and have been freed from the requirements of the law (Rom 7:1-6). And you will watch those cowardly, defeated spirits go!!!

 

Yours in Grace
Andre van der Merwe

www.newcovenantgrace.com