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Saturday, July 25, 2009 Repent–An Editorial Sent to the BHP NewsChronicle Repent Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! I am writing about the current state of affairs in America and the World. Things go better if people obey God and live by His Word. Think of a world where there was no crime, all were humble, we thought of others first, we loved and lived in justice, and we were all righteous. AIDS would all but die out in a generation because we abstained until marriage and were faithful to our spouse– of the opposite sex. But we are living in a time of lies and confusion. Truth has been subtly twisted, and now many of us have fallen for a new doctrine that calls evil good and good evil. A case in point is where the beauty pageant contestant was vilified for her righteous comments on belief in marriage being between a man and a woman, and the homosexual who proud of his flagrant sin seems to be lauded somehow. Let’s be clear, God’s Word defines right and wrong, and the scripture calls homosexuality an abomination (Lev 18:22). Gal 5:19-21 states that the sexually immoral will not inherit the kingdom of God. Here is a new doctrine that is false, and has crept in to our minds so that we accept it as God’s own doctrine– tolerance. God is holy and commands us to be holy. How tolerant was God of Sodom and Gomorrah when he destroyed them by fire for the same sin so many in America are proud. God is not tolerant of sin. We live under a new covenant, but we should not mistake forgiveness with tolerance. We who believe were bought with a price. If God was tolerant of sin in His presence, then Jesus would not have had to die. God will divide sheep from goats. Those who have believed and therefore followed Christ will inherit eternal life, those who don’t will inherit hell– eternal death. We have tolerated a slip into apostasy. We have tolerated lies and now we as a nation and world are about to reap what we sow. The generation in leadership and coming to lead are ignorant of the Truth– God’s Word is Truth. No one seems to read the Bible but preachers, and lies have infiltrated even our churches. Not all, but many speak lies, and so few us know to call them on it because so few of us know the word for ourselves. The way to fight lies is with Truth, and since man is corruptible we must look to God’s Word. If we always clam up, scared that we might offend, how will the Truth be heard. We are loosing our rights, our standard of living, our freedoms, democracy at a blinding pace. We elected our government I think in part due to immorality, loss of a work ethic, lack of self responsibility, and foolishness. We have believed we can have something for nothing and that money grows on trees and therefore believing we can have entitlements without a thought to the fact that we must somehow fund these programs– and it will be by taxes. We are punishing ourselves by our own actions. The solution for America is to repent and to repent we must turn to the Lord and His Word and live by it. Until then, times will continue to grow worse. I want America to be a nation under God, we will not be unless we submit to Him. Some don’t want to be a Christian nation– shame on them!! Greyson Gambrell Posted by ggambre, 8:37 PM, Permalink Tags: christian-nation, repent Comment (0) Sunday, July 19, 2009 The objective of war and life of a Christian The Simple Objective I realized after my introduction to the war we are in that I got into deep matters, wishing to stress that we fight spiritually and in heavenly realms, by our fighting the will of the flesh. Satan desires the things of men rather than God. Our fight therefore has to due with our carnal mind and heart, and our soul as we must submit it to the Holy Spirit. To fight satan, we must fight the flesh– or to put it another way, the spirit of man–meaning the fleshly minded will of man that is disobedient and that wills against God. Not all fight satan spirit to spirit, but all fight the will of the flesh. So, the church must fight to conform to the Spirit, and we must reach out to the unsaved– the lost– to bring them to Jesus and His salvation. I began to think of the fight we are in and the objectives. There is war strategy that says strategy requires an objective. Not only this, but the best objectives must be simple. To describe the fight we are in, and have been in, I realized, as a wise revelation from God, that it would require simply copying the Bible word for word. I could not describe the battle better than God, I could not leave out anything He deemed important, and it is clear that it is the handbook of our struggle. From early in the account of Eden, there is the fall of man, to the promise of Jesus that, “surely I am coming soon,” whereby we look forward to that day when He judges man and we inherit the promises, and the war is over. The struggle is from beginning to end, and we look forward to the day when those who endure to the end, will be saved. So what is the simple objective or objectives of the large collection of scriptures we know is the Word. The bottom line of scripture is Love. The Torah– the law– is summed up, as Christ says: in loving God with all our heart, mind, body, and soul; and loving our neighbor as ourselves. God is love. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophesy. So how does that show the bottom line is love. In the Lord’s supper during Passover with his disciples before his death, He says, “This is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.” Now the testimony of Jesus, by John the Baptist, is that He was the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. This is by his blood– a new testament. But why did he do this? He loved us. We love God because He first love us. God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. So we have grace by faith, but we would lose sight of the bottom line if we forget that it is because of Love. And so He loved us and he commands us to love Him and love each other. Now how does he command us to love? 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and loves God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. To be a child of God you must love God. Without love, you cannot be a child of God. It is a command to love God, and by the command we are children of God, but it is a command like telling your child to breath to live, he must breath to live or He dies. God commands love, but does not force it. We choose, but like the child, we spite ourselves to deny such love that God gave us. Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends. And so the command and the example. This is the objective– to imitate Christ. Eph 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. We should walk as Christ. When he says He is the way, He is the example of how we should walk. He spoke the Word to us also, and obedience to this is also the Way. Hear and do. Referring back to love, the way we show love is obedience. John 15:9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. He also says that “Apart form me you can do nothing.” The objective of a Christian, who is in spiritual war by nature of his being in a world contrary to God, is to imitate Christ and the Father. This is done by love, which is evident, proven, and expressed by obedience. And by walking as Christ walked– Christ being not only an example but the perfect example. So Christ is the object of our worship, under the Father who gave Him all power and glory, but not only this, He is the example to look up to, and emulate. Not only is He the example but, (Heb 2:17) Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. He is the perfect example that cares and desires the best for us, in love So the objective is to be like Jesus. This requires love. Love of God means obedience. He is the Way through this war. We will have eternal life in Him. He loves us, so we must love Him. He has conquered sin and death and the works of the devil. By faith we have the victory, and we will endure to the end by following in the footsteps of our master, and a lover that is closer than a brother– Jesus Christ our Lord. And the world will see our light shine and be drawn to the Lord by the change of our being, as we walk more and more like the Lord. Jesus we love you. Thank you God. Posted by ggambre, 9:42 PM, Permalink Tags: gambrell, goal, greyson, imitate, love, objective Comment (0) Monday, July 13, 2009 The War We Are In A prayer delivered on Friday, March 27, 2009 by Greyson Gambrell at Shabbat Shalom Messianic Congregation. Lord I pray a prayer asking you to prepare your children for war. But I realized it is better to pray that we please You – even make You delight in your inheritance – even us your children. But I pray for war, that we be prepared to fight. We are perfected in praise – praise of You I thought of the bottom line and your commands, of love. Can we win with love? Was not the command of love from the beginning – to love the Lord and love each other? Did not these commands pass through the lips and tongue of our sweet Jesus? Sweet, but commander of Heaven’s armies. I asked, “will this give us victory?” You said, “Obey My commandments.” “Death is swallowed up in victory.” When You were raised You conquered death and sin. Even our faith is the victory. You have already conquered, we have only to believe, to live out victory. Yeshua is victory. But I persisted. What Lord, should we have to fight and be strong? We have armor: A helmet – salvation, hope A breast plate – righteousness, purity covering a heart that yearns for water from the river of life in New Jerusalem. Sandals – prepared to speak & speaking, declaring the Good News. Hosanna! Come to the Lord, His yoke is light. A belt – binding, the truth – Thy Word is true A shield – the shield of Avraham. I believe. Let me retain your Word to say no in evil & temptation. Yes to discerned wisdom and truth. A sword – Your Word. Let me attack. God’s word is mightier than you. The sword I yield is greater than me. God Himself is in my hand to fight as long as my heart is true, and I am in His glorious hand. “How beautiful are the feet that bring the Good News.” Salvation is from Jesus. What are our tactics, strategy? It is for God to have mysteries, it is for kings to know and search them out. Lord Your Spirit is our king. Reveal Your plan. Reveal Your battle plan. Let us be clear on our mission as we need to know. Let us obey without faltering, stumbling, willingly – like good soldiers. My heart was content with this prayer. God is God. He knows all things, we will not fall due to His part in the fight. If we fail it will be due to our short comings. A righteous man may fall, but thanks be to Jesus, he will always rise. Why? True righteousness is from the Lord and Him only. Ask the Father and He will answer by touching His finger to your heart. Ah Lord, my eyes tear up! Yearning does not describe it. You are my everything. Teach me to draw a bow and wield a sword, and in Your city to come, I will tell a tale of how I fought at the Lord’s right hand. Praise Ya. Hallelujah. Even so, come quickly! The War We Are In Lord willing, I plan to write the next few blogs about the spiritual war we are in. I have meditated on the subject and talked with others of faith and had some ideas crystallize about this war. It is spiritual in nature and real. By faith we know God, an invisible God, exists. Some may have doubts along the way that attack our faith. Maybe for a new Christian– or possibly even a more mature Christian– we could even question if there is a God. This is a fiery dart attacking us spiritually. Whether this is a person, demonic, or satan himself; we are in a spiritual war. But whether we believe or not there is a reality. There is a God or there isn’t. By faith we know it, we have spiritual eyes that see it, but even if we do not, God still exists. The same with spiritual warfare, we can believe it is real–which is proven in Scripture– or not, but it exists. Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Gal 5:16 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other. I learned this in the KJV and I believe it stated the two “war” against each other. The original text in Greek is what determines the exact translation, but these are the sides of the war: God, and therefore His Spirit, vs. the flesh, and therefore satan. Note I do not say satan, and therefore the flesh. There was peace between God‘s spirit and mans flesh, while satan existed. Jam 1:14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. And so, when Eve lusted after the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil– delighting in its appearance and desiring to be made wise–she bit the fruit, instantly birthing the first sin of mankind, and creating enmity between God’s Spirit and man. As it says in Col 1:21, “And you, who once where alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his (Jesus) death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became minister.” Now Eve and Adam had enmity in them when they sinned. Lucifer had fallen, but our enmity between our flesh and God’s Spirit had not occurred until our– mankind’s– sin had occurred. When we– mankind– were obedient there was no enmity between us and God’s Spirit and therefore no war. Satan had not attacked– or tempted– us, so he was enemy to God, but not us. But the Scripture says the flesh is against the Spirit. This came by our fall, and we too ate of the same fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, spiritually. How? By disobedience. So now the battleground is in us– our flesh. Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So our fleshly mind is against God, but as we stated Jesus reconciled in his body, by his death, us. So look, why do we still have a struggle if we are reconciled. We are now new creatures in God, right now, but we have not yet realized all things in Christ until we are resurrected in his likeness. As Paul puts it, “For the good I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do” Rom 7:19 So we fight with our own flesh and its desires and lust, but when saved we are dying carnally, and living more and more to Christ. Remember how God said to Adam that “in that day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Adam–man– died spiritually that day, as he did not die in the body because he live many years afterward. So spiritual death is in man until reconciliation– by belief in Christ, and newness of life, by his blood; and the full reconciliation comes when we have a body like Christ‘s. Since that sin of Adam, we either are enemies of God and dead, and in communion with satan; or friends with God and alive in Christ, and in communion with God in the Spirit. But there still remains our flesh, that is contrary in its desires, that will be contrary, until we are resurrected or changed in the twinkling of an eye. Thanks be to God that we have a change from this filth of flesh we cannot be relieved of without God’s grace!!! We are born again, but we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, until our advocate with the Father judges righteously with grace– the Word that he spoke judges us, and he speaks to the sheep, “Come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” So all this is to come to the point that we fight against the spiritual forces of satan’s kingdom in the heavenly places, but our souls, being one in Christ, as we are his body, fight this war in ourselves. I would not say “we have met the enemy and it is us,” but I do say we fight evil and satan by fighting the will of the flesh. How do we fight the will of the flesh? Mar 1:14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.” The war we are in involves people. It is not in a battlefield on land, or at sea; no it is internal to people. It is a battle over souls: one, those in the church, the body of Christ, those who believe in Jesus, and two, over the souls of the rest of the world, the unsaved, who are in the power of satan, and who we should pray for and strive to lead to Christ. I want to define the war of a soldier of Christ. The enemy is the will of our flesh, satan, and the counter of Christ– the spirit of antichrist. We are one in Christ, and the world is one in the antichrist. We fight the will of the flesh, satan, and the spirit of antichrist by repentance in us– the church, and by proclaiming the gospel of God to the unsaved. 1 Jo 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 1 Cr 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. So what have we learned? The war is in people. It is between the will of the flesh and the Spirit. This is the battle ground of the prince of this world–satan. The goals are many, but fundamentally the Bible is about love. The war is over souls: ours, the truly believing, born-again, obedient, Christians, and the souls of the world– the lost, the dead. In the church we fight the will of the flesh by repentance, in the world by proclaiming the gospel. Both these require love of God and your neighbor. After all the sum of the law is love. Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. We are to love our enemies!!! So we have identified our enemy– the flesh, satan, and the spirit of the antichrist, where we fight–within people, and the fundamental aim of our side of the war–love . The fight is flesh vs. Spirit, death vs. life, dark vs. light. Again I say, our victory is by faith. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, and he did. We must believe, and this means obey the Word, and this faith, if we endure to the end, will see us to this victory. Jesus love conquered sin and death by his death and resurrection: let us take on his yolk, and learn from him–follow suit– and love. Jesus come!!!!!!! |