The Calling You’re Assured Of

So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired.  As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.  They traded the truth about God for a lie.  So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise!  Amen.  That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires.  Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other.  And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other.  Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of their sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.-Romans 1:24-27

Becoming a Christian is truly difficult, in any culture you are renouncing the kingdom you have defected from and now are struggling with aligning your love with the Kingdom of God.  Many of those I know and whom may read this blog are born in the country of America, and thus are now in the position of renouncing this country’s identity and are now adopted into a Kingdom with contrary identities.  One of these identities out of the two I will bring forth is sex.  Cohabitation is now the norm for adults, adultery or sex outside of the realm of marriage is the norm for teens and adolescents, masturbation and pornography is the norm for every decent American out their.  These things are identity markers of the American; and for the Christian who has come out of this country’s standards and into God’s are reasonably in conflict over the weight of this identity in their hearts and how that relates towards God.  To simply put, any sex outside of marriage, any action that brings two people into joining their souls together in such a way that is un-glorifying to God is sin.  Because sin is dictated not by morals, not by standards, nor by human ideal, rather by God and His glory.  I am not going to radically demand my fellow Christian to stop being a fool and walk out of sexual sin, no I am going to give you good news instead.  You are born into this country because of this identity is so prevalent in this country!  God has brought us forth into America so that we can show American’s that God is truly Glorious by renouncing sexual idolatry and honoring Him in obedience out of love and joy in Him and His plan and His intimacy in us that far exceeds sex!  Do not fret over sexual sin as this thing you have to get rid of or overcome, surely you will because you love God and don’t want to spit on His face.  But the reality is, God will overcome sexual sin that is prevalent in most Christians in America, not all, I honestly don’t know how many or whom it all has invaded.  But do not be ashamed that you have to deal with the temptations daily, do not feel condemned or worthless because you have been in sexual sin or still are!  You are now God’s!  And He has put His stake, His glory in you and on you in which He will overcome this identity of the old man and woman in you for His sake!  You can rest in His glory because that is the very thing that will free you from America’s identity marker, you will be a son and daughter of God!

Secondly, the next identity is fear of man.  This country thrives on being successful, boastful, proud, arrogant, and known!  Why do you think you deal with it so much?  Do you not realize you were once lost and a advocate of American identity?  So why do you burden yourself so heavily with condemnation, guilt, self-hatred because you are tempted by this very thing yourself?  You are being redeemed and renewed by the God who created all things by His Son, Christ!  He has birthed you in America so that you can renounce your own glory and claim His glory alone!  And because God is a conqueror, you will see this become a reality in your own heart and life!

Surely the temptations for both will reign in most of our hearts for the rest of our lives because we once belonged to those identities, they surround us, and our natural man and woman longs to return to it’s former ways!  So do not be so surprised when out of no where your sinful heart desires those things.  This will naturally come about in your heart that is the seat of sin.  But God has given you His spirit and His identity and His robe of righteousness and His marker for you; freedom.  This was paid by Christ, and now you are going to represent Him because He is glorious and He is reigning in your soul now!  That is, if you have claimed Christ crucified over you! 

This is among all that you are called for in this life, and it is a great and glorious calling; to represent the King and the invading Kingdom!

Do I hate America?  Am I inciting you to be against America?  Surely not, we are born here to love American’s, to love the lost, but we by God’s grace recognize American identity and see what God has planned for His glory in us in this place.  We have a understanding of our place in this country, we know why we are born here and are not left wondering if we were better off somewhere else in some other time.  This is the right time, the best time, and the only time you were meant to be born and come to Christ, so that God may get the glory He has predestined to receive before time began.  So don’t be wearied by your rebellion against God, turn from yourself and to Him who is far wiser then you and I!

Glory to Him forever

Brandyn

God Saves a Pharisee

“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life.  But the Scriptures point to me!  Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.  Your approval means nothing to me, because I know you don’t have God’s love within you.  For I have come to you in my Father’s name, and you have rejected me.  Yet if others come in their own name, you gladly honor each other, but you don’t care about the honor that comes from the one who alone is God.  Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father.  Moses will accuse you!  Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes.  If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.  But since you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”-Jesus Christ in John 5:39-47

This is exactly what I deserve to hear Christ tell me today, actually last week Tuesday was the appointed day for this to come on me.  Unbeknownst to myself and possibly all of you who know me and follow my blogs, for the past 6 years if not my whole life, I have not believed in Christ crucified and resurrected!  I was infatuated with the idea of Christ, salvation, and a lifestyle that came through Him.  I have been for the past 6 years a Pharisee, possibly a very good Pharisee (or a very good liar is another way to look at it), before then if I had not believed even then, I was a pathetic Pharisee.  For some of you who have known me intimately for some years, you may be telling yourself, “what do you mean?!”
Simply this; I was blind, but on Tuesday I could see, and consequently onward.

I sat before the throne of God at my window in my room staring at the sun setting to the West of the city of Louisville.  I poured out my heart to God wondering if I was ever to truly live for Him when He opened my eyes to who I have been truly all along.  Now I admit, I knew of Jesus, I appreciated Jesus, I believed that He historically existed, that He is God, and that He did die for my sins and rose from the dead so that all His children can be with Him when He returns.  I did have sound theology, I did preach the gospel to others, I did teach other’s, I did have God-centered relationships, I did have a funny testimony, I did have giftings that I appreciated as coming from God, and I did recognize I needed Him.  BUT this is where the divide comes in, I never loved God; and I am not meaning the theological love.  The theological understanding of my statement will say, “of course you didn’t!  We all don’t because we are sinners, God loved us first so that we can love Him!”  That is true, but that isn’t what I am saying since I already summed up that statement in my Pharisee-istic life.  No, what I am saying is that after all that I knew, after all that I recognized and after all that I saw being from the very hands of God, I still had a cold heart towards Him.  The outside of my cup was clean, but the inside was filled with death through-and-through.

To help further explain I will go into depth of how I was shown this myself by God, since after-all, I truly believed I loved God myself!  God showed me that all my knowledge, all my planning and systematic approaches to the future and logic, that all my hopes and explanations and happiness rested on getting it right.  I was driven to get this Christianity right, to get dating right, to get manhood right, to get pastoring right, to get American-Dream pursuing/hating right, to get my politics right, to get my mindset right, and to stop doing habitual sins.  My pursuit of Christ was to come to Him so that I could cut out all of the things I didn’t like, and then get what I want.  So just like the Pharisee’s, I got all the actions right and then slaughtered Jesus in my attempts to get what I wanted the way I wanted it.  My life was defined not by Christ and rest in His grace, but by discontentment, frustrations, broken-dating relationships, confusing emotions and lack of, various psychological games, and proving I was a Christian.

So that is why I deserved last week Tuesday those words of Christ’s that He gave to those I belonged too!  But I received something quit the contrary, salvation, Christ’ heart.  I had my eyes opened and I became free for freedom’s sake!

I have renounced having life figured out; it doesn’t matter if I get this life right, or pursuing Christ right, because it’s not about religion, it’s about relationship with my God.  I am not going to worry about what I have spent considerable energy trying to accomplish, getting a woman to fall in love with me; get the best job for my skill-set, making the best decisions for a long and happy life.  All these things are a waste, my past and my efforts have been to my detriment all along!  So any good news?  I have been explaining that all along!  Surely God is consistent, since He has made extensive efforts to bring back a remnant out of Pharisee-ic Israel for His return through the detestable Gentiles!  He has proven yet again that the foolishness of men (getting all the right things covered, or religion, or getting it right, or trying harder, or doing better, or etc) isn’t going to save them, but rather the wisdom of God does!  That He breaks the iron hearts of men just like mine and Pharaoh’s of Moses’ day.  That His love conquers all barriers that He chooses to obliterate, like my legalism.  That truly reading the Bible endlessly, knowing all the best theology, having the manliest group of men who base their manhood off the bible, going to church every Sunday, preaching the gospel, and having life figured out means nothing if Christ isn’t in you and you in Him.

Praises to the One who is faithful despite my overt unfaithfulness!

Kentucky’s Indictment against Joker and Batman

This is an interesting project of mine that I had to do for class, but it’s also something I enjoyed, this isn’t a gimmick.  I assumed the role of a grand jury that produced an indictment against both Joker and Batman, separately.  This is usually a process that is designed to establish probable cause that the defendants committed said crimes and are to be tried in a trial before a judge and a jury.  This does not include a verdict, a defense, a prosecutor’s Case-in Chief, nor a Defendants closing argument, just the indictment alone.  So without further ado, I begin with Joker, and close with Batman.  You will find the KRS # which is the penal state code that defines and justifies a judgement of said crime.

Jury Indictment Charges and Explanations against:

Joker

We the jury charged Joker with:

KRS 509.040  Kidnapping in the First Degree, 54 counts;  Joker kidnaps two attorneys, Rachel Daws and Harvey Dent now formerly known as Two Face with the intent to kill both via explosion.  He also kidnaps a news anchorman and used the anchor man to give a threatening statement to the entire city of Gotham, and fifty doctors for the purpose of dressing them up as criminals to draw fire from snipers.  He kidnaps a arrested convict who was extradited from China, Hong-Kong by Batman.

KRS 527.040  Possession of Firearm by Felon;  Joker has admitted to waving a gun around and recklessly aiming it around in a room full of felons, this is after his initial arrest by Gotham City police awaiting trial for several felonies.

KRS 523.110  Giving Peace Officer False Identification;  The Joker had no I.D. recognized by the city of Gotham or by the state of Kentucky, he only provided his alias, his prints were unregistered and concealed any information that can be used to identify him while in custody at Gotham City Jail.

KRS 523.020  Perjury in First Degree;  Joker provided information that was false knowingly to himself in order to prevent peace officers and the vigilante Batman from finding persons whom he kidnapped and strapped to a bomb within a room filled with kerosene drums.  He admitted to giving Batman the wrong information, knowing that he would seek to save Rachel Daws whom he would have reached within a reasonable time frame.  Joker admitted to wanting to “break the bat”.

KRS 506.120  Engaging in Organized Crime;  Joker under provision one of said statute;

(b) Provide material aid to a criminal syndicate or any of its activities, whether such aid is in the form of money or other property, or credit;

(c) Manage, supervise, or direct any of the activities of a criminal syndicate, at any level of responsibility;
(d)Commit, or conspire or attempt to commit or act as an accomplice in the commission of, any offense of violence

KRS 506.080  Criminal Facilitation, 2 counts;  Joker gives a pistol to a man who has the intent of murdering people.  The second count Joker makes a phone call to a public t.v. show and threatens to blow up a local hospital if the guest of the talk show isn’t shot dead within an hour.

KRS 506.040  Criminal Conspiracy, 2 counts;  Joker agrees with two officers to kidnap both Rachel Daws and Harvey Dent.  Separately Joker conspires with at least 30 known conspirators to kidnap 50 doctors and a news anchorman and hold hostage.

KRS 508.050  Menacing, 114 counts;  Joker places Rachel Daws and Harvery Dent within reasonably dangerous situations by placing them in buildings filled with oil drums connected to bombs.  Joker places 50 doctors and an anchorman under reasonably dangerous circumstances when placing them within harm of the peace officers who believed the hostages to be the criminals in suspect.  Joker places two ferries (boats) each filled with 30 people under reasonably dangerous circumstances when he filled the boats with a bomb and oil drums before the boats were occupied.  Joker places a peace officer within a reasonably dangerous circumstance as he used him as a body shield and threatens his life with a shard of glass to his throat.

KRS 508.010  Assault in the First Degree, 4 counts;  Joker attacks a peace officer and subdues him with a shard of glass to his throat.  Joker causes serious injury to a co-conspirator by surgically opening the man’s stomach and placing a cell-phone in his stomach region between the skin and stomach organ.  Joker stabs Batman in the abdomen with a knife, he also has his dogs attack Batman.  Joker burns half of Harvey Dent’s face as a result of the explosion of the building Harvey Dent was rescued out of by Batman.

KRS 527.200  Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction, 2 counts;  Joker blows up two buildings with a bomb and oil drums, one had Rachel Daws inside whom died as a result.  Joker surgically implanted a cell-phone-bomb in a co-conspirator who was jailed with him; Joker blew up the local Gotham Jail to escape.

KRS 520.020  Escape in the First Degree;  Joker uses a cell-phone-bomb implanted within a co-conspirator to blow up the jail and provide an escape for him.

KRS 507.020  Murder, 16 counts;  Joker murder Rachel Daws by placing her within a building filled with oil drums and a bomb that was timed.  Joker kills two peace officers with a pistol at a hospital.  Joker kills twelve people, seven are peace officers, five are arrested individuals pending trial by the result of a cell-phone-bomb he implanted into a co-conspirator who was housed in the jail.   Joker has a gang-leader sliced up and fed to gang-leader’s own dogs.

 

We the Jury present this indictment to the Kentucky Courts Judge in Jefferson County for the arraignment of Joker.
Brandyn. S. Cahill                                                                                                                                             5/27/2012

 

Jury Indictment Charges and Explanations against:

Bruce Wayne

We the Jury have charged Bruce Wayne with:

KRS 524.130  Unauthorized Practice of Law for acting within the offices of a peace officer without being sworn or recognized by the courts known as Batman.

KRS 508.010  Assault in the First Degree, 8 counts; for slamming head of victim (Joker) onto steel table and then bullet-proof glass window followed by three successive blows to the head while yelling violently at victim.  For endangering a peace officer by shooting a grappling hook mechanism into peace officer’s armored vest and tossing said officer down a flight of stairs, left to hang defenselessly.  Within the same time frame Bruce Wayne engages in fighting with 6 other peace officers.

KRS 509.020  Unlawful Imprisonment, First Degree; Bruce Wayne dressed as Batman locks himself with the victim (Joker) within an interrogation room.

KRS 509.040  Kidnapping, First Degree;   Bruce Wayne dressed as Batman locks himself with the victim (Joker) within an interrogation room so that he can assault victim to force a confession.

KRS 508.160  Disarming Peace Officer, 6 counts;  Dressed as Batman, Bruce Wayne disarms 6 peace officers in the midst of assaulting them.

KRS 526.020, .030, .040  Eavesdropping, Possession of Eavesdropping Device, Installing Eavesdropping device;  Under the guise of a military operation in partnership with his corporation Wayne Enterprises, Bruce Wayne installs sonar frequency emitting software into all cell-phones registered within the confines of Gotham City.  He also has built within Wayne Enterprises a machine that listens in on phone conversations which emits frequencies that can help Bruce Wayne triangulate any person he wishes, which he has admitted is the intent behind this machine.

KRS 520.090  Resisting Arrest, Bruce Wayne was commanded to turn himself over to the custody of 6 peace officers, he in turn pretended to give himself over so that he can push them out of the building and force them to hang from a rope.

KRS 511.050  Possession of Burglar Tools, When dressed as Batman, Bruce Wayne has an assortment of tools located on his “utility belt” which enables him to blow up walls.  He has admitted to using these tools to blow through a building that held a man of interest within the confines of China.

KRS 508.140  Stalking in the First Degree, Bruce Wayne has admitted to stalking Joker over a significant period of time, among these attempts he admitted to developing the cell-phone frequency system solely to find Joker.

We the Jury present this indictment to the Kentucky Courts Judge in Jefferson County for the arraignment of Bruce Wayne.
Brandyn. S. Cahill                                                                                                                                             5/27/2012

 

Jesus Goes Where Religion Cannot

Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again.  But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again.  It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
“Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water!  Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.”
“Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her.
“I don’t have a husband,” the woman replied.
Jesus said, “You’re right!  You don’t have a husband-for you have had five husbands, and you aren’t even married to the man you’re living with now.  You certainly spoke the truth!”-John 4:13-18

 After Jesus confronted religion and brought about change in the religious sphere of the Israelites as found when people began to go and get baptized by Jesus’ disciples rather than John’s and himself. Leaving  He goes through Samaria and meets a Samaritan woman whom he strikes a conversation with.  Notice here what Christ says to her, how he says it, and what he doesn’t say.
He speaks of a satisfaction and nourishment that has no end, and this woman wants it.  Does she know He is speaking of salvation or of real water?  It doesn’t say, but what she does know is she wants it!  Jesus then does something tantamount to our understanding of our salvation; he brings into the light the idol of her heart, men.  It can be easy to debate this issue, but this woman has gone through 5 husbands, not boyfriends, and is now cohabitation with her current boyfriend, clearly she looks for the lasting satisfaction or never ending nourishment from men.   Christ doesn’t condemn her, He doesn’t beat her with this, He offers eternal nourishment and then points to the pathetic inadequacy of her current source of life.

“Sir,” the woman said, “you must be a prophet.  So tell me, why is it that you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place of worship, while we Samaritans claim it is here at Mount Gerizim, where our ancestors worshiped?”
Jesus replied, “Believe me, dear woman, the time is coming when it will no longer matter whether you worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem.  You Samaritans know very little about the one you worship, while we Jews know all about him, for salvation comes through the Jews.  But the time is coming-indeed it’s here now-when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.  The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.  For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know the Messiah is coming-the one who is called Christ.  When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus told her, “I Am the Messiah!”-John 4:19-26

It’s easy to know what this situation feels like that Christ is experiencing; you go to work and you finally let some friends know your a Christian and that you believe in the Bible, and then the questions come; “Well why does the Bible say this or that?  What do you think about this or that?”  The Samaritan woman was concerned about religious practice, as were the Jews, and she wanted to know from Jesus why their religious practices are ok while her own people’s are condemned.  Jesus has no part of it, for worship is in the spirit and in the truth, not in the flesh!  He reveals to her that both the Samaritan and Jewish religions were going to be dismantled now!  We also find in Romans 8:15-17:
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.  Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.  Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.  And since we are his children, we are his heirs.  In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.  But if we are to share his glory, we must share in his suffering.
The flesh longs for works to bring salvation, it is contrary to the Spirit of God, it is rebellious, and that is where Christ took the Samaritan woman out of.  That is where Christ takes you out of.  He calls you to Him in your wretchedness, if you have committed adultery, slept around, had a string of sexual relationships like this woman; then you can directly take this situation and know that though you think you are worthless and have all this guilt you deserve to carry around, Christ doesn’t agree with you.  For also in Romans 8:1-4:
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.  And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.  The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.  So God did what the law could not do.  He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have.  And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins.  He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
And this is what Christ means when He says salvation comes through the Jews.  Remember back to Deuteronomy 32:19-21
“The Lord saw this and drew back, provoked to anger by his own sons and daughters.  He said, ‘I will abandon them; then see what becomes of them.  For they are a twisted generation, children without integrity.  They have roused my jealousy by worshiping things that are not God; they have provoked my anger with their useless idols.  Now I will rouse their jealousy through people who are not even a people; I will provoke their anger through the foolish Gentiles.”
And in Romans 9:30-32 & 11:11-12
What does all this mean?  Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God.  And it was by faith that this took place.  But the people of Israel, who tries so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded.  Why not?  Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him…Did God’s people stumble beyond recovery?  Of course not!  They were disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles.  But he wanted his own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves.  Now if the Gentiles were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally accept it.

And let us not forget that this was fully achieved when the Jews took their King and lifted Him up on the cross and murdered Him who is God, that is when salvation opened up to the Gentiles (or the rest of the world) which is what is meant when the Temple curtain was torn in two.

What a magnificent God we have!  Be grateful for the dark periods in your history for God has brought you out of troubling times so that you can remember His goodness and realize that He has truly accepted you for who you are today, not who you think you need to be in order to be loved by Him.  That He is strong enough to conquer your sin, your troubles, and your sorrows, and will be faithful to do so throughout this brief life and forever.

Praises to Him!

Brandyn

John the Baptist and Christ

Then Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem and went into the Judean countryside.  Jesus spent some time with them there, baptizing people.  At this time John the Baptist was baptizing at Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there; and people kept coming to him for baptism.  (This was before John was thrown into prison.)  A debate broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew over ceremonial cleansing.  So Johns’s disciples came to him and said, “Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people.  And everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.”
John replied, “No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven.  You yourselves know how plainly I told you,’I am not the Messiah.  I am only here to prepare the way for him.’  It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows.  Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success.  He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.  He has come from above and is greater than anyone else.  We are of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but he has come from heaven and is far greater than anyone else.  He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them!  Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true.  For he is sent by God.  He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit.  The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands.  And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life.  Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgement.”-John 3:22-36

Christ comes and explodes on the scene, drawing crowds.  The Pharisees, Sadducees, and religious leaders hate this and become jealous of Him and hate Him for calling Himself God.  John on the other hand responds entirely the opposite, who by the way is far greater than the religious leaders for He has the spirit of Elijah in him, who in the Old Testament was intense.  Elijah took his own cloak and smacked a mighty river with it and the river split like the Red Sea did for Israel!  So this guy has a far greater reason to grumble at Christ then those religious leaders!  But instead this man is gladdened by his descent from fame and Christ ascent to fame!  His own followers of course were a little ticked, they didn’t like God taking their fame, which is ridiculous that they say to John, “Hey, that guy over their, God, he’s taking all your fame right in front of us!”
You see my friend, John was not focused on himself, but rather he was centered on God’s glory being made known, and God’s glory was predestined to be made known through Christ.  Oh how I long for our elders and pastors in America to be like John when they preach Christ!  That they labor and slave to make Christ more glorious and long to see the day that they become less and less glorious to their flock!  I even long this from those in the body, that as they continue to preach the gospel in their everyday lives that they seek to make Christ more glorious and themselves more foolish!  There is more that can be taken from this text, such as the statement at the end about Hell, but let us reflect together on how we can make much of Christ and less of ourselves by repenting of our own egotism and wrapping our very souls around the glory of God and the truth that all things of made by God’s glory for His glory and what this means for us in all our lives!

God’s glory is central to salvation

Brandyn

Jesus Faces Religion

There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee.  After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus.  ”Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us.  Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus.  ”How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”-John 3:1-4 

The leader of the religious institution came to Jesus and defined Christ by a standard that was far less than Jesus true identity; which Christ responds with His assertion of His identity.  The religious leader comes to Christ and calls Him an ordained teacher, a man who is gifted in teaching God’s law though he was untrained (John 7:14).  Christ comes at it through the result of His identity, that is rebirth by the Spirit.  Where this man comes from is the Kingdom of God is entered by force, or that is, by religion.  Following the proper cleansing rituals, following the Sabbath, etc.  The idea was that your works defined your salvation, that rituals were meant to legitimize your salvation.  Christ claimed that the Holy Spirit was necessary for life in the following:

“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus.  ”How can an old man get back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.  Humans can produce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.  So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows wherever it wants.  Just as you can hear the wind but you can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
“How are these things possible?”  Nicodemus asked.-John 3:4-9

Salvation comes under the control of God outside of the control of man is essentially what Jesus says here.  A religious Jewish leader is used to assuming that it is within the control of man to assert salvation, that you can dictate when a person was saved.  Christ asserts that this is not the case, Christ claims that salvation happens in a way that is like the wind blowing, you cannot determine when a person is saved.  A religious leader though is used to functional salvation, x+y=Z; so it makes sense when Nicodemus asked what seems to be a ridiculous question.   Again, Christ still hasn’t made any acknowledgement of what Nicodemus first stated about Him, because His reaction is His statement of who he really is, the savior of the world.  Yet Nicodemus still doesn’t know how this is possible because Christ stated the result of the solution first, which is Him.

Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things?  I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony.  But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell about heavenly things?  No one has ever gone to heaven and returned.  But the Son of Man has come down from heaven.  And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.  For God so loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.  God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”-John 3:10-15

A man who studies the Torah and the rest of the Old Testament surely would see that all that Christ has said thus far makes sense, but religiosity, ritualism/mysticism, and performance oriented salvation has blinded this man.  So Christ finally asserts His identity and the source of the initial claim that Christ made of Himself in verse 3.  He is not just a teacher ordained by God, He is the solution to the needs of all people in the world, the salvation of the world.  Christ then says that this will be shown and accomplished by Christ death on the cross, being raised like the bronze snake on the pole by Moses.  So Christ is the source of salvation, and through Him the Spirit will invade the person who believes and be saved and will see the Kingdom of God!  This is NOT done by any OTHER action!  Otherwise Christ would’ve said, “truly, truly I say to you, you must also have faith in the Father’s son who will be raised up.”, as if adding Christ on top of religion can work.  Finally Christ makes a final assertion to His purpose, which goes beyond just teaching:

“There is no judgement against anyone who believes in him.  But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.  And the judgement is based on this fact:  God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.  All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.  But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”-John 3:18-21

Christ came not only to save but to bring condemnation!  That is, Christ came to redeem the repentant and to condemn the unrepentant; because the judgement is based on their rejection of Christ.  This is not only a statement of intent by Christ of His ministry, but also a warning to this leader and the fellow leaders of the Jewish faith, because Christ is going to be killed by the religious leaders in an attempt to hide in their darkness.

Those who have ears please hear!  Those who have eyes please see!  Hear and see that Christ is God, that Christ is fully sufficient apart from man’s efforts, and that Christ is the glory of God and is worth praise in all things you do!  Also be aware, that if your not saved, you have now become accountable for your decision in regards to Christ, for His gospel justifies the judgement against the unrepentant and justifies the freedom of the repentant!

Christ is King!

Brandyn

Let us trust like Christ did!

Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him.  But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew human nature.  No one needed to tell him what mankind is really like.-John 2:23-25

This is the prelude to a series I will do on John chapters 3 and 4.  What I am NOT going to do is give an elaborate commentary that focuses on the historical backgrounds and details of each section of scripture that is not needed for the context of the passage.  I am NOT going to make this into an application series as if I were preaching a sermon to a congregation.  Rather I am focusing on the glory of God through Jesus Christ.  I am not an authoritative figure, rather I am speaking plainly what the Bible plainly speaks and using it’s authority to point you back to Jesus as it does to me everyday, because like you, I need to be realigned daily, hourly, if not second by second.

This is an important section of scripture that preludes a discussion between a prominent leader of the religious institution of the Jews, and the King of Salvation.  There is an unfortunate trend today that says if someone is charismatic enough, head-strong enough, bold enough, or distinguished enough then they are worth trusting.  I know this personally because I have people who ascribe me authority in regards to scripture because of my forceful personality, but my personality is human, it is centered on myself, and my ego gets in the way.  Rather my place within the kingdom among God’s people is set by God, not by my personality, or by the willingness of other’s to follow.  Another example is Joel Osteen, his personality and his charm sells his gospel that is designed by human hands.  Or the Catholic Church, to be specific, the Pope’s church; where it is the prestige and perceived Holiness of a group of men that make up the legitimacy of the Church, another gospel crafted by the hands of man.

Jesus just cleared the temple in the previous passage and many miracles were done before people and so they followed Christ.  They, on the onset, were “believers” of Christ, that is, they believed that Christ was a man worth knowing because He can give us stuff.  He can give us healing and a earthly kingdom far greater then this kingdom!  Christ knew better, He knew that people were not following Him because He is the savior or because He is God, rather they believed in His miracles.

So here at the opening of a long study I appeal to you, all that you hold dear to your heart, the hopes, the beliefs and the desires you are anchored in, test them before the fire of Christ and His death.  Is your faith rooted in religiosity?  Is it rooted in self-defined religiosity?  Do you believe in Jesus or a myth that you perceive is Jesus?

This is important, I have not realized until this past week how pervasive the ideologies of the devil have invaded the Christian faith and affect my own faith!  Let us leave nothing untested in our faith so that we may have our hearts settled on Christ, the solid rock and foundation for our lives!

God is God of our Hearts who believe,

Brandyn

God Is Good!

“May Canaan be cursed!
May he be the lowest of servants to his relatives.” -Genesis 9:25 (Noah)
“When you crossed the Jordan River and came to Jericho, the men of Jericho fought against you, as did the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I gave you victory over them. And I sent terror ahead of you to drive out the two kings of the Amorites. It was not your swords or bows that bought you victory. I gave you land you had not worked on, and I gave you towns you did not build-the towns where you are now living. I gave you vineyards and olive groves for food, though you did not plant them.”-Joshuah 24:11-13 (God)

Jesus and Unbelievers

Then Jesus was approached by some Sadducees-religious leaders who say there is no resurrection from the dead.  They posed this question:  ”Teacher, Moses gave us a law that if a man dies, leaving a wife but no children, his brother should marry the widow and have a child who will carry on the brother’s name.  Well, suppose there were seven brothers.  The oldest one married and then died without children.  So the second brother married her.  This continued with all seven of them, who died without children.  Finally, the woman also died.  So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection?  For all seven were married to her!”
Jesus replied, “Marriage is for people here on earth.  But in the age to come, those worthy of being raised from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage.  And they will never die again.  In this respect they will be like angels.  They are children of God and children of the resurrection.
But now, as to whether the dead will be raised-even Moses proved this when he wrote about the burning bush.  Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, he referred to the Lord as ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’  So he is the God of the living, not the dead, for they are all alive to him.”
“Well said, Teacher!” remarked some of the teachers of religious law who were standing there.  And then no one dared to ask him any more questions.-Luke 20:27-40

 These Sadducees are not being kind towards Jesus in their questioning, they are attacking Him, making fun of Him, and wanting to show Him to be a fool in front of a crowd (refer to v. 41-47 for context).  We can be sure of this because in Chapter 11:45 the Pharisees told Jesus He was being a jerk after He told them how foolish they were, in chapter 18:9-14 Jesus tells the religious leaders that they are not justified before God; He lets his disciples call Him God and they tell Him to rebuke His disciples in 19:38-40, He clears out the temple violently in 19:45-48, and then tells the religious leaders that God is going to destroy them in 20:15-19.  Clearly all the religious leaders hated Jesus and wanted to do everything they could without getting attacked by the masses to dismantle Jesus’ ministry.

So these guys are basically saying, “Jesus, how can you believe in the resurrection?  Isn’t it a little ridiculous since those who remarry after a loved one dies will essentially be in a polygamous relationship in heaven!  Whats morally sensible here?  Since you know better tell us, how is this right?”  Think about this, Jesus got the same questions we get today!
“How is it fair to say a homosexual is a sinner if they were born that way?”
“That seems a bit sexist, women should have all the equal opportunities as men!”
Just like today, these religious leaders were man-centered in their theology, it’s about me, it’s about what I am ok with, or want, or believe.  It’s about human-right’s, human-sensibility, human-logic, human-blah blah blah.  And I assure you, every time you run into someone who wants to argue with you, this is where they will come from, every-single time.

What does Jesus say?  How does He reply?  He first makes sure it’s clear that marriage is temporal blessing, he states the resurrection as a FACT, no speculation in His words.   He then turns the argument to the point, God and His glory.  Christ came from a God-centered position, and Christ made it a matter of understanding God’s character rightly.  The religious leaders were in the wrong place, they were coming from “what about man?”, “what about doing the right thing?”
Christ has made it clear He is not here to make more moral demands of us, or to redefine morality or being a good person.  Christ berated the most moral people of that culture!  Those who were following the entire law of the Bible!  He didn’t say, “good job, now you just gotta believe me!”   Jesus was NOT a good teacher (In the sense that many “open-minded” people of this world use this description of Christ), because when these religious leaders brought up a matter of morals, Christ took it straight to God and His glory, completely disregarded the need for morality.
I have found this to be true, you cannot debate an unbeliever, you cannot argue with them about their faith or try to force them to see your vantage point of God.  You need to walk with an unbeliever towards showing them God and letting them see God from their vantage point.  That is, when they bring their moral questions and attack you, stop and think, then take the conversation to being God-centered and then make your points.

For example, I was posed this question:
“How is it fair that you can marry and be with anyone you want and homosexuals are not?  Homosexuals deserve rights too!”  This is from a friend, and so I won’t be disrespectful.  But this is a moral, man-centered question.  My response was, “It doesn’t matter what anyone wants, rights are not the point here, God created all that is, He gave us a way to relate to Him and rightfully expected obedience.  We broke that relationship through disobedience by trying to get what we thought was rightfully ours!  This situation is a matter of obedience to God, because truly man only deserves hell. A saved homosexual is no different from me, the problem really is if they trust in Jesus and rely on Him in the midst of struggling with their sin.”
This friend asked , “What do you mean that a saved homosexual is different from an un-saved homosexual?”
“A saved homosexual is someone going to heaven but is dealing with sin until they die, I hope they overcome their sin in homosexuality, but I am assured that they are saved by their faith.  Rather an un-saved person who is enslaved to any sin is not going to heaven but hell.”

And so the conversation went from what my opinions are about homosexuality (or gender roles, political beliefs, etc) and their personal rights, to God is God of all creation, we are expected to obey Him and fail to and need Christ.  Did this person accept Jesus?  No, but that isn’t the point is it?  Are we not to proclaim Christ crucified in all opportunities given and let God do the saving?  In this way we respect God’s sovereignty while also being overwhelmed by our love for Him and proclaiming this Good News!

God reigns

Brandyn

An Honest Word to You

Dear Christian,

I have a serious word for you, be on your guard for the devil is at work against you!  He has infiltrated even our own!  It is impertinent that you not shy away from the gospel and it’s message, beware even those among you will discourage your work!  Do not listen to your fear of man for it will hinder your obedience to the Lord in this way; you will compromise the certainty of God for the patience of your hearer, this is not good!  What is the gospel truly?  That you know the Way, the only way to heaven, to peace, to life, and to lasting joy.  That you know the truth, that you are certain of this!

What happens among the world is obvious, they hated Jesus for His bold proclamation that He was God and the only Way to salvation, how much more will you be hated when you say that you clearly and confidently have the truth within your soul and you know for certain how to get to heaven and that all other ways are lies?  But even our brother’s get short with us when we boldly proclaim the gospel in such terms!  We are being arrogant, inconsiderate, and haughty they say!  They will tell you that you can’t tell them what to believe!

I will encourage you, if you know that Christ’ sacrifice has paid your penalty, and that His resurrection has freed you from death, and that His glory is the center for all things and that your passion is to know Him more; and that you cannot bear to watch those around you wander aimlessly into death and that you must preach the gospel to them; surely you can instruct other Christians how to live when they walk openly in sin and blatantly in the dark cowering from the Lord!  Is it not for their personal benefit rather then your own?  Surely you can use such words as “Know for certain”, “God is real”, “whether you believe Him or not, He is Lord over you”, “Confidently”, because He is risen!  Is God only real to those who believe?  He IS God, and He has saved you, and His Way is true and certain!  Don’t be fooled, when you speak in uncertainty you are not proclaiming the gospel but a false gospel and the devil has brought you into sin!  For the gospel, the Kingdom is not uncertain, it will come.

I am concerned for my brothers and sisters who dissuade other’s from being so bold, let us have our lives defined by boldness!  We have nothing to lose, let us stride boldly into death, let us boldly be alive, let us boldly read our Bibles in public not to impress but to not be parted from God’s voice, let us boldly have our lips tied to God resurrected, Christ crucified, and God is Lord of all creation!
Be on your guard my dear Christian, you are a treasure that the devil is out to tarnish, do not worry for such a thing, it is beyond your control and God is sovereign, trust in Him and correct your fellow brother and sister in Christ while proclaiming with certainty God’s Kingdom that is coming.

In closing their is one more matter at hand, leave behind any desire to debate, to prove your understanding or to validate it by the opinions of others.  How much time is wasted on such wasteful things!  Debate only for God’s glory!  If a fool of a Christian comes before you to test your resolve on a matter, preach Christ crucified!  Take the conversation straight to the heart of the matter, if the topic or conversation is not glorifying to God and doesn’t drive either of you closer to God then drop the matter quickly or walk away!  If you are in error more often on this matter then I urge you, repent!  How I am in anguish for you, you waste so much of your heart and hope on matters that only bring death!

Peace to you, and love from my soul; may we understand my word is not the Bible, if you feel angered, bothered, concerned, distressed, etc towards me please do not respond but pray to God for Him to reveal your heart to you, for this is a matter of you and God, not me and you.

Brandyn