Courage With Grace
Breaking Major Misconceptions About God's Word
Let the King of Glory Come In!
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The kingdom is all about, the King. A while back I was sitting in a service where someone came up to the front to give a word. They were very emotional and spoke in almost a demonic-like tone. They told the congregation, “You sit there smug in your pew (pointing at the congregation). Why don’t you worship Him?” As I look back I see that it was really all condemnation. Here people had made the effort to come to church and yet we condemn them? It seems like the devil gets people to condemn them for not only going to church, and then when they get to church they are condemned for sitting in church. Long story short our church began monitoring what words were being spoken out into the congregation. Thankfully later during that service my Mom got up and said, “Let the King of Glory come in.” Finally somebody said something good! Praise the Lord for Momma’s! Here one person gave a message of condemnation that really had no substance, and then another person gave a word with life and Jesus! This is what the church needs! It is time we let the King of Glory (Jesus) come into our church. For so long, we have told people, they must do, do, do. The truth is that this message is not about Jesus; this message is all about self. Any message that points to self and says, “If you do this then God will bless you,” is an old covenant message. Our part, 1st and foremost is to believe. Believe God can take care of you; believe that He works all the bad out for your good. Remember God is not the cause of your problem, He is the solution! You will see your miracle faster by believing God and focusing on Jesus, than you ever will by focusing on your sin. Remember the King of Glory hangs out with us every day. In fact He is with us so much the Bible says that, “every good and perfect gift comes from Him” (James 1:17).
As believers, we don’t need to ask Jesus to come into our hearts, but we do need to ask Him to come into our sermons and worship music. Church has become too self-centered when it needs to be Christ-centered. Almost every time I turn on the television, it is about something bad that has happened. Many Christian worship songs are like the TV, it is all about self. I don’t know if it is just me or not but my sin does not make me want to worship. Remember when Adam sinned, he didn’t run to God with worship, no he ran away from God. The last thing on earth that helps me worship is thinking about myself. For about five years I was on a praise team. I mean I helped lead worship about 2-3 times a week, I was also in another band doing worship music on Friday nights and Saturday nights, and I was always practicing my music. One thing I noticed… Almost every time we would go to sing a song about self, no one would be into the music, but as soon as we began playing songs like, “The praise goes out to you,” people would be up and jumping. The bands that have the most success like, “Hillsong” and, “Christ Tomlin” have Jesus-focused music. The reason is because the King of Glory was the focus of the song. I believe it is time we brought the true King back into our sermons and songs!
Now, many times people have this picture of Jesus waiting outside our hearts. Some people see Jesus as waiting on the outside knocking, but while this is true for the unbeliever (that Jesus is on the outside waiting to come into their life), it is not true for believers today. God does not come into our heart and then leave us when we sin. Didn’t the cross pay for that sin? I believe many times Jesus has been outside of many sermons and messages. We tend to focus on what we can do, to get the raise, or we focus on what we can do to get the healing. No, God wants our eyes on Christ and we need to put our faith in Him, instead of us.
When the Psalms wrote, “Let the King of glory come in,” Jesus is saying, let me come into the sermon! He wants to be the focus of our messages because, “When Jesus is lifted up He will draw all people to Himself” (John 12:32). All we have to do is lift Him up! When we sing a song in worship, we should not be lifting up ourselves or our sin. We need to be lifting up Jesus as if He is crowd surfing! Lift Him up, and you will see people changing their mind about church. You will see people changing their mind about their sin. When the Church service is Christ-centered, you will have to get more chairs into the building because they will all want to hear one name, JESUS!
7 Lift up your heads, O gates,
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
8 Who is the King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O gates,
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
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0 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory. – Psalm 24:7-10
Photo By: Jeff Brown/ Creationswap.com
Are You A Dead Man Walking Or An Alive Man Running?
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Three years ago I was sitting at a night service when the leader explained how we needed to see ourselves as, “dead in Christ.” He said, “Every night I go to sleep I imagine I am in a funeral coffin. I am dead, but Christ lives.” Now I have heard a lot of sermons about how we have died with Christ and are alive in Christ, but never again will I want to picture myself in a coffin! He made us close our eyes and picture that coffin… I said to myself, “No! I want to live I don’t want to think about being in a coffin.” I remember being sleepy when I got in the building, but when he made us close our eyes, the last thing I wanted to do again was fall asleep and subconsciously wake up in a coffin. This brings up an interesting thought, what does Galatians 2:20 mean when it says the following:
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20
Have you ever heard, “You’re a dead man walking?” This is funny isn’t it? People say, “I’m just a dead man walking.” I feel like asking them, what are you talking about? What does that mean when you say you’re a dead man walking? These are phrases that always confused me. Are you dead or are you alive? So, when the Bible says, “we are crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20) what does that actually mean?
Let’s Get Straight To The Point
The Holy Spirit wrote that your we were crucified, but praise God, Jesus did not stay in the tomb. No, He rose again, and so did you! All of the evil you, is dead. Do you see the difference? All of our sin was crucified. Jesus isn’t going to die again, so he did it, “once and for all” (1 Peter 3:18). He died and the sin went with him, but when He rose again the sin wasn’t with Him! Now we are dead to sin.
Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. – Romans 6:11 (NASB)
People often wonder how God can forgive you of a sin you haven’t committed (done). Well let’s ask a deeper question, how can Jesus crucify all of those sins you haven’t done either? I mean come on now people, if He can crucify a future sin, how come he can’t forgive that sin while he is in the neighborhood?
Galatians 2:20 does not say you were crucified and stayed dead. This verse is saying that we were crucified, and now we are alive with Christ! It says you were crucified; it did not say you are dead. Me and Jesus get to ride the road of life forever together. I’m not a dead man walking; I am an alive man running.
Photo by Vince Farrell/Creationswap.com
Pink Elephants (The Power Of Sin Is The Law)
04 months ago
by Caleb
in Law and Grace
Remember this number 35940. Now, don’t think about pink elephants. Remember do not think about pink elephants. Again, do not think about pink elephants! What is in your mind right now, a Pink elephant? Typically the good that we try to do in, “our” effort will not have good results. This was the problem the apostle Paul had. Paul said, “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.” [Romans 7:9 NASB] Paul describes the law as the problem. What is He thinking? Most people would see the old covenant as the solution.
Many people today even claim that we need to bring the law back to help morals. But the word says, “And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.” [v. 10 NASB] So, when the commandment came (the law) it brought death, not life. 11” for sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me”. [v. 11 NASB] It killed his morals, the old covenant did not make Paul stronger, but rather it was the hair that broke the camel’s back. Paul wrote, “The commandment which was to bring life, brought death.” People think the law helps us live Holy lives, but the Bible says it does not bring life. The commandments is used to condemn you, make you feel guilty, and destroy you life.
Yes, Caleb we are not under the ceremonially and dietary law, but we still are under moral law (the Ten Commandments).
The truth is that Paul was specifically talking about the Ten Commandments! He wrote, “For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead” [Romans 7:9-11]. This whole passage is about the commandment that got him, “thou shall not covet.” For if the law did not say, “thou shall not covet,” Paul would have been set free from coveting, but instead this commandment produced all manner of evil desires. Apart from the Ten Commandments sin is useless (dead).
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. – 1 Corinthians 15:56
The power of sin is the old covenant, law. The law is like that pink elephant; we want to stop sinning, but the law keeps reminding us about sin. Grace, on the other hand, reminds us about Christ and what he has done! He has set us free from the law, and as a result we have been set free from the power of sin! Your mind is not on these lowly things (sin), but now your eyes are on higher things, Jesus! Let’s not worry about trying our best to not sin; instead when we focus on Jesus we will forget about that pink elephant (sin), and our lives will be filled with life.
Photo By: by Cody Jensen