Courage With Grace
Breaking Major Misconceptions About God's Word
Repentance – Change Your Mind About It
19 months ago
by Caleb
in New Covenant
Have you grown up and been taught that if someone is crying at the alter, they did something bad? Or, how about, if they were at the alter a long time, they did something real bad! Search up the word repentance and you’ll find a picture of someone crying or on their knees. This meaning of repentance is in the Bible, but it is an Old Covenant repentance; we need to know the New Covenant repentance.
In the Old Covenant, repentance meant that a person turned from sin. Today, we are under a completely different relationship with God. He has changed the covenants. The New way of repentance can be found in the Greek. Almost every time you find the word, “repent” or repentance,” you will find the Greek word “Metanoia.” Metanoia means “changing one’s mind.” The word Metanoia derives from two different Greek words.
1. Metá (μετά)
Metá means “To Change” it is used in words like metaphysics and metamorphosis. Metaphysics has to do with how the universe changes, and metamorphosis has to do with how an animal changes.
2. Noi (νόος)
Noi means, “Mind or brain.”
Put the two together and you get the Greek word for repentance which means, “To change your mind.” Metanoia doesn’t have anything to do with crying, asking for forgiveness, or confessing your sin; it has everything to do with changing your mind. Metanoia is like a light switch, I used to believe this way, now I believe differently.
Many people may wonder why I don’t preach on repentance, but the truth is that every time I teach, I am preaching it. Yet, I don’t use the word repent. The reason is because You can say, “repent” until your blue in the face, but you won’t it won’t lead to repentance; I have taken a different route. I have chosen to preach on the goodness of God instead of just saying the word repent.
There are two ways to preach repentance.
1. Say the word repent: Yup, just yell it out, “repent!” The Bible says in Moses chapter 5:7 “Saying the word repent very loudly will cause people to repent.”
2. Preach the kindness of God: The more you preach the kindness of God, people will change their mind (repent).
Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? – Romans 2:4
People see the works message as productive. They think the more they preach, “Do this, do that” then people will change their lives, but the Holy Spirit says, “Do not think less of the teachings of goodness of God. These teachings are the ones that lead people to truly repent!”
In the Old Covenant repentance was to turn away from sin, but today New Covenant repentance means to change your mind, metanoia. Have you changed your mind about repentance? The more we teach Jesus’ finished work, people will turn to God! The more we preach God’s love, people will change their mind and realize they need a Savior.
Also, check out the strong’s concordance and view the word, “Metanoia.”
http://concordances.org/greek/3341.htm
Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
310 months ago
by Caleb
in Righteousness
Ever wonder what makes movies so mesmerizing? It’s color, new movies are so much more enjoyable than older films because of the HD (High Definition) quality. It’s not that the new movies have better stories or ever better plots, but the fact is that, the colors are so amazing. The story of Joseph and the coat of colors is similar to new movies; the coat is bright and filled with color, but the story is deeper than the bright Technicolor dreamcoat.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. – Genesis 37:3 (NIV)
The coat that Joseph was given is symbolic. Joseph’s coat had two different things that a normal coat did not.
1. It was expensive (because of the colors).
2. It had long sleeves.
The part of the coat deals with the cost of the coat. Think about this, coats back in the day were never really colorful. They did not have the technology or the machinery to have colorful clothes, but when they did have a colorful coat, it was expensive.
The NIV version says, “coat of many colours,” whereas the Amplified adds something different.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a [distinctive] long tunic with sleeves. – Genesis 37:3 (Amplified)
The Amplified describes the coat as a long tunic with sleeves. This is interesting because the long sleeves have a deep meaning. Do you remember the scene of Jesus building a table, in the movie, “The Passion of the Christ?” This scene shows a joyful Jesus building a table with a sleeveless shirt. Almost anyone who has to work hard outside is not going to wear a big fury jacket, but they will wear something light and without sleeves. The reason Israel gave Joseph a coat with long sleeves was because he did not want his son to work (out in the fields) like his other brothers.
You can see how this angered his brothers. Here they had been working hard in the fields while Joseph is resting with his dad. This coat symbolizes our coat of righteousness. Jesus had a robe of righteousness that was given to him from God. Jesus took off his robe of righteousness (on the cross), and he swapped it with our filthy coat.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21
Our new robe of righteousness means 2 things.
1. It is expensive (Jesus paid a heavy price for our right standing with God).
2. It has long sleeves (Jesus has already done it all, “It Is Finished!” All we have to do it believe.)
Also, people think that we must put on this coat, daily, but the truth is that God placed this coat on us, without us even realizing.
I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. – Isaiah 61:10
For He (God) has clothed me with a robe of righteousness! Whether you know it or not, you are right with God. Our good or bad works have nothing to do with this gift of righteousness. This gift does not ask, “Are you a good person?” It is given to us because of Jesus. What kind of gift would this be if we were perfect? And yet, people think they must be perfect to keep this robe. If all of your past sins didn’t keep you from becoming righteous, how can one sin make you lose this robe of righteousness?
You are righteous; God has placed on us a robe of righteousness because of Jesus’ finished work. This coat is a coat of rest (it has long sleeves). This is the ultimate dreamcoat! Our robe of righteousness gave us right standing with God. This gift is not about how good you are. It is about how good was the man who bought it for you!
Photo By: James Donaldson/ creationswap.com
Written In Red – Rightly Dividing The Old And New Covenants
110 months ago
by Caleb
in New Covenant
Many People assume that everything Jesus said, (all of the red letters) are for today, but we have to realize that Jesus spoke to people before the new covenant even began. Jesus was born under the Law, so let’s ask ourselves a question, “When did the new covenant start?”
Our (manmade) Bibles divider says that the new covenant started after Malachi, but does the new covenant begin with Jesus in a manger? I hope not. Andrew Farley once shared this with a crowd of people, and when he shared that the new covenant did not start where our bible divider tells us, he heard the following:
I heard a loud ripping noise at the back of the room. The senior pastor of the Baptist church hosting the retreat was holding up a page he’d torn from his Bible. It was the New Testament divider page. “Guess I won’t be needing this anymore!” he announced. (God Without Religion, 82)
We Need New Covenant Eye Glasses.
Imagine that you go to the eye doctor and he prescribes you some glasses. You receive the glasses and notice one small thing, you can’t see clearly. This eye doctor has given you the wrong glasses, and like physical glasses that we need to see and drive cars, we need Biblical glasses. Have you ever read the Bible and been like, “what in the world does this have to do with anything?” or, “I don’t understand this verse in the Bible.” Well, my friend, you have not used your new glasses. You have received the wrong glasses. When we rightly divide the old and new covenants we can realize why stories are in the bible, and we can understand what this verse is about.
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. – 2 Timothy 2:15
This was written to young (pastor) Timothy. Paul was telling Timothy to rightly DIVIDE the Bible (the word of truth). Notice the word, “divide” has to do with separating something (the old and new covenant). These covenants need to be separated to have a clear view of the Bible.
Also, many times Christians see themselves as, “workers,” but the truth is that Paul was writing this to Pastor Timothy. People are workers at their jobs, and as Pastors our job is to rightly divide the scriptures. Paul is saying, “Timothy, this is your job; don’t be ashamed when you rightly divide the old and new covenants.”
Jesus Spoke To People Under The Law
Can you see how people misinterpret some of the things that Jesus has said? Some people even get angry when they preach about Jesus. Remember anyone who preaches angry, thinks their God is angry. Jesus spoke to people under the law.
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, – Galatians 4:4
Jesus told a man once to keep the Ten Commandment in order to get to heaven, but is that the truth for today? Absolutely not! Jesus wanted people to see that they couldn’t earn any blessings or favor from God. He wanted them to realize they needed a savior, so He brought in the law, to bring them to the end of themselves. Let’s not bring back the law after Jesus has fulfilled it.
People quote the following verse without realizing it is an old testament verse.
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. – Mathew 6:14
This was written, before the cross even took place. Notice that from Acts to Revelation, you can find NO verse that said we are forgiven, if we forgive! But, you find plenty of verses that say we have been forgiven!
Instead, be kind to each other, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. – Ephesians 4:32
Notice the difference? Before the cross we find that we must forgive to be forgiven, but after the cross we forgive because God has forgiven us (past tense). Live your life and read your Bible knowing when the new and old covenants started!
And the Word (Jesus) became flesh, and (Jesus) dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:14
The entire Bible is God-breathed, so technically the whole Bible should be written in red! Jesus spoke to people under the old covenant, and we cannot read the words written in red and automatically assume it is for us. Whether the Bible is written in red or black, we need to rightly divide the old and new covenant.
Photos By: by Sandara Lee and by Joe Cavazos/ creationswap.com