StandPoint117

Faith is not conditional, Faith is Relational. It is a relationship with the Author (beginner) and the Finisher (end) of Faith, Jesus. Faith pleases God, it is not based on the law of Moses, it is based on Grace. How then should you live? By Faith, not of the old testament (old covenant) but according to new testament (new covenant). The old testament (old covenant) was established by the blood of an animal (that is, though the animal doesn't have the knowledge of sin, not blemish, the animal has not enough capacity, yet it dies as a result of sin because sin result to death). So, as the animal dies because of sin, the sin offering present the offer to God that the sin of that man is gone but that can't stay for a long time because it is the blood of an animal, that was the old testament (old covenant). You should understand that sin came into the world through one man (ref. Roms. 5:17), then where those it come from, it came from the devil, he had sinned from the beginni...

Gen. 1:26-28 We begin the year with THE BEGINNING. And i foresee that there are many references God will make to that scriptural place in the quarter beginning this year. Genesis 1:26-28, we know the story. God had thought aloud about his intention to replicate Himself and the rest of the Godhead in a project called MAN. And now He got just what He wanted. Then at first inspection, His very next move was this: "....And God Blessed them...." Gen. 1:28 Short but powerful. Words of Power! Revelation! Words that could evoke serial sermons for a lifetime. Very pregnant and Turgid! When God saw man, He felt like blessing "him" ("her"inclusive, for this discourse). The BLESSING, "Barak", was God's first interaction with man. The BLESSING was God's first feeling for man. It was God's spontaneity and it is His original emotion for man. It is God's "Truest" feeling for man. When God was left to interact with man, He was fou...

The effectiveness of "A PRAISE" is often with the potency of the person offering it. The Praise is as powerful as the person on whose mouth it is found. It's not primarily in the ONE to whom it is offered. We know Him who receives all the praise. He remains the same. He has never changed. And let me be forward to say - He is not planning to change. It's neither in His short term nor in His long term goals to change. God the Almighty, Our Father, is not planning to change. Christ Jesus, my Lord, is not planning to fail. He is able to bring the same results throughout the ages and answer every generation....The challenge is with us. You remember the praise that quaked the earth? Acts 16. I think two things, among others, made it so. Let me talk about it. First is the Persons offering the praise. Second is the Place from which the praise is offered. They were prisoners - Paul and Silas. They were Prisoners of God, not of the government. What was their crime? They cas...

"Faith is the root....assurance is the flower" - J.C RYLE "All Christians have Faith but not all have assurance..." - J.C RYLE If a man has faith, Saving Faith; the minutest form of it, it will justify him before God. God treasures even the smallest fragment of Faith (true faith). Faith in the substitionary work of Christ will take a man to Heaven. But if it doesn't evolve into Assurance, he will arrive there "weather-beaten and tempest-tossed" never realizing the comfort that his divine being offers here on earth. A man might have grace yet never know it in experience here on earth. He might his take his earthly walk torn and distracted by internal conflicts, never arriving at the whistling confidence of hope. It is not the difference between the Streets and the High School, I mean the difference between Faith and Assurance. It is rather the difference within the School; that of the first grade and the Last grade. It is not the difference between P...

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood.....but against....SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS IN HIGH PLACES." Eph.6:11 We wrestle against Spiritual Wickedness in High places. Or let me paraphrase it - We wrestle against highly-placed spiritual forces. And "Heavenly-placed" as some versions have it. I am not exalting them, I am only describing them, that I might validate Paul's charge in the preceding verse: BE STRONG IN THE LORD, AND IN THE POWER OF HIS MIGHT.... Christ is seated above them. This is important for me to state. In measuring the distance, no measuring device was helpful and no human quantity applied. Therefore "Researchers" arrived at this inference - FAR ABOVE! "...Far, Far above principalities and powers and any name that is named..." Eph. 1:21 How far is Christ's seat from the topmost official of the Kingdom of hell? Very far!!! Very very far!!! Very very very far!!! It can only be qualified, never can it be quanitified. And...

"He also chose David His servant, And took him from the sheepfolds; From following the ewes that had young He brought him, To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance. So He shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands." Psalm 78:70-72 "Great Scorecard David!" He did well! When David tended his father's flock in the wilderness, he was rehearsing to tend the nation of Israel. He probably didn't know. God trained him to shepherd the people by making him shepherd the flock. If he had missed the lessons, he would have failed altogether in Leadership. If he had undermined his time with the sheep, he would have jeopardized his time with the people. David's precise purpose was to defend the Nation of Israel by many battles, to establish her territories, set her up firmly as a Kingdom and give her rest on all sides. He was only Israel's second king. Therefore, he needed def...

We can miss the bulk-load of intensity in spiritual activity when we have missed the intention (the right intention). Which matters more? The length of a spiritual activity or its intensity? Does a Soul caught away in the spirit of prayer realize how many hours has gone by? Yet we can hinder ourselves by being too conscious of the duration-point we are trying to score. What are we trying to achieve? Who are we trying to impress? And what points are we trying to prove? Yes we have read of many who thrived in long hours of fellowship with God. How did they do it? Did they try to ACHIEVE it or did they lean on the Holy Spirit to carry them through? Isn't it that they tasted of the life that can be found in spiritual communion, began to long for it and became "addicted" to it? And then when they missed it, they knew something was missing. "In your presence....there are PLEASURES (ecstasies if you like) forevermore" Psalm 16:11. (Emphasis mine) I'll say two ...

Satan's temptation from the start is to distort the blessing of Grace. To tell man that all the trees in Eden's garden are the same. To imply that no fruit is forbidden in the garden of Grace, and that we can have sway all the same. Was it not Enormous Grace, friend, that Adam had? He was already trusted with much, and given the very LICENSE to name creation. That was Grace, authority; the very Grace of God. To him was given much license and the ticket to eat FREELY of that Garden. But what? Can God not keep one tree away from Adam? One! Even if just one! Does that demean Grace? "Have all the rest, but keep away from this one." Is that injustice? Does God not reserve the right to reserve one or two things from your reach o man under Grace!? Look around you, see the vast space which has been given for your eating. You have been given much already. God is gracious. But that which He has forbidden from His word, from it keep off! Grace does not enter such places! ©Pa...

If we plan to walk worthy of our Christian calling, then we cannot evade an entry into His rest. Except if we do not aspire to. It is a tall order, too tall for our natural strength. For in Matthew 5, the Lord raised the bar. "You have heard that it was said..." BUT "I say unto you.." And in each case, He raised the game. And the things we find stated are things that our humanity can't sponsor. "Love your enemies and bless those who curse you." "Do good to those who hate you and pray for those who spitefully use you." "Whoever strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also..." "If any one wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let Him have your cloak as well." .....And others like them This is how high the calling gets. In another place, He pegged the limit of forgiveness at 490 times a day. Of course, he was ironically saying that there was no limit to our forgiveness. This is spirituality not mo...

The Writer of the book of Hebrews (called WRITER H for this discourse) expresses his fear for the Hebrew Church in Heb. 4:1. They were a people coming from a background of Works (I mean Human works, as a means for salvation). Judaism and the Law of Moses taught them that. Then they received redemption but were back meddling with works...For this, it was feared that they were coming short of Rest, and so, coming short of the Glory of God. They were coming short of the specifications of the true Christian Experience. They were living a sub-standard Christian life. Yes, to come short of Rest in our Christian Experience is to come short of the standards of God for it. And it was a source of concern to men like Writer H who had a deep insight into redemption. Any work outside the scope of the FINISHED WORKS OF CHRIST is called a DEAD WORK. It can't help one bit. It is impotent towards spiritual progress. That's why it is called 'DEAD'. Let us know what is in the curriculum ...

If we do not enter God's  rest, we are not better than the Old Testament Israelited believers. Our Christian lives will be full of a wilderness experience, with a lot of activity but little progress. With a lot of energy expended but little movement. There will be a lot of perambulating and merry-go-rounding. O If we were to check on a tracking device, the movement pattern of the Israelites' wilderness journey, we might have been disgusted. It could have been worse than a Zig-zag. Yet their destination was not far away. This is the result of a "REST"less Christian life. There was a promised land which symbolizes fruitfulness, but it couldn't be reached. "He who has entered His Rest has himself also ceased from his own works as God did..." Hebrews 4:10 Here's the point of Rest - cease from your own works and embrace what God has worked for you. Before we DO, we find out what He has done, for we can never discard what He has done, And this is Christ...