Message Delivered

 How, then, should they be invoking One in whom they do not believe?  Yet how should they be believing One of whom they do not hear?  Yet how should they be hearing apart from one heralding?  Yet how should they be heralding if ever they should not be commissioned?  According as it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those bringing an evangel of good! 

Romans 10: 14 - 15, Concordant New Testament

Most people say that we've already lost our youngest generation.  They point to liberal protestors and coffee snorting hipsters and predict the doom and gloom which is sure to fall over our nation in the coming years.  Yet where others see defeat, I see opportunity.  Such was the case the other day as I watched a group of teens in a testimonial for the Christian series The Chosen.  I was so impressed with the reaction of these young people who had just watched the chosen for themselves that I immediately fired off an email to a good friend with two simple words...message delivered!  Their comments were uplifting to any believer who thought that our younger generation had been lost.  One young woman gushed at how gentle Jesus was portrayed.  Another woman was in wonder at how Jesus interacted with everyone around Him.  But the testimonial which lifted my heart the most came from a young man who was in tears at how kind Jesus was, so different from the stern God which he had been raised to believe in.   Now, anyone who has read my writings will know that I am no huge fan of the mainstream institutional church.  Some of you may have even wondered why it is the church fell out of favor for me.  well, all you need do is listen to the words of these young believers and you will see just why I now am on the outside looking into the church I was raised in.  If only a series such as the chosen had been released when I was younger perhaps I would have forgone some of the pain and struggles I endured from Christian teaching and preaching over the years.  I listen to the stories of these young men and women, and I see myself.  I see myself in Sunday school class learning to behave well lest God become angry with me.  Back then Jesus wasn't cool.  Back then Jesus was a dead guy who sat in heaven judging my each and every move.  That is what I was taught.  

In this was manifested the love of God among us, that God had dispatched His only-begotten Son into the world that we should be living through Him.  In this is love, not that we love God, but that He loves us, and dispatched His Son, a propitiatory shelter concerned with our sins. 

1 John 4: 9 - 10, Concordant New Testament 

In a way, I am glad that young people today have this resource in order to see the real Jesus for themselves.  This is Jesus who He really was.  This is the down in the dirt, sandals wearing, country teaching Messiah whom I have come to know for myself.  This is the Jesus who was not all billowing white robes but, in your face, speaking about the Father at every opportunity.  In my opinion, we have been presented with two different views of Jesus.  One by the mainstream church who are all too happy to portray Jesus as a stern overseer.  This is the gospel of Jesus these young people have undoubtably been fed up until now.  So, it is not at all surprising to me that they would be in wonder after seeing the authentic Jesus.  This Jesus is loving, patient and kind.  Everything, in fact, that the scriptures claim that He is.  This is a Jesus who has never used a scoring system to decide just who would be going to heaven.  This is the Jesus who desired that all would be as He and the Father {John 17:21}.  So, why did I send off that email to my friend after watching the testimonial of these young people?  Because I saw exactly what many others saw.  A new generation was being introduced to the truth of Christ Jesus.  Do I wish that they would have seen the Jesus I know today?  The Jesus who lives in me?  Absolutely.  However, I'll rejoice in their coming to know Him and pray that Christ is revealed in them.  Message delivered.  

To whom God wills to make known what are the glorious riches of this secret among the nations, which is: Christ among you, the expectation of glory.

Colossians 1: 27, Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~  

Did Jesus Dislike The Church?

 

"Now woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are locking the kingdom of the heavens in front of men.  For you are not entering, neither are you letting entering to enter.  Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are going about the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever he may be becoming one, you are making him more than double a son of Gehenna than you are."

Matthew 23: 13 - 15, Concordant New Testament 

For as much as I have been critical of the mainstream church, I pondered a question this week.  What were Jesus' feelings of the mainstream church of His day?  How did Jesus perceive the Pharisees who ruled over the temples of the Jewish faith?  First of all, we need to define the word church into the context we are speaking to.  The apostle Paul tells us that we (believers) make up the church {1 Corinthians 12:12}.  Furthermore, we're told that the head of the church is Christ Jesus {Ephesians 4:15}.  So, does Jesus loathe that which He sits at the head of?  Absolutely not!  There is a fine line these days between church and religion.  Jesus recognized this when He spoke unto the Pharisees in condemnation in Matthew 23.  Jesus wasn't railing against the church itself, but against the religion which had defiled His church.  At the very heart of His criticism were the religious authorities of the day, the scribes and Pharisees.  Can you imagine the shock if Jesus were to speak out in the very same way today and proclaim, "Woe to you pastors and worship leaders, hypocrites?"  Yet this is exactly what Jesus was doing in front of everyone who would listen.  Jesus was calling the Pharisees out.  It's no wonder, then, that these same religious authorities came to hate Jesus and everything He stood for.  When the Pharisees spoke of miracles of healing, Jesus healed.  When the Pharisees spoke of the coming Messiah, Jesus told everyone who would listen that He was the one they spoke of.  It's not hard to see why there was bad blood between Jesus and the Pharisees.  For being the self-proclaimed leaders of the church of Jesus, they were leading many astray.  Jesus knew this, and He let them know it.  

Now, being true, in love we should be making all grow into Him, who is the head--Christ--

Ephesians 4: 15, Concordant New Testament 

So, in answer to my question, does Jesus loathe the church?  NO.  Quite the opposite, Jesus loves His church so much that He gave up His own life for it {2 Corinthians 5:21}.  Indeed, where we can get tripped up on this question is in the definition of church.  The very word we have translated as church in our bibles can also be accurately translated as 'community.'  We are, indeed, a community of believers in Christ Jesus.  We...are his church.  I believe that far too many well-meaning Christians look upon Jesus' woes to the Pharisees scriptures and come away with the false belief that Jesus disliked the church.  It wasn't the church He disapproved of, but the way man made religion has treated those church members He loved so dearly.  How would Jesus speak to those self-proclaimed church leaders of today?  Well, I believe that He would call them out as He had the Pharisees.  Why?  When we get down to brass tacks of religion, we can see just why Jesus was so against it.  Religion causes judgement.  Religion grades the so-called righteousness of its members.  Worst of all, religion has relegated a loving God into the role of a stern overseer.  Is it any wonder, then, why we are seeing such a mass exodus from our houses of worship?  We do well to remember that it has never been in the ornate brick and mortar buildings where we will find God.  Paul assures us that to find God we simply need to look within{Galatians 2:20}.  

Now all those who believe were also in the same place and had all things in common.  And they disposed of the acquisitions and the properties, and divided them for all, forasmuch as some would have had need.  Besides persevering day by day with one accord in the sanctuary, besides breaking bread home by home, they partook of nourishment with exultation and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor for the whole people.  Now the Lord added those being saved day by day in the same place. 

Acts 2: 44 - 47, Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~

Spirit And Truth

 

But coming is the hour, and now is, when the true worshippers will be worshipping the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is also seeking such to be worshipping Him.

John 4: 23, Concordant New Testament 

How is it that you worship the Lord?  Is there a process you feel that you need to follow in order to somehow "feel close" to the Father?  Well, many a church might lead us to believe such things.  But how does the Father Himself desire to be worshipped?  I dare say that the mainstream church is seldom the example we should hold high when we speak of authentic worship.  I look at the relationship Adam and Eve shared with the Father in the garden.  However, if we can count spending time with a spiritual presence as a relationship then we might be on to something.  Look at the life of Adam and Eve in the garden.  Can we assume that there was communication between the Lord and man which He created?  Absolutely.  We have evidence of this after Adam and Eve partake of the forbidden fruit which the Lord had commanded them not to eat.  Immediately the Lord came looking for Adam and called out to him {Genesis 3:8}.  The gig was up.  Was this the first time the Lord had spoken to Adam?  I really don't buy into that.  I believe that Adam and Eve communed with the Lord in the garden each day.  Why is this important?  Because it sheds light onto how it is that the Father desires to be worshipped.  I refuse to believe that God requires all sorts of ceremonies and sideshows whenever we desire to commune with Him.  We're told that during His own ministry that Jesus would often retreat away from His disciples and others that He might commune with the Father.  We find one of these moments in John chapter 17, where Jesus speaks to the Father of His children becoming One with He and the Father {John 17:1-25}.  Is Jesus coming to the Father in spirit and truth in these instances?  Well, I would say that Jesus is communing with the Father in a way that many Christians have longed to yet few have ever done.  At least communing with Him in a deep and heartfelt way without even realizing it.  My late mother often referred to her prayers as her heart whispers, and she was right on the money.  During her prayer times, she would open her heart to the Father.  Yes, God knew what she was going to say even before she said it, but this was her worship of the Lord in spirit and truth.  

God is in spirit, and those who are worshipping Him must be worshipping in spirit and truth. 

John 4: 24, Concordant New Testament 

I have never desired to be a constant critic of the mainstream church, it's just that I have seen so much in my time there.  A dear friend has challenged me a few times to lay off the church, yet it's difficult to do with such an inviting target.  My reason for contrasting the mainstream church with the Jesus I now see in me has always been that others would see the freedom which I now see in Christ.  How we approach our worship of the Father is a classic example.  I believe that the very reason that Jesus presented to the woman at the well this radical new way of worship was not to degrade the church, but to bring God's children closer to Him.  The communing with the Lord which Adam and Eve enjoyed in the garden.  Spirit and truth.  God does not require His children to jump through all of the hoops of the mainstream praise and worship services.  As I contemplated this writing last night, I thought back to those times where I felt closest to God.  Those times when I opened my heart to Him and truly enjoyed communing with the Father.  Those times have become a regular part of my day now that I have seen Christ in me.  We have never needed a big church building to be near to the Father.  No, what we needed was the knowing in our hearts that He is with us always. 

~Scott~ 

Cowboys And Confidence

He said life's just like riding broncs it's a battle

Then he roIled a cigarette with shaky hands

Son I'll gladly take ten seconds in the saddle

For a lifetime of watching from the stands

~Ten Seconds In The Saddle, Chris Ledoux

was thinking this week of a conversation I shared with a good friend of mine some time ago.  A conversation which changed my life in a positive way.  It seems that I had broached the subject of the Lords promise (or my perception of such) that He would provide for me a suitable mate.  It was then that my friend asked the obvious question.  "Well, have you talked to anyone?"  Of course, I hadn't.  To say that I had a confidence issue was obvious.  My friend, being the outspoken guy which he is, correctly said that my future mate may not materialize were I not to open up a bit to others.  Well said.  He then proceeded to drag me through the fields of country music as he made his point.  It seems there was an old rodeo cowboy who was lamenting his fall from competitiveness over an old injury.  As he longed for the old days, he regaled the young bucks with his advice, 'I'd rather spend ten seconds in that saddle than a lifetime watching from the stands.'  How true!  How many of us have ever gotten anywhere by just sitting on the sidelines and watching?  The old cowboy's advice was simple, get involved, get moving, put yourself in that saddle.  I know that it sounds silly, but I contemplated this advice for quite a bit before deciding to climb into a saddle of my own.  The unknown carries with it things that we are not familiar with.  Perhaps this is why most of us look on from the stands for so long?  We've seen those cowboys get tossed from their saddles from mean, angry bulls and we want NO part of that action.  I get it.  Rejection is like that mean, angry bull.  We can mount our saddles all we want, but what about when we get thrown out?  Well, let's consider the old cowboys advice.  

But I learned a lesson that I'd never known

From this guy who'd been busted so bad

It's better to ride even if you get thrown

Than to wind up just wishing you had

~Ten Seconds In The Saddle, Chris Ledoux~ 

So, despite having been beaten and thrown, that old cowboy preferred the life of living his dreams and not just dreaming he had.  Because at the end of the day, woulda, coulda and shoulda never amounted to much in my opinion.  So, where did this leave me?  Well, for one thing it left me pondering the advice my friend had given me.  It also left me assured that I'd rather die trying than wishing I had!  How has the old cowboy's advice changed my life?  It made me realize that if I desire to compete, that I need to get back in the saddle.  If I desire the companionship of others, then I need to tear down the walls I've erected around myself and put myself out there.  That, in essence, was at the heart of the old cowboy's advice.  It's not just me, anyone can gain from these wise words.  Do you want to simply watch while others around you live life to its fullest?  Or, do you desire to stare that damn bull in the eyes and take your shot?  For me the choice now is simple.  Every now and then I'll find myself listening to the words of the song containing the old cowboy's advice.  I know that it is Jesus within me who is waiting for our next ride in the saddle.  

Not that we are competent of ourselves, to reckon anything as of ourselves, but our competency is of God.

2 Corinthians 3: 5 Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~ 

In The Weeds

 

In order to become conscious operating selves, and not merely continue like spontaneous infants, God used lucifer, the wrathful expresser {Rev 12:12} of that opposite fire nature, to entice and deceive Eve.  She responded to Satan's {The serpent's} lies about God and began to express his self-for-self nature in herself by taking the fruit which God had forbidden.  Adam consciously chose to identify with Eve's self-for-self disobedience {1 Timothy 2:14}. 

Norman P Grubb, No Independent Self 

A conversation with a good friend this week centered on how we would introduce the belief of Christ Jesus in us to someone who desired to know more about the truth of Jesus.  First off, I would see anyone seeking this Jesus today as someone being lost in the weeds.  For my friend and I both agreed that there are precious few resources out there which one can turn to in order to learn more about the Jesus we know.  The Jesus who, as the apostle Paul proclaimed, "Christ lives in me" {Galatians 2:20}.  Far from simply being in a relationship with Christ, having the assurance that He lives in you takes our life in Jesus to another level completely.  As another friend recently remembered about his own struggle, "How do I have a relationship with a dead guy?"  It's true, how does one have a relationship with someone who is no longer alive in a physical sense?  Mom mother passed in 2016, can I still have a relationship with her?  Not likely.  However, what I do have is my mother's DNA and the knowledge of the love she had for me.  For lack of a better explanation, this is exactly what we have today with Jesus.  His DNA is within us {Genesis 1:27}, and we have the knowing of His love for us {1 John 4:8}.  So, while we no longer have a relationship with Jesus, we have the knowing of a deeper connection with Him.  That is, if we know where to turn to learn more about the truth of Christ Jesus in us.  As I said, there are precious few resources available to learn more about Christ in you.  Until we can navigate through to learn more, we will still be lost in the weeds of religion.  

Thus they became conscious of the opposites through the attraction of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  The good is a self which expresses God and other-love; the evil is a self which expresses Satan and self-loving love.  They became expressers of their Satan-father's self-for-self nature, Satan's "seed" {Gen 3:15, 1 John 3:8, John 8:44}.  In their expression of him {Ephesians 2:1-3}, they became tricked into the false concept of seeing themselves as independent selves, even as their false father Satan was deceived into thinking he was an independent self.

Norman P Grubb, No Independent Self 

How would you talk to someone who wanted to know more about Jesus?  Would you tell them about a favorite church?  A favorite book?  Well, either of these choices MIGHT introduce someone to the mainstream religious version of Christ, but not the Jesus I know.  For the Jesus I know lives in me and is an intimate part of my life.  I no longer need to worry about being good enough to simply 'Be like' Jesus.  This is performance-based theology, and it is dead wrong when it comes to who Jesus truly is.  Like the Father, Jesus is love {1 John 4:8}.  Scripture tells us that our own salvation is the gift of God and not of our own efforts {Ephesians 2:8-9}.  So tell me, how's all that working to simply be 'like Jesus' working out for you?  If someone were to ask me where to find out more about the Jesus I have come to know one of the first places I would direct them would be the scriptures which proclaim to us the truth of Christ in us {Galatians 2:20, Colossians 1:27, Galatians 1:15-16, Romans 8:10, Ephesians 3:17}.  Indeed, there are numerous scriptures which speak to the truth of Christ Jesus in you.  To back this up I would also refer one to the author Norman Grubb, who has written a few books on the truth of Jesus.  Although Grubb's work might be relatively unknown, it is still readily available should one choose to find it.  I have included a few excerpts from Grubb's book 'No Independent Self' in this writing.  Finally, there is a small group of us who routinely gather via Zoom for a weekly conversation on the truth of Christ in you.  Despite being out of the norms of mainstream Christian church, it is a good resource in learning more about Jesus.  I would also caution anyone who desires to know more about the truth of Christ in you that their entire perspective of mainstream Christian teaching might just change after they are blessed with Fathers revelation of His Son in them.  That's not a bad thing.  

To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

Colossians 1: 27 NKJV 

~Scott~ 

Gods Elect

So that we, from now on, are acquainted with no one according to the flesh.  Yet even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, nevertheless now we know Him so no longer.

2 Corinthians 5: 16 Concordant New Testament 

One can seldom navigate their way through a normal work week without being embroiled in what has become known commonly as "office politics."  So it was once again for me this week.  Now, I usually try my best to stay clear from the collateral damage of these hand grenades tossed by others, but there are times when I get stuck in the middle.  So much so, that this week I found myself asking the Lord in a moment of frustration, "Lord, do they even know You?"  Of course, I have zero idea the religious leanings of many of the people I work with, but God knows.  He also knows my heart and my history.  A history of how I used to be among those that tossed the grenades of discontent and verbal abuse.  I used to be among that crowd that reveled in the hurt feelings of those I worked with.  Yet, I'm known by those behaviors no longer.  What happened?  Well, to make a long story short, Jesus happened.  More importantly, Jesus in my life*.  I learned that I cannot be known for things I am no longer affiliated with.  For some time, I have turned to 2 Corinthians 5:16 whenever the politics of life have brought me to that point of forgetting what it is the Lord Jesus has accomplished in me.  Not only in me, but in other around me as well.  See, I have never held a patent on the grace and mercy of God.  I am but one whom the Lord Jesus has graced with His love and forgiveness.  But it's here where many well-meaning believers get tripped up.  I know I'm one of God's children.  I know who I truly am in Jesus.  Yet there are times when this is where my perspective of the saving grace of Christ stops.  For how could Jesus extend grace to the man who just flipped me off?  How could Christ give mercy to the one whose wicked words just cut me to the core?  Easy, the same way that He did when I once dabbled in those behaviors.  I haven't cornered the market of knowing Jesus and receiving His love and grace.  Yet I am the better man having known Him.  

If anyone should be saying that "I am loving God,' and should be hating his brother, he is a liar; for he who is not loving his brother whom he has seen can not be loving God whom he has not seen.

1 John 4: 20  Concordant New Testament 

To be brutally honest, I have never been the perfect Christian.   However, I've always tried to be the best believer I could be.  Anyone see the slight difference in those statements?  Far too often, well intentioned believers get sucked into the behaviors of religion.  There is a reason by which politics and religion should never be argued, for when they are there can be no clear winner.  I have not classified myself as a Christian for some time now.  I'm no longer part of that system.  No, I am a believer.  A believer in the finished work of Christ Jesus.  It is only as a believer that I could have come to the realization of seeing Jesus for who He truly is.  Not the crucified flesh which hung on a Roman cross, but the Son of the living God whom the apostle Paul declared lives in us {Galatians 2:20}.  As a believer, I no longer know Jesus as He was.  I now proclaim Him as He is.  But what does the resurrected Jesus have to do with believers behaving badly?  Only the fact that the very same believer I look down upon today enjoys the same status in Christ that I enjoy.  When I look down upon others, I am engaging in things which are reserved only for God.  I'm not in the judgement business, as my opinions can be a bit biased.  We do well to remember that it is a loving God who gives mercy not only to us but to those around us as well.  I don't know about you, but I like the view from my side of the fence.  

*I meant the phrase "Jesus in my life" to exemplify how Jesus has come to live in me.  However, a few churchy, Pharisee school graduates may take it to mean that I'm not comfortable with the reality of Christ in me.  Fortunately, my own heart knows better. 

~Scott~ 

Church Words

And the anointment which you obtained from Him is remaining in you, and you have no need that anyone may be teaching you, but as His anointing is teaching you concerning all, and is true, and is no lie, according as it teaches you also, remain in Him.

1 John 2: 27: Concordant New Testament 

As a writer, not everyone is impressed with my work.  Not everyone agrees with what I put out on my page.  No matter, my ultimate goal is that everyone knows the truth of Christ Jesus in them.  Yet there are those who see something with my writings every now and then.  Something which they judge in a negative way at times.  I have stood accused of using "Institutional" language in a few of my posts.  Whatever does this mean?  Well, the long and short of it is...church words.  Words or phrases which many a Christian has heard time and time again over the years.  I've heard them myself, and I wasn't impressed.  All too often, church words take us to a place where a true relationship with Christ Jesus simply isn't possible for any believer.  Church words keep us enslaved to the mainstream church idea that we are still sinners in the Lords eyes.  Now, there are times when I simply don't realize that I might be rehashing my own version of church words as I write.  I get it.  I chalk that up to too many years learning in the church system.  Writing about something you have been told for years is true is easy.  What's difficult is writing about something that too many in Christian circles do not take seriously.  That is, the indwelling of Jesus in us.  The apostle Paul spoke to this realization in Galatians.  As Paul proclaimed, it was no longer he who lives, but that Christ lives in him {Galatians 2:20}.  I do not see this revelation as church words simply because I have never once heard this truth proclaimed from any pulpit.  But other words are seen as church words.  Words like sin, judgement and being like Jesus.  Basically, a lot which can be seen as being taught from the pulpits of the modern mainstream church are, in effect, church words.  Go figure.  

To whom God wills to make known what are the glorious riches of this secret among the nations, which is: Christ among you, the expectation of glory.

Colossians 1: 27 Concordant New Testament

Not to ruffle anyone's feathers, but I also know a few more church words which I do not find to be counter productive.  They are, God loves you and Christ died for you.  These are definitely church words many Christians have heard spoken from the church and are recognized as true.  But I would like to suggest a few other words that should also be recognized as true.  Christ is in you; you are dead to sin.  That last one always seems to get more than a few protests in response when I speak it to others.  Dead to sin?  What blasphemy is this?  The same blasphemy Paul speaks to in Romans 6.  It is Paul who declares that we should now consider ourselves dead to sin {Romans 6:11}.  Now, for those of you who say that I am simply cherry-picking scripture, that is exactly how I see more than a few of those who get their feathers ruffled and proclaim that what they are reading is somehow "Institutional" in nature.  Do you not understand that the Father can use any part of His creation to lead another to the truth of His Son in them?  What if someone, like I did, recognized the church words they continued to hear each Sunday yet yearned for something more?  To be honest, I do not intentionally cherry pick verses or mainstream church teaching that I might further the advancement of the church.  I use what I have experienced so that others will come, as I have, to the knowing of Christ Jesus in them.  

Knowing this, that our old humanity was crucified together with Him, that the body of sin may be nullified, for us by no means to be still slaving for sin.  For one who dies has been justified from sin.  Now if we died together with Christ, we believe that we shall be living together with Him also, having perceived that Christ, being roused from among the dead, is no longer dying.  Death is lording it over Him no longer.  For in that He died, He died to sin once for all time, yet in that He is living, He is living to God.  Thus you also, be reckoning yourselves to be dead, indeed, to sin, yet living to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 6: 6 - 11 Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~