Tag: born again

CRUCIFIED

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CRUCIFIED

By Rick Mathes

1 Corinthians 1:23 (NASB77) 23  but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness,

The Jew as well as Roman Catholic and a host of other faiths are what are called ceremonialists. They have a variety of rituals, sacrifices, processions, holy celebrations and so forth that they participate in as they attempt to petition God and explain the unexplainable.

The Greeks were not much for feelings or experiences. They were thinkers and needed to be reached through logical persuasion or intellectual assent. One and one had to equal two so that the supernatural was not a consideration. God dying on a cross then a dead body rising to life was written off as nonsense.

Paul kept it simple for those simple and preached only Christ crucified. He saved the deeper waters for those experienced swimmers. This took not only to be called but also to be chosen. As any minister will confess, we are door mats for the general public to wipe their feel on. As an evangelist, I prefer to view myself as an anvil that has been the cause of many broken hammers.

When you put your face in the mud, blood and tears at the foot of the cross, you become born again: the minute Jesus is your Lord. This transaction unleashes God’s Holy Spirit’s power in you. You don’t need to be baptized again in the Holy Spirit according to both Paul and Jesus. You have the full power but you have a dimmer switch to turn it up or turn it down. The sin you have that reduces the power is one you want more than Jesus or you would repent of it.

As you stand in front of Christ on the cross you realized how rejected he really was.

As you stand in front of the empty cross you sense the triumph he has had over your sin.

As you stand before the empty tomb you realize how admired you are by the angels and all who have passed into glory for being believers.

And lastly, how proud Jesus is of you His trophy of grace!

CROSS PURPOSES

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CROSS PURPOSES

By Rick Mathes

Luke 23:33 33 When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.

Two thousand plus years later and we are still marveling over the Cross that became our Lord’s throne as He gave His all for all of His. That same Cross attracts and repels and our world hasn’t been the same since. It is a place for the hopeless to receive mercy which for the lost world just doesn’t make sense. They can be so near their salvation and yet be so far; a real enigma.

You have to admit that His crucifixion was a strange event. Come on, God was nailed t a tree and died? How could such a thing happen? Why would you want a dead god? Well glory to Him, He rose from the dead and that makes it all make sense, like Josh McDowell wrote in “The Evidence Deserves a Verdict.” But no, who wants facts that oppose their preconceived conclusion? Only those He causes to understand will ever receive the Holy Spirit and accept this atonement and guarantee of our eternal life.

It was all unequaled suffering that is not known in our day. We just don’t understand the horror our Lord suffered mentally in the garden and physically on the death stake.

His sacrifice met the just standard Father God has set for the forgiveness of sin. He could not have put the bar any higher. The death of His own Son was the ultimate display of His love for His created.

It was the forgiven thief that was the first to welcome our returning Lord to His throne. Our Savior took three days to set the captives free but the thief couldn’t wait. He said, “Today you will be in paradise.”

This was a totally peerless example of God’s justice, forgiveness and love. There has never been an equal nor will there ever be. Just imagine: He died deader than a door-nail and raised Himself up to life! A dead corpse decided on His own to come back to life. This has got to leave you breathless and in complete submission to His Lordship and your hope of eternal life in the New Jerusalem.

COREM DEO BEFORE GOD

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CORUM DEO – BEFORE GOD

By Rick Mathes

Hebrews 10:1 (NASB77) Heb 10:1 (NASB77)  For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.

Every instance in the Bible when someone came into the presence of God, their face hit the ground and they were horrified by how sinful they were in the face of God. It was a terrifying experience unlike the entertainment franchises with a cross on the roof we call churches. The majority of professing Christians are ignorant to what true worship really is: coming into the personal presence of God (in His face).

They are hindered by unbelief. Oh they may agree to the Westminster Confession of Fatih and have the right answers to the right questions but they stop short of believing that we must be Holy or we will never enter heaven. We form our own religion that suits our beliefs as far as we allow our heart to reach. Close but no cigar!

If this sounds like you, be honest: you have unconfessed sin that the Holy Spirit has been hounding you with. You have invented your own god who doesn’t really care about your minor sins. Your god is only interested in the big sins! How absurd. A Holy God demands nothing less than holiness.

Harboring what you believe to be a benign sin is a completely wrong attitude. It was sin that killed God’s only Son. All sin is lethal and you and I must be 100% sinless or we will never enter the glory-land. Well, you know well as I do that it is impossible. The only way to the Father is through the Son so face it. Anything you believe otherwise, no matter how small or insignificant you may thinkit is to be, if it is not wholly Jesus, it is wholly and fatally wrong: No sin period!

So if you keep placing your priorities around the edges, it won’t due. You are only fooling yourself unless you make your only goal in life the pursuit of holiness. Don’t hold anything back no matter how insignificant you may believe the sin to be.

You are advancing into the face of the enemy and Lucifer can be a formidable enemy. He only needs to would you with a small sin to cause a fatal blow. Stand boldly before God and don’t hold anything back. You’ve been warned!`

CORRUPTION

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CORRUPTION

By Rick Mathes

1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Corruptions on every front occur in the world and the church before our very eyes and we let them happen; everyone, whether in politics or in the pulpit is afraid to speak the truth because truth has been corrupted beyond recognition.

In either circle it begins by following humanist leaders. We call them liberals but the fact remains that they are conservatives with masks on. They are not just “Joe six-packs” in taverns or legislators in government; they are also graduates of seminaries.

They favor earthly, carnal, self-centered wisdom no matter how it’s packaged or marketed. I live in the real world but my heart is in the heavenlies. I see and you do too the nonsense that is offered as good-sense.

You can’t help but flounder in the flesh of relativism. It’s like throwing darts at a moving and changing target. There is no objective bull’s eye there is only bull s—t.

With an ever changing truth we give little or no thought for future judgment because what is there to judge? When there is no right there is no wrong and the lie becomes the truth. The Word of God warned us and the fulfillment is upon us. Why fear a judge of no laws or punishment. Muslims call it “kismet.”

The spiritual leaders flatter themselves by the attendance and wealth of their churches. All of hell has put its weight on their eyes to look outward instead of upward.

When you aren’t eye to eye with Jesus you are well on your way to sink to the depths of Satan’s evil abyss of fire. Faithfulness to Christ is measured by three words: repent, submit and obey If you will do these corruption wherever you feet are planted will flee.

Otherwise you are fragmenting the Body of Christ. You have corrupted to the point where you are not the solution, you are the problem. Guess what happens when you spit into the sky; it falls back on you.

COMFORTER

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COMFORTER

By Rick Mathes

John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.

Islam teaches that Jesus sent Mohammed to be our counselor and teacher not the Holy Spirit. Talk about scripture twisting, they also claim that Abraham was to sacrifice Ishmael not Isaac. How out-there can one get. Yet, most people you ask haven’t a clue what or who the Holy Spirit is and what His involvement is in our lives to this moment! I won’t even begin to suggest to you that I am the final word on this issue but I have made a few observations the teachings of the Bible that makes the Holy Spirit a critical component of my life in Him.

The Paraclete is definable to the extent that we understand Him to be equal to the Father and Son. Now I have read many books and articles trying to explain that the three independent personalities are one person and none of them make any sense! But just because I don’t understand it doesn’t mean God doesn’t know it. I just accept the Trinity by faith in the Word that says it is so. I like the analogy that the Father is the sun, the Son is  the illumination and the Holy Spirit is the warmth between them. Or how about one times one times one equals One?

What can I say with certainty is that the Holy Spirit is the Comforter. He brings the warmth of the Son into your heart and being. He embraces us with the confidence that everything is going to be ok. It’s a real blessed assurance not a counterfeit that the devil cooked up. You can’t touch the flames without pain and where there is smoke, there is fire. But when the dove lights on your head, the peace that surpasses understanding washes your soul and enlightens your heart with an appreciated confidence that strengthens your resolve to press on.

The Comforter provides comfort to the comforted!

This is a real life experience with the Holy Spirit that is felt, actuated and confirmed by the Word of God and the lives of the spirits submitted to the Lordship of Jesus. The unbelieving doctor said, “Can you see, smell, taste, hear, taste or feel the Holy Spirit?” The Christian answered, “I can feel Him.” “That makes it 4 against and one for. As a doctor of medical science, I won’t accept that as fact.” The Christian countered, “Can you see, smell, hear, taste or feel pain?” The Doctor admitted he could feel pain. The Christian countered, “Then it’s a fact the Holy Spirit is as real to me as pain is to you. I pray you believe and the pain will pass!”

COME TO ME

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COME TO ME

By Rick Mathes

John 7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ” If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.

Jesus Christ is God, is alive and is coming back. Now this is reason enough for me to come to Him when I am a quart low. He and He alone have the Living Water in His essence, the Word and in His form, His person. So all I need to do is study His Word, pray and meditate and I will be refreshed and preserved to another day.

There is no other name in heaven, earth or below to call on. All others smolder and smell from the flames of the abyss: demons with masks on. Jesus said He was the way, the truth and the life. Now I must admit to you that I still struggle with a concept being a person. I will discuss this issue in another devotional. This much I do know, there is no other Savior but Jesus Christ.

When I go to His Word, the Holy Spirit makes the verses come alive. I can almost feel a heartbeat just laying my hands on the Gospels. His Word becomes even more powerful when I read His actual words. Did you know that if you just read the “red parts” (His quoted words) it will only take you three hours?

The main thing you find is wisdom that surpasses Plato and Aristotle. In fact philosophers are fools who ask other fools foolish questions and get foolish answers that they pass on to other fools! Logos is wisdom, Sophia.

The Rhema is the power of the Word that only a believer can understand. It’s when the Word leaps off the pages and does a broadside on your mind and heart. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to take His place until His return. When was the last time you “shot up” the Holy Ghost and mainline all He is?

The Father is the lover, the Son is the loved and the Holy Spirit is that love between them. When you find the Son, you have the fullness of the Godhead. This will endow in you a symphony of our Triune God and all the heart-break we caused Him during our journey to the cross.

The Comforter surely is as He assures us that everything is going to be all right. There is a sense of relief in knowing that we have received a full-pardon When then reality of this really sinks in,you have found Him!

CHURCH

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CHURCH

By Rick Mathes

The corporate church is the Body of Christ which is composed of all its elect. We don’t “go to church” we “are church.” The ground I’m standing on is church property because I am the visible temple of the Holy Spirit: He lives through me.

We come together to worship because like metal to magnet we cannot do otherwise. Our spiritual comfort zone is to be in “one accord” worshipping and enjoying our Lord in His glory.

So far we are in agreement with the Roman Catholics. Where we depart is when it becomes a “Mass” that features a ritualistic re-crucifixion of our Savior: another unnecessary atonement, one done on a weekly basis: over and over and over as the slaughtering of lambs in the Old Testament.

When Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant it. He died once to free us form the punishment of sins, the power of present sinfulness and the presence of future sinful consequences. This was done once never to be repeated ever again. There has never been any need for a sacrifice since His and there never will be. The Roman Catholic Mass is blasphemy!

This “mass” of atonement for our sins in another gospel and is a direct reflection of ancient temple offerings. The need for these useless rituals is forever dispelled in the Book of Hebrews. There is not even a hint of the mass being held by a priest anywhere in the New Testament or any history of Christianity until it was invented by Rome in the fourth century.

A typical gathering of the Saints was usually held outdoors by a river, stream or lake or in the home of some wealthy Christian. It was a simple service that included prayer and singing. They would all take oaths of the 10 commandments and someone would bring a Word from the Lord. They would have a communal breaking of bread, drinking of wine in memory of the Lord and when applicable conclude with baptism of newly born-again children of he promise,.

The marks of the true Church are:

The true preaching of the Word

The right administration of the Word

The faithful exercise of discipline

After the so-called conversion of Emperor Constantine (310AD), Christianity was declared the state religion and multitudes of pagans were admitted to the Church by baptism alone without conversion. They brought with them pagan rites, statures, ceremonies and practices which eventually found themselves incorporated into the Roman Catholic mass which is practiced to this very day.

Over 50% of this mass is of mythology and heathenism. And most of the balance is an invention of the strangest kind. Oh, how the saints that have passed must cringe as they watch the pompous display of worldly idolatry and self-gratification being displayed by men with questionable gender-orientation, parading around in gowns of mourning or celebration depending on the invention of the cause. The genuflect, bow and kiss of holy relics before a crucifix of worship as the saints look on from their statues in approval is straight from the altar of Satan.

“Oh mother of God we worship you” is the theme to the Matrix of glory. The fourth of their declared Godhead; and the faithful actually believe this! Amazing.

ALL OR NOTHING

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ALL OR NOTHING

By Rick Mathes

Luke 9:23 (NASB77) 23 And He was saying to them all, ” If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

Salvation is not free. It costs everything. We must exchange all we are for all His is. It is a total displacement of who we were for who His is. That’s Christianity, being Christ-like. Not religion.

If you sense in your heart a yearning for Jesus to be Lord, praise Him because you have been especially chosen to be His. No one comes to Him except the Father gives to Him. You are elect and like metal to a magnet, you can’t avoid coming to Him. You are not able to turn back for long for the urge to be His is too great to resist

If you confess Jesus as your Lord, you must submit to His Lordship in everything. This includes those times and places when no one is watching. Well, He’s all present so there isn’t anything you can get by Him. He sees it all. You are His slave and He owns you totally. So like boing water through coffee grounds you process your every move through Him.

We know the cross He carried for us but we usually don’t accept the cross we need to carry for Him. We have been charged with sinning and sentenced to die to self so that we might live to serve Him. It all begins at the foot of the cross when we collapse under the weight of our sinful life and repent of our sins at the feet of the Master.

We must be wholly His to be holy. You can’t be part saved either. You are or you aren’t. When you do, submission to His will naturally follows and He becomes the Hand and we become the glove. He goes about the Father’s business in our skin.

Michael Angelo was asked how he knew that David was I that discarded block of marble. He replied that he just kept chipping on that marble that which wasn’t him. So it is with us as our Lord chips away at our sins so that we might repent, say “Ouch!” and slowly return to our first nature which was to walk in the presence of God. It’s our second nature to sin but all that changes when you are brought to that moment of truth by the Holy Spirit where it is all or nothing.

 

CHRISTIANS

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CHRISTIANS

By Rick Mathes

Acts 11:26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came about that for an entire year they met with the church, and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Little did they know when the Church of Antioch first call the followers of the Way, Christians what they had started. There is no more highly honored near in any dictionary of any nation. We are followers of Christ and disciples of His Way. What a privilege: that He died for me!

But how can you identify a Christian? Are there any characteristics that separated ttthem from the rest?

I don’t know about you but when I’m with Christians I sense a sincere kindness I really can’t find anywhere else. Being kind and compassionate were the hallmark traits of that rag-tab early community of believers. They showed such patience with each other’s short-comings and growing pains. It was a true willingness of everyone’s part to be of one accord.

They had one God, one faith, one baptism and one desire to love each other with His agape love. It produced and unprecedented happiness that set them apart and was the envy of unbelievers. The early church didn’t explode in their mission outreach only, they imploded with worship. Unbelievers were beating the doors down to get some. Such was the condition of America has abandoned.

Charity is not the entitlement of government; it is the outpouring of Christian ministry. It is their eagerness that first established hospitals, orphanages and senior living accommodations. They did so with a humble loyalty to the principle of the gospel. St. Francis of Assisi said it so well, and I paraphrase, “All I want to do is go about the Lord’s business and not know it.”

It takes a courageous warrior for the Lord to defend His name in this sewer of unbelief, apostasy and apathy. We must return to the cross and ask for forgiveness, receive it and then become forgivers. This is all supernatural and in respect for His forgiveness from that bloody death stake on Calvary.

Do you have the strength and resolve to admit, submit, commit and transmit the gospel from the top of the mountain? Then be of service to the Commander-in-Chief and defend that Name of names, Jesus. Proudly declare to all who will hear that you are a Christian!

CHRISTIANITY

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CHRISTIANITY

By Rick Mathes

Acts 11:26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. And it came about that for an entire year they met with the church, and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

There is no higher rank, accomplishment or title that is greater than being a Christian. It hurts my heart deeply that it has been dragged through the mud and worse by the devil and his ministering demons in synagogues of Satan (carnal churches). It’s to the point that only 2% of professing Christians are really Biblical Christians that once populated that first church in Antioch. That means that the vast majority of religious counterfeits who call themselves Christians are going to a hotter place in hell. This begs the question; what is a Chritian and what is the vital doctrine of all Christians

A Christian is one who will not deviate from; 1) Bible only, 2) Jesus only, 3) Grace only, and 4) Faith only. That acronym TULIP (You can look it up.) and the gospel according to Jesus is Calvinism (All other faiths are bogus.).

The first step we need to take is to admit our sins and the need of a Savior. This conviction can only come from the Holy Spirit. No sermon or ritual will produce a real conversion apart from the moving of the Holy Spirit. Only a heart-felt appeal to God will suffice. So put your face in the mud, the blood and the tears at the foot of the Cross and cry out, “Lord save me!”

The next step is to submit to His will. You start out as your hand doing your thing and then He covers it with His glove of protection. This is called justification. Sanctification is where you exchange places with Him. He becomes the hand and your skin becomes the glove that covers Him so that He can go about the Father’s work through you. At this point, the rest of your life is none of your business! God is going to do with you what He wants to, how He wants to, where He wants to, when He wants to, if He feels like it. (Read this again)

You need to commit all you are for all that He is. This is a covenant that is deeper than deep. Even you can’t break it; once saved always saved. I can’t take the blood of my father from my veins anymore than I can take the saving grace of my new Father from my soul.

The natural outcome of these steps to holiness is to transmit or communicate the good news to others. The Word will get into your veins like fire and you will not be able to shut up!