Tag: Christ

LIVE UP

By Rick Mathes

Philippians 3:16 however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.

Anything the devil has to offer you will only degrade and lower you until you need to jump up to touch bottom. So it is critical that we set our goals up and take a real inventory about what we do have in Christ. Let’s take a look at the practices of Paul and see if there are any similarities.

Most obvious is the attribute that Paul worshipped God in the Spirit. He turned his dimmer switch up to the top. He put his pedal to the metal. He was all out a buddle of humility at the feet of His Lord and Savior. Many times his tears were those of Jesus and his heart beat with His. It gave him great cause to die to sin and rise submissively to the Holy Spirit even to the third heaven and hear words and see scenes he was forbidden to speak about.

Here he was in a hole in the ground called a prison confinement, with the searing heat, stifling humidity and odors and vermin beyond civil description and he was having a 4^th of July celebration of joy for the Churches he had birthed. His heart leaped from his chest knowing tht he had lit the fuse that caused the holy explosion of the Spirit everywhere he traveled. He had been chosen to throw the rock into the cesspool of civilization and cause ripples of salvation, one family at a time!

Paul had no confidence in his flesh even though he had all the credentials of a pedigree. He knew that all he once staked his reputation on wasn’t anything more than a handful of sand that slipped though his fingers to be forgotten: meaningless.

This transformation left him absolutely void of any self righteousness. He began the sanctification process of exchanging all he was for all Christ is. He never attained complete holiness but he did all he could to live up to Christ’s excellency and put his own incompetence behind him.

Paul knew to treat anything of Satan’s as trash. As long as we bless the Lord with all we have, the devil will never have a toe-hold onus. Live up to Christ and don’t look outward to temporal distractions.

LIVE IN HIM

By Rick Mathes

Colossians 2:6 (NASB77) ⁶  As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,

Your walk is more convincing than your talk. S when your knees shake and our faith waivers, take a look at where and in what are you rooted. I am particularly fascinated by the giant sequoia redwood trees along our west coast. Some were planted in the days of Christ and yet they continue to grow and prosper. How do they do that? Their roots don’t grow deep they grow out and hang on to each other. This way they don’t stand alone. Isn’t that neat? Let us go and do likewise.

As a writer, I enjoy a blank piece of paper as a challenge. It gets my creative juices going to put down something of value. I suspect the same thrill occurs to a contractor as he looks at a cant lot that will soon be enhanced by a building of his creation. So it I in being built up in Christ. Jesus is blessed to enjoy His image and likeness in you. What could be more perfect?

As you are rebuilt in Him it is apparent that the old you is gone and the new has come. So make them know clearly that you are a Christian to all who come in contact with you. This will establish the fact that you are His and are not interested in fellowshipping with those who aren’t His. I know of a fellow minister that wears a priest’s white collar when he travels. He explains that the collar establishes that he is a cleric and it holds off all kinds of temptations real and imagined.

Understand the enemy or he will put you under. Satan is a better liar than you because you believed him for all those years before Christ. Beware of his deceptions and live in Christ. The better you know the real Jesus the more adept you will be at spotting the phoney. Satan temporarily has the wold as we know it in the palm of his smoldering hand. But the day is dawning s you are illuminated by the Word to seek Him out and destroy every last vestige of his insane persona.

When you live in Him you become dead to the world. A man dead to sin is dead to sin. Unleash the Holy Spirit within you and you will live on another plane that you have never even imagined.

 

LITTLE FAITH

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 8:26 And He said to them, “Why are you timid, you men of little faith?” Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and it became perfectly calm.

God never had a bad day. If you are having a bad day it is because you are into “I, me and mine” instead of “He, Him, and His.” You are looking outward instead of upward. Not is the time to ask you, “Have I been born again?” I don’t mean patched-up in good works but completely replaced of the old with the new. Do you see as He sees and hear that which is pleasing to Him? Do you have the mid of Christ and do your works express those thoughts that are filtered through His new heart beating in your chest? Are your hands going about His business and have you planted your feet on holy ground? Lastly, are you honoring your body as the temple and home of the Triune God?

In other words, in whom do you trust? Or are you still shaking in anxiety and artificial uneasiness! Go about His work, let others have the credit and you will know the humility that must open your eyes to those you keep company with.

The old adage, “birds of a feather flock together” is as true today as it was a hundred years ago. I consider it more like metal being attracted to a magnet when Christians irresistibly come together for corporate worship. We can’t stop the body parts from assembling inot the body so to speak.

The dry bones shout “Hallelujah!” When the Word is flowing through your veins like fire and you can’t shut up, your words will display who your heart belongs to: you or Him. When Satan owns your heart he controls your tongue and your speech betrays who your Lord is.

As this process unfolds over three score and ten what I have attained, each year that follows will display a bonus I don’t deserve and a Holy Ghost faith in Christ that has sustained me to this moment. The witnesses, the Word are in my life one step at a time. My faith grows and I establish myself on fertile soil and in the fellowship of believers. My master sustains me and His faith has found a home in my heart. How about you?

LIFE OR DEATH

By Rick Mathes

Romans 5:10 for if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Do you have any idea or how much you are an enemy of God without our Lord’s intervention? You are destined not the death but eternal dying in flames of fire. When we realize how blessed we are to be His, we burst with joy and endlessly worship Him with our thoughts, words and deeds. This generates the Holy Spirit to the next level of our awareness of His love.

I always thought a man loving a man was homosexual and a man with a woman was lust. It wasn’t until I experienced His love that I began to plumb the depths that cannot be fully discovered. He not only has the only genuine love, He is the love. In other words, Father God is the lover, Brother Jesus is the loved and best friend Holy Spirit is the love between them.

Can you get your mind around not only eternal life later, it is now. Isn’t that astounding! This very moment as you read is is a moment lost if you don’t live it to its fullest in Him. How? The Holy Spirit will speak eternal life and truth to you even in this article I am penning right now.

We hit speed bumps, brick walls and frequently stumble through the sanctification process but His righteousness is never tarnished. We display His holiness when we take on His righteousness. We become virgins all over again. There is an exciting freshness when we leave the iron and clay behind and become a golden trophy to His sacrificial offering.

The world blames all the problems on religion and they are right. The problem is religion not Christianity, there is a difference. Religion of men brings kingdoms of the world by permission of the Lord, of course. It is only in this lifetime that we can say yes to Jesus and no to Satan because in glory there will only be yes to Him and no devil to say no to. This is our only chance to make a choice that blesses us and Him.

There is a rest in His in His peace that cannot be described and only experienced by real Christians. You have to step up in faith to Jesus then step back in a peace that surpasses understanding.

A Letter from Paul

By Rick Mathes 

A certain church found itself suddenly without a pastor, and a committee was formed to search for a new man. In due course, the committee received a letter from a clergyman applying for the position. The letter went like this:

“Gentlemen: Understanding that your pulpit is vacant, I should like to submit my application. I am generally considered to be a good preacher. I have been a leader in most of the places I have served. I have also found time to do some writing on the side.

“I am over 50 years of age, and while my health is not the best, I still manage to get enough work done so as to please my parish.

“As for references, I am somewhat handicapped. I have never preached in any place for more than 3 years. And the churches I have preached in have generally been pretty small, even though they were located in rather large cities. In some places I had to leave because my ministry caused riots and disturbances. Even where I stayed, I did not get along too well with other religious leaders in town, which may influence the kind of references these places will send you. I have also been threatened several times and even physically attacked. Three or four times I have gone to jail for witnessing to my convictions.

“Still, I feel sure I can bring vitality to your church even though I am not particularly good at keeping records. I have to admit I don’t even remember all those whom I’ve baptized. However, if you can use me, I should be pleased to be considered.”

Hearing the letter read aloud, the committee members were aghast. How could anyone think that a church like theirs could consider a man who was nothing but a trouble-making, absent-minded, ex-jailbird? What was his name.

“Well,” said the chairman of the committee, “the letter is simply signed…PAUL.”

 

 

LETTER FROM HEAVEN

By Rick Mathes

John 5:39 (NASB77) ³⁹ ” You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me;

The Word is Truth. The Word is the essence of Jesus and Jesus is the exact representation of God Almighty. Now that was a real mouthful but it helps to understand when Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Jesus is Truth. I can’t get my mind around a person being a concept except the Word is inhabited by His Holy Spirit and we learn the truth of Jesus. Can you follow this line of reason, this syllogism?

What does the Scripture expect of us?

1. Take up your cross and die to sin.
2. Pray fervently in words of understanding.
3. Be of one accord with your church.
4. Be a soul winner and be bold.
5. Preach to all who will listen.
6. Be responsible in all things.
7. Be sure to always exhort and encourage/
8. We are commanded to rebuke and correct.

Now brace yourself! You have not just opened a can of worms, you have shaken a hornet’s nest of demon’s hell bent on destroying your efforts to do any of the above. Their poisonous darts are about to fly and they will attack unexpectedly if you blink.

Satan knows your weakest point. The question is “Do you?” When I learned to box the first thing I was taught was to see the punch coming and then develop the skill of counter-punching. The same goes here.

The devil will keep on friendly terms and close to Him until he feels the time to strike is at hand. He’s hunting souls and he’s good at it.

To make matters more challenging; he often uses God’s Word to entice and entrap you in sin by twisting it just a little to make the poison go down more smoothly. He knows the Bible word for word with power of creation, the Scriptures, Satan is only a created creature and he’s no match for the inspired Word of God.

 

 

 

LETTER FROM DAD

By Rick Mathes

My father was killed by a V3 Rocket in Antwerp Belgium during WWII when I was only 2 years old. So I never knew him and never had a father who loved me as his son. My mother remarried and I was just unwanted baggage by her new husband. I don’t have a happy memory of anything connected with my childhood. In fact I was smoking and stealing cars at age 13 and I robbed my first gas station at age 16 and ran away from home during a race riot. So you can see how happy I was when I found a big stack of letter my dad had written my mom while he was in the Army and in combat.

This was a great chance to learn about him ad get a better idea of what a dad he would have been had he lived. It was amazing to me that we were so alike, even our handwriting was very similar. I always regretted not having a dad for the next 25 years until I met my new Abba and got born again! At lasgt I had a Father that was alive and loved me unconditionally.

I began to read His letters to me in the Bible. I was impressed that all the letter about His saints came first-class because they were so important for me to read from my friends; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The letter came immediately and never got jammed up in a busy post-office, they were post-paid, registered and personally handed to me by a courier, the Holy Spirit.

All the rage and resentments of an unhappy child evaporated and were replaced by a love rush in my heart I had ever known. I was set free! Sin no longer had a hold of me I felt like a guided missile and all I wanted to do was brag about my new Daddy to anyone who would listen.

His letters taught me that I was free of the penalty, power and presence of sin. Take caution here and remember that a man who truly repents is never satisfied with his own repentance and neither am I. I truly forgive my mom and step-father for all the damage they did to me but I will never be satisfied until I love them with the Lord’s love. It’s tough but every time I read a letter from my new Daddy I get more excited about meeting my birth-father in heaven. It just feels right!

LET’S PRAY

By Rick Mathes

Luke 11:1 And it came about that while He was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”

Prayer is that special communion only a believer can know before our Lord. Strangers to grace and salvation believe it because when the going gets tough. There aren’t any atheists in a fox-hole under fire! But yet many still question why we should pray to an all-knowing God.

When my youngest daughter was a toddler, I would pray and dream of the day when she would talk and we could communicate our love for each other. Nothing is sweeter to the ears but, “I understand her baby-talk but I loved to hear her voice and enthusiasm. This is exactly what blesses our “Abba” when we pray.

It’s important to talk to Him because that’s how you develop a relationship. How long can you keep a friend, spouse, child or employer if you don’t talk to them and that’s just what prayer is, talking to Him. He enjoys hearing form you.

It really is our duty to go to Him not just with our problem but also with our praise. He is our all in all and there doesn’t exist anything or anyone that is more important than Him. As soldiers for our King we must put on our armor, lift up our sword as Satan criss-crosses our lives to rape and pillage any remnant of our Lord’s Kingdom. There isn’t any “plan B” but eternal annihilation.

As a good steward of our three-score and ten years of life it is proficient as a holy exercise of strength to have a prayer life that reaches beyond our grasp.

He is our Master and we are His slaves. This has a negative connotation of a wicked taskmaster but our God is love. He doesn’t just give us love or guide us to love, He is love I gladly and willingly encourage you to pray the promises and experience a fellowship that word cannot describe.

LET’S LEAVE

By Rick Mathes

John 14:31 (NASB77) ³¹  but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

Everyone is always coming or going somewhere. When you walk in one direction you are leaving the other. Duhh! This certainly applies to sin. The conviction repels the sin and attracts us to repentance: from the old to the new, death to life.

As an elect believer, we are not comfortable with this unsaved, secular or carnal world. In fact, the Word says that if you love the world the love of the Father is not in you. This is serious business to distance ourselves from anything or person that has Satan’s fingerprints. So then as a consequence we need to be “out of this world” so to speak.

That means we need to distance ourselves from the sin group we were so involved with; those social attachments with the wrong people, those that we are hell-bound and a bad influence on us. A person becomes a convict because he makes wrong decisions and hangs out with the wrong people. The same axiom applies to every sinner: it is their common denominator.

When you turn from those sinful attachments to the Savior you can’t help but get into faithful service for the King. What once were sinful episodes become wholesome in time, and need to be filled with your best effort to conform to others: they all do it don’t they?

One such activity that immediately and naturally kicks in is to defend your faith and extraordinary change of life. People will attack and ridicule the Word but they can’t attack your personal testimony.

Another measure of those who have crossed over from death to life is persecution. For whatever reason you want to attach to it, Christians and Jews are always open game for the devil and his kingdoms. The hounds of hell are always nipping at our heals because we are all so committed to Biblical perfection yet so endlessly full of faults we openly display and repent of.

How you live, in the final analysis, is displayed by how you die. If eternal life in heaven isn’t worth dying for, it wasn’t worth living for. Let’s leave the old behind.

LET US LEAVE

By Rick Mathes

John 14:31 but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

There’s a time to stay and there’s a time to leave. This can apply to all the situations we may find ourselves in. You need to know when to hold them and when to fold them. There will be a last heartbeat here on planet earth and the next in heaven. We are that close to meeting Jesus face to face; a very special onetime encounter.

Are you ready to leave? What will you be leaving? How about leaving your sin groups?

Sin comes to you through sinners that gather together with sinners of like mind. Sometimes this is called Church! Imagine Simon the Cyrene actually walked in the bloody footprints of Jesus as he carried the cross-beam to Calvary. He didn’t walk in the path of sinners as Psalm 1 warns about. I am delighted that my so-called friends, unbelieving sinners, have left me alone with my Bible. When my drinking fraternity brothers invited me to an annual keg party, they weren’t disappointed when me, a Baptist minister didn’t attend. I didn’t go! The darkness doesn’t invite the light into fellowship when the light is made known. I have never heard from them again.

There is always a residue of filth no matter how hard you try to repent of it all. The most common relapse is when Satan tempts you to recall and relive the sin in your head. Filthy, slimy, stinking remnants of the feces of your past actions remain somewhere in your psyche, somehow in your memories. We are never completely holy. How exasperating!

On the plus side when we go in one direction we are always going to leave something else in another direction: from sin to Savior would do just fine. This requires a service to a new boss; under new management. For me, leaving alcohol and drugs was like walking out on a foreign planet. The differences can be quite start in contrast as they were for me and many others.

We leave the enemies camp to defend our new victories in Christ. You can be sure that persecution will follow the Bible promises it will. We must stand firm even to the death if need be to defeat the bondage Satan once had us in. There’s no turning back once your choice of allegiance is made. We leave worldly nonsense to the dust and step out on avenues of gold in glory. The life within us is eternal; it’s just a matter of where you choose to live it. Make your choice to leave this world behind as you soar into the promised heavenly blessings in His presence.