Tag: Christian

KNOWING HIM

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KNOWING HIM

By Rick Mathes

Philippians 3:10 (NASB77) 10 that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

The goal of my soul is to know Jesus. I am completely absorbed in learning all I can about the words and works of Christ. This discipline is called Christology: to know Christ.

It begins for many with intellectual ascent. He is a liar, a lunatic or Lord. There is no middle ground and you must make a decision as to who He is to you. You can’t escape dealing with Jesus so you put your mind to work and study the Word. My focus initially was to disprove the resurrection because without it, Jesus was just an ordinary man and all the miracles were a fraud. So it starts in your mind.

Then it drops to your heart: the seat of your emotional experiences. What does it feel like when you finally believe His is Lord of the universe, created in the flesh? This is mind staggering and most certainly you will feel the effect of this in your emotions.

From there it drops into your soul and you go about the Lord’s business as a faithful saint. You become the skin for His Holy Spirit to dwell, live and work in. Imagine that! You become a living sacrifice to the Lord, the Temple of God: He dwells in you fully.

Knowing Him then is intensely personal. You become closely involved in His day to day activities and it’s by His grace that you can press on, keep the faith, fight the good fight and finish the course.

Once you know, you know Him, you will have a great energy for Him. Your thoughts will soar to dizzy heights as you meditate on who He is that lives in you If all leads inevitably to prayer and praise on a scale you never imagined!

So if I were to sum up our pursuit of knowing God, I would insist that you gain knowledge about God, of God and before God. He will initiative your love, choosing, redeeming, calling and preserving knowledge, experiences and understanding.

KNOW YOU KNOW

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KNOW YOU KNOW

By Rick Mathes

Colossians 2:2 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself,

Some don’t know they don’t know. Some know they don’t know. Some don’t know they know and other know they know. (You might want to read this over a few times.)

When I knew I didn’t know I decided to at least examine the basic information about Jesus that all true believers agree on. We Protestant denominations are not fractured and in theological disarray as the Church of Rome would have it. We have the same core values and speak as one on every single major issue in the doctrines of the Bible. The religious distinctives we each have are respected by each other and challenged as any good Barean would be expected to be.

Back to basics requires us to question God becoming man without the aid of a physical father participating in the conception. Our Lord’s virgin birth is the cornerstone of all that followed. His moment as a newborn is the most important element of our faith because all that happened after it was predicated upon the fact that Jesus was God in the flesh, incarnate. It precedes then what were the words and works of Jesus in His three year ministry.

The Holy Scripture is all we need to know on this issue of hypostasis, God-man. Oh how I wish there was another gospel or epistle more because I love the Lord so much and ache to learn so much more of Him. But in God’s wisdom He gave us all we need to know in Him to go and do likewise.

Why did He die? Did He really rise from the dead and did His feet leave the ground and His body   rise into heaven? This can take a moment to believe but a lifetime to study.

My biggest question is, “What does He expect me to be doing when He returns?” The worst words in the Bible is, “Depart from Me I never knew you.” Faith without works is no faith at all. If you don’t walk your talk you don’t know you know. The best thing for you to do is shut up. Don’t call yourself a Christian and live for the devil.

In summary: ask for forgiveness, He will give it, you receive it, and then become a forgiver.

KNOCK KNOCK

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KNOCK-KNOCK

By Rick Mathes

Revelation 3:20 (NASB77) 20 ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me.

What would you do if there was someone knocking at your front door? You would probably do what I do, I put my hand on my pocket on my pistol and cautiously go to see who it is. Now aht if you looked and it was Jesus! What would you do? I would want to verify that it was Him. Satan can counterfeit most anything and I would not want to be a fool over Satan with a mask on. Let’s recall together those attributes which pooled together would unveil the gospel of truth in that visitor on your front porch.

First of all I would know from His word that is He unchangeable so I would look closely at His wrists for the nail driven scars. Then I would look into the eyes of my Creator and say, “My Lord and my God!”

There’s as much difference between divine and demonic as there is between day and night. I truly expect that an anti-Christ wouldn’t be either; just a pinch of dark in light is moral prostitution. Gray is not true to white or black: it is both and neither at the same time. Well I know that darkness cannot invade the light and remain pure with just a little darkness. I would believe nothing less that the blinding Shekinah glory of our true God.

That visitor, if He were Christ, would have a compelling visage of self-sacrificing. If He wore a bejeweled crown and gold inlaid, ermine cape of crimson royalty, I would know him to be the father of lies. My Jesus is a humble carpenter from Nazareth.

His whole countenance would be one of serving not one to be served. I can imagine Him saying to you, “What can I do for you?”

I would see the joy of victory on His face when I opened the door for Him to see me, His trophy. I would then recognize   Him as my Lord and Savior and know that although it was finished on the cross it has only begun for me. How about you?

I AM LIFE

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I AM LIFE

By Rick Mathes

John 14:6 Jesus •said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.

We only have one. I remember parts of a poem I read as a kid that goes something like this: “I expect to live this life once, if therefore my fellow human beings there be a kindness I can extend or a goodness I can do, let me do it now and not defer nor neglect it for I shall not pass this way again.” My three score and ten have gone by very quickly!

I have often asked others, “What are you going to do with the rest of your life?” I usually get a blank look and a shrug of shoulders. Most spend more time planning their weekend than the next year of their life. The life that we search for is a hazy and distant afterthought to the actions of the moment of the day.

Life on planet earth is only a basic training ground for the Kingdom to come. We are earning our stripes and rank in the hereafter. The life we will be rewarded with is yet to come: the one with streets of gold.

In the meantime, we can excel and enjoy life in Him until His return and we are made complete. The life we must strive for in faith is not of this world. It’s a world of faith. Faith is at the end of your rope, just beyond your grasp, only one small step out of the boat. You will have it when you cry out, “Lord, I can’t!” At that moment of decision you will hear Him softly say, “I can.” Faith begins where you leave off and He begins.

Faith is found in life and life is found on our knees in worship of our Lord and King. Adoration of our Savior is almost extinct in most churches. Holy Ghost bumps don’t come from worship of Him but of many counterfeits that Satan can market as Christianity. How can we really come before Him to lift up His name: in words, actions, or in service?

Every cause has an effect. When we exchange our life for His, He goes about the Father’s business through us. Faithful and sacrificial service is the hallmark of a fruitful tree. It is all the result of obedience which is the result of the first cause of new birth. If you believe you will obey. It is the only way to overcome this evil worldly life. Don’t rise to your level of incompetence rather rise to His level of excellence. You can have the good life in Him if only you will release the fullness of the Holy Spirit within you.

HUMAN NATURE

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HUMAN NATURE

By Rick Mathes

Romans 7:21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good.

Man without God would be born without a purpose: a biological accident of evolution. When someone says they believe in evolution I respond, “If you believe that your great, great, great, etc. grandfather was a monkey, I’m inclined to believe you. He was!” A craps-shoot is a random chance and a belief that you were born at random is the same thing. Your parents threw the dice and you were the result of chance. When there is no ordained purpose, no objective truth, all become relative, even your life. Muslims call this randomness “kismet” which means essentially “fate.” Your life has no purpose. It is only a chance happening, how sad.

An unbelieving humanist believes he is his own god. He feels that if there is more good in his life than bad, if there is a hereafter, he will do just fine. You need to read the “Humanism Manifesto” to learn what a religion this is. Then read “Christian Manifesto” by Francis Schaeffer to see the contrast. Humanism is a religion of selfish heresy and is in as much error any any word beginning with self can be. We are not basically good, we reek with evil to our bones with selfism. We did not evolve to man’s image and likeness, we were created to God’s image and likeness.

Our true human nature is that we were born in the flesh for God’s use and for His purposes for our life. I know the moment you will die! Your heart will stop the second you have accomplished His purpose for your life and you will rise to your reward in glory.

Get a grip on the fact that we are full of sin: it is our vey second nature to sin. Sanctification is the process of returning to our first nature when we could walk in the cool of the evening in fellowship with the Creator. It would have also been overwhelming to walk this earth with Him when He was in the flesh. Now we collectively are made the Body of Christ, the Church.

We were created in His image which translated means, when people get to know you, do they get to know Jesus? What a challenge it is to exemplify Him with skin on as the Word did when the Creator stood in the dust He created us from.

HOW TO REPENT

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HOW TO REPENT

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 3:2
“ Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

We need to start out with: Jesus wants you! Now you can wiggle and squiggle like worms on a hook but you need to face it; you are hooked. What Jesus wants, Jesus gets so it is futile to fight the inevitable. Jesus will have you and sooner is a whole lot better than later. He wants to bless you as a loving Father to his son if only you will let him.

So what are you to do when faced with a seemingly irresistible sin? Or in other words, how do you avoid committing this shameful act before the cross of Christ?

The very first thing is you must do is stop dead in your tracks. Just plain stop. Don’t go an inch further. Just shut down all your body parts and senses. Go on disconnect.

Then you need to turn around. Don’t get all hyper and upset and do something stupid or mare shameful. Don’t move. Let your mind catch up with your better judgment. Let the Holy Spirit get behind the wheel once more.

Now you need to turn around. Put you back to the devil and press on! It’s time to hurry back to Jesus. Do not hesitate and don’t look back. You may not have another chance so take this one dead serious and don’t let this opportunity pass you by.

There are three levels of confession and conversion.

The first is intellectual. You need to confess Jesus Lord in your head and really mean it. Don’t try to understand everything about God because you never will. He has informed us through the Word and works of Jesus to take the narrow road to glory and leave all the filth Satan has thrown at is behind.

I don’t trust feelings because feelings because Satan can counterfeit them but when the Word of God and only the Word of God touches my heart, I know it and so will you. We can’t explain it to a non-believer but the Holy Words come alive and now we begin to walk the talk and confess Jesus AS Lord. We have moved from easy-believism to Lordship Salvation when we believe and obey.                                                   

HOW TO PRAY

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HOW TO PRAY

By Rick Mathes

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.”

There really isn’t a guideline on how to pray except what is commonly called “The Lord’s Prayer” which is really, “The Disciple’s Prayer.” But that’s another issue. What I want to do here si skim the tree-tops so to speak of the essential components of your mindset when you pray. He is our loving God that hears, forgives and heals. All we need to do is be humble, pray, seek His face and turn from out evil ways: simple but not easy. Praying in faith effectively is a life-long exercise in spiritual weight-lifting that will continue to our very last amen.

The only place to put your heart in prayer is in His will. You will learn this when you read the Word and get to know Him. The more personal He becomes to you the more your mind is in sync with His, much like my wife and I for over 30 years. We think each other’s thoughts, do you understand what I mean?

A pure heart produces a pure confession. There is nothing greater than a clean conscience and a comfort zone of living which repels sin and sinners much like a shield on the front line of battle. Transparency is the only way to live. Let it all hang-out and beg the Holy Spirit to convict you of sin so that you can pursue holiness without brakes or back allies to hide out in.

It all boils down to repentance the sins that murdered our dear Lord. I still get hammered for being “judgmental” when I am speaking “Biblically.” What I should do is just quote Jesus and makes my critics blood run cold. Learn from this my child.

With repentance must follow forgiveness. How can we not forgive others for offending us when we recall how severely we have offended our loving God? The answer of any question of prayer is entirely in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Jesus sent the Third Person so that we may pray in truth. The Comforter only comforts those with clean hearts who need comforting. Isn’t this the experience we require when we pray and the Holy Spirit comes upon us? Try it you will like it!

HOW FOOLISH

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HOW FOOLISH

By Rick Mathes

1 Corinthians 1:27 (NASB77) 27  but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,

Man’s great desires or drives are power and immortality. We men seek power is a variety of ways, politics being what I consider the heroin of ego. Anyone running for office has got to have an enormous desire to be noticed, admired and lifted up. Another is being wealthy and yet another is being physically intimidating or criminal.

Immortality is mostly expressed in procreation. Having children to carry on your nae or gene-pool is very gratifying as any grandfather well knows. Other methods would be writing a book or having a statue erecting in your honor.

Reality in the Kingdom is a whole different focus. For example, if you want to get up you need to step down. I learned early in this ministry that to have it prosper I needed to replace myself. The closer my knees are to the ground the nearer my heart, love and submission is to Him. As we exchange all we are for all He is we become lesser and He becomes larger. It gets better.

If you want to be seen, get out of sight. Remember that your born again experience has changed you to Christ with skin on. So the question is that when people get to know you do they get to know Jesus? The greatest blessing is to go about the Father’s business and not know it. This humility of storing up your secret treasure in heaven is the opposite of what we are taught as humans: He who dis with the most toys wins.

And lastly, here’s the best for the last. If you want to be great, forget yourself. I once asked John MacArthur Jr. what his earthly legacy for Jesus would be; his church, his sermons, his books, etc. He replied, “What happens when you put your hand on the surface of water?” I said, “You create a hand-print.” Then he said, “What happens when you remove your hand?” I responded, “The hand print disappears.” “Exactly!” he shot back. Wow!

How foolish for me to think I can add anything to His glory.

HOW DEEP

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HOW DEEP

By Rick Mathes

John 13:34  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

The mega churches and others are caving into the “Love will earn you heaven.” So they preach from this verse that Jesus agreed. This is a doctrine whose validity is certified from effect to cause when the true Word of God teaches from cause to effect. Allow me to illustrate with my own personal experience.

When I finally realized I loved the Lord more than my dear wife I felt that I had committed a “mortal sin” until it dawned on me agape love flows from Jesus only. In other words if I was the source of love to her, no matter how I would try, it would not satisfy her because somewhere in there it was self-gratifying to me.

However, His love to her would be unselfish and pure. She deserved the best and His love through me was complete to here, she became my crown at that point. There is much difference between my love and His.

His love is unchangeable and He loves everyone equally with all the love He has. God is love and you get all there is when you are His. He is supreme and alone in His magnificence. Lucifer, the angel of light, tried to depose God and fell with his followers to roam the world as wild rabid wolves.

When you submit to His Lordship, the question remains, “How deep is your love?”

Are you His servant? Are you going about His business as a pilgrim on foreign soil? We become missionaries to earth or more specifically ambassadors of God. My prayer is that when you hear me you hear Him.

He loves you more than you are capable of loving. So it is an easy matter to put your life and actions into His hand completely. At first it is like stepping off the edge of a cliff but after you take the first step, He takes the rest of them with you. You can be certain that when you see and walk in His footsteps before you that everything is going to be ok. You will experience a contentment that will satisfy you far in excess of any counterfeit happiness you have ever drank, smoked or slept with.

He’ll be back with open arms and it my payer that yours will be also.

HOPE IS

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HOPE IS

By Rick Mathes

2 Timothy 2:13 (NASB77) 13  If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself.

We were once in the depths of hopeless despair until the Lord lifted us up and gave us a glimpse of the eternity we will one day step into. We know what hope is:

It is:

  • Comforting
  • Sure
  • Sustaining
  • Purifying
  • Satisfying and
  • Blessed

But what does our eternal hoope do fo us here with our feet planted in God’s good earth; you know, that beautiful blue pearl in outer space? This magnifying hope within our soul certainly cheers the dying heart. What horrorifying thoughts must go through the mind of an unbeliever approaching the grim reaper? What fear terrorizes their thoughts who expect the flames of Purgatory or worse? How sad that they don’t cling to the promises of God’s Word and clutch Christ’s hand as that moment of truth approaches.

Eternal hope answers immortality. What do the Jehovah’s Witnesses have to say about their soul-sleep when Jesus welcomed the good thief into His Paradise? How would we all live if this was all there is and there would be no accounting of our actions after death? Lawlessness would surely run rampant.

In this hope we enjoy heavenly treasure that our minds have yet even to imagine. His second coming verifies His “first leaving” and guarantees that we will one day join Him where He is. Our treasure is Him and nothing more and nothing less. There isn’t any moneyor anyting of worth or bartering: Christ is all. There is no no gold, jewels, money, wealth that is worth anyghing more than dust compared to knowing and worshipping Jesus.

This eternity to come anchors this moment in faith and His blessings. Nothing, not even Satan can budge you away from Jesus and even Jesus couldn’t save you without the shedding of His blood. His resurrection says it all. Think about it. He was stone cold dead in that tomb for three days. And then He opened His eyes and got up because it was finished but not done. The angels moved the stone and our faith walked us into the empty grave and soon will lead us into a heaven exploding in angels praising His holly name forever.