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Grace and peace!
Here is the link: Our YouTub Live Service Link
I used to teach what I consider one of the biggest lies ever told Man. I used to teach this, "The more you do for God, the more God will do for you!" I'm not alone in this teaching as it is pretty prevalent in churches all over the world. Actually the roots of this lie are founded in religion as religion teaches a performance based Christianity.
Now consider the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, the message that Christ gave Paul in the wilderness and that Paul preached all over the then known world. Paul's message was simple; REST! Now I fully understand that many Christians today just cannot handle the concept of rest. We are taught, "do, do, do/work, work, work!" This is not right!
Paul wrote this to the Church in Ephesus: (2:8-10), "God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." God created us to be His masterpiece. We do not work hard at becoming God's masterpiece. We are already that as that is what He created us to be! Therefore any works we do come forth from the finished works of the cross, the place of rest where Jesus said, "It is finished!"
I'm finding we are becoming much more productive when we understand this concept. The writer of Hebrews said, "So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God's rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world." Hebrews 4:9-10)
I hope you can comprehend this concept! If you do, you will see great results coming to pass in your life. If you don't understand this, I assure you only three things will eventually follow you; fear, shame and condemnation!
Grace and peace!
Here is the way it works: A pastor spends years of his/her life in study. They attend Bible College, Seminary and attend teaching conferences, etc. The information they garner is then passed on to those they teach, especially in the the local church they minister in. The people being taught embrace the teaching as truth and apply it to their lives. This is not totally a bad thing! However, if what the pastor learned was incorrect, that incorrect teaching is perpetuated, it seems like forever. The people whose lives were effected by that bad, incorrect teaching live by it and also pass it on to others. When, by chance, that embraced teaching is challenged, the person rejects the challenge, sometimes vehemently!
A common saying that many hold to is, "Practice makes perfect!" It's been said that the late, great football coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi would teach his champion team the following, "Perfect practice makes perfect!" Lombardi would insist that practicing the wrong thing leads to anything but perfect. Only correct, perfect practice could empower his team to many Super Bowl wins.
The same holds true to Christians. Paul implied that living the victorious life of a Believer in Jesus Christ could only come about if a Believer would embrace the proper teaching of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, not just something that has been wrongly taught to the Church, no matter who it was that brought the teaching!
Early in my walk of exposure into New Covenant Grace, I sensed very strongly that I was to fully teach the Gospel that Paul taught. I've tried to faithfully hold to that position. As a result I'm witnessing great transformation taking place in the lives of the people of our church. Folks....Paul had it right! According to Galatians chapter 1 Paul received his "doctrine" as direct revelation from Christ himself. Yet, I find that a lot of the current "doctrine" of the Church is far from the simple Gospel that Christ taught Paul!
My suggestion is for Believers, no matter how long they have been a Believer, keep your hearts and minds open to change. Mostly only good can come from this! Glory!
Grace and peace!
From my years of involvement in Social Media, I've noted that many Christians seem to lack victory in their lives! It seems that so many are pleading and begging God to dig them out of some type of swamp experience. This even applies to pastors and church leaders. There is just a lack of victory in today's Church!
Many are clamoring for revival. I know that clamor well as I used to be a member of those ranks. I thought revival was the answer to all the problems that exist in the Church. How little did I know that revival is just a spiritual band-aid! I've recently ministered a series on revival and the title of the series was, "The Problem With Revival: Here Today and Gone Tomorrow!" This is so true! The concept of revival just did not exist in the Early Church and the reason was that they constantly lived in a revived state and the reason was that they were never burdened with the performance orientation that so many of us live under today. The only way the Church of today will experience a never ending revival is for the Church of today to get a very good hand-hold on the true Gospel message of New Covenant Grace!
Our church, New Covenant Grace Fellowship in Citrus County, Florida is a melting pot of people who have escaped traditional religion. Thus, our church is a vivid experiment on what we perceive the true Gospel of Christ to really be. Here is what I am observing: The people of our church are NOT without problems, however, I'm seeing their problems overcome in ways I've never witnessed before. The bottom line is that I'm seeing lots of victory in the midst of storms!
I never saw people overcome victory like I'm seeing now back in my revival chasing days! I love what I see and as a pastor I'm all of the time stating, "I love my job!" Not too many pastors can say that these days!
I could go on and on about all of this and the result would be that this simple Blog would soon be a book! However, please allow me to close with Paul's words to the Roman Church, Romans 6:7-8, "For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him." Now, how about meditating on these two verses! I assure you, when you get them deep within your heart, you will never have to seek revival again! Glory!
The bottom line is that Grace ='s Victory! And there is no question about it!
Grace and peace!
