The Engrafted Word
Ryan reports that their mission trip to Israel was a great success. Although things did not go according to their plan, God orchestrated his own plan behind the scenes. Their ministry, Ambassadors and Embassies, worked with the Christian ministry Nativa to hand out gifts to soldiers in Israel. This mission was simply to show the love of God for Israel and the soldiers who have been called to serve their country.
Hebrews 12:1 says, “WHEREFORE seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,…” Only Israel and America declare themselves to have been created by God. We look to the witness of the believers who have gone before us. They have given us an example of revival in service to the Lord.
God places opportunities in front of each man to serve Him from a heart of love. The first step to serving God is to acknowledge that “in my own flesh dwelleth no good thing.” Humility is the requirement to serve God. Psalm 16:2 says, “I have no good in me apart from you Lord.”
To stand firm in the freedom that we have in Christ, according to Galations 5:22, we must defend the freedom. The freedom is the grace and mercy to serve him by serving His people from a heart of love. Real grace is not to dwell on our shortcomings, but to move in light of the freedom wherewith he has set us free. We’ve been saved by by grace. However without working for the lord, Faith is dead and of no effect. Only use not freedom as an occasion to sin, but in love serve one another. The grace we have been given is so that we can accomplish that which he has called us to do. For by grace are ye saved through faith, not of works lest any man should w boast. For we are his workmanship, his magnum opus, created in Christ Jesus unto good works which he hath foreordained that we should walk in it.
Legalism is contrary to the grace of God. Legalism is “the law of sin and death” and is the consequence of sin. Legalism demands performance and results in guilt for failure to perform according to the law. Legalism is the result of the bondage of the flesh and of the sin nature. Any law that requires “perfecting the flesh” results in the bondage of legalism. Fear, guilt, pride, and shame are the types of bondage the adversary uses to enslave people.
James 1:20 and following says “For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
21. Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”
22. “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
Meekness is the key to receiving the engrafted word. Meekness is to place ourselves in a position that we acknowledge that God knows more than we do. Meekness is strength with quietness and confidence in the power of God. The engrafted word is grafted into the living branch and the life source of the word will flow through believers who are grafted into the living Word. As Jesus said, I am the vine and ye are the branches. Jesus Christ himself is the Word of God and the meaning of the Word.
What is the gospel message, the good news of Christ? Jesus said in Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
How close is the kingdom of heaven? It’s “at hand.” Kingdoms move when the king moves. Kingdoms move either to conquer or to make war. Jesus’ kingdom moved to make war against the powers of darkness. According to 1 John 3:10, He came to destroy the world of the devil. The good news is the message of repentance: to turn your hearts from darkness unto the light of the good news of the grace, mercy and deliverance of God.
May our prayer be, “I was crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ. Christ liveth in me and the life that I now live I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. As Pastor Chuck Smith said, “the world has yet to see what God can do with a man who is totally surrendered to Him.” O Lord, let me be that man.
May God richly bless you!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael