Jesus’ Diet Plan

There’s a new “Flexitarian” diet, a mostly vegetarian diet that allows occasional meat, poultry, and fish. This is an inclusive and not an exclusive diet. Similarly, most Christians are flexitarian Christians…. They are inclusive of the world’s doctrine even where the Bible says, “Abhor that which is evil.”

In John 6, a large multitude had just listened to Jesus’ teaching. Many had witnessed the miracles Jesus did. He had healed the sick by opening the eyes of the blind, making the lame walk and raising the dead to life. However, some in the crowd were jealous that the people were following him and leaving the traditional synagogue. Then Jesus said, in order to follow me you need to eat my flesh and drink my blood. I am the water of life and the true bread of life. These things he said in the synagogue. Many of the traditional Jews could not receive Jesus’ words. Then Jesus asked them, are you offended? The very words I speak are spirit and life. No one can come unto me unless the Father gives them to me. Many of those who had followed him around stopped pursuing him when he spoke these words. They thought Jesus’ teachings were “too exclusive.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, Will you also leave?

Jesus didn’t teach a flexitarian diet…. He didn’t beg the people to follow him. Acceptance of Jesus Christ is on God’s terms, not the world’s terms. Jesus culled the crowd. His was an exclusive, divisive, “intolerant” doctrine. Holiness begins with separation…. Separation from the world in order to follow after the kingdom of heaven.

Today, Jesus would be accused of speaking “hate speech.” He would be condemned for not being inclusive. His doctrine was close-minded, exclusive, elitist, and intolerant.

Jesus said, unless you take up your cross daily, you cannot follow me. The cross is the instrument of death…. If you are not willing to die to self, Jesus said, you cannot follow me.

A Disciple is a disciplined follower…. One who is disciplined in following the teachings of Jesus, the word of God made manifest. Discipleship means to follow Jesus intentionally, purposefully, and deliberately. To confess Jesus is Lord means that I’m no longer in charge…. he is the lord, owner, and master of my life.

The holy way is the battle for hearts and minds… beginning with our own heart.

There’s trouble in the temple. He confronted the Pharisees and said, Why do you forsake the commands of God to follow your tradition. Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil? I’ll heal a man on any day I choose. I always do my Father’s will.

There was trouble in the temple two thousand years ago. There is still trouble in the temple today. The church in America has not grown through new converts in the last thirty years. There has been no net increase in the number of Christians and now the trend is that the Christian church is in decline by twenty five percent each decade.

Churches grow in number when they add new worship groups, line dancing for elderly couples, and new youth pastors. However there is no increase in church membership when there is no challenge to spread the gospel of salvation.

The apostle Paul said eight times in the epistles, speak the truth and call others to follow Christ. Plant and water the word of God in people’s hearts and God will give the increase. Go and make disciples of everyone I have called you to minister… as Jesus said, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

How do you fish for men? 1. Focus on the name of one man whom God has given you to fish for. 2. Use the right bait. 3. Share the gospel with him one on one.

When you hook someone, they “fight like hell” to get away. The world tries to pull them back into the ocean of doubt. The Lord Jesus Christ himself is the “Hound of Heaven” who pursues those whom God has chosen.

Mission before commission…. That which thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou unto faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. To fish for men, ask God to help you… he will work in you to will and to do of His good pleasure..

He has made us all ministers of the New Testament…. Our calling is to call others to Christ…. We are God’s fruit. The fruit is where the seed is. Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it cannot reproduce. We must die to self to produce fruit for God…. In dying to self, You teach what you know, but you reproduce who you are.

Our mission before commission is: Go give ‘em heaven! God will give the increase…
That together we may live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

From God’s Perspective

In Matthew 24 Jesus taught his followers about the signs that would proceed the last days. The description of these last days is similar to our times today.

John McArthur said, there is a reason for our country’s insanity… it’s because of the judgement of God. God allows any nation that rejects him to go down the path of degradation and destruction.. A nation that forsakes God produces people whose foolish hearts are darkened…. They are of a reprobate mind… a mind that does not function according to God’s divine design. He allows wicked rulers to rule over them… either overtly or covertly. The decline of a culture and of a nation is characterized by confusion, darkness, and persecution of God’s righteous remnant. God allows his righteous judgement to purge a nation according to his righteous standard…His word made manifest.

Even in the midst of the judgement God will protect his people. As Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ… for it is the power of God unto salvation, to the Jew first and also to the Gentiles. Those who embrace the glorious gospel are saved from the wrath of God’s judgement.

In the midst of the darkness, those God has called will discover that God has a purpose for all suffering. Jesus said, in this world ye will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. Pete and Suzan learned this lesson before they left MD Anderson cancer center in Houston. The doctors said, this terminal brain cancer will take Suzan’s life. We can help you make her last days as comfortable as possible. In the midst fo the darkness of death itself, God will make a way where there seems to be no way. Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life. Our life eternal is hid with Christ in God.

When we are born again of God’s Holy Spirit, God will open the eyes of our spiritual understanding. The Word of God is spirit and it is truth… not from our own minds, but from the mind of God himself. 1 Corinthians says, the natural man understandeth not the things of the spirit of God… these things are foolishness unto them. But the spirit is life and peace unto those who are born again of God’s spirit.

Jesus humbled himself and became obedient unto his Father, even unto the death on the cross. When Pete’s doctor observed Pete’s brain scan, he said, “I cannot figure out why you don’t have full blown dementia. Your brain scan indicates that you would be suffering the effects of advanced Parkinson’s disease.” Then as a Christian the doctor said, “I can only conclude that the reason your brain is functioning normally is your life style of meditation and prayer to feed the “God-spot,” the spiritual center of your brain.”

Walt Hendrickson, Pete’s mentor in the Navigators said, Christianity is a rescue effort for desperate men. Only when a man is broken of himself can God’s Holy Spirit teach a man… We can only come to him with a broken spirit and a contrite heart. When we come to him in desperation empty handed, then he can fill us with the power of his Holy Spirit. When we empty ourselves of ourselves, then we can trust in the Lord with all our heart and lean not unto our own understanding… in all our ways we can acknowledge him and he will direct our paths.

Isaiah 55 says, Seek the Lord while he may be found… let a man return to the Lord and he will have compassion unto him and he will abundantly pardon. For his ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts higher than our thoughts.

The Word of Truth is an acquired taste. Therefore, taste and see that the Lord is good. When we receive the spirit of God in Christ, as Paul said, the preaching of the cross of Christ is a sweet smelling savor, a sweet aroma. The Psalmist said, the word of God is sweeter also than honey and the honey comb. Jeremiah said, Thy words were found and I did eat them, and they were unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.

Despite the trials and tribulations of this world, God works all things together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Jesus said in the last beatitude, blessed are they when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, for great is your reward in heaven.

God will make a way even where there seems to be no way. It takes a man of faith to believe that God himself is the source of our supply… he is our Jehovah-Gireh… he is our provision…. God himself is our allotment, our provision, our sufficiency and our all in all.

Even though we are surrounded by a world corrupted and infiltrated in education, the media, entertainment, politics, business, industry, and even religion…. The world cannot take away the spirit of God in Christ in us. Instead of cursing the darkness of this world, God has called us to shine the light of Christ. The light shines into the darkness and illuminates, dispelling the darkness of deception with the light of the truth of the Word of God.

According to Colossians 3:12-17:
12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

As we are faithful to walk in the light as he is in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all unrighteousness… Ye are the light of the world. Therefore, let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven…

… that despite the darkness of this fallen world, we may live to the praise of the glory of God’s grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

Though The World Hates You, God Loves You

From the age of 8 to 22 Pete thought that he was a Christian. He had been baptized at his home church in Burlington, Alabama when he was a child. But in 1967 playing baseball in Rocky Mount, North Carolina after he had signed a contract for the Detroit Tigers farm team, Pete had a radical change of heart. After reading the book, The Bobby Richardson Story, Pete prayed, Lord, I know I’m not the man you meant for me to be. Please, Lord, make me that man.

The ball players and fraternity brothers that were Pete’s close friends at Auburn enjoyed partying, drinking and carousing. When Pete became a dedicated follower of Christ in 1967 he revisited Auburn to see his old fraternity friends. He discovered they no longer had anything in common. Pete realized that they were no longer friends. They tried to draw him back into the emptiness of worldly pleasures from which God had delivered him.

Jesus said, If you follow me, the world will hate you. If the world hated me, they will hate you also. Jesus said, if you are my disciple, many of your old friends will forsake you. Jesus used the word hate…. Hate is the polar opposite of the agape love of God. Hate is of the world… it is antagonistic to every good thing that God has promised us according to his great love wherewith he loved us.

To follow Christ requires transformation from within. According to Romans 12:1-2, I beseech you therefore brethren, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable act of worship. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

When we approach God in prayer and expect God to answer our prayer, James 4:3-4 says, Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

You can’t serve two gods at the same time. The world perceives the hypocrisy of those who think they are righteous in their deeds but then keep sliding back into worldly sins. People of this world see this double-mindedness and insincere religion. The hypocrisy of double minded so-called Christians is apparent to the world.

In St Augustine’s confessions, he prayed that God would deliver him from the lust of the flesh, but secretly he prayed that God would not deliver him because he still enjoyed the pleasure of lust.

Jesus said, I am the narrow gate and the narrow way. The way of Jesus Christ is narrow because there is a distinct way to follow Christ. We all sin even after having been saved. When a Christian falls, he falls into God’s net of grace. By God’s mercy and grace God makes a way to return to the narrow way…. For if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

James 4:5-7 continues: Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

The world will hate Christians because the world hated Jesus Christ. God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. To return to the Lord requires a broken heart to come before God’s throne of grace, forsaking our pride with a heart of humility and meekness. As David prayed in Psalm 51:9-12, Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. try me and know my heart and see if there is any unclean thing in me. Create in me a new heart O Lord…

When a Christian falls, he will hate it when he falls. Whom the lord loves, he chastises…. He corrects. To correct means to return to an upright position. The good news of the gospel is that our righteousness is not in our sinful flesh…. Righteousness is in the spirit of God in Christ in us.

Therefore Peter says, Casting all your cares upon him for he cares for you. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

James 4:8-10 continues: Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you,

Fight the good fight…. The battlefield is in the mind, for We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness from on high. To resist the devil, we need to put on the whole armor of God…. Our loins protected by the belt of truth, our Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of Christ, putting on the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness, and taking the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.

We may not be able to change the nation or the world, but through the spirit of God in Christ, we can change our own hearts through God’s love, mercy and grace.

That even though the world will oppose us, we may live to the praise of the glory of God’s grace,
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

A Right Perspective

How do we view recent events in America from a right perspective? World views are important. The most important view of the world is God’s view from his perspective from on high… from the viewpoint of eternity.

John McArthur says, We as a nation are going down the path that Paul described in Romans 1…. That which is know about God is evident to them, because God made it evident to them… he made it clear so that they are without excuse. Even though they knew God they did not honor him as God…. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie to serve the creation instead of the creator. Therefore he gave them over…. To defile themselves.. they are untrustworthy, unmerciful and although they know the ordinance of God they do that which God condemns, and they approve of them that knowingly and defiantly embrace such perversion of the truth.

God has allowed America to go down the path of Romans 1 to the point that the world in which we find ourselves, makes no sense to anyone who has a glimpse of truth. Calvin said that when God judges a people, he gives them wicked rulers who tend to be the architects of this depravity either overtly or covertly. McArthur concludes that the insanity, disorder, disruption, and perversion amongst us is all a part of God’s divine judgement. The final stage of God’s judgement is a state of insanity… extreme folly, utter foolishness, absurdity of thought, perversity judgement…. having no rational or orderly logical relationship to that which right according to God’s clear and evident divine design…. His righteous standard. The folly of all follies is to think that man can stop the judgement of God. What is wrong with this country is not fixable…. It is God’s divine judgement.

Despite the judgement of this world, God protects his people from the wrath of his righteous judgment. As Paul said, For the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation unto the Jew first and also to the Greek.

The enemy has infiltrated every institution of power in America today. No power on earth can stop God’s righteous judgement. God is a God of plan and purpose. He will purge his creation when the ungodly reject the righteous standard of His word.

God always tests his people to see if we will praise Him despite the trials and tribulation of this world. He knows our heart. The trial will prove to us whether our prayer is like Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, in the midst of the trouble and tribulation: “Nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done.”

Through the test and the trial, God will hold us up with his mighty right hand. His character within us is proven in the heat of the melting pot and in the fire of the furnace. For the crucible is for trying the purity of silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord assays, tries, and proves the true heart of his people. The war for hearts and minds in America is not according to political philosophies and so-called patriotism. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against spiritual wickedness from on high.

The days of Noah were similar to America today. God said to Noah, warn the people of the coming flood… of God’s righteous judgement to come. Noah preached for over one hundred years as he built the ark. Even though God will provide a way of escape, No one believed Noah. The laws of man cannot save us from God’s righteous judgement. Salvation is on God’s terms, not man’s. No one can save themselves… we are hapless, hopeless, and helpless in our own power. But God in in his love, mercy, and grace provides a way of escape… Jesus said, Now is the acceptable year of the Lord… According to 2 Corinthians 2: 6, For he says, ‘In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’ Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (ESV)

The agenda of self is contrary to the agenda of Christ. Our natural default position (with the emphasis on fault) is to rely on ourselves for our own self-protection. However, Jesus’ message was contrary to the doctrine of self… He said, turn the other cheek when someone slaps you to disgrace you. He said, If man’s law requires that you carry a soldier’s pack one mile, then carry his pack two miles. The first mile is from obligation…. The second mile is from a heart of love. The last of Jesus’ beatitudes says, blessed are they when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, for great is your reward in heaven. He also said, In this life, ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.

Christianity is a rescue effort for desparate men. When we finally reach the end of ourselves and realize that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, then we can come to God with a broken and a contrite spirit. As Mother Theresa said, God works best with nothing. When we approach God’s throne of grace with empty hands, then he can fill us with his spirit.

The faith and courage to stand is developed, exercised, and becomes second nature in the moment by moment decisions of every day life. In these small every day victories, we can celebrate our victories in Christ. Then when we fall short and succumb to temptation, and break fellowship with God, we can return to God’s throne of grace with a heart of repentance. For if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Courage is developed on the practice field… practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. Perfection is not in our flesh… perfection is in the spirit of God in Christ in us the hope of Glory…. The law of the spirit of life In Christ has set us free from the law of sin and death. Therefore, we look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down upon the right hand of the throne of grace.

From God’s perspective he will show us that the standard of his righteous Word will stand. Despite the darkness of this fallen world, Jesus said, bless them that persecute you, pray for them that despitefully use you. Therefore, our responsibility is our response to God’s ability. As the Apostle Paul said, be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good…

Men of God are not known for their ability, but for their availability. You can fake caring but you cannot fake showing up. Availability means to avail ourselves of God’s ability. It’s important to surround ourselves with the fellowship of God’s people. According to Hebrews 10, provoke one another to love and good deeds. Forsaking not the assembly of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the day approaching. For we are God’s workmanship, his work of art, his poetry in motion, his poem written not with ink but in the tables of our heart, created in Christ Jesus unto good works that he has before-ordained that we should walk according to his purpose…

…That despite the darkness of this fallen world, we may live as living testimonies to the praise of the glory of His grace,
Your brother in Christ,
Michael

The Be-Attitudes, Who Needs Them?

Jesus Christ came so that we could have life more abundantly. What is impossible in this world is possible with God. God’s spirit overcomes the limitations of the natural world. God’s power is super-natural.

When we were born again of God’s spirit, we had a change of ownership. When we confessed Jesus is Lord, we were no longer lord over our own lives. Upon salvation, We were given God’s gift of Holy Spirit. By God’s grace we were blessed with newness of the spirit of life in Christ.

God’s blessed attitudes are contrary to the world’s attitudes. The beatitudes are upside down from worldly attitudes. The world from God’s heavenly perspective is flipped on its head. The world does not consider the Beatitudes of Jesus Christ characteristics of a successful life.

The world despises poverty of spirit, meekness, mournfulness, hunger and thirst for righteousness, purity of heart , mercifulness, peacefulness, and persecution for Christ’s sake. However, from God’s perspective, Each of these be-attitudes is a beautiful attitude..

Many of the world’s problems are rooted in pride. A prideful heart cannot perceive God’s beautiful attitudes. Receiving God’s promises are on his terms, not the world’s terms. To receive the beatitudes starts with acknowledging that we are poor in spirit… When we with meekness realize that God knows more than we do, he allows us to approach His throne of grace with a spirit of humility.

God loved us before we could love him in return…. For in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly. God gave us his grace, not because we were deserving or righteous… not because we were worthy of His love. God loved us, forgave us, and made us righteous because grace and unconditional love is God’s nature, not ours.

Jesus said, whosoever will may come. However, Matthew 13:15 says, (NIV). “For this peoples’ heart has become calloused (hard-hearted); they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”

Those who refuse God’s gracious gift have deliberately shut their ears, closed their eyes, and heartened their hearts. They have decided that they do not need God’s salvation… 2 Corinthians says, the god of this world has blinded their eyes, lest the glorious light of the gospel of truth should shine unto them.

Those whom God has chosen, choose to turn from their pride, forsaking their own self-righteousness, to receive God’s gracious gift of salvation. With a heart of humility, they realize that they cannot make it on their own. That In their own fallen flesh dwelleth no good thing.

Despite the darkness of this world and our fallen nature we inherited from Adam’s original sin, 1 John 5:4-5 says, For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?…..

To embrace the beatitudes is to allow God to transform us from within…. To give us a new-attitude. Living according to Christ’s beatitudes means that we share the gospel…. His good news of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

The devil tries to sell us his empty promise: the world and everything in it. His salesmen sell his bill-of-goods for their own commission, a percentage of the sales price. However the things of this world will come to naught…. You can’t take it with you.

As son’s of God, we are dedicated to His Mission before commission… he has given us his spirit…. The spirit of God in Christ in us the hope of glory. Our mission and our co-mission is to to give away…. For it is more blessed to give than to receive.

According to 2 Corinthians 5:19-20, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him….”

…. That together we may live in the beauty of Jesus’ beautiful attitudes…. to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Your brother in Christ,
Michael