Christ of the New Year...

When I was a kid growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I used to like to sit around on New Year's eve and watch Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve. Nowadays, I go to my local church's new year's celebration. Whether or not it is Dec 31, any day is a great time to worship the Lord Jesus Christ - His majesty, His authority, His person.

But this year, I was thinking... "I do not believe The Lord really cares about the New Year...at least not in the way we regard it." It is not a biblical celebration. It is not a a time the Lord told us to commemorate. It is not in line with the Hebrew calendar which is the calendar identified in the scriptures. It just doesn't seem like the type of thing The Lord would regard. I am saying that based on what the scriptures teach, not my own opinions. And I would have to say, the scriptures are mainly silent on this issue.

I thought about this passage... "Let no one judge you in food or drink, or regarding festivals or a new moon or sabbaths" (Colossians 2:16). So then too, I will not judge any of my brothers or sisters who choose to celebrate the new year. When you gather to "celebrate the New Year", I simply hope it is a time dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether it is January 1, 2 or 3 doesn't really matter. What is enjoyable is the opportunity to reflect on the goodness, the mercy, the faithfulness, the splendor of our King.

Christ is all-

Jesus and the StockMarket

Consider James 5:1-3

"1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! 2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.

"

and...Matthew 13:22

"Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful."

or Luke 12:33

"Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. "

I then ask, do you believe Jesus is concerned when Christians suffer loss in the stock market? In fact, may it be the case that when we lose things on this earth, Jesus uses that to help us to become free of earthly slavery, temporal treasures, trading them for eternal true riches? I think as believers we should be pretty non-affected by these types of things. God is our treasure, He is our portion. Our reward is in heavan, not on this earth. Earthly things only serve to slow us down. Money should be used to serve God and expand the kingdom, not serve our own comforts.

So, use your money, do not serve it. And give thanks to YHWH as the stock-market fails. He will never fail!

I Complain too much

Phillippians 2:14-15

14 Do all things without complaining and disputing, 15 that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

This verse disturbs me. I have come to learn that I have the heart of a complainer. The Lord is not a complainer - what I mean is the Lord did all things on this earth without complaining or grumbling. He trusted His daddy enough to know that he ought not whine, disagree, grumble and dispute situations or their outcomes. In this verse Paul points out that when do complain and dispute our testimony in the world is damaged. Conversely, we want to "become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation."

Lord - I want to shine as a light in a dark world. Help me to hold my toungue tightly; not complaining about minor things, focused on my own comfort, and seeking my own desires. But rather, seeking your desires, placing others above me and accepting where I am - now.

Worship on the Run

Psalm 3 reads...

1 A Psalm of David when he fled from Absalom his son. Lord, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me. 2 Many are they who say of me, "There is no help for him in God." Selah 3 But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, My glory and the One who lifts up my head.

David Truly knew how to take his thoughts captive and turn problems into praise. This brother was running for his life from his own Son, and yet He decides to Worship. He is no coward. He is running, but is not afraid. He seeks to escape persecution, but He states, I will not fear. Oh Lord, even when I am discouraged or in danger, please give me an attitude and the willingness to encourage myself in you and turn to Worship you!

True Temples

Whenever I look at old testament typology of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am always amazed at all of the ways He alludes that He is the Center of everything Spiritual.

Take for example the Temple. The Lord Jesus Christ seems to be demonstrated in the Temple. He is the location of our Worship in John 4. True Worship in Spirit and Truth is not located in an earthly Temple, or on a mountain, but it is found In Jesus Alone. Is Jesus alluding that the Temple is a Type of himself? Some may disagree, but I would say yes. When he states...
"destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up, but he was speaking of the Temple of His Body." (John 2:20-21) - I believe He is encouraging the Jew to recognize that He is the true location of Worship. His presence is more significant than the existence of the earthly, physical temple in Jerusalem. Just as the physical Temple was destroyed in AD 70, it was of no use when the true Temple and place of Worship Jesus the Christ had come.

Now the Body of Christ is considered as a holy temple in the Lord (Ephesians 2:21). We are to grow into a Temple that is fitted together. Worshiping Jesus collectively, in Spirit and in Truth, Growing in Unity unto our Head who is Christ.

And again, we are considered to be the "temple" of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16). WoW - so we can actually worship God because the Holy Spirit is within Us - Our Bodies house the person of the Holy Spirit and thus we don't need to be in a physical temple, but can worship God in Spirit and in Truth by the Spirit of God Himself.

I don't fully understand how all of these things can be. How I can be worshiping in the Temple as the Body of Christ, as a believer (The Temple of the Holy Spirit). I do know however that because Jesus has raised His own Temple, that we can have true worship. I look forward to Worshiping God in the heavenly Temple, not made with Hands. He is forever to be praised!

Wisdom of Words...

1 Corinthians 1:17 reads...

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect...

How does "Wisdom of Words" make Christ's cross, "of no effect"?

As we share the gospel of Christ, we hope to demonstrate who He is. We hope to discuss and share the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, demonstrated to be our Messiah by the raising from the dead. He is the Christ, the anointed God-Man King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He has risen bodily from the dead!

Now, when we discuss and share this message about Jesus, we need to avoid flowery words, human arguments and fleshly debating trickery. As we share this most beautiful truth, we must avoid placing confidence in our words, our own intelligence and our own reasonings rather than the Cross of Christ. When the emphasis is on "wisdom of words" to sway the hearer, we risk an emphasis on our persuasion rather than Jesus the Christ.

The Holy Spirit causes us to believe.

Let us trust in God, the Holy Spirit to open the ears of hearers in the world; boldly, confidently, but humbly sharing the Gospel of Christ. Let us rely on reasoned arugments from the scriptures rather than personal eloquence or verbal prowess.

Christ our Learning

There are a lot of things the world wants us to understand and learn. Job duties, titles, procedures, political saavy, leadership skills, typing skills, computer skills, "the way of the world", "common sense", how to talk to women, how to please a man.

The world wants you to learn many things.

God wants you to learn one thing. His Son.

All of our learning in the body of Christ is that we might understand the Head, the Lord Jesus Christ who is to forever to be praised. Amen. Christ is what we learn, He is the one we study, we are disciples of Him. All of the Bible holds Christ as the subject, topic and focus. All of what we want to know and learn ought to be the Lord Jesus.

Christ is all,
Troy

Christ on the Brain

If you are one of my brothers or sisters who attended the Christocentric Conference in Indiana, PA this last week, you will know what I am talking about.

Christ Pre-occupation.

The Lord Jesus Christ should be that which we have set our mind on as we engage with any new activity. He his our thinking starting point - the person we engage with that we may do all things to His Glory.

Jesus Christ ought to be our leading thought. The sermon at the conference emphasized, " Often times, our point of determination is more self-centered..."I will not waste my time", "I will not back down", "I will not forget", "I determine to be on-time from now on...". upon arriving at Corinth, Paul's intention was singular, specific and focused. 1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony* of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2)

Can you see that this is Paul's has intentially decided to intensely recognizeand lay hold of our Lord Jesus Christ? He is increasing in Christocentricity. He was planning His thoughts before time. He had a Christocentric Epistemology what he would learn, think and teach would be the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us determine to consider, think on, and obey Him before!

Christ is all!

I am Not Forgotten

So we sang this tune today at church called, "I Am Not Forgotten". OK, so the tune is actually pretty anthropocentric - I like the music, but I wish more of the tune was focused on Worship of the Christ alone... But that is a thought for another blog post.

As we were sining I thought... "It is not possible that God could actually forget anything". He is eternal. He never actually remembers something. I know the scriptures use the phrase, remembrance, but it is not in the same sense that we think of remembering. For God's mind is eternally perfect. So He can never forget anything He has every thought or spoken. In fact, he actually does not forget the believer or the unbeliever. He is perfectly in remembrance of every event of eternity.

Jesus is the same today, yesterday and forevermore (Hebrews 13:8). The grass withers and the flower fades away but the Word of the Lord endures forever (1 Peter 1:24).

Christ is ALL

My Family Twice

I am going to spend a bunch of time with my family tomorrow. I haven't seen many of them for awhile. However, what I am most looking forward to is the chance to share with my spiritual family.

Blood ties are nothing in the kingdom.

We are taught to care for our children and wives, love our wives, respect our husbands, honor our parents, and discipline our children. These are good and right in the Lord. But in the Kingdom, we have a deeper bond with those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider this verse... Mark 3:32-35 reads...

And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, "Look your mother and brothers are outside seeking you. But he answered them saying, "Who is my mother or my brothers?" And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him and said, "Here are my mother or my brothers! For whoever does the will of God is my brother and My sister and mother."

So when I fellowship with my earthly family that is also my heavenly family, I have true fellowship. Pray that our fellowship is rich and In Christ.

How do I know this guy is saved?

Of course, I understand that we cannot really ever know if a person is saved - God separates the wheat from the tears.

But when you are sharing the gospel with a person, what are you looking to see/hear/observe to know that a person seems to be a believer? I think of the story in the book of Acts (8:26-39) where Philip is sent to an Ethiopian eunuch. He decides that the person should be baptized, thus recognizing him as a believer -- what do you look for to recognize someone as a brother or sister in Christ?

Christ is all-

Everything Jesus Gives is Free - Part 5

God loves to freely give.

Consider James 1:5 -
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Or from Proverbs 2...
For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Now correlate these verses with the following...

I Corinthians 1:24
but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Can you see how God wants to liberally give us wisdo?. But in this giving we ought not look for a book, one of Ben Franklin's sayings, or some wise nugget from an earthly sage. Jesus is in fact our Wisdom. For God so loved the world that He gave His only unique Son. God is always wanting to give us more of His Son. So then all spiritual things that pertain to His Son God liberally seeks to give us. Whether faith, wisdom, knowledge, grace, truth, life, way (how) - All of the mind of God is in Christ, and God seeks to liberally impart to us the mind of Christ.

Christ is all!

Our Rock and Cornerstone

The church of the Living God is referred to as a building in the scriptures. If the church is described as a building, then Christ is the chief cornerstone (1 Peter 2:6). And what a marvelous stone He is.

Consider Deuteronomy 32:18. Here, Israel is rebuked...

Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who fathered you.

This is a productive, procreating Rock! YHWH here is described as a Rock who has "begotten" us. He is the one who breathed the breath of life into man (physically), but this verse speaks uniquely of his begotten offspring - Israel. But unfortunately, the nation had become unmindful of the Rock.

But we have not so learned Christ. We have the mind of Christ! (1 Corinthians 2:16; Ephesians 4:16). May we never become "unmindful" of this most blessed Rock.

Christ is all.

Jesus is the Thesis

What is a thesis? With respect to a document, a book or an essay, we can define the thesis as "the subject for a subject for a composition or essay".

John 1:1-4,14-18, Luke 24:25-27 - Jesus is the whole point of the God.

• Jesus is God's topic sentence, body of content and conlusion.
• Christ is the outline and each sub-point.
• He is the proposition and each individual sub-theme.

Jesus Christ is the Thesis -- He alone is the Big Idea. Jesus is God's revelation, God's Prophecy, His Apostolic intent; God's sole teaching and instruction. God's perfect Word, every comma, apostrophe, jot and tittle.

Jesus Christ is the enbodiment of the Word of God. The Word now has a body, legs, fingers, flesh and blood.

The Alpha

Jesus is the Alpha.

When we think about beginnings, we normally think about the object of phrase, "beginning of...". The object of the phrase "Beginning of ____ " gives meaning to the phrase - Usually, "beginning" is meaningless without the object; So what exactly is this the beginning of?

12Am is the beginning of a new day.

January 2001 was the beginning of a new millenia.

July 10, 1969 was the beginning of my life on earth (outside the womb).

Rosa Parks sitting on a bus, was the the beginning of the Civil Rights movement

Crispus Attucks was killed at the beginning of the revolutionary war

These are things, people, eras or events that had beginnings.

But Jesus IS the beginning.

No object. No explanation. No description of what He is the beginning OF, He simple is THE Beginning. There is no "of" when it comes to Him.

More than the beginning of time, of a thought, of the universe or of all created things.

Jesus is the Alpha

Bibles for Sale @ jesus.com

Can you imagine Jesus selling you a copy of a bible? I can't. It really is a shame that so many have used the person of Jesus Christ to make a buck.

Is there anything wrong with providing money to those who minister the gospel? No, in fact it is preferred, but when we compromise to actually sell the most valuable spiritual thing that may be offered, namely the person of Christ in teaching - this is a big problem.

So I'll ask again...

Can you imagine Jesus selling you a copy of the Bible? Is this something Jesus would do? Would Jesus set up a web-site and peddle the scriptures? Perhaps these titles would attract consumers and Jesus could make the NY Times Best Sellers list.

• "The Jesus Christ Study Bible: You only have one teacher, why not learn directly from Him"
• "The Word Word: The Unadulterated Word of God from the Word of God Himself"
• "Lifeline Bible Interlinear: A Greek New Testament that is written from the Life Himself"
• "Eyewitness Study Bible: A Greek New Testament
• "One Year Walk with the King: Study the Scriptures in a Year with the King of Kings"

Do you think Jesus would give any of these titles a shot?

A Repository of Christocentric Teaching

Each year on Labor Day weekend, a group of friends of mine from Christ Bible Church make a trek out to Indiana Pennsylvania to a small fellowship of believers.

We gather for A "Christocentric Conference". The Conference is a weekend of teaching about the person of Jesus Christ. Is this a bible conference? Well sort of. It is a time that is dedicated to learning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ in a very explicit manner.

We spend the weekend discussing, hearing-of, and asking Him to re-orient our thinking patterns so that He is the true center of our interest, desires, doctrine, motives - our Life.

For those who love the Lord Jesus Christ, I invite you to attend. For more information about he conference, click on the Lion of Judah (above) and explore the site. The conference will be held August 29-31 at Lord Jesus Christ Assembly in Indiana, PA.

The Son - Creator of All Things

God is the Creator of all things.

The Son who became a man (Jesus) is the Creator of all things. Colossians 1:16 reads...

For by him (Jesus) all things were created; things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

Isn't interesting that many of the things listed here are actually "invisible" to the human eye. Men cannot see the Father, we cannot see the Holy Spirit (all the He has represented himself visually throughout the scriptures). We cannot see Angels, they are spirit beings (although some have entertained them unaware as they have in fact appeared to look as men).

We cannot see most of the stars in the sky and the accompanying solar systems that surround many of them. With our naked eyes, we cannot see most galaxies, although there are literally thousands of them, many larger than the milky way. But all things - whether visible or invisible, were created by HIM.

Because He is the creator, then all things are ultimately For Him. Sent by His Father. Obedient to His Father's will - Jesus actually suffered a physical death where by that which He created FOR HIM, in fact HATED HIM.

This is infinitely perplexing and altogether beautiful to me. That the Father would decide to provide His own Son's human (created) life for the ransom of many (those He had already made). What a glorious Gospel. The Creator has been bruised on behalf of the Created!

I love Jesus.

Defending Jesus

I used to really enjoy a certain on-air apologist for the faith. When I first believed, I truly appreciated the apologist "watchdogs" - self-proclaimed defenders of the common faith we hold in God's Son Jesus Christ. Listening to them gave me confidence that what I believed was shared by other thinking, reasoning people.

But as I have learned and grown in Him, I have increasingly found this type of apologetics to not be Christocentric.

While listening to a radio apologetics show yesterday, the discussion was between a practicing Mormon caller and two Christian apologists. As the conversation proceeded, the Christian apologists continued to raise issues about the falsehoods in the book of Mormon, DNA evidence that refuted the Mormon faith, tales about Joseph Smith and archeology that was contrary to Mormon historic writings. As I listened to the Christ-believers, I thought to myself...WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO TELL HIM ABOUT JESUS?

Sometimes when we learn about other faiths, other ways of thinking or other doctrines, we find ourselves poking holes in these anti-Christ faiths rather than presenting the most blessed Jesus Christ. If we read how biblical "apologists" (the apostles) "defended the faith", they simply reiterated true doctrine about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Galatians, I John, Jude and Colossians may all be considered texts that are responding to anti-Christs in the their time. What you do NOT see is dialogue with these anti-Christs that presents arguments for why their faiths are not true. Therefore, we conclude that truly biblical apologists simply describe the truth about the Christ that refutes the false faith - they do not learn about the anti-Christ religion in order to refute it in a philosophical debate.

So then, while we are "defending Jesus" we can actually fail to be Christocentric.

In fact, we can replace Jesus the Christ with another set of "truths" that, while factually accurate, do not emphasize the person of Christ, thus are not in agreement with the Spirit of God whose sole aim is to reveal the Christ to the hearts of men.

Don't we know that we simply need to share the person of Jesus with the unbeliever?

• Jesus has come in the flesh.
• He IS God of all; the Son of the Living God
• He did die for our sins according to the scripture
• He did rise from the dead bodily/physically
• He is our messiah/King and He will return

This is our gospel. This is our message to the unbeliever. Let Jesus rise.

Everything Jesus Gives is Free, Part 4 - We Get what He IS

The exchange of the gospel is amazing. Think onthese passages....

1 Corinthians 2;16 - For who has known the mind of the Lord that they might instruct Him, but we have the mind of Christ?, but have the mind of Christ

2 Corinthians 5:21, For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

1 Corinthians 1:30 - But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God -- and righteousness and sanctification and redemption

Sanctified
Righteous
Wise
A Right Mind

These are things that are in Jesus the Christ. He IS Holy, Set Apart, Righteous and Wise. But when we are found IN Him He grants us all of these by virtue of our location. He does not in fact, impart these things in some sort of transactional way, but rather, we get them by being IN him. So when we abide in our savior we increase in wisdom, spiritual alertness, love, forgiveness -- all the things that are He defines.

We become more like Him by Grace. We cannot pay for it -- there is nothing we can do to desire more wisdom, or more of His mind, or greater Wisdom. But rather He simply gives it to us.

Or more accurately, He IS these things for us. He IS our righteousness, our peace, our love, our mind, our doctrine, our wisdom. And thankfully we do not have to earn it. For if we did, we would remain as we were apart from Him -- foolish, self-righteous, wicked, carnal and careless.

Christ is all.