Tag: Spiritual Growth

Shall We Sin So Grace May Abound?

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Sin. It’s something most of us would rather not think about. For the unsaved person, sin is something that separates them from God, due to his perfect holiness. Yet for the Christian, their sin has been paid for. When God looks at them, he doesn’t see their sin, but instead righteousness.

How can that be? The answer is Jesus.

Jesus took the place of us on the cross. He paid the price of our sins with his very life and his holiness was accounted to us (2 Corinthians 5:21). God made it possible for us to be with him through the blood of his holy Son. Instead of condemnation, we receive grace. Instead of rightful punishment for our sins, God sees us as his sons and daughters. Indeed, this is the miracle of the Christian faith for all who believe.

But this brings up an important question. If our sin is already paid for, why should we stop sinning? In fact, doesn’t the vastness of our sin just make his grace more beautiful? Shall we sin that grace may abound?

Shall We Continue in Sin?

Paul demolished this dangerous line of thought in Romans 6. Christ died to free us from sin, not enable us to sin. When Jesus died, he was releasing us from our bondage to sin, because that is what sin is — slavery. Sin is what separates us from God. It’s damaging, and for the unredeemed, it is damning (Romans 6:23).

 

“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” – Romans 6:6-7 

So, shall we then continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul replies with a resounding “God forbid” (Romans 6:2). To desire to continue in sin shows a misunderstanding of this abundant grace and a contempt for Jesus’ sacrifice. Either we believe what God says is true or we don’t. Either we take him at his word when he equates sin to death, or we do not believe him at all (Ephesians 2:1).

What is the point of the Christian faith if we get to pick and choose what we want to believe? Do we think God is that small, insignificant or somehow uninformed? Do we trifle with the very thing that God sent his Son to save us for? Do we misuse the grace that he gifted us with in his death and resurrection? Surely not.

Sin and Grace

Grace is a gift. Forgiveness of sins and his salvation are gifts. Grace is not, however, a license to sin. Throughout the Bible, fathers of our faith are seen distressed, tormented by their sin.

Consider David after his adultery with Bathsheba or Peter after denying Christ (Psalms 51:17 and Matthew 26:75). They did not discount their sin as simply something atoned for. Just because the Christian’s sin is paid for by Jesus, sin is still damaging to the believer and their relationship with God.

When David tried to ignore his sin, his “bones wasted away through my groaning all day long” (Psalms 32:3). He did, however, find freedom in confession.

 

“Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’ – and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” – Psalms 32:5 

A Christian who pursues sin despite claiming Christ as their Savior is living outside the blessing and fullness of the relationship that comes with an obedient life. We cannot equate grace with freedom to sin. Instead, we should be thankful that grace provides freedom from sin and its eternal consequences.

Doesn’t that kind of grace make you want to obey the one who set you free?

What Is Sanctification?

 

“If you love me, you will obey my commandments. I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever. That helper is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it doesn’t see or know him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be in you.” – John 14:5-17

The Christian’s spiritual journey doesn’t begin and end at a one-time prayer of confession. When we truly see our need for God, his grace and Christ’s sacrifice for us, we will want to obey him. Why? Because we will overflow with love and gratitude that the God of all creation cares enough to save us from ourselves. And if we love him, we trust him when he calls us to higher things. This pursuit toward Christ, and refining of our faith, is sanctification. Sanctification is progressing toward Christlikeness. A Christian cannot pursue both Christlikeness and sin.

So Christians, remember his abounding grace toward you. Turn from sin and embrace your new life as a vessel of light. You are dead to sin, alive in Christ.

Now go live it.

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***By Lizzie Hoover at Grand Canyon University: gcu.edu / Photo by Mike Waters at Joyful Toons

How to Start a House Group Fellowship

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The really good news is that, to start a house church, you can lay down the burdens of planning how to cope with buildings, programs, and outreach strategies. You don’t have to be an impressive leader (though you probably will have some leadership gifts). To start a house church, you simply need to open your home to friends and neighbours and take things one step at a time.

Pray First!

The first step to starting a house church is to pray. House-church ministry must be birthed in prayer. Though it is a simple step, without prayer and God’s leading, we invite trouble. Starting a house church cannot be just a good idea; it must be a God idea. If you feel that you are called to start a house church, gather a few like-minded people together and begin to pray so that you can receive a strategy from God. Many house churches have false starts that are directly linked to a lack of prayer.

Taking time to pray gives God the opportunity to work in our hearts and purify our motives. When house churches start up because of a reaction to something we don’t like about the established church, the house church’s identity is built from rebellion and discord. Healthy house churches, on the contrary, must begin with God’s leading and a desire to reach those who don’t know Jesus. What a person sows, the Bible teaches us, he also reaps. Therefore, if you begin a house church because of an offense toward an existing church or leader, you will sow the seeds of fault-finding and pride in the church you are creating.

Along with prayer, it is also important to look to the local Christian community’s leaders for spiritual guidance and advice as you launch a new church. From day one of the Lancaster Micro-Church Network, we have cultivated relationships with established believers in our local community and beyond to answer questions and explain to them the concept of micro-church. A wise Bible teacher once said, “Lone rangers get shot out of the saddle.” We agree. Healthy house-church movements are not exclusive groups who refuse to be accountable. Vibrant micro-church networks are spiritually connected to leadership in the Body of Christ.

Know Whom You Are Called to Reach

Every micro-church should know whom they are called to reach. Here’s a great suggestion from Tony and Felicity Dale, who together started a successful network of house churches in Texas:

Draw together people from your circle of influence. We had a number of business associates who were not Christian, but whom we had come to know pretty well over a period of months or years. We asked a dozen of them to join us in a study of business principles while enjoying pizza in our home, using the book of proverbs as our textbook.
There were no rules to our discussion; everybody’s opinion was valid and there was no such thing as a wrong answer. Gradually we introduced prayer and worship and over the course of a year, every one of them became a Christian. They formed the nucleus of our original house church.

When the first micro-church in the Lancaster Micro-Church Network started in our (Larry’s) home a few years ago, we asked God for pre-Christians or new believers to join us—we also asked for labourers to help in the endeavour. However, we ran into some immediate problems. First of all, lots of believers wanted to come and check it out. Some of these Christians were looking for the latest Christian fad. They liked the idea that the micro-church met on a Wednesday, not a Sunday, and that it met in a living room, not a sanctuary.

But we were not starting something new for the sake of starting something new! Since we had a mandate from the Lord to reach new believers, we asked inquiring Christians not to come to our meetings. Having too many older Christians in the group would make the pre-Christians feel uncomfortable.

Jim Petersen, in his book Church Without Walls, clearly describes what can happen if a “migratory flock from neighbouring churches” invades a new church simply because they are curious:

I have a friend who was a part of a team that set out to start a church. The congregation was divided into house churches, each of which was assigned an elder who helped shepherd the members of that house church. Centralised activities were kept at a minimum for the sake of keeping people free to minister to their families and unbelieving friends.

The weekly meetings were dynamic. I will never forget the first one I visited. People of all sorts were there, from men in business suits to ponytails. Many were new believers. The Bible teaching was down to earth, aimed at people’s needs. I loved it.

So did most everyone else who visited. The word got around and soon the migratory flock from neighbouring churches came pouring in. Their needs consumed the energies of the leaders of this young church. Their wants gradually set the agenda. The inertia of the traditions of these migrants engulfed this very creative effort and shaped it accordingly.

So what’s the problem, we ask? The problem is that the vision that original team had for taking the church into society through the efforts of every believer was frustrated.

My wife and I knew that the vision the Lord had given to us to reach a new generation had to be safeguarded in the early days of our new micro-church network, and the young leaders of our network wisely set clear perimeters. They asked God to bring pre-Christians, new believers, and labourers—and the Lord honoured their request.

The Size of the House Church Matters

Quite soon, my wife and I had a second problem in our home-based micro-church. The pre-Christians attending invited their friends, and within 6 months of starting, we had 50 people in our living room on a given night. It was way too large!

It is wise to keep the number of people to between 6 and 12. From my experience, groups less than 6 strong tend to dwindle and be lacklustre because of the decreased number of relationships and interactions possible. However, groups over 12 tend to lose intimacy and every-member participation. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that rapid church planting movements today reproduce small house churches numbering between 10 and 30 people.

Frequency of Meeting

House churches should meet at least once a week to maintain a sense of connectedness. Again, though, we must emphasise the importance of flexibility. Some micro-churches meet at the same location every week, while others move the meeting place by rotating turns in members’ houses. Some groups meet more frequently, others less often. Some house churches meet during the week, others on weekends.

It is crucial that meeting together is an expression of the members’ desire to build community together—not just a religious duty to add more meetings to their already busy lives. If gathering together is done around food and for the purpose of fellow-shipping, it is more natural. Choose times that are convenient for everyone involved and then make an effort to connect with the other members (even just by phone or e-mail) outside of official meeting times. Building a spiritual family takes more than an hour or two one night a week!

Meeting Components

One thing is certain about house-church meetings: they should not be a smaller scale duplicate of a typical Sunday morning meeting. A house-church gathering should not look like an “escaped meeting captured by a living-room,” as one young man described house churches that do little more than replicate and repeat the traditional church service format: worship, teaching, prayer.

Instead, we have learned that there are often four basic components to a micro-church gathering: eating, meeting, small groups, and “the meeting after the meeting.

Although eating (usually a meal) is one of the elements of a house-church gathering, sometimes there may not be food. One week the house church may help someone trim their shrubs and have a time of prayer afterwards, and the next week they may come together for a whole smorgasbord of worship, prayer, teaching, and fellowship. Every week should be fresh and informal as people meet to discuss the life of Jesus and life with Jesus.

—Larry Kreider and Floyd McClung; excerpted from their book Starting a House Church (Regal Publishers, 2007) / Picture by Fauxes at pexels / By Small Groups

Needing the Flow of Oil

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The Church needs the power and filling of the Holy Spirit

In the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit is pictured as oil. The oil made the lampstand burn in the tabernacle. The priests needed to make sure that the oil was always there.

You know that in the parable that Jesus spoke about his second coming, it was the lack of oil in the lamp that prevented some virgins from being ready. They were virgins. They were all virgins. It’s not five virgins and five harlots. All ten had a lamp that was burning. We know that all ten had lamps that were burning because when the bridegroom came at midnight what the foolish virgins said was: Our lamps are dying out. It’s not that they were never burning. External light speaks of what Jesus said: Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works (your external works) and glorify your Father in heaven. Lamp speaks about our external testimony. Here are virgins that had a good external testimony like most people in the church. But among virgins with a good external testimony, five were not ready for the coming of Christ because they lacked something.

Five of them, in their garments, maybe in a pocket in their garments, they had a hidden flask of oil. That was the only difference. They had a hidden life which the other five didn’t have. That is what ensured that their lamps would still be burning when the bridegroom came. So what the Lord was emphasizing there was their hidden life before God.

External testimony does not necessarily make us ready for the coming of the Lord.

He answered and said to those five virgins in Matthew 25:12: “I do not know you” . What does that mean? It means “I do not have that intimate, personal relationship with you”.

Knowing is used in the Old Testament for the most intimate relationship in marriage. Adam knew his wife. It speaks of that close, intimate relationship between a husband and wife. Spiritually, it speaks of a close, intimate relationship with Jesus.

In secret and private, Adam knew his wife. Others knew their wives. It is always in private and secret. It is that secret of Jesus knowing me spiritually, very intimately. Jesus could say like: You did a lot of things for me but I didn’t know you intimately. You didn’t have an intimate walk with me in secret. So Jesus said: Be on the alert.

This light is also described in Revelation 1. He said: The lampstand is the church.

The ultimate goal of the Lord and of the Holy Spirit is to bring together a whole lot of people who are gripped by the challenge of this inner life and who want to have a vessel or flask full of oil and to bring them together and make them one in a church and not just as individuals who have an inner life. There were five wise virgins and they were meant to be one. This is a picture of a church. There were a number of people who had this inner life who were together ready for the coming of the Lord and that is God’s ultimate goal.

The ultimate goal of God in this day and age is to build a church. Not a bunch of holy individuals, even if they have an inner life, who float around but holy individuals who come together, five of them or ten of them, wise virgins with flasks of oil in their hidden life, who come together and are a corporate testimony for the Lord. The main thing that the Church needs is that flow of oil that keeps it burning all the time.

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**Transcript adaption of the message: The Church – The Pillar of Truth – Atlanta 2013 by Zac Poonen © Copyright – Zac Poonen. No changes whatsoever are to be made to the content of the article without written permission from the author. https://www.cfcindia.com/  / Photo by Burak Kebapci

Signs You May Be Losing Your Identity in Christ

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2 Corinthians 5:17~ “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Our identity is our sense of self and our knowledge of who we are. When we are confident in our identity, we know who we are, what we believe, and why. We make decisions based on our personal values and belief system and surround ourselves with people who reinforce what we believe about ourselves.

As believers, our identity is found in Christ. We have value because He created us. We have purpose because we were created on purpose for a purpose. Our decisions are based on the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The Link between Identity and Relationship

I have always maintained that true knowledge of God can only be accomplished when we know who God is. We are created in God’s image and were made to remain in a relationship with Him.

Before His crucifixion, Jesus told His followers: Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me (John 15:4 NKJV).

Jesus wanted His followers to make a deliberate choice to be present with Him. If you are choosing to remain in someone’s presence it means you desire to be in a relationship with them.

Your identity is impacted by the people you spend time with just as your identity influences the people you choose to spend time with.

7 Signs You May Be Losing Your Identity in Christ

  1. Your personal devotion time has dwindled. As Christians, we need to spend time in the presence of our Heavenly Father. This is where we learn about who God is and build the foundation for our identity. When we sacrifice our alone time with God (for whatever reason), we put at risk the foundation on which we build our identity.
  2. Your beliefs keep shifting. The world we live in is filled with many people who believe in many things. If we base our beliefs on what the world says, we will constantly be changing what we believe and how we feel about things. Our beliefs should be based on the Bible which is the infallible Word of God. God’s Word is true and it never changes. When you feel as though you are losing your identity in Christ, reach for God’s Word and find the truth you need.
  3. You’ve lost your passion for Christ. When we first become believers, we are passionate about the Word, and work, of God. Unfortunately, this fervor doesn’t always last. This is why Jesus told the church of Ephesus: But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first (Revelation 2:5 ESV).
    If we lose our love for God, what are we going to base our identity on?
  4. You are constantly seeking approval and validation from the world or man. If you’re waiting for the world to approve you will wait for a very long time. Or if you do get the world’s approval, you will always be struggling to keep it. Let’s face it, the world’s standards change all the time. Do not base your self worth on what man thinks of you (the shallow emptiness of another mere mortal’s opinion) the only opinion that counts is God’s, He made you and didn’t make a mistake. You’re wonderfully made and one of a kind.
  5. You talk mostly negative things to yourself. You know no one can criticize you the way you can. But if all you’re doing is talking down to yourself and saying negative things about you to you, you’re doing the devil’s work for him, and he too will be whispering negative things to you. Don’t be Satan’s handmaiden. You were bought with a price and you are special to God. He’s the one who gives you value and determines your worth.
  6. You’ve lost your joy. In John 15:11, Jesus told His disciples: I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing (AMP).
    When you can no longer find joy, especially in the things of God, you may be losing your identity in Christ.
  7. You don’t have a sense of peace. One of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is a peace that surpasseth all understanding… the kind of peace that doesn’t make any sense because everything in your life is upside down, but you’re experiencing it anyway.

If you no longer feel this inner peace you may be losing your identity in Christ.

How to Regain Your Identity in Christ

When you realize you’ve lost, or are on the verge of, losing your identity in Christ, the devil will attack. He will tempt you to walk away from the faith or just give up. Here are some things you can do instead.

  1. Do not give in to the enemy. Hell was never meant for God’s children. The everlasting fire was prepared specifically for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41). But Satan knows his time is short and he’s trying to get as many people in hell with him as he can. Refuse to be one of them.

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7 NKJV).

  1. Read the Scriptures. The best way to remember who you are in Christ is to spend time reading and studying God’s Word. Maybe you won’t feel like doing an in-depth study, but you can read your favorites verses.
  2. Listen to Scripture songs. Listening to scripturally-sound songs can encourage your heart when you feel like you’re losing your spiritual identity.
  3. Spend time in nature. God is the Creator of everything on earth. Spend time appreciating what He has made and find connection with the sustainer of all life.
  4. Serve in your community or local church. Service takes the focus off ourselves and puts it on others. When we serve others, we remember that Jesus was sent on earth to serve us and gave His life for us in the process.
  5. Pray. Ask God to allow you to see His hand in your life. God is always working but we can’t always see Him because we’re not really paying attention. Ask Him to open your eyes so you can see the wonderful things He’s doing.
  6. Listen to sermons. Sometimes, you just need someone to remind you who you are in Christ. Listen to your favorite pastor or search YouTube for videos on identity.
  7. Reminisce. What was your life like before you were saved? If you grew up in the church, think about the person you were five years ago–how has God changed you?

Bible Verses on Identity and Purpose

Our purpose is intricately woven with our identity in Christ. Only when we know who we are will we begin to understand what God expects from us. Only then can we begin to think about and live our purpose.

As you ponder your identity in Christ, here are a few passages of Scripture to remind you of your identity and purpose.

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, (Ephesians 1:11 ESV).

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11 ESV).

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9 ESV).

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV).

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20 ESV).

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10 ESV).

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:5 ESV).

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20 ESV).

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand (Psalm 95:6-7 ESV).

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ (Colossians 3:23-24 ESV).

When you feel as though you’re losing your identity in Christ it can be a scary thing. The key to not fully losing your identity is to remind yourself what God says about you and to take steps to stop the drift.

Jesus is and what He did. Studying His life in the Scriptures is a great place to start. Also there’s free study exposition called, “All Jesus taught” by Brother Zac Poonen that’s been a great blessing to many:

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**By Aminata Coote -Hebrews12Endurance.com / Photo by pixabay

Broken: The Heart God Revives

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All of us come across others’ who say things so well that there is simply nothing left to add. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth created just such a piece in the form of a bookmark which you can download here, from her series Brokenness: The Heart God Revives

Broken: The Heart God Revives (Bookmark) By Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth

The Bookmark

Proud people focus on the failures of others.
Broken people are overwhelmed with a sense of their own spiritual need.

Proud people have a critical, fault-finding spirit; they look at everyone else’s faults with a microscope but their own with a telescope.
Broken people are compassionate; they can forgive much because they know how much  they have been forgiven. 

Proud people are self-righteous; they look down on others.
Broken people esteem all others better than themselves. 

Proud people have an independent, self-sufficient spirit.
Broken people have a dependent spirit; they recognize their need for others. 

Proud people have to prove that they are right.
Broken people are willing to yield the right to be right. 

Proud people claim rights; they have a demanding spirit.
Broken people yield their rights; they have a meek spirit. 

Proud people are self-protective of their time, their rights, and their reputation.
Broken people are self-denying. 

Proud people desire to be served.
Broken people are motivated to serve others. 

Proud people desire to be a success.
Broken people are motivated to be faithful and to make others a success. 

Proud people desire self-advancement.
Broken people desire to promote others. 

Proud people have a drive to be recognized and appreciated.
Broken people have a sense of their own unworthiness; they are thrilled that God would  use them at all. 

Proud people are wounded when others are promoted and they are overlooked.
Broken people are eager for others to get the credit; they rejoice when others are lifted  up. 

Proud people have a subconscious feeling, “This ministry/church is privileged to have me and my gifts”; they think of what they can do for God.
Broken people’s heart attitude is, “I don’t deserve to have a part in any ministry”; they  know that they have nothing to offer God except the life of Jesus flowing through their  broken lives. 

Proud people feel confident in how much they know.
Broken people are humbled by how very much they have to learn. 

Proud people are self-conscious.
Broken people are not concerned with self at all. 

Proud people keep others at arms’ length.
Broken people are willing to risk getting close to others and to take risks of loving  intimately. 

Proud people are quick to blame others.
Broken people accept personal responsibility and can see where they are wrong in a  situation. 

Proud people are unapproachable or defensive when criticized.
Broken people receive criticism with a humble, open spirit. 

Proud people are concerned with being respectable, with what others think; they work to protect their own image and reputation.
Broken people are concerned with being real; what matters to them is not what others  think but what God knows; they are willing to die to their own reputation. 

Proud people find it difficult to share their spiritual need with others.
Broken people are willing to be open and transparent with others as God directs. 

Proud people want to be sure that no one finds out when they have sinned; their instinct is to cover up.
Broken people, once broken, don’t care who knows or who finds out; they are willing to be  exposed because they have nothing to lose. 

Proud people have a hard time saying, “I was wrong; will you please forgive me?”
Broken people are quick to admit failure and to seek forgiveness when necessary. 

Proud people tend to deal in generalities when confessing sin.
Broken people are able to acknowledge specifics when confessing their sin. 

Proud people are concerned about the consequences of their sin.
Broken people are grieved over the cause, the root of their sin. 

Proud people are remorseful over their sin, sorry that they got found out or caught.
Broken people are truly, genuinely repentant over their sin, evidenced in the fact that they  forsake that sin. 

Proud people wait for the other to come and ask forgiveness when there is a misunderstanding or conflict in a relationship.
Broken people take the initiative to be reconciled when there is misunderstanding or  conflict in relationships; they race to the cross; they see if they can get there first, no  matter how wrong the other may have been. 

Proud people compare themselves with others and feel worthy of honor.
Broken people compare themselves to the holiness of God and feel a desperate need for  His mercy. 

Proud people are blind to their true heart condition.
Broken people walk in the light. 

Proud people don’t think they have anything to repent of.
Broken people realize they have need of a continual heart attitude of repentance. 

Proud people don’t think they need revival, but they are sure that everyone else does.
Broken people continually sense their need for a fresh encounter with God and for a fresh filling of His Holy Spirit.

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**Article by Searching4Wisdom @ Biblical Perspectives on Narcissism.com / Photo by Pixabay