545. Why Jesus Taught Two Covenants (Part 2): From Adam to Moses

April 24, 2016 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Our second in the series of why Jesus taught two covenants lays a further foundation on why Adam fell and how the covenant began through Moses with the Jewish people. A covenant must be agreed upon by at least two parties, so the law within the first covenant was not forced upon Israel, but they agreed to do all of it as required. They declared with pride it would be righteousness for them. They would have been better off humbling themselves by saying they couldn't do it. They chose to trust in themselves and their ability.

My Book Is Now In The Korean Language!

April 23, 2016 by Sandra McCollom

So excited to announce the release of my book, I Tried Until I Almost Died, in the Korean language! I’m grateful to my publisher, WaterBrook & Multnomah, for working with Kyujang Publishing to help this become a reality.

Last night I found out from Wikipedia that about 80 million people speak Korean worldwide!

Please believe with me that the Korean people will be greatly helped, encouraged and blessed as they read and receive a personal revelation of the grace of our Lord Jesus.

I attribute this wonderful news to God’s grace, His unmerited favor, working on my behalf!

Click here to go to a Korean retailer

Click here to check out more about the English edition

Click here to watch a 2 minute video synopsis of I Tried Until I Almost Died

If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!

Sandra McCollom

I Was Shouting At The TV In Agreement

April 20, 2016 by Sandra McCollom

Over a month ago my husband Steve listened to this teaching by Judah Smith, Pastor of The City Church in Seattle. He said he wanted us all to watch it as a family during one of our weekly family rallies.

I was literally shouting at the TV in agreement while my family and I watched this teaching. It will help you understand how grace works in your life. That’s why I was shouting. He was explaining the journey that I have been walking out for the past 4 years.

This message is about how to see our impulses, appetites and desires become more like Jesus!

While watching, I was shouting, “That’s right. That’s exactly how grace works. People have got to hear this. It’s gonna help them!” Then, the minute we finished watching it, I emailed The City Church and asked permission to post a link on my website. I’m thrilled to say that they said yes!

If you have ever heard Judah Smith preach you already know this, but the man is hilarious so get ready to laugh and be helped at the same time! This link leads straight to the church’s website where you will find all of Pastor Judah’s other teachings as well.

The Six Week Journey – Part Two

Sandra McCollom

The body and blood (life) of Christ is real food for us

April 19, 2016 by Clint Byars

iamthebread

There’s a story that John tells in chapter 6 of his gospel about Jesus feeding thousands of people with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread. After everyone ate, there were 12 baskets of food collected. Take a moment to imagine that, enough food to fit on a large plate fed thousands of people and then turned into 12 baskets. That’s our God! His idea of meeting your need is exceedingly, abundantly above what you can even imagine!

The next day, many from that crowd found him and asked for more food. He begins a dialogue where he tries to turn their thinking from carnal to spiritual. He uses their hunger for bread to present the idea that he can give them something that will give them life forever instead of for a day. When these Jews ask him for this bread he makes a confusing statement.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. John 6:51

Say what, Jesus?

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. John 6:53-57

You’d think he’d explain the spiritual implications of this radical concept but he didn’t, he left that up to the Holy Spirit to bring revelation to those whose hearts were open to receiving him.

Read this entry from the Expositor’s Greek Testament.

He (Jesus) becomes as truly assimilated to the life of the individual as the nourishing elements in food enter into the substance of the body. The believer abides in Christ as finding his life in Him (Galatians 2:20); and Christ abides in the believer, continually imparting to him what constitutes spiritual life. For in Christ man reaches the source of all life in the Father (John 6:57),The living Father has sent Christ forth as the bearer of life. He lives, not equivalent to, through or by means of the Father, but “because of,” or “by reason of the Father”. The Father is the cause of my life; I live because the Father lives. The Father is the absolute source of life; the Son is the bearer of that life to the world. Every one that eateth Christ will by that connection participate in the life of God.

We understand that the body and blood or life of Christ are fed to us in our inner man, to our hearts from his spirit that dwells in believers. This spiritual life in us is not just a theological doctrine, it’s an actual force or presence that nourishes our emotions, our minds, our bodies and teaches us to think and see the world through God’s eyes. When we allow his spirit to be assimilated into every aspect of our being it acts just like physical food for the body, it brings life. As we learn to partake of the life of God flowing in us we can experience the same zoe (quality of life) that is in the Father.

Jesus says he lives because the Father lives. He understood that he was in the Father and the Father was in him. The same is true for us. Just like a branch of a tree receives the same nutrients that the roots of that tree draw from the soil, so do we draw life from God because we are in an eternal union with him in Christ.

Discussion questions:

What is the picture in your heart or imagination of being fed by God’s spirit? (ex. a tree, a child in a womb, etc…)
What area in your life do you need to have God’s spirit nourish you?
What decision are you making to draw on his spirit to be nourished by his life in that situation?

Enjoy this free full length message on this topic:

Featured Series

Message Titles:

Two Goats
The Scapegoat
Resurrection through His Eyes
Exchanging Natures
Joint-Heirs with Jesus
Living in the Kingdom

These are some of the most powerful and concise messages I have given on the subject of Jesus Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. I go into much detail about the old testament day of atonement sacrifice and how it points to Jesus.

To fully understand the depth of which Christ cleansed us in his sacrifice we must look at the type and shadow detailed under the Levitical priesthood. These messages will give you razor sharp understanding of the cross and overwhelm your heart with compassion for all that Jesus accomplished on our behalf on the cross, in the grave and in his ascension.

These are my messages from the “Three Days that Changed the World” conference in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with Dr. Jim Richards.

The post The body and blood (life) of Christ is real food for us appeared first on Forward Ministries.

Don’t Let Sin Be Your Master

April 19, 2016 by Michael Wilson

For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:14)

This is such a freeing verse. Many Christians today believe that they will never get above sin. They believe that they are still sinners who are just saved by grace. But this is not the truth. We are not still sinners because sinners have sin as their master. Every born again person is the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). Sin is no longer our master. Jesus is our Lord and Master.

If you see sin as your master then you will always see yourself as a slave to obey sin. It will always be your focus. You will never truly live free. You are not under law. The Mosaic Law is no longer valid for a New Testament Christian. We are under grace. We do not live by a long set of “thou shalt nots”. We get to live under freedom which is relationship based, not rule based.

I know that many people still struggle with “sins”. They might be addicted to pornography, have anger issues, or gossip. They may live with incredible insecurities which cause them to do things to find security, rather than find their security in Christ. Does this make them a sinner? I don’t believe so. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Therefore, he can’t be a sinner if he is a new creation.

The issue here is how we see ourselves. Perspective is everything. Now, I am not saying that one can do whatever they want. Just because we live under grace doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want. May it never be!

What is does mean is that when we understand our standing in Jesus, that we are sons and daughters of the Most High God, we will not want to sin because sin is beneath us. It is not who we are anymore. We may struggle with it at times, but it is not our master!

Don’t allow the thought that you can’t conquer your vices, addictions, sins, bondages, etc. hold you back any more. You are under grace. God’s grace is sufficient. Will you mess up? Most likely, but you are not counted out because you messed up. Under grace, you are not guilty because you messed up. You are declared righteous because of your Lord and Savior. That is amazingly great news.

Don’t allow sin to have one more day as master over you. Begin to declare grace over every imperfection, weakness, addiction, and bondage you might be experiencing. You are free in Christ.

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any area where you have allowed sin to master you. Then submit that area to the Lordship and the grace of Jesus. Declare you are free and live as a free person. The way you see yourself is the way that you will live!

What about you? How do you see yourself? Does it affect how you live?

The above blog was taken as part of a daily devotional page from my FREE 30 day devotional, Going Deeper in Grace! It’s yours free if you sign up to receive updates from this blog. Just fill out the form on the sidebar near the top on the right.

544. Why Jesus Taught Two Covenants (Part 1): The Law Tree

April 17, 2016 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

We begin a series on why Jesus ministered both the Old Covenant and the New. Before we get to some of the teachings of Jesus, we'll lay a foundation that provides reasons why Jesus did this. We'll start at the beginning with Adam in the garden being faced with an element of law already at work when he was commanded not to eat from The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It's the tree of law, and Adam's motivation on why he chose to eat from it may sound familiar in the lives of many Christians today.

Our Breakthroughs Come By God’s Grace, But Grace Must Be Received

April 15, 2016 by Sandra McCollom

I thoroughly enjoy processing my grace journey by thinking through how God’s grace plays into every single part of my life. I had a pretty rough period of time for about 12 weeks earlier in the year, but God has really given me some huge breakthroughs recently. I’ll tell you more about those in the future, but my whole experience got me thinking about how our breakthroughs come.

How do our breakthroughs come? By God’s grace!

How do we receive God’s grace? By Faith!

Faith is not a feeling we have to work up. It’s simply trusting God.

So God is always extending His grace to us, but if it’s true that we receive His grace by faith – by believing – then it would also be true that we could stop receiving His grace through unbelief or wrong believing.

This doesn’t mean God stops extending His grace. He is always supplying grace to us, but we still have to do our part which is to receive His gift of grace by faith.

There are many ways we can stop-up the pipeline of God’s grace through unbelief. Maybe, after you read this post, God will show you something specific that you’re doing to stop up that pipeline. One way I used to do this was by receiving guilt and condemnation. Instead of receiving God’s forgiveness provided to me through His shed blood, when I sinned I would try to pay for my own sins by feeling guilty and condemned. As a Christian, I was believing wrong by thinking I had to pay for my own sins.

I very rarely ever mess with guilt and condemnation anymore because… (see Romans 8:1)

If the devil does try to bury me with guilt and condemnation I turn away from it and turn instead to God’s grace once again by believing (trusting) that I am:

1.) Unconditionally Loved (see Romans 8:35-39) and (Psalm 36:5)

2.) Completely Forgiven (see Matthew 26:27-28) and (Ephesians 1:7)

3.) Righteous through Jesus!! (see Philippians 3:9) and (2 Corinthians 5:21)

So remember that the breakthroughs in your life come by way of God’s grace and you can always choose to receive God’s grace through faith!

You can’t earn it. You can’t do enough to deserve it. You’ll never be able to merit it. But THAT’S O.K. because God’s grace is His unearned, undeserved, unmerited favor and it is a free gift to you. It’s for your salvation, when you trust in Jesus and receive Him as your Lord and Savior, and also for your everyday life, as you choose to receive it by trusting in Him to help you through the circumstances of your daily life instead of trusting in yourself and your own efforts!

Have a great weekend living in God’s grace!

#FreedomLiving

Sandra McCollom

Freedom From Legalism

April 14, 2016 by Sandra McCollom

Do you find yourself wondering if you have done enough for God? Are you looking for a to-do list to accomplish for God in order to be acceptable to Him? When you struggle with sin do you think you would be able to overcome if you would just try harder? Do you have a hard […]

The post Freedom From Legalism appeared first on Sandra McCollom.

Your Sin Nature was Cut Out by Jesus

April 13, 2016 by Clint Byars

Do believers still have a sin nature? Do we have a partially righteous nature and a partially sinful nature?

You may have heard the “white dog, black dog” theory. This idea says that believers still have a root of sin or “sin nature” after being born again. The dogs come in as an illustration, meaning you have two natures (dogs) in you and whichever one you feed will grow. You will always struggle with sin because it’s still part of your identity.

I disagree. Why?

Colossians 2:9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Verse 11 says a circumcision has taken place and your dead, sinful self was removed. Couple that with these truths:

Jesus became your sin so you could become righteous 2 Corinthians 5:21
You were dead but have been made alive in him (see above passage)
His blood/sacrifice has sanctified you and made you holy Hebrews 10:10
Righteousness is by faith and not by works Romans 3:21-22

We’re left with the conclusion that we are currently righteous because we have put our faith in Jesus and as a result we are made alive in him and he has given us his righteousness. The old you was crucified with Jesus and the new you is like him. I think it’s safe to say that Jesus doesn’t have a sin nature.

Some may say that we are still partially sinful because we still have a physical body or flesh. The word of God distinguishes between our bodies and our flesh. Our bodies can be yielded to sin or righteousness, it presents our physicality as caught in the middle of the world and the new man, able to choose sin or yield to righteousness. Flesh is described as a mindset or our own efforts to be made righteous through works.

The Gnostics believed that the physical body was inherently sinful and evil. Much of the New Testament was written to refute Gnostic thought, including the idea that the body is inherently sinful. You do not still have a sin nature because you have a physical body.

Why do you still sin? That’s easy, because you choose it. It’s just as easy, if not easier to yield to righteousness as it is to choose sin. Because you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, you have a righteous nature. You have a steady flow of grace directly from the indwelling life/spirit of God that strengthens your inner man to live above the power of sin and in the righteousness that you’ve been given in Jesus, but you have to yield to that influence to live in that power rather than turning to the physical world to fulfill your desires.

Romans 6:13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

So why do you still sin? Again, not because it comes natural to you but because you’ve opened yourself to sin. There is much more opportunity to live in the power of grace than there is opportunity to sin. It may be time to meditate on God’s word until you change your perspective and believe that his spirit can feed you and satisfy you much better than the world ever could.

Choose well. Choose life. Yield to righteousness. Soon you’ll naturally look on the outside like you already do on the inside.

Ephesians 3:16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

The post Your Sin Nature was Cut Out by Jesus appeared first on Forward Ministries.

Your Struggle Is Not With People

April 11, 2016 by Sandra McCollom

It really helps me to remember that my battle is not with people, but with the devil and his evil spirits that are holding people captive. It even helps me pray for people with a greater level of compassion when I keep this in mind.

When I pray, I don’t come against the person themselves in prayer, but the spirit of fear, jealousy, control, manipulation, violence, anger, pride, intimidation, depression etc. – whatever that spirit is that seems to be holding that person in bondage.

I pray for myself this way as well. For instance, I might pray, “I bind up this spirit of fear that is trying to hold me captive in this particular area in the name of Jesus. I loose a spirit of peace and calm over my life in this area right now. (see Matthew 16:19) God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (see 2 Timothy 1:7) I receive God’s love afresh for myself and I know His perfect love drives out every fear. (See 1 John 4:18)

Jesus gave us Christians authority over all the power of the enemy! This is really good news!

Colossians 2:15 says, “When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities [those supernatural forces of evil operating against us], He made a public example of them [exhibiting them as captives in His triumphal procession], having triumphed over them through the cross.” – AMP

and

Luke 10:19 says, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” – NKJ

I told you it was really good news. We have been given authority over the devil and his personal assistants and we need to use it!

I do want to make one clarification here in case anyone would have this question. Am I saying there’s never a time to confront a person directly? Definitely not. In fact, I believe in Spirit-led confrontation, but it must be Spirit-led and it must be done in love for it to do any good.

We have to remember that only God can change a person’s heart by His grace. Remembering this keeps us doing our job and allows God to do His job. Sometimes the person is living in such deception that they either can’t see or purposely won’t admit to the fact that they are not living their lives led by the Holy Spirit, but have succumbed to living under the influence of another kind of spirit. We can pray that the blinders of deception be removed from their eyes.

Steve prayed for me all those years that I was living under the influence of a spirit of legalism and thank God he did. I am now free from that spirit’s influence and I am living my life once again under the leadership of the Holy Spirit!

Your Struggle Is Not With People

April 11, 2016 by Sandra McCollom

Jesus gave us Christians authority over all the power of the enemy! This is really good news!

and

Luke 10:19 says, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” – NKJ

I told you it was really good news. We have been given authority over the devil and his personal assistants and we need to use it!

Your Battle Is Not With People

April 11, 2016 by Sandra McCollom

Jesus gave us Christians authority over all the power of the enemy! This is really good news!

and

Luke 10:19 says, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” – NKJ

I told you it was really good news. We have been given authority of the devil and his personal assistants and we need to use it!

Sandra McCollom

545. Why Jesus Taught Two Covenants (Part 2): From Adam to Moses

My Book Is Now In The Korean Language!

I Was Shouting At The TV In Agreement

The body and blood (life) of Christ is real food for us

Featured Series

Don’t Let Sin Be Your Master

544. Why Jesus Taught Two Covenants (Part 1): The Law Tree

Our Breakthroughs Come By God’s Grace, But Grace Must Be Received

Freedom From Legalism

Your Sin Nature was Cut Out by Jesus

Your Struggle Is Not With People

Your Struggle Is Not With People

Your Battle Is Not With People

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