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GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION

What is Community?

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(Originally posted in 2013).

This week we shared a pizza and cans of coke at our cafe in the red light area.

We shared a meal, broke bread (pizza) drank the blood (coke) and thanked Jesus for giving us eternal life.

This is what Jesus meant by “whenever you do this, remember me.”

He meant share a meal together, and when you do, remember Him.

 I have given you life, and life in abundance. 

It was a great moment. A moment of sharing life with people passionate for God. The cafe hub was buzzing, people outreaching to sex workers, ladyboys, sex-pats, huge tattooed Christians ministering to American / Cambodian returnees (people who have been deported from the US back to Cambodia because they have committed a crime – forced into leaving their families, their loved ones, into a country they don’t know, some don’t even speak the language).

So, life is a rich mixture. Shakespeare called life a feast.

This is what Jesus means by communion.

Community.

And we don’t always find community in that place we’re supposed to go and park our butts for 2 hours on a Sunday.

Community is wherever we are.

Whereever we are, that is church.

Whereever we are, Jesus is.


Filed under: Grace

How To Bring Heaven On Earth: Using The King’s Power And Authority

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In this video we take a moment to remind ourselves what it means to be an ambassador of heaven who carry the King’s Name to use His power and authority to bring heaven on earth.

How To Bring Heaven On Earth- Using The King's Power And Authority

As an ambassador, you stand in delegated authority. When you rebuke a demon, it is as if Jesus is rebuking that demon; when you rebuke a sickness, it is as if Jesus is rebuking that sickness – that is the power of delegated authority.

To give someone the right to use your name is to give them your authority.

That person is authorized to speak as your representative.

Presently, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father, waiting while His ambassadors (the Church) put His enemies under His feet (see Heb. 10:12-13).

As ambassadors, our priority is bringing alignment between Heaven and earth.

Click on the image to watch the Vlog:

 Click HERE to watch the video on YouTube

Jesus said that we are to pray that it would be on earth as it is in Heaven (see Matt. 6:10).

In Heaven there is no sickness, no pain, no poverty, no divorce, no broken homes, no death. In Heaven there is total peace, love, and joy.

Therefore, as an ambassador of Heaven, these are the things that we pray into our surroundings.

It is time to move away from wimpy, weak-kneed, milk-toast, namby-pamby prayers like, “God, if it is Your will, would You please consider doing such and such?”

Ambassadors direct their authority toward the problem and demand results.

I am not saying that we make demands of God, but that we aim our authority at the problem.

For example, “Lazarus come forth!” or “Lame man rise and walk!” or “Demon come out!” or “Storm be calm!”

Like Jesus, ambassadors use their authority to address problems directly.

When you pray in the being of Jesus, you must be obeyed by demons, sickness, death, and circumstances as if Jesus Himself were commanding those obstacles.

I, Bas Rijksen, have no authority in my name, apart from Jesus.

In the natural, I am not a king, but as an ambassador of Heaven, I operate in the authority of the King of kings.

When I am praying, I am standing inside the being of Jesus, because that is where I find my authority.

Question: What in your environment needs to come into alignment with Heaven’s best: physical ailments, financial issues, your marriage, your children, your church, close friends, your employer and co-workers, and so forth.

Speak over each of these with authority as Heaven’s ambassador and watch it being transformed.

Have a splendishes day,

Bas size 3 bold onder emails

How To Bring Heaven On Earth: Using The King’s Power And Authority

by

In this video we take a moment to remind ourselves what it means to be an ambassador of heaven who carry the King’s Name to use His power and authority to bring heaven on earth.

How To Bring Heaven On Earth- Using The King's Power And Authority

As an ambassador, you stand in delegated authority. When you rebuke a demon, it is as if Jesus is rebuking that demon; when you rebuke a sickness, it is as if Jesus is rebuking that sickness – that is the power of delegated authority.

To give someone the right to use your name is to give them your authority.

That person is authorized to speak as your representative.

Presently, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father, waiting while His ambassadors (the Church) put His enemies under His feet (see Heb. 10:12-13).

As ambassadors, our priority is bringing alignment between Heaven and earth.

Click on the image to watch the Vlog:

 Click HERE to watch the video on YouTube

Jesus said that we are to pray that it would be on earth as it is in Heaven (see Matt. 6:10).

In Heaven there is no sickness, no pain, no poverty, no divorce, no broken homes, no death. In Heaven there is total peace, love, and joy.

Therefore, as an ambassador of Heaven, these are the things that we pray into our surroundings.

It is time to move away from wimpy, weak-kneed, milk-toast, namby-pamby prayers like, “God, if it is Your will, would You please consider doing such and such?”

Ambassadors direct their authority toward the problem and demand results.

I am not saying that we make demands of God, but that we aim our authority at the problem.

For example, “Lazarus come forth!” or “Lame man rise and walk!” or “Demon come out!” or “Storm be calm!”

Like Jesus, ambassadors use their authority to address problems directly.

When you pray in the being of Jesus, you must be obeyed by demons, sickness, death, and circumstances as if Jesus Himself were commanding those obstacles.

I, Bas Rijksen, have no authority in my name, apart from Jesus.

In the natural, I am not a king, but as an ambassador of Heaven, I operate in the authority of the King of kings.

When I am praying, I am standing inside the being of Jesus, because that is where I find my authority.

Question: What in your environment needs to come into alignment with Heaven’s best: physical ailments, financial issues, your marriage, your children, your church, close friends, your employer and co-workers, and so forth.

Speak over each of these with authority as Heaven’s ambassador and watch it being transformed.

Have a splendishes day,

Bas size 3 bold onder emails

How To Bring Heaven On Earth: Using The King’s Power And Authority

by

In this video we take a moment to remind ourselves what it means to be an ambassador of heaven who carry the King’s Name to use His power and authority to bring heaven on earth.

How To Bring Heaven On Earth- Using The King's Power And Authority

As an ambassador, you stand in delegated authority. When you rebuke a demon, it is as if Jesus is rebuking that demon; when you rebuke a sickness, it is as if Jesus is rebuking that sickness – that is the power of delegated authority.

To give someone the right to use your name is to give them your authority.

That person is authorized to speak as your representative.

Presently, Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father, waiting while His ambassadors (the Church) put His enemies under His feet (see Heb. 10:12-13).

As ambassadors, our priority is bringing alignment between Heaven and earth.

Click on the image to watch the Vlog:

 Click HERE to watch the video on YouTube

Jesus said that we are to pray that it would be on earth as it is in Heaven (see Matt. 6:10).

In Heaven there is no sickness, no pain, no poverty, no divorce, no broken homes, no death. In Heaven there is total peace, love, and joy.

Therefore, as an ambassador of Heaven, these are the things that we pray into our surroundings.

It is time to move away from wimpy, weak-kneed, milk-toast, namby-pamby prayers like, “God, if it is Your will, would You please consider doing such and such?”

Ambassadors direct their authority toward the problem and demand results.

I am not saying that we make demands of God, but that we aim our authority at the problem.

For example, “Lazarus come forth!” or “Lame man rise and walk!” or “Demon come out!” or “Storm be calm!”

Like Jesus, ambassadors use their authority to address problems directly.

When you pray in the being of Jesus, you must be obeyed by demons, sickness, death, and circumstances as if Jesus Himself were commanding those obstacles.

I, Bas Rijksen, have no authority in my name, apart from Jesus.

In the natural, I am not a king, but as an ambassador of Heaven, I operate in the authority of the King of kings.

When I am praying, I am standing inside the being of Jesus, because that is where I find my authority.

Question: What in your environment needs to come into alignment with Heaven’s best: physical ailments, financial issues, your marriage, your children, your church, close friends, your employer and co-workers, and so forth.

Speak over each of these with authority as Heaven’s ambassador and watch it being transformed.

Have a splendishes day,

Bas size 3 bold onder emails

510. The Ten Commandments in the New Testament

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Legalistic Christians who feel our message of free and unlimited grace is considered erroneous and hyper, will argue that all of the top ten commandments are found in the New Testament. They'll reason that this means they are meant to be included as a part of the New Covenant. Jesus stated one of the greatest commandments was to love your neighbor as yourself, which is not one of the Ten. So just exactly how many of the 613 laws within the law are we supposed to abide by? This week, we'll take a look at some of the context surrounding the references to these commands found in new covenant writings and reveal the true intent of the entire law.



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Letter to Pastor Tullian: Keep Preaching Grace!

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I am deeply saddened hearing news of Pastor Tullian’s resignation as Senior Pastor from Coral Ridge church.

My heart goes out to him as he faces the consequence of his choices.

God knows, we’ve all fallen morally.

Some of us are in the public eye. Others aren’t.

I’ve failed morally many times, yet God’s grace always picks me back up. Jesus’ blood washes me clean once again and I get on the horse and ride again.

God knows, a recent study showed 30% of Christian men admitted to moral failure here in Cambodia.

But if we are all to resign after failing morally, who would there be left?

There is no one righteous. Not even one.

Where do we draw the line?

Correct me if I’m wrong, if we are saying a man is only fit to preach the gospel and lead a church if he is morally upright by human standards, then aren’t we missing the whole point of grace? Aren’t we missing the gospel?

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

  • Romans 3:23

This is all about obeying the law.

We are saying that the position of leader in a church depends on our own ability to live a moral life.

This is all about obeying the law!

But all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

According to Isaiah, compared with the righteousness we have received from God as a free gift – our own righteous acts are like filthy rags!

Not even our sin.

Our righteous acts!

If we can only lead a church if we are righteous by our own acts then NO ONE is able to lead a church…

As the only reason any of us are righteous is because of Christ in us. 

I’m sure if we delved into the secret lives of pastors NOT ONE  would attain the moral standard God requires.

NO ONE would be fit to lead!

This is why we depend on Christ.

It is He who makes us righteous.

He is our holiness, righteousness and redemption.

It is He who makes us fit to lead. Not by ourselves. Christ in us makes us righteous.

Leaders of Coral Ridge church: we are not morally righteous by our own acts.

Pastor Tullian is, if anything, more qualified to preach from the puplit, as he knows what it is to depend on the grace of God!

Seriously, what secret sins are church leaders keeping to themselves?

Where do we say “You did that, so you can’t lead,” and “You did that, so you can’t lead.”

Watching porn? Fantasizing over a congregation member? Cross Dressing? Having homoerotic desires?

Who draws the line?

Jesus drew the line – in the sand. And what did he write?

He who is without sin cast the first stone!

There is no one righteous. Not even one.

And if the church is saying we are only fit to lead a church because we have obeyed certain laws and managed to live righteously by human standards – then that church is living according to the law.

On its website, Coral Ridge acknowledged that Pastor Tullian

…admitted to moral failure, acknowledging his actions disqualify him from continuing to serve as senior pastor or preach from the pulpit, and resigned, effective immediately.

– Christianity Today.

Disqualifying him to serve as senior pastor or preach from the pulpit.

Who says?

God?

Or man?

This smacks of legalism.

We are only fit to preach from the pulpit if we manage to live upright lives and obey the law.

Legalism!

Law!

And under The Law no one can stand.

There is no one righteous. Not even one.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace.

We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has gone to his own way.

Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love.

Pastor Tullian will be aching in his heart.

Let’s all gather round him and nurture him back to seeing himself as God sees him – holy, rightoeus and perfect – because of Christ’s sacrifice.

Nothing we do can altar the way Jesus sees us.

Nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love.

Pastor Tullian – you are still a Senior Pastor in God’s Kingdom.

You are still an anointed preacher, a gifted writer and a great man of God.

You are still a warrior for Christ, saved by grace and righteous by faith.

Perhaps God has taken you out of a church that appoints its pastors depending on their own self-righteous acts, rather than on their honest preaching of the grace of God from the valley of their own shadow – where, if we are brave enough to admit it, we all visit.

Whatever happens, God’s grace is sufficient for you.

His power is made perfect in weakness.

From this trial you will grow stronger and the message of grace will reach far and wide.

I leave you with the words of Paul:

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.

  • Philippians 1:12

Bless you brother.

Wishing you a fast and powerful recovery.

Amen!

Steve Edwards


Filed under: Grace

509. Engraved on Stones: The End of the Ten

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Traditional Bible teaching has led Christians to believe the Ten Commandments were separate from the rest of the Mosaic Law given to Israel. Some will even declare they were not part of the Old Covenant, and since they were letters engraved on stones, they were meant to be applied forever. Yet scripture clearly states they were considered part of the law and were called tablets of the covenant.

It’s a man-made doctrine that says that the Law is broken up into sections (moral, civil, ceremonial, etc.), and that part of it was done away with but yet in the New Covenant we’re supposed to keep a certain part of it. The scriptures do not declare such a separation or distinction in the law of God. The Law of God is a package deal. The Apostle Paul called the law the ministry of death that brought condemnation. Paul also explained why they no longer have glory and came to an end, to be replaced with a more glorious and permanent ministry of the Spirit.



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Absolutely, perfectly, completely free!

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Not sure if I told you before…but I’m an actor.

As an actor who’s used to memorizing whole Shakesperian roles there’s nothing I enjoy more than memorizing God’s word.

I memorize whole chapters.

All books even!

I can recite Philippians to you off the top of my head, together with books like Isaiah 53 (The Sufffering Servant Song) certain chapters of Hebrews, chunks of Romans etc. 

I’ve recently started to record them.

I only record the ones I know by heart.

Anyone can read from the bible and record but a lot of work goes into memorizing chapters and books. And on that memorizing journey you get a lot of insight, too.

Once I’ve learned a chapter my favorite place to recite it to myself is in the sauna after a workout.

Don’t ask me why!

I guess because it’s so quiet, and usually empty, so I get the place to myself.

At the moment I’m reciting Romans 6.

You can listen to the recording here.

I love Romans 6.

I love the way Paul repeats over and over again that we have been set free from sin.

Have a listen and see.

It happens in verse 7.

Anyone who has died has been set free from sin.

Then again in verse 18.

You have been set free from sin.

Then again in verse 22 !

You have been set free from sin.

I think Paul was trying to tell us something!

And it doesn’t take a genius to work out what Paul was trying to tell us:

You have been set free from sin!  Tweet: You have been set free from sin! http://ctt.ec/e9UDW+ @thegracebase

We are free.

Free from sin.

Absolutely, perfectly, completely free.

Amen!


Filed under: Grace

It is Well With my Soul

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I was exposed to this hymn at the weekend.

I mean, sure, I’d heard it before, sang it before, but this was the first time since my ‘grace’ revelation.

It seems the writer – Horatio Spafford – had had a grace revelation, too.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

My sin, not in part but the whole.

Old Horatio knew his sin had been dealt with once for all.

He knew that all of his sin, past present and future was crucifed on that cross with Christ.

He knew, just as Paul teaches, that he had been set free from sin.

He knew that he was approved by God.

Approved and beloved.

As we are.

No wonder it was well with his soul.

It is well with my soul, as well!

Do you know that all of your sin was crucified with Christ?

not in part, but the whole

Is it well with your soul?


Filed under: Grace

508. The Love Motivation

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As we proclaim a message of God's unconditional love and free grace apart from the works of the law and commandments, those bound by legalistic teaching will ask us whether behavior matters. It's hard for them to grasp wanting to do what is right and good apart from rules and regulations. In the same way that God has shown forgiveness and love to us in this New Covenant, as new creations in Christ, we are now empowered to do the same. It's because we're branches, engrafted into the tree of life, bearing his fruit apart from law.



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