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The Word...Epistle 1.7...Denouement Let me end with this simple story… A young Christian was walking with an older, more seasoned Christian in the garden one day and feeling a bit insecure about what God had for him to do, he was inquiring of the older Christian. The older Christian walked up to a rosebush and handed the young one and told him to open it without tearing off any petals. The young Christian looked in disbelief at the older one and was trying to figure out what a rosebud could possibly have to do with his wanting to know the will of God for his life and for his ministry. Because of his high respect for the older Christian, he proceeded to TRY to unfold the rose, while keeping every petal intact...It wasn't long before he realized how impossible it was to do so. Noticing the younger Christian's inability to unfold the rosebud while keeping it intact, the older one began to recite the following poem... UNFOLDING THE ROSEBUD It is only a tiny rosebud, A flower of God's design: But I cannot unfold the petals With these clumsy hands of mine. The secret of unfolding flowers Is not known to such as I. God opens this flower so sweetly, When in my hands they fade and die. If I cannot unfold a rosebud, This flower of God's design Then how can I think I have wisdom To unfold this life of mine? So I'll trust Him for His leading Each moment of every day. I will look to Him for His guidance Each step of a pilgrim way. The pathway that lies before me, Only my heavenly Father knows. I'll trust Him to unfold the moments, Just as He unfolds the rose. shagged on 4/25/2009 12:14:00 PM The Word...Epistle 1.6...Courageous Frontliners Let us recall those of the Early Church whom we often read about, but very seldom consider the outcome of their lives. Let’s meditate the price they paid to follow Jesus and to carry His Gospel in their lifetime, and imagine what would it be like if we were in their shoes instead. What makes us think that in our days we are so special and spiritual that we don’t have to go through the same things they endured? May their lives be a living sermon to us today: Matthew faced martyrdom in Ethiopia . He died by a sword wound. Mark was killed in Alexandria , Egypt . He was dragged by horses through the streets until he died. Luke was hanged in Greece because of his bold preaching to the lost. John was boiled in a big basin of boiling oil during a time of persecution in Rome . However, he was miraculously delivered from death. John was then sentenced to the mines on the prison island of Patmos . He wrote the book of Revelation there. He was later freed and returned to serve as Bishop of Edessa in modern Turkey . He died as an old man, the only apostle to die peacefully. Peter was crucified upside down on an X-shaped cross because he told his tormentors that he was unworthy to die the same way as his Blessed Lord. James, the leader of the Church in Jerusalem , was pushed and fell a hundred feet down from the southeast pinnacle of the Temple when he refused to deny his Lord. Because he survived the fall, his enemies beat him to death with a fuller’s club. This was the same pinnacle of the Temple where Satan tempted Jesus (Luke 4:9). James, a son of Zebedee, a fisherman by trade when Jesus called him, was ultimately beheaded at Jerusalem . The Roman officer who guarded James watch amazed as James defended his faith at his trial. Later, the same officer walked beside James to the place of execution. Overcome by conviction, he declared his new faith to the judge and knelt beside James to accept beheading as a Christian. Hallelujah! Bartholomew, also known as Nathanael, was a missionary to Asia . He preached in present day Turkey , and was martyred in Armenia when he was flayed to death by a whip. Andrew was crucified on a X-shaped cross in Patras , Greece . After being whipped severely by seven soldiers, they tied his body to the cross with cords to prolong his agony. His followers reported that, when he was led to the cross, Andrew saluted it in these words, “I have long desired and expected this happy hour. The cross has been consecrated by the body of Christ hanging on it.” He continued to preach to his tormentors for two days until he expired. Thomas was stabbed with a spear in India during one of his missionary trips to establish the church in the sub-continent. Jude, the brother of Jesus, was killed with arrows when he refused to deny his faith in Christ. Matthias, the apostle who replaced the traitor Judas Iscariot, was stoned and beheaded. Barnabas, one of the group of seventy disciples, wrote the epistle of Barnabas. He preached throughout Italy and Cyprus . He was stoned to death at Salonica. Paul, the one who wrote most of the epistles in the New Testament, was tortured and then beheaded by the ruthless emperor Nero at Rome in A.D. 67. He endured a lengthy imprisonment that allowed him to write his many epistles to the churches he formed throughout the Roman Empire . With a burning heart, I pray we would all come to know our Lord Jesus Christ as intimately as these early apostles had. To be willing to pay the great price they paid to maintain and fulfill the Spirit and the Word in their lives. They loved not their lives even when they had to face torment, agony and death. They gave their all. Oh, what love and devotion they had for their Lord Jesus! May we also burn with such passion! shagged on 4/25/2009 12:13:00 PM The Word...Epistle 1.5...Die in order to Live There are more negative things we can say about what we are today that space would not permit. These are given not to discourage or to criticize us, but to encourage us to rise up to a new level of faith and love for our Blessed Lord. And like electricity, it’s the negative and the positive that produces power. Take also the positive things we have said — the Word — and allow your life to produce that power! Jesus said, “...Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground, and die, it abides alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12:24). That’s the price that Jesus paid, and that’s the price we have to pay. Total death to self. It’s not that easy... Haggai 2:19 says, “IsTHE SEED yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth...?” Are we still in the barn of this world, the flesh, and of self? Let Jesus take you and sow you into the ground. Die...die...die... Many are not yet ready to die. We keep praying the Lord to sustain us. Somebody said, “Our prayers were not answered because we were praying the wrong prayer. We were asking to be strengthened, helped out and guided. This is like asking for the seed to be strengthened to bear fruit without being planted. God doesn’t want to strengthen us. He wants us dead. Dead does not mean strong, dead means perfectly weak. Dead, so that he can perform the miracle of new life. Not the old life repaired and fixed up a little, but a whole new life in Christ with the old life-style dead, destroyed. Why dead? Think for a moment about a dead person, that is, a corpse. The corpse doesn’t sin. It does nothing bad, no immoral acts, has no annoying habits, uses no bad words, thinks no evil thoughts, and has no selfish motives. It doesn’t get riled up or angry. It has no greed or lust. It has no problems with sex. Nobody can make it jealous, discourage it, frustrate it, or hurt its feelings. But what about our good qualities? Doesn’t God want to strengthen and refurbish those? No, because these have been thoroughly corrupted and perverted. The more they are strengthened, the more they will be tied up with wrong motives. If we think we are strong in certain areas, we will pursue those things without His help and increase our independence from Him. The way of death and resurrection, the way of new life in Christ Jesus, involves the death of the entire old nature. So the corpse we were talking about can’t do anything good either. It has no strong points, no rights, no special abilities, no bright ideas, no plans for the future, no emotions of its own, no compassion or love. It can’t even pray, much less testify for Jesus. It can’t defend itself or develop self-control. The corpse is now available for resurrection to new life. And this new life is to be the very life of Jesus Himself. “It is no longer I that live,” says Paul in Gal. 2:20, “but Christ who lives in me.” I am dead. I don’t live here anymore, Jesus does. He lives His perfect life in me. He doesn’t sin. He performs the perfect will of God through me. He overcomes temptation and bears much fruit.” God did not plan for us to live a crucified life, but a resurrected life. The same life that Jesus lived. Glory to God! Many are still struggling and praying God to mortify their carnal desires. The problem with us is that we often ask God to do something that we should be doing. We pray, “God, humble me.” God responds, “Son, humble yourself” (1 Pt. 5:6). We say, “Lord, cleanse me.” The Lord says, “Son, cleanse yourself” (2 Cor. 7:1). We beg, “Father, Mortify my flesh.” The Father says, “Mortify your flesh” (Col. 3:5). Then, we try to do something that God should be doing. We force people to be born again, to be healed, to be baptized or to be slain in the Holy Spirit. We even plan our steps. We try to make things happen in the Spirit, instead of letting the Spirit have His way. Oh, what foolish and carnal things we do! Let’s do what we should do, and God will do what He should do. Simply, get the living Word in continually. Get the rhema Word in continually. Satiate your spirit and starve the flesh continually. Allow the Spirit and the Word to dwell and abide in you on a daily basis. Let the Word live His life in you every moment (Gal. 2:20) through your unquestioning obedience. As you do, it is the Word that will bring that flesh to its Gethsemane . It is the Word that will make that flesh sweat with blood and cry in tears. It is the Word that will expose that flesh through spits, jabs and ridicule. It is the Word that will crown that flesh with thorns. It is the Word that will beat that flesh to a pulp with 39 stripes. It is the Word that will lead that flesh to carry the cross down the via Dolorosa. It is the Word that will nail that flesh on the cross. It is the Word that will pierce the side of that flesh until it gushes forth with blood and water. It is the Word that will cause that flesh to breathe its last breath and die. It is the Word that will carry that flesh to its tomb and seal it. Finally, it is the same Word that will resurrect that flesh to its new life! It is the Word! Hallelujah! shagged on 4/25/2009 12:10:00 PM The Word...Epistle 1.4...Change What are we today? Many Christians today will shout a loud “Amen” to the sufferings of Christ, but will shrink and tremble to the prospect of them going through the same. If we are not willing to change, Jesus and the departed saints of the Early Church will rise up in judgment against us (note Mt. 12:41-42). Many today would boast of their knowledge of the Scriptures, their theologies, their doctorate degrees, their large denominations and their positions in the Christian world. Others are high over their professions, high paying jobs or growing business endeavors. But Paul will withstand them to the face, “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ...that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead” (Phil. 3:7-11). Hallelujah! Many today are excited about abundance and prosperity. Yet watch how they spend their time and money and how little they give to God’s work. But Jesus will arouse them, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses...He that lays up treasure for himself...is not rich toward God...The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment...For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for My sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gains the whole world, and loses himself, or be cast away” (Lk. 12:15,21,23 & 9:24-25)? Others think that prosperity is a sign of spirituality, “supposing that gain is godliness” (1 Tim. 6:5b), a sign of God’s favor. But Paul will pierce them on the side, “...Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows...Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life” (1 Tim. 6:6-10, 17-19). Glory to God! Others easily whine and complain when necessity, affliction and persecution come. But again, Paul will testify to them, “...I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong...I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound, and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me...none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I may finish my course with joy...for I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day...Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors, through Him that love us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (2 Cor. 12:10, Phil. 4:12-13, Acts 20:24, 2 Tim. 1:12b, Rom. 8:37-39). Hallelujah! shagged on 4/25/2009 12:07:00 PM The Word...Epistle 1.3...Spirit and Word are One The Spirit and the Word are one. The Spirit and the Word must come together in our hearts and things will begin to happen. That can happen three ways. First, by prayer. Prayer is not a burden, but a privilege (to be in the throne room of the King). But there is a price for prayer. The flesh doesn’t want to pray and commune with God unless he’s willing to die. As we continually spend quality time in prayer the Spirit of God can brood (like a bird) over us, and as we hear God speaking to us, something will be hatched in our hearts. Praise God! Secondly, by meditating the Word. Many Christians have forgotten the basics. They don’t pray as they used to, and they don’t meditate upon the Word as they used to. No wonder they are always groaning and complaining. Jos. 1:8 tells us that the Word should not depart from our lips, and that we should “meditate therein day and night” so that we may be able to act accordingly. Again, there is a price for meditation. It’s easier to watch television, party with some friends, go out window shopping, go about our business interests or do some other things. As we continually spend quality time meditating (not just reading) the Scriptures, we hide the Word in our hearts. There will be times and seasons when God will send the Holy Spirit upon the Word that we have meditated or are meditating upon and suddenly that Word will come alive in our hearts and things will happen. Illumination will come, revelation will come, answers will come and even miracles can take place. Glory to God! I feel sorry in our day for those who would dare to prophesy without the abundance of the Word in their hearts. They’re in dangerous waters. For the testimony of the Word (Jesus) is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:10b). Thirdly, when God speaks to us all at once directly or through His anointed servants. We can be watching a good movie, walking by the brook, or even sleeping and the Spirit and the Word can come upon us all at once. We can be in church on a Sunday morning or attending an anointed conference and the Spirit and the Word can come upon us all at once through the mouth of the pastor or the prophet. Have you ever noticed that when Christians have just come afresh from an anointed conference or seminar they’re again on fire for God? Why? They have just been filled with the Spirit and the Word! Hallelujah! But, there is a price, too, for maintaining and increasing the Spirit and the Word in our lives. You can be filled today but empty tomorrow if you are not willing to die to yourself daily; if you are not willing to spend quality time in prayer and meditating the Word. If you are not willing to consistently act upon what God has been speaking to you. If you are not willing to face persecution, ridicule, and suffering for the Spirit and the Word’s sake. Remember what Jesus said to those disciples who were offended by His words and were ready to leave Him? “It is the Spirit that quickens; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63). The Spirit and the Word were on Jesus’ lips! Then He also asked the twelve, “Will ye also go away” (v. 67 )? Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 68-69). Hallelujah! Somebody said that if you only have the Spirit, you’d blow up. If you only have the Word, you’ll dry up. But if you have the Spirit and the Word together, you’ll grow up! Glory to God! shagged on 4/25/2009 12:03:00 PM The Word...Epistle 1.2...And The Word Walked the Earth Let me embark again on something that I have already shared with you and your people up there, just a refresher to begin with... When the Word became flesh (veiled), it took another 30 years before the flesh became the Word (unveiled). Jesus did not speak His own words because He had already stripped Himself of His glory. He spoke only the words that He heard from His Father, nothing more, nothing less. Jesus was an empty vessel. Like a new born babe, He knew nothing. He, too, had to learn the Scriptures and learn from His Father. He filled His heart with the Scriptures and the word from His Father. He had to grow in wisdom, in stature, and in favor with God and men. Nothing was happening yet. The time came when impossible things began to happen. The time came when He could already boldly say, “...He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father...I and My Father are one” (Jn 14:9 & 10:30). Why? Because the flesh had become the Word! Glory to God! This time it wasn’t the flesh walking, it was the Word! It wasn’t the flesh talking, it was the Word! It wasn’t the flesh seeing, it was the Word! It wasn’t the flesh hearing, it was the Word! It wasn’t the flesh feeling, it was the Word! It wasn’t the flesh touching, it was the Word! It wasn’t the flesh praying, it was the Word! It wasn’t the flesh doing impossible things, it was the Word! It was the Word! Hallelujah! His flesh had to go through tribulations, strong cryings, blood, sweat, tears, persecutions, denials, insults, and stripes to carry that Word to Calvary ’s cross. That was the price He had to be willing to pay to carry the Father’s Word to fruition. He wasn’t really carrying the cross, He was carrying the Father’s Word! The Word was heavier than the wooden cross! They compelled a man of Cyrene , named Simon, to help Jesus carry the heavy cross. But Jesus was still carrying something heavier. The Word! Praise God! No man can lighten that load for Him! Somebody said that He carried our sins. Yes, but it was the Word that made Him do that. He said, “...My Father love me because I lay down My life...no man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of myself...this commandment have I received of My Father” (John 10:17-18). That, too, is the price we must be willing to pay to carry His Word through in our lives. You are a Word-carrier! Many are living but only to die. Thank God for the few who are dying in order to live. Everybody has to make that choice now, sooner or later. Jesus said, “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord (Mt. 10:24-25)...but everyone that is perfect shall be as his master” (Lk. 6:40b). The Word is the reason for our tribulations. The Word is the cause of our persecutions. Jesus is the occasion for our sufferings and hardships, because we live in a world that hates God. Hebrews 5:8 says of Jesus, “Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.” God is after our obedience. God is after our hearts. We learn to obey God by our afflictions. The Psalmist said, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept Thy word” (Ps. 119:67). That is the cup we have to drink. That is the way (we take), that is the truth (we face) and that is the life (we live). Hallelujah! Jesus made it very clear, “If any man comes to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple...whosoever he be of you that forsake not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27,33). Paul also said, “...All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). He and Barnabas exhorted the early believers, “...We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God ” (Acts 14:22). There is a price for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus! Salvation is only free because Jesus already paid for it. But for us to live His life here on earth requires a great fee. Our very lives! I believe there are two pictures in the Scriptures that the Holy Spirit wants us to see and understand. Something must first happen to us. In Genesis 1, we see the Holy Spirit moving upon the face of the waters, but nothing was happening. Then God spoke and the Word came. Things began to happen...the light came, heaven was formed, dry land appeared, plants and trees, the sun, the moon, the stars, birds and animals came to be. In the Gospels, we see the Word (Jesus) moving in the face of the earth (for 30 years), but nothing was happening. Then at the river Jordan , the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit came upon Him like a dove. Things began to happen...miracles, healings, deliverances were done. In these two illustrations (the Spirit moving, then the Word came or the Word moving, then the Spirit came) we see that it was only when the Spirit and the Word came together that things began to happen. shagged on 4/25/2009 11:58:00 AM The Word...Epistle 1.1 a revelation to a friend very dear to us. Quite lengthy so i had to divide them in a series of posts...hope this serves as a blessing and encouragement to you as it has been to me and some friends to whom this letter was dedicated. here's the first part... We cannot truly say that we have Jesus in our hearts when we do not have His Word, too. Jesus and the Word are one. The Word is not just a series of words and sentences coming from the mouth of Jesus, He is the Word! He is what He speaks! He charged us to abide in Him (the Living Word) and let His Word (the spoken Word) abide in us (John 15:7). The Church must get back to the Word. The Word is Who Jesus is. The Word created the heavens and the earth. The Word opened the Red Sea, and the Jordan River. The Word crumbled the walls of Jericho. The Word smote Goliath and the enemies of Israel. The Word healed the sick and the infirm. The Word opened blind eyes and deaf ears. The Word cast out demons. The Word raised the dead. The Word stopped the stormy seas. The Word multiplied the fishes and the loaves, and changed water into wine. The Word delivered the people from every bondage. Hallelujah! THE WORD! Oh, how I love the Word! (Ps. 119:97) We have more of the world in our hearts than the Word. We always have a thousand and one excuses why we have not hidden the Word in our hearts. We believe and speak with what is in our hearts. How can we believe the Word when we do not have Him in our hearts? Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word (Rom. 10:7). Doubt comes by hearing and hearing the world. The abundance of our hearts reveal who we really are. For where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also (Matt. 6:21). How can we fill our hearts with the Word while it may still be filled with the world? When Mary was about to give birth to Jesus, every inn was busy and filled to capacity. No inn was willing to receive the Son of God. She had to give birth instead in a lowly manger. Before a fully occupied inn can check in new clients it has to check out first the old ones. That’s the price we have to be willing to pay. Let the old occupants get mad at us as we drive them out our inns and allow the birth of Jesus (the Word) instead! To get the Word in, we must get the world out. Starve the flesh, and satiate the spirit. This may take a long and tedious process and many times it will hurt. Often times it will take the discipline and the chastisement of the Lord (Heb. 12:5-11) and the suffering of our flesh (1 Pt. 4:1-2). We cannot allow the temptations, the cares, the riches, and the pleasures of this life to choke the Word (Lk. 8:13-14). The Lord is now our inheritance, not the world nor this life. It will cost us our very lives, and we only have one life to give. Let’s live it for God’s glory. We can only expect like Moses (after 40 long years of waiting in the wilderness of Midian) to have a “burning bush” experience when the Lord is through burning the bushes in our hearts. Like him, let’s bring our blank tablets of stone (our empty hearts) up the mountain and let God write His Word on them. Praise God! Those Christians who are too busy with mere Christian activities and mundane things and do not have the Word in their hearts on a daily basis, have nothing but religion. They have “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Tim. 3:5). It is the Word that gives us a relationship with the Father. It is the Word that cleanses and sanctifies us. It is the Word that makes us righteous before God. It is the Word that gives us wisdom in all things. It is the Word that empowers us to walk as Jesus walked. It is the Word! Glory to God! shagged on 4/25/2009 11:38:00 AM