tag:mikestreezy.com,2005:/blogs/saved-by-grace-blog-750410f7-65a0-427d-bcd7-795cab7a92a3?p=1SAVED BY GRACE BLOG2023-10-16T09:57:01-05:00Mike Streezyfalsetag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696632018-06-06T19:00:00-05:002018-06-07T13:15:30-05:00TRAVEL WITH US: Surveys Night 2
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike shares some of the results of the surveys, applicable ways to incorporate them into your daily life in your neighborhoods, and encouragement on going out to meet, enjoy, and love your neighbors.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696642018-06-04T19:00:00-05:002018-06-07T13:19:20-05:00TRAVEL WITH US: Mentor Questions #1
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike shares three questions from his mentors regarding thinking through objective measurements for God's involvement in the church planting endeavor, when to add ministries, and how to view cooperation, partnerships, and affiliations.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696622018-05-25T19:00:00-05:002018-05-27T05:12:42-05:00Love Your Neighbor;Its Good For You!
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike Strong presents an illustration from cleaning his yard in North Minneapolis as a logical reason for why we should care about the wellbeing of others. It just makes sense to love others. </span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696612018-05-23T19:00:00-05:002018-05-27T05:09:23-05:00Jesus disciples are marked by His love for His disciples: Thoughts on John 13:13-30
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike reads John <a class="yt-simple-endpoint style-scope yt-formatted-string" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oKRC9qTguY&t=793s" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">13:13</span></a>-30 and shares some thoughts on the Mark of love for the disciples found in the followers of King Jesus.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696602018-05-22T19:00:00-05:002018-05-27T05:06:41-05:00Testimony of a Former Skeptic: Most Effective Evidence for God-the marks of His people
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike Strong shares some thoughts on skepticism and one of the most effective way so for establishing the validity of the Word from His own experience-God's people are marked by a new, growing holiness. Likewise, the Bible warns of false teachers and wolves who are out for their sinful selfish desires-control that delivers sex and money. These false Christians also confirm the validity of God's word as God explains the marks in order that you may also confirm the truth of His faithfulness and self Revelation of His character.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696592018-05-17T19:00:00-05:002018-05-18T05:34:12-05:00VISION IN ACTION 1,000 NLT Bibles Project Interview 1
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">VISION IN ACTION-NLT BIBLE PROJECT</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">Our church vision is "To make Christ known for the glory of God and the joy of all peoples."</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">We want to act on the vision To Make Christ Known by strategically giving out an easy to read and understand translation of His Word to members of the community here in North Minneapolis, Minnesota.</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">We negotiated pricing through the very generous book store chain Lifeway. We save 40% if we purchase the 1,000 bibles at one time.</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">Total Cost: $3,594</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">If you are interested in joining us in this project to make Christ known in North Minneapolis, we invite you to send checks in any amount the Lord leads you to: </span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">Near North Community Church</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">c/o Oak Park Baptist Church</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">8200 Flintridge Road</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">Little Rock, AR 72210</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">PLEASE NOTE ON THE CHECK OR MONEY ORDER: NNCC Bibles</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">If you want to understand why this project, we have a longer video explaining the details: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WFqj...</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Thanks for watching and considering joining us in this good work to make an impact in North Minneapolis (and beyond).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This 1st interview is with two of my elementary school-aged daughters. We read from the gift bible they received at baby dedication and also in the NLT as a little pop quiz on ease of personal reading.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696582018-05-16T19:00:00-05:002018-05-17T13:48:13-05:00Faithfulness and Faith in the Christian Life as presented in Ephesians
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike Strong discusses some additional thoughts on what it means to be faithful or to be marked by faith in the context of Ephesians. This is supplemental to the sermonette at mikestreezy.com/the_mike_streezy_show_podcast/ entitled Ephesians Episode 7: Holy ones by active faith in Christ Jesus (Part 2) to be released on 5/18/18.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696572018-05-15T19:00:00-05:002018-05-16T14:44:55-05:00Train Up Your Children; Build Up Your Family for Generations
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Every minute you spend with your children is valuable. You are teaching them far more than you may know. Love your children, be present with them (focus your time with them), and be intentional in the way you teach them the regular daily things you do. God gives parents a special place in their children's lives. Use it for their good and the good of those they will lead in their lifetime. You never know who you may affect as a result.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696562018-05-14T19:00:00-05:002018-05-15T15:13:30-05:00TRAVEL WITH US EPISODE 3 A Meditation on Purpose from Ephesians 1:3-14
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">TRAVEL WITH US is a series of videos where I share some of the steps and insights we come across as we prepare to launch a church plant in North Minneapolis. I plan to take you through the steps to catching God's vision for the church up to the point of preparing and launching that vision in your context. Episode 3 is titled A meditation on purpose from Ephesians 1:3-14 Summary: In this episode, Mike shares a meditation on Ephesians 1:3-14 which has been a key passage in thinking through God's purpose in Creation and God's purpose in the specific creation of the church. The goal of this video is to take you through the passage and enjoy the gift of knowing God's purpose(s). Hopefully, this passage will fuel you as you seek to understand your calling in church planting.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696552018-05-14T19:00:00-05:002018-05-15T06:30:12-05:00Vision in Action 1000 NLTs in North Minneapolis
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">1 Minute Video (above)</span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="color:#ffffff">VISION IN ACTION-NLT BIBLE PROJECT</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Our church vision is "To make Christ known for the glory of God and the joy of all peoples." </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We want to act on the vision To Make Christ Known by strategically giving out an easy-to-read and understand translation of His Word to members of the community here in North Minneapolis, Minnesota. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We negotiated pricing through the very generous book store chain Lifeway. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We save 40% if we purchase the 1,000 bibles at one time. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Total Cost: $3,594 </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">If you are interested in joining us in this project to make Christ known in North Minneapolis, we invite you to send checks in any amount the Lord leads you to: </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Near North Community Church </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">c/o Oak Park Baptist Church </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">8200 Flintridge Road </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Little Rock, AR 72210 </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">PLEASE NOTE ON THE CHECK OR MONEY ORDER: NNCC Bibles </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">If you want to understand why this project, we have a longer video explaining the details: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WFqjdk2J2I" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff"></span></a></span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696542018-05-11T19:00:00-05:002018-05-12T05:34:54-05:00TRAVEL WITH US EPISODE 2 Resources for your study on the church and roles
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">TRAVEL WITH US is a series of videos where I share some of the steps and insights we come across as we prepare to launch a church plant in North Minneapolis. I plan to take you through the steps to catching God's vision for the church up to the point of preparing and launching that vision in your context. Episode 2 is titled Resources for your study on the church and roles Summary: In this episode, Mike discusses some of the tools available to assist you in your study of the church and the roles within the church. Mike also shares invitations to join in study and fellowship with the NNCC church planting team and share some tools he is making available for free.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696532018-05-11T19:00:00-05:002018-05-12T05:23:22-05:00TRAVEL WITH US EPISODE 1: Church Planting Planning Step 1
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">TRAVEL WITH US is a series of videos where I share some of the steps and insights we come across as we prepare to launch a church plant in North Minneapolis. I plan to take you through the steps to catching God's vision for the church up to the point of preparing and launching that vision in your context. Episode 1 is titled Church Planting Planning Step 1: Study the Church in Scripture. Summary: You need to catch God's vision for the church and understand His design and plan for it in order to pursue planting. I recommend conducting a topical study with your team to align in understanding of the who, what, where, when, and whys of the church to begin your vision plan.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696522018-05-07T19:00:00-05:002018-05-08T06:31:20-05:00Invitation to 40 Days of Purpose
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Do you want to know God's purpose for your life? Do you wonder how you should be spending your time or why you exist? Join us for 40 Days of Purpose as we walk through Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life: What on earth am I here for?"</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We will meet once a week in a small group and it will be 40 days of committed personal study and prayer.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We will unpack a bit more about this later, but want to extend an invite as we prepare to pick times and dates for our meetings. For more info, contact Mike Strong @ streezy@mikestreezy.com, in the comments, or via FB Messenger.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696512018-04-27T19:00:00-05:002018-04-28T10:00:49-05:00A DISCUSSION ON SIN AND THE SOLUTION
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696502018-01-04T18:00:00-06:002018-01-05T15:03:04-06:00THE MIKE STREEZY SHOW EPISODE 1 FEAT ROBERTO "TOP RANK" TORRES
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color:#ffffcc"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/iammikestrong/the-mike-streezy-show-episode-1" data-imported="1"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/3044fdadf11a5a92e330e264613a5718dd6047dd/original/2018.png/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjcweDI3MCJd.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="270" width="270" /></a><br></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:#ffffcc"></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color:#ffffff">(CLICK THE IMAGE)</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">THIS IS THE FIRST EPISODE OF THE PODCAST.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">SPECIAL GUEST ROBERTO "TOP RANK" TORRES OF BEAT COUNCIL.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">CONTACT INFO: @<a class="g-link-user" href="https://soundcloud.com/BEATCOUNCIL" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">BEATCOUNCIL</span></a> ON TWITTER, <a href="mailto:BEATCOUNCIL@YAHOO.COM" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">BEATCOUNCIL@YAHOO.COM</span></a>, <a title="HTTPS://WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/BEATCOUNCIL262/" href="https://exit.sc/?url=HTTPS%3A%2F%2FWWW.FACEBOOK.COM%2FBEATCOUNCIL262%2F" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/BEATCOUNCIL262/</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">FEATURED TRACK: "NEW YEAR'S" PERFORMED BY BEAT COUNCIL</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">PLAYLIST:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">KB- NOT TODAY SATAN</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">M.O.G. FEAT ELISHALOVE &TRYBISHOP-FEEL NO WAY</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">SOCIAL CLUB MISFITS FEAT AMARI-POP OUT REVENGE</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">BEAT COUNCIL-NEW YEAR'S</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">TRU-SERVA FEAT JAVONTA PATTON-NEVER LET GO</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">NF FEAT RUELLE-10 FEET DOWN</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">LECRAE FEAT TAYLOR HILL-CRY FOR YOU</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">BIZZLE FEAT MONTY G-SURRENDER</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">ANDY MINEO & WORDSPLAYED-DANCE (YOU SEE IT)</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">BEAUTIFUL EULOGY FEAT LATISH ALATTAS OF PAGECXVI-DOXOLOGY</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">FOR POTENTIAL GUESTS: SEND A SHORT SUMMARY OF WHO YOU ARE, WHAT YOU HAVE GOING, AND A SAMPLE AND I WILL TRY TO CHECK IT OUT AND REVIEW YOU FOR A GUEST SPOT.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">MUCH LOVE AND GOD BLESS!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">STREEZY</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696492018-01-04T18:00:00-06:002018-01-05T01:46:21-06:00MEDITATION: JESUS SEEKS AND SAVES (VIDEO)
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Jesus is the perfect image bearer. God has revealed Himself in a unique way in Jesus. We see how God is as He lived in the world with mankind. He is the perfection of God in fully human form and perfectly fulfills the law. He is our head and our example. He is our Lord, our King, our God. He is also our savior. It has been the plan of God in His wisdom to save us from our sin. He has made this known in many ways, but we have now been given this gift in the person and work of Jesus. This broken world has many ways to point us to our need of help outside of ourselves. These pains and sufferings point us to the need for a savior. The ultimate pain is the bondage in sin. We need salvation from sin, its effects, and the masters who use it to enslave us to do their will. This is a ten minute meditation on some of these subjects and how Jesus has come and accomplished what we need as well as how Christians should follow Christ in building the church through gospel proclamation and discipleship.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696482017-11-24T18:00:00-06:002023-12-10T10:30:47-06:00DEATH AND TAXES<p align="center"><span style="background-color:#ffffff"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/2b08c3900b054ac9f59e2b2261c9bff09ad28cbe/original/calculator-385506-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NTA5eDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="509" /></span></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color:#ffffff">How the cross and character of Christ affects our work in regard to finances. </span></p>
<p align="center" style="text-align: left;"> </p>
<p align="center"><span style="color:#ffffff">24 When they had come to Capernaum,[a] those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?”</span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="color:#ffffff">25 He said, “Yes.”</span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="color:#ffffff">And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?”</span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="color:#ffffff">26 Peter said to Him, “From strangers.”</span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="color:#ffffff">Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free. 27 Nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money;[b] take that and give it to them for Me and you.”</span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="color:#ffffff">-MATTHEW 17:24-27</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Today, I want to look at the relationship of tithes & offerings, government imposed taxes, and the cross to assist those of you who wonder, like Peter, are Christians supposed to pay that? Is this a requirement? I will also open up with some testimony, not because I am the standard, but because it may prove helpful to some of you who are beginning to walk where I’ve been and could use the warnings and fruit of experience to inform your decision in processing Scripture and applying the truth of living in Christ. As the light shines in on me, you can see the good, bad, and ugly. We can learn from all three. For those of you have gone before me and God has used time and Scripture to teach you, the church (including myself) could use your testimony to grow as we all march forward to death and leaving this world. May we pass on what it means to live in the light to future generations and not neglect the next generation of Christians of our testimonies’ of God’s faithfulness to broken, undeserving sheep. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">INSTRUCTIONS ON THE TEMPLE TAX: CONTEXT OF MATTHEW 17: 24-27</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Jesus is preparing to die. He has already revealed himself as who He truly is, in His glory, to three of the disciples.<a data-imported="1" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/DEATH%20AND%20TAXES.docx#_ftn1" title=""><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Peter was there. Not all of the disciples were there, but Peter was. Peter even addressed Jesus while Jesus was talking with Moses and Elijah.<a data-imported="1" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/DEATH%20AND%20TAXES.docx#_ftn2" title=""><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> He offered to make “tabernacles” for each of them. A tabernacle is a tent home. It’s temporary compared to a house. God lived in a tabernacle at the time of Moses. God told them to build a special tabernacle as they journeyed. Later, He would live in a Temple first built by King David’s Son, Solomon. The Temple was a “house” for God, a permanent dwelling/living place. This is a pretty big theme since it all ties back to the beginning of the Bible where God lived with mankind in the garden of Eden. Sin has separated people from God and there has been a desire for God and man to live together again. The problem is our sin cannot be in the presence of God. God, by nature, consumes with fire all that is not pure. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Why all this talk about a tabernacle and the Garden of Eden? Well, you have to understand what God is doing here. Jesus is about to die and will leave his earthly tabernacle, his physical body. He has prophesied that the Temple will be destroyed. Scripture explains that he was speaking of His earthly body, which was the Temple of God, and that He would raise it in three days. But in A.D. 70, the actual Temple was also destroyed. The peculiar part of its destruction ties to how Jesus’ warnings of the coming Temple destruction also mirrored the way Jerusalem was destroyed. There was a duality at play. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Jesus would return three days later, as promised, and would begin to build His church, which is His true Temple. He would dwell with man by dwelling in man by His Holy Spirit. He moves in. Our body is a picture of what to come, but it is not the greater picture. Our physical bodies on earth are tabernacles. The new bodies we receive in Heaven when we see Jesus face to face are closer to the Temple stones. It is important to know what Jesus is doing though. Jesus came to proclaim the Kingdom of God. He didn’t do it in a way to say it is far off and you must leave to go there. He said it was at hand. It is here. At the same time, it is not in its fullness. The Kingdom of God is in its tabernacle stage. We look forward to its complete fulfillment and God’s visible bodily return, but for the time there is still a veil of sorts. God is living in men and women and bringing His Kingdom about. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">TWO KINGDOM MODELS: THEOCRACY (RELIGION) AND GOVERNMENT</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">From the beginning, at the time of Creation, God has reigned over all He creates. That’s part of Him being who He is. He is King, or Lord, and is the sole authority and source of all good. He delegates authority to lesser kings to govern His Kingdom (all that is), but not because He cannot govern it. It is a shared participation in the God’s work. It is a blessing of knowing and rightly seeing Him. He has decided to work this way from the beginning, with a passing down of His work from one man to the next. It’s a joint work as well. No man does the work on their own. Instead there is a passing of the baton between men and a constant presence of the hand of God on all of these matters. Men work, but God is actually bringing forth the foretold work He set His hand to create. Like a careful father with a young child, He directs, rebukes, corrects, teaches, and trains the young one to grow in the craft He is teaching them. He also works in such a way that the damage a child can do is minimal compared to His ability to restore and complete the work to be done. He is the master craftsman. We are far less able to mess up His work than we know. Even in events like World Wars or Holocausts, God is still so magnificently above our level of power and ability to destroy that He can bring healing and restoration to make what we may see as trash or ready for destruction, something beautiful, pure, and perfect. He is doing this now in all things including men and the earth.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">He has governed His creation through two models. The first is with God as King and men under Him. Israel operated like this for quite some time. Then men wanted a king like the other nations. Saul and then David came to take this new government position. In its seed form, there were still lots of areas of overlap with the priests and prophets. Kings made sacrifices, prophesied, and ruled the nation. The place for separate entities of “church and state” as we understand it had not come. There would be quite a time of growth and development before these branches would extend out to separate functions and operations within mankind. The work was mixed and overlap still continues. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In our context, we have two nations in place in the same geographical location. There are two kingdoms at work. Rome has conquered the world, and Israel, at the time. They reign in a king role over the land. They set in place lesser kings as well and with varying degrees offer local groups to run their cities or areas in a way that it operated before. For Israel, the Temple is still the place where the people should receive the care of God. The Temple and its overseers made sure to collect from the community in order to provide for the needs of the community. Sacrifices and offerings were brought in and help was made available for the community. Individuals enter and bring and the greater body of people are cared for and taken care of. But now you have a pagan kingdom ruling over Israel building roads, water systems, and developing trade and economies. There are “tax collectors” from each side. There is also some overlap as Jews become Roman tax collectors and go demand taxes for the Roman kingdom on behalf of their rulers. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But this “tax” is a Temple tax. It is not a standard Roman tax, but a tax from the temple itself. It’s purpose was “to serve in the upkeep of the Temple.”<a data-imported="1" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/DEATH%20AND%20TAXES.docx#_ftn3" title=""><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> This is where the confusion comes into play in Peter’s mind. Peter said yes to the Temple tax collector who asked whether Jesus and His disciples paid the tax, but Peter was unsure in his heart. So, Jesus teaches Peter the truth of who He is, the relationship and freedom of this position, and the power and poverty in Jesus’ hands.<a data-imported="1" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/DEATH%20AND%20TAXES.docx#_ftn4" title=""><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> Why would God’s Son be required to pay taxes for God’s Temple? He does this by tying taxes to kings, not temple systems. “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from “strangers”? Peter’s reply? From “strangers”. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This line of thinking should make us take a step back. Is Jesus saying the Temple is run by the kings of the earth? Is He drawing out Roman rule of the Temple? Is it a statement about the Temple rulership, not necessarily being Roman, but ruling as a separate group in the “kings of the earth” category? Is it a mixture of both? Why does this matter? Why teach Simon this way? I think it is a revelation of the truth of Israel in light of the kingdoms of the earth. Israel is no different than the other kings. They will work with the Roman authorities to destroy the Temple of God, Jesus’ Christ’s body, so that they can protect and preserve their kingdoms. Israel is about to, and has been, fulfilling Psalm 2. They are a nation that plots in vain and conspires against God and his King. The entire earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. That means Rome and Israel is under Christ. They are created to serve Him. He is Lord over all. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So, why pay? Though Jesus can recuse Himself from payment, payment doesn’t make or break Him. He teaches Simon this truth. He owns all that is and can provide whatever is needed at any time, but that is a freedom found in God that is available to Jesus, not required. Peter is a son as well. He is of the true Israel, those linked by faith to Christ through Abraham and the patriarchs, not just by flesh and blood. All of Israel is not Israel here. This Israel is a separate kingdom with rulers who are seeking to destroy God’s King, Jesus. This kingdom is full of the “children of God” as follows in the text. They are the sheep of the fold of God. They are the lost coin god knows how to find, like the coin in the fish’s mouth. They are the those who will be misled and at the same time protected. They will offend and forgive. They are the nation of peoples being brought together as a single people for God’s name. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This text is about the Now and Not Yet. It’s about being in the world, yet not of it. It’s about offence and humility. It’s about freedom. All of that is grounded in knowing who Jesus is and what He has done for His people, the adopted children of God. Much like the last words of a loving father before He dies, there is a lifetime of wisdom to be gleaned in these final instructions. For this portion, I set apart for you some general instructions as it relates to the same area of overlap (taxes and tithes or offerings).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">TAXES</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God has made us to live under the authority of the government. This is not a punishment, but a blessing. Taxes are collected to manage the kingdom God has given these rulers for their time. The teaching in Jesus’ words is made a bit clearer in Romans 13:1-7. Paul is not teaching something different than Jesus. Jesus is showing us that He is the God over the earthly kings and they serve His purposes. He is also showing us how He gives to earthly rulers. This is applicable to each and every person. He provides what He requires. God has made each human to be His image bearers and to walk in His likeness (to live and respond like Him in the world in much the same way a child grows to resemble their parents in their mannerisms, thoughts, and so on). Governments and worship systems aren’t the issue. God reigns over them all. He puts them in place. And the evil of man shines through them. So does the goodness of God. We can get into more unnecessary conflict with structures and systems than God does. God looks at the person and judges the heart. No system or worship structure will ever come close to the experience and government of God in Heaven. We long for that day and wait expectantly. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">TITHES AND OFFERINGS</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There is great debate here on whether Christians are required to tithe or give offerings. A tithe is the old covenants law of provision by giving the first fruits of the harvest to the temple. It was a tenth of the harvest and really got to the heart of trusting God to continue to provide. You gave it up front, that first crop, and would then be in reliance on God to provide what you need. Offerings, on the other hand, were gifts presented to the Temple. One famous example is the “free will offering”. There is some association with offerings differing from tithes as they came from the heart and varied. Today, offerings are at an all time low, but offerings in the Old Testament came in above the tithe. I think Jesus makes it clear in His consistent teaching that the goal is not an amount as much as it is a dependence and desire. Jesus desires His people to see who He is and to hold fast to Him for He is a loving God who knows their needs, takes care of them, and is with them working for good every minute of every day. To give up front from one’s heart in trust and thankfulness is good. To give without the heart is no good. To desire to see God praised as people are cared for and money is given to promote the truth of God’s good rulership is growth out of that. It’s an overflow. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">One of the key principles I go to in thinking through giving is Jesus’ teaching on the widow’s mite. A widow’s mite is very small in value. Likely, the widow had to receive quite a bit more than what would result in a widow’s mite being a tenth of her income. She had to eat. That costs money. She needed clothes. Clothes cost money. She needed fire or a place to rest. Those thinks cost money. If she was sick, there might be need of a form of medicine or doctor. Those things cost money. Point is: Her life likely cost more than ten times a widow’s mite’s value. But Jesus praises her for giving all she had. At the same time, Jesus rebuked those who gave far more, but did it to be seen. One was out of faith in God. The other was a purchase for praise and admiration, or self-justification. One was done in humility, the other out of pride. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">AT THE END OF THE DAY IT’S ABOUT THE HEART</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Jesus doesn’t want your pocketbook, He wants your heart. He also wants to reveal our idols. See, either your pocketbook follows your heart, or your heart follows your pocketbook. Which one is leading the other? It’s also about Kings and Kingdoms. We all build kingdoms. We can build our own or someone else’s or we can build Jesus’ kingdom. It all depends on who you see as the greater king. Does God serve you and your kingdom? Does He serve someone else’s kingdom and you want in on it? Or do all kings and kingdoms on earth exist to showcase God’s rulership? Is He reigning above them in your heart and mind or is He not? How you interact with kings and kingdoms show how you really view God. They would kill Jesus, but you can’t ever really kill Jesus. He is God. He can kill men though and send them to an eternal death. This isn’t about fear, but reality. He is the only true King over Creation. He commands blessing or curse. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">BLESSING AND CURSE, THE HEART, FLESH, AND ACTIONS: MY TESTIMONY</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">All things from kings, kingdoms, communities, people, and their actions are about God’s heart. God has done a work in creation to reveal Himself, His heart and character. He is revealing His holiness through His creation. He does it in a relationship best summarized as righteousness. His righteous actions come from His holy character and heart which shows us His wholly perfect and distinct person. I am very thankful for the veiled, and not so veiled, teaching of my pastor in Arkansas (now deceased and with God) Brother David Harris. Though he did not spend a ton of personal discipleship time with me, he taught us who God was by revealing His heart through Christ in the Scriptures. He taught us to look at the world as close to the way Jesus taught the disciples to look at the world and all acting in it and see God. Who God really is. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">What we do and how we do it reflects our person by showing us our hearts. What we do tells us and the world what we believe about God. It’s not as much about the amount in dollars and cents as it is about the purpose, or desire, that drives our actions. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Actions can differ and come from the same heart. The widow gave all, yet likely not as much as the “law” required. At the same time, the law was not about amounts, but the heart and faith in God. Those who gave more, did so not out of a desire to be participants in God’s rule of His people, but to get a special place in the eyes of men. The widow gave humbly and out of faith in line with trust in God’s provision and greater purposes. She trusted God to provide and care, or govern, on her behalf. Another passage that really sticks out to me is Jesus’ rebuke of the Pharisees in keeping the law in a way they don’t actually keep the law at all. He told them they were faithful to tithe even their spices, yet you don’t care for your family and do it by justifying your actions on grounds of obeying God. This, Jesus said, was not in accord with God and His ways, His true law. Was it that they withheld when they should have given to their families instead? Was it that they should have given to both? Or was it something else? </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I believe that love of one’s family and neighbors with our limited assets and income puts a necessary tension on one’s life. What do you do when you can’t keep the law as it is written? Where do you go and what do you do when that happens? Well, that depends on if you are living by the law (doing what the written law states because it says so) or living by faith (trusting in the character of God and the promises that flow out of Him). You can try to preserve or build your image by what you do. Likely, this will come out in a public display. Or you can walk in dependence upon God in all your ways. You will not be praised as faithful by men, but your God who sees what is done in secret, who looks at the heart, will know your good works and bless you. I’m not talking about a public, earthly blessing like money and praise, but the blessing of all His promises being yes in Christ and a greater joy in the experience of God by His word and the Holy Spirit. He will take you deeper into a knowledge of Himself, His heart. He will manifest this in your person as He gently reveals and cleanses the sin from your heart and mind and it will show, though veiled to most in the world, in your actions. If they do not see God in Christ, they will not see Him in you. If they do see God in Christ, they might see Him in you. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">What about the testimony I promised? Here it is. Over the last year (2017), I did what I had not done in my life for reasons I had not done it in my life. I decided not to give a tithe or official offering. All of the texts I mentioned above played a role in that as did some counsel from multiple brothers. I was struggling with faith and resources were the main problem. I have been pretty bad about giving in a way that hurts my family in one sense. I give beyond my means, then I work more to make up for it, and then I give that as well. I have done it in tithes and offerings as well as in personal gifts my wife may or may not have known about. I have given her the freedom, though less of it by structure of my management of the money, to do the same. I did this from deep convictions of tithing as well as from faith that God would take care of our needs. Everything I have is from God and I have a lot more than most people in many nations around the world. At the same time, I worked three jobs and still got food stamps. I’m not balling. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Guilt and shame weighed heavy on me. “How could I hold back when so many people are starving and dying? These are brothers and sisters in the faith!” At the same time, texts and testimony regarding caring for your household first and overflowing onto others as the LORD allows weighed in on me. The key verse that put pressure on me here was in regard to being worse than an unbeliever is you do not take care of your own household. The point of that verse is to reveal God’s heart and character. God takes care of His family. We should reflect that. But what does that mean and how should it apply? I haven’t given my family a vacation. I haven’t moved them into a house fit by cultural standards to meet a norm and provide them room and access to nutritional foods (gluten free, healthy fed animals, limitations of toxins and pesticides, without sugar, and whole in the sense of the norm). I had no retirement, health insurance (in Arkansas, not here), savings, or lawyer money to fight for custody of my daughter. There was no overflow monetarily. Yet I paid for Bible college out of pocket while tithing. How could I be keeping God’s law in faith when I am not doing one side, but keeping the other? I couldn’t.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">My decision was to take a season and pour into my family who had not really gotten much of my time or resources. When I gave to church, they did without. There wasn’t a complaint, but there were growing needs and expenses. Not having a car or savings for a lawyer when I needed one pushed me over the edge and the pendulum swung the other way. I decided to give, but not as much, and to do so against my pride. Though the church didn’t have access to look at to my giving, God did. I hated even the thought of cutting my tithe. At the same time, that showed me my faith was in giving, not in Christ. So, I restructured my giving to be to people who could not repay and to work with my wife to give when needs arised in houses. We prioritized what God does: food and clothing. He says He gives these two things in the Sermon on the Mount. I saw no other promise beyond those two so we limited our expenses to the most needy, those who could not repay and to limit purchases to paying for food and clothes for those who were the worst off. I would save for a lawyer and pay down our growing debt, which I increased significantly by going to college and limiting my work. My hopes were that I would cut down my debt in a significant way over 2017, free up more of my income to give, and to maintain my love of God in loving His people. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The results: Almost as soon as we made the decision, our church added pressure, unknown to them, by calling for a sacrificial year of giving to build South Campus. My heart sank. I love giving to church, but I acted in faith after a season of prayer and study, and now there was a crucifix in front of me. I was sure He had freed me to pay debt and get to a place of financial health to love my family, the church, and our neighborhood better than we were able before. Why would He have this happen…now. Why not next year? They asked for all the areas I had neglected in the past to be assessed and sacrificially addressed in order to build a campus the church had decided to build prior to my coming. They wanted us to look at savings, vacation spending, extra income, our general finances, all of it. I stood on my conviction, yet was further plagued with guilt. “<em>God, am I obeying or disobeying you in this? Are you telling me I never should have shifted or started this? Am I completely wrong about trying to start a 401K? Was it wrong for me to try to build an emergency fund? Is it wrong to want better food for my kids? Should I have not started a fund for a lawyer for my daughter? What are you telling me?</em>” </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I let a lot of people down over the last year. I couldn’t afford to go to get my daughter in Arkansas because our car wouldn’t make it. I couldn’t fix things people that care for our family believe we need and should have fixed. I couldn’t give to people who needed. I didn’t contribute much to our year long goal at church to build a home for part of our church family. I still couldn’t afford the better groceries, a reliable and sufficient size vehicle for our growing family, build much of a savings account or retirement fund, nor could I take a vacation or restful weekend away with our family anywhere we were interested in going. And the debt didn’t stop, though it slowed. It’s still bigger than I can rest with. Were there any wins, you might ask? I learned. That’s the win. I may be far worse off on every front I wanted to improve on, but I am more secure in my Savior’s faithfulness, and better equipped for next year. Not financially, but with peace of mind and conviction. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">What I got out of it: I am far more needy than I would like to admit. We need rest and vacations, but can’t afford it. I am far less grounded than I like to admit. I swing one way or the other instead of remaining on the cross with its pressure. If we need rest, I either go work more for a vacation, or work less and never get away. I overcompensate in action when I could just sit and never have either yet trust in God. I am far more limited than I believe. I can’t save my daughter like God saves me when circumstances get bad. I can’t take care of my wife and kids the way I would like. We just keep breathing and living day-to-day. God gives us manna, just enough. And I can’t give as much as I would like to give or as what would allow my conscience and spirit rest. There is no rest in the law, only in Christ and His perfect provision by dying to free me from the law.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">APPLICATION</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So what is my advice? How does this apply to you? </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Assess which is leading which: your heart or your pocketbook. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Trust in God and let Him lead you. Care for what He cares for and realize you are revealed as the one He cares for in the works He calls you to. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Do what you do not because you have to, but because God’s love frees you to. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Don’t hate the systems or people, regardless of how far they lean against your understanding of God’s will. Instead view them as God instructs you. He is over them and using them for your good. Live in peace with them as much as you can. The tipping point is when it causes you to claim them or some other person or thing <em>as</em> God, not God. The king, kingdom, or system doesn’t save anyone, God does. But God uses each of these to care for us. There is no ultimate conflict in the means with the provider. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Don’t listen to counsel to find the right way to appease God. Instead listen to wise counsel to grow in love for God. You aren’t looking for actions to bless you financially, but to know God personally. I’m not saying wisdom doesn’t affect finances, but that if that’s all it affects, you lost more than you gained and are worse off for it.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Rest in Christ.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I hope this helps someone today and that you are able to draw near to Christ who has drawn near to you.</span></p>
<div> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%">
<div><p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a data-imported="1" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/DEATH%20AND%20TAXES.docx#_ftnref1" title=""><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> MATTHEW 17:1-13</span></p></div>
<div><p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a data-imported="1" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/DEATH%20AND%20TAXES.docx#_ftnref2" title=""><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a>MATTHEW 17:3-4</span></p></div>
<div><p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a data-imported="1" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/DEATH%20AND%20TAXES.docx#_ftnref3" title=""><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> I got this information from the footnote on MATTHEW 17:24 from The MacArthur Study Bible Twentieth Anniversary Edition on page 1425.</span></p></div>
<div><p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a data-imported="1" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/DEATH%20AND%20TAXES.docx#_ftnref4" title=""><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a>[4] I used the “power and poverty” terminology from The Bible Speaks Today commentary’s section on this passage. I accessed it via Accordance.</span></p></div>
</div>Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696472017-11-23T18:00:00-06:002017-11-24T10:36:42-06:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER BLOG 11/24/17: RIGHTEOUSNESS (PART 11)
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/32074182bde58737f866dac9704fa2e486e42ecf/original/stones-2623280-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="450" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">ISSUE: GOD'S WILL-RIGHTEOUSNESS (PART 11)</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I hope your thanksgiving was filled with joy and fellowship. For some, it was lonely and painful whether or not the house was full. I am praying for you today. May God fill you with joy and peace as you read of God's plan to bring the presence of fullness of joy. We won't get into that part as much today. It's in the upcoming blog that links a lot of this together, but for all who are in Christ, we have become the living stones that are the work of Christ's hands in building the church, His eternal dwelling place. Whether anyone is physically around you or not today, God is by His presence. He fills His people by His Spirit and Word. Everything you walk through, He walks through with you. He goes before you, behind you, over you, and is in you. I know from personal experience that it doesn't always feel like Jesus is with you, but He is. And better than that, He will never leave you or forsake you. He was forsaken on the cross so you would never be forsaken. You are dear to Him. He calls you His own. He calls you beloved. As you read of God's plan, I ask you to look past the actions, or works that occur in the world to bring the plan into place, and instead look behind the plan at the heart of the one who Has determined to set His love on you forever. Behold, your God. Please pray this truth will seep into the hardest of hearts here in North Minneapolis. Thank you for journeying with us and praying with us. We can't see you, but I feel your prayers.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">A New Name Written on the White Stone</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives <em>it.</em>”’<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There are three gifts here given to the overcomer in the compromising church.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> The first gift is that of the hidden manna. The second is a white stone. The third is the gift of a new name written on the stone. The name is only known by the one who receives it. Let’s start with the manna.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>32 Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’ ” 33 So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD to be kept for the generations to come.” 34 As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved.</em>”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Manna was a provision from God for Israel during their time in the wilderness. It was a supernatural food from above as opposed to the earthly food eaten in Egypt. God provided this bread like substance for Israel. He told them to take what they needed for the day five days out of the week, but on the sixth day, the day before the Sabbath, they could take enough for both days. That food had to be destroyed if it was not eaten in the day it was for. Jesus is the bread of Christ applied by the Spirit through the word of God. Some of the manna, as mentioned in the verses above, was to be preserved for future generations. It’s place of storage was with the tablets of the covenant, the law of God. Those tablets were stored at the foot of God in the ark of the covenant.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> I do not think it strange that the gift of manna would come with the gift of a tablet that contains a new name. Why? For that, let’s look at the New Covenant promise from Jeremiah.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><sup>31 </sup>“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, <sup>32 </sup>not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. <sup>33 </sup>For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. <sup>34 </sup>And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God promised to bring about this New Covenant which would create truly changed men. Two houses were brought together that had been divided. Two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, would find a new shared identity under the Kingship of God in this new singular covenant. They would become one again. It was tied to the promise to the patriarchs, or fathers of the faith, who believed the promises of God. It comes about in light of compromise in idolatry, or adultery, against their husband God. God explains how He will accomplish this work: He will put His law in their hearts actually etching it with His finger as He had done in the Ten Commandments which were two stone tablets.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There is an importance to noting that there were two stone tablets where it relates to covenants. As mentioned in our earlier discussion about covenants, a copy of the covenant was taken by each party in the covenant. They were stored with each king’s god, or enforcer. Today, we see a lot of pictures of the ten commandments as a single copy of the commandments spread across two tablets. That is likely not the case. Most likely there were two identical documents. One copy was for Israel. The other copy was for their Great King, Yahweh. Because Yahweh was also Israel’s God, both copies would be placed at His feet. The ark was His footstool.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> The Temple was to be a place of rest for God. A place where He would sit with His feet upon the ark.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> This was David’s prophecy and plan.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The Tabernacle and earthly temple both proved to be temporary. God did live, or dwell, in them among men, but this pointed to a greater promise that we now know. Though David desired to build the Temple, he was denied the right because of sin. But His Son Solomon would build it. That too turned out to be but a picture for the eternal son of David that would reign forever on the throne was not Solomon, but Jesus! He prophesied the destruction of the temple of men and promised to build a new temple. But how big must this temple be when you consider the words of Isaiah? “Thus says the LORD, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> Jesus was not building an earthly temple to contain the holiness of the righteous God, but one made of living stones, of an assembling of people, and He was to be the first stone.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> Men are the Temple of God!<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let’s go back to see what the overcomer will inherit, or receive, upon enduring to the end and overcoming the world. They would inherit hidden supernatural bread from God, a white stone tablet (not whitewashed, but truly white and pure), and the gift of a new name on the tablet personally given by God. To understand what is going on we will again look at Saul and David from 1 Samuel.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Saul has had the kingdom ripped away from him. The Spirit of the Lord which had been put upon Him was now removed by God and replaced with a spirit that drove him crazy. David, the new anointed king, was the only source of comfort for Saul. He would play music for him and it would restore his sanity. David rose in rank among Saul’s army by overcoming an enemy Philistine giant named Goliath. Goliath was large and scaly like Satan but his legs were removed from him by a single stone’s throw from the young shepherd boy.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> David was eventually invited into Saul’s home and would marry Saul’s daughter Michal as well as become best friends who were knit together with Saul’s son Jonathan. Saul becomes aware of David’s fame and it drives him even crazier. He sets out to kill David, but Saul’s son warns David and he flees to the wilderness. As he is traveling we come across this exchange with the priest from Nob (the city of the priests).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Now David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech was afraid when he met David, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one is with you?”2 So David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has ordered me on some business, and said to me, ‘Do not let anyone know anything about the business on which I send you, or what I have commanded you.’ And I have directed my young men to such and such a place. 3 Now therefore, what have you on hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever can be found.”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">4 And the priest answered David and said, “There is no common bread on hand; but there is holy bread, if the young men have at least kept themselves from women.”5 Then David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us about three days since I came out. And the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in effect common, even though it was consecrated in the vessel this day.”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">6 So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the showbread which had been taken from before the Lord, in order to put hot bread in its place on the day when it was taken away.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. And his name was Doeg, an Edomite, the chief of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul. 8 And David said to Ahimelech, “Is there not here on hand a spear or a sword? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.”9 So the priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the Valley of Elah, there it is, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it. For there is no other except that one here.”And David said, “There is none like it; give it to me.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There is so much here I am skipping over, but hopefully I can draw out what is important for our conversation. Like the compromised church in Revelation 2, there is a spirit of sexual immorality and idolatry at work around David.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn14" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a>David had been kept from women for three days and was pure in the eyes of the law.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn15" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[15]</span></a> The hidden manna, or bread in, or of, the presence of God was there in the temple when no normal bread was available. This is what David received. But not only this. He also received the sword of the slain giant. We know Jesus is the son of David who reigns eternally. He possesses a sword as well. The sword of the Spirit, or the Word of God, is our spiritual armor given by God Himself to each believer.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn16" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[16]</span></a> Jesus is speaking in Revelation 2 and identifies Himself as the one who has the sharp two-edged sword. This sword is aimed at the enemy kingdom where the evil king, Satan sits on the throne. Prophecy exists, but like Balaam, it exists for profit. Like Balak, there are those who seek to buy the destruction of their enemies, the true Israel (true believers/sons by faith). It has two major characteristics which lead the people to avoid the suffering of Christ as Peter did. Salvation comes with a sword.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So what is the new ark in the new human temple of God? Where is this spiritual manna stored? Where is the law held? Where is the presence of the rest of God and the weight of His glory pressed upon it by His feet? It is in the inner man, in the Spirit made up of heart and mind. Let’s look at the work of God to write this new law on a pure tablet.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>“22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. 23 And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. 24 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 28 Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. 29 I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. 30 And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations. 32 Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!””<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftn17" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>[17]</strong></span></a></em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">After addressing Israel’s impurity, referred to as like a menstrual cycle, God promises to cleanse her. How will He do this? He gathers His people together, purifies them with water, and takes out their heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh. He puts His Spirit within them and causes them to walk in His commandments, or laws. They will repent of their ways and produce fruit. Putting the Jeremiah passage and the Ezekiel passage tells us God does a special work for a single purpose—to uphold and proclaim the holiness of His name! He does this by washing the impurities of man away in a baptism. He gives them a new heart with His law written upon it. It is not hard like the stone of the commandments, but soft like flesh. He also puts His Spirit in men which causes them to live how they are called to live to inherit the blessings and complete His will. He upholds His righteousness on both sides of the covenant. All of its success comes from His righteousness. No man can keep it, for no man is righteous. Only God who is holy separate from all that is created is able to do this work of covenant and He does it by changing men to love Him and act in accordance with His law as well as empowers and cleanses them by pouring His Spirit out upon them as a baptism and putting His Spirit in them to empower and continually cleanse them. Repentance, the ongoing continual process of repenting, is the cleansing power of the presence of the indwelling Spirit of God and the righteous work of His hand.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let’s look a little at the link between manna (the Word of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ), new hearts, and the new name in baptism.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> REVELATION 2:17</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> I took the term “Compromising Church” from the heading of the section in Revelation within The MacArthur Study Bible Twentieth Anniversary Edition. It seems fitting and relevant to Western Society today for there is a very present church here, but it is severely compromised. I will reference information from the following website as I set out to make plain what is going on here: https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/revelation/revelation-2/revelation-2-17.html</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> EXODUS 16:32-34</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> HEBREWS 9:4</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> JEREMIAH 31:31-34</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">; 2 CORINTHIANS 3:3</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> 1 CHRONICLES 28:2</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> Ibid.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> ISAIAH 66:1</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> JOHN 2:19</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> 1 CORINTHIANS 3:16</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> I first heard this idea of Goliath being large and scaly from my Small Group Leader, Brian Verrett, who has done some significant research and work in 1 and 2 Samuel as an emphasis. I don’t have a link to his thesis, or I would share it, but he also showed me how the word we see as forehead or head could actually mean greave. The greave would be the shin covering. Like Satan’s legs were removed in the garden and he was placed on his belly to one day have his head crushed by Jesus, Goliath is presented as a type of Satan by the books of Samuel. I looked the word up in my Accordance Bible software and found that The Concise Dictionary of Classical Hebrews clearly links the word to be greaves: “1 n.f.—cstr. מִצְחַת—greaves, armour protecting the shins 1 S 176.” The New American Commentary from the same software has this statement: 61 A. Deem argues that the word מִצְחוֹ should be translated “his greave,” not “his forehead” (“ ‘ … and the stone sank into his forehead.’ A Note on 1 Samuel xvii 49,” VT 28 [1978]: 349–51). This suggestion, however, is not supported by any ancient translations, nor has it been followed by modern versions. Furthermore, it seems illogical to assume that David’s primary offensive efforts would have been directed against an armored portion of Goliath. The traditional translation is clearly preferable.So there is some disagreement. I agree and affirm Brian’s translation, though there is much to meditate on in reference to how the attack on the head can remove one’s legs from him. It is worth noting that a different Hebrew word is used in 1 SAM. 17:51 for head when explaining how David later killed Goliath. He ran over to him, took his sword from his sheath and cut off his head (רֹאשׁ֑וֹ). </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> I SAMUEL 21:1-9</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref14" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a> REVELATION 2:14</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref15" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[15]</span></a> 1 SAMUEL 21:5</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref16" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[16]</span></a> EPHESIANS 6:17</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/Books/TRoCTHoG%20for%20Sharing.docx#_ftnref17" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[17]</span></a> EZEKIEL 36:22-32</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696462017-11-22T18:00:00-06:002017-11-23T03:12:17-06:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER FOR 11/23/17: RIGHTEOUSNESS (PART 10)
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<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/7a943489b262d1032aba85f8b2ddb5e5344ff83b/original/cairn-2928771-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="450" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">ISSUE-GOD'S WILL-RIGHTEOUSNESS</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Today is Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to each of you who read this. There is much to be thankful for today. I am especially thankful for God's work to save me. I am thankful for His Word and for His people who teach it and live in it. There is no fellowship like that which comes by the cross of Christ through Jesus. I'm thankful for my wife and children. I'm thankful for good food and so many wondrous things God gives us to enjoy on this holiday. I am hoping you can join us in a prayer of thankfulness to God for all of the things He has done in his mercy with so much patience and love. We are so needy, yet God has given us all we need in the person Christ Jesus. There is no lack. Today's blog continues to look at God's work in changing names and the prophecy it tells us of what He is going to do in the particular man He names and in the world as a result. We shift to the New Testament and look at Jesus' work in the New Covenant. Tomorrow we will begin to explore the personal link for every believer. God bless you and your family this holiday and may you enjoy Him and be satisfied!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The New Covenant Name(s)</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The New Covenant which came with Christ is very similar to the Old Covenant in many ways. One of the ways it shares similarities is in regard to Jesus re-naming men who He called into ministry and changing their names as He sent them out to build His assembly of people, the Church. Two such men were Simon Peter, called Cephas, and Paul called Saul. This commissioning practice led to building the church through two different leaders who ministered to two different groups. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Peter (Rock), not Simon, son of John</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Jesus gathered His disciples together. When he did this, He called a man named Simon. The name Simon means “hearing” in Hebrew. Apparently he did hear God’s call to follow Jesus. But Jesus renamed Simon when he met him. His new name was the Aramaic word Cephas which means “rock”. He didn’t just re-name him, he instead prophesied that Peter would be foundational to the building of the church.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Later, Peter would proclaim Jesus to be the Christ, the Messiah, the son of the living God.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> Interesting enough is Jesus’ response and clarification: “Blessed are you Simon bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> What was the blessing? Jesus stated it: “You are Peter and on this petra I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> Notice I used the word petra where the English translations use the word rock. There is importance hidden in Jesus’ words, just as it was to be found in digging into the names he changed. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Peter, translated from Petros in the Greek, means “a small rock” in its original language. This is different from John’s clarification in the initial naming in John 1:42. John notes Jesus called Simon “Cephas”. This is Aramaic and simply means rock. It doesn’t have the meaning of being big or small attached, but “Petros” does. Petra is a foundation boulder.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> This is an interesting word play Jesus is using to get the truth of what He is foretelling will come to be. Let’s try to restate it with some original word meanings and clarification inserted into the text to see what it means. “You are “small rock” and on this “foundation boulder” I will build my “assembly/ a gathering of citizens from their homes into some public place”,<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> and the gates of “the unseen place, referring to the (invisible) realm in which all the dead reside, i.e. the present dwelling place of all the departed (deceased)”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> will not prevail against it (the foundation boulder).” So what is the foundation boulder Jesus is going to build His church on? Is it the person Peter or is it something else? The truth about Jesus that Peter testified in response to Jesus question of who Peter said He (Jesus) is tells us the truth. Jesus is the cornerstone of the church.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> Everything is built upon Him. But the name Jesus, with its special meaning, is a pointer as well. It’s the gospel testimony that is the key to the kingdom. Jesus true identity and work is what sets men free. Peter’s testimony was to be the foundation stone that would assemble the first “living stones” of the church.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> Fulfilling this prophecy in Acts 2, Peter testifies to the identity and truth of what Jesus came and accomplished. After his first sermon on Pentecost in Jerusalem there were three thousand added to the assembly’s number that day.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The little rock God used to build his church is the same man who once was a stumbling rock to Jesus. After rightly testifying Jesus as Lord and being declared the rock Jesus would found his church on, Peter shows he does not really understand what the Christ was here to do. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.””<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The difference between a stumbling block and a little living stone God builds His church with is properly understanding the work of salvation—the cross. To think one can wear a crown without a cross is to not know our sin and to not understand God’s justice. Salvation would come as is promised in Jesus’s name for He was to be named Jesus because it means and prophecies: Jehovah (Yahweh) Saves.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> But He does it by bearing our cross in our place. This is the righteousness of God. Wicked men like you and I have broken God’s righteous law and justice must be meted out. But God is also merciful and a savior. Salvation doesn’t come from simply not punishing sin. It comes by dying under the wrath of the Good Judge in the place of sinners. We will look at the other name Jesus was to be called as well. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Before that, we will address another New Testament apostle whose name was changed. I don’t know if you read the verses in the footnotes, but if you did, you see reference to another stone on whom Jesus would build His church—Paul. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Paul, not Saul</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Saul of Tarsus was a Hebrew of Hebrews and very zealous. He was an intense persecutor of believers. Acts notes he held the coats of the assembly of people who stoned Stephen as Stephen testified of Christ. There is an interesting change that takes place in Acts 13. The Holy Spirit calls Saul and Barnabas into ministry. They have a special mission: they would go to the Gentiles. But in the midst of several multi-named people, the Scripture refers to Saul as also called Paul.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> Saul was his Hebrew name. Paul was his Roman name. He would be referred to as Paul from that point on. The shift in name reference also shifts us to see the mission of God moving from the Jews alone, out to the Gentiles. But let’s look at the names and how the tie might give us some background.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Saul was the first human king of Israel. Saul had a dramatic shift in his life as well. He was selected because of his outward appearance. The Israelites looked on him and he seemed to look like what a king looks like. They did not look on the heart. Time and power would ultimately reveal the truth about Saul. As he grew in power, he became increasingly wicked.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn14" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a> This was not always true of Saul. Samuel stated, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel?”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn15" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[15]</span></a> Saul had transitioned from little in his own eyes to big. He thought he was above the LORD. He did not obey God, but had become a god in his own eyes. He was rejected because he had become a slave to men and not God.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn16" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[16]</span></a> His obedient actions, if you might call them that, were not made in worship to God, but to worship of the men who praised him and gave him his position.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So what of the name Paul? Paul means “little” or “small”. Whereas, Saul was destroyed as he became prideful and feared man, Paul would become small in this transition and would have no praise in the eyes of the man and system from which He came. He abandoned his Hebrew of Hebrews background by taking on the Roman name Paul and it would be his life mission to fight for the gospel inclusion of the Gentiles into the people of God.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn17" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[17]</span></a> Where Paul would bear the testimony of the identity and work of Christ to the Jews, Paul would bring the message to the Gentiles. One assembly made up of people from every nation, tribe, and tongue is the result.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God’s revelation of His planned and trustworthy work in our world is a great study, but there is another name change that not only opens up the plan for understanding what was done, but personally applies to every believer today.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> JOHN 1:42</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> MATTHEW 16:15-16</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> MATTHEW 16:17</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> MATTHEW 16:18</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> Footnote on MATTHEW 16:18 in The MacArthur Study Bible Twentieth Anniversary Edition on page 1423.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> Translation of the Greek word “ekklesian” from the word “ekklesia” from lexicon at www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/nas/ekklesia.html</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> From search of Greek at <a href="http://www.biblehub.com/greek/86.htm" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">www.biblehub.com/greek/86.htm</span></a>. </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> 1 PETER 2:4-12; EPHESIANS 2:20-22; PSALM 118:22; ISAIAH 28:16; ROMANS 9:33</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> 1 PETER 2:5</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> ACTS 2</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> MATTHEW 16:21-23</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> MATTHEW 1:21</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> ACTS 13:9</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref14" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a> 1 SAMUEL 15</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref15" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[15]</span></a> 1 SAMUEL 15:17b</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref16" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[16]</span></a> 1 SAMUEL 15:18-26</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref17" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[17]</span></a> I was greatly helped in my research by the article at www.bibleq.net/answer/1923/</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696452017-11-21T18:00:00-06:002017-11-22T11:42:38-06:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER FOR 11/22/17: RIGHTEOUSNESS (PART 9)
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/4c50a344dbc74538ccc07eabd5ea81bb308ef944/original/bread-72103-1280.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NTM1eDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="535" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">ISSUE: GOD'S WILL-RIGHTEOUSNESS (PART 9)</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Tonight we will begin to look at God's work in changing people and the relationship with names they are given. God is doing a special work today. He is making His name great by building a body of people who carry His name...and His Holy Spirit. He does this by the word of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have had this promise from the beginning, but we will begin to see how powerful this work is in the life of a believer. This is about God's name and men's names that point to God's name. A changed name is a gift of the promise of God to make men new and to change them inside and out. Tomorrow we will go a bit deeper into the New Testament names and the link to Revelation 2:17. There is much hope in Jesus Immanuel. Please continue to pray for God's name to be lifted up in North Minneapolis. We are also praying for His people to join us here in this work.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Covenant Names: Changed Names, Changed People</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">One of the patterns of God’s work on behalf of His chosen people is to change them to fulfill the covenant He enters with them. He gives them a new name and, like God’s self-revelation of Character in His name, makes the covenant person or people grow into the characteristics He has pronounced upon them in the naming work He has done. What I mean is God names men with meaning He is going to bring about in them in course of the covenant. Here are a few people that were given new names. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Eve, not Woman: In Genesis 2:23 God brings the woman He had made to Adam. Adam names her woman. This is Adam’s response to seeing her for the first time: This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man. Eve reveals the character of Adam and her name reflects it. But after sinning by disobeying God’s command to not eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, God promises to bring life from her including her savior. Adam gives Woman a new name: Eve. He called her this because she was the mother of all living. In this case Adam, not God, re-named his wife to reflect the promise of God. He knew what God said would come to pass. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Abraham, not Abram: Abram, through no special merit of his own for we know he was not a worshipper of God, but of the gods of the Chaldees from where he came and a liar, was chosen by God to be the father of nations and a blessing or curse to those who blessed or cursed him. God brought Abram forth from the land of Babel to make a great name for God! After returning from Egypt, God comes to make a second covenant regarding the land we now call Israel, or the Promised Land, and states He will give it to Abram. Abram’s wife Sarai is to bear a child, but she is old and it makes no sense that she would be able to do this. She is far past the age of being physically able to bear children. She tells Abram to take her slave and have a child. Abram agrees and has a son named Ishmael. This is evidence that Abram is not trusting God’s means, but instead His own wisdom and power. God appears again in Genesis 17 and renames Abram to Abraham and Sarai to Sarah. Abram comes from the word father, but Abraham means father of many nations. In Genesis 17:9 god states that Abraham <em>will</em> keep God’s covenant as will his descendants after Him. Sure enough, God confirms this after testing him with the sacrifice of his son.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Sarai means “my princess”, but Sarah simply means “princess”.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> She was to be a mother of nations.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> This is found in the person who Christ who has brought all nations into a single kingdom from the line of Abraham.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Isaac: God decides the name of Isaac from before he was. This is somewhat unique for it is an everlasting covenant. Abraham plead for God to bless Ishmael, but God responds this way: “<em>Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. 20And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. 21But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year." 22When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him</em>.” Eternal covenants are unique<a href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_msocom_1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[MS1]</span></a> . In the case of Isaac, he is the God-determined particular source God will work through to bring Christ into the world. God promised to bring a promised nation through Abraham, but Abraham had two children, Ishmael through Hagar and Isaac who would come from Sarah. This particular eternal work, which is very specific, reveals the truth of God’s purposes in election for the major work He is doing in each human life.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Israel, not Jacob</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Though Israel’s coming had been foretold, there came a moment in Jacob’s life where he wrestled with a man. As the story goes, Jacob wrestled with God through the night to the breaking of day. Regardless of the differences of opinion on who the man was, God’s word records that Jacob named the place Peniel, which means “face of God” because “I have seen God face-to-face, and my life is preserved.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> He did not leave there as He was, but was changed. The man touched Jacob’s hip socket and it was out of socket.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> After Jacob’s hip was out of place, day was breaking and the man asked to be let go, but Jacob told him he would not let him go unless the man blessed him. And he did! He changed Jacob’s name from its current meaning of “heel-catcher” or “deceiver” to Israel which means “God’s fighter” or “he who struggles with God”.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> This name would be given to the people of God’s promised nation, Israel, and would carry with it the observance of not eating the meat of the hip socket and remembering God’s work of change to Jacob’s hip.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Hosea’s Children: Jezreel, Lo-Ruhamah, and Lo-Ammi</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The prophet Hosea had a call from God to manifest God’s work in His people by revealing the two natures they would seem to run a pattern of living in. As discussed earlier, God explains Israel’s harlotry towards Him as they worship idols and turn from His graciousness to them. God told Hosea: “Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry. For the land has committed great harlotry by departing from the LORD.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> Hosea married a woman named Gomer who bore three children. These children may or may not have been Hosea’s. the first was named Jezreel. Jezreel means “God will scatter” and was a prophecy regarding God’s promise to avenge the murder of the household of Ahab by a man named Jehu.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The second child Gomer had was named Lo-Ruhamah which means “not pitied” and was a prophecy of God’s coming destruction of Israel where He would not be merciful nor extend a way of salvation.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> The third child, a son, was named Lo-Ammi which means “Not my people” and reflected God’s rejection of Israel. Though God prophesied of the vengeance, destruction, and rejection that was to come in the initial naming of the children, He immediately follows it with a promise of restoration.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> In the naming of the children, God was really calling out Israel in light of breaking the covenant. </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> GENESIS 22, especially verses 15-18.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> Commentary Note on GENESIS 17:15 from The MacArthur Study Bible Twentieth Anniversary Edition page 38.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> GENESIS 17:16</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> I have a planned upcoming work that will address this in more detail. Join the email newsletter at <a href="http://www.mikestreezy.com/" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">www.mikestreezy.com</span></a> for updates upon completion.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> GENESIS 32:32</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> GENESIS 32:25</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> Footnote on GENESIS 32:28 from The MacArthur Study Bible Twentieth Anniversary Edition on page 64.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> GENESIS 32:32</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> HOSEA 1:2b</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> HOSEA 1:4 with footnote information from The MacArthur Study Bible Twentieth Anniversary Edition on page 1253. </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> HOSEA 1:6-7 with footnote commentary from Ibid.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> HOSEA 1:10-2:1</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> <a href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_msoanchor_1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[MS1]</span></a>Think through how to address “eternal covenants” in scope of this book.</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696442017-11-20T18:00:00-06:002017-11-21T14:36:42-06:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER FOR 11/21/17: RIGHTEOUSNESS (PART 8)
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/58edc22a90b66b13d2d733941fe8f873b32c931f/original/spring-2559771-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="450" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">ISSUE: GOD'S WILL-RIGHTEOUSNESS (PART 8)</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Tonight's blog is about the change God works in the people He makes His own. We spend some time on the Holy Spirit which is the fountain from which righteousness flows forth from men. We also start to look a little deeper into the way God works in covenants. God is unchanging as is His pattern of work from the beginning. This is a hopeful thing for us. We can count on God to be consistent and faithful. Please pray for the Holy Spirit's manifestation to be visible in our lives. We want hearts that love God and love our neighbor as ourselves. Pray that this would spread to those in town who do not know Jesus today. Pray God would break through the darkness and reform people to the image of His Son and set them on mission with a burning passion for God's glory.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The Spirit of Holiness, The Spirit of Righteousness: Man’s Source of Righteousness</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Christians live by promises.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Faith is the means God uses to save us. But faith varies in measure<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> and the dead man, which we all are before God brings life out of our spiritual death, cannot believe.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> The Spirit is the Spirit of Life.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> It comes by the Word of God. So one of the first works of the Holy Spirit is to bring life into those whom the Father has given Jesus.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> Without life, there is no Christian walk. We have to be formed and established by God the Father and then given life by the breath, or Holy Spirit of God, that travels with His Spoken, Revealed Word. But what of the rest of the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work in believers. Let’s look at a short list of things the Holy Spirit does before we delve into the righteous revelation of Christ in His people’s works:<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">1. The Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">2. The Spirit guides us into all truth (John 16:13).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">3. The Spirit regenerates us (John 3:5-8; Titus 3:5).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">4. The Spirit glorifies and testifies of Christ (John 15:26; 16:14).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">5. The Spirit reveals Christ to us and in us (John 16:14-15).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">6. The Spirit leads us (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 5:18; Matt. 4:1; Luke 4:1).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">7. The Spirit sanctifies us (2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Pet. 1:2; Rom. 5:16).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">8. The Spirit empowers us (Luke 4:14; 24:49; Rom. 15:19; Acts 1:8).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">9. The Spirit fills us (Eph. 5:18; Acts 2:4; 4:8, 31; 9:17).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">10. The Spirit teaches us to pray (Rom. 8:26-27; Jude 1:20).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">11. The Spirit bears witness in us that we are children of God (Rom. 8:16).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">12. The Spirit produces in us the fruit or evidence of His work and presence (Gal. 5:22-23).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">13. The Spirit distributes spiritual gifts and manifestations (the outshining) of His presence to and through the body (1 Cor. 12:4, 8-10; Heb. 2:4).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">14. The Spirit anoints us for ministry (Luke 4:18; Acts 10:38).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">15. The Spirit washes and renews us (Titus 3:5).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">16. The Spirit brings unity and oneness to the body (Eph. 4:3; 2:14-18). Here the Holy Spirit plays the same role that He plays in the Godhead. The Spirit is the life that unites Father and Son. The Spirit plays the same role in the church. When the Holy Spirit is operating in a group of people, He unites them in love. Therefore, a sure evidence of the Holy Spirit working in a group is Love and Unity. Not signs and wonders (those are seasonal and can be counterfeited).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">17. The Spirit is our guarantee and deposit of the future resurrection (2 Cor. 1:22; 2 Cor. 5:5).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">18. The Spirit seals us unto the day of redemption (Eph. 1:13; 4:30).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">19. The Spirit sets us free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">20. The Spirit quickens our mortal bodies (Rom. 8:11).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">21. The Spirit reveals the deep things of God to us (1 Cor. 2:10).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">22. The Spirit reveals what has been given to us from God (1 Cor. 2:12).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">23. The Spirit dwells in us (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Tim. 1:14; John 14:17).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">24. The Spirit speaks to, in, and through us (1 Cor. 12:3; 1 Tim. 4:1; Rev. 2:11; Heb 3:7; Matt. 10:20; Acts 2:4; 8:29; 10:19; 11:12, 28; 13:2; 16:6,7; 21:4,11).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">25. The Spirit is the agent by which we are baptized into the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:13).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There are more works the Spirit does, but the point of viewing each of these works is to see the link between God The Holy Spirit in applying Christ’s righteousness to our lives. The Holy Spirit reveals our sin and need as well as regenerates us to make us new people, or born again by the Spirit. From there we see He leads, sanctifies (cleanses/purifies us), empowers us to accomplish God’s will, gives us gifts to use for Christ’s glory, and ministers to us in several ways. The Holy Spirit, Christ’s Spirit, does work in us by dwelling inside of us as well as outside of us by sealing and manifesting good works. All of this is from God because God is the source of the works. God convicts us of sin, so we repent. God teaches us the deep things of Himself, so we learn and grow in wisdom. The Holy Spirit gives us gifts and empowers us, so we have the ability and the power to accomplish good works. Even our desires are changed and linked to the Holy Spirit working in us. All of this work is accomplished for, in, and through believers, but we are not the source. God is. The question that many stumble in regard to is whether we are responsible to align with God’s covenant commandments to love others the way He loved the disciples (and us) and the answer is yes. But that is a different question than “Are we saved by our works or faith?” It is also a different question than “Don’t I ultimately bear responsibility to act of my own free will to do what Christ requires?” I’ll try to address each of these as we look at covenants a bit more in-depth. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The Way God Works in Covenants</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Covenants take place between kings. This has been a historical fact. Earthly kings entered into covenants with other kings and kingdoms were established, spread, governed, by them. Men are limited in their workings of covenants. The success or failure depended on the ability of the kings to keep the covenant. This is a problem for both parties because there are limitations in resources as well as the presence of sin. Here are a couple of examples where the covenant can run into problems. Let’s say a lesser king is surrounded by enemy forces. There is a threat to the kingdom. The enemy forces could be far greater than those of the king that is surrounded. The enemy king might offer to make a covenant with the lesser king in order to secure protection and avoid war which seems impossible to win. The greater king may be far away and unable to send resources in time. The pressure on the lesser king can be overwhelming and they either accept the new allegiance to this enemy king or remain faithful or loyal to the greater king they are in a covenant with and then be destroyed. Either way, the covenant did not preserve what was promised. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Sometimes the great king in the covenant is also unable to stand against a more powerful foe. They could arrive and fight on behalf of the lesser king and still lose. The lesser king’s kingdom is lost. The covenant did not prove sufficient to protect what was an important part of the covenant. Then there is sin. A great king may have one-sided intentions for the covenant and not provide anything promised and yet still demand allegiance and resources. He could take from the lesser king and the lesser king is unable to protect his kingdom and the kingdom is robbed beyond poverty and far worse off for being in the covenant with the great king. Then there could be evil intentions in the heart of the lesser king and the covenant grant access and relationship to the great king and the lesser king use this position to join with an enemy king and kingdom and attempt to overthrow the great king in the covenant. Rebellion could cost the great king his kingdom. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God is the Greatest King. He is the Lord of lords and the King of kings. In Genesis 1, God has a special name. The name He is called is Elohim. Listen to what the New Dictionary of theology says about God’s self-revelation through His name Elohim: </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>El, Eloah, Elohim (Eng. ‘God’, following ho theos in lxx.), El Elyon (‘God most high’). These names convey the thought of a transcendent being, superhumanly strong, and with inexhaustible life in himself, one on whom everything that is not himself depends.</em>”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God has revealed Himself as the Creator and God over all things. There is no equal. The word is actually a plural form of the word God (El). It shows God to be the God of gods. It is a majestic use of his name that is not saying God is made up of multiple gods, though many have used it to argue for the trinity. The point is the relationship to all other things. By His name, God is revealing Himself to be supreme. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Genesis 2 uses another name quite frequently. Though there are several other names that reveal the character of God, the one most important to our discussion at this time is Yahweh, or Jehovah. This is a special covenant name. Here is a bit of background on the name Yahweh:<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>Yahweh (‘the LORD’ in AV (KJV), RV, rsv., NIV, following ho kyrios in lxx.), Yahweh Sebaoth (‘Lord of [heavenly, angelic] hosts’). ‘Yahweh’ is God’s personal name for himself, by which his people were to invoke him as the Lord who had taken them into covenant with himself in order to do them good. When God first stated this name to Moses at the burning bush, he explained it as meaning ‘I am what I am’, or perhaps most accurately ‘I [275] will be what I will be’. This was a declaration of independent, self-determining existence (Ex. 3:14–15). Later God ‘proclaimed’—that is, expounded—‘the name of the LORD’ as follows: ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation’ (Ex. 34:6–7, rsv.). Thus in sum ‘Yahweh’ carries the thought of a marvellously kind and patient, though also awesomely stern, commitment to the covenant people as the path chosen by the self-sustaining, self-renewing being whom the theophany of the burning bush depicted.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em> The NT identifies the God who is Father of Jesus Christ and of Christians through Christ as the God of the OT, the only God there is (cf. 1 Cor. 8:5–6), and it sees the Christian salvation as the fulfilment of God’s OT promises. Thus it rules out in advance all dualisms that oppose the God, or the idea of God, which the OT sets forth, to the redeemer-God seen in and described by Jesus. ‘Father’ appears as the invocation of God that Jesus, who himself prayed to God as Father, prescribed for his disciples (cf. Mt. 6:9; 1 Pet. 1:17); ‘Lord’, used as in lxx. to imply deity as well as dominion, becomes the regular term for characterizing, confessing and invoking the risen and enthroned Christ (Acts 2:36; 10:36; Rom. 10:9–13; 1 Cor. 8:6; 2 Cor. 12:8–10; Rev. 22:20; etc.); and the ‘name’ (singular) into which disciples of Jesus are to be baptized, as a sign of God’s committed salvific relationship to them and their responsive commitment to him, is the tripersonal name of three distinguishable though evidently inseparable agents, ‘the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit’ (Mt. 28:19). This is God’s ‘Christian name’, as Barth happily put it.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">A quick summary of what we need to know from this name is this: The covenant LORD God, Yahweh being His name, is independent from creation and does as He pleases. His pleasure is to be who He is eternally which is holy and righteous. This is the God who is Christ and who is the God of Christ as well as the God of those who are under Christ. He is our Great Covenant King. This is the God whose name we are baptized into upon a statement of faith and the Spirit’s work of repentance. No other king compares or can stand against Him because He not only does what He pleases, but possesses all power, wisdom, authority, and ability to do so. What He determines to do will be done and this will never change. Fortunately for us, we see He is a righteous God and there is none that can come close to Him (Holy). His pleasure is to do all that is righteous (good). </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So we see God is good and powerful and able to keep His unchanging word, but what about us? We are not all-powerful or without sin. We are limited in our resources and abilities. We are not self-determining in the sense that God is, for God is able to do whatever He pleases even if it goes against our will, or desire for something. The presence of sin and its power in our lives also presents problems in our desires themselves and what we want. To sin is to invoke God to reveal His just nature which will “<em>by no means clear the guilty</em>, <em>visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.</em>” Therefore, our sin will inevitably make us enemies of God as we are unable to keep the covenant. How can we obey God by keeping His commands as given by Jesus? What happens to those who prove to be in violation of the covenant?</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> 2 PETER 1:4; 1 PETER 1:23; JAMES 1:21 (notice the call out of remaining filthiness and wickedness which saves the soul); JAMES 1:18; MATTHEW 4:4; AMOS 8:11 (Our daily needs for life come from the Word of God) </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> ROMANS 12:3; 1 CORINTHIANS 12:9: Both of these texts are addressing spiritual gifts of faith, not saving faith. All believers have saving faith, but some believers have a special measure of faith regarded as a spiritual gifting which is to be used for the good of all the body (1 CORINTHIANS 12:4-7).</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> This is a pretty controversial statement in and of itself in America at this time. Some key verses to consider: The story of Lazarus and its implications in John 11. The point of John being that man is spiritually dead and Jesus holds the keys to life, both physical and spiritual, by His word. When Jesus creates life by His word where no life existed, it comes to be, or is created out of nothing (spiritual emptiness, deadness) like Genesis 1’s account. Jesus is the light and word of God that brings life out of nothing. Ephesians 2:1-10. Men are dead in sin, but God raises them to new life in Christ and that life results in works these men were created for in the plan of God. Ephesians 2:1 explains to the believers that they were all dead in trespasses and sins. This could not mean physically dead, for the believers were not all physically resurrected. The relation to a life of action (you once walked) makes it clear, in my mind, that God through Paul is explaining the mystery of being physically alive and at the same time without life by the Spirit of God before God’s work of salvation. Ephesians 4:18 further explains this death and calls the Ephesians to live by the Spirit implanted by the word of God. Colossians 2 also expounds this truth. The Colossians were called to walk in the Spirit and beware the same evil powers who tug at man to walk in them as we were formerly under bondage from in Ephesians 2. This is a spiritual issue, but those who are Jesus’ are joined to him in a single body by the Spirit of Christ which dwells in them. The Holy Spirit is the lifeblood of the believer. I believe this is also taught in Genesis 1 and 2 as the Spirit enters the darkness and formlessness of the earth to bring life by His work. In Genesis 2, the ruach, the Hebrew word for spirit or breath, is breathed into Adam and brings life. This has been the teaching from the beginning. Therefore, the implication for believers is to preach the gospel, the word of life, with the hopes the promise will be implanted and bring forth life in the spiritually dead unbeliever. As we plant, we watch, as a farmer watches, for signs of growth (the fruit of the Spirit). </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> JOHN 6:63</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> JOHN 6:64-66; 6:37, 44-45; </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a>Though all of these items are outlined in the Bible and available by searching a concordance, I ran across an article at the following and would like to share it with you: http://frankviola.org/2010/11/18/50-things-the-holy-spirit-does/</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> Excerpt from “The Names of God” in The New Dictionary of Theology accessed via Accordance.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> Ibid. </span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696432017-11-18T18:00:00-06:002017-11-19T13:43:51-06:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER FOR 11/19/17: RIGHTEOUSNESS (PART 7)
<p style="text-align: center;"> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/cee983f0240f680d3d2fa3623374c34d03fa844d/original/cyprus-2719129-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="450" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">ISSUE: GOD'S WILL-RIGHTEOUSNESS (PART 7)</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We continue to delve into some of the depths of righteousness and how it relates to God's Will on earth as it is in heaven. Tonight we look at a portion of a chapter on The Holy Spirit's relationship to our righteousness. To dig into this truth, we go deeper into the idea of covenants. We will look at the covenant promises and God's pattern of work in covenants to ensure blessing His people. The study of covenants under my friend and mentor Dr. E. Michael Rusten is one of the two most influential and life changing classes I took at Bethlehem College & Seminary as part of the Degree Completion Program for a Bachelor of Theology degree. I don't go nearly as deep as he did (and does), but I hope it blesses you. At the heart of your prayers (and ours) tonight for North Minneapolis, we are hoping the people here will move from a general knowledge of God to a special covenant relationship with Him in Jesus Christ. The promises that come with this relationship are needed in every Christian's daily life. They are not new promises. They are promises we have had from the beginning, but what we have now is the gift of the Holy Spirit. We take the Spirit of Righteousness, the Holy Spirit with us as we live in the community and we hope He will fall and baptize many who we gain an opportunity to share the gospel with as a result. Pray for boldness to proclaim the gospel and for help as we work through deeper, more granular parts of our church planting vision and plan.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">NOTE: Mike Rusten is a gift to the church and has made so many tools available to the public for free at his website. He is working on updating the site so I will try to add a link once it gets up and running.</span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We have the Holy Spirit. It is a gift, a needed gift. But what does that mean for the Christian? What does the presence of the Holy Spirit indwelling in men mean to the world? Does it matter? If so, why do we not proclaim the gift of the Holy Spirit and instead focus our attention on the person and work of Christ?</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Holiness and Righteousness</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The Holy Spirit is holy. The statement could seem absurd to work through because the adjective holy is used in the name of the Holy Spirit. But what does that really mean? Why do we call Him the Holy Spirit? Is the Holy Spirit any less holy than God the Father or Jesus Christ the son? The holiness of the Holy Spirit flows from the same truth we looked at in the beginning of this book. Holiness has to do with uniqueness and separation from all else that exists. The Holy Spirit is one of the three persons in the unique substance God. All three members of the godhead are equally holy. The attributes are shared. It is not simply the Father who is holy. The Son and the Spirit are also equally holy. God is also righteous as are each person of the godhead. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each equally righteous. Righteousness is a good pointer to how the Holy Spirit is in fact distinctly different and set apart from all other spirits and created things. It shows us the uniqueness of God. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Righteousness relates to us in the context of relationship between God and man. The holiness of God is revealed in the righteous relationship of God with man in the relationship of covenant. It’s a personal and very specific relationship. Not all people are in relationship with God in this context. All are under God as Creator and Judge over His creation. The covenant with one people does not exclude any of this judgment authority because all is under Him and subject to his authority and rule. But as we saw in the story of the Passover, though all are worthy of condemnation, not all people receive the opportunity for salvation. Only those He speaks with and interacts with can hear such a message. The covenant is worth discussion here because the Holy Spirit is the source that fulfills what it calls for.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">WHAT IS A COVENANT</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">A covenant is a legal agreement between two kings. Covenants are legal documents that work a lot like contracts do today. Biblical covenants with God are about authority and delegations. One king is the head king or greater king called a suzerain and the other king is a lesser king or submissive king called a vassal. The suzerain sets the covenant terms in place and the vassal accepts or rejects them. In the Old Testament age, there was generally two options: accept the terms in submission or war is declared. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of negotiations that take place in American contracts today. I can’t say that as a scholar of covenants in a general sense, but instead from the understanding I’ve gained by listening to scholars. Negotiations don’t seem to be an important part of the discussions I’ve attended. The key fact to take here is there are two kings and one is asserting authority and delegating and distributing duties in the larger kingdom which would include the smaller king’s jurisdiction. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Covenants have some consistent parts. There is a history of the relationship. There are portions that name the kings and the roles that will exist. There are rules or expectations that are outlined by the head king, the suzerain, that explain what the vassal is required to do. The most major expectation is to recognize the head king as the authority at the top of the food chain and to submit to him. There are other expectations called minor stipulations that outline the day-to-day division of labor and what it means to be in submission to the great king. There are various levels of depth to these rules or expectations. They can get pretty granular. God relates to His people by covenants. This has occurred since the creation of the world with Adam and Eve on. God is the great king and the men he enters into covenant with are the vassals who represent Him. He controls the entire Kingdom which includes all that the vassal is assigned over (their kingdom) as well as other areas outside of that Kingdom either under His direct rule or under other vassal kings. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There are pretty typical benefits to being in a covenant with a powerful king. For one, they offer protection to the smaller king and his people. There can also be resources like land or other necessary things one needs to survive that can be available to the lesser king and his people. If there is a famine, for instance, the great king could give access to a lesser king by providing resources from another kingdom who has more than enough. This is all dependent on the willingness of the king to grant them, but an especially gracious king could be a great ally in times of need. A powerful king who commands armies could also be a benefit when a lesser king’s domain is without an army or structures that could defend it. The flipside is you will likely have to contribute army and supplies like crops if called upon to do so. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Because of the nature of the covenant, there are blessings that are included which outline what obedience will yield and curses as well for disobedience to the covenant. A covenant could secure the wants and needs of the lesser king if they are loyal to the great king. If they are disloyal, they not only face the threats of the outside world, but also the threat of attack or penalty from the great king.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Then there are witnesses to covenants. Most of the kings used their gods as the witness of the covenant. The land and rivers and mountains could be witnesses and stand as enforcers of the covenant. The two kings and their kingdoms would swear to keep the covenant stipulations and the promised blessings and curses. After completing the ceremonies that included taking an oath before the witnesses and both parties a great meal would take place to ratify the covenant relationship. A feast was in order and fellowship was not visible. At the end of it all, the covenant documents would be taken to a place for storage in the event of a lawsuit and often it was in the place where the god or its image was said to live. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">What happens if the lesser king would fail to keep the covenant? In the event that the lesser king would fail to remain loyal, the god or witness would be called upon to bring about the curses. This was true for blessings as well, but we need to note curses because it is highly relevant to our discussion. In the event of a king breaking the covenant messengers were sent to warn the lesser king of the transgression and called them back into faithfulness to the terms. God often sent two messengers before declaring war on a nation or city due to their lack of faithfulness to the covenant. War would follow and the king and kingdom would be overthrown unless it was able to defend itself and defeat the great king. The idea of a god as enforcer is a great threat to anyone who might think of breaking the covenant as are the wind, rivers, mountains, and spirits. Not only did you war with a king and his people, but with their god or the land as well. Add in the fact that the oath often included a sacrifice of an animal or animals to be eaten and it can get scarier. Abraham and God “cut” a covenant by dividing animals in half and walking between them. The effect of this action was both parties were saying they would be cut in half like the animals if they broke the covenant. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In our previous discussion of righteousness, I tried to explain how righteousness is a particular state of being. Here is the quote I used to explain the idea of righteousness:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>The concept (righteousness) includes faithfulness, justice, uprightness, correctness, loyalty, blamelessness, purity, salvation, and innocence. Because the theme is related to justification, it has important implications for the doctrine of salvation.</em>”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We also looked at how certain works flow forth from this righteous state of being that align with it. We might call these good, or righteous, works. A simple way of thinking of this is that the righteous person would do the required work of the covenant, which is hopefully also righteous in its being, and would be viewed as pure, faithful, pure works of loyalty without any blame. The relationship of the kings to each other would need to be a righteous relationship for it to work out as the requirements must be completed regardless of the situation. God has shown his being as righteous by always keeping his word and always doing what is righteous. This includes the stipulations of His covenants. He is not unrighteous, or impure or with blame, that He would make covenants that are unrighteous. He is righteous and His covenants are the righteous outworking in relationship with His people. He is faithful to His covenant and those He made it with. He is just to His covenant and those He made it with. He is upright in His dealings with the covenant and His people. He is correct in His covenant and to His people. He is loyal to His covenant and to His covenant people. He is pure in being, covenant, and in relationship to His covenant people. He is a savior of His covenant people and of His covenant. He is innocent in relation to His covenant and His covenant people. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But what does that mean? It means God is good in every way and we see that in how He manages His Kingdom, relates to those He enters into a covenantal relationship, and He always keeps His word. He is the ultimate promise keeper because He is faithful and just. The problem lies, not in God, but in us. We are the ultimate “promise breakers” and fail to keep any covenant we enter with Him. His promise keeping also includes blessings and curses. Some blessings in God’s covenants do not rely on man to receive. There is no stipulation for men to receive the blessing God offers. Others promise curse for breaking the covenant and because He is just and faithful to His word, justice must be administered. He enforces His covenants. He sends messengers and He brings war to rebels against His Kingdom. His power is unmatched and His will cannot be thwarted which is great when He is protecting your city from enemy kings who seek to destroy you, but its not so hopeful when you are the enemy king and Kingdom. He will win. The king will be overthrown and the city will be destroyed. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God has promised several things in the course of His covenants with men and the dealings with them afterwards. In His judgment on Adam and Eve, He enforced the death sentence He proposed when the single stipulation was violated. At the same time, He promised future curses and future hope by sending a seed that would crush the serpent who deceived Adam and Eve in the fall.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> To Noah and his descendants (as well as all that existed on the earth), God promised never to destroy the world and all mankind by water again.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> To Abraham, He promised a great nation (people and land) and to make his name great as well as to make Abraham a blessing and to bless all nations through him, not just his own nation of people that would come from him by birth.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> To David, God promised to keep a king eternally on the throne, active and reigning.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> The promises of God far surpass any promises human kings can make because God is completely beyond what man is limited to by death, time, human finiteness of mind and strength, and authority. Men are limited to a lifetime, but God exists eternally in the presence of the world which continues to go on after an earthly king dies. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The Law of Moses is a covenant with God’s people, Israel. In it, God promised life for all who keep the covenant and death to anyone who breaks a single stipulation. He has kept his word perfectly and no one has been able to keep the covenant to this day, except Christ Jesus. In doing so, Christ Jesus fulfilled the covenant requirements as King of His people. Because of his righteousness toward God, His people reap the benefits He acquired at death on the cross. This includes life. The life God was promising was not life on earth as we know it, for Christ died. In his death, we learn the truth of Scripture’s teaching on eternal life, the life Adam was cut off from in the garden when God removed him so he couldn’t eat from the tree of life and live forever.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">When Christ died as His people’s King, He secured an inheritance, the blessings of God on our behalf. Jesus inherited all things from His Father.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> He has been given all the nations and every inch of the earth.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> With this inheritance is the acquisition of rulership and authority over all that exists.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> Jesus is reigning and promises that all sins, or law breaking is forgiven to those who believe in Him.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> We are joined to Him by faith in the promises of God.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> We are sanctified as we are made co-heirs.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> Though it comes through a new covenant, it is not a new purpose, but God’s purpose from the beginning.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> Part of receiving the inheritance is based on the covenant stipulations which are grounded on faith in Christ. His law for His New Covenant people is to love others as He has loved us.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn14" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a> In this commandment is the grounding truth that it flows out of a love of God experienced and explained in Jesus. In order to love others and Jesus loved the disciples, we have to be aware of how Jesus loved the disciples. We do that by becoming a disciple and experiencing His love in word and deed. All of this has a single purpose, to make the name of Jesus known and recognized.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn15" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[15]</span></a> Faith fuels and fulfills this covenant command for it is grounded on the person of Christ as the revealed God in flesh and trusting His promises which cause hope.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn16" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[16]</span></a> This includes bearing one another’s burden to fulfill the law of Christ.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn17" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[17]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Still, we have to consider the reality that God is just and keeps His word. That is true on both sides of the coin. Those who keep the covenant stipulations will inherit the promises. Those who do not keep the covenant stipulations will inherit the curse. This curse is worse than the curse that came with the Old Covenant. Here is a warning of the all-consuming fire that is set to come and burn up those who do not continue in faith in Christ:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>32 Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34 You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. 35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For, “In just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.”38 And,“But my righteous one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” 39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn18" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>[18]</strong></span></a></em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Go back and re-read verses 26-31, especially verse 29. This curse will be worse than the judgment that came as a curse upon Christ and all who died under the Covenant from the Law of Moses. It is all tied to sinning, or law breaking, after we have received the knowledge of what God has done (the gospel). Let me explain what this really means. To give up Christ’s sacrifice as your only true saving sacrifice and to step out into salvation another way is to have no sacrifice at all. This is what is referred to as a state of apostasy. The apostate rejects God’s way of salvation in Christ. Let me restate my earlier position before moving forward and explaining God’s work in the Holy Spirit that results in endurance and ultimately salvation for the believer: An apostate was never truly saved. Instead, the belief was not saving faith, but instead something that seemed like faith, but proved to have no real root.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn19" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[19]</span></a>With that, let’s look at how God saves us through the Righteousness of Christ applied by the promised Holy Spirit.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Tremper Longman III, “Righteousness” in The Baker Compact Bible Dictionary, pages 289-290</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> GENESIS 3:15</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> GENESIS 8:21</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> GENESIS 12:1-3</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> 2 SAMUEL 7:8-16</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> GENESIS 3:22-24</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> HEBREWS 1:2; JOHN 3:35</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> PSALM 2:7-8</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> MATTHEW 28:18</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> HEBREWS 9:15</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> GALATIANS 3:18; ROMANS 4:13-17</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> ACTS 20:32</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> HEBREWS 6:9-20</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref14" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a> JOHN 13:34; 1 JOHN 7-9; 2 JOHN 1:5; </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref15" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[15]</span></a> JOHN 13:35</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref16" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[16]</span></a> ROMANS 4:13-17</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref17" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[17]</span></a> GALATIANS 6:2</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref18" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[18]</span></a>HEBREWS 10:19-39</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref19" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[19]</span></a> I refer you back to our discussion in PERSEVERENCE: SAVED FOREVER, SAVED UNLESS YOU TURN, OR A THIRD OPTION?</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696422017-11-17T18:00:00-06:002017-11-19T13:34:20-06:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER FOR 11/18/17: RIGHTEOUSNESS (PART 6)
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<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">ISSUE: God's Will-Righteousness (Part 6)</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Tonight, we continue our study of God's Will in bringing forth His righteousness in Christ in the world. Our prayer is for North Minneapolis to be filled with the Spirit of Righteousness, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. We desire to see and savor Christ by the Spirit and through the Spirit's work in our lives and community. We pray the same for you and your community. May the whole world be filled with the righteousness of Christ which loves to do the will of God on earth as it is done in Heaven.</span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Do you desire to be filled with righteousness? I believe you and I were designed to yearn for this. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> There has been a consistent message of craving throughout Scripture. It, too, begins in the garden. Adam and Eve could eat of any tree therein, except the Tree of Knowledge. The trees were beautiful to look upon and good to eat, but still Adam and Eve hungered for something more.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> They hungered to be equal to God. We all hunger for this. We act as God and do what is right in our own minds, or sight.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> This shared human tendency has a goal: to justify one’s self. Jesus explained this in Luke 16:15 and exposed the problem: “So He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The context of Jesus’ words points to our desire to be wealthy. He presented a parable of a steward who was wasting a rich man’s goods.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> The rich master called him into account. His reaction was to go and call all of his master’s debtors on their accounts. He gave them discounts in order to earn favor. His goal was to make friends in the world that would welcome him once he was released from service to his master. The passage gives us an interesting insight into his mind: “The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg. Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We can find ourselves wasting the good gifts God has given us just like the shrewd steward. We take for granted much of what we receive without considering we do not deserve it, it is not from us, but it is a gift instead. All good gifts come to us from God.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> Adam was given the whole earth to steward. He was to enjoy this blessing and to go out and fill the earth with the glory of God.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> The one place he was told to not eat was in the center of the garden, yet that is where we see him fall.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> How can you enjoy the gift of filling the earth and taking it captive for God, enjoying its fruit and feast if you stay near the one thing restricted by God? But desire has a way of captivating and subduing us. We all do it. We have so many options that are a yes, yet we can get hung up on the thing or things that we have not been given. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mankind, has followed this pattern of cravings, wanting or hungering for things that are not ours. We can look right at the ten commandments and see the depth of our desires. Jesus taught us the same truth. The Ten Commandments expose our idolatry. We have bad eyes and often see the grass as greener on the other side of the fence. We take for granted several things. First, our Father does not withhold any good thing from us.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> All His children have to do is ask and His heart is to give us what is good.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> But what happens when you don’t get what you want? Why did you want it to begin with? </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The issue at the root of the problem is an improper understanding of what we need. Adam and Eve sought equality with God, but what they needed was not equality, but God Himself. Instead of desiring God and recognizing Him as infinitely worthy of worship and obedience, the heart craved what God possesses and elevated it. Instead of worshipping the Creator and desiring to taste and see that He is good, they (and we) worshipped created things and minimized the infinite uncontainable truth about God by making images of Him that reflected the limited and man-centered things we prefer over Him in His fullness. Just take a look at the images men make.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The Golden Calf: The young bull, which Aaron caused to be fashioned, was a pagan religious symbol of virile power. A miniature form of the golden calf, although made of bronze or silver, was found at the site of the ancient site of the Philistine city of Ashkelon. Since it dates to about 1550 B.C. indicates that calf worship was known not only in Egypt, but also in Canaan prior to the time of Moses.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Nanna, the moon god of Ur, worshiped by Abraham before his salvation: Nanna, who is also called SIN, was reflected in the image of a bull and is tied to a hope for fertility.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Asherah, or Ashteroth, the goddess of the sea: Asherah was associated with male deities including Yahweh. In a number of instances the reference seemed to be to some sort of cult object symbolizing a goddess, perhaps a wooden pole or a tree, or an image or even (though difficult to equate with the idea of a goddess) a phallic symbol. Other references seemed to be to a goddess, but prior to the discovery of the texts from Ugarit, some thought that the allusion was to the goddess Ashtoreth/Astarte (see 4.5 below), whereas others thought that it was to some other deity.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn14" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Dagon, the chief Philistine agriculture and sea god and father of Baal: A major West Semitic deity who became the national god of the Philistines after their arrival in Canaan. Dagon’s character remains disputed. One portrayal of Dagon as fish-god arose from a folk etymology based on Heb. dāg̱, “fish.” Another suggests Dagon as god of grain (dāg̱ān), the latter word taken from the deity’s name or vice versa. Yet another view sees such a fertility aspect as derived from Dagon’s primary role as a storm-god and reconstructs an etymology for the name based on Arab. dagana, “to be gloomy, cloudy.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn15" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[15]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Molech, the god of the ammonites and the most horrible idol in Scriptures: The fire god of the Ammonites, to whom human sacrifices were offered; Moloch. Lev. xviii. 21.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn16" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[16]</span></a> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Baal, the chief deity of Canaan: As the Sun-god, Baal was worshipped under two aspects, beneficent and destructive. On the one hand he gave light and warmth to his worshippers; on the other hand the fierce heats of summer destroyed the vegetation he had himself brought into being. Hence, human victims were sacrificed to him in order to appease his anger in time of plague or other trouble, the victim being usually the first-born of the sacrificer and being burnt alive. In the OT this is euphemistically termed “passing” the victim “through the fire” (2 Ki 16:3; 21:6). The forms under which Baal was worshipped were necessarily as numerous as the communities which worshipped him. Each locality had its own Baal or divine “Lord” who frequently took his name from the city or place to which he belonged. Hence, there was a Baal-Zur, “Baal of Tyre”; Baal-hermon, “Baal of Hermon” (Jgs 3:3); Baal-Lebanon, “Baal of Lebanon”; Baal-Tarz, “Baal of Tarsus.” At other times the title was attached to the name of an individual god; thus we have Bel-Merodach, “the Lord Merodach” (or “Bel is Merodach”) at Babylon, Baal-Melkarth at Tyre, Baal-gad (Josh 11:17) in the N. of Palestine. Occasionally the second element was noun as in Baal-Shemaim, “lord of heaven,” Baalzebub (2 Ki 1:2), “Lord of flies,” Baal-Hamman, usually interpreted “Lord of heat,” but more probably “Lord of the sunpillar,” the tutelary deity of Carthage. All these various forms of the Sun-god were collectively known as the Baalim or “Baals” who took their place by the side of the female Ashtaroth and Ashtrim. At Carthage the female consort of Baal was termed Pene-Baal, “the face” or “reflection of Baal.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn17" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[17]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Do you see the commonalities? There are things wanted and desired. In some cases its fertility, others its for crops and wealth, then there are gods who come from a need to sacrifice for whatever reason the worshipper might have. Sometimes that just dealt with appeasing a perceived anger which resulted in attributing the failure of a crop to grow. The evil that flowed out of the desires to have include child sacrifice, cult prostitutes, and a bondage to “do” something to get what was wanted. That’s not a lot different than what we see today, is it? The association with an image that represents those desires presents a false perception of God. It divides God’s power and makes Him into a genie. It also really shows that the truth about God has been severely distorted. God certainly does not give by demand, but by want. We call that grace. And He has made it clear He does not desire to see us sacrifice a human life, more less a child.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn18" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[18]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mankind has had a desire to own and possess what they want. We do it in such a sinful, evil way that we give up everything, evidenced in the insanity that creates lifeless depictions of God in the form of far lower and lesser created things like bulls and fish people, that it is hard to grasp when dealing with it today. But, we still do this. The desires have not disappeared. God calls this outworking of desire the definition of unrighteousness.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn19" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[19]</span></a> In Romans 1:29, God records what this unrighteousness does: it fills man with its fruit which is sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness. He then reiterates what this man has become full of which is envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. How does that unrighteous spirit manifest? “They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn20" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[20]</span></a> But it gets worse when it speaks of the condition: “who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn21" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[21]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Paul opens up the problem of sin and shows how we are all sinners and in need of God’s righteousness and mercy. The desire we have to command god and get what we desire misses the reality of who God is altogether. We don’t understand His character and what it means for us, so we go into the darkness of the mind, filling ourselves with evil and darkness, when we were made to be filled with his light, the knowledge of God Himself. Better than that, God has given us Himself as a sacrifice that secures all we really need which is ultimately forgiveness of sins. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">After addressing the painful agony of life as a saint-sinner<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn22" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[22]</span></a>, Paul heads to our hope. Though sin is in our flesh, those who believe in Jesus have the Spirit of God who lives in us.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn23" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[23]</span></a> We who are a people that have practiced child sacrifice have a God who breaks through all of our darkness and evil by His Word and explains how He has done what is needed. The promise at the end of Romans 8 is that God is working to take care of all of our true needs and we can be assured He will not withhold any of the things we truly need because of action we can see how faithful God is to complete the process of saving us. All of these gods who have had a hold on us, all of our fears, and all of the evil desires that have taken over our bodies and minds as we gave ourselves to them cannot stand against God or separate us from Him. “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him freely give us all things?”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn24" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[24]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Are you still unconvinced that this has to do with idols? Listen to the list of things that can no longer separate God’s Holy Spirit indwelled people from Him: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn25" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[25]</span></a> But it goes further: 36 As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” The idolotrous sacrificers have become the hunted and killed helpless sheep of God. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Still, in case we didn’t see who our enemies are and how insufficient they are as well, God makes it plain in Paul’s words: “37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” No dreaded thing, not a spiritual power or created thing, can come and snatch us away from God’s saving hand. All of this is rooted in the person and work of God in Christ, but Christ does what we really need: He comes to dwell in us. The old spirit is gone. All of those evil things we desired and feasted on and were left unsatisified and ruled by get cast out as Jesus places His Holy Spirit in us to live and lead us out of darkness. We never walk alone again, but are held and carried to the face of Christ by His Holy Spirit.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn26" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[26]</span></a> All that we need is provided on our behalf. We are free and at the same time learning what this means. It’s a reality we begin to walk in before we can really savor it. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The craving for god’s glory is therefore misguided. We seek to feel the hunger in our emptiness with things that cannot satisfy. Worse still, the more we feast, the sicker we get. But in that desire is the yearning for what we really need, what we were created for: to hunger for the righteousness of Christ.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn27" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[27]</span></a> The promise is sure. If you truly hunger for Christ’s righteousness, not a righteousness of your own, then you will be filled. Count on it. Take it to the bank. And if you already know Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior, enjoy Him also as Treasure because that is what He is. Look upon Him and enjoy God’s righteousness. Savor it. Drink from the fountain that creates a well spring of life in you. Eat from the bread that satisfies your true hunger. Be filled. Feast.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> MATTHEW 5:6</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> GENESIS 2:9</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> PROVERBS 21:2; 16:2</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> LUKE 16:1; 16:1-13</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> LUKE 16:3-4</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> JAMES 1:7</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> GENESIS 1:28</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> GENESIS 2:28</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> PSALM 84:11; 34:9; 85:12; PROVERBS 2:7</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> MATTHEW 7:11</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> I will reference several gods found on in the chart “False gods in the Old Testament” page 61 of The MacArthur Study Bible Twentieth Anniversary Edition</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> From footnote on Exodus 32:4 in The MacArthur Study Bible Twentieth Anniversary Edition on page 141.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> http://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/amgg/listofdeities/nannasuen/</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref14" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a> From “Asherah” in IVP’s Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books accessed on Accordance</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref15" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[15]</span></a> From “Dagon” in Eerdman’s Dictionary accessed on Accordance</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref16" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[16]</span></a> From “Molech” in Webster’s Dictionary accessed on Accordance</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref17" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[17]</span></a> From “Attributes of Baal” in THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPAEDIA accessed via Accordance</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref18" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[18]</span></a> LEVITICUS 18:21. I recommend reading what God says His people should not do in this passage. They tie directly to the things that were done in the false religions. Only God’s true religion is distinguished and ultimately painted clearly in the person of Christ. </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref19" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[19]</span></a> ROMANS 1:18-32</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref20" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[20]</span></a> ROMANS 1:29-31</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref21" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[21]</span></a> ROMANS 1:32</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref22" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[22]</span></a> ROMANS 7</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref23" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[23]</span></a> ROMANS 8:9</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref24" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[24]</span></a> ROMANS 8:31-32</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref25" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[25]</span></a> ROMANS 8:35</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref26" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[26]</span></a> ROMANS 8:1-27</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref27" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[27]</span></a> MATTHEW 5:6</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696412017-11-16T18:00:00-06:002017-11-17T15:44:21-06:00THE LINK: WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE RECORDS AND PAUL
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In 2012, after a time of preparation that included heart wrenching soul searching and administrational research and ground work, a group of us joined together to unleash Weapons of Our Warfare Records also known as WOOWR (pronounced WAR). WOOWR was birthed out of a desire to re-enter the industry that had been a effective tool against the Kingdom of God in my life and the lives of those I knew in my city. It was not an entirely new record label. I had been operating under a label I called Nod Ya Head Entertainment. NYH began around 2001-2002. It also started with a group of friends and supporters. The goal was to get as many of us out of a life of activity that was destructive. We wanted to change rap music to mirror the lives we lived trying to sort through the images and personas we were captivated and led by by merging what life was really like for us. I was a part of a group called Po’ Folks and we weren’t after the ritzy life of music videos. We wanted something different.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">After much prayer and fasting, I decided to change the name of the company and start fresh. I was convinced of the deceptive façade that was purposely being presented to kids like me who were lost in the world. I was sad. Actually, I was extremely sad. I was also confused. Up was down, down was up, and everything in between was blurred. I had come to the end of myself in the process and had no strength of my own. I never really had strength, I had just run out of means to turn to in order to “clean up” and “put myself on the right path”. I desired change. I wanted to know peace, but nothing seemed to bring it. So, WOOWR was established to stand against the lies of sin and its promises. I was as much against the people who acted as puppet masters behind the scenes as I was against the lies they purchased or paid people to present. I bit the bait of Satan and wanted to see God’s gospel message rise to as high a position in the battle for minds (and ultimately hearts and souls) by bringing an alternative to the big stage.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We dreamed of operating in excellence. We wanted to take beats you might hear on the radio and finesse them with as high a quality of skills as the secular market. We wanted to have the most entertaining live shows so I hired dancers, incorporated skits and props, and we networked with anyone that would listen. At the heart of our process was the incorporation of prayer, fasting, and Bible study as a family. That was our up and in reach.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We went wherever we could get to people like me. That was our outreach. I sought people I felt I could relate to in hopes they might feel my urge as my life, broken and messy as it was, resonated with those we reached out to. But also at the core was the belief that there is a real war for souls going on here. Satan and His army desire to kill us, not only that, they desire to do it before people hear the gospel and believe. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 were our guiding verses, not because we most hoped to be defined by a personal war. Instead, our hope was in the power of the gospel and the God who equipped us with it. But we wanted to be reminded and to warn others of the war. We don’t fight like the world does. We left that lifestyle. We fight God’s way, but with just as much tenacity and sweat as when we fought in the world with the world’s tools.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Prayer, Love, Gospel Proclamation, Fasting, and Hearts rooted in Christ’s righteousness were our tools. We desired to stand boldly on the Word and to proclaim the authority of Christ over all creation. We wanted to see captives set free, truly free, by the gospel. What began as an attempt to write a song about the armor of God (in which I failed miserably) turned into a way of life. Let me share the verses and a quote from a commentary I was given around that time with you:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>3 We are human, but we don’t wage war as humans do. 4 We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 5 We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ.</em><a title="" href="#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Matthew Henry’s Commentary shares this about the passage (2 CORINTHIANS 10:1-6)<a title="" href="#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>Introduction</strong> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There was no place in which the apostle Paul met with more opposition from false apostles than at Corinth; he had many enemies there. Let not any of the ministers of Christ think it strange if they meet with perils, not only from enemies, but from false brethren; for blessed Paul himself did so. Though he was so blameless and inoffensive in all his carriage, so condescending and useful to all, yet there were those who bore him ill-will, who envied him, and did all they could to undermine him, and lesson his interest and reputation. Therefore he vindicates himself from their imputation, and arms the Corinthians against their insinuations. In this chapter the apostle, in a mild and humble manner, asserts the power of his preaching, and to punish offenders (<a href="https://www.studylight.org/desk/index.cgi?q1=2%20Corinthians+10:1-6&t1=en_nas" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">2 Corinthians 10:1-6</span></a>). He then proceeds to reason the case with the Corinthians, asserting his relation to Christ, and his authority as an apostle of Christ (<a href="https://www.studylight.org/desk/index.cgi?q1=2%20Corinthians+10:7-11&t1=en_nas" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">2 Corinthians 10:7-11</span></a>), and refuses to justify himself, or to act by such rules as the false teachers did, but according to the better rules he had fixed for himself (<a href="https://www.studylight.org/desk/index.cgi?q1=2%20Corinthians+10:12&t1=en_nas" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">2 Corinthians 10:12</span></a> to the end).</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>Verses 1-6</strong> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Here we may observe,</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I. The mild and humble manner in which the blessed apostle addresses the Corinthians, and how desirous he is that no occasion may be given him to use severity. 1. He addresses them in a very mild and humble manner: I Paul myself beseech you, <em><a href="https://www.studylight.org/desk/index.cgi?q1=2%20Corinthians+10:1&t1=en_nas" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">2 Corinthians 10:1</span></a></em><em>. We find, in the introduction to this epistle, he joined Timothy with himself; but now he speaks only for himself, against whom the false apostles had particularly levelled their reproaches; yet in the midst of the greatest provocations he shows humility and mildness, from the consideration of the</em><em> </em>meekness and gentleness of Christ, <em>and desires this great example may have the same influence on the Corinthians. Note, When we find ourselves tempted or inclined to be rough and severe towards any body, we should think of the meekness and gentleness of Christ, that appeared in him in the days of his flesh, in the design of his undertaking, and in all the acts of his grace towards poor souls. How humbly also does this great apostle speak of himself, as</em><em> </em>one in presence base among them! <em>So his enemies spoke of him with contempt, and he seems to acknowledge it; while others thought meanly, and spoke scornfully of him, he had low thoughts of himself, and spoke humbly of himself. Note, We should be sensible of our own infirmities, and think humbly of ourselves, even when men reproach us for them.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>2. He is desirous that no occasion may be given to use severity,</em><em> <a href="https://www.studylight.org/desk/index.cgi?q1=2%20Corinthians+10:2&t1=en_nas" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">2 Corinthians 10:2</span></a></em><em>.</em><em> </em>He beseeches them <em>to give no occasion for him to be bold, or to exercise his authority against them in general, as he had resolved to do against some who unjustly charged him as</em><em> </em>walking according to the flesh, <em>that is, regulating his conduct, even in his ministerial actions, according to carnal policy or with worldly views. This was what the apostle had renounced, and this is contrary to the spirit and design of the gospel, and was far from being the aim and design of the apostle. Hereupon,</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>II. He asserts the power of his preaching and his power to punish offenders.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>1. The power of his preaching,</em><em> <a href="https://www.studylight.org/desk/index.cgi?q1=2%20Corinthians+10:3&t1=en_nas" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">2 Corinthians 10:3</span></a></em><em>,</em><em> <a href="https://www.studylight.org/desk/index.cgi?q1=2%20Corinthians+10:5&t1=en_nas" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">2 Corinthians 10:5</span></a></em><em>. Here observe, (1.) The work of the ministry is a warfare, not</em><em> </em>after the flesh <em>indeed, for it is a spiritual warfare, with spiritual enemies and for spiritual purposes. And though ministers walk in the flesh, or live in the body, and in the common affairs of life act as other men, yet in their work and warfare they must not go by the maxims of the flesh, nor should they design to please the flesh: this must be crucified with its affections and lusts; it must be mortified and kept under. (2.) The doctrines of the gospel and discipline of the church are the weapons of this warfare; and these are not carnal: outward force, therefore, is not the method of the gospel, but strong persuasions, by the power of truth and the meekness of wisdom. A good argument this is against persecution for conscience' sake: conscience is accountable to God only; and people must be persuaded to God and their duty, not driven by force of arms. And so the weapons of our warfare are mighty, or very powerful; the evidence of truth is convincing and cogent. This indeed is through God, or owing to him, because they are his institutions, and accompanied with his blessing, which makes all opposition to fall before his victorious gospel. We may here observe, [1.] What opposition is made against the gospel by the powers of sin and Satan in the hearts of men. Ignorance, prejudices, beloved lusts, are Satan's strong-holds in the souls of some; vain imaginations, carnal reasonings, and high thoughts, or proud conceits, in others,</em><em> </em>exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, <em>that is, by these ways the devil endeavours to keep men from faith and obedience to the gospel, and secures his possession of the hearts of men, as his own house or property. But then observe, [2.] The conquest which the word of God gains. These strong-holds are pulled down by the gospel as the means, through the grace and power of God accompanying it as the principal efficient cause. Note, The conversion of the soul is the conquest of Satan in that soul.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>2. The apostle's power to punish offenders (and that in an extraordinary manner) is asserted in</em><em> <a href="https://www.studylight.org/desk/index.cgi?q1=2%20Corinthians+10:6&t1=en_nas" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">2 Corinthians 10:6</span></a></em><em>. The apostle was a prime-minister in the kingdom of Christ, and chief officer in his army, and</em><em> </em>had in readiness <em>(that is, he had power and authority at hand)</em><em> </em>to revenge all disobedience, <em>or to punish offenders in a most exemplary and extraordinary manner. The apostle speaks not of personal revenge, but of punishing disobedience to the gospel, and disorderly walking among church-members, by inflicting church-censures. Note, Though the apostle showed meekness and gentleness, yet he would not betray his authority; and therefore intimates that when he would commend those whose obedience was fulfilled or manifested others would fall under severe censures</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">THOUGHTS ON THE PASSAGE:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This way of warning men of the intensity and reality of spiritual warfare was counterintuitive to the culture and knowledge of the people. I remember thinking how oblivious to the reality of spiritual warfare we are today. During the same time, I was wrestling with the implications of Paul’s assertion in Ephesians 6:12 which says, “<em>For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places</em>.” I was deeply convicted about how I had been lied to by my flesh, the world, and Satan into believing people were my enemies. Then this text hit me deep in my heart. People are pawns in the hands of a greater enemy, Satan. The war that has to be waged, for we are called to suit up into our armor and engage, is against spiritual powers far greater than men. This brought a desire to love my enemies, or those I had previously seen as enemies, as well as those who still believed I was theirs. The war was not against me, but I was being attacked…by people I loved and looked up to.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I was also struck by the power of the weapons we have in our possession, God-given weapons, and the power God releases to free men from Satan’s grasp. A simple prayer was a “smart bomb”. We could ask God to release power anywhere in the world and He desired us to do so because it was His work that put the desire to pray on our hearts in the first place. God wants to destroy evil’s reign and will do so completely one day. Today, we can battle as far as we can pray.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There is also the battlefield, the hearts of men, where the war wages. There is a warning to each of us in this to beware Satan’s power to attack our hearts and minds. He wants to remove our faith, to pluck it and strangle it out. He desires to ruin any remnant of the image of God that springs up in us. We weren’t warring for likes or praise, we were warring to see God’s Holy Word, specifically Jesus, take the seat on every heart we could engage. We wanted to see mind’s washed clean by the blood through Scripture and become fertile fields of love and action to free others and to love Jesus and neighbor. I wanted to see broken homes mended, and if so before divorce and pain came in the way I had experienced it (personally and through my friends’ and family members lives). I ached to see people I loved enjoy peace and hope in Christ. I wanted others to taste what I was beginning to. I say beginning because I was actually saved in the middle of my first Christian mixtape. Praise had begun to flow where hopeless toiling and running had been trading places. The change salvation brought only quickened and enflamed my desire to spread the gospel in rap.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Today I sit in the middle of a desire to preach the good news and to plant a church where I live. I may not be here forever. I also desire to one day plant a church in the middle of my hometown, Little Rock, and see God’s work there. And at the same time, I miss the music and the joy worshipping in song with brothers and sisters who understood the power music, and rappers who fathered us like the O.G.s who put us on did, hold. We desired to see a new generation of father’s, actually brothers, rise up and come speak another way, a better way, the only way which is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ, our blessed God. I still yearn for that, yet I sit in between. For all intents and purposes, my time has likely passed to be the rapper I dreamed of being, before and after Christ’s coming in my life. At the same time, I have no boast or worthiness from my career to yield a listening ear of how to profit in the business. I did a lot of work, but none was especially noteworthy. I am more of an uncle to rappers than brother or father. Yet, I still desire to see the flames of war stoked in the context of rap music. Not just rap, but I do have a special place for rap and still feel it has the most clear potential for explicitly teaching truth by design and structure over any other genre outside of spoken word. And I still desire to write songs and perform them and preach as much as I once did, but in the words of Toby Keith, “I’m not as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was.” Or at least I’d hope so.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">As I reach out to God’s children in North Minneapolis, I hope to meet and care for rappers. I hope to equip them to provide for their families and to fine tune and pass down their craft for the next generation. I hope to see men speak alternative messages that conflict with the lies Satan has on the airwaves. I still hope to see that, but I haven’t figured out how to do it. WOOWR isn’t functioning, per se, but it is still alive. Maybe one day. In the meantime, please pray God would help us love others who He has in this field for the goal of proclaiming His gospel, edifying the body, maturing the body, and reaching the lost.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Thanks for your prayers.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Oh, and if you wonder why we used a grenade for our logo, it all goes back to the smart bomb and linking to people who idolized war in the way the world sees it. We gave an image people would be drawn to, but hoped to change the meaning and transform it in such a way that it’s earthly power would be lost and it would forever be associated with God’s goodness and grace.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> 2 CORINTHIANS 10:3-5</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/mhm/2-corinthians-10.html</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696402017-11-15T18:00:00-06:002017-11-16T15:00:04-06:00CHURCH PLANTING UPDATE AND PRAYER REQUEST
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">SETTING THE CAPTIVES FREE</span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="indent-1">1 The Spirit of the Sovereign <span class="indent-1">Lord</span> is upon me,</span></span><br><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="indent-1"> </span><span class="indent-1">for the <span class="indent-1">Lord</span> has anointed me</span></span><br><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="indent-1"> </span><span class="indent-1">to bring good news to the poor.</span></span><br><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted</span><br><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="indent-1"> </span><span class="indent-1">and to proclaim that captives will be released</span></span><br><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="indent-1"> </span><span class="indent-1">and prisoners will be freed.</span></span><br><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="indent-1">2 </span>He has sent me to tell those who mourn</span><br><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="indent-1"> </span><span class="indent-1">that the time of the <span class="indent-1">Lord</span>’s favor has come,</span></span><br><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="indent-1"> </span><span class="indent-1">and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.</span></span><br><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="indent-1">3 </span>To all who mourn in Israel,</span><br><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="indent-1"> </span><span class="indent-1">he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,</span></span><br><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">a joyous blessing instead of mourning,</span><br><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="indent-1"> </span><span class="indent-1">festive praise instead of despair.</span></span><br><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks</span><br><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="indent-1"> </span><span class="indent-1">that the <span class="indent-1">Lord</span> has planted for his own glory.</span></span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">-ISAIAH 61:1-3</span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">Tonight my heart is heavy and excited at the same time. I feel a bit of the weight of being sorrowful and at the same time rejoicing.</span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">I saw a friend I had not seen for a year or so. Actually, I saw a friend's brother and mistaked him for my friend. </span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">In the short conversation, I found out my friend has been locked up since he disappeared. My heart ached for him as I heard a small bit about his story. At the same time, I just left a conversation with my wife about starting services and bringing our neighbors into the home the LORD has blessed us to steward for the time. We discussed the implications of opening our home to people we have not met yet, but who I am eager to meet and worship with. Then I heard laughter which led to the revelation.</span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">Jesus has a heart for prisoners. His people are called to have the same heart for prisoners. It pleases God when we care for His people. The text I posted on this page points to Jesus' coming where He proclaimed the words of Isaiah in Luke 4:18. Jesus is the Holy Spirit anointed God who has come to bring the Kingdom of God to bear on men like me...and I am praying also on my friend in jail. </span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">The gospel is what sets us free from the bondage and shackles of sin under the lordship of Satan. It breaks chains and sets the captives free. My hope is to be accepted when I see my friend and that God has worked in him a heart ready to hear the hope of the gospel. </span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">Please pray for access to my friend. Please pray the gospel would bring freedom and hope. We are praying for transformation for this man and his family as well. We want to encourage him and to teach him of all the promises Jesus has made available. We hope to worship with him in ecstatic joy as God saves another of His beloved children. Please pray we would be blessed with this opportunity.</span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">Please pray for boldness in our proclamation here and that we would have many more opportunities to reach out to those in jail, alone in retirement homes, and with the families of those who cannot be with them for so many reasons. Pray God would work.</span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">As I reflect on the rest of Isaiah 61, I see so much opportunity to be the light of Christ as we proclaim the same hope He did in the message of the gospel. </span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">We can feed their families as the Lord provides. We can read books to their children and care for their elderly parents. We can help with their yard work while they are unable. We can assist with bills. </span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">We have little to give in a financial sense, but we have so much to give in love and gospel proclamation and application. </span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">Please pray we would be a blessing to those in need. </span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">Pray that help would come to join us in this work of God. </span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">Thanks for your prayers.</span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">In Christ,</span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">Mike</span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">P.S. I plan on returning to the Righteousness series. I am not finished. I had to take two days to catch up on homework for a counseling class and read a book. I highly recommend it: Sinclair Ferguson's The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction. It dealt with a lot of the same things the Lord was pressing in on my heart in the Righteousness series. It addresses quite bit more I haven't spoken of and is worth the read. </span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">Please join me in prayer for help on the final details of articulating our vision and for help establishing Near North Baptist Church as a legal entity. I don't know how to set up the paper work and need counselors. </span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">We are also praying for a brother and his family from the missions department of the BMAA that is battling a pretty serious illness. We invite you to join us in prayer for healing, strengthened faith, support for the family, and the joy of Christ which we have and the world does not. We want God's goodness to be clearly evident in the hearts, minds, and lives of our brothers and sisters who are walking down the path of joy in a time of suffering. </span></p>
<p><span class="indent-1" style="color:#ffffff">Thanks for these prayers as well.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696392017-11-12T18:00:00-06:002017-11-13T11:11:38-06:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER BLOG 11/13/17: RIGHTEOUSNESS (Part 5)
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">ISSUE: GOD'S WILL-RIGHTEOUSNESS</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We continue our study of righteousness. Tonight's focus is on the righteous works that must remain and the relationship to Final Judgment and one's Justification. There are different views on whether or not we are secure when we are justified by faith or if justification is dependent on one's entire life. Can you lose you salvation? Is your salvation eternally secured even if you reject Jesus as Lord later in your life? My hope, and prayer, is that we will worship God in spirit and in truth as we seek to understand God's righteous works in the believer throughout the life of faith. Please pray for North Minneapolis as you are led tonight.</span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">PERSEVERENCE: SAVED FOREVER, SAVED UNLESS YOU TURN, OR A THIRD OPTION?</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There is a debate in Christianity that has greatly divided people. A part of the great number of denominations are due to a disagreement on whether or not you can lose your salvation. I believe the heart of this argument rests on one’s view of justification and especially on what it means to be righteous in God’s sight. When God declares you righteous, is that true forever regardless of one’s actions or can you walk away or be cast out of God’s sight due to sin? We addressed this a bit above, so I won’t go into great detail again here, but it is crucial to understand the relationship and purpose of all the texts that warn of action that seem to be related to God’s final declaration on Judgment Day. Can one be declared righteous and prove to be unrighteous to the point of being cast into Hell? Is there a conditional requirement from God on His people or is there not?</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The first place we need to look is again to how one is declared righteous. All people will not be saved. Only those who believe. God’s promise of eternal fire for those who do not turn to Christ for salvation will prove true, just as His promise of a death sentence to Adam.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> All men die, but not all men will live again in the presence and favor of God in Heaven. There is no universal salvation for mankind. Either God is a liar because Jesus and the Word (The Bible) teach most men will die and go to Hell, or Hell exists and Judgment will be administered as God has promised. Universal Salvation is as much a lie from Satan as the belief that there is no God. God is not a liar.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> But just like the enforcement of the death sentence on Adam, “The LORD is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">What should we do with texts that seem to call us to work in order to avoid judgment that will result in casting us out of the new community that will enter Heaven? Here are a few I have in scope: </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out.” -Mark 9:43. Some argue that Jesus seems to say we have an ability to avoid Hell by acting (cutting off the part of the body that leads us to sin) with our free will. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.” -Ezekiel 18:20. Some argue that Ezekiel seems to say righteous people have a righteousness of their own they will be credited, as is the same with the wicked. Again, this hinges on the belief of our free will to do whatever we want to do. The righteous are righteous because they choose to do righteous things and the wicked are wicked because they choose to do wicked things.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.” -Hebrews 6:4-6. Some argue the text means to state that you can truly taste the gift of the Holy Spirit in one’s being, then fall away, and thus lose your salvation. Best I understand it is to say the Holy Spirit can be removed from you after it has been received. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.’” -2 Peter 2:20-22. Some argue the text says you can come to a knowledge of Jesus that is salvific and head back into sin and lose your salvation. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.” -HEBREWS 10:26-28. Some state the text says you can receive knowledge of salvation which saved you and then keep sinning, lose your salvation as a result, and go to hell. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There are several other texts that can come into question when we study this very crucial and life-giving subject. The issue gets a bit more complicated when you add in texts that seem to say the opposite:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.” -John 10:28-29. The text seems to say if God saves you, nothing can keep you from salvation. Some use this to argue that you can die in a continual state od a backslidden life, even going as far as to reject Jesus or the general belief that God exists, and remain saved due to a point in their life where a confession of sin and repentance was made. In recent history, this has been tied to salvation by a one-time prayer of faith.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” -John 6:37. The text has been used to justify salvation regardless of sin because of the guarantee that seems to be given by Jesus. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“And who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” -2 Corinthians 1:22. Some argue all who believe are sealed and cannot lose their salvation regardless of sin. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Like those who argue salvation can be lost, those who argue salvation can never be lost (a type of once saved, always saved teaching) have several other texts they use to argue their position. But what if there is a link in the way all of these texts relate that does not affirm either simple assertion? What if these texts have a purpose in context that leaves us some mystery in order to accomplish the intended result it was written for. What I mean is, what if the intent of the author when you read one of those texts in context is to appeal to a specific desire or need and not to make a flat statement on eternal security or the lack thereof? In all of this there may be no lie or confusion, but simply a limited presentation, and in many cases a misrepresentation by the teacher, of what the text actually says. My advice for those who engage this study is to first begin by reading the text slowly in context (what comes before and after it in the book it is contained in) and don’t make it say what it doesn’t. Second, consider the rest of the Bible on the matter. The best way to interpret and understand a passage of Scripture is in light of Scripture as a whole. Scripture interprets Scripture.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I also appeal you to consider another option. There is a third option that does not affirm simply being saved without respect to a future lifestyle of unrepentant sin. Nor does it affirm the absence of eternal security and instead affirm the potential to lose one’s salvation due to an unrighteous life of sin. The best way I have heard it summarized is “once saved, always persevering”. In this view, all who truly believe are changed in such a way that they will naturally persevere in Godly passion driven, Holy Spirit empowered obedience. Those whom God saves will not turn to a life of unrepentant sin and unbelief, but will instead endure until the end because God accomplishes the work of salvation by entering the believer and doing the necessary work to sustain them. The direction comes from understanding how texts that seem to conflict actually relate. Here are a few verses to add to what you read above:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.” -1 John 3:6-9. The text teaches that it is impossible to make a habit, or practice, of sin if you have been truly saved. Why? Because God’s seed is living inside you and will not allow sin to make its home there. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,” -1 John 2:3-4. The text teaches that those who know (not knowledge alone, but an intimate, personal relationship) Jesus love them and, therefore, keep His commandments. If you know Jesus, really know Him, you will love Him and this love will flow out in obedience. On the opposite side, a lack of obedience proves you do not intimately know Jesus. What you think you know about Jesus isn’t true knowledge, but a corrupted, false knowledge. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Matthew 7 and 25, when read together, present two pictures of knowledge worth considering which add to the richness of the Christian life. There are two groups standing before Jesus. Jesus separates the members of the body. On one side are those called lambs. Jesus says He knows them and explains His knowledge by informing them that their loving actions towards His people were actually done toward Him. They are simple acts of love like visiting the sick or incarcerated, giving water to the thirsty, and clothing the naked. The other group claims to have lived clear lives of knowing Christ by doing miraculous things like preaching, healing the sick, and casting out demons. Their argument is their powerful, mighty works prove they know Jesus. Jesus responds in this manner: ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There is a point here that needs to be made. You can have a knowledge that is dead and without love. It is superficial like the seed that is not planted in the good soil.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> For many reasons, this short rooted (or no root at all) faith will not last and will prove insufficient. This is because the plant was never sown in the true garden of God where the good soil is. It is outside of the Kingdom. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But we must also consider what Jesus is saying when He makes the judgment based on His knowledge. There is a different knowledge beyond whether or not someone knows who Jesus is. This knowledge comes from Jesus. It is knowledge He possesses, not the person being judged. Jesus knows His sheep. He knows His people. His eyes are on them. Those that are not His can say whatever they want and claim as many miracles as they desire to in front of Him, even adding they did them in His name, but in the end, Jesus says He does not know them. In one sense, He does know them. He calls them workers of iniquity, or evildoers. Jesus can know you, but at the same time not know you in a way that leads to salvation. Jesus does not know evildoers who do works, even in his name, in a relationship that leads to salvation. Why? They didn’t bear fruit that comes from His presence. When His people had need, it was He who had need, and they did not act. Why? Because their hearts weren’t prepared by God to receive the good seed of faith. The good seed bears good fruit, as judged by Jesus, because it listens to Jesus’ teaching and follows it. These wolves, also called goats, follow a different teaching which arises from a different lord who is no true LORD at all. True teaching loves our brothers and sisters in Christ and desires to act on behalf of others, not acquire and store up goods and followers for one’s self. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Like Egypt, they have been warned by God of His holy wrath and the destruction that awaits them if they disobey, but they never believed in Him as Savior nor followed His teaching. They don’t see the beauty of His life and the way it shines forth the righteousness of God which is unattainable by man. They instead trusted in their own righteousness, or mighty abilities and the results they sought. They expect to stand before God and boldly proclaim their successes and faithfulness. They say, “Did we not…” Meanwhile, those who Jesus knows are simply loving others and trusting in His finished work. They follow His teaching and the pattern of His life. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Then there are two stances, or postures, of the groups when they come before Jesus. These postures flow forth from two very different hearts when they enter before the throne of the Good Judge Jesus. The people who will be declared righteous on Judgment Day do not exhibit a heart that is set to proclaim its own righteousness as a plea before God. They seem to be surprised by Jesus’ words in their favor. Those who are deemed wicked, or unrighteous, are those who, in unison, proclaim their deeds and works to the King. They come across as surprised as well. There seems to be an assumption that Jesus would confirm them as what they believe they are. Their appeal to review their works points to an assumption that their works are worthy of confirmation. They are rooted in self-justification whereas the righteous seem to be unaware that the works they did were worthy of even speaking or remembering. God opposes, or resists, the proud, but shows favor, or gives grace, to the humble.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> We must examine our faith and see if we are resting in Christ’s righteousness or trusting in knowledge, skills and abilities, or the results we believe are a sign of our righteousness, as though they are worthy of merit before Jesus. If we are, I urge repentance and to turn to trust in Christ alone.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">If you repent, you can be assured God has done His work to keep you. If you continue to trust in anything outside of Jesus, then you will find you never really knew Him. He doesn’t require a merit level to love you and save you. He gives it freely. You can’t buy the bread and wine He gives.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> To do so is to underestimate the cost of that bread and wine. This is what it means to fall short. We cannot afford the gift He offers. To think we can is a grievous misunderstanding of the cost and value of grace and is ultimately making light, or little, of the extreme cost and weight of our sin. Not only does it prove we are unrighteous, but it also proves we don’t understand holiness. “whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> This includes poverty of spirit, mourning, meekness, the hunger and thirst for righteousness, mercy, purity of heart, peacemaking, and persecution that flow forth from understanding the spiritual truth Jesus has supplied. It results in spiritual fruit as well as the promises given to those who have the gifts of character God gives. They do relate to our actions, but actions done from the flesh versus those from the spirit come from different sources and yield different crops that will be judged by God. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But what of the works mentioned? Those righteous people did do works which were recognized by Jesus, right? They did. They acted on behalf of those with need. What if the prideful group also visited the sick, clothed the naked, took in the stranger, fed the hungry, and gave water to the thirsty? It still goes back to posture. Posture is revelatory of the heart and God judges the heart. Works alone do not merit salvation. God is in the business of conforming His people into the image of Christ. You cannot change your heart. God has to give you a new heart with His law written on it and put His Spirit within you. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">You might also ask about how you could satisfy God, but to seek to satisfy God is the wrong question altogether. Instead, it is worth considering how God uses works to confirm those who have Christ’s righteousness. Let’s look at one passage (among many) that clearly gets at what is going on. “Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> First, we see that there is a relationship in place. The context tells us this is a body of believers who spent time with the speaker. They are called “dear friends”. The text also explains that these dear friends were with the speaker and obeyed while they were there. Jesus spends time with His disciples and His disciples spend time with Him. They know Him and listen to what He asks. In the absence of Jesus’ physical presence, we are not without a guide for we have enjoyed and stored up His Word and His way of life. Though Paul is the author of this passage, he is following a pattern of Jesus.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> Jesus came and spent time with His disciples. He taught them and did so, many times, through commands which they obeyed under His authority.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We are also called to act, or to do righteous works, but notice something about this often misquoted, misapplied passage: God is the one who is working in the person doing the action. He does this through two means. The first is by giving us a desire to act. The second is by giving us the power to please Him. We have a want, a desire, to do what God wants given not by ourselves, but by God who is working in us. And He gives us the power to act on that desire to accomplish it. This is why Paul can proclaim, “No, I worked harder than all of them-yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> And in order to make it clear that these works do not originate from himself, but from God, He states that very thing before addressing his hard work. There is a glory that shines forth from a life of discipleship in Christ, but it is not our glory that is revealed, it is the glory of Christ who lives in us by His Spirit. We are simply broken pots that shine forth the glory of God.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let’s take a step back and look at the whole verse. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them-yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn14" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a> What Paul is teaching is consistent with the rest of Scripture. God enters man by the Holy Spirit, which is a free gift, a seal, and His presence is active in the lives of those in whom He dwells, or lives. This is the active grace of God. That presence of life, the Holy Spirit, brings forth life externally in the actions of the one whom God has saved and secured for the day of redemption.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn15" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[15]</span></a> Salvation is a free gift that cannot be lost because God goes as far as to live inside the person to bring about His will and all that He commands by creating a passion to love Him and others. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The presence of the Holy Spirit is confirmation of the new birth. The reborn man, therefore, cannot exist in a practice, or lifestyle, of sin and unbelief because the God who is in them fills them with a true knowledge, a saving knowledge, that is astonished by God’s goodness and mercy. This saving knowledge includes a right, or correct, understanding of sin. If you understand sin, you will not desire to take part in it. You will desire to be cleansed from it. Sin is an act of rebellion against the good and holy God.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn16" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[16]</span></a> It also understands God’s mercy and kindness and goodness and love. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">True knowledge, or wisdom, cause the believer to overflow in worship. This worship can be seen in simple acts of love, but the act itself is not the source of worship. The heart is the source. When you rightly understand God as the source of all your good works, you do not desire a claim of value to be made in your name or those work’s to be held in others’ minds as one’s own doing because you want God to receive His just due and for those that experience His goodness to call Him Lord and to enjoy Him forever as you are. The heart that has been changed by God does not desire personal praise, it values and enjoys the weight of God’s mighty act of salvation and daily grace in their life. There is an awareness of the spiritual poverty one brings. There is nothing to truly offer God except the ever-increasing revelation of one’s great need. This happens as God exposes sin in our lives and expels it from His holy presence. He cleanses us from the inside out not because we are worthy, but because has made us His Temple, His Holy Dwelling.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn17" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[17]</span></a> God cannot dwell with darkness.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn18" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[18]</span></a> The righteousness that manifests in our lives is, therefore, still not our own, but God’s. Where God is, His holiness is. Where Jesus is, so too is His righteousness. Jesus is God. You cannot separate God from His righteousness. It cannot be removed and God is in the business of displaying His glory. Often, we are just too blind to see and appreciate it. </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Regarding man’s promised death: GENESIS 2:9; 3:17-19; ROMANS 5:12-19. Regarding the promise and presentation of the reality of Hell which is the spiritual equivalent of the physical death of man: MATTHEW 7:21-23; 10:28; 13:42, 50; 25:41, 46; 2 THESSALONIANS 1:9; 2 PETER 2:4; JUDE 1:7; REVELATION 19:20; 20:13-14; 21:8. </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> NUMBERS 23:19; HEBREWS 6:18</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> 2 PETER 3:9</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> MATTHEW 7:21-23. Read also MATTHEW 25:31-46</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> MATTHEW 13:1-23; MARK 4:1-20; LUKE 8:1-15</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> JAMES 4:6; PSALM 138:6; PROVERBS 3:34, 29:3; 1 PETER 5:5</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> ISAIAH 55</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> MATTHEW 13:12</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> PHILIPPIANS 2:12-13</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> JOHN 13-19; MATTHEW 28:18-20. Paul is imprisoned and will eventually be crucified in Rome after being handed over by the Jewish authorities. He has obeyed the Great Commission and is walking the same road as Christ Jesus. He commands those he lived amongst and discipled to follow in His footsteps as He follows Christ (1 CORINTHIANS 11:1)</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> MARK 3:15, MATTHEW 10:1, and LUKE 9:1-6 shows us Jesus delegated authority to the disciples to act in the manner He had acted. If we look in Luke 9, Jesus gives authority to cast out demons, heal the sick, and condemn those who did not accept them, but we also see Jesus fed many and cared for the lodging and physical hunger needs of those who had come to learn from Him. There is more to following Jesus than being a prophet, casting out demons, doing miracles, and condemnation. There is also a compassion for the needs of His followers. The passage also teaches us that the life of a disciple of Christ mirrors His life in that it is the life of carrying a cross. It is not a life that seeks to save itself, but one of sacrifice for the needs of others. </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> 1 CORINTHIANS 15:10b</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> 2 CORINTHIANS 4</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref14" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a> 1 CORINTHIANS 5:10</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref15" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[15]</span></a> EPHESIANS 1:13-14; 4:30; HOSEA 13:14; ROMANS 8:11,23</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref16" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[16]</span></a> DEUTERONOMY 9:7, 24; EXODUS 23:21; NUMBERS 17:10; PSALM 78:8; ISAIAH 48:8</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref17" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[17]</span></a> 1 CORINTHIANS 3:16</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref18" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[18]</span></a> 2 CORINTHIANS 6, especially note 6:14-18. Paul follows with an urge to cleanse one’s self of unrighteousness, but this too is preceded in 6:1-13 by an explanation of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Paul has confidence, not in the ability of the Corinthians to cleanse themselves because of ability, but because of the Holy Spirit who dwells in them. He and the apostles have been marked by this cleansing. He is confident the Corinthians will also share this mark. Paul’s teaching here is not in conflict with his teaching in Philippians 2:12-13. It is because of Paul’s faith in God’s work that he can be sure a plea to the Corinthians will result in acting on the desires with the supplied power. We, too, are called to be confident of God’s work and supply of desire and power by the Holy Spirit and thus should act.</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696382017-11-11T18:00:00-06:002017-11-12T12:48:53-06:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER BLOG 11/12/17: RIGHTEOUSNESS (Part 4)
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/8b770ceb47d5054d387243a87fb383945ba08d2b/original/wine-2799719-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="450" /></h1>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">Issue: Righteousness (Part 4)</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We continue our look into righteousness. I hope you have been blessed by the study as much as I have. I pray your faith is being fed by the Word and God is blessing your soul. I ask that you continue to pray for God's name to be praised as holy here in North Minneapolis as well as around the world. We last spoke about God's declaration of Abraham as righteous by faith. Tonight, we look at a passage that has been used to say Paul's assessment of Genesis 15:6 is incorrect. As we look into the context of James, I hope to bring out the consistent truth of God's word on what it means to be declared righteous by God as well as work through promises and revelation from God in regard to the work He continues to do in the believer. I will be turning this blog series on Righteousness into an eBook. All current members of my blog at the time it is finished will receive a link to download it via email. If you are not signed up for the newsletter, please take a moment to do so. It is on this page and only requires you enter your email and confirm your email from the response that is automatically issued. May God bless your pursuit of enjoying Christ Jesus.</span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">CONFIRMED RIGHTEOUSNESS</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Abraham is declared righteous by God without merit earned. God declared Abraham righteous by faith. Abraham believed God and it was credited, or accounted, to him as righteousness.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Abraham was a sinner. Paul confirms that Abraham was declared just, or righteous, by faith alone apart from works.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> At the same time, James seems to offer another view, a counter view, on the source of Abraham’s justification. Here is the passage: </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>But someone will say, ‘You have faith, and I have works.’ Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his own son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.</em>”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Do you see how some might believe that Abraham earned his righteous declaration from God? If you pick the text out of the Bible or assume it conflicts with Paul’s presentation, you might be led to think what is being said is Abraham was not justified by belief, but by doing what God told him to do. That misses the whole argument James is making. What James is really saying is meant to break into the hearts of specific people he is ministering to. The book is filled with warnings to act on the truth of God’s word as taught in the person and work of Jesus. An example of the heart state of his audience is can be found by looking at what James says just a little earlier:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?</em> <em>So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.</em>”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">You can read that section and believe it is getting at a quality, or meritorious level, of faith. That is to think some faith is being judged as better in quality or merit than another form. That is true to some extent, but misses the reality of what James is saying. James is arguing that there are two kinds of faith. The first is dead faith. Like a dead tree, no fruit comes from it. The other type is living faith. This type of faith is alive and naturally produces fruit. The difference between viewing James’ words as distinguishing between faith that merits salvation and faith that is only either dead or living is that you end up at a different place. What James is really saying is knowledge isn’t faith. There is only really one kind of faith and that is living faith. Living faith doesn’t earn salvation. No. God has already given life to the tree and it produces fruit by its very nature. A healthy, living tree produces fruit. A dead tree cannot produce fruit because no life is flowing through it to make anything. It’s branches are bare. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let’s look at Paul’s argument in Galatians a bit more in-depth. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? Have you experienced so much for nothing? Surely it was not in vain, was it?</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">10 But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.” So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I will try to summarize Paul’s argument here for you. Let’s start with some background on who Paul is speaking to in order to understand the meaning of his words. Paul is talking to a body of people who have had false teachers come in and begin teaching that faith in Jesus is not enough. Instead, you have to obey the Law of Moses to become a member of the family of Abraham called Israel. Israel was the name given to Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, and was meant to establish the promised people of God.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> These teachers believed you needed to be a member of this community which requires a physical sign made to your body in order to be a child of promise. Life would then shift to obedience to God to remain in His promise. The Law of Moses had requirements, in their mind, that either joined you to the people, or cut you off from the promise. This sign, circumcision, reflected being cut off as skin was removed from the body and discarded. It was a reminder to the people of being cut off and separated from God. We see that same reality in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve had to leave the Garden of Eden and were cut off from access to the tree of life. They had to leave and die.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But Paul begins his argument against them by getting to the root of life, the Holy Spirit, which had been given to men by God’s grace. All people do not have life by the Spirit. He goes right to the point of how you receive the Holy Spirit. He asks them if they got it by obeying (doing works) the law or by the hearing of faith. Did you catch that? Faith hears. Faith is working in the person and it heard the gospel message and believed. I will try to distinguish the two ways Paul is presenting that people believe life comes. Those who look to the law for life believe they will receive life if they keep the law. This points the person to go learn the law, practice it, and hopes life will come by God’s favor on those whom He deems obedient and therefore worthy of His gift. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The other view finds life has been granted to them, not because they are worthy, but because they realize they have a need God has saved them from. It hears the gospel and believes it. At the core of those two different views is a crucial difference. The first view looks at the law as a way to be confirmed righteous and therefore receive life. The other hears the gospel message, realizes there is a great need, and believes God has done the work necessary to save them. The second message does not come from a desire to be confirmed righteous, but instead recognizes its unrighteousness while also seeing the righteousness of God in Christ. The hopes are therefore not set on being confirmed righteous, but in trusting in the righteousness of the God who has acted to save them. Life comes from God’s grace, not one’s merit or level of obedience to God’s demands.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Paul and James are dealing with the same core issue in two different groups. James’ group is looking to obey the teaching that what one knows or believes to be true is enough to merit salvation. God looks on the knowledge of the person and thus declares them worthy of salvation. Paul’s audience is confronted with the law and told that salvation is merited by becoming a true Israelite, or Jew, by obeying God’s laws including joining the people through taking the covenant sign. Both authors are really getting at the same things. First, they are addressing the source of life. That source of life is found in God by faith alone. Paul has to remind and warn his readers of taking on law to guarantee salvation. They already have it and the proof is in the presence of the gift of God, the Holy Spirit. James’ is trying to appeal to the heart of his readers by explaining that faith is more than knowledge. Knowledge doesn’t save. God does. And He does this when people hear His word and believe, but that belief is never disconnected from the life God gives. If they truly believe God, it will naturally produce fruit, or actions (works) that spring up from that belief. You can’t get life from a set of rules. You get life from the God who breathes life (His breath or Holy Spirit) into the empty, dead lives of those He saves. If you are full of yourself, you can’t be full of God’s life. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Second, they are dealing with the root of being a part of the people of God. The people of God are planted in His garden. They don’t come from a line, or from a connection to knowledge, but from His free gift of faith. Paul explains that the people of God are connected by faith in Christ’s death on the cross. This is a shared faith with Abraham. Therefore, his children are not by blood or law, but by adoption from God. James gets at the root of the tree of death. If you haven’t been changed in such a way you begin to produce good works because of what you believe God has done in Christ, then He hasn’t planted you in His garden. You are a dead tree in the wilderness. God is not a slack gardener. His garden is well cared for and it produces fruit. John 15 really digs into this truth. God is the vinedresser and Jesus is the vine. All who are in him produce fruit. Abraham’s family is not a family in the way we see it as humans, in a physical sense, but are gathered and transplanted into Jesus. He clips them from the wilderness and inserts them into Jesus. They grow together and are connected by one thing: Abiding (a word that means living in) Jesus. How do you live in Jesus? By faith. Faith connects the people because the people are connected to Jesus. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So what of this confirmed righteousness? It goes back to testing. God, the Good Gardener comes by to test the vine and he does so by putting pressure on the fruit. In these times of divine testing, fruit is confirmed as living and good. The vine, Jesus, is alive and well. But he warns us to beware a life of deadness, lest we find we were never truly connected to Christ. You may find you were simply uprooted, cut off, and pruned from the garden of God. God is filling His world with this garden and He removes dead vines, or branches in order to make room for life. Listen to Matthew 15:4: “<em>But he answered, "Every plant which my heavenly Father didn't plant will be uprooted.</em>” Jesus also warned there were wheat growing with tares (weeds that look like wheat) and He would divinely garden the earth on Judgment Day by sending His angels, or messengers, to gather them, separate them, and throw the tares in the fire to be burned up. God does not simply coexist with dead branches. He works diligently to create a perfect garden. Only those who are in the good vine, Jesus, will inherit life in the garden Kingdom He is establishing. </span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">CAN YOU BE IN CHRIST AND NOT PRODUCE FRUIT?</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">You cannot be in Christ and not produce fruit. A branch that has been truly joined to a living, healthy vine will receive life, and will naturally produce fruit. Death in a joined branch reflects death in the vine. Jesus is sufficient in every way to fill all of His branches with all the life-giving resources they need to produce fruit. Death in the branch is evident it never actually took root or is not connected to the life-giving source it needs to survive. It will wither and die. Romans 8 is one of the clearest passages on the truth of what it means for us that we are joined to Jesus by faith and filled with His life (the Holy Spirit). When this is done, there is nothing that can separate us from Him. He will complete His good work and will hold us in Him until the end. We can rest assured in this by faith. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The life of faith is a process. It’s not a straight line or a quick jump into perfect maturity. It is a slow, dependent life that has to continually rest in the gospel. To have to rest implies that there are times we face unrest. You can become stirred up or rattled. God shakes the world to bless the vine.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> What sticks is alive and growing. What falls off is dead and never grafted to Christ. It may have exhibited what looked like faith, but it was not true faith. It was dead and dying all along. Did you know that trees that grow in areas of heavy winds grow deeper roots and can withstand greater intensity storms than those that do not endure this pressure? God shakes the vines to drive the roots deep.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> This is experience often feels like suffering, but the fiery trial is not meant to separate you from Christ, but to drive your roots deeper into Him in order for you to grow stronger and be held firmer in the true vine.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> GENESIS 15:6</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> ROMANS 4:1-4; GALATIANS 3:6</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> JAMES 2:18-24</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> JAMES:2:14-17</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> GALATIANS 3:1-14</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> GENESIS 35:10</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> HAGGAI 2:6</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> HEBREWS 12:25-29</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696372017-11-10T18:00:00-06:002017-11-11T15:17:20-06:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER BLOG 11/11/17: RIGHTEOUSNESS (Part 3)
<p style="text-align: center;"> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/66d6dc099658f0750a28aa105c46e3980acfe2e8/original/nepal-1504853-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="450" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Issue: God's Will-Righteousness (Part 3)</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We have been travelling through meditations and the resulting prayers that God gives from them on the Lord's Prayer. We have spent a bit of time looking at what God's will is that He desires we pray will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The past two blogs have been focused on digging into the word "righteousness". Tonight we continue that study. Please pray God will send His messengers here to help us. I need partners. We need help to love the people here well. We earnestly desire, first and foremost, that the gospel will come in power and bring new birth and the resulting worship that will flow forth from it. Let the LORD lead you to pray however He may speak to you as we seek to make His great name known in North Minneapolis. I pray this blog give you grace and peace. </span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">WALKING IN THE SPIRIT: THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHRIST IN OUR GOOD (RIGHTEOUS) WORKS</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let me start by saying a bit about where we are headed. Righteous works come from being declared righteous and changed inside. This crosses over into the realm regarding what it means to be justified. Justification is a judgment declared by God. When God declares us justified, He is saying we are just, or righteous. I’ll try to explain how He does that when we are so far from just. As discussed earlier, we are sinners. We are unrighteous. We are wicked and in our wickedness, or unrighteousness, we do evil things. That evil flows out of our inner person, our heart or spirit as it is called in several texts. Jesus exposes this truth in the gospel accounts found in Matthew 15:11 and Mark 7:15. It’s not what goes into a man that makes them evil, or defiled. It is instead the heart which is revealed by what comes out of it in the actions of the man. Another way He describes this is by analogy of a tree. Good trees bear good fruit, but bad trees bear bad fruit.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> If the tree is rotten, so will its fruit be.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">From birth, we are under condemnation for Adam’s sin.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> Like Adam, we all break the law, whether it be the Law of Moses or the law written on our consciences.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> We have all sinned and deserve death.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> We have two issues here. First, everyone under, or in, Adam are judged by their “federal head”. What I mean by federal head is an idea that one person is the representative for all others who are under them or in their ranks. When Adam sinned, everyone that would come from him (which is everyone) stood condemned along with him. That’s worth its own blog, so I’ll leave it at that. Second, we also have our own personal sin which exposes our evil nature. We are condemned as attached to Adam and we are condemned personally as well. It seems like it is only logical that a judgment by God otherwise would make God a bad judge or ignorant. But that’s not true.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Those who place their faith for salvation in Christ alone are declared just. Why? Unlike Adam, Jesus never sinned. He lived a spotless, or blameless, perfect life. This is important because God was working on a way to save us without sacrificing His justice. In the law, God instituted a Passover lamb.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> The Passover lamb was a sacrifice. They took a spotless lamb or goat (an animal without blemish, pure) and sacrificed it. The lamb was a provision for Israel. God was going to pass over Egypt and punish every household for its wickedness. Israel was not without sin. But all under Egypt’s reign, the reign of Pharaoh, were going to be judged. But God was merciful to Israel and sent His messenger, Moses, with a way to be spared the penalty for sin which was the death of the firstborn son. His salvation called for the spotless lamb or goat to be sacrificed, cooked, and eaten. But just as important was a very specific command. The Israelites were to mark their doorposts with the blood of the animal. They had to stay in their blood marked homes until morning. God passed over Egypt and did as He said. All homes which were not marked by the blood of the lamb or goat were judged and sentencing occurred on the spot. What was the result? </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>And it came to pass at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.</em>”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This is getting at an important theme we find leads to understanding justification. Israel was not chosen for its merits. Listen to what God says to this same nation in Moses’ writing in Deuteronomy 7:7-8: “The LORD did not set His heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest. Rather, it was simply that the LORD loves you, and He was keeping the oath that He swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But God goes further because He wants us to understand the purpose for His salvation: “Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps His covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes His unfailing love on those who love Him and obey His commandments.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> Let that sink in. It’s meant to be proclaimed to you and me. God saves people because He loves others that they came from. Rooted in that is the idea that God swore in a covenant to do good to them (the patriarchs) and to bless them and bring forth blessing upon their children. Sin earns a wage for its work. That wage is death. But you can’t buy love. Love is given freely from one who has love. God saves those He loves simply because He loves them.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I have children. I love each and every one of them. There are times they act in sin and it hurts my heart. I see them hurt each other when they steal or lie. I see them when they are angry with each other. That hurts my heart deeply. I want them to get along and to love each other. I’m not saying I want them to get along just to get along. I want love to be the motivator for how they interact with each other. I wish they could see each other how I see each of them. I try to explain my love for each of them and give them eyes to see the hurt they cause each other with hopes that an appeal to their heart will reveal love. Greater than any love I have is the love of our Father God. He loves us and His law is proof of that. He desires we love Him rightly and thus flow out in love for others. There is only one Creator of all men. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Greater still is the love we see in Jesus. As explained earlier, marriage reveals the relationship we were created to enjoy with God. Jesus is the perfect husband who is set to return for His bride. His bride is the church.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> Yet, we are an adulterous bride. We desire so many things that are not Jesus. We deserve to be discarded, not wedded to the perfect, pure king. We are impure harlots. I have a wife. I love her different than my children. I am far from spotless. She did not receive a great, pure king when she married me. Imagine wedding a spouse who has given up her purity while you have maintained your own. Would you marry such a one? You might, but Jesus says He is. Not only that, but He has cleansed her and will keep cleaning her to prepare her for the great wedding to take place in the age to come. What kind of love is this that commits to an adulteress knowing she will continue to pick up dirt? It is a great love that is much deeper than we can comprehend. Yet it is available to all who trust in Him. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">It is not that we come before the Great King, Jesus, and say look at how pure and beautiful and deserving I am. No. We bow before our good King and He reveals that He has always loved us and set His heart on us. And He has not just said it, but has done what we couldn’t. He remained pure to take our place on the cross. He died for our sins. And He reigns on the throne today interceding with wisdom. He knows what we need because He has suffered as we do. He gives all we need, especially forgiveness. His actions to us our not based on looking at us and saying “This one is good. That one is not.” No. He looks on us with love and says, “I will act to make them pure and to save them.” </span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">DECLARED AND CONFIRMED</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">All who believe in Jesus as the sufficient sacrifice who came and died for their sins are declared righteous, or just, and thereby justified in God’s court. You might think that is an action anyone can choose to do or choose to reject, but it gets a bit deeper than that. First, you have to know Jesus came and died for you. Someone has to send the message. God sent the message Himself to prophets and priests and apostles. These messengers obeyed God and took the message in faith. Then they proclaimed it. That is what I am doing now. I am bringing you God’s message that began with His promise in the beginning of the Bible to destroy the serpent who deceived and murdered our first parents. That message was passed to Israel and then to the nations. It is still going forth today. You can’t merit a message being sent. You can’t merit God acting on your behalf to save you from sin. Think about that. How can you claim any merit to deserve to be saved from your sin. If you are in sin, then you have no merit. You have sin. God owes no one salvation. But He came and lived perfectly and died. Along the way He taught the message. After death He further explained the message in all of Scripture. Then He sent messengers out with it all to be preserved so that you and I might hear it. We have no merit to claim belief in that message as deserving to create it, work to fulfill it, and to send it. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So what does this all have to do with our righteousness? First, it reveals that we do not have a righteousness of our own. Jesus does. Second it shows us that we are hopeless to merit love. But God loves us and does so because it is who He is. Third, I believe it points us to look at the beauty of God displayed in the life and death of Jesus. Looking at that beauty in His love and how it acts towards us should awaken us to our sin. It should grieve us. His love is so pure and our lack of love and trust is so obvious. When you see that kind of love in action on your behalf, and truly believe it is on YOUR (individual) behalf, it should break your heart. That love creates life in us by exposing our need for salvation. We deserve to be punished for giving away our purity. We deserve to be punished because we are a people who all act like our leader, Adam, and follow in selfishness and idolatry. This should cause us to ask for mercy. And when we do, we find it is available just as promised. He is our Passover lamb.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">ABRAHAM AND RIGHTEOUSNESS</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God made a promise to Abraham, a covenant, to bless him (Abraham) with innumerable descendants. In Genesis 15:6 it says this: “And he (Abraham) believed in the LORD, and He (God) accounted it to him (Abraham) for righteousness.” Another way of understanding that word “accounted” is credited. Abraham believed God would do what He said and God credits righteousness to him. A credit is not something you have. It is something you are given with faith that you will repay. The issue is that Abraham was not a righteous man. He lied about his wife being his sister twice in order to avoid being killed. He handed his wife over to other men.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> Abraham also tried to obtain the promise on his own by sleeping with his wife’s slave since his wife was old.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> That’s not a faith that believes God is going to keep His word by bringing children forth from his wife. Abraham was without merit. So who would pay the credit back? Jesus did. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">How can I say that? God came back and promised to bring a child from Abraham’s wife, Sarah, after Abraham slept with Hagar, Sarah’s slave, and had a child named Ishmael. He promised He would cause her to have a son who would be named Isaac. He kept His word. At 100, Abraham became a father to a child born from a 90 year old wife. God then called Abraham to go and sacrifice the child. But Abraham trusted God would still keep His word in making a great nation from Isaac, so he took him with plans to sacrifice him, but believed God would provide a sacrifice or raise the child from the dead.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> And God did provide a sacrifice. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Here’s what the text says:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“9 When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 11 At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means “the Lord will provide”). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">15 Then the angel of the Lord called again to Abraham from heaven. 16 “This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that 17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants[a] beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. 18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">19 Then they returned to the servants and traveled back to Beersheba, where Abraham continued to live.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Several thousand years later, God sent another lamb to take the place of the sons of Abraham who are the children of the promise. Jesus Christ travelled up to Mount Golgotha to die for the sins of those who believed God’s Word like their Father Abraham did.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn14" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a> God is still the “God who provides” (Jehovah Jireh). </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Abraham was credited righteousness because he believed God, not because he was wealthy in righteousness and could pay back the wages God promised. No. God set His love on Abraham and gave him credit he could never pay back, but God owns all of the wealth that exists and it is all truly found in the person Jesus Christ. He is the treasure we should long to enjoy. When you find Him, you will sell all that you have in order to simply have the field He is hidden in. If you have Jesus, you have everything. If you do not have Jesus, you have nothing. God paid the righteous credit of Abraham and all of his children who share Abraham’s faith in God’s word by dying on a cross. In that act, all unrighteousness they earned was paid for and the just wrath of God towards their sin was satisfied, never to be remembered in His eyes again.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> MATTHEW 7:18; LUKE 6:43</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> ROMANS 5:18</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> ROMANS 5:14</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> ROMANS 3:23; ROMANS 6:23</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> EXODUS 12</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> EXODUS 12:29-30</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> DEUTERONOMY 7:10</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> 2 CORINTHIANS 11:2</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> JOHN 1:29; 1 PETER 1:19; MATTHEW 26:2, 28; REVELATION 13:8</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> GENESIS 12 and 26</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> GENESIS 16</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> GENESIS 22:8; HEBREWS 11:19</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> GENESIS 22:9-19</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref14" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a> GALATIANS 3:7</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696362017-11-09T18:00:00-06:002017-11-11T06:24:42-06:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER BLOG 11/9/17: RIGHTEOUSNESS (Part 2)
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<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color:#ffffff"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/1386eabf950c05d6918e6800cc7d50e948f88e00/original/hammer-802300-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDAweDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="400" /></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">ISSUE: GOD'S WILL-RIGHTEOUSNESS</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I originally thought this would be a two part series. It has turned out to be a bit longer. I've got at least one more blog coming on God's will for us to be righteous. I pray it is helping you grow in love for God. It is a crucial topic worthy of meditation and prayer. The righteousness of Christ is a prayer we should all desire to pursue on our behalf and that of others. What a gift it is to know God by understanding His righteousness and how it is a blessing to us! Tonight, I ask you pray for many to be covered in the righteousness of Christ and cleansed of sin. For those of us who are already covered and cleansed, the prayer is that He might continue to clean us from the sin we commit now. We are cleansed, but we continually need to be cleansed as well. One note: If you sign up for the email newsletter, I am turning this series into an eBook for free download. I will send it out once it is complete. I don't know if I will make it available on the site long-term or not, so make sure to sign up soon. I will likely post it or make it available upon request, but I'm still learning how to make my email send things automatically. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">With that said, we will continue our study:</span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">UNDERSTANDING RIGHTEOUSNESS: LOOKING THROUGH THE LENS OF CHRIST</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The Bible refers to people as righteous in some cases. Noah is said to be righteous.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Abraham is also said to be righteous.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> Lot is called righteous.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> Job is called righteous.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> David is called righteous.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> Zachariah and Elizabeth and Joseph were among several others who God has recorded as righteous in His Word, the Bible.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> There are also verses that possess warnings against harming righteous people and bless or reward righteousness.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> God’s eyes are on the righteous.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> There are even blessings for doing good to righteous people.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> We could go on and on and on, but the point is God says there are righteous people. He also says no one is righteous, not a single person.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> The questions that arise can sound like this: “Can we be righteous, or is it impossible? Is there a contradiction? Can I trust the Bible?” We are to understand all of the Bible, including what righteousness is and is not, in light of Christ. Let’s start there.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Jesus Christ is the only truly righteous person by the law. He is the only person to live up to the Law of God that kills and condemns all other people.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> No person has been righteous on their own account since the beginning of time, except Jesus Christ. Jesus came because of this very reason. Why? God set His love on us.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> Quick and hopefully helpful clarification: The “us” is limited in scope. The “us” includes all who believe in God’s promised salvation completed by Jesus Christ on our behalf. If you do not believe in Jesus Christ as your savior, then you are not included in the “us”. That John 3:16 puts a caveat: "whosoever believes”. This is open to any and every person, but the reward is limited to those who believe. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Do we deserve to be loved? That is a question that often arises in the minds or lives of many people. I guess we need to look at what makes you qualified to “deserve” or “merit” love. The answer is no. Our sin makes us unworthy and undeserving of love, but God loves us anyway. One way God shows the hideousness of our sin is to describe His people, Israel, as an adulterous wife.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> I’ll try to summarize the depictions. Basically, God has created people to live with Him in an intimate way. Marriage is a reflection and revelation of the plans God has for us.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn14" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a> Instead of enjoying our God and this special relationship where nothing is hidden, we run to other lovers (idols-objects we desire for their own sake). Why? Because we desire what they offer, the things we crave because our passions are upside down and evil.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn15" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[15]</span></a> These lovers are no lovers at all. They ruin us and cast us out. God exposes our shame and shines His light on our wickedness.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn16" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[16]</span></a> Those “lovers” abandon us.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn17" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[17]</span></a> We are left, empty, unsatisfied, and in danger. Even darker is the fact that we ask God to provide us opportunities to take His blessings and go spend them on these worthless lovers.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn18" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[18]</span></a> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Our sin is no little thing. To break God’s law is to break God’s good heart for you. He desires to bless you, provide for you, care for you, and abundantly so. We had nothing in ourselves that was worthy, but God does good to us anyway.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn19" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[19]</span></a> Our response: Let me take what God has graciously given and give it away to chase after evil desires pursued through evil lovers. We do not treasure what God has given us, nor do we see how lesser these lovers are in comparison to what we have in God. Want to test it? Have you ever spent your money on getting drunk or high? Have you paid to see PG-13 or R-rated movies that contained nudity or filthy language? Have you stolen something? Have you desired something you didn’t own and been upset about it to the point of action including thinking about how to get it at whatever cost? In all of this, we lose sight of thankfulness for what we have. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Our lack of contentment is really a pointer to our relationship with God. It’s the same start that shows disinterest in a spouse. You start looking around for something to satisfy you or realize you have become interested in the satisfaction you imagine exists in someone you “stumbled” upon. Either way, that dissatisfaction was there and your heart was not captured by the loveliness of God. Sin is no little thing. It’s the highest form of treason you can imagine. It’s not about not doing something either. It’s about a heart that even has to be told to not do something. There shouldn’t be an issue. Even hearing the law should result in a response like, “That is my great pleasure to not do. I am truly satisfied with you, God!” But if we are honest, that’s not what the situation in our heart really is. We love other things and do not desire God. We have sinned against our Good God in a grievous way.</span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We do not have a righteousness of our own that stands up to the law. The law simply shuts our mouths.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn20" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[20]</span></a> We can’t stand before God and claim any ounce of deserving His goodness or faithfulness to us. Imagine standing before God and complaining about how we haven’t gotten what we deserved or how He has failed to measure up to our covenant. He gave before we deserved anything. And in receiving even life or breath or whatever we have received, we had hearts that wanted more or something different we feel we need or should have, yet didn’t. That all started with Adam and Eve, but it continues today in each of our lives. We are no different than Adam.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn21" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[21]</span></a> We can’t just blame our actions on Adam. We, too, break the law. We just have a world full of sin that draws out our weakness that runs to sin. Jesus is proof of that. He was in the same world we are and had the same temptations we all experience, yet He never sinned.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn22" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[22]</span></a> The case is closed there. Sin is revelation of the state of the heart and none of our hearts desire God as we should. Yet, there is so much grace available to us through Christ.</span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST IS THE REVELATION OF THE HEART OF GOD</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God is a great husband. He shows us His heart in the same passages where He exposes ours. In Ezekiel, though we give away the great gifts He has blessed us with, we see His heart is set on winning ours back. He exposes us as we are, for sure, but He then promises to remember His promise (specifically a covenant) by providing atonement for sins.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn23" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[23]</span></a> In Hosea, God calls His bride to return to Him and He will wash her clean and will love her freely.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn24" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[24]</span></a> Such is the pattern of the love of God. He is truly merciful and abounding in love. We see this most clearly in the person and work of God in Jesus Christ.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Jesus came to earth as the sacrifice needed to heal and restore us. He was perfect in every way, yet mankind mocked Him, beat Him, spit upon Him, and killed Him as a rebel on the cross. Only after seeing our sin in light of God’s promise to send His servant to suffer and die, do we see the depth of our sin. We are so in love with sin that we would kill our good husband. And when we read of His heart’s cry, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing” we should be broken. See God promised to come save us from the bondage of sin and the harm we are experiencing because of it.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn25" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[25]</span></a> And He has. We are deathly sick. It is much like the effects one experiences when fighting an addiction and trying to break free. We are so sick we do not even know it. The only way we can be healed is by looking on the cross, seeing our sin for what it is and God for who He is, and then turning away from those things we seek that are really killing us. No one in this world is free of sin. You can’t break it with mere will power. You need God to change you and to clean you out from the inside.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn26" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[26]</span></a> He does this.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn27" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[27]</span></a> Trust Jesus and turn to Him. Who He sets free is free indeed!<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn28" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[28]</span></a></span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHRIST’S RIGHTEOUSNESS AND OUR RIGHTEOUS ACTIONS</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There is a relationship between what God has done and what we will do. Jesus Christ is righteous. He gives us His righteousness.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn29" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[29]</span></a> It is not our own, but we are covered by it.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn30" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[30]</span></a> It comes by faith.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn31" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[31]</span></a> Yet, God says we must have pure hearts. How can impure hearts become pure? How can they remain pure? </span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">GOD GIVES US NEW HEARTS</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Ezekiel tells us that we will be given new hearts and put a new spirit within us.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn32" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[32]</span></a> He removes the old and puts in the new. This comes after God has called Israel to “cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and new spirit!”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn33" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[33]</span></a> There is a call to act and yet we find out the truth: We are powerless to save ourselves and do what is necessary. God does it for us. But then there are verses like 1 Peter 1:22: “You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.” There is a cleansing that occurs when we obey the truth. Then there is an additional command to truly love each other. How does that work if we are unable to act in a righteous way on our own?</span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">RIGHTEOUSNESS THAT CREATES MORE RIGHTEOUSNESS</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Jesus Christ’s righteousness is the gift that keeps on giving. When we receive Christ’s righteousness as a gift by faith, we get another gift: The Holy Spirit. God places a new heart and a new spirit within us. This spirit is the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn34" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[34]</span></a> The Holy Spirit applies the blood of Christ to our life and it cleanses us inside and out.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn35" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[35]</span></a> We are sealed by the Holy Spirit in order to be kept until the day of redemption.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn36" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[36]</span></a> The Holy Spirit isn’t just a seal. It teaches us to understand the word of God and puts His law in our hearts and minds.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn37" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[37]</span></a> And the Holy Spirit produces the good fruit of righteousness.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn38" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[38]</span></a> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Why do I say it’s the good fruit of righteousness? Each of the items called the fruit of the Spirit point to a contentment and satisfaction in God. They appear in times of temptation or testing. Some are easy to tell. When is patience evident? In a time when impatience is normal. When pressure is applied, you either respond with patience or impatience. What about self-control? When pressure is applied, you either respond without control or with control. Some might be evident without pressure. Maybe kindness or goodness are such items. But the tree is not really in view until the farmer presses upon the fruit. It’s one thing to be kind or happy when there is no pressure, but when temptation or trial comes is that fruit really there, or did it just seem like it was there? The same is true for each of the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the flesh is our sinful responses that show hearts that lack contentment.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn39" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[39]</span></a> This is our natural state before we are born again by faith and given the gift of the Holy Spirit. It’s safe to say you aren’t content with God alone if you lash out when something on earth is taken from you, kept from you, or threatened. God cannot be taken from us. </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> GENESIS 6:9; 7:1</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> GENESIS 15:6; ROMANS 4:3, 9; GALATIANS 3:6; JAMES 2:23</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> 2 PETER 2:7-8</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> JOB 1:1,8; 2:3</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> 2 SAMUEL 22:21-27; PSALM 18:20-26</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> LUKE 1:5-6; MATTHEW 1:19</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> 2 SAMUEL 4:11; 1 KINGS8:31-32; PSALM 1; PROVERBS 10-15, 18, 20, 21; EZEKIEL 3:18-21</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> 1 PETER 3:12</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> MATTHEW 10:41; 13:17; 25:23-46</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a>ROMANS 3:10-18</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> ROMANS 3:19-26; 5 (the entire chapter)</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> JOHN 3:16-17</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> EZEKIEL 16; JEREMIAH 3:1-11; HOSEA 2:2-23</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref14" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a> EPHESIANS 5:22-33 (especially note verse 32)</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref15" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[15]</span></a> HOSEA 2:5</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref16" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[16]</span></a> HOSEA 2:10</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref17" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[17]</span></a> HOSEA 3:7</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref18" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[18]</span></a> EZEKIEL 16:15-22, but the entire chapter really addresses it</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref19" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[19]</span></a> EZEKIEL 16:1-14</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref20" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[20]</span></a> ROMANS 3:19</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref21" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[21]</span></a> ROMANS 12:12-14</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref22" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[22]</span></a> HEBREWS 4:15</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref23" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[23]</span></a> EZEKIEL 16:62-63</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref24" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[24]</span></a> HOSEA 14 (see especially verse 4)</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref25" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[25]</span></a> GENESIS 3:14-19 (especially verse 15); ISAIAH 41-66 (especially verse 41:28 and 59:15-21); PSALM 2-3</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref26" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[26]</span></a> PSALM 51:10</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref27" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[27]</span></a> ACTS 15:9</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref28" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[28]</span></a> JOHN 8:36</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref29" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[29]</span></a> ROMANS 5:17</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref30" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[30]</span></a> PHILIPPIANS 3:9</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref31" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[31]</span></a> ROMANS 3:22; 4:5</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref32" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[32]</span></a> EZEKIEL 36:26</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref33" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[33]</span></a> EZEKIEL 18:31</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref34" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[34]</span></a> MATTHEW 10:20; ROMANS 8:9; GALATIANS 4:6</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref35" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[35]</span></a> 1 JOHN 1:7-9; REVELATION 1:5; HEBREWS 9:14; EPHESIANS 5:25-26; TITUS 2:14; 2 PETER 1:4</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref36" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[36]</span></a> EPHESIANS 1:13-14</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref37" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[37]</span></a> HEBREWS 10:15-16; MATTHEW 10:19-20; MARK 13:11; LUKE 12:12; 1 JOHN 2:27</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref38" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[38]</span></a> GALATIANS 5:22-23</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref39" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[39]</span></a> GALATIANS 5:19-21</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696352017-11-08T18:00:00-06:002017-11-09T12:45:40-06:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER BLOG 11/9/17: RIGHTEOUSNESS (Part 1)
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<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/b27fa23c94ad55bb2733e5160866675ed566375d/original/metal-ruler-2765212-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDAweDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="400" /> </h1>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">Issue: GOD’S WILL-RIGHTEOUSNESS </span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Today, we continue to pray God’s will for North Minneapolis. This will be the first of a two part series. We have been working through the Lord’s Prayer and meditating on what those statements Jesus taught us to pray mean. God has desires for His creation. Those desires will come to be because He is sovereign and is working to bring them about by means of the gospel proclamation to people He transforms and is transforming. He is making men and women into His image, the image perfectly reflected in His Son, Jesus Christ. We are being formed into His likeness, the likeness seen and heard in His Son. We image Him by creation, but we are made into His likeness. That marred image is reformed through a process of sanctification and the likeness is simultaneously renewed. Let’s look at holiness, because God’s name is holy and this is where our study tonight begins. </span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">WHAT IS HOLINESS?</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“As an attribute of God, His exaltedness above creation and His absolute moral purity. Portrayed as “sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up” (Isa. 6:1), the holy God is completely separated from His creation. Being incomparably exalted, He is worthy of worship. He is proclaimed to be “holy, holy, holy” (Isa. 6:3), utterly pure and uncorrupted by sin, though He engages with a sinful world (Hab. 1) and acts to render sinners holy (Isa. 6:4-6). The holy God consecrates objects, days, and people for His purposes, and He calls His children to progress in holiness (1 Pet. 1:13-16).<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Let me restate this in a simple way: Holiness is who God is. He is completely distinct and different from all else. He is over and above it. God is perfectly pure (completely good and acceptable and perfect). Only God is worthy of worship. </span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">WHAT IS RIGHTEOUSNESS?</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“As an attribute of God, as His uprightness of person, ways, standards, and judgments. God Himself is perfectly righteous, as are His ways in creation, providence, salvation, and consummation (Deut. 32:4). As righteous Himself, God establishes moral standards that reflect His nature, and He requires conformity to those standards. His judgments of His creatures are righteous: He always and justly rewards obedience to His standards, and He always and justly punishes disobedience to them. Because God is righteous, His people should be fair and impartial in their judgments, and they should champion what is right and abhor what is wrong.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> Let me restate this in a simple way: Righteous(ness) is who God is. He is the source of morality and proper morality is a reflection of God. Everything God does in relation to all that exists aligns with His judgment. But let’s add some more clarity to what that last statement means. Here are two additional quotes to consider:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>The concept (righteousness) includes faithfulness, justice, uprightness, correctness, loyalty, blamelessness, purity, salvation, and innocence. Because the theme is related to justification, it has important implications for the doctrine of salvation.</em>”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>Related to humans, righteousness is often found as the opposite of wickedness. Righteousness often occurs in evaluative contexts, where it relates to proper conduct with respect to God, the order of the world as He created it, the covenant, or law (e.g., Deut. 6:25). God reigns in righteousness and justice (e.g., Ps. 97:2), and humans should align their conduct with this righteous reign.</em>”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Summary: All of God’s actions with creation reveal His righteousness. He is faithful to His creation. He is just to His creation. He is upright, correct, loyal, blameless, pure, and innocent to His creation. He is also the savior to His creation. Righteousness is the opposite of wickedness. There is a proper way to live and interact with all that is, and especially so with God. God acts appropriately to all that is and all that is should act appropriately towards all that is, including and especially toward God. This will never include wickedness. </span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOLINESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There is a link between holiness and righteousness. I’ll do my best to explain it. Hopefully it will help us grow in love for God. Holiness and righteousness are both attributes of God. They are words used to describe the person, character, and ways of God. When you observe God and His ways, you see His holiness and righteousness. But there are questions to consider: Where are they the same and where are they different? Are they the same or different? Does one proceed forth from the other or are they two different traits like physical strength and wisdom? </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Holiness is in regard to God in a general sense. God is holy in being. He is completely set apart and above all else. Righteousness has an aspect that deals with relationship to others. It’s a specific manner or relation to others. God is completely in line with the perfect morality that proceeds forth (comes as a reflection) from Him. He is faithful, just, upright, correct, loyal, blameless, pure, a savior, and innocent in relation to all He is in a relationship or covenant. Holiness comes out in actions as does righteousness, but righteousness is displayed in a special covenantal relationship with His people. As much as the two attributes are the same, one is completely separate (holiness) and the other is near (righteousness).<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I believe it is arguable that our experience with God’s righteousness is how we begin to rightly view God’s holiness. That all happens in light of how unrighteous we are in relationship to Him. At the same time, we learn God’s righteousness when we first see Him as holy. We first see Him as holy when we are confronted with our wickedness in light of sin. When our eyes are opened to see God as who He is, then we experience fear and realize our wickedness. There is a felt revelation of our brokenness. We are broken because of sin, but we are also broken because we suddenly become aware of the reality and presence of our sin. But in His reaction to us, we experience additional aspects of His righteousness and our lives are forever altered. We experience His mercy, loyalty, faithfulness, and steadfast love. Holiness and righteousness mutually inform each other in our experience with growing in a knowledge and relationship with God through Jesus. </span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">GOD DESIRES HIS PEOPLE “BE” RIGHTEOUS</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God created man to reflect (or “be like”) Him in His image and actions.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> This includes reigning over all of the earth and its creatures.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> Righteousness and unrighteousness is displayed in the pages of Genesis. God calls Noah righteous for example. John wrote that Cain was unrighteous in 1 John as well. There are distinctions God wants us to note in relation to the person and the actions that flow forth from them. But there are two relationships that need to be distinguished before we go forward. The first is that there is an expectation of man to be righteous toward God. The second is that man be righteous toward man. This is an important distinction, but they are really joined together in the heart. Only a relationship that rightly views God and acts accordingly will respect and love men who are made in His image. But we have a problem. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Sin is against God and is the revelation of unrighteousness. Its presence exists in the inner man, in His heart and thoughts, before it comes out in actions towards others. Sin is a transgression. It is line crossing in a sense. We have boundaries. We can love and enjoy without borders, but must not overstep the boundary of love into hate, impurity, injustice, faithlessness, and so on. That all starts at a tree. The separation between God and man, by essence of the holiness of God, could not be bridged, yet mankind in Adam and Eve thought they could grasp it and remove the chasm from image bearer to equal with God. That existed in the heart before it was revealed by God’s good law: Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> Satan has surely been a murderer and liar from the beginning. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But the desire for distinction and separation continues today. We “play” God in our own lives and seek to Lord over all that exists, including man. We do not reflect God, we reflect the absence of holiness and righteousness. We bear the image of our father Satan. We lash out in hate. We lie, cheat, steal, and kill. Before you reach for the fruit on the tree of knowledge in hopes you can distinguish yourself from all us other sinners consider what Jesus, who is God in the flesh, said: Lust in one’s heart is adultery and anger in one’s own heart is murder. All who do not tithe are stealing from God. All who tithe, but do not care for their family disobey God’s law. It goes on and on and on. Then there are verses that make it so clear: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> We can go all day long looking for other people to measure our righteousness, but the law shuts our mouths and Christ’s perfectly righteous life condemns us. Other people aren’t the standard. God is. And God sent Jesus to testify to this and show us the standard. So if we must be righteous, but prove to not be, is there hope?</span></p>
<h1><span style="color:#ffffff">CHRIST IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Christ is the standard of righteousness. He came to fulfill the law and did so perfectly.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> In doing so, we are now able to enter the covenant of grace with His righteousness given to us and our debt paid by His death on the cross with our sin. He is the end of the law for us.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> God justifies us by faith in Christ’s finished work.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> That means God declares us righteous in the form of justness. He judges us as just. God even says, “And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftn13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> We get the grace, in this case righteousness we don’t deserve and couldn’t earn, and God gets the glory! </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Gregg R. Allison, “Holiness” in The Baker Compact Dictionary of Theological Terms, pages 100-101.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> Gregg R. Allison, “Righteousness” in The Baker Compact Dictionary of Theological Terms, pages 184-185.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> Tremper Longman III, “Righteousness” in The Baker Compact Bible Dictionary, pages 289-290</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> Tremper Longman III, “Righteousness” in The Baker Compact Bible Dictionary, pages 289-290</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> Quick Note: Holiness is near in the person of Jesus Christ as well as in His people through faith by the presence of the Spirit. Yet there still exists a separation between the person God and those that contain His Spirit. I struggle to explain the difference in much the same way I struggle to explain that God is one and at the same time three persons. My hope is not to complicate or oversimplify the matter, but to show the relationship of righteousness in a distinct manner to inform the study of the word and thus the study of the special revelation of God who calls us to live righteously while resting in the righteousness of Christ in salvation. </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> GENESIS 1:26a: “Let us make God in our image, to be like us.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref7" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> GENESIS 1:26b: “They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref8" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> I referenced, but did not direct quote GENESIS 2:17.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref9" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> ROMANS 3:23</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref10" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> MATTHEW 5:17-18</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref11" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> ROMANS 10:4</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref12" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> ACTS 13:39</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/Michael%20Strong/Desktop/BLOGS/WHAT%20IS%20HOLINESS.docx#_ftnref13" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> ROMANS 3:22a</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696342017-11-07T18:00:00-06:002017-11-08T10:13:27-06:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER FOR 11/08/17: YOUR SANCTIFICATION
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/15f93d84028eaa0bf2f64831de65598838022b5a/original/hands-1283146-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="450" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Issue: God’s Will-Your Sanctification</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In our continuing study of God’s will for North Minneapolis (and really His will for each of us who are His), we move from a general position of all creation under Christ’s Lordship into a personal process of sanctification. Let me put it another way so walk with me for a second. Everything is under the authority of God because He is the Creator and Lord of everything He has made. He has authority because it is His. But we see that God the Father has created and sustained everything in order to put it under the authority of Jesus Christ.<a title="" href="#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Jesus is now Lord over everything to the glory of God and every knee will bow and tongue confess Him as such.<a title="" href="#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> Even the enemies of God like Satan, Death, Hades, and all who continue in rebellion against God are under His Lordship. We see that in the reality that He judges and sends them to their eternal dwelling at Judgment Day. They obey and go where He sends, like it or not. But there is a special will for those who put their faith in Him, those that are His, and it has an aim: Sanctification that will result in glorification. I’m going to focus a bit on the sanctification part.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let me give you a couple of general descriptions that I believe can be summarized by the specific will of sanctification:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.</em>”<a title="" href="#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.</em>”<a title="" href="#_ftn4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.</em>”<a title="" href="#_ftn5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.</em>”<a title="" href="#_ftn6" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Here’s my argument. All four of these passages are dealing with life in the world. The world is the general creation. It can mean amongst believers or unbelievers or simply amongst unbelievers. Hebrews is addressing the supremacy of Christ in light of the affliction and suffering believers are feeling. A major problem the letter addresses is the pull of the world to leave the believers and turn into persecutors in some cases. That passage above summarizes and points to the truths the believers are called to trust in for a particular purpose: endure with hope. Another way to say it is to look at its warning: Don’t be conformed (molded into) the image the world is putting pressure on you to take on. Stand firm in the faith and you will be molded into the image God is working in you.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The second passage above deals with protecting the mind in the world. We get hit with so many arguments for conforming to an image that is not Christ. But no idea or way that is not good and acceptable and perfect is God’s way. In order to be conformed to God’s image you will have to fight conformity that comes in the form of pressure called testing. The way you fight is by renewing your mind. You renew your mind by knowing the truth of God’s words, not manipulations or distortions of it. The primary distortion in Romans is acceptance or non-acceptance based on your familial line or taking on conformity to the Law of Moses. Instead, we are all, Jew and every other people, saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone. This is the truth of all Scripture. Such conformity calls for knowing the mind of Christ in Scripture and being renewed (transformed from our old worldly way of thinking to believing God’s word) in our mind. The mind is changed as pressure is applied and we cling to God by faith instead of fearing men or acting in accordance with false teaching.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The third passage is also in a letter meant to strengthen and direct believers who are suffering persecution for their faith. It is a straightforward truth. God wants us to be thankful in all circumstances. This thankfulness flows out by “giving thanks”. Praise God whether you are suffering, at peace, or in any mixture of both. Why? It is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. God wants you to be truly thankful, not trying to act thankful though that may be how it starts, in whatever situation you face including times of persecution. I think this passage works in concert with the fourth. Our genuine god produced thankfulness and the faith which produces it does not simply act thankful, but overflows in good for those who attack us. These good works are unexplainable to our enemies and attackers. When this occurs under intense pressure it points to the object of our faith, Jesus Christ, as completely sufficient. Christ’s worthiness as displayed in our unexplainable lives causes silence in our enemies. They can’t explain, defend, or truly stand against Jesus. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Romans 8 outlines the gift of the Holy Spirit in the midst of our turmoil with sin. The Holy Spirit is a down payment, a valuable gift left as proof that a greater payment is coming. It’s like a safety deposit for an apartment or car, but so much more valuable. The greater payment is the inheritance of all things for eternity as sons of Christ. God outlines His promise in the later portion of Romans 8 and it includes moving to glorification. The process of getting to glorification is sanctification. Sanctification is a word that means we are set apart and being made holy. We are being shaped into the image of Christ. This process of being made holy is also a process of being separated from all that is not holy. God does this from Genesis 1 on. He separates light from darkness as He creates. Jesus separates the sheep from the goats. Israel is separated from the other nations. Likewise and all a part of that is God’s work to separate each of us who make up His body, the church, from those that in varying degrees look like us, but are not of us. This includes those who claim Christ as Lord, but do not endure and thus prove they were never really His. How does He do this? Through obedience in testing. His sheep obey His voice and they follow Him. Those who love Him obey His word, not the world’s. It’s a hard process, but the payoff is out of this world! And in the meantime, His grace is sufficient to truly produce peace, joy, love, and all of the fruit of the Spirit.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Ephesians 5 takes us through the same process, but clearly says we cannot be participants in sin, nor in the act of staying in and around it. How do we do that? We stand against it in word and deed. We expose sin by shining the light on them. We call each other to wake up. Why? We should understand the Lord’s will for us. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit, nothing else, and overflow in worship and good fruit. 1 Thessalonians 4:3a says it clearly: “God’s will is for you to be holy…” In Ephesians 5 its wine, in 1 Thessalonians it's sexual sin. In all cases its sin. Sin is not holy. It is not good and acceptable and perfect. It’s the opposite. It is evil and unacceptable and broken. God is making us good and acceptable and perfect.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Clarification: The finished work of Christ is the only place of our hope. We don’t get good enough, acceptable enough, or perfect enough. Far from it in light of the person Christ. We have no way to measure up against Him as the standard. No. We have been saved by grace through faith in Christ and God has proclaimed we will be made into His image. Our baptism is in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In naming ceremonies or covenants with God, God produces what is needed in those whom He has already decided to work on. He does this not based on merit, but on the basis of His goodness, mercy, kindness, and for His glory. He saves wretches, heals the sick (not the righteous), and makes people who are broken, sinful, and evil (like me) and changes them so when they are tested it proves true that Jesus is supreme, nothing will be able to pull them away from Him. His hold is unrelenting. The presence of faith in the midst of persecution when you could so simply reject Him, follow in sin, or trust (fear) someone or something else testifies to this and condemns His enemies. It purifies the faithful.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Our prayer today is for God’s will to be done in North Minneapolis and each of His children’s lives (as well as yours). We want to see people trust in Christ and joyfully endure as God purifies them. He is the Potter, we are the clay, and no other potter can make us what God has not called us to be. We will be made holy. And we will be changed in such a way that joy and peace and love are present. Our hope is not in this world or its people and treasures, but in the ultimate treasure: Jesus Christ. Please pray that be a testimony that is increasingly and clearly true here.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Thanks for your prayers,</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> There is a lot of nuance I am jumping over right now that can be dangerous. Let me put a quick caveat. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all worked to create all that exists. They are all present and active in creation. The New Testament clarifies Jesus as Creator and Sustainer. That’s a much larger blog worth addressing in the future, not here and now though.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> Philippians 2:9-11</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> Hebrews 13:20-21</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> Romans 12:2</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> 1 Thessalonians 5:18</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> 1 Peter 2:15</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696332017-11-06T18:00:00-06:002017-11-07T10:28:43-06:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER BLOG FOR 11/07/17: THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Issue: God’s Will-The Lordship of Christ</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">When we began praying the Lord’s Prayer for North Minneapolis, we began with some needs. That was out of order, but relevant. Need drive us to seek help outside of ourselves. Jesus often took care of needs that were driving men and women to seek a greater help than what was available. Others had needs, but didn’t see a source of help until they met Christ. Needs point us to our smallness, our helplessness, our weakness, and ultimately point us to Christ. The greatest need we have is to be freed from slavery to anything other than Christ. At the heart of that bondage is sin. Sin separates us from God and others. Guilt and shame that come from the law can literally kill you. We find out later we were spiritually dead the whole time. God’s revealed will tells us that God has done a work from eternity past for the purpose of uniting all things under Christ.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let’s see it in Scripture: “And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth.”<a title="" href="#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But there is a deeper purpose than bringing, or uniting, all things under the authority of Christ and God makes this clear a few verses down: “He did this so we would praise and glorify him.”<a title="" href="#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> I hate picking a few verses out to explain something so please read all of the good news in Ephesians 1:3-14. There is a lot! The point is this: Christ’s supremacy is the purpose of all that is and that supremacy comes as we enjoy Him and pour out praise and worship (glorify Him).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So how does that unity happen? How do we become people who pour out praise and worship? Colossians 1 gives a pretty good summary: “This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.” Let me break this down. The problem we face, the thing that keeps us from praising and worshipping God is our evil thoughts and actions which has separated us from God. Sin has broken fellowship with our good God. Something had to be done to bring us to Him. Jesus, God in the flesh, had to come to earth and die on a cross for our sins. The physical death of Christ makes spiritual life available to those who put their faith in Him. We are now able to stand before God without blame or a single fault.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But how do we learn our need or about the help that is available? By the preaching of the gospel. The gospel simply means “good news”. Somebody has to bring that news and speak it to us. Then we have to hear it and believe it is true for us that we need help and help is available in Jesus. We then must abandon all of the things we hoped in. We trust in Christ Jesus alone. His work has done it all. If anyone receives our message with faith, they will be free. Praise and worship will begin to flow out. This glorifies God. Taking that message is not so easy. If you’ve ever attempted evangelism, you likely know how hard it is to share this message with others where it does not lead to personal attacks by word and deed. We are so sick before Christ, that it is impossible to believe that message unless God has prepared the heart to receive it. And He does prepare hearts. His grace is irresistible to those whom He has called and prepared. His sheep hear His voice and react with faith.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This gospel message was sent from the beginning of time, but a major turn came after Christ had died and rose from the grave. He sent His disciples out with instructions to make disciples baptizing them in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey all the commands I have given you (the disciples). He sent them by first telling them the Father had given Him all authority at that time. That is what drove the request. The risen Lord Jesus is in power over everything. There is nothing He does not have power over. And He gave them a promise that fuels faith: “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”<a title="" href="#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Those promises are true for us as well. Jesus is still reigning on the throne. No enemy, power, situation, or any other thing can stand between us and the accomplishment of Jesus’ will. Success is guaranteed. And He is with us in the work. That power is not far away from us or unattached to us. It goes with us wherever we go. We are all called to go in some way, shape, or form. We must take the message of the gospel out. If we were to be taught to obey all that the disciples were commanded, we join in this command as well. Go make disciples. This is a glorious work. To bring freedom and healing from sin’s power is nothing short of joining the miraculous work of Jesus. And it comes by a message, a message we have personally experienced the power of as we were also told of the good news of Jesus. So we seek out brothers and sisters who are still trapped and lost. We call them back home.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This is why we are in North Minneapolis. This is where we are at the moment. We plan on sharing the same hope that we have. And our hope is that those who believe will enjoy God and worship Him. Part of that enjoyment comes in transformed lives that follow Jesus wherever He calls them. We hope to pass down the same call as part of the greater call of freedom in Christ. Please pray for gospel boldness. Pray for the promise of God’s presence and power to hold us and propel us forward. Pray that we will find brothers and sisters. Pray for partners in this work. We look forward to enjoying fellowship in all that comes with ministry and life as a believer. Pray that North Minneapolis would be transformed forever for the glory of God and the joy of all peoples.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Thanks for your prayers,</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Ephesians 1:10</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> Ephesians 1:14b</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> Matthew 28:20</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696322017-11-04T19:00:00-05:002017-11-05T05:11:17-06:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER FOCUS FOR 11/05/17: THE SABBATH
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Issue: God’s Will-Image through Rest</span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="color:#ffffff">8 “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.</span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="color:#ffffff">-Exodus 20:8-11</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I’ve been working through a CCEF course over the last 8 or so weeks. We have had the blessing of looking at some of the Ten Commandments in the course of our reading. This week I was able to reflect on rest. To reflect on rest, we have to reflect on God as well as work. I want to share with you some thoughts on the Sabbath Day.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Man was created in the image of God. All men today are in the image of God. All men <em>are</em>. You don’t do anything to earn this image. You were created in it. Sin has distorted the image, for sure, but the image is still there. All people reflect things about God. One of those things involves work. God worked for six days to create all that is. The work of His hands is very good. One of the things He gave to Adam before Adam sinned was work. Work is very good. It’s part of the image bearing man is intended to reflect and enjoy. Man is intended to enjoy work. Man was made to work.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">With sin, we sweat and toil and work hard and still bear thorns and thistles. Our work is not without bad fruit. That’s part of the curse. At the same time work is a gift. It’s one of the good ways we know God. It’s also one of the good ways God provides what we need. God’s provision is all grace. It is unmerited. We didn’t do anything to deserve what we receive. Still, hard work can reap amazing results by the grace of God. Other times we get little to no harvest. The work is in our hands. The results are in God’s hands. We labor with joy and we rest in God. We can till the field. We can prepare it to receive the seed by doing certain things like molding it to hold water, putting minerals and fertilizer in the soil, digging lines for growing the seed and spreading the seed apart so they don’t kill each other when they start to grow, planting a field where it will receive the light it needs, carving out space so fires don’t cross over into the field, and so on. But we need rain, we need good seed, we need time, and the weather and elements can cause negative effects (drought, natural disasters destroy a whole crop, the sun doesn’t shine as the crop needs, or the sun shines too much). The elements can also cause positive effects when you have the right amount of rain, the right amount of wind, the right amount of sun, etc. Throw in the dangers of animals and bugs that will eat and destroy the crops and you get a whole lot of work and a whole lot of need that rests on God. Some things are just out of your control. Ask any farmer.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">You go to the field (having a field is a gift) and plant seed (having seed is a gift). You have prepared it and still rest in the hopes that what the crops need will come to pass. You have no knowledge of the results, but you work because of the hope that it may yield a crop. Your body needs food. You have some need of money to purchase the other things you desire to have. Ultimately, you are doing all this work without the benefits with the hopes that you will have a healthy abundant crop to enjoy the fruit of your labors. Then after you’ve done the parts you can do in the season you should do it and you have to wait…and hope. You do the little things you can, but most of the season is about waiting and hoping. Then comes the season for harvest. What comes forth is what you have. You receive it. You go out and do the work of harvesting, gathering, preparing, and selling. Then what do you do?</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">You enjoy it.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Little or much you enjoy what you receive.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This is the first picture of the fourth commandment. God is a creator who has done all of the work to create His garden (the earth) and all that is in it (including His children who will inherit it). And God rests and enjoys it. He looks out over the work that is done and sees that it is good and He invites His family into that enjoyment. The Bible points to God’s enjoyment of the fruit of His harvest as a bountiful feast with wine and food and family. There is no work. This is a time of rest. It’s a time to reflect on all that has been done and what good has come of it. We too are called to do the same.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">With the New Testament, we see that the Sabbath is much bigger in scope. There is a greater rest that we enjoy that came through the finished work of Jesus. He, like His Father, invites us to join in the work (by inheritance) and to share in the passing down. He also invites us to enjoy the rest now and the greater, perfect rest in the age to come when the entire earth is harvested and all of the work is completely finished. It’s pictured as the wedding feast of the New Covenant. One way we enjoy this now is by gathering together as a family each week in corporate worship and in the table of the Lord through the ordinance or sacrament of communion. We take of the bread and drink of the wine (I prefer real wine though grape juice works just as well) and reflect, or remember, all that God has done. Then on Monday we get back to work.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Without the work, there is no feast. No harvest equals no crops to eat. No vineyard equals no wine (or Welch’s grape juice). No work means there is no rest. You will toil in the time you are called to rest and enjoy. You will have to search for food and drink. But God is a gracious giver and calls us to come and eat bread we didn’t make and wine we can’t buy. We too invite others into our feast. And we invite them into His work. We have many jobs within the body. Some are farmers, others teachers, some preachers, others are plumbers, carpenters, electricians. All of these occupations can glorify God if we work them knowing God is the giver of good gifts including work. Or they can show the heart of a slave who does so joylessly to serve desires the world, our flesh, and Satan yokes upon us if we will take them.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Israel was free and blessed, yet in famine they abandoned their home, went into Egypt, received the harvest they had not worked for, and …never left and went back home. Slowly, they accepted laws until they became slaves and were no longer free to leave. Then they worked for what they were given harvesting the fields of others. They could not decide what they would receive, how much they should or should not work, or what type of work they would engage in. They had become slaves inside and out. This is a real life picture from real life people, but its got a bigger message than just Israel in slavery to Egypt. Men are enslaved to Satan and do his work (sin) for his kingdom. What seemed like salvation at first became the same chains that enslaved them. Men are happy to stay where they are as long as they believe they will get the things they think they need. Yet sin delivers less and less and you find yourself ensnared in slavery that cannot simply be broken. Your enemy is far stronger than you are and neither is your mind or heart strong enough to break free. Your slave master(s) pursues and you get ready to surrender for fear of death.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The Israelites didn’t see what God was teaching them and they remained in the wilderness for forty years until all who were to afraid to enter the Promised Land finally died off and the next generation, purged and cleansed through the process, were all that were left. But the work God had was still not complete, so their stay there was not to last. They found new slavemasters as they failed to obey God and conceded here and there on killing all sin (as pictured in the peoples of the land). Sin tricked them. They conceded. They got eradicated and enslaved again.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Such is the warning for the Christian life. We must work diligently by the sweat of the brow to provide for our families. We toil in different fields, but we toil. Unfortunately, too many of us are bound and thus toil where we are promised our desires instead of seeking the promised fields God has provided. We stay too long and get bound by the law and rules of other bond masters.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">To enjoy the Sabbath, we have to learn to rightly view work. It is a good gift and there is a time to diligently work to establish a harvest. But then work comes to a necessary halt. We are to rightly enjoy the work of our hands, as big or as small as the Lord decides to give. And our rest is not just for ourselves, but for others that work with us. Check out Deuteronomy’s description of this commandment:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 You have six days each week for your ordinary work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you. All your male and female servants must rest as you do. 15 Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day.<a title="" href="#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In both passages, God gives a reflection to rightly understand our work. In the first set of commandments, He says to reflect on God’s work in creation. Your work and rest are part of reflecting and knowing Him. In this second law presentation the reflection looks at what God has done in freeing these people from slavery. Two different reflections for the same law, to the same people, from the same God. Here’s the point I got from it and I believe it is the point we our to get today: You can approach work and rest two different ways. One leads to slavery, the other leads to freedom and enjoyment. It is not a freedom from servitude, but the one that leads to life is found in knowing God and what He desires for you. This is freedom in servitude to a good Lord. The other is slavery to food, needs, and rest in the improper time(s). You become a slave to a lord that has no love for you…and ultimately no rest.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In both commandments, we see rest comes for the worker, his family, his servants, the livestock, and even the land. In this rest, everyone benefits. But the second set warns us to remember there is a reality that not all lords are equal. Some will not give their people, livestock, or land rest necessarily. They desire power, control, resources, and nothing is necessarily allowed rest. The Egyptian pharaoh increased the workload on the Israelites and did not grant them any true freedom. As you look at your life and all of the good gifts, remember to work hard under the Lordship of God who desires you to enjoy His good harvest and its gifts. He grants rest. Enjoy it. Fear becoming a slave to the harvest, the fruits, your desire to not work, Satan, your flesh, and the world’s standards. And treat all that God has given you with the same love He calls you to enjoy. Give others rest. Invite others into your work, His work, for their good. Fight for freedom…in slavery…to the only true good Lord, Jesus Christ.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Pray for God’s gospel to transform work and rest in the lives of God’s people here. Pray for rest for those who are burdened by sin and the slave masters who bind us (Satan, our flesh, and the world system that tells us what we need and what we should want). Pray for satisfied hearts that receive with joy whatever God has given (contentment). Pray for strength as we toil here planting gospel seeds. Pray for workers to join us in our God’s good work. Pray for a bountiful harvest as He has promised it is. Pray we will beware of the snares of Satan. Pray for God’s glory to abundant as we sit at His table. Pray for me as I seek to move into fulltime ministry here so I can narrow my work into building the church through preaching, teaching, and fellowship.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Thanks for your prayers!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Deuteronomy 5:12-15</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696312017-11-03T19:00:00-05:002017-11-04T15:08:29-05:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER FOCUS FOR 11/04/17: THE GOSPEL
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color:#ffffff"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/aab5d75bed1c09477d88912bb382d100e48be107/original/snow-1030928-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="450" /></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Issue: God’s Will-The Gospel</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We’ve been praying a lot about what’s going on in North Minneapolis lately. I’ve presented some statistics and needs to share with you about who we are and what’s going on in our lives as a people. Most of these needs are pretty general and differ in different places around the country (and world) as far as how poverty, sin, and religion are interspersed, but in reality there are issues like this everywhere. It doesn’t matter where you go there is a need for the gospel. There is also a need for the people of God to be a light there too. This is God’s will: the gospel will come to every inch of the earth and all the people that inhabit it for His glory. Sin wears different masks, but the problem is still sin. The effects and spread of sin is a problem God cares a ton about. He sent His Son to die so that it might be eradicated and people might be freed to be in relationship with Him.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">As a new church planter I sometimes battle with what to share and how to ask people to pray. Let me explain. Most people are drawn to the bad, things that cause fear or alarm. We all have a ton of that in our lives. I don’t go many days without facing the pain of sin in my life. I commit sin and it hurts me and others. I’m not exempt from sin. On the other side, I see the effects of sin crushing people around me, people I love. I’m especially drawn to go to the same places Jesus went. He was recorded as going outside of the city gates to the desolate places, the places where the “unclean” people were (and are). He cared for the people who were looked down upon and where sin was pretty easy to pick out. He went to the lepers, the poor, the prostitutes, the tax collectors, and to the place of the Gentiles (people who were not Jews and were viewed as unclean for that reason). He touched the untouchables and He let the untouchables touch Him. What happened? Healing came. But the way He did it sounds so crazy to think about. He gathered together a few disciples and spent three years teaching with them and going deeper with them. Two thousand years later and the whole world is changed. It’s not perfect, but its far better off because He came and built His church. He laid the foundation well.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The conflict is not in any of this. Instead, its in explaining the reason we want to church plant. There is great opportunity. It’s not about having the most murders or violent crime. It’s not about being in the most impoverished place. It’s not about a census on widows, orphans, prisoners, and so on. It’s about the call you have on your heart and the hope He gives you with the vision. As a church planter you are excited about two things: 1) I get to join Jesus in His work and 2) I get to see His miraculous gospel ministry reverberate through the world as a result.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I’m not jaded. Ministry is perhaps the hardest job on the books. Not many should be teachers. The love and expectations can war with each other. You have to be on guard of spiritual warfare from Satan himself that seeks to destroy you and your family. And you get to understand clearly how whatever you do will never be enough or satisfy those you came to set free. We all have different calls. We need Christian business people, stay at home mothers, deacons, elders, encouragers, folks with gifts of hospitality, encouragement, and so many others. We need artists and musicians. Every single person has a call, a unique ministry they were created by God to fulfill. And you can’t run from it. It is in you so its always there. Mine is no different or greater (more special). As scary and overwhelming as it is (am I ready to be persecuted, falsely accused, imprisoned, socially ostracized, abandoned, beaten, maybe even killed), it’s all worth it because God has given me a hope and a joy in walking with Him in my call. And some days, I just want to tell you how amazing an opportunity and how enjoyable a place I get to live and, therefore, serve in. You serve wherever you are and that is God’s will.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So tonight I want to share a quote about religion that is applicable anywhere and also say that I couldn’t have a better place to set our roots down in and get to grow in the journey of love God has called us to right here in Near North Minneapolis. The war starts in my own heart.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The quote comes from Timothy Keller’s Center Church.<a title="" href="#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> He is in the middle of explaining the effects of the gospel on every aspect of life and arguing for the need for gospel renewal everywhere. He begins to open up a problem every person in this entire world faces: our natural tendency to depend on self-justification. He states there is a misconception by many Christians that the gospel gets you saved and then you move on past it. The gospel isn’t something we need to preach and teach each other all the time. That’s the thought. Keller disagrees and so do I. Here’s what he says in response to those who believe we need to move past the gospel to stand against post modern thought that makes sin a non-issue and therefore dedicate ourselves to standing against “licentiousness” or “antinomianism” that needs to be harshly rebuked so sin won’t abound:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“Some claim that to always strike a note of “grace, grace, grace” in our sermon is not helpful. The objection goes like this: “Surely Pharisaism and moralism are not the current problem in our culture. Rather our problem is license and antinomianism. People lack a sense of right or wrong. It is redundant to talk about grace all the time to postmodern people.” First, unless you point to the “good news” of grace, people won’t even be able to <em>bear </em>the “bad news” of God’s judgment. Second, unless you critique moralism, many irreligious people will not grasp the difference between moralism and what you are offering in the gospel. A deep grasp of the gospel is the antidote to license and antinomianism.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In the end, legalism and relativism in churches are not just equally wrong; they are basically the same thing. They are just different strategies of self-salvation built on human effort. No matter whether a church is loose about doctrine and winks at sin or is marked by scolding and rigidity, it will lack the power it promises. The only way into a ministry that see’s people’s lives change, that brings joy and power and electricity without authoritarianism, is through preaching the gospel that deconstruct both legalism and relativism.” </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">What’s the point? We need the gospel to be center of our preaching in order to rip our grasps (all of us) from a salvation that doesn’t rest in Christ alone.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In other words, we need to rely in God’s power (the gospel), not our power (a particular siloed view of the problems we face) so that real transformation can take place.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">As diverse and dark as North Minneapolis can seem based on the stats, we are here (and plan to stay as long as God keeps us) because it is a joy to be here. We love the diversity in people, thoughts, backgrounds, food, and entertainment. We love seeing God’s hand in all of this. We love our neighbors, friends, and the body of believers here. Believe it or not, we are a part of the diversity in the evangelical spectrum represented. We are reformed unabashedly. And most of our brothers and sisters here are not. Yet they have shown us the love of Christ and I hope we have done the same. We want to love this people well. We want to see God’s hand continue to move mountains and set captives free. Please pray God will continue to satisfy us and His gospel will be our joy. May the passion for God’s supremacy continue to spread in North Minneapolis for God’s glory and the joy of all people here.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Timothy Keller, Center Church. Page 66.</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696302017-10-30T19:00:00-05:002017-10-31T04:03:27-05:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER FOCUS FOR 10/31/17: ALL HALLOW'S EVE AND THE BONDAGE OF PAGANISM
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/a39b1cc38cc7a08189b69da234e378d907405924/original/potion-2217630-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDg2eDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="486" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Issue: God’s Will-All Hallow’s Eve and the Bondage of Paganism</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Yesterday we looked at religion and how it differs from God’s will in His work of grace for salvation. Today, we will continue to look at the bondage of sin. God’s will is to free us, or save us, from this bondage. Religion ensnares men and women much like a net. Sin does this as well. Guilt and shame can wrap us up and keep us bound, but thanks be to God who has set us free from guilt and shame by taking both upon Himself on the cross! But before I get off on a praise rant, let’s jump into the history of Halloween, or All Hallow’s Eve.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let’s start with a quick summary from History.com<a title="" href="#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a>:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>Halloween is an annual holiday, celebrated each year on October 31, that has roots in age-old European traditions. It originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints; soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. The evening before was known as All Hallows Eve, and later Halloween. Over time, Halloween evolved into a day of activities like trick-or-treating and carving jack-o-lanterns. Around the world, as days grow shorter and nights get colder, people continue to usher in the season with gatherings, costumes and sweet treats.</em>”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let’s look a little closer at Samhain to better understand what we are really dealing with:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Samhain (pronounced sow-in) is directly tied to human death. The bitter cold of winter and its relation to death was magnified by the belief that the two worlds, that of the living and that of the dead, would crossover one night a year. Samhein is that day. Druids (Celtic priests) would attempt to foretell the future since this otherworldly power was believed to be available and increase accuracy of prophecy. But it went further than that:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>To commemorate the event, Druids built huge sacred bonfires, where the people gathered to burn crops and animals as sacrifices to the Celtic deities. During the celebration, the Celts wore costumes, typically consisting of animal heads and skins, and attempted to tell each other’s fortunes.</em>”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The story can go on and on. I think its one worthy of discussion. Minneapolis is home to several pagan religious groups and Anoka is the Halloween capital of the world.<a title="" href="#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> That makes it pretty personal to those of us who live here. We have friends and family that have some level of agreement and belief with the cultures and people represented in this story. Harnessing the powers available in nature and from the spiritual realm is not a detached, far off belief system. I’ve been with worshippers in Little Rock, AR and Minneapolis who sacrifice animals, use candles and incantations, and seek spiritual help from entities that are able to cross over and interact. It’s everywhere. More importantly, Jesus loves His people who are involved in these “arts” and He calls us to love them and seek them as well in order to free them by His finished work. He is the sacrifice that frees us from sin and death. His message is the power that works in us and through us. He gives us His very Spirit, the Spirit of the Father, the Holy Spirit which dwells within us and works to protect, preserve, and apply the holiness of God to us. We read the only truly Holy book, the Bible, which is the Word of our God who is the Creator of all that exists. God has revealed Himself to us in nature and frees us to see Him there. His glory still fills the earth, though it is marred. There are lots of bridges where we can relate to our neighbors who worship differently than we do and have not heard or believed the gospel. Pagans are our neighbors. We are no less called to know God by reaching out and really loving them.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Here is why: Religion is slavery. All Hallows Eve is marked by fear. The people who lived in these towns that celebrated Samhein would dress up in order to protect themselves from spirits. They couldn’t walk down the street as themselves or they might be overtaken. So they created costumes. “<em>The spirits were believed to be either "entertained by the living", or to "find a body to possess for the incoming year". This all gives reasons as to why "dressing up like witches, ghosts and goblins, villagers could avoid being possessed.</em>"<a title="" href="#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> Think about that quote. Imagine really believing that spirits are here walking around and one might inhabit, or possess, you. Sounds like some of the issues we see in the Bible except spiritual warfare is a day in and day out battle, right? A LOT of people still deal with this in their daily lives. But also imagine the bondage of having to do all of the right things to keep spirits from hurting, attacking, overpowering you? Add in the fact that you believe other people are just as able to use spirits to harm you as you are at using them or protecting yourself from them and you get a hamster wheel of work that you have to do at all times <em>in hopes</em> that you will be protected. Of course, that’s just a hope, not a guarantee. So rest is out of the question.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But God is sovereign over Satan and all of his (Satan’s) army of evil angels (demons). They cannot do anything God does not allow and we have the promise of God that He (God) is working for our good. He will not allow Satan to separate us from His (God’s) love. Nor will God allow our enemy to overcome us. He intercedes on our behalf, protects us with His word, delivers us from evil, commands the demons who must obey Him, and gives us the power to stand against Satan, Himself, who will flee from us if we resist Him. Jesus commanded demons during His time on earth in the flesh. He also went toe to toe with Satan in the wilderness in an extremely weakened state from fasting. And even in His human weakness, Satan was nothing but a toothless viper who had no power and was vanquished. One of our precious gifts from God in the work of salvation is the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit or Christ and our Father, that lives in and on us. We are sealed and protected from Satan and His army’s ability to indwell us. He also lives within us and Scripture, our great gift from God, also explains that darkness and light cannot dwell together. When the Holy Spirit moves in, no other spirit can come and dwell there. This is a great promise for those of us who have feared Satan and the spirits.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">It is also worth noting that the general revelation of a need for a sacrifice (or sacrifices) is not far off. Jesus is our perfect sacrifice. See, the blood of bulls and goats (or any other animal) is insufficient for our real problem: we deserve to be puished by God for our sin, our rebellion, against Him. We need a sacrifice. Pagans aren’t off on that point. But the sacrifices are insufficient to make up for our sin. They just point to a greater need and a very real warning. We will pay for our sins. Blood will be spilled. But here’s the gospel. God, in His mercy, has sent His Son who never sinned and is spotless (perfectly clean) who willingly went to die on the cross under man and God’s wrath so that we might be saved from God’s wrath. But you have to know that sacrifice is for you personally. If you do, you won’t need any other sacrifices. You won’t have to worry about demon possession or live the continuous cycle of doing acts that will protect you or bring you good. God knows all of your needs and He works in all things to bring it about. On top of that, He has the power to guarantee it. There is no worry here. You can lay down guilt and shame, cast out fear, and instead rest in Christ and the work of God for your good.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Today I ask you pray that we have gospel conversations with our neighbors who are enslaved to working for their protection. Pray God would deliver some (or all) of them from the bondage to Satan and His demons. Pray God would cast out fear in our and their lives. Pray God would richly dwell in them. Pray God would bring new birth and the freedom, which comes for freedom’s sake. Pray that grace would overpower fear and mercy would be abundant. Pray that love would bind us to God’s children here. Pray that we would stand on the truth and not give sway to threats or pressure to conform to paganism in order to preach the gospel. That’s a real threat, just look at what Pope Gregory III did.<a title="" href="#_ftn4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> No Christian is less susceptible to sin. We need God’s grace. We also need to meet people where they are and walk with them in love. Pray for much of that. Jesus has done it with each one of us who knows Him. He is far more gracious than any of us are. May we grow in His likeness in this way.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Thanks for your prayers.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Note: Don’t forget to join the mailing list to get updates on the church plant and free resources in the future.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> John A. Mayer, Cityview Report, page 9.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> http://www.albany.edu/~dp1252/isp523/halloween.html</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> NOTE: I take my kids trick or treating. We also give out candy. I’m getting at the addition of pagan religion into corporate worship. This is a heart issue and deals with one’s desire to retain non-Christian, pagan elements of religion by “mixing” it with Christianity. Worship is then fundamentally changed and the pagan beliefs, which are not grounded in Scripture, become “baptized” or “sanctified” in the minds of the participants. Our familiy’s participation some years and non-participation is grounded in the principle Paul applies to meat sacrificed in the temple. Our conscience is not stained and we do not seek spiritual power rooted in pagan beliefs because there is none. There are no other gods and demons must submit to God. Instead, we prayerfully engage our culture as an individual family. We do not agree with a requirement to participate for all members due to conscience. I’m sure it is a matter of conscience for many former pagans to participate in Halloween. I believe it is good in such case to avoid participation because for them it is (truly is) sin. That’s a matter of one’s conscience though.</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696292017-10-29T19:00:00-05:002017-10-30T14:15:10-05:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER FOCUS FOR 10/30/17: FAITH, NOT RELIGION
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Issue: God’s Will-Faith, not Religion</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Yesterday we began praying for our neighbors who are under the bondage of various religions. We looked at some staggering statistics for a metro area of between two to three million people. Our prayer focus was for salvation to come. That is God’s clear desire, or will, for our neighbors. I want to go a little deeper into what a will is and look at what it takes for an answer to the prayer “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” to come to pass over the next week or so. Let’s talk about religion for a second to start our conversation.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">To begin, let’s define religion. This is important because we can talk past, or over, each other. Religion is a term that has become pretty relative in the U.S. We need to pick a source to define things for us so we are on equal footing. The Greek word for religion in the Bible is threskeia. This is word is related to ceremonial observance—religion, worshipping.<a title="" href="#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Webster’s did a pretty good job of explaining this concept: “(1): The service and worship of God and the supernatural. (2): commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance 2: a personal set of institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.” “Religion” or “Religious” is only addressed directly as a specific word in three books of the Bible.<a title="" href="#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> Acts and James, the two main books that address the word(s) deal with this same idea, not of an organized religious system, but of religious actions. These religious actions are done in accordance with what we might call a religious system. At the heart of both of these depictions is the truth of God’s will and what religion misses.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Religion is about action(s). James deals with internal beliefs (objects of faith) that comes out in religion. James teaches us that all religion is not the same. Some religion is not of God. Human anger is not good religion. It lacks the fruit that faith produces (patience, slow to speak, quick to listen). On the other hand, James commends true religion. Listen to James 1:27, “<em>Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.</em>” So religion is not necessarily bad, nor is the claim of religion necessarily true based on what God teaches in His word about it. Acts follows a more general path. The term typically refers to Jewish laws or a reference to the observation of a culture that builds lots of shrines. Both of these refer to expectations or actions that are worship or in line with the authority of the deity or the overseers or rulers of the people. Point to take away: religion does/acts in a certain manner. There is an expectation to be properly religious within the religion’s context.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Religion says, “do this because it is right or you will get what you are after” or “don’t do this because it is wrong or because you won't get what you are after”. Christianity is not a religion in the sense that Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Wicca, or any other religion is. Christianity begins with “I cannot do”. That statement comes from the work of God in what we call “faith” or “belief”. Religion will tell you that you can just say that statement to people, act as though you really mean it, and then you can be saved. But that’s not what God says. God says that only those who repent (turn away from their self-dependence and their way of life) and believe (put all of their trust) in Christ (the suffering servant King) Jesus who has died on their behalf so that they might live will be saved. You can’t fake faith, at least not to God. God is the final judge. Religion says I can do, but faith says I cannot do, but Jesus has done it all already. HUGE difference. No other belief system can claim such a statement. All other belief systems define good and bad and act in accordance. All other belief systems offer solutions grounded in what you do. All other belief systems rest on the individual, but not Christianity. What a burden lifter! Those who are in Christ are no longer under the weight of failure, but are instead alive in Christ. We live in His finished work!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">A quick clarification about repentance: Repentance comes from a realization. You realize that the way you are living is wrong because God has graciously shown you the error of your ways. It is not simply that one reads a verse and doesn't necessarily believe what they have or are doing is wrong, but externally acts as though it was wrong. There has to be a heart and mind change that comes by God's gracious work which brings forth faith in Christ, not one's self or what they trusted in before this new desire and belief.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Here’s a sad reality worth noting though. All “Christians” aren’t those who have faith in Christ. There are people who live in the same bondage to sin, but claim to follow Christ. They spend their whole lives trying to be good and acceptable before God and men. They are not free from the works of religion. They have distorted the Scriptures to be one of two major responses: 1) “If I do…God will accept me.” Or 2)“if God has saved me, then I will do….and only when I do…do I have peace.” Both of these are off. The focus is not Christ. The focus is sin or cleanliness. Both responses really get at the same thing, just different ways. One is working to get clean enough to get salvation. The other is working to stay clean enough to not lose salvation. But God says our salvation is by faith alone apart from works. That statement kills the religious heart.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Religion produces hate and hopelessness, but faith produces joy and overflowing hope. Religion requires, but faith responds or overflows. You can see two acts that look the same on the surface (Example: feeding the poor), but when you really dig into their source, you find one comes from the mind and the other comes from the heart. One person feeds the homeless because they believe they will find rest or secure their approval by feeding the homeless. The other is so satisfied by what God has done that they cannot help but overflow (in this case by bringing or sharing food) with others. Quick note: I’m not saying Christians are mindless, for we are blessed with a desire to read and understand God’s word which results in renewed minds. Beyond that, following Christ is the most rational and logical option of all belief systems. I truly believe that. What I am saying is a Christian desires to share the grace and freedom they have received by faith despite whatever judgments men or false “gods” might say because of what the true God has said and done on their behalf. Religion is slavery, but faith in Christ is freedom. Religion is dead, but faith is proof of life!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">My prayer is that God’s salvation would come to North Minneapolis in a mighty way to all religious men and women that dwell here. I pray it come day after day in my own heart as God wars with the old man who wants to be right on his own good works to lay claim to some good in me. I pray that it would spread and continue to transform my household. I pray that it would penetrate the darkest areas of darkness in Near North and that people who have been broken and bound by religion would break every chain religion has on them by the gift of faith in Christ Jesus. I pray that the true gospel would go forth. I pray that men and women would submit to the authority of God’s word, not the interpretation of men outside of it (those that do not accord with it) and would be freed by faith in spite of their sins. I pray the doctrine of unconditional election would go forth in power and that those who distort the doctrine of perseverance of the saints into “religion”, a system of expectations regarding worthiness or unworthiness” would be brought to repentance and God’s people preserved. I pray God would fill our neighborhoods with Spirit produced joy and hope.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> James Strong, “2356. Threskeia” in The New Strong’s Complete Dictionary of Bible Words. Page 633.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> NASB use of “Religion”: Acts 25:19, 26:5; Col. 2:23; Jas. 1:26-27; “Religious”: Acts 17:22; Jas. 1:26.</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696282017-10-28T19:00:00-05:002017-10-29T12:52:03-05:00NORTH MINNEAPOLIS PRAYER FOCUS FOR WEEK OF 10/29-11/04/2017: NORTH MINNEAPOLIS RELIGIONS
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Issue: God’s Will-Salvation</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Last week we prayed for all of the children living in North Minneapolis. This week we will pray for particular religious groups that are living or worshipping in North Minneapolis. The overarching prayer is that God be worshipped. We hope to see this occur as Christ rises in the hearts of the people in North Minneapolis through the preaching of the gospel. Pray that God be preparing hearts (good soil) for the gospel seed, the seed of life , Jesus Christ. Pray for the Holy Spirit to come in power. Pray that our message is heard with the authority it demands because of the King who has sent us with it. Pray that men and women would be freed from the bondage of false religions. Pray that God would give us opportunities by providing gospel bridges (ways to turn normal conversation towards the gospel). And at the base of all of these prayers, pray God would give us hearts that grow to love our neighbors the way He does. We cannot do this work without hearts that love our neighbors. A gospel preached apart from love is a gospel founded on some other rock, not Christ.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Some of the top religious groups meeting in the Twin Cities are<a title="" href="#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a>:</span></p>
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<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Muslims: 161,000</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Cult/Sect/Occult: 117,200</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Buddhists: 72,500</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Jews: 59,000</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Hindus: 41,500</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Mormons: 30,000</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Witches: 20,000</span></li>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Pray we can build genuine friendships with the sheep Jesus is calling out of each of these groups and that the blessing of new birth might go forth in a mighty way. Pray for the good gift of joy that only comes by faith in Jesus to be abundant.</span></p>
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<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1">[1]</a> John A. Mayer, Cityview Report 16<sup>th</sup> Ed., page 23.</p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696272017-10-27T19:00:00-05:002017-10-28T14:00:06-05:00PRAYER FOR NORTH MINNEAPOLIS 10/28/2017: NORTH MINNEAPOLIS KIDS
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Issue: God’s Kingdom Come</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Yesterday’s prayer is for the desire we have behind all other desires: God’s name be viewed, experienced, known, and believed to be what it is--holy. Today we zoom in on the first of two major changes that take place when that occurs. We are praying for God’s kingdom to come in the hearts of all Northside residents’ hearts, but specifically in the lives of the children who live here. It is not the primary item that we long for. It is a desire that flows out of the root of belief in who God is. Let me say it another way. When we see God as who He is (holy), then we want what that truth should naturally produce (that He be King over all that is starting with our lives and all that we have dominion/stewardship over). I’ll talk a bit deeper about that relationship and attempt to explain the way it looks beginning with a short summary of some Scripture on the two major kingdoms that exist today.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Scripture opens with two creation accounts. The first is God’s creation of all that exists, but specifically in regard to the world, the earth. This is the work of God’s hands. The second account is that of God’s creation of mankind and the handing over, or passing down, of the work to mankind. These are not two different accounts in one sense. God created man, specifically Adam and Eve, as presented in Genesis 1. But the way that looked is opened up more clearly in Genesis 2. God prepared all that was with intent: to make His image bearers who would govern in His likeness stewards who would take part in His work. Taking part in His work is sort of like passing down the family business in a sense. When you come into the workplace you get to learn about your Father in new ways. You get to see sides of Him you wouldn’t see: His passions, His character, His unique way of building and establishing, and His desire to give to His children all that He has built. We could dwell here for a while, but I’d like to ask you please bare with me as I move forward into the idea. The point is this: God does the work and we inherit the Kingdom and its blessings. We also get to receive and grow up in maturity by knowing Him and imitating who He is in this shared work. Then we get to pass it down for our children who will do the same. In all of this we pass down the knowledge and, hopefully, wisdom and love of our Father.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We run into a problem almost out the gate. Instead of seeing God as who He is (holy-completely otherly and different/set apart), Adam and Eve acted out of a desire for equality with God. Instead of overseeing God’s Kingdom in light of His worthiness and the respect they should have had for Him and His ways, they both sought to establish their own Kingdom and seek benefits that were not good for them. Adam and Eve saw other voices as supreme or superior to God’s for He had said don’t eat one fruit from one tree in the garden. He even gave them background: on the day you eat of it, you will surely die. Of course, they hadn’t seen death at this point, so they may not have understood what they were risking, but regardless of what they knew about the consequence, they should have trusted God and rested in His character. They didn’t. Satan offered a lie that appealed to Eve’s heart. Eve then ate and passed the fruit to her husband who was with her. This was enough for Adam to join in the transgression. Now Adam had most likely passed the warning from God down to Eve since she had not been created at that time. He should have known what occurred was wrong. But something in Him decided it was now ok to eat and more importantly disobey God.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">And what was the value of eating that one fruit when the whole world, all the other trees, was a yes at that point? It offered one thing from the voice of Satan and in the mind of Adam and Eve—equality with God. No longer would they be under God, but would instead have all that God was, in this case His knowledge of good and evil, in their person. They would be coequals with God, not stewards on His behalf. They would have an equal image and likeness, not an identity grounded in what they were created to be: Reflectors (think of mirrors). They wanted the one thing God had kept from them. They didn’t trust Him. They trusted their heart and their heart was itching to hear someone say exactly what Satan said: He knows you will be just like Him, you will have wisdom. Here’s the reality: no one is just like God and you can’t get that from eating any fruit, certainly not the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. Knowledge is not wisdom and some knowledge is too high for us. We aren’t infinite and all powerful. We can’t process all the things God can. We aren’t in control of all creation, nor should we be (or want to be). God is the only being capable (and more than that—worthy) for that job. His grace said do not eat of this fruit, not selfishishness or self protective/self preserving desires. He knew no one could be God, not even with knowledge.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">With man’s decision to be like God in this knowledge and character, we see that man fell from grace and the world was corrupted. Adam bore children in his likeness, not God’s. Thorns and thistles infected the world, pain increased, and personal war with Satan was all experienced. Death, curse, and law reigned separating creation from Creator, mankind from their Father. It would compound and grow and spread like weeds ultimately filling the world with sin, corruption, evil, more law, more curse, more death until men were not only separated from God, but stretched across the globe from their own family as far as the east is from the west. God eventually grew tired of striving with men and decided to destroy them all because evil existed in each man’s hearts and minds at all times. This judgment was good which was really all of the good that was left from before man’s sin. But He kept one man, Noah who was called righteous by God, and his family to repopulate the earth and start over. Almost immediately it started over. More food (they could now eat animals) and yet the same desire: sovereignty and equality with God in knowledge and wisdom and thus in the ability to establish one’s own heart’s desire—their kingdom.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We see a great picture of this in the establishment of the tower of Babel. Instead of going out and exercising dominion on God’s behalf, men huddle together and attempt to build a tower that would reach heaven. The story goes on to show that though men were united in such a way that nothing they attempted would be out of their reach, God still had to come down from His seat in heaven to see what they were doing. So much for building a city that would reach heaven, right? So He kept His word and dispersed them by confusing them through giving them different languages. This desire for our kingdoms spread them out as they would now have competing kingdoms, not the ability to have one kingdom representing all mankind. That separation between men grew and grew. But God had a plan to change that. He picked one man to create a people for Himself out of. This people would be his representatives among all mankind. They would be the Kingdom of God. But the same problem existed: they desired to build their own kingdoms and went as far as begging God for a human king like their neighbors. They would rather have a man govern them than the holy God. Foolishness to its core if you ask me. But I do it to. Saul was that King and he lacked even the ability to care for and keep one donkey, but he looked like a king, so they gave him the keys to build and establish the kingdom.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let’s try to bring it together in a way that really draws it into our lives and then look at why we are praying God’s kingdom would come in the lives of the Northside kids. Kingdom building is all about authority. Who is King of the world and who determines our purpose and all that flows out of that purpose: work, education, relationships, law, rest, everything. You can desire to be your own king, and we all do, and therefore believe you have the right to pursue any job you believe will give you peace, joy, love, etc. Really you are looking for satisfaction, joy, and to replace a need for God without losing the fruit of His Spirit, the things you naturally long for that only come in His presence and in a proper relationship to Him. You can think other people need to relate to you in particular ways, ways that supply what you want from them to get what you are after outside of them. You can view good gifts as insufficient.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In all of this pursuing and toiling to build your own kingdom, you create a world you live in that is more like your image and less like God’s. This dark “glory, if you can call it that, is opposed and at war with God’s perfect and good glory. We lose all of the good things we could enjoy and benefit from when we are in rebellion with God by being our own little insufficient kings. What we lose is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control and the Kingdom of God. What we gain is not the nature and its fruit that we are after, but instead sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. We lose our souls by chasing our passions.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This is why broken homes multiply as they are passed down generationally. This is why there is no contentment in the work God blesses us with and that servitude to money at the sake of joy comes, or for joy at the sake of love for our family comes. This is why men and women lash out by assaulting their spouses, children, friends, co-workers, and neighbors when they don’t get what they want from them or they want what they should not take from them. This is idolatry and it flows out into every other area of life infecting the person it lives in and then everyone they come in contact with. We see kids build their little kingdoms when they steal toys, lie about their actions, hurt each other, and worse. Kids are little seeds of the men and women they will grow into and as they grow sin grows. The child who steals will have access to greater opportunity to steal. Think of workers who steal money out of the register, rob a house, or swindle constituents as a politician. Think of selfishness growing where one might lie, cheat, or steal to get access to their neighbors God-given gifts (their spouse, their land or home, their car or possessions). We have animosity in work and war with others. It can go on and on and on. This bondage (slavery) to sin’s control over our lives leads to the need for a law, whereas those who are in the Kingdom of God and enjoying its fruit do not need a law. This is the picture of the ten commandments.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So if we want a better world tomorrow for our children and grandchildren (which we should), we don’t desire to simply satisfy their physical needs (food, clothes, education, justice, etc), but instead desire what is greater: God to be holy in their hearts and a life lived in the Kingdom of God. See the Kingdom of God starts out as a seed in man’s heart and grows into all that they are and have access to or dominion over. If you want more love in this world, we need the Kingdom of God to come and overthrow our idolatry that says you serve me, you benefit me, or I will react to you in a way that forces you to pay for your sins (however we each might do that). Love loves when no love is done towards it from others. How do we know? God is love. He is the source of love. God loves us and showed us His great love by sending His son to die for our sins so that we might be set free from sin and given access to Him. We can enter and dwell within His Kingdom. It’s always been here. He never lost his authority. We just lived in rebellion to it and became more and more blind by poking our own eyes out and running from Him so we could pursue our broken, evil kingdoms.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So pray for the gospel to come in power and change the hearts of our children. Pray for homes stewarded by a growing number of men and women under God’s authority and operating in His Kingdom, not their own. Pray that for my house and yours. Pray that we will see fathers and mothers that love God and what God loves more than their own desires and passions that war within them and cause quarrels and sin to abound. Pray for born again believers to overflow with the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of the flesh. Pray for God to be the visible King reigning over North Minneapolis through the hands, feet, mouths, minds, and hearts of its people. </span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696262017-10-26T19:00:00-05:002017-10-27T10:14:00-05:00PRAYER FOR NORTH MINNEAPOLIS 10/27/2017: NORTH MINNEAPOLIS KIDS
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/0f261f75923a89a701f219c177070173b0c2a748/original/father-695825-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDIyeDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="422" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Issue: Reverence for God’s Name</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Today’s prayer is for the desire we have behind all other desires. We began this blog with several daily needs in the context of the challenges people in North Minneapolis face. God cares for our daily needs. He makes this clear all over the Bible. We may differ in personal opinion as to what is a daily need in regard to our opinion versus God’s, but there is no real argument from Scripture that God does not care for our daily needs. He cares about His children because of His character, His nature. It naturally flows out in all of His actions. But our desire, and arguably His desire, is that His name be viewed as it should be: Holy. Matthew 6:9 contains the prayer Jesus preserved for each of His disciples to pray. Our Father who is in Heaven, hallowed (holy) be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Unlike most religions, Christianity teaches us God is our Father, not some unknown, separated/distant, or unrelatable person or force. This view of God as our Father is the God of the Bible. We see that He is the Creator of all men in Genesis 1. He even blesses mankind and gives them work to do. But to those He has revealed Himself to through Christ, we know Him in a more personal way. We have been adopted into His family as His children. He is the good Father who cares about us and has removed every obstacle between us (sin, death, law, Satan, etc) so that we can boldly come before His throne. He has also given us what we most need (forgiveness, faith, redemption, the righteousness of Christ, etc) so that we can be eternally blessed. But none of this is simply for the sake of coming to Him. 1 John teaches us that we have this gift to pray on behalf of one another as well. We don’t just want to worship our good Father, God, by ourselves. No. We want His worship to the fill the hearts of every nation, tribe, tongue, and square inch of earth. We want to celebrate Him in the midst of brothers and sisters who know and love Him too.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This prayer, that God be known (really known) as who He is and thus worshipped is the beating heart behind every action and thought that flows forth from us. We want what is most blessed for each person we meet and live amongst in North Minneapolis: to know God and worship Him. That is why we want to plant here. That is why we want to live sacrificial, giving lives. This is why we fight for justice and opportunity. This is why we care about daily bread, forgiveness, and deliverance from evil. This is why we desire to see homes that image the Trinity and showcase Christ and the church in marriage. Everything we do is because it is better when we get to live this life. It is a great gift to be in a world full of image bearers that remind us of the heart of God. We want joy, so we seek God’s glory. They work hand in hand.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Please note we don’t want “forced” or fake glory. We don’t live the way we live in giving and serving to dupe people into going along to get the benefits. No. We love by giving and serving and interceding because this is what God has done for us (while we were yet sinners). This is unconditional grace. We love without condition. We don’t love as long as it makes sense as long as there is hope of conversion because of a response. We may never receive a response. We may die before we see one conversion. But this life is the life of joy. It is better than any other option for how to live. And God loves to bless it.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Please pray for the gospel proclamation to go forth and the image of God to spread in North Minneapolis, as flawed as we may be. Please pray that our neighbors would join us in corporate worship and in service, giving, and intercession for each other grounded in the joy of knowing God in Christ Jesus. Pray that God would plant gospel seeds that would result in abundant, eternal life for the kids in our neighborhoods. Please pray that worship would transform North Minneapolis in such a way that missionaries would flow in (to see the work God has done and be equipped) and flow out (to seek worship by gospel missions throughout the world). Pray we (myself and my family included) would see more and more of the glory of God in Christ Jesus. </span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696252017-10-25T19:00:00-05:002017-10-26T12:35:55-05:00PRAYER FOR NORTH MINNEAPOLIS 10/26/2017: NORTH MINNEAPOLIS KIDS
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/09680b67226064048fa34ff803a7e322648317af/original/coexist-1211709-1280.png/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NTQweDI3MCJd.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="270" width="540" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Issue: New Birth</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong><sup>3 </sup></strong>Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,<sup>[<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+3#fen-NLT-26090a" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">a</span></a>]</sup> you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”<a title="" href="#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Jesus makes things pretty clear about how you see the Kingdom of God. You have to be born again. The new birth is a divine act upon men whereby God plants the gospel seed by proclamation of His Promise (the gospel message) and the application of the Holy Spirit. Jesus also made it clear that there is no other way to be saved. You have to come through Him. He is the gate. He is the ladder. He is the shepherd. He is the King. He is the only way, the only truth, the only light. Salvation comes by no other name. But salvation does come. It comes by the name of Jesus. He is the perfect lamb, our sacrifice, who bore our sins on the cross and suffered the wrath we deserve so that we might reap the reward He deserves. And this message of His finished foretold work and His resurrection guarantee that those who believe in Him will be saved.</span></p>
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<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Minneapolis is a city full of religion. Coexist bumper stickers line cars on our blocks. Mosques and temples or religious worship centers also line our streets. Here are a couple of stats about the presence and impact of religious beliefs outside of Christianity in our area provided by Andrew Naselli from his blog about a tour he took with City Vision:<a title="" href="#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a></span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">One of the largest concentrations of witches in the U.S. (Paganistan), numbering over 20,000.MN has a Muslim Congressman</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Largest Cambodian Buddhist temple in the U.S.</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Largest Hindu temple in the North America.</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">World headquarters for Eckankar</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Anoka is known as the Halloween Capital of the World</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Largest Witch/New Age publishing company in the world located in the Twin Cities</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">First State with a Hindu State Representative</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Mormon Temple located in Oakdale</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">City containing over 125 Muslim mosques</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Eleven Muslim mosques, six Hindu temples, three Buddhist temples, one Sikh, and one Jain temple are now all located in former church buildings throughout the Twin Cities</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Two Witch covens meet in church buildings in the Twin Cities.</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Minneapolis is the future site for the new $48 million dollar, 300,000 sq. ft. Muslim Youth Center mosque. The first of its kind in the nation and the largest Muslim mosque in America.</span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Visit the blog and take note of how many other large churches (Christian) fill the list of items noted. Point being there is a lot of competition for the salvation, and ultimately the souls, of our people. I’ve received visits from Jehovah’s witnesses and Scientologists as well as literature from other religions right at my front doorstep. I’ve been changed by Jesus and have an awareness of the dangers that exist in the form of religions. I can warn and teach my children about the arguments they encounter. But these false religions exist in our neighborhoods and there are many who know no difference between the promises they offer and the promises guaranteed by Christ. That’s a good reason to pray and then act in faith to be a peaceful presence equipped with the gospel here.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I’ve got friends that are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, and spiritual. We have the ability to talk about our differences, but at the end of the day there are still HUGE differences in what we believe. We have shared meals and conversations. The gospel has been presented and heard to varying degrees, but nothing I can do can make someone experience new birth. That all rests in God’s hands. So we pray. And we preach. We love and listen. We pray some more. We continue to preach. And so it goes.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Please pray that God would break through the spiritual strongholds in our city to open eyes to see the beauty of the person Jesus Christ and His crucifixion. Please pray that children would hear the message and be born again. Pray for men and women who will love and live in peace, to the extent God calls us to, to come into the neighborhood and reach out to these families. Pray that the truth about faith in good works, not in the work of salvation by the cross, would be seen for what they are: insufficient. Pray God would keep us humble and fill us with love as we remember our personal need for salvation. Pray we don’t seek to save “bad” people thinking we are “good” people. Pray instead that we might be beggars pointing others to the place they too might find bread. Pray we would put our spiritual armor on each day as we live amidst the warfare. We need minds guarded by salvation, hearts guarded by Christ’s righteousness, feet shod with the gospel of peace, the defense of the shield of faith, and hands trained in handling the word of God. All of this is girded in God’s truth. Pray that God would get the glory of conversions that spread throughout our city and revivals that fill our churches and send brothers and sisters out into the same streets filled with bumper stickers and empty temples. Pray for courage and boldness. Pray for God’s name to be revered and His Kingdom to come in North Minneapolis the same way it is in Heaven.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Thank you for joining us in prayer.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In Christ,</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike “Streezy” Strong</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> John 3:3</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> http://andynaselli.com/religious-demographics-of-the-twin-cities</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696242017-10-24T19:00:00-05:002017-10-25T08:41:42-05:00PRAYER FOR NORTH MINNEAPOLIS 10/25/2017: NORTH MINNEAPOLIS KIDS
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color:#ffffff"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/fbc9a34e789440c2d9bddcaa053eca3e3e7b41c3/original/ambulance-2000195-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="450" /></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The Mayo Clinic defines PTSD as follows: “Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.”<a title="" href="#_ftn1" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> WoundedWarriorHomes.org claims over 540,000 veterans have been diagnosed with PTSD.<a title="" href="#_ftn2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> Think about that. Over half a million vets have been diagnosed with PTSD. That is 1 in 5 vets. That means there is potentially a larger number that have not been diagnosed. PTSD is not limited to veterans. People who experience or witness trauma or a life-threatening event are also susceptible of experiencing PTSD.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">What is often not talked about are the lasting symptoms that can make day-to-day functioning difficult, if not impossible if untreated. What dramatically increases the need for help is the fact that the hopelessness and prolonged suffering can, and in more cases than anyone would like to admit, result in suicide. Witnessing domestic abuse or physical violence, including violence with a weapon, can inflict the abused or a witness with PTSD. Emotional and verbal abuse that results in suffering defined as trauma can cause PTSD. That is whether it is witnessed or experienced.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Not only does one potentially re-envision the act or acts that caused PTSD, but in cases for children under 6, symptoms can include re-enacting the event or aspects of the trauma through play. There has also been an identified link between abuse suffered and abuse committed. Some people who experience abuse become abusers. For instance, there is a report that states a link in child abuse at the rate of 15 times higher in homes where domestic abuse is present.<a style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif; font-size: large;" title="" href="#_ftn3" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> What that means in context is that where one form of abuse is present, it can be further compounded by spreading from the abuser to the abused and then from the abused to another party or simply from the abuser to other parties. There is another study that found a link between sexual abuse where 35% of male perpetrators had been abused themselves.<a title="" href="#_ftn4" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> That is stating that 35% of men who committed sexual abuse admitted to having been abused also. Here's one more fact from that last report: It also noted 43% of women had been victims of this type of abuse. Almost half of the women in the study admitted they had been sexually abused. Almost half! We have a serious abuse issue on our hands in general.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Why do these general facts matter in regard to North Minneapolis? North Minneapolis is, unfortunately, known for its violence. When we arrived in Minnesota and began looking for a home, we were told by almost everyone we met to look anywhere, but North Minneapolis. Our realtors were afraid to meet us in some cases. (We later met Tom Bain who lives here and understood our hopes for the area). My children have been around when massive fights, 40 or so people involved, have taken place in the street in front of our home. We’ve heard the gunshots. We see the grieving families who’ve lost a loved one. We see the arguments and how they escalate. Some may look out and see a hopeless predicament where the violence is a personal decision, but we see it is much deeper. God did not make us to live our daily lives in the experience of sin. We weren’t created to witness or experience this pain. He is going to bring it to an end on Judgment Day. But in the meantime, only the gospel can truly heal those who have experienced extreme levels of sin, done to them or in their sight, and restore us. All other medications and treatments will ultimately fall short of the restoration available through the gospel and by the application of the Holy Spirit.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Listen to a couple stats in two quotes from the Star Tribune regarding crime in 2016<a title="" href="#_ftn5" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a>:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>Violent crime in Minneapolis nudged up slightly in 2016, driven in large part by a wave of gang-on-gang bloodshed sweeping parts of the city, court filings and recently released police statistics show.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>An official tally showed 4,605 violent crime incidents — defined as homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — reported across the city from the beginning of the year through Dec. 28, the last date for which citywide statistics were available. It was a 4.3 percent increase over 2015, which saw 4,417 such incidents.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>The city recorded 2,274 aggravated assaults — a crime category that includes shootings and is considered a key measure of how safe a city is — up from 2,051 the previous year. The number of homicides fell from 50 to 37 during the same period. Robberies also declined, but rapes and sexual assaults jumped more than 6 percent.</em>”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But let’s look at a factor that they went a little deeper on in relation to the neighborhoods our North Minneapolis children and families live in:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>Police statistics show that of 340 people shot in Minneapolis through last week, 215 were on the city’s North Side. In 2015, there were 260 shooting victims citywide.</em>”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Pray for us as we seek to administer the gospel in applicable ways. Please pray for God to work by the gospel proclamation and application to change lives. Pray for salvation and new birth. Pray for sanctification and healing. Pray for help to come and be involved in the lives of our neighbors to join us in this proclamation and application. Pray for our strength as we suffer and endure in these relationships. Often, there can be war or attacks that come in the midst of this spiritual warfare and work. We need our faith to be held. We need the strength to be friends to hurt and hurting people who will hurt us. Pray for fearlessness in our witness and boldness in our proclamation.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Pray for Biblical Counseling training for our neighbors (and us) as we love our neighbors by entering into their sorrows and pain as Christ continues to do to us as He allows us to enter into His pains and suffering. Pray for changed households. Pray for stakes to be firmly and clearly placed in the ground to stand against generational sin. Pray for the children to be protected and healed. Pray for healing and hope to come to their parents. Pray for our police who witness trauma many days. Pray for those who experience trauma daily in our neighborhoods. Pray for God’s glory in Christ Jesus to transform our neighborhoods and that we would see a high view of God expand across Near North Minneapolis. Pray for the resulting joy that will come with it.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355967</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> http://woundedwarriorhomes.org/ptsd?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIv5Sjo4WM1wIVyx-GCh0rXAk5EAAYAiAAEgKZpPD_BwE</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> McKay, Mary McKernan. <strong>Child Welfare; Arlington</strong> Vol. 73, Iss. 1, (Jan 1994): 29-39.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11731348</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> http://www.startribune.com/statistics-show-minneapolis-violent-crime-edged-up-in-2016/409711555/</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696232017-10-23T19:00:00-05:002017-10-25T07:18:54-05:00PRAYER FOR NORTH MINNEAPOLIS 10/24/2017: NORTH MINNEAPOLIS KIDS
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/8049b81b39cb0582020c58eccff091a9559d2c39/original/technology-2500010-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="450" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Issues: Reconciliation,Winter, and Safety</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Over the last few years living in North Minneapolis a few blocks away from the 4th Precinct police station, I have witnessed the pain of our people’s losses. There have been murders in our neighborhoods. There have been times unnecessary and unexplainable force have resulted in the murder of citizens by police. An already tense situation only leads to more dangerous encounters. When the community doesn’t trust the police and the police fear the community, we have a very big problem.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Last year we noticed that after large protests outside of the police station there were far less patrols, and arrests, which really left the community with nowhere to turn. Crime increased. I’m not sure what the official numbers were because arrests weren’t occurring. But arrests cannot be the sole source of determining the true level of crime. Crime was happening and calls were made, but the police didn’t come. Drug sales were done in our allies. Fights and shootings increased in the late hours. As a result, we saw those who were fearful retreat since no help would come. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In all of this, I looked at my kids, half of whom have only lived in North Minneapolis, and thought about and processed the dangers they faced. But during the day other neighborhood kids would come by. Their parents worked. They stood outside our house at bus stops. They ran throughout the neighborhood freely. Some walked most days alone until they ran into a friend. I could teach my children to observe and be there to enforce the rules we were teaching them to survive, but not every household could. And what complicates matters is God has placed us in a “safer” pocket of North Minneapolis.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">As winter approaches the days shorten significantly and the wind and temperature can become dangerous and even deadly. Please pray for the kids who need coats. There have been many. Please pray for men and women to walk our streets and maintain a peaceful presence that God could use to protect our children. Please pray for shelter at bus stops and for bus routes to run effectively so that children can be picked up before they face too dangerous temperatures. Pray for us as we share our porch, home, food, and clothes/coats with neighborhood kids. Pray that we will explain the true source of our love for them: the love of God most clearly presented in the person and work of Jesus Christ. And please pray for the people of North Minneapolis, citizens and officers, to be reconciled bound by the peace that can only come (and stay) by the cross of Christ. Pray for opportunities to serve our police and minister to their needs in gospel proclamation and gospel fruit produced acts of care. We have been given a ministry of reconciliation. It’s a part of who we are. Pray that we will have faith in God’s ability to work in North Minneapolis to foster reconciliation for the good of all people here and for the glory of God, but especially for the generations of citizens that will come after us, our children.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696202017-10-23T19:00:00-05:002017-10-25T07:19:45-05:00HE DID NOT ENTRUST HIMSELF TO THEM
<p align="center"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/e84781cb586a84f7f5879a1120163180d7ef701b/original/light-2568610-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="450" /></p>
<p align="center"><span style="color:#ffffff"><em><sup>“23 </sup></em><em>Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.</em><em> <sup>24 </sup>But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people <sup>25 </sup>and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.”</em></span></p>
<p align="center"><span style="color:#ffffff">-John 2:23-25</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This passage breaks my heart. Jesus had just done miracles. The people around claimed to believe in His name. There is clearly some belief (v. 23). But Jesus knew something. He knew they didn’t really believe Him and know who He was. They had a faith He did not trust. Matthew Henry says it this way,</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>“</em><em>Our Lord knew all men, their nature, dispositions, affections, designs, so as we do not know any man, not even ourselves. He knows his crafty enemies, and all their secret projects; his false friends, and their true characters. He knows who are truly his, knows their uprightness, and knows their weaknesses. We know what is done by men; Christ knows what is in them, he tries the heart.”</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em> </em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">And what was the result of our Savior’s knowledge? He did not entrust Himself to them. The word translated as “entrust” comes from the word we normally translate as faith, belief, or confidence. So let’s say it a few other ways to really see what’s going on. Jesus did not have faith in them. Jesus did not have confidence in them. Jesus did not believe them. Why is this? John has included this in Holy Scripture. It is an important and necessary detail. We need to understand this fact.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> We are just men. We can look on others’ actions, listen to their words, and assume things. Jesus is different. He is God. When He looks on others He sees the heart, the true state of what is going on. He sees the hidden things. And His judgment is perfect. Jesus had no faith in the faith of those who claimed to have faith in Him. He saw what they were about. They may have believed something, but it was not what they should have believed. Therefore, He didn’t put His trust in them. That sounds hopeless. If I put myself in Jesus’ shoes I would be heartbroken. So often people might look on us and offer praise and even promise their faithfulness and support, but when the heart is revealed later we can find that our trust or confidence in their assertion was off base and without merit.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> On the flipside, Jesus kept moving. His actions were not dictated by men’s faithfulness. They were independent. His faithfulness is the revelation of who He is. He is sovereign. No surprise or provision could make or break His action to accomplish His great pleasure. He had decided to empty Himself by becoming a man and going to die on a cross on behalf of weak, untrustworthy people like you and I. His face was “set like flint” to go and die. And He did this in spite of man’s weak beliefs. All of the competing wills were no match for His will.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> So how should we live in light of this verse? With much hopefulness! Later in this same gospel account Jesus would disclose more and more of who He was to His chosen disciples. They were among those who believed, but didn’t. Even after they scattered and hid at His crucifixion, He came to them and revealed Himself. He comforted, consoled, and restored them. He commissioned them in His name and gave them the gift of His ever abiding presence by His Spirit. Being broken, sinful, faith-lacking humans is no match for His love. His will is not overcome by it. He accomplishes all that He pleases to accomplish. That includes the salvation of those He has chosen to save by faith in Him. Where we lack, He is able to come and provide, comfort, console, restore, and commission for His great name’s sake. Live with more confidence in Christ’s faithfulness than confidence in your faith. Hold on to Him and wait. He will prove faithful. He always does. But take heed of Matthew Henry’s warning, “<em>Beware of a dead faith, or a formal profession: carnal, empty professors are not to be trusted, and however men impose on others or themselves, they cannot impose on the heart-searching God.”</em> Trust Jesus. He is tested and true. He is trustworthy. </span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696222017-10-22T19:00:00-05:002017-10-25T08:24:59-05:00PRAYER FOR NORTH MINNEAPOLIS 10/23/2017: NORTH MINNEAPOLIS KIDS
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/048c1fc9324fe34411128193d4a9cb3709eaf1a1/original/bread-2542308-1920.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NTY4eDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="568" /> </p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Issue: Poverty</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">North Minneapolis has a significantly higher rate of poverty than the rest of Minneapolis. The rate in a recent study was 36% in North Minneapolis versus 21.5% citywide and 10.5% in the metropolitan area. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Race adds another aspect to the poverty factor. Whites make up 24% of the population and carry a rate of 15.1% in poverty. African Americans make up roughly 50% of the population (there were 21, 231 African Americans in North Minneapolis), but have a 42% rate of poverty. This difference grows when you look at the rate of the metro area. "The African American poverty rate in North Minneapolis (42.0%) is 35.8% higher than the white (non-Hispanic)poverty rate in the Metropolitan Area as a whole."</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Problems: Access to healthy food, competitive education, public perception of cause and expectations of the individual, potential for gentrification, injustice, and so many others.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Please pray for the children of North Minneapolis. We are asking that the gospel flood these neighborhoods and homes. We are asking God to help us fill in the gaps through loving our neighbors by engaging them, caring for the general physical needs of impoverished homes (food, clothing, health needs, home repair, transportation), and the emotional and spiritual needs of our neighbors (broken & hopeless spirits, sin's power and bondage, false religion and other predatory practices that take advantage of vulnerable people). </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Please join us in this prayer.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a class="_58cn" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/prayer?source=feed_text&story_id=1745511245461313" data-ft="{" data-imported="1"><span class="_5afx" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="_58cl _5afz">#</span><span class="_58cm">Prayer</span></span></a> <a class="_58cn" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/northminneapolis?source=feed_text&story_id=1745511245461313" data-ft="{" data-imported="1"><span class="_5afx" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="_58cl _5afz">#</span><span class="_58cm">NorthMinneapolis</span></span></a></span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696212017-10-21T19:00:00-05:002017-10-25T09:30:13-05:00PRAYER FOR NORTH MINNEAPOLIS 10/22-28/2017: NORTH MINNEAPOLIS KIDS
<p style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/653a00ca617d0797ff6bf42e5a6aa6196e2a02c1/original/phillip-murphy-n-minneapolis-child.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDUweDMwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="300" width="450" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I think this picture is worth sharing. We have it pretty good in the USA. I'm thankful. But it can be pretty easy to forget that some kids don't get long to enjoy "innocence". Jesus cares very much for the orphans and those that live in the grip and cloud of darkness. He calls His children to be a light in the darkness. It can be hard to be a light in the darkness if you flee from it. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Please join us in prayer for the children of North Minneapolis this week. Please pray once <span class="text_exposed_show">a day that God would enter the darkness and that His hands and feet, His children, would be able to love them by planting gospel seeds and providing for needs that are there in their lives. The future of North Minneapolis is right there looking over the police tape. There are so many children and families to care for here. Please pray we run to, not from, those in need here.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Thanks for your prayer. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">If you are led, we will be praying each night around 8pm cst. You could join wherever you are to cry out to our Lord. He loves to answer the prayers of His children.</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696192017-02-17T18:00:00-06:002017-10-25T09:31:09-05:00BOOK REVIEW: SURPRISED BY SUFFERING
<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/a273db6849ce50c24cc687f02e76337d4e1255e4/original/41znecixkkl-sy344-bo1204203200.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MTc5eDI3MCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="270" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="179" /></strong></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>TITLE: </strong>SURPRISED BY SUFFERING: The Role of Pain and Death in the Christian Life</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>AUTHOR:</strong> R. C. Sproul</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>PUBLISHER:</strong> Reformation Trust</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>AUDIENCE:</strong> The book is written to the general body of Christ who are currently suffering or ministering to the suffering brothers and sisters around them.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>GENERAL SUMMARY:</strong> Surprised by Suffering is a book written with the intent of preparing the body of Christ for suffering. Sproul identified that many Christians who are experiencing abnormal levels of blessings become vulnerable to believing they are invulnerable. The problem with that belief is that it does not understand a biblical view of suffering. When suffering comes, which it most likely will, then the Christian can find themselves surprised and caught off guard. Sproul’s purpose is “<em>that you would not be surprised when suffering comes into your life. I want you to see that suffering is not at all uncommon, but also that it is not random—it is sent by our heavenly Father, who is both sovereign and loving, for our ultimate good. Indeed, I want you to understand suffering is a vocation, a calling from God</em>.”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>WHY I READ IT:</strong> I read this book for two reasons. First, I wanted to read it because I, myself, had recently discovered the weight of surprise that came from suffering at the hands of those I loved and trusted. People I genuinely looked up to and thought had my good (if not the family or body of believers in general’s good) in mind as we interacted. The resulting confusion and introspection that followed revealed a great need. The title caught my eye at the recent Bethlehem College and Seminary Pastor’s Conference (formerly known as the Desiring God Pastor’s Conference) and I thought it would be a great investment and a helpful counseling tool. The second reason I read it is because Sproul is one of my favorite teachers. He helps me each day as I drive to work through his radio program. He is also my wife’s favorite theological author and she steals all my Sproul books (unless you ask her and she will tell you I knew it was her book when I bought it because I must’ve noticed the author’s name). I decided I could give it to her after I read it and it would be a double win!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>DID IT DELIVER?:</strong> Yes. Sproul has provided a solid biblical counseling book that is especially pastoral in its approach. This book is not going to magically heal every suffering soul. No book will. No counselor will. The gospel contained in its pages will remind each reader that Christ has made it His business to completely heal us one day in the future when we are glorified and in perfect communion with God. That is our hope. I love and hate this reality. I earnestly desire the healing I will not attain in this life so it was hard to read all of the truth of Scripture and be reminded of the fact that I have to wait. At the same time I was thankful to be reminded by someone who knows firsthand that this is more normal than American Christians might naturally expect. How truly blessed we are. How truly needy we are too. What a weighty reality to carry.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>SUMMARY OF STRUCTURE:</strong> Sproul divides the book into two parts. Chapters 1-6 unpack suffering up to the point of death. Chapters 7-10 unpack the reality of what is to come after death and the implications it has on life until that point. Sproul begins with the picture of suffering we stumble upon and ends with “a vision of things to come”. He follows the content with a Q&A section, which is pretty standard for his books (including his children’s books) and two indices. The first is a Scripture index and the second is a subjects and names index.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>PART I: UNTO DEATH</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Sproul begins his counseling by acknowledging the size of the challenge Christians face when it comes to suffering. After acknowledging the weight of suffering, He reminds us the truth that in actuality this burden is light. This might seem confusing, but it is not as odd as it sounds to be “perplexed, but not in despair” as his quote from Paul reminds us. We can believe our suffering is without meaning, but this is simply not true. God has a purpose for our suffering. Though suffering drives us to despair as we face death, Christ’s promise will instead lead us to hope in Christ’s victory and “ultimate deliverance from death”.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This path of suffering is the Via Dolorosa, the way of the cross, and it’s a path Jesus Christ Himself walked. We participate in his suffering. This is not contrary to God’s will. It has been clearly stated as God’s will from the beginning and has simultaneously been combated by men who viewed it as incompatible with God’s character such as Peter. “<em>It is in weeping that we learn to contemplate the goodness of God. It is in mourning that we discover the peace of God that passes understanding</em>.” The purpose of God in suffering is to work for our good. Therefore, “<em>those who understand God’s sovereignty have joy even in the midst of suffering, a joy reflected on their very faces, for they see that their suffering is not without purpose</em>.” Death is a divine vocation, or calling, that every Christian is “called” to enter. Dying in faith leads to ultimate healing and eternity among those who also died in faith in the presence of God.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>PART II: AFTER DEATH</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Section two focuses on two major concerns: Is there really a heaven and if so, what is it like? Sproul addresses speculations on life after death that include a good deal of time on Greek assertions and questions from the philosophers of old and the occult. He instead points us to Jesus’ teachings on the afterlife. He argues for the authority of Jesus and the recorded eyewitness testimony that we have to confirm his resurrection and its implications. Sproul argues that for the Christian to die is truly gain and addresses the intermediate state between death and the final resurrection, our immediate presence in heaven, teaching on our bodies, and the continuity and discontinuity from the world as we know it.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The final chapter, A Vision of Things to Come, opens by pointing us to John’s portrayal of heaven in Revelation. A comparison of the Jewish understanding of seas and rivers and springs explains why it is a good thing to see the future will hold a world with no seas. Instead of the danger and death that seas carried, springs and streams and rivers meant life and flourishing. This is a hope filled world. There will also be a redeemed city, the New Jerusalem, where we will reside with Jesus for all eternity. Jesus’ presence means no more sorrow. He also argues for the beauty and glory of this new city from its resident, Jesus, to the materials it is built from and reminds us that we will not need a temple because the entire city <em>is</em> a temple. The curse will finally be removed and no suffering we have experienced to this point will compare to the glory that awaits us. This is the hope we have as we suffer.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>PRIMARY SUBJECTS:</strong> Suffering, Biblical Counseling, Death, Grief, Bereavement, Christian Life, Heaven, Eternal Life, Perseverance</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>STRENGTHS:</strong> This book was easy to read. Sproul is blessed with an ability to make complex subjects and doctrines easy to understand. He explains terms that might be confusing. He provides personal narration and testimony as he travels along the path to healing the book follows. He also admits some things we might wonder about cannot be answered definitively while giving us best guesses and alternative viewpoints. He carries us through the biblical narrative of restoration. He also provides a helpful question and answer portion that immediately follows the book’s conclusion. In it, he addresses suicide, death of children (including a clarification on abortion), free will decisions that lead to death (like smoking cigarettes), and whether or not pets have souls. His reformed theology is clear in all of his answers as subjects like suffering, free will, and God’s sovereignty come into play to show how doctrine impacts our worldview, especially when grief or suffering come into view. Christ is supreme and ultimately worthy in such a way that we will not eventually despise suffering because of what Christ is doing for our eternal good.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>WEAKNESSES:</strong> The primary weakness of the book is the limited nature of the discussion. I desired to hear more of the biblical story of our snake-crushing God. Sproul flirted with the destruction of God’s enemies as he addressed a longing that cries out “to die is gain” while seeking God be pleased to crush us so that we might join Him in eternity, but I was surprised at how little this came into view. Sproul doesn’t duck restoration. Half of the book is on what occurs after death. The emphasis is just different than I would prefer. I would recommend pairing this book up with John Piper’s Spectacular Sins.</span></p>
<p> </p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696182017-02-09T18:00:00-06:002017-10-25T09:31:55-05:00BOOK REVIEW: RID OF MY DISGRACE
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/e417815cc01d112068cf4c11b6a387634e88bd52/original/ridofmydisgrace.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MTc2eDI3MCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="270" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="176" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>TITLE:</strong> RID OF MY DISGRACE</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>AUTHOR:</strong> Justin S. Holcomb & Lindsey A. Holcomb</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>PUBLISHER:</strong> Crossway</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>AUDIENCE:</strong> The book is written to two major audiences. The first audience is made up of those who have suffered abuse. The second audience is made up of pastors, ministry staff, and friends and family of victims.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>GENERAL SUMMARY: </strong> There is a growing epidemic of sexual assaults. There are also assorted issues that the church, the government, and person-to-person relationships have not only failed to address, but have, in many cases, added additional pain by avoiding, improperly addressing, or by failing to recognize and give the weight that should come if we acknowledge the issues exist. Sexual assault is evil. It is sin. There are victims that have had ungodly action taken against them. They deserve to be heard and seen. Their assaults must be called exactly what they are—evil and sin. The effects of sin are devastating, especially those wrought against the body. God does not approve of this sin, nor is He going to overlook it or be bound by some sort of agreement to remain outside and away from our lives and world that would keep Him from punishing sin and working for our good. There is hope. The hope we have is found in the gospel of Christ Jesus. A deep exploration of the truth of the gospel is able to heal all who suffer from the effects of sexual assault. Not only can the child of God find hope to survive this horrendous abuse, God has made a way to make you thrive and flourish.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>WHY I READ IT:</strong> I know a lot of people who have suffered sexual assault. Many of them I care for deeply. Most of them have revealed this pain at times we were very close friends. I want to serve the body of Christ in a manner worthy of the gospel. I want people to know God’s great love for them in a world so full of hate and pain that many reject the goodness and love of God (and then God altogether). I want them to know God cares and realize for myself how much God cares as I seek to share Him with them in their particular situations. I specifically read this to love those who are in or may come in to our small group and church. I also read it to share with those who may be looking for a resource to understand the pain and enter it alongside those who hurt.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>DID IT DELIVER?:</strong> Yes and No. Please let me explain. I wanted something that would make ministering to people I love that have suffered sexual assault in a way that once we walked through the book, they would be healed and “better”. That is just not possible in most cases. So it failed to meet my unfair and unreasonable desires, but it succeeded in its goals. It first and foremost set a more realistic expectation level for the weight and burden of the effects of sexual assault. My heart grieves as I write this. I have had to look back over my motives and sin in my history of promiscuity. The value God has given to purity and the weight of His holy desire to love His children who devalue it are overwhelming. That is a good thing, a very good thing. I was also able to witness a washing pattern where the gospel is unfolded and “scrubs” in a circular pattern of repetition that will wear away at the pain that can become caked on the heart and mind. That was helpful. It is also biblical counseling, not secular. The gospel is the tool that has and will solve this problem, this pain. Life will come by the gospel. It is sufficient. I was greatly encouraged by the reality of how applicable the gospel is to solve such a painful and specific form of evil’s effects.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>SUMMARY OF STRUCTURE: </strong>The authors divide the book into three major sections. The first section is Disgrace. The second section is Grace Applied. The third section is Grace Revealed. They take you on a quick walk in a chapter prior to entering the first section and conclude with a one-page prayer. They also add some extremely helpful appendices that every church should share with their members in my opinion. They provide Notes for each chapter, a thorough and commendable bibliography, as well as both a general and scriptural index.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>SECTION I: DISGRACE</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Rid of My Disgrace opens our eyes to the reality of grace. “<em>A good short definition of grace is ‘one-way love.</em>’” Disgrace is the opposite. Where grace seeks you out to bring hope and pour out love on someone who may or may not have anything to give in return, “<em>Disgrace destroys, causes pain, deforms, and wounds. It alienates and isolates. Disgrace makes you feel worthless, rejected, unwanted, and unwanted like a persona non grata (a “person without grace”). Disgrace silences and shuns.</em>” The authors take us through understanding sexual assault as an act of disgrace by exploring sexual assault and its effects. They do a great job of defining sexual assault and explaining why they define it as they do as well as in personalizing the real effects that a victim of sexual assault experiences. These effects are the result of the trauma sexual assault causes and affect the mind, body, and heart of the victim. Greater depth is given to the effects of trauma, negative stereotypes of victims, self-blame, the difference in male and female victims, and emotions, and ultimately the gospel hope that exists for healing.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>SECTION II: GRACE APPLIED</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Section two opens with testimony of the experience and effects of sexual abuse. Six testimonies are given to help the reader understand sexual assault, its effects, and the application of hope that comes as grace is applied. There are two testimonies from men and four testimonies from women. The application of grace flows from an explanation of how the gospel is applied to denial, self-image, shame, guilt, anger, and despair. All of these effects are common to victims that endure the trauma sexual assault causes. Though these truths are presented in a specific context of sexual assault, I found myself comforted by their application to physical abuse. The gospel is true for all men and women and all trauma and this does not exclude sexual assault.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The authors carefully wash victims and readers with the word of God in the gospel. This grows out of a clear belief: “<em>We believe that the only thing that gets to the depths of the devastation of sexual assault is God’s one-way, unconditional love expressed through, and founded on, the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. And in response to sin and its effects, God’s radical grace and redemption are at the center of responding to the pain and the needs brought on by a victim’s experiences.</em>” </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>SECTION III: GRACE REVEALED</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In section III, the authors show us that the revelation of grace is intended for those who desire a biblical understanding of sin, violence, sexual assault, and God’s response. It works from an explanation of peace (shalom) and works through the story of redemption found in both the Old and New Testaments. Chapter ten provides a foundation for understanding the core concepts and a chapter follows for God’s plan in each testament to give a full Bible explanation of God’s word and work that has always pointed to the gospel.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The process of the book is to learn what we are talking about and define hard subjects, walk through the experience of sexual assault victims in both Scripture and our current context, grieve with them as they grieve, and look forward to the shared hope we have for peace in the finished work of God today and in the future found in the thread of the gospel God has graciously given us in His word from beginning to end. It culminates in worship with a closing prayer.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>PRIMARY SUBJECTS:</strong> Sexual Assault, Sin, Trauma, Grace, Disgrace, Gospel Application, Suffering, Specific Biblical Counseling</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>STRENGTHS: </strong> Easy to read in a general sense. It made sense of very difficult subjects and really moved the audience from a distant relationship with the subject of sexual assault into a personal relationship with not only those who have suffered these assaults, but also with the God who has more than conquered them. The range of academia and personal biblical counseling that occurs in the book gives it the ability to be used in a wide range of settings. The testimonies make it personal. The research makes it academic. The application of the gospel undergirds the entire book and guides the process and flow of the book. Sin is placed in our face so we see it as large as it is, but God in the gospel is brought to our face and is shown to be so much greater and bigger that the sin is pushed farther from us than the east is from the west.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>WEAKNESSES:</strong> The primary weakness of the book is the primary strength of the book. It is a very broad and general book meant to reach a lot of different people. I would say this would have done better to be two books, but I have not worked through it with someone yet, so take that for what it is. The academic aspect (facts and general research on trends) is naturally very cold in my estimation. The testimonies were so personal in contrast. The gospel explanation and application were clear and precise, but the book didn’t really yield itself to any of those perspectives completely. It felt like it could be two books and better serve the church.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let me explain.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">You don’t have to convince a sexual assault victim of the gravity of the sin that has been committed against them with percentages and statistics and studies. That felt like it actually works against the close counseling relationship that should exist grounded in the personal and natural love of God that we receive as His children through the growing gospel application of His Holy Spirit coupled with the Word. We don’t care about our friends and family because the pain is statistically verifiable and therefore applicable. We care about their pain because we care about them. We don’t care if statistics, research, and the general counsel of the world says we are wrong for doing so. I said that pretty bluntly and with a general rejection of any alternative opinion. I mean that in the same way Christ tells us we should love God and hate our parents.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I believe the argument and foundational movement from statistics was a mistake. What I mean by foundational movement is this: the authors set a foundation and build a house that starts with the reality that sexual assault is a problem and then moves more into a biblical theology or biblical explanation of sin in general and sexual assault specifically. As Christians (and humans in general), our worldview begins with what God says about any subject, not what statistics say. The argument from statistics should be in a separate textbook for school or for those preparing to walk through a book with a brother or sister who is hurting and not in the actual book you will be walking through with them. This is preference and not God ordained, but I think it wise, so take that for what it is.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Begin and end with the gospel.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This knowledge (the statistics and trends) is important and a ground for a world who could honestly care less to face the heinous nature of this sin and its effects. It is also not at war with God’s word, instead it confirms it. Sin is evil and spreads when injustice abounds. It’s definitely needed. This section was well written as well. I needed it, but my friends who are suffering don’t. Maybe it would be better used as a separate pamphlet or booklet available for those seeking to understand and walk with their friends and family through their pain. It makes great supplementary material. I do think it should be used to bring those who do not naturally see the issue as noteworthy or assign it the weight it has in the proper Scriptural light into the argument for how to view sexual assault. That said, there may be no better way to help academic audiences understand or care with a growing trend of glancing over portions of books and avoiding supplementary materials that are not required, but will it be read to be understood either way if someone does not have a heart to understand grounded on love?</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696172017-01-25T18:00:00-06:002017-10-25T09:32:42-05:00BOOK REVIEW: SIDE BY SIDE BY EDWARD T WELCH
<p><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/91fdc013ae078802bb7fb68097ff1c048024b0fd/original/41kpdt690wl-sx322-bo1204203200.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MzI0eDQ5OSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="499" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="324" /></strong></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>TITLE:</strong> SIDE BY SIDE: Walking with others in wisdom and love</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>PUBLISHER: </strong>Crossway</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>AUTHOR:</strong> Edward T. Welch</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>AUDIENCE:</strong> I would say it is most likely best applicable to small groups or Sunday School classes, but it is clearly general enough to be applicable to every Christian. <em>Side by Side</em> is a good mix of theological and doctrinal foundations, simple word choice, and a variety of interactive conversational style and tone that anyone could pick up, read, and understand. The more academic terms are explained. An example is in regard to the term progressive sanctification. Welch explains what he is using the term to explain and does so in a clear, concise, and helpful way. After giving us an example of the way change might seem slow in a baby’s weight or flower that was recently planted, time will reveal the growth. He then transitions into explaining the idea as a theological term: <em>“In humans, this spiritual process is called ‘progressive sanctification.’ It means that growth and change are happening (Phil. 1:6) but not always as quickly as we would like.”</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>GENERAL SUMMARY:</strong> God has designed man in such a way that each person is both needy <em>and</em> needed. He argues that Scripture has shown us we are better off when we are walking in community, sharing our neediness, and bearing each other’s’ burdens. <em>“The basic idea is that those who help best are the ones who both need help and give help.”</em> Welch provides helpful application to a biblical treatment of walking together in our God-given design that allows us to share and experience God-given love and wisdom through each other. If you dig down to the heart of the book, what you find is that Welch wants to see the church love each other with the wisdom of Jesus. I hesitate to call it incarnational in nature because of the lack of consistent pointing to Christ as our particular model, but it is incarnational in the sense that the work is done as we walk in the wisdom and love found in the gifts of Christ’s death, namely the whole counsel of the Word, some aspects of Christ’s relation to man and sin, and by the effectual power and application of the Holy Spirit.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>WHY I READ IT:</strong> I was interested in finding a helpful book to work through with my small group brothers and sisters as we “<em>gel</em>” together. My hope was that it would give direction on what it means to live life-on-life together and start a larger conversation that we can take with us as we multiply in the future.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>DID IT DELIVER?:</strong> Yes. I will likely use this book in a general group setting in our first 18-24 months as well as in ongoing 1 on 1 meetings with the brothers I am discipling. I see it as a foundational issue for every member in small group to work through in order to establish common ground expectations and boundaries.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>SUMMARY OF STRUCTURE:</strong> Welch divides the basic structure of the book into two halves. The first half is an argument for every person’s inherent neediness. The second half is an argument that every person is built to be a helper, which is to say “<em>We are needed</em>.”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">SECTION I: WE ARE NEEDY</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Welch builds the case for living in light of our neediness through six chapters. Each adds to the argument and simultaneously explains how that knowledge can play out in community. He shares the good, the bad, and some of the ugly. He weaves the subjects together as he goes and makes the experiences of life that appear so complex a bit more simple to understand and act towards in the process.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">He starts with a foundation of the complexity of life and submits a way of organizing the various relationships we live in. This is done in light of the reality of the authority structure of the world. At the top is God, below is spiritual beings in the world, followed by work, our relationships, our body and the heart. He will unpack the presence of each in the context of community as he goes. He then focuses on the heart and how “busy” it is. By busy, Welch intends us to understand it is working in various ways. He defines the heart through many terms and then explains that it acts as a fountainhead, a tree, and a treasure chest. Out of it come emotions, good, bad, and spiritual allegiances.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Next he ties together what happens when hard circumstances meet busy hearts. At the heart of this chapter is the argument that we will inevitably have to face what we believe, in the form of a conversation, when hard circumstances collide with our heart. We will cry out in a psalm or an anti-psalm. Listen to what you are saying and where it comes from. Each time trouble comes, we have an opportunity to grow.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Welch then sets his sights on sin. Sin, not suffering, is our biggest problem. The weight of sin should drive us to Jesus, bring necessary humility, and be the beginning of power and confidence through gospel application. Confession toward God and in community is necessary to laying the weight of sin down. Confession is not for some people and not others. Confession is a necessity to every living person and as such is not simply necessary sometimes, but necessary daily.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Welch then helps us think through seeking help through the source we are intended to request it from: God. Welch argues that we naturally resist asking for help because we follow in a path of seeking self-sufficiency. He then helps us see a solution through a call to “Pray the Prayers of Scripture.” He does this through Scripture’s general call to cry out in this pattern and follows with two types of prayers of Scripture to consider. He argues prayers of confession teach us confession is essential to satisfaction. He then argues that this prayer of confession which has come in response to hardship actually drives us further into a desire to know God in a personal way. This category of prayer is called “<em>Prayers to Know God Better</em>” and they piggy back on our need as we seek help with the seen into the unseen, spiritual realities that are going on.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Welch ends the first half of his book, our neediness, by pointing us to the reality that everyone is needy, not just us. Since we see this is a shared need, we should reach outside of ourselves to ask others for help. He helps us practically work through three areas of this process. He calls us to ask for help, tells us how to ask, and how to recognize help when it comes. At the end of the process is public proclamation of praise.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">SECTION II: WE ARE NEEDED</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There is a short section break that further describes the book as “<em>Looking Back</em>” and “<em>Looking Ahead</em>.” “<em>Looking Back</em>” points us to our neediness and states the goal of the section: “<em>To become transparent and humble friends who are at ease with our neediness</em>” by reflecting on our hardships and sin, the conversation this reflection produces, and increasing willingness to open up to our friends to seek help. “<em>Looking Ahead</em>” will argue that Scripture has taught us the church moves forward as we fulfill our calling through mutual love and caring. The goal of this section is to grow new skills and use them in our everyday, common toolkit of moving towards others when they are in need, getting to know them, and praying for them. Welch uses eleven chapters to unpack the skills we will need to learn and develop while he shows us how they complement our daily interactions.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Welch begins his argument for our inherent need for service to others by reminding us that we have the Holy Spirit. The impact of Holy Spirit empowered people is unexplainable outside of the power and wisdom that they carry by the gift of the Spirit. So often we can fall into the mindset that we are just ordinary people that have so little to offer to others, but the Spirit works in ordinary people and possesses wisdom to accomplish God’s work in the lives of the people in our community.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There is a problem: people don’t move towards others for help. This is true in our relationships with God as well as with our relationships with other people. We look to God who moved towards us. We can see this in God’s relationships with His people, or “<em>better yet, watch Jesus. He relentlessly pursued and invited the marginalized and outcasts to be with him.</em>” Welch emphasizes this grace and argues it starts a grace cycle. We now move towards other people as we follow our King’s example. He gives some help for those of us who may struggle with greeting people and lays out a hierarchy for how we prioritize our “greeting time” at church with “<em>the visitor</em>” taking first priority and moving through stages to children and a goal of saying hi to as many people as possible.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Welch then turns to what I call “the art of conversation” and explains greetings aren’t enough. We need conversations to really know people. There is a proper give and take to conversations, so Welch teaches us the basics through an initial script with what you might call icebreakers. He gives insight on how to watch for and act on the other person’s revealed affections. He closes this chapter by transitioning us into their life by asking how we can pray for them and following that request by actually praying with them either right then or in the near future. The personal prayer relationship is “<em>help at its most basic and best.</em>”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Relationships don’t end at prayer. That is the beginning of growth. To cultivate growth you need to look for the good. All humanity is made in the image of God and therefore carries with it some of the good of God’s grand design. To look for the good in others, we need to notice character qualities, gifts and talents, pleasures, preferences, hobbies, and spiritual vitality. Use these signs of good to encourage the other person and to be encouraged by God’s work in their lives.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The next step Welch brings us to is that of actually walking beside others by listening and taking part in their stories. You want to ask the other person to tell you stories. There are short stories like you might get if you ask about a doctor’s visit or a vacation. There are long stories that might require a meal like is the case of someone’s conversion. As we listen and come into someone’s life, we need to watch out for a few mistakes that we can make. One of them is matching stories. Keep the focus of the story on the person and avoid comparing your stories with theirs. We then follow in line with love, which “<em>naturally moves to what is important in someone’s story and follows up.</em>” He gives emotions and terms to listen and watch for as well as advice on how to focus in on those items to draw the person out.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Friends have compassion on others when they face trouble. I highly recommend reading the entire book and letting this chapter’s insight sink in. I lack a certain level of natural compassion and found this chapter to be helpful in providing some don’ts as well as insight on how our theology shapes our compassion. If we have the wrong beliefs, we will likely cause hurt. If we have the right beliefs, there is a great and spacious opportunity to love others. Welch links the flow of facing trouble together with his next chapter as he transitions into moving to prayer with your friend. I was edified and comforted by Welch’s view of prayer as I have often experienced either a prayer for help in the world of the flesh or prayers focused on the spiritual side of things. Welch doesn’t settle for either or call us to discount one side for the other. Instead he directs us to use prayers for the things that affect us in the material world while digging into scriptural truth and seeking the spiritual at the same time. He does this specifically in relation to prayers for healing, comfort, faith and ends with insight on praying for everything. But don’t just pray, follow up.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Be alert to Satan’s devices is a lesson presented through four gardens of interaction with Satan. Welch wisely warns/reminds us that Satan is a hunter who has a strategy that involves suffering. Welch works us through the Garden of Eden, the Wilderness with Jesus, Gethsemane, and the Resurrection Garden found in John 20. Hardships can lead us to vulnerability that Satan loves to use for his attacks. When we are vulnerable, he tempts us to sin and then accuses us. We must fight with God’s promises and the Word of God as Jesus fought. A friend will warn their friends of this reality when they see them suffering. Welch gives a great list of ways to do this.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The last thing we might typically do as we are walking together side by side is talk about sin. This takes preparation. “<em>Suffering and sin are the sum of human struggles. This means that we need one another with our struggle with suffering and in our struggle with sin and temptation</em>.” You do not just jump in with someone else’s sin. You first examine yourself. We have to look to grow in humility and patience. Humble people see their sins as worse than other peoples. You will likely be tested if you talk to someone else about sin as they point back to your lack of holiness. Patience partners with humility. “<em>Patience is interested in what direction people face. Do they face toward Jesus? Patience is more interested in direction and less interested in how fast people are changing</em>.” In order to talk to people about sin we first have to see the good, having laid a foundation of building them up, and acknowledging the hard circumstances they have faced. He ends with direction on a simple principle of addressing one sin at a time.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">To close out the book, Welch teaches us how to be prepared to fight alongside others in situations we know carry extra temptation or opportunity for sin, at times we have seen sin take place, and when someone discloses or confesses sin. There are a number of key steps that Welch lays out to help us work through the process of acting in love with wisdom when we see sin as well as in the cases where sin is confessed or disclosed. At the end of the day and at all times in it we need to remember that this is a part of our master’s story. Welch unpacks Ephesians 1:2-14 and explains how God has worked by grace in our past, present, and future. I’ll leave that for you to read.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>PRIMARY SUBJECTS:</strong> Community, Neediness, Spiritual Gifts, Serving, Being Served, the Heart, Authority, Sin, Satan, Mankind, Suffering, Temptations, General Counseling</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>STRENGTHS:</strong> Simple to read, theologically grounded and simultaneously practical (head, heart, and hands), it flows like relationships flow so you can work through the steps in real life many times. It also provides a plan to grow each and every reader in their love for God and others as they experience God’s great plan and design in a life within Christian community.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>WEAKNESSES:</strong> There weren’t many weaknesses I ran across other than it is a surface view of relationships and doesn’t really provide resources or insight into more complex issues that are bound to come up at some point of church life together. I have experienced questions on what to do when someone confessions sins that might require long-term jail time or repeat offenses of particular kinds that hurt the vulnerable repeatedly. Though Welch does speak of involving the entire church and other key figures in the church at certain points, life and levels of maturity or emphases within a church can present unique obstacles in this growth. I could really use a companion or follow up to this book that delves deeper into these issues. </span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696162016-12-26T18:00:00-06:002017-10-25T09:33:22-05:00TESTIMONY: HOMELESSNESS
<p></p>
<div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe frameborder="0" height="247" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wgCFU9k1iWY" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="300" class="wrapped wrapped"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This is a testimonial I gave to a friend a few years back. His church wanted to understand homelessness by getting to know a person who was homeless. This is what I recorded to share with them. Whether you are homeless, still dealing with the pain homelessness can cause, or just want to know and serve the homeless community, hopefully this testimony can help.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696152016-11-06T18:00:00-06:002017-10-25T09:34:51-05:00LIONS, LAMBS, AND THE BIBLE BELT
<h2 style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style="color:#ffffff">A Call For A Return To Boldness</span></h2>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/5c2831b7557cac8e23479e04f703f19622b18137/original/lamb-sheep-farm-animal-47078-large.jpeg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDA1eDI3MCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="270" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="405" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I’m southern. You probably knew that already. I’m from the buckle of the “Bible Belt”. That’s a unique place to be from. That means I have been around “Christians” and “Christianity” all of my life. I’d go a step further to say it means that being a “Christian” and living in a “Christian community” is a way of life. Now let me clarify something before we go any further. I mean community to be a government, its laws, the public and private interactions of those within the society at large (Christian or not) and basically having a city and state in a region that is pro-Christianity and proud of it. I was raised to be bold about my faith and the falseness and dangers of opposing faiths. If someone wanted to impose their faith on our popular faith or stand against us, government institutions and those in them were most likely sympathetic to my side. That’s good and bad. It can be real good or real bad.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">It also means I grew up listening to the old folks talk about the Crusades, book and record burning parties, big tent revivals, regularly scheduled annual revivals, large-scale public outreach/evangelism events, southern quartets, and hell fire and brimstone preachers. I was a bit odd because of it. Of course, back home you wouldn’t notice, but where I live and work and interact today, I might be viewed as a barbarian or a simpleton. Our methods, openness, willingness to engage conflict and state our position without a nationally ascribed presentation of what it means to be “winsome” are looked down upon. The hypocrisy that looms over us further complicates the matter. But I’d like to ask that you don’t discard it. Instead, step in with me. Let me show you the heart behind what you see. Let me take you to the war grounds and let’s observe it together. It might be useful, right.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">AN INCH DEEP AND A MILE WIDE</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">That’s the way I’ve heard the teaching described by Midwesterners, northerners, and committed intellectuals where I live now. I’d have to agree in large measure. I’ve said the same. One thing the South lacks that it is without excuse for is personal discipleship. Preachers sing out a call to come forward and submit your life to the LORD. Well, either that or they try to entertain you through the 15 minute preaching segment of their services without ever really upsetting you. That’s the new Southern preaching. That doesn’t seem to have been around back in the day. Back in the day it was holiness. For those of you that don’t know what that might mean or insinuate, holiness preaching is closer to the hellfire and brimstone type I already said I grew up idolizing. Basically, it says God is holy, He gave us the Holy Spirit, and He has called us to be holy as He is holy. What that might mean is somewhat up to interpretation because it isn’t always spelled out other than what holiness will and won’t do. For instance, holy men separate from evildoers and stand against wickedness (what does that mean?). Holy men won’t partake in drunkenness or clear sin. A lot of times it turns into manners and war. At least it did in me. And I’m not necessarily against either. My concern isn’t actions though, it’s the heart behind them. Lack of clarity in what things mean and especially the heart behind them are making things worse than they are making them better.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I think of the verse that says certain teachers of the law would go great distances (literally) to make a single convert only to make them twice the child of hell than they were before they were converted. I empathize with both the teacher and the converted ones. I believe I’ve done and been both. My heart aches daily because of it.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">JUDGMENT</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God gives false teachers to men as judgment. Think about that. It scares the mess out of me. God will judge me for not believing Him by supplying me with false teachers that will lead me straight to hell. Not only that, I will willingly follow them because I love what they have to say. It’s opened my eyes up to the Lord’s Prayer when it says to God our Father “Lead me NOT into temptation; but deliver me from evil.” I’ve spent a considerable amount of time asking that request (singular in a contrast statement) word for word with a heart of fear. Who is being asked for protection? God the Father is. Who are we asking Him to protect us from? Who is doing the leading? God the Father is. God directs us into temptation, into the snare, and we will fall into unless He delivers us from our own wandering ways that follow temptation straight into the death that evil sets. See that? God leads, Temptation ensnares (we have to be delivered out of it).</span></p>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">THE BALLOT SMELLS LIKE JUDGMENT</span></h3>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I look out at this nation by looking on a ballot and I see such a backwards set up that the history in the pages of the Bible says we are already ensnared. We’ve already been given over. We are in free fall. Most likely there is no hope for us as a nation. But I remember that fire, that smell of brimstone that woke me up over and over and made my eyes see the danger in front of me. Fear is not viewed, generally, as a good motivator. But when it comes to God, He says it is the beginning of understanding. I don’t ascribe to the definition of fear that it is simply awe and not fear. No. It’s an awe-inspired fear. I don’t see anyone meeting an angel, the angel of the LORD, or standing before God that doesn’t fill with fear. They are afraid. So while I was afraid, others mocked and were unaffected. Instead of fear, men can fill with anger. But for those who hear the rebuke of the LORD, they turn and God counts it as wisdom.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">That’s why I’m ok with the revivals, the hellfire and brimstone, the holiness calls, and the burning parties. I’ve grown to respect men and women that don’t “winsomely” (in the current definition) convert, but instead convert because they smell like fire has touched their lips. Their eyes pierce like they have seen the living God and He is standing with them as they speak. The fear of man is absent and the argument is the reality of the existence of a holy, just God who is legitimately angry about sin and storing up wrath to judge it. That’s why I invite you in to this “Christian society” I come from. The Scripture is clear. Christians never make up the majority. The few, not the many, find the narrow way and walk it. Few, not the many, enter through the narrow gate. So if you realize this and believe that all men are born in the clutches of sin in such a way that they cannot follow God without a new birth, a miracle, then you have to understand that each household is engaged in a war.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">It’s easier to please your child by imitating a God who is nicer about sin that Jesus was and the Father is, than it is to show them the cross, the heart of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It’s easier to avoid taking hard stances on the word of God up front to your neighbors than it is to please them by flavoring your words to tickle their ears all the while they are headed into the clutches of the snare of evil. Salt purifies too. It’s not just for flavor. It cauterizes and burns open wounds, but heals because of its work. So often we assume that the wisdom texts of what avoids conflict in the Proverbs equal what Christ showed us to imitate. I don’t see anyone mentioning His calling teachers snakes, vipers, wolves, dogs alongside commands for Christians to salt their speech. You don’t get the praise of Jesus on John the Baptist who was known for blunt assaults on wicked men like the Pharisees and Herod’s household when these conversations come up. Jesus even said John was the greatest of the prophets and none that came before or after would match him, not even Moses. How about Paul who clearly went after Peter when he was not acting in accordance with the gospel? Does that sound winsome to you? It does to me. Men who can put their heads on the chopping block and are unwilling to run from the danger, the scrutiny, the trouble that is guaranteed to come by speaking the truth to those who suppress it remind me of Christ who in His prophesied zeal for His Father’s house not only turned over tables in the temple, but braided a whip to do so. And this we are sure pleased God and looked exactly as His imitation, His likeness.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">That’s war. People are afraid of it. It’s hard. It’s lonely. It doesn’t make you a ton of friends. Matter of fact, it will likely lead people to pour out wrath and manipulate justice to silence and destroy you if they don’t just lash out and kill you.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">THE MOST IMPORTANT PART: THE HEART</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But it’s missing the most key piece: A heart that has decided to act for others grounded in love. The rebukes aren’t for rebuke’s sake, they are grounded in a love for God that knows men who are lead off in temptation are headed into the snares of evil. They have to be awakened and snap to. They need to hear a voice that warns them of the cliff they are walking off of and leading others to as well. They, WE, all need to “get our minds right” every once in a while. And that’s not bad. So when you see the same states in the Bible belt that are so confidently and clearly opposed to things full of wickedness and injustice, please understand this: It’s still a war. People will manipulate what is commendable to their own desires. It is clearly a courageous, worthy endeavor to be bold and clear and grounded in God’s Word. But not everyone who presents themselves this way is a Christian. They might be the same ones using injustice, riches, and the freedom to do evil that comes from an unchanged heart and conscience to silence those who are around them rebuking their ways.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There are bullies and there are those who stand against bullies to defend the weak. A dog and a wolf may look and sound a lot alike while fighting, but only one is protecting their master. The other is a wolf doing what wolves do. We are LION and lamb like Christ. We are conformed to His image. You can’t remove the lion from a Christian. It’s who Christ is. That means it is something we become over time. We are willing to give up our “coats” to those over us (all men) and we are willing to die that they might live by the grace of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit, but we are also relentless, fearless, and courageous as we seek to walk in the footsteps of God by defending the weak and defenseless and the flocks we have been given and the holy, exalted name of God in Christ Jesus just as He has done so Himself. He doesn’t need us to, but He lets us partake in this holy calling anyway.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In my opinion, take it as you may, the biggest difference between pictures of evil rulers and wicked men and Jesus and those filled with His Spirit is not how loud they talked, the boldness or sharpness of their words, or their clear rebuke on both sides. No. On that, both sides seem to stand with conviction. Neither is lukewarm.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The biggest difference is one group came prepared to kill and the other group came prepared to die.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">My prayer is that the coals, the brimstone, might sear and cleanse the lips of many more men and women as we see it has done for Isaiah in Isaiah 6. Then we may hear, send me when we know the mission is much like that he also was sent for.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696142016-10-14T19:00:00-05:002017-10-25T09:38:24-05:00THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN COME IN DARKNESS
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/b68ebfb868bf5f1bfddeb83332b73122efb202a6/original/education-488036-180.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDA1eDI3MCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="270" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="405" /></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">"For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil <em>dwells</em> with you." -Psalm 5:4</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><span id="en-NASB-28913" class="text 2Cor-6-14"><span class="versenum">14 "</span>Do not be <span class="footnote" title="See footnote j" data-fn="#fen-NASB-28913j" data-link="[<a >j]">[<a title="See footnote j" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+6#fen-NASB-28913j" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">j</span></a>]</span>bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?</span> <span id="en-NASB-28914" class="text 2Cor-6-15"><span class="versenum">15 </span>Or what harmony has Christ with <span class="footnote" title="See footnote k" data-fn="#fen-NASB-28914k" data-link="[<a >k]">[<a title="See footnote k" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+6#fen-NASB-28914k" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">k</span></a>]</span>Belial, or <span class="footnote" title="See footnote l" data-fn="#fen-NASB-28914l" data-link="[<a >l]">[<a title="See footnote l" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+6#fen-NASB-28914l" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">l</span></a>]</span>what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?</span> <span id="en-NASB-28915" class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="versenum">16 </span>Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,</span></span></p>
<div class="poetry">
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">'I <span class="text 2Cor-6-16">will</span> <span class="text 2Cor-6-16">dwell in them and</span> <span class="text 2Cor-6-16">walk among them</span>;</span><br><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">And I will be their God, and they shall be My people</span>.</span><br><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">17 '</span>Therefore, <span class="text 2Cor-6-16">come out from their midst and be separate</span>,' says the Lord.</span><br><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">'And do not touch what is unclean</span>;</span><br><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">And I will welcome you.</span><br><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">18 '</span>And I will be a father to you,</span><br><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">And you shall be sons and daughters to Me,'</span><br><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">Says the Lord Almighty."</span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">-2 Corinthians 6:14-18</span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">I've seen a lot of "false imaging" that seems to come from a misunderstanding about God. What I mean by "false imaging" is that the image of God that a Christian bears in their word and deed does not reflect God, but something else. There could be several reasons why a person does not reflect God. They might range from immaturity to not knowing God personally to worshipping a specific, different God to simply living out the will of a sinful, rebellious heart. There is also a reality that as humans, we have sin (which God does not have) and therefore our reflection will "image" and reflect the value and likeness of God in some ways that are different than the way Jesus did. But Jesus was the perfect image of God and was God in the flesh. The way we image God will also be different than Jesus (in the form of man) as well as different than in the form of spirit without the finiteness (limitations) of man. How? It will have to include dealing with the sins we commit. Let me offer an argument for consideration: repentance of sin is one way we reflect the value of God that God cannot reflect either in a human body without sin or in the spirit state the Father is in. To fail to repent of sin shows the world an entity that bears the physical image of God, but does not walk like God (likeness) and so it is a false image. That is based on the presumption that Man, by the nature of God's creative purpose, is still the image of God regardless of active sin or not. </span></p>
<h2 class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">GOD CANNOT BE ONE WITH SIN</span></h2>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">The false image I want to talk about here is found in the idea of separation for the sake of holiness. I have done it. I've lived on the inside of this process. I know what it feels like. So this has been a process to come out and study God and then eventually see what I had wrong about Him and how things in Scripture worked. It was an issue with my ability to understand how one might come to certain actions in a way I had not thought of because of my limitations in knowledge and experience. I'll try to illustrate this. Let me start with a statement I might have made that I now believe is wrong because of how I thought it had to happen:</span></p>
<p class="line" style="text-align: left;"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">God cannot dwell among men because God is holy and holiness can't be around sin, so God had to move man out of the garden and couldn't live with men. Either men had to be destroyed or change or God had to leave. They couldn't be in the same place at the same time. </span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">Now, on the surface, you might think that statement is true, but let me address the wrong thoughts that were floating around in my mind behind that statement:</span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">1) Holiness flees from sin or immediately destroys it.</span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">2) Holiness cannot come into darkness. Jesus was the light that came into darkness, but he came to find men who would be holy and didn't hang around scoundrels (the Pharisees) who wouldn't repent and become holy.</span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">3) God is patient with sinners, but not when they are face-to-face. He had to make a special way to make men ceremonially holy to come around Him and He still dwelled on a mountain, in a tent (tabernacle) or in the temple until Jesus came. He wasn't happy even though He let men come around Him a few times with these special requirements like sacrifice, ritual cleanliness, etc.</span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">4) God wants Christians to separate from all sin and call others out of darkness with the gospel. We go in (to darkness; the world) to come out (back into little areas of light like our churches and homes).</span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">There's a lot wrong with each of those four statements. Why did I believe these? Basically, I understood verses like those above to mean that 1) God cannot be around sin and 2) the problem for Israel (and mankind in general) was that we are sinners. 3) Since God can't expose Himself to sin, then 4) there has to be a chasm between us.</span></p>
<h2 class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">ONE WITH SIN IS NOT THE SAME AS AROUND SIN</span></h2>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">The verses that really changed my mind had to do with the fact that even from the beginning (Genesis 1:2) the Holy Spirit has clearly been able to 1) remain holy and 2) Go into darkness. The same with God. He seems to be able to choose which men He will come around and which ones He will not and no man except Jesus is without sin. That, by implication, means He can clearly come in the presence of sin/darkness/evil, and 1) remain holy and 2) go into darkness. Jesus was the most clear example. He was born out of a sinful body that weened him and pumped food and all human needs into Him. He was raised by human parents in human cities and had human disciples who travelled with Him while He fulfilled prophecies and talking and calling other men to Himself or into judgment. What does that mean? Being in darkness or around sin has no ability to make God less holy or in need to immediately ZAP folks to restore order. Jesus is God. Jesus was a clear picture of patience, self-control, joy, holiness, and love all while in the midst of sin and darkness. None of the disciples would be worthy of the term "holy", but if anything think of walking, eating, and sleeping with Judas every day. This is the dude who is gonna sell you out to be crucified even though you've provided for Him and done miracles in his sight for up to three years. And you know Jesus knew what was up.</span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">Therefore, we can easily say that being around sin is not the same as being one with sin.</span></p>
<h2 class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">LIGHT AND DARK, TRANSFORMATION</span></h2>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">So why did God expel Adam and Eve? Why did God dwell in a tabernacle and temple instead of out in the open with men? And why did He require those cleanliness laws and ritual purification to be "ritually holy" to come into His presence.</span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">One word: Love</span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">Genesis 3:22-24 says this: <span id="en-NASB-78" class="text Gen-3-22"><span class="versenum">22 </span>Then the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—</span> <span id="en-NASB-79" class="text Gen-3-23"><span class="versenum">23 </span>therefore the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.</span> <span id="en-NASB-80" class="text Gen-3-24"><span class="versenum">24 </span>So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.</span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff">Point: It was out of love that God would not let man live forever with the knowledge of good and evil. Why? So they wouldn't be like God? No. Because they aren't like God and that can kill you. Hebrews 10 is such an amazing explanation of this reality. I'll use one key verse, but recommend you read and dwell in the whole chapter. Hebrews 10:2 says: <span class="text 2Cor-6-16">2 </span><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had </span><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><em>consciousness of sins</em>?The NLT uses a different phrase to explain what Christ's death did: <span class="text 2Cor-6-16">their <em>feelings of guilt</em> would have disappeared. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">Here's the deal, holiness can go into darkness and remain holy. It's not something God has that he wears that can be stained. Holiness is who God is. He <em>is</em> holy. Holiness is a word that describes the purity of God's character, His heart. Men are not holy. Matter of fact, there really is nothing holy in the created world that does not contain holiness simply because it contains the glory (the Spirit) of God. We reflect the image of holiness, but we lack it in our pre-fall state and post-fall, pre-rebirth state. When God puts His Spirit in us and fuses (binding) it with who we are to create a new creature, we become holy. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">Here's the deal though (yeah, second time I said that), holiness is like light (and <em>is</em> light because it is the presence of the <em>Holy</em> Spirit). Light comes into the darkness and as more and more light is shining, less and less darkness will remain. What is darkness? Scientifically, its the absence of light. In Scripture, it is its own light of sorts (Matthew 6:22-23). Light transforms darkness. What is in the darkness remains. It isn't necessarily changed. Human eyes are just able to see it. Think "all that's done in the dark will be revealed". In Genesis 1, the Spirit hovers over the surface of the deep, over the void, formless world covered in darkness. Then God sends light in and starts separating and shifting and...gardening. The darkness will serve its purpose, but it will never have the ability to be in the same place as light. The earth is then transformed and filled (in order to be filled) and prepared to bring forth life.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">So are we. </span></span></span></p>
<h2 class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">JESUS AND ACCURATE REFLECTION OF GOD</span></span></span></h2>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">Jesus went in to darkness and was unable to be tempted or changed because...God is holy. He can't be tempted. He can't change. This is good. We reflect this reality after we've been separated from the pack and made new when we are sent into the world. We all should be sent into the world at some point barring what could only be some sort of highly abnormal circumstance like death or sickness (or both). We go out, we come in, and we go out again. This is repetitive. We will, by the grace of God, grow in holiness through sanctification (likely filled with falls and failures) to the point that we will be less likely to be tempted or trapped by the sin we see, hear, experience in the world we are sent into to be lights. That means a lot of repentance. That means a lot of forgiving and seeking forgiveness. That means men will likely mock and turn on you. That means that your faith will be tested as you seek to save face, hide guilt, or avoid seeking help in many ways as you see exactly how sinful you are and how easily tempted and deceived you really are. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">I am NOT saying go into strip clubs or places you are out of control. I am saying that you should seek God in His Word, through prayer, and in a community of believers in such a way that you can live in the world and encounter darkness without giving in to it. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">Part of the post-fall process is learning to trust God's character. Before Christ, men had to believe God would send a savior to pay for their sins. They longed to see the day the Christ would come (Matt 13:17). Their faith was invested in the character of God as revealed behind the veil He had come to them in. But now, we know Christ has not only come and died, but has risen and is alive and in power. Our faith is called to rest in the same thing: God will save us, its who He is. He has made a way and He will keep His word. That's a hard process for men who know evil and good and continue to see how evil and unlike God they are. As evil as we know we are, we know God is as good as He really is. We don't know it, but we do. That's why we try to avoid sin and the stains of the world. That's why we do good deeds and try to stay away from bad places and people. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">But that doesn't look like God.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">God doesn't stay away. He comes right on in exactly when He wants to and then He transforms everything in His way. Darkness will flee and light will remain. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">See there is a problem with sin and the presence of God. Sin makes it impossible for us to enjoy being around God. It is true that wrath must be poured out against sin, but we won't want to be in His presence due to our guilt and shame. The chasm between us and God is one we create, not necessarily God alone. There is a chasm in difference between God and all created things. His holiness is proof of the difference between God and man. God is good and man is not. But the chasm we see in Scripture is helped to some extent as our hearts flee from God into hiding when His presence arrives. God can be in the presence of sin without "infection". He does not take on the characteristics of what He is around. Whatever is around Him will more likely take on His character...or it will want God gone...or it will flee from God. God's holiness is never at stake. </span></span></span></p>
<h2 class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">LEARN TO REFLECT GOD: AN EXAMPLE OF A REQUEST FOR FORGIVENESS THAT ACCURATELY REFLECTS GOD</span></span></span></h2>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">Let us learn to reflect this (God's unchanging holiness) about God by going into the darkness (not contracts and business relationships or marriages or covenants) and love people like God has loved us. Let us love them in such a way that anyone who chooses to stay around us will be transformed, not the other way around. And let's do it fully aware that we are weak broken men made of dust that need 1) the Holy Spirit, 2) the Word of God, 3) the gift of prayer, and 4) the blood bought community in order to live daily in the gospel while also taking the gospel to the ends of our world. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">When you fall, acknowledge it. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">Repent and seek gospel restoration. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">Seek forgiveness from those you hurt. Start with God and move to the people you sin against...including (:gasp:) unbelieving sinners (as opposed to believers who sin). Go to them and tell them you see the wrong you did. Ask to reconcile (make up) with them and get back to a good relationship. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">Explain the reality of your false example of God and who God is. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">That means we might say something like this: </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">"I'm so sorry for hurting you by ....This is wrong. This is sin. I have not loved you and I have shown you a false image of God.God doesn't support or do...God hates this sin. God hates sin because it does hurt us. He is going to judge it all, including the sin I committed against you. I don't want to sin against you like this ever again, so I am seeking God's help (and maybe a person or group's help) to be accountable for this. Jesus had to come and die for this very sin. I hope you can forgive me."</span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">That's just one example and the situations will vary. I'm not prescribing that response word-for-word. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">What's key is:</span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">1. Acknowledging the way you didn't reflect God</span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">2. Why that matters (Love, Sin, God's heart and expectation and desires for us)</span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">3. A heart seeking to restore the relationship </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">4. Really turning away (repenting) from the sinful action</span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">5. Sharing the gospel and its implications to some extent. </span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">I believe all of those parts matter.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">This is how sinful people reflect the holiness of a sinless God.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">If anything, it will likely start a few conversations (in your head and those who witness your response) that can lead to the gospel and hopefully both worship and transformation.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">How we deal with sin says just as much as situations where we may not sin when we are expected to.</span></span></span></p>
<p class="line"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16" style="color:#ffffff"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16"><span class="text 2Cor-6-16">May God bless your relationships for His glory and your joy.</span></span></span></p>
</div>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696132016-10-13T19:00:00-05:002017-10-25T09:39:08-05:00HILLARY CLINTON, THE LAW, & HEART CHANGE
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">One of the few things I've heard from Hillary that I actually agree with: "I don't believe you change hearts..." Agreed. Men and Women cannot change another person's heart.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">That's why we need the gospel. The gospel, the power of God for salvation, changes hearts. The cross of Christ Jesus changes hearts. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Politicians and governments use the law and the justice system to "love" people by protecting them from other people who need new hearts, who need gospel change, that is mor<span class="text_exposed_show">e willing to die for their enemies than pursue their own "wellbeing." </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff">At the heart of each law (there should be a heart for each law) should be love for the people the law is in place to protect. Laws will likely change as people change. More open evil will likely require more clear and strict law and punishment. Less open evil towards others will require laws that protect in the areas that people are hurt. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The "Law" of God, the Mosaic law, shows the heart of God to love the Jews in several ways. At its heart is peace and reconciliation, not avoiding all law breaking. God made it clear in His word that men are evil at heart and out for their own good. Therefore the law presents ways to punish and ward off evil that hurts people and the community. It shows His clear hatred for evil, but it also makes a way to pay for evil done so that people can move on and come together in peace to love each other. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I love the law and could talk about the way He also made law to protect against sickness (like outbreaks), general health (like taking baths and cleaning wounds), and so many other aspects, but what is important here is that we, as those who are represented by lawmakers, understand that laws should have a heart to love people by 1) Clearly standing against specific evil done to our neighbors 2) Presenting a punishment worthy of the crime while 3) Maintaining hope once the crime has been punished by not removing a future from the lawbreaker if avoidable 4) and letting the law, justice system, and punishment/discipline (two different things from two different heart aims) serve its purpose so that we each choose to forgive and reconcile with those who have broken the laws.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">If you miss any of those elements, the law fails. You have to keep love at the heart of the laws. The law won't change people. It serves its purposes.</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696122016-08-26T19:00:00-05:002016-08-27T16:19:49-05:00PEW POLL: 19% OF AMERICANS TRUST GOVERNMENT
<p><a href="http://www.people-press.org/2015/11/23/beyond-distrust-how-americans-view-their-government/" data-imported="1"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/a85b26134ef83f91cedf98fdbd75a86be3732ec1/original/overview-1.png/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjcweDU4MSJd.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="581" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="270" /></a></p>
<p>I got bored for a bit and went over to see what the current Pew Polls had going on. Guns and the election, </p>
<p>But then I saw the Headline: <em>Beyond Distrust: How Americans View Their</em> Government</p>
<p>I had to read it. Some of it was boredom. Another reason is because I don't naturally trust the government. I had a few years listening to Alex Jones. That was enough to make me suspicious of Twinkies...and the announcement that Twinkies would no longer exist. But then they came back...just like a favorite character on Days of Our Lives or the Young & the Restless or something. </p>
<p>Really, I have quite a few friends in positions as police, lawyers, and a judge or two with a sit-in somewhere in the mix. I know we have a sister from our church running here in Minneapolis. All of those folks are solid. They've been used by Christ to change my opinion of the corruption in our justice system. Maybe there is a switch taking place. I sure hope so.</p>
<p>Feel free to check it out for a summary of this graph among others at the Pew Poll <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2015/11/23/beyond-distrust-how-americans-view-their-government/" data-imported="1">site</a>. I'd say I trust the government about 50/50. I think they try well, but the system is too complicated and expensive. The ROI is pretty far off. May the LORD help us to use His good gift of government to display the love of Christ. Yes, the government should be able to reflect Christ. We will need wise and holy men and women committed to laying down their lives to serve others while likely being hated. That's the truth ain't it? The hate is real. The opposition is thick. That's because a lot of power and influence are at risk. I pray we have a government led by Holy Spirit led, born-again believers who seek to obey Christ and reflect Him well in these roles. But do we want legit justice in line with God's government plan? </p>
<p>Until then, I know God's kingdom was already announced as here when John the Baptist proclaimed Christ Jesus was present. He is resurrected, but that kingdom keeps spreading. He is going to take it all....whether its before or after He destroys the earth with fire and makes a new earth where heaven rests on its face and the Son's face is our light (aka that Sunshine)! Amen! </p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696112016-08-26T19:00:00-05:002016-08-27T15:55:40-05:00THE BLOOD OF THE MARTYRS IS SEED: DESIRING GOD VIDEO
<p></p>
<div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I58aD5LMl4o" width="425" class="wrapped wrapped"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
<p>WOW! I was blown away by this message. It's not a new message. Brother Tim Keesey isn't saying anything we haven't heard before. </p>
<p>But this is a message we need to be confronted with regularly. Jesus said "Count the cost." We choose and commit to taking up a cross every morning. If you don't, you need to consider what you believe. Christ gave us one law. Yes Christ Jesus gave us a law. Its applicable. We are required (that word required hurts at times), yes REQUIRED to love others as He loved us (and specifically the disciples). This is a love that abandoned the safety of communion with God, in Him, and with Him in Heaven, to pour out all that you are to become your enemy to stand in their place to die for them. Along that walk to the Golgotha He defended broken, diseased men and women and rebuked those who preyed upon them using His Father's name and word to rob and crush them. </p>
<p>The prosperity gospel is a plague on the American church. We have even transported it out to the ends of the earth. Instead of freeing broken and diseased men, we send a false gospel that makes them twice the child of wrath than they were before we came. Let us turn from that evil and repent. Believe the gospel and believe in Jesus. Trust him and walk. </p>
<p>This video is available via Desiring God. I grabbed it from their youtube channel. Feel free to check out their <a href="http://www.DesiringGod.org" data-imported="1">site</a> and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnrFlpro0xfYjz6s5Xa8WWw" data-imported="1">Youtube Channel</a>. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the message. The part that initially shocked...then convicted me was in regard to the way we have to view our children in light of the cross. Shoot me a mention on twitter. I have a tool on my homepage to help you do that. I'll try to tweet back. It's a discussion worth having. I hope it blesses you by freeing you to pursue Christ without any of the world holding onto you (and by it holding onto you, I mean you holding onto it) to pursue the only source of true joy--Jesus Christ.</p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696102016-08-24T19:00:00-05:002016-08-25T06:44:14-05:00JESUS TEACH US TO PRAY
<p align="center"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/8384e0916fd787f169b4089f7902689006fa4f14/original/pexels-photo-large.jpeg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6ODkweDU5NCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="594" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="890" /></p>
<p align="center">CORPORATE PRAYER PART I</p>
<p align="center">“<em>There is a general kind of praying which fails for lack of precision. It is as if a regiment of soldiers should all fire off their guns anywhere. Possibly somebody would be killed, but the majority of the enemy would be missed.</em>”</p>
<p align="center">-Charles Spurgeon</p>
<h2>JESUS, TEACH US TO PRAY</h2>
<p>In Matthew, we see a simple request from the disciples: Lord, teach us to pray. I have often heard it said that it should be of interest that the only request from the disciples that comes in this manner is a request to be taught to pray. They did not ask to be taught to preach. They did not ask to be taught to make disciples. They did not ask Jesus to teach them to share the gospel or their personal testimony, to speak in tongues, how to write beautiful hymns, nor how to assess trends and apply wisdom to build bigger churches or increase conversions.</p>
<p> The point that is often made from this assessment is one worthy of considering: Jesus’ prayers were so noticeably worthy of modeling that the disciples desired to possess this ability, this gift of prayer as well. Now, I don’t know that this was the motivation. Luke tells us they included an important phrase that might modify that thought: “Lord, teach us to pray <em>just as John also taught his disciples</em>. That means there could be other reasons this is requested, but nevertheless I find it no less worthy a cause to study.</p>
<p> Did the disciples not know how to pray? Well, I guess you might say they didn’t know how to pray when they looked at prayer as they knew it, experienced it, and interacted with it. But they surely knew they could pray and had witnessed prayers before. Jesus’ made a point to rebuke the Pharisees for their public prayers.<a title="" href="#_ftn1" data-imported="1">[1]</a> These prayers would have surely been witnessed by the disciples. They were Jews. They have a history of prayer. They were also looking to some degree for the Messiah<a title="" href="#_ftn2" data-imported="1">[2]</a>, so they likely had some knowledge of the Jewish religion, though they (at least two of them) were referred to as untaught.<a title="" href="#_ftn3" data-imported="1">[3]</a> This arguably means that Jesus’ prayers were so different in some way that the disciples were compelled to be taught, to know how to pray this way themselves. I think it is a worthy question and hope to encourage you through sharing my thoughts as a result of personal study. If you haven’t done so already, check out my <a href="http://mikestreezy.com/saved_by_grace_blog/what_is_prayer_/" data-imported="1">first blog on prayer</a> in this series.</p>
<h2>The Lord’s Prayer<a title="" href="#_ftn4" data-imported="1">[4]</a>
</h2>
<p>9 “Pray, then, in this way:</p>
<p>‘Our Father who is in heaven,</p>
<p>Hallowed be Your name.</p>
<p>10 ‘Your kingdom come.</p>
<p>Your will be done,</p>
<p>On earth as it is in heaven.</p>
<p>11 ‘Give us this day [a]our daily bread.</p>
<p>12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.</p>
<p>13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from [b]evil. [c][For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jesus’ taught us some weighty truths in this prayer. Short of exegeting the entire passage on through chapter 12, I will lay out some truths you can test for yourself.</p>
<ul>
<li>There is clearly a group involvement in the words of the pray: Give <em>us</em>… <em>our.</em>
</li>
<li>Luke’s presentation focuses on human needs: daily bread, debt forgiveness, protection from temptation and evil by guiding our walk</li>
<li>Matthew gives us a view to God’s goal: The supremacy of God’s name over creation (Hallowed be your name)</li>
<li>Prayer is about God’s kingdom which does not exclude man’s needs</li>
<li>Corporate prayer in this manner speaks and seeks the Father: Our Father who is in heaven…</li>
<li>The Father is the giver, the source, of gifts and what we need and we should come to Him</li>
<li>Praying for human needs does not compromise God’s glory or make His name less worthy of praise or the intentional spread of the kingdom; They are interrelated. Man’s needs require God’s Lordship and find their proper place in them.</li>
<li>We should acknowledge our sin and need: Requests for daily bread, forgiveness, and guidance/deliverance all acknowledge man’s dependence.</li>
<li>Prayer flows from faith: Jesus continues to teach that God is a good Father that gives good gifts to His children. We are commanded to believe this.</li>
<li>Faith flows from accurate theology: Jesus taught us about His Father so we would understand why we pray what we pray. If we know who God is, we would pray this way.</li>
<li>Faith based prayer based on accurate theology rests in God’s work and person while the world prays and relies on their works and abilities: Both Matthew and Luke follow the teaching on prayer with teaching and examples of God’s ability, willingness, and request to take care of us while they also address examples of men who seek to accomplish their goals on their own through religion, power, and law.</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<h2>SUMMARY</h2>
<p>The Lord’s prayer teaches us that corporate prayer is a single-minded, faith-based acknowledgment of who God is that simultaneously seeks God’s name be exalted and man be preserved. Let me open that last portion of the summary up a bit more: The Lord’s prayer acknowledges the Father’s goodness, wisdom, wealth, and omnipotent ability by acknowledging man’s natural evil, foolishness, poverty, finiteness, brokenness, and susceptibility to be misled, overpowered, and deceived to the point of enslavement and death. I believe these are all valid things that can be found in the Lord’s Prayer and te teaching that follows. Once these truths are known to men, then they do the only reasonable thing: they cause man to ask God to come forth, take over the world and be its ever present ruler, and take care of their needs, now and forevermore, because He is worthy to be supreme. His name is thus praised. The praise is true worship. </p>
<h2>ADDITIONAL RESOURCES</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/prayer/10-things-you-should-know-about-corporate-prayer.html" data-imported="1">This</a> is a helpful link to read and think about.</p>
<p>Please make sure you understand this about links to other sites: I believe we are to be careful about what we believe. Don't accept another person's word on what the Bible says. ALWAYS check the Bible and seek the LORD to teach you and safeguard you by His Holy Spirit. People aren't perfect. Our opinions, guesses, and understanding is NOT Scripture and can have mistakes. Everyone is wrong on at least something. If I share a site, I am not necessarily endorsing the person or their views. I share sites for a number of reasons and I try to read what people that disagree with me to understand what they are saying. I believe every Christian should grow in their ability to do this. If anything, it is helpful in forming and filling out your beliefs and will assist in explaining why you believe what you believe or why you disagree with other options. Be a good "Berean". </p>
<div>
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%">
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1">[1]</a> Matthew 6:5-7 is likely aimed at the Pharisees, but refers to hypocrites in general. Luke 18:9-14 is a parable reflecting a Pharisee and a tax collector. I will examine this further later in the article.</p>
</div>
<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1">[2]</a> John 1:35-51</p>
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<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1">[3]</a> Acts 4:13</p>
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<div>
<p><a title="" href="#_ftnref" data-imported="1">[4]</a> Matthew 6:9-13, Luke’s account is a bit shorter: Luke 11:2-4</p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696092016-07-31T19:00:00-05:002016-08-25T07:27:20-05:00MEDITATION ON THE GOSPEL: WE ARE PARTAKERS OF DIVINITY
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/9f1b423423ec8d5f1d85f8d082761f069befe425/original/divine-light-1296353-180.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDA1eDI3MCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="270" width="405" /></h1>
<h1 style="text-align: center;">MEDITATION ON THE GOSPEL:</h1>
<h1 style="text-align: center;">WE ARE PARTAKERS OF DIVINITY</h1>
<p>Just as you cannot separate the divinity that fused with flesh in the person Jesus Christ, neither can you separate the fusion of the Holy Spirit from the flesh of the Christian. The soul of the Christian is eternally fused to the Holy Spirit and participates in divinity from the point of fusion on into eternity. The Spirit that resided in the flesh of the Christian has been killed by the sword of the word of God and is being cleansed from the presence of the temple as part of the work of the Holy Spirit. That old spirit of the man is dead. It has been conquered and is buried with Christ.</p>
<p>Our world is both spiritual and physical just as the man is spiritual and physical. This is not to say a tree or a rock possesses a spirit. But all things that have life in them, as outlined in the Creation narrative of Genesis, has a spirit or can be inhabited or at least affected by spirits. There is a ruler of the spirits of this world, the prince of the power of the air, Satan, the Dragon and the Serpent of old, who commands and directs the legions of fallen angels and demonic forces in a war against God. He uses two tools in his schemes and uses two methods to work those tools in personal interactions.</p>
<p>The first tool he uses is knowledge of sins that are common to man. We are not led away simply because we are tempted and fooled. We desire those things in our very flesh, so he offers us exactly what the flesh desires. This is both personally as well as among the masses as you can see in his second tool, the course or direction of the world. Individuals have been so completely swallowed up by the lies of Satan that they vainly pursuit, with others, the glory of themselves and created things. Much like the old cartoon of the rabbit on a treadmill chasing the dangling carrot it never achieves, Satan holds hope, joy, peace, satisfaction…glory in front of us through idols we vainly chase as peoples which dictates the general setting every man or woman lives in. All societies not truly rooted in Christ, of which I have never truly seen one, will follow this course which leads to destruction, wrath, and ruin. The dangling carrot leads entire nations to a fall off of a precipice which one cannot survive.</p>
<p>As mentioned, lies or deception is the primary tactic. Man is so weak in and of himself that the mere display of that which he seeks beckons him to follow death to its cliff. The same could be true of the whisper on the lips and slithery tongue of the deceiver. Though he may be concealed in the branches, the sweet whisper that calls you forth to the very death we are so eager to run to presents just enough opportunity to glut ourselves on the desires that are our guaranteed and prophesied ruin.</p>
<p>And what then once you have tasted the fruit of death? What then when you have fallen into the snare? You realize that the entire process has been a charade. You were so singly focused on that which you desired that you failed to note all heaven and earth has been witnessing this test, this temptation, this trial. You are bare before your God and man and angels. No clothing can cover the shame. Satan, the tempter and deceiver, then stands as accuser and testifies in good conscience that you are unworthy of trust or blessing or life. You are clearly an enemy of the king and a danger to all that exists and must be purged and punished.</p>
<p>The power and ability of God in His infinite and clearly uncontainable presence alerts you to the true danger you now face. There is no place to run. Even in the depths of hell, God’s face is present. His power is still unlimited. He is the God over the created Hell and Hell will serve His purposes. It is no safe haven. Heaven is His home and He sits visibly on His throne. His face is its sunshine and there is no night to withdraw within. The entire present body serves God with joy and reverence and without sin. There is no adversary that you could seek help from or crevice to hide in. The same is true of earth which is His footstool. All enemies unknowingly live in the temporal crushing/crushed state under his feet. His eyes see the hearts and even mighty men, kings, are unable to control their own hearts for they are like water in His hands and He directs them as He pleases. Upon the very sight of the coming king enemies will see the face of the LORD and flee to the mountains and hidden places begging that rocks fall upon them and hide them. But death only puts you before the very throne of God in judgment that you seek to avoid. There is no escape. The serpent has done his job. He has brought death to rebellious man through the very hopes man sought exaltation and joy through.</p>
<p>But Christ….oh, but Christ…or but God, the glory of the “but God” phrase in the Word is still present. See, the Father and the Son are one. They are a single spirit though distinct persons. God is not schizophrenic. Nor is he simply operating through manifestations, playing three different persons one at a time. No. He is uniquely three persons and at the same time one essence. The divine one is Spirit. Christ is Spirit. The Holy Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit that resides in those predestined for partaking and thus reflecting the divinity of the godhead. You cannot separate God the Father from God the Son. You cannot pull one or the other out of the Holy Spirit. This division is impossible. What is God cannot be dissected and removed. Neither can what God has truly joined together, knit by His hand, be removed or separated. Death would come.</p>
<p>Adam and Eve were knit together in marriage. Children are knit together in the womb by the hands of God. He forms their inward parts. These temporal pictures of knitting are pointers to the knitting that God does in our partaking of divinity. For He has predestined us to become one with Him in the holy nature only He has. He does this through the gift of the Holy Spirit which seals and fills our bodies. The flesh becomes one with the divine though uniquely separate and able to be separated. We know this because our bodies will die and our spirits will be present with the LORD. Our bodies will be raised …and changed…and reunited with our spirits, with His Spirit, for eternity. The death that resides in the flesh will no longer exist for it will be purged from the fabric of our former tabernacles as we become stones in the walls of the house of God. We are living stones and a temple that no hand of man has built. Has God not said that He could make children of Abraham from these very stones? Has our hardened heart not become a Child of God? Are we not the promised children by faith? Of course.</p>
<p>So as we stand before the throne, clearly guilty, and publicly charged and accused with no hope of overturning the verdict we know we deserve, Christ steps forth and intercedes on our behalf. “This one is mine. I have died on the cross and suffered all of your wrath Father, every drop. This is the one you gave to me, the one I have known and cleansed by laying my life down and washing them. This is the one that will wear the robe of my righteousness. This is the one I have called brother and brought to you. Satan is right, that deceiver revealed the rebellion, the evil that was in this one’s heart. But I have touched him and washed him inside and out by my Spirit. What dwells in him now is an abundant harvest of fruit, a perfect wine, made for your lips. Watch Father as it spills out of His lips in praise. Is it not a pleasing aroma to you? Is it not the work of your hands Father, the work of my vine? Test it, see! These good fruits only come from your vine. All other vines are wretched and rotten! And He will make more Father. I guarantee it with my word, with my life. I am trustworthy Father. I give my word for Him.</p>
<p>Suddenly we are wrapped in a robe so clean, so white, that it shines brighter than the Son. He has clothed us in His righteousness. Satan cannot bare to stand in its presence. It drives him back into the wilderness from which he came. All that see it cannot help but praise God, for even the sight of it so clearly evokes the revelation of God in the heavenlies that all of His angels cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lamb of God!” You are aware that they are looking at you, but they don’t see you, they see Him! They see Christ. The robe, the flesh of the lamb is so overwhelming that nothing else can be seen. It covers every inch of your body and shines such that no darkness could exist within its infinite reach. You find yourself in awe? But then the fruit. God leans over and presses in and the more you are aware of His crushingly infinite presence, the weight grinds against you, not killing you though it is of a strange sort. There is pain, but peace. The peace far outweighs the pain. The pain points to the promise of peace. Somehow you know this. Somehow you know the weightiness of the glory that now presses in upon you from that very robe of righteousness, crushing and cleansing your insides, with what can only be described as like a scapel or pruning fork that is changing you, growing you and yet you are confined externally. The inside battling the outside. The weight and push of each infinitely equal and yet ebbing and flowing. Until……something changes. Something pops or bursts inside. But then it builds and swells again. This time the building and swelling doesn’t hurt. The robe no longer works against its contents, but instead expands to contain as much of the contents as it is prepared to produce.</p>
<p>Praise flows forth. It can no longer be bound up. The robe of the righteousness of Christ has become a wineskin. It holds the precious fruit of the Father’s work. The work of the Son that the Son has promised to bear in you. The more you are aware of it, or behold it, the less you are able to contain it. As your mouth opens, it pours out. You try to shut your mouth, but you are too full of it. You cannot help, but open your mouth for the wine is sweet and good and the joy that it contains cannot remain in such a finite container at this time. So you speak and you sing and you testify and you praise and dance and draw and sculpt and in all you do it continues to spill out. And the LORD is pleased because the smell, oh the smell, it pleases the Father. This pleases the Son. And it pleases you. The Son is pleased because He has produced that which is pleasing to the Father. You are pleased because you experience what the Father knows is pleasing. You know it too. It is a joy to you as it is to Him. And you are pleased because you can bring it to Him and give it to Him. You partake in bringing the Father that which is pleasing to Him. The Father commends the Son in your presence. You cannot help but echo the same commendation…and then some. “You are exalted. You are LORD over all! You are worthy to be praised!”</p>
<p>But as you cry out, spilling more and more wine from your lips, you notice the ground cries out in praise as it consumes the spilled wine. Then you see that all that the wine touches both consume it and praise the LORD! They bow and thank and praise and then fill with the same wine to pour out for the whole earth and all that has life in it is full of the glory of God! But then you catch a glimpse of something and notice that the praise has become united and thunderous. Men of every nation, tribe, and tongue fill all that the eye can see and with every knee bowed, every tongue confesses Christ is Lord of all and this confession is spilling out everywhere! All that can be seen is covered in wine, covered in the glory of God! And it will never end. We will feast and praise and live and never grow old. We will enjoy God and be enjoyed by Him forever having once born and had a taste for the wine of wrath, of death, that comes from knowledge of good and evil, we find we now hunger and thirst for grace. We no longer hunger to be God, but to be filled with God. We have become trees of life, streams and rivers of living water. We are now perfect for the building up as stones in the hand of God, and no longer seek to destroy our brothers and God’s glory in them by crushing them. We seek to spill out with that same glory and taste and see and savor that God is good.</p>
<p>This is life in Christ. This is our hope in Christ. This is our destiny as it has been purposed. We are partakers in divinity. We are children of God. We are the fulfillment of Christ Jesus’ prayer for the Father will withhold no good thing from His children. This is a good thing. </p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696082016-07-25T19:00:00-05:002016-08-25T07:47:29-05:00SUMMARY AND OUTLINE OF 2 PETER CHAPTER 1
<h1 align="center"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/e188a7cf03e6ff96d2c44919aaf6deb3b73ed522/original/1-peter-1-we-take-part-in-divinity.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDA1eDI3MCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="270" width="405" /></h1>
<h1 align="center">2 PETER CHAPTER 1</h1>
<p>The abundance of grace and peace that is ours in Christ Jesus from the second letter of Peter:</p>
<p>Chapter 1</p>
<h2>MESSAGE</h2>
<p>Grow in godliness and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.</p>
<p>Say it another way: You reap what you sow by God’s grace, but those in Christ reap what God has sown.</p>
<p>Say it one more way: God grants us grace and peace which flow from a knowledge of what God has done (wipe away our sins) and what He is doing (preparing to welcome us into His presence eternally) by growing us in godliness.</p>
<p>Simplified: Gospel knowledge is participation in divinity.</p>
<h2>GENERAL OVERVIEW OF FLOW OF THE TEXT</h2>
<p>We are blessed:</p>
<p>Peace comes from growing in grace and looking both back <em>and</em> forward to the grace we <em>have </em>received and <em>will</em> receive as we live <em>by</em> and <em>in</em> grace today.</p>
<p>What does growing in grace look like:</p>
<p>Grace meditates on these truths:</p>
<p><sup>3 </sup>His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. <sup>4 </sup>Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.</p>
<p>Then it acts in accordance by growing in that truth:</p>
<p><sup>5 </sup>For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; <sup>6 </sup>and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; <sup>7 </sup>and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.</p>
<p>Why? The truth is deeper than first appear and pushes our roots further:</p>
<p><sup> </sup>For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. <sup>9 </sup>But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.</p>
<p>The growing that occurs out of this truth:</p>
<p><sup>10 </sup>Therefore, my brothers and sisters,<sup>[<a title="See footnote a" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%201&version=NIV#fen-NIV-30490a" data-imported="1">a</a>]</sup> make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, <sup>11 </sup>and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.</p>
<p>Job of an elder or brother/sister:</p>
<p><sup>12 </sup>So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have</p>
<p>But why? The truth:</p>
<p>I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, <sup>14 </sup>because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. <sup>15 </sup>And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things.</p>
<p>What is the truth this action grew out of? Two to be exact:</p>
<p>1. Eyewitness accounts confirm the reality of the message: <sup> </sup><sup>16 </sup>For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. <sup>17 </sup>He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”<sup>[</sup><a title="See footnote b" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%201&version=NIV#fen-NIV-30497b" data-imported="1"><sup>b</sup></a><sup>]</sup> <sup>18 </sup>We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.</p>
<p>2. The Scriptures are also reliable accounts that confirm the reality of the message and are actually more trustworthy than seeing Jesus at the transfiguration:<sup> 19 </sup>We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.</p>
<p>Why is Scripture more reliable than eyewitness testimony even though it (eyewitness testimony) exists? <sup>20 </sup>Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. <sup>21 </sup>For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Outline of Chapter 1</h2>
<ol>
<li>Introduction and Blessing (Grace and Peace) 1:1-2</li>
<li>Grow in godliness by Grace 1:3-21<ol>
<li>Rooting Truth 1: We have everything we need to grow in godliness</li>
<li>Rooting Truth 2: The godly life is supplied through the root of knowledge of our call</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
<p> i. Knowledge of Him (God the Father)</p>
<p> ii. Knowledge of how we were called by the Father</p>
<ol>
<li>By His own glory</li>
<li>By His own goodness</li>
<li>Rooting Truth 3: This knowledge have are a gift with purpose</li>
</ol>
<p> i. The great and precious promises we have come through the knowledge of the Father’s call. (The promises grow out of who God is and what He intends.)</p>
<p> ii. The promises exist for a purpose: Participation in divinity</p>
<ol>
<li>We participate in the divine nature of God</li>
<li>This participation requires our escape from corruption<ol>
<li>The world is corrupt as a result of man’s evil desires</li>
<li>How your roots grow out of this nourishing truth: Growing in Grace (Godliness)</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
<p> i. Consume this truth (For this very reason)</p>
<p> ii. Work/Act/Strain (make every effort)</p>
<p> iii. Goal: Add to your faith love</p>
<ol>
<li>To faith goodness (Belief needs goodness)</li>
<li>To goodness knowledge (You can’t have goodness if you don’t know what it is</li>
<li>To knowledge, self-control (Knowing what goodness that grounds our faith is requires self-control)</li>
<li>To self-control, perseverance (Self-control cannot occur without endurance or perseverance in knowing)</li>
<li>To perseverance, godliness (eusebia) (you cannot persevere in such a way that you find faith grounding goodness in knowledge even with self-control without reverence or respect; piety toward God)</li>
<li>To eusebia, mutual affection (this piety toward God is capable of leading us into singular affection to God and not our brothers which is not in accord with this truth; we must add mutual affection to such knowledge because it grounds what we are seeking and ground our faith in)</li>
<li>To mutual affection, love (Mutual affection can be superficial and must find its ground in true love which is where the goodness we trust in from God comes from. Therefore, our faith must be rooted in the goodness that naturally flows from God’s love. We work toward love to receive what flows out of love as God the Father gives)</li>
<li>The Promised Fruit of the Knowledge of God’s Love and it’s natural Goodness:</li>
</ol>
<p> i. Comparison/Contrast: If the fruit is present, you grow in grace (knowledge of Christ), if not you are dead</p>
<ol>
<li>First, a condition: If you find you possess this fruit (these qualities) in increasing measure<ol>
<li>You must find this process is already occurring</li>
<li>It must continue to grow in occurrence (increasing measure)</li>
<li>Then, you will grow in knowledge of Christ (which is grace because He is the goodness that flows out of God’s love and the hope that brings us salvation and all other promises of God)<ol>
<li>Knowledge of Christ is the fruit that supplies our growth in grace (you will grow in your knowledge of our Lord and Savior [Christ] Jesus) both titles point to knowledge and promise found in Scripture and confirmed in the eyewitness testimony of the apostles.</li>
<li>You will not be ineffective in this knowledge you need</li>
<li>You will not be unproductive in this knowledge you need</li>
<li>Contrast: If the fruit is not present, you are alone (Who you are versus knowing and being known by Christ) and without hope<ol>
<li>If the fruit is not present in growing measure you will be ineffective in the necessary grace to grow and have life (knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ) because you will be ineffective and unproductive in this process.</li>
<li>The reason you will be inefficient and unproductive is because of your current forgetful state current that grows out of nearsightedness/blindness</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
<p> i. Nearsightedness and/or Blindness</p>
<p> ii. Why Knowledge and Memory cause death: Forgetfulness</p>
<p> iii. We need knowledge to combat forgetfulness and to ward off against the natural inclination to see the here and now as more determinative than what God has done in eternity past, will do in eternity future, and has and is doing in our call for all of the history created in between (God’s great love flowed out of who He is to create us to participate in the glorious global, historical plan to create and bring about the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ). If we forget the kingdom, we won’t see it. If we forget the kingdom we must have forgotten the king. Without the king, we cannot see. If we cannot see, we didn’t really know and believe (have faith) in God because we do not know Him. We are not in the vine. We are dead.</p>
<ol>
<li>The apostles response: The model of living in these truths</li>
</ol>
<p> i. Remind the brothers of these truths</p>
<ol>
<li>Remind us even though you know we know them</li>
<li>Remind us even though you know we are grounded (firmly established) in them</li>
<li>Remind us even though you know we have (own) this truth</li>
<li>The reminder is to be made always (as eternal as God’s gospel love it is grounded in)</li>
<li>The ground (truth) for the Apostles eternal (finite as it may be) reminder: Refresh the dying by remembering he is dying and will be dead (Divine participation in God’s watering role of gardener).</li>
</ol>
<p> i. I think it is right because your memory matters</p>
<p> ii. I refresh because Christ has made it clear I will die soon</p>
<p> iii. The body is a tent, not a temple: the temporary versus the eternal aspect</p>
<p> iv. Peter is going to lay down his life: He believes Jesus words from his personal walk and the promises of Scripture revealed to Him</p>
<p> v. Peter knows we need to remember this because He has the Holy Spirit and is moved by God to pass on the eternal message of God’s love and his intent to establish the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Keeping the Great Commission and His Lord’s commandment: If you love me you will keep my commandments, love your neighbor as I have loved you, If you love me feed my sheep)</p>
<ol>
<li>V. 15</li>
</ol>
<p> vi. We will be alive after Peter dies (God is patient despite the reality of His promise of imminent return; live in light of immediate return, but make long-term plans for the kingdom) (What Scripture does Peter believe that points Him to this long-term view? NOTE: This is a research question for myself. Feel free to join in.)</p>
<ol>
<li>Even though Peter will die, and His eyewitness testimony with him, we have something better: The Holy Spirit given Word of God, the Scriptures (the revealed plan of God that gives us knowledge of the Lord Christ Jesus, grace).</li>
</ol>
<p> i. Eyewitness testimony</p>
<ol>
<li>Who: the disciples: James, John, and Peter</li>
<li>What was seen: Christ received glory (He shone brightly and was exalted/raised in the air) from the Father (Moses and Elijah were there as well).</li>
<li>What was heard: The Father acknowledged Jesus as the promised Lord and Christ as well as his pleasure in Him. (He also told them to obey Him).</li>
<li>Where were they? (why is the mountain sacred) (why a mountain) (Read transfiguration and point to the mountains each person was on in their recorded portion of prophecy)</li>
<li>The tie to the tent and Peter: We will be what we are, but the tent (our body) will be removed and the glory revealed.</li>
</ol>
<p> ii. Scripture is more reliable than the eyewitness testimony</p>
<p> iii. Ground: Scripture comes from God…working in man…which He is doing now…if you understand who God is and what His purpose is and how He is doing it.</p>
<ol>
<li>All Scripture comes from God, not man</li>
<li>The way Scripture comes is through God moving men to write His word by the Holy Spirit.</li>
<li>The presence of the Holy Spirit is proof of the above mentioned divine participation.</li>
<li>Divine Participation is how we witness and experience the truth of God’s love which comes through the Word of God, Jesus Christ, as promised in the Word of God, Scripture, which points to the predestining Word of God, the light (Jesus Christ the Unique Son of God), which came from his lips and blew and shined life/light upon us in the beginning.</li>
<li>The Scriptures are sufficient to produce godliness in us because they are the grace of God that reveals Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ, our Lord, reveals the Father and His nature including the love that overflows in goodness towards us, our hope, the ground of our faith.</li>
</ol>
<p>Our faith is grounded in the Father’s character as displayed in the Son and this constant reminder is the grace we need to grow in godliness as we continue to participate in the divine nature.</p>
<p>The Call:</p>
<ol>
<li>Do a fruit check: If you see the fruit of godliness present and multiplying, rest assured you are in the hands of God. If you do not see this fruit, or find you are shortsighted and forgetful, turn from resting on your eyewitness account, and instead trust in what is more trustworthy than what we see: the Scripture. Remember you are filled with divinity. You have the same Spirit of Christ that walked in the flesh of Jesus and moved men to write Scripture. It is available and trustworthy and will accomplish your works. If you do not believe this, I pray you will because life without the life of Christ, the glory of God, the Holy Spirit confirms that you are not hopeless, but should be fearful as Peter will address later. If you do not abide in the vine, you are dead and will be burned in the flames of Hell eternally.</li>
<li>For those that find fruit: Meditate on the Word and look for the heart of God in the person Jesus Christ as He is revealed in all Scripture. Your goal: personal refreshment by remembering who God is, what He has done, what He will do in the future, and what He is doing in your life now in light of that.</li>
<li>Add godliness to your life by remembering your need and looking at who God is and remembering you are participating in His divinity by the power of His Spirit. You have all you need for godliness (grace).</li>
<li>Refresh someone else by reminding them of God and His eternal work of love that overflows onto them for the sake of the exaltation and establishment of the eternal kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.</li>
</ol>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696072016-07-04T19:00:00-05:002016-07-05T09:50:59-05:00FRANCIS CHAN ON JAMES: SCRIPTURE ON PRAYER
<p></p>
<div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><div class="video responsive"><div class="video-container"><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1sLmXUl_aKo" width="425" class="wrapped wrapped"></iframe></div></div></div></div>
<p>Our last blog post was on the relationship of prayer. I ran across this video on Youtube (from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9n_KBGbhIrjnibY4L7M2Yw" target="_blank" data-imported="1">Amplified Ministries</a>) and it touches on the unique relationship of God and man. It specifically addresses the adulterous way we can use prayer.</p>
<p>Let us all, beginning with me, look at the great love of Jesus and the Father and evaluate our desires. </p>
<p>May your prayers be established, encouraged, and empowered.</p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696062016-06-27T19:00:00-05:002017-10-25T09:37:12-05:00WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?
<h1 align="center"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/17d58ff01974ec8f399a68336099b3534ecc9718/original/gospel-fruit-snake-woman.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDk1eDI3MCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="270" width="495" /></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Believing the gospel is necessary to salvation. Most Americans and Europeans have been warned as much is true. But what is this “gospel”? With so many denominations within Christianity and the allure of the “truths” of other religions it can be hard to sift through the messages to get down to facts. What is <em>required</em> for one to be saved? And what are you being saved <em>from</em> or <em>to</em>? I hope to present a basic understanding of what the gospel is and isn’t in this blog. Please note that the depths of the gospel and its implications are worth a literal eternity of study. I just hope to share with you the general message and give some helpful boundaries.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">For the nonbeliever, the ones seeking truth, I wrote this so you can hear and consider the message, have the opportunity to respond, and have clear direction on how to sort through the various anti-gospels. For the believer, I have written this as an example or guide for sharing the gospel with others. I have tried to include Scripture references to memorize and carry with you as you share the hope you have within you whenever you are blessed with the opportunity to do so.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">THE GOSPEL IS THE GOOD NEWS</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In it’s most basic form translated from the Greek word we have been given to reveal it to us the gospel is the “good news”. By implication that means there is something that would not be good news and both the good and not good news would come from a simple presentation of the news. Let’s quickly define all three.</span></p>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff"> The News</span></h3>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. John the Baptist proclaimed this prior to Christ’s ministry beginning. Christ Himself also proclaimed this truth. What was being said is that the promise found throughout all of Scripture (also known as the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible) had come to pass. Since Adam’s sin or fall in Genesis 3 mankind had been waiting on the promised restoration of the cohabitation of God and man. Man had been sent out of the special home of God, the Garden of Eden, to live in the wilderness because of the danger of eternal life in a sinful and fallen state. The kingdom of God was going to return to rest on earth. God and man would again be face-to-face and within arms reach of each other.</span></p>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff"> The Bad News</span></h3>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The kingdom of Heaven, the home of God, has returned to earth and man is now in reach of God and face-to-face with Him. That is a scary thing when you realize the same sin and disobedience that led to the punishment, the separation, to begin with is clearly present in every man, woman, and child. Couple that with the fact that we are talking about a perfect and holy God who is also a perfect and holy King and a perfect and holy judge, and you have a terrible predicament. As a just judge, sin must be judged and punishment must be ascribed. Sin cannot remain unpunished. Sin is a plague on all it touches. It brings forth death, chaos, disorder, dysfunction, and suffering to all it meets. It also replicates and spreads wherever it goes just like a virus or plague. We want sin to be wiped out. To wipe out sin is to wipe each of us out through eternal punishment for the crimes we have committed against each other and thus against our king.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> As King, God has the power and authority to enact the necessary decrees to protect and preserve the rule and law for man’s and all created order’s good. This is a good thing unless you must be dealt with because you are the rebel who has brought chaos and destruction against men, the created order, and ultimately against the King who rules the kingdom. We are traitors and deserve the exile and corporal punishment we have been warned would come. Our hearts have told us this when we sinned. We felt the shame, fear, regret, and brokenness. Then we began to love it. He knows all things. Nothing is hidden from God’s sight.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> He also does not accept an offering of “good deeds” to make up for our sin. We can’t tip the scales. We are unrighteous or not trustworthy. Our word is useless. Our actions prove we cannot be trusted on our own. To beg and plead and boast of the weight of the good we have done is not an acceptable exchange for the evil we have committed. Just as a murderer must be punished for the murder they committed and not acquitted simply because they have lived an otherwise seemingly kind, generous, loving, good life, so we must be punished for the sins we have committed independent of whatever “good” we may think we have done as a counterbalance. God is perfect. His creation will be perfect. He cannot and will not settle for less. This is a good thing really, but that means we won’t be a part of it short of a miracle. We have to receive the promised punishment or God cannot be trusted. He can be trusted. He keeps His Word. He came back, right? God’s trustworthiness is a good thing. We want to be ruled by a pure and sinless, trustworthy all-powerful and unbiased God….that is unless we must be addressed.</span></p>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff"> The Good News</span></h3>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God has kept His Word. He has made a way for God and man to cohabitate or live together again. Perfection is coming and the world will be purified and restored to its “good” state! But what about us, right? How will be saved from the wrath that comes with the presence of God? How do we escape the hands of an all-powerful, ever-present, all-knowing God who keeps His Word and judges all wickedness and evil acts of rebellion? One Word: Love. You may have heard the following verse at some point:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">““<em>For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.</em>”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let’s look at the next few as well:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">“<em>There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.</em>”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">These two verses contain the gospel as well as a bit more. Let’s rightly divide the Word to see what the gospel really is.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">THE GOSPEL IS A MESSAGE, NOT THE RESPONSE</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The gospel is a message. God has kept His Word. He has brought the Kingdom of Heaven back to earth to live in peace with us. The result is conditional: It depends on believing something. Let’s carefully separate the message from the response.</span></p>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff"> The Gospel Message</span></h3>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>“</strong><em>I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.<strong> </strong>He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.</em>”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This is one of the shortest and clearest gospel presentations in the Bible. Paul has already informed his audience that he is going to remind them of the gospel he told them. This is that gospel. After this verse he pleads with them to believe based on the reliability of the testimony of those who have witnessed this. So a quick summary of the contents gives us …categories to review and understand.</span></p>
<ol>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">The Scriptures foretold of a Christ who would come</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">This Christ would die for our sins as was foretold</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">This Christ would be buried and raised from the dead as foretold.</span></li>
</ol>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">To say it another way, God has revealed to man that he was going to send one called the Christ to live a perfect life in our place, die for our sins (and not His own) in our place, go down into the earth in our place as has been promised, and be resurrected or raised from the dead so that we will also rise after death. This resurrection means He has also received his place on the eternal throne of David as the reigning Lord or King/authority over all men. This can be good or bad news as well because He is just like the Father in every way including His hate of sin and His means and way of judgment.</span></p>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff"> The Gospel Response</span></h3>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So what does that information do? What thoughts, fears, hope does it produce? It is simply a message that is proclaimed. Like any message it can be accepted or rejected. Some will simply laugh it off or think it foolish. Others will respond by believing and may just ask, “Brothers, what should we do?”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The response: “<em>Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.</em>”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The appropriate response to the gospel message is to believe it. That belief will manifest in a change of mind that wants to correct its actions. If you believe you will be hurt by fire if you put your hand on it and you don’t want to be hurt, you will not put your hand on it. Fear of the LORD is the beginning of understanding.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> Better yet, the Bible makes it clear what fear looks like: “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding."<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> Fear of the Lord is clearly expressed by “departing from evil.” Departing from evil could be what we call “repentance”. The first step of repentance is to obey the command of God to step into the “judgment waters” and be baptized.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a></span></p>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff"> The Root versus the Fruit</span></h3>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Often you will hear of benefits that come with belief in the gospel. Such is the case in our example above from Acts. Look at what follows:“<em>Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.</em>”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Here is an even bigger promise: “<em>For Jesus Christ, the Son of God, does not waver between “Yes” and “No.” He is the one whom Silas, Timothy, and I preached to you, and as God’s ultimate “Yes,” he always does what he says. <strong> </strong>For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen”</em> (which means “Yes”) <em>ascends to God for his glory.</em>”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let’s simplify that verse: All of God’s promises are ours (those who believe the gospel message) in Christ. He has secured their fulfillment, or coming to pass. We have access to them. We own them. We will enjoy and experience them. That is good news too, right! Of course! But it isn’t the gospel message. It is the gift given to all who believe the gospel message.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The root of belief is in the message itself, not in the gifts. The gifts are good. God does not withhold any good thing from His children.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> But receiving the gift depends on something: being a child of God. It is a natural overflow of God’s goodness in relation to His children. He simply pours out in goodness and gifts, but this is not the gospel message. It is not believe God and He will give you access to all the good things you want. No. That is the fruit of a relationship with God. If you are in the garden, you get the fruit that grows on the trees. If you aren’t in the garden, you don’t get the fruit. We aren’t in the garden and He won’t let those who are simply after the fruit get in to ravage the garden. He is preserving and protecting the garden for His family. We are outside of the garden. The Kingdom is at hand, but we don’t see God face-to-face yet.</span></p>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff"> How Do You Become a Child of God?</span></h3>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We become children of God when we believe the gospel.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> Point blank. Period. The natural thing to ask here is why even go into this then. Why not leave the blog on simply the gospel message? Good question! I’m glad you asked. Check your heart. What are you after? Would you come to God for access to the treasure chest and not for access to Him? Would you rather be sitting in the tree eating the fruit and hiding from this God who says He will punish the sin you cling to? Or do you genuinely fear the Lord and sit broken before His presence, before His voice calling you to step out of the bushes you are hiding in and come before Him to give account? Do you believe His goodness and power is worthy of obedience? Do you believe your brokenness is real? Your sin is evil and must be dealt with? Do you believe this is a good thing and it will take place? Now, do you believe God keeps His word not only in judgment, but in restoration and having sent His Son to die for your sins? To be punished on your behalf? Do you believe He died in your place? That He rose again and is in power having suffered under every drop of the wrath of God that was meant for you? Do you believe that cup of wrath is empty and every last drop is gone? All that awaits you is the forgiveness, acceptance, adoption, and all the other aspects of the love of God?</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Then repent and thus believe the gospel. Step forward before your God in the judgment waters and die as you go beneath them and be raised with Christ as you come out of them in preparation for the death you will one day face and the welcome you will also simultaneously face as you cross from death to life as promised.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">To offer any other gospel is to deceive and manipulate men to chase idols into judgment. You dangle the fruit before the eyes and don’t warn them of the God that guards the garden and destroys all the snakes that yearn to sneak in. You promise things God does not promise for this life and that will fail people time and time again. Your word is not trustworthy. Your knowledge is twisted and perverse as it is not in line with Scripture. You speak for God, but not in the words of the God Jesus Christ, but of your father the devil!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This comes in two forms in most American conversations:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">1) Jesus plus….</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">2) Promise of something other than Jesus EX: best known version-Prosperity gospel</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The Jesus plus something else option requires the likes of “good deeds or obedience to a religious system."<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> The promise of something other than Jesus option like the Prosperity Gospel promises wealth, health, and happiness all the time in order to lure fish into the nets. Where one can never be satisfied by Christ's work alone, the other entices using the idols men already worship. Both fail to see the infinite value of the finished work of Christ. They undervalue the very thing God has made most valuable--Jesus. That is why "gospels" that require more than belief in Christ's finished work or promise more than a right relationship with God now, in this lifetime, are false gospels. They are Satan’s gospels and he is known for dangling shiny things before the eyes of men to mislead them as he whispers lies that will kill them in their ears. Beware of any gospel message that requires Jesus….and anything else. Also beware any gospel that the good news is gifts rather than God, His Kingdom, and the trustworthiness of His word to judge sin and restore men to Himself through Christ.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> John 3:16 NLT</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> John 3:17-21</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> 1 Corinthians 15:3-4</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> Acts 2:37</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> This is a portion of the verse found in Acts 2:38</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> Proverbs 1:7; 9:10; Psalm 111:10</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> From Job 28:28</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> Baptism is a robust and wonderful subject I don’t have time to expound here, but will address in around 4-6 months Lord willing. Today, just know that obedience to the word is more important than all knowledge. Knowledge takes time. Commitment to obey God’s commands because you believe Him is where you start.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> Acts 2:38b-39</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> 2 Corinthians 1:19b-20</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> Matthew 6:33; 7:11 among others</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> Ephesians 1:5,13; Romans 8:14-15 (all who believe are Christ’s and are given the gift of His Holy Spirit as noted in 2 Corinthians 1:21-22.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/WHAT%20IS%20THE%20GOSPEL.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> Colossians 2:16-23 gives a great picture of how this has worked in the past. Verses 16-17 point to Jesus plus religious participation (festivals and accordance with formal religious institution), verses18-19 are Jesus plus spiritual experiences, verses 20-21 are cleanliness and holiness laws, and 22-23 is Jesus plus asceticism. Only Christ saves. Nothing else—just Jesus finished work. I plan on writing on “Justification by Faith Alone” soon. Working through this touchy subject can be helpful. Here is a link to help in the meantime: <a href="http://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/justification_by_faith_alone/" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">http://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/justification_by_faith_alone/</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Email with any questions you may have in the meantime. I will do my best to assist you: <a href="mailto:STREEZY@MIKESTREEZY.COM" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">STREEZY@MIKESTREEZY.COM</span></a></span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696052016-06-22T19:00:00-05:002017-10-25T09:36:21-05:00I DON’T KNOW HOW TO FIND THINGS IN THE BIBLE WHEN I NEED THEM
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/392917/5ea3ded3271397ba50b448afca8f81f6fa05f903/original/how-to-find-things-in-the-bible.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDA0eDI3MCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="270" width="404" /></h1>
<h1 style="text-align: center;"> </h1>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">THE CURRENT LANDSCAPE</span></h2>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff"> People Trust Themselves, not the Bible</span></h3>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Recent pew polls show us that there is a varied expectation of the Word of God and its ability to help us with big questions. When it comes to interpreting the Scripture 31% said it was the Word of God and should be interpreted literally.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/I%20DONT%20KNOW%20HOW%20TO%20FIND%20THINGS%20IN%20THE%20BIBLE%20WHEN%20I%20NEED%20THEM.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> 27% of those polled said it is the Word of God, but not everything should be taken literally. 3% acknowledged it was the Word of God, but admitted they don’t know how to interpret it while 33% stated it was not the Word of God. Frequency of reading Scripture was a bit more clear with the two largest groups stating they seldom to never read Scripture (45%) followed closely by those who said they read at least once a week (35%).<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/I%20DONT%20KNOW%20HOW%20TO%20FIND%20THINGS%20IN%20THE%20BIBLE%20WHEN%20I%20NEED%20THEM.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> It was also clear that most people believe there are not clear and absolute standards for right and wrong. 64% of “pollers” expressed that right or wrong depends on the situation while only 33% believed there were clear standards for what right and wrong is.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/I%20DONT%20KNOW%20HOW%20TO%20FIND%20THINGS%20IN%20THE%20BIBLE%20WHEN%20I%20NEED%20THEM.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> My best guess is this is partially responsible for the results a poll on “what sources adults most often look to for guidance on right and wrong” turned out the way they did. Common sense led the pack (45%), religion was next (33%), philosophy/reason (11%), science (9%), and simply don’t know (3%).<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/I%20DONT%20KNOW%20HOW%20TO%20FIND%20THINGS%20IN%20THE%20BIBLE%20WHEN%20I%20NEED%20THEM.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a></span></p>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff"> Bible Study and Christians</span></h3>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Most Christians would tell you that they believe the Bible is the Word of God. They would likely tell you that the answers to life’s most difficult questions are in there as well. Many might go so far as to agree that all the answers you need for any and all situations you face daily can be found in its pages. If they were being totally honest they might also tell you they don’t know how to find them when they need them. Hopefully this article will help you when you are left saying, “I don’t know how to find things in the Bible when I need them.” This is how I started to study and search the Bible.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">A WARNING</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Up front I want to warn you: I am not God. I am not the ultimate source of truth. I am simply your brother on the same path as you looking to know and be known by God as best I can for my joy and God’s glory. This is not some set standard every Christian has to follow. I will outline some of my beliefs before jumping into my process, but one belief worth noting here is that I genuinely think it is most important that you enjoy the Bible. My goal is not to do anything that would constrict or constrain that goal. I want to help those who don’t have joy in studying the Bible start out studying with the prayerful hope that they will begin to enjoy time with God in His Word and eventually take ownership over how they do that going forward.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">WHAT IS THE BIBLE?</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I will try to be brief in sharing what I believe about the Bible. If you want to know more about my specific detailed beliefs, I hope to write a blog on it soon. I would say the Bible is the trustworthy and true Word of God designed to show us how to live like the image of God we are designed to be. It possesses the gospel from Genesis to Revelation and the gospel is the power to save us and mold us into the image of Christ. That means I believe everything you need to live, really live, is in the Bible and we should run to it every day for our enjoyment and growth as well as at times we need wisdom.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">READ EVERY DAY</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I wake up and read every morning as quickly as possible. On workdays I read right after a shower as soon as a cup of coffee is in my hand and I have taken the first sip. This is before breakfast. I try to schedule an hour, but usually get 30 good minutes for reading, meditating, and responding (prayer). I try to avoid any other image or voice (written or spoken) until I have seen and heard Christ’s in His Word. I always pray for God to give me eyes that can see Christ’s face in the Bible because seeing Him changes us from one degree of glory to another. I pray that He will allow me to hear His voice calling, drawing, teaching, and rebuking me in His word as well because I have no hope to hear by my own power.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> I do the same thing at night before bed. I might not spend as much time, but I vary on reading the Bible or a good book on the Bible. Books can vary as well. I might read a book on a specific subject like Biblical counseling, depression, marriage (those aren’t necessarily linked…) or something like Pilgrim’s Progress or a Narnia book (I’ve actually never read Narnia books, but that is the type of book you might read for enjoyment and meditation of a more nonfiction literary type). The point is to seek to see and hear God first thing in the morning and last thing at night in order to know Him, be known by Him, and have fuel to meditate on in between feedings of the Word. I read blogs, listen to music, and watch movies along with reading Scripture and books throughout the day. I even listen to sermons, podcasts, and audiobooks at times where I am in the car for quite a while like on my way to work and home. Warning: Only the Bible is the perfect trustworthy Word of God. Don’t put sermons, books, music, or opinions of any sort on the same level. Beware what you take in. Don’t be afraid. Just be honest and aware. Remember where you heard what you say and if you don’t remember, try to find it in the Bible with your Google search—especially phrases that stick to you. Test it!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> Fill up on what you read and try to leave with at least one thing to really think about. Write out a statement or scripture verse or passage. These all help you recall what you were looking at when you need it later. Look and listen as if you were there. Walk in the shoes of the author and each of the people you are reading about. Try to imagine what it was like and why what is being said is being said. Study Bibles like the ESV Study Bible are helpful to give you some background and maps on each book. Read a study Bible to get a good understanding of the background details. Look for people that are like you. Remember that you will likely be like others in each story at other times. If we are honest, we can learn much from each person who walks in a story in the Bible. Do not forget that regardless of imagination, you rely on what is clearly stated in the Bible. At the end of the day, we must guard against our assumptions, but not be fearful to use them to ask questions and look for answers as we study and pray. If you stay in the Word, the Word will stay in you.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">HOW TO FIND PARTICULAR SUBJECTS</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">An easy way to find specific subjects can be to Google them. For instance, when I am trying to comfort a friend with Scripture after they have lost a loved one, I look up “Scripture Comfort Death Parent”. The more specific the key words, the more likely you are to find help. I look for sites that are clearly Scripture and not opinions outside of a few key sites I know I can trust.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/I%20DONT%20KNOW%20HOW%20TO%20FIND%20THINGS%20IN%20THE%20BIBLE%20WHEN%20I%20NEED%20THEM.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> If you have limited resources, you might look for a good concordance. A concordance will help you find verses that have the word you are looking in. This is like a dictionary that gives you verses instead of definitions. There are other tools for definitions. We will save that for another blog.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> Ask people in your church or small group for direction. Church is a people, not a place. God not only purchased our redemption and restored the broken relationship we had with Him, but He did the same for all of our other relationships. The church is our new family. Grow alongside your brothers and sisters and try to find some people around you that may be able to help point you to helpful texts or resources. They might even have some tools you can borrow.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> Use footnotes in your books. Look for appendices or Scripture reference resources in your books. I prefer books that have a list of the Scriptures they used. The footnotes and bibliographies might also be helpful to find other resources worth looking into as well. If you see the same name and books in more than one book, you might have found a resource that can help you. Skim the books you buy to make sure they are written in a way that makes sense to you. Don’t always read everything or act in rivalry or with vanity. You aren’t competing with others to read the most technical books. You want to read the <em>right</em> books for you that will actually make sense and help you.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">PRAY TO ENJOY STUDY</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Each time you go on a search, remind yourself that God is giving you an opportunity to spend time with Him. The Creator of the universe is getting your attention to come be with Him—to know Him. He knows you. He wants you to know Him. And He wants you to come often and joyfully. You always have His ear and His voice. This is an incredibly gracious gift. It is not as detached or hollow as we can think it. The Bible speaks today. It is living and breathing. It is not records of how God spoke <em>then</em>. It is how God speaks <em>now</em>. Let me be careful to say He isn’t saying anything new that hasn’t been said, but when you live in the Word, the word changes you. As you read it, it reads you. As you listen to Him and talk to Him, you will find He listens to you and talks back. I am serious. Jesus died so you could do this.<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/I%20DONT%20KNOW%20HOW%20TO%20FIND%20THINGS%20IN%20THE%20BIBLE%20WHEN%20I%20NEED%20THEM.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">May God bless your studies and fill them (and you) with joy!</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/I%20DONT%20KNOW%20HOW%20TO%20FIND%20THINGS%20IN%20THE%20BIBLE%20WHEN%20I%20NEED%20THEM.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/interpreting-scripture/</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/I%20DONT%20KNOW%20HOW%20TO%20FIND%20THINGS%20IN%20THE%20BIBLE%20WHEN%20I%20NEED%20THEM.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/frequency-of-reading-scripture/</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/I%20DONT%20KNOW%20HOW%20TO%20FIND%20THINGS%20IN%20THE%20BIBLE%20WHEN%20I%20NEED%20THEM.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/belief-in-absolute-standards-for-right-and-wrong/</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/I%20DONT%20KNOW%20HOW%20TO%20FIND%20THINGS%20IN%20THE%20BIBLE%20WHEN%20I%20NEED%20THEM.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/sources-of-guidance-on-right-and-wrong/</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/I%20DONT%20KNOW%20HOW%20TO%20FIND%20THINGS%20IN%20THE%20BIBLE%20WHEN%20I%20NEED%20THEM.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> <a href="http://www.desiringgod.org/" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">www.DesiringGod.org</span></a> and <a href="http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">www.thegospelcoalition.org</span></a> are two I typically go to. I know certain preachers and authors that I can trust to give me the word and not opinion. You will develop that with time.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/I%20DONT%20KNOW%20HOW%20TO%20FIND%20THINGS%20IN%20THE%20BIBLE%20WHEN%20I%20NEED%20THEM.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> 1 Pet. 3:18 and all of 1<sup>st</sup> John (pay special attention to places John says we have fellowship or the Spirit for prayer).</span></p>
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Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696022016-06-21T19:00:00-05:002017-10-24T15:59:34-05:00GOD GOT IT WRONG THE FIRST TIME…OR DID HE?
<p style="text-align: left;" align="center"><span style="color:#ffffff">This might be your first introduction to what has become my favorite bible study….ever. It has also been the most painful, disappointing, and ultimately divisive study I have taken part in. Genesis 1-5:1 has been my “frienemy” over the last year. I have dedicated hundreds of hours to reading, meditating, translating, outlining, comparing and searching the law and Jesus’ words in relation to this short passage. More of my focus has been on 1-3 with a clear division of that time between chapter 1-2:4 and 2:5-3. I will likely take you through several of the fruits of my meditations on these passages in the coming months and years, Lord willing, but today I want to focus on one that has been most fruitful…and confusing. Take it for what it is with that in mind.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I am convinced that Genesis 1 is the end, not the beginning, of the Bible. It is a summary of all that we will read beginning in Genesis 2:4. As a good biblical summary, it is a pattern of instruction. I would go as far as to say it is not just “a” pattern, but “the” pattern of sound instruction. Let’s be a bit more specific: Genesis 1:1-2:4 is the pattern for teaching, the standard for teaching, and is written to teach us how to teach any and every subject, create and recreate any and every project, and should be studied in such a clear way with all of the Christian body that this pattern is transmitted as designed in order for the gospel (the subject of the whole Bible) to be opened up and understood as it should be. Those are some pretty strong words for the first chapter of the Bible, right?</span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">WHAT GENESIS 1 IS NOT</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I would argue that contrary to many evangelical and liberal teachings, Genesis chapter 1 is not about whether or not evolution is true. I think I could argue for either way to be honest. It is not about the Big Bang, though we might see evidence of such an event coming from the ex nihilo response to God’s command.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">GENESIS 1 IS THE SEEDBED OF THE BIBLE</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">There are a lot of subjects that find their “root” in the creation account for sure, but if we zoom out and see the big picture, which is what I take this portion of Scripture to be, we see it is about relationships and life and blessing. It is the work of God, in action to be studied and reviewed and reenacted by its readers, to know God and be known by Him. Everything we need to know is there. The rest of the Bible puts flesh on it. Matter of fact, all that needs to be known about God is found through the point of days 1-3. Days 4 and on through the rest of this text are the proper response and foundation for replicating what God has made known. There is also an abundance of “Christian hedonistic fuel” to be stored up in the seedbed of the Bible.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">SEEDS IN THE SEEDBED</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let me list a couple of quick bullet points of “seed subjects” we find in this passage:</span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">God is the sole creator of all that is</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">God is eternal</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">God is authoritative</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">God’s words do what they say</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">God’s words are authoritative</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">All authority in the universe is created and established by God for His purposes</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">God finishes what He begins.</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Light obeys God’s word and drives out darkness</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#ffffff">Time is a tool for God and exists within His creation without authority, but is instead a tool for authority</span></li>
<li>
<span style="color:#ffffff">There is a 3 part process to creation prior to replication and organic multiplication</span>
<ul>
<li>A leader is called forth to do the work that will be needed</li>
<li>The form, or outline of the project in every way imaginable is decided and arranged thereby creating boundaries</li>
<li>Authorities are set in place by gathering what is needed, removing what is a hindrance, and bringing forth life</li>
<li>This plan could be further drilled down as to how one does this and I will likely address it soon, but one last aspect is that this plan exists for the purpose of creating, sustaining, and replicating life.</li>
<li>The numbers are important as they are steps and point to God in the relationships</li>
<li>It is written in the form of an example for gardening because God is a “gardener.” What I mean is this is written in such a way to teach a child about the basic knowledge they will need to have in life to understand God and man through the process of gardening.</li>
<li>This gardening process is found to be true of at least three dimensions: Gardening the earth, gardening a man’s heart, and gardening a nation/society. Keep in mind gardening is a process from planting to cultivation and replication.</li>
<li>We see the Trinitarian God at work in creation and reflected in creation in several places and through the steps. This Father, helper, child relationship is arguably present in God as He speaks, the way He creates, and the creation itself.
<ul>
<li>Father is the speaker; Son (Helper) is the word that flows out, and the Spirit is the breath or power that naturally comes with it.</li>
<li>Three days: Day 1 is clearly the Father calling forth a helper; Day 2 has the Holy Spirit over the water ; Day three shows what the Light and Spirit have formed</li>
<li>The creation has several trinities whether it be heavenly authorities like the sun, moon, and stars or the <em>yielder</em> tree plant (husband), seed <em>bearing</em> plant (wife/helper), and the seeds also being <em>born after their kind</em>. There may be an argument for light, water, and dirt as well.</li>
<li>Days 4-6 point to a replication. Having followed an odd break in day three which seems to be divided in half, lights replace a single light (think of Lazarus Day 4 resurrection as opposed to Jesus Day 3 for a minute) and life fills the creation in several forms (nations/entities/authorities) all under a single dominion of God.</li>
<li>Rest is attained eternally on Day 7</li>
<li>Blessing is established in covenant form by the giving of the Word of God on Day 6.</li>
<li>The image and likeness are established as a division of glory in mankind through two forms of reflection to come and men are established as children of the triune creator God.</li>
<li>The glory of God, His reflection, is embedded in all that is created.</li>
<li>Periods of darkness and light are evident in the creative work and plan of God to bring forth, sustain, and cultivate and replicate life. Both serve their purposes.</li>
<li>God is speaking to all He creates from the point of conception and beyond. Man is directly spoken to and blessed as are the authorities and all life.</li>
<li>The creation, in its replication, naturally reflects the God that has created it. Man, who is elevated by the particular reflection in image and likeness, will include the ability to garden in word and deed in the same ways.</li>
<li>God, as gardener, shows us the method for completing the cultivation of life with a literary work re-enacting how God has cultivated the earth into a garden including using mounds of dirt to protect the seeds He is planting and applying water in a hole he has dug to plant it into.</li>
<li>The pattern for the biblical reality that the Bible brings forth life in two ways is clear: If you listen and meditate on it and therefore honor your parents, you will have a long and prosperous physical life. But seeing the reality of the spiritual establishes the duality of what we are reading. This is about God making Himself known to us and revealing who He is. Therefore, the physical exists to point us to the eternal and spiritual realities that supersede them.</li>
<li>We are expected to replicate the process. Days 1-3 are God, Days 4-6 are offspring. Then there is a specific charge to do what has been illustrated. In a sense the word is written in such a way to teach us that God has modeled what He expects us to do in word and deed. We may not have seen it, but the words are written in such a way that we should be able to close our eyes or put our hands in the dirt, so to speak, and follow His example. Being seen and speaking are thus established as necessary for life. Naturally, looking/seeing and hearing/being heard are crucial to reflecting God. Action is always occurring in each of the acts of transmitting or receiving and in the actions that naturally flow out of them (another trinity).</li>
<li>We have a relationship with God initiated by Him for His purposes and this overflows in blessing to us.</li>
<li>There are roles and to some extent we take on more than one. Sons can become fathers. Daughters bear children and go from child to helper. This is deep. Men will be referred to as plants, animals, and heavenly powers (think the son and King of Tyre for instance). Ephesians 5 can transform in the light of this pattern to expose responsibilities and realities of roles.</li>
<li>This process is ongoing. Even the weird way the 1<sup>st</sup> verse starts out tells us this.</li>
<li>God accomplishes His purposes and is never frustrated.</li>
<li>If what I believe is true, then this portion of Scripture includes, to an extent, the reality that the entire Bible encompasses including what we end up with after “the fall of Adam” and the rise of the “second Adam” and His bride in the new creation. Revelation thus ends where the Bible begins. Note the reversal of words at the end of the section beginning in chapter two and the odd way the creation account changes. I could spend hours on this, and might just do that some day, but consider it for what it is.</li>
<li>Therefore, the gospel is the good news from God arriving in our ears and before our eyes through the perfect image bearer who is both a helper to the Father and one with the Father and Spirit who is the light and the word who ushers us out of darkness through a series of days and nights into eternal rest with our Father as we walk in His footsteps, so to speak, by imaging and reflecting Him through the carefully created and pointed time period set before us to do so.</li>
<li>WHEW! What a mouthful. Glad I let that out! Process that and see what happens.</li>
<li>There is so much more here its ridiculous, but hopefully that gives you something to chew on….literally and spiritually.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So back to the title of the blog: God Got It Wrong the First Time….or Did He? I do not believe God got it wrong. We did. He got it exactly right and we are experiencing it right now. He foretold what was happening and what was done. It was written in such a way that we begin a journey. We go out looking and listening and acting. Life is a guarantee for all who find themselves on this journey. We are broken as is revealed shortly thereafter, but through the use of talking and seeing and acting, we have the power to restore what is broken as God completes His perfect creation that is to come through the means He has sent beforehand to accomplish that restoration and keep His plans right on time.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">For additional meditation you might google the <a href="http://www.nativevillage.org/Messages%20from%20the%20People/Squanto'sGarden1.pdf" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">gardening process that saved the Pilgrims</span></a> , the roles and responsibilities in Ephesians 5, and the process for beginning a project (or life following in the footsteps of the GodMan Jesus Christ who is the perfect image of God) in Luke 14.</span></p>
<p> </p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696012016-06-20T19:00:00-05:002017-10-24T15:58:11-05:00I DON’T BELIEVE GOD: When I don't take God at His Word
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em><sup>66 </sup></em><em style="font-size: 10px;">Meanwhile, Peter was in the courtyard below. One of the servant girls who worked for the high priest came by</em><em style="font-size: 10px;"> </em><em><sup>67 </sup></em><em style="font-size: 10px;">and noticed Peter warming himself at the fire. She looked at him closely and said, “You were one of those with Jesus of Nazareth.<sup>[<a title="See footnote a" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+14%3A66-72&version=NLT#fen-NLT-24791a" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">a</span></a>]</sup>”</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em><sup>68 </sup></em><em>But Peter denied it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, and he went out into the entryway. Just then, a rooster crowed.<sup>[<a title="See footnote b" href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+14%3A66-72&version=NLT#fen-NLT-24792b" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">b</span></a>]</sup></em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong><em><sup>69 </sup></em></strong><em>When the servant girl saw him standing there, she began telling the others, “This man is definitely one of them!”</em><em> </em><strong><em><sup>70 </sup></em></strong><em>But Peter denied it again.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>A little later some of the other bystanders confronted Peter and said, “You must be one of them, because you are a Galilean.”</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong><em><sup>71 </sup></em></strong><em>Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know this man you’re talking about!”</em><em> </em><strong><em><sup>72 </sup></em></strong><em>And immediately the rooster crowed the second time.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><em>Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind:</em><em> </em><em>“Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny three times that you even know me.” </em><em>And he broke down and wept.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">-Mark 14:66-72</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">What a scene, right? Peter, the man whom Jesus Himself had said was the rock on whom He would build His <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+16%3A18&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">church</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> not only denied knowledge and accompanying Christ, but also swore a curse on <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+14%3A71&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">Himself</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a>. One of the most obvious questions we might ask is, “Why Peter? Why did you do it?” We would likely follow it with a line of questions like these: “Didn’t you know who He was? Didn’t you believe Him? Hadn’t He told you He was the Messiah? Why did you follow Him to begin with? And you bail now?” Peter had walked with the GodMan Jesus Christ in close personal fellowship for three years having witnessed unexplainable miracles, clear teaching and explanation of what was going to happen as they walked to the cross, even to the point Peter rebuked Christ for saying the things He was <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matt+16%3A13-28&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">saying</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a>, and then this series of denials in what would be the darkest hours of human existence. Peter and I have much in common.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> The Word of God is my life. I mean that in several senses. It is seriously my bread. I cannot go long without reaching for my tattered $7 dollar gift NASB or a phone or google search to jump in its pages. If you were to take the Bible from me, I do not know how I would live. If you think I am bragging, keep reading. My goal of this blog is not self-exaltation. I just really love and need my Bible. It has helped me in jail. It has helped me on the road when I was away from those I love. It has held me when I was struggling to become a man. It has been my only friend or brother in times where the rest of the world seemed to be out to destroy me and cause any pain they could. It has never left me with less hope than I came to it with.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> Christ is my life and Christ is the incarnate Word of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+1%3A1%2C14&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">God.</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> The Word of God is a person. It is a very particular person to be clear. It is Jesus of Nazareth. He is alive today and has come to me by His <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+10%3A17&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">word</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a>, which is the gospel, and by His <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+3%3A2%2C5&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">Spirit</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a>. For some reason, which can only be grace, I understood it (the message of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=hebrews+4%3A2&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">the gospel</span></a>).<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> I cannot explain why. I’m a generally pitiful person with no value I can claim on my own. Anyone who has known me well throughout my life can tell you that before the gospel brought me life I was about worthless. On the surface I may have seemed to be of value, but if you got close enough to be in the vicinity of the true work of my heart, you would pay for it as soon as I wasn’t getting what I wanted from you.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But Christ came to me first as a GodKing set on freeing me. Then he was a brother who loved me, though I viewed Him more as a good neighbor in reality. That love grew and went back and forth between king, then neighbor/brother, back to king, then on to neighbor/brother, and so on. Over the years He has become a friend and confidant. I have also felt the back and forth with God in brother/Father. I get so lost in talking to God that I seem to lean one way. On some days I have seen my brother Jesus as a Father. That has been more natural due to some personal matters I’m going through in relation to my own father. Regardless, He is “the” <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+14%3A6&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">life</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> and in my darkest hours He has given me life when I might otherwise be ready to let it go.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">I Don’t Believe God</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I have walked with Jesus. He has taught me personally. The marks of our time together are on my life. I wear them wherever I go. He has carried me. I have seen Him work miracles like stretching meals and sending help when we need it most at the very last minute. And even though I have seen clearly that Jesus is all He has said He is, I find there are times I don’t believe God. Peter’s denials are recorded. Everyone gets to see them in their horrendous clarity. There is no question as to Peter’s fear and lack of loyalty. His unbelief is captured for the remainder of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+24%3A35%3B+Luke+21%3A33&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">eternity</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a>. Peter fell. The <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+16%3A18&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">rock</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> was <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ps+16%3A8%3B+Ps+62%3A6%3B+Ps+112%3A6+&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">shaken</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I struggle with trust. I don’t trust anyone to be honest. I don’t even trust my own mind. That’s why I need God’s word. But even though I read it and do my best to live it out, I find that so many times I end up trusting so many things other than what God has said. I protect my life instead of laying it down if God has decided to take it. I do that by manipulating circumstances to make money or stay in good graces of those who might seek to hurt me. I keep my mouth closed when I see injustice or evil at times out of fear for one reason or another. I withhold the gospel because I am convinced it is not “the time or place.” And I am more faithful to keep a job than I am to do the only thing worth remaining alive for—preach the gospel. I have let men and women leave my life and continue on the road to Hell because I was more worried about cordial relationships and making child support and rent payments than warning them and sharing the only power of God unto salvation.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I hate to say I have been ashamed of the gospel, but I cannot say I have lived completely unashamed or without fear of sharing it for one reason or another.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">See, Peter and I have something in common. He denied Christ when his life may very well have been on the line after having known Him and being known by Him. I have denied Him so many days in my head and heart which has been clearly perceived through my actions. For this we have both been broken. My most broken state, the one I still struggle with daily, is that of 6-9 months ago where God made a fear of death so clear to me that in my head I was willing to act as though I denied Christ in order to save my skin if it came down to it. I can’t explain the experience beyond what John Bunyan might describe as Christian’s trek through the Valley of the Shadow of Death and his time in Doubting Castle. That <a href="https://www.ccel.org/browse/bookInfo?id=bunyan/pilgrim" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">book</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> has proven a comfort to me.</span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">What Was Lost When I Doubted God</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">All of my glory was lost. I am a broken man. I needed restoration. I still need restoration. Any hope I may have had in myself or my abilities has been lost. I can no longer claim any dignity in my “faithfulness.” I have felt the mark of Cain on my back. I have wandered. I have drowned in tears for my failures and anguished night upon night because of the reality of He whom I have doubted and lived in rebellion against. I have felt the hopelessness of talking myself into believing or “making my mind up.” In reality, I am needy, helpless, and without hope….apart from Christ. But His word is true. He has held me and will continue to hold me. He is still my life. I cry out “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief” alongside the father in Mark 9:24. I seek to feel the wounds as Thomas <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+20%3A24-29&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">did</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a>. And many days I am so much like Peter that it can be heartbreaking as I mutter the same weak response to Jesus in hard times that I wish I could flee from: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6%3A68&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">life</span></a>.”<a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a></span></p>
<h2><span style="color:#ffffff">But There Is Hope</span></h2>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But there is hope when I don’t believe God. Jesus came to Peter and personally restored <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+21%3A15-25&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">Him</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[15]</span></a>. He healed the father’s son after his request to help his <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+9%3A25&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">unbelief</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[16]</span></a>. He placed Thomas hands on the wounds after admitting his inability to believe <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+20%3A27&version=NLT" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">otherwise</span></a><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[17]</span></a>. Where condemnation was deserved and should most likely be present, we find none. Instead, we find a humble, gentle, patient, loving, self-controlled God who takes us by the hand and restores us into fellowship. He has given Himself and He continues to give Himself. Because of His mercy and grace, today I bow my face before Him and say alongside Thomas “My Lord and My God!”</span></p>
<div>
<br clear="all"><hr align="left" size="1" width="33%">
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[1]</span></a> Matt 16:18</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[2]</span></a> Mark 14:71</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[3]</span></a> Matt 16:13-28</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[4]</span></a> John 1:1,14</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[5]</span></a> Romans 10:17</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[6]</span></a> Gal. 3:2,5</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[7]</span></a> Heb. 4:2</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[8]</span></a> John 14:6</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[9]</span></a> Matt. 24:35; Luke 21:33</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[10]</span></a> Matt. 16:18</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[11]</span></a> Ps 16:8; Ps 62:6; Ps 112:6 among many other passages teach that anyone who trusts in the LORD will not be moved in the times that God brings trial or tribulation for they are in, or trusting in, the one who cannot be shaken—God.</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[12]</span></a> For a free copy: Bunyan, John. "Pilgrim's Progress | Christian Classics Ethereal Library."<em>Welcome to the Christian Classics Ethereal Library! | Christian Classics Ethereal Library</em>. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 June 2016.</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[13]</span></a> John 20:24-29</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[14]</span></a> John 6:68</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[15]</span></a> John 21:15-25</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[16]</span></a> Mark 9:25</span></div>
<div><span style="color:#ffffff"><a title="" href="file:///C:/Users/mastron/Desktop/Sch/I%20DONT%20BELIEVE%20GOD.docx" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">[17]</span></a> John 20:27</span></div>
</div>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696002016-06-14T19:00:00-05:002017-10-24T15:55:55-05:00WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE IS REVAMPING
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Weapons of our Warfare Records is revamping and undergoing some changes. Before I go into a few of the details, I would like to ask you to pray for us. I could use some specific prayer for wisdom and clarity as well as help leading in the likeness of Christ. May His image be clearly upon me.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">EXPECT THE FOLLOWING CHANGES</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">1) FOUNDATION</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Our foundation is simple and can be summed up in two words: Jesus Christ. Our needs are a bit more specific at this point. In order to utilize our gifts, form and fill our place in the industry (and world), and to establish a workable plan, I will be working to craft a clear doctrinal statement of faith. This is crucial to establishing a firm foundation built for the purpose of spreading the hope found only in the name of Christ Jesus, the glory of God. We are here for one purpose: Spreading a passion for God through the expansion of His Kingdom. If it sounds similar to John Piper’s and Bethlehem Baptist’s well known mission statement (or battle cry as we at WOOWR might call it), that is because it is the same mission. I may or may not re-articulate it. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it, right? Point Blank-We are in the field of music because we love making music. We were built to enjoy and create music. You couldn’t surgically remove the passion and need that all at WOOWR have for what we do. It is carefully woven and crafted into our design. But above all, including making music, is our Holy Spirit empowered love of God and specifically the Lordship, Salvation, and Treasure found in Jesus Christ which leads us to bow our knees, praise His name, and result in glory to the Father.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">2) CALLING FORTH OUR TEAM/SELECTING THE RIGHT PEOPLE FOR THIS <em>PARTICULAR</em> MISSION</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Weapons of Our Warfare Records is revamping. I have begun to communicate the reality that an assessment is beginning. As I seek to define who we are and what vision exists for this very small and very particular/specific record label, we will be evaluating who we should call forth to take the message to the masses. God has masterfully created each and every person with purpose. I believe that. He sows His seed around the world perfectly and He does it with many crafts or jobs and niches within those crafts. WOOWR has been, is, and will continue to be a family first and foremost. We have eternal bonds that cannot be held, sustained, maintained, or broken by involvement in the record label. Our bonds were created, are held, sustained, and maintained by the redemption (or purchase) made by Christ Jesus when He died on the cross. We have been adopted as God’s children forever and we will never see that relationship broken. In order to best serve the brothers and sisters that are or will be involved, we will be assessing desires and callings God has put on each of our lives. We may see a dispersion and a gathering simultaneously. Our goal is the kingdom, not a particular label or place of ministry.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">3) ESTABLISHING BOUNDARIES</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God’s creative work through mankind is abundant and diverse. He has created a tapestry of men and women whom He has gifted to create and reshape a wide array of fields. We are not meant to be all things to all people in the sense that we will do all types of music and spread across all ranges of age and preference. We will be working to diligently articulate goals in terms of what space we will specialize and live in. We support and are encouraged by God’s work through others in areas we may not enter. I, personally, enjoy a wide spectrum of music and art. I believe I can speak for most of the team in saying that is true of WOOWR in general. As much as we may be in love with the idea of working with everything and crossing over into as many genres and realms as possible, we will at least begin with a smaller “garden.”</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">4) CREATION, PROVISION AND NEEDS, AND CULTIVATION</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Then we will turn all of this work into art. My hope is that new life will spring up and the glory of God will spread through our unique form of worship (which will likely NOT sound like worship to many who are currently formal worshippers). Our goal will be to craft the most artistic and enjoyable form of music and associated art as possible in line with our plan and people. As we craft it, we will have to learn what will be necessary to bring it to life and see that it thrives. We will have needs of many sorts. Pray for us in this. I am not proficient in this area and have little insight into the planning we may need to complete. If we succeed here, it will clearly be a miracle. Upon creation of the plan and the forming of the art, we will have to develop a plan for cultivating it into what we believe God is leading us to make it become. Making music is one thing. Filling the world with it and seeing it reproduce is another thing altogether. Lord willing, we will succeed.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Weapons of Our Warfare Records <em>is</em> revamping. I believe we will be better off because of it.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Thank you for your prayers and patience. May the Lord bless them both as we move ahead.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In Christ,</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike “Streezy” Strong</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696042014-10-18T19:00:00-05:002017-10-24T15:55:14-05:00SCHOOL IS GREAT, BUT LIFE MATTERS
<h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">It's been a weekend to say the least. I have experienced turmoil on almost every front I can think of currently. I lost an office via phone near the end of the week. I had already been adjusting my job to carry functions I wouldn't normally have time to personally own. I find out my illness is not covered by insurance while at the doctor on my wife's birthday and then end our beautiful evening with a string of "close but no cigar" incidents where every single plan I had to woo her falls through. As we arrive home, I look at my cell and see some calls and a text message. Turns out my mother is in the hospital and the intent is to not make it out alive.</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Did I mention I still had a ton of homework due?</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Nope, because it didn't matter. School is great, but life matters.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Before you get the wrong idea and stop reading before you get to see that the statement above is quite the opposite of the entirety of this post, track with me for a second.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I love school. Even more than my odd, but natural enjoyment of school and learning in general is my love God's Word. Beyond that, I am completely humbled (which is abnormal for me to be quite honest) by my church and all of the students in the school. I am sitting in the mountain full of gold in the Hobbit movie, except without the dragon, and the intent of all involved is to fill me with knowledge in the saw way you could imagine being invited to acquire and load up as much gold as you could possibly take! It is the great pleasure and business of all involved to load me with a wealth of knowledge, resources, and lifelong relationships to head into the world and enjoy a life of lavishing these riches on others.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The problem is that I only have so many pockets, a single backpack, a couple hands, two shoes…..we could get creative here, but you get the point. There is more to be given than can ultimately be received and carried off in the end. This becomes even more weighty when life cuts the thread out of your pants pockets. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God is in control. We are not. To be a bit more personal, I am not, and I am extremely more aware of it today.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">My mother survived. She is fine and made it to church today. My kids and wife are alive and kicking. I don't feel great, but I'm still able to fight for joy. Yeah, I took a couple blows, but you ought see the other guy! What slipped is school.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I'm not some superstar so most of the people who read this know me. The more you know me, the more aware you probably are of my fear of failing school. I had to leave two years ago because I couldn't raise funds. Here I sit today fearing failing because life kicked my behind in just the blink of an eye. Instead of being anxious for nothing and worrying with today's troubles, I looked ahead and saw my plans to do great things with this gift of school get picked apart. "If you don't get all A's, no chance of seminary at Bethlehem. No seminary at Bethlehem and no Bethlehem sending you back to Little Rock to raise up others in a DCP Co Hort (of course they don't even know thats on my heart). Just that quickly, I had not only become God to myself as I placed my future based on fleeting feelings and ideas, but the real, one true God came and smashed them in a split second. None of those plans really mattered. My wife mattered. She is here. My kids mattered. They are here. My mom mattered. She could easily have not been here. The souls at stake still sit there in limbo, at least to us. God has it all worked out. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">When everything fell apart, life still mattered. Praise God that He does not require perfection and I can count on His plan being better than all of mine. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I'm going to do my best in school. I really consider it a great honor and blessing to be in school. The goal is to get equipped to love people. School has taught me that you can just as easily love somebody without having received schooling. That's how most of the school folks make it through. People without degrees who make ways for them to go and feel loved and cared for while they are there. Worst come to worst, I want to look like Christ and be living the life of service to my family…..with or without a bible degree…maybe with just a bible and a heart God has given to love Him and others as myself…..and that would be enough.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God works with that.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I learned that in Bible School.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61696032014-08-30T19:00:00-05:002017-10-24T15:54:27-05:00WHERE YA BEEN MIKE?
<h1 style="text-align: left;"> <span style="color:#ffffff">It's been a while since I've written. I'm learning that most promises that include scheduling time to keep aren't likely to last long so I won't promise a date for a future blog. To be honest, I don't know if anyone will actually read this one. I'm ok with that though and that's a new thing as well.</span>
</h1>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">A little catch up on what's been going on with me for those that are wondering is in order. The last two years have been a whirlwind and I'm still watching things settle at the current time. So what's happened since August 2012 when we moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota from Little Rock, Arkansas? Well, I'm glad you asked! Here goes:</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">Laura and I found out we were having a baby. That baby is her and named Anna. Since then we found out we were having another by God's grace! Little John is on the way as we speak! </span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">I enrolled at Bethlehem College and Seminary and started the DCP! Then I dropped out as I was unable to raise the necessary funds. Guess what though! By God's grace I'm back enrolled and paid up for the first semester! Lord willing I will endure and the Lord will provide what is needed to finish strong! </span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">I performed at the BIGGEST concert of my life…..and then I stopped making music. Yup. Just stopped. But why you may ask. Well, again, I'm glad you asked! Basically, I learned so much my first semester of school at BCS that I fell in love with the Bible and I was also convicted about writing about subjects it became painfully apparent I still had a ton to learn about. I piddled around and made a few songs, but my heart wasn't in it. It was still knee deep in the Word of God and I am excited about that. May it stay that way for the rest of my life! I wouldn't mind really being led to overflow into worship making some God exalting and Jesus Christ glorifying rap music! If it is His will, I pray it come abundantly! </span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">We bought a house. We moved with specific intention into "Near North" Minneapolis with a goal of ministering to our community. To be honest, we have been ministered to more than we have ministered. This has been a good gift and we are humbled and blessed by it.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">We joined a small group…and fell in love! I couldn't ask for a greater group of brothers and sisters to live life alongside! </span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">I got into my new job, lost it through restructuring, and got a new one on the same day I lost the one that brought me to Minneapolis. I am still working for the same company, but now work across three states and out of a fourth. What a journey Christ Jesus has taken me on through work! </span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">We went to a state fair and hung out as a married couple! What a gift! I love my wife and for those who knew us, we struggled financially for a looooong time! Even with three jobs, we weren't able to do such a thing! I avoided the cheese "curds" and have since learned I cost myself something awesome! Live and learn.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">Pastor Bud Burk taught me how to lead family worship! Yup. I didn't really know how to lead family worship. I hadn't seen a whole lot. My Dad did do some, but there was much to be desired. Pastor Bud counseled me and gave me resources. It's changed our home dramatically! I hope to be able to continue the joy of teaching others how to enjoy our Lord in family worship while spending time pursuing Christ and the knowledge of His gospel with my wife and children.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">I could go on and on and on….and I just might! Hopefully, I will be able to make a quick video ever so often to loop everyone in on what is happening. I'm not great at doing that, but with God's help who knows, right? </span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">Thanks for taking the time to check up on us. I could use your prayers and would like to ask for them if you don't mind. I want badly to "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth." (2 Tim. 2:15). That is my goal for at least the next two years. It will not be easy. It will be time consuming. It will cut into time with my family. It will press back against other time consuming functions. I need God's help to learn and to love well. I need wisdom in different times where decisions will need to be made and I will need strength to endure.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">I could also use prayers for what I will be doing with this training and where I will serve in Jesus Christ's church. We love Minneapolis and we miss and want to serve our family back home as well. Then there are so many other places with needs. Wherever we go, it will be our joy to make much of Christ.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">Grace and Peace,</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695992014-02-16T18:00:00-06:002017-10-24T15:53:22-05:00LEARNING TO ABIDE: SEEKING THE FATHER AS A DAD
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color:#ffffff">I've had an obsession of sorts lately. I chose the word obsession purposely. I understand its negative connotation for the Christian. To be honest, it is exactly what it sounds like. I have been seeking in a most earnest manner ways to abide in Christ . That doesn't make sense does it? Seeking to abide? Working hard to simply live in Jesus? Yes and to make it worse, instead of rest, I have been overwhelmed and stressed. I can't read enough, pray enough, meditate enough, teach enough, give enough, do enough and so on. My mind is aware that He is in control, but there was a disconnect. Primarily it was the abiding part.</span></h1>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I don't know how many of you are like me. I felt that so much depended on my own personal movement and positioning. I believed that God could only work through me in the ways I purposely afforded Him. I minimized the sovereign God to limitations I felt were reasonable because of my own personal limitations. To simplify, I made God in my image instead of resting in God in His own image.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">As a dad and a husband, there is so much of a need for focused time to be spent on others in our home. Beyond that, I am called to spread the gospel and do things for widows and orphans, the homeless, and other brothers. Learning how to divide the extra time I have while also feeding myself to serve all of those entities, it can become cumbersome and seem to be totally unattainable. Maybe that is because it actually is.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I am learning to rest. I have been for about a year now. I'm not a whole lot better at it, but God has done some noticeable work. This is partly why you have not seen any new music from me in awhile and probably won't see a project in the next few months. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I would like to hear from those of you who might have the same struggle. I want to hear about your successes and failures. Mostly, I want to hear the stories of how God has worked in your life. Tweet responses to @IamMikeStrong and use the hashtag #ABIDE</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I'll RT some! </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God bless and may He bless and keep you! </span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695982013-11-12T18:00:00-06:002017-10-24T15:52:37-05:00A Reflection on Guilt/Conviction
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">GUILTY…..</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Do you feel guilt? Do you struggle with it? Do you run from it? Do you take it head on? Do you hide from it?</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">That is an important question and can make all the difference in the world. Our reaction to guilt is arguably a way to judge the fruit of our understanding of the gospel. Now before you move past this post, take a second to hear me out.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">I believe the feeling of guilt could actually be a good thing. Guilt is at least an acknowledgment of the truth that there is something wrong we have done that requires some form of punishment. Im not going to argue over what is or isn't punishment, but obvious guilt lets us know we did something that isn't right and needs correction or addressing.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">3 Responses to guilt:</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Judas: When Judas had turned Christ Jesus over to be killed, he realized he was wrong and his actions were an atrocity. In his conviction/guilt he threw the silver back and ran off and hung himself.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Pharaoh and the Pharisees: Pharaoh knew he had done wrong against God, but his heart was hardened instead of repenting. He reacted out of conviction/guilt in anger. It was his downfall and the death of many.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Those who stoned Stephen: When Stephen was about to be stoned, He proclaimed Christ and those who were in attendance covered their ears and rushed at him at once in response. They murdered Stephen.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Those who receive the gospel: When we confront the gospel and conviction occurs, we face it and throw ourselves at the feet of God in need of mercy which we find in Jesus Christ.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">So what is up with these four examples? Why does any of this matter?</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Well…..I was thinking about how I respond to guilt and if I am honest, there have been times I have been guilty of all four responses.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">There have been times I attacked or hid myself from the truth. It never leads to life or good in our lives. It leads to darkness and decay.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">There have been times I had my heart harden and I persecuted others who I knew I had wronged. A lot of this was in the form of anger after having been confronted with my own sins by God. I wasn't ready to forgive or take all the credit for what was wrong. I still fight this on a regular basis. It will lead to death and my own prideful downfall if left unchecked or dealt with.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">There are times I felt so guilty I wanted to run from everything and when I was in my teens, I wanted to literally kill myself. I knew I was wrong and instead of facing the potential wrath (or lack of), I punished myself. I did this in many different forms from relationships, to work, to church, and with my relationship with God.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">For those of us who have Christ, we have found that though we may want to respond in one (or all) of the above mentioned ways, we have the ability to throw ourselves down before Christ Jesus, the creator and sustainer of all that is, for mercy and change. Imagine how different it would have been if Judas would have simply turned to Jesus and acknowledged his sin and asked for forgiveness. How quickly he would have received it!</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">How different would Egypt have been if Pharaoh had repented and asked God for forgiveness and obeyed? So many would not have died and so much destruction could have been avoided!</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">What of those who stoned Stephen? Well for one Stephen would have lived to tell the gospel to others. You get my point?</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Through it all, God was not surprised. All of these things were worked by Him, for Him, to complete His ordained purposes. So let's get to it…..</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">MY POINT: What I want to say to any of you who may read this and be going through something you feel guilt for, something you may know is wrong that needs to change, and beg you to simply fall at the feet of Jesus, confess it and let Him heal you. He is slow to anger and quick to forgive. His mercy and grace are amazing. He is mighty to save and willing to forgive. Face it. First, take it to where you can take all problems…to Jesus…</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">He is able to carry you through anything and everything you face. He is the way, and the truth, and the life.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">I want to leave you with this from Luke 1. It is for all that repent and believe in Him and His promises. Pray it. Write it down. Print it out. Hold it near. Whatever you do, trust Him more than you fear man or the problems you face or the sin you carry. This promise is for you.</span></h3>
<h3>
<span style="color:#ffffff">“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">In the house of David His servant—</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">71 [aq]Salvation from our enemies,</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">And from the hand of all who hate us;</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">72 To show mercy toward our fathers,</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">And to remember His holy covenant,</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">73 The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">74 To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">Might serve Him without fear,</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways;</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">[ar]By the forgiveness of their sins,</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">78 Because of the tender mercy of our God,</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">79 To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,</span><br><span style="color:#ffffff">To guide our feet into the way of peace.”</span>
</h3>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695972013-10-31T19:00:00-05:002017-10-24T15:51:58-05:00Reflections on Halloween
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Halloween. Pagan rituals, ghouls, ghosts, and goblins. Candy, parties, and trick or treating. There is so much tied to this holiday now that it can be difficult as a Christian to decide what to do on it. Do you participate? If so, in what fashion? Do we rather simply identify with reformation day? It's definitely a bigger issue if you are raising kids in the world. So what does one do?</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">A good friend and brother of mine, Mike Tong, gave me some good practical advice one day. You have the Holy Spirit and conviction. I will leave all of the advice on this one to you. We spent time with friends and our kids, but more than that God ministered to me as He completed His work around me through people.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Ephesians 1: <span id="en-NASB-29210" class="text Eph-1-3"><span class="versenum">3 </span>Blessed <em>be</em> the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly<em>places</em> in Christ,</span> <span id="en-NASB-29211" class="text Eph-1-4"><span class="versenum">4 </span>just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before <span class="footnote">[<a title="See footnote d" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+1&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29211d" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">d</span></a>]</span>Him. In love</span> <span id="en-NASB-29212" class="text Eph-1-5"><span class="versenum">5 </span><span class="footnote">[<a title="See footnote e" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+1&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29212e" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">e</span></a>]</span>He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the <span class="footnote">[<a title="See footnote f" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+1&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29212f" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">f</span></a>]</span>kind intention of His will,</span> <span id="en-NASB-29213" class="text Eph-1-6"><span class="versenum">6 </span>to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.</span> <span id="en-NASB-29214" class="text Eph-1-7"><span class="versenum">7 </span>In <span class="footnote">[<a title="See footnote g" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+1&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29214g" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">g</span></a>]</span>Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace</span> <span id="en-NASB-29215" class="text Eph-1-8"><span class="versenum">8 </span>which He<span class="footnote">[<a title="See footnote h" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+1&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29215h" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">h</span></a>]</span>lavished on <span class="footnote">[<a title="See footnote i" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+1&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29215i" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">i</span></a>]</span>us. In all wisdom and insight</span> <span id="en-NASB-29216" class="text Eph-1-9"><span class="versenum">9 </span>He <span class="footnote">[<a title="See footnote j" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+1&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29216j" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">j</span></a>]</span>made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His <span class="footnote">[<a title="See footnote k" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+1&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29216k" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">k</span></a>]</span>kind intention which He purposed in Him</span> <span id="en-NASB-29217" class="text Eph-1-10"><span class="versenum">10 </span>with a view to an administration <span class="footnote">[<a title="See footnote l" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+1&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29217l" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">l</span></a>]</span>suitable to the fullness of the times, <em>that is</em>, the summing up of all things in Christ, things <span class="footnote">[<a title="See footnote m" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+1&version=NASB#fen-NASB-29217m" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">m</span></a>]</span>in the heavens and things on the earth.</span></span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">What a blessing to know a couple of things from this passage. First, God is working His plan. What is His plan? He is summing up all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on earth. God is uniting all things to Christ is how it is translated in the ESV. This will occur in the fullness of time. We know that in the end, when the time has come, He will have unified all things in Christ. This is a mystery that has been made known to us. Who is us? Those He (God) has predestined to adoption as sons through Christ Jesus for Himself. This is intentional and kind of Him and a gift of grace through redemption which includes forgiveness of our sins.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">So how does this relate to Halloween you might ask. Well…..I'm so glad you asked! </span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">I woke almost unaware of the "holiday". It was a spiritual battle from before my first step this morning. Upon realizing what day it was, I felt a need to pray. Not for the obvious reason. It was not because Halloween is a day the devil relishes in his temporary reign as prince of the power of the air. It was because I was in spiritual turmoil and couldn't tell why. It was completely me centered. Upon thought I was reminded that this is a day that celebrates demonic creatures and pagan customs. I wondered what I should do. Where should my stand be? Surely people would ask why I do or don't celebrate. Should I let my kids dress up? Should I pass out candy? Am I sponsoring paganism by participating? I never caught up enough to really choose to do anything. God was merciful.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">At work, I had several individuals speak with me about my faith. I got to share the power of God in changing my life. I got to meditate on the difference in my life today versus the past. I also got to meditate on my sin and constant need. In the midst of the me centeredness, a co worker asked to pray with me for our office. Yet another co worker joined us. The concern was for souls that did not know the truth. There was an honest want for souls to know Christ and be saved. It was a blessing to experience. I do not share this to brag on our spirituality. I honestly do not believe in really sharing what and when you pray about, but this is different. This was a tool God used to minister to me and I believe that God uses what He gives to us to share with others. </span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">So here's the point of all this.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">On a day that is basically controlled by Satan, God had His people positioned and burdened to pray for His will to be done. It wasn't blatant or for display. It was hidden and tucked away. Prayers flowed all day. God works through prayers and the prayers were in regards to people coming to know the one true God who sent His only begotten son Jesus Christ to die for the sins of those who believe upon Him. On a day where God has always seemed absent, He was working in the background to unite people to Himself through Jesus Christ. This is hopeful. If this is what happens on Halloween, and I'm sure many of you have similar stories, just imagine what He is doing on other dark days where He "seems" to be absent. Our God is sovereign and He is surely not absent! </span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">He sits in Heaven and does whatever He pleases! He rules over all things in the heavens and the earth! He is the God over Hell and there is no other creature who is an equal to Him. Satan can have the entire country dressed up and celebrating death and demonic power and God will still prevail through it all! He needs no one, but still He keeps a remnant to be the channel blessed to be used by Him for His mighty work! </span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">In these dark times, I urge you to keep your eyes on the cross. Do not let the accuser of the brethren, the great deceiver Satan, convince you that God is absent…or powerless…or unable to change what is going on. He is sovereign over all and His work, His kind intention, takes time which He has chosen to be used to bring it about. One day this evil will come to an end and be judged AND sentenced to what it deserves. All things in heaven and on earth will be united to Christ----and it will be glorious! Today is passing. It will end. This is what God has ordained. In it, He will still get glory and honor and praise! Be hopeful brothers and sisters! Be hopeful! Our king is coming! He has others to redeem! Let us pray for His work! Let us pray for His glory! Let us praise His revelation of this great mystery and hide it in our hearts to meditate on! </span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Grace and Peace! </span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike</span></h3>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695962013-10-30T19:00:00-05:002017-10-24T15:51:21-05:00Blessings for Your Children (from A Father's Guide to Blessing His Children by David Michael)
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">How many of us have Father issues that affect the relationship we have with God? Mine are minimal compared to some I have heard and rightfully so. My father was not perfect, but he tried. This is more than he got to experience personally. His father was gone around the time he was two. I place no fault on anyone and my intent is not to get into those relationships. What I am writing this for is the purpose of helping equip other father's who are looking for ways to share grace and truths about our heavenly Father with their children. To be honest, I had never thought about the act of blessing my children, but learning about it has made an impact on my life and I pray that the Lord use it to impact my daughters and wife.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">What I am about to do is simply present a practical application for a subject that deserves some personal study. I recommend two books. The first is a very brief blessing book by David Michael entitled A Father's Guide to Blessing His Children. It sums up some key points and provides memory cards with scriptural blessings to use. I will post a few of those here. </span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">A more in depth book on blessing your children was given to me by a pastor at my church named Bud Burk. It is on interceding for your children. It is much larger, but just as practical. It is filled with prayers and explains the importance of establishing God as the hope they set their eyes and hearts on. I have not completed it, but from what I have seen, there will be much for me to learn about it. Of course, I am seeking the Lord's wisdom in learning to really pray and seek Him. This may prove to be one of the tools provided to sanctify and educate me on His ways.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Here is the short explanation of some of the things that are crucial to understanding blessings. A fella named Rolf Garbog defines four different categories of blessings found in scripture. A good way to explain one of these categories is "the intentional act of speaking God's favor and power into someone's life, often accompanied by a symbolic gesture such as laying hands on the person." Michael makes note that it is a way to nurture the faith of our children and bestow God's blessing on their lives.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Blessings are pretty standard practice in Israel's experience at home and when they gathered as people. It is a responsibility and a blessing to bless your family.I would also like to note that my experience is similar to Michael and several other brothers I have spoken with-place your hands on your children. I cup my hand softly on each of my daughters' foreheads and over their hair. I pray the blessing over them. They love it and run up to me to complete it. Well, my five year old does. Sometimes the three year old ducks around and thinks its play time. I just pray the blessing out loud for her and let her know the importance of blessings and God's good gifts like mercy and grace. I don't know if this is the best way to address it, but it is what I feel convicted to do out of love for my daughter. The touch makes it personal as pastor Bud put it.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">So here are a couple of verses/blessings in the book that I want to share. Pastor Bud also made blessing simple. Simply add may to a promise of God in scripture. You can peep the verses used and see it practically applied in the examples below:</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Genesis 48:15-16</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">May the God before whom Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd to this day, and who has delivered me from all harm--bless you and make His name live on in you and in your children after you. Amen! </span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Psalm 121:5-8</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">May the Lord watch over you. May He be a shade at your right hand so that the sun will not harm you by day or the moon by night. May the Lord keep you from all harm. May He watch over your life. May He watch over your coming and your going, both now and forever. Amen! </span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">And one of my favorite:</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Hebrews 13:20-21 </span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">May the God of Peace</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Who brought up from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord through the blood of the eternal covenant</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Equip you with every good thing to do His will, and work in you that which is pleasing in His sight through the power of Jesus Christ to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen! </span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Please check out <a title="A Father's Guide to Blessing His Children " href="http://www.childrendesiringgod.org/resources/resource.php?id=18&productPageId=2" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">A Father's Guide to Blessing His Children</span></a> by David Michael for more practical advice and additional prewritten blessings. Well worth the investment. I pray this blesses many of you like it has blessed me.</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Grace and Peace,</span></h3>
<h3><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike</span></h3>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695952013-09-02T19:00:00-05:002017-10-24T15:50:37-05:00One of the Planks in My Eye
<h3 class="western" style="margin-top: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">Matthew 7:3-5</span></h3>
<p style="margin-top: 0.19in; margin-bottom: 0.19in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">New American Standard Bible (NASB)</span></p>
<p style="margin-top: 0.19in; margin-bottom: 0.19in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"><sup>3 </sup>Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? <sup>4 </sup>Or how <sup>[</sup><span style="text-decoration:underline"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%207:3-5&version=NASB#fen-NASB-23321a#fen-NASB-23321a" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff; text-decoration:underline"><sup>a</sup></span></a></span><sup>]</sup>can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? <sup>5 </sup>You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">Before I begin, allow me to remove the log from my own eye. I am a selfish and prideful person. I have been for as long as I know. The more the Lord reveals what it means to be humble and meek, the more I see how horrible my sin is. I would say that my pride and selfishness has been more manifest than it is in most people I know as well. From my teenage years on into my twenties, there was nothing I did that was not 100% formulated to profit me. I knew what I was doing and did it because I wanted something. I can’t even recall small items that I reacted to that were without some thought and twisted to benefit myself. I justified it to myself by benefitting others, but never did I act out of humility or concern for someone else’s interests instead of my own.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">I struggle with this today as well. I am a very competitive person. I am always weighing things. I weigh outcomes. I weigh righteousness. I weigh the law and its effects. I look and decide whether others are persevering. I pray for a lot of people to be saved that say they have known Jesus Christ as Lord and savior, yet I believe live in a way that does not state that. I have opinions on everything. By that, I mean to say that if you ask me a question or are stating your thoughts, I will immediately agree or disagree without researching and will most likely share it with you whether you cared to hear it or not.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">I also joke in a way that would not reflect Christian maturity. There are things that my heart delights in that are not scripturally sound and show my ever present need for the grace in the gospel. I am a sinner just as in need of grace and mercy today as I was the day I was born again.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">With that said, there is something I feel convicted to address. Christian music or music made by Christians and the self centeredness of the content as of late. I would like to more specifically address the genre of rap.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">I am a rapper. I have been for almost 13 years. The first recorded song I made was in late 2000 and picked up pace in early 2001. I understand the culture-from the spiritual aspect to the elements. I have studied it as an art form and lived it as a lifestyle. I say that purposely. I have also made music reflective of the life I lived after living it, rap, as a lifestyle. I have felt comfort inside of it and also felt like a stranger. Today, I feel like a younger brother reaching out to an older brother who seems to have lost direction and is heading down a very dark path. The worst part is that it is in the realm of Christians making rap that I feel most disconnected.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">So what is my problem? My problem is that there seems to be a lack of focus on God. Rap is a very personal and aggressive genre. In its past, it has been used as a viable form of empowerment and spread of knowledge. It affected society from the ears down to the heart. It is still that form in the genre of Christian rap/hip hop/etc. People use it as a tool to teach and to deal with very hard questions. They also use it as a sounding board for their own frustrations and opinions. I am one of them. You can’t listen to LAYERS without catching my back story. My opinions on what issues exist and my interpretation of what should be said about it is all over the album. I then continued to mold songs to put my opinions out and deal with issues I felt Chrsitians and non believers should deal with.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">In and of itself, dealing with issues affecting the body is not a problem. I don’t want to go too pharisaical, but my worry is that I am seeing an open division as we put opinions that are not supported with Scripture out in the public realm. I’ve seen Christians attacking each other on wax. I’ve heard lots of bragging of personal skills in comparison. I’ve heard “opinions” of a lot of things presented as the truth on records. What I have not heard a lot of-especially from the non major label groups-is praise and worship to God.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">So isn't this all just opinion? Isn't this whole blog a lot of what you just said is the problem with music. Am I just stating opinion and my personal observations and trying to change what I don't like? </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">Possibly. I can see that. It's in my nature to do that. This is exactly why I shared my issues and I have put myself before you to be accountable. I prayerfully ask you to consider what will be said against scripture and if it not be His will and word, that you go by what He says and not me.</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">So with that being said..... </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">We have purposes to use music. Look at Colossians 3:16-17 for example. <sup> </sup>Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms <em>and</em> hymns <em>and</em> spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. <sup>17 </sup>Whatever you do in word or deed, <em>do</em> all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. We should sing unto the Lord (Exodus 15:21; Psalms 33:3; 81:1; 149:1; Ephesians 5:18, 19). It is a precious form of worship to our Lord in the old testament (Psalms 66:2, 4; 68:4, 25, 32) and the new (Acts 2:46, 47; 16:25, 26).</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">Looking back and listening to the songs I wrote I see a whole lot of me. I wish I saw a lot more of God. I can’t do anything about the past, but I can do something about the future, Lord willing. I can change the focus of the songs from a “me centeredness”-from approaching what concerns me and what I don’t like or who I think is doing wrong and focus more on God Himself! I can praise the judgments of God as opposed to assuming who should be judged. I am not saying steer clear of addressing sin, but the scripture tells us how to do that. Sometimes we think we have a great way to do it and a platform and that it is God given to do so. If it doesn’t match up with the Word, conviction should let you know. Instead of thinking my gift has to convince and change people, how about pointing everyone to the God who changes hearts and natures by way of praise! Make Jesus the center of our song! Make God the Father the center of our song! Make the Holy Spirit the center of our song! Make God the center of our song! He is enough to enjoy and savor and praise! Our talent is nothing on its own and He is everything on His own!</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">What a gift is that of making music. This includes hip hop. I cannot convince all of you who read this to change your perception of what God has called you to say or what kind of music to make. I would like to ask as a brother that you consider whether the opinions you make and broadcast through music are to edify the church and/or to praise God or if they are something else altogether. Ephesians 4:29 says Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. What a convicting statement to me. Oh how I have sinned in my music and I will have to give account. Also consider Matthew 12:36 “I tell you, on the Day of Judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak.” You can actually go down the list here: <span style="text-decoration:underline"><a href="http://www.openbible.info/topics/power_of_words" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff; text-decoration:underline">http://www.openbible.info/topics/power_of_words</span></a></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff">There is much written on our words. There is also much written on music. Our God created. I pray that each of you who read this consider using it to worship God and that the focus of at least one song, be solely on God Himself and not on our selfish desires and concerns. May He be glorified through the use of the gift as it is used to point others to our holy and righteous God who is worthy of ALL praise!</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695942013-09-01T19:00:00-05:002017-10-24T15:49:51-05:00Looking For A Band in Minneapolis, MN
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Hey Folks! </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I wanted to take a second to check in and put the word out that I am looking to build a band. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">My heart yearns to write praise music to God. I will be doing this primarily through rap, but feel a call to build a sound similar to that of a Rend Collective or Shane and Shane. If you are part of a band in the Minneapolis area and your heart is to praise the Lord through music and teach and edify the body, hit me up on the contact link. I would like to speak with you.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Grace and Peace,</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695902012-08-24T19:00:00-05:002017-10-24T15:48:57-05:00Lessons Learned
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Today I will just go off the cuff. I usually have some sort of structure, but to be honest, the last few months have been a blur. I have worked more for my actual job than I have ministry and that is very different to me. I have also had to sit and watch as a lot of what I had built up unraveled. It would probably normally be very unsettling, but I have had a very odd peace that has been with me. This peace I cannot explain, but if you have or ever do feel it, you will know what I am talking about. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I love God. I am learning to love Christ Jesus more and more every day. My greatest want is to serve Him in every way that I am capable and to know He approves. Fear has not been an issue. I'm not saying that I am incapable of fear, but that lately I am aware of God's hand being on me to the point that through grace alone I have not felt fear as I have faced some of the most difficult tests of my adult life. I can't say that more has ever been on the line yet there is no stress. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God is good!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I talk to the Lord a lot lately. I listen and He talks back regularly. His word provides very direct answers to my very specific questions and I receive confirmation as well. He promised that if we needed knowledge and wisdom and asked, we would receive it. He is a God of His word. At the same time, I followed what He told me and things are different than I first thought based on my interpretations. He moved me and most of my family 15 hours away and ministry has not been regular. At least that is what it seemed like.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Back home I had a bible study out of my house, a rap music ministry, several jobs at church, outreach events with several groups doing manual labor, and even the blogs and whatnot. It was rare that I was not openly serving in a capacity that wouldn't be easy to identify as simply doing Christian work because it was simply that. I figured that would continue, but in a greater capacity. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In Minneapolis, my example and my character have been my ministry. Most people know I am a Christian up here. I don't try to flaunt it. I am excited to meet brothers and sisters, but my heart yearns to lead others to Christ as a willing tool for any use He may have. People are taking notice. I read my Bible at lunch. I don't shy away from giving God glory for amazing results I can't claim. I work a lot and I focus on representing Godly principles like fairness, justice, wisdom, and honesty. I have suffered persecution for this and been mocked. I count it a blessing! </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I am not boasting here. That is not my intention. I am fully aware that I am a sinner and nowhere near perfect. My actions will not earn my salvation. What I am bringing this info up for is to give you a thorough understanding of the background behind what I am about to say.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">By the grace of God, I have witnessed a change take place within me completely controlled by He who has promised to do His work and sanctify me! It is amazing and overwhelming at the same time. I have been able to watch my wife pray for my faith. I have been told of many who prayed for my return to church years ago. I am aware of those who think of me and say a little prayer to carry me through some of the situations I face. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God is SO good! </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">All of those ministries back home have all but failed. When I left, hope for their success seems to have left. But... They were never mine. They were Jesus Christ's . They served their purpose. It is not for me to understand.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I get here and He uses me in a different way. I am blessed to see His ministry work on me when I seem to be working on outsiders less. The funny thing is that I have had more of an impact here it seems. Very weird, but such a blessing. I see that it is not me at all, but He who does His work when we don't. If we try to build something, even a ministry, based on our own wants and needs....it will fail. If we do it for Him and because He says to, what we perceive as failure simply is not. His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. his purpose will always be served. God doesn't have accidents. God doesn't fail either nor does He lie.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I pray you are encouraged today. Pray for God to make you what you know you lack and need. Have faith He will provide it. Praise Him when you suffer and when you wait. He will answer your prayer. Then sit back and be prepared to be amazed at some point because He will use you, but not necessarily in the way you think He would. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">John 14:12-14 states "I assure you: The one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in My name, I will do it."</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I heard two interesting quotes this week. The first was from a friend on Facebook who quoted a Bill Johnson "The church gathers weekly around a sermon, but Israel encamped continually around the Presence. Perhaps when we return to that priority, we, the church, will learn what it means to be a holy nation." </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Wow! </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">That is something that is so true it cannot be denied! But we can't control the church and we know what has been prophesied from God about its state. We can take this on personally though. How can we dwell around the presence of God continually? How can I be more concerned with staying near the Father? How can I make Him more of my focal point? How can I allow Him more access to me in order to have more access to Him? How can I change my heart to truthfully place such an importance about staying near God that I literally make my home wherever He is and follow wherever He leads? </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I can't tell you? Why don't you ask Him....and then sit and listen to what He says. I mean that literally. Ask Him and then sit there and wait. Hold that Bible, pray over it, read it, and just sit and wait for something your spirit acknowledges as out of the ordinary and necessary to consider is from God. It will be undeniably different more than likely. That's how it works. God's presence has always been noticeable to those looking and listening.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The second quote was in regards to us being spiritual beings and desperately needing something more than this life we have seen. A pastor Deangelo said it tonight. I give glory to God because of his willingness to speak the Lord's truths! You are being guided and drawn by God. Hr designed us that way. He made us want to listen. It is ingrained in our genetic code and our mind cannot escape it. He made you in a way that you would yearn to listen, but it may be difficult. He did not make all of us need answers without reason. He has promised to provide us answers for many things, but we need to ask and listen. He is the creator of our faith and it is only by Him that anything is able to prevail or succeed....even ministry. My God sits in heaven and does what He wants to. Ask Him what it is He wants to do and then let Him.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God bless each of you and I pray you are given an opportunity to bring Him glory this week because of what He does in your life! </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Streezy</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695892012-02-06T18:00:00-06:002017-10-24T15:48:21-05:00Gifts without Foresight
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I was looking over 1 Corinthians today to prepare for the 13 Letters Small Group Study we will be doing tonight and I came across the gifts part in chapter 12. This is of interest to me because it deals with prophesy, speaking in tongues, and other holy spirit given gifts. Some of these gifts we don't seem to talk about much in many of the churches I've been to for whatever reason, but that may be why I am so interested. Anyways, before I go off chasing rabbits...God gives us certain gifts from the Holy Spirit. They are different. Everyone won't have the same gift or gifts. Some are for a specific event or time and others might last longer. Paul points out that they will all pass one day just as the earth will.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">In explaining this, Paul gets into the subject and importance of love in chapter 13. He tells us what love is and isn't and then he explains why love is more important than any of the gifts and should be the guiding factor in how we use them. I know from personal experience that sometimes we can sit back and watch people who know what their spiritual gifts are use them and become awestruck. At the same time its easy to look at ourselves and feel like our gifts aren't worth much or that they aren't as important as someone else's gift. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We can spend more time worrying about meaningless, temporary things than meaningful, timeless things like serving God through love. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I think we are programmed to be this way. It's just natural. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">When I was a kid, we didn't have GPS. No, we just had these ancient things called MAPS. I remember in cub scouts and on out of town trips, adults would get a map (or a few of them) and would mark them up as they tried to find the fastest, most efficient route to get where we would be going. Another point to note is that not everyone could be in charge of the map while you were on your way. Only a person that could be trusted with the map could hold it and call out directions. When I was younger, I wanted so badly to be the map person. I thought I could call out directions from the map just as well as anyone else did-maybe better!!! I mean the important stuff was already marked on it. One day I got the chance.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I don't remember where we were going or why. I just remember this sickening feeling way deep down in my stomach. There was a chaos that succumbed me quietly as I stared at the map and tried to keep up with turns and directions. I didn't know when to tell my dad to go a different way or if the highway changed names or if what to do if we had to detour. It was crazy to say the least. I learned very clearly on that day that even though I wanted to be that map guy and even though everything was written and marked the way it was supposed to be on the map, that if I wasn't equipped to know when and how to use it, it was all for nothing. We would have been just as well off without the map winging it. Probably better! The same goes for our gifts.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Don't worry about what another person has or is doing. Worry about what you are equipped to do. While you may begin becoming equipped to handle the responsibility of another gift for a different time, focus on what is important. Do what you can do, do it to the best of your ability, and make sure you focus on the most important things-like love.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">If you love God, you will learn to love your neighbor. You will learn His ways to do that and not your own. If you love your neighbor, you will use what God has given Him to bring glory to the Father using what you have. You may be equipped to mow a yard. Mow out of love for God for your neighbor. Show Him God's love how you can. You may have knowledge. Share it with your neighbor who may need it and show them God's love. Do it because you want to give God what He wants because you love Him. It is clear God wants us to bring glory to His name by loving others like He loves us! No gift is without purpose. No gift is too small for God to do amazing things with. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Be encouraged my brothers and sisters! Be encouraged!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">And encourage others. God bless you all!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Streezy</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695882012-01-25T18:00:00-06:002017-10-24T15:47:39-05:00Beware the Scribes
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>38</strong> He also said in His teaching, "Beware of the scribes, who want to go around in long robes, and who want greetings in the marketplaces, <strong>39</strong> the front seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets. <strong>40</strong> They devour widows' houses and say long prayers just for show. These will receive harsher punishment." -<a href="javascript:;" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">Mark 12:38-40</span></a></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I just read this moments ago (prior to writing this blog) and something about it instantly emerged and caused me to open up Word. Beware the Scribes….Kind of sounds like a religious horror film. Like something you might find on VHS or LaserDisc (remember those) in a pile of junk at church somewhere. I can see the intro when the title flasjes across the screen in that old school lightning bolt looking font: Beware the Scribes (Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnn) (Woman’s Shriek!). But anyways, let’s get back on topic!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This isn’t the only verse where we are reminded of corruption of religion in the Bible. There is the story of the teacher and the tax collector praying in the temple where humility is lifted above prayers spoken to show how “religious” a person thinks they are. We see multiple responses to religious leaders who tried to confront and attack Jesus Christ. We even see that those religious leaders of the time were so caught up in religion itself aka “the law and the commandments”, that they couldn’t see their own messiah right in front of their faces which eventually led them to murder him. Smh. Those heathens! Those vile, wicked folks! How can they masquerade around acting all holy telling folks they know what is right! Who gave them the right! </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Well…time for a self check. I don’t know if it’s a revelation or simply something on my heart right now, but I see this as a warning to each and everyone of us who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ (aka Christians) as we continue along on our journey. I think we need to simply add the words “becoming one” to the text when we ponder upon these words. Let’s read it again with the addition: <strong>38</strong> He also said in His teaching, "Beware <strong>“becoming one”</strong> of the scribes, who want to go around in long robes, and who want greetings in the marketplaces, <strong>39</strong> the front seats in the synagogues, and the places of honor at banquets. <strong>40</strong> They devour widows' houses and say long prayers just for show. These will receive harsher punishment." </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Man!!! I don’t know about you, but that scares the mess out of me. I was telling my buddies Da Light and RyStu the other day that I still feel like a baby in Christ. I feel like there is just so much I don’t know and so much I don’t understand. I have battled over the last year to a year and a half in making sure I read my Bible. I fight to make sure I think on it. I notice a lot of times that I can quickly worry more about doing things I place importance on that really isn’t necessary. My intentions are good (I believe). I want to read God’s word and pray and increase my relationship, but I feel like I need to read commentaries, and study carefully formatted guides so that I understand the message well enough to know what God is saying. I worry about how I pray because I want to show God that I want to speak with him how I am supposed to and not “pray like the Gentiles”. Sometimes, I worry so much about doing things right in order to show God respect that I kind of miss the point which I believe is to build a relationship with Him.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Instead of always worrying about how I pray, why don’t I just pray when I feel like I should? Instead of studying with a commentary or lesson guide, why can’t I just read God’s word and think on it. Instead of worrying about doing everything right, why can’t I just focus on making God my focus when I’m not trying to focus. Why can’t I just worship, praise, serve, or exalt God without fear of doing it wrong or not right enough. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Now, I want to state again, I don’t think any of these things are wrong when you do them for the right reasons, but if the actual act becomes more important than God, it becomes a problem. As far as the scribes go, I think they may have started out like most of us do-genuinely wanting to keep God in His rightful place as the most important thing in their lives! They might have truly wanted to exalt God! They might have initially built their prayer life, began fasting, began teaching and serving in order to praise God in the ways He commanded, but somewhere along the lines it got twisted. That seems like it could be pretty normal in my opinion. We do that in relationships all the time.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">You get a new love and you pursue them. You bring flowers or gifts. You make time for them happily. Sometimes, over time, we continue to do those things, not to excite our partners, but more to justify ourselves. We do all the things you see on tv and in dating books right, but what is missing is the relationship. You bring flowers because it is a work that seems right for keeping a relationship working, but the drift is so deep that tv takes more precedent over a simple conversation (and by conversation I mean listening and genuinely caring about what you hear). Maybe we need to be reminded that the Bible warns people to beware people like us. Maybe we need to see what we have made more important in our walk-the works or the relationship. I know I need to do that regularly.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This week, try to think about God and if you are doing some of the things you do in order to convince yourself that you are making God happy through your works or whether you could build your relationship with Him stronger by simply doing things a little different. Prayers over the food are cool, but instead of repeating the same prayer to bless the food, let someone else and instead make a little time before or after dinner to get alone and just talk to Him (or maybe just listen). Instead of waiting to get a lesson that is planned out or a commentary to understand every word in every verse, maybe just pick the Bible up and randomly read it and think on it. Don’t sign up for every opportunity to serve created by your church. Try and find something you do that no one will know about and go do it on your own. Don’t tell anyone, just keep it between you and God. Thank Him for the opportunities He will give you!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Relationship trumps religious acts every time. I pray you are encouraged and strengthened! I’ll be praying about this through the week. I hope some of the comfort reaches you! If you feel moved to say something about this article, feel free to comment.</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695872012-01-22T18:00:00-06:002017-10-24T15:47:00-05:00Breaking Up with God and My Problem with Prayer
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I have had a problem with prayer for some time now. It started shortly after I left church when I was sixteen. I used to pray ALL of the time. Literally. I would have conversations with God throughout the day and into the night. I would talk to God like He was right there. I remember it not being awkward at all. It seemed so natural. I felt like God was always listening. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">My problem started as I realized that relationship was drifting. I’m not sure when that was, but I remember being embarrassed. This was odd because I was so used to openly praying everywhere for anyone that asked or anything I felt needed it. I suddenly found myself failing to just talk to God. The random and constant conversations with God just dried up. It reminded me of that point you can come to in a relationship where you are with your girlfriend or boyfriend and you just don’t have anything to talk about. You know that awkward feeling you get when the moment where you are both sitting there avoiding the obvious occurs, but if your buddies were there you could talk for hours. Matter of fact, its like that moment where the silence is so awkward you just want to hit your buddies up on the telephone and tell them about how awkward it is right then instead of continuing to sit in the awkwardness. Yeah. That was it. I guess I was breaking up with God.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">It just happened so suddenly. I couldn’t prepare for it. I definitely didn’t plan on it! I mean how could I??? I was so in love with God! He always took care of me! I mean the sacrifice He made….I couldn’t just forget that and throw what we had away right? </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Well, I did. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I avoided calling God. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Sometimes I wanted to pray, but I was so ashamed that it had been so long since I last prayed that I didn’t want to deal with explaining why it had taken me so long to at least check in. It got worse and worse as the weeks went on. It finally got to a point where I only called when I needed something that I could only get from God! Lord knows I tried to find it everywhere else first!!!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Years went by and I stopped calling God altogether; even when God was the only one who could help me. I figured I deserved what I got and it wasn’t fair to God to just string Him along acting like we might have a relationship again when we both knew that was a lie. I just took my punishment as a man and figured I was helping God by not praying. I just planned to stop doing wrong and knew that everything would work out as soon as I did. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Unfortunately, I didn’t.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Have you ever had that one person that you are just so horrible to, but they are so good to you and seem to make your life better, but you feel like you are destroying theirs? </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Yeah. That was me and God. <br></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I had moved on. <br></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I knew He would always take me back. I also knew I wasn’t as good as He deserved so I should let Him move on past me even though He would make everything make sense and could make my life better. I was just going to keep letting Him down in the end, right. That wasn’t fair, right. If you love someone you let them go, especially if you aren’t “in love” with them, right?</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So I let Him go….because I loved Him…smh.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Well, years later I ended up back at His house. My girlfriend Laura drove me there (or maybe I did, I dunno because I was half drunk and half coming down). I didn’t really want to see Him or all of our mutual friends that stuck with Him when we parted. I can’t blame them, but I could only imagine what they thought of me. I mean He is perfect right? No, really…..He IS perfect, right! Yeah. So…I came, but I wasn’t sold on getting back together. We didn’t really talk that day. I thought about it, but decided it wouldn’t be best. He kept coming by. I could feel Him coming near, but I would make sure to avoid contact. I talked to a couple folks I remember might be neutral, or at least act it. They kinda hoped me and God would patch things up. They invited me to come back and even said we could hang out together when we got together so it wouldn’t be so uncomfortable for me. That was cool. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I did come back. Over and over. I finally decided to talk to Him, but just quickly. You know, nothing to deep. I apologized and thanked Him for always being there. I might have mentioned what I had going on. I didn’t ask Him anything about how He had been or what He was doing now. I told Him I would keep coming by and would be open to talking more often.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">After weeks of little updates here, a couple questions there, I finally broke down and let Him know how I was really feeling. I told Him how life just built up and crashed on me. I told Him how I had just failed at everything I did after we parted. I apologized for drifting away in our relationship and acknowledged that it was all my fault. I explained why I couldn’t come back and how the separation just escalated too fast for me to keep up with my guilt and pride. I told Him I just didn’t know how to “get it back”. He just listened. That’s what He does. He listens. I felt better. Kind of reminded me of the good ol’ days. That scared me.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Then He started giving me gifts. A little present here, another blessing there. I would read His letters and His words told me exactly what I had been asking to hear. Over time I saw our closeness returning. It took four years and we still aren’t “back to where it was”, but we are better. I feel comforted. I worry about letting Him down, but not as much as I worry about showing Him how appreciative I am for taking me back at my own pace. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Still, there’s this problem with prayer. It’s not that I don’t pray. I pray quite a bit actually. It’s not that I don’t hear. No, I hear quite a bit. I couple personal study with prayer now which I didn’t do as much of in my younger days. My problem is that I want it that closeness so bad; that feeling like He’s talking right back to me. I mean really hearing Him in the voice of your conscious or thought like it used to be, but I don’t know how to get it back. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I battle guilt from time to time. I let people who are gifted in prayer or deep in a fast and connected to Him pray for me sometimes. I want to be that person. There’s respect in that, but also some jealousy. I want my prayer to be overwhelming. I want it to be so natural, yet I haven’t gotten back to the point where I don’t realize I am praying until I’m halfway through. Oh those days when we could just talk about anything and everything! We would be wrapped up in conversation for hours and it would fly by like seconds! It got me through so many shifts of work and time alone in my car at night as I would try to sleep. There was such a comfort. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">It’s coming back, just not as fast as I would like. Some days I don’t work on it as much as I know I should. I see the drift setting in and try to adjust as quickly as possible to avoid it. I know what it is I would be losing and I know how fast it can happen. I love God, but I’m still working through my problems with prayer. That’s what matters though. That’s what makes all the difference: That I am working on my problems with prayer. Don’t let your relationship with God drift like I did. Hold on to it. Work on your communication. Talk, but allot time to listen. If you start to drift, don’t let go. You won’t find anyone else like Him. Make some emergency time and if you simply sit and read His old letters to you in that dusty Bible, at least you can start moving back towards a strong and close relationship. I will be praying for you. Feel free to pray for me to. Sometimes we need it!</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695862012-01-08T18:00:00-06:002017-10-24T15:46:19-05:00Tim Tebow and God: Does God Care About a Football Game???
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">What’s Really Good Folks? I hope all is well in your lives! Thanks for checking out the site and either watching the video or reading the blog! Today, I want to talk to you about something that has been on my mind lately---Tim Tebow. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I’m not a NFL fan. I pretty much watch the Super Bowl. I like the Patriots. I root for whichever team has a Razorback on it. I’m really more into college football. Primarily the Arkansas Razorbacks! Woo Pig! Congrats to them on the Cotton Bowl win!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">But back to Tebow and the even bigger question folks are asking: Does God really care about a football game?</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We know God controls the Big things, but Does Scripture show that God cares about little things?</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Matthew 6:26-<sup>26</sup> Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Psalm 147:9-He provides food for the cattle <br> and for the young ravens when they call.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Matthew 10:29-Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny?<sup title="">[<a title="See footnote a" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2010:29&version=HCSB#fen-HCSB-23447a" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">a</span></a>]</sup> Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The Lord commands all things to do as He wishes when He wishes. We have evidence of this in Jonah Chapter 1 verse 17 and again in Chapter 2 verse 10 and in Psalm 29 verses 3 through 10. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Now I know the illustrations I’ve given deal primarily with birds and food, but I think that is exactly why the Bible uses them. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">How important are random birds in the world to most people? How many do you think exist? There are thought to be at least 10,000 species of bird in the world.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We know there are 7 billion people on the plant, couple that with all other animals, insect, bacteria et cetera. I 100% believe God is in control of it all. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">With that being said, God makes things happen in order to draw attention to Himself and bring glory to His name!!!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Ephesians 1:11-12-<sup>11</sup> In him we were also chosen,<sup>[<a title="See footnote a" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%201:11-12&version=NIV#fen-NIV-29218a" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">a</span></a>]</sup> having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, <sup>12</sup> in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Colossians 1:16-<sup>16</sup> For everything was created by Him, <br> in heaven and on earth, <br> the visible and the invisible, <br> whether thrones or dominions <br> or rulers or authorities— <br> all things have been created through Him and for Him.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Jeremiah 32:17-<sup>17</sup> Oh, Lord GOD! You Yourself made the heavens and earth by Your great power and with Your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Just as God has created all life, He also determines what happens within its history. We see evidence of this in Acts 17:26-<sup>26</sup> From one man<sup title="">[<a title="See footnote a" href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2017:26&version=HCSB#fen-HCSB-27549a" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">a</span></a>]</sup> He has made every nationality to live over the whole earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">And just as God gives certain people the ability to see the purpose of talents given to them like we read early on in Ephesians 3, He uses those who let Him have control in order to reach out to the masses to spread an almost undeniable truth---That God does exist!!!!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So…..Why Tebow? Why would God care about a football game? Let’s look at how many people view the NFL weekly:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> network viewer averages for NFL games</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Fox</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">25.9 million</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">CBS</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">25.0 million</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">NBC</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">21.4 million</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">ESPN</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">14.7 million</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">NFL Network</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">5.7 million</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">The Super Bowl is expected to beat last year’s numbers as well. Last year 106.5 million people tuned in to one game.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">So…let’s just say that one NFL televised game is quite a bit bigger than what some unseen bird in the amazon is going to eat in terms of being able to do work for the kingdom i.e. bring God’s name glory. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Let’s also talk about other avenues that are affected. Can you honestly think of any media or social avenue that has not had some mention of Tebow or God recently? I mean there might be the HGTV or something, but this Tebow mania spread through the radio, across facebook and twitter, onto the news, and around pretty much every water cooler in the United States. If you didn’t know who Tebow was, you probably know at least three things about him:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">1. He plays a sport</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">2. He’s not really that good at it but he keeps winning</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">3. He says its because of God</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I mean think about it….right now you are watching a random video to explain whether God can honestly care about a football game because of these things. Has Tebow done what we are commanded to do by giving God ALL the glory in what we do? Definitely! And now you are on a journey admit it or not. There’s a lot more to know and a lot more available, but if there’s one thing I want you to know it is that God can change anything. He can make it better. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">No matter what is going on in your life, God’s hands can fix it. He has all of the control in the world and beyond. If you are battling addiction and your about as good as Tebow under center….put it in His hands and take the game out of yours. You can win.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">If your marriage is on the rocks and you can’t seem to call the right play…give the clipboard to God and see what drive He can work up for you.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">If you are tired of losing and just don’t see any hope in going on…let go and let God control the GM decisions my friend.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We are imperfect. We fail. We have limited vision. We have limited strength. We have flaws in our ethics, morals, and values. We can succumb to addictions and wants. We can be hurt. We can lose hope. We can give up. God…..God’s nature is not capable of letting Him do any of those things. God is perfection and love and in His perfection and love He wants the best for us. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">You might take what you think is a loss after working so hard so that God can give you something better (like a draft pick). </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">You might go through a period of turmoil so that He can get you focused and back in the word in order to find what you need to succeed in the future like a play in the playbook you’ve overlooked. </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Will Tebow win the Super Bowl? I don’t know. Maybe there is more to be learned through how he reacts to a loss when everyone else loses faith in His God than those who would come to God through a triumphant win. We just don’t know. We can’t know. And just like we don’t know whether he will win the Super Bowl, we never know what God will do in our day to day lives when He is not involved, but I promise you there is a hope that life without Him can’t match. It’s worth asking a few questions about. It’s worth seeking.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Just remember Matthew 7:7: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God Bless!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"> </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Streezy</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695852012-01-06T18:00:00-06:002017-10-24T15:45:40-05:00Are You Ready for WOOWR (WAR)???
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">What's Happening Folks????</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">It's been awhile! Sorry I had to disappear for a second, but BIG things were brewing!!!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">As of January 1sty, 2012 WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE RECORDS also known as WOOWR (pronounced WAR) is officially in business!!! WOOWR is a *NEW* Christian Record Label stationed in Little Rock, Arkansas! This is my new home and the company that will be releasing all of my music! We signed our very first artist DA LIGHT!!! He is amazing! Really! You will get to see more of him at our new website www.WEAPONSOFOURWARFARERECORDS.com. The website should be up and running very soon. In the meantime, you can get a first listen to DA LIGHT on the track GAME OVER! It's in the audio player at the bottom of the screen.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We also have new WOOWR t shirts available for $20.00 bucks M up to XL and $2 more a shirt for larger sizes up to 4XL!!! Expect that to hit the Streezy Store soon as well! </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">We will begin work on a LIVE talk show and a reality show within the next month/month and a half. Please keep us in your prayers. While we are talking about prayers, please pray for a new ministry we are starting at WOOWR. It is a weekly bible study. I pray the Lord puts His hands on us and runs it through us. May He get ALL glory!!!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I'm also feeling like doing a contest of some sort soon. Sign up for the NEWSLETTER on the home page and get entered for a chance to win. ALL members of the newsletter-NEW OR OLD- will have an opportunity to take a prize home! </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God Bless you and thank you for your support! Praise be to God and may the Kingdom advance in His name alone!!!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Streezy</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695932011-05-15T19:00:00-05:002017-10-24T15:45:00-05:00What do You Want to Hear???
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Hey folks! </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I know it has been awhile since my last update. I feel as though I have been in the midst of a test. I am proud to say this is one of the first times in my adult life that I can honestly say God's Word alone has completely carried me. I have felt an amazing and unexplainable comfort and security. It was really awesome to not feel the need to look to sin in any way whatsoever to relieve my pains. I know the devil would love me to resort to drugs or alcohol by way of self medication. He wants me to look to the world's way of healing found in sexual immorality and anger, but He left them no room or power!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Due to the incidents, I will have a bit of free time away from human interaction and prior responsibilities. I plan on using it to put a lot of research and thought into completing songs for my upcoming mixtape L.A.Y.E.R.S. of G.R.A.C.E. I want to take amoment though and ask if any of you have had to deal with something you might like approached through God's Word in music. As you may know, the cd will be FREE with the purchase of the devotional dvd where I will explore God's Word and present the biblical application applied to the songs. This means that your song (if chosen) would also have an accompanying video devotion to delve into the subject more deeply.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I hope you are getting as excited about this project as I am! I plan on wrapping it up in the very near future and continuing production on the dvd as well as a separate devotional study guide! Look for more updates in the very near future. As always---Thanks for your prayers and support! </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">His servant,</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Mike Streezy</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Also: Power of Praise is JUNE 25th!!! I can't wait to spend a night of praise and worship with you for such a worthy cause! Jesus is STILL alive and well and WORKING in our community! </span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695922011-04-26T19:00:00-05:002017-10-24T15:43:38-05:00Brian Head Welch Show, The Letter Black, LAYERS, and Standing Up for Your Faith!
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Hey folks!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I know it's been a little while between posts, but today I put up a NEW blog! It is rather lengthy, but I felt the need to speak on it. I want to stop by really quick to drop some updates.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">This last week I went to the Brian "Head" Welch show. It was awesome as expected. I met some really cool people from the bands there. My personal fave was The letter Black. They were awesome AND they donated two signed discs to be used for Power of Praise! I would recommend checking their website out. It is <a href="http://www.theletterblack.com" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">www.theletterblack.com</span></a>. They are awesome and totally amazing people!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I also received signed merch from Head, Decyfer Down, and The Wedding. I'm still trying to contact Kris Allen and if it is in God's will, I will try and get something from him autographed for the benefit! Please keep the show in your prayers.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I am still writing on LAYERS though I must admit that it has not been very much lately. I'm kind of like that though. i get a spark and take off and then I sit for awhile. I love the direction of the album and have really big plans for it. Be on the lookout.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">God has protected my family and I through several deadly storms over the last couple of weeks. I am very thankful. My life is in His hands. Thank you to all of you who checked in on me and prayed for us! </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I'll be speaking with you soon, but I want to leave you with an interesting story.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Chuck Swindoll, in his book, "Living Above the Level of Mediocrity," tells about a church in the Soviet Union a few years ago that was forced to meet secretly because the holding of house church services was illegal. <br><br>They tried to be as inconspicuous as possible as they gathered on Sunday to worship the Lord, so they came at different times & casually walked into the house until they had all arrived. Then they would close the doors, pull the curtains, & quietly worship the Lord.<br><br>But one Lord’s Day, right in the midst of their worship service, two soldiers broke into the room, & at gunpoint lined the Christians up against the wall. One shouted, "If you wish to renounce your faith in Jesus Christ, leave now!" <br><br>Two or three quickly left, then another, & then two more. Again the soldier spoke, "This is your last chance. Either leave now & renounce your faith in Christ, or stay & suffer the consequences." Another left, & then another, almost hiding their faces in shame as they went out. <br><br>But the rest stood their ground, children standing beside their parents, trembling, some even crying as their parents stood with their hands in the air, fully expecting to be gunned down or imprisoned.<br><br>After all had left who chose to flee, the other soldier closed the doors, looked back at those who stood against the wall & said, "Keep your hands up - but this time in praise to our Lord Jesus Christ. We, too, are Christians." <br><br>The two soldiers explained that some time earlier they had been sent to another house church to arrest the Christians there. But in the process, they had heard the gospel & had accepted Jesus as their Lord & Savior, too. But they explained, "We have learned that unless people are willing to die for their faith, they cannot be fully trusted." (from <a href="http://www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations/sermon-illustration-melvin-newland-stories-1466.asp" data-imported="1"><span style="color:#ffffff">http://www.sermoncentral.com/illustrations/sermon-illustration-melvin-newland-stories-1466.asp</span></a>).</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">I hope you all have a great week and stay blessed and prayed up! </span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Streezy</span></p>
Mike Streezytag:mikestreezy.com,2005:Post/61695912011-04-20T19:00:00-05:002017-10-24T15:43:12-05:00PRAYER FOR POWER OF PRAISE!!!
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">As always we ask that you continue to pray for this event. I have a personal prayer that I have been praying and ask that any compelled pray it as well!</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff"><strong>Prayer:</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Lord, prepare the hearts of those that will attend. I pray you will open them to hear your Word and be accepting of its’ message and call, both to salvation and God’s amazing grace as well as His command to carry His love into the world around us.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Lord, prepare us with the Word to nourish all of those who will attend in the area that you will prepare them to hunger.</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ffffff">Lord, I pray that you will receive ALL praise and ALL commitment from those in attendance and those working!</span></p>
Mike Streezy