WANT TO ESCAPE?

"As Peter wrote in his second letter, Christians have "escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 2:20). At the end of this book, he wrote, "Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (3:18). It is through grace and knowledge that Christians grow and escape the pollutions of the world. "

...NOT A LIST OF DO'S AND DO NOTS FROM SOME SINCERE BUT MISINFORMED ELDERS, DEACONS AND SAINTS...

...until John...

“ The Law and the Prophets were until John”

Why until John?

What happened when John came? The message changed from that of following the law in order to attain righteousness. What did John teach? “repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand”- Repent!! ( to change the way you think and do things)Once John came he preached the message of “the Kingdom of God is at hand”, Jesus demonstrated that kingdom and then purchased us into that Kingdom. We cannot go digging for water in an old pool in order to quench the thirst of the people and see them change into the image of Jesus, the law and the prophets cannot bring life. We must give them fresh water, the correct message, that of the Kingdom and grace of our God, will activate heaven to break into this realm. “ signs, wonders and miracles will confirm the preaching of the WORD” Jesus is the Word.

We must preach Christ in order to activate the Spirit to come and confirm the true message and to bring change and transformation into peoples lives. When the church lives in this place then the kingdom will effortlessly break in through her."

Brad Dearlove, Well Of Life Church, Dubai

CAST OUT THE BOND WOMAN!

"Paul has demonstrated that the gospel does not need the 'support' of extra philosophies (Ephesians and Colossians), nor the 'support' of entire or partial adherence to the Old Covenant (Romans and Galatians); believers in Christ were not to attempt to put 'New wine into old wineskins' (Luke 5: 36-39).

As far as this legalistic - or judaizing - tendency goes, we can clearly see from the Bible that the Old Covenant is now a thing of the past - it is obsolete! (Hebrews 8: 13). Paul likens it to Hagar while he likens the New Covenant to Sarah - and what is his suggestion?

Lets read it,"...Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman...we are not the children of the bondwoman, but of the free. STAND FAST THEREFORE IN THE LIBERTY WHEREWITH CHRIST HAS MADE US FREE, AND BE NOT ENTANGLED AGAIN WITH A YOKE OF BONDAGE." (Galatians 4: 30- 5:1 - my emphasis).

There is now no condemnation for those (born again) in Christ Jesus - Romans 8: 1-2, for the penalty of our sins has been paid in full and we are now no longer under the law but under grace.

As Paul is at pains to explain in Romans, a new way (in a sense) of achieving the righteousness of God, free of legalism, is revealed in Christ, giving the Jew - with their knowledge of the law - no advantage. It is received through faith (but faith never becomes another 'work' - it is freely given by God to His people!) See Romans 10: 4-13"

By UK Apologetics

as Jesus is, so am i in this world

BECAUSE JESUS IS, I AM! “As Jesus is, so are we in this world” (I John 4:17).
Remember the purpose of the gospel is to transform our thinking, as Romans 12:1-2 says. It is designed to change our thinking from earthly thinking to eternal thinking. And keep in mind that ‘eternity’ is much more than just future. It is the eternal past and future, which includes the earthly here and now. Ephesians 1:4 says God chose us before the foundation of the world. That is past tense. Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.

The gospel of the finished work of Christ shows us is who we are in Jesus. Thus, the scripture we are looking at today tells us that as Jesus is, WE are. This is a big spiritual paradigm for most Christians to embrace. This is because our minds are consumed with who we are in the natural, not in the spiritual. But the truth is that if we will see ourselves in the spiritual, as God sees us, then we will become more spiritual, and less natural. “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”

The gospel is two things: (1) all God has done for us in the finished work of the cross of Christ, and (2) who we are in Jesus because of that finished work. With this in mind, let the seed of today’s scripture be planted deep down inside you, and see it for what it says:

AS Jesus is, so am I in this world!
As JESUS is, so am I in this world!
As Jesus IS, so am I in this world!
As Jesus is, SO am I in this world!
As Jesus is, so AM I in this world!
As Jesus is, so am I in this world!
As Jesus is, so am I IN this world!
As Jesus is, so am I in THIS world!
As Jesus is, so am I in this WORLD!

When you think about it in the natural, this verse defies human logic. This is true of ALL the gospel. The gospel is ‘the wisdom of God,’ and it is very different from human or worldly wisdom we hear so much of. Thus the gospel is meant to transform our thinking from natural to spiritual ways of seeing. This is seeing with ’gospel eyes.’ As Paul says in II Corinthians 4:4, Satan will do anything to keep us from seeing with gospel eyes.

We are called believers. As such, our job is to believe what God says. Again, Jesus’ very first sermon was, “Repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). When we have faith in the gospel, Hebrews 4:2 says it is of untold PROFIT to us. Jesus says our ‘work’ is to believe what God SAYS, not what we THINK (John 6:29).

By Roger Himes

This is Galatianism...

"It is said that justification is initially received by faith but is then sustained by human efforts to keep the law. This is Galatianism — it begins in the Spirit and then seeks to be made perfect by the flesh (Gal. 3:1-3). But the apostle Paul declares that the Christian life is maintained by the same grace and in the same way as it was initiated (Col. 2:6). It begins in faith and ends in faith, and all along the way the just live by faith (Rom. 1:17). God would have His people commit their souls to Him as unto a faithful Creator (1 Peter 4:19). He is able to keep them from falling (Jude 24). "Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand." Rom. 14:4. The Lord declares, " . . . they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." John 10:28. They "are kept by the power of God through faith" (1 Peter 1:5). "

Present Truth Magazine

Legalism springs from ignorance...

"Legalism has its roots in sinful ignorance — ignorance of the exalted holiness of God's law on the one hand, and ignorance of the defiled and radical corruption of human nature on the other hand. Only the obedience of Him who was filled with all the fullness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9) could satisfy the demands of God's holy law. The life of Jesus was the embodiment of divine perfection, infinite purity and inexhaustible love. All this was required, and nothing less than this, to fulfill all righteousness. In the person of His Son, the eternal God endured infinite suffering and humiliation to pay the human debt to divine justice. This was the price paid for our salvation. Nothing satisfies the law but the doing and dying of Christ. In the light of this inestimable price, the best we could ever offer the law would be "rotten stubble and straw" (Luther).

I did not know the stain of sin was so deep Until I saw Him shed His blood.I did not know my pride was so highUntil I saw His infinite humiliation. I had no idea how deep my pit of sinUntil I beheld the length of the chain let down to save me.

God will have all the glory of our salvation or none at all. Partners with God we may be in other areas, but not in this. Human nature would rather work its fingers to the bone than humbly accept the truth that grace means to be accepted in spite of being unacceptable. We have no claim on God's love. We can never put Him in debt to us. "

Present Truth Mag

Meditate on the cross, renew the mind...

"When I come to the cross, I find what could be found nowhere else - righteous judgment against sin, but perfect love to the sinner at the same time. The more we look into it, the more we see the value of the cross, the more precious will Christ be to us"

J N Darby

RENEWAL TIME !!!

Romans 12:2 tells us to renew our minds…why?…..because for so many years we have programmed our brains daily to think wrong thoughts about ourselves, living daily with thoughts of condemnation, eminent judgement by God, guilt and fear…being lied to by the Devil, the world and some WELL MEANING Elders, Deacons and Saints, all of this especially if we have lived listening to a confusing mixed message of law and grace!

The result? We don’t believe we are who God says we are and our lives often reflect it….So God tells us “…do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds…”

How do we renew our minds? By seeing ourselves daily as God sees us, not as we see ourselves…by looking at ourselves daily “through” the gospel of God’s grace…by MEDITATING daily on the Fathers love and desire for us…by BELIEVING daily the Father wants to do NOTHING but bless us…by confessing daily we ARE sons (and daughters) under the grace of the Most High God, with awesome futures full of hope and prosperity…by believing daily our sins ARE washed away once and for all, releasing us from Old Covenant sin consciousness to New Covenant Christ consciousness… that we are NOT sinners saved by grace but Saints wallowing in grace…by BELIEVING daily we ARE the righteousness of God in Christ, not because of anything we have or will do but only because of what HE did on the cross…why?


Cause…”God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that IN HIM we might become the righteousness of God” 2 Cor 5:21…


Gee, I feel a renewal coming on already!!! PRAISE GOD

...flow mingled down..

"Therefore these two things (as I do often repeat), to wit the law and the promise, must bediligently distinguished. For in time, in place, and in person, and generally in all other circumstances, they are separate as far asunder as heaven and earth... so that the law may have dominion over the flesh, and the promise may sweetly (and comfortably) reign in the conscience... But now, if thou confound and mingle these two together and place the law in the conscience, and the promise of liberty in the flesh thou makest a confusion... so that thou shalt not know what the law, what the promise, what sin, or what righteousness is."

Martin Luther


The english is old but the revelation FRESH!!

Enjoy your gift!

"Since grace is so important, How does one receive grace? First, grace is "unmerited favor" because it offers salvation that we do not deserve instead of the eternal damnation we do deserve. No one receives grace by their own merit or righteousness. This unmerited aspect of grace means it is a free gift.

The fact that grace is a free gift is emphasized in several New Testament Scriptures:

• We are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24)
• "The free gift . . . the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ" (5:15; cf. 20, 21);
• "the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:4);
• "the grace of God in you. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift" (2 Corinthians 9:14, 15);
• "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Ephesians 1:6, 7);
• "by grace are ye saved . . . it is the gift of God" (2:8);
• "Now our Lord Jesus Christ . . . hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting c! onso lation and good hope through grace" (2 Thessalonians 2:16);
• "Who have saved us . . . according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 1:9);
• "[God] giveth more grace . . . giveth grace unto the humble" (James 4:6).

These Scriptures and others make it clear that grace and redemption are gifts. "

So enjoy the gift brothers and sisters, dont work for it...cause if you work for it, it aint a gift no more, grace stops being grace and you're left with nothing but the law!!

...and neither can it sanctify...

"Legalism is an attitude which equates righteousness with external compliance with a code of conduct. This code may be correct or incorrect. Our conduct may or may not measure up to the standard. The reasons why it is so devastating are:

• it ignores or underestimates the role of inner attitude and motivation;
• it focuses upon self-effort rather than on divine enablement;
• t encourages pride rather than humble dependence upon God;
• it tends to ‘use’ the Scriptures to reinforce our own preconceived ideas and preferences;
• it tends to conceive of our acceptance with God as performance oriented;
• it arouses the flesh and incites us to sin, rather than the avoidance of sin;
• it tends to impose one’s personal convictions on others, and to condemn them if they fail to live up to our rules.

Legalism cannot save you my friend, and neither can it sanctify. Praise God! "

by Bob Deffinbaugh

Struggling to obtain holiness?

"Believers today are not under law, either as a means of justification or as a rule of life, but are justified by grace and are called upon to walk in grace... Primarily here [Rom. 7:14-25] we have a believing Jew struggling to obtain holiness by using the law as a rule of life and resolutely attempting to compel his old nature to be subject to it. In Christendom now the average (Gentile) believer goes through the same experience; for legality is commonly taught almost everywhere.

Therefore, when one is converted it is but natural to reason that now one has been born of God it is only a matter of determination and persistent endeavor to subject oneself to the law, and one will achieve a life of holiness. And God Himself permits the test to be made in order that His people may learn experimentally that the flesh in a believer is no better than the flesh in an unbeliever. When he ceases from self-effort he finds deliverance through the Spirit by occupation with the risen Christ."

H.A. Ironside

be aware (mindfull)...of HIM

“The level of your conscious awareness of the presence of God will affect the level of your confidence to do things you thought you could not do”

Rob Rufus

when our minds gets renewed (throught the Gospel) our levels of awareness of His presence IS greatly increased...renewed to believing we CAN do what He says we can and we ARE who He says we are...Praise God

2009

"In 2009 I believe the church is going to be brought into a greater understanding of what it means to LIVE from its position and identity in Christ. I believe this will happen as the grace truths of position and identity unfold and are built into our hearts by the Spirit of God. They include:

1. Who we are in Christ; a new creation birthed into a new order of existence, sealed by the Holy Spirit, perfect in God’s sight (Hebrews 10:14), righteous because God has placed us in Christ, not because of anything we do.

2.Where we are in Christ; by grace we are in Another, the risen and ascended Lord, hidden in God’s unconditional love and acceptance, seated with Him (resting from our works) in heavenly places. Our part is not production, but reception of our life in Christ.

3. What we are in Christ, “no more a servant but a son and if a son, than an heir of God through Christ”, walking in the assurance of uninterrupted favor."

by Jim Hoag