Daily Bread - May 8, 2017

Written by Pastor Mark Spitsbergen

Monday, 08 May 2017 10:53

John 15:7 - If you dwell in me, and my words dwell in you, then you may ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. Dwelling in Christ Jesus The Greek word 'menein' is the same word that is translated 'remain, abide, dwell, or stay'. We are to let Christ dwell in our hearts by faith, and we are to dwell in Him by faith (Ephesians 3:17). Dwelling in Christ is an ongoing commitment to the fact that He is our Redeemer Who paid the price for our salvation. We, therefore, refuse to doubt His love and commitment to us; and we refuse to doubt our love and commitment to Him. Dwelling in Christ is, in fact, a relationship word. It is a relationship of the highest order, because dwelling in Christ speaks of our identity in Him. Being in Christ means "that as He is in this world, so are we", and "for me, to live is Christ" (1 John 4:17; Philippians 1:21). In the Gospel of John, we observe how that it was through the relationship that Jesus had with His Father that he did the mighty miracles displayed in His earthly ministry (John 11:41, 6:11, 5:19-23). Through our relationship with Jesus, we are able to "ask what we desire, and it shall be done." The junction where the works of Christ, the Word of God, and the power of faith which produces the miraculous life of Christ is the point where we submit to the truth of "I no longer live". To live in Christ Jesus, we commit to live by Him. In this commitment, we turn our lives over to Him in a dedication to doing the things that He does, and in a recognition that without Him we can do nothing. Now, this has nothing to do with washing dishes or working on your car; rather, this is about fulfilling the Great Commission. If we are going to do the works that He did, and greater works, then we are going to have to live the same life of obedience that He lived. The act of dwelling in Christ Jesus is a consecration of our will to do His will. Dwelling in Christ Jesus is a commitment to obey Him in all things. It is a surrender to believe that He has given us His life -with all of the benefits and authority thereof. It is the continuous commitment to follow Him, and to be as He is in this world (1 Peter 2:21; 1 John 4:17). The only way that we can follow Jesus is to know -and then do- what His Word tells us to do. Following Jesus is a refusal to live for ourselves, and instead to live as living epistles (Matthew 16:24; Luke 9:23; John 5:30, 15:5; 2 Corinthians 3:3). Dwelling in Christ is a daily consecration to live the life of Christ that was freely given to us (2 Corinthians 5:14-15; Galatians 2:20). We dwell in Christ because His Word dwells in us; we have believed and accepted everything that He has said we are! We allow the Word of Christ Jesus to dwell in us because we hear it, read it, think on it, and do it (Colossians 3:16; Luke 6:47-48; Luke 11:28; James 1:22-24; Matthew 12:50; John 14:23-24; John 15:10). If we say we know Him and dwell in Him, but do not keep His sayings, then we are living a false life. Yet, if we simply obey Him and do His Word, then we will find ourselves in a love relationship that results in receiving all that Father has bestowed upon those who will walk with Him! If we dwell in Christ Jesus, and His Word dwells in us, then we will receive whatever we ask (John 15:16; 1 John 3:22). Jesus reveals how easy it is to receive the answer to your request: He simply tells us to ask. Jesus tells us seven times in John chapters 14 through 16 to "ask". The kind of prayer that we are to pray is an asking prayer -a prayer that expects God to do the impossible! Elijah prayed asking God to stop the rain, and it did not rain for three and a half years; then when he asked God to cause it to rain, it was so (James 5:17-18). James said, "You have not, because you ask not." Jesus said, "Everyone who asks shall receive," and, "All things, whatsoever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive" (Luke 11:9-10; Matthew 21:22). How simple can it be? Jesus reduces the impossible to nothing more than a basic request if we will walk in obedience to Him by allowing His Word to determine all that we think, speak, and do.

 

Daily Bread - May 6, 2017

Written by Pastor Mark Spitsbergen

Saturday, 06 May 2017 10:06

1 John 3:6 - Everyone who abides in Him does not sin; everyone that sins has not seen Him nor known Him. God's War Against Sin - Part 2 It does not matter where we turn in the Scripture, God's judgment against sin and disobedience is the focus. His plan to rid the world of sin and its iniquity, and to create a new heaven and a new earth in which only righteousness exists, is revealed in every generation of man. Whether we look at the Gospels or the Epistles, the doctrine of God and his judgment against sin and disobedience is found. Peter had a radical testimony regarding the doctrine of holiness and a life purified from all sin. He demanded that everyone who had received the divine nature give all diligence to making their calling and election sure. He demanded that diligent attention be given to faith, virtue, knowledge, self control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and divine love (2 Peter 1:4-11). In His doctrine of holiness, he placed the same demand that God had placed upon the children of Israel in the first covenant, saying, "Be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:15-16, 3:10-15). Peter made it a requirement that God's people be obedient to the Word of God if salvation were to be a reality in their lives (2 Peter 1:19-21). Yet, the testimony of John was even that much more intense. For John, sin was removed by the redemption that is Christ Jesus, and could not exist in those who were born of Him (1 John 1:6, 9, 2:1, 4, 6, 10, 13-14, 15-17, 29, 3:3, 5-10, 24, 4:4, 5:18). God, Who worked for us the miracle of salvation, demands that we now become obedient children who walk in the Spirit and live by His Word. Are you willing to risk your eternity in order to continue in sin while still expecting to be acceptable to God? A man may say, "Well, I believe in the love and mercy of God." Well, that is good. However, as soon as someone teaches or believes that they can continue in sin, then die in the practice of sin and still be called righteous, holy, and acceptable by God, that is heresy. There is nothing in the Bible which suggests that will be the case. Instead, God reveals exactly the opposite: God commands all men everywhere to turn from their sin and live in righteousness and godliness (Acts 17:30-31; Titus 2:11-15). He brought to pass the miracle of salvation through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, and now demands righteousness and true holiness in our lives (Titus 3:3-7; Ephesians 4:20-24; Luke 1:74-75; Matthew 5:48; 1Peter 1:15-16; Romans 12:1-2).

 

Daily Bread - May 5, 2017

Written by Pastor Mark Spitsbergen

Friday, 05 May 2017 08:13

1 John 3:6 - Everyone who abides in Him does not sin; everyone that sins has not seen Him nor known Him. God's War Against Sin - Part 1 The one thing that God's people should be more interested in than anything else is the ability to live free from sin. After all, it is sin that started the whole problem in the first place. It is sin that brought about death and destruction (Romans 5:12-19). Jesus Christ, the eternal God, came into the world to destroy sin -and He did not fail. He suffered on the cross so that we would be cut off from sin and be empowered to live unto righteousness. Sin is the spirit of disobedience. It is the foremost enemy of God and man. If we will harken unto the voice of God, then we will count sin as the enemy of our souls, and realize that God has given us everything that we need to defeat spiritual wickedness and every fleshly lust that wars against our souls. There is nothing that offends and grieves the heart of our Heavenly Father more than sin. Sin carries with it the absolute penalty of death -as much now as ever before. Therefore, we must learn to effectively deal with sin at every point that we encounter it. There are those who talk of sin's great power, and tell us that we must sin everyday. The power of sin is blown up to be greater than the power of the cross, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. Spiritual wickedness is by inference given greater authority than the strength of the Lord and the power of His might (Ephesians 6:10-11; 1 Corinthians 10:13). Theologians and preachers alike will tell us that there is still something about our nature that needs to be fixed before we can consistently say no to sin and the demonic influences that inspire it. When they attempt to explain just what needs to be fixed and how it will be fixed, they are found tripping over scriptures and contradicting what Christ Jesus said He finished at Calvary. The subject of sin is the foremost subject of Scripture. The Bible focuses from cover cover on how hideous sin is to God, and what He will do to destroy it and redeem men from its power. Sin is so evil to God that He made a Hell to contain it. If we agree with God, then we should feel the same way about it, too. When we begin in Genesis in the first few chapters, we discover that the wages of sin is death. God made it clear to Adam that disobedience to His will would only result in death. Then, when Adam disobeyed, the earth and all mankind suffered the consequences. Death entered into the world by sin, and the dominion and reign of it came upon all men (Genesis 3:6-23; Ephesians 2:2; Romans 5:12-19). As soon as man disobeyed and opened the door to death through sin, God made an immediate plan for the overthrow of sin. He made plans for the redemption of men by bringing forth Christ Jesus, the seed of a woman, Who would crush the head of serpent (Genesis 3:15; Matthew 1:18; Galatians 4:4; Revelation 12:9). Then, when we come to the last prophet and book of the Old Testament, Malachi, we still hear of God's testimony against sin and His pronouncement of judgment against it: "'For behold the day comes that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yes, and all who do wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that comes shall burn them up,' says the Lord of hosts, 'So that it shall leave them neither root nor branch'" (Malachi 4:1). God's war on sin will not come to an end until the last enemy, Death, is destroyed (1 Corinthians 15:25-26). God's war against sin and His commitment to its destruction is personified in Christ Jesus. The introduction to the the New Covenant begins by announcing the birth of the Redeemer, the seed of the woman, "that will save His people from their sin" (Matthew 1:21; 1 John 3:8; Hebrews 2:14; 2 Timothy 1:10). Zachariah, the father of the prophet John, upon hearing of the ministry of his son and the coming of the Messiah, said: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed His people," and "that He would grant unto us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear: in holiness and and righteousness" (Luke 1:68, 74-75). Then at the end of the Bible in Revelation 22, the final judgment on sin is pronounced: "He that is unrighteous let him be unrighteous still, and he that is filthy let him be filthy still, and he that is righteous let him be righteous still, and he that is holy let him be holy still" (Revelation 22:11). All those who died in their sins were cast out of God's presence and into the lake of fire, which is the second death (Revelation 21:8).

 

Daily Bread - May 4, 2017

Written by Pastor Mark Spitsbergen

Thursday, 04 May 2017 09:31

1 John 3:5 - And we know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin. The incarnate, divine Word was revealed to take away sin by His birth, public ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection. Adam's failure to obey God resulted in man's downfall and destruction; but through the obedience of Jesus Christ, all men can be set free. Through Adam everyone died, but through Jesus all who will believe are made alive. Because of Adam's disobedience, all mankind became disobedient; but through the obedience of Christ Jesus, all who believe are made obedient. Through Adam's sin, all men became sinners; but through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, all who will believe are made righteous (Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:22). The only place that men can find freedom from the dominion of sin, and power to live in the purity and splendor of God's Holiness, is in Christ Jesus. Being "in Christ" is an expression of the relationship that we have been given through His salvation. Instead of continuing to live our own life of defeat and failure, we now live a victorious life in Him. John also refers to this place of purity and glory as being "in the Light as He is in the Light" (1 John 1:7). It is His presence that results in purity and the power to live holy. Purity and holiness belong to all who are willing to abide in Christ, which is emphasized in the next verse: "Everyone who abides in Him has no sin, everyone that sins has not seen Him nor known Him" (1 John 3:6). The first thing to understand is God's commitment to forgive us, to train us, and to establish us. There is an abundant mercy with God that was expressed in amazing ways as He dealt with a rebellious people in the Old Testament. How much more now in this time of great grace? God has given us the blood of Jesus to cleanse us, and the Holy Spirit to empower and teach us. He has given us by His own power everything that we need to walk in His glory and purity (2 Peter 1:3). God is devoted to establishing us in all of His love for righteousness and hatred of evil. All we have to do is be committed to learning. If we will remain in agreement and submission to Christ Jesus -consecrated to His ways and to the Holy Spirit- there will be no sin. Why? Because Christ Jesus will never lead us into the realms of the demonic. He has brought heaven into our lives and given us a life far superior to the one that is ruled by the lust of this world (1 John 2:15-17). The same is true of being lead by the Holy Spirit. We know that all who are lead by the Spirit are the sons of God (Romans 8:14). If a person is always in submission to the Holy Spirit, then they will never be lead to do anything contrary to the will of God. A similar concept is found in 1 John 3:9, which includes agreement and submission to the Word of God resulting in a realm of absolute purity. Being "in Christ" is a message that is delivered many times by the Apostle Paul: "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:17). The fact that the benefits of salvation are only received through our willingness to be "in Christ" is communicated in many verses of scripture throughout the New Testament: Romans 8:1, 2, 39, 12:5, 3:24; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 30, 15:18, 22; 2 Corinthians 1:21, 2:14, 17; Galatians 3:28, 6:15; Ephesians 1:3, 10, 2:6, 10; Colossians 1:28. If we will walk in the light as He is in the light, we have the blood of Jesus that is our cleansing. We have a fellowship and a communion with Him that is entirely found in the blood of Jesus and the bread of Heaven, which is His body. We have been given the best of things to live by through the sacrifice of our Savior. If we sin, He is our Intercessor, our Advocate, Who is faithful and just to cleanse us. He works with us until the only legitimate response to His love is established in our lives -perfect obedience!

 

Daily Bread - May 3, 2017

Written by Pastor Mark Spitsbergen

Wednesday, 03 May 2017 08:13

1 Corinthians 12:13 - For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. Baptized into the Body of Christ - Part 3 The baptism of the Holy Spirit that took place when Pentecost had fully come was an event that should set the pace for every meeting. If Pentecost does not describe what the church is supposed to look like, and what we are supposed to expect in the assembly, then what does? The baptism in the Holy Spirit is not something that is supposed to take place once in our lives and then be set aside for special occasions -it should instead occur again and again! Being filled with the Spirit is the same as being baptized by the Spirit in the New Testament. This point is verified in the first two chapters of Acts. Jesus told the hundred and twenty that would end up being there on the Day of Pentecost that they would be baptized in the Spirit; and when that day came, the Scripture says they were all filled with the Spirit (Acts 1:5, 2:4). It is a reproach that Christ Jesus is allowed to be misrepresented by sinful and sorrowful men. In so doing, we present to the world that the life of the flesh is the life of the Spirit, and that the fallen nature of men is the example of being born again. With our sad and sorrowful faces and our songs that are far less than spiritual and supernatural, we deny the power of God. We walk all over the anointing and give no place to the Holy Spirit, and wonder why the sick are not healed and the captives not set free. How long will we pretend? How long we will make excuses for our lack of power and the expression of Jesus' ministry -Who healed all who were sick and diseased and set those tormented of devils free (Matthew 4:23-24; Acts 10:38)? This kind of laborers, ones that do exactly what Jesus did, are the kind that God is looking for; and it is only by being yielded to the Holy Spirit that this can happen (Matthew 9:34-36; Romans 15:19; Luke 4:18; Acts 26:18). Instead, however, we bow to the peer pressures of men and make the things of Heaven, earthly; and we make the workings of the Spirit less excellent than the workings of disciplined men. God filled us with the wellspring of the Spirit so that we could worship in Spirit and truth (John 4:23-24, 7:37-39); but instead, we would rather sing the popular songs of our religion. We have been given the rivers of the Spirit so that we might pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18; Romans 8:26-27), but we would rather pray a prayer of the mind and human understanding. We have been given the life of Jesus Christ (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:27), but we are too in love with our own.