Welcome to the fifth part in our series on how Jesus has conquered your sin. It’s been quite a journey over the past month, as we’ve seen a number of different aspects on the victory over sin which Jesus has given to us.
Today we are going to look at the the outward demonstration of salvation, the things that people can see. People often become overly focused on that external, which can become a trap, but as we apply the principles of the previous parts of this series, along with what we will see today, it will bring clarity.
Spend some time in a traditional church building or setting, and you will inevitably come across James 1:22. This famous scripture verse encourages us to be doers of the word and not merely hearers.
When I was younger, I was told that this scripture meant that I should be working hard to please God and to honor Him, and it created a form of bondage in my mind. Whenever I wasn’t working for God, I felt like I was letting Him down or that He was displeased. At deeper levels, such ideas could even cause a person to question their salvation.
So today we are going to have a discussion regarding what it means to be a doer of the word, and the answers we find may not be what you expect.
Welcome back to the final part of our series about how because of the finished work of Jesus Christ, your healing is unstoppable! We’ve had quite a journey over the past month, and we’ve seen quite a lot of things! And today is going to be just as great, because for the climax of our series, we are going to crush one of the most prevalent false beliefs regarding healing: that you will not get healed because God is testing you.
This is one that I have heard over and over again, and it’s a big hindrance and a stumbling-block for a lot of people.
So today, we are going to set all of the theology of man aside, and look directly at Jesus, and what He has said regarding testing and trials, and through this we will be able to see clearly how and why your healing is indeed unstoppable!
You’ve probably heard it before that we are supposed to “humble ourselves”. This is a favorite saying of many preachers, especially those who like to use the Bible as a blunt-force object. Whenever they see someone doing something wrong, the go-to phrase for many of them is “You need to humble yourself before a holy God!” – I’ve had this phrase lobbed at me many times, in many different places, yet I was never told what it actually meant. I used to assume that it meant to berate yourself, because after all, the legalistic and condemning preachers just spent an entire sermon telling me all the things that I need to do to get right with God, and how displeasing I am to Him, so that must be a form of humbling, right?
That was my thought process all those years ago, and I have found that many believers today still think along the same lines. Many people are still very confused about the idea of humbling themselves. So that’s why today in this study, we will be examining what it really means to humble ourselves; and by seeing the truth presented in scripture, we will not be in confusion regarding this phrase any longer.
Many believers struggle with their believing… they find it difficult to believe because their human senses and their natural mind and thinking overwhelms them when situations and circumstances appear contrary to the Word of God. It’s true. Everyone has felt that way at one time or another, and then on top of that, we encounter Christians who are all too eager to inform us that because we have these thoughts and feelings, that we are “wavering” and that God will not answer prayer, because of doubting. It then begins a vicious downward spiral of struggling with believing, to being told that because we are struggling that we can’t expect anything from God, and so it just gets worse and worse.
My friend, I’ve been there, and I know the depression and feeling of hopelessness that comes from that desperate tailspin. And today in this study I want to share with you a little-known mental-shift found in the scriptures that will completely change your outlook. When you see the truths in the Bible that we will be studying today, it will lift you out of despair and into peace. It will reinvigorate your belief from hanging over the precipice, to on the very mountaintop. It is my joy to share this with you today.
I have had many talks with believers over the years, many of whom are at different places in their relationship with Christ. Even so, there is one issue that seems to be brought up again and again… and that is this inner-desire or perceived need to fulfill the Law. These people feel as though the Law somehow remains unmet or unsatisfied and that they are left to fulfill it themselves, and that to not do so, disappoints God or shows Him disrespect.
Another commonly held belief is that by attempting to keep or fulfill the Law, we are showing gratitude toward God for what He has done. However both of these ideas are simply avenues by which the Old Covenant is being reintroduced – placing new wine back into an old wineskin, which Jesus said cannot be done in Mark 2:22. This desire to fulfill the Law ourselves, is erroneous because it fails to recognize the finished work of Jesus Christ for you and in you. This is what we will be studying today.
In John 18:38. Pilate asks a question in talking with Jesus… the question is 'What is truth?' It is a question that many people are searching for an answer to today. The scriptures record that Pilate did not wait around to hear what Jesus' response would be. Now if you were to ask this question today, depending on who you ask, you will get a large number of differing responses or opinions. Even among church-folk. Some people will say simply that the Bible is truth; and there is nothing wrong with that answer, though it's generic. There are some today who believe that the Law is the truth that balances out Grace, as if Grace and truth are counter-measures for each-other; even though the scriptures say in John 1:17 that Grace and Truth go together and both came by Jesus Christ.
What we will be studying today is what real Biblical truth is, the way that Jesus defines it. In seeing His own divine descriptions of truth, we will get a better understanding and revelation of Him and how as He Himself said 'the truth will make us free'.
One day someone asked me straight out “what is the ministry of the spirit?” – now this man was a believer, and as embarrassing as it may seem, I hadn't actually considered that there were believers today which did not know what the Bible says about the ministry of the spirit, or even that there has been a change in ministry. So his question caught me a little bit off-guard. Since that time, I've come to realize that the majority of believers also have the same question, unaware that there has been a change in ministry due to Jesus Christ.
This is what we are going to be studying today, seeing the change that has occurred in our ministry. It's important to see this truth for two reasons: first because as ambassadors for Christ, we should know what the message from our King is! And second, this will also help us to distinguish between truth and falsehood in ministry.