¡Aumentar!

Hace unos años, hubo varias declaraciones diciendo que Dios iba a aumentar la cosecha y su pueblo de una manera sin precedentes… se venía un aumento en la oración contestada como nunca se había graficado en la historia del cristianismo; que Dios iba a aumentar la declaración profética en toda la tierra levantando un ejército de profetas y derramarlo sobre Su pueblo. Si querían Santidad, la obtuvieron, si querían Justicia, la obtuvieron. Y sí, el Señor se ha estado derramando sobre nosotros, muchos de nosotros sentimos que algo realmente significativo está a punto de suceder, incluso al nivel de ansiedad para algunos. Otro aspecto del que debemos ser conscientes es el aumento que se derrama del infierno. Si la gente quiere sexo, lo tienen. Si la gente quiere drogas, la tienen.  Cualquier cosa que mantenga a la gente lejos del Señor, con cualquier cosa rebelde y egoísta que podamos imaginar, el enemigo se asegurará de tratar de darla.  Pero como era entonces y es ahora, el enemigo no tiene absolutamente ninguna coincidencia para el derramamiento del Señor porque nuestro Rey en el Cielo es incomparable, hace que el infierno se estremezca y rechine los dientes, y eso me encanta.

 

Hemos estado avanzando no a velocidad de deformación sino a velocidad de Dios. ¡Creo que el Corazón del Señor es que Él nos va a aumentar OTRA VEZ! Va a llevarnos el ritmo, más rápido. Tengo una visión de dos en un camino, corriendo, una carrera, pero la Luz mantiene un ritmo que la oscuridad arrogante está sudando con fuerza para seguir el ritmo, cuando de repente la Luz retoma el ritmo de nuevo, y luego de nuevo. . . y la oscuridad simplemente no lo entiende, preguntándose cómo puede ser esto.  Recuerda esa escritura en Juan 5:9 que dice: … y la Luz mostrada sobre la oscuridad y la oscuridad no comprendía? Eso significa que el mundo y las tinieblas no podían apoderarse de Él ni podían captar la inmensidad de la Luz… ¡la oscuridad simplemente no lo entiende!

Para aquellos que vienen a Cristo o ya son creyentes, Él va a aumentar nuestra comprensión de Él.  Él va a aumentar el poder para hacer la obra, excepto que Quiere que entendamos que no se trata tanto de poder sino de dominio.  El Señor va a aumentar la expresión profética con señales y maravillas que estirarán nuestra imaginación, Él va a aumentar la velocidad con la que nos acercamos a los días venideros, Él va a derramar lo sobrenatural sobre lo ya sobrenatural, Él va a aumentar nuestra visión.  Él dará, a aquellos que son serios y le piden, la santificación de sus mentes en orden de aumentar la comprensión y la visión a larga distancia.  La ola de proporción inmedible de Dios se está construyendo en la distancia cercana.  Él va a aumentar la liberación de la fe extraordinaria con el fin de satisfacer circunstancias extraordinarias para que las personas extraordinarias sostengan el Nombre de nuestro Dios Extraordinario que está más allá del tiempo, el espacio y la eternidad. Él quiere enseñarnos a vivir en Él, que es sin medida y sin límites de tiempo y espacio. Él quiere darnos Aliento, Oído y Visión y que esos tres Él los entreteja en nosotros, Su pueblo, como un hilo azul a través de una tela blanca. Él nos va a llevar de donde estamos a donde Él está para que Él haga la obra que Él ha comenzado en nosotros.  Va a aumentar todo…  el ritmo hacia el final también se incrementa. El Señor dice: “Ha comenzado de nuevo, el aumento del aumento. ”

El trueno de Su venida se enfurece en el borde del horizonte porque Él está volviendo por lo que es Suyo, y habrá un gran “Llamado a la Sangre” porque los campos están blancos para la cosecha. Él aumentará Su presencia entre nosotros y todos y cada uno de los que vivirán en la “Ciudad de Su Presencia”, Dios aumentará la comprensión de ellos para que comprendan la magnitud de la paz que Él ha dado. El aumento de su paz entre los creyentes será desbordante y maravilloso. Él nos va a aumentar de nuevo. También habrá un aumento de la corrupción, la violencia, la peste (física y espiritual), las hambrunas, las guerras y los rumores de guerras como una contrapartida a lo que el Señor hace. . . pero una vez más el infierno no es rival para nuestro incomparable Dios y el infierno se estremecerá con gran frustración y rechinará los dientes contra Dios, y eso me encanta.

Gracias por escuchar, soy Social Porter para el Ministerio Viviendo en Su Nombre.

Traducción por Alfredo Magni Sozzi

Faith vs Fear

In the late night quiet of our minds, in the gray place between awake and asleep, how many of us go through some form of emotional and mental back flips? Slowly rolling the events of the day around in our heads. Jesus said “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” And that is “receive” as the Lord knows is healthy for us.

Yet, in our mind we rotate and cycle this way and that like debris tossing around in the edge of the surf. You get the picture. We think, “But what if i don’t believe like i think i do, after all i’ve prayed about things, important things and it appears nothing happened. Just silence.” “What if all this isn’t what i thought. What if i’m not who God says i am? i know Jesus said Trust In God, and i’m pretty sure i’m firm that i do, but…but what if i’m not where i’m supposed to be and i don’t know it?” “What if i’m out of God’s will and He doesn’t tell me and i find out too late that i’ve been completely off base?” “Ohh, what if God has told me and i’m just too deaf to hear and too dumb to understand? i remember that Jesus also said to Have Faith In God. i know i have faith, i’ve seen it, at least most of the time. i do the best i can, but if i’ve got faith like i think i do, why am i no further in life than i am and always struggling? i just don’t get it.” “Why is being a Christian so confusing sometimes? My church preaches that we all sin, all the time, but 1 John says my daddy is the devil if i sin, and if i love Jesus i won’t sin, but they regularly tell me that i do sin, so what if i don’t know Jesus like i think i do and my daddy really is not God at all?” What if, what if, what if, in a constant barrage of doubt and questioning what is supposedly already settled with God.

It seems so much of scripture is like a pendulum, it slams one direction and then slams in the other. Love your neighbor, honor you parents yet in another place we’re told to hate your mother and father, pray for and bless your enemies, do not love the world yet Jesus said for God so love the world, be IN the world but not OF the world. What do you think all that’s about anyway, you know? And don’t be telling me you’ve never thought those things, ‘cause if you wear skin and breath, you certainly have.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, a late night broadcast from the easy flowing, casual banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge, and every evening is pleasant. This is acoustic jazz night, one week late, and Faith vs. Fear is our topic this evening.

Can you relate to any of the previous faith challenging drama in our thinking concerning the back and forth bounce that happens in all believers who struggle with faith and fear at the same time? Confusing isnt’ it? Maybe that’s the point, huh? Hold your place, consider the topic, and i’ll be right back.

One very important true thing is, Fear and faith can not exist together. Fear has a family just like faith has a family. The family of faith has common behaviors like strength, trust, rest, and confidence to name a few; fear’s family of behaviors include disbelief, worry, anxiety, stress, and depression. We don’t have to keep participating in the Chicken Little family, who was too afraid to cross the road. i find it most peculiar how on one hand we agree God loves us and died for us, and then, almost as quickly, we talk ourselves out of the love of God. The family members of fear CAN be replaced with faith, you know. We don’t HAVE to live with them. We CAN move out of the house of fear and into faith’s covering. The house of faith always has an open door to us all, faith always has a room ready for us to come and stay. i don’t want just a visitation, i want a full habitation of faith, and i’ll bet you do to.

2 Timothy 1:7 “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind.” Nowadays, i consider a sound mind to be one of my best assets, and let me assure you, i haven’t always had a mind which, in hindsight, was all too sound. If we allow fear to stay lodged in us, it will eventually nibble away at our faith until madness begins to grip us and sends us spinning into the abyss of insanity. i knew a tough guy, and i mean he truly was THAT guy nobody messed with. Even in prison he carried the title of monster. Finally, after many years of drug addiction he checked into an addiction recovery center, and he said one of the most important things he realized was that he was afraid. Once he dealt with his fear and what was driving it, the need for drugs and self-medicating began to ebb away and trusting the Lord became so much easier.

All along, Jesus is with us in our trials, ready to help if we would only call on Him, and persist to call on His name. Persist, persist, persist. How often do we choose to live with a spirit of fear instead of faithfully calling on Jesus? Is it easier somehow? Let me add this thought: if we choose to live WITH fear, eventually, we’ll come into agreement WITH fear, and then, all of fears favorite friends will come to live with us. Oooo! That’s ugly, isn’t it? If you sleep with a dog that has fleas, eventually you’ll get fleas too.

Faith and fear are complete opposites. They cannot reign in the same heart. While fear cowers, faith stands. While fear frets, faith prays. While fear looks within, faith looks to Jesus. Fear despairs, faith hopes.

How do we get more faith then? We can’t go to the store and get more faith. It doesn’t come in sacks, boxes, spray cans, and we can’t go to WalMart and by instant “just add water” faith. i believe a good definition for faith is trust training. Could it be our root problem is fear which dismantles faith starting with the little things? Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”  We cannot, by our own effort or willpower, drum up more faith, somehow, to become more effective. God gives gifts to his church, and among those gifts, He gives faith and power as he wills. Is the statement “you don’t have enough faith”, or, “If you’re poor, sick, or sad it’s your own fault because you don’t have enough faith.”, is that saying God’s gift to each of us is insufficient? There is never a time anything of the Lord is in anyway, ever insufficient. Ever.

What is our greatest position of increase and strength, offsetting the fears that seem to easily accompany living this life?

Here’s four points:

  • Our greatest strength is coming into the likeness of the Son.
  • Our greatest increase in faith is learning to participate with God.
  • Our greatest increase in belief is by learning endurance through the
  • testing of our faith.
  • Our greatest character is when our endurance is fully developed.

 

James 1:2-4 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.  But let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

i’ll say it again: Faith and fear cannot exist together, they are incompatible and are to never be mingled. Psalm 106:35 warns against mingling with pagan nations which leads to idolatry. The word “mixed” or “mingled” in that verse underscores the need for distinct boundaries —spiritual, moral, or physical in order to preserve holiness and avoid compromising faith with worldly influences or falsehoods. i think many of us are in far more of a daily battle in our head and heart largely because we are a mix of faith and fear.

Faith, a noun is described in Hebrews 11:1 in some translations as being “certain of what we do not see”. It is a certainty, but i believe is better than that. It is translated as “substance” in King James and in Greek it is the support upon which we stand. Having faith also signifies that those with faith own the deed to the ground upon which they stand, meaning by the blood of Jesus we have a blood bought right to stand there. Belief means to “stand firm, to be certain and unmoveable”, with “unmoveable” or faithfulness as one of the Fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5. Faith is the noun and belief is the action verb derivative of faith. Faith is where we stand and belief is what we do while we’re standing there. i find in myself that i have an absolute belief that God is constantly working behind the scenes in every area of my life, even when there is no tangible evidence to support that. Faith says “Though i see no tangible evidence, i will stand firm on the word of God”, and belief says, “I am sure of His working, and actively stand firm on His faithfulness to work righteousness in my life.”  Stand firm and do not be moved.

On the other hand, fear, simply stated, is unbelief, weak belief, or being put to flight. There is right fear, like fear of driving too fast on a curvy road lest we wreck and are injured, but fear that is irrational and has no substance. As unbelief gains the upper hand in our thoughts, fear takes hold of our emotions, nibbling and eating at the edges of our faith. Our deliverance from fear and worry is based on faith, which is the very opposite of unbelief. Let us understand that faith is not something we can produce in ourselves and is exclusively in the domain of the workings of God.

Ephesians 2:8-9, “Faith is a gift, For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Faith is a fruit of the Spirit and is one of our distinctive qualities or traits, which is produced in our lives by the Holy Spirit according to Galatians 5:22. It’s a character thing. The believer’s faith is a confident assurance in God who loves us, who knows our thoughts, and cares about our deepest needs. That very same faith continues to grow as we study the Bible and learn the attributes of His amazing character. The more we learn about God, the more we can see Him working in our lives and the stronger our faith grows.

A growing faith is what we should desire and what God is looking to produce in us.

Another point of greatest increase is when our desires and God’s desires come into alignment. But how, in day-to-day life, can we develop a faith that conquers our fears? Well, for sure our fears are not overcome by becoming indifferent. Indifference doesn’t cause strangling anxious concern to subside, it just puts it off, hides it, and gives fear a chance to morph into something else to cut our feet from under us. Put your finger, specifically, on what it is which grips you so tightly and causes you to be afraid. Name it. An un-named fear always looks like looming doom.

The Bible says in Romans 10:17, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God“.

The careful study of God’s Word is of primary importance in developing a strong faith. God wants us to know Him and completely rely on His direction in our lives. It’s through the hearing, reading and meditation in the Scriptures that we begin to experience a strong, confident faith which excludes worry and fear. In Matthew, four times Jesus distinctly said, “Don’t worry”.

Spending time in prayer and worship develops a relationship with our Father that sees us through even the darkest of nights. Prayer is more than merely going down a wish list of stuff we would like. You may say that is such a cliche sounding thing to say, but, i’m tellin’ ya’, it’s the truth, and often don’t realize the magnitude and value of prayer until we’re in the dark, alone, and in trouble. Train yourself to have an everyday, walk-around conversation with God like friends going together, growing in belonging, connecting. In the Psalms we see a picture of David, who, like us, experienced times of fear. Psalm 56:3 reveals his faith with these words: “When I am afraid, I will trust in you.” Trust training. i’m reminded of an old song with some of the lyrics being, “When the darkness is closing in, and i’m running against the wind, i will trust in You and i will not be afraid.” Psalm 119 is filled with verses expressing the way in which David treasured God’s Word: “I seek you with all my heart” (v. 10); “I have hidden your word in my heart” (v. 11); “I meditate on your precepts” (v. 15);.

These are revealing words, unveiling-the-truth kind of words which speak wisdom to us even now. The following words are key to developing faith,  “I seek you”, “I meditate on your word”, “I trust in You”, and “I will not be afraid”.
God is kind and understanding toward our weaknesses, but He does truly desire us to go forward in faith. If you will try God will meet you in your going. He doesn’t have a problem with people who fail, but He does have a problem with people who don’t try.

The Bible is clear that faith does not mature and strengthen without trials, and, as much as we are uncomfortable with it, as much as i don’t like it and have at times closed my ears to not hear this, adversity is God’s most effective tool to develop a strong faith. That pattern is repetitively evident in Scripture. Trust training is one of the main reasons for trails that God is who He says He is and is not as difficult to know as many may think. God takes each one of us through fearful situations, and as we learn to obey God’s Word and allow it to saturate our thoughts, we find each trial becomes a stepping stone to a stronger and deeper faith. Each trial is like a step and we can either step up or stumble down, but in the end, each trial gives us that ability to say, “He sustained me yesterday, He’ll carry me through today, and He’ll uphold me tomorrow!” i believe at the core of our fears and overwhelming anxieties, is unbelief and lack of trust in God.

One time i had a dream and in the dream i was in a little dingy of a boat somewhere far out at sea, and i was riding the impossible high waves of the storm of the century. The sky was black, the wind was howling, and the rain, ohhhh, the sideways stinging rain was whipping my face. i looked up at the impossible angry waves of the sea and was gripped with fear. Then i looked across from me and there sitting on the other side of the boat, hair stuck to His face, gripping the boat, soaking wet was Jesus. He looked at me with a broad confident smile and said over the roar of the storm, “pretty cool, huh?” It was a faith building dream. Trust training.

In 1 Samuel 17:37, when David volunteered to fight against Goliath, he said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine“. That is faith! David knew that God who had sustained him through dangerous situations in the past, would sustain him in, what appeared to the rest of Israel’s army, as a completely terrifying situation. From the perspective of other soldiers, they were all going to die under the blazing sun of the battle field. But David knew the providence and strength of the Lord. He had seen and experienced God’s power and protection in his life, and that had developed within him a fearless faith.

The Word of God is filled with promises for us to take hold of and claim for ourselves. When we face financial trouble, Philippians 4:19 is a faith builder, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” If we are anxious about a future decision, Psalm 32:8 is a faith builder, the Lord says “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with my eye.” In sickness faithfully remember Romans 5:3, “Tribulation works patience.” If someone murmurs against us and slanders us remember Romans 8:31, “If God is for us who can be against us!”

i think it worthy of being said that just because we recite those scriptures to ourselves doesn’t mean they are like magic words which will somehow change the intrusion of vicious circumstances. The Lord gives us those words for us to be able to stand strong in the midst of the storm, something to grip to when the ground spins under our feet. Make no mistake, storms will come, oh yes they will, and the Lord does indeed command the storms of our life to dissipate, but by far and large His intent is for us to trust in Him as overcomers, to stand strong in faith as a lighthouse for others who are also in a terrible storm.

Throughout life we will always face various trials that would cause us fear, but God assures us that we can know faith and peace through every situation. Jesus said, in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Think about it.

Colossians 1:11 “…being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may, joyfully, have great endurance and patience.”

Philippians 4:7, “ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” The Lord has promised His peace will “guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus“.

i’m Social Porter and this program has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, Area 22 Guitars, Leona’s Dress Shop, the Mebane Freedom League, Mrs. Elsie Freeman at Superior Laundry, Florence Drake, John Deaver of Deaver Cab Company, world famous Paul Powers, and, of course, the consistent and enduring, Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.

What fears nibble at the edges of your faith? We all have little fears here and there, but we don’t have to allow them to manage and direct our lives, much less dictate to our faith. Think about what you spend your time thinking about. Focus on Jesus instead of all the should have’s, could have’s, might have’s, and didn’t. Lean more towards willingly participating with God, read your Bible and think about it. Let’s build the bridges of faith over the fears of this world. Amen? Yea, that’s right.

¡Aumentar!

¡Aumentar!

Hace unos años, hubo varias declaraciones diciendo que Dios iba a aumentar la cosecha y su pueblo de una manera sin precedentes… se venía un aumento en la oración contestada como nunca se había graficado en la historia del cristianismo; que Dios iba a aumentar la declaración profética en toda la tierra levantando un ejército de profetas y derramarlo sobre Su pueblo. Si querían Santidad, la obtuvieron, si querían Justicia, la obtuvieron. Y sí, el Señor se ha estado derramando sobre nosotros, muchos de nosotros sentimos que algo realmente significativo está a punto de suceder, incluso al nivel de ansiedad para algunos. Otro aspecto del que debemos ser conscientes es el aumento que se derrama del infierno. Si la gente quiere sexo, lo tienen. Si la gente quiere drogas, la tienen.  Cualquier cosa que mantenga a la gente lejos del Señor, con cualquier cosa rebelde y egoísta que podamos imaginar, el enemigo se asegurará de tratar de darla.  Pero como era entonces y es ahora, el enemigo no tiene absolutamente ninguna coincidencia para el derramamiento del Señor porque nuestro Rey en el Cielo es incomparable, hace que el infierno se estremezca y rechine los dientes, y eso me encanta.

 

Hemos estado avanzando no a velocidad de deformación sino a velocidad de Dios. ¡Creo que el Corazón del Señor es que Él nos va a aumentar OTRA VEZ! Va a llevarnos el ritmo, más rápido. Tengo una visión de dos en un camino, corriendo, una carrera, pero la Luz mantiene un ritmo que la oscuridad arrogante está sudando con fuerza para seguir el ritmo, cuando de repente la Luz retoma el ritmo de nuevo, y luego de nuevo. . . y la oscuridad simplemente no lo entiende, preguntándose cómo puede ser esto.  Recuerda esa escritura en Juan 5:9 que dice: … y la Luz mostrada sobre la oscuridad y la oscuridad no comprendía? Eso significa que el mundo y las tinieblas no podían apoderarse de Él ni podían captar la inmensidad de la Luz… ¡la oscuridad simplemente no lo entiende!

Para aquellos que vienen a Cristo o ya son creyentes, Él va a aumentar nuestra comprensión de Él.  Él va a aumentar el poder para hacer la obra, excepto que Quiere que entendamos que no se trata tanto de poder sino de dominio.  El Señor va a aumentar la expresión profética con señales y maravillas que estirarán nuestra imaginación, Él va a aumentar la velocidad con la que nos acercamos a los días venideros, Él va a derramar lo sobrenatural sobre lo ya sobrenatural, Él va a aumentar nuestra visión.  Él dará, a aquellos que son serios y le piden, la santificación de sus mentes en orden de aumentar la comprensión y la visión a larga distancia.  La ola de proporción inmedible de Dios se está construyendo en la distancia cercana.  Él va a aumentar la liberación de la fe extraordinaria con el fin de satisfacer circunstancias extraordinarias para que las personas extraordinarias sostengan el Nombre de nuestro Dios Extraordinario que está más allá del tiempo, el espacio y la eternidad. Él quiere enseñarnos a vivir en Él, que es sin medida y sin límites de tiempo y espacio. Él quiere darnos Aliento, Oído y Visión y que esos tres Él los entreteja en nosotros, Su pueblo, como un hilo azul a través de una tela blanca. Él nos va a llevar de donde estamos a donde Él está para que Él haga la obra que Él ha comenzado en nosotros.  Va a aumentar todo…  el ritmo hacia el final también se incrementa. El Señor dice: “Ha comenzado de nuevo, el aumento del aumento. ”

El trueno de Su venida se enfurece en el borde del horizonte porque Él está volviendo por lo que es Suyo, y habrá un gran “Llamado a la Sangre” porque los campos están blancos para la cosecha. Él aumentará Su presencia entre nosotros y todos y cada uno de los que vivirán en la “Ciudad de Su Presencia”, Dios aumentará la comprensión de ellos para que comprendan la magnitud de la paz que Él ha dado. El aumento de su paz entre los creyentes será desbordante y maravilloso. Él nos va a aumentar de nuevo. También habrá un aumento de la corrupción, la violencia, la peste (física y espiritual), las hambrunas, las guerras y los rumores de guerras como una contrapartida a lo que el Señor hace. . . pero una vez más el infierno no es rival para nuestro incomparable Dios y el infierno se estremecerá con gran frustración y rechinará los dientes contra Dios, y eso me encanta.

Gracias por escuchar, soy Social Porter para el Ministerio Viviendo en Su Nombre.

Traducción por Alfredo Magni Sozzi

Lleno de Bondad

Lleno de Bondad

         Romanos 15:14: “Ahora bien, yo mismo confío respecto a vosotros, hermanos míos, que también vosotros estáis llenos de bondad, llenos de todo conocimiento, capaces también de amonestaros unos a otros”.

El Señor es la personificación de la elección perfecta, y Su corazón está siempre, siempre, siempre inclinado a la bondad, sin siquiera un atisbo, una tenue sombra de nada menos. En Éxodo 34:6 bondad es un sustantivo que va con el verbo verdad como pareja casada, es decir, el verbo verdad enmarca el sustantivo bondad, van juntos, son abundantes y nos hacen hermosos en Cristo.

Pablo instó a los creyentes a estar “llenos de bondad”. La palabra bondad significando “la manifestación de amabilidad, equipada para la acción”, o “una abundante inclinación a la voluntad de hacer lo que es misericordioso con manos de compasión”. Dios es un Dios bueno, y nosotros, que somos creyentes, debemos ser como Él es. Es más que simplemente decir: “Soy una buena persona”, lo que significa que pagamos nuestras cuentas, mantenemos un trabajo, cuidamos de nuestra familia, etc, etc… La intención de Pablo era un llamado a ser como el Señor, no solo mantener las reglas que nos traigan la aprobación de los demás. Hay un poder real que proviene de ser bueno porque la bondad del Señor es un poder que establece precedentes. Como lo dice Pablo, es un atributo de Dios mismo, y es una cualidad que poseemos también porque Él vive en nosotros, a través de Cristo tenemos un vínculo con la bondad que es eterna. ¡Se fuerte y valiente!

Para el Señor, la compasión es un manantial continuo de agua, una corriente que fluye y que lo convierte en un pilar de apoyo de principio a fin. El llamado de Dios nos invita a ser como Él es. Dentro de la compasión está la bondad oculta e impartible, pero es el tipo de bondad que está oculta y también revelada. Un poco de la bondad de Dios en nosotros da para mucho, o se podría decir que es “lo poco que contiene mucho”. Una actitud que viene de Dios vencerá las motivaciones egoístas, hasta que todas nuestras actitudes ofensivas y defensivas sean vencidas por la bondad de Dios.

Salmo 86:5 “Porque tú, Señor, eres bueno y perdonador, Y grande en misericordia para con todos los que te invocan.” El Señor nuestro Dios se muestra consistentemente a lo largo de las Escrituras como abundante en bondad. La perspectiva hebrea es que el Señor no solo es bueno, sino que ES bondad o amabilidad. Él instruye a los hombres en la bondad, y la humanidad solo puede obtener bondad de Dios, quien es el único poseedor de la bondad. En la misericordia del Señor, o en Su bondad y favor, me escondo de las tinieblas. Lo pongo por fortaleza mía, mi torre alta y mi libertador, mi escudo y aquel en quien me refugio.

En esta vida, por más que lo he intentado, puedo testificar y ser firme en esto, no hay otro lugar o persona como nuestro Dios. Su bondad nos cubre, y Él actúa con nosotros como el tierno Pastor que es, tratando misericordiosamente nuestras aflicciones con eterna bondad. Si no fuera por la amabilidad o bondad de Dios hacia los hombres, una vez más, no habría esperanza de salvación. Pero Dios, Dios mío, me encanta decir eso, pero Dios en Su infinita bondad hacia nosotros, no nos dejó morir en nuestro alejamiento y pecado, sino que nos dio un camino para salir del desierto del pecado y la creciente distancia entre el hombre y Él mismo.

Cuando estaba en un callejón sin salida de mi propio diseño e implementación, sin idea de cómo volver a casa, en Su práctica de compasión hacia mí, la bondad de Dios me cubrió como una nube en la mañana. Tuvo piedad de mí. Él extiende Su bondad a los humildes, necesitados y miserables, e incluso me la extendió a mí.

Debemos confiar, esperar y regocijarnos en la bondad de Dios, porque Él ha sido liberal con favor hacia nosotros. Él es abundante y rico en bondad, Su bondad es infinita. Ciertamente el bien y la misericordia nos seguirán todos los días de nuestra vida.

Gracias por escuchar, soy Social Porter para el Ministerio Viviendo en Su Presencia.

Traducción por Alfredo Magni Sozzi

The Gospel Is Simple

Whew, what a week! Going here, going there. Mrs. Smith fell again but with nothing broken, unlike 7 years ago which put her needing a walker to get around, but i’d also like to add that she lives out an amazing story of life and simplicity in Christ. She grew up in very rural America quitting school in the 3rd grade because she had to work in the fields growing tomatoes and tobacco, not to mention helping with the general survival of her family of 13.

She grew up in poverty in the rural deep south. She said she caught the mumps when she was a child and the infection ruined her chances for having children. Her first husband died in the Korean war, her second husband died of tuberculosis, and, later in life she took an antibiotic for a sore throat but the drug ended up destroying part of her inner ear in both ears, so since her early 30’s  to her last days she has been completely deaf. After that, till she died, she never heard another bird sing, the wind blow, or person speak and couldn’t even hear herself speak…not another sound for the rest of her life.

Even at 86, she grew an ambitious garden and went to church twice per week, living her life with Jesus and her little dog. Every week she got her walker out and prayed and sang and worked out in the garden wearing a light cotton dress and a big straw hat … with a walker in one hand and a hoe in the other she tended what was hers as unto the Lord. She still kept her little house neat and clean, and was a diligent prayer warrior. Life was simple for Verda Smith…she told me once that the gospel of God was simple, easily accomplished, and the Lord was the core of her life. i like that and i think Mrs. Smith was right.

The gospel is, indeed, very simple, yet we have such a hard time with the Bible, accusing God of being a cruel task master, and all i can wonder is “Why do we think that?”

This is Outposts, a semi-live broadcast from the late night, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahha River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge, and every evening is pleasant. Stay with me for cool jazz and contemplative conversation. i shall return.

Living out the gospel of Jesus Christ is understandable, not-complex, but is quiet. It is straightforward, not hidden and God is plain with us. It is easily discernable by reading the Bible how we are supposed to conduct ourselves, how we should have our conversations, and the kind of character befitting the children of God –it is right character, the kind of character which is profitable for everyone, most especially ourselves.

Think about it. God is not asking us to do ridiculous things. He asks us to be honest and kind, people of good character, to be strong on behalf of the weak, do justice, possess high morals, and above all, to acknowledge Him as friend, lover, captain, and King alone. Romans 10:9 is not a stringent request, “confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, and you will be saved.”

God didn’t ask us to use a spoon and move a mountain one scoop at a time. He didn’t ask us to pave every driveway in America one shovel full at a time. He didn’t ask us to sacrifice our children in a fire, instead He asks us to simply love Him and our neighbor as ourselves, love our families, practice kindness and grace, and raise our children to know His love.

Matthew 11:28-30, which is a literal tipping point scripture when it comes to living under the iron manacles of the world or living life God’s way says, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” The verse implies the world’s burden is break your back heavy, and the yoke is so hard it will take your mind and life away, then sneer at you as you fall in the dirt and die.

Considering the rules and regulations governments and legislative bodies of men put on us, God’s rules are light, easily received, and peaceful. Man’s rules profit men, and even at that they tend to benefit only a select few, the few who make rules for the many. In fact, i’m convinced, the world never actually changes the rules unless there’s something to be profited. But God has more than just rules of conduct, character, and conversation … according to Jeremiah 29:11-13 God has a destiny for everyone who calls on His name, it says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Now friend, here, right here, you can choose to believe that is meant for someone else, or for yourself. But let me assure you, God means that for you too, and i’d like you to start including yourself in all of God’s promises and stop finding a way to exclude yourself.

The scripture from Jeremiah29 doesn’t sound at all like a hard or bad thing. So why is it people think God and the Bible are antiquated and too “outdated” to take seriously, that God is stringent and living the Christian life is sssooo hard?? Could it be people who think that simply don’t really know what God says nor do they know what the Bible says? Or maybe people have only heard God’s idea of living as it was pulled out of context? Tough questions require brutal honesty, but think about this, truth is only brutal in the face of vague truth. A well defined picture always seems sharp when set next to fuzzy, undefined vision. Can it be that people just don’t want to hear God?

Verda Smith died happy and at rest. She loved Jesus and maintained to the end that the Gospel life was simple. She used to say to me like a mother to her child, “Tell the truth where ever you go, love Jesus with all your heart, He knows your name and He’ll never fail you.” Mrs. Smith used to say that if people couldn’t be honest with themselves they’d never be honest with anyone else, especially God. Hmmm, for someone who only went to the 3rd grade, she knew a LOT of stuff. i reckon school often doesn’t teach a great deal that we truly need to know.

i saw an incredible child likeness in her. She was like someone in a fire who just clings to the fireman, and trusts to him alone. She raised no question about the strength of God’s arms to carry her, or the zeal of His heart to rescue, she just gripped the Lord. The heat of the fire would be terrible, the smoke blinding, but she clings; and her deliverer quickly carries her to safety. In the same childlike confidence, Mrs. Smith did cling to Jesus, who could and did bear her out of danger from the flames of darkness. i took special note of her life. i can still see her standing in the heat of the day in her garden – walker in one hand a hoe in the other, deaf and living in a broken body, twisted hands, there with her big hat on, smiling and singing as a living testimony.

Jesus invites all those who labor and are heavy laden to come to Him, and He will give them rest. He does not promise this to those who would merely dream about Him. They must come; and they must come to Him, and not simply to the Church, to baptism, or to the orthodox faith, or to anything short of His divine person. We can’t simply dream of better days but continue to lay on our sickbed. We must get up from there and bust a move, or as one guy put it, “i decided to implement a completely unexpected strategy and stop checking Facebook and TV show updates, start meeting with God on regular intervals, and go out and be in the world around me.”

Is it our personal agenda which complicates the gospel? Or is it our heart full of “don’t want to”? Or maybe both. Is it a fear that someone will know our secret thoughts, or the fear of being judged which prevents us? Maybe it’s just general rebellion which started in the garden at the provocation of the serpent, resisting the goodness of God for no good reason other than to resist with jaw jutting rebellion? Consider this…the gospel of Christ is far easier to believe and implement than the modern day idea that the universe and all of life’s incredibly complicated issues spun out of a swirling mass of unintelligent molecules whirling in space somewhere. The odds of that happening are astronomically higher than the probability of carrying, in the rough, the entire Sistine Chapel, with all it’s carved pews, cut stone and tinted glass, in an airplane at 15000 feet, dropping it over the present building sight, and having every last piece fall exactly into place of what we call, today, the Sistine Chapel in all of it’s glory. The odds are about 1 in 10 plus over 100 zeros it could happen, and for life in the universe to spring out of nothing is closer to 1 in 10 with 500 zeroes following. The gospel is much simpler, wouldn’t you agree? What IS our problem with something as simple as the Gospel of Christ? It isn’t hard, it is good for us in all manners and ways, it is eternally prosperous and profitable for ourselves and everyone around us. But yet in our darkest night, when our hearts are seemingly broken in unrepairable pieces, when our bodies are suffering and are nearly dead from self-inflicted diseases and self-loathing, in our final moments, we resist the Love of God, and for what?

It is completely to our advantage to yield our lives to Christ. You’d think for people who are generally incredibly self centered, self-seeking, and self-promoting we would take God up on His offer of help, redemption, and restoration. But nooooo. Many would prefer death on the installment plan as to be engaged with God and my only thought is the world doesn’t comprehend what Jesus is extending them.

As in John1:5, the darkness just doesn’t get it. I have a vision of two on a road, running, racing, but the Light keeps a pace that the arrogant darkness is sweating hard to keep up with, when suddenly the Light picks up the pace again, and then again . . . the darkness breathlessly wonders “How can this be?”

When there is no light in the hearts and eyes of mankind, the goodness of God is mysterious, vague, and hard to focus on, with the face of God obscured from the eyes of the world. The conscience of people is wounded and bruised and has become insensitive to God’s gentle kindness. Mankind has lost their relish of righteous things, and as a result God’s extended hands of hope are unrecognized for many people. They find it easy to say the Bible is outdated. Maybe it’s easier to claim the Bible is outdated than it is to be responsible for what we think, our actions being born out of our twisted thinking.

Ok, well, how outdated is too outdated?  It seems to me mankind spends an inordinate amount of time thinking of reasons why they should NOT listen to God. Even for those of us who are believers, we seem to spend an inordinate amount of time wishing God would do something OTHER than what He’s doing. We groan and moan and complain, find ways to resist Him, coming up with our “good reasons” why we just generally “can’t”. i believe the gospel message is simple and easily understood.

John6:28-29 “Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”  Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

That is so very NOT complicated, wouldn’t you agree?

There are many who have tried to take the moral teachings of Christianity and divorce them from the message of the cross. It doesn’t work. Such teachings are meaningless and powerless for there can be no Christianity without the cross and resurrection. The Bible is addressed to everyone, and sound doctrine applies to everyone, not just an elite group. When Jesus sent out the apostles in Mark16:15,  they were sent to take the gospel to every creature of every nation of the whole world. The invitation was extended to everyone. The book of John has a basic theme of “whosoever can come if they will”. Jesus emphasized that anyone who seeks to know the Lord’s will can find it and those who hunger and thirst after the Lord’s righteousness shall be filled with it.

Let’s go back to the Bible. Let’s take the gospel to those who are lost, the unfortunate ones, the bankrupt and blind, “not with eloquent speech but with wisdom, declaring the testimony of God”. Like Paul said in 1Cor2:2, Let us determine “not to know anything among ourselves, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified”. Men can comprehend that God sent His Son to die on Calvary’s cross for the remission of our sins. They can love Him enough to believe in Him and obey Him. Souls will be won to Jesus Christ, the church will grow, and God will be praised.

The gospel of Christ is simple. Let us not complicate what God has made peaceful and easily grasped. Think about it.

We’re at the end of our time here at Outposts. i hope i’ve left you with some things on their way to being resolved, some things to chew or contemplate, and a little music to brighten your path.

i’m Social Porter and this evening’s broadcast is brought to you fresh every morning by the Kingdom of God, Living In His Name Ministries, Area 22 Guitars, Kevin, Perry, and Tommy over at world headquarters for the Mebane Freedom League, and Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.

Music was by the Pete Minger Quartet, Jim Beard, Pepper Adams, Freddie Hubbard, Steve Morse, and Jeff Berlin. All music use is licensed by BMI.

This week, remember the gospel isn’t complicated and God is closer than your next breath. What God asks of us isn’t cruel or stringent, His rules and boundaries are for our own good, He even has a plan and destiny for each one of us.

Be strong and courageous! The Lord knows your name, and that’s a good thing.

It Was Jesus All Along

It would appear summer has set it’s sights on us with the break out of wild flowers, honey bees, boaters on the river, and my personal favorites, the fireflies, the crickets, and the frogs who make the evening seem surreal and dream like.

i was in the basement of the cafe this afternoon looking for an old music stand i kept stashed down there and i came across some old pictures of myself and to other boys from long ago. The pictures had folded edges, slightly yellowed, but the memory was still there. There we were, three boys standing at the edge of the river, right near here, barefoot, smiling eyes, fishing poles in hand. i remember well that summer day when the mother of one of the boys took that picture. It was the day we made an agreement between ourselves, that someday, we’d meet again, buy this property and put up a cafe here in this very place with a big deck overlooking the river, where people would come, peace could be found, and sometimes we’d talk till the wee hours of the morning. Laughing about silly old times, sad about some of the trails of life, and expounding on the victories of overcoming and being strong. We imagined ourselves as old men, sitting on the deck speaking our adventures, with wives, children and grandchildren, and how God, from the beginning had a destiny for us. Some of us learned a little about destiny in Sunday school, and it was just enough to dream, believe, and imagine that maybe, just maybe we could be part of the amazing stuff God was doing.

How about you? Do you remember anything from your younger years like that?

Do you know that the word “remember” in all it’s variations, is used 651 times in the Bible? That says to me the idea of recalling the days, years, times and seasons of our lives, our times of joy, opportunity, and enjoyment are all a priority according to the Lord……but above all, it is a vital time to remember that our God and King is good and of galactic importance. He has pursued us as a determined lover, even when we didn’t want to be pursued.

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things.”

As we’ve said before seeing as how we spend the majority of our lives waiting, how do we spend our time of waiting? What do we allow our minds to dwell on? Like i did when i saw the picture of the three amigos, i allowed myself to dwell on that summer day when we three boys played “Tom Sawyer”. Those boys, who even then, as children, had a dream of fellowship, that the days of our youth would continue and would be as wonderful in our future as that magical day fishing together on the Ockluhwahhah River.

Most everyone, i would imagine, would like to forget the tragedies and terrible times of our lives. There have been overwhelming storms in my life i would love to not remember, because, well, because they were hard, or sad, or cruel, but on the other hand, looking back, remembering even those times, i can see God at work in my life… even then. God at work in my life is more important to see than just remembering the heart break of life. We have to look over the top of those seasons of grief and hand wringing, past the blackened mile stones of vicious circumstances to see God, even if at that time, Jesus was not part of our everyday as we knew it, God was there, speaking, working, and helping.

Regardless of what a person has done, or what kind of abuse one has suffered, God still calls us. We may think our secret is worse than anyone else’s. Rest assured that He knows all about it, and still draws us with an immutable call. No matter how difficult life seems, people with a past need to make their way to Jesus. Regardless of the obstacles within and without, they must reach Him. We don’t have to tell everyone our entire history. Just know that He calls, on purpose, people with a past. He knows our history, but He calls us anyway. The “wounded redeemed” is a good term, and Jesus is setting those captives free…those with burned out, black and white lives that have been reduced to smoldering ashes…and out of the ashes… OUT OF THE ASHES COMES THE WORK OF THE LORD.

Remember God in your life, not your life as it appears in fading memory. Jesus made those broken weary bones to dance again, it’s Jesus who waters our thirsty hearts with a river. Like the song says, Lord we rest our eyes on You, we are waiting…for You are our garland of grace and we worship Your Great Name with songs of praise and a lifestyle of worship.

When David was in the cave hiding from Saul’s thugs, the people that showed up were “desperate, discouraged, and dissatisfied”, and those people ended up becoming the “mighty men of valor”, the people willing to bleed for a cause. They no longer merely appeared to be valiant, but actually BECAME strong men of valor. What an interesting transformation…from the 3 D’s to the 3 R’s… from Desperation, Discouragement, and Dissatisfaction – To Redeemed, Reconciled, and Restored.

That transformation is worth remembering, forever.

Jesus wants us to want Him enough to overcome obstacles and to push in His direction. He doesn’t want to just throw things at us that we don’t have a real conviction to receive. When we see a humped-over person crawling through a crowd, know that that person really does want help, even if they say they don’t, somewhere in their heart they wish they did have some help. That kind of desire is what it takes to change our lives. Jesus is the answer. We may seek help by going from one person to another, but Jesus is the answer. We may be sick in our body, but Jesus is the answer. If my son is dead, insane, on drugs, or is just far away in a distant land, Jesus is the answer. No matter my problems, Jesus is the answer.

God remembers His covenant with people, He said so in Genesis 9:15. Nehemiah 4:14 “…Remember the Lord, great and awesome…” Psalm 9:12 says God remembers, or brings to mind, the cry of the poor and does not forget them. Because God remembers them, we should remember them also. In Psalm 42, David gives us a good example of what to do when we are remembering the more unkind times in our lives and we incur turbulence in our emotions and feelings, reliving that hardness. David says he goes to God and pours out his heart, and he remembers the goodness of God which gives Him rest and peace. Notice, David didn’t just dwell on all the injustice and wrongness. He purposely focused on God, and as he rested His eyes on God, his heart came to rest.

Do you remember God in your life before you knew He was in your life? If i set my mind to the task of remembering the times of my youth, knowing Jesus now, i can see Him back then. i can see things God did, things He said to me, things He influenced in other people, long before i thought i knew Him. Interestingly, those memories of God’s working in my life are so alive, even now. and even though all my other memories have lost or begun to lose their luster, the memories of the footsteps of the Lord are as bright now as ever before. It’s also odd to me, i can clearly see that in those moments, it never crossed my mind anything about the Lord whatsoever….and some would say, how can that be? All i can think is that the Lord was there and i simply didn’t have eyes to see Him, and now that i do have eyes to see, He is clearly there in my memories.

In John 5 there is an account of a man who was sick for 38 years whom Jesus met at the pool, Bethesda in Jerusalem. Jesus asked the man if he wanted to be made whole, and even though the man made an excuse for why he hadn’t been healed in the past and never did actually answer the question, Jesus healed the man anyway. Interestingly, the man did not know who it was who healed him. The knowledge nor the recognition of God was not present in his memory, even to the point that when the Pharisee’s asked him who did this, the man said, “i don’t know”. Only after Jesus found the man in the temple later on, and said, “You are well, go and sin no more lest something worse comes upon you”, only then did the man know who Jesus was.

God was working in that man’s life, even when the man did not know it was God who did the work. In the same way, i believe God is at work in our lives, even when we do not know it is God who works in us and in our circumstances.

Now that i know Christ and am much older, i remember times of my wild days as a young man, and i can clearly see God miraculously turning the car from the sure death of going off a mountain road; i can clearly hear God speaking wisdom to me to not go down a certain pathway; i can clearly remember the Lord motivating me to try harder in school to help me not see myself as a complete failure; it is clear to me now, and it is the kindness of God, that today, in my remembering myself as a young man, i see the Lord bringing me into relationships with other people, with some of those friendships continuing to this day, and they are not only good for me, i see the Lord in them also.

Look beyond the stagnant days of your life, think and remember. Can you see the Lord in your life, even before you knew it was the Lord in your life? Can you see Him?

Remember…. the Lord says, “Look and see, it was Jesus all along”. Many, if not most times, we don’t need someone to bring us BIG change, we just need a firm foot provided us so we can set our foot against it in order that we can find purchase to change direction some.

Ultimately, it is the foot of the Savior, who in His mercy, provides us a  stanchion…even when all our closest, most relied on friends have gone, Jesus gives us the pinion and rope to hold us fast to His Heart, even when we are dangling from a reverse-inclined sheer rock cliff, Jesus is there with us, and He is busy working on our behalf, driving pinions, making pivots, throwing us ropes, pulling us close to His heart, never leaving or forsaking us. He is there!

From the Journal of the Unknown Prophet:

“Oh, and how long has He sought you, beloved? How many nights, has He stood listening, silently waiting in the shadows unseen by you and those that surround you?

For it was He who wept as He heard your soundless scream in the  midnight hour. It was He who watched as you tried in your brokenness to marshall together the fragments of your shattered heart.

And so most beloved of His children, now He comes closer, the fairest of ten thousand. And as He walks out from behind the shadows and you lift up your tear-stained face to Him, half blinded by the radiance from the most beautiful of countenances, He reaches out His hand to you.”

“…’You?’ you mouth soundlessly. And you hear His whisper: I have sought you all your life. Through all the pain, through the loneliness, I have sought you. Each time your heart broke soundlessly with the agony of not belonging, i sought you. Through each rejection, through each hour of despair, I sought you. I was there, loving you. Reaching out to you. It was Me all along.

And as your eyelids gently close, you are engulfed in His tender embrace and the tears fall, somewhere through the sands of time in that gray place between sleeping and waking, you recognize that familiar presence and you too know that He was there. It was He all along.” Think about it.

Let’s pull this program to a close this evening. The day is done, gone the sun, only the world at rest is left around us.

i’m Social Porter and this evening’s broadcast is brought to you by our good friends on Main Street, Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven, Living In His Name Ministries, Area 22 Guitars, Kevin, Perry, and Tommy over at world headquarters for the Mebane Freedom League, and Werner Graphics.

Music was by the Pete Minger Quartet, Andreas Vollenweider, Coleman Hawkins, George Benson, J.J. Johnson, Miles Davis, and Didier Malherbe. All music use is licensed by BMI.

Remember this week as you go your way in your work-a-day world, God has been working in you since before it ever entered your mind He was in your life. The Lord is merciful and kind to us, long past our ever deserving anything as good as His love towards us. Be kind to each other, speak peace to your neighbor, afterall, God is working in them also in order to bring them safely to anchor in a peaceful and restful harbor.

Be strong and courageous. One day soon i’ll meet you under the flag of the Lion of Judah, the ensign of the Son of God and we’ll talk further. Amen.

He Loves Us

The church invisible “is made up of the summation of the whole, meaning everyone who belongs to God who ever was, presently is, or in the future shall be gathered into one body under Christ, who is the head.” i think of it as “invisible” because the greater part of those who comprise it are already in heaven or aren’t born yet…. and also “invisible” because its members who are still on earth can’t easily be seen many times. i reckon it’s the truth, not every believer, at first glance, looks like a believer…how are we supposed to look other than how we look? We don’t wear a special badge, or special clothing, live in special houses, or drive special cars so everyone knows us as believers. Regardless of what some negatively think, regardless of the grievances some may have laid at the feet of “the church”, according to scripture, God calls us a holy community, “the church”.

The qualifications of membership in the family of God are internal and are hidden. It is “invisible” or unseen except by Him who “searches the heart.” 2 Timothy 2:19, “The Lord knows those who are His”.

The church to whom the attributes, exclusive rights, power, privileges, and promises as a rightful part to Christ’s kingdom belong, are a spiritual body consisting of all true believers, and again, the church invisible. You may object to the wording there, but that is how God sees it, and truly, my friend, the buck stops with Him, not with us, our prejudices and disagreements. And yes, i realize throughout this entire program i’ve said, “God loves the church”, over and over. It is no mistake of repetitiveness but has a purpose.

God loves His people, He loves the church. The Lord has extended Himself beyond our wildest dreams in order that He would be involved with us, His people. From the beginning, His heart has been that He would be known, and we would be known by Him. Here’s a sticky statement: Right relationship is a two way street with good boundaries. If The King of the Universe didn’t love us, as He most certainly does, He wouldn’t fool with us. Think about it, we have a lot of nerve to declare “God doesn’t care” in light of from before the beginning He had a plan to redeem us, even before we fell to sin…He would not correct us if He didn’t care. Hebrews 12:6 “For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves, and He punishes, even scourges, every son whom He accepts and welcomes to His heart and cherishes.” Hold your place on this page, and i shall return in a moment.

Who are those comprising the visible church? They are all those throughout the world that profess the true faith. i call them “visible” because they are known, for the most part public, and although some are in secret because of murderous gov’ts and brutal societies, they are alive and functioning in the now. In the middle of “the church” is a mixture of “wheat and chaff,” or saints and sinners. One fellow wrote, “God has commanded His people to organize themselves into distinct visible legislative and ruling communities, with constitutions, rules, officers, badges, ordinances, and discipline. The organization is for the purpose, which is a conclusion to a matter for us to take action to accomplish, for the purpose of giving visibility to His kingdom, of making known the gospel of that kingdom, and of gathering in all those who belong to God. Each one of these distinct organized communities which is faithful to the great King, is an essential and indispensable part of the visible church, and they, all together, constitute the visible church.” The Lord gave momentum to the church, and their character and progress are set forward in motion in all the earth. You know, that’s a really big statement. i’ll be awhile thinking about that.

David Wilkerson wrote, “Consider what Paul said of the purity of Christ’s church: Ephesians 5:25-27 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

Mr. Wilkerson continues on saying, “God’s great concern is not about the apostate church. Even apostasies will not be able to kill or destroy the church of Jesus Christ. In spite of these problems, God has everything under control, and his anointed, visible and invisible, overcoming church is not dying. Rather, the river of the Holy Spirit is flowing into the “dead sea” of apostate churches, exposing iniquity and luke warmness. And it’s causing new life to spring up everywhere.”

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” If you want to do something for God, then love what he loves. It is a way to imitate God without “playing God”.

In Psalm 146:8 we see that the Lord loves the righteous.  God loves the Church.  He loves the people whose lives are hidden in Christ and who obey him. The Lord holds that the church is indeed a big deal. Why? …because God loves the church deeply, and with an everlasting commitment.

The Lord is the very embodiment of loyalty and commitment. With Him it is more than a couple nouns. Because He IS the two nouns, His person gives living substance to them as they are a someone, more than a something. Because He is the personification of loyalty and commitment, He represents his love for the church through the example of marriage. The Church isn’t just a brick and mortar facility…it’s not an empire, or a club, an organization, institution, or a religion. If it was an empire or a club we would only have to agree we are right and everyone else is wrong. Indeed, there are some who act like it’s a club instead of being part of the body of Christ. But in the true Body of Christ we all agree there is only one who is right, and it ain’t us. The focus is the Kingdom of God, not the empire of men. In God’s love, like marriage, there is covenant, promise, and responsibility. A friend recently said something like, “It’s no wonder many people are church surfers with little commitment. If they treat the body of Christ and church like they treat their marriages, with an average divorce rate of 52% or more, we shouldn’t be surprised at the lack of commitment to any church body.”

We are God’s family! Christianity means, not only relating to God, it means relating to other believers. When you become a Christian, you are a part of a family. That means our relationships are more than just passing in the night, but more the continual action of loyalty and commitment, if possible, to stick it out. Romans 12:18, If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” If possible is accented here, and i too am stressing the phrase because there truly are situations where it is not possible with people, and that requires an entire set of different choices and decisions, complete with renewed boundaries, and distinct plans of action.

Being part of the church, as in the body of Christ, is not merely being part of a group which meets at a brick and mortar facility, it is not in terms of a boy friend/girl friend relationship, yet, i believe many are subtly doing nothing more than dating God and the church whom He loves, seemingly only hanging around for what they can get from Him. In their hearts they treat the Lord like He’s on a short leash. They are critical of Him, judging what they have imagined Him to do or not do, and ready to terminate their relationship with God at any moment if He doesn’t do what they think He should. Oh, how little those people know God. i’m going to be a little aggressive here according to some, but i think many of us don’t know God nearly as well as we think we do.

Ephesians 2:19 “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God”.

This verse says the church is God’s family, and every believer needs a home, connected to the legisla  body as well as a family of believers. i didn’t say a brick and mortar facility, but a church home as in.. others with whom we are in fellowship with. The question isn’t, “did you go to church” as in a building somewhere at a certain time, but did you connect with God? And if we think 10mins before and after a meeting is sufficient to call it connecting, we are wrong.

The church is God’s beloved, and it’s about His house, from the start. The very first letter of the Bible is the Hebrew letter, beit, and it’s oversized, emphasizing that from cover to cover it’s about the house of God and His family whom He loves. It’s there in 1 Thess 1:4 where it says, “brothers loved by God.” God loves the church, so let’s not get caught up in letters and miss the point … The male-ness of the terminology here is not meant to exclude women or children. The church is a family of brothers and sisters, the language simply refers to siblings. In 1Peter4 it is mentioned again concerning the church as the ‘household of God.’  The reference is very clear to me. A household is a unit, one comprised of children, mother, and father. God loves the church, and we should be reminded it isn’t right to call the bride of Christ names and we ought not forget this. Neither should we ignore it, doubt it, downplay it, belittle it, or de-emphasize it. Just because the church has problems, doesn’t mean God doesn’t love the church, and just because we may have personal ought with the church, doesn’t mean God doesn’t love the church. That God loves the church, that He set His affections on her, that He set His affections on us, is a truth we must… prize. i’m not saying the church doesn’t have some serious problems to resolve, and by only speaking sweet things made of moon beams, candy canes, and merry-go-rounds is not honest nor does it resolve anything. But… even in light of our difficulties, we are still the church whom He loves.

So then, what does it mean for God to love us, from His perspective? i was amazed when i looked up the word “beloved”. Simply put, it means to cherish, or take pleasure in. God cherishes, He t akes pleasure in the church family as more than a companion! Ahh, truly it is more…. The Hebrew word for beloved in 2Sam, used 208 times in scripture, literally paints a picture which says God leans in His heart towards us, to exercise grace for the return of His people whom He loves. That is what He means when He calls us His beloved. He loves us so passionately, it is said, “He breaths after us and calls us His darling.” Psalm108:6, “That your beloved ones may be delivered”. “Beloved” is used of the desire of ones heart 30 times alone in the Song of Solomon. This is significant and we should take note of God’s attitude toward the church, putting away our snurling lip and aiming finger of judgment.

To be God’s beloved, metaphorically, is like He takes his wallet out, or turns on His smart phone, and says, “Check it out! These are My kids! These are my sons and daughters!”, acting like a proud parent. Like a man prizes his super car, or his son or daughter, just like a woman treasures her diamond engagement ring and wants to show it off to the other girls, God holds the church near and dear.

‘How deep the Father’s love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make me, a wretch His treasure’

            i believe that the Love of God is broader than being just about you and i though. It has a broader scope than just loving the church. God the Father loves God the Son. John 3:35 straight out says, “The Father loves the Son…” And John 14:31 says that the Son loves the Father as a perfect love, unblemished by any questionable motive, and untarnished by even the slightest infraction.

That God so loved the world that He gave His Son does not mean He so loved only those who loved Him back. There’s that retributive theology again. There may be those who try to make it say that…but that’s not what it says. That “God SO loved the world” means He loved the object of His affection who was full of wrongness. The world (kosmos) in John refers to a wicked, rebellious, self-centered, God excluding system with a God-hating order of things, which is full of moral darkness. And regardless of all that, God still loved.

In the book, “The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God” by Don Carson he states, “In John 3:16 God’s love in sending the Lord Jesus is to be admired not because it is extended to so big a thing as the world, but to so bad a thing as the world; not just to “so many” people, but more as to such wicked people”. Brennan Manning said the Lord told Him one time, “God expects you to fail far more than you expect yourself to fail.” In other words, the Lord Almighty knows the world is worse than it understands, yet His love and grace do not stagger or waiver.

So, if God’s love is bigger and more complex than his love for the church, what makes his love for the church a big deal? God loves. God is love. In the O.T. God didn’t love all equally and the same. He didn’t love Egypt the way he did Israel; He didn’t love Esau the way he did Jacob. Ahhh, but once we leave the O.T. and cross into the new, Jesus died once, for all, and grace extends His love to small wickedness as well as large. It isn’t in terms of worthiness. A changed heart thoroughly saturated with the tenderness of God passes that tenderness around indiscriminately, making no distinction between the worthy and unworthy. Grace levels the mountains and fills in the valleys, and makes a level playing field for all to receive His love with reckless abandon.

John 3:16 says God loves the world…. that is the world in all it’s moral darkness and wickedness… But the love he has for His people, for the family who are the church, moves the Lord to mark them out, to set them apart from before that chaos which existed in the beginning. He calls that being sanctified.

God loves His people beyond our wildest and most stretched out imagination. Regardless of circumstances, even when our ship is overwhelmed in the storm and the deep is coming over the sides, God’s love for us stands firm. The Lord our God loves us, His church, His bride! Never lose sight of that! Think about it.

Never forget God loves us, the church. Whether we like it or not we are part of the family of God, we who believe on Christ Jesus and exalt the Lord as the One and only God, by whom we relate to each other, and are looking and hoping for unity through Christ who is our means of harmony.

Thank you for joining me here at Outposts for acoustic jazz night accompanied by some contemplative conversation, broadcast semi-live from the late evening, cascading banks of the Ockluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean over the rivers edge, and every evening is pleasant.

i’m Social Porter and this program has been brought to you by the Kingdom of God, Living In His Name Ministries, Area 22 Guitars, Werner Graphics where the landscape of Heaven comes to life through the art of God’s imagination here on earth, the Mebane Freedom League with Kevin, Tommy, and Perry, and of course, Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.

Music was by Al DiMeola, Billy McLaughlin, Mark O’Conner, Phil Keaggy, Preston Reed, and Andy McKee. All music use is licensed by BMI.

Be strong and courageous, dance before the Lord when no one can see you, speak to the Lord and those around you in holy songs and melodies. Visit someone this week who you wouldn’t normally see, and look to the sky, the return of Christ is near. Amen.