Ephesians 1:19–20 (NIV)

¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms.

This resurrection power which comes from the Holy Spirit enables believers to exhibit a life that is transformed and has the potential of producing godly abundance that cannot be experienced otherwise.

Yet it is readily recognized that many believers live lives today that are not much different from those of non-believers.  This is a travesty that needs to be remedied.  If the power is there, why isn’t it evident in the lives of so many who profess to be believers? The answer the Bible gives is that it’s a result of disobedience. The Bible relates the fact that the believer can quench the Holy Spirit presence (1 Thessalonians 5:19).  The believer’s body is spoken of as being the temple of the Holy Spirit, ( 1 Corinthians 6:19).  But it is possible for the believer to live in such a way that the Holy Spirit cannot freely move within and produce the abundant life that is meant to be lived.  That is why we have commands to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to keep in step with the Spirit, (Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 5:25).

Yes, the abundant life is a latent and powerful force in the believer.   This resurrection power is unleashed when the born again believer yields to the Holy Spirit in total obedience to Jesus Christ.

]]> http://www.reliancechurchlakeland.org/2012/04/03/resurrection-power-is-expected-in-the-life-of-the-believer/feed/ 0 http://www.reliancechurchlakeland.org/2012/02/07/the-church-needs-to-be-more-like-jesus/ http://www.reliancechurchlakeland.org/2012/02/07/the-church-needs-to-be-more-like-jesus/#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:03:28 +0000 dennisstebly http://www.reliancechurchlakeland.org/?p=762 During his earthly ministry, Jesus exhibited righteous anger toward the religious establishment more than toward anyone else.  The religious Pharisees and scribes of that day were living by the letter of the Law, not realizing that they themselves were unable to keep it.  They were blind to their own condition.  In Matthew 23:13-33 among other places in the Gospel accounts, Jesus exposed their true character.  They only appeared to look good on the outside.  They were hiding behind a mask of false righteousness.  They were hypocrites.

The church today needs to examine herself as the bride of Christ, recognizing that she is to be a pure bride.  We are to be in love with our Savior who died to take away the stain of our sin.  The church should never forget that it is only by grace that we stand clean before the Lord.  The Church can become proud and self righteous and begin to fall into the trap of being just like the Pharisees who angered Jesus.

The Church is supposed to exemplify the life of Christ in the way that we interact with sinners.  We are sinners saved by grace and we have been commanded by Christ to go into the world and share the message of salvation by grace.  Jesus demonstrated many different ways that he reached out to sinners.  The woman at the well in John 4:1-26 is a great example. Jesus reached out to her and met her at her level and began to enlighten her as to who he was and what he could do for her.

I also like the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery in John 8:1-11.  Jesus deals gently in that situation also.  He challenged those (religious people) who would stone her to do so only if they themselves were without sin.  The challenge resulted in the accusers walking away in disgrace.  What Jesus did next was exhibit grace.  He said to the woman, “Where are your accusers?”  She said, “I have none.”  And then He said to her, “Neither do I accuse you.  Go your way and leave your life of sin.”

This story depicts the balance that everyone in the Church needs to maintain.  We are to be careful not to judge others while being careful to judge our own sin. The Church needs to make sure that she is not behaving like Pharisees who saw the sins of others while hiding behind a mask obscuring their own.  The Church needs to have more of an active involvement of reaching out to others with the grace of Jesus rather than breathing out condemnation toward others. Like Jesus, the Church should see needs that are all around and sacrifice time and resources to meet them.  The Church needs to have more involvement with “sinners” just like Jesus did.  When we are like our Lord who came here to serve not to be served and to give our lives for sinners, we will be redemptive with our lives and will draw people to Jesus rather than repel them from genuine faith.

In some of my regular reading of the Scriptures this morning, I was impressed once again with how amazing grace is.  I was reading in Romans 3, which presents everyone, Jew and Gentile as being guilty before God of violating His Law.  Paul makes a statement that is quite revealing at the beginning of the chapter with reference to the Jews, who he said had an advantage over others with regards to having been entrusted with the very oracles of God.  Yet, they were no better off because of the advantage because they were just as guilty of sin as anyone else.  The Jews had the oracles of God, they had the Law, but just like anyone else, they fell woefully short of keeping it.  The Word of God declares that no one is righteous, no not one.

Further in to the chapter, at v.19, the Apostle Paul declares that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world held accountable to God.  Then, Paul states: “No one will be justified in God’s sight by works of the law because through the law comes knowledge of sin.  What Paul is stating here is that the purpose of the law is to point out sin and to show that we all fall short of it.  Left unto ourselves, no one would have hope.

How marvelous that the Apostle goes on to say in Rom. 3:21-22, those wonderful and magnificent words: “But now the righteousness from God has been manifested apart from the law.  This righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe.  For there is no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, Rom.3:23.

The justification that Paul speaks of here is a grace gift purchased for us through Jesus’ redemption.  The word redemption needs to be clearly understood.  The word means to be liberated or set free.  And the cost of our being set free is described here in v.25 as a sacrifice of atonement obtained through faith in His blood.  It is the blood of Jesus that atones for the sin of our not being able to keep the law.

The law is described elsewhere as a school master to lead us to Christ.  Again, the law leads us to see our sin and to point us to a Savior who frees us from the tyranny of sin and the law’s condemnation.  The law puts us under a curse and Jesus has released us from it’s curse by His grace.  There is coming a day when the law will perish and all we will have is grace.  Until then, the law continues to point us to Jesus the redeemer from sin and the giver of eternal life.

I know people who say that the law is eternal.  I am convinced that it is not.  The Bible says that it will not perish until it all is fulfilled, which is reference to the ultimate completion of Christ’s redemption.  Until that day, the law will continue to point people to the Savior: Jesus Christ.  Then the law will fade away, (2 Cor.3:11).  In Heaven, there will be no need for the law to point out our sin because there will be no sin in Heaven and therefore no need for the law.

As of late, I have been blogging my thoughts and observations from the Genesis reading of the Daily Bible Blog (a link to the blog is on the right column of this page).  This morning, I will comment on today’s New Testament reading from the Daily Bible Blog.  The New Testament reading is from Matthew 8 and provides a stark contrast to what I said about the bride of Christ (the church) in yesterday’s comments.  In Genesis 24, we have a picture of the ultimate gathering of the bride, who in all of her purity will be presented to Jesus at his second coming.  What a future awaits us, as the church. One of eternal bliss with our Savior.

But in ch.8 of Matthew’s gospel, we have the account of demonic oppression and the actions of Jesus against it.  If you are on your computer reading this, cursor over this Bible reference: Matt.8:28-34.  Pretty cool that the Scripture just pops up when you cursor over it!  In this passage of Scripture, we witness the tremendous authority of Jesus to bring deliverance to those having formerly been demonically oppressed.  Jesus dramatically delivered these men who were so fierce and dangerous that no one could go near them.  As Jesus commanded the demons to leave the bodies of the oppressed, they begged him to allow them to enter into the pigs which had been feeding nearby.  Jesus permitted them to do so and the pigs immediately rushed down a steep grade and into the lake that was there and were drowned.  Those who witnessed the event rushed into town to tell the others and then a whole crowd came back to the scene of this event.  Astonishingly, the townspeople were more upset about their loss of the large huge of pigs than the fact that Jesus had just healed two of their own.

There is a lot beneath the surface of this story that we should not miss.  People living today are still oppressed by demonic forces that are very real in the world today.  And only Jesus has the ability to bring deliverance.  The picture presented of the demons drowned in the lake, is one of future judgment for the Devil and his angels. When Jesus had first appeared at the location of this event, the demons recognized him and asked if he was coming to destroy them before the appointed time.  Demons know of their final state: the doom of destruction.  But in the meantime, they are about the business of destroying the lives of people they possess, wanting to take to doom and destruction as many as they can.

Some in the world would want to write these words off as fanatical musings of crazy Christians.  Others want everything to just be left as it is.  After all, there is big money to be made today in the realm of evil and sinful practices.  But there really can be no mistaking the fact that the influences of demonic forces are very real and that they explain a lot of the evil that pervades in the world today.  Thankfully, there is coming a day spoken of in the book of Revelation when all the demonic forces will be completely and forever destroyed.   I conclude with these notes from my study Bible (in italics) which allow you to examine a few other passages that deal with Jesus’ authority, our authority through our union with Jesus and the end-time doom of demons and the ultimate deliverance that comes through the work of Jesus, who came to deliver us all from sin and to give us eternal life:

The pigs’ fate in the sea prefigures and pictures the final fate of demons, when God defeats Satan and throws him into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10). Jesus accomplished the decisive defeat of Satan in his earthly ministry (Matt. 4:1–11; Luke 10:18–19), and ultimately in his crucifixion and resurrection (John 12:31; Col. 2:15; Heb. 2:14–15).^[1]

As I mentioned in the last blog entry, Isaac was a miracle child.  Abraham and Sarah were well beyond the age of bearing children.  Sarah’s womb was dead, yet she had a child in her old age because nothing is impossible with God.  As a result, Isaac’s is a miraculous birth.  He is depicted in Scripture as a type of Christ.  In other words, the person of Jesus is seen through Isaac.   It is through the miracle birth of Isaac that the promises to Abraham would be fulfilled.   Abraham, as a good father, sought the right bride for Isaac- one who was not from the daughters of the heathen in the land of Canaan.  Abraham gave strict instructions to his servant to travel to his own kinfolk to find this choice bride.  The servant has to travel a very long distance to fulfill the mission.

Well, guess what?  This gives us a picture of what God is now doing in providing a bride for His Son, Jesus Christ.  In the Bible, the church is pictured as the pure bride of Christ.  And just as in Gen. 24, Abraham’s servant was sent on the mission of finding a bride for Isaac,  so the Holy Spirit has the task of serving the Heavenly Father in seeking out a bride for Christ.  It is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit to bring us to the point of spiritual birth (Titus 3:5) and to make us a holy temple (1 Cor.3:16) as believers .  As we submit to the work of the Holy Spirit, we are made holy for our bridegroom, who is Jesus Christ.  Here are some passages from the New Testament that speak of our position as the bride of Christ: (Matt. 9:15; Jn. 3:29: Rev.19:7, 21:2-9-10; Eph.5:22-33).

So we have Melchizedek who appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, after the rescue of Lot.  One of the features about Melchizedek that we must reckon with is the fact that the Scriptures are silent concerning his genealogy.  He is presented in this way for a purpose which is insightfully given in the book of Hebrews.  If you look closely at the end of Hebrews 6 and in to chapter 7, you will read valuable information to augment what we have in the Genesis account.   Melchizedek is linked with Jesus Christ as belonging to a distinct priesthood.   It is a priesthood that will supersede the yet future priesthood of Aaron.

The Aaronic priesthood was a temporary vehicle used until Jesus appeared and made it obsolete, cf. Hebrews 7:11-12.  Of course the Aaronic priesthood came to an end through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.   Jesus made peace for us by His sacrifice on our behalf.  Melchizedek is referenced as “king of Salem.”  “Salem” means peace.  So he is called “king of peace.”  Melchizedek means: “king of righteousness.”  Taken together, he is king of peace and king of righteousness (Hebrews 7:2) perfectly prefiguring or foreshadowing Jesus Christ who came to bring us righteousness and peace by his work on the cross.   Both Jesus and Melchizedek are presented as priest-kings.  Again, this is unique.

We have been looking at the fact that God raised up Abram and called him apart for a godly purpose.  Abram means “exalted father.” His name is changed in Genesis 17 to Abraham.  Abraham means “father of many” or “father of nations.”   Abram is given his new name, Abraham, before he had any children.  His new name holds a prophetic promise of what was yet to be.  The fact that Abraham pays a tithe to Melchizedek in Genesis 14 is evidence of something on a grand scale that God was to accomplish through Jesus Christ, who was of the order of Melchizedek.  And it is through Jesus Christ that Abraham’s name will ring true (Romans 4:17).

In today’s reading of the Daily Bible Blog, the unfolding story in Genesis continues with Isaac.  If you are reading through the Bible, using this blog, you are introduced to Isaac today.  He is the miracle child of Abraham who will be the one through whom Christ will come and through whom God would fulfill the promise to Abraham revealed through his name.

In today’s reading, we see a man who rises to prominence in the pages of Genesis.  I love these particular chapters of Genesis.  The Daily Bible blog reading from Genesis 13:5-15:21, reveals that Abram was not greedy but extremely generous.  He defaulted to his nephew, Lot, allowing him to make the first choice of relocation when their herds got too large for them to stay together and they had to part company.   Lot chose the prime, fertile land of the valleys for himself.  But no sooner do Abram and Lot agree, that God immediately blesses Abram and gives him insight into how blessed he would become and that virtually everything he could see in all directions would be the inheritance of his descendants. . It is clear at this point that Abram’s heart attitude is right where it needed to be.  His selflessness is a virtue to which too few attain.  It is a mark of his greatness.

Next, we see that Lot’s choice led to trouble makes leads to trouble and Uncle Abram comes to his rescue.  Abram demonstrated tremendous bravery in rescuing his relative.  In the process, Abram’s fame became renowned throughout the area.   The mysterious appearance of the priest Melchizedek at this point provides great fascination, right up to this present day. What we know for certain about him is that his priesthood prefigures the priesthood of Jesus Christ and replaces the Levitical priesthood,  made obsolete by his indestructible life, (Hebrews 7:15-17).  With regards to the tithe that Abram pays to Melchizedek, we are given insight to the mystery behind it in Hebrews 7:4-10.  (I’ll have more to say about this in my next blog article). Once again, we can see through the book of Genesis that God providential power is preserving a godly line that leads to Christ.  How awesome to know that by the same faith as Abram, we are grafted into that line by faith.

This is why reading through the Bible in a year is such a great practice.  It is a continual reminder that God is sovereign and that He has a purpose to which we are to conform.  The contrast between chapters 11 and 12 of Genesis clearly demonstrate this.  In ch.11, man attempts to achieve greatness apart from God.  God puts an end to such feeble attempts.  Ch. 12 reveals that God’s ways are higher than man’s.  God is producing a godly line that comes right down to you and me.  We must conform to God’s ways and learn obedience and surrender to Him.

There is a progression that needs to be made in the Christian life.  “How are we progressing?”  Are we committed to be like Noah? Will we, like him, produce a godly line that maintains integrity in the midst of a perverse generation?  Will we produce a godly line that endures because our focus on Jesus the Author and the Perfecter of our faith?  Consider memorizing Hebrews 12:1-2 as a motivating challenge in your race.