Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

Matthew 7:24-25

The words of Jesus still speak to us today, directly where we need it the most.  In a day when things a shaking around us, and power ministries are reaching levels where the pressures cause great collapses in ministry, the “words in red” speak directly to the heart of the problem, as they have for nearly 2000 years.

Jesus said, if you have heard His words and do them, your house will be built upon the solid rock, and even when the storms come (and they will come), your house remains standing, no matter what pressures come.

Read more…

But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Matthew 5:22

In Luke 11:20, Jesus said that if He was driving out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom had come upon those listening.  While all the other miracles of the Old Testament had been done previously by other prophets, deliverance was unique to the New Covenant, and, by this verse, a distinguishing feature of the Kingdom being present.  Despite a small faction in so call “liberal” theologians that attempt to say different, demons, or evil spirits, are presented as the primary cause for many ailments and behaviors.  The basic difference between a Pharisee and Sadducee was that the Pharisee believed in the resurrection from the dead and evil spirits, while the others did not.  Obviously Jesus believed in evil spirits, because He cast them out of people!

So, the understanding of the role of deliverance in the New Covenant is quite understood.  So much as healing is the children’s bread, and Jesus said this in reference to casting out a demon (Matthew 15:26), this is just as necessary in the Kingdom as healing and salvation is (the Greek word for “salvation” generally indicates all three).  But, where does this leave the place of inner healing in the New Testament?  This was a stumbling block for a while for myself, until it suddenly occurred to me, as deliverance and the miraculous is the apparent half of the gospel, the inner work of the heart is its covered, veiled, or hidden work.  The other “half”.

Read more…

You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

Matthew 23:26

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5).  Once we have purified our souls by obeying the truth unto the point where we can love for real, we should love each other fervently, as we ought to (1 Peter 1:22).

This is the point of the Gospel.  This is the work of the cross and the path of life.  If your gospel is not aimed at producing this life here and now, a life that is demonstrated by a visible, recognizable love (John 13:35), that does not tolerate sin so much to eat with an immoral brother (1 Corinthians 5:11), what are you living?

Read more…

[B]ut he who is doing the truth doth come to the light, that his works may be manifested, that in God they are having been wrought.

John 3:21 YLT

The Kingdom and the earth cannot be compared.  They are so drastically different from each other, that Jesus says the only way to really live “there” is to not live “here”.  This obviously does not have to be fully understood to be lived, but for those who look to understand and see what Jesus was saying, in order to live by it, it becomes evident.

He who begins to build a tower must first calculate the cost, lest he run out half way through (Luke 14:28).  Jesus said that unless you hate your former life (Luke 14:26), every part, including family ties and who you used to be, you cannot be His disciple.  Luke 14:33 goes a long ways and says that unless you give up everything you have, you cannot be His disciple.

Read more…

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Acts 2:42

After the day of Pentecost, after the outpouring of the Spirit, and after the 3000 who were saved in an afternoon through Peter’s stand and preaching, this short verse describes what they considered important.

This verse has several similar to it in the New Testament, as a word study on such words as “devoted” demonstrates, but it is the first, listing four parts that were what they “devoted themselves to”.  Whether it was an exhaustive list is not the point, but simply that these four were important enough to be mentioned.

Read more…

Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.

Matthew 13:52 (portion)

The product of knowing about the Kingdom is to bring forth treasures.  These treasures are New, created now.  We refer back to the word.

Read more…

I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

John 10:10 (portion)

The only pure life is the life yielded to the Spirit.

If we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

Read more…

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

Faith in God is a real, active, and living thing.  God is alive, and powerful.  Faith sees Him, and the word of His power overcomes what cannot be otherwise overcome, and carries a person with it through otherwise impossible situations.

It was by faith in God that David conquered the giant, and it was by faith in God that Jonathan, his friend, along with his armor bearer, single-handedly took on an entire Philistine garrison.  It was by faith that overcame their weaknesses and came to be firmly established in the land.

Read more…

Matthew 13:3-8

Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

Proverbs 4:23 says to keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issuings of life.  Jesus, when confronting Peter after His  resurrection, after that Peter had denied Him, asked Him three times, “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-17).  Three times, He asked Peter if he loved Him the way He himself loved Peter, unconditional, undemanding love.

Read more…

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”

Jeremiah 31:33

We are under the New Covenant.  We are not under the old, and we are not looking for another.  Jesus died for us, not only for our actual sins committed, but to remove our sinful nature.  As the prophet writes, to remove the heart of stone, and replace it with a heart of flesh.

Read more…