Love Fulfilled Ministry

" Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, in Him walk, rooted and built up in him being strengthened in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving ." 1 Men on the moon. I liken this older generation to men on the moon. They learned good principles to get to the moon, and they see you trying to get there but they just say, nope you can't do that, nope that is wrong, nope, nope, nope... They don't help and will say things like it is part of the learning process. Of course I am a strong believer in experiential knowledge, but many of these men do not facilitate, they do not help others build rockets to get to the moon. So is this truly wisdom and prudence, is such a foundation built upon Christ or the wisdom of men? I have worked with children from orphanages in Ukraine, in one group there were three siblings, two brothers that were considered problem children, even for orphans. I first met them at the Space and Rocket ...

" Now therefore, let your hands be strong and be valiant; for Saul your lord is dead ," 1 David had been anointed king over Israel 12 years before Saul died. We see the story from the perspective of being able to read the scriptures, but from the peoples perspective only Judah accepted Samuel's anointing of David as king, the rest believed that Saul was the appointed king by God. David would seem to have been coming against the authority of such an appointment. We also see an example of standing for God, in this anointing of God, fearing God above men, and we see his submissive heart before God, who would exalt him in due time. David could have taken the kingdom by force, he could have killed Saul on two occasions, but he didn't. He stood in the anointing of God but he was accused and cursed by people because he stood against Saul. Surely this would have been viewed by many as coming against the authority of God. We see some lessons in such, he was anointed by G...

" however seek first the kingdom of God and the righteousness of him and these things will be added to you ." 1 This word for righteousness is dikaiosuné , "justice, justness, righteousness." There is a paradox when it comes to righteousness and justice, we know we are obligated to such, we sense its pull, but it is often difficult to define what it is and how to implement it. And then we have the matter of the circumcision party who would encourage us to put our trust in the flesh and the letter of the law, rules and regulations. So what is righteousness and justice, how can I ensure it is taking place? The prophets of God speak, Righteousness and justice dwell together in the land. " Thus, will be the last first and the first last ..." 2   I will focus on Jesus, our example, and when it comes to children of faith, to the least of these, it is of high importance. Justice surely involves treating them well. In fact how I treat them Jesus said i...

" And shall be the work of righteousness peace and the effect of righteousness, quite ." 1 It is the work of righteousness that produces peace and quietness in the "Land." Isaiah speaks that God will pour out his Spirit on this unfertile "land" and it would become fertile, " and shall dwell in the desert, justice and righteousness, in the field abides ." 2 Justice dwells in the "land" as righteousness produces justice and the work of such is peace and quite in the land. " There can be no justice without peace and there can be no peace without justice ."--- Martin Luther King Justice and righteousness go hand in hand. Martin Luther King understood such a principle, he understood that passive peace doesn't bring real change. Until justice is served there can be no true peace as righteousness is not at work. The work of righteousness is peace . He was paraphrasing Amos the prophet of God.  " until justice rolls ...

" through whom we have access, by faith, into the Grace in which we stand, also we boast in hope of the honor of God ." 1 We have access, boldly, through faith, to the throne of Grace, to approach God and receive mercy and grace in our time of need. It is one of the greatest principles of the new covenant in Christ, who was rich and became poor, who left his place of honor, so that we may boast in such hope of being honored by the Father. This word for honor is often translated as "renown, glory, splendor," it is from dokeō, " exercising personal opinion which determines value ." This word for honor correlates with the Hebrew word kabo , which interestingly has the meaning " to be heavy ." Now, we can say we are heavy with the praise of people, such would say our honor is how others value us. We can also be heavy with splendor, wealth... and surely such comes with heavy burdens. W e boast in hope of the honor of God . Thayer states honor ...

" Beware that there is no base thought in your heart... and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother, and you give him nothing; then he may cry to the LORD against you, and it will be a sin in you ." 1 There is great sin in the Land, the poor cry out to the Lord. He has heard their cry, he will raise up one who understands their affliction, justice will be given to the poor who cry out to His name. In the old covenant there were many laws of social responsibilities to the poor, these poor of the Land were God's people, they would be those of the Church today. In general we in the Church think opposite of scripture when it comes to how we treat the poor. We might justify our thinking by teachings that teach our earthly prosperity is a result of our righteousness. We must be careful in how we treat the poor, so that we do not sin. " For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brot...

" If we among you, sow spiritual things, is it a great thing if we from you reap material things ?" 1 Jesus said that we are to labor for food that doesn't perish, spiritual things, not earthly things that might fill the belly and not our soul. These spiritual things as Paul writes should have the purpose of the edification or building up of the church into faith for the work of ministry. Of course, we see in the early church two ways to serve; there were leaders who served (ministered) the people in earthly things and who served the church in spiritual things. To not care for the needs of God's people is to turn your heart from them, it is not serving them. Those called to be ministers serve the people and in return may receive of the earthly blessings of the people. We see the primary purpose of a minister is to serve spiritual food. In fact this very concept guides us in how we should give, if we are served by a minister spiritual food we may give of our earth...

" from whom all the body being joined together and being held together by every kindle of supply  according to the energy of the measure of each individual part, the increase of the body, manufactures the building of itself in love ." 7 The translation of this verse is interesting, often I have read it having difficulty envisioning it as a body, with joints and ligaments, as it is often translated. I would see things like the word for kindle often translated as joint, this is haphé ,  it is derived from a word meaning "kindle, light" which seems to have no meaning as a joint of a physical body. This verse speaks of measures and parts, which is often translate as members, ligaments of a physical body. However, recently I came across this word,  supply , and noticed it is derived from the word choros , "dance, chorus." Ahh, I said, the body is like a heavenly body or chorus. This word for supply is epichorégeó, ( epi , "upon, fitting" and chor...

" And you should not be afraid of those killing the body and the soul not being able to kill, however, you should fear rather the one being able both soul and body to destroy in hell. " 1 In context Jesus makes the point not to fear man, and if you are to fear anyone fear God, but God will not give us a spirit of fear but of power, love... Jesus continues by saying, " are not two sparrows sold for a small sum and one of them will not fall to the ground apart from the Father of you ." 2  God sees all, Trust in God, vengeance is his and he will avenge his children! If he knows the hairs on your head, surely he knows the plight of the afflicted, if he cares for the sparrow he cares for you. It is not the afflicted that should fear, but it is those who would afflict the afflicted, these men should fear God. A great principle of truth is that truth loves the light, those who love the light come into the light, as their deeds are good. The light exposes the darkness ...

" And all things were placed under his feet and to him was given the head above all things the church, which is the body of him the fullness of the one, all things in all filling ." 1   Christ is the head,  kephalé , "head, corner."  Head speaks of chief supremacy of the authority given Christ by the Father; King, Lord, Master, Teacher, Rabbi, High Priest... Such speaks also of the "corner" the Church is built upon, a foundation laid on the apostles and prophets with Christ being the "corner"  of the church or cornerstone, which is a "head" stone or foundation stone which guides the rest of the foundation. The body or the Church is the fullness of Him, but what does this fullness look like?  The body of Christ, the Church, is "the fullness of the One, all things in all filling all." If we are to be the fullness of Christ and transformed to the image of Christ then this image is the fullness of Chr...

"... we should love one another. And this is love, that we should walk in obedience to his commands. This is the command, just as you heard from the beginning, so that in it you walk ." 1 The command is to love one another. To walk in love is to be obedient to Christ's command. Why do we walk in love? Jesus commanded it! However, Jesus said love is the standard or banner of Christianity. " By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. " 2 . John is reiterating this commandment and he explains why it is our banner, why we should walk in love. " Because many deceivers have entered, those confessing Jesus Christ, coming in the flesh, these are the deceiver and the anti-christ. " 2  So to walk in love counters such deception. Love is a fruit of the Spirit that can not be genuinely duplicated. It is imperative that the church walk in agape love. " The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will depart from the...