Satan loves isolated believers by Rick Warren

Encourage one another daily ... so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness (Hebrews 3:13 NIV)

“Mind your own Business” is not a Christian phrase.

A church family will help keep you from backsliding.

None of us are immune to temptation. Given the right situation, you and I are capable of any sin. Hold your mouse over the following scriptures:

• 1 Corinthians 10:12
• Jeremiah 17:9
• 1 Timothy 1:19

God knows this, so he has assigned us as individuals the responsibility of keeping each other on track.

The Bible says, “Encourage one another daily ... so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Hebrews 3:13 NIV)

“Mind your own Business” is not a Christian phrase.

We are called and commanded to be involved in each other’s lives. If you know someone who is wavering spiritually right now, it is your responsibility to go after them and bring them back into the fellowship. James tells us, "If you know people who have wandered off from God’s truth, don’t write them off. Go after them. Get them back." (James 5:19 MSG)

A related benefit of a local church is that it also provides the spiritual protection of godly leaders. God gives the shepherd leader the responsibility to guard, protect, defend, and care for the spiritual welfare of his flock. Hold your mouse over the following scriptures:

• Acts 20:28-29
• 1 Peter 5:1-4
• Hebrews 13:7, 17

We are told, “Their work is to watch over your souls, and they know they are accountable to God.” (Hebrews 13:17 NLT)

Satan loves detached believers, unplugged from the life of the Body, isolated from God’s family, and unaccountable to spiritual leaders, because he knows they are defenseless and powerless against his tactics.

Ng Francis
Pastor
Tabernacle of Christ
www.fnministries.com

Flesh of My Flesh

The body of man is nourished in the following manner. He sits before a plate of food he has chosen with fork in hand; he begins by loading the fork with whatever is on his plate. He places the food in his mouth and begins to chew. If the food suits his taste he will continue to chew and the digestion process begins; he chews until the food is manageable to swallow. As it is swallowed it enters his stomach and the digestion process is completed and then it is assimilated to the body; and if it is the proper diet, with exercise, it adds strength and growth to the body; resulting in maturity and extended life. If he insists on eating an improper diet it will result in stunted growth and early death. If he does not like the taste of the food, most of the time he will expel it in some manner.

We nourish our soul in like manner. When we chose that which is pleasant to the eyes and ears and we began to look upon and hear, metaphorically speaking, we are “eating” or “digesting and assimilating,” that is to say, we are “seeing, listening and believing,” thus feeding the inner man. That by which we have nourished the soul is absorbed and becomes part of our “being;” and if it is the proper diet, with exercise, it adds strength and healthy growth to the soul, resulting in maturity and eternal life. If we have chosen an improper diet it results in an unhealthy soul that ends in death. If we do not like what we see and hear we reject it by turning away.

Many times the appearance of and the taste for food that consists of a healthy diet for the body must be cultivated. The same is true for the soul of man. He must have a hunger for the beauty and truth of God (Matthew 5:6); and only the Holy Spirit can develop and cultivate that hunger (John 6:44).

There are many types, symbols, metaphors, shadows, foreshadows, parables and etc. in the Holy Bible. Yeshua often spoke in parables and also made use of metaphors in His teachings. We wrote the above metaphor to help us understand the following Scripture. . Though it may not be stated in the exact science we trust it will serve to the readers benefit. It will also further help to understand if we are reminded that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14 NASU) and they called Him Yeshua. Though the following words of our Lord seems to be a disagreeable expression to our delicate senses, especially our hearing---here “you must eat” means to “listen” and “believe” and imbibe or absorb His words and become one with Him.

“Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, ‘How can this man give us His flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever’.”

(John 6:52-58 NASU)

When Yeshua said, “you must eat of my flesh and drink of my blood” (John 1:14) he is speaking a metaphor, for He also said,

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

(John 6:63d NASU)

Therefore, translating the metaphor, He is speaking thus; you must be brought into life again in the following manner or you have no life in you. To have eternal life you must listen to my words and believe and the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you (Luke 1:35); as you believe you will absorb or assimilate my words into your being and by the power of the Holy Spirit, they will create you a new creature; you will become like me; you will put on my nature and characteristics. As you listen to and receive my words you are drinking My blood also, that is to say, My life and spirit; as you drink, my life and spirit will enter into your veins and flow through them until My life and spirit is imbued in every fiber and element of your being as clothe receives the dye. You will be My bride, “flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone” (Genesis 2:23); you will be My glory and My body in the earth. Selah.

The Apostles understood these things. The Apostle Peter wrote:

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY’.”

(1^st Peter 1:14-16 NASU)

This command “you shall be holy, for I am holy” was first addressed to the Israelites, but Peter equally applies it to believers in Christ. The foundation of the command is, that we profess to belong to Him, and by belonging to Him we are to be like Him.

In the letter of 1^st John we find these words:

“No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

(1^st John 3:9 NASU)

The Apostle speaks here of the “new creature” who is brought into life of the “seed,” which is the Living Word of God, thus he cannot sin. It is the old sin nature of the flesh that sins; the flesh wars against the spirit or the new creature, thus he must be crucified.

The Apostle Paul spoke these words to the Galatians,

“My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you —”

(Galatians 4:19 NASU)

When he says, “until Christ is formed in you” he is saying, I must continue to labor with you until you absorb the gospel of Yeshua and become wholly imbued with His spirit---that you may become as He is---the living word of God in the earth.

He wrote these words to the church at Rome:

“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

(Romans 13:14 NASU)

The phrase to “put on” a person, seems to be a harsh expression; here it means to “listen” and “believe” and imbibe or absorb His word, and “make no provisions for the flesh in regard to its lusts” in order that the old sin nature die that it may not hinder the “new creature” who is created in the image of God.

Again, in the book of Galatians we find these words:

“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

(Galatians 3:27 NASU)

For those of you who were baptized into Christ, that is, you have absorbed, you have been totally submerged in the “Living Word” by the Holy Spirit, “have clothed yourselves with Christ.” This is typed by the water baptism; you were buried a sinner and raised up a “new creature” clothed in Christ.

Now returning to the Gospel according to John:

“These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum. Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, ‘This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?’ But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this, said to them, ‘Does this cause you to stumble? What then if you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. But there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. And He was saying, ‘For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father’.”

(John 6:59-65 NASU)

Our Lord does not deny that these teachings seemed difficult, and hence he indicated that if any man believed it was proof that God had opened his mind. It was not expected that by their intellect they would understand and embrace His words. Again, if any man believed, it would be from revelation by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 16:17).

“As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. So Jesus said to the twelve, ‘You do not want to go away also, do you?’ Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God’.”

(John 6:66-69 NASU)

Will you continue to walk with Him or will you find these things too difficult and turn away in unbelief?

James C Sanford

Seven Minutes of Wisdom: Are We Gathering or Scattering?

This Seven Minutes of Wisdom came to me after learning that one of my favorite guitarists has denounced Christ and is becoming a secular artist. Take a listen to my 7-minute message:

Click Here to Listen or Download the MP3

This should be our new course or direction in life... to walk the love walk. We need to gather souls into the kingdom, not chase them away!

In My Father’s House

“Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places {rooms}; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going (John 14:1-4 NAS).”

A house is a structure with many rooms built for habitation of a people with common ancestry; most often known as a family. The house and its rooms are built to serve the desires of the builder. When the builder moves his family into his house each room is given to serve the needs of his family. Now the rooms are there to serve his family, his family is not there to serve the rooms. Through out the Holy Scripture is found many symbols; the words “house” and “rooms, mansions or dwelling places” are all symbols speaking of the place of God’s dwelling with His family of man. In this study we will explore God’s place of dwelling---His house of many rooms.

God’s house is His Spirit. All that are without sin in the spirit realm inhabit God’s house; they live in His presence and they are one with God and His house. He does not tolerate sin in His house. In the beginning when God created all things, He was creating for Himself a place into which He would extend His house for the habitation of a new creature He would call man. The earth and all that surrounds it would become the location of His house in the physical realm, and it was to be patterned after His house in the spirit realm.

Now a house is just a building until someone occupies it. Therefore He prepared a room for dwelling and into this room He breathed His “breath of life” and brought forth a living soul in His image or likeness (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:7). Then He created a beautiful garden and took the first room of His house with the living soul in it and placed it in the mist of the garden (Gen. 2:15). At that time He entered that dwelling and fellowshipped with the living soul that He had created there. Then He would add other rooms to His house with living souls in them until all His house would be filled with rooms full of glorious life in His image. Now it was no longer just a house, but a home for the dwelling of God and His family of living souls that He called man. It was a wonderful house located in a beautiful garden whose boundaries would expand with the addition of rooms with living souls in them until His house filled the whole earth (Gen. 1:28). His magnificent presence would fill every room of His house.

What or who is man (Heb. 2:6)??

“Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (Gen. 2:7 NAS).”

God created man’s body from the dust of the earth with a living soul. God’s “breath of life” is His word (Col. 1:16); therefore when God breathed into man’s nostrils he became a living being because he was filled with the spirit of the eternal living word of God (Matt. 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33).

To better understand who or what man is we need to know who and what God is. God is Spirit in His total being; His word is spirit, His soul is spirit and He is embodied in His Spirit. Yet He is able to manifest Himself as being physical in any form He chooses. But what is seen appears in agreement with the substance of its source. In other words it is the source that determines the appearance of what is seen. That which is born of God is spirit and appears in agreement with the substance given of the Creator In the beginning God created all things, including man, by His word. Man is a creature made to be in the image or likeness of God; the substance is God (Gen. 1:26-27). He, man, is not God, but is rather an image, as in a mirror; man is not the word of God, but is rather a reflection of the word of God; and further, he is not the Spirit of God, but rather a vessel of the Spirit of God.

In the beginning the first room of God’s house, of course, is the body of Adam and his wife Eve. Man’s body was the room built for the habitation of God and man in the spirit. Man and his room {body} were one with God and His house {Spirit}. What we are saying is this; in the beginning, man in his total being was perfect as God is perfect; His body was holy as the Creator is holy; His soul was righteous as God is righteous; as a result the Spirit of God was in his total being; he was one with God and his attributes or character was the image or likeness of God. Man’s appearance was in agreement with the substance of his source; he was known and seen by God in the image of Himself.

Man was not what we see as man today. Today’s man is seen after the effects of sin. To see man in his true original created form, before the effects of sin, we must see Jesus after His resurrection, as did many of His followers. In the beginning man was created by the eternal living word of God with an imperishable body and an immortal soul; thanks be to God, through the Eternal Living Word of God, Christ Jesus, man is being reconciled and restored to the creature he was before sin corrupted him.

When Adam sinned against God he was no longer a dwelling place or room in the house of God; he was no longer a reflection of God. Adam’s room became a dwelling place of God’s adversary, Satan, also known as the destroyer, or the devil. For this reason Adam and his room were cast out of God’s house away from the Eternal Living Word of God or the “Tree of Life” (Gen. 3:22-24). He was cut off from the word of life!!! Man’s soul became a victim of his lustful corrupted room that was now filled with the spirit of death, Satan himself!! Adam and his room became one with the house of Satan. His appearance now was in agreement with the substance of his new source; he was now in the image of the serpent; his substance was sin in the flesh; he was a reflection of Satan. In Satan’s house is every lawless deed he can think of;

“Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom {or house} of God (Gal. 5:19-21 NAS).”

Now instead of the man being the master of the room, the room rules the man; he has become a slave to his own body of death.

“Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24 NAS).

“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom. 7:26f NAS).

God continues His plan to this day in the “last man Adam” (1 Cor. 15:45 NAS). Jesus is unique; there is no other like Him. He is God created in the image of man (John 1:1-2, 14); He is the indestructible eternal Word of God and He is the substance of all that exist (Col. 1:16-17).

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (John 1:4 NAS).”

When the Word of God became flesh His body became a room or dwelling place for He and His Father in the earth (2 Cor. 5:19; Col. 1:19-20). As a man He displayed or manifested all the attributes of His Father (Col. 1:15). Through obedience Jesus became the first and greatest room in His Father’s house (Col. 1:17-18). The Father was in His Son Jesus for the purpose of reconciling man unto Himself that He might continue to build His house of many rooms. Now He came in the likeness of sinful flesh according to the will of His Father, but He Himself knew no sin. If we know Him according to the flesh we know Him as the son of man, a prophet, or as just a good teacher of wisdom; or as just another man (Is. 53:2-3; Matt.16:13-14). If we know Him by revelation of the Spirit of God, we know Him as the Eternal Living Word or the Son of God; a vessel or an expression of His Father’s love (Matt. 16:16); and he becomes salvation to our souls

Before He was crucified, in teaching His disciples, Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you”----the place He was speaking of is a pure dwelling place or holy body for the souls of men.

He further stated;
“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”

What Jesus was speaking of was the work of His cross. On the cross Jesus took on the sins of man and put to death the body of sin (2 Cor. 5:21). When we come to Christ He receives us to Himself and we become one in the flesh with Him (Eph. 5:31-32); thus we are, by faith, crucified with Him (Gal. 2:20) and we are buried with Him (Col. 2:12): the deeds of the body of sin are put to death and buried (Rom. 6:4). Now if we are crucified and buried with Him then we are also raised up a new creature (2 Cor. 5:17; Col. 2:12f) with Him in order that His words might be fulfilled,

“that where I am, there you may be also”(John 14:4ff NAS; Eph. 2:6 NAS);

We are in the indestructible eternal Word of God and we are one with Him in the Spirit. We are now in the dwelling place or room prepared for us that when this earthly tent is laid in the grave we will not be found naked.

“For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens {spirit realm}. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life (2 Cor. 5:1-4 NAS).”

“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end (Heb. 3:3-6 NAS).”

“And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 2:4-5 NAS).”

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit (Eph. 2:19-22 NAS).”

James C Sanford

The Fruit of Righteousness

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser (John 15:1 NASU).”

It was quite fitting that in His final teachings our Lord would speak of the oneness of He and His children. Thus in the sweetness of His spirit by the use of a simple metaphor Jesus here beautifully sets forth the oneness of Himself and His people, and His relation to them as the Source of all their spiritual life and fruitfulness.

[I am the true vine]


Some have supposed that this discourse was delivered in the room where the Lord’s Supper was instituted, and that, as they had made use of wine, Jesus took occasion from that to say that He was the true vine. Some have made other suppositions; but it is most probable that it was spoken while they were going from what was to be their last supper together to the Mount of Olives. Whether it was suggested by the sight of vines by the way, or by the wine of which they had just partaken, cannot now be determined.

The comparison was frequent among the Jews, for Palestine abounded in vineyards, and the illustration was very striking. Often the Prophets compared the Nation Israel to a vine which God had planted (see Isa 5:1-7; Ps 80:8-16; Joel 1:7; Jer 2:21; Ezek 19:10). When Jesus says He was the true vine, perhaps allusion is had to Jer. 2:21. The word "true," here is used in the sense of faithfulness as compared to the unfaithful of the Israelites. He really and truly gives what is emblematically represented by a vine.

The point of the comparison or the correct meaning of the metaphor is this: A vine yields proper juice and nourishment to all the branches, whether these are large or small. All the nourishment of each branch and tendril passes through the main vine that springs from the earth. As the branch receives the proper nourishment it produces luscious fruit with seed in the fruit making it capable of reproduction.

In likeness Jesus is the Living Word of God springing forth from the very heart of the Father. By and through the Holy Spirit He is the source of all real strength and grace to His disciples. By the same Spirit He is their leader and teacher, and imparts to them, as they need, grace and strength for holiness that they bear the fruit of righteousness. The beauty of the fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22-23 NAS).

Now the seed in the fruit of righteousness is the word of God. The fruit is not like an apple with a core and seed in the core; the seed is in the fruit. One cannot partake of the fruit without getting the seed or he cannot get the seed without the fruit. Now when those who gaze upon the beautiful fruit and begin to eat (listen to and believe) it is the word and the Spirit of God that convicts and converts; not the branch. Thus by the seed the vine is increased and another branch is added to the vine.