IN CHRIST or IN THE LORD

 IN CHRIST or IN THE LORD?

The term "in Christ" is used 68 times in the NT and it is an "affirmational" truth according to Bob Mumford. While "in the Lord" is used 42 times in the NT, and is what he calls "aspirational" which requires some effort on our part, or in other words it is "behavioral" in nature. "In Christ" is a "gift" from God and is completely "by grace through faith", and not by any works of ours (Eph 2:8-10), so be well aware of this fact! While "in the Lord" can be understood from (Matt 7:21-23), where we see many people who call Jesus "Lord! Lord!" but Jesus will reply to them "I never knew you, get away from me you who break God's heart". (NLT) So I think these two scripture passages show clearly the difference between the separate meanings of these phrases. I have read the scriptures for many years, and have heard many sermons preached, but have never understood the difference between these two expressions until I saw Bob teaching this truth on You Tube yesterday. This only made me more aware of the fact that we can often think we understand what certain scripture passages mean, but miss the true meaning by a mile, so to speak. So we all need to read scripture more carefully, and listen to certain people who are proven "teachers" who have been "called" by God to that position in the "Body of Christ" like Bob Mumford has been.

 

One thing I have learned in my some 50 years of being involved in various denominational churches is how easily I can think I know the true meaning of a certain Bible truth, but have the wrong basic concept, based on incomplete teaching. I have no trouble believing that the complete Bible is God's Word from cover to cover, but I have often been led astray by believing certain church "doctrines" that I was taught as being based on Bible truth, only to find out they were based on some man's understanding of some scripture passage. This could very well have been only a theory based on his interpretation of a certain scripture passage taken out of context. This is often what happened with certain doctrines that perhaps sounded good to certain church leaders, and before long they were accepted by whole denominations. I have found this to be true in several cases, which has caused me to use extra caution about any so-called "new teaching". Several NT authors have warned us to beware of "many" false teachers that will show up in our "churches" in these later days. So I take it from that fact that we all need to be careful and know who we are listening to and following. It certainly pays to be extremely cautious!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                  27/04/03

FROM SINNER to SAINT

FROM SINNER TO SAINT

 

This is an interesting journey from being born as a "sinner" from our mother's womb, to becoming a "saint" by being "born again" by the Spirit of God. One of my favorite scripture passages that explain this process is found in the letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church he had founded in the city of Ephesus. Read (Eph 2:1-10) for the details, which in the NLT version of the Bible has the heading "made alive in Christ". Paul begins in verse one "Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins". He continues through verses two and three to explain who is the cause of us being sinners, "the devil—the commander of the powers of the unseen world. He is the spirit that is at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God's anger, just like everyone else".

 

Then in verse four Paul starts out with "But God is so rich in mercy, and He loves us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's grace that we have been saved!) For He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus". Paul continues in verse eight with "God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago". I consider this passage of scripture to be one of the best in the Bible to explain the message of the Gospel of the Kingdom in only 10 verses.

 

Thank God for Paul who was known as the "Apostle to the Gentiles", and for the "mysteries" of God that were revealed to him (Eph 3:1-13), and recorded for our benefit. My observations of the average church attendee would indicate that they don't know the truth of the plain simple gospel message, probably because they have listened to "another gospel" that eliminates that fact that we are all sinners (Rom 3:9-21) and have believed in a "false gospel" like the church in Corinth (2 Cor 11:1-4) and in many churches today. A so-called gospel without repentance and the truth of what Jesus did for us on the cross, He is our one and only Savior from sin!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                               08/05/13

DOES GOD HAVE GRANDCHILDREN

DOES GOD HAVE GRANDCHILDREN

This term is used to identify children of children. In other words, when a couple get married and have children, and their children marry and have children of their own, their offspring are referred to as grandchildren. However in a spiritual sense we cannot use this term to describe anyone, because everyone must come to a relationship with God on their own! When a person receives conviction from the Holy Spirit that they are a sinner separated from God, and repents of their sin and accepts Jesus as their Savior, the Father then adopts them into His family. Then, and only then, are they a child of God! I believe our church traditions might leave room for some people to believe that it is possible to become God's grandchild. Certain churches believe in christening a baby and refer to that as their baptism. They seem to believe that this makes the child a member of the family of God. I believe that "baptism" is the wrong term to use for this christening, and it should be considered a "dedication" of both the child and the parents. The word baptism in scripture usually refers to a believer in Jesus, who has made a decision in their heart to accept what He accomplished on the cross, and desires to make a public declaration of this decision. We often refer to it as "believer's baptism", and it always follows a person's salvation experience! If parents who are followers of Jesus have their baby christened, and are told that they are now a child in God's family, I can see where this idea could have started. But I say no, God definitely has no grandchildren!

 

This is only one of many false beliefs that are circulating in certain church circles. Common sense should tell us that a baby cannot repent of their sins, and realize that the death of Christ on the cross paid the debt for those sins. And the scriptures are clear that baptism in water always follows a profession of faith in Christ. (Acts 2:38) Many of these church traditions that are not based on scripture could be avoided if people were encouraged to search the scriptures for themselves. Unfortunately, many people depend completely on what they are told by their pastor or priest, and never check things out for themselves, like the believers in Berea. (Acts 17:11). If more people did this, I'm sure we would have less confusion in our churches! I am constantly amazed by finding out how many "false doctrines" have infiltrated our "churches" over the years, and how far we have been led away from the Biblical pattern that Jesus had in mind when He declared "I will build My Church" as recorded in (Matt 16:18)!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                Revised 02/05/13

A SAFE DWELLING PLACE

A SAFE DWELLING PLACE. 

I read a devotional message today from ODB based on Psalm 4 by David McCasland called "Overcoming Bad News". I read this Psalm of King David with new interest when I came to the last verse in my NLT version "In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe". Although David suffered a lot of opposition, both before becoming King of Israel, and afterward, he continually seemed to be surrounded by enemies. But many of his Psalms declare his victorious attitude because his faith was in his God. If we can learn anything from reading the Psalms, it should be to see how David always praised the Lord for being his shelter and protector from his enemies. We too, as followers of Jesus today are also surrounded by our enemies, but whereas David's enemies were real live flesh and blood armed warriors, ours today are invisible "demons", that according to Derek Prince are "bodiless spirits", and they are joined by "principalities and powers in the heavenly places" that Paul mentions in (Eph 3:10), that make up Satan's invisible army against us. So in some ways our enemies are as real as David's were, but ours are invisible.

But although our enemies may be invisible, we still have the same God, who is also invisible but has been made visible as "Agape Incarnate" who came to earth to put a face on God, so the speak as Immanuel, which means "God with us". We know Him as Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. And He is available to anyone who will come to Him in the Biblical way. After He went to the cross to take care of our sin problem by dying to satisfy the debt we all owed because of our sin, (Rom 6:23), He then arose on the third day after and ascended back to heaven to be seated beside His Father (Ps 110:1). Then they, the (Father and Son) sent the Holy Spirit to take the place of Jesus on Plant Earth, until the Father decides it is time for Him to return to earth to receive His Church out of the hands of the Antichrist during the Great Tribulation. We must repent of our sinful lifestyle and be "born again", Then we all begin our spiritual life as a new born baby in Christ, (Heb 5:11-14) but God expects us to mature in our spiritual life. This should be our lifelong passion to live a life that will please our heavenly Father. Unfortunately most of us were never told that this should be the goal of our new life in the Spirit, in my case it only became aware to me when I started to follow Bob Mumford's teaching about the Agape Road a few years ago. Now I realize that this should be the desire of our every action!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                              30/04/13

A FAITHFUL FOLLOWER

A FAITHFUL FOLLOWER

 

This phrase is the result of several factors, reading two books I received as gifts from friends last Christmas, plus words from an old hymn. This often happens to me, the books were "Nourishing the Seed" by Bob Mumford and "Not a Fan" by Derek Idleman, and the words from some old hymn were

"A faithful follower I would be, for by His hand He leads me". A mixture of words from these three sources prompted me to put together this article. I believe as a follower of Jesus Christ the Son of God, and indwelt by His Holy Spirit, that I no longer am my own "boss", so to speak. Read (1 Cor 6:12-20) to hear what the apostle to the Gentiles has to say on this topic. If we believe the Bible is the Word of God then we must try to follow what it tells us to do, as closely as we can. This is the only way we can possibly live a life that will please our Father. And this is the only type of life that will bring you peace and contentment in this "fallen" world we are called to live in. Just read (Phil 2:12-18) for Paul's advice to us as to how we should live our lives in such a way as to be pleasing to Father.

 

We have been exposed to Bob's teaching on the Agape Road now for several years, plus his two books published since then, "The Mysterious Seed" (2011), and "Nourishing the Seed" (2012). The combination of this teaching has affected my life greatly in the past few years, which are all based firmly on a Biblical basis. I have witnessed many people being influenced lately by certain questionable teachings that contain a lot of so-called New Age doctrines that have been brought in to our midst from Eastern Religions. Without a solid foundation in God's Word it is very easy to be carried away by some of these teachings and become confused and deceived. That of course is Satan's plan, as the declared enemy of God and His children, That is why Father had the Bible put together (2 Tim 3:16-17), tells us how and why He had it written. Without a good understanding of the overview of the Bible, and how both the OT and the NT fit together to give us a complete "big Picture" of the subject of salvation, it is very easy to be confused and subject to deception. So I would suggest you get a copy of the Bible in one of the newer versions like the New Living Translation (NLT), which I consider one of the best and spend time in it every day. Start with the gospel accounts then Acts and the letters, save the OT books for later. And don't be shy about asking questions of some more mature believer who has been walking with Jesus for some time!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                        23/03/13

HIS-STORY

HIS-STORY

 

The study of history was always my most boring subjects in high school and my "freshman" year at UNB. And to add to my dislike of this subject, my professor was the driest, most boring professor of all that year 51/52. But when I finally came to "know" Jesus when I was nearly 30 years old, and realized that all of history was really His Story, what a difference it made! Probably it started when I first read (John 1:1-14) and realized that Jesus was God the Son, and that He had existed in the "beginning" before there was anything besides the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that Jesus was actually the member of the Godhead who was the agent of creation (Col 1:15-20) and in the NLT version of the Bible this passage is headed up as "Christ is Supreme"! Since those early days of knowing Jesus as more than a historical figure, I have gradually learned more about Him until in 2010 I was introduced to Bob Mumford's teaching called The Agape Road. I would have to say that by first reading his book, and then being exposed to the audio teaching on CD's, and then viewing the DVD's of a large conference he held in 2000, and now reading two books he has published since the Agape Road, I am starting to appreciate more than ever the truth about the Greek word "Agape"!

 

Since we know that Agape is the word used for God by John the disciple who wrote one the four gospel accounts in the NT, plus three letters and the book of Revelation, and is sometimes called the "Apostle of love". He states in (1 John 4:8) "But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love". And each time "love" is used here by John, the word used is Agape. So in other words "God is Agape"! This word is used many times in the NT and usually is used as a "synonym" for Jesus, as in (1 Cor 13:4-13) where every time you see the word love mentioned you could replace it with Jesus. This passage is often referred to as the "love chapter" of the Bible, and it is all about Jesus. So since He is the one and only "God/Man" who was sent down from heaven to become "Agape Perfected", or "God Incarnate" in the womb of the virgin Jewish maiden named Mary of Nazareth, who was told by the arch angel Gabriel to call her child Jesus because He would save His people from their sins. He is God Almighty in human form, and the perfect representation of His Father (Heb 1:1-4), so we feel confident in referring to Jesus as the main source of human history on Planet Earth. And therefore we can refer to His life as "His-Story"!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                    27/03/13

 

THE SECOND DAY

THE SECOND DAY

 

Today March 30, 2013 is the second day after "Good Friday" this year and the day between Good Friday the day Jesus died on the cross, and tomorrow which is of course "Resurrection Sunday", which is often referred to as the "Third Day". So I guess logically today could just be referred to as the "Second Day" after Good Friday. Some days are definitely more important than others, and to be crowded in between the day Jesus died, and the third day later when "He Arose" from the tomb in victory over death is a tough place to be assigned to. So what should we refer such a day to be called? Perhaps a "no name day" might do I suppose, and then we could refer to it as the filling of a sandwich between two slices of bread. These are undoubtedly the two most important days on our calendar for believers in Jesus. The day He died on Calvary's Cross as the one and only "God/Man" who was      qualified to be the "sinless" man who alone could die as the representative for "fallen man", to settle the debt that Paul mentioned in (Rom 6:23). Only the death of a perfect sinless man could possibly accomplice this. So it is no wonder that we refer to it as "Good Friday" for us lost sinners, but certainly not a good day for Jesus. But because He and His Father loved us so Much, (John 3:16) that He freely laid down His life for us. I have heard much discussion about "who killed Jesus"? Was it the Roman soldiers who actually crucified Him or the Jewish leaders who accused Him before the Roman Governor? Actually the truth is that no one hilled Jesus, He willingly went to the cross and "gave up His spirit" see (John 19:28-30) for details.

 

Then three days later on the appointed day, Jesus arose from the borrowed tomb he was laid in on Friday. We refer to this as "Resurrection Sunday" because it happened on the "first day of the week" which is Sunday. So read any of the gospel accounts like (Mark 16:1-8) for details of the happenings of early that day. This mighty miracle of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is credited to the work of the Holy Spirit. See (Rom 8:9-11) for details of how the same Spirit of God is involved in both the resurrection of Jesus as well as our individual experience of our new "spiritual birth". And remember that our old "sinful nature" that we inherited from our original parents Adam and Eve died when Jesus died on the cross. So all we have to do now to establish a vital relationship with our Creator is to believe in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished for us on the cross, and receive Him as our Lord and Savior (John 14:6) and we have Eternal Life!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                   30/03/13