Don’t toss your Birthright

Hebrews 12:14-16 NKJV Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:  (15)  looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;  (16)  lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.

We are encouraged not to fall short of the Grace of God and that those who fall short of the grace of God are like Esau who sold his birthright. We need to understand that the birthright is a classic illustration of grace. The birthright means the firstborn male receives double the inheritance of all other children and this is decreed before the child is born, before he has done anything right or wrong, it is not earned in any way.

Esau had that birthright but listen to what he said:

Genesis 25:29-34 NKJV  Now Jacob cooked a stew; and Esau came in from the field, and he was weary.  (30)  And Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me with that same red stew, for I am weary.” Therefore his name was called Edom.  (31)  But Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.”  (32)  And Esau said, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?”  (33)  Then Jacob said, “Swear to me as of this day.” So he swore to him, and sold his birthright to Jacob.  (34)  And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; then he ate and drank, arose, and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Why would Esau have reacted the way he did? Why say, “Look, I am about to die; so what is this birthright to me?”

The answer is found in previous verse, verse 28:

Genesis 25:28 NKJV  And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Here is legalism verses grace.

Isaac loved Esau BECAUSE, there was a condition attached to his love of Esau. Planting in the heart of Esau the idea that he needed to perform for the father’s love, this in relationship to God leads to the need to ‘keep laws’ to be accepted.

Esau had never experienced ‘grace’. So placed little value on the untimate expression of grace, the birthright.

On the other hand Rebekah loved Jacob FULL STOP!

Rebekah’s love for Jacob, despite the fact he was a thief and liar, was unconditional, she loved Jacob. In relationship to God this leads to a picture of grace and it was Jacob, not Esau that got the blessing, the birthright and the name Israel – the Prince of God.

Having never known ‘unconditional love’, Esau falls short of grace and loses his birthright and the blessing.

Jesus put it this way, the one who is forgiven much, loves much. He who experiances grace values the rewards of grace, the one who never knows graces places little or no value on it’s rewards. The context of the Hebrews passage is that having experianced grace, unmerited favour, live life as a reflection of the grace bestowed.

Just a thought

See you in church!

When God says, “It’s not good”, guess what?

God created all the Heavens and the earth is six amazing days, at the end of the 6th day, after He created man in His own image, the “crown of His creation”, He looked down on all His work and said, “Wow, that is amazing!”, he then sat down and enjoyed all he had created.

Genesis 2 starts with the creation of a garden, known as Eden or Paradise.  At the center of that specific creation was a man named Adam.

I find it fascinating that man is both the crowning glory of God’s creation and the center of it.

With all of that said we read in Genesis 2:18:

Now the Lord God said, It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper meet (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him.

I have a problem with this and the problem is that Adam WAS NEVER ALONE. Adam had the most amazing relationship, unhindered by sin, with God. Yet just  God and Adam alone, in God’s own words, “is not good.”

Too many people have a mindset, “I love Jesus, but I don’t have to go to church, it’s just me and Jesus” God says, “It is not good!”
Here are some reasons why it is not good for man to be alone.

God said it

I love the old saying:

God said it, I believe it and that settles it.

No debate no reasoning it away, God said it is not good to be isolated and have a mindset ‘just me and Jesus’, that should be all we need, but here are a few more reasons.

Good as you are you have weaknesses

God in his wisdom created us to need others to compliment us. Paul uses the analogy of the human body and in 1 Cor 12:17 says, “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?” If the whole body consisted of an eye, it is a useless body and if the wholly body were an ear it is equally useless and so is the Christian who is out of fellowship.

We are called to flourish

When God created man he said be fruitful, and in Psalms we see how we become fruitful:

Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God (Psalms 92:13 NKJV).

God is into Exponential Power

It is to be noted that God is not the god of simple addition if one can defeat 1,000 then simple addition means two can beat 2,000 but look what God says:

(Leviticus 26:8 NKJV)  Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.

(Deuteronomy 32:30 NKJV)  How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the LORD had surrendered them?

That is exponential effectiveness!

So, if God says, “It’s not Good”, guess what, it’s not good!

Storms will Come

I love the old Sunday school song, “With Christ in my vessel I can smile at the storm”. The reality is as I navigate through life and storms rage I can take great comfort from the fact that I am not alone but Christ is with me in the storm.

In Mark chapter four is a story of a storm that Jesus’ disciples were caught in and there are some great lessons for us from that event for us today.

Lesson #1 Storms are a part of life.

Jesus said that storms are guaranteed in this life, in fact Jesus said, “Don’t be surprised when storms come your way.” But the strange thing is that is exactly what happens, storms take us by surprise and we begin to question what is happening.

Lesson #2 The Word causes conflict.

Jesus said in Mark 4:35, “Let us cross over to the other side.”  That is the Word of God. While doing what Jesus said a storm arose. They were in the will of God, they were obeying the word, yet a storm arose. A few hours earlier Jesus had said that tribulation and persecution will arise because of the word (see Mark 4:17)

A storm, trouble in this life, doesn’t necessarily mean we are outside the will of God, it could actually be because we are in the will of God. Luke 4:1, 2 says:

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.

Lesson #3 God did not send the Storm

We are not told what caused the storm, was it the Devil? We are not told, but one thing is for certain, God did not send the storm. Had God sent the storm that Jesus rebuked then He would have been operating contrary to the will of God.

Lesson #4 Focus on the right things.

The word will cause conflict, conflict that is not sent by God and in the face of the storm the disciples focus shifted from the Word of God to the storm. Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith, but notice Jesus had never changed weather patterns and the disciples were staggered that “even wind and waves” obey him. The lack of faith was in that they lost sight of the word by focusing on the storm.
What has God said to you? Keep your focus!

Lesson #5 Jesus deals with the root of the problem.

I love how Mark describes what Jesus does, verse 39, “He arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace be still.’”
For the disciples the issue was the waves filling the boat, for us the issue is too often the fruit of a bigger problem. Jesus rebukes the root cause of the problem, the wind. He then says to the fruit of the problem, the heavy seas, “Be still!”

Jesus, in another story, casts a demon out of a man. That was dealing with the fruit of the problem he then said, “Be careful, you have to deal with the root problem otherwise the demon will return, with seven mates and your later condition will be worse that the initial state.

There is so many more lessons from this story, they’ll have to wait!

Just a Thought

See you in Church

Make a demand on the Anointing

Mark 3:10 NKJV For He healed many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to touch Him.

Mark tells us that every person that had afflictions pressed about and touched Him.

To understand what is happening we have to go back to when the Spirit descended on Jesus ‘as a dove’ and remained on Him.
Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit at His baptism, anointing literally means ‘smearing with oil’. The word ointment has its origins in the word anoint.

We can liken the anointing of the Holy Spirit to smearing our skin with ointment and just like when we rub ointment on our skin a film of residue remains when Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit a ‘film of the Holy Spirit’ remained all over him and just like ointment infuses our clothing so to the anointing can infuse our clothing and whatever it touches. This explains why ‘Paul’s apron’ was not simply a point of contact for faith, it was drawing on the anointing on Paul that infused his clothing.

Acts 19:12 NKJV …so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them.

Jesus attracted such crowds that many people pressed around him and touched him. The issue is not accidental ‘touching’ of the anointing rather it is about a deliberate conscious demand placed on the anointing.

We see this in the story of the woman sick for twelve years and having spent everything on doctors.

Luke 8:43-44 NKJV Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any,  (44)  came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.

The woman made such a demand and Jesus perceived ‘a flow of anointing’.

Luke 8:46 NKJV Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”

The response of Peter and the other disciples was interesting. Jesus asked who touched me and Peter says many people are pushing in, everyone is touching you, but Jesus was not asking about ‘incidental contact’ someone made a deliberate choice to draw from the anointing He was carrying.

If we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, we have an anointing and that anointing abides.

1 John 2:27 NKJV But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you…

But that anointing is on us for the benefit of others, the others being people who place a demand on the anointing. It is vital that we place a demand on and draw from the anointing that is on others, making receiving answers intentional not accidental.

We Live Under an Open Heaven

When Jesus was baptised by John, John testified to what happened in verse 10 of Mark 1:

Mark 1:10 NKJV And immediately, coming up from the water, He [John] saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Hosting His Presence and said that a significant departure from the Old Testament model on ministry occurred, the Spirit remained on Jesus, but something else happened. As Jesus came out of the water John saw the ‘heavens parting’ and the Spirit descend through an open heaven. The word translated parting is a Greek word that Mark only uses in one other place:

Mark 15:38 NKJV Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

The parting of the Heavens that John witnessed was a violent act initiated by God and when the heavens were opened it was never ‘sealed up’ again, they remain open to this day. It is what Isaiah prophesied when he said:

Isaiah 64:1 NKJV Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence—

Isaiah saw what we now experience, the heavens rent open, the Spirit descending and remaining on His church and the joy of dwelling in His presence in for us. Confirmation of this is found way back in Genesis and the first mention of the ‘House of God’.

Genesis 28:12 NKJV Then he [Jacob] dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven; and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.

Genesis 28:17 NKJV And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”

Jacob saw an open heaven a ladder and angels ascending and descending, seeing this, his only response is an exclamation, “This is an awesome place, the very House of God!” When we position ourselves under an open heaven the best description is ‘this is an awesome place’. Again what Jacob dreamed was a prophetic picture of the New Testament ‘House of God’.

Notice Jesus’ words to Nathaniel. Nathaniel had questioned whether anything good could come from Nazareth and Jesus said he was a man integrity. He asked Jesus, “How come you know me?” Jesus said he saw him sitting under a fig tree and that changed Nathaniel’s perspective, calling Jesus Rabbi and the Son of God. Jesus then said to him:

John 1:50-51 NKJV “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”  (51)  And He said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Notice Jesus said Nathaniel would see an open heaven and angels descending, he would see in reality what Jacob dreamed. We live under a much better covenant seeing the reality of what Old testament saints could only dream of!

Let us position ourselves under the open heaven by being a people of worship and praise.

Just a thought

See you in Church

It’s ok to dream BIG!

I have been reading through Matthew’s Gospel, trying hard not to bring to my reading stuff I have believed for many years. One such story is when James and John’s mother comes to Jesus with a request that in the Kingdom one of the sons sit at Jesus’ left hand and the other sit at his right hand. I have always seen this as the ‘height of arrogance’, the disciples clearly saw it that way.

Matthew 20:24 NKJV And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers.

Did Jesus see it that way? We have taken the response of the disciples as being Jesus’ response, but Jesus’ response was not a rebuke! He actually answered their request with a question.

Matthew 20:22 NKJV But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to Him, “We are able.”

When they said, “We are able.” Jesus proceeded to tell them that they certainly would suffer but those seats of honour were not His to give.

Matthew 20:23 NKJV So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”

So Jesus is telling James and John and the other disciples it is alright to dream big, it is not arrogance or pride, in fact the person impacted by the Spirit of God cannot help but dream big because the DNA of a big God is in us. Jesus is telling them that dreaming big will have an inherent cost associated with it.

After that he tells the twelve what greatness in the Kingdom of God looks like and it is nothing like greatness in this world.

Matthew 20:25-28 NKJV But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.  (26)  Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.  (27)  And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—  (28)  just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

It is ok to dream big, that is fine but there is no point dreaming big without counting the cost, and there is a cost. I have in my office a quote I heard and was given a framed copy of it reads:

The challenges of a big vision are worth it for the thousands that will come to Christ.

The other thing Jesus is saying is we ‘descend into greatness’,  if you want to be great, you become a great servant.

Just a thought

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Hosting His Presence

I am constantly being challenged by the thought that Jesus ministered not as God but as a man empowered by God and that everything we see in the Gospels is Jesus modelling for us what our ministry should look like.

He did say, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” He also said, “These things [the works Jesus did] you will do and even greater you will do because I go to the father. I don’t see Jesus as someone who would say something knowing it is an impossibility.

I have to believe that when Jesus said I will do what He did, and even greater, that I will do what He did and even greater.

It all started at His baptism. When Jesus came out of the Jordan River we read:

(John 1:32 NKJV)   And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.

The Holy Spirit came upon Jesus and it remained on Him. This is a significant departure from what we read in the Old Testament, in the Old Testament the Spirit would rest upon a prophet or a judge only for an assigned task. When the Spirit came upon Jesus He remained on Him.

There is a picture of this in the Old Testament which is fascinating.

Noah and his family were saved by the ark and Noah’s story is described by Peter as a picture of baptism.

1 Peter 3:20-21 NLT …those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood.  (21)  And that water is a picture of baptism, which now saves you, not by removing dirt from your body, but as a response to God from a clean conscience. It is effective because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So what happened when the rain stopped and the flood subsided? And is there a picture for us of what happened after Jesus came out of the Jordan?

Genesis 8:6 NKJV So it came to pass, at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.

The rain stopped and Noah opened the window in the ark. Jesus came out of the water and heaven was opened, never to be shut again! It is the same word used when the curtain in the temple was torn, heaven was torn open by God.

Out of the open window Noah released the dove.

Genesis 8:9 NKJV But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself.

Finding no place to rest, the dove returned to the ark. Seven days later the dove was released again.

Genesis 8:11 NKJV Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.

This time the dove rested a while, found an olive leaf and returned to Noah. The olive leaf is representation of Israel, and is a great picture of how the Spirit operated in the Old Testament. Finally:

Genesis 8:12 NKJV …he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove, which did not return again to him anymore.

This time the Dove found a place to rest and remained, exactly what we see happening at Jesus’ baptism.

Like the dove in Noah’s day looking for a place to rest and remain, the Holy Spirit is seeking believers on whom He may descend and remain. He is looking for a people desperately wanting to ‘host His presence’.

It is those on whom the Spirit descends and remains who have the anointing and authority to do what Jesus did. We have to be those people!

One last thought, if a bird sat on your shoulder and you wanted Him to stay, how would you walk around a room? I trust that every step you take is a step taken with the bird in mind. If we want to Host His Presence, every step we take in life has to be a step with Him in mind!

Just a Thought

See you in Church

The Father’s Heart is to Forgive (2)

I cannot get this idea out of my mind. Five people came to ask Jesus to heal one of them and Jesus starts by saying, “Your sins are forgiven”, revealing the very heart of God.

God has forgiven us all we have to do is embrace it!

What the lame man NEEDED more than two good legs was for his broken relationship with God to be healed. The Bible makes it clear God delights in making available to everyone what the need.

Matthew 6:8 NKJV “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.

The context is don’t pray long-winded, repetitive prayers, God knows what you need and delights to give it to you. The lame man, and his four friends for that matter, NEEDED to know and to experience God’s forgiveness. But is that all God is interested in? Giving us what we need? Parents don’t just give their kids what they need, we get great delight when we are able to bless them by giving them what they want. God, more so, delights in giving uswe WANT as well what we need.

This man NEEDED to be forgiven and WANTED to be healed. Jesus said to the snivelling religious leaders:

Mark 2:9-11 NKJV Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’?  (10)  But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic,  (11)  “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”

It was easier to give the lame man what he NEEDED and to prove Jesus had the authority to forgive, He gave to the lame man what he WANTED. Jesus asked a blind man, “What do you WANT?” The blind man WANTED to see again and Jesus restored his sight.

God is not so stingy as to withhold from anyone what they NEED.

God is not so ‘tight-fisted’ as to only ever give what a person NEEDS.

God’s heart is bless beyond measure! Yo give us not only what we need but to bless us with what we want. He is the God of the ‘pressed down, shaken together and running over!’

One last thought, if all we have is what we need, how can we give to those in need? To bless we need an abundance.

Just a thought

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The Father’s Heart is to Forgive

Jesus on the night he was betrayed Philip asked Jesus to show Him the Father, Jesus’ responded if you have seen Me you have seen the father.

John 14:8-9 NKJV Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”  (9)  Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Everything that Jesus said and did was a revelation of the heart of the Father.

With that in mind we see a reflection of God’s heart in the well know story of the lame man who was lowered, by his four friends, through the roof of a crowded house to the feet of Jesus. The four friends and the lame man were hoping that Jesus would heal him, instead Jesus makes this amazing statement:

Mark 2:5 NKJV … “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”

That was not what they were seeking, but it is what they were given. The religious people complained vehemently, accusing Jesus of blasphemy because, ‘only God can forgive sins’.

Jesus then proceeds to ‘prove’ He can forgive sins by healing the lame man, giving to him what he was seeking. But why did Jesus forgive the lame man when he wasn’t even seeking forgiveness? The answer to this question is found in another famous story, the parable of prodigal son. The prodigal gets his inheritance and goes and squanders the lot, finally he realizes that the has ‘sinned against heaven and against dad’ (Luke 15:18) and turned to go home.

He had no contact with his father, ‘yet while he was still a long way off’ his father saw him and ran to him, why, because his Father had already forgiven his son in His heart. He had a heart to forgive.

The most amazing example is Jesus on the cross, while the crowd jeered and mocked and ridiculed Him and seeking forgiveness was the furthest thing from their minds we read:

(Luke 23:34 NKJV) Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots.

Very early in His ministry we see the heart of the Father revealed, it is a heart that has already forgiven, irrespective of what we have done, how serious it is God ALREADY has forgiven us, like grace we have to embrace his forgiveness.

Just in case you are not convinced, when did the woman caught in adultery ask Jesus to forgive her? Jesus said to her, “I don’t condemn you” in other words you have been forgiven, embrace that forgiveness and stop sinning.

Just a thought

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Love based Faith

We have all heard statements such as “we need more faith”, to which the answer is “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” and that is true! Reading the Word of God, musing on it, chewing the meat of the word all builds faith! Here is a thought in 1 Corinthians 13 we have that great and famous chapter on love.

(1 Corinthians 13:7 NKJV) [Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love believes all things. The word translated believe is the same Greek word translated elsewhere as ‘faith’. A few weeks ago I spoke about the ‘two legs of faith‘, being faith in God’s ability and His willingness to do good for us. Two wonderful stories reflect this, the leper in Mark one says, “If you are willing, you can heal me.” If you want to, if you ‘love me’ you have the ability to heal me. The other story found later in Mark talks of a Father of an epileptic who came to Jesus and said, “If you can do anything, have compassion on my son.” The two are linked power and love.

A faith that recognizes Jesus power to heal but fails to understand His unwavering and unconditional love, is a faith that is based in my ability to please God enough that He might do good for me and is doomed to fail.

Paul says, “Love believes all things!” The revelation of Scripture Old and New Testaments is a continual unfolding revelation of the power of God, we cannot read any of scripture and fail to be awestruck by God’s power. It is when Jesus comes, faith is perfected. Jesus comes and reveals the heart of the Father, a heart full of unwavering and unconditional love for man. When we embrace His love, faith becomes easy, we knew he could, but when the love of God is discovered we know He will, and with Paul we say, “Love BELIEVES all things.”

One last thought:

(1 John 4:16 NKJV) And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

We must not only have faith in His ability but also have faith in His love.

My prayer is that we all would grow in understanding and revelation of His love for us and we would embrace it wholeheartedly.

Just a thought

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