2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore, if ANYONE is in Christ, he is a NEW CREATION.  The old has passed away, behold, the NEW has come. (emphasis added is mine).

The focus here is that when anyone gets born again, he really is a new creation.  This is supernatural.  As a matter of fact, this is the most supernatural event that could ever happen to you.  You are truly being newly created from the inside out.  One minute you are “you, the sinner”, the next minute you are “you, in Christ”.  And when you are “in Christ”, you are seen as new, clean, righteous, and a son (or daughter) in the Kingdom of God.

We must fully believe that the old has passed away.  The old you dies.  Do not try to raise the old you from the dead!  The enemy will lie to believers that there is still some of our old man still in there.  This leads to doubting that everything God has made available to us and has promised us may not really be for you.  When we allow this lie to enter into our thoughts, we will not behave in a way that God desires us to.  We will not walk and function as a new creation.  You see, a new creation has full access to everything God offers and the enemy wants to distract us from that very thing.  If he can get us to believe that we aren’t worthy, or that we aren’t ready, or that we aren’t mature enough for everything that God is offering then we become ineffective, unfruitful, Christians.  Does this sound familiar for any Christians you know?  Powerless.  Unfruitful.  We cannot believe this lie!

Our conversion is meant to give new direction to our thoughts, emotions, will, and habits.  We become “Christ-like”.  The Bible even goes so far as to say “we have the mind of Christ”.

When we get saved we are FULLY redeemed.  We don’t have to “clock” so many months or years as a Christian to get fully redeemed.  We don’t have to attend any classes.  We just believe and receive what Jesus has done for us.  When we believe this and know that we are new creations in Him, we approach him with boldness and spend time with Him.  He becomes the center of everything we do and all that we are.  This brings maturity.  Being a part of a church family also brings maturity.  You notice I am careful to use the word family when I talk about church.  God has shown us numerous times in His word that he designed the church to function as a family.  Not a kingdom.  We cannot confuse the church with God’s Kingdom. WE are His church.  WE are His body.  Jesus is the head of His body.  It’s a heartbreaking thing when I see people building up their own kingdoms and calling it church.  It looks more like a king and his subjects instead of a family like God designed it to be.  It’s no accident that all of the first churches we see in the new testament were started in homes, where the family is.  Church is about living as a family.

We’ve got to get to a place that we are teaching new believers that they are FULLY redeemed.  In Ezekiel 36, God promised to give us a “new heart and a new spirit”, this conversion changes EVERYTHING.  It changes how we live, how we view the world, how we look at people.  When we are taught and believe that we are fully redeemed, our entire outlook on life is re-centered on God and re-built on His revealed truth.

When our life is centered on God, He becomes the center of everything we do.  We will begin to take our culture back and again make a difference in this world.

Jeff*fightforgrace*

1/12/10

Kings and Priests, by Micah Paxton

The Bible tells us in Heb 5:6 that Jesus was “called a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek”. There are several references to Melchizedek in the NT and the story of him in the OT. He was unique in all of the Bible that not only was he a priest but he was also a King.
Because Jesus was called after the order of Melchizedek, we who are “joint-heirs” (literally heir to the same things) Rom 8:17, are in turn called to the same order….1 Pet 2:9 says that we are “a royal priesthood” not just priests and not just royalty.
Rev 1:5-6 says that Jesus’ blood “washed us from our sins AND made us kings and priests”
Rev 5:10 reinforces this “and having made us kings and priests to our God”
Gal 4:5-6 talks about our adoption into Him and culminates in one of the most wonderful verses “therefore you are no longer a slave but a SON, and if a SON, then an HEIR of God through Christ”!

in summation we, through Christ are part of the unique group…not only called to priests but are also called to be kings! Sons of the Most High God and all the responsibilities and privileges that go with it. As kings we are called to reach out to those around us and serve them and help them realize the destiny and calling in their lives! As priests we are called to minister and worship the one true God who was slain before the foundations of the world out of His love for us and His desire to provide a way that we might have eternal relationship and fellowship with Him!

Hope this helps you see the awesomeness that is in you and the responsibility that we have to help our brothers and sisters see their birthright!

It’s hard to believe it’s November – Wow… the year has flown by… Weird to think about. It’s odd cause I have a constant flow of thoughts that flash through my head when I think about what time of the year it is. Thoughts like, “I need to do “this” before Christmas” – “This should have been done in August.” “What happened to the previous 10 months?” – “Are you planning ahead?” – “What did you learn from the past?” – Random things like that… Thoughts that are like a pendulum if you will, where my mind wrestles with the past and future constantly, yet barely realizes the present moments at hand. Perhaps I am alone in feeling these things? I’ve never really asked anyone about it… ha. It feels as though I’m moving so fast through life – and I know I’m missing out on all these amazing moments… And I’m rarely captivated by the small things in life anymore.
Recently, I’ve been doing this weird thing – We’re I’m trying to learn how to embrace every moment… Trying to train my over-analytical mind, and my visionary mindset to focus on the here and now. “I came to give life, and give it to the Fullest.” He says. – But I feel like much of my life, Is spent recalling the past, or conjuring up the future in my head. What about the here and now? What If we could teach ourselves to slow down, just for a moment – not worry about tomorrow, or the day before, or even what’s for dinner in an hour. But rather sit back, and realize life as it is now… As it’s unfolding before us, in this very moment.
So How does it work? – I stop… I stop everything- And I focus on the moment, the memory being created… The smells, the tastes, the feelings in the room, the life in the eyes of those around me. The anticipation of the conversations I’m having, the peoples hearts in the rooms… Learning to fully give my attention – Rather than wait for them to finish talking, so I can speak. It’s a captivating thing to hear someones heart, and how they view the world… and to do so with pure motives, just to be there, and be fully engaged in their heart as it’s being unfolded. We’re all so different… And it’s so amazing to me… And so I’m learning to embrace moments, learning to focus on details, and learning to make my heart attentive to the small things. To simply think about the moment I’m in – the taste in that last drink of coffee, the sigh of relief when I’m pausing for a moment to regroup my thoughts, or find my heart, and let it speak out… Or to just listen as my brother bares his soul, and expects nothing but a listening ear in return… And I ask myself continually – Is my ear listening, or is my heart listening? Whether it’s good or bad… It’s all beautiful, cause it’s real…
I’m learning to embrace these so called “moments of life” – Rather than Seasons of Life – What about my friends? They are all so amazing… I have sat with them for years, had countless deep talks, and of course we’ve laughed a lot. But if I step back – I become enamored by their personalities – Drawn in by their beautiful hearts, and captivated by their words. What a blessing. I think to myself… to sit among kings and queens, leaders who love, and are learning to love.. And I think to myself. “We’re doing it. We’re living life together!” We’re developing relationships with people who we love, and value, and honor. What a beautiful thing – I find myself so captivated by people, so in love with their hearts. We’re so different, and that’s so amazing. Everyone has their own quirks, their own gifts, and their own issues, and they’re all… Well… They’re all amazing. Cause it’s reality. I love them all. I think I embrace them as a whole – cause they embrace all of me as well. And that’s beautiful… It’s intimacy… It’s honesty… It’s reality… I don’t know how to describe it. But something comes alive inside of me – When I’m simply “Doing life” with people. I’ve done it for years… But have I truly been living to the greatest possible measure? I don’t know… Maybe not? Maybe I’m learning something deeper?
I guess it’s all apart of the journey… The journey of learning how to Live…

Is it possible to get too much of God?

I would say a resounding NO to both of these questions.  If we can’t ever get enough of God then the question becomes “how do we get more of God”? There is always more of His character to discover.  More of His love to experience.  More of his power to be used for His purposes.  More, more, more…

What measures are people willing to take when they want more of something?  Are they willing to change priorities?  Are they willing to give up anything?  Are they willing to lose friends or even family?  Am I willing?  Are you willing?

I know that we can’t get too much of God.  I’ve never seen anyone or heard of anyone that had too much of God.  If that is the case then why don’t we seek more of Him?  He wants to give us more of Himself.  When we get more of God, we get more of everything we are needing spiritually.

I’m not satisfied.  I want more.  How can we be satisfied with the amount of intimacy, knowledge, power, or love of God we have or experience?  He always leaves me wanting more.  Not because he can’t fill me, but because when you taste of God and see how good He is, you simply just can’t get enough.  Every encounter with God only causes us to thirst and hunger for Him more.

Maybe the problem isn’t actually even “getting” enough of God.  Maybe the problem is that we don’t actually “give” enough of ourselves to Him?  Maybe we are holding back.  I know I hold back.  I don’t want to hold anything back but I know that when i’m honest with myself, I’m holding back.  The pursuit of happiness instead of the pursuit of God.  The pursuit of success instead of the pursuit of Jesus.  The pursuit of “approval” instead of the pursuit of the Holy Spirit.  That is just a few things that I know get in the way sometimes.

The problem with this is that when I read the scriptures I see men and women  fully surrendered to God and my desire for that “lifestyle” intensifies.  I see men and women completely dependent upon the Holy Spirit and they display a life that I want.  I want more.  It’s not enough to talk about it.  It’s not enough to go through the motions.  It’s not enough to do things the same way they’ve always been done with no reason except that it’s just the way it’s always been done!

When i’m hungry or thirsty, I begin to make plans to fill those desires.  Some of my plans change.  Meetings get moved around.  My hunger or thirst drives my schedule.  I have a serious hunger and thirst for God.  His power, His love, His grace, His mercy, I could go on and on.  Am I making plans to fill those desires?  Or am I afraid of being inconvenienced or even embarrassed for being an “extreme” christian.  I say we give God everything, every part of ourselves, everything.  The rewards are great.  The reward is our Father.  His son, Jesus.  And His Holy Spirit.

Give Him more….

Give me more…

Jeff Burnett *fightforgrace*

I’m literally almost speechless right now as I type this.  It angers me that this man calls himself a christian and teaches this hate and deception.  It’s no wonder the world hates christianity and christians.  It’s no wonder the world calls christians hypocrites.

How can you truly be a follower of Jesus and hate anyone?  You can’t.

How can you truly be a follower of Jesus and want someone to die and go to hell?  You can’t.

To be a follower of Jesus means that you view all people the way that Jesus views them.  With love.  God is the God of love.  He literally is love.  God loves Barack Obama just as much as he loves me or you.  Now, just so you know, I did not vote for Obama and I do not like how he is leading us as President.  I disagree with most of his ideas.  I pray that when the next election comes around that we can vote a God-loving President into office.  But for a christian, or pastor, to say they want him to die and go to hell is flat nauseating.  This man obviously has never encountered the God of Peace, the God of Grace, the God of Abraham, the God that I worship.  He desires that all men come to know him as their father.  He desires that all men would experience his love because he knows that if they do….they are done.  I pray for this pastor that he would come to have an experience with the one true God, who loves all people.

Does he think it impossible for Obama to get born-again?  Nothing is impossible for God!  It just takes one glimpse of the goodness of God and Barack Obama will go running to his Father.  It can happen.

We must preach love.

We must live love.

We must be love.

Our Father is, therefore we are.  We are made in his image.  We just have to experience him as he truly is and we will know….He is Love.

Let’s purpose in our hearts to live in such a way that we would reverse this hypocritical perception that has become the worlds view of christians.  Let’s show the world who we are and who our God is.

LOVE.

Jeff Burnett*fightforgrace*

The only thing I can see with this is that it’s easy to understand the giftings of evangelists, pastors, and teachers, but the apostles and prophets are harder to understand.  Most people are afraid of what they don’t understand.  So…it would probably require faith to invite the apostles and prophets into our churches?  Isn’t it faith that moves God?

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint.

Where are the prophets?

Where are the apostles?

Have they been ran out of the church?  Because they can’t be “controlled”?  It seems that all other roles are in full function but what bothers me is that I do not see anywhere in scripture that the apostles and prophets have stopped functioning in the church.

I believe that we must have all giftings and callings functioning fully for the church to function properly.

I would love to have any and all thoughts on this subject.  I want to see the church restored to its place of power and influence and I believe we must see all giftings and callings functioning before this can happen.

Thoughts?

Jeff Burnett*fightforgrace*

This one “thing” is God’s presence.

It doesn’t matter whether you have 300, 3000, or 30,000 at our church service, if the presence of God is not there then we are just having another meeting.  And Lord knows, we all have enough meetings.

So how do we make sure that the presence of God is in our lives and in all these other areas I previously mentioned?  That has to be our number one priority, our biggest hunger, our most prayed prayer, our hearts cry, and simply the most important thing in our life.

The presence of God.

When God shows up, people are changed.

When God shows up, people are healed.

When God shows up, marriages are restored.

When God shows up, needs are met.

When God shows up, counseling goes away.  I can’t even find counseling sessions in the New Testament.  I believe that’s because the presence of God was in their meetings and people received what they needed.  We are trying to counsel people to fulfill something that can only be fixed by God himself.  One minute in God’s presence can equal a lifetime of counseling.  Now I know this may offend anyone that does a lot of counseling because counseling creates a sense of being needed.  What’s needed is the presence of God!

When our only standard for success is the PRESENCE OF GOD, the favor of God rests upon us, and all things become possible.

Let’s make this our standard in every area of our life.  Let’s examine these areas of our lives and see if this is the standard.

Let’s make getting in God’s presence the most important thing.

Whether you read in the old or new testaments, when people got in God’s presence, people changed.

God’s presence=Whatever you need!

Jeff Burnett*fightforgrace*

John 8:32 ..”you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

When Jesus spoke of truth here, he did not mean what we might initially think he meant.  I used to think when he said this that the truth he spoke of was simply His word and if I read it, studied it, and learned it,  then I would be set free.  But, if we look back at what that word was translated from it means “experienced knowledge”.  Now that is something completely different.  I can read about, hear about, and even get to drive by Disney World, but if I don’t go in, ride the rides, eat the food, give Mickey a high five, then I really don’t know the truth of Disney World.

From day one Jesus was leading His disciples to an “experience” with the Father.  It’s so important that we get back to that.  Adam had an experience with God, he walked and talked with Him, he didn’t read about or just hear about experiencing God.  God has been trying to get that back and because of the finished work of Jesus we have a wide open door to experience God!  Now we are a very blessed generation, we have the word of God to be able to read and study, but we must realize that the entire Bible is pointing toward a real experience with God.  We cannot settle for anything less.

There are so many distractions in the way of having a real, live, relationship with our Father.  We must be determined.  We must not settle for anything less than a genuine experience with our Father.  We must fight.  Fight for TRUTH.

Experienced Truth.  Experienced knowledge.

Jeff Burnett*fightforgrace*

Mean and Hateful.

Now where in the world would they get this perception?   What is it that we are showing the world about Jesus?  What ever happened to “you shall know them by their love.”?

I know that we are not “trying” to make ourselves look mean and hateful but obviously we need to look at some things.  When I think of someone that is mean and hateful I picture someone who thinks they are better than I am and treats me like i’m way below them.  Could this be it?  Do we ever treat those outside the church like we are better than they are?  Do we treat them like they are lower than we are?  If this is the case then it’s no wonder they would think we are mean and hateful.  Here’s a thought; is this why we are seeing “seeker” friendly churches pop up every where?? To make up for how people have been treated by “church” folks?  Have we treated people outside the church so bad that now we have to “water down” the gospel to try to let them know we are really nice and loving??

It was once said by the Joker in Batman “This town needs an enema!”  Well, I think this could be said of some christians!  We must get off our high horse!  Jesus said himself he did not come to be served but to serve!  Jesus himself said that those that want to be first will be last and those who are last will be first.  Jesus was always trying to teach his disciples that they were not better than anyone else.  They wanted to call fire down on people, Jesus said no.  (although I do love their confidence of even being able to call down fire!)  They would try to stop people from approaching Jesus when He was headed somewhere, Jesus corrected them and welcomed everyone.  Jesus put people first.  They didn’t have to be disciples, He treated everyone with love.  Actually the only time this might not be the case was when “religious” people were trying to control people.  This was the only time we see Jesus upset.  Wow…So the only time we see Jesus upset is when “religious” people thought they were better than everyone else.  Ouch!  The Barna Group’s study says that 91% of people outside the church think that christians are mean and hateful which also goes along with thinking you’re better than someone.  Help us Lord….Help us…

For the world’s sake, we must start loving people the way Jesus did.  Loving everyone as Jesus did.

We must love the unlovable.

The church should be setting the example of how to love.  Not the opposite as this poll states.  We must start spending more time in the presence of God.  Jesus did this daily.  When we realize how much God loves us and we realize that God loves all others the same, this should drive us to love others as well.

Can the image of the church and the image of christians be changed?  I believe so.  But not just because we want it to.  It will only happen by us beginning to love people…one person at a time.  Who’s path will you cross today, tomorrow, at work, at school, etc.??  We must show the world who Jesus is by how we live life.  Let’s set out to change the image of christianity.  It just starts with one of us.  It just starts with loving one person at a time.

Love the unlovable….

Jeff Burnett*fightforgrace*

I think that intellectually we know this to be true.  But does your heart know this?  Does your heart know the level of love that God has for you?  Does your heart know that you are truly a child of God?

When our heart knows this, the power exists for our life to be changed or transformed.  The most important thing we can do is take what we know to be true in our heads and allow it to get to our hearts.  Way down into our hearts.  This is why it’s so important to protect our heart.  We were given a new heart when we were born-again and we must protect that new heart. (this is another teaching for another time)

We can allow the truths we hear to penetrate our hearts by keeping our hearts pure.

A lot of times we all probably look at the life of Jesus when he walked the earth and wonder how he did it.  How was He perfect?  How did He do what He did?  How was loving all people, healing all people that he touched mentally and physically, and changing everyone’s life, a normal day in the life of Jesus?

It’s because He experienced His Father at the heart level.  He took it past the point of knowing in His head and lived life from His heart.  He had a relationship with God at the heart level.  Wow…I want that.

Jesus went to God for everything, every day.  He trusted His Father.  He knew God only wanted good for Him.

God wants to connect with us at the heart level.  Jesus paved the way, and now we have that same invitation.  When we live our life in Jesus, it is possible to have this relationship with our Father at the heart level.

Jesus is inviting us all into this love that the Father has for us.  He is inviting us into His family, we are His children.

Ask God to help you take what you “know” in your head and plant it in your heart.  God is always faithful, His desire is that we know Him as our Father.  Live your relationship with God from your heart.

Does your heart know how much God loves you?

Does your heart know?

Jeff Burnett*fightforgrace*