“25Large crowds were now traveling with Jesus, and He turned and said to them, 26“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. 27And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple.
28Which of you, wishing to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has the resources to complete it? 29Otherwise, if he lays the foundation and is unable to finish the work, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30saying, ‘This man could not finish what he started to build.’
31Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32And if he is unable, he will send a delegation while the other king is still far off, to ask for terms of peace.
33In the same way, any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple.” – Luke 14
Last night I was meeting with some brothers in the faith and the subject of discussion turned to Luke 14 and the “cost of discipleship”.
I’ve heard this passage shared a lot over the years. Typically it’s heard as a call to a serious devotion to Christ and his teaching, an admonition to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…”
But I want to share with you what I shared with these men.
Heed Christ’s admonition. Do it. Count the cost.
Take what you have, that is, your time, talents, treasure, your abilities, your commitment, your resolve, your steadfast obedience to Jesus and his commands, your charity for others, your boldness to proclaim Jesus Christ and him crucified to a lost and dying world, your ability to love God with all your heart and to love others as yourself. Take all that you have and are and add it up.
Now this is the part where you’ll have to be honest with yourself.
Do you have what it takes to build the house?
…
After a careful accounting all men everywhere should come to the same staggering conclusion…
I can’t do this.
I’m not good enough. I’m not knowledgeable enough. I’m not strong enough. I’m not committed enough. I’m not brave enough. I’m not loving enough.
I… I, am not enough. I can’t build this house.
Then with this in hand I want you to look up and set your eyes on the empty cross and know this…
Jesus can, is and will build the house.
“1“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” – John 14
“9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” – 2 Corinthians 12
Take your eyes off yourself friends. You, will only let You down.
Set your eyes upon Jesus. Trust in him to do his good work and to bring it to completion. He is mighty to save and secure you. Christ will finish what he started. I guarantee it.
And when you go to Philippians and read Paul’s encouragement to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling…” read the next line…
“…for it is GOD who WORKS in you, both to WILL and to WORK for HIS good pleasure.” – Philippians 2:12-13
Now recall the last line of the passage from Luke 14:
“33In the same way, any one of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple.”
So do it. Give up. Give up everything that you have. All confidence in yourself and your ability, your commitment, your resolve, your steadfastness, your resolution, your courage, your imperfect love…
and trust in Jesus to FINISH what HE STARTED. And he will.
“6And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” – Philippians 1:6
Total Solar Eclipse, Fort Worth, TX – April 8th, 2024, 1:40-1:44pm
“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word! Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds! Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! Young men and maidens together, old men and children! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven. He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the Lord!” - Psalm 148:1-14 ESV
“He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names.” Psalm 147:4 KJV
““Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” John 10:1-4 ESV
“But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).” John 20:11-16 ESV
“Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” Hebrews 4:6-10 ESV
I recently taught on the subject of the spiritual realm at my local church. The class was entitled “The Unseen Realm” and the class overview was thus:
“Our faith is inextricably tied to the reality that the cosmos is both natural and supernatural. That is to say, there are both material and immaterial components to God’s universe and all that we know and experience in the natural realm is uniformly influenced by the spiritual realm that we do not see.
With this in hand, if we are to be intellectually honest and more importantly, faithful to Jesus Christ, we must understand the world arounds us as He has explained it in his own testimony, the Holy Scriptures.”
Hope you enjoy this video/class/teaching and it’s a blessing to you!
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.” – Revelation 22:12
Nobody gets away with anything.
Not you. Not me.
The King is coming and he is bringing his recompense, his repayment, with him and each one will be repaid for what they have done.
We tend to hear this and immediately go to thinking about all the scoundrels who are out there doing the devil’s work. The murderers, the thieves and robbers. Rarely do we consider that Peter said the following.
“17For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” – 1 Peter 4:17
Judgement begins with the church. Not the world. The church.
I work in an industry where unfortunately, there is no shortage of scoundrels.
Men who withhold wages from workers. Men who lie and cheat their clients. Clients who lie and cheat their builders. A great deal of them “go to church”. They’re “Christians”. I’m sure some of them are actual born again believers. Nevertheless they lie, they cheat, they steal.
Many rarely consider the plight of the laborer or the poor and downtrodden.
I’ve lost count of how many hard working immigrants who have told me how GCs just didn’t pay them for work they did. They don’t know about mechanics liens and how they work to protect them, so I try to educated them on it, either way, they’ve still been abused.
Just in the last couple of weeks I’ve heard from multiple people in my industry about how designers and sales people were “fired” and not paid tens of thousands of dollars they were owed in commissions. I say “fired” because they’re contract workers (1099) but the industry employers treat them like they’re (W2s), which is against the law but it’s cheaper for the employer. They don’t have to pay additional taxes and healthcare for their workers.
Boss just bought another jet boat though. Needed to find a way to make up the balance so fired some hard working man with a wife and kids and a mortgage. Merry Christmas.
Another guy’s battling cancer, it’s terminal now. Had to do a Gofundme to ask industry friends for help with medical expenses. Employer doesn’t provide healthcare for the guy. Because again, that’s expensive and the guy is desperate for work. So they have leverage on him and so they apply it.
Employer does take nice vacations to the Caribbean though. Probably even sends text messages to the guy with a prayer emoji.
I see it with clients too. People at church even. “Oh I found a guy who can do it for half that! I got a great deal!”
I’m glad that worked out for you.
The first three bids told you it’d be $1,000. This guy said he’d do it for $600 and you know the materials are $500.
Gonna be hard for the guy to buy groceries this month but I’m glad you “got a good deal”.
I’ve seen this my entire life. Used to see it waiting tables in college. The worst tippers were the church crowd. The people who profess to know that Jesus Christ is Lord and suffered and died on Roman cross to save their own wretched souls from their own wretched sin. And yet, these were the folks with the tightest purses.
Everybody is getting what’s coming to them.
Jesus. He sees it. All of it. And every last deed any of us did will be repaid accordingly.
Both for the unbeliever and the believer alike.
What we all need to remember is that the Lord is perfect in justice.
If you find yourself apathetic to the plight of your neighbor. You may want to keep these things in mind. The accounting is coming.
We’re all getting what’s coming to us.
In light of that reality, I can’t encourage you enough. Repent. While you still have time. Repent.
Repent of the sins of commission, the times you’ve lied, you’ve cheated, you’ve held back.
Repent of the sins of omission. The times you ignored, you plugged your ears, your were too busy…
Repent of your apathy toward the plight of your neighbor, your brother, the Samaritan among you while you pursued the comforts of this world.
Jesus knows and will remember who stopped for the poor guy on the side of the road. He’ll remember who was living it up while their “employees” suffered. And he is going to repay us all according to our deeds.
I would encourage you all to consider what the Lord told his disciples:
“31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
He is coming quickly. And he is bringing his repayment with him. No one gets away with anything. Not the murderer, not the swindler, not the tax cheat, not the apathetic, not you, not me.
If that’s you, and I know it’s me. Repent. Before it’s too late. Because the King is coming…
They are very real. Not floating on a cloud strumming harp. Nope. Literal, physical, material and perfect. And it is coming. A great reward, imperishable, for those who love Jesus and have believed his gospel. The things we do here and now for Christ are the things which will remain in the new home that he is preparing for us.
Your 401K won’t be there.
Your VP of this and that… it won’t be there.
Your degree from Prestigious Tech… it won’t be there.
The fancy project you designed and built. It won’t be there.
Your nice house, nice cars, your fancy vacations. They will not be there.
But the things you do now for Jesus Christ, here in this broken sin stained world, those things will not only be acknowledge by Jesus in his kingdom, but fully rewarded and the inheritance that you will receive from your Father in heaven will be literally everlasting.
You are not destined for a cloud, wings and a harp.
You will have a new body, unstained by sin and a new, literal, physical home, in which you will dwell in the righteousness of Christ the King.
Now is the time to prepare. Now. Not tomorrow. Not after you’ve climbed the corporate ladder. Not after you’ve secured your retirement. Not after the kids are grown and out of the house. Not after grandkids come or you graduate from dental or law school.
Today. This day. For Christ.
Don’t waste your life!
Law school, engineering degrees, succeeding in business, raising children. These are all good and noble task. Even vacations do honor God.
But the key is Christ.
As you go about your day pursuing the normal things we all pursue, let Christ be preeminent in all that you do. Let the good news of his gospel, Him crucified and risen for the forgiving of sins, always be at the tip of your tongue.
This world is dying. It is going away. Don’t waste your life on that which will be burned and destroyed.
“19“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” – Matthew 6:19-24
“1“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4And you know the way to where I am going.” – John 14:1-4
Tell someone the good news of Jesus Christ today. No matter the cost. And it will cost you. It will. But I can assure you this, any loss you suffer in this dying world, the Lord will honor and reward for you in his everlasting Kingdom that is coming.
Be bold. Go. Preach Jesus to a lost and dying world. They need to hear it.
Last April I began being burdened in my heart that the Lord had a prophetic word for me to share with his church. My heart is inclined to believe it was a word for both the universal church and my local congregation, but that my local fellowship was of first order. So I shared this word with them then but now I feel as though the time has come for me to share that word with the church universal, for anyone who would stumble upon this page and read this.
I was very conflicted about this at the time because I didn’t know what exactly the Lord wanted me to share. I mean I had all kinds of things that I would like to share with them but were these my thoughts and opinions or was this from the Lord?
So my faith was that I was to ask the Lord to confirm the word for me in a dream. I don’t dream very much so I found this odd. I then reached out to a dozen or so brothers and sisters in the Lord and asked them to pray for me to this end. That if it was the Lord’s will he would confirm for me what it was that I was supposed to share with his church in this dream.
The next day one of the people I asked to pray for me, an Elder of my former church, said he had a dream with me in it. He described the dream and it was odd because the things in the dream could not have been known by this man apart from some kind of supernatural means. That said, as I prayed about it I did not think this was the dream the Lord had for me as I asked the Lord that he give me a dream, not another person.
Then a couple of weeks went by and still I had no dream. So my thought was that the Lord simply said “no” to my request and I let it go.
Then that night I had a dream. And this dream confirmed what I already knew in my heart I was to share.
I woke up at 6:23am in a deep peace and immediately told my wife who was supportive.
So later that day I felt compelled to just write down with pencil and paper what it was I believed the Lord wanted me to share with his church. I wrote it down because I wanted there to be a crystal clear record of what I believed he was having me share. I didn’t want to come back and forget the exact nature of the word and then have it morph into something else over time.
The following is what I wrote down:
The Lord is at hand and coming quickly. Before he comes there will be great tribulation and the church will be here and must endure it. The church will face Antichrist. He comes in the lying evil spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. To the carnal he will seem to be Christ. But the spiritual will know he is a deceiver. His appearance will be accompanied by “lying signs and false wonders”. One of these signs will be the “alien” deception. As the world is thrust into great turmoil “aliens” will show up, only they are not who they say they are. They are fallen angels, demons, masquerading as angels of light and they will speak a great lie, “ye shall be like God…” They will explain that they have been watching us and have now appeared at a critical point in our species’ evolution, that is, on our path to attaining “godhood” like them. They will implore us to embrace our “inner christ” and declare alongside them and him, “I AM”. They will seek to unite the world under a single system, a new and final Tower of Babel. Their coming will be so “real”, so persuasive that “even the elect of God would be deceived if such a thing were possible…” The world will embrace this lie whole heartedly. But the Lord’s church will remain faithful to Him and for this the church will be persecuted terribly. But “they will overcome by the word of their testimony, the blood of the Lamb and loving not their lives even unto death.” In this, shall the Bride of Christ be perfected, that is, in her suffering for the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Hold fast, trust in the steadfast love of the Lord, his death, burial, and resurrection for the forgiving of your sins and so be spared the wrath to come.
Below are pictures I took of the word that I wrote down in my journal back in April of 2023:
The longer I’ve walked the with Lord the more and more he has revealed to me about his sovereignty; particularly how his sovereignty governs the affairs of men.
And yet men pay him no regard. And what regard they do pay him they pay him with lip service.
What do I mean by that?
Well the rain for instance, or the lack there of it.
We look at the rain and consider it an arbitrary thing. Something that just happens in the natural order or things. Something we just expect, something we’re frankly entitled to.
And then it doesn’t rain for a stretch. And that stretch grows longer. And longer. It begins to grow long enough that we get irritable by the heat and the lack of the rain.
We check the weather report. Still no rain. We cuss it, then we turn up the AC and go about our day. We remain indignant. “Where’s the cursed rain?”
We remain defiant. Unbridled. Expectant and entitled.
We pay no regard to the God who made the earth and everything in it. The God who makes the rain fall on the just and the unjust alike.
And then some of us open our Bibles and read then and we read things like Jeremiah 5
“20Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah: 21“Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not. 22Do you not fear me? declares the LORD. Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail; though they roar, they cannot pass over it. 23But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away. 24They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.’ 25Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you. 26For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men. 27Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; therefore they have become great and rich; 28they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy. 29Shall I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?”
30An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: 31the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?” – Jeremiah 5:20-31
And yet still. We pay God lip service.
What do I mean by that.
Well we see Jeremiah 5 as an interesting story about a long ago people. We read it, we acknowledge the lesson that’s held within. That the people of God had done evil in the sight of the Lord and for this reason he caused the rain to cease. Bad Israel. Man they sure were hard hearted.
And then we just keep going about our day. Checking the weather, getting annoyed that it’s still says three digit heat and no rain.
No sack cloth. No ashes. No contrition. Just a proud and calloused heart. One that can’t be bothered to even acknowledge the Source of the rain and ask for Him for that which they desire…
Look, the God who made the rain fall on Israel is same God who causes the rain to fall on Texas. The same God who withholds rain from Texas.
If you’re reading this and kind of scoffing in your heart, “Well that’s a little much, I mean I see what you’re getting at but…” well, that’s what I’m getting at. Lip service.
We are a proud, stubborn and entitled people.
We expect the rain.
And when the rain doesn’t come, we get angry.
I wonder, is the God who makes the rain fall on the just and the unjust alike trying to get our attention?
Have we offended him?
I wonder, maybe our offense is the simply fact that we don’t acknowledge him in our daily lives for who He actually is and who we are before him. He’s the rainmaker and we are his creation. When he causes the rain to cease, do we muster the humility to even ask him for that which we desire?
“Lord, would you have mercy on us? It’s hot and dry. Please Lord, send rain. Have mercy on the just and the unjust alike and cause the sky to give forth rain as only you can do.”
Do you pray like this? I mean in your actually daily life? Do you pray to the God who made the earth and everything in it like he is who he says he is?
Or do you pay him lip service?
Maybe it’s dry because God wants to get your attention. I wonder. Does he have it yet?
Droughts make me wonder ya know.
“Lord, have I offended you? Have mercy on me a sinner. Forgive me Lord for I have failed to acknowledge you in my heart for who your are and what you have done. Forgive me. Lord, please send forth the rain. Thank you.”
Over the years I have continually heard preachers and teachers in the Lord’s church explain that ours is not a “blind faith” but a “reasonable faith”. They go on to explain all the evidence that exists to confirm our testimony concerning Jesus Christ and the logical reasons our gospel should be believed. They insist, that gospel can and should be received for it’s reasonableness as if the issue at hand is a matter or practicality or intellectual reasoning instead of the supernatural work of God that it actual is…
Respectfully, I have never understood this opinion from Bible teachers and here’s why. The Scriptures literally give us the definition of what faith is in Hebrews 11:1
“1Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” – Hebrews 11:1-2
Faith is literally the conviction of something we do NOT see. Like a blind person. What’s it called when you can’t see? BLINDNESS. So if faith IS the conviction of things we do NOT SEE. Then faith as a matter of fact is BLIND.
And that is because faith does not come by sight, but through HEARING.
“17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” – Romans 10:17
“Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”” – John 20:29
Jesus says it is those who have NOT SEEN (ie blind folks) and yet believed (have faith) that are blessed.
And there’s a reason for this. The eyes, more than anything else are a facilitator of man’s pride before God.
What I believe the Lord has revealed to me over the years is that faith comes through hearing and not by sight because pride works strongly through sight.
“The lust of the eyes and the pride of life…”
Faith however must be received, a gift, something initiated by another that we then receive… like hearing. With hearing, another must initiate speech for our ears to hear and receive the good word spoken. And this is what God does for us. He initiates reconciliation.
“Salvation belongs to the Lord.”
Our eyes on the other hand allow us to boast in ourselves. We open them and assume that we take survey of what’s before us. We sit in the evaluation or judgement seat with sight. And our hubris let’s us delude ourselves into thinking sight is something we initiate of our own volition.
But here’s the truth, even our sight is something received. All that is seen is seen only because of the Light that we RECEIVE in our eyes. Without light penetrating the eye, no man can see anything, it’s just darkness. So even sight, that in which man may try and boast, is a gift of God. Nevertheless to the prideful and deluded soul, the eyes convince him that it is HE who measures the line and determines is length, it is man that inspects God to decide for himself whether he is or isn’t…
If you have studied occultist at all, you will find they are enamored with owls as symbolism. Why? Because owls can SEE at night. The WISE owl, need not the Light to have knowledge. He can open his eyes and judge for himself.
Do you see how sight is connected straight to the Garden and the fall?
God “said” not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. So Adam and Eve “heard” God’s voice and rather than believe (exhibit faith) what he had “said” (something received) they “saw” (something they believe they initiated) the Tree of Knowledge and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life in them led them to think knew better than God, and therefore not to “believe” what God has “said” but to make judgement themselves with their own two eyes as to what they would think about this tree.
And as soon as they ate of the forbidden fruit their “eyes were opened”. Now these were clearly different eyes than their natural eyes because we know from the text that before they even ate of it, they “saw” that the tree was “good” for food and that it was useful to “make one wise” (you see the lust of wisdom there!) then her pride led Eve to disobey God and eat of the tree and likewise with Adam. Then the eyes of their hearts were opened to know both good and evil and they they saw plainly, for the first time, “we’re naked”.
So faith comes by hearing friends.
“16But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
18But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for
“Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” – Romans 10
That “word” of Christ is the “rhema”, that is, that which has been uttered by a living voice, this is the Holy Spirit.
Consider this friends. Reason is wholly a function of the human mind. A human mind that is stained by sin and hopelessly broken.
Listen to what Paul said in Ephesians about the ability of our minds help us know God:
“17Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.” – Ephesians 4:17
He says that our minds are utterly FUTILE! Our reasoning is worthless. It is of no accord, in fact he goes further explaining that the Gentiles are alienated from the life of God (remember that “it is the Spirit that is life”) and for this explicit reason, they pursue him through their minds, through their reasoning, that they are separated from the life of God.
“18They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” – Ephesians 4:18-19
And then he says this:
“20But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus,” – Ephesians 4:20-21
That’s not how we learned about Jesus friends! No we HEARD about him, that is in our spirit from the Holy Spirit through human vessels. And we were taught in him, as the “Spirit IS life” and Jesus IS the “truth”. And he manifests himself to us BY THE SPIRIT, through our spiritual ears in our HEARING.
Paul continues…
“22to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” – Ephesians 4:22-24
And it is finally in the SPIRIT of our minds that we may finally have “the mind of Christ”, this is the new birth. This is being born again, of the Holy Spirit.
This is what Paul says explicitly to the church at Corinth.
We received these things in our spirit through hearing. And it is impossible to otherwise received them. This is how we have the mind of Christ. We hear his voice in our inner man and we believe the good word heard.
“6Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
14The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 2
One last thought.
Christ was crucified on a “tree” on a hill called Golgotha. Golgotha meaning “skull”.
Jesus Christ crucified on a new tree that produces life on a hill called “skull”.
This is a picture of the crucified mind.
It is our MINDS that must be slain friends. It is our intellect, our reasoning and our pride that caused us to first eat from that forbidden tree. But now there’s a new and living way. A new tree that speaks life to us from the Spirit to our spirit. And all may freely eat and drink by grace through faith in HEARING and BELIEVING the good word it speaks.
“…For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
Revelation 19:10 ESV
Prophecy is always a call to die.
It is always a call to die because it is always a call to live.
“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
1 Corinthians 2:2 ESV
“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”
Luke 9:23-24 ESV
“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.”
2 Corinthians 2:14-17 ESV
“For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.”
Prophetic Word of God 