ECONOMICAL CHANGE

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changing-economy‘Economy’ has been generally defined as the management of resources, most often by the selling and trading of goods and services, for a given community or nation.  Many times the media reports on the status of our national economy at any given time with a measuring device of productivity with descriptions of healthy, rich and robust or poor, slow and anemic.  A poor economy would suggest that we are using more resources than we are manufacturing and thus incurring a debt.  At the time of this writing, according to U. S. Debt Clock.org, the United States national debt has just surpassed 19 trillion dollars, which is, to say the least, disturbing.

It would seem that people of this era are not ashamed nor dismayed by financial debt.  Debt is just a way of life.  For those who keep such statistics, most people aren’t even close to having enough money ‘saved’ for retirement.  Of course, trusting the government with this responsibility has long since been propagated throughout our society.  Actually, most indicators reveal that the Social Security program will not be sufficiently funded for those who only rely upon that program as their sole source of income.  So instead of saving money and investing, our society is moving deeper into debt with little to nothing to sustain them after their working days are over.

This is troubling because our society as a whole has changed their view of how our economy works.  To me, this is symptomatic of a departure of not only the founding fathers’ view of this country, but also the kingdom of Christ view of just how life works, based on a kingdom of heaven revelation.  You see, the world’s economy is generally based on dollars and cents…not sense.  One would readily and justifiably take advantage of another in any business transaction and brag about it later…that’s just good business…right?  WRONG!!!!  At least in the kingdom of God that is absolutely wrong.

I just heard today of a ministry that was preparing to buy a church building from a church that had diminished in size and therefore couldn’t afford the building they occupied each week for worship.  The minister who was positioned to buy the building realized the ministry was going under if no one bought the property and promptly waited to buy the foreclosed property later from the bank at a reduced price…despicable!

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? 9 The Lord’s voice cries to the city– Wisdom shall see Your name: “Hear the Rod! Who has appointed it? 10Are there yet the treasures of wickedness In the house of the wicked, And the short measure that is an abomination? 11 Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales, And with the bag of deceitful weights? 12 For her rich men are full of violence, Her inhabitants have spoken lies, And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. 13 “Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you, By making you desolate because of your sins. 14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied; Hunger shall be in your midst. You may carry some away, but shall not save them; And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword. 15 “You shall sow, but not reap; You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; And make sweet wine, but not drink wine. 16 For the statutes of Omri are kept; All the works of Ahab’s house are done; And you walk in their counsels, That I may make you a desolation, And your inhabitants a hissing. Therefore, you shall bear the reproach of My people.””  Micah 6:8-16

The economy of the Kingdom of Christ is not built on selling goods and services but the Word and Spirit.  It’s an economy where those within the kingdom judge righteously by doing the right thing based on a vision of God and not a balance sheet or profit and loss statement.  For those who have professed their faith in Christ to pay their sin debt, we must now ask the Father to baptize us into Christ by filling us with His Spirit so that we now have His heart and mind on every matter…especially business transactions.  Secondly, we must ask the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, to open our eyes to Yahweh’s economy that is built on the following paradoxical premises:

 

  • Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”  Luke 6:38
  • “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  Matthew 6:33
  • “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”  Luke 12:32
  • “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Matthew 6:19-21
  • “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (money).”  Matthew 6:24
  • “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”  Colossians 3:1-5

The solution to this widespread soul virus begins in the heart of every individual Believer of Christ.  From there, we must return to Yahweh-centered family economies where there is unity and a commitment to the vision of the family-a vision that benefits each member of the family.  Hopefully, this will spread to our churches and then to business, education and government. Let’s return to an economy that works and prospers everyone…the Kingdom of Christ!!!!

Unity Equals Victory

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In football, I love the idea that when a play is called by the quarterback in the huddle that every member of the offense knows what his assignment is for that particular play.  The play is called, the players ‘break’ the huddle and line up in their unique positions.  The quarterback then barks a series of signals that either changes the play at the line of scrimmage or signals the start of the play.  Bam!  All eleven players move indiscriminately toward their assignment to achieve movement toward the ‘goal’ line.  Some teams are very good at this and others are just average.  And no matter that you have a superstar at one or two positions, without everyone doing their part, that team will not win as often as the team where every player is synced with the other players, all doing their part.

The apostle Paul stated it thusly to the Ephesians:

11 And He Himself  (Christ) gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 (a) for the equipping of the saints (b) for the work of ministry, (c) for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head–Christ– 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

I’m convinced that someone read this passage and then invented team sports.  Every team sport has individual positions and one or more of those positions serve as a leader for the team to excel and achieve their goal of victory.

Whether it is marriage (a two-team sport), family, business, or ecclesia (church), Paul’s game plan works every time.  Unity equals Victory!

As leaders, let us share the vision succinctly, incorporate all the players, outline the assignment for each position and provide leadership that unites the players along the way to victory.  We can do this!

Grace

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You would almost think that grace was a new concept in the body of Christ today given the frequency by which it is being utilized.  It seems that every message preached and every song being sung today is promoting grace.  I wouldn’t be that concerned about it but some of the rhetoric being thrown around pertaining to grace is erroneous at best and reckless at worst.  What seems to be at the center of the confusion is the difference between positional grace and functional grace.

Grace can easily be understood as that spiritual resource that Yahweh supplies that you can’t supply for yourself-a gift.  Grace is the divine presence and subsequent empowerment of the Holy Spirit within a person that causes change within and flows through that same person to others-glorifying Yahshua.

So, yes, Yahweh must first extend grace to everyone for your position (lineage and subsequent nature associated with that lineage) in Christ to change.  You cannot ‘save’, or deliver yourself from your sin condition that is generationally connected to Adam…you cannot make yourself righteous, acceptable and valuable to Yahweh apart from Yahshua’s sacrifice and shed blood on the cross. Yahweh Himself must give this gift of salvation that transfers your family lineage from Adam to Christ.  One’s simple response to this gift is repentance-a true expression of the contrition of one’s heart!!  Then, by faith (agreement with Yahweh), receive the finished work of Yahshua, completed on the cross.   Instantly, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of grace, responds to your heart’s desire to belong and be reconciled to Yahweh through the gift given and received.  HalleluYAH!!!

But notice these two passages that reference grace in the New Testament:

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  Ephesians 2:8-10

4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.  Titus 3:4-8

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

So grace cannot be understood solely linked to salvation, but must also be present and active in our lives as Kingdom change agents and sons of Yahweh in the earth today.  Romans 8:14 states that the sons of Yahweh are those who are ‘continually’ led by the Holy Spirit.  Later Paul explains that even the earth is groaning and travailing for the sons of Yahweh to take their place mightily in the earth so that the earth can glorify Christ as it was originally designed.  Man cannot fulfill his divinely given purpose without the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of grace, functioning in and through him.  If we stop at positional grace, we change lineages from Adam to Christ without the nature change and without fulfilling the Yahweh-given mandates unique to every believer.  As Paul states emphatically, “We are His workmanship, recreated in Christ Yahshua for good works.”

Therefore, there exists a distinct balance and relationship between the spoken Word, the Holy Spirit and man, who is uniquely designed to hear Yahweh’s voice and release his faith, which grants the Holy Spirit access to the spoken Word and brings about manifestation of that Word.

How much of what is being done in the name of Yahshua, the Christ, is actually being accomplished without the Holy Spirit’s empowerment within and through man?  How much of Yahshua’s earthly ministry was accomplished without the Holy Spirit?  Exactly, my point!

And The Two Became One

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In preparation for a wedding ceremony recently, I was pressing into the heart and mind of Yahweh for a distinct and personal message that I might deliver to the groom, bride, wedding party, family and friends.  The morning of the ceremony I was drawn to a very familiar Scripture- Romans 8:29:

“For who He (Yahweh, the Father) foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He (Yahshua, the Son of Yahweh) might be the firstborn of many brethren.”

I was then drawn by the Spirit within to dig deeper into the word, “conformed”.  The word in Greek is actually two words, which translate, ‘to be joined or morphed together in both form and fashion’.  Of course there could be no greater illustration of the true Kingdom concept of marriage, where the two become one.  But, before we can go there we must be true to the context of the verse that we were predestined to be morphed together in form and fashion with the image of Yahshua the Christ.

If we are not ‘conformed’ to Christ by the Spirit, then realistically there is no possible way for us to be truly joined and morphed together in marriage, family, business, ecclesia (church).

The apostle Paul later instructs the Romans to not be ‘conformed’ to this world, but be ‘transformed’ by the renewing of the mind.  Interestingly, the word he uses in chapter 12 for conform is different and means ‘to make new again or renew’.  So, the message is clear,

We must leave something old and dysfunctional to be morphed into something new, dynamic and life-giving.

Many people claim to have completed this transaction but retain old mindsets in which the enemy has established soulish strongholds that undermine and sabotage this new and effective life in Christ.

Every aspect of our life in this world was predetermined to be influenced directly by the presence of Christ within.  Yahweh saw your life today before He created the foundation of the world!  Let’s allow the Spirit within to us bring that prophetic vision into today’s reality.

Hebrews 9:27

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“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,…”  Hebrews 9:27

Apart from the second coming of Christ, all of us will face death – when mortality will give way to immortality.  Hattie Wells, my dear grandmother, proudly crossed the spiritual divide between the physical and spiritual realm this past week.  She was just short of living ninety-six years on this earth and I can only imagine the changes she has witnessed in this world from 1919 to present.  With the recent birth of Josiah Murner, my brother’s grandson, five generations were living at one time.

Even with the busyness of my life today, it’s difficult not to find myself drifting into a reminiscent mode of yesteryear remembering the impact and influence ‘Grandmother’ had on my life today as a person, a husband, a father, an apostle of Christ.  So walk with me down my own personal memory lane and perhaps it will cause you to remember the significant people in your life, both alive and departed, that deserve a moment of reflection on the impact they have made on your life.

…I remember the gravy and biscuits that were served up fresh – cooked on a wood-burning stove on a crisp winter’s morn in a coal mining camp in eastern Kentucky.

…I remember the Mentholatum mustache she wore each night under her nose so that she breathed well through the night.  I also remember that any of us grandchildren that slept with her through the night would wake up smelling like Mentholatum Vapor Rub.

…I remember the swinging, wood bridge that we crossed thousands of times visiting Grandmother and Papa at Big Hammer Farm where we spent the majority of our summers.

…I remember the 38 special pistol that Grandmother carried in her purse at all times, for some unknown reason.  I also remember her trying to shoot a rattlesnake in the yard with her pistol.  That snake couldn’t have been in a safer place than where Grandmother was pointing that pistol.  Dad eventually killed the snake.

…I remember visiting Grandmother from college and after Autumn and I were married.  She never allowed us to depart without giving us some ‘lunch money’.  She always wanted to know that her ‘grands’ had enough.

…I remember the thousands of delicious meals prepared from foods and ingredients grown right out of Grandmother and Papa’s garden.  I also remember the relentless hours of canning those vegetables for delicious foods to be eaten later that winter.  Wish I had some of those pickles right now.

…I remember building with Dad several wooden outhouses, which were utilized until they finally built a bathroom on the back of their small farmhouse.

I especially remember her zeal for Christ, her compassion for others and the many displays of sacrifice and kindness she extended toward others-especially her family.   She truly was an amazing woman!

…I remember…so many things that wouldn’t mean as much to you as they do to me and I don’t ever want to forget the significant people whom Yahweh placed into my life to mold me into the man I am today. Grandmother, you rank right there at the top!!!