It’s adequate: This Grace

1Jn 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.

Hoekstra wrote: “When the subject of spiritual strength is raised, our thinking often turns in one of two directions. Either we consider how we can muster up our own strength, or we dwell on our own weakness, doubting that adequate strength can ever be found.

It is clear from the scriptures that God is not expecting that mere human strength will be sufficient for our spiritual callings. "Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall."

Whenever we personally look to Him to pour out that strength, we will find that it is sufficient. "Those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength."

Waiting upon the Lord involves hoping in Him, placing our expectations upon Him and not upon ourselves.

Rom 5:19 Because, as numbers of men became sinners through the wrongdoing of one man, even so will great numbers get righteousness through the keeping of the word of God by one man. 20 And the law came in addition, to make wrongdoing worse; but where there was much sin, there was much more grace: 21 That, as sin had power in death, so grace might have power through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“but where there was much sin, there was much more grace”

Isn`t that a good thing to know.

Someone once said “It is His Grace, that prevents Him from treating you the way you deserve to be treated, and it is His Mercy, that allows Him to treat you in a way you never deserved.”

Psa 139:2 I’m an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking. 3 You know when I leave and when I get back; I'm never out of your sight.4 You know everything I'm going to say before I start the first sentence. 5 I look behind me and you're there, then up ahead and you're there, too-- your reassuring presence, coming and going. 6 This is too much, too wonderful-- I can't take it all in!

Perhaps our problem lies in this. “I can’t take it all in”

Without a complete grasp of God’s Grace and His Mercy, we will never understand such a thing.

Love Your Enemies

A story is told of Peter Miller, a plain Baptist preacher living in Ephrata, Pennsylvania in the days of the Revolutionary War. Near his church lived a man who maligned the pastor to the last degree. The man became involved in treason and was arrested and sentenced to be hanged. The preacher started out on foot and walked the all seventy miles to Philadelphia to plead for the man's life. Washington heard his plea, but he said, "No, your plea for your friend cannot be granted." "My friend!" said the preacher. "He is the worst enemy I have." "What!" said Washington, "you have walked nearly seventy miles to save the life of an enemy? That puts the matter in a different light. I will grant the pardon."

This is the example of Christ. Grace and Mercy in action.

Perhaps we need to consider this:

Psa 139:14 I thank you, High God--you're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvellously made! I worship in adoration--what a creation! 15 You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. 16 Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day. 17 Your thoughts--how rare, how beautiful! God, I'll never comprehend them! 18 I couldn't even begin to count them-- any more than I could count the sand of the sea. Oh, let me rise in the morning and live always with you!

3 Strikes & still In!

In baseball specifically, the rule is: three strikes and your out!

Some would say that, in these days you are lucky to get a second chance, let alone a third.

If you don’t do it right the first time you are out.

Joh 21:15 Then when they broke fast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs. 16 He said to him the second time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My sheep. 17 He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me? Peter was grieved because He said to him a third time, Do you love Me? And he said to Him, Lord, You know all things, You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep.

What a mighty God we serve! His Mercies and Grace abounds towards us, renewed every morning.

Peter, who ran away, after having committed the worst sin in his mind, having denied Christ not only once, thought it was game over for him.

He ran, ashamed of himself, not wanting to face the crowds who wanted to mock and scorn him. Run away from those who would not give him a second chance.

Yet! Jesus the Redeemer, the Saviour, the risen Christ, searched for him and found him and told him: “It’s OK”, “I know you and I know your heart, I will not give up on you, I will give you another chance, go and feed my sheep!”

A Boxer, knocked down, lying on the canvas will be counted out in 10, but Jesus as the referee, will never count you out, He will encourage you and continue to count: 9, 10, 11, 12……201, 2001, never stopping, never giving up on you.

If He, refuses to give up on you, who gave you the right to give up on yourself?

Luk 24:2 But they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. 3 And going in, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. 4 And as they were much perplexed about it, it happened that, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments. 5 And as they were afraid, and bowed their faces down to the earth, they said to them, Why do you seek the living among the dead?

Why do we give up and spend time in places and instances and circumstance that pronounced the end?

The disciples thought it was over, they thought it was the end of the road; the dreams and expectations have now stopped. After all, Jesus is dead (or so they thought). This is what their circumstances indicated. They saw the crucifixion, they helped with the burial, and they closed the stone themselves.

What more could be done?

We stare at the circumstances in our lives, the mess we may have created ourselves. We look at the relationship that ended badly and we think: “it’s the end of the road.”

Jesus says: “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

He says: “Its not the end of the road until I say so.”

Luk 24:44 And He said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms about Me. 45 And He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures.

Sit with Him today, take a moment out from your life and your situation and allow Him to open up the Scriptures to you, so you may understand this:

Jer 29:11 For I am conscious of my thoughts about you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you hope at the end. 12 And you will go on crying to me and making prayer to me, and I will give ear to you. 13 And you will be searching for me and I will be there, when you have gone after me with all your heart.

I think it was the baseball player Babe Ruth who said, “It’s not over till it’s over.”

It’s never over in His eyes, He is the author and the finisher of your faith, He will never quit on you, don’t you quit on Him.

Building Lasting Relationships

Num 27:16 Let Jehovah, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation 17 who may go out before them, and who may go in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in, so that the congregation of Jehovah may not be as sheep which have no shepherd.

It's so easy to feel offended by something someone has said or done at the office and to hold onto it for what seems a lifetime. We often can't choose the people we work with and feel trapped and frustrated when there is someone we simply don't like and can't get along with. You can't go from one job to the next until you find Utopia - it doesn't exist in the workplace. Instead of being a victim, become a victor by doing something positive about it. It means having to step out of your comfort zone. Being kind is a choice we make - being nasty however, is also a choice we make. Choose to start working on your inner peace today - by changing your behavior towards others.

Display the behavior you expect from others. In other words, if you want respect from someone, then show him or her respect. If you want others to have compassion for you, then show compassion to them. Intimate relationships work on the same principal. If you want trust, love and respect from your spouse or partner, then you must display those behaviors to them. It works like a boomerang - it comes back! Once you 'get' that, you will understand the basics of building relationships with anyone. Your interaction with people will improve dramatically.

Building relationships takes time and effort and is extremely rewarding. You have to be prepared to commit yourself and expect not to always get what you want. Building bridges is one of the most fundamental and crucial of all strategies when climbing the corporate ladder. Successful people make it their business to build relationships and to heal broken ones.

Jam 2:8 If you fulfill the royal Law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well.

	Treat everyone as equals. No matter what their position in the organization. Act as though you believe this every day and you will attract strong and successful relationships.
	Keep your intention in mind in all your dealings with others. If you find yourself feeling spiteful or resentful, let go of that and decide to be kind. Being good-natured and co-operative is a choice.
	Always say less than you think.
	When you’re with someone, be with them fully. Give them all your attention. Celebrate when they celebrate and show compassion when they’re down.
	Be considerate of other people’s feelings and consider the effect your words will have on them.
	Don’t make too many promises and keep the ones you do make.
	Show genuine interest in other people’s lives, family and pursuits.
	Give constructive feedback – only if you have the right to. Don’t be spiteful or hurtful.
	Have a good attitude and be cheerful. People avoid depressed, negative people.
	Don’t be argumentative. You may disagree without being disagreeable.
	Be considerate of other people’s feelings.
	Do not pay attention to what gossip-mongers say about you. Simply live so that nobody will believe them.
	Don’t get upset if you don’t get the recognition you want or credit when you feel it’s due. Keep doing your best – for yourself. Success is about you and your own achievements. It’s not something you should rely on from others.
	Tell others what you need and listen to what they need.
	Always be totally professional. Don’t get involved in company politics and never gossip. That way people will trust you and they will know that the information they share with you is safe.
	Spend time with your allies. Be available. Strategize, ask for opinions and advice and make sure that you occasionally have lunch together.
	Remember, what you put out is what you can expect in return – if you want respect, then show respect. If you want kindness, then show kindness, be an ally if you want alliance in return.
	Don’t fight your colleagues on small issues if you need them for much bigger support later.
	Keep your word. If you say you will do something – do it.
	Resolve issues and conflicts with people. Let them know that you have forgiven them or ask their forgiveness if you were at fault – and move on.
	Never back-stab anyone or go over their heads to their boss or your boss. Go directly to the person involved and sort out the problem or issue.

The Genesis Plan

Key Text:

Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth.

And:

Gen 1:28 And God gave them his blessing and said to them, Be fertile and have increase, and make the earth full and be masters of it; be rulers over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing moving on the earth. 29 And God said, See, I have given you every plant producing seed, on the face of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit producing seed: they will be for your food: 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and every living thing moving on the face of the earth I have given every green plant for food: and it was so. 31 And God saw everything which he had made and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

1

I am a creationist. Fully. I believe in the historical factual presentation of the origin of man, as presented in the book of Genesis.

• Evolutionists’ believe that man and animals and the planet as we have it today – evolved from some mess in the beginning of time. Some incorporate the so-called ‘big-bang’ theory. First we were Amoeba’s, one-celled animals, then we evolved into snails and then fish and then monkeys and then we became who we are.?????

• Reincarnationists believe that we evolve as living beings – we continue a life-cycle until we have found Nirvana and peace with the gods and then we can enter Nirvana.

• My problem with this theory is this: If I am expected to fix the mess in my previous life, but I return as a cockroach – how am I supposed to do that? Maybe I end up in some household who are not of this orientation, believing that all life is sacred and they spray me with bug-spray! How now?

• Atheist denies the existence of God – yet, I have to admit that something might exist before I can consider denying it’s existence.

Moses wrote the first 5 books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Numbers.

• We must note that these are not the oldest manuscripts even though they are first in the Bible.

• Job is the oldest book.

In Job, we find the whole story and even more facts regarding creation and we need to read the story of creation in Genesis, with and context of the scientific facts found in Job.

• When Moses penned the story of creation He only noted the facts as inspired by the Holy Spirit. The rest was paraphernalia.

2

Gen 2:1 And the heaven and the earth and all things in them were complete. 2 And on the seventh day God came to the end of all his work; and on the seventh day he took his rest from all the work which he had done.

God looked at His creation – He was happy and satisfied that everything has gone according to plan.

• Man was perfect: after all he was created in the image of his creator, with all the characteristics included.

• The earth was perfect – it met all the requirements for man’s sustenance.

• The animals and every other living creature was in it’s correct position – in submission to the man.

2Pe 1:3 Because by his power he has given us everything necessary for life and righteousness, through the knowledge of him who has been our guide by his glory and virtue; :4 And through this he has given us the hope of great rewards highly to be valued; so that by them we might have our part in God's being, and be made free from the destruction which is in the world through the desires of the flesh

• We have been given ALL that we need nothing was missing.

• Eph 1:5 As we were designed before by him for the position of sons to himself, through Jesus Christ, in the good pleasure of his purpose, Before creation – God had a plan and a purpose and He knew we would require certain things in order for us to establish that plan. So: He gave us everything we would need.

3

But. It all got messed up.

Eph 2:1 And to you did he give life, when you were dead through your wrongdoing and sins, 2 In which you were living in the past, after the ways of this present world, doing the pleasure of the lord of the power of the air, the spirit who is now working in those who go against the purpose of God;

Through the sin and the mess we created, we started out on the wrong foot.

• We were given creative power – so we went and created a mess.


• We were given the freedom of choice – so we went and chose death instead of life

• We were given a map – yet we followed our own path.

• We were given enough – we became greedy for more.

But God!

God did not give up. He had a plan and He was going to stick with it.

Eph 2:4 But God, being full of mercy, through the great love which he had for us, 5 Even when we were dead through our sins, gave us life together with Christ by grace you have salvation, 6 So that we came back from death with him, and are seated with him in the heavens, in Christ Jesus; 7 That in the time to come he might make clear the full wealth of his grace in his mercy to us in Christ Jesus:

· His mercy compelled Him to save His creation.

· He restored His creation to it’s original state.

· By raising Christ from the dead – He raised us from death.

· He placed His Glory back in us

· We were to become the example we were originally intended to be

o We were restored back to the Genesis blueprint: Created in His image. New life came back into us through Christ (the Anointing)

Eph 2:10 For by his act we were given existence in Christ Jesus to do those good works which God before made ready for us so that we might do them.

Christ in us – the Hope of Glory

4

Jesus returned to the Father – seated at His right hand, making intercession for us: To return, one has to start at a point so that you may return to that point.

• You cannot return to a place if you have never been there before.

Eph 4:8 For this reason he says, He went up on high, taking his prisoners with him, and gave freely to men. 9 Now this, He went up, what is it but that he first went down into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who went down is the same who went up far over all the heavens so that he might make all things complete.

Everything was made complete again.

With a very good reason:

Eph 4:11 It was he who "gave gifts to people"; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. 12 He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. 13 And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature.

He gave generous gifts:

1. Apostles


2. Prophets


3. Evangelists


4. Pastors


5. Teachers

So that the world can be equipped;

Equipped to do what – for what reason.

To build His ecclesia to become mature – Christ-like, complete, lacking nothing.

Where do you fit in?

• In order to fulfill you have to function.

As long as you stand on the sideline you are like a `spare-part`.

• You have a purpose but you have no glory. You have to function to be appreciated. On the shelf you will just gather dust. On the shelf, your value is hidden.

When you function correctly and with purpose you will expose the glory in you – God’s glory. You have been created in His image so His Glory will shine through you.

5

Finally

Eph 5:1 Let it then be your desire to be like God, as well-loved children; 2 And be living in love, even as Christ had love for you, and gave himself up for us, an offering to God for a perfume of a sweet smell.

Successful living is achieved by following the original plan – the Character God has placed within you.

· Imitate God

· Love People

· Be willing to sacrifice.

That is a ‘sweet smelling perfume’ to Him.

Mat 28:18 And Jesus came to them and said, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go then, and make disciples of all the nations, giving them baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: 20 Teaching them to keep all the rules which I have given you: and see, I am ever with you, even to the end of the world.

Be ‘Christ” to the world.

Mar 16:15 and he said to them, Go into all the world, and give the good news to everyone. 16 He who has faith and is given baptism will get salvation; but he who has not faith will be judged. 17 And these signs will be with those who have faith: in my name they will send out evil spirits; and they will make use of new languages; 18 They will take up snakes, and if there is poison in their drink, it will do them no evil; they will put their hands on those who are ill, and they will get well. 19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had said these words to them, was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out, preaching everywhere, the Lord working with them, and giving witness to the word by the signs which came after. So be it.

· Cast out demons – take control of those things that want to overtake you.

· Stand in the face of adversity, danger and challenges.

· Lay hands on the sick – expect miracles

We have been restored to the original Genesis Plan: The character of the Father, the Son and the Spirit has been revived in us. We have returned to where we came from. Christ in you – the Hope of Glory

Walk in it, live it, experience it, expect the miraculous.

This experience, this state of being did not stop when the last disciple died. We were all called to function in His fullness.

Every other book of the New Testament ends with a salutation – the book of Acts ends open-ended. The end of that passage has not been written – we are in the process of completing it.

Heb 12:1 For this reason, as we are circled by so great a cloud of witnesses, putting off every weight, and the sin into which we come so readily, let us keep on running in the way which is marked out for us, 2 Having our eyes fixed on Jesus, the guide and end of our faith, who went through the pains of the cross, not caring for the shame, because of the joy which was before him, and who has now taken his place at the right hand of God's seat of power.