Take Initiative

Have you ever walked into your kitchen to see the sink filled with dirty dishes and maybe even food left on the counter instead of stored away? Your first thought is likely, “Really!?! Why do you have to be told to do the obvious?! Why can’t you just take the initiative?!”

Jesus taught great truth through His sermons to the disciples, in synagogues to those seeking God in religion, and to crowds who followed Him for any number of reasons and needs. The Gospels reveal that there were times that Jesus, just like us finding so much left undone, unattended, and even abandoned, shared the same assessment.

So, why is it that God’s Word tells us exactly what God’s will is, reveals His Kingdom as it would be on earth if we chose to live like Jesus, and gives us great hope and promise of life eternal – beginning now, yet we don’t take the initiative to seize it, to take it?

No. That’s no rhetorical question. This is an interrogative question or one that demands an answer through personal inspection and individual reflection.

So, why is it that you have God’s Word that tells you His will, reveals His Kingdom, and gives great hope and promise, yet you decide not to take the initiative in applying those truths and values to your life?

“Hey! Ouch!” That might be your response, but stop! Don’t scroll or swipe away. A desire to see a chaotic world put back in order with God’s love and blessing, or “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done,” will not happen if our own lives are not assessed and lived with the simple gospel applied.

Put simply, you want a revival in this nation and this world? Then, it must begin in each of us – individually. Then, our families will experience Godly change. Then, our churches will be houses of prayer and ministry, not just politics and socializing, again. Then, our communities, our schools, our workplaces, will reflect Jesus’ impact.

Yes! It begins with you, me, and each of us taking personal initiative. We have divine information available. But will you make it divine revelation through serious assessment of your life and a determination to apply it with the help of Jesus’ Spirit?

Will you? Will you take initiative?

Men and women of Jesus’ day – and throughout history of beliefs and faith – have experienced persecution, being marginalized, and even martyred for their love of God and lives lived like Jesus.

Look at Matthew 11:11-15.  Jesus is speaking of John the Baptist’s ministry. His message was a departure from the religion of the Jews and even of any pagan god or cultural icon. John the Baptist declared (Matthew 3:2), “Repent! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, come near, or accessible.”

Jesus preached the same message in Matthew 4:17 – exactly. “Repent! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, come near, or accessible.”

As Jesus speaks in Matthew 11, He teaches that the least is the greatest in God’s Kingdom and His values, not of this world. And Jesus continues to teach that the Kingdom of Heaven had been suffering violence – through persecution, execution, in addition to the great division caused by the prejudice against Christ followers.

Despite the barriers and cultural oppression exerted by pagans, the religious, and the prevailing government of the day, the Kingdom of Heaven was being forcefully advanced in terms of a spiritual battle, pitting the forces of darkness versus the Light of this World and His followers.

Jesus’ Kingdom was also being advanced through divine revelation as the eyes of our understanding are opened to see the truth...then acting.

Friend, read these next words carefully. Knowing about Jesus and His teachings, including His salvation and redemption, His forgiveness and grace is completely different from knowing Jesus, being in His very presence by abiding in Him to receive all that He promises.

You can have information. Or you can experience revelation.

Information is available to all. Jesus responds to us as we call upon Him. When we take that initiative to confess ourselves as sinners in need of the Savior, the first step begins to an everlasting salvation and the open heaven provided in His revelation and understanding of things previously unknown.

So, how is it that the Kingdom of Heaven is advancing violently?

There is a spiritual battle waging in dimensions that are not seen. But we must die to self in our own personal battle. To receive Jesus as Savior means we perform the first aspect of “Repent!” We see our sin and confess.

Changing our minds, changing our directions away from sin and toward Jesus to complete the repentance command. Then we’re dying to self, taking up our own individual crosses, and living the life dead to self and born again in a resurrected life in Christ.

Living within the Kingdom of Heaven comes as our faith walk. Faith without works is dead. Do you want life? Do you want life abundantly, as Jesus promised?

It begins with your own spirit being made alive in Jesus’ Spirit to rule over your flesh and will in victory. Living like Jesus in His Kingdom begins with your own sacrifice of self that is authenticated by your life of works in Christ and faith.

Take the initiative. Take it by force. Crown Jesus as your Savior, King, and Victor!

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Go deeper by listening to Pastor Ronnie’s entire message that will help you “Take Initiative.”

Does Your Heart Burn For Him?

Have you ever repeated something to emphasize the importance of your message and even repeated it with a little change to make sure the meaning is clear? If you’ve ever raised kids, coached, or worked in an environment with team dynamics, I know you understand!

God did and does the same thing.

In Leviticus 6:8-13, Jehovah, or the great I AM, instructed Moses to keep the fire on the altar in the tabernacle burning. The key detail was the fact that the fire was never to be extinguished. Not only that, but it was supposed to be “kept burning.” Burning. Not a gentle glow with embers crackling quietly. The fire was to burn.

Why?

The fire was to represent the consuming nature of God Himself (Hebrews 12:29) – His very Presence. The altar was the designated place for offerings to be presented for the purpose of atonement or the forgiveness of sin. The consuming fire would accept the sacrifice offered as our reasonable sacrifice in view of the Most High God’s mercy, love, and grace.

Jehovah – the God of holiness and righteousness – would abide in the tabernacle with sin confessed, sacrifices made, and the consuming fire purifying flesh and sin.

The application in our lives over 3,000 years later is the fact that we are to burn, to be kindled, from the Source – Jesus’ Spirit. Our fire should not be of our own making, not from the fuel of this world which burns as stubble.

The blaze of our faith is no figure of speech. The New Testament demonstrates an Old Testament principle with Jesus Christ as the sacrifice offered for the atonement of sin, and the Presence of God abiding with those who invite Him to stay and tabernacle.

Turn to Luke 24. Jesus has been publicly scorned, flogged, then crucified on a Roman cross of execution used for criminals. Jesus was placed in the borrowed tomb – needed only for 3 days. Angels had appeared to the women coming to dress the body and honor their friend and Rabbi, Jesus. But the tomb was empty because the power of the Holy Spirit literally brought the dead corpse of Jesus back to life.

Jesus Christ was resurrected and alive.

He appeared along a seven-mile road to a group of men “hurling words” at each other in discussing and debating about the ministry of Jesus and the whereabouts of His body, while searching for meaning. Jesus was invited by these men to walk along this road to Emmaus. As the conversation turned to Jesus, He escorted these men along another road – the journey back in time from Moses to the prophets. Every account cited by the risen Christ pointed to the Messiah’s first coming and the events that had culminated with Jesus’ death and crucifixion.

As these men urged Jesus to abide and linger with them over a meal, their eyes were opened to see Jesus – the risen Savior...before He vanished. At that moment, these travelers said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”

Take the time to watch the complete teaching below, but take a moment now to see the parallels between Jehovah’s instruction.

Jesus was invited to abide. God first loved us and desires to tabernacle and abide with His people. Jesus was the sacrifice offered to atone for sins, as required for love, forgiveness, and fellowship with the Presence of God.

The never-ceasing fire burning in the Old Testament was at the altar. Our very lives are directed by that which occupies our hearts and minds. What occupies your altar, the space of your heart that holds your objects of devotion, your loves and obsessions, and the seat of your very being?

It’s time for you to acknowledge what Jesus already knows. Does your heart burn for Jesus? Is there a kindled fire that indicates the very Presence of Jesus Christ, the King, in your life that emanates from within your being? Has your heart ever burned for Jesus?

How can your heart burn for Jesus if you can’t answer these questions with a “yes?”

Make sure you have sacrificed self and accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Those are two separate ways to know Jesus! As Savior, we know Jesus as Redeemer who has saved us from the debt of our sin by purchasing us. Knowing Jesus as Lord is to know Him after dying to self and placing Him on the seat of your life’s throne for governance and rule (see last week’s blogpost, He Reigns...Well, Does He?)

If Jesus Christ is both Your Savior and Lord, your altar is set for His fire to burn. We have to invite His Spirit to abide and seek His Presence. The fire of Jesus burns in the hearts of the faithful. This fire burns in those overcoming failures, flaws, and the fights in the spiritual world. The fire of Jesus’ Spirit burns in the hearts of those living under an open heaven. The Spirit revealed Jesus through the healing of spiritual blindness and the understanding of God’s Holy Word.

Do you want to burn for Jesus? You have to get close enough to the fire to catch ablaze. The Abba’s House family of faith welcomes you and needs you. Come burn with us!

He Reigns......Well, Does He?

He is risen! He’s alive! Because He lives, we have a future!

Many, if not all, of those declarations were heard and said in our Resurrection Sunday services all across this globe. And yes! Hallelujah! Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords! Yes! He did overcome sin, hell, the grave, and flesh! Yes! Jesus reigns as the authority of all creation as given by God the Father.

Jesus reigns. He reigns because He is King.

The question is, do the words you say and sing match the position He holds in your own life?

That’s a serious question. It’s also one that you, I, and all will answer at the Tribunal of Christ spoken of by Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:10.

Essentially, modern day believers focus on Good Friday for Calvary’s Cross and the Lamb of God crucified for our sins. Our salvation is available and in progress. We also focus on the Third Day and empty tomb that guarantees life eternal after this flesh in the presence of God.

But what does the modern Christ follower do when pressed about our 4th day experience? The 5th, 6th, 7th, ten-thousandth day? What evidence exists in our lives that Jesus Christ is Lord?

Hear me out. Judeo-Christians are not among those who have a useless faith in a philosophy, ideology, or religion of a dead prophet or group whose leader or leaders are dead and have earthly bodies in manmade tombs. If Jesus’ body, however, had remained in the tomb, Christianity would be useless.

It would be fraudulent because of the testimonies of men and women willing to die horrible and violent deaths for a contrived story about a resurrection that never happened. And if that resurrection never happened, you got it – our hope for eternity after this life would be lost.

Instead, we do have a powerful faith that is valid and authentic with a hope, not just wishful thinking, but confidence in our life eternal.

Christ is King and reigns over all of history. His Church, His Body lives today and functions as Christ in us and we in Him to do good works, tell of the life-changing, but simple Gospel, and to live in the world, but not of it. Current events, like the validation of the Shroud of Turin, or the grave clothes of Jesus which features 50 puncture wounds at the head and face from the Bethlehem Spikes that fashioned the mocking crown of our Lord.

But back to the question: Does Jesus reign in your life?

Take a few minutes to watch the message from Resurrection Day in its entirety. But as you watch it and as you read the rest of this post, ask yourself this question: Does Jesus reign in my life?

God’s Kingdom doesn’t begin the instance we die and are in our heavenly bodies in the afterlife. Oh, no! Dear friend! We have missed both the message of John the Baptist, the forerunner and last prophet announcing the coming of the Messiah, and the message of Jesus Himself.

In both Matthew 3:1-2 and Matthew 4:17, from John the Baptist, also the cousin of Jesus, and the Son of God Himself, after his time in the wilderness and standing down the confrontation of Satan, the same declaration of fact is made: “Repent, because the Kingdom of Heaven has come near!”

Are you part of God’s Kingdom in this life, not waiting on your heavenly existence after death? Are you devoted to Christ the King in love, faithfulness, hope, and willingness to serve and forgive others as you want?

Jesus sees and knows who has Him as Lord versus those who attend a lecture on Sunday, taking away what is easy to adapt to your lifestyle, calendar, and budget. Put plainly, what we say and sing is easier than what we live. But we’re held to account by the latter, not just the former.

An old saying in the church circles goes like this, “Jesus is Lord of all or not Lord at all.”

Do you know Jesus personally? Do you love Him, fellowship with Him, and obey Him? He’s the Savior and Messiah that’s predicted in every single book of the Old Testament, who speaks to us through His Gospels in the first Person, and who was evidenced in the lives of changed followers inspired to write the rest of the New Testament, teaching God’s love, grace, mercy, and life-change for this world and “His Kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Yes! Jesus reigns as King. Have you made Him your King?

Admit your need of the Savior and the need for the blood of Jesus to cover your sins. Then confess those sins but also confess that Jesus is the Savior who saves you, the King who reigns in your changed life, and the Messiah who will return for His Bride, His Church, those set apart for His Name and will.

Yes! Jesus reigns!