The Rock in the Middle of the Road

Luke 20:17
And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?

The Rock in the Middle of the Road

There is a rock in the middle of the road that is often traveled on foot. Those that pass by the rock, what will they do with it? Most will ignore and walk on. Some who are not paying attention will stumble over it. Some may kick it. Some may throw it or toss it aside. How many of a multitude of people will take the time to pick up the rock, examine it, value it or keep it? Why, because it is a common rock of no particular value or significance to those who pass by. What if it were a gold nugget obscured in granite or a diamond hidden in an ordinary exterior? This is what Jesus was and that is why He was missed by so many. It wasn’t the outer beauty that attracted men to Jesus; it was what was within the man.
Jesus passed a lot of ordinary rocks as He walked down the road of His life. Rocks that people passed by all of their time and never gave a second thought too. There were harlots, tax collectors, blind men, lepers, beggars, cripples, little children, demon possessed, those who were dying or those who were dead. The list goes on and on, but the point is that Jesus took the time to pick up a lot of rocks. He didn’t just see the ordinary or common without, He saw they were precious to the Father and so they were precious to Him. He ended up giving His very life for a lot of ordinary, common and undeserving rocks.
As we travel down life’s road it is easy for us to pass a lot of rocks and never give them another thought or glance. I know I need that sensitivity to take the time to pick up some of those rocks and as I can, make their lives better in some way. I may well be treading over gold ,diamonds and precious gems unawares. Peter shared what God had spoke to him in a vision in Acts 10:28, “And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”
As you go through life today, think about that rock in the middle of the road. As God has picked you up, pick up and value those around you.

Blessings,
#kent

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It is Time to Rebuild the Temple

Haggai 2:15-19
” ‘Now give careful thought to this from this day on —consider how things were before one stone was laid on another in the LORD’s temple. 16 When anyone came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When anyone went to a wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were only twenty. 17 I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not turn to me,’ declares the LORD. 18 ‘From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid. Give careful thought: 19 Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit.
“ ‘From this day on I will bless you.’ “

It is Time to Rebuild the Temple

Haggai has a strong message for us in this hour. Then, it concerned a remnant of people that came out of the captivity in Babylon. They have returned to their holy city and temple that has been reduced to ruins. The basic message here is that we have a temple of God that needs to be rebuilt, but we have been too focused on building our own little kingdoms and attending to our own needs that God’s house lies in ruin. God is asking this people through Haggai, “Have you wondered why everything you touched and labored at come up short? Why things don’t ever seem to work out or come together?” God is speaking to them that just as when a person touched a dead body they became unclean and everything they touched became unclean so it is with our spiritual works. They have been defiled because they have been mixed with the flesh, the dead body that was crucified with Christ.
If we wonder why we only see God working in a small measure of His glory and power here is where we may find our answer. If we want to see the glory and power of God and if we want to see the release of His blessing upon our lives then it has to become about Him and not about us. God is giving His people a promise and I believe it is the promise He is speaking to us in this hour. If we will come together, lay aside our agenda and our dead works we will see the blessing of God.
More than ever before I find myself praying, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” This is the day and the hour for the temple of God to be restored in the spirit. He is restoring a spiritual house that will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. In that place He will be Lord and He will move according to His will and purpose and no longer ours. Church will no longer be a place we meet once or twice a week to go through religious motions and exercises. It will become a central part of our lives, because we will all come together, to labor together that the body might be built up into spiritual maturity and wholeness. In that spirit will we see God’s Spirit poured out upon us. It is God’s heart to bless us in ways that we can’t imagine, but He is waiting for us to step into our purpose as the body of Christ and to walk by the Spirit and no longer in the flesh. When His body is in proper alignment and place He will shake heaven and earth. Even now we are beginning to see the shaking taking place. This is not a place for us to fear, but a sign to us to move into the purpose of God for our lives personally and corporately. God has a blessing awaiting us and the increase of His kingdom is upon us, as we will move into the restoration of His house. Those called out ones from Babylon which are represented by Zerrubabel will become His government and the signet ring which represents His divine authority to bring to pass His will in this earth.
It is a day not to look to the economies and systems of this world. They are passing away. We are moving into a divine economy and kingdom whose builder and maker is God. That means our way of thinking and doing must change drastically for many of us. The principles of God’s kingdom are the principles of His Word and Truth. Today we are called to line up with these principles. People aren’t going to be made holy just because they brush up against the holy flesh we are carrying in the skirt of our garment, or the Christ in us. They are going to be made holy, as they personally become partakers of the flesh and blood of Christ. God is looking for the laborers and the priesthood to take this message to the world. Come and let us labor in His house by His Spirit that we might partake of His blessing and be a part of that blessing to others.

Blessings,
#kent

We, the Lame

We, the Lame

Hebrew 12:13
And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

Have you ever had a broken leg, a dislocated joint or wrenched knee or ankle? When you find yourself in this condition, you find that walking normally is out of the question. There is too much pain and tenderness to walk in a normal way. This is the way we are when we get out of joint in our walk with the Lord. Our spiritual health and harmony are interrupted and our walk with Him becomes crippled and distorted.
I think many of us have areas in our lives where we experience some lameness; an area that is out of joint with God’s will and purpose for our lives. The Lord doesn’t want us to walk in a crooked and twisted path, but in a straight and narrow one. It is like Jesus says in Matthew 7:14, “Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” I would venture to say that most of us have found ourselves off of that straight and narrow more times than we would like to admit. How wonderful that through repentance and the power of the blood of Jesus we have a means to be restored to the path of righteousness.
It is sin that cripples us and makes us lame. It is sin that distorts our spiritual health and wholeness. There are many that are still struggling with strongholds of sin in their lives. While they feel condemned and defeated, they can’t seem to get delivered and free from it. We often make the mistake of judging others in an area of weakness while we may have another area in us that is just as bad. We are all creatures of God’s grace and mercy. We didn’t find our way to Him because our works were righteous and we were so much better than everyone else. Like everyone else, we are sinners saved by the grace of God. That same faith with which we embraced Christ when we first gave our hearts to Him is what we must now exercise as we make straight paths for our feet.
There is something wrong with us as a body of Christ when we are more concerned about judging one another for our faults than we are with ministering to one another in our weaknesses. What does James 5:16 say? “Confess [your] faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” We all have weaknesses and faults that we have not fully gained the victory over or that we are still struggling with. Where are our ministry, compassion and prayers for one another in our weaknesses? We desperately try and conceal our faults and weaknesses, either because we are in denial or just think it is our problem, but more likely because we don’t have a safe place where we can expose and share the sins with which we struggle. Jesus says it is not the well that need a physician, but the sick. The Christ in each one of us is the physician that wants to minister help and healing to those around us. We need each other to help each other. Our sin would always cripple us and dislocate us from the Lord, but the Lord wants to heal our lameness and restore us in a path of righteousness for His namesake. The Lord doesn’t want us to justify and cover over our sin, that would be hypocrisy, but He does want to see us healed in the areas of our sin sickness.
We want to see Isaiah 35 come to pass in each one of our lives, “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. 3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; 4 say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” 5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. 7 The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. 8 And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. 9 No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there, 10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
The Lord is on the side of our restoration and wholeness, but it takes our willingness to forsake our sin. Perhaps we need to seek out those who will stand with us and help us to lay hold of our victory and healing in the areas where sin has held us captive and crippled our walk. We are a body and we must minister to one another’s needs. We need one another to minister and help each other in all of the areas that pertain to life and godliness. Corporately, we are growing up in Christ, ministering to one another out of the gifts that the Holy Spirit has apportioned to each one of us. Ephesians 4:16-18 says,” Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work..”
If you are lame in an area of your walk with the Lord, then find your healing and deliverance so that your path may be made straight. If it is greater than your ability to find the victory then seek out those in the body of Christ who can come along beside you, give you help, prayer and accountability. It is the Lord’s will to restore the lame.

Blessings,
#kent

In God’s Time

Acts 12:25, 13:5, 13
And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled [their] ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark.
5When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.
13From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.

In God’s Time

Many a young person has been caught up in the zeal of the Lord and desired to go into ministry. One thing that many don’t realize at first is that to be a true minister of God is it is not man or education that truly prepares you. Certainly God can and does us these in the process, but what any of us who desire to be in the service of the Lord must realize is God’s order and not man’s. It is really God who raises up a man or woman for His work. It is He who trains them through most often humble beginnings. It is He that anoints them for their calling and it is He that test their hearts before He sets them in a place of authority and ministry. For many of you who are excited to serve God, we are not always ready when we think we are. Such is the case with John Mark.
John Mark was the son of Mary and we first hear about him when Peter is locked in jail in Jerusalem. Herod had pretty much chalked Peter in to be the next martyr after having put to death James. We read the account of the angel coming into the prison and setting Peter free. Peter then goes to the house of Mary. Acts 12:12 says, “And when he had considered [the thing], he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying.” We gather from this introduction that Mark had some strong Christian influences and roots. He gets his first shot at getting on the big name ministry team of Paul and Barnabas, and so we see him embarking on his first missionary trip in Acts 12: 25. Then over in Acts 13:5 it affirms that John is there with them as an apprentice and helper, but by verse 13 we see John leaving them and returning to Jerusalem. What happened? The word doesn’t give us much in the way of details, but it becomes obvious in Acts 15:37-40 that Paul was not impressed by Mark and wanted no more part in his going with them again. Apparently Mark wasn’t as ready and able as He thought. Maybe he couldn’t take it and went home, but Barnabas was one that did see the potential and continued to believe in Mark even after he apparently failed the first journey. Later we see that Paul has softened his position concerning Mark in 2 Timothy 4:11 when he remarks, “Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.”
The message we can learn from Mark’s life is that ministry and service to God comes through a preparation of God. Sometimes we may fail to meet our own expectations or the expectation of those we are working with. Fortunately Mark didn’t just quit and fortunately he had men who still believed in Him and helped him to come into his place of ministry and service. Mark was also known to be Mark the Evangelist and later wrote one of the first gospels, the gospel of Mark, thought to have been largely narrated and influenced by Peter.
When we look over the lives of many of God’s great people we see them coming up against times of apparent failure, shortcoming, trials and tribulation. What we come to realize is that this is really God’s school of preparation. We may know that God has anointed us and given us a passion in some area of ministry, but what we have to be careful of is that we allow Him to establish and place us in that ministry in His time and His way. That often means that we may feel passed over, put aside or not really valued. All of the time it is searching our true heart and motives, to see if there would be any unclean, impure or selfish motive on our part. When we can truly be okay with whatever and whenever the Lord wants to use us, then we are getting much closer to being where He wants us. Love always wants God’s best first and our best last.
Moses was 80 when he started his ministry. David was anointed as young teen, but didn’t become king until he was 30. The word tells us not to despise the day of small things. It is in those days that our hearts and lives are being prepared for greater ministry. We must first prove ourselves faithful in the little before we can be faithful over much. Don’t be discouraged if your life and ministry isn’t where you want it to be. Remember God is in control, not you and not man.

Blessings,
#kent

His Temple

2 Chronicles 6:18-21
“But will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 19 Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. 20 May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 21 Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.”

His Temple

Solomon referred to the temple, which he had built and dedicated to the Lord. We know that in time that temple was destroyed, but it was but the shadow of the temple that God was building for His habitation and dwelling. 1 Corinthians 6:17-18 says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” We so often take for granted who we are in Christ and loose spiritual sight of what God has created us to be. The church is no longer about buildings and glorious edifices built to the glory of God. God is not interested in inhabiting wood and stone. He is interested in inhabiting human spirits and souls. When He does come within our hearts and makes His abode with us, He wants us to realize that our body is no longer our own, but His habitation. Holiness and righteousness has entered in. No longer is this body for our glory, but for His. All of these bodies, now sanctified unto Christ are built and joined together in Him. 1 Peter 2:4-5 says, “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We are the building blocks of God spiritual temple and His life. We are living stones that are an organism formed of God, living and breathing in the earth to express Him and be His habitation.
1 Peter 1: 15-17 says, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” Holiness has come and taken up residence within us. The Father is reminding us that we are no longer common or unclean, but the blood of the Lamb has sanctified us. As God’s sanctified and redeemed ones we have the responsibility to recognize that we are His holy vessels and live accordingly unto His glory. God warns us about what we do with our bodies and what we join them with. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
17″Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” 18″I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
This is what the Lord is speaking unto us in this hour, to come apart and be separated unto Him. We are not of this world. Our values and purpose do not coincide with the values and purpose of this world. He is telling us to take note, we are not our own, but we have been bought with a price. We have been purchased and set apart unto God for His purposes and for His glory. That is our destiny and calling. We must be careful that we do not dishonor Him by not fully respecting and living according to His holy life that indwells us. Our God is a jealous God and He has set us apart for Himself. Our body is His temple and we must honor Him in it in all of our ways and living. He is the Lord God and He will not share His glory with another. Honor yourselves as His holy temple and live your lives accordingly.

Blessings,
#kent

The Anointing

The Anointing

1John 2:27
But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him

The anointing oil was first used when God instituted the tabernacle and the priesthood. It was a holy oil kept in the Holy Place of the tabernacle and used for the purpose of consecration and sanctification. Leviticus 8:12, “And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him.” Through the Word we see that kings and priest were called and consecrated with the anointing oil. It was like a seal that they were set apart for God to fulfill the office of His calling. Likewise we who are in Christ were called out by the Lord, ” Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts (2 Corinthians 1:22).” You see we are the anointed of the Lord and that is not something to be taken lightly. God has called us out of the common and unclean to be sanctified and holy vessels, consecrated for good works. The Holy Spirit is like that anointing oil poured out upon the priest, but instead of just being poured outwardly upon us, God has poured it inwardly over our souls that we should be a people set apart for the praise of His name. Many of us really don’t have a revelation of who we are in Christ. Christ, the Anointed One, has come to reside and make His abode within our hearts. We are, like the Word says, His tabernacle and His temple. The truths that we see in His Word regarding the temple and tabernacle of old can be applied to the temple of our bodies and the body of Christ at large.
2 Corinthians 1:19-22 says, “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, [even] by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him [are] yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, [is] God Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” God has a calling and a purpose for each one of us that He has called out of darkness into the Kingdom of His dear Son. We are sanctified and consecrated for His service and for His glory. We are no longer our own, but we were bought with a great price. The Holy Spirit has come to reside as the anointing within us. The ministry and office that we carry out in our lives comes from His ability, empowerment and enlightenment within us. We are the called out ones of the Lord to be the prophets, kings and priests to the nations. We have a high and holy calling, one we must no longer be complacent about. We must begin to really seek that Anointed One within us to lead us into all truth. We must seek Him to direct us, lead us and empower us to become doers of the Word and not hearers only, producing the works of God through our lives. Each of us are gifted differently and none of us fit exactly into the same box. You are unique in Christ and as such He uses each of us in our own unique way. Let us find the way He wants to use and manifest Himself through us, for we are His anointed

Blessings,
#kent

What the Lord has Cleansed, Don’t Call Common

What the Lord has Cleansed, Don’t Call Common

Acts 10:9-16
On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.
And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat
But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice [spake] unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, [that] call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.

Many of us today in our Christian walk don’t consider ourselves to have prejudice or be judgmental. We really feel like we have the love of God toward all men until God begins to bring us into the presence of something or someone that flies in the face of all that we consider holy, right, just and good. How do we respond when God places us in the midst of drunks or drug addicts, gothic peoples with colored or spiked hair, tattoos and piercings? How about ministering to people that are slow, poor of speech and dress, lacking in cleanliness, etiquette and manors? What about old people, incapacitated and lacking in faculties and social skills? Can we really love those extremists, god-haters, abortionist, gays, idol worshippers and those of false religions? You might be thinking, “well, wait a minute, God hates sin and a lot of these that you are mentioning are sinners and anti-god.” Yes God hates sin, and what were we before He saved us and washed away our sin? The truth is that, like Peter, we all have prejudices; rather we acknowledge them or not. All of us can be put in situations with certain people groups that we would feel uncomfortable to say the least. The fact is that consciously or subconsciously we avoid or condemn what we don’t feel comfortable or accepting of. There are times in life when God will put us right where we don’t want to be. What we would often protest to God, that is unclean, common and should be rejected, is exactly what He suffered and died to redeem and sanctify. Not unlike Peter, we don’t want to be the ones to defile our hands and dirty our righteous garments. We are faced with a crossroads at certain times in our lives. Will I live out of a pious religious attitude that says to me, “I am better than these people, I will just cross the street and walk on the other side and ignore their existence?” Is the Holy Spirit convicting us in these times that, “you are not your own, you were bought with a price, it was the same price that Christ paid for these you deem undesirable and rejects.” “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
Don’t think it strange when God begins to move in what we might consider some unholy arenas and areas of humanity. Jesus loved that demoniac that no one else would dare to go near. We have to be willing as the priests and ministers of God to operate out of a love that requires that we die to personal prejudices and feelings. These are still a part of our natural man and not a part of the Spirit and love of Christ within us. Jesus was never afraid to roll up His holy sleeves and get his hands dirty with tax collectors, sinners, adulteresses, people demon possessed, sick, diseased, criminals, enemies of Judah, crippled and lepers. Those that no one else wanted anything to with Jesus loved and ministered life, health and deliverance. Quite honestly, most all of us have lived in our comfort zone where nothing we consider common or unholy enters in. In that place we can live piously, comfortably and enjoy our little religious, well groomed lifestyles. The truth is that Jesus went to Hell to redeem the most defiled and ungodly of sinners. Dare we turn our backs on those He so loved and died for? Will these not stand up to testify against us on judgement day? The Love and nature of Christ in us will take us outside of our comfort zone if we will really listen to the Spirit within us. His love reaches out to the depths of humanity. When He cast out His net of salvation He draws in the clean and unclean alike.
We, like Peter, have to have a revelation of our prejudices and God’s incomprehensible love. We have to be willing to lay down our lives, our pride, our dignity, so that Christ might reach through us to love and save the lowliest of men. Are we willing to get our hands dirty? Even the priest of the Levitical order had to get bloody, stinky and dirty as they prepared the sacrifices for the altar. It went with the job. Whatever it takes we must be willing to do, wherever He leads us we must be willing to go. We have been called to be Christ to the Nations. Are you truly willing?

Blessings,
#kent

Two Kinds of Seed

Two Kinds of Seed

Deuteronomy 22:9
You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, or all the produce of the seed which you have sown and the increase of the vineyard will become defiled.

If our life is a vineyard, what kind of seed or seeds are we planting into it? I was thinking how mankind from the beginning has been influenced and followed after one of two different kind of seeds. In the Garden of Eden, in the book of Genesis there were two types of trees in the midst of the garden. One was the Tree of Life and the other the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We have these same two trees in the midst of our soul, which one do we partake of. Which seed are you planting in your soul or do we plant a mixture of two different types of seed. Do we defile the fruit of our vineyard by planting both the seed of Spirit from the Tree of Life or the seed of the flesh from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good an Evil? God is saying you need to plant one or the other, but not both. Do we think that just because we plant the seed of Spirit in our lives it pleases God if we are also planting the seed of the flesh? Revelations 3:15-16 written to the Church of the Laodecians, the Lord speaks by the Spirit saying, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.”
The reason the Lord doesn’t want a mixture of the two different seeds is because it brings in compromise. It dilutes and perverts the effect of one seed. The mixture, God finds unacceptable.
As we survey the kingdom of heaven what do we see, but a mixture of flesh and Spirit? In Matthew 13:47-50 Jesus gives a parable, “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” The truth is that there are two seeds planted in the vineyard of the Church and the vineyard of our own lives. We have been growing two seeds, but there is only one that is acceptable to the Lord. The one seed is a weed that brings spiritual death; the other is the seed of Life whose fruit brings life everlasting. The Lord is speaking that He only wants one type of seed planted in His vineyard. Isn’t He speaking to us to root out every seed and offspring that defiles our soul, so that there may be one kind of fruit, the fruit of the Spirit. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to help us to weed the garden of our souls, so that there may be purity restored in our hearts and only one kind of undefiled fruit, which the Holy Spirit wants to produce in us and through us.

Blessings,
kent

Dusty Walk, Clean Feet

 

Dusty Walk, Clean Feet

John 13:4-10

He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.  After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe [them] with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also [my] hands and [my] head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash [his] feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. 

In the days of Jesus the roads were dusty and dirty.  Imagine walking for miles down a dry and dusty road in your sandals.  Imagine how darkened with dirt your feet would be from your journey.  In the days of Jesus it was customary when coming into a home that not only would you kick off your sandals, but that a servant would meet you with a basin of water and a towel to wash your feet.  This was the task of a slave or servant, but on this day, it was Jesus, the Master, that put off his garment, girded himself with a towel and began to wash the disciple’s feet.  We can only imagine how uncomfortable and embarrassing this must have been to the disciples for Jesus, their Master, to be washing their feet.  Peter, the outspoken one of the disciples, probably expressed what was in all of their hearts.  At first he ardently objects to Jesus washing his feet.  When Jesus tells him if He does not wash his feet, he has not part with Him; Peter goes to the other extreme.  “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands, and my head.”  Jesus told him he was already washed; all he needed to clean was his feet.

The Lord reminds of this today and of what He went on to say,”If I then, [your] Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” Obviously we don’t visit too many Christian homes today where it is customary for the people of the household to wash our feet.  There is a lesson and message that goes beyond the ceremonial and outward washing of feet.  Our feet represent our walk.  When we come into Christ and He washes us in His blood.  Jesus, with His blood, does for us what He relates to Peter, He cleans us within.  There is still the principle that we all continually walk the dusty roads of our earthly existence.  We are darkened and our feet dirtied by the sin and death that fills the earth in which we live.  As daily we walk through life, it is difficult for us not become dirtied by all that touches our lives.  It doesn’t mean that the blood of Jesus hasn’t cleansed us from our sins or that we need to be re-saved; it does mean that we still frequently need our feet washed.  We need our walk washed by the water of the Word.  We need our hearts and minds renewed and need to be reminded of whom we are, what we are and where we are going.  If our feet are not constantly washed our walk, can become polluted, unclean and defiled.  

Jesus teaches us in this example that it is the responsibility of each of us to wash one another’s feet.  As you read this word this morning, perhaps the Lord is using it to wash your feet as you are exhorted and encouraged in Him and your relationship with Him.  God has given us all unique gifts and abilities by which we can wash one another’s feet as we serve in the capacities that He has given each of us.  When we wash one another’s feet, we have accountability to one another to help each other to continue on from each other’s presence in a pure and holy walk.  This requires that we are not ignoring or neglecting the gift that the Lord has given and placed within us.  It requires that we are sensitive even to the least, perhaps even the most undesirable.  Jesus was not a respecter of persons; He was as willing to wash the feet of Judas as He was of Peter.  

Are we following the Lord’s example and commandment today, to wash one another’s feet?  Do we greet one another and speak to one another words of encouragement, hope, life and love? Perhaps the Lord will bring some dirty feet across your path today.  Take the time to wash them in the love and mercies of Jesus.  As we wash one another’s feet it helps each of us to be encouraged and continue walking in the things of God with clean feet and a righteous walk.

 

Blessings,

#KentStuck

#TricklesofTruth.wordpress.com

Fullness

Fullness

Ephesians 1:22-23
And hath put all [things] under his feet, and gave him [to be] the head over all [things] to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Some of us are pessimist and some of us optimist. Some of us see the glass half-empty and others see it half full. Many see what they can’t do while a few see what they can do. I would probably tend to categorize myself more on the pessimist side. I believe one of the reasons for this is that we see things often through the eyes of our perceived abilities and capabilities. While we don’t wish to be pessimistic, we see ourselves as more pragmatic and practical. While that may be of some advantage in the natural world as we move into the spiritual dimension of God’s calling and purposes that ideology becomes often impractical to our call of faith. As we read the Word and understand more and more of God’s high calling for us who believe, it demands that we leave off with our natural reasoning and thinking. This takes place as we begin to put on the mind of Christ and by the Spirit comprehend and lay hold of the mind and will of God. The Lord can often lead us in some very impractical ways according to our natural reasoning. Our faith begins to lay hold of God’s thinking and His plans and promises rather than our own. This is often difficult for us to do. The Lord says in Isaiah 55: 8-9, “For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” As some of us are truly grasping who we are in Christ and the high and holy calling and plans He has for us, it strains the natural mind to fully see ourselves in that place. We comprehend the concept that we are the body of Christ, but sometimes it is not as easy for us to comprehend that the body becomes the full expression of the head. We often try and see, as well as understand, this concept in terms of our immediate lifetime, but God sees it in the light of His eternity. While that may tend to put it out of the realm of our immediate grasp and concern we need to realize that the body of Christ is a culmination of Christians throughout the ages and that the body of Christ is not a function of time or space. It is an embodiment of the All Mighty, a holy temple of His divine presence, and as it says here in Ephesians 1, “the fullness of Him that fills all in all”. The divine destiny of each believer is incorporated in this truth. How we live out our individual lives in connection with the will and purpose of God is what determines what part we are in this plan. As we are yielding our hearts and lives to the life of the Spirit we are being incorporated into the fullness of Him that fills all things. “Christ in you” is your hope in glory. It is what takes you and translates you out of the perishable and corruptible into the incorruptible nature and life of God.
If we do one thing today, let’s take a moment to step outside of our natural thinking and religious reasoning and begin to grasp what it is that our God has called us too. It is that place that is so far beyond us and what we could ever hope to be in ourselves. The Lord our God has adopted us into His bloodline through Christ. The blood that flows through His body ebbs with the life of the Father of all eternity and creation. What a humble and awesome privilege to grasp that He desires to make us so much a part of Himself. Is it of little wonder, in light of these things, that He has called us to a place of separation from the world and the unclean things of this life? We have become a part of a different bloodline and lineage than that of our natural man. With the eyes of faith and confidence we must lay hold of the revelation of who we are in Christ and live our lives accordingly. Our growing and abiding relationship with Him is causing us to grasp in an ever increasing way the high calling that is ours in Christ Jesus, that even as He walked, lived, suffered and died all of those things are incorporated in our lives as we live by the Spirit. He is that hand and we are the glove in which it moves and ministers it’s divine service.
Let us open up our hearts and minds to what the Spirit wants us to comprehend right now. We need the vision of who we are and the calling that is upon us in order to pursue with our whole hearts the high and precious promises of His Word. Begin to imagine the fullness of Christ in you, for Ephesians 3:20-21 concludes with, “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him [be] glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

Blessings,
kent