04/08/2009 by John Marsden.

The Word of God was given to Jeremiah. It “came” to him, even from the beginning of his ministry. This was not a ministry he had chosen, for God had formed him in the womb, and he was “consecrated” and appointed a “prophet to the nations.”Jeremiah’s task was to obey, go where God sent him, and speak all that he was commanded to speak. The prophetic words he spoke did not originate in his own heart or mind, nor did they have anything to do with his personal life, feelings, or opinions. Instead, he was a messenger for God, delivering His words.

Throughout his life, these words “came” to him. Jeremiah was used by God because he was faithful, obedient, and trustworthy. So central was this theme to his ministry, that the phrase “the word of God came” appears an astonishing 42 times in the book of Jeremiah! Many similar phrases make the same point.

Even though he simply was God’s messenger, Jeremiah often was attacked, criticized, and rejected. He was accused of manipulation, of interjecting his own opinions, and of being a false prophet. On one occasion, some people wanted him to pray to God on their behalf. He promised, “I will tell you the whole message which the LORD will answer you.” But when he delivered those words, they accused him of “telling a lie,” saying, “the LORD our God has not sent you” (Jeremiah 42-43).

Jeremiah provides a model of the kind of people God can use. Instead of having their own agenda, such people are committed to waiting for His leading, listening for His voice, and obeying His Word.

In your life, seek to be this kind of servant. Wait on God. Know the Word. Seek the leading of His Spirit. Be ready to obey, even when people misunderstand or oppose you.

Have agreat day.

John

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03/08/2009 by John Marsden.

The Reality of Christ 

“These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” – Colossians 2:17 

1. Defined by Life

“…through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” – Romans 8:2

 ·        Thankfully, the “shadow of religion” is what we would have without Jesus, but He came to set us free from the law and establish something new and awesome.·        Whereas we used to be marked by death in serving the Law, now we’re defined by life.·        Where the “shadow of religion” brings death, depression, and sorrow, the “law of the Spirit of life” brings true joy, freedom, and peace in God.·        Jesus said that “the Spirit gives life” in John 6:63.·        Jesus came to bring life, not death, to us!  He Himself is the “Bread of Life” (John 6:48).·        Any “religion” that is a drudgery is not really experiencing the reality of Christ and His life!  Instead of begrudgingly obeying rules, you find life and joy in obedient submission to Jesus. 

2. Centered in God

“I am the vine; you are the branches.” – John 15:5a

 ·        Where do the branches, growing out from the vine, get their life and stability from?·        The branches get all their life, strength, stability, and purpose from the vine they’re attached to.·        True faith in God is centered in God.  All of life moves outward from the centrality of Jesus living in your life.·        Colossians 2:7 talks about being “rooted and built up in him,” where God is your root and all else comes from that fact.·        True life in the Spirit, true religion, is freed from self-focus and is rooted in and focused on God. 

3. Proven by Growth

“If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5b

 ·        What happens when you’re connected to Jesus and have Him as the center of your life?·        You bear fruit!  True faith in God, as opposed to simply following religious mandates, is marked by growth.·        A mark of truly living for Jesus is that you will grow.  You’ll grow in character, in serving others, in reaching out, in wisdom, in holiness, etc.·        Even Jesus grew “in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52).·        While simply trying to follow good rules will eventually cause you to stop growing, living for God will bring continuous growth, in yourself and in others around you. 

4. Rooted in Humility

“All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another.” – 1 Peter 5:5b

 ·        What happens when your whole concept of God and religion is based in following rules and measuring up to somebody’s standards of “righteousness”?·        One of the things that happens when you give in to the “shadow of religion” is that you give in to pride.  You try to measure up to others, so you don’t let them see the mistakes you make.  Your whole concept of godliness is based on outer appearances, so you feel like you have to constantly put on a show of being holy.·        True life in Christ is rooted in humility.  When your righteousness is based in what Jesus did and not in what you’re doing (Philippians 3:9), you can afford to let people see that you aren’t perfect.·        It’s so important to be humble as a Christian.  When you’re humble, God will grow you and exalt you, but if you let pride run your life, He’ll work against you. 

5. Leading to True Holiness

“For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” – Romans 6:14

 ·        People have used Romans 6:14 as an excuse to allow sin to master over them, claiming, “I’m not under law but under grace,” but Paul said it to mean that we should be truly holy if we are living in the reality of Christ.·        We tend to think that if we focus on following a list of rules, we’ll become holy, and if we ignore the lists of rules and focus on God, we’ll be ruled by sin, but the opposite is true.·        When you focus on the rules, you rely on your own strength more than God’s and look at your own works more than Jesus’.  You can never become holy with that mindset.·        Ephesians 4:24 talks about putting on “the new self” which was created in holiness.  You can’t create a “new self” – only God can do that.·        Holiness is vital as Christians – without it, we won’t be able to come into God’s presence (Hebrews 12:14).

·        Following rules and regulations, the “shadow of religion” will never make you holy – it’s only by giving yourself to the “reality of Christ” that you can become truly holy.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.” – Romans 8:1-4 

·        We are set free from condemnation and from the law of sin and death!·        God met the requirements of the law by sending Jesus as a sin offering!

·        Now we don’t live according to the law of sin but according to the Spirit!

Havea great day

John

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02/08/2009 by John Marsden.

Colossians 2:16-23Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. 

Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. 

There is a true faith in Jesus and trust in Him… and there is a shadow of it that is seen in various laws and religious rituals that ultimately bring death, false humility, and legalism.  Jesus has freed us from religious laws.  He’s freed us from the expectations of others and has fulfilled all laws for us, so we can live in holiness in the freedom of the Spirit instead of bondage to the shadow of religion. 

The Shadow of Religion 

“These are a shadow of the things that were to come…” – Colossians 2:17a

1. Marked by Death

“He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.” – Colossians 2:19

 ·        What do you think would happen if your body suddenly lost its connection to your head?  Would it stay alive?·        Of course you wouldn’t stay alive – you’d be dead.·        The same goes for us and God.  If we lose our connection to God, the Head, we die.  Paul is saying that following religious rules and regulations will kill us.·        Even the rules themselves He says are “destined to perish” (Colossians 2:22a).·        We need to obey God, the Spirit, not a set of rules.  True life is found only in obeying Him.·        Paul said that the “mind of sinful man is death” (Romans 8:6), but Jesus gave us life by freeing us from the bondage of the Law and sin.·        Giving in to the “shadow of religion” (or lists of religious laws and rules) will bring death – you’ll be frustrated, crabby, stuck in sin, and bored with Christianity.  This isn’t what Jesus intended. 

2. Focused on Self

“…they are based on human commands and teachings.” – Colossians 2:22b

 ·        Besides being marked by death, following rules and regulations instead of simply following Jesus takes the focus off of God and onto ourselves.·        When you become consumed with following a set of rules of what you can and can’t do, you put your focus onto yourself, but when you simply set your heart on obeying God, your focus is on Him.·        What are some bad things that happen when you focus so much on yourself?·        Placing the focus on yourself will leave you powerless.  Only in submitting to God and focusing on Him will you be able to impact the world (Hebrews 12:1-3).·        It’s the only way we’ll be able to keep going without losing heart (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). 

3. Given to Legalism

“Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: ‘Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!’?” – Colossians 2:20-21

 ·        The shadow of religion will lead you away from freedom in God and toward bondage to legalism.·        Most Christians give in to legalism at some point in their walks with God.  The key is you don’t want to make a pattern of it.·        Jesus freed us from bondage to the law, so don’t get sucked back into obeying a list of rules and regulations.·        Paul calls legalism being “prisoners of the law” (Galatians 3:23).·        Even Jesus wasn’t concerned about legalistically keeping all the religious rules of His day.  See Mark 2:27.·        Without true faith in Jesus and trust in Him, following codes of conduct will simply be legalism. 

4. Having Outer Righteousness

“Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body…” – Colossians 2:23a

 ·        How many of you have heard the term “whitewashed tombs?”·        Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of his day, saying they were “whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean” (Matthew 23:27).  Also see Matthew 23:3.·        The shadow of religion, without a living faith in Jesus, will give you a certain level of outward righteousness.  From the outside, you’ll seem to have things together, but you’ll be struggling on the inside.·        False humility, hypocrisy, and judgmentalism go hand-in-hand with the shadow of religion. 

5. Consumed by Inner Ungodliness

“…they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” – Colossians 2:23b

 ·        Ultimately, this is the crux of the matter – a life lived in bondage to the Law will not bring true godliness.·        Have you ever unsuccessfully tried so hard to remember where you put something only to find yourself remembering it randomly a few days later?·        Christianity is kind of like that – you can try and try to be godly, but until you just relax and let God work it out in you, you’ll be unsuccessful at it.·        As hard as you try, rules and regulations will never bring godliness.  See Galatians 2:21.·        In fact, Paul said that “no one will be declared righteous” through obeying laws (Romans 3:20).·        Our “human effort” will never achieve godliness in us (Galatians 3:3). 

 Have a great day

 John

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01/08/2009 by John Marsden.

Resurrection – Defeated the Enemy 1. Jesus is the Winner

“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” – Colossians 2:15

• The story of Jesus didn’t end with the cross.  In a lot of ways, that’s where it begins!  Jesus died on the cross for our forgiveness, but then he rose to life, defeating every power and authority in heaven and on earth.
• Unfortunately, for many Christians, Jesus is still hanging on the cross suffering, or at best lying in the ground dead and buried.  They’ve been forgiven, but there’s no real life of God operating in them.
• Jesus is our forgiveness in a complete sense of the word.  He didn’t just forgive us our past sins to let us continue living in them – He forgave our sins so that he could defeat sin and all its effects once and for all in us.
• When Jesus rose from the dead, He showed that He was the Lord and Master over all the earth – that He had won all authority.  See Matthew 28:18.
• If Jesus had stayed dead, we might still be forgiven for our sins, but sin and the power of the devil would still be in power on earth.  But Jesus “disarmed the powers and authorities… triumphing over them.”

2. We Win Too

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ…” – Colossians 2:13a

• Because Jesus rose from the dead and has all authority in heaven and on earth, we can walk in the same victory that He won.
• Just as Jesus was crucified and died, and our old nature dies with Him, so he rose again and lives, and our new nature lives with Him.
• Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
• Because Jesus is our total forgiveness, we can walk in new life and be freed from all the effects of sin.
• We can be healed spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically.  We can be bold witnesses (Matthew 28:18-20).  We can walk in purity and holiness (Hebrews 10:10).  We are “more than conquerors” (Romans 8:37).
• Jesus is our forgiveness – He frees us from every effect of sin on our lives!

 “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” – Romans 6:6-7 

• We’ve been crucified with Jesus!
• Our old body of sin isn’t just forgiven - it’s dead and gone!

We’re freed from slavery to sin!  It’s time to serve God now.

Have a great day.

John

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