Of all the events that occurred during what we call the Easter season, obviously the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is the most notable.
Yes, His death had to occur, and our heart goes out to Him as we picture Him on the cross, bloodied, marred and disfigured. He paid the ultimate price not only through his death, but by the brutal beatings and suffering he sustained for many hours.
He was wrapped in grave clothes and placed in the grave with a stone rolled across its entrance. For, what must have been an unbearable time for His followers, nothing happened for 72 hours. The hopes, the aspirations for redemption and victory seem all but lost. But on the
4,320th minute since his death and burial, something happened that would change the history of the world forever!
God raised His son from the dead.
“Christ is risen” are the three most powerful words spoken. Why? Because of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ all mankind can be born again of God’s spirit and obtain eternal life.
The one elusive power man has never been able to secure is the “fountain of youth” or everlasting life. As a result of God raising Jesus from the dead, man had what God so desired when He manifested His love by giving His son (John 3:16).
Now the Heavenly Father can have His own children born of incorruptible seed to be forever with Him.
I Peter 1:23:
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
I Peter 1:3 & 4:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
You and I are power packed with the spirit that raised Christ up from the dead! Think of the awesome power it would take to do that. That power dwells in us now.
Romans 8:11:
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
The focal point in all history is God raising Jesus Christ from the dead. It provided for mankind the new birth realities which gives man full and complete access to the Heavenly Father.
All that was lost by Adam in the fall of man was regained with much more by the perfect work of Jesus Christ with God raising Him from the dead. The legal price has been paid and now God has children with his eternal spirit within to love and be loved by them.
Remember who you are in Christ. He said we would do the works He did and greater. Now we can because “Christ is risen.”
May we love God—really love Him because of what He sacrificed to provide for you and me. We have eternal life and peace with Him.
Let’s praise Him and love Him as long as we have breath.
Bob Lindfelt
I often hear the exhortation of how awesome the love of God is and that we all should be living it with each other. But when it really comes down to practicing the love of God in our everyday conversation, there is a falling short.
Are we really utilizing the love of God in our everyday lives? Do we speak with love? Do we act with love? Do we respond to people with love?
Our communication as Christians should reflect the love of God. Realizing I need a refresher course on Christian Communication Skills, I offer the following:
Colossians 4:6:
“Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.”
We understand grace as undeserved favor. We are instructed to speak favorable, kindly to each other. We are not critical or putting someone down.
“Seasoned with salt” – In the Bible lands, sharing salt meant you are making a covenant with that person to respect and honor them. It also means you have integrity with people. In other words, you say what you mean and mean what you say.
Our manner of talking with each other should carry great respect and care for each other. Here are some other communication tips:
Colossians 3:12, 13a and 14:
12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
13 forbearing one another, and forgiving one another,
14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
It is not about us, but blessing others with our words and manner of communication.
As it says in Philippians 2:21, “For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ.”
In seeking their own, natural man is only concerned about me, myself and I.
When we converse, we should lovingly build each other up. As Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”
Here is grace again. Speaking favorable about each other. We talk words that build people up not tear them down or belittle them.
If we just remember these few verses as guideline to our conversation with one another, it will serve us well.
Let’s communicate with the love of God oozing out all over our words and manner of talk.
Agape,
Bob
Hearts touched, lives changed, new opportunities to live for God, bigger vision for the One Body of Christ, awareness of new resources in the family of God, refreshed excitement to share the words of life and much more is what happened Feb.17 and 18th with Explosive Evangelism.
Friday was all about reaching out to people on the street who were passing through to the Old Town transportation depot. Set Free Ranch sent 15 dedicated men to minister and serve. Food and water was handed out along with prayer and ministering. Tom Woods, along with 2 Set Free Ranch men took 2 new people up to the Set Free Ranch which is several hours away. In-spite of the bad weather everyone was excited and reached out boldly to help many people.
Saturday was the meeting, which started with inspiring music by Warren Seames, Merri McGarry, Daniel Woods Jeffrey Moore and Carlos. The various motivated speakers included Barney Barnhart, Mike Delgato from Come-Unity Church, Ernie Kilmer of Set Free Ranch, Craig Stirling of Victory House and Lighthouse Charitable Foundation and myself. Michael Capodici was the head organizer of the whole event and was the MC as well.
There was a packed house at Pt Loma Assembly including many believers representing the various ministries participating. Also there were over 30 new faces that attended from just hearing about the event.
Other key workers that I have not mentioned were Joyell Nevins, Billy Sherman, Mary Ruth Loucks, Mike Kenney, Kelly Prendiville, Louie Arzaga, Vikki Barnhart and Jeanie Lindfelt.
The goal of the event was to bring different ministries together to inspire, equip and encourage everyone to carry out the work of the great commissioning of our Lord and Savior to make “disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19). We recognize that God desires “all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.” (I Timothy 2:4). We also realize that the last words of Jesus Christ before He ascended up to the right hand of the Father: “But ye shall receive power after the holy spirit is come upon you and you shall be witness unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).
Let’s keep exploding with God’s Word in our lives and in our talk.
Agape,
Bob
I was putting my life on the line. I had just stated my commitment to serve my country as a Marine Corps officer, during my commissioning ceremony. This is what I said in part:
I will carefully and diligently discharge the duties of this office by which I was appointed. I will observe and follow such orders and directions as given to me by the President of the United States of America or other superior ranking officers in accordance with the laws of the United States of America.
There was another time in my life I became part of a movement that was much more significant than my military commitment. It was when I became born again into the family of God. I did Romans 10:9, confessing with my mouth Jesus as Lord and believing that God raised Him from the dead.
By making the decision to become born again, came a remarkable calling and commissioning that had far-reaching ramifications. I became part of the Body of Christ that had the commissioning “to make people of the world disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:19) and “be a witness to all people... even to the uttermost parts of the world” (Acts 1:8).
In doing this I became part of the Family Business, helping my Heavenly Father reach His passion to have “All men saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” ( I Timothy 2:4).
Every born again believer is given the ministry of reconciliation. Every believer has the privilege to be ambassadors for the Lord Jesus Christ (II Corinthians 5:18 & 20). With these realities, we now take our orders from Him.
God has put His Son’s life on the line for us. Now we take on the responsibility to share His salvation message to the world.
Now it is up to me to carry out this charge. It is up to me to develop myself to be a good ambassador for Christ and work together with other saints. But, ultimately it is a matter of, “Go, stand and speak ...to the people all the words of this life” (Acts 5:20).
Agape,
Bob
PS: Check out our website and facebook - Actsnowfellowship, for an historic event on Feb.18th, Saturday, called Explosive Evangelism.
I am really embarrassed to share this with you, but I have a heck of time doing balance exercises during my workout sessions. I keep falling over to one side or the other, because I put too much weight on that falling side. Everyone else seems to get it. I am told I need to work on it and I will be successful.
Spiritually, there is a proper balance that believers are encouraged to work on. It involves the Word of God and the spirit of God. We see the emphasis of walking on the Word of God and we see the emphasis of walking by the spirit. Can we forsake one for the other? Once we are born again with God’s spirit can we just walk by spirit and not use the Word of God? There might be some who would go to the other extreme and say you must have huge amounts of the knowledge of God before you can even start walking by the spirit. Well, as in everything in life that God has instituted, there needs to be a balance.
Jesus Christ is the prime example for us in the balanced spiritual walk. If anyone could have just walked by the spirit and not needed any Scriptures, our Lord and Savior would be the one. But it is obvious that He valued the written Word of God as an essential resource in effectively walking for the Heavenly Father. He seemed to quote Scriptures all the time. Even at perhaps one of His most challenging times, when He returned from forty days in the wilderness and was tempted by the devil, He utilized the Scriptures to battle the enemy.
Matthew 4:3 & 4: And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of
God, command that these stones be made bread.
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
No matter how the devil attacked, Jesus Christ responded with “It is written.” Jesus Christ said, “Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” There are many places that Jesus Christ magnifies the importance of the Word of God.
As we learn from the Word of God, we are given the gift of holy spirit when we are born again. With this magnificent resource we can operate the nine manifestations which allow us to speak in tongues, bring edifying messages in fellowship, hear from God, have God’s wisdom, have discernment of spirits, perform healings, miracles and have the faith to move mountains. Where do we learn how to walk by the spirit? Namely, by reading and hearing God’s Word and seeing how they functioned. We witness how Jesus preached, taught and delivered others, then we walk out on what we have learned.
Some who advocate the need to only walk by the spirit, will point out that in the early church as reflected in the Book of Acts, they did not have the Church Epistles to guide them and learn from. They just had to walk by the spirit by seeing and being encouraged by others. Thankfully in the beginning they had the Apostles to help them. Peter in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost referenced many Old Testament Scriptures. God was obviously working with the leaders of the early church and providing them with information that was written down later on. On the Day of Pentecost and the days following, the Scriptures say, they followed the Apostles Doctrine.
Act 2:42:
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
The Apostles doctrine was providing insights and knowledge about this new birth and how to use it. God worked with Peter as he was to visit Cornelius and open the way for the new birth to the Gentiles.
When Paul got on the scene, he was receiving the Word of God to share with all the fellowships. It was important to have a foundation to work with so that the believers could learn how to walk by the spirit.
God was not going to leave it to chance when it came to learning how to walk by the spirit, so He had the Church Epistles and other books written so we had a foundation to guide our steps.
Act 19:20: So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.
The importance of the believers learning the Word of God and walking on it was as important as walking by the spirit. When you look at the Epistles to Timothy you see how important God’s Word plays in helping the leadership as well as the believers to keep the proper spiritual balance.
II Timothy 3:14–17:
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
God has given us the resources to accomplish what He wants most: Fellowship. With the Word of God and the spirit within, we have all we need to walk and talk with our Heavenly Father and please Him.
Bob Lindfelt