Jesus Christ Crucified: The Counter-cultural Preaching.

It didn't take long for false doctrines and acceptable sins to appear among the early believers. Actually, in the very beginning Peter dealt with what we would call today in our churches, "white lie". When confronting Ananias and Sapphira, Peter makes it very clear that before God, there's no "white" (acceptable) lies and if you lie in His presence (Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit) you will die. In the context (early church), Peter didn't allow it to continue because it would be like a "yeast", Galatians 5:9, sinful living would be fine or normal, just as it is in today's church. Unfortunately, since the beginning there are false teachers and prophets spreading false doctrines in the church. Paul calls the false teachers "savage wolves", Acts 20:29-30. Jesus Christ himself dealt with false prophets and false teachers. When writing to the seven churches in Revelation 2-3, He says that some people held the doctrine of Balaam; that there were false apostles; some were "synagogue of Satan"; there was the spirit of Jezebel, a woman who called herself prophetess, teaching and seducing people to sin against God. Today it's worse than ever, there are many false doctrines and half-truths being preached, so much that the vast majority of believers can't discern between truth and lie. Be honest, how many times you heard a preaching about "Jesus Christ Crucified"? If never, why did Paul specifically said that they (apostles) preached Jesus Christ Crucified and very few preachers today are preaching this Jesus? There are only two reasons for not preaching Jesus Christ Crucified: Preachers don't know this Jesus therefore can't preach Him; Preachers know that Jesus but they don't preach Him because they love the praises of people more than the praise of God. John 12:42-43. I already wrote about Jesus Christ crucified, that means: Unconditional Obedience to God! It's not popular to preach this kind of message, it's a lot easier and more convenient to preach Jesus the Savior, Jesus the Bread Maker, Jesus the Healer, Jesus the Good Shepherd, etc., but it's hard to preach Jesus the Lord, because the vast majority of people want a Savior, not a Lord (owner), again, as Paul said: Is Christ divided? If your answer is No, than: Jesus is not the savior of the one He is not Lord! If you're asking: How do I know if Jesus is my Lord? It's simple: Since Lordship means ownership, if Jesus Christ asks you to follow Him will you do it? If He asks you to leave everything to follow Him will you do it? I'm not saying that He will do it or He will ask you to abandon your family, I'm only asking you if you are willing to obey Him whatever He tells you to do. I know it's tough, but the cowards will not enter in the Kingdom of God, as the Bible says in Revelation 21:8. So, as God said to Joshua, in Joshua 1:9. So, don't give up, don't loose hope, be strong and courageous, fight the good fight and God will be with you wherever you go. We must think like Paul: Philippians 4:13.

But the fruit of the Spirit is...

In the beginning of my "new life", God taught me a very important lesson, it was about the fruit of the Spirit, found in Galatians 5:22-23. As a newborn christian, I desperate desired the "pure milk", 1 Peter 2:2, so I dedicated as much time as I could to study the Bible, to pray and meditate about what I was reading. The Holy Spirit started to teaching me many lesson in ways that were easy for me to understand. Regarding the fruit of the Spirit, He showed me two grapes, one had seeds and the other had none. Then He directed me to the passage in Galatians 5 and told me that even if the fruit is ONE, the fruit of the Spirit, still it has the potential to have many seeds, love, joy, peace..., and that's the very purpose of the fruit, not just to be eaten once, but to have seeds to be thrown into the ground again. Then I remembered the passage in Luke 10:5-6. See that Jesus is telling His disciples to sow the seed of peace, if there was a fertile ground (read the parable of the sower), the seed would germinate (sprout) bringing forth fruit. See how clear Jesus is: Your peace, meaning, if the disciples didn't have peace, they wouldn't be able to give peace. Remember what Peter said to the beggar? Acts 3:6. Unfortunately, today we think words are enough (if we don't think, we act like we do), but spiritually speaking, we cannot give what we don't have, that's why we are so inefficient (there are exceptions) in our prayers, that's why we don't see the same results Jesus' Disciples saw.We need to be filled with the Holy Spirit and Power Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8. See that the disciples already had the Holy Spirit dwelling in them John 20:22, but they needed the Power to be effective in their preaching, teaching, etc. The truth is: We lack God's Power! We must go back to the beginning, embrace the full teaching of Jesus Christ, then, we'll turn our world "upside down". Acts 17:6.

The Entertainment Syndrome: From Sound Doctrine to Sound Effects.

Titus 2:1-10; 1 Timothy 6:3-5; 2 Timothy 4:1-5; Mark 7:7; John 7:15-18. Those are some texts that show us the importance of teaching and keeping Jesus' doctrine as He and the apostles taught, not adding or taking anything from it. You can see that, from the very beginning, Jesus had a hard time with the religious people, because their doctrines, that He described as "commandments of men". The religious people had the correct doctrine, the Law and the Prophets, but they added so many things that at the end, they themselves were not willing to obey their own commandments. Jesus says how bad it became, in Matthew 23:15. Nowadays, the focus is attracting, entertaining and pleasing people. Of course there are some exceptions to this rule, but in general we see the same pattern: 20 minutes worship, 5 minutes announcements, 30 minutes preaching, 10 minutes fellowship, etc., if it goes over just 1 minute, there's an uproar. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have order, that we should abandon the current "model", i'm just saying that we make rules and tell the Holy Spirit to work according to our rules, that we don't allow Him to move the way He wants to move. No wonder we don't see God's glory as they did in the early church, the difference is just one: In the early church the Holy Spirit was the "leader", the disciples just "followed" Him. Of course if we go back to the beginning, many people will be displeased and will leave the church, because the first change they will see is: Prayer will be a priority, not just another activity. I love music, but we drifted so far from form true worship (music is part of it) that some churches are using secular music instead of worship music, like U2 Eucharist for example (if you think i'm joking, check that out). We make our churches so nice, cozy, pretty, etc., that we attract thousands of people, unfortunately, we repel the first One we suppose to attract: Jesus Christ. He wrote to our churches in Revelation 2-3: To the loveless "Ephesus", to the persecuted "Smyrna", to the compromising "Pergamos", to the corrupt "Thyatira", to the dead "Sardis", to the faithful "Philadelphia" and to the lukewarm "Laodicean". Since there are only seven last-days churches, where does your church fit in? Better, since we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (church), where do we fit in?

The ONE THING!

Luke 18:22. This is a very interesting story. It's about a young man who became rich (the young ruler) and his riches were the very reason for not fulfilling God's calling for his life, meeting Jesus Christ, who being rich (God), made Himself poor and became a servant man (read Philippians 2), in order to save the first one (humanity). Let me ask you a very personal question, so personal that only you and God can answer: Is there ONE THING that is or would be preventing you from fulfilling God's calling (will) for your life? You may not have the answer right now, so, meditate, pray and ask God to search your heart and reveal to it you. Of course, you have to be honest before God and consider the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 10:37-39. Well, maybe you are saying to yourself: "I don't have a calling". If you are saying that, there's only two possibilities: First: You are not part of the Body of Christ (Church); Second: You are believing in satan's lie. Paul, the apostle, compares the Church (Body of Christ) with the human body and says that we are members of the Body. Think about your body: What's your eyes "calling" (purpose, mission, job)? How about your mouth? How about your legs? Stop using your left leg for only a day and see how it goes. Because most believers don't know what "part of the Body" (member) they are (calling, gifts), the whole body is SUFFERING! For example, let's say that "you are the left leg", because you are not working (functioning), your church is a one legged body! Meaning, it is deficient, lacking, wanting, etc. Unfortunately, today's church is struggling really bad, probably for two reason: First: Believers are not taught that they must know their calling and gifts or when they are taught, they ignore it, because it will cost something and it's a lot easier to "warm up" our comfortable seats or pews. My advice to you is this: If you don't know your calling and gifts, start serving in your church (congregation), there's always something you can do, but also, find out what your calling and gifts are. Don't let the one thing prevent you from following Jesus, because, He is the way that will lead you into the Kingdom of God!

Meditation: A Transcendental or a Conscious Practice?

I remember, in the 80's, that the church was fighting fiercely against a movement called "new age". If you never heard of it, here's a basic definition: "New Age thinking has its roots in Eastern mysticism which bypasses the mind. There is a new organ of perception, "the third eye", which gives spiritual light. One needs to get to the "psychic self" by training one’s self to ignore the messages from the mind. Really it is throwing the mind in neutral". After that, meditation was associated with new age. In the Bible we can find many places that tell us to meditate in the Law of God. Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2; Psalm 119:15. So, what is the biblical definition for meditation? Well, while writing, I came across with the best definition of meditation I ever heard (very biblical), it's from J. I. Packer: "Meditation is the activity of calling to mind, and thinking over, and dwelling on, and applying to oneself, the various things that one knows about the works and ways and purposes and promises of God... It is an activity of holy thought, consciously performed in the presence of God, under the eye of God, by the help of God, as a means of communion with God". As J. I. Packer states, there's nothing to do with emptying our mind, reaching the "psychic self" and entering into another realm, where the imaginary is the new reality. That's more like "Avatar" the movie, where James Cameron created something I would call "imagiality", where the imaginary becomes the "new reality", he mixes fantasy and spiritism in very subtle way. Unfortunately, because of our busy life, it's very hard to find time to meditate in the Word of God. Maybe this will sound kinda disgusting to you, but, in simple words, let me compare Meditation with Rumination. Cows are ruminant animals, which mean they regurgitate, re-chew and re-swallow their food as part of the digestive process. That should be the process of meditation: We hear the Word of God, we think about It, after that It goes to our unconscious mind (subconscious), then we remember that Word, we think again... After that It becomes part of our being, It goes to our hearts. Jeremiah 31:33. We must learn the importance of Meditating in the Word of God, like the food we eat, some teachings are harder to "swallow" (absorb) than others, but those are equally necessary to our spiritual growth. We cannot meditate in the Word of God if we don't hear fo read it!

Spiritual Growth: From "milk" to "solid food".

1 Corinthians 3:1-2. Today, I see a huge gap, spiritually speaking, between the leaders (pastors, teachers, preachers, etc.) and the regular believer. There are three probable causes: The regular believers are receiving milk only; they are not absorbing the solid food or they are rejecting the solid food. If you pay attention to what's being preached lately, the vast majority of the preachings, are milk only, as the writer of Hebrews calls: "The first principles of the oracles of God". Then there are a few preachers who try to preach, as Paul says in Acts 20:27, but, even among those few, there are even fewer who preach, what Paul calls, Jesus Christ crucified, Galatians 3:1 (read Post "What Jesus: The Narrow Way or the Broadway?). Ok, we all know that there's different factors that contribute to our physical growth, like, genetic, nutrition, environmental conditions, among others. If we compare the physical and the spiritual growth, we can say that: Genetic: Only the ones who are born of the Spirit will grow spiritually, John 3:6; nutrition: When babies, we need milk, but after that we need solid food, Hebrews 5:12-13; environmental conditions: If we only associate with evil people and are not part of the church (body of Christ), we won't grow spiritually. God didn't call us to be a hermit, but to be a part of His church, Hebrews 10:25. So, in order to grow spiritually, first we need to be born of the Spirit; when babies, we need the pure milk, 1 Peter 2:2; then we need solid food, we need to study and meditate in the Word of God, Psalm 1:1-3.