Dew of Heaven

when i was reading to Ian tonight. we read Gen 27 when i read to him i try and find little things that stick out to me. well tonight this verse stuck out to me the most.

(Gen 27:28 NKJV)  Therefore may God give you Of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and wine.

as Isaac blessed Jacob he said "may God give you the dew of heaven." my heart leaped as i too want the dew of heaven to fall in my house, in my life, my marriage, my son's life, in my life, in my whole world.

though this is short it is sweet. so i pray that i take the time to seek Jesus, that He (as my Father) may bless me with the "dew of heaven."

Mountain Top

(Gen 22:14 NKJV)  And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, "In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided."

the other night i was reading to Ian before bed. when we came to this part it jumped out at me. and what really hit me was this

"In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided."

in the mountain of the Lord it shall be provided. several things come to mind. one of course is Jesus. on calvary mount it was provided for us. He shed His blood to pay for our sins. God provided on His mountain.

another thing that comes to mind is how many times do we say something like this "it was a mountain top experience ?" when we feel close to Jesus we always seem to call it being on the mountain top. so when it says "In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided." we find that God requires something from us. looking back in the story Abraham was about to sacrifice his son. but he was stopped because he showed great faithfulness to God. and there he found a mountain top experience . i am not saying that every time we must sacrifice something to have this "mountain top experience ." the sacrifice has already been paid, but there are times that God requires us to give up something of ourselves in order to remain obedient to Him.

so let me seek out the Mount of the Lord. let me seek out Jesus on the cross, for there i find the sacrifice and the grace to remain in Him, and He in i.

The Cross of Jesus Christ... Something to Linger On

Setting Captive Free offers several courses to take. One of the best ones (I think) is “The Cross.” They take you through a 60 course of looking at the Cross of Jesus Christ. Each day is packed full of biblical truths about the single greatest event that has ever taken place in the history of man. Some would say that 60 days is to much, to long, and that it would get old. Well I will tell you that 60 isn’t enough.

With all that being said, I would like to share with you something that really got my attention. We all know (or should have an understanding) that Jesus is the payment of our sins. For most of you who will read this you also know that in the Old Testament they had to pay for their sins. They would do this several different ways, but always there was blood that had to be shed. I want to take a quick little snap shot from the course to examine a biblical truth of how the atonement for sins of old correlates to what Jesus did on the cross.

Exo 25:21-22  You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you. (22)  And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony, about everything which I will give you in commandment to the children of Israel.

Notice from the above passage that two specific things happened at the mercy seat. From Exodus 25:22 we see that God would “meet with” the high priest there, and that God would “speak with” him there. Please keep these truths in mind as we read additional verses on the mercy seat.

The Cross of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the “Mercy Seat” of the Old Testament. God looks down upon the death of His Son, who shed His blood for our forgiveness, and He has mercy on His people. Just as God met with the people and spoke to them from above the mercy seat, so He meets with us at the cross, and speaks to us at the cross.

The words He speaks at the cross are words of mercy. If we linger at the cross, and examine it with eyes of faith, here are the words we will hear:

·         Forgiveness: Act 10:43  To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins."

·          Acceptance: Eph 1:6  to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

·         Redemption: Eph 1:7  In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace

·         Reconciliation: Rom 5:11  And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

·         Peace with God: Col 1:20  and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.Rom 5:1  Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

·         Eternal life: Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

To stop and think about the cross (process, from beginning to end) is something that I have not done in a long time. Please take a few moments (longer would be preferred) and meditate on what Jesus did for you at the Cross………… I would also urge you to meditate on this throughout the week, as this is the most important part of what we believe as Christians… just take a look at what Paul had to say about this matter.

Gal 6:14  But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

1Co 2:2  For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Wicked, Judgement, Grace, Redemption in Psalms

i have been reading/praying Psalms for the past several weeks. as i read this morning before prayer, i read Ch 49-50. and during that reading i saw the redemption story. its like a conversation between us and God. it starts with Him.

(God)
Psa 50:16  But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to declare My statutes, Or take My covenant in your mouth,
Psa 50:17  Seeing you hate instruction And cast My words behind you?
Psa 50:18  When you saw a thief, you consented with him, And have been a partaker with adulterers.
Psa 50:19  You give your mouth to evil, And your tongue frames deceit.
Psa 50:20  You sit and speak against your brother; You slander your own mother's son.
Psa 50:21  These things you have done, and I kept silent; You thought that I was altogether like you; But I will rebuke you, And set them in order before your eyes.

God says to us that we are wicked and that we have taken His words His commands and thrown them behind us. we act as if He never gave us a law to follow (just like in Mat_7:23). God goes on to tell us just how we have broken His laws. we speak evil with no remorse, we kill our brother with our tongue and never think twice about it. when we see someone sinning we turn our head and say "i didnt see that." then we go to that person and act as if they are our friends. finally God tells us this: that we have made a god in our own minds. we thought that our god was like us, that he was on our side (even though we sinned against him). we thought that we were righteous in the eyes of the god of our own understanding. we thought this when the one true I AM kept silent. He did this because He despises the proud (Jas_5:5, & 1Pe_5:5), and that is just what we the wicked are. 


their are times that we even as "christians" fall into the category of the "wicked." and to be honest  to look again at Psa_50:16-21 we see that God is in fact talking to us "christians."


our reply to God should and must be one of humility.

(Us "Christians")
Psa 38:18  For I will declare my iniquity; I will be in anguish over my sin.

as our Father speaks to us our hearts should melt within us knowing that have sinned against a Holy God. that we have sinned against a good God (Rom_2:4). it is out of this that we should agree with Him and begin to repent.


our hearts should brake with in us. as we cry out to Him we cry "what can i do oh Lord? for i have sinned against you!!!"


as we agree with our God that we have sinned (this is confession) He responds to us:

(God)
Psa 49:7  None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him—
Psa 49:8  For the redemption of their souls is costly, And it shall cease forever—

also talk a look at this in the Message version

Psa 49:7  Really! There's no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
Psa 49:8  The cost of rescue is beyond our means, and even then it doesn't guarantee life forever

we see our Father speaking to us that there is no way that we can save ourselves or even our brother. (we cant pray our dead friends and family into heaven. so dont even try!) He tells us that the cost of redemption is to high for us. there is no way that we can gain salvation. the price is blood! to give all of our blood would only take us face to face with our "good God" where He must punish us to hell forever. that is the price for us sinning against our Holy and righteous God. 


knowing this and seeing that even when we cry out to our good God that we cannot by any means save ourselves, this should brake us. this should cause us to morn over our sins, as we have sinned against God! 


at this point our heart our broken and we should be in a state of repentance.

(Us "Christians")
Psa 38:1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your wrath, Nor chasten me in Your hot displeasure!
Psa 38:2  For Your arrows pierce me deeply, And Your hand presses me down.
Psa 38:3  There is no soundness in my flesh Because of Your anger, Nor any health in my bones Because of my sin.
Psa 38:4  For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
Psa 38:5  My wounds are foul and festering Because of my foolishness.
Psa 38:6  I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
Psa 38:7  For my loins are full of inflammation, And there is no soundness in my flesh.
Psa 38:8  I am feeble and severely broken; I groan because of the turmoil of my heart.
Psa 38:9  Lord, all my desire is before You; And my sighing is not hidden from You.
Psa 38:10  My heart pants, my strength fails me; As for the light of my eyes, it also has gone from me.

now this is what i call a repentant heart/mouth. to many times i see (even in me) "Christians" go to our Holy and righteous God and call this repentance: "oh dear heavenly Father, i am sorry that i sinned today. please forgive me." there is no heart in this. there is no humility in this. all it takes is for one to read a few Psalms to see that David (a man after God's own heart) sinned and that He truly repented. he was broken before God. just take a look at these verses.

Psa 40:12  For innumerable evils have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up; They are more than the hairs of my head; Therefore my heart fails me.

and the famous Psa_51:1-19. through it all we see a state of repentance, but look at verse 17.

Psa 51:17  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.

so what do we do then? what now, our hearts are broken before God, knowing that we cannot pay for our sins. He even told us that it is to costly! that is where grace comes in. that is where our JESUS comes in! that is where the good new of the gospel of Jesus Christ comes in. He paid for our sins. He was forsaken by God Himself. Jesus became so disgusting before our righteous and Holy God that God Himself could not even look upon His only Son. our Father turned His back on Jesus, and punished Him to hell, His rightful place for the sins He bore!...... then the glory of it all is that Jesus rose and defeated sin and death!!!! where He was restored to God, and in that restoration, He paid for us too. the ministry of Jesus is one of salvation and restoration. this is in short the gospel of Jesus. our good news and hope! JESUS PAID FOR OUR SINS!!!! HE HAS COME TO SET THE CAPTIVES FREE!!!!!


finally God says to us in this new state of holiness (in the blood of Jesus).

(God)
Psa 50:4  He shall call to the heavens from above, And to the earth, that He may judge His people:
Psa 50:5  "Gather My saints together to Me, Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice."

on the final day, the day of judgement those that have repented and have sought Jesus for their salvation, and have trusted and put their faith in Jesus and the blood He paid, will be saved. when God (the Judge) stands high above the earth he will say "has the sacrifice been made?" and with great joy those of His house will proclaim YES!!! JESUS PAID!!!!


this is our greatest testimony. this is our good news to the world. their are to many people "Christians" or other wise that do not know or do not confess the deep depravity of their heart. it is our job to tell the world that they have sinned against a Holy God, a good God. and that they (we all) must repent and seek Jesus for the blood that He shed, so that there will be payment for our sins. this act of repentance/salvation is one that changes our lives, giving us that new life in Jesus!!!

Be Strong in Spirit

All,

It has been a while since I have last sent an encouraging word to you. I hope that today I will be able to bless you, and encourage you to continue in the fight against sexual bondage, or any bondage for that matter.

As I was doing my own feasting the Lord began to speak to about being strong in spirit. I have chewed on this for several days now. and I believe that I have been given a word for you all.

Lets first look at where it all began.

Luke 1:15b “(John the Baptist)…he will also be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mothers womb.”

Luke 1:80a “(John the Baptist) So the child grew and became strong in spirit…”

Luke 2:40b “(Jesus) The Child grew strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him”

John and Jesus were both filled with the Holy Spirit from birth. They as children grew and became strong in spirit. For as the Holy Spirit and their spirits were one, they grew strong in the Spirit.

Jesus has called us to be strong in our spirits too. look at Gal 5:16-18 “I say then: walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, for the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; the these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.” Just as Jesus was tempted in the flesh so are we tempted in our flesh. But we have a good example in Jesus. He was strong in His spirit. He was strong in Spirit too. if we were to look at when Jesus was tempted we would see that He knew the scriptures, and He used them! We also see that He did not fight with His own strength. He fought with the strength given by the Spirit. He was strong in Spirit!

Now how does this apply to us, as we fight for freedom? Well, let us again look at scripture.

Rom 8:9 “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ he is not his.”

We see that in order for us to be a Christian at all we must have the Holy Spirit inside of us. If He is not there then we are not born of Christ!... so with that being said look at:

1 John 4:13 “”By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit”

We know that we are of Jesus because He has given us His Spirit. He has given us the gift of Himself…. What a wonderful gift!... now let me ask you this, what does that gift of the Holy Spirit consist of? (I know we could spend days on that question, but let’s just look at one)… well let’s look at one that will bless us right now. One that will lift us up in our fight for freedom.

2 Cor 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

1 Cor 3:13 “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”

1 Cor 6:19 “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”

Here is our gift. FREEDOM, LIBERTY!!! We who are of Christ have the Holy Spirit in us. And where the Spirit of God is there is liberty. Brothers, do you get how great this is? Do you see the hope we have in Jesus? If the Holy Spirit is in you (as you are His temple of dwelling) then you are freed from the bondage of sexual sins. Well any bondage for that matter.

Now look back where we started. We started with John and Jesus. They grew as children, they grew strong in the Spirit. Brothers as you are coming out of bondage you are like little children. Which is a great place to be by the way. So as you are walking out of bondage and learning to walk with Jesus let your spirit become strong in Spirit. Consider this in Luke 7:28 “(Jesus says) For I say to you among those born of women there is not a greater prophet that John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he (John the Baptist)” to be least in the kingdom of Jesus is where I want to be. Let us always be in a state of need. Let us grow strong in the Spirit and always have a constant need for Jesus!

Finally let me leave you with this from  1 Thess 5:19 “Do not quench the Spirit.” Brothers as we live out our lives, let us do all we can do not quench the Spirit of God. We have seen that He the Spirit is our constant liberty, so if we quench Him what do you think might happen? We will open up a door for our flesh to reign again. So let us seek to stay obedient to Jesus and keep ourselves in the liberty that the Holy Spirit brings to us.

There is lasting freedom from sexual bondage. We do not have to live our lives bound to this terrible thing anymore. Turn, take up your cross and follow Jesus, leave all cares and worries behind and seek Him. Seek the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and find lasting liberty. For where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty!

Your Brother in the fight

Nate Cook

Setting Captives Free Team member

...Their Eyes Were Opened...

Image via Wikipedia

Today I thought I would write a short word of encouragement on the Lords Supper. When I read this I was pleasantly surprised at the beauty of it. So let us take a look at Luke for a minute

Luke 22:19 “And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.””

Yes this is only a part of the communion process. We know that Jesus also did the same with the cup. But just as He gave this for us to remember Him and what He did for us. I believe that there is another side to this as well. Let us look after Jesus raised Himself from the dead.

Luke 24:13, 15-16, 27, 29-31 “now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem…So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him… And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself…But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.”

When Jesus gave the bread to His disciples He told them to eat it in remembrance of Him. Then we see a few days later He did the same thing with the bread and their eyes were opened and they knew Him. What a great thing we have in Jesus. When you (we) take communion next let us do it in remembrance of Him, but let us also pray that He will open our eyes to all of His scriptures. That He would revile to us a new mystery to us. That our knowledge of Jesus would be increased. There is much more to communion then just eating bread and drinking a drink. Jesus wants to meet with us. He wants to dine with us. So lay down all you worries and carries and ask our savior Jesus to dine with us and to open our eyes too.

Your Brother in Christ

Nate Cook

Setting Captives Free Team Member

A Call to the Dead

Today I want to sent you a word of encouragement. One that calls us out of our sins and into the light of Christ. As I was doing my daily feasting the Lord brought me to Eph 5:14 “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light” As I read this my spirit was stirred in me. so today let us examine this verse a little bit deeper.

To start I want you to read Eph 5:14 out of the Message version “Wake up from your sleep, Climb out of your coffins; Christ will show you the light!” what a great picture this is drawing. Jesus is calling us out of our sleep, and to climb out of our coffins (to be raised from the dead), and He will show us the light!...

Now let us look at this again in the NKJV “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light” when I got this verse early in the week I asked the Lord if there was anything to go with it. He didn’t speak and add anything to this verse. So I just prayed it over my life. I asked Jesus to awaken me out of my sleep, and to call me from the dead, and to show me His light. It was only yesterday that Jesus spoke more on this scripture.

First I looked up the different words in Strong’s…. I will rewrite the verse using the Strong’s definitions, and the Message version.

http://www.thelookotheirish.com

Awake (with a cause to be born), you who sleep (yielding and slothful in sin, indifferent to your own salvation) Arise from the dead, and climb out of your coffins (prepare yourselves for a journey, for a life once in destitution, but now recognizes and is devoted to God, because you at one time were given up to trespasses and sins), and Christ will show you the light (Christ will pour upon you the divine truth, as the sun gives light to men aroused from sleep)

What a great hope we have in Jesus! He calls us out of our deadness just like He did in Luke 7:14-15a “Then He (Jesus) came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said ‘Young man, I say to you arise.’ So he who was dead sat up and began to speak…” and in John 11:43-44a “Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice ‘Lazarus come forth!’ and he who had died came out…” Brothers, Jesus has and is calling you to arise out of your dead state. You are on your journey to freedom, and that first requires our savior to call us (which He already has). Then and only then are we able to act on that calling, we are to “climb out of our coffins” and devote our lives to Jesus.

Please consider this in Luke 9:23-24 “23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” We must first die. We must come to a point where we no longer have the desire to live in our sins, and to a point where we know we need saving. That is where Jesus tell us to die to our flesh daily, that we may be raised (by Jesus) from our dead state, and made a live in Him!... yes it is a scary thing to die to yourselves, for fear of death is normal if your hope and strength is in yourself. But, if your hope and faith is in Jesus you know that His word is truth, living and powerful, therefore He will come to your death and call out to you “_____(your name) Come forth, arise from the dead!” Our lives are not to be lived for ourselves, but to be lived for Him. Put away all your cares and worries, for Jesus will give you new life! Just as Jesus rose from the dead, so will he raise you from the dead. Let your life be so changed, that when people come and seek you they will find not find “you” but will find an empty tomb. Luke 24:5b-6a “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen!”

Now is this process easy? No! Will we be tempted? YES! So what do we do? We pray! Look at these verses:

Luke 22:40b, 46b “…Pray that you may not enter into temptation…Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation.”

1 Thess 5:6 “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.”

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

In your dead state the devil will keep you oppressed! He will keep you in darkness. That is what we call bondage. Brothers are we not all familiar with bondage? we know how devastating and how miserable being bound to sexual sins can be. For our sins (and the devil) is never satisfied. So when Jesus comes to you and calls you out of your tombs, and you climb out of your coffins and brings you into His wonderful light, the devil is and will be out on the prowl. It is for this reason that Jesus commanded us to “watch and pray lest we enter into temptation.” let us pray and seek Jesus, let us “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.(Rom 13:14)” for in Jesus we have a hope of rescue out of our temptations. Heb 2:18 “For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” And Heb 4:15 “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” then look at 1 Tim 2:5 “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,” which He enables us to fulfill these scriptures in Heb 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” & Heb 10:19 “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,”

Brothers, Jesus has called you from the dead. He has called out into a new life in Him. Then He tells us to pray! He tells us to seek Him with all our hearts, for He knows that our flesh is weak, and that our first nature is to sin and live in death. But this is not the life He desires for you. He desires a life of fullness as one with each other (you and Him as one). Do not be afraid of the devil or the life of bondage that you are in. Jesus is calling out to you! ARISE! COME OUT OF YOUR COFFIN! Leave your old life behind and walk in the newness of life in Jesus!

Your Brother in Christ

Nate Cook

Setting Captives Free Team Member

Go Overboard

Image by madison.murphy via Flickr

As you know I am Mentor with Setting Captives Free ministries. While mentoring there is a lot of blessings that come from it. so I want to share with you something that one of my students wrote during lesson 40. As I read what he wrote it really blessed me and spoke to me. as I prayed for this student the Lord gave me scripture to go with it. 

Here is the devotional that i sent my students from being blessed. So lets take a look:

The Student said “If I didn't give myself totally to Jesus Christ, I'd still be worshiping the idols of pornography, lust, and self gratification. A friend of mine said to me yesterday, "You've become too radical! You've stopped playing video games and doing everything you used to do, I just don't want you to relapse and go crazy again. You've just become too radical, I don't like it... Your smile to much now." My reply was simple lol. I laughed and said, "Didn't the disciples give up everything they loved to follow Jesus? I don't think I've become radical enough. I smile now because I am happy and I can't not be happy knowing what I know now." Praise Jesus for the work in me. He is making me radical!!!”

As I was praying for this student and thanking Jesus for his words and encouragement and these words popped in my head “his friend thinks he is going overboard.” And that is when the Holy Spirit started speaking to me. look at this verse:

Mat 14:27-29 “But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying “be of good cheer! It is I do not be afraid.” And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord if it is You command me to come to you on the water. So He (Jesus) said “come” and when Peter had come down out of the boat he walked on the water to go to Jesus.”

Is that radical or what? The disciples are out at sea being tossed to and fro by the waves and Jesus shows up out of nowhere and commands Peter to get of the safe little boat and walk on water with Him. Isn’t this like us? Isn’t this like our fight for purity? Sometimes we are at sea being tossed to and fro by our enemy, and we don’t know how to brake free. we feel like we are going to die in the journey to the other side (freedom). it seems like we have tried everything to save ourselves. Just like I am sure that the disciples tired everything to keep the ship stable and under control. Then out of nowhere our savior Jesus comes and commands us to do something radical. He commands us to go “overboard!” …. Again we see out of this that we must be active in our fight for freedom. we must be radical in our pursuit for purity…. So again I ask you what in your life to do you need to be radical with? Is it confession, amputation, appropriation, accountability, and/or humility, etc….???

Now if we keep going in Matthew 14:30-31 “But when he (Peter) saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out saying “Lord, save me!” and immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him (and said) “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” and when they got into the boat the wind ceased.”

Look at Peter’s example. He was radical. He went overboard to meet Jesus. He was obedient to Jesus’ command to “Come.” Brothers Jesus is calling you to “come” overboard and to be radical in your obedience and pursuit of Him… now look when Peter was afraid, his first reaction was “Lord, save me!” and what did Jesus do? He “immediately” saved him. Brothers as you begin to go overboard and be radical in your obedience to Jesus you may feel “fear” but let your first reaction be “Lord save me!” and Jesus will rescue you out of you fears and out of your bondage.

Finally what did Jesus say to Peter when they got to the boat? “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” we could spend all day looking at this scripture, but for today I want to focus on the faith part. I am reminded of James 2:18 “But some will say “you have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without your work, and I will show you my faith by my works.” Paul is simply saying that we will show are faith through our works. Brothers right now we are in a fight for purity, and our works of obedience to Jesus must be radical, we must go overbroad. Faith and works (actions,.. radically amputate, accountability etc…) go hand in hand…. We started today off with Mat 14:27 when Jesus said “be of good cheer! It is I do not be afraid.” Don’t be afraid to obey Jesus when He tells us “come,” come overboard.

Your Brother in Christ

Nate Cook

Setting Captives Free Team Member 

Back to the Grinder (sharpen your Sword) #2

Today I was reading in Titus, when I came across something I thought was quite interesting. So let’s take a look at it.

Titus 3:8-11 “8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men9 But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless.10 Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition,11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.”

And again in out of the messages version

“8 You can count on this. 
I want you to put your foot down. Take a firm stand on these matters so that those who have put their trust in God will concentrate on the essentials that are good for everyone.9 Stay away from mindless, pointless quarreling over genealogies and fine print in the law code. That gets you nowhere.10 Warn a quarrelsome person once or twice, but then be done with him.11 It’s obvious that such a person is out of line, rebellious against God. By persisting in divisiveness he cuts himself off.”

God wants us to be able to do good works. In fact He wants to be careful and maintain good works. (this may mean you and I scrubbing toilets at the church for the next month, or taking a turn in the nursery) He wants us to keep up these good works. Though I have found (when working with people) that there are those times with “those” people that there grows foolish disputes. Or am I the only one who has noticed? Maybe in am the only one who has had a floolish dispute about the things of God. Though at the time I am “sure” it was not foolish…. Either way the word of God says that we must avoid these. Meaning when and we find ourselves in these discussions we must make it appoint to avoid foolish disputes about the things of God. Now don’t get me wrong there are times we must boldly rebuke someone (2 Tim 3:16, Titus 1:9, 2:15). This we must not be afraid to do! (making sure we use the word to do it!)

So lets say that we are making every effort avoid these empty foolish disputes, and someone keeps bringing it up again and again. Or if you resolve the matter and that person brings something else up to argue about. What are we suppose to do? (this is what I found interesting) we are to “be done with them.” We are to stop talking with that person, stop hanging out with that person, we are to cut them off. We give them two rebukes with the word and if they still insist on being argumentative then we cut them off!

So you think I may be a little haste in writing this? Or you may think I may be a little out of line? Well let us take a look at a few more verses that point to the same idea.

2 Tim 2:16

NKJV “16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. 17 And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, 18 who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.”

Message “16 Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. Words are not mere words, you know. If they’re not backed by a godly life,17 they accumulate as poison in the soul. Hymenaeus and Philetus are examples,18 throwing believers off stride and missing the truth by a mile by saying the resurrection is over and done with.”    

We see that idle babblings leads to more ungodliness. And will spread like cancer in the body of Christ. This will inevitably affect the faith of some. (maybe your own). It is for this reason that God does not want us to argue over foolish things. These idle words will cause more ungodliness in the body of Christ and will cause some to stumble in their faith (maybe you!)

1 Tim 6:20-21

“20 O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge—

21 by professing it some have strayed concerning the faith. 
Grace be with you. Amen.”

Again we see a warning to “guard” ourselves against these things. For they will cause us to stumble in our faith. It is for this reason that we must CUT those who will not repent of this out of our lives. And if you are the one causing the strife I pray that you find your knees very soon. As you could be the one who causes a brother to stumble out of the faith. His blood is on your hands.

2 Thess 3:6

“6 But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the tradition which he received from us.”

In keeping step with what we have been talking about those that argue over little things and continue in idle babblings those are the ones who are disorderly. They are the ones that we must cut out of our lives. And be far from. For they do not walk in line with the word of God. So again let us “withdraw” ourselves from them.

1 Thess 4:11-12

“11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing”

This one speaks for itself. Do not be a busybody (1Peter 4:15) .

I did not intend for this to come off like I am bashing people in the body. But there are those that we are told to stay away from. We are to first give them two warnings (according to the word) then we are to cut them off.  Let us to the things necessary to grow in Christ, and to grow the body. If we are to walk in freedom and power in Jesus we must adhere to the whole word of God.

Be blessed and may you walk in freedom