Blog Posts - TheNewU

THINGS ARE DIFFERENT NOW

9/5/2023

September 5, 2023 THINGS ARE DIFFERENT NOW

Colossians 1:9b-14 “ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Life lived in the kingdom of God is far different from life lived according to the world. If we take just the few verses above and meditate on what is said, we will be amazed; in fact, it may sound to good to be true. (There is one qualifier to experiencing what we read in these verses. If one is a believer, then he or she is forgiven and loved by God; however, if a believer chooses to live according to their flesh, they will not experience life as God designed.) Let’s look at some of the key words and truths we find in this passage. It is God’s desire that we be FILLED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE of His will-no more wondering and guessing about what His will is for us. He will give us ALL SPIRITUAL WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING; we will know how to navigate life and will not live in confusion, but be enabled to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. We CAN PLEASE HIM IN ALL RESPECTS; we can live with a clear conscience and enjoy being used by Him. We can bear fruit in EVERY GOOD WORK and we can INCREASE IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD; He wants us to know Him and He will gladly reveal more of Himself to us. As we walk in the life God has for us, we will be STRENGTHENED WITH ALL POWER, according to His might! We no longer have to live defeated and unfulfilled. God’s work in us brings about ALL STEADFASTNESS AND PATIENCE. Because of all that God does in us, we will JOYOUSLY give thanks to our Father who has made us a member of His kingdom. We have been DELIVERED from the domain of darkness, and TRANSFERRED to the kingdom of God’s Son. In Christ, we HAVE BEEN REDEEMED and FORGIVEN. These are amazing, transforming truths; they are not in theory only, but are fruits of the work of God in us that find expression in life. In spite of the difficulties we face, nothing can deter what God does in those who love Him and walk in His ways. May we embrace who God says we are in Him.

Colossians 2:6 “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.”

Blessings, Buddy

IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH

9/3/2023

September 3, 2023 IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH

Romans 6:5-7, 11-13 “For if we have become united in Him in the likeness of His death, certain we shall be also in the likeness of HIs resurrection, knowing that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.” “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lust, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

Jesus laid His life down; He came to earth and gave His life that we might be reconciled to God and delivered from the power of sin. The major battle, the major issue, that each believer must deal with is being and living in the likeness of the death of Jesus. Death precedes life. As believers, we cannot escape the call to die to ourselves. When one is baptized as a new believer, knowing it or not, it is a picture of dying to self as the water represents a grave, and then. being raised up out of the water represents being raised from the dead. We must get it through ‘our thick skulls,’ and into our spirits that our old self was crucified with Jesus-even thought we were not born physically for centuries after Jesus was crucified. How we ‘consider’ ourselves is critical and it determines how we live as believers. We are instructed to “consider ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Certainly we cannot misunderstand the instruction to not let sin reign in our mortal bodies but to be dead to sin. It is to our own hurt and it robs us of life to not consider ourselves alive to God; many believers consider themselves saved, but at the same time consider themselves to be sinners-and that is contrary to the scriptures. I’m not saying we never sin, but when we sin, it is because we choose to sin-we do not have to sin; we have been set free from the power of sin. Again, let us consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. The passage above presents awesome truths; truths that reveal what mighty works Jesus accomplished in His death and resurrection on our behalf. He conquered the sin issue and has made us alive in Him. Instead of focusing on sin, let us focus on being alive in Him, freed from the power of sin. For us not to live in this truth surely grieves the heart of God. The lie of our enemy is that we are still sinners subject to the power of sin. God says we can live as those alive from the dead. Dying to ourselves is ongoing; daily, hourly we present ourselves to God, desiring to please Him in all we do. (1 John 2:1 says “if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Farther, Jesus Christ the righteous.”) Note the word ‘if’.

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Blessings, Buddy

BE ON YOUR GUARD

9/1/2023

September 1, 2023 BE ON YOUR GUARD

Luke 12:15 “And He said to them, ‘Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions.”

One blessing of God’s word is that it gives us directions and instructions for life and it gives us warnings-you might say a ‘heads up’-to what might derail us in our walk with Him. The verse above is such a verse. Obviously, greed is one of those things that derails us, and it can be subtle-like it comes in unaware. There are many forms of greed according to this verse. The lie that the enemy speaks to us is that possessions bring us fulfillment and that more is better. Life is more than possessions. What we must get into our understanding is that possessions do not fill our deepest longings. In fact, the abundance of possessions can be a real problem because it takes time and money and attention to maintain or manage possessions. Do not get me wrong; possessions are not the problem; being a good steward of possessions is the issue. Whether we have an abundance of possessions or we have little is not the issue; the issue is whether we see possessions as being what satisfies us, or is it the life of Christ in us that satisfies us. In our culture, incomes vary greatly and many have an abundance of possessions. If not on guard, one can become envious of those having more and that can be a form of greed. This may be difficult for those in affluent societies to grasp, but the quality of life is not dependent on possessions. Our culture continually promotes the lie that says happiness comes with possessions; and that is why we must be on guard. As said above, possessions are not the issue; at the same time, it is generally true that having an abundance of possessions is often a distraction and can even become a burden that robs us of life. So, let us be on guard, and let us understand that the life God has for us can be enjoyed to the fullest no matter how many possessions we have or do not have. God, not possessions, is the source of life. 1 Timothy 6:17 is a clear word dealing with riches; “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.” So, it is the wise person who can enjoy the things God supplies, but at the same time know that ‘things’ are not what satisfies our inner longings.

1 Timothy 6:6-8 “Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”

Blessings, Buddy

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

8/30/2023

August 30, 2023 THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Romans 14:17 “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Colossians 1:13 “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us the to kingdom of His beloved Son.”
Luke 17:21b “For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Matthew 13:11 “He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.’”

You cannot see it or touch it, but it is more real and more powerful than the the things we see with our natural eyes-that is, the kingdom of God. Jesus came introducing the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God can not be experienced or understood by those who do not know Jesus as Savior; for those who know God, He has made known to them the mysteries of the kingdom. Believers have the blessing and privilege of experiencing and living in the kingdom of God on this earth; Jesus proclaimed that ‘the kingdom of God is at hand.’ A great transfer has taken place: we have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of God. So-what is life like in the kingdom of God? For starters, the kingdom is experienced internally-in our spirit. God has given us a new heart, a new mind, and a new spirit, and has made us a new creations. Out of this new person, our beliefs, our perspectives, our mindset, our responses, our pursuits, and our sense of purpose are all different from those who are not a member of the kingdom of God. Even though the kingdom of God is spiritual in nature, it affects all we do in this life on earth; it impacts the natural. To be delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of God is truly a big deal. It is amazing that often, those who are in the ‘domain of darkness’ are not even aware that they are in darkness because they have never been exposed to the light of the kingdom of God; everywhere and every place outside of the kingdom of God is darkness. Even in the most difficult times, the kingdom of God has it’s impact; God gives comfort and gives us strength to endure the storms and enables us to overcome what ever challenge we face. We must be aware of the fact that believers can live in a way that is not kingdom-minded and thus miss the blessings available to them as members of His kingdom. We cannot neglect reading and meditating on the word of God because it is in His word that we discover the ‘keys to the kingdom;’ we must read His word in faith, receiving all that God says as true for us. Living with a kingdom mindset allows us to view life from God’s perspective-and that is huge! We do not live according to the immediate circumstances but according to what God is doing in the circumstances. Jesus ushered in the kingdom of God and all who know Him can experience life in His kingdom-even here on earth.

Luke 12:32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.”

Blessings, Buddy

HEARING AND ACTING

8/27/2023

August 27, 2023 HEARING AND ACTING

Matthew 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock.”

In Matthew we find the familiar parable where Jesus exposes the foolishness of building a house upon the sand and the wisdom of building a house upon the rock. Obviously, the house built upon the rock survived the heavy rains, the flood and the winds, whereas the house built upon the sand did not withstand the storms. The obvious point Jesus was making was that if we are hearing the words of Jesus and building on His words-the word of God-our work will survive the storms; but if we hear His words and do not act on them, what we are building will crash when the storms come. We are all building a house; we must be careful how we build as the quality of what we build will be judged. A house must have a solid foundation in order to stand against the storms; Jesus is the rock, He is the sure foundation. A house may look really great, but if the foundation is faulty or unstable, it is simply a matter of time before it falls or becomes unlivable. It is abundantly clear form many scriptures that we are not only to hear the words of Jesus, but we are to act on and obey the words of Christ. Intentions to obey the words and the commands of Jesus are no substitute for obeying; intentions produce no good fruit-it’s the action that matters. Of course we do not obey His words in order to be saved or to gain His approval and love; we obey Him because He loves us and we love Him, because He is Lord, and because it is the only wise thing to do. We must be on guard for hearing His word and agreeing with it, and then not acting on it. For many, information and knowledge is king; this is even true in Christian circles. We may think that by ‘knowing God’s word’ we are good. The truth is that one may have extensive knowledge of the word of God and yet what He is building will not stand when the storms and the trials come if he is not obeying the words of God. Let’s look at just one example: Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive. We first must hear those words, but then act on it by actually being or becoming a giver; there are many ways to give, including giving our time, out of our resources, or giving words that build up and encourage. Let us be quick to hear and also quick to act on the words of Jesus; by doing so, we will be wise builders and what we are building will survive the storms as well as the test of time.

John 14:21 “He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.”

Blessing, Buddy

SURELY GOODNESS AND MERCY

8/25/2023

August 25, 2023 SURELY GOODNESS AND MERCY

Psalm 23:6 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

If we miss the the true meaning of one of the words of this familiar verse, we miss the main point of the verse and the impact it has. The key word is follow. We think of the word follow as someone simply walking or trailing behind one as they walk down the street-or wherever; like a puppy dog following it’s owner. The Hebrew word for follow in this Psalm is ‘radapy,’ and it means to chase down, to pursue relentlessly, to chase after. For me, that definition of follow sheds new light on this verse. Francis Thompson, author of a poem entitled ‘Hound of Heaven,’ refers to goodness and mercy as the hounds of heaven who never stop pursuing. The word mercy is often translated ‘loving kindness.’ There are many verse that refer to the goodness of God. The very nature of God is that He is good and He is merciful. Like David, who wrote this psalm, we experience difficult times in this life, but even so, His goodness and mercy are always pursuing us, chasing us down! The key for us is to have our hearts truly turned to the Lord; even though David failed and sinned, his heart was set on God. David knew that God was good and merciful. No matter what we are going through at the present, and no matter how difficult life may be, we can find comfort in the fact that the goodness and mercy of God or relentlessly pursuing us. God wants to show us His love, His kindness and His mercy. If we have failed in some way, if we have sinned, or if we are enjoying our walk with the Lord and we have no unconfessed sin, let us know that He is always pursuing us to show us His goodness and mercy. All God wants is for our hearts to be fully turned to Him; when He is our hearts desire, we will walk in His ways and will experience His love, His kindness and His love. If you listen, you can hear the hounds of heaven barking because they are on your trail!

Psalm 86:5 “For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.”

Blessings, Buddy

GOD GAVE THEM OVER

8/23/2023

August 23, 2023 GOD GAVE THEM OVER

Romans 1:18-19,21-22,24 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteous of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.” “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.” “Therefore God gave then over in the lust of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them.”

What I say in this blog is not from a political viewpoint. Often what God says in His word contradicts the culture; and because it contradicts the culture, many want to silence or do not want to hear what God says. Yet, no matter what the culture says, what God has said stands true and whoever ignores and rejects His words, they suffer the consequences. Society must have a moral code to avoid total chaos; and the ways of God are the ultimate moral code. Contrary to what some believe, to be turned over to ‘our ways’ is the last thing we need. The main point today is for us to have a clear understanding of what led to where we are today as a society; I do not need to list the ills of our culture-you know what they are; there is breakdown of every segment of society. It is interesting, but these verses tell us that God has made Himself known, but even though they knew God, they suppressed the truth in unrighteousness. When the ways of God are rejected and when He is rejected, it results in a foolish and darkened heart; ‘professing to be wise, they became fools.’ We learn in 1 Corinthians 3:19 about the wisdom of the world; “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” Man has only two ways to go; either his or her way, or the way of God. Our society got to where we are by suppressing the truth of God and rejecting Him; but we are not doomed to stay where we are. By repenting of rejecting God and going ones own way, one can know the blessing of forgiveness and can be restored to a relationship with God. Jesus came and died on our behalf that we might have abundant life-but He must be received. As believers, let us be alert to the fact that we can profess to know God, and yet continue to live according to our own dictates and desires. The bottom line is this; we must set our hearts on knowing God and live out of the wisdom that God gives to those who ask for it; and, we cannot know God apart from reading His word, because it is in His word that reveals Himself to us. Let us not be guilty of going our way; let us walk in His ways and experience His abundant life. (It would be helpful to read all of the first chapter of Romans to get a better view of what is said here.)

Psalm 1:1-2 “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”

Blessings, Buddy

WHILE WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY

8/20/2023

August 20, 2023 WHILE WE HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY

Galatians 6:7-10 “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have the opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

It would be a remorseful time to live to be old and then realize that you had spent your life centered around selfish ambitions; and even though one may live a good, moral life and yet when he or she is old come face-to-face with the fact that they lived a life focused on themselves. The difficult thing is that at that point you can’t go back and do things differently. The good news is that God gives us wisdom and instructions as to how to live our lives in such a way that we will have no regrets in old age-or at any age. But be advised: the wisdom and instructions that God gives runs contrary to human nature, which is all about doing and getting whatever self desires, while the ways of God are about blessing others. Verse 7 above begins by giving us a warning, which is “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.” The obvious is that it is possible for believers to be deceived. God established the law of sowing and reaping and no one can circumvent this law. The simple truth is that we reap whatever we sow. The question we should ask ourselves is what kind of harvest we want; and once we answer that, then go about sowing the seeds that produce that kind of harvest. We must remember that we sow first, and later the harvest comes. We have only two choices when it comes to sowing; we either sow to our flesh, or we sow to the Spirit. The intended point of this blog is that today we have the opportunity to sow good seeds and to be about doing good and righteous deeds to all men-let us not miss the opportunity. It must be said that sowing good seeds does not guarantee a life free of trials; but it does mean that we will reap a good harvest in due time if we do not grow weary. God is gracious; even though have sown bad seeds in the past-and we all have-and even though we have likely reaped some bad harvest, God gives us the opportunity to start new; He gives us new beginnings. God is not keeping a list of all we have done wrong; He is looking for us, at any age, to have a change of heart; for us to turn from our ways that always produce a harvest we do not desire, and to turn to His ways that always produces good fruit and leads to life.

2 Corinthians 9:10 “Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.”

Blessings, Buddy

NO LONGER LIVING FOR OURSELVES

8/18/2023

August 18, 2023 NO LONGER LIVING FOR OURSELVES

2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

We hear a lot about dying to self in Christian circles, and it is well established in God’s word that we are to lay our lives down. Yet, I suspect that many have questions as to what it looks like to die to self. After all, we still must go about our daily routines such as going to work or school, maintaining our possessions, engaging in certain social activities, and the such; those who do not know Christ do the same things-son what’s the difference? At the center of the dying to self issue is the matter of what is our motivation in life-what or who are we living for. Man by nature wants to be in control; thus the idea of dying to what self wants is not a popular idea. In the verse above, we are told that when Christ died, all died. That is an amazing statement. What is crucial for believes is to come to know and embrace that truth not just in their mind, but in their spirit as well. We cannot have two lives; we must die so that we can have the life of Christ is us; Christ’ life and our life can no co-habit. When Christ is our life, He expresses His life through us. How awesome is it that the Creator God chooses to express Himself through us! In the scriptures we learn what God is like-His attributes and His character-and we can be be reflectors of Him. We cannot be expressions of His life by our own effort; it must become revelation to us in our spirit that Christ died for us and rose again on our behalf; that he defeated the power of sin; that He has made us new creations and now lives in us; it is no longe we who live. Our old self was crucified when Christ was crucified; and we have been raised in newness of life. God does not call us to die to ourselves to rob us of joy or to make us miserable; He calls us to die to self in order that we might experience life to the fullest. Now, our motivation in life is to honor the one who died for us and to do the things that are pleasing to Him. So, now we see our daily routines as opportunities to express His life-to demonstrate His love and goodness and His redemptive nature. Now, the motivation of our heart has changed; we are no longer focused on gratifying self, but on blessing others. The good news is that as we die to our ways, we find life on a much higher plane-we experience life as God designed it to be. Dying to ourselves is a continual act. Let us not live for ourselves, but for the One who gave Himself for us.

Romans 6:11 “Even though consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Blessings, Buddy

GOD’S WILL FOR YOU

8/16/2023

August 16, 2023 GOD’S WILL FOR YOU

1 Thessalonians 5:18 “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God.”
Romans 8:28 “And we know for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”

Most would agree that these verses at times may challenge our faith and our trust in God. When circumstances are difficult and the burdens are heavy, do we and can we walk in the admonitions we find in these verses. There are times when we feel that all is hopeless and we see no way out of the trying time we are in. To add to this, often there is nothing we can do to alleviate the pain of the trial we are experiencing. In life we will face difficulties and trials that try our souls; and these trials may cause us to question our faith and may even cause us to question God; we may wonder if He really cares and does He hear our prayers. It is a spiritual giant step forward when we embrace what God tells us in these verses. He does not tell us to give thanks FOR everything, but IN everything give thanks. Even when we are in the most difficult circumstance and the burden is heavy, we can thank God for what He is doing in and through the trial and even though we may not understand the how or why, giving thanks like this is pleasing to God and it is acknowledging that He is in control and that we are trusting Him. No matter what our feeling may be, it is helpful to speak words of trusting God and thanking Him for what He is doing. Is it really true that we ‘can be anxious for nothing?’ The good news is that it is true. Knowing in the core of our being that God is all knowing, all powerful, that He is always working, that He rules, and that HE IS OUR FATHER AND HE LOVES US is reason enough to not be in despair and not to fear, but to be secure in being HIs son or daughter. Jesus warned us that we would have trials in this life, but He also said not to fear, because He had overcome the world. Because the Holy Spirit is living in us, we do not have to respond to trials as the world does; we have access to an abiding hope and peace even in the most difficult time. So, let not be controlled by our emotions, but by the Holy Spirit who is presently at work in us for the glory of God and for our good.

1 Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.”

Blessings, Buddy