Gospel Archives - Page 19 of 25 - call me pasturescott

podcast: where will you be when the dam breaks?

In this edition of the “Pasture’s Podcast” we’ll be contemplating the question ‘which side of the Truth will you find yourself on when all is said and done?’ or, perhaps more graphically, where will you be when the dam breaks?

Galatians 3:2-5, NKJV
This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?

Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

We’re continuing the new podcast series, “Spiritual Realities” and, once again, my dear friend John Brown is keeping me company at the mic as we discuss how we – who profess Jesus as our Savior – might break free from the malady of (as one friend calls it) “stinking thinking” and embrace Life as we’ve been called to experience it – as Jesus showed us in the gospels – from an ‘amen, Lord’ heart.

In this segment, we’ll discuss how it appears more common than uncommon for the western expression of the church to listen and respond more readily with her head (our own understanding, Proverbs 3:5) than with her heart; saying ‘amen’ to biblical ideas and preaching points, but not sincerely walking them out.

There’s much truth swirling about, but has it caught the church’s sails?

Does the contemporary church resemble less a shining ‘army with banners’ (Song of Songs 6:4,10) and more a flea market of weekend bargain hunters?

My friend John tells us, “the heart is the hearer,” and offers a vivid illustration at the end of how disastrous life can be if we insist on living from old patterns of thinking and reasoning and do not develop a hearing (and responsive) heart…and more so as we enter into an era of greater deception than we’ve yet known.

Thank you for listening along to these episodes. Feel free to email me any questions you might have and, time permitting, we’ll address them in a future podcast.

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new podcast: making ready for the Lord a people prepared

It’s been a long while since my last podcast (the good-intention road being paved and all), so I dusted off the ol’ Blue Yeti mic and Audacity recording software and sat down with my friend, John Brown, to record a series of episodes both circling and landing on the theme of deception and truth.

In this 38-minute introduction you’ll hear where the contemporary church is falling prey to deception in these last days and why that deception is only going to get worse.

John and I are among a (thankfully) growing number who share a love, burden, and hope for the true Bride of Jesus and sense the urging of His Majesty to “make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” (Luke 1:17) And, by the enabling grace of God, we will be…

…if we have ears to hear.

In this episode, John will touch on the following areas of systemic, growing deception – particularly in our current church culture here in America:

1.She (the church) believes she is ‘in faith’ yet there is almost no obedience of faith to what her Lord has commanded. The reality is that most are unaware that faith has two parts to be a living faith: the hearing of faith and the obedience of faith.

Romans 1:5
through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake,
Luke 6:46
Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do what I tell you?
James 2:17
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

2. She believes in a gospel that says that she is saved because she accepts that Jesus died and atoned for her sins…and yet her reality is that she has never truly repented of the Sin of ruling and reigning over her own life.

Matthew 4:17
From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:23
Jesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.

3. She says that she believes (has faith) and claims that she has been born again, and is a new creature in Christ. The reality is that this is too often mere pretense, without any hard evidence. She dare not say to her family and friends that she is no longer of Adam’s race.

Romans 6:4-5
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

4. She says that her old man was buried with Christ and is no longer alive. And yet the reality is that she continues to live as the old man and is “just a sinner saved by grace.”

Romans 6:6-7
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.

5. She says that she is in love with the Lord and yet there is almost no obedience though our Lord has said, “If you love Me you will keep my commandments.” The reality is that she isn’t even aware that her Lord has left her commandments to be observed.

Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

6. She has an unwillingness to purchase the truth concerning her condition; she believes that there is no cost to her as she travels the road of salvation.

Proverbs 23:23
Buy the truth, and do not sell it,
Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.

I trust you’ll click on this and all the episodes in this series over the coming weeks. I assure you, the discussions will challenge you to go after Christ with the fresh legs of renewed faith – the very faith of the Son of God (Galatians 2:20) – His life living through you; this grace of His will empower us to be a people of Truth, shielded from deception, and made ready when He returns.

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a matter of pronouns

God is very particular about his grammar, especially where it concerns us. Consider the back-and-forth gospel pronouns of this glorious scripture,

He has made him to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:20)

Us and him. He and we. Kingdoms in conflict; a separation of powers.

The following poem undoes the riddle as Bennett’s words tug on gospel strings, each verse building upon the next. Watch as the pronouns switch places until at last the Guiltless One wins the day and owns the damning burden of all humanity:

DELIVERANCE

Under the Law with its tenfold lash,

Learning – alas, how true! –

That the more I tried

The sooner I died,

While the Law, cried:

“You, you, you!”

🔹🔹🔹

Hopelessly still did the battle rage:

“O wretched man!“ my cry,

And deliverance I sought

By some penance bought,

While my soul cried:

“I, I, I!”

🔹🔹🔹

Then came a day when my struggles ceased,

And trembling in every limb

At the foot of the tree

Where one died for me

I sobbed out:

“Him, Him, Him!

– R.P.D. Bennett

I came into this world mastering the singular personal pronoun, “I.” I’ve used it effortlessly and endlessly; it flows like honey over my lips and tastes as sweet. As you have probably seen, I still use it an awful lot – see? I still do. Wow, it’s hard to get away from that pronoun.

It’s mighty difficult not to make it about me. And you have the same conflict. Not judging. Just is.

When Jesus said, “it is finished” the transaction spoken about in the scripture at the top was completed. That matter is settled.

There is still an “I” that dangles like a hanging chad on a punch card, however, and I know I will not be made ready for glory until that matter is dealt with. I yearn for the day my “I” collapses fully under the weight of the possessive pronoun of HIS good reign.

I put my unadulterated amen to Elyse’s tweet yesterday:

I really hope this is the year that happens. I’m so tired of me some days I wonder how He can do it. Thank God he’s really good at what he does.

I’m asking the Father to baptize me in unassailable love, making me inoffensible and pure in heart. It’s a tall order, but:

it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13

Now, that’s just good grammar.

Selah