Showing posts with label Gifts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gifts. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

A Prophet's Note

Eph 4:11-16 - And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head — Christ — from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

In today’s world of human understanding and reasoning, we accept people with some Godly gifts, but not people with gifts from God that go against our own human reasoning, understanding, and logic. How many people today would accept an apostle or a prophet of God? People will gladly accept any apostle or prophet if they proclaim what we already believe as truth. But what if God has sent these apostles or prophets to His people to bring back the truth and get rid of all the deceptions that are laced within the beliefs that people believe as truth? In this age, are people only willing to believe what they want to believe and only willing to hear what they want to hear? God calls to come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God so we can become the perfect man – where we measure up to the fullness of Christ. How can we become Christ like when we currently believe in the deceptions of the devil? The current gospels taught in most churches today are made up of half truths and half lies. Let us turn from these lies and find the real truth again.

How the truth has been changed since the first churches (during the Apostles time) is by our selfishness listening to the devil and changing the definitions of the terms in Word of God. We have grouped all these terms together where in God’s Spiritual reality they all have different meanings. Today all the following words mean almost the same thing to our churches today: saved, born again, life in Christ, born of God, son of God, Christ like, justified, sanctified, having eternal life, disciple, salvation, inheriting eternal life, relationship with Christ, in Christ, etc… Why do we believe that all these terms have close to the same meaning – because we want to believe it. The selfish human nature wants it all and it wants it all from the start. We don’t want to think that we have to be holy like God. We don’t want to think we have to give up all our sinful ways. We want have our cake and be able to eat it too.

Well I want to tell you – I have been sent by God and have been given the gift of the truth (the one and only truth of God) – and the truth that most of the churches are proclaiming is not the truth. That is why the church is in such a hypocritical state. Our churches for the most part belong to the devil and what they are proclaiming is some of the real truth mixed with deception. It only takes one or two words to change the truth into a lie. We have made so many assumptions in our understandings of God’s Word and this has led us to where we are now.

So now that I have told you that I have been sent by God to bring back the truth – it is up to each person that reads this letter to decide. Are you prompted to get more into the Word to find the real truth or are you going to reject what I am saying and stay comfortable with your own human logic and understanding. God’s ways are not our ways. There is no free lunch when it comes to inheriting eternal life. Salvation is free, but becoming a son of God so you can inherit eternal life will cost you everything in this life.

The Jewish leaders that lived when Jesus Christ walked this earth thought they had it all figured out too. Instead of accepting the real truth, they crucified the real truth to a cross. Are you going to find the real truth or will you crucify it?

God’s servant and yours,
Mike Reid

Thursday, April 10, 2008

What Have You Done With Your Talent or Gift

When anyone first comes to Christ for salvation we are given a gift from God. That gift is the gift of salvation from the bondage of our sins, which means we no longer have to be in bondage to our sinful nature. This is the first salvation God gives us, but the second salvation unto eternal life is determined by what we do with this first salvation. We can see this clearly in the story of Israel’s exodus out of Egypt. God saved them from their bondage of Egyptian slavery so they could once again have the choice to follow God’s will and ways. Sadly only two of the adults that were saved from the Egyptian slavery decided to live totally for God and were then allowed to enter the promise land.

We who have accepted Jesus Christ as our savior recognize that we have been imputed with Jesus’ righteousness. Through what Jesus Christ did on the cross for us, we now can put on the cloak of His righteousness. We are whitewashed on the outside with His righteousness, which means God has put His righteousness onto us so through Jesus Christ being our High Priest we can eventually be washed white on the inside as well. God freely gives this gift of His righteousness to anyone that repents and asks for it. God gives this gift freely so He can work through us, otherwise there would be no way for us to be free from our sinful nature. The parable of the talents is a good representation of this gift given by God and if used for God, He multiplies the gift and makes the gift grow, but if not used for God, the gift is taken away.

Matt 25:14-30 - Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.' "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' "The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.' "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!' "Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.' "His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. "'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
Please understand why this parable’s truth is so important; it is to warn all of you that have been given the first gift of salvation from the bondage of our sins so you will be motivated to reach the second salvation gift unto eternal life.

The talent(s) in the parable represent this first gift of salvation, but the second gift of salvation unto eternal life is determined on how you use the first gift from God. To use this first gift properly that God gives us, we must at some point decide to die to all our sinful nature to receive the permanent gift. Anyone that is unwilling to die totally to themselves will not be able to be washed totally white on the inside.

Like I said before, when we first come to Christ we are imputed with Jesus Christ’s righteousness, but eventually we must also be imparted with the very nature of Jesus Christ Spirit. When we are imputed with Christ’s righteousness we are whitewashed on the outside, but we must be imparted with Christ’s righteousness within also to be washed white to be eternally saved.

After we first have come to Christ as our savior for the forgiveness of our sins we are imputed with Christ’s righteousness and also receive Jesus Christ as our High Priest. We then can be covered by His cloak of righteousness until we physically die, but we only have this righteous covering of Christ as long as He is our High Priest. When we physically die we no longer have Jesus Christ as our High Priest and we are no longer covered by His cloak of righteousness. After we physically die the cloak of Christ’s righteousness comes off and God then sees our bare soul. If our bare soul has been thoroughly washed white by this time, we will enter heaven, but if our bare soul is still soiled with our sinful nature, we will not be allowed into God’s eternal kingdom where no evil and sinful thing can enter.

Truly I tell you this because this is God’s truth and God doesn’t want any to be lost. Please be wise with what God has given you. God wants you to keep the gifts He has given you, but this choice has to be your choice.

Sent from Jesus Christ’s heart within me,
Michael Reid