Tag Archives: Jerusalem

Politics, Prayer and the Peace of Jerusalem

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Discipleship, Excellence, LifeGiving, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Training

Some believe President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capitol of the State of Israel on December 6, 2017 will bring peace. I am more concerned with what Jesus said Jerusalem must do before God allows peace to come to her.

37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you didn’t want to! 38 Look! Your house is left to you deserted! 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘How blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!'” [Mathew 23, International Standard Version]

The Amplified Bible translates verse 38 like this, “Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate (abandoned and left destitute of God’s help).”

Verse 38 is in reference to Jeremiah 22:5 which says, “But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself,” declares the Lord, ‘that this house will become a desolation.’”

One of the definitions of the word ‘desolation’ in Jeremiah 22:5 means to dry up or to be dried up. This is chilling! I know it is very difficult for the modern Christian to accept but God dried up [made barren] the land of the Jews and their hallowed city. This is true both in the natural and the spiritual.

History records Jerusalem and the hallowed Jewish temple were destroyed in 70 AD.

So why is the land coming alive in the natural and why is there so much excitement over what President Trump did yesterday? Man has an amazing capability to be creative and to be highly productive with their creativity. That is the mark of the Creator in the makeup of man that God made! None of those facts prove God should be given credit for what is an obvious improvement in the land.

But Kevin, what about what Isaiah said about God causing the desert to bloom. “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” [Isaiah 35:1 KJV]

Jesus is known as the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys [SOS 2:1]. Friends, there is no blossom or rejoicing of the desert that is divorced from the One who is the Rose! No Rose, no rejoicing! No Lily, no Life!

But Kevin, aren’t you spiritualizing the text? No! Paul said, “First the natural then the spiritual” [1 Corinthians 15:4]. Why do you think Jesus came as a human being [in the natural]? Jesus came to bring revelation of spiritual realities that are greater in every way than natural realities.

Everything the prophets said must be viewed in light of the Light of the world [Hebrews 1]! “1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”

What “words” were the Jews to obey according to Jeremiah that would keep desolation from coming to the people and the place of their habitation?

“1 Thus says the Lord, ‘Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word 2 and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on David’s throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates.’ 3 ‘Thus says the Lord, ‘Do justice and righteousness, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. Also do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place. 4 For if you men will indeed perform this thing, then kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting in David’s place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, even the king himself and his servants and his people.’”

“Do justice and righteousness”

We know they failed miserably in this as the leaders and some of the people constantly were in conflict with Jesus, and they eventually conspired against Him and murdered Him at the hands of the Romans.

“Deliver the one who has been robbed from the power of the oppressor”

Again, the Jews failed miserably here as they were the original oppressor of Jesus and instead of delivering Him they handed Him over to Pilate. In other words, they abandoned God and left Him in the hands of an oppressive politician.

“Do not shed innocent blood in this place”

This is the most egregious sin the Jews committed. In fact, they screamed, “His [innocent] blood be upon us and our children” [Matthew 27:25].

The commands of the Lord come with conditions. Obey and the gates to ‘this house’ will be open to kings, his servants and his people.. Disobey and ‘this house’ becomes a desolation. They chose desolation as their destiny!

The Jews in Jesus’ day declared, “We have no king but Caesar.”  Until that confession is fessed you can forget about them entering the kingdom of God.

There will never be true and lasting peace until the Jewish people corporately repent for rejecting and murdering God’s free gift of salvation and peace to them. They must admit the Jesus they crucified 2000 years ago is the Prince of Peace, and until they do they will never see Him.

“14 But Peter, taking his stand with the eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: ‘Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words. 22 Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ — this Jesus whom you crucified.'”

Peter is not the only Jewish believer in Jesus who attributes Jesus’ murder to the Jews.

Look at what Paul wrote to the believers in Thessaloníki [1 Thessalonians 2], “14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews, 15 who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out. They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, 16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost.”

What Jesus had to say about Jerusalem is of more importance to me than what any President or politician says. Jesus made some astonishing statements about Jerusalem. One of which I mentioned above.

Another one is found in John 4. “19 The woman said* to Him, ‘Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.’ 21 Jesus said* to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’”

Jesus makes it abundantly clear that beginning 2,000 years ago Jerusalem is not the center of the worship His Father is seeking. Again, Jesus said in at least 2 ways the Father is not seeking worship in Jerusalem so Christians need to back off the misinformation on the importance of the city of Jerusalem. And by the way, Jesus said ‘an hour is coming’, and then He said ‘and now is’. There are no words in between those two truths and there are no words that can replace His words!

Jesus removed Jerusalem as the primary place of the worship of God, and Jesus said that Jerusalem was desolate, lonesome, abandoned by Him [God], a woman neglected by her husband, divorced and devoid of God’s help [Strong’s and Thayer’s].

People misunderstand David’s plea for prayer found in Psalm 122:6 – “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.”

Love is not love if it is not accompanied with truth! We are to “speak the truth in love.”

There is no truth that violates the One who identified Himself as, “the Truth.”

When we define ‘prosper’ by human standards we reduce the power of what God intended when He dictated that word to be used. To prosper from heaven’s perspective is to obey God at all costs. That is true prosperity!

“I desire obedience rather than sacrifice” is a core value of the Father. Why? Because it is possible to sacrifice without obedience but not possible to obey without sacrifice.

Isaiah spoke of the Messiah when he prophesied, “Behold, My servant will prosper. He will be high and lifted up and greatly exalted.” [52:13] Jesus confirmed what this was speaking about when He said, “”And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” [John 12:32] Can we agree that Jesus completed His mission by being completely obedient to the Father by carrying His cross to the very end?

David spoke approximately 1,000 years before Jesus. We must take what David said in view of what Jesus said. Does anyone really believe God will listen to any prayer for Jerusalem that does not consider what Jesus said about Jerusalem?

David is considered a prophet. Peter declared that on the day of Pentecost. “29 Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay.” [Acts 2]

Paul said this in Hebrews 1, “1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”

Whatever God said before Jesus and whatever God [said] says after Jesus must be viewed in the light of Jesus’ life, ministry, message, mission, mandate and methods.

So, when we pray for the peace of Jerusalem we MUST pray for the Jewish people to accept the gift of repentance God has been offering them for 2.000 years so that they can repent for their rebellion and receive the free gift of eternal life that is found only in Jesus, the crucified and resurrected Lord of glory!

Then and only then will peace come to the Jews and Jerusalem!

Keep HIS Passion! Keep HIS Priority! Keep HIS Purpose!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin

His Hisstorymaker

 

Jesus Versus the Jerusalem Jews!

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Excellence, LifeGiving, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Training

Luke writes that Jesus, while in Jerusalem, said this before He ascended into the dimension called heaven.

Luke 24

“46 Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

How could “all the nations”, not just the Jewish nation, hear the message of repentance if the people empowered to preach it refused to leave home and preach it? And why did they disobey Jesus who would die to secure the forgiveness every nation was supposed to receive?

The Jewish men who heard Jesus say these words didn’t leave Jerusalem until they were forced out by persecution perpetrated by the Pharisees’ angry hit man, Saul of Tarsus. They planted themselves in Palestine instead of going throughout the planet!

Acts 8:1

“And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.”

It was only after the gospel was being preached by members of the Church did the leaders [apostles] of the church begin venturing out of “their house”. Leaders are supposed to lead but these leaders became followers. They only provided “leadership” after the Holy Spirit circumvented their leadership and worked His work outside Jerusalem through those appointed by the “leaders” to serve tables and those fleeing for their lives. Those fleeing for their lives shared the faith that would save other’s lives.

It was almost a decade after Jesus told His apostles to leave Jerusalem and go into Judea, Samaria and then to the ends of the earth [into all the nations] before they obeyed His command.

I believe the answer to their disobedience lies in the lie they believed about the restoration of the kingdom to natural Israel. “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” [Acts 1:6]

It is interesting to me a decade passed and a decade is 10 years. The Law is made up of 10 Commandments. The Law reveals sin and brings death in disobedience to it. So, Jesus sent death into the house [Jerusalem] and His house [Church] because the apostles disobeyed His “command” to go into ALL the world and preach forgiveness of sin.

This is an Adamic [carnal, fleshly] mistake!

The first man Adam, the original apostle of Christ, failed to take Paradise to the planet and in doing so sucked the serpent into the Garden. The serpent sucked the Life out of God’s leaders when they were seduced by his schemes!

The 1st century Jewish apostles were more concerned with when God was going to restore His kingdom to natural Israel than in discipling to Christ the nations of the world Christ told them to invade. That command and commission is to fulfill the promise to Abraham in the gospel of Christ, “I will bless those who bless you [Abram], and I will curse those who curse you [Abram], and in you [Abram] all the nations of the earth will be blessed” [Genesis 12:3]

Galatians 3

“8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the nations will be blessed in you.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.”

The blessing of Abraham is salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Or as Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe the gospel.” [Mark 1:15]

Today, what God said to Abram has been hijacked by those who still believe God is going to restore natural Israel to a place of prominence! They say God said, “I will bless those who bless Israel and I will curse those who curse Israel.” Whether out of ignorance, naiveté or deception this belief is damaging to those it infects.

The blessing and cursing have everything to do with the acceptance or rejection of Jesus, who is the Son of God and Son of Man! It involves natural Israel or the natural descendants of Abraham, the Jews, but it is not just about them. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” [John 3:36]. That applies to every person regardless of ethnicity, gender or socio-economic status.

And once the “He who believes” believes, he, along with everyone else who believes is one with Christ Jesus, and are Abraham’s descendants, his heirs according to the promise made to him in Genesis 12:3.

Galatians 3

“28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise..”

John, the Jewish disciple Jesus loved, said this:

John 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. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 21 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

  • God so loved [loves] the world, not just Israel
  • God sent His Son into the world, not just Israel
  • God wants to save the world, not just Israel
  • God sent the light into the world, not just Israel
  • God does not want the world condemned, not just Israel

In fact, the entire New Testament revelation reveals that truth!

Palestine is not the prize. The planet is!

Romans 4:13

“For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.”

That is why the meek will inherit the earth!

God had to convert a Jewish religious terrorist [Saul/Paul] before the Jerusalem Church got serious about the Great Commission! It got so bad that God moved the center of world evangelism from Jerusalem to Antioch of Phrygia in the region of Galatia!

The church in Antioch was not formed by the forging apostolic force from Jerusalem. No, it was formed by believers who came from various places due to the persecution related to Stephen’s martyrdom, and preached to the Jews in Antioch. After that men from Cyprus and Cyrene came and preached the gospel to the Greeks!

Finally, the Jerusalem Church sent Barnabas to Antioch to encourage the Jewish and Greek believers there to remain faithful to Jesus. Barnabas was not one of the original apostles!

And by the way, it was the Antioch church that Paul was a leader in and was sent out to evangelize the world from. And it is the place the believers [Jews and Greeks] were first called Christians.

The Jerusalem Church produced the Judaizers who followed Paul around harassing the converts to Christ in his ministry. These Law based believers tried their best to pull the saints back under the Law of Moses.

There are contemporary Judaizers still trying to trick saints into slavery!

There are those today who have read Jesus’ words found in Luke 24 and still will not leave Jerusalem! If they do venture out beyond Jerusalem they attempt to persuade the gullible to come back under their control. Using the “Jewish root” lie they lie in wait for those who do not know their Bible.

The root of Christianity is Jesus, not Judaism!

Jerusalem and Judaism have never been Jesus’ focus. The nations are Jesus’ focus! Jesus is called, “Desire of the nations,” but some believers only see Jesus as the Savior of the Jews, or the Jewish Savior! Jesus came into the world He created as a Jewish person but let’s not go overboard with that truth.

First, God chose the Hebrew people out of all of the ethnic groups on the planet because He chose them, not because they earned that choice.

Deuteronomy 7:7,8

“7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers.”

God made a decision and honored His covenant commitment to the forefathers [Abraham, Isaac and Jacob], who were all men of faith in God and faithfulness to God.

Second, God divorced Israel in the Old Testament because of their constant adulteries with other gods, who are not God.

Isaiah 50:1

“Thus says the LORD, “Where is the certificate of divorce By which I have sent your mother away? Or to whom of My creditors did I sell you? Behold, you were sold for your iniquities, And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.”

Jeremiah 3:8

“And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also.”

Third, Jesus abandoned them [Jerusalem] to seal their fate with God. Fourth, Peter and Stephen, two highly visible Jewish men of God laid the blame of Christ’s murder at the door of natural Israel’s house.

Matthew 23:38

“Behold, your house is being left to you desolate!”

And lastly, Paul said not to view Jesus, or anyone according to the flesh [ethnicity, gender, or any other natural status symbol].

2 Corinthians 5:16

“Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.”

On the day of Pentecost Peter preached a scathing sermon in Jerusalem. It was so effective it pierced many Jewish hearts and 3,000 repented and received Christ.

Acts 2

“22 Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and [you] put Him to death. 36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ —this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Peter said it was God’s predetermined plan and foreknowledge that the Jews would hand Jesus over to the Romans to be murdered. God chose the Jews to bring Jesus physically into the world and He chose them to physically take Him out of this world. So much for celebrating an elitist attitude.

Now, for all the idiots out there are looking for a reason to mistreat Jewish people because of their complicity in Jesus’ death, you need to check your heart and loyalty to the God you say you are defending. God orchestrated the entire plan!

Stephen, in front of the Sanhedrin who were after more blood from those who believed in this Jesus, released his own scathing sermon.

Acts 7

“51 You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. 52 Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; 53 you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”

This is painful to face, but it is more painful to listen to and or watch as these Jerusalem loving [preferring] and Christ hating [not preferring] Judaizers to this day defend the natural Jewish people, putting their interests above the Lord they say they love and serve.

And do not point to your “supernatural showmanship” to qualify you as a a genuine spokesman for Christ. Jesus said to watch out for those who over exaggerate their relationship to Christ by pointing to the supernatural. He called them false [misleading] prophets [spokesman] who are ravenous wolves [serve for what they can take from the saints not what they can give to the saints]. They destroy through their deception not even realizing they are deceived.

There is still an elitist spirit that permeates Jewish believers in Christ and that elitism manifests in several ways:

1.They won’t call themselves Christians

  • Are they anti-Christ?

2.They see Jewishness as the pinnacle of being the people of God

  • Paul teaches being naturally Jewish is irrelevant!

3.They label people antisemites who don’t bow at the feet of Zionism

  • Should they be labeled anti-Christ?

See how easy it is to malign someone’s integrity and character?

Forgetting that the gospel was preached to Abraham [Abram] in God’s statement about the nations being blessed, they reduce that revelation to fit their narrow narrative. And by the way, the Hebrews [Jews] are not the only semitic people on the planet. Jesus is the Savior of the Arab people too. The Arabs are semites, but you rarely if ever see them defend the Arabs.

They will not defend the non Hebrew semitic peoples, so – are they antisemites too?

Throwing that label out is indefensible and has no place in the Christian community, unless you are absolutely pure in you antisemitic and anti-Christ positions!

God promised Abraham that Ishmael would be blessed and the blessing of Abraham includes the salvation of all people, even the descendants of Ishmael!

These present day puritans are quick to label nonconformists to political Zionism antisemites. Memo to those people – we are not antisemites. We are pro Savior of the world! We are not anti Jewish or anti Jerusalem. We are pro Jesus the Christ!

Your immaturity and irresponsibility is showing and it is not pretty!

Jesus and the New Testament writers clearly revealed the world is God’s focus and the focus of His work, not just Jerusalem and the Jewish people! Jerusalem and the Jewish people were the starting line, not the finish line.

“Beginning from Jerusalem” is what Jesus said!

The word beginning denotes the first place, not the only place. It also means to rule over. Jesus never intends to rule from Jerusalem. In fact He is forbidden to be a priest or King in Jerusalem or any other city in the world.

“My kingdom is not of this world” is what He told Pilate! It is still not of this world and it will never be of this world. It is in this world! It has always been in this world! And it will always be in this world! But it is NOT of this world!

His rule from Jerusalem is based on that is where He lived, died, was buried, was resurrected and ascended, as a Man. When He returns He will hand the kingdom of heaven back to Father God, and then the end will come! The end will come, not the millennium!

Maturity in the things of God requires the people of God to leave where they began with God, and go to where God is leading them. Even Paul, the writer of Hebrews, makes this truth clear.

Hebrews 6

“1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God [See Luke 24:46,47 above], 2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do, if God permits.”

Paul explains what maturity looks like in chapter 5. Keep this in mind and go back and read these 2 verses in chapter 6 again, with the context in view.

“8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. 9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, 10 being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. 11 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.”

Paul is saying these Hebrews should have matured and become teachers, but they were still carnal Christians [infants] in need of other people to supply them milk. He is saying they should have moved on from elementary school [pre-school] to graduate school! These carnal Christians [Hebrew believers] were not even getting their own milk. They drank milk from the breasts of those who were more than happy to keep them unhealthy and immature.

The saints have got to grow up!

The saints have got to get their own milk so that one day they can eat their own meat!

Meet me oh Lord, let’s eat!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin

A Hisstorymaker!

So Close & Yet So Far!

Posted on by under Bible, Excellence, LifeGiving, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Training

Did you know ~

At some point during the journey from Nazareth [the guarded one, the place we place guards thinking we are keeping ourself safe] to Bethlehem [the house of bread, the house where we get fed what we need to grow up] the caravan Joseph, Mary and the unborn Jesus traveled with would have traveled through Jerusalem [the teaching of peace].

It is quite possible they passed by, or very near Golgotha [the place of the skull: comes from a word that means to remove the head].

It is interesting to me how close Mary [rebellion], Joseph [God will add, God will do it again] and the not yet born Jesus [God is salvation] may have come to Jesus’ ultimate place of destiny on their way to the place of His birth, and never knew it.

Have you considered that God chose a Mary to bear the burden for His answer for all of our rebellion?

And Joseph, who name is pronounced yo-safe’ [come on somebody], was the man who protected God’s investment when it was more popular to run away from what looked like rebellion to him.

One of my prayers is that in the new year we will be acutely aware of the places  and people [geographically, literally or metaphorically] we pass by, through or near that are significantly important to our finding and fulfilling our destiny, even though they may, at the time, be entirely insignificant to us.

There are way too many people in [the ‘in’ crowd, or residing in the ‘inn’] places they think are the place to be in, not knowing the people who will help them find and fulfill their destiny are near by in a place that looks below them.

The greatest move of God man has ever witnessed began in a stall!

Have you stalled your progress toward your prophetic destiny by staying in a place that will never prepare you to process God’s process of preparation for your life?

Have you settled in a place where there are a lot of people, just not many people really in tune with what God is doing, or where God is moving?

Mary, Joseph and the unborn Jesus settled in an insignificant place off the path where the people collected. They were not part of the ‘in crowd’. They were just part of the Cloud!

Heaven’s ‘new thing’ was fast approaching and the mass of people who made their way to Bethlehem thought they were there to pay tribute to Rome, all the while not knowing they were invited to witness the wonderful wind of change that the Christ Child would bring.

Heaven was nigh but the crowds cared less!

The people positioned all around this Glorious One were too busy with their worldly responsibilities to be aware of heaven’s imminent invasion. So God’s solution was to move just outside the city to break in on the faithful shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night.

Are you so busy being ‘responsible’ with your worldly responsibilities you are not being responsible with the opportunity God is giving you as the Master moves masterfully in the least likely of places?

Are you so busy being with worldly people that you are missing the mission of the Mighty One in your midst?

Are you so busy worshiping at the altar of convenience where the crowds collect you are missing the convergence of heaven on earth?

How close are you to what God is doing?

How far are you from what God is doing?

What is more important to you ~

  • being in the crowd or
  • bringing in the Cloud?

Keep HIS Faith! Keep HIS Promises! Keep His Passion!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin

A Hisstorymaker

It IS Possible To Not Sin!

Posted on by under Bible, Christian, Excellence, LifeGiving, Righteousness, School Of The Spirit, Training
It is possible to not sin! In fact, repentance means “I won’t do that again!”
Luke 24 ~
 
“46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
 
1. Jesus said the proclamation of repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name.
 
To proclaim means to publicly cry out with urgency and with an urgency for those hearing to accept what is proclaimed or face the consequences of rejecting it. This word carries the authority of Jesus to proclaim, warn, and reveal the consequences. That is why it is “in His name”. He gave His disciples power of attorney to re-present Him.
 
In order for repentance for forgiveness of sins to be proclaimed there has to be the proclamation that there are sinners and there is sin. 
 
In our modern, or post-modern or whatever we are calling our world right now it is not in vogue to confront a person in sin and their sinning lifestyle.
 
Jesus said proclaim repentance which means to stop it, drop it, and turn to God and start living like Christ.
 
It IS possible to not sin! 
 
John said this in 1 John 2:1,2 – “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
 
A. John writes to “little children”. This word is teknon and is the 3rd level of spiritual maturity for the believer in the childhood [first] stage of growth. He states to these little children –
1. “You MAY not sin” 
a. Means permission is not granted to sin
2. “And IF anyone sins” not “And WHEN anyone sins”
a. John reiterates sin is not permissible nor normal behavior. Sin should be a rare exception not the norm.
b. “We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
1. Our Advocate is more than someone who stands next to us in front of the Father. He is the One who lives on the inside of us and want to live His life through us. In fact, Christianity is not believers living for God. Christianity is God living through believers.
2. This Advocate paid the price that paid for our sin but that price includes His power to live free of sin.
 
2. Jesus said “Christ must suffer and rise again from the dead the third day.”
 
This separates Christianity from all the religions of the world. Christ is alive and is inviting everyone to come to Him and to get to know Him – personally.
 
3. This proclamation would begin “from Jerusalem.”
 
Jerusalem was the launching pad! Jesus said “from” not “in” Jerusalem. The world is the focus not Jerusalem! “God so loved the world . . . .”, not God so loved Jerusalem! The church would be well served to understand this major point! [I have a teaching series and future book titled – JESUS AND JERUSALEM. You can find the series on YouTube].
 
4. This proclamation was to go into “all the nations.”
 
Every ethnic group and every person in every national boundary is to hear this eternally exciting message.
I say eternal because John said this about the gospel – “6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.” [Revelation 14]
 
The eternal gospel includes the true worship of the One true God, who is the Creator!
And that is why I said exciting. It doesn’t get any more exciting than meeting, getting to know, growing in the knowledge of Him, and getting to spend eternity with the Creator of the heavens and the earth.
Do you know Him?
Keep HIS Faith! Keep HIS Passion! Keep HIS Purposes!
Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin
A Hisstorymaker